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diff --git a/18844-h/18844-h.htm b/18844-h/18844-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..661b065 --- /dev/null +++ b/18844-h/18844-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,8553 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Rebellion of Margaret, by Geraldine Mockler + </title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + p { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + } + hr { width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + + .linenum {position: absolute; top: auto; left: 4%;} /* poetry number */ + .blockquot{margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 10%;} + .pagenum {position: absolute; left: 92%; font-size: smaller; text-align: right;} /* page numbers */ + .sidenote {width: 20%; padding-bottom: .5em; padding-top: .5em; + padding-left: .5em; padding-right: .5em; margin-left: 1em; + float: right; clear: right; margin-top: 1em; + font-size: smaller; background: #eeeeee; border: dashed 1px;} + + .bb {border-bottom: solid 2px;} + .bl {border-left: solid 2px;} + .bt {border-top: solid 2px;} + .br {border-right: solid 2px;} + .bbox {border: solid 2px;} + + .center {text-align: center;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + .u {text-decoration: underline;} + + .caption {font-weight: bold;} + + .figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + + .figleft {float: left; clear: left; margin-left: 0; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: + 1em; margin-right: 1em; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + + .figright {float: right; clear: right; margin-left: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; + margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + + .footnotes {border: dashed 1px;} + .footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + .footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} + .fnanchor {vertical-align: super; font-size: .8em; text-decoration: none;} + + .poem {margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%; text-align: left;} + .poem br {display: none;} + .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + .poem span.i0 {display: block; margin-left: 0em;} + .poem span.i2 {display: block; margin-left: 2em;} + .poem span.i4 {display: block; margin-left: 4em;} + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +Project Gutenberg's The Rebellion of Margaret, by Geraldine Mockler + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Rebellion of Margaret + +Author: Geraldine Mockler + +Illustrator: Arthur Twidle + +Release Date: July 16, 2006 [EBook #18844] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE REBELLION OF MARGARET *** + + + + +Produced by Louise Pryor, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<div class="figcenter"> +<a href="images/cover.jpg"><img src="images/cover.jpg" alt=""/></a> +</div> + + + +<h1>THE REBELLION OF MARGARET</h1> + +<h2>BY GERALDINE MOCKLER</h2> + +<h3>AUTHOR OF "THE GIRLS OF ST. BEDE'S," ETC.</h3> + +<h3>ILLUSTRATED BY ARTHUR TWIDLE</h3> + +<h4>LONDON<br /> +JARROLD & SONS, 10 & 11, Warwick Lane, E.C.</h4> + + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> + +<!-- Autogenerated TOC. Modify or delete as required. --> +<p> +<a href="#CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I. <span class="smcap">Margaret's Dream Friend</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II. <span class="smcap">Margaret overhears a Conversation</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III. <span class="smcap">Margaret starts on a Journey</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV. <span class="smcap">Margaret makes a Friend</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V. <span class="smcap">Eleanor Carson</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI. <span class="smcap">Margaret and Eleanor change Names</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII. <span class="smcap">Mrs. Murray meets the Train</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII. <span class="smcap">Maud Danvers</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX. <span class="smcap">The Danvers Family</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X. <span class="smcap">Eleanor at Windy Gap</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI. <span class="smcap">A Practical Joke</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII. <span class="smcap">Eleanor meets Margaret's Aunt</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER XIII. <span class="smcap">Hilary turns Detective</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">CHAPTER XIV. <span class="smcap">The Hour of Reckoning</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XV">CHAPTER XV. <span class="smcap">An Unexpected Visitor</span></a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">CHAPTER XVI. <span class="smcap">Conclusion</span></a><br /> +</p> +<!-- End Autogenerated TOC. --> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS</h2> + + +<p><a href="#img1"><span class="smcap">"Margaret!" said the Old Man, breaking into speech at +last, and in a very harsh voice: "What Folly is this?"</span></a></p> + +<p><a href="#img2"><span class="smcap">"I am going for a Walk into the Town," she said, shyly</span></a></p> + +<p><a href="#img3"><span class="smcap">Maud swung round and saw Margaret standing with a +Pile of Letters by her Mother's Chair</span></a></p> + +<p><a href="#img4"><span class="smcap">Eleanor turned to the Piano, and ran her Fingers +Lightly over the Keys</span></a></p> + +<p><a href="#img5"><span class="smcap">"That Girl," pointing a lean, accusing Finger at Eleanor, +"is not my Granddaughter Margaret"</span></a></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I</h2> + +<h3>MARGARET'S DREAM FRIEND</h3> + + +<p>"Margaret Anstruther! Margaret Anstruther! Margaret Anstruther!"</p> + +<p>It was a sultry afternoon in early July. The sun was shining out of a +cloudless blue sky, the air was so still and so overpoweringly hot that +it seemed to have sent every living creature, save the owner of the voice +that was calling upon Margaret Anstruther, to sleep, for no answer was +returned to the thrice repeated call, and the silence which the summons +had broken settled once more over the garden. Not a leaf on even one of +the topmost twigs of the huge old elms from underneath which that +insistent voice had come was stirring, not an insect chirped, and the +birds who held morning and evening concerts among the branches were +silent now.</p> + +<p>"Margaret Anstruther, will you come and play tennis? My brothers Reginald +and Lionel want a game, and if you will play we shall be four, and +because you have not had much practice lately you shall play with +Reginald, for he plays better than Lionel."</p> + +<p>Greystones was noted for its elm-trees. The grounds, indeed, contained +little else in the shape of flowers or trees but elms. For a few brief +weeks in spring when they were dressed in the tenderest of greens they +were lovely, and in the autumn, if the leaves were not stripped off by +gales before they had a chance to turn golden, their hues could vie with +those flaunted by any other trees, but in the summer their dull, uniform +green was apt to become monotonous, and Margaret Anstruther was then wont +to declare that she could cheerfully have rooted up every one of them.</p> + +<p>But as the remark never reached any one else's ears but her own, no one's +feelings were hurt. A chance visitor to Greystones, regular visitors were +not encouraged, had once observed that the entire grounds, some thirty or +forty acres in extent, which comprised the domain must have been an elm +wood originally, and that a space just sufficient on which to erect a +house of moderate dimensions had been cleared in the heart of it, +Greystones had been built, a way cut through the trees to form a drive to +the road a quarter of a mile distant from the house, and the rest of the +wood left undisturbed to be called a garden or not as the owner pleased.</p> + +<p>Certainly the present owner had made no attempt to form a garden, but had +allowed the elms to grow right up to the walls of the house and to darken +the windows of the gloomily situated dwelling as much as they pleased.</p> + +<p>"Margaret Anstruther, if you will not come and play tennis, will you come +for a ride upon your bicycle—that nice new one that you received as a +present from—from your grandfather." Here the speaker paused and laughed +as if the idea of Margaret Anstruther getting a bicycle from her +grandfather was a distinctly amusing idea. "We will go far, far along to +the blue distance—much farther than you ever went with Miss Bidwell—and +we will have tea at the inn down by the river and come home by moonlight. +We shall be quite safe, for Reginald and Lionel will be with us, and they +will take care of us."</p> + +<p>The part of the grounds in which this so far one-sided conversation was +taking place was at some considerable distance from the house, in fact it +was right on the confines of the wood and as far from the house as +possible. Beyond the wood flat, green fields stretched on all sides +undiversified by as much as a copse or a hill. Even a bare, ploughed +field would have been a welcome relief to the landscape, while a yellow +cornfield would have imparted a positively gay appearance to it; but year +in year out those green fields wore always the same aspect.</p> + +<p>But dull though the view might be, it was at least a wide one, and there +were the sheep and the cows that grazed in them to look at. Occasionally, +too, a stray passer-by, under the erroneous impression that in crossing +them he was taking a short cut, would venture into them, only to turn +back discomfited when confronted with padlocked gates and hedges threaded +with barbed wire, to say nothing of notice boards warning trespassers to +beware.</p> + +<p>For the man who owned Greystones and those densely wooded grounds also +owned the fields that surrounded them, and his hatred of intruders was +well known in the immediate neighbourhood. It was a brave child who crept +through his hedges or climbed over his gates to pick primroses or +blackberries, and the urchin that was unlucky enough to encounter old Mr. +Anstruther while so engaged never ventured to trespass on his property +again.</p> + +<p>"Margaret Anstruther! Margaret Anstruther! are you going to sit under +that tree all the afternoon? If you are too lazy to play tennis or to +come for a ride, will you come with me to Lady Barchester's garden party? +She has invited two hundred guests, and you must wear that lovely white +muslin dress with the little frills all up the skirt, and the big white +hat with the pink roses, and do not forget to take the pink chiffon +parasol that was sent you from Paris last week. We have been asked to +remain to dinner there, you may remember, for there will be a dance +afterwards. And the moon will be shining, and will it not be very +pleasant to sit out in the garden between the dances! Will you come, +Margaret Anstruther?"</p> + +<p>That proposal was surely one that ought to have been tempting enough to +have called forth an answer of some sort from the girl to whom it was +addressed, but it was met by the same dead silence that had followed the +other suggestions.</p> + +<p>Then somewhere near at hand a gate creaked loudly, there was the sound of +a key being turned in a padlock, and with his back towards the sunlit +fields from which he had come some ten minutes previously, the tall, thin +figure of an old man with a flowing white beard and with an Inverness +cloak hanging from his spare shoulders strode over the grass in the +direction of the thick clump of trees from which the unseen voice had +proceeded.</p> + +<p>Though he took no pains to render them inaudible, his footsteps made no +sound on the grass, and as he approached the same voice spoke again, +unconscious of his near presence.</p> + +<p>"Margaret Anstruther," it went on, "do you not then wish to do any of the +nice things I have told you about? Do you like sitting here by yourself, +when outside in the world real things are happening, and there are real +people to whom you might be talking, and whom you might know? Are you +happy? Tell me that."</p> + +<p>The old man came to a pause, as abrupt as it was involuntary. Had any one +been there to see his face at that moment they would have perceived that +he was finding it difficult to believe the evidence of his ears. Almost +against his will it seemed he waited to hear the answer to that question, +for his obvious impulse had been to stride on and confront the speaker, +on whom his cold blue eyes, lightened now with a gleam of anger, rested. +She was sitting at the foot of a big elm-tree, with her back resting +against its trunk and her hands loosely clasped round her knees. She was +very young, and the forlorn droop of her figure and the pathetic +expression that was at that moment depicted upon her face made her look +even younger than her years, which numbered barely eighteen.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Eleanor Humphreys!" she said, and her clear hazel eyes brimmed over +with tears as she spoke. "I am very, very miserable. Nobody loves me, and +I have nobody to love except you, of course, Eleanor Humphreys, and +sometimes I cannot make believe that you are real at all."</p> + +<p>"Margaret!" said the old man, breaking into speech at last, and in a very +harsh voice. "What folly is this? To whom are you talking? Who is this +Eleanor Humphreys? Where is she?"</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="img1" id="img1"></a> +<img src="images/img1.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3>"MARGARET," SAID THE OLD MAN, BREAKING INTO SPEECH AT +LAST, AND IN A VERY HARSH VOICE, "WHAT FOLLY IS THIS?" +</h3> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p>And with both hands resting on his stick, which was planted firmly on the +ground in front of him, he darted suspicious searching glances among the +surrounding trees.</p> + +<p>At the sound of her name uttered in those hard tones Margaret had sprung +to her feet; her face, pale before, had turned yet paler, and her big +hazel eyes fastened themselves with a terror-stricken expression on her +grandfather's face.</p> + +<p>"How dare you encourage people to come into my grounds and talk to you +without my permission? Have I not expressly forbidden you to make +acquaintances without my knowledge. Who is this Eleanor Humphreys? Where +is she hiding? What does she mean by coming here and asking you to +accompany her to tennis parties and dances? Answer me. Tell me who she +is, and how she comes to be here without my knowledge."</p> + +<p>"She is nobody; she—she is nowhere," stammered Margaret, whose trembling +lips could scarcely frame the words.</p> + +<p>"Nobody, nowhere," thundered the old man. "Don't dare to trifle with me, +Margaret. Show her to me immediately, and I will tell her, whoever she +may be, what I think of her for presuming to come here without my leave."</p> + +<p>Margaret's lips gave a sudden little twitch, which showed that, badly +frightened as she was, a hint of the humour of the situation had dawned +upon her mind.</p> + +<p>"You—you can't scold her, grandfather. She—she isn't real. She is my +dream friend."</p> + +<p>There was a momentary silence, during which Margaret, glancing timidly at +her grandfather's stern and angry face and reading there the contemptuous +scorn which he felt for her unworthy self, wished that the earth might +open and swallow her up. But as it remained unyieldingly firm she had +perforce to remain above ground and endure to the full his prolonged +scrutiny.</p> + +<p>"So," he said at length, and if anything had been wanting to complete her +discomfiture and to drive away any lingering feeling of mirth, his tone +would have been more than sufficient for that purpose, "so this is the +manner in which you pass your time. In dreaming about imaginary people, +and in holding conversations remarkable for their utter inanity with +them, about tennis parties and dances and pink chiffon parasols."</p> + +<p>Failing a yawning chasm at her feet, Margaret would have been thankful +if that same pink parasol had been a reality at that moment, and in her +hand, so that she could have held it as a screen between her crimsoning +face and his pitiless old eyes. She writhed inwardly to think that all +the idle fancies in which she had been indulging during the afternoon +had been poured into her grandfather's angry ears. And it was positive +agony to her shy nature to know that her shadowy friend was no longer her +own secret.</p> + +<p>"Kindly have the goodness to answer my question. Seeing that but a +few minutes have elapsed since you were proving yourself capable of +sustaining both sides of a conversation, I think that it cannot be too +great a strain upon you to reply to my question now. Do you hear me?"</p> + +<p>All trace of anger had vanished now both from Mr. Anstruther's face and +from his manner, and he spoke in the cold, precise tones, and framed his +sentences in the rather stilted manner habitual to him.</p> + +<p>"Yes, grandfather," Margaret gasped in a very small voice. She was rarely +at ease with her grandfather—he had never taken any pains to render her +so—and when he addressed her in tones of semi-sarcasm she grew so +disconcerted that she could not answer him coherently. And, as the more +confused she became the more caustic his tongue waxed; their interviews, +brief though they were, often concluded with anger on his part and with +tears on hers.</p> + +<p>"Then I should be obliged if you would have the kindness to answer me."</p> + +<p>"I—I forget what it was that you asked me," stammered Margaret.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I do not flatter myself that my questions can vie in interest with +those addressed to you by your imaginary friend. Nevertheless, I should +be glad if you will kindly pay attention to them. I asked you if it was +in this profitable manner that you usually passed your afternoons now."</p> + +<p>"Sometimes, grandfather."</p> + +<p>"Then I will find you something else to do. What is it that you ought to +be doing at this hour?"</p> + +<p>"Three to four. Take exercise," said Margaret in the tone of a child +repeating a lesson.</p> + +<p>"And this is the way in which you take it? By sitting and dreaming +away your time in nonsense and folly and in making up silly, idle +conversations with idiotic creatures of your own imagination. I gave even +you, Margaret, credit for more sense. Aren't you ashamed of yourself?"</p> + +<p>Now, if Margaret had murmured the meek affirmative reply that was +obviously expected of her, the whole course of her life might have been +different. Her grandfather would probably have delivered himself of a few +more harsh strictures, and then Margaret would have been dismissed to the +house, with orders to double her morrow's lessons.</p> + +<p>But though she winced at the scorn with which he spoke to her, it did not +cut so deep as the ridicule he poured on what he contemptuously termed +the idiotic creatures of her own imagination, and oddly enough, though +she would never have summoned up enough courage to justify her own +actions to him, she could not remain silent when the intelligence of her +shadowy friend was derided.</p> + +<p>"No;" she said slowly, thoughtfully, and quite as much amazed at her own +temerity as Mr. Anstruther was; "I don't think I am ashamed, grandfather. +You see, I am very fond of Eleanor Humphreys. She has been a very great +comfort to me."</p> + +<p>Sheer amazement held Mr. Anstruther silent. He would probably have been +less surprised if the kitchen cat had entered into conversation with him.</p> + +<p>"When I am lonely she comes and talks to me. She is not always alone, +like me, but is one of a large family of brothers and sisters. They have +such good times together. They play tennis, and go to parties and dances, +and sometimes I go with them; but when I cannot go Eleanor comes here +afterwards and tells me all she has been doing, and then it is just as +though I had been to the parties also."</p> + +<p>But at that point Margaret pulled herself up in a sudden breathless +manner. It was always like that she thought confusedly. Either she had +not courage to open her lips to her grandfather, or else she was led into +saying all manner of things which a moment's calm reflection would have +told her must on no account pass her lips.</p> + +<p>But at any rate, as she realised with a queer little thrill of +excitement, she had not been disloyal enough to say that she was ashamed +of her affection for Eleanor. And she had had to derive as much comfort +from that thought as possible, for it required no great discernment to +see that her grandfather was terribly angry with her. Yet, when he spoke, +his voice was as cold and as even, his diction as precise, as usual.</p> + +<p>"I wonder, Margaret," he said, "if you are mad, or merely pretending to +be mad. In either case, I have listened to you long enough. Kindly go +into the house, seat yourself at the piano, and practise scales for two +hours. The sound at this hour of the day will not be a pleasing one; but +hearing it I shall trust that the manual exercise is keeping your mind +from dwelling further on this folly."</p> + +<p>Margaret required no second bidding to leave him, but retreated from the +spot at the fastest walk she could manage. To have run from his presence +would have been considered both disrespectful and unlady-like, and would +not have been permitted for a moment.</p> + +<p>When the trees had swallowed her up from his sight, Mr. Anstruther turned +and walked in the other direction. And there was a perturbed look on his +face.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II</h2> + +<h3>MARGARET OVERHEARS A CONVERSATION</h3> + + +<p>Margaret's parents had died when she was in her infancy, and she had been +brought up entirely by her grandfather. As far as she knew, she had no +other relatives. Certainly he had never spoken to her of any. When she +grew old enough to begin lessons, Mr. Anstruther had engaged an excellent +governess to reside at Greystones, and at her hands Margaret had received +a careful, sound education. No nun in a convent ever led a more regular +existence than Margaret had led from the time she was five years old +until a few weeks before this story opens. Certainly no girl was ever +expected to lead so quiet and monotonous an existence.</p> + +<p>Every morning, winter and summer alike, she entered the schoolroom +punctually at seven and practised on the piano for an hour and a half. At +half-past eight she and Miss Bidwell breakfasted together. Nine to eleven +were lesson hours. Eleven to one were exercise hours. At 1.30 they dined. +The afternoon programme varied according to the seasons and the weather. +In summer they worked from three to five and went out afterwards, while +in winter the order of things was reversed and they went out first and +worked afterwards. After tea Margaret practised again, prepared her +lessons for the next day, and went to bed at nine.</p> + +<p>And that had been her daily life year in year out until a few months +before the day on which this story opens. And then, greatly to Mr. +Anstruther's annoyance, an event had occurred which upset all his +carefully laid plans. Miss Bidwell, whose sight had never been very +strong, was threatened with cataract in both eyes, and acting on the +advice of a clever little doctor who had lately come to the +neighbourhood, she had decided to go to her mother's relatives in France +and to take a complete rest until her eyes should be ready for operation. +The news that Miss Bidwell's sight had been failing for some time came as +no surprise to her pupil, who had perceived for some time past that her +governess could scarcely see to read even with the aid of her strongest +glasses, and Margaret, without allowing her to know that she knew—for +she divined that Miss Bidwell had striven desperately to conceal the +truth not only from those around her, but from herself too—had done the +little that lay in her power to save her governess's eyes as much as +possible.</p> + +<p>But to Mr. Anstruther the news came as a very disagreeable shock. He had +not intended to part with Miss Bidwell for at least three or four years +to come. Other people might perhaps have considered that Margaret was +already growing too old to be subject to the control of a governess, and +that if her character were to be properly developed she must now be +allowed to think and act independently. But if any one had ventured to +express these sentiments to Mr. Anstruther, they would have been +requested, not over politely, to mind their own business. He had grown +used to Miss Bidwell, and he disliked the idea either of replacing her by +a stranger, or of letting Margaret do without another governess.</p> + +<p>Margaret parted with her governess with very real regret. Although +through all the years they had been together their relations had always +been those of mistress and pupil only, never that of friends and +companions, still in losing her Margaret at least lost the company of +another fellow-being. For Mr. Anstruther had decided not to engage +another governess, at any rate not until he saw if he could possibly do +without one. His dislike for his fellow creatures became intensified +every year, and had it not been that his occupation of farming took him +out of doors all day long and brought him into contact with all sorts and +conditions of people, he would long ago have turned into the recluse that +he wished his granddaughter to be.</p> + +<p>For the existence that he planned for her now was one of the most +extraordinary that a girl of her age was ever called upon to live. She +was, he decreed, to go on exactly as if her governess was still with her, +to read for so many hours a day, to practise for so many more, and to +take regular exercise in the garden. For out of the confines of the +grounds she was now strictly forbidden to go. But as Margaret listened to +the rules that were being laid down for her she never dreamed of +questioning them, but in the shy voice that was habitual to her in her +grandfather's presence promised obedience to them. And as she left the +room her grandfather looked after her with an expression of great +satisfaction on his face. But the satisfaction was for himself, and not +for her. How well he had brought her up! How wise his treatment of her +had been! What a commendable difference between her manner to him, and +her mother's! He had vowed that he would bring up Margaret's daughter to +respect and obey him in the smallest particular, and he had accomplished +the task he had set himself.</p> + +<p>It had, after all, been quite an easy one. The great secret was, he +reflected to maintain an attitude of judicious firmness, and never to +relax it. Not once had Margaret ever ventured to argue with him or to +question his right to order her every action. And so very well pleased +with himself Mr. Anstruther dismissed her from his mind and went about +his own affairs. It had been a matter of some surprise to Margaret to +find how soon she not only got accustomed to Miss Bidwell's absence, but +ceased to miss her. Naturally she felt a little lonely at first, and it +was rather strange to look up from her work and not see the thin, angular +form of her governess seated at the head of the table with a book, at the +pages of which she had latterly, at least, not looked much, open before +her, nor to hear the ceaseless click click of her steel knitting needles. +But as soon as the feeling of loneliness and the sense of almost +oppressive silence that now surrounded her wore off Margaret grew to like +her hours of solitary study. The hours that she found most irksome were +those that she was compelled to spend taking exercise in the grounds. For +though she liked being out in the open air, she soon grew heartily tired +of walking about under the shade of the densely growing elms, and she +missed the long country walks with Miss Bidwell to which she had been +accustomed.</p> + +<p>Gradually the monotony and exceeding loneliness of her life began to tell +upon her spirits, her appetite failed, she grew paler and thinner, and +her step as she roamed aimlessly about the grounds grew daily more +languid.</p> + +<p>But still no thought of rebelling against the queer existence she was +leading entered her mind, for as yet she had scarcely realised how +unhappy she was. It was an intensely hot summer, and she thought that the +unusual heat was responsible for the lack of interest she felt in all her +usual occupations, and for the tired feeling which made her now, instead +of obeying her grandfather's orders to take exercise, deliberately seek +out the shadiest spot among the trees and sit quietly there the whole +afternoon. It was probably the very first deliberate act of disobedience +of which she had ever of set purpose been guilty in her life, and it was +to have consequences of which she little dreamed.</p> + +<p>One afternoon, some two or three weeks before the day on which her +grandfather was to come so unexpectedly upon her, she was sitting there +half asleep when the unusual sound of footsteps and voices in the field +below her startled her into complete wakefulness.</p> + +<p>Though she was close to the hedge that divided the fields from the woods, +she was so well screened from observation, not only by the hedge but by a +clump of intervening young trees, that she was able to rise to her feet +and look at the speakers as they passed without fear of detection.</p> + +<p>For strangers to be trespassing in her grandfather's fields was an event +rare enough to excite her curiosity, and she was eager to know who the +intrepid people might be.</p> + +<p>Somewhat to her surprise, she recognised in one of them the clergyman of +the church five miles distant, to which they always drove every Sunday +morning. It was not their own parish church, for with the rector of that +Mr. Anstruther had quarrelled many years ago, not for any particular +reason except that he was the clergyman of the parish and therefore to be +kept at a distance.</p> + +<p>He was walking with a middle-aged little man of kindly aspect in whom +Margaret recognised Dr. Knowles, the doctor who had lately bought old Dr. +Carter's practice, and who had advised Miss Bidwell to go abroad for her +eyesight.</p> + +<p>Though nothing was further from Margaret's mind than any intention of +eaves-dropping, she could not help overhearing every word that was spoken +as they passed the spot where she was standing. Mr. Summers, the +clergyman, was speaking.</p> + +<p>"Yes, poor girl. It is a great shame. Her grandfather keeps her cooped up +in that gloomy old place and never lets her see a soul. She has passed a +lonely, unloved youth, for I am sure her grandfather has never shown her +any affection, and I am equally sure that her dry stick of a governess +did not, and, poor child, she has never been allowed to associate with +any one else. She has never been allowed to have a friend or to go to a +party or a dance in her life. And she must be nearly eighteen now. It +really is a shame, for youth only comes once."</p> + +<p>"What a queer life! What a queer life for a girl to lead!" said the +little doctor in jerky tones. "And is she contented with it?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I think so; but, then, she has no idea what she is missing."</p> + +<p>With that reply the two voices passed out of hearing, leaving Margaret +standing motionless under the tree. Of course it was she of whom they +were talking. Was she, then, so greatly to be pitied? The idea was such +a novel one that she could not take it in all at once, but gradually the +truth of what they had said dawned with overwhelming force upon her mind.</p> + +<p>"A lonely, unloved youth." Yes, such a youth had certainly been hers. Of +course her grandfather had never loved her. In the bewildered state of +her mind she hardly knew whether she had always realised that fact, or +whether she had taken his affection for her for granted. And he had +allowed her no friends, no parties, no dances. Why had she thus been +brought up aloof from every one? Certainly, as Mr. Summers had said in +reply to Dr. Knowles' question as to whether she was content with her +existence, she was content simply because she knew no better one. She +had not realised before in what a very different fashion other girls were +brought up. But now her eyes were open. That simple phrase, "She does not +know, poor child, what she is missing," had told her more than many +lengthy explanations could have done.</p> + +<p>Looking back afterwards on those moments during which she had stood +gazing with unseeing eyes after the departing figures of the two men, +they seemed to her to make a dividing line between all her previous +and her after life. She had thought that the departure of Miss Bidwell +had been an epoch in it; now that sank into comparative insignificance, +for after all her departure had left her, Margaret, unchanged.</p> + +<p>But the same could not be said of this event. Hitherto she had blindly, +unquestioningly accepted her grandfather's right to order every detail +of her life, and if she had thought about the matter at all she had +doubtless supposed that his authority over her would always be as +absolute as it was now.</p> + +<p>However, it was one thing to discover that her childhood had missed, and +her girlhood was losing, many of the pleasures that should rightly belong +to them, but to remedy this state of affairs was quite another. Although +the idea that her grandfather had been unduly strict with her had been +thus suddenly brought home to her, it did not in the least lesson the +habitual awe in which she stood of him, and as she was obliged to +continue to adhere to the rules he had laid down for her, she began to +wonder whether she had not been happier when she had not dreamed of +questioning his right to exact such unquestioning obedience from her.</p> + +<p>"Where ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise," she quoted to herself, +and what was the good of knowing that her life was so dull if she dared +not do anything to make it less so. Since Miss Bidwell's departure she +had fallen into the habit of talking aloud to herself, for she found that +during her many long, lonely hours the sound even of her own voice made +some companionship for her, and her conversations with Eleanor Humphreys +were now no longer carried on in the recesses of her mind but out loud.</p> + +<p>It was a dangerous habit, as she was to discover ere long, especially as +Eleanor had of late, since in fact the seeds of discontent had been sown +in Margaret's mind, not stopped at describing her gaieties to her friend, +but tried to persuade her to break bounds and to come and join in the +revels.</p> + +<p>And that was what had brought Margaret into such serious trouble with her +grandfather.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III</h2> + +<h3>MARGARET STARTS ON A JOURNEY</h3> + + +<p>The immediate result of the conversation that Mr. Anstruther had +overheard between his granddaughter and her imaginary friend was a visit +from the doctor to Margaret. Mr. Anstruther was sure that Margaret would +never have dreamed of rebelling against him even in her thoughts had she +not been ill, and within an hour from the time he had dispatched his +granddaughter in disgrace to the house, Mr. Anstruther followed her there +accompanied by Dr. Knowles. Dr. Knowles it was whose conversation with +the clergyman Margaret had in her turn overheard from behind the hedge, +and if he had pitied Margaret before, his pity increased tenfold, when by +a series of skilfully put questions he had drawn from her a description +of her daily life. But he smiled reassuringly at her as he bade her +good-bye, and promised to send her a prescription that he knew she would +like.</p> + +<p>But though, when she came to hear of it, Margaret approved this +prescription, her grandfather strongly objected to it when it was +first mooted to him. For it was change of air that the doctor +prescribed—change of air immediate and complete.</p> + +<p>"If you could fill this house with young people, and let her lead a gay, +lively life here, I don't say that it might not do her as much good as a +change of climate, but," perceiving that Mr. Anstruther's face was set +like a flint at a mere suggestion of such a thing, "a change would be +better still. She has been too long in this flat, low-lying district; +Brighton or Eastbourne, or any part of the Sussex Downs, would be of +immense benefit to her."</p> + +<p>"And if I follow neither of these alternatives," said Mr. Anstruther +harshly, "if I let her go on as she is doing now, what then?"</p> + +<p>"Then I think you will run a great risk of having a morbid, melancholy +young lady on your hands—a delicate one too—for she is in danger of +becoming anemic, unless her health improves."</p> + +<p>Dr. Knowles spoke so emphatically that, averse though he was to the idea +of letting his granddaughter go away, Mr. Anstruther dared not disregard +his warning. Nothing, he told himself obstinately, would have induced him +to accept the alternative proposal and fill his house with young people +for her sake. That would have been denying the very principles on which +she had been brought up. But the change was another matter altogether. +The next point to be considered was where he should send her; the doctor +had specified the Sussex downs, and that brought to Mr. Anstruther's mind +the fact that he had a friend who lived in a village high up on those +same downs. Many years ago he had visited her in the breezy place in +which she had chosen to make her home, and if his memory served him +rightly, and he had no doubt on that point, Windy Gap, as the village was +called, would be bracing enough to please the doctor, and quiet enough to +satisfy him. To the best of his belief there was scarcely another house +within three or four miles, and even if she had possessed near neighbours +Mrs. Murray would not have been likely to hold much intercourse with +them, for she was very deaf, and, as when he had known her, at least, she +had objected strongly to using an ear-trumpet, and few people had +sufficient lung power to make her hear without it, she had been quite +content not to hear them at all. Mr. Anstruther smiled rather grimly as +he reflected that Margaret's stay at Windy Gap was not likely to make her +own home seem dull by contrast when she returned to it.</p> + +<p>Although he had held no correspondence with Mrs. Murray for many years, +they had in the days of their youth been such very good friends that Mr. +Anstruther had no scruples at all in writing to ask her if she would be +willing to consent to receive his granddaughter on a long visit. An +answer came by return of post to say that Mrs. Murray would be delighted +to have her, but that as she was totally unused to young people and +would be at a loss to know how to entertain a young girl, George must +give her some idea of what amusements she would need.</p> + +<p>"My dear Julia," wrote Mr. Anstruther by the very next post, "Margaret +requires no amusement of any sort whatever. I particularly wish her to +make no friends and to pay no visits. You will find her obedient and +quiet, respectful towards her elders, to whose opinion she has been +taught to defer implicitly on every point. You, I think, were among those +who remonstrated with me when fourteen years ago I sketched to you the +lines on which I intended to bring up my granddaughter. When you see the +result of my training, however, you will admit that your remonstrances +were misplaced. I will not, however, disguise from you that during the +last few days her conduct has not been altogether satisfactory, but +suspecting that a grave act of disobedience of which she had been guilty +arose from the fact that she was not quite in her usual health, I called +in a doctor, and he confirmed me in this opinion and recommended change +of air. Of course, you are aware that when Margaret comes of age or when +she marries, if she marries before she is twenty-one, she inherits a +fortune of about £2,000 a year. Her mother inherited nearly double this +sum, but she and her husband—she married her second cousin and did not +change her name—between them reduced the capital by considerably more +than half. But I have brought Margaret up in utter ignorance of the fact +that she is an heiress, and have always taken pains to prevent her from +coming into contact with any one who might inform her of it. And this I +have done to guard her from being married merely for the sake of her +money. Let her lead while with you the same simple life that she has led +hitherto. Make her study for five or six hours daily and spend the rest +of the time in your lovely garden. If she goes out for walks, which seems +to me unnecessary, for she can surely take all the exercise needful to +her health in your garden, pray see that she is attended by a maid whom +you can trust. I also particularly wish her to take up the study of a new +language. It will give her something definite to work at, and will drive +from her thoughts sundry silly fancies and whims to which of late she has +given way. She already talks French and German very well indeed, thanks +to a most painstaking governess who has helped me to bring her up, and +now she might with advantage take up Italian. You are so close to +Seabourne, which place is, I know, a great educational centre, that you +will have no difficulty in getting teachers. Pray spare no expense and +get the very best. Perhaps you might also arrange for a competent singing +mistress to come out to Windy Gap two or three times during the week, for +Margaret has a nice little voice—not strong, but sweet and true—and +singing, when not displayed in public, is a becoming accomplishment for a +woman to have."</p> + +<p>Could Mr. Anstruther have heard the running fire of exclamations +expressive of amazement, amusement, and pity with which Mrs. Murray +punctuated the reading of this letter, Margaret would never have been +permitted to go to Windy Gap.</p> + +<p>But Mrs. Murray's reply gave no hint of the feelings with which she had +read his long letter of instructions; she merely promised to take every +care of his granddaughter and to keep her well occupied.</p> + +<p>"I am delighted to hear," she wrote, "that you particularly wish her to +take Italian and singing lessons, for as it happens she will enjoy an +unique opportunity of studying both those things. For living in this +village is an Italian lady, a certain Madame Margherita Martelli, who was +once a famous operatic singer, but who lost her voice after a very short +career. She lives here so as to be near her only daughter, who married a +clergyman in Chailfield. She is by no means well off, and will be very +glad to make a little money by teaching Margaret singing and Italian. I +have heard she is a splendid teacher. As for Margaret forming any +intimate friendships while with me, you can set your mind at rest on that +point, for my deafness has increased so much since I last saw you that I +do no visiting in the ordinary sense of the word, but am quite happy with +my books and my garden. Then, too, I have a large acquaintance with my +poorer neighbours in the surrounding villages, and though my lameness +prevents me from walking to see them, I have a sturdy little pair of +ponies who take me everywhere, and I am looking forward to having +Margaret as a companion on my daily drives."</p> + +<p>When Margaret heard, as she did four or five days after the doctor's +visit, that she was to go away from Greystones for a prolonged period, +her amazement was only equalled by her delight. She had known that some +change was impending for her, for the day after his visit she had been +ordered to spend all her time out of doors, and, as long, of course, as +she did not go out of the wood, to do exactly as she pleased. So she had +taken out the lightest books the schoolroom shelves contained and had +spent the long, hot days lying under the shade of the trees. The state of +suspense in which she had lived during those days gave ample support to +the doctor's verdict that a change of some sort had become necessary to +her. She grew even paler than was her wont, and a succession of two or +three wakeful nights brought dark circles under her eyes, making them +look almost unnaturally large and bright.</p> + +<p>"So," said her grandfather, who had called her into his study to acquaint +her with the plans he had made for her, and who had had no difficulty in +reading on her tell-tale face the delight the news had given her, "you +are pleased to be going away even before I have informed you what your +destination is?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, grandfather."</p> + +<p>"And you feel no regret in leaving Greystones?"</p> + +<p>"No, grandfather."</p> + +<p>Mr. Anstruther suppressed with some difficulty the strong feeling of +irritation that seized him at these monosyllabic answers. He knew that it +would have been highly unreasonable on his part to have displayed +annoyance, for had he not himself taught her to give a simple "Yes" and +"No" when possible to his questions?</p> + +<p>"Or in leaving me?"</p> + +<p>For a brief instant Margaret hesitated the while her clear, candid eyes +were fixed thoughtfully on his face. Her natural politeness forbade her +to give the negative reply which her innate truthfulness also demanded. +He saved her from the necessity of making a reply at all.</p> + +<p>"I am answered," he said in the sarcastic tones which never failed to +bring the colour to her face. "Pray did you think my feelings would be +wounded if you had told me that you felt no regret at leaving me?"</p> + +<p>"I—I do not know," stammered Margaret uneasily.</p> + +<p>"Well, as it is my desire that you go it would not be of much use +discussing your feelings or wishes on the matter. This is Thursday; you +will go next Tuesday."</p> + +<p>"Yes, grandfather."</p> + +<p>This time Mr. Anstruther could not restrain the impatient glance he threw +at her pale face and downcast eyes.</p> + +<p>"Yes, grandfather! no, grandfather! I do not know, grandfather!" Was that +really all she felt capable of saying in his presence? A few days ago he +could have believed that to be the case, but now he was conscious for the +first time of a baffled sense that he really knew nothing whatever of the +real character of this granddaughter of his. She was obedient, yes, but +that was after all a matter of conduct rather than of character, and he +found himself wondering what traits might be hidden away under the quiet +reserve of her manner. But again with an effort he suppressed his +irritation and proceeded to describe to her the place to which she was +going and the life she would lead there. "For if you imagine that the +senseless delights I overheard you picturing to yourself the other day +are to be yours you may as well disabuse yourself of the notion at once. +Nor will you have the opportunity of making the acquaintance of a number +of giddy young people. You will lead a life of as strict retirement there +as here. My friend, Mrs. Murray, who has so kindly consented to take you +for a time, is about my age; she will have the additional drawback in +your eyes of being very deaf. She lives quite alone in a little village +on the Sussex Downs and sees no one. But you will have plenty to do. I +have made arrangements for you to begin the study of Italian. It is time +you learned another language, and fortunately there is an Italian lady, +a Madame Margherita Martelli, once a famous singer, resident in the +village, who will instruct you in her language and also give you singing +lessons. She will also, perhaps, accompany you on your daily walk."</p> + +<p>A curious light flashed suddenly into Margaret's down-drooped hazel eyes. +Her daily lessons! Her daily walk! And one deaf old lady for company! For +one wild minute she felt inclined to rebel, to tell her grandfather that +she was tired of being treated as a child, and that she had a right, at +eighteen, to have some voice in the disposition of her own time.</p> + +<p>If she had raised her eyes then, he must have seen the mutinous look in +them, and then, whatever else had happened, or whatever the doctor had +said at his advice being set at nought, it would have been quite certain +that Margaret would not have been permitted to leave Greystones that +summer.</p> + +<p>But that desire to rebel vanished as suddenly as it had come, leaving +Mr. Anstruther as unaware as he had been before of all that his +granddaughter's quiet, almost indifferent manner concealed.</p> + +<p>"After all," she told herself afterwards, "there will be the downs and +the sea to look at. And it will be a change from this."</p> + +<p>So she held fast to those two thoughts, and did not permit herself to +be dismayed by the picture her grandfather had drawn of the life that +awaited her at Windy Gap.</p> + +<p>Of course, it was out of the question that Margaret should travel alone, +and Mr. Anstruther made arrangements for his housekeeper and cook to +escort her to her journey's end. The almost childish delight that +Margaret felt at the thought of the actual journey itself was somewhat +damped by the news that Mrs. Parkes was to accompany her. For her +grandfather's estimable cook and housekeeper was a grim old woman who +ruled the maids with a rod of iron, and who, even in the days of her +childhood, had never had a kind look or a smile for Margaret. That, +however, in Mr. Anstruther's opinion, had added to her recommendations, +for it had been one of his rules that his granddaughter should have +nothing whatever to say to any of his servants. But though the news +that Mrs. Parkes was to be her escort lessened the pleasure that she was +feeling at the thought of the long railway journey that lay before her, +it could not by any means wholly destroy it. After all, they could sit at +opposite ends of the carriage, and Margaret knew that, except when they +changed trains, which they had to do once, she would be tolerably certain +to forget Mrs. Parkes' presence altogether.</p> + +<p>As soon as she had heard where she was to go, Margaret looked her +destination up on the map. But Windy Gap was too small a place to be +marked. Chailfield, however, was the nearest station, and that was on the +map, as was also Seabourne. The latter place was a large and fashionable +watering town renowned for its schools, in one of which Miss Bidwell had +been a governess for some years. Many were the dictations in English, +French, and German, descriptive of the town and the surrounding downs +which Margaret had written, and it was strange to think that she was now +about to see these places for herself.</p> + +<p>The few days that intervened between the Thursday on which she had heard +that she was to go away and the following Tuesday could not pass too +quickly for Margaret, and when Monday dawned and the actual packing of +her trunk could begin, she was in a high, though carefully repressed +state of excitement. Lizzie, the housemaid, who had been getting her +clothes ready during the last few days, fully sympathised with the eager +impatience which Margaret showed that everything should be ready in time.</p> + +<p>"For if I had had the dull time that Miss Margaret has had ever since +Miss Bidwell went away, not that she was very gay company, I should be +off my head with joy too."</p> + +<p>"Is Miss Margaret off her head with joy, then?" said the kitchen-maid, to +whom the remark had been addressed.</p> + +<p>"Well, in a quiet way of her own she is," said Lizzie. "She don't sing +nor dance like other young ladies would, but her eyes shine like stars, +and now and again she smiles quiet to herself."</p> + +<p>But, after all, Margaret did not have Mrs. Parkes as a travelling +companion. The day before they were to start for Chailfield two things +happened. Scarlet fever broke out in Clayton, and Mrs. Parkes fell down +the cellar stairs and broke her leg.</p> + +<p>"The departure of my granddaughter, who was to have left to-morrow +morning by the nine-thirty train, must therefore be delayed," said Mr. +Anstruther, "until I can procure for her a suitable escort."</p> + +<p>This was said to Dr. Knowles, who had been summoned to set the broken +leg.</p> + +<p>"Departure delayed! Escort! Fiddlesticks!" said Dr. Knowles in his most +staccato manner. "Don't keep her an hour longer here than necessary. In +her run-down state she would be just the sort of person to go down with +fever. The sooner she is away from here the better."</p> + +<p>"But I hardly like the idea of her travelling alone," said Mr. +Anstruther, who saw the reason of what the doctor said far too clearly +to resent his manner. "I would have taken her myself, but it is quite +impossible for me to leave home for several days——"</p> + +<p>"Then send her alone. What on earth can happen to her? Put her in charge +of the guard, engine-driver, inspector, every official on the line, but +don't keep her here another day. It would be wicked to let her run +unnecessary risks."</p> + +<p>As it was then ten o'clock at night, and Margaret was to start so early +the next morning, it was impossible to find any one to go with her, +especially as Dr. Knowles had warned her grandfather against bringing her +in contact with any one in the infected village. After all, he thought, +Dr. Knowles was right, and no harm could come to her through travelling +alone. It was not even as though she were going through London. The +journey was a perfectly simple one, and involved only one change at a +place called Carden Junction. If he spoke to the guard at Clayton, and +told him to put the young lady into the Southern Express at the junction, +she would be well looked after the whole way.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV</h2> + +<h3>MARGARET MAKES A FRIEND</h3> + + +<p>But in making this arrangement the next morning, Mr. Anstruther, as did +the guard also, reckoned without the train being delayed for over an hour +when some fifteen miles from Carden Junction, and consequently missing +the connection with the Southern Express at the latter station.</p> + +<p>"I am sorry to say, Miss, you will have to wait here for two hours +and a half," said the guard, as he helped the young lady who had been +given into his charge to alight. "I will carry your bag for you to the +waiting-room. It's a slow one, too, the next train, and don't get into +Seabourne until 7.10, whereas the express you have just missed would have +got you there at 3.45."</p> + +<p>"I do not mind at all, thank you," said Margaret blithely, as she walked +down the platform beside him with light steps. "I really think it's great +fun missing a train, and having to wait for the next."</p> + +<p>"Then, Miss, you're the first passenger I ever met who looked at it in +that way," said the guard in some astonishment. "Well, I must be going +on, for, as we're late already, we don't stop any time here. Good +morning, Miss, sorry I couldn't have done more for you, and put you in +charge of the next guard, as the gentleman asked. But you will be all +right in the waiting-room. Your train leaves at 2.17."</p> + +<p>"Thank you," said Margaret. "I will not forget. Good morning."</p> + +<p>She was delighted to see him go, and when the train steamed out of the +station, which it did a few minutes later, a sense of freedom, as novel +as it was delightful, took possession of her. For a few hours, at least, +she was absolutely her own mistress. There was no one to tell her to do +this, when she would rather have done the other, no one even to tell her +to remain where she was if she wished to go for a walk. And to go for a +walk was just what she intended to do. She certainly did not intend to +spend the next two hours in this stuffy little waiting-room, whose one +window commanded a view of nothing more exciting than the station yard. +She would go into the town and look at the shops.</p> + +<p>It was true that the sky seemed rather overcast, but the clouds were +probably only passing ones, and the sun would shine out again in a few +minutes. Turning abruptly from the window she was hurrying towards the +door, when a voice close beside her remarked that she was leaving her bag +behind. Swinging round in amazement, for she had thought that she was +alone, she perceived that the room now contained another occupant who +must have entered it while she was staring out of the window. A girl of +about her own age was seated at the table with a couple of books and an +exercise book spread out before her, and as Margaret looked at her she +just pointed with her pencil at the dressing bag which the guard had +placed on a chair, and went on writing again immediately.</p> + +<p>Margaret thought her one of the prettiest girls she ever seen, and though +that would have been saying a great deal less for her than Margaret +realised, for after all she had not seen many girls pretty or otherwise, +this girl was undoubtedly exceedingly good-looking. She had masses of +wavy chestnut hair, red-brown eyes, and a clear, pale skin.</p> + +<p>Arrested thus suddenly on her way to the door by this unexpected remark, +Margaret halted rather awkwardly in the middle of the room uncertain what +to do about her bag.</p> + +<p>"I am going for a walk into the town," she said shyly, "and my bag is too +heavy for me to carry with me. May I not leave it here?"</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="img2" id="img2"></a> +<img src="images/img2.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3>"I AM GOING FOR A WALK INTO THE TOWN," SHE SAID SHYLY.</h3> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + + +<p>The girl raised her eyes again with some impatience. She had obviously +thought the incident closed, and she made reply as shortly as she +could that it was not usually considered safe to leave luggage in +waiting-rooms.</p> + +<p>"Then what ought I to do with it, please?" said Margaret.</p> + +<p>"Why, put it in the cloakroom of course," returned the other, and this +time her irritation at this continued interruption was so unmistakable +that Margaret, blushing crimson, grasped the unlucky bag and fairly fled +out of the waiting-room, without, as she contritely remarked afterwards, +a word of thanks or apology.</p> + +<p>Having safely deposited the bag in the cloakroom, she set out for her +walk. As she passed the window of the waiting-room she could see the girl +she had left there sitting at the table turning the leaves of a book with +one hand and scribbling hurriedly with the other.</p> + +<p>"She's looking up words in a dictionary," Margaret said to herself, who +knew the signs of the occupation only too well. "And that is what I shall +be doing to-morrow. But I am not going to think of that now."</p> + +<p>The walk on the whole was not fraught with much enjoyment. Carden, though +a junction of some importance, was nothing much in the way of a town, the +streets near the station were narrow and crowded, the shops poor, and +Margaret was not sorry when her stroll was cut short by a few heavy drops +of rain. It would be much more interesting, she thought, to go back to +the waiting-room and look at the girl who was doing exercises there. +Perhaps, though on that point Margaret was not very hopeful, she might +even talk to her presently. So she hurried back and reached the shelter +of the station only just in time to escape a heavy shower.</p> + +<p>The girl was still seated at the table, and she did not even raise her +head as Margaret entered. With a fresh access of shyness Margaret avoided +looking at her, but walking to the window stared out at the rain. But as +a shower was a phenomenon with which she was familiar, and the near +presence of another girl was not, Margaret very soon shifted her position +so that she could without turning her head, and unobserved as she +thought, study the girl at her leisure.</p> + +<p>She was wearing a skirt of some rough frieze, and the colour, a sort of +dull turquoise, suited her admirably. A white cotton shirt with a collar +and tie completed her attire, while a short coat of the same material as +her skirt was flung carelessly over the back of her chair. As Margaret +looked at her she became absorbed in speculation as to who the girl might +be, and where she was going. Was she on her way home, or was she going to +stay with friends? Then Margaret fell to admiring the vivid colour of her +hair, which was full of lights and shades. Just above her ears and her +temples it shone like vivid gold, but the coils behind were of a deep, +rich chestnut colour, with an inclination to merge into gold at their +tips. Her eyebrows and eyelashes were just a couple of tones deeper than +the darkest shade of her hair, and Margaret felt glad of that as their +owner doubtless was also. She liked her nose, too—it was short and +straight.</p> + +<p>"Do you think you will know me again?"</p> + +<p>The girl had not raised her head or even lifted her eyes from the pages +of the dictionary she was fluttering with her left hand, while the other, +poised over the book, was held in readiness to pounce down on the right +page directly it came uppermost.</p> + +<p>Margaret gave a great start as the nonchalantly uttered question broke +the silence of the room, and she looked round to see if there was any one +else present, for the question seemed to be addressed to no one in +particular, certainly not to her. And yet as there was no one else in the +room, of course the question must have been meant for her.</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, I am sure I shall," she answered in a tone of such pleased +conviction that the girl looked up and gave her a quick, puzzled glance. +But no one could meet Margaret's candid eyes and suspect her of wishing +to be rude, and after a moment's scrutiny the girl's frowning brows +relaxed and she smiled—such a merry, amused smile, that the last vestige +of Margaret's shyness disappeared on the spot.</p> + +<p>"You see," she said, "you are the first girl I have ever spoken to in all +my life, and so, of course, I should always remember you."</p> + +<p>"The first girl you have ever spoken to!" ejaculated the other, her eyes +opening to their fullest width. "Oh, come, I can't believe that."</p> + +<p>"But you are, that is to say, the very, very first <i>real</i> girl."</p> + +<p>The emphasis Margaret laid on the word "real" did not at the moment +strike the other, who was now quite as interested in Margaret as the +latter was in her.</p> + +<p>"Look here," she said, "I don't think I can do any more exercises at +present, though it seems wicked waste of time to be talking when I might +be learning something. But my poor brain has taken in all it can at +present, and I am willing to rest it awhile by talking to you. Come here +and sit down, and we'll talk."</p> + +<p>"I have been desirous of talking to you some moments past," said +Margaret, flushing with pleasure at the suggestion. "But you looked so +busy that I did not venture to interrupt you."</p> + +<p>An involuntary smile crossed the other girl's face as she listened to +Margaret's prim little way of speaking.</p> + +<p>"I know, and I was rather cross about the bag, wasn't I? but I had just +got hold of the tail of a rather difficult sentence and it gave a wriggle +and vanished when you spoke. However, please don't look so dreadfully +sorry. I made a successful grab at it a few minutes afterwards. Now shall +we tell each other our names. Mine is Eleanor——"</p> + +<p>She stopped short in amazement, for Margaret had sprung to her feet and +was gazing at her with eyes that fairly shone with excitement.</p> + +<p>"Eleanor!" she cried, "Eleanor! Oh, no, not really and truly!"</p> + +<p>"Why not? Don't you like the name?"</p> + +<p>"Like it! Why, of course I am very, very fond of it. It is the name of +some one I love very much. I suppose your other name is not Humphreys, is +it? But it would be really too much if it were."</p> + +<p>"It's not. Eleanor Kathleen Carson is my full name."</p> + +<p>"Eleanor Kathleen Carson," repeated Margaret when her excitement had +calmed somewhat.</p> + +<p>"It's a lovely name, though, of course, it ought by rights to have been +Eleanor Humphreys. I know now the reason why I liked you so much the +moment I saw you."</p> + +<p>"Not the first moment," said Eleanor, with twinkling eyes. "You thought +me horrid the first moment you saw me, and scuttled from the room as hard +as you could."</p> + +<p>"No, I liked you from the first," Margaret repeated firmly. "Only I was +shy. It was very stupid of me," she added, partly to herself, "to be shy +of you when your name was Eleanor all the time."</p> + +<p>"And who is this Eleanor of whom you appear so fond?" demanded Miss +Carson. "To begin with, you tell me that I am the very first girl you +have ever spoken to, and then that you have a friend called Eleanor. Pray +explain the discrepancy in these statements."</p> + +<p>But Margaret, looking at the laughing light in the curious red-brown eyes +bent upon her, shook her head.</p> + +<p>"I believe you would laugh at the other Eleanor," she said, "so I don't +think I shall tell you. But I will tell you my name. It is Margaret +Anstruther."</p> + +<p>"And where do you live, Margaret Anstruther?"</p> + +<p>"At Clayton, in Flatshire, with my grandfather."</p> + +<p>"And have you any brothers and sisters, Margaret Anstruther?"</p> + +<p>"No."</p> + +<p>"And no friends, you said?"</p> + +<p>"No."</p> + +<p>"Where were you educated, Margaret Anstruther?"</p> + +<p>"At home, with a governess. Her name was Miss Bidwell. She went away +to Germany three months ago, because her eyes were causing her grave +trouble, and it may be necessary for her to have an operation."</p> + +<p>"Since when you have been alone with your grandfather?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"You seem to have led a very quiet life. Was your governess clever, and +were you an industrious child, and loved your lessons?"</p> + +<p>"She was very clever, and I was very industrious," smiled Margaret, who +was thoroughly enjoying this string of half banteringly put questions. +"But I did not love my lessons."</p> + +<p>"Lazy, Margaret Anstruther? Why not?"</p> + +<p>"I do not know; I do not think I was lazy. Miss Bidwell would not have +permitted me to be so, but she made everything seem rather dull."</p> + +<p>"What did that matter? You had a chance of learning things," said +Eleanor. The mocking note had gone from her voice, which had become very +earnest. "Apparently you had nothing to do all day long but learn, learn, +learn. Lucky, lucky girl, and yet you say everything seemed dull. Would +that I could have changed places with you sometimes."</p> + +<p>"I am sure the arrangement would have pleased me also," said Margaret. +"But I do not think you would have liked it. As soon as Miss Bidwell +saw that I was growing too fond of one subject it was her habit to +discontinue my study of it, until she saw that my interest in it was less +strong."</p> + +<p>"But what an extraordinary governess!" exclaimed Eleanor. "What on earth +made her behave like that?"</p> + +<p>"My grandfather had given strict orders that I was not to be allowed to +become too absorbed in any particular study. He did not want me to +neglect one thing in favour of another."</p> + +<p>"But just to take a nice, lukewarm, lady-like interest in all of them," +said Eleanor. "I see. But please go on, and tell me some more about +yourself. Where are you off to now, and why?"</p> + +<p>"I am going to a place called Windy Gap, near Chailfield. At least +Chailfield is the name of the station. Windy Gap is a little village four +or five miles off, and right on the top of the downs."</p> + +<p>"And I am going to Seabourne, which is about three or four miles away +from Windy Gap, on the other side," said Eleanor. "How very funny!"</p> + +<p>"I think it is very pleasant to hear that you are going to be so close +to me," said Margaret rather shyly. "Perhaps we shall see each other +sometimes."</p> + +<p>Eleanor shook her head. "I, for one, shall have no time for visiting," +she said, "as you will understand when it comes to my turn to tell you +about myself. But we will finish with you first. Why are you going to +Windy Gap?"</p> + +<p>"My grandfather thought I was not very well, for one day he found me +talking in the wood to myself and wishing for all sorts of parties, and +so he sent for a doctor, who said I must go away for a long change; and +so grandfather wrote to Mrs. Murray, an old friend of his who lives at +Windy Gap, and asked her if she would have me on a visit."</p> + +<p>"And didn't you nearly go off your head with delight when she said she +would?"</p> + +<p>"No," said Margaret, with a little sigh, "for my mode of life there will +be very much the same as it has always been at home. Lessons all day +long, and no one to speak to."</p> + +<p>"But there will be your hostess at least," said Eleanor encouragingly. +"Come, Margaret, do not despair."</p> + +<p>"But she is deaf," said Margaret, in the same melancholy tone. "And I +believe she is also very severe. But," brightening, "I am not going to +think about her now, for I have got you to talk to for another hour. +It's just one o'clock, and my train does not go until seventeen minutes +past two."</p> + +<p>"The 2.17 is my train too," said Eleanor. "But what do you say to having +lunch now. I am getting hungry."</p> + +<p>She produced a little paper bag from the basket in which she carried her +books, and offered one of the two buns the bag contained to Margaret. But +the latter suddenly remembered that the housemaid Lizzie, in spite of the +confusion that had reigned in the kitchen regions since Mrs. Parkes had +been laid low, had found time to pack up an excellent little lunch for +her.</p> + +<p>"It is in the bag you told me to put in the cloakroom," she said. "If you +do not mind very much, would you be so kind as to come and help me to get +it out. I do not like going there alone."</p> + +<p>"What! are you shy?" said Eleanor, with considerable amusement, and +to herself she wondered why her grandfather had let such a very +inexperienced girl as this travel alone. But in spite of Margaret's +shyness Miss Carson felt quite interested in her new acquaintance. There +was a serious, old-fashioned air about her that made her unlike any other +girl that Miss Carson had ever met, and, as it was shortly to transpire, +she had known a great many, and was therefore competent to give an +opinion on that point. Margaret's very speech was different to that of +other girls. It was so slow and careful, and she appeared to phrase her +sentence with a deliberation that Miss Carson found both quaint and +pleasing. Decidedly, she thought, this chance acquaintance was worth +passing the next hour or so with, if only for the sake of the secret +amusement she was affording her, and so, at Margaret's timid request, she +rose willingly enough and accompanied her to the cloakroom. Then, having +recovered the bag, they returned to the waiting-room, which they were +glad to find was still unoccupied by any one else.</p> + +<p>Inside the bag there was a tin biscuit-box, the contents of which, when +spread out on the table, made quite a tempting-looking lunch. There were +chicken and tongue sandwiches, hard-boiled eggs, covered jam puffs, +grapes, raisins, and almonds, and a bottle of delicious home-made +lemonade.</p> + +<p>In her determination that Miss Margaret's holiday should begin pleasantly +with a good luncheon on the journey, Lizzie had put up enough for two +persons at least.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps," said Margaret gleefully, when she had persuaded Eleanor to +abandon her buns and to share this sumptuous meal, "she knew that I +should meet a friend. Do you know," she added, "that this is the very +first picnic I have ever attended in my life, though I have read of them, +of course, in books."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V</h2> + +<h3>ELEANOR CARSON</h3> + + +<p>A picnic! Eleanor was conscious of a sudden feeling of pity for her newly +made acquaintance. She called this meal, partaken of in the dusty, dingy +little waiting-room of a noisy junction in company with a girl whom an +hour ago she had never met, a picnic.</p> + +<p>Memories of gay, delightful river picnics, of mountain picnics, of +picnics in ruined castles shared with numerous boy and girl friends +flashed through Eleanor's mind. And this girl whose lot she had found it +in her heart to envy a short time back had known none of these things.</p> + +<p>"And had I not met you," Margaret was saying confidingly when Eleanor +came out of the sombre mood into which she had suddenly fallen, "I should +never have had the courage even to open my lunch, at least I could not +have eaten it in a railway carriage with every one staring at me. Could +you have eaten your lunch under such circumstances?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, I think I could," Eleanor returned with some amusement.</p> + +<p>Probably their ages were very much the same, but what a child Margaret +was compared to her! To make up for that, however, she certainly used +much longer words.</p> + +<p>"How did your grandfather come to allow you to travel alone?" she asked +suddenly. "From what you have told me about him I should have thought it +was the very last thing he should have allowed you to do."</p> + +<p>"He was very reluctant to give me permission to travel without an +escort," Margaret answered, "but he was unable to avoid doing so." And +then she related how the housekeeper who was to have brought her had +broken her leg, and how a sudden epidemic of scarlet fever in the village +had made it advisable for her departure not to be delayed.</p> + +<p>"Of course," she added, "my grandfather was not aware that I should miss +the train and be obliged to wait here, or else I am quite sure he would +not have allowed me to come by myself. But please, please do not let us +talk about me any longer. I want to hear about you now and, except that +your name is Eleanor Kathleen Carson, I do not know anything at all about +you."</p> + +<p>"There is not much to tell," returned Eleanor; "and what there is is not +particularly interesting; but fair is fair, as the children say. Know, +then, to begin with, that I have even fewer relations in the world than +you, for I have none at all."</p> + +<p>"None!" Margaret exclaimed incredulously. "Then with whom do you live? +Where is your home?"</p> + +<p>"I have no home. I have been earning my living for the last three years," +Eleanor answered.</p> + +<p>"Earning your own living. But are you not too young to do that? In what +manner do you earn it?"</p> + +<p>"As a governess. I have been an instructor of the young for the last four +years," Eleanor said, laughing a little at the expression of boundless +amazement which this statement brought to Margaret's face. Indeed, for a +moment the latter suspected her new acquaintance of joking. She found it +hard to believe that a girl of her own age should actually be a +governess. She had thought that all governesses were of Miss Bidwell's +age, and like her, too, in appearance.</p> + +<p>"I wish you had been my governess, then," she said earnestly.</p> + +<p>"It would have been rather a farce if I had been," Eleanor retorted, "for +I have an idea that you know very much more than I do; not that that +would be difficult, for I know nothing. Listen, now, and I will tell you +all about myself. I am Irish. My father died when I was four, and two +years later my mother married again."</p> + +<p>"Oh!" said Margaret, with intense interest and sympathy in her voice; +"and then they cast you adrift to earn your own living?"</p> + +<p>"No," said Eleanor, with some amusement in her voice, "they did nothing of +the sort. Besides, you can't very well cast a small person of six adrift, +as you call it, to earn her own living. On the contrary, my stepfather +was as kind to me as if I had been his own child, and I could not have +loved him more if he had been my own father whom I scarcely remember. We +were so happy together, we three. My stepfather just adored my mother, +she worshipped him, and they both spoiled and petted me. My stepfather +was a very rich man. He was English, I must tell you, but he had come to +Ireland on a visit, and there it was he met my mother; and to please her +when they were married he bought a lovely estate in Kerry, which was her +county, and became an Irishman, as he used to say. Until I was fifteen I +did exactly as I liked all day. I rode, of course, and hunted, and lived +an outdoor life, and though I had a governess and was supposed to do +lessons occasionally, it was only very occasionally that I showed my nose +in the schoolroom. And then, when I was fifteen, our happy life came to +an end. One morning my stepfather got a letter at breakfast to say that +the solicitor who had charge of all his money had committed suicide two +or three days before, and that it had been found that he had made away +with huge sums belonging to his clients. We were absolutely ruined.</p> + +<p>"The news was such an awful shock to my stepfather that it brought on an +attack of the heart, to which he was subject, and he died that night; and +my mother died a few weeks later. She could not, she told me, face life +without him, and she pined away and died simply of a broken heart."</p> + +<p>Eleanor's voice had become rather husky as she spoke the last few +sentences, but she did not cry, she only sat and stared rather fixedly +at the various timetables with which the table was strewn.</p> + +<p>Margaret put out her hand and touched her timidly on the arm, and the +silent token of sympathy pleased Eleanor who could not have borne her to +have spoken just then.</p> + +<p>There was a moment or two of silence, during which the rain splashed +steadily, drearily against the dusty window panes. It had settled now +into a thoroughly wet afternoon, and there seemed very little prospect of +its clearing before nightfall.</p> + +<p>"I have often wondered since what would have become of me then," Eleanor +resumed after those few moments of silence, "had it not been for Miss +McDonald. She was an old governess of my mother's and had a girls' school +in Hampstead, and when she heard how I was left she wrote and offered me +a home with her until I was old enough to earn my own living. I was to be +a sort of pupil teacher, if you know what that means—to do lessons with +the elder girls and to teach the younger ones—and in that way my +services were supposed to pay for my board and teaching. But I am quite +sure that at first, at any rate, Miss McDonald was a loser by the +transaction. I was woefully ignorant to begin with, and knew scarcely +more than a child of nine, and I was so miserable that I did not care +what became of me or what I did. Looking back now on that time I see that +Miss McDonald was wonderfully kind and patient, and that it was for my +own good that she insisted upon my working. But for a long time I don't +suppose there was a more unhappy girl in the whole of England than +myself. I hated England and the school and everything, and, of course, it +was a tremendous contrast to my former life, for it wasn't even as though +the school were a good school; it was quite second class, and the girls +were hopelessly common. And then all of a sudden consolation came to me, +and poor little drudge of a pupil teacher that I was, snubbed by the +elder girls and bored to death by the younger ones, I became happy again, +though in quite a different way to any happiness I had ever known +before."</p> + +<p>"How?" said Margaret, who had been listening to this narrative with +parted lips and eager eyes.</p> + +<p>After this, Eleanor Humphreys' conversation would seem tame indeed, for +at the bottom of her heart Margaret knew that, pretend to the contrary as +much as she liked, nothing that Eleanor Humphreys said ever came as a +surprise to her! But conversation with this Eleanor was quite another +matter. It was impossible to have the least idea beforehand of what she +was going to say.</p> + +<p>"How?" she asked again, quivering with impatience, for Eleanor, instead +of answering her immediately, was looking at her with a teasing smile on +her lips evidently enjoying the prospect of keeping her for a moment or +two longer on the tip-toe of expectation.</p> + +<p>"Well, before I tell you," she said, "I will give you three guesses. Now, +put yourself in my place and think what you would have liked to have had +happen to you if you had been me."</p> + +<p>"I should have liked some kind, lovely lady to have come and adopted me, +and taken me away to a beautiful home in the country, where I should have +had lots and lots of brothers and sisters," said Margaret, faithful to +the idea that the companionship of other young people was the greatest +delight a girl of her age could enjoy.</p> + +<p>But Eleanor shook her head. "I shouldn't have liked that a bit," she +said. "I should have been sure to have quarrelled with a whole ready-made +family of brothers and sisters, and they would not have loved me at all, +and the kind, lovely lady would have been jolly sorry she ever adopted +me, and would have turned me out of her lovely home pretty smartly. Guess +again. I can tell you that the good fortune that came to me was ever so +much more worth having than being adopted."</p> + +<p>"I cannot imagine any occurrence that would have caused me more +pleasure," said Margaret in a hesitating fashion. "Was it, perhaps, +discovered that the solicitor who lost your stepfather's money had +not lost it quite all, and that there was some left for you?</p> + +<p>"Better than that," said Eleanor; "much better. Guess again. I forgot +to mention that I do get a little money from the wreck of our fortunes, +about twenty pounds a year, but I shall never get more than that, and I +know it."</p> + +<p>"Did some one fall in love with you, then?" said Margaret rather shyly.</p> + +<p>"Gracious, no!" said Eleanor. "No men except one or two old professors +were ever allowed inside Waterloo House. And if a prince on a coal-black +horse, as handsome and as rich as a prince in a fairy tale, had come +riding up to the front door, and begged for my hand on bended knee, I +would have said 'No, thank you' if by saying 'Yes, please,' I must have +lost this wonderful thing that is mine. Have you ever heard of Melba or +Patti?"</p> + +<p>"Certainly," answered Margaret, rather wondering at the apparently +irrelevant turn the conversation had suddenly taken.</p> + +<p>"Well, then, in me you behold a future Melba and a Patti rolled into +one."</p> + +<p>"Do you mean that you are a singer?" asked Margaret.</p> + +<p>"A future Melba—Patti—Tetrazzini, I should have said," Eleanor returned +gravely. "But I see from your bewildered expression that you haven't +very much idea what I am talking about, so I will explain. As a child at +home I did not care much about music, chiefly, I think, because I did not +want to be made to practice too much, and when I first went to Waterloo +House I felt I liked it still less. The pianos there were mostly cracked +and old, the girls, very few of whom had a note of music in their +composition, thumped them all day long until I grew fairly sick of the +sound, and as I had to superintend the practising of the younger ones, +you may guess how much I enjoyed myself. But last Christmas holidays, +during which I was left by myself as usual, for Miss McDonald always went +away for a change, and she was so delicate, poor thing, that unless she +had gone away to the country or to the seaside two or three times a year +she could never have got through the terms, I took to practising a good +deal. It may sound horribly conceited, but I fell in love with my own +voice on the spot, and there, in the cold drawing-room, I used to sit and +sing all sorts of rubbishy, sentimental songs until my voice was husky +with mingled emotion and fatigue. Then I thought I would go to a few +concerts and find out if any of the great singers had such a lovely voice +as mine."</p> + +<p>"And had they?" queried Margaret, as Eleanor, who had been talking at a +great rate, paused for breath.</p> + +<p>"Had they?" repeated Eleanor with a little laugh. "They had. I came home +that evening quite out of love with my own voice, and before those +holidays were over I spent my half-yearly allowance, which I had only +just got, as well as my last quarter's salary, in tickets for concerts +and operas. It was the best time I had had since I left Ireland. In the +afternoons and evenings I used to go to concerts, and the mornings I +spent practising. But I gave up the songs and went in for scales only, +and I could hear my voice improving every day. I longed for some one who +really knew to tell me if my voice was any good, but I didn't know who to +ask. Miss Marvel, the school singing mistress, had no more voice than a +mouse, and what was worse, no ear. She would let a whole class sing out +of tune and never turn a hair. She did not like me because I had once +pointed this out to her, and I knew that if I asked for her opinion of my +voice she would only run it down. Then a daring idea came to me. Can you +guess what it was?"</p> + +<p>"No, I cannot," said Margaret quickly, warned by her last experiment, "I +have never been taught to guess. Please continue."</p> + +<p>"Very well," said Eleanor, smiling a well-pleased smile, for Margaret's +impatience was a tribute to the interest she was imparting to her tale. +"Have you ever heard of Signor Vanucci? No," as Margaret shook her head. +"He was one of the greatest singing masters in London, and a professor of +I don't know how many academies and schools of music in London. My great +idea was to go straight to him and to ask him if he would hear my voice, +and tell me if it was worth training. And on the very last day of the +holidays, when I had only about enough money left to pay my fare into +town and back, I went to his house. The servant didn't want to admit me +when she heard I had no appointment, but I told her what I wanted, and +begged so hard that she hadn't the heart to refuse, although she told me +that she would be pretty sure to get into trouble afterwards with her +master. But I don't believe he was cross with her, for he was a dear old +man, and didn't look as though he could be angry with any one. Of course, +I began by apologising for having ventured to come, and said I was afraid +he must be very much astonished at my having dared to do such a thing as +to force my way into his house. He looked at me quite gravely, and said, +did I think, then, that I was the first young lady who had conceived the +idea of coming to him to be told whether her voice was most like Patti's +or Melba's. I said I had thought so; and then he said that I was the +nine-hundredth-and-thirty-seventh that week. 'And Martha lets them all +in, every one,' he said, with such a comical look of despair that I could +not help laughing outright. 'And she thinks that I have only to hear them +sing, and they straightway become famous on the spot. Well, well,' he +went on, 'you did not come here to hear me talk, but to listen to +yourself singing, is it not so? There is the piano. Take your seat. +Where are your songs?'"</p> + +<p>"And then he yawned, and walked away to the window, and stood there +humming a little tune. I could see that he was already getting tired of +me, and sorry that he had let me in, and though the thought that he was +looking upon me as an awful nuisance would have made me awfully nervous +if I had let it, I just said to myself, 'here is your opportunity, seize +it. What does it matter about any one else?' And I sat down and sang a +scale, beginning with the lowest note I could manage, and going up, up, +up, and ending with a long shake on the two top notes."</p> + +<p>"Bravo! bravo!" he said when I had finished, and he was no longer +standing at the window humming a tune, but he was at my side clapping his +hands and patting my shoulder. "Do you know," Eleanor said, her eyes +aglow with triumph at the recollection of that moment, "I had come in +hoping that he would give me five minutes of his time, and he kept me for +an hour, although two pupils were waiting for him in the ante-room."</p> + +<p>"And what did he say?" queried Margaret, with an interest that was +positively breathless.</p> + +<p>Eleanor suddenly sprang to her feet and began restlessly to pace the +room. The glow of triumph had faded from her face, and had been replaced +by a look of impatient despair that was almost fierce in its intensity.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I can't bear to think of what he said!" she burst out. "I feel as +though I should go wild sometimes when I remember, when I know that I +have a gift which is given to few, and that it is wasted on me, locked +away, unless—for do you know what Signor Vanucini said to me?" she asked, +coming to an abrupt pause by the table. "He told me that I ought to be +the greatest singer of my generation, that he foresaw a splendid future +before me, that my voice had infinite possibilities, but that, of course, +it was utterly untrained, and that years of hard work and study lay in +front of me. That I must work, and work, and learn, and learn, and above +all have the best training from the first. And then he said that I had +better enter my name as a student at one of the colleges where he was a +professor, and that he himself would give me lessons. And, oh! the +bitterness of the moment when I had to say that I had no money, no +friends to pay for my education, and that I was earning my living as a +pupil teacher in a third-rate school in the suburbs. Do you know he +seemed almost as much upset as I was. He said it was a great pity, that a +voice like mine ought not to be thrown away, and he asked me a lot of +questions about Miss McDonald and the school. Did I think she would +continue to let me live with her, and come up to town three or four times +a week, and he would give me lessons for nothing. I said I was afraid +not, for I knew the school was in rather low water, and that Miss +McDonald, so far from being able to keep me for nothing, had dismissed +the junior governess, and that I was to fill the vacant post.</p> + +<p>"'Nevare mind,' he said, 'we vill find ze way. I, Giorgi Vanucci, to you +make ze assurance.'</p> + +<p>"Then he took down my name and address very carefully in a note-book and +sent me away. I was so excited that I walked the whole way from Berners +Street to Hampstead, and felt all the time not as though I were walking +on hard pavement, but as though I were treading on air. I knew from his +manner that Signor Vanucci meant to help me, and that it would be all +right for me to accept his kindness, for I could pay him back afterwards +when I became a famous singer. The next day Miss McDonald came back, and +the day after the girls returned, and the old, dull, insufferably stupid +round began again. But all the time I was thinking, 'This won't last long +for me; in a few days Signor Vanucci will write and tell her the +wonderful news about me.' Miss McDonald noticed how happy I was, and told +me that she was glad that I was at last showing more interest in my work +as a teacher. 'For, my dear,' she said, rather sadly, 'it is no use your +quarrelling with your bread-and-butter. You may not like teaching, but it +appears to me the only opening possible to you.' I only laughed and +danced about the room and hugged her. Wait, I thought, until that letter +comes from Signor Vanucci, and you will see that you will be nothing to +the man who cut bread-and-butter with a razor, for you will have been +guilty of the enormity of setting a Melba and a Patti down to teach +children their Sol-re-fa.</p> + +<p>"But that letter never came; and about ten days later I knew why, for I +saw in the papers that the famous musician, Signor Vanucci, had been +knocked down by a motor-car when crossing a street near his house, and +though not much injured, had died a few hours after from the shock."</p> + +<p>"And what did you do?" asked Margaret, feeling very much inclined to cry +when she heard how Eleanor's high hopes had thus been laid low.</p> + +<p>"Do?" said Eleanor sadly; "there was nothing to be done. I grieved for +the dreadfully sudden death of the old man, and I shall never forget his +kindness, and I shall always feel as grateful to him as though he had +lived to carry out his generous intentions towards me. But, of course, +his death was an awful disappointment.</p> + +<p>"All my hopes of getting my voice trained vanished, and it seems as if +what Miss McDonald said were true, and that I have no chance of being +anything but a teacher all my life. To have had so much almost in my +grasp, and then to have had it snatched away, was rather hard luck," she +ended gloomily. "However, I simply would not let myself despond. For one +thing, I hadn't time; I was being worked to death. One or two of the +governesses were down with influenza, including the music mistress, and I +took her singing class, and, I promise you, I made them sit up. I told +them I had never yet heard them sing five consecutive bars in tune, and +then I imitated them in rather an exaggerated way, and even the big ones +who adored Miss Marvel and detested me could not help laughing. But on +the whole I was glad when Miss Marvel was well again and could take over +her own class, and within two days they were singing as flat as ever. +Then I filled up any spare moments I had during the day by studying on my +own account. One of the things Signor Vanucci had impressed on me was +that if I wanted to be a great artist instead of merely being a great +singer, I must not be content with training my voice only, but must +educate my mind, and that nothing in the way of learning would ever come +amiss, for I could put it all in my music. So though I could not get the +singing lessons I pined for, I remembered his advice and set to work to +learn all I could. Among other things, he had asked me if I knew Italian, +and had seemed sorry when I said 'No, and very little French or German +either.' So as a beginning I bought an Italian grammar and a dictionary, +and started to study the language. There they are now," she said, nodding +towards the two books with which she had been so busy a short time +before. "It is wonderful what a lot one can get done in odd moments, if," +she added with a smile, "one is not led away to waste one's time, and +other people's too, by detailing to them at great length one's life's +history."</p> + +<p>"You know you are not wasting my time," Margaret replied with great +earnestness, "and I am most grateful to you for telling me about +yourself. I shall never, never forget it or you," she added wistfully; +"but I shall remember every word you have said, long after you have +forgotten you ever met me."</p> + +<p>"But I am not going to forget you either," Eleanor said, and was touched +to see the quick look of almost pathetic gratitude that sprang to +Margaret's face at this answer. "You mustn't go away with the idea that I +tell everybody I meet about myself. You may not believe it after the way +I have taken you into my confidence, but you are the very first person to +whom I have ever mentioned my home or my parents since I said good-bye to +Ireland six years ago, and that you are the only person in the whole wide +world who knows of my visit to Signor Vanucci and what he told me, for I +have kept that a secret from every one. I could not even bring myself to +tell Miss McDonald about it—not that she would have been unsympathetic, +but simply because it was such a bitter disappointment that I could not +have borne to hear it discussed. Besides, she could not, however willing +to do so, have helped me in any way. I told you the school was in low +water. It had not been paying properly for some time, and that term Miss +McDonald decided that unless she got a great many more pupils at Easter +she would give it up altogether at the end of the summer term.</p> + +<p>"Well, at Easter no fresh pupils applied to come, and so many left that +scarcely any remained in the school. I don't know what poor Miss McDonald +would have done, for I don't think she had saved much money, if a brother +that she had not seen for years had not written from Australia to say +that after many years of struggling he was now a rich man, and that he +hoped she would go out there and make her home with him. And she sailed +for Melbourne last week."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI</h2> + +<h3>MARGARET AND ELEANOR CHANGE PLACES</h3> + + +<p>"Miss McDonald sailed for Australia last week!" ejaculated Margaret in +the utmost astonishment. "But what is to become of you, then? Are you +quite alone?"</p> + +<p>"Quite," responded Eleanor, for whom her solitary state evidently +possessed no terrors, for she smiled at Margaret's horrified tone. "Dear +old Miss McDonald! If I would have consented, she would have taken me +with her, I think, and chanced her brother's dismay when we got there. +She was dreadfully distressed at the idea of leaving me behind; but what +could she have done for me if she had remained? As I told her, she had +done more for me than any one could possibly have expected of her, in +keeping me, and giving me what education I possess, during the last six +years. And it is not as if I had lost my situation through her going away +either, for I have been left as a legacy to Miss Marvel. Miss Marvel +bought the goodwill of the school," she added, seeing that Margaret had +not quite understood her last remark, "and she has promised to keep me on +as junior governess, as long as I do my work well, of course, and wish +to stay."</p> + +<p>"And do you wish to stay there?" Margaret asked.</p> + +<p>"Did you ever hear that beggars can't be choosers?" Eleanor said, with +rather a wry little smile. "I should not wish to stay in any school as a +teacher if I could avoid such a fate, but I can't; and I am at least +sensible enough to be thankful that my bread-and-butter, and a roof over +my head, and a bed, and a few other little trifles of that sort are +provided for me. And before she went, Miss McDonald did me another kind +turn. Up to the present I have always spent my holidays in Hampstead, but +this year she wrote to a cousin of hers who lives in Seabourne and asked +her if she would have me down on a visit, and the cousin wrote back such +a nice letter, saying she had just been on the point of advertising for +some one who would come to her for the whole of the summer holidays, and +make herself useful and help look after the children, and have a good +time with the elder ones. The letter was a little vague, and so Miss +McDonald thought as she read it out to me, for it did not give me much +idea of what I was to do. But probably she wants some one to arrange the +flowers, and write notes, and so on, and take the children down on the +beach and that sort of thing."</p> + +<p>"Oh, but how lovely for you!" Margaret said, with a touch of envy in her +voice. "I wonder how many children there will be, and if there will be +any nice girls of your own age among them. And what delightful picnics, +and tennis parties, and excursions you will enjoy!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I suppose so," said Eleanor, without the slightest enthusiasm in +her voice. "But Mrs. Danvers, for that is the name of the lady, said I +must be prepared to find my days fairly well occupied, and must not mind +having scarcely any time to myself."</p> + +<p>"Why, it is just the kind of life that I should have enjoyed so much," +Margaret said, with a tremendous sigh. "People to talk to and to play +with all day long. It does seem odd that you are not anticipating it with +any pleasure, Eleanor."</p> + +<p>"It is not only funny, it is, I know, very ungrateful," Eleanor said, +with sudden energy. "But, oh!" she added, "I don't want to play or to +talk. I want to work, work, work, and become great and famous. But at +least I can get up early. The morning hours, the ones before breakfast, +will at least be my own, and I can study for three or four hours every +morning before I go down to breakfast."</p> + +<p>"Yes, and you could practice your singing then," said Margaret.</p> + +<p>"What! and wake the whole family up. I expect that would be as much as my +place was worth," laughed Eleanor. She paused and sighed, while a shadow +chased the brightness from her face. "I try and cheat myself into the +belief that I am going to enjoy myself at Seabourne," she broke out as +she resumed her restless march up and down the room; "and that I shall +love being near the sea and near real country again. And so I shall enjoy +that part. But all the time deep down inside me I am just miserable at +the thought that I am wasting time that can never, never come back to me. +It does seem hard to think that there are hundreds and hundreds of girls +all over England who are getting splendid musical educations that will +never be the least little bit of use to them, while my voice is being +thrown away for want of training. I tell you, Margaret, I feel sometimes +as if it simply did not bear thinking about. A splendid, interesting +career, bringing fame and fortune with it, lies waiting for me on the +other side, as it were, of a deep gulf. The gulf can only be crossed by +the bridge of training, and I haven't the money to pay the toll."</p> + +<p>She flung herself with an air of gloomy impatience on the nearest chair, +and, putting her elbows on the table, propped her chin on her palms and +stared with a frown at the empty fireplace opposite to her.</p> + +<p>For a moment or two Margaret did not speak, but stole anxious glances at +the sad face of her new acquaintance, whose rapid changes of mood she +found it exceedingly difficult to keep pace with. For Eleanor certainly +passed with startling quickness from grave to gay, and now, after having +dwelt only a few seconds back with obvious delight on the thought of her +sojourn by the sea, she was plunged in the blackest depths of despair +again. But the truth was that the thought of the glorious gift she so +confidently believed was hers, and of which she could make no use, was +never absent from Eleanor's mind, and though her natural gaiety and pluck +combined enabled her to laugh and talk as though she had not a care in +the world, a chance word could always bring the sadness and longing that +underlay her laughter to the surface.</p> + +<p>"Oh, dear! oh, dear!" sighed Margaret at last, when the silence had +lasted so long that she began to fear that Eleanor had forgotten her +presence altogether, and would not rouse herself from her reverie until +it was time for their train to go. "Oh, dear! what a pity it is that we +cannot change our identities! To stay in a big house with people is just +what I should like to do, and I believe you would really like staying at +Windy Gap and having Italian and singing lessons all day long with an +Italian lady."</p> + +<p>"Really like," said Eleanor; "that is a mild way of putting it. Why, +there is nothing that I should like better, provided, of course, that the +Italian lady is a good teacher."</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, I believe she is a good enough teacher. If I recollect aright +what my grandfather said to me on the subject, she used to be an opera +singer herself once some years ago, but her health broke down and she +had to leave the stage. Her name is Madame Martelli."</p> + +<p>Scarcely had the last word left her lips than Eleanor, straightening +herself with a sudden jerk, gazed with eyes that fairly blazed with +excitement at Margaret.</p> + +<p>"Martelli!" she exclaimed incredulously. "Not Margherita Martelli!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I am quite sure that was the name, because I thought at the time +how very much prettier the Italian way of saying Margaret was than the +English. Do you not think so also?"</p> + +<p>But Eleanor brushed the inquiry aside as though she had not heard it.</p> + +<p>"And to think," she muttered, more to herself than to Margaret, "that she +is going to have lessons from Martelli."</p> + +<p>"But why not?" said Margaret in a puzzled tone. "Is she not nice? Is she +not a good teacher?"</p> + +<p>"Nice! A good teacher! Have you never heard of Margherita Martelli?" +Eleanor ejaculated in a tone of such unbounded amazement that Margaret +began to blush for her own ignorance, and it was in a shame-faced voice +that she owned that until the other day when her grandfather had told her +that she was to have lessons from a Madame Martelli she had never heard +the name.</p> + +<p>"Oh, well," said Eleanor, calming down and laughing at her own +impetuosity, "now I come to think of it, I was just as ignorant a few +months ago, but I was reading the autobiography of a great concert +director the other day and in it he speaks of Margherita Martelli and the +brief but wonderful career she had. She only sang for two or three years, +and had scored triumph after triumph when a sudden illness deprived her +of her voice, and she vanished from the stage as suddenly as she had come +on to it. I had no idea that she lived in England now or that she gave +lessons. Oh, you lucky, lucky girl!" she added, a note of deep, +uncontrolled envy in her voice. "Just imagine. You are going to have +lessons from Martelli. And you are not out of your mind with joy. What +a wicked, wicked waste it is!"</p> + +<p>"Is it not?" Margaret agreed, not a whit offended at the frankness of +this remark. "I do not wish to learn singing. I know my voice possesses +no merit whatever, and, moreover, I am not always sure whether I am +singing in tune or not."</p> + +<p>"Well, it is something to know you don't know," said Eleanor. "Not every +one who sings out of tune could or would own as much. Oh, what a +horrible, topsy-turvy world it is, to be sure! Here are you going to +have the thing that I covet more than anything else in the whole wide +world—singing lessons from a first-rate teacher, which you don't +appreciate in the least—and here am I, compelled to waste the whole +summer holidays doing nothing. And if you would like to be me, as you say +you would, how much more wouldn't I give to be you, if only for a month!"</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Margaret, with a long-drawn sigh; "it does seem a matter for +considerable regret that we cannot change places, and you be me and I be +you. If only a fairy would pass this way and transform us with a waive of +her magic wand into each other how much happier we both should be, and +how delighted Madame Martelli would be to get you for a pupil instead of +me!"</p> + +<p>"Don't," said Eleanor, with a little muffled groan. She could not play +with the idea as Margaret was doing, her feelings were far too deeply +engaged for that.</p> + +<p>Margaret sighed again. It distressed her to see any one so unhappy as +Eleanor looked at that moment, and she began to realise that her longing +for a freer, different life to the one she had hitherto led was but a +puny thing when compared to the fierce desire that consumed Eleanor to be +given an opportunity to cultivate her voice. If only she could help her +in some way. But what could she do? She might ask Mrs. Murray to allow +Eleanor to share her lessons, but she was afraid that the request would +not be granted. She knew that her grandfather would not allow her to +associate with any girl of her own age, certainly not with one whose +acquaintance she had made in so casual a manner. And besides, even if her +grandfather had done such an unlikely thing as to give his consent to the +arrangement, how could Eleanor find the time to come out to Windy Gap for +her lessons?</p> + +<p>So back again came Margaret to the regret that had been running in her +head so long, the regret that she and Eleanor, who were so obviously +fitted to lead each other's lives rather than their own, could not change +places. Oddly enough, too, if they did change places, no one would be any +the wiser. Mrs. Murray had never seen her, and Mrs. Danvers had never +seen Eleanor. So if Eleanor went to Windy Gap, and she, Margaret, to +Seabourne, their respective hostesses would never suspect the exchange +that their guests had effected between themselves.</p> + +<p>"Eleanor!" she exclaimed, leaning across the table and speaking in a +voice that shook with excitement, "let us do it. Change places, I mean. +If you'll be me, I shall be only too pleased to be you. No, don't +interrupt," as Eleanor seemed about to speak, "I have thought it all out, +and it will be quite easy. Mrs. Murray has never seen me, and Mrs. +Danvers has never seen you, so how are they to know that we have changed +places?"</p> + +<p>"You can't be serious, Margaret, surely," Eleanor said. "It's the most +hare-brained suggestion I ever heard."</p> + +<p>"Why?" said Margaret.</p> + +<p>"Why? Because it is. We should be found out in a day, or a week."</p> + +<p>"But who is to find us out?" persisted Margaret. "Mrs. Murray has never +seen me, and Mrs. Danvers has never seen you. Why, if they were here now +they could not tell which was which. Oh, Eleanor, do go to Windy Gap +instead of me, and let me go to your house. Think of the Italian lessons, +and the singing lessons. Why, Eleanor, it is the opportunity of your +lifetime, it is really. This is probably the turning-point of your whole +life? I am surprised that you cannot realise that."</p> + +<p>"I do realise it," Eleanor said almost fiercely. "Do you suppose for an +instant that I can't see what an opportunity is being offered to me? But +what I also see is how very wrong it would be."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I suppose it would be rather wrong," Margaret said calmly; "but, +after all, we would not be doing any one any harm, and I am so tired of +being treated just like a little girl and as though I had no opinions or +will of my own."</p> + +<p>"Well, I think when your grandfather hears of this escapade he won't be +under that delusion concerning you any longer," Eleanor said rather +drily.</p> + +<p>"Then you will do it?" Margaret cried eagerly. It was her turn now to +jump up and pace the room restlessly. "Oh, say quickly you will do it, +for I find this suspense very trying. Please, please, Eleanor, do not say +No. Just think how dull and dreary my life has always been, and do not +deprive me of the chance of having just a little enjoyment like other +girls of my age."</p> + +<p>The implication that sheer selfishness only made her hold out against +this scheme struck Eleanor as being distinctly funny.</p> + +<p>"But I don't suppose for a minute there is going to be much enjoyment +for me at Seabourne," Eleanor protested. "Mrs. Danvers said I must be +prepared to work pretty hard."</p> + +<p>"Well, I shall like that as long as it is not lessons," Margaret said +quickly. "Why, even to see other people and to watch them, and to listen +to them talking will be enjoyment for me. And think of Madame Martelli +and the singing lessons."</p> + +<p>"I am thinking of them," Eleanor returned desperately, "and I am trying +hard not to." Then all of a sudden her resolution gave way. It had been +too unequal a fight to last very long, for there were too many forces +arrayed against her conscience to give it a fair chance of gaining the +day. Margaret's persuasions counted for little really, but the thought +of the lessons was, of course, all-powerful with her, and there was, too, +a spice of adventure about the scheme that appealed strongly to her +high-spirited, mischief-loving nature. "But it's on you that the trouble +will fall in the end, Margaret," she warned her. "When we are found out I +shall be turned out of the house as an imposter, of course, but that will +be all that can happen to me. It's you who will have to bear the brunt of +both Mrs. Murray's anger and of your grandfather's."</p> + +<p>But be the consequences what they might, Margaret refused to look so far +ahead or to consider for a moment the time when the trick they were about +to play must inevitably be discovered.</p> + +<p>That belonged entirely to the future; it was the present that occupied +her mind now, and the keen zest and animation with which she entered into +every detail of the scheme, foreseeing and guarding against every +obstacle that might wreck it, came as a positive revelation to Eleanor. +She could not have believed that Margaret had it in her to plot and plan +in such a shrewd, capable manner, and she could only nod her head in +acquiescence to most of the suggestions that were made. She was simply +swept off her feet by Margaret's impetuosity. And so, carried along +by the flood of her eager eloquence and nearly off her head with joy at +the intoxicating thought that she was attaining her heart's desire, and +that splendid singing lessons were now within measurable distance of her, +it was small wonder that her conscience gave up the unequal fight and +retired from the field in despair.</p> + +<p>"We must change tickets," Margaret announced presently, with the +business-like air of one who is determined to overlook no detail, however +apparently unimportant, "for you will have to get out at Chailfield, +Eleanor, which is three or four stations before we come to Seabourne."</p> + +<p>"Very well, yes, I suppose so," Eleanor said somewhat absently. She was +deep in consideration as to which opera she should study first with +Madame Martelli. The latter would probably wish to take one in which she +had scored a success herself, and Eleanor was racking her brain to +remember the particular one in which she had read that the gifted singer +of past days had made her most signal triumph.</p> + +<p>"And oh, Eleanor! what about our clothes? I have never, never thought of +them."</p> + +<p>There was such a depth of tragic despair in Margaret's voice that it +could not but arrest Eleanor's wandering attention.</p> + +<p>"Clothes," she said vaguely; "what clothes?"</p> + +<p>"Why, our clothes," Margaret said impatiently. "We ought to change them, +you know, and you put on mine, and I put on yours."</p> + +<p>Eleanor looked at her for a moment with the deep, earnest gaze one +unconsciously accords to people whose last remark one ought to have heard +but has not. But then, as the meaning of Margaret's speech slowly +penetrated to her brain, she smiled, and the smile broadened to a laugh.</p> + +<p>"If changing clothes is part of the programme," she said, still laughing, +"I'm off. Why, Margaret, how do you suppose I'm going to get into your +clothes, and what do you suppose you would look like in mine? Why, I am +an inch taller than you are, and broader in proportion. No, we must take +our own things and cut the marking out of our linen. None of my +underlinen happens to be marked, so that simplifies matters for me."</p> + +<p>"But mine all is," Margaret said ruefully; "Mrs. Parkes did it all last +week, and would it not look strange if I cut my name out of all my +things?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, perhaps it would rather," Eleanor said thoughtfully. "I tell you +how you must manage. To begin with, don't let a maid do your unpacking +for you, and keep everything locked up until you have had time to go out +and buy a bottle of marking ink and some block tape. Then mark the tape +with your name and sew it over the name on your linen."</p> + +<p>"And then," Eleanor pursued, "we must always remember to keep most of our +private possessions under lock and key, so that no one reads our real +names on any of our books."</p> + +<p>"Why, that is just what I have been telling you," said Margaret, "and as +a beginning I wrote Margaret Anstruther over the Eleanor Carson on the +fly-leaves of your grammar and your dictionary."</p> + +<p>"Why, of course, so you did," said Eleanor. "Excuse my apparent +inattention. At that moment I was choosing the opera in which I was to +make my <i>début</i>, and was trying to decide whether the said <i>début</i> shall +take place in London or Paris, or in New York. They do give one such +splendid receptions in New York. One thing you may rely on, Margaret, +I shall send you tickets. Stall, second row, or would you like a box?"</p> + +<p>"Speaking of boxes," said Margaret seriously, "are your name or your +initials painted on yours; neither are on mine."</p> + +<p>"Nor on mine. My trunk, too, is innocent of any old labels that might +betray us."</p> + +<p>At that moment a porter opened the door and looked in.</p> + +<p>"The 2.17 has just been signalled," he said; "are either of you ladies +going by it?"</p> + +<p>"We both are," said Eleanor, jumping up briskly and going towards the +door. "Porter, our trunks are wrongly labelled. Would you kindly see to +it for us. The one that should be labelled to Seabourne is labelled to +Chailfield, and <i>vice versâ</i>. I will come and show you. Come along, +Margaret, the porter will take your bag."</p> + +<p>"I had omitted to take the matter of labels into my consideration," +Margaret said, in an undertone, as they followed the man up the platform.</p> + +<p>"Well, you needn't reproach yourself over much for that," Eleanor said. +"Considering that this is your first attempt at a conspiracy, you make an +A1 plotter."</p> + +<p>Margaret's answering smile was rather a perfunctory one. She found +Eleanor's way of treating the matter as a most excellent jest rather +a trying one, and yet she could not but acknowledge that Eleanor's +foresight, when she chose to exercise it, was at least equal to her own. +For when Eleanor had made sure that the new railway labels were properly +affixed she changed their private labels, thus making the transfer of +their names complete.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII</h2> + +<h3>MRS. MURRAY MEETS THE TRAIN</h3> + + +<p>"There," said Eleanor, "the first step is successfully accomplished, and +we have taken formal possession of each other's names. Here comes the +train. You were travelling first, weren't you? I was third. We had better +both go third as far as the station just before Chailfield, and then I +will take your ticket and get into a first and make my arrival in state. +By the way, did you send a telegram to Mrs. Murray telling her you had +missed an earlier train?"</p> + +<p>"No," owned Margaret, conscience stricken, "I am afraid the idea that I +should do so never occurred to me."</p> + +<p>"Very careless of you," commented Eleanor. "Nobody may be at the station +to meet me. I treated you much better, for I sent one to Mrs. Danvers. +However, the porter will send one for me," and after asking Margaret for +Mrs. Murray's address, and the porter for the time at which the train was +due at Chailfield, she wrote out the following telegram: "Missed +connection at Carden. Arriving Chailfield 7.56. Margaret." This she +handed to the porter, asking him to send it off as soon as he had seen +them into the train.</p> + +<p>"I wonder," she added, as they stood waiting for the train to come in, +"how soon we shall get accustomed to our new names. You will probably +find that part easier than I shall, for the name of Margaret is quite +strange to me, whereas you told me that you had had a great friend called +Eleanor, so that the name will have a familiar ring to you at any rate. +By the way, you never explained to me how you reconcile the two +conflicting statements you made me, for after telling me that you had +scarcely ever spoken to a girl in your life, you went on to say that your +dearest friend was a namesake of mine."</p> + +<p>The two girls had been fortunate enough to secure a carriage to +themselves, for very few people were travelling by that slow train, and +as soon as the door was shut upon them they settled themselves opposite +one another, and Margaret proceeded to give the desired explanation. For, +as Eleanor, who to Margaret's relief had now quite emerged from the +dreamy mood into which the thought of her future fame had led her, +remarked, that if their plans were not to topple ignominously about their +ears at the very outset, it was absolutely essential that each should +know as much about the other as possible.</p> + +<p>And so, though rather reluctantly, Margaret spoke of her dream friend, +and of how, since the days of her childhood, she had managed to keep her +existence a secret even from her grandfather and her governess until ten +days ago, when the former, overhearing her talking to herself in the +wood, had suspected the presence of a stranger, and though that had been +contrary to his most stringent rules, had not been a whit appeased when +he learned that the person to whom his granddaughter was talking was an +imaginary one.</p> + +<p>Margaret need not have been afraid that Eleanor would pour ridicule on +her shadowy friend; on the contrary, the latter was too touched by the +picture of the lonely life the other must have led even to smile.</p> + +<p>"It really is quite a coincidence that my name is Eleanor, too," she +remarked thoughtfully, "and I am not altogether sure that the name is a +fortunate one for you. You see, the first Eleanor ended by getting you +into fairly hot water, and the second Eleanor, which is me, is in a fair +way to do likewise. But I am glad you told me about the first Eleanor. As +she played such an important part in your life it would never have done +for me to have been in complete ignorance of her existence. Now this is +how I propose we should employ the next half-hour or so. Have you got a +sheet of paper and a pencil? No," as Margaret shook her head. "Well, I +can supply you with both articles. Little did I think," she added, as she +tore a couple of sheets out of her exercise book, and giving one to +Margaret, kept the other for herself, "even in my wildest dreams that the +innocent pages of my copy-book would ever be put to such a purpose as +this. I am going to write down a list of the things about myself that you +ought to know, and I want you to do the same about yourself. Little +things which we would probably forget if we told them to one another, but +which it may prove very useful to have jotted down so that we can refer +to it in case of need. You might write down the date of your birthday, +for instance, your grandfather's, if you know it, and give me a short +description of your house, how many bedrooms it has, and so on, and how +many servants, their names, the name of your clergyman, and the church, +the doctor, any people you know by sight or by name; your governess's +name, how long she was with you, why she left, and how you spent your +days, and any little things of that sort. Do you understand?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, I think I do," Margaret said, "for I can see how awkward it would +be if Mrs. Murray asked you any of these things and you could not +answer."</p> + +<p>"And on my side," said Eleanor, "I shall write you a short description of +the school, and the names and numbers of the girls, what classes I took, +the names of the governesses, and a short description of Miss McDonald's +appearance, what she usually wore, where she went for her holidays, and +any little details of that sort."</p> + +<p>For over half an hour the two girls scribbled away busily, and a good +deal more paper had to be torn from the exercise-book before their +literary labours were at an end.</p> + +<p>Margaret, in addition to her own written hints for Eleanor's guidance, +was able to give the latter a folded sheet of notepaper which her +grandfather had ordered her to convey to Mrs. Murray. On one side of it +was carefully written out a table of the hours of study which Margaret +had been accustomed to observe hitherto, and on the other he had sketched +a plan of the way in which he wished her days to be filled while she was +with Mrs. Murray. Eleanor was pleased to observe that by far the greater +part of the day was to be spent with Madame Martelli, and though the +study of Italian occupied more time than singing, Eleanor was confident +that she could soon alter that.</p> + +<p>"But I am not at all sure," she said, with a slight grimace, as she read +through the list of what Margaret had been used to do, "if I shall be +able to maintain your character as easily as I thought. For you are a +very learned person, Margaret, and if I am put through an examination as +soon as I arrive, I don't know where I shall be. No," as Margaret opened +her lips to protest, "I am not fishing. It is a fact that my education is +miles behind yours, and I shouldn't be a bit surprised if Mrs. Murray +found that out straightaway."</p> + +<p>"She will only think that I—that you, I mean—have a very bad memory," +Margaret said encouragingly. "Besides, she is deaf, and, from what +grandfather said, not very fond of conversation. She will only expect +you to say Yes and No to her, for she will know that that was all +grandfather expected me to say to him."</p> + +<p>"Is that all you were supposed to say to him," Eleanor asked in blank +astonishment.</p> + +<p>"That is all. Until about a year ago I thought grandchildren and sons and +daughters never did say more than that to their parents; but, of course, +I know now that they do."</p> + +<p>"Well, I should imagine so," Eleanor remarked. "You have been brought up +in the style of one hundred years ago, and yet, except for a certain +quaintness in your speech, one would not think you very different from +any girl brought up in the ordinary way."</p> + +<p>"Is my speech quaint?" Margaret asked in dismay.</p> + +<p>"It's nothing to worry about," Eleanor said consolingly. "Perhaps it is +only because you don't talk a word of slang that your speech sounds a +little odd."</p> + +<p>"Slang!" said Margaret, only partly relieved. "Is that not what +schoolboys talk?"</p> + +<p>"Schoolboys and others," said Eleanor, with a laugh. "But don't worry," +she added. "It is quite in keeping with your new character as a governess +that you should not be slangy, so do not put yourself to the trouble of +learning any."</p> + +<p>"You have said several things that I did not understand," said Margaret +thoughtfully, "were they slang?"</p> + +<p>"Very probably; what were they?"</p> + +<p>"Oh! I do not know that I can remember them quite all, but you said a +minute ago that my education was miles behind yours; what did that mean?"</p> + +<p>"Inferior to yours," Eleanor said promptly. "That's hardly slang. It +explains itself really, and so you will find with most of the things I +have said. But, perhaps, if you hear any expressions of that sort from +the young Danvers and don't understand them, it will be better not to ask +their meaning. You see, you are supposed to have lived in a girl's school +for the last three years and to have all the slang vocabulary at your +fingers' ends, so that if you go asking what every common or garden slang +expression means you will give us both away with a pound of tea."</p> + +<p>"I understand," said Margaret meekly, "and I will not ask." And she made +good her promise by forbearing to inquire what "common" or "garden" +meant when used in that connection, and what bearing a pound of tea had +on the question.</p> + +<p>"By the way," said Eleanor, "it has just occurred to me that we ought +to keep any photographs we have of our parents safely locked away. I +must be especially careful, for Mrs. Murray, as an old friend of your +grandfather's, might, if she saw the photographs of my father and mother, +recognise the fact that they were not yours."</p> + +<p>"The only portraits I have of my father and my mother are contained in +this locket," said Margaret, as she drew an old leather case from her bag +and pressed the spring. Within lay a dull gold locket richly chased on +one side, and having the monogram "M" beautifully worked in seed pearls +on the other. Inside were two portraits painted on ivory, one of +Margaret's father and one of her mother.</p> + +<p>"My mother had these especially painted for me," Margaret said, "but I +have never worn the locket. It is too big."</p> + +<p>"Yes, it is too big to wear," Eleanor said; "but oh!" as she took the +case from Margaret's hand, "what a beautiful string of pearls!"</p> + +<p>The locket fitted into a bed on the velvet-lined case, and round it was a +circular depression in which a row of pearls lay coiled.</p> + +<p>"Yes, that is the chain to wear with the locket," Margaret said. "It is +attached to it."</p> + +<p>"If it wasn't I should wear the pearls by themselves," Eleanor said, +examining them intently. "They are a perfectly lovely row, and must be +worth a lot of money. You had better keep this very carefully locked up, +Margaret," she said, snapping to the case and handing it back to its +owner. "They are hardly the sort of things that a governess would be +likely to possess."</p> + +<p>"My bag has a very good key," Margaret answered, "so I should always keep +it locked and wear the key on my watch-chain."</p> + +<p>When Eleanor heard that Margaret had never been to London, and had only +the very vaguest idea of what Hampstead, where she was supposed to have +lived for the last six years, was like, she had given vent to a low +whistle expressive of despair. And as their time together was now drawing +short she felt that it would be better to give Margaret a verbal +description of that suburb rather than attempt to write one out for her. +So as hurriedly as she could she told Margaret as much about Hampstead as +she could think of on the spur of the moment. Margaret listened +attentively, and as she had naturally an excellent memory, which had been +trained to a marvellous pitch of perfection by Miss Bidwell, she found no +difficulty at all in committing to heart almost every word that Eleanor +uttered on the subject.</p> + +<p>The train was running now through exceedingly pretty scenery, but neither +of the two girls had any attention to spare for it; every minute of their +time was occupied in endeavouring to make themselves as perfect as +possible in their new characters. But at last when a long, undulating +range of distant blue hills turned themselves slowly into green downs, +and instead of occupying the horizon only, filled the middle distance +entirely, leaving a foreground of flat green fields between themselves +and the train, Eleanor, glancing out of the window, gave it as her +opinion that they must be fairly close to Chailfield now, and that at the +next station she would change into a first-class carriage.</p> + +<p>The rain had long since ceased, and the sun, as it sank towards the range +of hills that rose against the western sky, was shining brilliantly out +of a mass of gorgeously hued clouds. As it turned out, however, Eleanor +had no chance to change into a first-class carriage, for as the train +slowed down and ran into the little country station they were +approaching, she saw that they had actually arrived at Chailfield.</p> + +<p>Both girls gave a little gasp of dismay. Neither had realised that the +moment for parting was so near, and now that it was actually upon them, +both of them were conscious of a distinct feeling of nervousness which +perceptibly increased, especially on Eleanor's part, when she saw that a +lady who could be none other than Mrs. Murray had come down to meet the +train, for outside the paling that separated the road from the platform +a low pony-carriage drawn by two fat black ponies was waiting, and in it +was seated a somewhat stout elderly lady wearing a very broad-brimmed +mushroom hat. She was scanning the carriage windows as the train went +slowly past her, but did not appear to see the two girls who, being in +the front part, were carried some distance beyond her before the train +came to a standstill.</p> + +<p>Eleanor gathered up her umbrella and the basket containing the books, and +stood up. A porter came to open the door.</p> + +<p>"Any luggage, Miss?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, one trunk labelled Anstruther," Eleanor said very distinctly.</p> + +<p>"Very good, Miss; for Windy Gap, aren't you? The omnibus is waiting +outside for your luggage, and Mrs. Murray has drove down to meet you."</p> + +<p>Eleanor stepped out on to the platform feeling that the Rubicon was now +crossed and that there was no drawing back for either of them. She +lingered for a moment beside the door, which Margaret had very promptly +shut upon her the moment she was out of the carriage.</p> + +<p>"Don't be nervous," Margaret whispered encouragingly from the safe +seclusion of her corner. "I am not."</p> + +<p>"Of course you're not!" Eleanor retorted. "You haven't begun to play the +impostor yet. I have, and I am not sure that I like it. Your turn to be +nervous will come when you get to Seabourne. Well," pulling herself +together as the porter came within earshot, "good-bye to you, Miss +Carson, so glad to have met you. I hope your holidays will be very +pleasant ones."</p> + +<p>"I hope so too," said Margaret, with a little happy laugh of pure +excitement. "Goodbye, Miss Anstruther, I hope you will get on nicely with +all your lessons."</p> + +<p>For some reason the train was late in starting on again, and Margaret +was therefore able to see the meeting between Mrs. Murray and Eleanor, +although she was not near enough to overhear what was said on either +side. When Eleanor had given up her ticket and passed through the gate, +she saw Mrs. Murray, who had not got out of the pony-carriage, lean +forward and, taking hold of Eleanor's two hands, draw her under the shade +of the enormous mushroom hat and kiss her affectionately. The hat got +somewhat disarranged in the process, and Mrs. Murray righted it with a +pleasant low laugh that came distinctly to Margaret's ears as she sat +watching the little scene from the corner of the third-class carriage.</p> + +<p>Then she seemed to be asking Eleanor some questions, which the latter +answered readily through the ear-trumpet which Mrs. Murray held out to +her. Once they looked in her direction, and a spasm of alarm shot through +Margaret's mind. Surely, surely Eleanor was not abandoning their +conspiracy at the very outset of its career. The trunk had already been +hoisted on to the top of the somewhat dilapidated looking old bus that +evidently plied between the distant village of Windy Gap and the station. +Why, then, did the pony-carriage not drive on, or why did the train not +start? Eleanor looked again towards the carriage in which Margaret sat in +a perfect fever of impatience to be off, and then, after saying something +to Mrs. Murray, to which the latter gave an affirmative nod, she left the +carriage and came running up the platform. Margaret could have cried with +disappointment. She had no doubt at all that Eleanor had already repented +of her scheme, and was coming to say that it must be given up. Eleanor +reached the door in a somewhat breathless condition, and Margaret +resisting her first impulse to shut the window and to draw down the +blind, and refuse to listen to a word she was going to say, put her head +reluctantly out.</p> + +<p>"I couldn't help coming to tell you that she is a perfectly sweet old +lady," Eleanor panted. "And she gave me such a warm welcome that I feel +an awful fraud, and——"</p> + +<p>Margaret interrupted her with an exclamation that sounded almost like a +wail of despair.</p> + +<p>"And you have come to tell me that you want to change back into your own +self?" she said.</p> + +<p>"No, not much," Eleanor said hurriedly; "but the point is, do you? She +seems to be perfectly charming, and I don't believe she would be very +angry. And oh, Margaret! I feel as though I ought not to oust you from +house and home in this way."</p> + +<p>Margaret's brow cleared as though by magic. It was all right then. +Strange though it undoubtedly appeared to her, Eleanor was not only +willing but actually eager to go to Windy Gap, and it was only out of +motives of unselfishness that she had offered to change into their proper +selves.</p> + +<p>Briefly, but with all the emphasis of which she was capable, Margaret +assured her that such an act of unselfishness would not be appreciated in +the least.</p> + +<p>"Oh, very well," Eleanor said, much relieved, "and to tell you the truth +I think Mrs. Murray would be rather surprised if I were suddenly to +return to her and say that I was not Margaret Anstruther but that you +were. She would probably end by thinking us both impostors. Well, I must +go now; I only came back just to give you the chance of becoming yourself +again if you had already repented. Look here, you must let me know how +you get on. I shall be quite anxious to know. Will you write? Quick, tell +me Mrs. Murray is beckoning."</p> + +<p>"I could write, of course," Margaret said cautiously "but you must +remember that Margaret Anstruther has never received a letter in her life +and that Mrs. Murray might want to see it."</p> + +<p>"I shall come in and see you then," Eleanor said.</p> + +<p>"Oh, will you?" Margaret said with a smile. "Kindly remember, Miss +Margaret Anstruther, that you never took a walk unaccompanied in your +life. No, leave it to me, and I will try and come out to Windy Gap one +day to see you, for I am free, free, free, and quite grown up, while you +are a mere child in the nursery!"</p> + +<p>And so, though rather against her will, Eleanor was obliged to leave the +matter like that, and saying good-bye to Margaret for the second time she +scurried away down the platform.</p> + +<p>Margaret watched her step into the pony-carriage, tuck the dust wrap over +her knees and over Mrs. Murray's, and then settle herself with an air of +obvious enjoyment for her drive. From the window Margaret could see the +long, white chalky road that they would traverse to reach Windy Gap, +which place doubtless lay to the left beyond the high ridge which shut +out all further view of the downs. The road wound its leisurely way +between high hedges and green fields, was lost for awhile as it passed +behind an outlying spur of the downs, and became visible again as, +apparently repenting its former meanderings below, it sternly took the +shortest and steepest way possible up the side of the hill, and finally +disappeared over the brow. And it might have fallen to her lot to be +sitting beside Mrs. Murray and in that little low pony-carriage, and to +be driving along that monotonous road to the remote village on the downs +instead of to be whirling past them as she did in a train on her way to +a houseful of young people. Margaret could have hugged herself with +pleasure as she thought of the exchange she had made.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII</h2> + +<h3>MAUD DANVERS</h3> + + +<p>There were only three or four stations between Chailfield and Seabourne, +and they followed so closely on one another that in rather less than half +an hour the train ran into the big station of Seabourne.</p> + +<p>"Any luggage, Miss, cab, or outside porter, please," said a porter, +opening the door of the carriage.</p> + +<p>"One trunk and a hat-box, and I will have a cab, please," Margaret +answered.</p> + +<p>She was rather surprised and pleased at her own self-possession, as led +by the porter she threaded her way up the crowded platform. And when he +paused to ask her what name he should look for on the trunk she gave +Eleanor's as calmly as though she had been known by it all her life. It +had not occurred to Margaret that any one might come to the station to +meet her, or, rather, to meet the girl whose identity she had taken on +herself, consequently she gave a startled jump, when, as she stood on the +edge of the press of people round the luggage van, a tap fell smartly on +her shoulder, and turning, she found herself confronted by a merry, +sunburnt girl of about her own age.</p> + +<p>"Miss Carson, isn't it?" the latter sang out in a clear, rather pleasant +voice, that could be distinctly heard above the noise and confusion +surrounding them. "Oh, don't look so astonished! I heard you tell the +porter the name on your luggage, and I tracked you up the platform. Let +me introduce myself. I am Maud Danvers, and I hope you've had a nice +journey and all that. I say, you're taking a cab, aren't you? That's all +right. Get in to one when you've collected all your belongings, will you, +and wait for me, and I'll drive up with you. I shan't be long, but I have +just got to go and finish a conversation that I am in the middle of."</p> + +<p>And with a careless little nod Miss Maud Danvers turned and went off up +the platform. But casual though her greeting had been, it had served to +dispel the slight feeling of loneliness that had been creeping over +Margaret. How exceedingly kind of that nice girl to have come and met +her! And in what a delightfully frank and friendly manner she had +accosted her! Margaret felt instantly sure that she was going to like +Maud Danvers very much indeed, and it was with a little glow of pleasure +that she reflected that she was going to live in the same house with her +for many weeks to come. For a moment she forgot to aid the porter to look +for her box, but turning her back upon the busy crowd she followed Maud +with her eyes. Without being exactly pretty, Maud Danvers was an +exceedingly nice-looking girl, and her fresh, clear skin no less than her +brisk step and the way she held herself, showed that she was an outdoor +girl.</p> + +<p>She was wearing a short tweed skirt that barely reached to her ankles, +and displayed a neat pair of golfing shoes, but the skirt was so +exceedingly well hung and the fit of the Norfolk coat that matched it +so good that Margaret, unversed though she was in such matters, +instinctively recognised that Maud's clothes not only became her very +well, but had been made by a first-class tailor. Her own simply made +coat and skirt of blue serge felt suddenly very dowdy.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile Maud had made her way along the crowded platform to a point +where two girls in Panama hats and long white blanket coats, and carrying +tennis racquets under their arms, were standing together, and as soon as +she reached their side, they all three plunged into an eager conversation +in the interest of which it was soon evident that Margaret was forgotten.</p> + +<p>Just, however, as Margaret's cabman was beginning to show signs of +impatience, the bicycles for which the two girls had been waiting were +extricated from the van, and with a hasty nod to Maud, they pushed their +way out of the crowd.</p> + +<p>"The Cedars, Pelham Road, please," Maud said as she got into the cab. +"Sorry to have kept you waiting, Miss Carson. But I wanted to speak to +the Finches. They had just got back from the Surbiton Tournament. They +had done awfully well both of them. The tall one, Anna's the best. Fancy, +wasn't it stupendous luck for her! She got into the third round of the +open singles and met Mrs. Lambert Chambers. Of course, she was beaten +hollow. Didn't even get a game. But wasn't it luck meeting her?"</p> + +<p>Now, as Margaret had not the very vaguest notion who Mrs. Lambert +Chambers was, or why it should be considered such extraordinary good +fortune to meet her, she gave such a vague assent to the question that +Maud turned to stare at her with undisguised amazement in her eyes.</p> + +<p>"You don't mean to say," she exclaimed, "that you have never even heard +of Mrs. Lambert Chambers!"</p> + +<p>"I don't seem to remember her name," confessed Margaret, blushing +crimson.</p> + +<p>"Why, I mean the famous Mrs. Lambert Chambers. The tennis player. Miss +Douglas that was, you know."</p> + +<p>"Oh!" said poor Margaret again. Then she added lamely, "I—I suppose she +must play very nicely."</p> + +<p>"Play nicely!" ejaculated Maud, still surveying her companion with a +direct glance that the latter found very embarrassing. "Great Scott, what +a funny way of putting it! Where on earth were you brought up! And never +even to have heard of her! Why, you will be saying next that you never +heard of C. B. Fry or Braid, or Grace, or the Dohertys."</p> + +<p>But Margaret, in the face of the scorn she already provoked, was not +disposed to confess to such depths of ignorance, and she murmured a vague +reply that might have meant anything. However, the few unintelligible +sounds that passed her lips might not have been sufficient to save her +from further cross examination on the subject of her knowledge of tennis +had not Maud's attention been attracted by the same two girls who, +speeding past on their bicycles, called out to her not to forget +to-morrow.</p> + +<p>"Right oh!" sang out Maud in reply. "I shall expect you 11.30 sharp."</p> + +<p>"How beautifully they bicycle!" Margaret said in admiring accents, +following the two girls with eyes as they threaded their way through the +traffic.</p> + +<p>"Oh, well, any one can do that, can't they?" Maud replied. "Did you bring +yours? You'd find it useful. I say, what was your hockey eleven like?"</p> + +<p>"What was our hockey eleven like?" faltered Margaret. "I—I forget."</p> + +<p>"Forget!" Maud exclaimed, in fresh amazement. "How could you forget an +important thing like that? Why, nowadays if a school can't put a decent +hockey eleven in the field it does not count for much."</p> + +<p>"I mean," said Margaret, as a timely recollection of what Eleanor had +told her about the games at Waterloo House came to her mind, "Miss +McDonald was very old-fashioned, and she did not at all approve of the +modern fashion of girls playing boys games."</p> + +<p>"Great Scott!" said Maud in tones of intense commiseration. "Fancy being +a governess in a rotten school of that sort! I wonder you stayed. Then +you didn't play cricket?"</p> + +<p>"No."</p> + +<p>"Tennis?"</p> + +<p>"No. But," added Margaret rather timidly, for it distressed her to see to +what depths she was sinking in Maud's estimation, "I have always thought +I should like to learn lawn tennis very much. Perhaps you could teach +me."</p> + +<p>"Me?" said Maud, raising her eyebrows in a quizzical fashion and gazing +at Margaret with the point blank stare, which the latter found so trying +to encounter with equanimity. "Sorry, but I haven't the time. I daresay +one of the kids would give you a game, though, some time."</p> + +<p>"As if," she said afterwards, detailing this conversation with much +laughter to one of her brothers, "tennis could be taught in a day, or as +though I were going to bother to teach her either. And I fancied I saw +myself playing with a girl who had never held a racquet in her hand +before."</p> + +<p>"By the way," Maud went on, "I don't suppose you have much idea at +present what our family consists of, have you?"</p> + +<p>"No, I have not," said Margaret, feeling that she was quite safe in +making that admission, for Eleanor had not known either.</p> + +<p>"Well, there's mother, of course, to start with, and then, of the ones +who are at home, there's Geoffrey; he's a year older than me, and he's at +Sandhurst. Like me, he's fearfully keen on games, and like me too, he's +pretty good," added Maud, who, as Margaret had discovered by that time, +was not lacking in a good opinion of herself. "Then I come, then +Hilary—she's a year younger than me. Then come Jack and Noel—they're +fifteen and sixteen respectively, and one's at Osborne and one's at +Dartmouth; all they seem to care about at present is sailing and +fishing, and so we don't see much of them. Then there's Edward, he's +about fourteen, I think; he's mad keen on cricket—besides, he's got all +the brains of the family. Then two cousins of ours, Nancy and Joan Green, +are staying with us. They're not half bad girls, and Nancy would play +quite a decent game of tennis if she wasn't so lazy. She can hit jolly +hard, but she won't run, and she will talk, so I won't play with her. +Then there are the kids—your little lot, you know—and I wish you joy of +them; they're a jolly handful, and no mistake."</p> + +<p>Margaret, who had been listening eagerly to this account of the family in +the midst of which she was to live for the next few weeks, puckered her +forehead over the last sentences.</p> + +<p>"The—the kids," she queried in a puzzled tone.</p> + +<p>"Yes, the infants; my eldest sister Joanna's children. You are going +to take them over and teach them, aren't you? At least, that is what +I believe mother gave me to understand."</p> + +<p>"Oh yes, of course," Margaret said, so quickly that Maud had no suspicion +that she had never in all her life before heard children called kids.</p> + +<p>"Yes, mother hopes great things from you," Maud chattered on. "She says +as you have been in a school you will understand discipline and all that. +But I believe Joanna won't have her darlings smacked, and they are such +troublesome little monkeys that a sound smacking would do them all the +good in the world," wound up their young aunt with a vigour that showed +the subject was one on which she felt strongly. "Not that you," with a +careless glance at Margaret's pale, thoughtful face, "look strong enough +to give them much of a whacking."</p> + +<p>Margaret made no reply, simply because at the moment she felt absolutely +incapable of speech. Dismay at the thought that she was to be a governess +held her spellbound. She certainly had not gathered from anything that +Eleanor had said that she was expected to teach, and two naughty unruly +children into the bargain. No wonder that she grew paler even than her +wont at the appalling thought. Luckily for her, however, Maud was far +from guessing the dismay her casually given information was causing her +silent companion, and under cover of her chatter, Margaret had time to +recover a little from the shock she had received and to resolve to try +and make the best of it. Of one thing she was sure, Eleanor herself had +no idea of the services she had been expected to give in exchange for +being asked to spend her holidays at The Cedars. Neither had Mrs. Danvers +wished to get her there under false pretences. After all, had not her +letter said that she was both to enjoy herself and to make herself +useful. So she had no right to complain at the discovery that the latter +half of the sentence meant so much more than either she or Eleanor had +suspected. "To make yourself useful," Eleanor had said airily; "oh, that +means that you will be expected to arrange flowers for the dinner table, +and to write notes, and so on. Little things of that sort, you know."</p> + +<p>So, naturally, it had been a great shock to discover that "little things +of that sort" included the entire control of two unruly children. It was +not the prospect of having to work that perturbed Margaret, it was the +knowledge of how incapable she felt to deal with children. Why, she had +scarcely ever spoken to a child in her life, and now she was to have the +entire charge of two thrust upon her. She could not help wondering what +Eleanor would have said or done in her place, but was unable to answer +the question satisfactorily. The situation, however, could hardly have +dismayed her as much as it was dismaying her substitute. To fill the post +of holiday governess to two small children would seem to her an easy task +after having taught for three years in a big school. Of one thing, +however, Margaret felt quite convinced. If Eleanor had known of the +predicament in which Margaret was placed, she would, after a moment or +two of consternation, have gone off into fits of laughter. And no doubt +the situation had its comic side; even Margaret, full of alarm as she +was, could not restrain a smile as she thought of the very queer +governess that she would make.</p> + +<p>"You look pretty young to be a governess, don't you?" said Maud. "Did you +ever have any difficulty in keeping order?"</p> + +<p>"No, never," said Margaret, truthfully enough.</p> + +<p>"How many girls were there?"</p> + +<p>"Twenty boarders, forty day girls, and five governesses when I—when +I——" this came out with a gulp, for Margaret found the first falsehood +she had been obliged to tell most distasteful to her—"went there. But +the school has been going down the last few years, and last term there +were only seven boarders and ten day girls."</p> + +<p>"Sounds rather a poor sort of show, doesn't it?" said Maud with a yawn. +"I say, what a slow horse we have got, haven't we? We shall be all night +getting home at this rate. What sort of place was Putney or Hampstead, or +wherever the school was to live in?"</p> + +<p>"Miss McDonald's school was at Hampstead, which is a suburb of London and +is situated high up. It is celebrated for its Heath, which is a great +holiday resort for the lower orders—the 'Arrys and 'Arriets, you +know—on Bank Holidays, at which time it is advisable for quieter members +of society to keep off it. But at other times it affords an excellent +exercise ground for all the young ladies' schools in the neighbourhood. +The air is fine and invigorating, and there is no reason why, with the +help of a little imagination, one should not fancy oneself in the heart +of the country, and many miles away from the greatest metropolis in the +world. The sunsets can, by those who appreciate the beauties of Nature, +be viewed from that portion of the Heath which commands a view of the +western sky, and——"</p> + +<p>"Very interesting indeed," broke in Maud, who had been listening with +astonishment to this flow of instructive discourse.</p> + +<p>At first she had thought that Margaret was, to use her own phrase, +"rotting her," but a glance at the serious face beside her was sufficient +to dispel that theory, and she came to the conclusion that young though +she was, Margaret was a typical governess, who rejoiced in framing +stilted sentences and in letting them flow from her lips in an even, +monotonous voice.</p> + +<p>"You speak like a well-informed guide-book," she added, with another +yawn.</p> + +<p>Margaret took the semi-impertinent remark as a compliment.</p> + +<p>"I can tell you a great deal more than that about Hampstead if you would +like to listen," she said, for her wonderfully accurate memory had +enabled her to retain every word of the banteringly given description +of Hampstead with which Eleanor had furnished her. Needless to say, +Eleanor had had no idea that Margaret would think it necessary to repeat +it word for word, but had thought that Margaret would only pick out facts +here and there to help her in any emergency that might arise.</p> + +<p>"Not on any account, thanks," said Maud hastily; "let's talk about +something more interesting."</p> + +<p>"Something more interesting" proved to be her own self, and from that +point onwards until they reached their destination Maud talked +exclusively of her own doings. And as she appeared to do little else but +play games, and as Margaret's knowledge of all games was "nil," it +followed that very much of what Maud said was as unintelligible as though +she had talked Chinese. But though she never knew when Maud was talking +of golf, or when of tennis, or again, when hockey was under discussion, +so that handicaps, and sliced balls, and American services, and good +forearm drives, and double faults, and poor passing, and good shooting, +and half-volleys, were terms that were all jumbled up in absolutely +inextricable confusion, her expression of rapt attention as she jotted +them down on the tablets of her mind, resolving to acquaint herself with +the meaning of each when occasion served, convinced Maud that she had a +properly appreciative listener. A person even more ignorant of games than +Margaret would have gathered from all she said about them that Maud +excelled in each and all.</p> + +<p>And that was no vain boast either. Her golf handicap was four; she played +an exceedingly good, hard game at tennis, and had twice played hockey in +International matches. But it was of billiards she was talking during the +last few minutes of their drive. It appeared from what she said that she +had promised to play a game with Geoffrey immediately after dinner, but +that she had not only broken that promise but had been obliged to come +away in the middle of dinner to meet the train.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I am so sorry to have caused you this inconvenience," said Margaret. +"But it was most kind of you to come and meet me."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I didn't come down to meet you," said Maud, with perfect frankness. +"I wanted to hear how Anna had got on at Surbiton. Then I luckily +remembered that you were coming by this train, and so got a lift home +in your cab, and killed two birds with one stone."</p> + +<p>The little laugh with which Maud accompanied this candid explanation of +her presence at the station robbed her words of much of their sting, yet +Margaret was conscious of a feeling of mortification that Maud's errand +had not been undertaken solely on her behalf. Indeed, she had been given +to understand that she was by far the smaller and the least important of +the two bird's that Maud's stone had brought down; and the knowledge made +her feel very forlorn indeed. Up to that moment she had been under the +impression that Maud had been anxious to meet her and make her +acquaintance. Well, if not hers, that of the girl she represented, and +the casually given information that it was only because she happened to +travel by the same train as the Finches that she had been at the station +to greet her quite took away the pleasant feeling she had had that there +was at least one person in the big, strange household she was entering +who was eager to show herself kindly disposed towards the new holiday +governess.</p> + +<p>They had long ago left the neighbourhood of the town behind them, and +had been driving through the deepening dusk towards the downs, which, +looking in that dim light like a high green wall, run inland from the +sea. Most of the roads hereabouts were wide and bordered by trees, and +on either side houses which had for the most part large gardens +surrounding them lay back from the road. Even Margaret, unversed as she +was in the knowledge of what made the difference between a good and bad +neighbourhood in the town, could perceive that the further they went the +more prosperous and consequential looking the houses became.</p> + +<p>At last, when they were almost underneath the downs, the long, straight +road they had been following for some time turned abruptly to the right, +and going through a white gate they entered a long drive lined on either +side with a hedge of evergreens close clipped and of great thickness. +Here and there openings like doorways had been cut in the hedge, but it +was now too dark to see what lay beyond them.</p> + +<p>Almost before the cab had time to draw up before the lighted doorway, +Maud had jumped out.</p> + +<p>"Here we are at last," she said, with a big sigh of relief, "and here you +are, Martin," as a portly looking butler came forward. "That's all right. +Thanks ever so for the lift, Miss Carson. You'll excuse me now, won't +you, though. I expect Geoffrey is tearing his hair in the billiard-room." +And with that Maud vanished at top speed, and Margaret was left to +Martin's guidance. Though Maud's sudden desertion came as an unwelcome +surprise to her, Margaret was too tired by this time even to feel shy, +and she followed Martin through the hall without any inward tremors of +nervousness.</p> + +<p>"Miss Carson, Madam," he said, throwing open a door at the far end of the +big, square hall they had traversed, and ushering her into a drawing-room +whose open French windows gave on to the lawn. The only light in the +room, and that was not very much, came from outside, and in the +semi-darkness Margaret could just make out a figure seated in a low +easy chair partly in and partly out of the window.</p> + +<p>A gentle snore was the only reply to the butler's announcement, and +Margaret was conscious of a quick fear lest he might retire and leave her +with her sleeping hostess.</p> + +<p>But Martin was evidently acquainted with his mistress's habits, and he +advanced slowly up the long room repeating "Miss Carson, Madam," and +coughing gently behind his hand at intervals until he had reached her +side.</p> + +<p>Then she awoke.</p> + +<p>And once awake she gave Margaret a very cordial greeting.</p> + +<p>"My dear," she said, extending her hand but not offering to rise from her +chair, "I am very pleased to see you. Turn up the lights, Martin; I was +asleep when you came. But I was not snoring, was I? The boys and Maud +accuse me of that, I know. The nap every evening after dinner I do not +deny, but the snoring I do deny most emphatically. Just reassure me my +dear, by telling me that I was not snoring."</p> + +<p>"It was a very gentle, quiet snore," said Margaret politely.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Danvers broke into a soft, chuckling laugh which was as pleasant and +amiable as her voice, and Martin having now turned on the light Margaret +saw that her hostess's face and appearance matched her voice and laugh. +She was a stout, not to say exceedingly stout, middle-aged woman, with a +round, rosy face, on every line of which good-temper, combined with an +easy, indolent disposition, were expressed.</p> + +<p>"Excuse my getting up, my dear," she said, "but truth to say, I do not +get up as easily as I could wish. 'J'y suis, j'y reste,' ought to be, +though it is not, my family motto. And so you missed your train. Very +trying to miss trains, is it not? And you must be tired, my dear. I hope +Maud saw that you had enough to eat, and that you like your room."</p> + +<p>"Miss Carson has only this minute arrived, Madam," interposed Martin from +the door. "And Miss Maud directed me to take her straight to you."</p> + +<p>"And you have had nothing to eat since you arrived!" Mrs. Danvers +exclaimed in a horrified tone. "Why, my dear, you must be starving! Come +with me to the dining-room at once."</p> + +<p>She got slowly up out of her capacious chair as she spoke, and as she did +so a piece of knitting slid from her lap to the floor, while a big ball +of worsted rolled away under the nearest sofa. Margaret first picked up +the knitting and then pursued the ball and restored both to their owner, +an action which, although she did not know it at the time, she was +destined to perform very often for Mrs. Danvers, for that lady was very +rarely unaccompanied by a piece of knitting, which she invariably dropped +when she rose; to knit, she said, soothed the nerves, and gave an added +pleasure to conversation. Reading she was not fond of, and scarcely ever +opened a book or a newspaper, but she would knit and talk, chiefly about +her children, for hours at a stretch. When her knitting had been restored +to her now, and half a row of stitches dropped in the fall picked up, she +led the way into the dining-room. She was kindness and hospitality +itself, but though her incessant flow of talk obviated all necessity +for Margaret to contribute more than the merest monosyllables, the strain +of listening and being ready to say Yes or No in the right places +fatigued Margaret so greatly that by the end of the meal her brain was in +a whirl, and if Mrs. Danvers had put to her one-tenth of the questions to +which Eleanor had supplied ready-made answers, her replies would have +been so extraordinarily muddled up that the deception the two girls were +practising would have been found out at once.</p> + +<p>But Mrs. Danvers, like her daughter Maud, was far more interested in her +own concerns than in those of any one with whom she might come in +contact.</p> + +<p>But her conversation did differ from Maud's in that it was not of herself +she mainly spoke. It was evident, even to Margaret's tired brain, that +Mrs. Danver's whole being was wrapped up in her children. She would talk +about them and praise them literally by the hour together, and Margaret +was given to understand that there never were such manly, clever boys as +her sons, or such charming girls as her daughters. If Geoffrey did not +eventually rise to be Commander-in-Chief, and if Noel and Jack did not +become Admirals of the Fleet, it would not be their fault. On the other +hand, Edward's brains would get him into Parliament, and there was no +reason at all why he should not be Prime Minister one day. As for Maud, +there was simply nothing she could not do in the way of games Daisy and +David were dear children, too, if taken in the right way, and not unduly +thwarted. Daisy and David Margaret concluded, were the two grandchildren +to whom she was to fill the position of holiday governess and she +thought to herself ruefully enough, as Mrs. Danvers went on to say what +high-spirited children they were, that she was quite sure she would never +have the courage to thwart them however naughty they were.</p> + +<p>When Margaret could eat no more, and indeed she had finished her supper +long before Mrs. Danvers became aware of the fact, the latter suggested +that if Miss Carson had really had enough they should go into the +billiard-room and watch the game that was in progress there. She had +already been told that Maud was playing a level game with Geoffrey. They +had started the game before dinner, and Maud had been 120 to his 80 odd +when the gong brought play to a standstill. She had made four breaks of +10, two of 12, and one of 15, and though every word of this was Greek to +Margaret, she gathered from the air of pride with which Mrs. Danvers +spoke that it was all greatly to Maud's credit.</p> + +<p>So when Mrs. Danvers' knitting had been picked up from the floor, and the +ball, which had rolled under the dining-room table this time, retrieved, +Margaret followed her hostess out of the room.</p> + +<p>A tremendous clapping and cheering, and the noisy stamping of cues on the +ground, fell on Margaret's ears as Mrs. Danvers threw open the door of +the billiard-room, and it did not cease until they had both been some +minutes in the room.</p> + +<p>To Margaret's dazed, shy eyes the room seemed full of young people, +although as a matter of fact there were only one or two friends of the +Danvers present, the rest of the group of young people being the Danvers +themselves. Maud, of course, was still in the tweed skirt in which she +had gone to the station, but the other girls were in pretty white evening +frocks, and the bigger boys were in dinner jackets, and the smaller ones +in Etons. Maud was perched on the edge of the billiard-table with one +foot on the ground and the other swinging to and fro, and it was evident +both from her pleased, self-conscious air and the fact that she was the +only person in the room who was not clapping, that all the applause was +meant for her.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I have beaten him handsomely, Mumsy," she said, when at length Mrs. +Danvers could make her voice heard. "It was a close thing though. Fancy +Geoffrey was 193, and he must needs go and miss one of the easiest shots +you ever saw, and then I ran out with a break of 22."</p> + +<p>"Fancy that!" Mrs. Danvers said, turning to Margaret with a proud, +beaming face. "Maud ran out with a break of 22."</p> + +<p>Then a momentary silence fell in the room, and everybody present +seemingly became aware for the first time that there was a stranger among +them. She coloured up nervously, and then feeling it incumbent upon her +to say something, for, or so at least it seemed to her, every one seemed +waiting for her to speak, she stammered out nervously, addressing Maud:—</p> + +<p>"I hope you did not hurt yourself."</p> + +<p>"Hurt myself—how?" said Maud, in wide-eyed surprise.</p> + +<p>"By running out and breaking yourself; or," becoming miserably aware, +from the expressions on everybody's faces that she had said something +incredibly foolish, "was it your stick that you broke?"</p> + +<p>An audible titter ran round the room, and as Margaret stood there, the +focus of all eyes, the titter changed to literal shouts and shrieks of +laughter. The boys doubled themselves up into knots, the girls staggered +helplessly about, and Mrs. Danvers just sank into the nearest chair and +laughed until the tears ran down her face. The room fairly rang with +their laughter, and in the middle of them all Margaret stood alone with +crimson cheeks, and eyes to which the tears had begun to start.</p> + +<p>But no one had the slightest pity for her cruel mortification; only now +and then one or other of them would glance from her to Maud and go off +into fresh shrieks.</p> + +<p>At last Margaret could stand her position no longer, but crying out in +a high, choking voice, that was plainly heard even above the din that +prevailed: "Oh I hate you all! I hate you all!" she dashed from the room, +and ran, still with the sound of their laughter behind her, down the +passage which led to the billiard-room into the hall. Even at that +distance she could hear the shouts and yells of laughter, which seemed to +be increasing rather than diminishing, for if there was an unusual lull +in the noise, some one would ask Maud if her run had broken her or her +stick, and that would be sufficient to start them all off again.</p> + +<p>The noise they all made even at that distance was tremendous, but The +Cedars was evidently a house to which uproarious mirth was no novelty, +for Martin, by whom Margaret had brushed in her hasty flight from the +billiard-room, exhibited no signs of surprise at the sound of it.</p> + +<p>In the hall, simply because she did not know where to go next, Margaret +came to a pause in her headlong flight, and, sinking on to a chair, +covered her face with her hands. Even though the length of the whole +house separated her now from the billiard-room, she had not escaped from +the sound of the shouts and squeals to which her remarks had given rise, +for fresh peals were still ringing out with unabated force.</p> + +<p>"Oh, will they ever stop laughing at me!" Margaret said half-aloud, in +a tone that was fraught with extreme misery. "Oh, how I wish I had never +come here! And I had been so looking forward to being friends with girls +and boys of my own age. Oh, how shall I bear it if they go on laughing at +me for days and days!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, but they won't go on for as long as that, no matter how good the +joke. They'll have a dozen fresh jokes by this time to-morrow, and this +one will be forgotten. Unless, of course, it was an extra good one. By +the way, what was the joke? You are Miss Carson, aren't you? I am Nancy +Green. Take a chocolate and tell me all about it."</p> + +<p>Margaret, who had believed herself to be alone, turned in surprise as +this unexpected voice fell on her ears, and glanced about her in a +startled fashion until, in a cosy nook close to her and half hidden by a +tall palm and a screen, she saw a big Chesterfield couch on which a girl +was stretched full length, with a book in one hand and a box of +chocolates in the other.</p> + +<p>"I do not exactly know what is making them laugh," Margaret said, +declining the chocolates with an unhappy shake of her head. "They were +playing billiards, and Miss Danvers said she had run away and broken +something, and I hoped she was not hurt, and then they all began to +laugh, and have not stopped yet," she added resentfully, as a fresh peal +of laughter reached her ears. "And you are laughing, too," she said, +glancing at Nancy's twitching lips.</p> + +<p>"Only a very little," Nancy said hastily, "and it was rather a funny +mistake you made, you know. I will try and explain. You see, a break in +billiards does not mean a fall; it means that you go on scoring."</p> + +<p>"Oh!" said Margaret, in the same dejected accents, and not feeling at all +enlightened, "and what does going on scoring mean?"</p> + +<p>"Why, that it is still your turn to play, of course," said Nancy, and her +tone was so surprised that Margaret thought it wiser to ask no more +questions in case she displayed an ignorance so great as to rouse +suspicion as to where she could have been brought up.</p> + +<p>"I wish they would stop laughing at me," she said miserably.</p> + +<p>"Why! Do you mind being laughed at so much as all that," Nancy said. "I +should have thought that as a governess in a school you would have got +used to it. For schoolgirls are awful quizzes. Perhaps, though, as you +were a governess they did it behind your back."</p> + +<p>"They certainly did not do it to my face," Margaret said.</p> + +<p>"Oh, well, they will here," said Nancy. "Everybody chaffs everybody else +in this house pretty freely. What you must do is to chaff back; but if +you don't feel equal to that just at first, just grin, and let them think +you don't care a rap."</p> + +<p>At that moment heavy footsteps were heard in the passage and Mrs. Danvers +came into the hall.</p> + +<p>"Ah, here you are, Miss Carson. I could not think where you had got to. +I just stopped to tell my shameless young folk what I thought of them for +laughing like that at a stranger. Nancy, you lazy girl, you ought to have +been watching the match instead of lying here. It was a close thing. Maud +won. Really she has a wonderful eye. There is simply no game she cannot +excel in if she chose. She——" But then Mrs. Danvers catching sight of +Margaret's miserable expression pulled herself up short just as she had +been about to launch forth into a glowing account of her daughter's +skill. "But all the same, it was shameful of them to laugh at you like +that, Miss Carson. Your first night too, when you are not used to them."</p> + +<p>"Just what I said, Aunt Mary," chimed in Nancy, who had seen that Mrs. +Danvers casual treatment of the incident which had brought such +mortification to the new governess was making the latter feel still +more lost and ill at ease. "She'll soon get used to it though, and will +care just as little as anybody when her turn comes to be rotted."</p> + +<p>"And above all things keep your temper, my dear," said Mrs. Danvers. +"But that remark," she added hastily, seeing that Margaret looked more +miserable even than before, "is not intended as a reproof, for the way +they went on was enough to make any one lose their temper, but as a +friendly warning. They'll tease you unmercifully if they find you lose +your temper, and I shan't be able to stop it. And now, my dear, unless +you like to come back to the billiard-room and show them that you don't +care a rap for their laughter, I'll take you to your room. Which would +you like to do?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, go to my room, please," said Margaret hastily, who felt that on no +account would she face any one of the Danvers' family again that night.</p> + +<p>"Did you lose your temper?" inquired Nancy. "Then I'm jolly glad to hear +it. Listen to the wretches laughing still. So many to one wasn't fair. +I hope you gave it to them hot. They deserved it."</p> + +<p>"So they did," said Mrs. Danvers heartily, and Margaret, who had yet to +learn Mrs. Danvers always sided with the last speaker, took courage from +that remark. It showed at all events, she thought, that her sudden +passionate outburst had not caused Mrs. Danvers to take a dislike to her.</p> + +<p>"I have put you in the big spare room," Mrs. Danvers said, as with +Margaret following in her wake she led the way slowly upstairs. "Nancy +and Joan have the other spare rooms, and I was really keeping this for an +old aunt of mine, who may come later. If she does come while you are +here, you won't mind turning out for her, will you, and going into the +dressing-room opening out of this? There is a bed in it, and really it is +quite a fair-sized little room; but I thought as this was empty I should +like you to have it for the time being anyway. A nice room, isn't it?" +Mrs. Danvers was so evidently well pleased with herself for having given +a mere holiday governess the best bedroom in her house that Margaret +hastened to admire it.</p> + +<p>It was indeed a luxuriously furnished room, perfect in all its +appointments, and its handsome solid old mahogany furniture looked well +against the dull blue Axminster carpet and the blue silk hangings of +the big double bed. The walls were blue also.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I think you will be comfortable," Mrs. Danvers said, glancing +round. "You see there is a sofa and an armchair and a writing-table, so +that if at any time you want to get away from the noisy young folk +downstairs you have got a nice retreat to come to. They have unstrapped +your trunk I see; but as Collins, the head housemaid, is out to-night, +your unpacking has not been done for you."</p> + +<p>"Oh, but thank you very much, I can do that myself," said Margaret +hastily, wondering within herself as she spoke what would have happened +supposing Collins had not been out, and had insisted upon unpacking her +things, and had seen that all her linen was marked with a name quite +different to the one she had come in. The thought of the danger she had +escaped made her turn quite pale. This sudden pallor was not lost upon +Mrs. Danvers who, attributed it, not unnaturally, to extreme fatigue, +and who thereupon hastened her own departure from the room, with a kindly +expressed wish as she left, that Margaret would sleep well.</p> + +<p>But tired though Margaret was, she felt that she could not go to bed +until she had removed her own name from every article of her underlinen, +and so having unpacked her trunk she took a pair of scissors and set to +work. Fortunately for her purpose, her things had not been marked in ink +but with tapes bearing her name in woven letters, and these she carefully +ripped off one by one, and making a little pile of them burned them all +in the grate. Then, if any maid saw them before Margaret had time to +remark them with the ink and tapes that she meant to buy, the most she +would feel would be a mild wonder that any young lady having such nice +undergarments as Miss Carson had, should risk losing them at the wash by +having no name upon them.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX</h2> + +<h3>THE DANVERS FAMILY</h3> + + +<p>In spite of her settled conviction that, weary though she was, she was +far too miserable to close an eye that night. Margaret's slumbers were +sound. A vigorous banging on a door in the near neighbourhood of her +own, a banging which was answered by a sleepy and irritable yell, roused +her about six o'clock the next morning. Otherwise she could have slept on +for another hour or more. But once awake further sleep was impossible. +Not only were her neighbours exceedingly noisy—from snatches of +conversation shouted across the passage as they dressed, Margaret +gathered that most of the junior members of the house were going down to +the sea to bathe—but her own thoughts were of themselves sufficient to +keep her awake. She had fallen asleep the night before with the dismal +thought in her mind that though her long desired wish to stay in a house +full of young people had been most unexpectedly realised, the very first +thing she had done was to declare enmity with all of them, and the +depressing fact came vividly before her mind the instant she awoke. She +found herself wishing most fervently that she had been content to remain +Margaret Anstruther, and had never met Eleanor Carson, or conceived the +mad idea of changing places with her. However, as it was obviously too +late to entertain reflections of that sort now, she made an effort to +dismiss that unprofitable wish from her mind, and in order to divert her +thoughts the more effectually, resolved, early though it was, to get up.</p> + +<p>As soon as the sound of many feet clattering noisily downstairs told her +that the coast was clear, she found her way to the bathroom, and having +bathed and dressed felt more courage to face the trials of the day that +lay before her.</p> + +<p>There was no one about as she went downstairs, and she passed out through +the open front door and went into the garden.</p> + +<p>The Cedars—described by the local house agents as one of the finest +residential mansions in Seabourne—stood in about three acres of ground, +which, though to Margaret accustomed to the big gardens of the country, +seemed a small enough piece of land to belong to such an imposing looking +house as The Cedars, was in reality unusually large for a town where +property was so valuable and ground rents as enormous as they were in +Seabourne. The grounds had been laid out to the utmost advantage. A wide +lawn, planted here and there with clumps of flowering shrubs, sloped +slightly away from the front of the house, and at the bottom of it lay +two sunk tennis courts surrounded by high wire-netting. On the other side +of the drive were kitchen and fruit gardens.</p> + +<p>Her tour of the grounds finished, Margaret conceived the idea of going on +to the downs, the foot of which were scarcely a stone's throw away from +the gate, and seeing if she could discover in which direction Windy Gap +lay. It was still quite early and she had plenty of time at her disposal +before breakfast. It was a stiff climb to the top of the downs and took +longer than she had thought, even though she left the white road that +went zigzagging to the summit and took a short cut up an exceedingly +steep footpath. But the view that she got when she reached the top +brought a little cry of amazed wonder to her lips, and she felt amply +repaid for her long, toilsome climb. Accustomed as she had been all her +life to the flat, tame scenery that surrounded her native village, she +had had no idea that anything as lovely as this could exist. Never had +she seen anything like it. The wide downs appeared to stretch away for +miles and miles in front of her forming undulating hills and valleys. +Below, at the foot of the high white cliffs that now rose to a dizzy +height sheer above the water, and now dipped almost to its level, lay the +sea glittering and sparkling in the sunlight. For the most part the downs +were bare and wind-swept, but in the hollows small villages nestled with +here and there a square grey tower rising through the trees that +surrounded the tiny hamlets. One of these she felt sure must be Windy +Gap, because looking eastwards she could see the flat, marshy ground +through which the train had taken them the day before, and though of this +she could not be certain, for a light mist veiled the distant view, she +even thought she could descry the long white road leading upwards to the +downs from the plain beneath them.</p> + +<p>Somewhere over there, then, Eleanor was at that moment, and whatever else +she might be doing she was not roaming at her own sweet will on the +hillside as she, Margaret, was at that moment doing. And her intense +satisfaction at the thought of her own freedom swept away the few +uncomfortable doubts and fears that had been harassing her ever since she +awoke that morning. Come what might, she would enjoy herself she thought +determinedly.</p> + +<p>But as a matter of fact the invigorating, bracing air, the brilliant +sunshine pouring down on land and sea, had already acted like a tonic +upon Margaret's spirits, her troubles seemed to roll away of their own +accord and she felt that it would be impossible not to be happy at The +Cedars.</p> + +<p>So, much the better for her walk, she presently climbed down the hill +again, and turned into the road that led homewards. The windows of the +dining-room looked on to the drive, and as she passed them she saw that +every one was seated at breakfast, and it was with an inward and very +rapid sinking of the heart that she realised that she would have to go in +late and face the entire assembled party.</p> + +<p>An access of terrible shyness rushed over her at the thought, and to +delay the evil moment as much as possible she went up to her room and +took off her hat and smoothed her hair. But she could not linger over +that operation indefinitely, especially as a housemaid who had already +arrived to do her room volunteered the information that the breakfast +gong had sounded nearly a quarter of an hour ago. With slow, reluctant +feet that halted at every step Margaret went down the wide, shallow +stairs. If any one had told her three days ago that she would go thus +laggingly to resume acquaintance with a room full of young people she +would have found difficulty in believing them. A buzz of talk and +laughter struck loudly on her ear as she pushed the door open and went +in.</p> + +<p>Every member of the family, except Mrs. Danvers who never came down to +breakfast, were assembled in the room, and, or so at least it seemed to +Margaret as she hung for a moment unperceived in a hesitating manner on +the threshold, they were all talking together.</p> + +<p>In addition, Maud, who presumably occupied her mother's place at the head +of the table, but who had vacated it for the time being, was balancing +herself on the fender reading out scraps of news from a letter she held +in her hand.</p> + +<p>One of the two cadets had evidently only just made his appearance at +breakfast, for he was standing at the sideboard, complaining, as he +lifted the covers and inspected the contents of the hot dishes, that not +a single thing worth eating had been left for him.</p> + +<p>"You shouldn't be such a lazy person then," called a girl who was seated +near Geoffrey. "Of course, the early birds get all the worms."</p> + +<p>"I am sorry, Miss Joan, that you liken our good food to worms," said the +boy, as, having passed the contents of all the dishes in review, he slid +a couple of poached eggs and a few rashers of bacon on to his plate, and +took his seat beside the girl who had called out the remark.</p> + +<p>"I was speaking comparatively," she said in a condescending tone, as she +tilted her nose in the air. "I have heard before that one should not +speak comparatively to boys of your age, and now I know."</p> + +<p>At that there arose a delighted shout of laughter, and Maud called across +from the fireplace that little girls should not use words they could not +understand. "You meant figuratively, my dear Joan," she said.</p> + +<p>Joan, who looked about sixteen, tossed the long, fair pigtail in which +she wore her hair over her shoulder and began readily enough to join in +the laughter to which her mistake had just given rise. But all of a +sudden her countenance changed, and appearing to fly into a violent +passion she started up from her chair, and stamped her foot and cried +out:—</p> + +<p>"I won't be laughed at, I won't, I won't! I hate you all!"</p> + +<p>And burying her face in her handkerchief, she raced across the room, and +dashed full tilt into Margaret who was still hesitating unperceived in +the doorway.</p> + +<p>At that a sound like a little gasp went up from the others, and though +the gasp was in some cases followed by a little giggle, to their credit +be it said most of the young faces wore a look of concern that Margaret +should have made her appearance just in time to hear her outburst of the +night before mimicked for the general amusement. Would she get angry +again, or would she burst out crying? From what they had seen of her the +night before, she was quite as likely to do one as the other. But to the +general surprise she did neither, and for the simple reason that she had +failed to grasp the fact that Joan's grief was all a sham, and that it +was she herself who was being made game of. Joan, after one swift glimpse +to see against whom it was she had so violently cannoned, turned away, +and dropping her face in her handkerchief, again appeared to cry +violently. Margaret felt quite sorry for her, and forgetting all her +shyness tried to comfort her.</p> + +<p>"I know how unpleasant it is to be laughed at," she whispered in her ear; +"but if you pretend not to mind and laugh back you will not mind it so +much."</p> + +<p>But Margaret's sympathy, far from making Joan ashamed of herself, amused +her immensely, and keeping her face turned away from Margaret, she looked +up out of her handkerchief and winked at the others and giggled. But when +she found that no one else was laughing, her own giggles died away, and +she began to sidle uncomfortably towards her chair.</p> + +<p>Though none of the others had heard what Margaret had whispered to her, +they had guessed, from the sympathetic expression of her face, that she +had taken Joan's pretence of rage for a real outburst, and was comforting +her; and that in spite of that, Joan should still wish to make game of +her seemed to them horribly unfair. Geoffrey was the first to show his +disapproval of Joan's conduct. A joke was a joke, he thought, but his +young cousin must be taught that she could not make game of a fellow +guest—not without their sanction, at any rate. So getting up and coming +round the table, he shook hands with Margaret, wished her good morning, +and found a place for her next him.</p> + +<p>"Come back to the table and do your duty, Maud," he said, as his sister +showed no signs of moving from the fireplace; "or if you want to go off, +let Hilary take your place. There are several of us wanting more tea. +Will you have tea or coffee, Miss Carson?"</p> + +<p>"I'll pour out for you, Maud," Hilary said, starting up.</p> + +<p>"No, you won't, my dear," Maud said, coming back to her place. "I haven't +half finished my brekker. But I thought you had had breakfast ages ago, +Miss Carson, with the kids in the nursery."</p> + +<p>"Oh, ought I to have had my breakfast there?" Margaret said +uncomfortably, letting the fork she had just taken up fall with a clatter +on to her plate.</p> + +<p>Maud shrugged her shoulders. "There is no ought about it," she said +carelessly. "But the kids do have their breakfast in the nursery, and +I believe the idea was that you should have yours there with them."</p> + +<p>"Well, any way, Miss Carson," put in Geoffrey pleasantly, "you show your +good taste in preferring our society to theirs. Our manners may leave a +good deal to be desired"—though he did not glance at Joan, that young +person knew well that her recent behaviour was in his mind, and got very +red—"but theirs are worse. Their sense of humour is distinctly inferior, +and they think it awfully funny to put salt in your tea, and to mix +mustard with your pudding when you aren't looking, and things of that +sort, you know."</p> + +<p>No one knew better than her brother that Maud's remark had not been +intended to convey a hint that Miss Carson's place as governess was with +her young charges. The disagreeable habit of implying things was not one +of Maud's faults. Innuendos were beneath her—what she wanted to say she +said outright. But sometimes, as in this case, her brother wished she was +not so utterly indifferent to the effect her bluntness produced. It was +because he had seen Margaret wince under it that he had exerted himself +to remove any unpleasant impression that her words might have left on the +holiday governess's mind.</p> + +<p>"I—I do like your company best, of course," Margaret said. Then, with a +heightening colour, and in a stammering, choked voice which showed what +an effort it was to overcome her shyness and speak so that every one +could hear, she said, "I beg your pardon for saying last night that I +hated you all. Of course, it was not true."</p> + +<p>"That is a great weight off our minds," said Maud in a tone of +raillery. "Now we can breathe again. We were so afraid that you +hadn't—well—exactly taken to us last night."</p> + +<p>The light-hearted way in which she spoke quite robbed the words of any +sting they might otherwise have conveyed, and Margaret was able to join +in the laughter which this very mild way of describing the feeling she +had shown the previous night evoked.</p> + +<p>She was finding out that very little made the Danvers laugh, and when she +came to think it over, she arrived at the right conclusion that she found +this surprising, not because they laughed more than other young people, +but because she had been used to the society of people who laughed so +very much less. But anything seemed to serve with them as a cause for +laughter. If the joke were a good one it evoked hearty laughter, if it +were a bad one the perpetrator was laughed at; and if fresh jokes, good +or bad, ran short, there was seemingly an endless store of old ones to be +drawn upon, supplemented by catchwords and phrases from the latest +musical comedy. These, of course, were even more unintelligible to +Margaret than the rest of the queer, scrappy talk that made up the bulk +of their conversation; but as she made no attempt to share in it, the +fact that even their most everyday slang expressions were strange to her, +passed unnoticed. For the most part, however, they were too much occupied +with their own affairs to have much attention to spare for her; and it +dawned upon Margaret, before even that first meal in their society was +ended, that she need not have been afraid that they would bear malice +against her for her outburst of the night before. They were really +scarcely interested enough in her to do that. Under cover of the brisk +chatter that went on round her, she took the opportunity of glancing +round the table and studying the various members of the household.</p> + +<p>With the exception of herself they numbered eight, and though there +had been considerably more young people than that present in the +billiard-room last night, she gathered from the conversation that was +going on round her that, during the holidays at least, Mrs. Danvers kept +a sort of open house for all the friends of her own children.</p> + +<p>Opposite Margaret, on Geoffrey's other hand, sat Joan Green. Though she +was only fifteen, she looked at least a year older, in spite of the fact +that she wore her hair in a long, thick plait down her back. Margaret, +who was still under the impression that Joan had been flying from the +room in a rage as she came in, and that she had been the means of +soothing her back to a better temper, was a little hurt and puzzled at +the studious way in which Joan's eyes avoided hers. Once when she had +caught their glance for a moment, and had smiled a friendly recognition +into them, she had been rewarded by a cold glare that had quite startled +her. Next to Joan sat Hilary, and the two girls had seemingly a great +deal to say to each other, for though now and again they joined in the +general conversation, for the most part they talked together in +undertones audible to themselves alone. Hilary's face was a pale likeness +of Maud's. Her eyes were not so blue, nor was her complexion so tanned as +her sister's, and though her features resembled Maud's sufficiently +closely to cause them to be easily recognised as sisters, Hilary's face +lacked the look of sparkling vivacity which made Maud's face so +attractive. On the other side of Hilary and next to Maud sat Jack, with +his brother Noel, the other naval cadet, facing him. Then came Nancy, the +girl who had offered Margaret chocolates and advice the previous evening, +and when she caught Margaret's eyes now she smiled and nodded as much as +to say she quite understood the latter's desire to find out what they +were all like.</p> + +<p>Nancy was not the only person who had noted the way in which Margaret's +eyes had been travelling round the table, for when the turn of the boy +next to her came to be inspected, she was startled to hear Geoffrey on +the other side of her say:—</p> + +<p>"Don't waste time on him, Miss Carson. He's not worth it, I assure you; +that's only Edward—Silly Ned as we call him. You must call him that too; +he never answers to any other name."</p> + +<p>"Oh!" said Margaret, glancing with some apprehension at the small boy on +her left as though she feared that he might think she was really going to +call him anything of the sort.</p> + +<p>Though he, too, was unmistakably a Danvers, he was more like Hilary than +any of the others. He was a small, thin, delicate-looking boy, and he +wore spectacles.</p> + +<p>"Yes, we call him Silly Ned because he has all the brains of the family. +He looks a mere child, doesn't he? But he's a sixth form boy at his +college, and he got a Mathematical Exhibition last term. He's also a +brilliant member of the cricket eleven. We try to take him down a peg or +two in the holidays, but it isn't much good. His prizes and his cricket +combined have made him too big for his boots. A nice little boy ruined, +that's what he is."</p> + +<p>"Oh, shut up, Geoffrey," Edward said; "sarcasm isn't really your line, +you know."</p> + +<p>"Meaning that it is his, or one of his," commented Geoffrey; "you see for +yourself what a bumptious babe it is, Miss Carson. Well, and now that you +have taken silent stock of us all, won't you tell us what you think of +us? But answer me one thing to start with. Which, in your opinion, makes +the most noise at breakfast, a girl's school, or the Danvers family?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I do not know, because I have never——" began Margaret, and then +stopped in great confusion, realising that she had been about to say that +she had never seen a girl's school at breakfast, and conscious that Joan, +who had overheard Geoffrey's question and her answer, was staring across +at her in obvious astonishment.</p> + +<p>"Why, I thought you had come fresh from a school, Miss Carson," she said.</p> + +<p>Before Margaret had time to answer a shout of laughter from Maud and the +two boys on either side of her drowned all chance of any one making their +voice heard at the other end of the table, and by the time comparative +quiet was restored Margaret had collected her wits, and had remembered +the part she was playing. She did not even look disconcerted when +Geoffrey, whose attention had been momentarily diverted from her by the +noise at the other end of the table, said thoughtfully:—</p> + +<p>"You know, if the remark isn't rather a personal one—which it is by the +way—you aren't my idea of a governess a bit."</p> + +<p>For it was so evident that he entertained no suspicion at all of the real +facts of the case that she saw there was no occasion for alarm. She even +smiled as she asked him in her prim, old-fashioned way in what respect +she then differed from the picture of a governess he had in his mind's +eye.</p> + +<p>"Well, it isn't exactly that you look too young, for I know governesses +at girl's schools are young nowadays, and that they play games, and all +that. But you don't look to me quite self-confident or self-opinionated +enough. Eh! What do you think, Joan? Is Miss Carson your idea of a school +governess either?"</p> + +<p>"No," said Joan promptly; and then Margaret, who could not know that Joan +had answered in the negative with the idea of giving the reply that she +fancied Margaret would like least, did change countenance a little. For +Joan's "No" was so very decisive. And it did not make her feel any the +more comfortable to know that Joan's eyes were fixed unblinkingly, and +pitilessly, on her blushes. For a moment Joan stared and Margaret +blushed, the latter miserably conscious meanwhile that if she wanted to +draw down suspicion upon herself she had only to continue to sit there +and look the picture of guilt, and the thing was done.</p> + +<p>"Not a bit," Joan added with much emphasis, and in the amiable hope of +seeing Margaret look still more out of countenance.</p> + +<p>But then Margaret pulled herself together. There had suddenly flashed +into her mind the recollection of the words Eleanor had used when she, +Margaret, had found it hard to believe that Eleanor had been a pupil +teacher and a governess for the last six years. And her excellent memory +coming to her aid, she quoted them now, exactly reproducing even the +light, bantering tone Eleanor had used.</p> + +<p>"You write to Miss McDonald," she said, "and ask her what sort of a +governess Miss Carson was. I think she would bristle with indignation if +she were to hear any one doubt that she would have a governess in her +school who was incapable of keeping order. So please throw no cold doubts +on my abilities. The profession of a governess is the only one I am +fitted to follow, and if I was no good at that I should be hard put to it +to earn a living."</p> + +<p>"Upon my word," murmured Maud to one of the boys, "the silent Miss Carson +is making quite a speech down at the other end of the table."</p> + +<p>"I promise never to doubt your capabilities again," said Geoffrey with +mock solemnity. "We are satisfied that Miss Carson really is a governess, +aren't we, Joan?" he added, turning to his cousin.</p> + +<p>"Oh, quite," said Joan slowly. Though she had not yet put the thought +into words Joan thought dimly that it was rather curious of Miss Carson +to insist so strongly on the fact that she had been a governess. Of +course, they all knew that beforehand, so why make such a point of it.</p> + +<p>Hilary and Joan were the first to get up from table, and with linked arms +they sauntered out on to the terrace, their heads close together.</p> + +<p>Margaret felt certain from a backward glance they threw in her direction +as they went out that they were whispering about her, and the knowledge +made her vaguely uncomfortable.</p> + +<p>"Well, I suppose you two are off sailing again," said Maud to the two +cadets. "I should have thought you would have had enough of the sea in +term-time, and be glad enough to stay on shore when you got a chance."</p> + +<p>"And that from a girl who thinks she knows everything," said one of the +boys in disgusted accents. "Did she think, then, that Osborne is a +sailing ship, or what?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, well, you know what I mean," said Maud equably.</p> + +<p>"I'll stay on shore, as you call it, like a shot, Maud," said Jack, "if +you'll give us a game of tennis. Come on now, you and I against Noel and +Nancy."</p> + +<p>"Not taking any, thanks," was Maud's retort. "Get Hilary instead of me, +and the set would be all right."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Hilary plays a rotten game!" said Jack, with true brotherly +frankness. "She can't play for nuts, and she talks all the time, and +won't run, and loses her temper."</p> + +<p>"Hilary would be pleased if she heard you," remarked Maud lazily, as she +rose and strolled across to the fireplace.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I hear, and I don't care two straws," called her sister from the +terrace. But her face, which was as black as thunder, looked as if she +did care nevertheless.</p> + +<p>"Catch me wasting a whole day playing tennis," said Geoffrey. "I'm as +keen on a game as any one in the afternoon, but I am not going to be +glued to one little patch of grass all day."</p> + +<p>"Of course not," put in Edward; "your favourite form of amusement we all +know nowadays, is to lie flat on your back on a dusty road tinkering at +your old motor-bike."</p> + +<p>"And yours, apparently, to try and be funny at the expense of your elders +and betters," retorted Geoffrey. "Say much more, young man, and I'll take +you out in the trailer."</p> + +<p>"Oh, but I wish you would, Geoffrey."</p> + +<p>"Not much. The mater says she can't spare any of us yet, and certainly +not the "Hope of His Side." So trot away to your Latin essays, my son, +and don't waste time in idling like the rest of us."</p> + +<p>"As a matter of fact, I'm going down to the cricket-ground with Tommy to +practice at the nets a bit with the professional," said Edward, nettled +at the imputation that he was going to spend the morning indoors. He was +not vain of his brains, but he was of his cricket, and though wild horses +would not have dragged from him the confession that he read Greek for +pleasure long after he ought to have been asleep, he would brag of his +batting averages to any one who would listen.</p> + +<p>At that moment a maid entered the room and approached Margaret.</p> + +<p>"If you please, Miss," she said, "the mistress says, will you wait for +her in the morning-room. She will be down in a moment, and wishes to +speak to you before you go out."</p> + +<p>Margaret jumped up at once, glad of an excuse to leave the room, for +though she had finished her breakfast long before any of the others, she +had been too shy to rise and go away. Besides, she had not the least idea +where she ought to go, or what she ought to do.</p> + +<p>"No need for you to hurry, Miss Carson," Maud called after her. "Mother's +minutes generally mean hours."</p> + +<p>And in that Maud proved to have been right, for an hour and a quarter +passed before Mrs. Danvers made her belated appearance in the +morning-room. But as there was a goodly supply of magazines and +illustrated papers, Margaret did not find the time hang heavily on her +hands.</p> + +<p>Truth to say, she was glad to be alone, and the knowledge that such was +the case depressed her very much. She had looked forward to the society +of other young people as the greatest happiness earth could give her, and +it was discouraging to find that the realisation of her wish was as yet +bringing her very little pleasure. She felt awkward and terribly shy in +their company, and she had an uneasy consciousness that they looked upon +her as a poor sort of creature, and very uninteresting—what, in short, +she said sadly to herself, for she was already picking up some of their +expressions—they would have called a bore.</p> + +<p>When at last Mrs. Danvers did make her appearance she was full of +apologies for having kept Margaret waiting so long.</p> + +<p>"You must blame the cook, my dear," she said cheerily, "not me. Oh, dear, +I am glad to sit down!"</p> + +<p>She sank into a low easy chair with an air of fatigue, and Margaret +seeing her look round for a footstool, brought her one and placed it +under her feet.</p> + +<p>"Thank you, my dear," she said, "and now if you will get me my knitting +from that table in the corner we will have a nice, cosy chat. Thank +goodness my work for the day is all done!" Ten minutes spent in the +kitchen assenting to all that a very excellent cook-housekeeper suggested +constituted Mrs. Danvers "work for the day." "There are many things I +wanted to ask you about my old friend and cousin, Miss McDonald. By the +way, what do you think of the children?"</p> + +<p>When Margaret answered that she had not yet seen them, Mrs. Danvers, +after a short pause of astonishment, gave a vexed laugh. At least, to +start with, the laugh was tinged with vexation; but as she continued to +laugh the feeling of annoyance was merged into one of hearty amusement.</p> + +<p>"That's Hannah all over," she said. "Hannah is jealous of you. She is +their nurse, you know, and has been with them since they have been born. +She's the only person who can manage them. I can't, and their mother +can't, though Joanna would be very angry if she heard I had said that. +But I told Hannah to bring the children down to see you here after +breakfast. However, as she did not choose to do so, it is no good +annoying her by saying anything about it. I will take you up to the +nurseries presently, when we have had that nice little chat about my dear +cousin. But Joanna," she said, reverting to her daughter and her +children, "is always going in for new systems with them. At one time her +theory was that they must not be spoiled by having any notice taken of +them. During that period they lived entirely in the nursery. I remember I +was staying there at the time, and I thought I had never enjoyed a visit +to my daughter so much. Next time I went the children were being brought +up in the fashion of their great-grandmothers. They were taught to say +'Ma'am' to their mother, and 'Sir' to their father, and were not allowed +to sit down in their presence, and never, never to speak unless they were +spoken to. I enjoyed that visit too. But the latest and the reigning idea +is that they are not to be thwarted or crossed in any way, and as for +being punished such barbarity is not to be thought of. If detected in +naughtiness they are to be reasoned with only, and if the naughtiness +is persisted in it is to be taken for granted that the small sinners are +ill, and must be gently nursed into good health and goodness again."</p> + +<p>As she listened to this Margaret came to the conclusion that their mother +must be an extraordinarily silly woman, but when Mrs. Danvers went on to +add that Joanna, after expounding her new theory in detail, had gone away +to Norway to fish with her husband, and left her mother to find out how +it worked, Margaret smiled outright.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Danvers laughed too. "It is rather funny," she said in her +good-natured way, "and the worst of it is that Joanna made me promise to +give her system a fair trial, and as I never broke my word to any of my +children yet, I am giving it a fair trial. And that is why, my dear, I am +so glad of your help. When Miss McDonald wrote to me and asked me if I +could find a holiday engagement for one of her governesses, I jumped at +the chance of having you. For, I said to myself that a governess of +Gertrude McDonald's would, of course, have discipline and all that sort +of thing at her fingers ends."</p> + +<p>"Of course," said poor Margaret rather feebly, as Mrs. Danvers paused not +so much for a reply as to gain breath.</p> + +<p>"Unyielding firmness without harshness on your side, implicit obedience +without fear on theirs is what Joanna aims at I believe," said Mrs. +Danvers cheerfully, "and it certainly sounds a delightful method. By the +way, if you get on with the children, Joanna has an idea of asking you to +stay with her permanently. She is going out to California next spring, +and will have to look out for a governess to go with her, as, of course, +she is taking the children. Would you like to go, or do you prefer +school-work?"</p> + +<p>"I—I don't know," stammered Margaret, who totally unprepared for such +a proposition, did not know what answer to make. "I should have to ask +El——(my friend, I mean) what she thought of it. Ask her advice, I +mean."</p> + +<p>"Quite so, quite so," Mrs. Danvers said. "But that's all in the future, +of course. The first thing you have to do is to make the acquaintance of +the children, and, as I said, Hannah has evidently carefully kept them up +in the nursery this morning. She is devoted to them, and can't bear the +idea of having to share her charge of them with a governess. So I am +afraid you may have a little unpleasantness to put up with at first. But +she is a good creature, and if you exercise a little tact you will soon +be able to smooth her down."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said Margaret even more feebly than before. But Mrs. Danvers was +not an observant woman, and she was so far from suspecting the hidden +dismay with which her new holiday governess listened to her, that later +in the day she gave it as her opinion that underneath her exceedingly +quiet manner Miss Carson concealed an iron will, and that the reign of +stern discipline she was about to inaugurate would have an excellent +effect on her grandchildren. And she was genuinely astonished at the +derision with which her own children received this prophecy.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X</h2> + +<h3>ELEANOR AT WINDY GAP</h3> + + +<p>To her mingled relief and surprise, Margaret found her small pupils far +less troublesome to manage than the tales she had heard about them would +have led her to suppose. Daisy and David were a quaint, small couple; but +though self-willed and alarmingly high spirited they were affectionate, +warm-hearted children and easily ruled by love. They took an instant +fancy to Margaret. Perhaps her quiet manner and prim way of speaking +appealed to them after the noisy ways of their young aunts, who +alternately petted and bullied them; at any rate they showed themselves +gratifyingly ready to obey her lightest word.</p> + +<p>"We think you a perfect dear," Daisy said at the end of the first +morning, winding two fat little arms tightly round Margaret's neck, "and +we like you, and we will be good to you, won't we, David?"</p> + +<p>"Sure," said David, who had picked up a few Americanisms from his +father's New York chauffeur, and delighted in airing them. "You can +calculate on that all the time."</p> + +<p>Hannah, too, who was a quiet, elderly, and very superior woman, liked the +children's governess, and that was no small matter. She approved of +Margaret's quiet manner and sedate speech, and never guessing with what +a quaking heart Margaret had entered the schoolroom, set her down in her +own mind as an ideal governess.</p> + +<p>"A far better example to my lambs than Miss Maud with her noisy ways, or +Miss Hilary with her sharp, sarcastic speeches, a well-brought-up young +lady Miss Carson is, and no mistake either, and will teach Miss Daisy how +to behave."</p> + +<p>Though Margaret had quite enjoyed her morning with the children, she was +not sorry when twelve o'clock struck and the lesson-books were put away. +At that hour the children always went for a walk with Hannah, and +Margaret was free not only for the rest of the morning, but for the +remainder of the day as well. Certainly the post of holiday governess at +The Cedars could not be called an arduous one, but such as it was it was +pleasant to think that she filled it satisfactorily, and that she was +quite an efficient substitute for the real Eleanor. So having seen the +children put their lesson-books tidily away, Margaret ran lightly +downstairs to look for some of the others. It would be nice, she thought +innocently, to have a game of tennis with Maud or to take a walk with +Hilary or with one of the Greens. No doubt they all knew she would be +free at twelve and would be on the look-out for her. The hall and the +morning-room were empty, so she went into the garden and, guided by the +sound of voices, made her way down to the tennis court. Here Maud and one +of the girls she had come to meet the previous evening were playing +singles, while Hilary and her two cousins occupied a bench on the bank +overlooking the court on the far side.</p> + +<p>Unaware of the fact that she was interrupting the game, Margaret began to +cross the court by the net, and when interrupted in her progress by a +shout from Maud turned and walked up to her.</p> + +<p>"I say, whatever do you want?" Maud said impatiently, "Don't you see we +are playing?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, and I thought I would like to play too, please," said Margaret, +in shy but friendly tones. "I have finished with the children for the +morning. Perhaps Hilary or one of your cousins will lend me a racquet and +I will come and play on your side."</p> + +<p>"What, in high-heeled house-shoes, and when we are in the middle of a +single!" Maud exclaimed in amazement. "Here, clear out please. Take her +away somebody, and let us get on with our game."</p> + +<p>Thus summarily dismissed, and blushing crimson at the annoyance in Maud's +tone, Margaret backed hurriedly off the court, and though the giggles +that came from the bench whereon Hilary and the Greens sat were clearly +at her expense, Margaret walked awkwardly towards them.</p> + +<p>Neither Hilary nor Joan made any attempt to make room for her to sit +down, nor to conceal their amusement at her discomfiture, but Nancy, who +sat in the middle, edged closer to her sister and patted the bench +invitingly.</p> + +<p>"You evidently don't know much more about tennis than you do about +billiards, do you?" said Hilary scornfully; "or you would not have +strolled across the court in that fashion and interrupted the game."</p> + +<p>"I am sorry," said Margaret miserably. Already the feeling of eager +anticipation with which she had left the schoolroom to seek their society +had fled, and she was heartily wishing herself back there again; "and I +am afraid I have made Maud cross."</p> + +<p>"Far too cross," said Nancy. "After all, it's nothing so terrible that +you did. It wasn't as if it was a match that Maud was playing. She is +only having a game with Anna."</p> + +<p>"Fancy thinking you could play in house-shoes though," said Hilary. +"Didn't the girls at Hampstead have tennis-shoes, poor things?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know. Yes, I suppose so. I mean, Mrs. McDonald did not—there +were no tennis courts," stammered Margaret, her wretchedness increasing +as she met Hilary's scrutinising gaze. Surely she was not mistaken, and +this time there was marked suspicion of her in Hilary's face.</p> + +<p>"Come for a turn with me," said Nancy, who, though quite unconscious of +the significance of Hilary's look and manner, was at least acute enough +to perceive that her cousin was bent upon making Margaret more +uncomfortable than she was already. "I haven't stirred from this seat +since eleven, and unless I take some exercise I shan't be able to eat any +lunch. We'll go into the kitchen garden and look for some raspberries."</p> + +<p>"They'll improve your appetite," jeered her sister.</p> + +<p>She waited until the two were out of hearing, and then turned eagerly to +Hilary.</p> + +<p>"Hilary," she said, "what is it? I can see you are suspicious of Miss +Carson. Do tell me. Oh, how quick and clever you are! I am sure you do +not like her. I believe you can read people's characters at a glance."</p> + +<p>Hilary sniffed, a would-be modest, yet well-pleased sniff, which seemed +to say that though it would not become her to endorse Joan's opinion of +her talents, truth would not permit her to deny it.</p> + +<p>"I know nothing for certain yet," she said darkly, "but I am on the +watch. Miss Carson is not all she seems, mark my words."</p> + +<p>The early dinner was rather an ordeal for Margaret. All the members of +the family, including her two small pupils, who sat one on each side of +her and behaved beautifully, were present, besides Anna Finch and a +couple of Geoffrey's friends, motor-bicycle enthusiasts like himself, who +had come over from Brighton that morning on their machines.</p> + +<p>Had Margaret only been allowed to eat her dinner in silence she would not +have found the meal as terrifying as she did. Hilary, it was, who would +not permit that, for the second Miss Danvers sat opposite to her, and +whenever there was a lull in the conversation she would lean across the +table and ask Margaret questions about Hampstead. The questions were +asked in such apparent innocence that none of the others guessed that she +was trying to catch her out in her answers. But Margaret was only too +miserably aware of that fact, and she wondered what it was that she could +have said or done to raise suspicions about herself before she had even +been twenty-four hours in the house. Hilary's sidelong glances and +meaningly put questions worked upon her to such a pitch that she expected +to hear her say any moment that an imposter sat at their table in the +guise of Eleanor Carson. But she need not have feared such an immediate +denouncement. Hilary's suspicions had by no means reached that point yet; +even if they had she would not have given voice to them. She was enjoying +her cat-and-mouse game far too much to wish to bring it to an end as yet, +and several days went by without her doing more than making Margaret as +uncomfortable as she could by sly questions and glances. Sometimes a +whole meal would pass without her addressing a single word to Margaret, +then, as the latter would begin to feel that her vague alarms were +groundless, and that Hilary suspected nothing, sudden allusion to +Hampstead, or the school where she was supposed to have taught so long, +would set her trembling again.</p> + +<p>In short, Hilary contrived to make Margaret's life a burden to her, and +one night, the fourth since she had come to The Cedars, Margaret resolved +that she could stand it no longer. She would make a clean breast of +everything, own that she was at The Cedars under a false name, and that +she had no right there at all, and go to Mrs. Murray.</p> + +<p>The moment in which she took that resolve was the happiest she had known +since she had come to The Cedars. For though she had been slow in +confessing it even to herself, it was a fact that, quite apart from +Hilary's quiet persecution of her, Margaret was not enjoying herself. It +was quite evident to her by that time that none of the family, excepting +her two pupils, and even they were to go away on the morrow to stay for +a fortnight with an aunt of their father's, cared in the least for her. +None of them included her in their plans or sought her society. Maud was +out playing golf or tennis all day long; Hilary and Joan were +inseparable, and though Nancy was kind it was only in a lazy, +good-natured way that in the end counted for very little. The boys, +though they were all, especially Geoffrey and Edward, quite nice to her +rarely met her, except at meals, so that she could not depend upon them +for companionship. And against all that Margaret had to set the constant +necessity of weighing all her actions and words. It was even a strain +always to have to remember that her name was Eleanor Carson.</p> + +<p>What an immense relief it would be to be herself again, even though it +meant going up to that solitary house on the downs where she would have +only an old deaf lady for company!</p> + +<p>Poor Margaret, she was terribly disillusioned, and bitterly now did she +regret the hasty act that had landed her in her present predicament. She +must have been mad, she thought gloomily, to have planned and carried out +such a brazen piece of imposition; and how could she ever have imagined +that she would have had the temerity to have carried it on for weeks and +weeks. She knew now that she was incapable of carrying it on for another +day, and suddenly the impulse arose in her to go straight to Mrs. Danvers +and tell her her real name and confess her shameful behaviour. With that +idea in her mind she even started to her feet, but paused before she had +taken one step in the direction of the morning-room where Mrs. Danvers, +unconscious of the bombshell that her holiday governess had been +momentarily minded to throw at her feet, was enjoying her usual +after-dinner nap.</p> + +<p>It was not that Margaret's courage failed her at the thought of the +astounding revelation she had to make. In her present mood confession +would have been far easier to her than to continue the deception; it was +the thought that she would not be acting fairly to her accomplice that +stayed her steps. Eleanor must be told first that she could not go on +with it, and their confession must be simultaneous. And, no doubt, +Eleanor would be as glad and as thankful as she would be to change back +into her proper self. Probably she, too, was finding the deception more +than she could bear, and would hail the news that they were to resume +their own identities with untold relief. But for one day more Margaret +must continue to be Eleanor, much as she disliked the thought. But it +would be only for one day more, she thought to herself encouragingly, and +then she would be able to hold up her head again and not fear that every +chance question was going to unmask her as a cheat and a fraud.</p> + +<p>Although Margaret had originally planned to go and see Eleanor the day +after she had come to The Cedars, the days had so far slipped past +without her being able to do so. But now, as the children were going away +early on the morrow, there was nothing to prevent her from going to Windy +Gap as soon as she chose in the morning. And Margaret fell asleep that +night resolving to ask Mrs. Danvers' permission to go for a walk on the +downs directly after breakfast.</p> + +<p>Not that Margaret need have feared that any obstacle would be placed in +the way of her following her own devices. The younger members of the +family seemed only too ready to let her do exactly as she chose, as long +as she did not expect them to entertain her. When she came down to +breakfast the next morning it was to find the big room empty save for +herself. All the young ladies and all the young gentlemen had, Martin +informed her, taken their breakfast to the foot of the cliffs that +morning.</p> + +<p>"My dear," said Mrs. Danvers, when a little later Margaret went up to her +room to ask her permission to absent herself for the morning, "do +whatever you like. It is so nice of you not to be offended with my young +people for not taking you with them, but when I suggested it to Maud just +as they were ready to start at five o'clock this morning, she said it was +too late to wake you up then as they were just off. I said it was very +naughty of them not to have thought of you in time; but there it is, my +dear, they just forgot you."</p> + +<p>"They just forgot me," Margaret repeated to herself as she went down the +drive, and she sighed rather sadly. But her spirits revived when she +found herself clear of the houses and on the downs.</p> + +<p>Far down on the left the sea glittered and sparkled in the brilliant +sunshine, the cliffs were of a dazzling whiteness against the bright blue +sky, and in front of her and on her right stretched an apparently +limitless extent of down lands. In the hollows nestled farms and small +hamlets surrounded by trees, which in that wind-swept region only grew in +those more sheltered situations. The air was most invigorating for, in +spite of the sunshine, a fresh breeze was blowing off the sea, and this +cooled the air, which otherwise might have been too hot to make the quick +rate at which Margaret was walking agreeable. Mrs. Danvers' directions +were easy to follow, for not only were there signposts to aid her, but +when she was only half-way down the long white road which, with many +curves, wound down to the shore, she could see the dip in the cliffs that +gave the name of Windy Gap to the little cove at their base, and also +trace the road that ran inland from it along the bottom of the valley to +the little village of the same name that, well sheltered by trees, lay in +the middle of it, a mile or more away from the cliff-line.</p> + +<p>Recognising that there was then no need for her to follow the road as +far as The Cove, Margaret struck across the downs to her right in the +direction of the village, thus saving herself two sides of a triangle. A +little grey church with a squat tower, a little grey house that was +obviously the parsonage, a row of small cottages, a few isolated ones, +and a farm or two made up the village, and Margaret, after wandering up +and down the little main street wondering where Mrs. Murray's house was, +went into the one small general shop, which was also the post-office, +that the village boasted, to inquire. She was told to follow the road +for another few hundred yards, and then to take the first turning to the +left, which would lead her directly to Rose Cottage, which was the name +of Mrs. Murray's house, and to nowhere else.</p> + +<p>Following these instructions, Margaret presently found herself climbing +a very steep, rough lane, that ended abruptly at a pair of wide gates. +These opened on to a short, winding drive, and without any hesitation +Margaret approached the house, intending to ring and ask boldly for Miss +Anstruther. And that would be the last time, she earnestly hoped and +believed, that she would be obliged to give her name as Miss Carson. The +deception they had played was to end very soon now.</p> + +<p>It was a charming house and garden that came into view as Margaret turned +the last bend of the little winding drive. The house was little and the +garden big, and the latter was literally ablaze with flowers. So was the +house, too, but on the present occasion Margaret did not discover that.</p> + +<p>The situation on the slope of a hill was well chosen, for though fully +open to the south, the house and garden were well protected, both by +trees and by the rising ground, from the cold north and the boisterous +west wind. To-day, with the sun blazing overhead, it was like a veritable +sun-trap, and Margaret, who was beginning to feel the effects of her long +walk, looked longingly at a deck-chair that stood invitingly under the +shade of a weeping ash at the further end of the lawn.</p> + +<p>As Margaret's footsteps sounded noisily on the gravel, the chair, which +was placed with its back to the house, creaked suddenly, and Eleanor's +head appeared round the side of it.</p> + +<p>When her eyes fell upon Margaret, whose hand was at that minute +outstretched to lay hold of the bell, an expression of the most vivid +surprise, not unmixed with consternation, crossed her face, and, making +a warning sign to Margaret, she came running across the grass.</p> + +<p>"Don't ring," she said, in a voice that was cautiously lowered. "Mrs. +Murray is out, and it's no use disturbing the servants. I say, what on +earth made you come up here on such a grilling day? You must be too hot +for anything!"</p> + +<p>"I thought you would have been wondering why I had not been up here +before," said Margaret, feeling rather forlorn at the reception she was +getting.</p> + +<p>"Not a bit of it," returned Eleanor. "I have scarcely thought of you the +last few days. I feel as if I had been Margaret Anstruther all my life!"</p> + +<p>"And do you like it?" Margaret asked. The question slipped almost +unawares from her lips, but she could not recall it, and she waited with +a good deal of anxiety for the answer. She hoped it would not be in the +affirmative, for if it were it would make what she had to say so very +much harder for Eleanor to hear.</p> + +<p>"Like it?" said Eleanor ecstatically. "Liking is not the word! And, oh! +I have such news, such glorious, glorious news to give you! So, on the +whole, I am glad you have come, although at first I was rather dismayed +at the riskiness of it. But come away from here. I can take you to a +quiet spot where we can have a long, long talk unheard, and unseen from +the windows."</p> + +<p>While she spoke she was piloting Margaret across the lawn, past the shady +tree, in full view of the windows where she had been sitting, towards a +little grass path that cut in two the wide border of gay herbaceous +flowers that backed the far end of the garden, and led suddenly to a +flight of brick steps which descended to a walled-in kitchen garden +below. This being on a much lower level than the lawn was quite invisible +from the windows. A wide path ran along beside the rock-work that banked +up the lawn, and at the end of the path there was a comfortable little +summer-house furnished with a table and chairs.</p> + +<p>"I have made this snug little retreat my own," said Eleanor, as she led +the way into it and invited Margaret to be seated. "I come here in the +afternoons and do my lessons, and it is already quite understood by Mrs. +Murray and the servants that when I am working here I do not like to be +disturbed. She is very good and leaves me to myself now a lot. At first +she was rather inclined to come and talk to me a good deal, but I think +she sees now that I hate wasting time talking, and so lets me alone. +Well, now I am sure you are longing to hear all about my arrival and my +first meeting with Mrs. Murray. So I will tell you about that first, and +keep my best news to the last."</p> + +<p>If Margaret had said what was in her mind at that moment, she would have +said that what she longed most to hear was herself telling Eleanor that +she wanted to change back into her proper self again; but somehow, though +the words were on the tip of her tongue, she could not bring herself to +utter them. With a sinking heart she was beginning to realise that +Eleanor, far from wanting to be herself again, would much rather remain +Margaret Anstruther. And it was dreadful to think of the disappointment +that she must cause her when she said what she had come to say.</p> + +<p>"Well, now to begin at the beginning," Eleanor said, leaning comfortably +back on her chair with her hands lying loosely on her lap. Margaret +noticed that three fingers of her right hand were in bandages. "I can +confess now what I am sure you never guessed at the time, and that is +that I was in a horrid fright when I said good-bye to you at the station, +and I believe at the very last minute if I could have jumped back into +the train I would have done so, but Mrs. Murray was so kind that I soon +got over my nervousness. Not that it would have mattered, though, if I +hadn't," she added with a little laugh, "for Margaret, I found, was +expected to be shy. I suppose, as poor Mrs. Murray is so dreadfully deaf, +it is easier to pass myself off as you than it might otherwise have been, +but certainly if I have made any glaring mistakes she has never noticed +them, and if I really had been you my task could not have been simpler. +Of course, the first evening she asked me a great many questions about +Mr. Anstruther and your home, and your lessons, and your governess, and +why the doctor had said you were to go away, and so on, and I answered +them all in first-class style, for I have everything you had told me +fresh in my mind. Oh, but what do you think! Our plans might have been +wrecked at the outset by something neither of us had foreseen. That +evening, just as we were going to bed, Mrs. Murray said to me in the +quiet, low tone in which she always speaks, and which it makes it +dreadfully difficult to hear what she says, that the first thing next +morning I must write to my grandfather, and tell him of my safe arrival. +I was dismayed, if you like, for I had no notion what your handwriting +was like, or any hope of copying it if I knew, but I kept my countenance, +and gave no sign of dismay. And the next morning at breakfast, while +cutting a piece of bread in half, the knife slipped and I cut the three +middle fingers of my right hand so badly that each of them had to be +wrapped up in bandages. So you see that to hold a pen was impossible, and +Mrs. Murray wrote instead of me to announce my safe arrival here."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Eleanor!" Margaret exclaimed, "and you cut yourself on purpose."</p> + +<p>"Of course, it was the only thing to be done; and I say I did it so well +that I haven't been able to write yet. It was rather nice and clever of +me wasn't it?"</p> + +<p>"It was very clever," Margaret said, in a grave voice.</p> + +<p>Three days ago, when they had laid this plot together, she might have +been able to add that this final little touch of Eleanor's was nice, too; +but somehow she could not now bring herself to utter the word. Eleanor, +however, never noticed the omission, but in the vivacious tone in which +she had spoken throughout, went on to give a further account of all that +had happened to her since she had left Margaret at the station three days +since. That she was completely happy could not be doubted. Every word she +uttered showed that she was radiantly content with her new existence, and +was not troubled by as much as one small single scruple as to the +deception on Mrs. Murray that she was so successfully carrying out. +Indeed, it was evident that she had not given that side of the matter +a thought.</p> + +<p>"But I am keeping the best part of all until the last to tell you," she +said; "and that is, of course, about my voice."</p> + +<p>"Your voice," echoed Margaret. "Oh, of course, about your singing, you +mean."</p> + +<p>She had completely forgotten Eleanor's great ambition to be a famous +singer.</p> + +<p>"You remember what I told you that Signor Vanucci said to me, that I +ought to be the greatest singer of my generation, that he foresaw a +splendid future before me, that my voice had infinite possibilities. +But that it was, of course, quite untrained."</p> + +<p>Margaret nodded. She remembered now.</p> + +<p>"I can never forget those three phrases," Eleanor said in a slow, +thoughtful tone, as she gazed dreamily past Margaret at the wooden wall +of the summer-house over behind her. "Never. How often during the last +dreary six months have I not repeated them to myself. They had been +alternately my joy and my misery according as my hopes of getting proper +training some day, and my fear that I never would were in the ascendant. +But all that is over now, and I am a pupil of Martelli's. Do you know, +Margaret, I have to pinch myself sometimes to make sure that I am awake +and not dreaming. Even as I sit here telling it all to you the whole +situation—you, me, Madame Martelli, and everybody seem as though they +were a part of a dream, a lovely dream, but still a dream. Does it seem +like a dream to you?"</p> + +<p>"N—no, not exactly," said Margaret, with a slow shake of her head. "It +all seems quite real to me. But tell me what Madame Martelli said about +your voice."</p> + +<p>"Yes, I am not telling my story properly," said Eleanor, "but the truth +is that though I sit here so calmly, and talk so quietly, I am just +devoured by excitement whenever I think of my good luck. Well, I can tell +you what Madame Martelli said in a very few words. She was even more +enthusiastic than Signor Vanucci about my voice. Far, far more. I went +down to her the very first morning after I got here, you know. Mrs. +Murray was rather surprised at my eagerness to start off to my lessons, +she wanted instead to take me for a drive and show me the country, she +said; but I told her that I would much rather go down and see the Signora +at once, and so, although I believe she was a little disappointed that I +would not come driving with her, she took me down to the little house +where the Signora lives and left me to my fate after she had introduced +us. Picture to yourself, Margaret, a little woman with hair and eyes of +almost coal-like blackness, and a little sallow, eager face, and you have +the once great Madame Martelli to the life. Though she has lived in +England for a great many years she does not talk English very well, and +her foreign accent is very strong. She thought, of course, that singing +and music were only to be my secondary subjects, and that I had come to +her principally to study Italian, and at first I did not undeceive her, +but got out my grammar and exercise-books, and did dictations and +translations as if I aspired to learn nothing more from her. For two +hours we kept at it, and then she looked at her watch.</p> + +<p>"Your grandfather wishes, too, that we do a little singing and playing," +she said, and a distinct sigh of resignation came from her. "Which do you +like best, the playing or the singing?"</p> + +<p>"Singing," I answered. "I love singing, Madame Martelli, more than I love +anything else in the whole wide world."</p> + +<p>"Indeed," she said politely and kindly. "Zat is vary nice. Your +grandfather, he say through Mrs. Murray to me that you have ze pretty +little drawing-room voice, and would I kindly teach it. And so," again +that sigh of resignation, "will you please sit down to ze piano, and sing +me ze leetle song? Hey, is it not so that you have ye nice leetle voice?"</p> + +<p>At that, Margaret, I really don't know what came over me, for supposing +Signor Vanucci had been wrong, and I had no voice, she would have thought +me mad, but truth to say, I simply did not feel I was risking anything +when I turned, and looking at her across the big grand piano that fills +up her little drawing-room, and said, "No, it is not true, I have not a +nice little drawing-room voice."</p> + +<p>"Of course she thought I was shy and modest, and was nervous at the +thought of singing before her, and her face, when I went on in a calm, +matter-of-fact voice, 'No, I have not a little drawing-room voice, but +I have a voice which, with your training, is going to be one of the +greatest and best voices that has been heard in Europe this century,' was +a study."</p> + +<p>Margaret gasped, "Oh, Eleanor, how could you! for supposing—supposing it +had all been a mistake. What did she think of you?"</p> + +<p>"I gave her no time to think of me," said Eleanor. "I simply sat down and +sang, and then all she thought of was my voice. And as I had sung a scale +to Signor Vanucci, I did the same for her. And as I sang I kept my eyes +on her face, for somehow I was full of a glorious, careless confidence as +to what her verdict was going to be. Surprise and wonder, and then a sort +of rapt delight, were depicted in turn on her face, and as I sang the +last note she dropped quietly on to the nearest chair and just stared at +me for a moment. Then she began to talk rapidly to herself in Italian, +and for a moment a horrid nervousness did seize me as to what she +thought; but then she came over and kissed me, and I knew it was all +right. Then with her hands on my shoulders, she drew back and looked at +me. 'Wonderful! wonderful! wonderful!' she said in a sort of awed tone. +And then suddenly she asked me how old I was. It was really the first +coherent thing she had said. I said I was nineteen and would soon be +twenty. At that she clenched her hands and flung her arms wide in a sort +of despairing gesture. 'Oh, but we must work, work, work!' she said. Her +pronunciation is not like that, but I can't quite get it.</p> + +<p>"At that moment Mrs. Murray's pony-carriage drew up outside the house, +and seeing us through the window she gave the reins to the man and came +in. Madame Martelli fairly turned upon her in a perfect frenzy of +excitement, and wanted to know why—why—why I had not been properly +taught, that I had a marvellous voice, and that if I had not come to +her when I did no one might ever have discovered it. Well, of course, +Madame Martelli talks so fast and in such very broken English, and Mrs. +Murray is so deaf, that she did not understand one-half or one-quarter +of what was said to her. But though Madame Martelli must have seen that +from her bewildered expression she did not mind a bit, she just talked +on and on of all that I must do, and all that she would do for me. And +Mrs. Murray just sat there and listened as well as she could. When Madame +Martelli was quite out of breath with her excitement and the rapidity +with which she had talked, Mrs. Murray said in the quiet, low tones in +which she always speaks, and which sounded then like cold-water drops on +a raging volcano, if there is any sense in that metaphor, which I don't +believe there is, by the way:—</p> + +<p>"'I am glad you think, then, that her voice is worth training, and that +you consent to give her lessons.'"</p> + +<p>"The very calmness of the reply nearly set off Madame Martelli again. If +I hadn't been feeling pretty strung up myself, Margaret, I could have +laughed at the amazement and despair depicted on her face when she found +that the announcement that I had such a marvellous voice was received so +calmly.</p> + +<p>"'Worth training. I consent!' The sheer despair of getting Mrs. Murray to +understand seized her, and she could only sit and gasp.</p> + +<p>"I think Mrs. Murray grasped then that Madame was disappointed that what +she said had not produced more sensation, for she said kindly:—</p> + +<p>"'I am not really at all surprised that you are pleased with her voice, +for her grandfather said she had a nice little voice, very true and +sweet, and he wished her to have regular lessons. It is very kind of you +to take so much interest in it.'"</p> + +<p>"'It is a preevilege,' Madame Martelli said. 'It will give me a new +interest in life.' And then she turned to me and wrung my hand again and +again, and though she hurt my three cuts dreadfully, I never even winced.</p> + +<p>"'What queer, excitable people foreigners are!' Mrs. Murray said to me +placidly as we drove away; 'but I am glad, my dear Margaret, that you +have a voice worth training. It is a great thing to be able to amuse +oneself with music and give pleasure to one's friends at the same time.'"</p> + +<p>Eleanor had recounted this scene with so much vivacity, accompanying her +recital with various gesticulations, and imitating with what Margaret +felt sure was considerable accuracy the different voices of Madame +Martelli and Mrs. Murray, that in spite of her own pre-occupation she had +listened to it with great interest. But when it was over, and Eleanor, +still talking at a tremendous pace as if she wanted to get all she had to +say told in the shortest possible space of time, had gone on to tell her +various other items connected with her two days' stay in Rose Cottage, +Margaret relapsed into the rather moody frame of mind that the first +glimpse she had caught of Eleanor's radiantly happy face had brought upon +her.</p> + +<p>"Every morning after breakfast, and every afternoon after tea, I am to go +down to Madame Martelli's house. She lives in a tiny cottage perched on +the opposite side of the valley just above the church, and all my +practising is done at her house. She has forbidden me to sing a note by +myself at present. I read Italian and French with her too, but, as you +can guess, most of the time I spend in practising. Then for the rest of +the day my time is my own. Of course I am a good deal by myself, but I +like that; it gives me more time to study. Oh, I can tell you I find the +silence that reigns up here delightful. If you had lived in the middle of +a crowd of chattering girls for the last five years you could understand +that too. Oh, but it is a lovely, wonderful time that I am having now, +and I shan't forget that I owe it to you."</p> + +<p>She fell suddenly silent, and a dreamy look came into her eyes, and a +smile lingered round her mouth. Margaret, noting it, knew that the smile +had nothing whatever to do with her in spite of the expression of +gratitude towards her to which she had just given utterance. It was in +thoughts of herself alone that Eleanor was wrapped; dreams of her own +rosy future were floating before the vision of her mind, and she saw +herself successful, famous, her name on every one's lips, one of the +world-renowned singers of the century. No wonder that in those +entrancing, soaring dreams there was no room for thought of the pale, +grave, silent girl beside her. But presently, the smile still lingering +round the corners of her mouth, Eleanor came out of her dreams, and +turning to Margaret with one of the rapid transitions of mood that +Margaret found so bewildering, she began to laugh at herself.</p> + +<p>"Do you know, Margaret," she said, "I believe I am the most egotistical +person that ever existed. Here have I been raving about myself and about +my future greatness, and I have not even asked you one single, solitary +question about yourself. And now, having told you how very, very much I +like being you, tell me how much you like being me."</p> + +<p>But now that her opportunity to speak had arrived, Margaret could not +for the moment make use of it. An odd, choking sensation came into her +throat, tears gathered in her eyes, and before she could prevent it, a +big drop rolled silently down her face.</p> + +<p>"Good gracious!" Eleanor exclaimed, leaning across the little round table +so as to get a better view of Margaret's face. "Is it as bad as all +that?"</p> + +<p>Still Margaret was unable to answer, unless a second tear rolling down +from her other eye could be taken as an answer.</p> + +<p>"Oh dear! oh dear!" said Eleanor, fairly aghast at Margaret's unexpected +behaviour. "Whatever can be done!"</p> + +<p>All the radiant happiness was gone from her face, and she looked utterly +disconcerted and taken aback.</p> + +<p>Then Margaret found her voice.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I want to change!" she said, in a voice broken with sobs. "I want to +be myself again."</p> + +<p>"But you can't!" Eleanor exclaimed sharply. "That is out of the question. +How can we change now?"</p> + +<p>"By telling everybody everything," Margaret said. "They cannot do +anything very dreadful to us, can they?"</p> + +<p>Eleanor gave a short and very mirthless laugh.</p> + +<p>"They can't do anything very dreadful to you—no," she said. Then in a +perfectly expressionless voice, "You have quite made up your mind, then?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, quite," Margaret said, eagerly relieved beyond measure to find that +Eleanor had received her announcement so quietly.</p> + +<p>"And how do you mean to set about it?" Eleanor said in the same stony +sort of voice. "Am I to tell Mrs. Murray first, or are you to tell Mrs. +Danvers?"</p> + +<p>"As I am up here I could tell Mrs. Murray," Margaret answered timidly, +"and then we could go down together and tell Mrs. Danvers. Oh, Eleanor, +you do not know how distressing it is to me to be deceiving everybody as +I am doing at present. I am sure one girl, Hilary, the second daughter, +knows that I am hiding something, and she is always trying to find out +what it is. She makes my life a burden to me," added Margaret +pathetically. "And it does make me so unhappy to feel that I cannot look +everybody honestly in the face and tell nothing but the truth. And they +all laugh at me, and make fun of me, and think me so silly and shy, and +Mrs. Danvers asked me last night if I would like to go to California with +her as a governess because I get on so well with her children."</p> + +<p>"Are you doing any teaching, then?" Eleanor asked.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I am a holiday governess to a little boy and a girl. Oh, I do not +mind that at all—they are very good children. It is Hilary, the second +daughter, that I do not like, and though some of the boys are nice, they +do not take much notice of me, and I can see they do not care for me at +all. And I used to think," added poor Margaret mournfully, "that all +young people of my own age would like me, and that I should enjoy myself +so much in their society. But that is not the worst part of it, it is the +feeling that I am in the house on false pretences, and that every time +they call me Miss Carson, and I answer to the name, I am telling a lie. +It is so—so horrible and dishonest."</p> + +<p>"I see," said Eleanor slowly; "but I suppose it wasn't until you found +out that you didn't like being me that you began to worry about the +dishonesty of the plan."</p> + +<p>"No, I suppose not," said Margaret rather uneasily. "But now that I have +found it out, I should not care to stay there even if I were enjoying it +ever so much—which," she added, "I am not."</p> + +<p>"You have at least made that quite clear," Eleanor said drily.</p> + +<p>"Then you do not mind our changing?" Margaret said. She found Eleanor's +manner quite inscrutable. After her first passionate exclamation that it +was impossible she seemed to accept Margaret's decision without any +argument whatever, and yet the latter felt that the matter was by no +means settled yet.</p> + +<p>"Does it matter if I do mind?" said Eleanor. Her face was very white and +her eyes gazed unflinchingly into Margaret's. The latter was frightened +at the tragic despair they expressed, but she answered firmly enough.</p> + +<p>"Yes, of course, I am sorry if you do mind very much, but I mean to +confess all the same."</p> + +<p>"Then there is nothing more to be said, is there?" Eleanor answered, and +as she spoke she rose to her feet. "Come, I hear the carriage wheels on +the gravel. Mrs. Murray has returned from her drive. Let us go to her at +once."</p> + +<p>She walked rapidly out of the summer-house in the direction of the flight +of steps that led to the upper garden, and after a momentary hesitation +Margaret rose and followed her. The path was wide enough for two to walk +abreast if one of the two did not occupy the middle of it, but as that +was just what Eleanor was doing, Margaret was obliged to follow behind.</p> + +<p>Eleanor walked on in silence, apparently of the opinion that the last +word had been said; but Margaret, who was looking doubtfully at the back +of Eleanor's erectly held head, could not bear to think that they were to +part in that constrained way.</p> + +<p>"Eleanor!" she exclaimed impulsively, taking a quick step or two forward +and laying one hand timidly on the other's arm as if she would have +detained her for a moment, "I wish you would say that you were not angry +with me."</p> + +<p>"What right have I to be angry?" Eleanor said very coldly, as with a +slight but decisive movement she freed her arm from Margaret's touch. +"Only it would have been better for me if we had never met."</p> + +<p>"But it is no worse for you than it is for me," Margaret said eagerly, +trying again, but quite unsuccessfully, to walk beside Eleanor. "I +suppose we shall both get terrible scoldings. I from grandfather and +Mrs. Murray, and you from Mrs. Danvers, but they cannot go on being angry +with us for always, can they? And Eleanor, if it is your singing lessons +that you are minding about so much, could you not walk up here from +Seabourne every day and go on with them? It is not so very far, and you +have only to teach David and Daisy in the morning. All the rest of the +day you are quite free."</p> + +<p>"I should imagine that as far as Mrs. Danvers is concerned I am quite +free all day long," Eleanor replied, with a little, short laugh.</p> + +<p>"What do you mean?" Margaret exclaimed in a puzzled tone. "I do not +understand."</p> + +<p>"You didn't suppose, did you," Eleanor replied, without as much as +turning her head as she still walked on, "that I was going back to The +Cedars in your place?"</p> + +<p>"Why, of course, I did. Where else would you go?"</p> + +<p>"That I must decide presently. After lunch, probably, if I am allowed to +stay here so long."</p> + +<p>"But why won't you go to Mrs. Danvers? You were on your way there when +first I met you, before all this happened?"</p> + +<p>"Before all this happened, yes," Eleanor returned; "but do you suppose +that she would be willing to have me as her holiday governess now? That +I have only to go down to her house and say, 'Here I am, the real Eleanor +Carson, arrived at last; I am a little late I know, but I played a trick +off on you, and sent another girl in my place. Now, however, we have +decided to change back into our own selves, and she has gone to her +friends, and I have come to you.' It is likely, isn't it, that she would +be willing to have me in her house as a governess to her grandchildren?"</p> + +<p>"But why shouldn't she be as willing to have you as Mrs. Murray will be +to have me?" Margaret said in a bewildered tone.</p> + +<p>Eleanor shrugged her shoulder. "Because our positions are a little +different, that is all. Your grandfather is Mrs. Murray's friend; this +was to have been your home, and if you ran away from it for a few days +you will, of course, get into disgrace on your return; but no one will +dream of saying that you had not a perfect right to return, in fact they +will make it their business to see that you do not run away again. But, +on the other hand, The Cedars is not my home. Mrs. Danvers is not my +friend, and though I should, no doubt, have got on well enough there +under ordinary circumstances, it isn't likely that she will consent to +take me in now. Naturally enough she will be dreadfully angry at the +liberty we have taken with her."</p> + +<p>"But just as angry with me as with you," said Margaret, who felt that in +claiming her share of the blame she lessened Eleanor's.</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes," Eleanor agreed indifferently, "that is quite likely. But then, +you see, her anger will not matter to you as much as it will to me. It +does not take away your bread-and-butter and your bed to sleep in, does +it?"</p> + +<p>By that time Eleanor had reached the flight of steps and she began to +mount them. But Margaret had come to a pause at their foot, her progress +arrested by Eleanor's last words.</p> + +<p>For the first time she had grasped what the full result of confession +would be to Eleanor, and her dismay deprived her for the moment of all +power of speech.</p> + +<p>"Wait!" she cried then in a stifled voice. "Oh Eleanor, wait!"</p> + +<p>"What for?" Eleanor returned impatiently. But glancing downwards and +seeing that Margaret had sunk on to the lowest step and had covered her +face with her hands, the hard, contemptuous expression her face had worn +relaxed somewhat.</p> + +<p>"Don't bother about me, Margaret," she said, "I really don't care two +straws about going to The Cedars. From what you have told me the Danvers +do not appear to be a very attractive family, and I painted my own plight +blacker than I need have done. I have got somewhere to go. The empty +school at Hampstead is open to me for the rest of the summer holidays. +Miss Marvel gave me leave to spend them there if I had nowhere to go, so +I shall be all right. So, for goodness sake," she added, unable to keep +the impatience she felt at the weakness Margaret was displaying out of +her voice, "don't cry about me."</p> + +<p>"I'm not crying," Margaret said in a muffled tone, due to the fact that +her face was still buried in her hands. "I'm thinking. Please do not +speak to me for a minute."</p> + +<p>With a little shrug of her shoulders Eleanor fell silent, and she +surveyed Margaret's bowed shoulders as she sat huddled up on the step +beneath her with a touch of scorn in her glance. So Margaret had +difficulty even in summoning up enough courage to go in and face Mrs. +Murray. What a poor thing it was! she thought. But Eleanor was conscious +of no anger against her weak-kneed confederate who was leaving her so +badly in the lurch. She was not to blame for her feeble vacillating +nature, that could not even adhere for three days to the plot she had +entered upon so joyously. Eleanor was only angry with herself for having +put faith in her. And what would Madame Martelli say when she heard that +her pupil was not her real pupil at all? But of her, and of all she would +lose by going away, Eleanor could not trust herself to think. With an +effort she made her mind a blank and stood drearily silent waiting for +Margaret to get up and follow her to the house. Of what Mrs. Murray would +do or say when she was told that the girl she had received into her +house, and to whom she had shown every kindness in her power, was not her +old friend's granddaughter but a sheer impostor, Eleanor never even +thought. If she had taken Mrs. Murray's probable feelings into +consideration in any way, she would merely have supposed that indignation +at the liberty that had been taken with her would swallow up any kindly +liking that she might have been beginning to feel for her.</p> + +<p>The silence that had fallen between the two girls had lasted fully three +minutes before Margaret lifted her face from her hands and rising to her +feet, faced Eleanor.</p> + +<p>"I have thought over everything you have said, and I find I cannot do it +after all."</p> + +<p>"But you have told me that already," Eleanor said, restraining her +impatience with difficulty. "Come along and let us get it over."</p> + +<p>"No, no; you do not understand. I mean I cannot turn you out from here. +I will go on with it. I had not thought about Mrs. Danvers not taking you +in my place; but I believe you are right, and that she would not. So I +shall go on being Eleanor Carson until—until—well, I suppose until we +are found out."</p> + +<p>Eleanor shook her head. "You will change your mind again to-morrow," she +said curtly.</p> + +<p>Margaret flushed. "No," she replied steadily, "I will not. You may +believe me when I say I shall not. You see, Eleanor, when I first wanted +so much to be in your place and go to The Cedars I had no idea what was +before me. I was disappointed when I found out, and so, of course, my +wish was to change back into myself again; and I never thought of the +effect my change of purpose would have upon you. But this time I am doing +it with my eyes open."</p> + +<p>There was a new ring in Margaret's voice, a look of resolution on her +face that was strange to it, and Eleanor, glancing at her in amazement, +realised that she was showing a latent strength of purpose that had +perhaps for the first time in her sheltered, uneventful life been called +out in her. Nevertheless she refused to believe that Margaret really +meant what she said.</p> + +<p>"But the dishonesty you spoke of just now," she said. "What about that; +and your dislike to the deception we are both practising? That remains +the same."</p> + +<p>"I know," said Margaret in a low tone, a shadow crossing her face and +dimming the look of courageous resolve it wore. "But that is unavoidable. +It seems to me now that it would be quite as bad, if not worse, to break +faith with you."</p> + +<p>Still Eleanor did not give way. Her conscience did not need to speak very +loudly for her to hear it telling her that in accepting Margaret's offer +she was doing a very wrong thing. In her heart of hearts she had known +all along that their plot was inexcusable from every point of view, and +that when it came to be known most of the blame would be laid at her +door, not only because she was the elder and the more worldly wise of the +two, but because most people would consider that she had been the one to +profit most by the exchange. But she had been carried away by Margaret's +urgent pleadings and persuasions and had finally suppressed her +misgivings and consented to the plot. Now, however, the case was altered. +It was only out of a spirit of pure self-sacrifice that Margaret was +urging her to continue to bear her name, and she knew that in yielding +she would be guilty of great selfishness.</p> + +<p>"Think of your singing lessons with Madame Martelli," said Margaret, +who was quietly watching the struggle with herself to which Eleanor's +changing face bore eloquent witness.</p> + +<p>That clenched the matter. Eleanor gave in; but this time it was she who +found it difficult to meet Margaret's eyes.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Margaret," she said, "if you appeal to my ambition my better self +goes under. I accept, then; but you're a brick, a perfect brick, and I +feel too mean for words."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI</h2> + +<h3>A PRACTICAL JOKE</h3> + + +<p>Three weeks had passed since Margaret had paid her first visit to Eleanor +at Windy Gap, and during those three weeks she had kept steadily to her +word and was impersonating Eleanor as well as she could at The Cedars. +And as the days went by her task grew easier. She seemed to have slipped +into her place as a member of the household, and though it was a very +insignificant niche indeed that she filled, she did not mind that at all, +for she was aware that the more she kept in the background the less +chance there was of her secret being discovered. Perhaps on the whole, +too, she was happier than she had been during the first three or four +days. Of course, as she told herself seriously, she ought not, when once +her eyes had been opened to the wrongfulness of the deceit she was +practising, to have known a single happy moment, but somehow she found it +difficult always to feel ashamed and contrite, especially when she was +playing croquet with Edward. For in return for some lessons in French +conversation she was giving him he had offered to teach her croquet, and +though Margaret had been afraid that she was far too stupid to learn any +game, she was making astonishing progress under his tuition, and Edward +was already beginning to boast of the prowess of his pupil. And so, for +the first time in her life, Margaret fell under the fascination of a +game, and when she had a mallet in her hand it is to be feared that the +delinquency of her conduct ceased to trouble her.</p> + +<p>Fat, chuckling Nancy, too, who seemed to be always brimming over with +good nature and good spirits, frequently sought her society, and Margaret +found it even more impossible to brood secretly over her misdeeds in +Nancy's society as when she was playing croquet. Of Maud she saw very +little. Sometimes for days together the eldest daughter of the house +scarcely spoke to her, vouchsafing her only the most careless and hasty +of nods as morning and evening greetings. Maud intended to be neither +rude nor unkind. The children's holiday governess simply did not interest +her, that was all, and as for going out of her way to amuse or entertain +her, Maud's blue eyes stared amazedly at her mother when one day Mrs. +Danvers ventured to suggest that perhaps Maud might take more notice of +Miss Carson.</p> + +<p>"For I really am afraid she is having a very dull time here," said Mrs. +Danvers, her tone taking on a rather apologetic note as she encountered +the impatient expression on Maud's face. "I am sure I don't know what she +would do if it wasn't for Nancy and Edward."</p> + +<p>"Well, with them to knock around with, and the kids to teach when they +come back, she ought not to find time hang heavy," Maud said carelessly. +"But as for asking me to take her about, why, mother, I simply couldn't. +The day isn't half long enough as it is for me to do all I want to do. +And after all, she wouldn't find it a bit amusing to come about with me. +Fancy her sticking down for hours at the club watching me playing tennis, +for that is what I am doing this afternoon, for instance. Besides, she is +so dreadfully slow. She bores me awfully."</p> + +<p>"My dear," said her mother, "though you all find Miss Carson so slow just +because she knows nothing about tennis, or tennis people, or cricket +averages, or the difference between Rugby and Association football, I +think she is a very nice girl indeed, so gentle and so unselfish. David +and Daisy just love her, and I know if I want any little thing done for +me, a note written, or flowers put in water, or any little things of that +sort, I'd sooner ask her to do it for me than either you or Hilary."</p> + +<p>"Well, and so she ought to make herself useful," said Maud, turning +restive at the merest hint of criticism from the mother who usually had +nothing but praise for her daughters. "After all, that is what she is +here for. She is paid for that, isn't she?"</p> + +<p>"I am paying her nothing," Mrs. Danvers said.</p> + +<p>"Well, she gets her board and lodging, anyhow, and a better time into the +bargain than she would be getting grilling away in an empty house at +Hampstead," Maud retorted. "And I think she ought to be jolly thankful to +be here."</p> + +<p>This conversation was taking place in the morning-room by the open French +window of which Maud had stood while carrying on her share of it, and her +last speech had been uttered with so much vigour that as her back was +partly turned to the room she had not heard the door open. And though her +mother coughed once or twice in an agonised way, it was not until she had +quite finished all she had to say that Maud swung round and saw Margaret +standing with a pile of letters in her hand by her mother's chair.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="img3" id="img3"></a> +<img src="images/img3.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3>MAUD SWUNG ROUND AND SAW MARGARET STANDING WITH A PILE +OF LETTERS BY HER MOTHER'S CHAIR.</h3> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p>"I have finished these, Mrs. Danvers," she said quietly; "is there +anything else you would like me to do?"</p> + +<p>Margaret had certainly gained in self-possession since she had come to +The Cedars. A fortnight ago if she had heard a remark of that sort about +herself she would have rushed in tears from the room, but now she seemed +to guess intuitively that the right thing and the kindest thing to do was +to pretend not to have heard it. Certainly from her manner Maud would +never have guessed that her speech had been overheard. Nevertheless, she +knew that Miss Carson could not have failed to hear every word, and +flushing darkly even through the sunburn of her cheeks, she fled out of +the room by the window, literally without a word to say for herself. And +when Mrs. Danvers attempted an apology on her daughter's behalf it was +Margaret's turn to show embarrassment.</p> + +<p>"Please, please," she said earnestly, "do not think that I mind what Maud +said. You are all very kind to me, and Maud is quite right. It is much +nicer here than it would be in an empty house in Hampstead."</p> + +<p>"That reminds me, my dear," Mrs. Danvers said. "Sit down here beside me, +and let us have a nice cosy chat about your future. What are you going to +do when you leave me at the end of the holidays? Are you going back to +the school?"</p> + +<p>"Yes—yes; I—think so," said Margaret, beginning to stammer and get red +as she invariably did when Hampstead was mentioned. "At least, I—I don't +know."</p> + +<p>"Well, I may be mistaken of course—thank you, my dear, if you will just +reach me my knitting, I can always talk so much better when I am +knitting. Well, as I was going to say, I have an idea that you would be +much happier teaching in a family than in a school. And I do wonder why I +cannot persuade you to let me write to my daughter, Mrs. Lascelles, about +you. I believe when she hears how much the children like you she would be +only too pleased to take you out to Los Angelos for a few years. She +would give you £50 a year—and your travelling expenses, of course. It is +a chance, I assure you, that many girls in your place would jump at, for +it is not, my dear, as if you were very highly certificated, you know. +She will have a lovely house out there, for her husband is a very rich +man, and they will treat you with every kindness and consideration. Now +may I write to her and say that you would like to go?"</p> + +<p>Several times already in the course of the past few weeks had Mrs. +Danvers broached this subject to Margaret, but the latter had always +hitherto been able to avoid giving her a direct answer as to why she was +not willing to take the post. But what a thousand pities it was, Margaret +thought, that Eleanor could not accept it. Once the wild idea had +occurred to Margaret that she ought to accept it in Eleanor's name, and +manage somehow to change places with her at the very last moment—on +board the ship, even, perhaps; but fortunately she had seen the utter +folly of that notion before it had taken firm route in her mind. She did +not even know if Eleanor would have cared to go to Los Angelos had the +chance been offered to her, for though she had seen Eleanor twice since +the day on which she had first gone to Windy Gap, she had not been able +to broach the subject to her. For on both occasions Eleanor had been so +full of her own news, and their meetings had been of necessity so brief, +that by the time Eleanor had poured out all she wanted to say the moment +had come for them to part.</p> + +<p>Margaret felt very much older than the girl who had left her +grandfather's house three weeks ago. A great deal of experience had been +pressed into those three weeks, and she had learned many things. Among +them she had learned what perhaps at the time she had scarcely believed +that there was, as Eleanor had said bitterly, a good deal of difference +in their respective positions, and that an escapade which could not be +visited very seriously on one might affect the other rather disastrously. +Margaret knew now that Mrs. Danvers, good-natured as she was, would +certainly have refused to take Eleanor in her place if she, Margaret, had +carried out her intention of confessing everything. But in spite of that +knowledge she still clung to the hope that the post at Los Angelos, which +was being so warmly pressed upon the false Eleanor Carson, might +eventually be offered to the real one! And so, if only for the sake of +keeping the place open to Eleanor, she felt that she could not refuse it +outright. What Eleanor meant to do when the holidays were over and they +had to take their own names again, Margaret did not know. As far as she +could judge from their brief, stolen interviews at Windy Gap, Eleanor +continued to be radiantly happy there and to be earning golden opinions +from Madame Martelli, and to be absolutely untroubled by any thoughts +beyond the immediate present. The fact that she could not be Margaret +Anstruther for ever never seemed as much as to enter her head. She gave +no thought to the future at all. And of course, Margaret reflected, if +she expected to be a celebrated Prima Donna by the end of the summer +holidays, that was all right, but if not, did she intend to stay on at +Windy Gap indefinitely and send her, the real Margaret, back to the +school in her place? If such a thing were possible, Margaret felt sure +that Eleanor would despatch her there with the utmost cheerfulness, and +consequently Margaret was deeply thankful that such a course was not +feasible, for Eleanor could hardly hope to pass another girl off as +herself in a school where she had lived for the last seven or eight +years. What, then, did Eleanor mean to do?</p> + +<p>"My dear," said Mrs. Danvers reproachfully, breaking in upon Margaret's +perplexed musings, "you are not listening to a word that I am saying, +and what I want to have from you is a plain answer to the question why +you refuse to go to Los Angelos."</p> + +<p>"I—I could not leave England," Margaret answered. "I—I should not be +allowed to."</p> + +<p>"But, my dear, I understood from Miss McDonald that both your parents +were dead and that you are absolutely alone in the world. Who, then, has +authority over you? Unless," she added, a sudden look of enlightenment +coming to her face, "you are engaged to be married. Is that it?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, no," said Margaret, "I am not engaged to any one. It is no one of +that sort at all."</p> + +<p>"Then there is some one whom you wish to consult first. Now, who is it?"</p> + +<p>By that time Margaret's confusion would have attracted the attention of +any one a degree more observant than Mrs. Danvers, but she saw nothing +suspicious in it; she was only bent on persuading Margaret to change her +mind. As she said, it seemed such a pity for Miss Carson to stand so +obstinately in her own light, for on the face of it a pleasant post +and £50 a year was better than £20 in a second-rate school.</p> + +<p>"There is no one who I would have to consult exactly," said Margaret, +seeking vainly for a way of escape out of the tight corner into which she +had blundered, "only—only I could not go."</p> + +<p>"But, my dear," repeated Mrs. Danvers, "I have it in your own words; you +said just now that you would not be allowed to leave England."</p> + +<p>"No; yes, I mean," said Margaret, whose confusion was increasing so +rapidly that by that time she had very little idea what she was saying. +"I—I am sure I should be prevented. By the end of the holidays you—you +may not like me any longer, and not wish me to go."</p> + +<p>"Now what a very strange idea for you to take into your head," said Mrs. +Danvers placidly. "Isn't that a strange idea Miss Carson has taken into +her head, Hilary—that by the end of the summer holidays we may not like +her any more?"</p> + +<p>For just as Margaret had entered the room unperceived by Maud a few +minutes back, so Hilary had now come in unheard by Margaret, and had been +standing where Maud had stood—half in and half out of the window.</p> + +<p>"Very strange," said Hilary, sending a swift glance at Margaret's averted +face; "was it meant as a prophecy?"</p> + +<p>Margaret was saved the necessity of an answer, for at that moment Edward, +who was knocking the balls about on the croquet lawn, shouted to her to +come and have a game; and thankfully enough Margaret fled through the +open window.</p> + +<p>"Her manners are rather casual to you, aren't they, mother?" said Hilary, +flinging herself down in the easiest chair in the room, and taking up the +local paper, which had been brought in by Martin a few minutes before.</p> + +<p>"Oh, my dear, I don't mind," said Mrs. Danvers; "I am really getting +quite fond of her. She left in a hurry that way just now, I expect, +because she didn't like your little sneering speech at her. You know you +have rather a sharp, unkind way with you sometimes, Hilary. Why don't you +get on better with her?"</p> + +<p>"Because I don't like her," Hilary said curtly.</p> + +<p>"But, my dear, why not?"</p> + +<p>"Because I don't. I heard you persuading her to go to Los Angelos just +now," she added. "Did she say she would go?"</p> + +<p>"No; I can't get her to say she would like to go, nor yet to say she +won't go," said Mrs. Danvers. "Now I should have thought it was a chance +she would have jumped at. But no; girls are so queer and independent +nowadays, there is no accounting for them."</p> + +<p>"It is very ungrateful of her when you have been good enough to bother +about it," said Hilary, who, though she was delighted to hear that so far +the post in her sister's household was unfilled, for she cherished dreams +of going out to California with Mrs. Lascelles herself, would not let +slip the opportunity of running Margaret down to any one who would +listen. "Did she say why she wouldn't go?"</p> + +<p>"Well, she did and she didn't," returned Mrs. Danvers, actually laying +down her knitting for a moment as a recollection of the embarrassment +Margaret had shown returned to her. "As far as I can gather, it is +because she would not be allowed to do so by somebody or other, but who +that somebody was she did not clearly explain to me."</p> + +<p>By a few dexterous questions Hilary got her mother to repeat the gist of +the conversation that had just taken place between herself and the +holiday governess, and when she had finished there was a queer little +gleam in Hilary's eyes that Margaret would not have liked to have seen.</p> + +<p>"She would not be allowed to go, and when asked why not, had said that +she would be prevented." Hilary turned these phrases over in her mind, +and as soon as she could do so unperceived, wrote them down in a little +note-book that she carried in her pocket.</p> + +<p>For though she had now given up the practice she had originally started +of plying Margaret with embarrassing questions, and letting it be plainly +seen that none of the embarrassment Margaret showed at them was lost upon +her, the watch she kept on her every look and action, though secret, was +none the less vigilant. Perhaps even more so than it had been at the +beginning of Margaret's stay, for Hilary was so fascinated by her new +occupation of amateur detective that almost every word Margaret uttered, +even down to a request that the salt might be passed to her at table, was +entered in that little note-book. She blamed herself bitterly, she told +Joan, for having undoubtedly put Margaret on her guard to start with; it +was a false step, she said with a frown, that it might take her weeks and +months to retrieve. "But she will be gone by that time," said Joan, "so +it won't be much use retrieving it then."</p> + +<p>Hilary retorted that she had been speaking in a general sense, and then +changed the subject quickly lest Joan should discover how little sense of +any sort the answer contained.</p> + +<p>Undoubtedly the relief that Margaret experienced when Hilary ceased to +cross-examine her at meal-times had much to do with her ceasing to +dislike her life at The Cedars as vehemently as she had done at first, +and so cautious was Hilary not to let Margaret suspect the close +observation under which she still kept her, that Margaret had almost come +to believe that she must have been mistaken in ever supposing that Hilary +knew she had something to hide.</p> + +<p>Could Margaret have had a glimpse at the pages of that note-book, +however, she would have been quickly undeceived on that point. One entry +alone, which had been made only a few days before, would have filled her +with dismay. It occupied several pages and was headed, "The Clue of the +Handkerchief."</p> + +<p>The incident to which this sensational headline referred had taken place +the previous Sunday afternoon, when most of the members of the family had +been sitting in deck-chairs, or lying on rugs, under the shade of the big +cedars on the lawn which gave the house its name. Some of the party were +reading, others were frankly sleeping, when the quiet that reigned had +been disturbed by Nancy, who came running over the grass waving a +handkerchief over her head. "Who's the owner of this pretty thing, this +pretty thing, this pretty thing?" she sang, to the tune of "Here we go +round the mulberry bush." Geoffrey, who had been sound asleep, woke, and +groaned aloud.</p> + +<p>"Oh, go away, Nancy," he said; "can't you see that we are all reading?"</p> + +<p>"I can't say I can," she retorted, glancing laughingly at his book, which +lay face downwards on the grass beside him. "And I want to discover the +owner of this handkerchief with the initials 'M. A.' on it."</p> + +<p>"I am," said Margaret, as, without pausing to reflect, she stretched out +her hand for it.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Miss Carson, Miss Carson," said Nancy, dangling her prize in the air +before dropping it on to Margaret's lap; "whose handkerchief have you +been stealing? 'M. A.' are not your initials."</p> + +<p>Too late Margaret realised her mistake, and as she had done on the day +when she had failed to answer to her assumed name, she sent a quick, +apprehensive glance round the circle of faces to see if any one had +noticed her error. It appeared no one had, not even Hilary, on whose face +Margaret's uneasy glance rested last and longest. But Hilary's eyes were +fixed steadily on the pages of her book, and with a sigh of relief +Margaret slipped the handkerchief into her pocket. Little did she think +that when a quarter of an hour later Hilary rose and strolled slowly +away, it was to seek a retired corner, and under that startling headline +to make an extensive entry in the note-book.</p> + +<p>But though it gave Hilary sincere satisfaction to be able to note that +Miss Carson laid claim to a handkerchief that was obviously not hers, she +was not able to deduce much from the discovery. However, she felt +convinced that she was laying the train to find out a great deal later +on, and as soon as she had collected a sufficient number of suspicious +facts, they would surely explain themselves.</p> + +<p>When, as it often did, Margaret's conscience grappled very strenuously +with her, and told her that however much she might try to gloss over the +truth, she was behaving very badly to three people—to her grandfather, +to Mrs. Murray, and to Mrs. Danvers—poor Margaret would urge in her own +extenuation that though she had entered into the scheme entirely for her +own amusement she was now carrying it on solely to please Eleanor, and +that, wrong as it was, no doubt, to go on with it, it would have been +both cowardly and unkind of her to have thrown it up and by so doing +deprive Eleanor not only of the singing lessons by which she set such +store, and for which alone she had consented to the exchange, but a home +for the summer holidays.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Her honour rooted in dishonour stood.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And faith unfaithful kept her falsely true."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Those lines sprang unawares to Margaret's mind one day when she was +rather sadly reviewing the position in which she had placed herself, and +they appeared to her to fit the situation so exactly that they were +frequently in her thoughts, and Hilary, to her intense gratification, +heard her murmur them to herself one day when she thought herself alone. +The quotation was one copied into the note book under the heading, "A +Guilty Conscience Speaks."</p> + +<p>"Is there anything interesting in the <i>Gazette</i>?" asked Mrs. Danvers, as +Hilary idly opened the sheets of the local paper and spread them out on +her knee.</p> + +<p>Hilary happened to be in one of her most irritable humours that morning; +even the faithful Joan found no pleasure in her society and had gone off +to bathe with Nancy and Maud. She said it was the heat that made her feel +slack and tired, and her mother said anxiously that she was afraid she +did too much, whereat Hilary laughed sardonically, for no one knew better +than she that she did nothing at all from morning to night. Why, even +Nancy, who at least ate chocolates whenever she could get them, and read +novels assiduously all day long and in bed too, might with justice be +said to lead a busier life than she did. But, though Hilary often felt +vaguely dissatisfied at the way in which she dawdled through the days, +she had not strength of mind to bestir herself to pass them otherwise. +After all, what was there for her to do? she asked herself irritably. +She was supposed to have finished her education, and though she was dimly +aware that she was shamefully ignorant, there seemed no especial object +in her getting out her lesson-books and poring over them by herself.</p> + +<p>But it was not the thought of her neglected opportunities that was making +her so peevish this morning. She was cross because she could make nothing +out of the number of suspicious facts that she had collected about +Margaret. Of what use was it to have a note-book crammed full of +well-grounded evidence that Miss Carson was an impostor of some sort if +she could not gather from all the mass of material she had collected in +what way she was imposing on them. It was enough, she thought, to make +any one cross. And unless she could discover something definite against +Miss Carson, Joanna would take her out to Los Angelos with her. But that, +Hilary told herself with a little spasm of inward anger, should never +come to pass.</p> + +<p>"Hullo, Hilary! got the <i>Gazette</i>?" said Jack who, followed by Noel, and +indeed the two boys were never very far apart, strolled through the +window at that moment. "After you with it, I say."</p> + +<p>"I have only just begun it myself," said Hilary, coolly tightening her +hold upon it, "so I am afraid you will have to wait."</p> + +<p>"Well, it didn't look to us from the garden as though you were reading +it at all," grumbled Jack, "so you might just as well hand it over to us. +We want to take it into the garden and see if there is anything in it +about——"</p> + +<p>"About the cricket at the Park," put in Noel quickly.</p> + +<p>"Well, you needn't have snapped me up so quickly," grumbled Jack to his +brother, but in so low a tone that neither Mrs. Danvers nor Hilary heard +what he said.</p> + +<p>"Well, if there is anything about the cricket I haven't come to it yet," +said Hilary, beginning to enjoy the possession of the paper now that it +was desired by some one else. "There is a lot about a big fancy fair that +Sir Richard and Lady Strangways are going to have at Wrexley, and about +the Regatta, and the dividends that the pier expects to get this +half-year from the roller skating, and the new play at the theatre, and +the usual lists of people staying at the hotels and boarding-houses. Who +on earth ever reads them through, I wonder? But oh, I say!" she exclaimed +suddenly, as turning over a page her eyes lighted on a column, half of +which was taken up with big headlines that occupied the middle of the +sheet. "I say, what do you think! There has been another burglary. That +makes the third within the last three weeks. Colonel Baker's house was +broken into last night, and all his silver plate was stolen, beside a +most valuable old bronze Etruscan vase, two cases of family miniatures, +and a collection of gold and silver coins. It——"</p> + +<p>She was interrupted by a startled exclamation from Jack. "You don't mean +to say that that is in the paper already!" he ejaculated.</p> + +<p>"Why, did you know about it before, then?" said Hilary, eyeing her two +brothers in surprise. "When did you hear about it? Have you seen Tommy +this morning?"</p> + +<p>"No, we have not seen Tommy to-day, and how could we have heard about +it?" said Noel promptly. "What Jack meant to say was, has there really +been another burglary already?"</p> + +<p>Seabourne had certainly been unfortunate in the matter of burglaries of +late. There had been three within as many weeks. One had taken place at +Walker's, the principal jewellers in the High Street; another at the +Grand Hotel, where a popular London dancer, Cora Anatolia by name, had +been robbed of all her jewellery; and now this one of which Hilary had +just read, when Colonel Baker's house, Chesham Lodge, had been broken +into. And in each case the thieves had got clear away.</p> + +<p>Naturally enough the police considered that all these burglaries had been +perpetrated by the same gang; but in that they were wrong, for Master +Tommy Baker, aided by his two chums, Noel and Jack Danvers, had committed +the burglary at Colonel Baker's house the preceding evening as a +practical joke.</p> + +<p>It was perhaps one of the most unpremeditated burglaries that had ever +taken place. He and the two young Danvers had spent the previous evening +at the theatre, and as their road home lay in the same direction the two +latter had accompanied Tommy as far as his gate. There Jack had +remembered that Tommy had promised to lend him a book, and the two boys +walked up the short drive with him intending to wait at the door while +Tommy went in to get the book. As they turned the corner of the drive the +light from the open study window streamed out on to the gravel, and they +caught sight of Colonel Baker reclining sound asleep in an armchair. The +hall door was likewise wide open.</p> + +<p>"I say," Jack had exclaimed, "your house would be an easy one to burgle, +wouldn't it? Half a dozen burglars could sneak right in under your +father's very nose and go off with anything they fancied."</p> + +<p>"Well, let's burgle it!" Tommy exclaimed light-heartedly. "It would be +a ripping good joke. Fancy father's face in the morning." And thereupon +Jack and Noel entering gleefully into the scheme, the three boys had +crept silently into the house, gone as silently under Tommy's guidance +from room to room, snatching up as they went the most valuable things on +which they could lay hands.</p> + +<p>It really was all done literally on the spur of the moment, and scarcely +five minutes after the mad idea had entered Tommy's head the three boys +stood in a dark corner of the drive with their booty, consisting of table +silver, some valuable miniatures, and a collection of gold coins, +securely tied up in a gaudy gold-embroidered Indian tablecloth that Tommy +had taken from the drawing-room. The Colonel still slept peacefully.</p> + +<p>"Now to hide it," said Tommy, "we'll bury it in a corner of your garden." +Shaking with laughter, and wildly elated at the success of their mad +prank, they very nearly ran, as they were leaving Chesham Lodge, straight +into the arms of a policeman, who, with slow and solemn tread, was pacing +down the road. That narrow shave calmed them somewhat, and probably there +was not one of them who did not feel at that moment that they were actual +burglars. At any rate, their progress from Chesham Lodge was attended +with the utmost caution and with a show of mystery that must infallibly +have aroused deep suspicion had they met any one.</p> + +<p>"Why go to the fag of burying the swag?" said Tommy once they were safe +within the shelter of The Cedars gates. "Let's take it to one of your +bedrooms. Besides," he added; as if this were quite an afterthought, as +indeed it was, "I don't want to spoil the things, and burying them might +damage the miniatures. Let's shove them into a drawer in your room. +Better go on first, Jack, and see if the coast is clear."</p> + +<p>It was then about a quarter past ten, and most of the Danvers family were +still in the billiard-room. Mrs. Danvers and Margaret, however, were in +the drawing-room, and Edward had just gone up to bed.</p> + +<p>When Jack came back with his report another short consultation was held. +Edward's having gone up to bed made it impossible to hide their booty in +any of the boys' bedrooms.</p> + +<p>"What about your spare bedroom?" said Tommy; "you've got a biggish one, +I know."</p> + +<p>"Miss Carson is sleeping there," said Jack. "But I tell you what, she's +not using the dressing-room. I know, because the girls keep some of their +swaggerest dresses and things there. And there are heaps of empty +drawers. So let's shove this thing into one of them."</p> + +<p>Having reached the dressing-room unobserved, and closed the door and +turned on the light, they looked round for a safe hiding-place. And that +was not easily found. The drawers, far from being empty, were full either +of blouses laid away in tissue paper, or of furs smothered in camphor.</p> + +<p>The hanging wardrobe, too, was full of dresses, and the drawer beneath of +hats.</p> + +<p>"Oh, bother!" said Tommy crossly, "what an endless amount of room girls +seem to want for their things!" Then suddenly his expression changed and +he dived under the bed and dragged out a small trunk.</p> + +<p>"The very thing. What luck! It's quite empty, and evidently hasn't been +used for ages, the lid is all covered with dust. Probably no one even +knows it is here. Shove in the bundle. Shall I lock it? Yes, I think +I will. Then if any prying housemaid comes along and wants to look inside +she won't be able to."</p> + +<p>He slipped the key into his pocket, and the three boys left the room.</p> + +<p>But mad as this practical joke was, the idea to which it had given rise +in Hilary's mind was even more outrageous. For she had taken it into her +head that Margaret was connected with the burglaries; and that when she +was still far from guessing that the proceeds of one of them were +actually locked up in her trunk. Hilary's suspicions were founded upon +nothing more tangible than the fact that Margaret's cheeks were unusually +pink that morning when the burglaries were being discussed. And she +forgot that Margaret had just come in from playing croquet in the sun +without a hat.</p> + +<p>For some days Tommy, and in a lesser degree Noel and Jack, enjoyed +themselves hugely. Colonel Baker was not the man to sit down tamely under +his loss, and he stormed at the police for not restoring his property, +interviewed the editors of the local papers, offered rewards for the +apprehension of the thieves, and generally made a great stir in the +matter. Presently Noel and Jack began to fear the consequences of their +rash act, and they urged Tommy to smuggle his father's property out of +their house and into his own. But Tommy turned a deaf ear to them, would +not give up the key, and said they must keep up the joke a little longer. +Then, just as Noel and Jack were about to declare that they had had +enough of it, Tommy received an unexpected invitation to Scotland, and in +the hurry of his departure went off with the key in his possession. So, +greatly to their annoyance, the Danvers boys found themselves compelled +to leave the things where they were.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII</h2> + +<h3>ELEANOR MEETS MARGARET'S AUNT</h3> + + +<p>In spite of the liking that both Edward and Nancy had come to show for +her society, Margaret often felt very lonely at The Cedars, far more +lonely than she would have believed it would be possible for her to be +in a big household of lively boys and girls. Edward was a boy of many +occupations and had much to do besides playing croquet with her, and +Hilary often claimed Nancy's companionship even when she did not +particularly wish for it just for the spiteful pleasure of depriving +Margaret of it. So that Margaret was thrown very much on her own +resources—so much so, indeed, that she sometimes wondered with a touch +of wistfulness if she was any gayer in the midst of this merry, +chattering crowd of young people than she had been in the silent old +house that she had left so gladly one short month ago.</p> + +<p>But, at any rate, her health had improved in a marked degree since she +had come to Seabourne. That was, no doubt, due to the fact that, +encouraged to do so by Mrs. Danvers, Margaret spent much of her time out +of doors. And as she had discovered that the afternoon was the best time +to visit Eleanor, Margaret generally started for Windy Gap directly after +lunch, and the pure, breezy air of the downs acted as an excellent tonic.</p> + +<p>And Eleanor, now that she knew that Margaret had no intention of ousting +her from her quarters at Rose Cottage, always welcomed her warmly, and +many were the long conversations that the two girls enjoyed in the little +arbour in the corner of the kitchen garden that had witnessed their first +momentous interview.</p> + +<p>Margaret could reach Windy Gap now in a little under an hour, for she had +found out many short cuts across the grass, by means of which she avoided +the long, twisting high-road that ran by the edge of the cliffs +altogether. And by leaving the steep lane that led from the little +village in the hollow up to Rose Cottage before it brought her to the +front gate she could skirt below the wall that enclosed the domain and +enter the kitchen garden by a side gate without coming in sight of the +windows at all. It was Eleanor who had shown her this mode of entry and +who had also told her that the early hours of the afternoon between two +and four were the ones on which Margaret could most surely count on +finding her alone, for Mrs. Murray always took a nap after lunch and was +not visible again until tea-time. If Margaret found her days at The +Cedars empty and somewhat long, Eleanor up at Rose Cottage had nothing at +all to complain of in that respect.</p> + +<p>"My dear Margaret," she said one day, "you must have led a strenuous life +from your youth up if, even when you are supposed to be taking things +easy, you have had such a course of study, as I am compelled to pursue in +your place, mapped out for you. If your grandfather had wished you to +become a naturalised Italian he couldn't have been keener on your +acquiring a thorough knowledge of the language. He never writes to me, +but I know he wrote a long letter to Mrs. Murray the other day hoping +that I was getting on with my studies and that neither she nor Madame +Martelli permitted me to mope and dream my time away in the profitless, +silly way that had of late become habitual to me, and which was admirably +adapted, if the habit were encouraged, to weaken my brain permanently."</p> + +<p>Margaret coloured faintly as Eleanor quoted that passage from Mr. +Anstruther's letter. For a moment she almost imagined that she could hear +her grandfather's caustic voice speaking to her, and though what he had +said was not particularly flattering, she knew that it contained a +certain amount of truth.</p> + +<p>"Mrs. Murray wrote back and told him," Eleanor went on, "that I was +making capital progress both with my singing and with the language, and +that Madame Martelli was exceedingly pleased with me. She also said that +I showed no disposition at all to mope, but was as busy and as brisk as a +bee from morning to night. And so I am," said Eleanor with a laugh. +"Madame Martelli sees to that. We have breakfast here every morning at +eight, and by a quarter to nine I am down at Milan Cottage, which is the +name of Madame's house, and I study and sing with her until half-past +twelve, when I come home. We lunch at one, have tea at four, and directly +after tea I go down to Milan Cottage again and am taken for a little walk +by Madame. At half-past seven Mrs. Murray and I dine, and at half-past +nine we go to bed. And that has been my daily life for the last three +weeks."</p> + +<p>But there was no need to ask Eleanor if she was satisfied with it. Every +line of her face expressed radiant happiness, and though she spoke +jestingly of the way in which her nose was kept to the grindstone, +Margaret knew that she was really revelling in this chance of getting the +instruction in Italian that she wanted. And as for the singing lessons, +their value, she declared vehemently, was beyond price to her. Any time +during the last two years she would, she said, have gladly lived in a +hovel, fared on bread and water, and gone barefoot and in rags for the +sake of them.</p> + +<p>"Sometimes I wake up in the night and think I am only dreaming a +beautiful dream," she said, "and that when I really am awake I shall find +myself back in Hampstead in the ugly little dingy room that I shared with +two little girls. And then I have to light my candle and look round me +and assure myself that I really am in the pretty white bedroom that Mrs. +Murray has given to me here, and that my good fortune is a reality and +not a dream."</p> + +<p>"Has your life been a very unhappy one?" Margaret asked her gravely one +day.</p> + +<p>"I have often been very unhappy," Eleanor answered thoughtfully; "but +that, of course, is different to having had an unhappy life. Of course, +my mother's and my father's death was a great grief to me, and when the +sense of the awful loss their death was to me grew less the resentment I +felt at my changed circumstances made me awfully bitter and unhappy for a +time. For I can tell you it was a violent change. Up to the age of +thirteen I lived as if I were going to be rich all my life and was the +spoilt darling of my parents and of every one round me. After that I was +a pupil teacher, taken in literally out of charity, in a second-rate +suburban school. I am sure for a time I must have behaved too hatefully +for words, and if Miss McDonald had sent me to the workhouse it would +have served me right. But she knew that she was the only friend I had, +and was awfully good to me. If I had only been older when the crash came +I daresay I should have been better provided with friends; but at that +age I wanted no friends except my own horses and dogs, and my father and +mother were always too wrapped up in each other to care to make friends. +So that was really why at their death I was left so utterly stranded, and +had Miss McDonald not come forward to my rescue I would have gone, I +suppose, to a charity school. She was, as I say, awfully good to me. You +see, she understood, and that made all the difference. She had gone +through much the same sudden change of fortune herself, for she had never +been brought up to work for her living either. Somehow she did not say +much, but she made me see the utter uselessness of repining and taught me +how much braver it was to accept things as they are and to make the best +of them. And so I set my teeth and made the best of them, or rather tried +to make the best of them, which isn't quite the same thing, but still the +best I could do. And I was getting sort of resigned to my lot when the +idea came to me that I had a voice, and I went to see Signor Vanucci. An +unknown girl and a famous man like that! The utter cheek of it, Margaret! +But I have told you all about it and the hopes he raised, which were only +to be dashed to the ground by his unexpected death. It took me months and +months to get over it; in fact, in the sense of the word I never did get +over it; even the gradual down-fall of the school and the awful struggle +that Miss McDonald was going through never seemed to me as real as my own +disappointment. I sometimes think, Margaret, that I must be horribly +selfish and heartless. And then through you, Margaret, this second chance +came, and though I held back at first, I seized it gladly and mean to +hold it as long as I can, although I know," she added, "how very +atrociously I am behaving to you and Mrs. Murray."</p> + +<p>"Oh!" said Margaret in surprise, for this was the very first time Eleanor +had admitted as much.</p> + +<p>"Of course, I always knew I was doing wrong," Eleanor said, "but I tried +to hush my conscience up. I can't hush it up any longer, but," she added +with much vigour, "it needn't think that I am going to pay any attention +to what it says, for I am not."</p> + +<p>Margaret could scarcely help smiling at the defiant note in Eleanor's +voice. The latter turned suddenly and laid her hand on Margaret's knee.</p> + +<p>"Don't judge me too hardly, Margaret," she said. "I know you think me +selfish and callous, and utterly without any decent feelings at all to be +deliberately keeping you out of your own name, and to be taking +everything that ought by rights to belong to you. But you don't know what +this chance means to me. You can't even dimly conceive it. It is just the +turning-point of my life.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"'There is a tide in the affairs of men,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Which taken at the flood leads on to fortune,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Omitted, all the voyage of their life<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Is bound in shallows and miseries.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">On such a full sea are we now afloat,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And we must take the current when it serves,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Or lose our ventures.'<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>"There, Margaret, doesn't that fit our case exactly? Shallows and +miseries are Hampstead and the school, and the full sea is the chance you +are giving me."</p> + +<p>"You see, Margaret," she went on earnestly, "a voice is not quite like +any other gift. If you don't train it when you are young you might as +well not train it at all. It is too late when you are old, and then your +gift is thrown away—wasted. Even as it is Madame Martelli says that I +have no time to lose. She wants me to go to Milan next spring."</p> + +<p>"To Milan!" Margaret exclaimed.</p> + +<p>"Or to Paris," Eleanor went on half absently.</p> + +<p>"To Paris!" Margaret echoed again.</p> + +<p>"Don't remind me that I can't go!" Eleanor exclaimed fiercely, springing +to her feet and beginning to pace up and down the path in front of the +arbour, "for, of course, I know it without being told. I won't look +forward, I won't, I won't! I will go on living in the present which is +giving me all I want. The future is too gloomy and uncertain to be +thought of yet, and so, <i>hey presto</i>!" and her brow cleared as if by +magic, "I refuse to think of it."</p> + +<p>The end of one of Eleanor's rapid speeches, in the course of which she +could pass with astounding swiftness from one mood to another, always +left Margaret with a slight feeling of bewilderment. In the present +instance she had been greatly moved by Eleanor's impulsive appeal to her +not to think badly of her, and had just been about to assure her that +indeed she had never judged her conduct hardly when Eleanor had gone on +to justify herself, to speak of her future plans, and had wound up as +suddenly by refusing to consider the future at all.</p> + +<p>No wonder, then, that Margaret, with whom speech was never very ready, +felt at a loss what to answer when Eleanor, pausing in her restless march +to and fro, asked her abruptly what she was thinking of.</p> + +<p>"You listen, listen, listen always so silently, my little pale Margaret," +she said, "and you look so grave and so wise, but never a word do you +say."</p> + +<p>"It is because you talk so fast and tell me so much that I have not time +to answer one thing before you go on to another," said Margaret.</p> + +<p>"Well, you never answered my question just now. Tell me, do you despise +me for my selfishness?"</p> + +<p>"No," said Margaret, with sudden earnestness, "I like you too much."</p> + +<p>"Really and truly, Margaret?"</p> + +<p>"Really and truly," Margaret made reply. "You know I liked you from the +first moment I saw you in the waiting-room. You were the first girl of my +own age that I had ever spoken to, and I shall never forget how I stood +by the window watching you as you did your exercise, and wished you were +my friend."</p> + +<p>"And a pretty friend I have been to you," interrupted Eleanor. "I stole +your name and everything that belongs to you, and, by the way, that +reminds me——"</p> + +<p>"It was my own wish," said Margaret, interrupting in her turn. "Never +forget that, Eleanor. It was to please myself that I began it."</p> + +<p>"But to please me that you went on with it," said Eleanor. "'Although he +promise to his cost he makes his promise good,'" she quoted.</p> + +<p>"Yes, perhaps," Margaret admitted; "but now, Eleanor, I am glad to do it +for you, I am indeed. It gives me great pleasure to have a friend, and to +be able to serve her."</p> + +<p>An odd, shamed look came for a moment into Eleanor's eyes. "I wish you +had found a better friend for your first one than me," she said; "or +rather," she added ruefully, "I wish that I did wish it, but I don't. So +it's no good pretending. You shall hear me sing one day, Margaret, and +then you will know why it is that my conscience never gets a fair chance +with me. If it talks too loud I just sing it down. But look here, +Margaret, to talk of something else besides my voice for a minute, to +which fascinating subject we always seem to go back, when I said just +now that I had stolen your name and everything that belonged to you it +reminded me that I had also come in for something for which I never +bargained, and that was for an aunt. Did you know that you had an aunt +living not four miles from here."</p> + +<p>Margaret, much startled, answered that she did not know that she +possessed an aunt at all.</p> + +<p>"You do indeed, then," Eleanor said. "Wrexley Park is the name of her +house; she was your father's sister, and she is now Lady Strangways."</p> + +<p>Margaret's grave hazel eyes were opened to their fullest width.</p> + +<p>"Are you sure that you are not making a mistake, Eleanor," she said, "or +that you are not joking? I never heard before that I had an aunt or any +relations at all except a grandfather."</p> + +<p>"No, I am not making a mistake, nor am I joking," returned Eleanor. +"Truth to say, it is no joking matter, for Lady Strangways has expressed +a wish to see her niece, and is coming here this very afternoon for that +purpose. Can you not tell me something about her?"</p> + +<p>"How can I tell you anything when I never heard that she was my aunt +until this very minute?"</p> + +<p>"She was your father's youngest sister, however," continued Eleanor; "but +she married very young, and has been out of England for years and years. +Her husband was in the Indian Civil, and they were out in India most of +their time, and when he was on leave he preferred to travel in other +countries instead of coming home, or when he did come he paid such flying +visits, that it gave Lady Strangways no time to look up unknown nieces, +at any rate. But Sir Richard retired a couple of years ago, and bought +Wrexley Park."</p> + +<p>"Yes, but surely if she was really my aunt, my grandfather would have +told me about her," said Margaret, "and wished me to know her."</p> + +<p>"Not he," said Eleanor. "Mrs. Murray was talking about your grandfather +last night. Oh, of course she did not say anything that was not fitting +for a dutiful granddaughter to hear, but she did give me to understand +that your grandfather was a very prejudiced man, and that he had +purposely kept you away from all your father's relations. On your +mother's side I understand you have none. And for the matter of that all +your father's relations except this sister are dead. His two brothers +died unmarried, and his elder sister, who is dead too, left no children. +And there is only this Lady Strangways left. And she has been out of +England so long, that she knew nothing of your grandfather's desire to +keep you apart from your father's family."</p> + +<p>"But how did she learn that you, that I, well, that her niece was staying +with Mrs. Murray?"</p> + +<p>"Through Mrs. Murray herself, of course, goosey gander. Mrs. Murray +always knew she was your aunt, and welcomes this chance of bringing you +together. For my part I wish she didn't. I have caught a glimpse of Lady +Strangways in church, and she is rather an awe-inspiring person, and I do +not at all relish the idea of being brought face to face with her some +day, and keeping up our little deception."</p> + +<p>"Miss Margaret! Miss Margaret!" called a voice at that moment. "Where are +you, if you please, Miss?"</p> + +<p>Eleanor started to her feet, and putting her finger to her lips as a sign +to Margaret to keep silence, ran hastily out of the arbour, and along the +path to the foot of the steps.</p> + +<p>"Here I am, Mary," she said. "What is it?"</p> + +<p>"If you please, Miss," said the voice, as the person to whom it belonged +halted on the lawn at the top of the steps, "Lady Strangways has called, +and the mistress says she will be down in a minute, and will you go into +the drawing-room at once?"</p> + +<p>"Very well, Mary, I will come in a moment."</p> + +<p>The maid retraced her steps across the lawn, and Eleanor hastened back to +the arbour.</p> + +<p>"Do you hear that?" she whispered, with a whimsical smile. "Lady +Strangways has come. Oh, how I wish I could send you in to see her +instead of me! However, I am afraid that that is not possible, though +I think it isn't fair that I should have to face this formidable aunt +instead of you. I have an idea, too, that she won't like me. She looks +too great and stately a lady, if you understand, to take a fancy to a +flippant person like me, and she would have liked you. But, there, it's +no good grumbling at my ill-luck; I must go and face her, I suppose, and +make the best of an awkward situation."</p> + +<p>"I should have thought that you would have enjoyed it," Margaret said, +rather wondering at Eleanor's mood.</p> + +<p>"I dislike taking any risks that put my singing lessons in jeopardy," +said Eleanor vehemently; "besides, candidly, I feel that I shall not show +to advantage in the forthcoming interview. It is not often that I feel +shy, but I do feel shy of this aunt of yours. Well, good-bye! Sit quietly +here; you will be quite safe, and I will come back as soon as I can and +tell you all about your aunt."</p> + +<p>With a hasty nod of farewell, Eleanor sped along the path and mounted the +steps leading to the lawn. And hardly had she reached it than Margaret +was startled to hear her being addressed, and the first words she +overheard told Margaret that Lady Strangways, instead of waiting for her +niece to come to her in the drawing-room, had followed the maid out to +the garden. Had Eleanor delayed only a moment or two longer, Lady +Strangways would probably have come upon them both in the arbour.</p> + +<p>"You were so long in coming to me, my dear Margaret," said the unseen +voice, in clear, well-bred tones that struck pleasantly on the real +Margaret's ear, "that I decided to come into the garden and look for you. +Let me introduce myself. I am your Aunt Helen, your father's sister. I am +sorry to have been a stranger to you until now, but that is not my fault. +I have only just returned to England after an absence of many years, and +strange though it may appear to you, I really did not know of your +existence until the other day. My brother was many years older than I, +and I never saw him after I was a child. In fact I was to all intents and +purposes a stranger to all my brothers and sisters. They were all grown +up while I was in the schoolroom still, and were very little at home. But +I knew that my brother John had married a distant cousin of the same +surname as our own, whose Christian name was Margaret, and that was all +I ever heard of him; and when I heard that a girl, called Margaret +Anstruther, was staying here, I felt sure that you must be my niece. And, +you see, I was right. I am very pleased to see you, my dear, and to have +an opportunity of coming to know you at last."</p> + +<p>The pleasant, clear voice, the graciously uttered words, held +Margaret—the real Margaret, that is—spellbound; then, jumping to her +feet, she climbed on to the rockery that supported the bank above her and +peeped through the tall-growing herbaceous plants that grew thickly on +the border at the edge of the lawn. It never occurred to her that she was +eaves-dropping, and even if it had, she would not have felt greatly +ashamed. After all, this was her aunt, and she believed she was speaking +to her niece. Surely, therefore, her niece had every right to listen to +what she was saying.</p> + +<p>Lady Strangways stood on the grass just at the top of the flight of +steps, up which Eleanor had had barely time to scramble before she got +there, and Margaret, parting the leaves and stems of the intervening +plants, was able to take a good long look at her unknown aunt.</p> + +<p>Lady Strangways was tall, and carried her head and shoulders in a stately +way that gave her grace and distinction. She had a broad, low brow, and a +mouth and chin which showed decision of character as well as sweetness of +disposition. But it was her eyes that were her chief charm. They were +beautiful hazel eyes, and as Margaret looked at them a feeling came over +her that they were oddly familiar to her, and yet she had never seen Lady +Strangways before. Altogether, it was a face that attracted attention, +and charmed by its sunny-tempered grace and kindness.</p> + +<p>Margaret continued to gaze at this aunt in a fascinated way, and a +curious little feeling of pride thrilled in her as she reflected that she +was the niece of any one who not only looked so sweet and so gracious as +Lady Strangways, but who was so evidently a woman of fashion and of the +great world.</p> + +<p>Margaret remembered the flutter of excitement which Mrs. Danvers had +shown when, on returning from a tea-party one day, she had found Lady +Strangways' card on the table, and the regret she had expressed that she +had been out. What, then, would the Danvers say, Margaret wondered, when +they heard that she was a niece of Lady Strangways?</p> + +<p>For a moment Margaret quite enjoyed the thought of their prospective +astonishment, until with a little pang she remembered that it was Eleanor +who was being acknowledged at this moment by this charming-looking aunt, +not she, and a slow, painful jealousy stirred in Margaret at the thought.</p> + +<p>Not that Eleanor was usurping the relationship at all willingly. Margaret +could see that her unfortunate accomplice, who was generally so ready of +tongue, and so self-confident, was very far from feeling at her ease in +the presence of Lady Strangways, and was comporting herself like an +awkward, embarrassed schoolgirl. For a time she seemed absolutely +incapable of answering anything that was said to her, except in +monosyllables, and though Lady Strangways did her best to set her at her +ease, her efforts met with poor success.</p> + +<p>"My dear child," she said at last, as she drew Eleanor's reluctant hand +within her arm, and tried to look into the girl's averted face, "you must +not be so shy with me! Remember that I am your aunt, and that as you have +no mother, and I no daughter, we might be very much to one another in the +future."</p> + +<p>These graciously uttered words, accompanied as they were by a charming +smile, and a gentle drawing of the girl to her side, as if she would have +kissed her, caused Margaret's jealousy to increase.</p> + +<p>But the proffered caress, far from waking in Eleanor a responsive +feeling, caused her to shrink further away from Lady Strangways' side.</p> + +<p>"You are very kind, Lady Strangways," she said uneasily, "but—but we are +only strangers as yet, aren't we?"</p> + +<p>Had Eleanor not been at her wits' end to know what to say, she would +scarcely have uttered such an extremely <i>gauche</i> remark as that, but as +a matter of fact she had not the very remotest idea what she was saying.</p> + +<p>Lady Strangways drew back and looked gravely for a moment at Eleanor's +averted face. She was obviously unused to have her overtures rejected, +and she was wondering if Eleanor's ungracious answer and constrained +manner was dictated by shyness only.</p> + +<p>"Yes, at present we are strangers," she made reply, rather coldly; "but I +wish to know my niece, and you mustn't call me Lady Strangways, you must +call me Aunt Helen."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I would really rather not," Eleanor said, and this time her distress +and embarrassment were so marked that Lady Strangways, though she still +looked exceedingly puzzled, allowed her manner to soften.</p> + +<p>"Never mind, then," she said, "I won't ask you to do anything you would +rather not. I hear you are having singing lessons from Madame Martelli. +Will you sing to me?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes," Eleanor responded with alacrity. She started across the lawn +towards the house at a great rate, her relief at being released from the +immediate necessity of further conversation with her new-found relative +so plainly expressed in the way in which she was careful to keep a couple +of yards ahead of her, that Lady Strangways raised her eyebrows in mute +protest at her niece's extraordinarily <i>farouche</i> behaviour.</p> + +<p>When they reached the little drawing-room, gay with flowers, she sank +gracefully into a chair, and resigned herself to a rather trying five +minutes. Eleanor searched among her music, opened the piano, and sat +down.</p> + +<p>"What are you going to sing to me, dear," Lady Strangways asked in a tone +of polite interest.</p> + +<p>"<i>Ah fors è lui.</i>"</p> + +<p>Lady Strangways did her very best to repress a shudder. Not a month had +elapsed since she had seen Tetrazzini in "La Traviata," and it was rather +terrible to think of hearing her poor niece attempt any song out of that +opera.</p> + +<p>"Or, if you would prefer it," said Eleanor, with a demureness that was +contradicted by the mischievous gleam in her red-brown eyes, "I will sing +you the Jewel Song out of 'Faust.'"</p> + +<p>"That would be worse," Lady Strangways said hastily; "I mean, my dear, +that would be more difficult perhaps for you to grapple with. Really, I +have no choice in the matter; sing me what you like."</p> + +<p>Eleanor twisted round on her stool and surveyed her aunt, or rather, the +lady who thought she was her aunt, with an amused smile. All of a sudden +a complete change had come over her demeanour. The neighbourhood of a +piano always seemed to give Eleanor confidence, and now her shyness and +awkwardness fell away from her, and she twisted round on the music stool +and surveyed her quondam aunt with an amused smile. It pleased her to +delay her inevitable triumph for a moment or two, even to pose as a vain, +silly schoolgirl.</p> + +<p>"I really sing very well," she said; "though I can see that you do not +believe it."</p> + +<p>"Let me hear you," said Lady Strangways encouragingly, "and then I can +tell you what I think. Do not be too shy to sing your best."</p> + +<p>"I am never shy when I am singing," said Eleanor. "Why should I be? I am +proud of my beautiful voice. No young, coming-on singer has a voice like +it; in a few years, with proper training and hard work, I shall rank with +Melba and Tetrazzini."</p> + +<p>Lady Strangways gave a little gasp.</p> + +<p>"You have not a very modest opinion of yourself, my dear," she could not +refrain from saying, as she eyed her niece rather curiously.</p> + +<p>"Of myself I have a very modest opinion," returned Eleanor. "I know my +own faults, and some of them are pretty bad, as you will say one day, +perhaps, but there is no fault to be found with my voice—none—except +that, of course, it is not trained yet; but it would be too absurd for me +to be mock modest about it as though its beauty were something that I +could plume myself on. It is a gift—a glorious gift—and I love it and +worship it."</p> + +<p>Eleanor made a striking picture as she sat there with her hands folded in +her lap, while the sun, pouring in from a small west window set high in +the wall, turned her red-brown hair to gold. Lady Strangways surveyed +her with an ever deepening amazement. This niece, with her brilliant +colouring and her excited, vivacious manner, was very unlike the girl she +had imagined her niece would be; very different, also, to the shy, +awkward girl she had been a few minutes back.</p> + +<p>As Eleanor gave utterance to her impassioned speech, the slightly mocking +smile with which she had been eyeing Lady Strangways died away, and was +replaced by an earnest, rapt look, which showed to her listener how +seriously she herself took every word she was saying.</p> + +<p>Then Eleanor turned to the piano and ran her fingers lightly over the +keys. Lady Strangways nodded approvingly, as she listened to the firm, +good touch. The girl was really quite musical. She perceived that +already, and if her choice of a song had been less wildly ambitious, or +better still, if she would go on playing and not sing at all, why——</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="img4" id="img4"></a> +<img src="images/img4.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3>ELEANOR TURNED TO THE PIANO AND RAN HER FINGERS +LIGHTLY OVER THE KEYS.</h3> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + + +<p>But at that moment Eleanor began to sing, and the look of kindly approval +which Lady Strangways' face had worn was swept away as by some magic +touch, for Signor Vanucci and Madame Martelli had made no mistake. +Eleanor had a great, a glorious voice; clear and sweet as a golden bell; +full, and deep, and rich; it was a voice which would one day add the +name of its owner to the list of the world's great singers.</p> + +<p>Lady Strangways recognised the fact instantly. Though she neither played +nor sang, she was a capable judge of music, and she knew that this girl's +voice would carry her to the front rank. Of course, her rendering of the +song was far from perfect, her phrasing was often inaccurate, her voice +not under control, and its training unfinished; but what mattered those +details? Lady Strangways knew she was listening to a magnificent voice, +and sheer delight and amazement held her spellbound for some moments +after the last full, throbbing notes had died away into silence. Then she +rose impulsively and crossed to the piano.</p> + +<p>"My dear," she said simply, "God has given you a great gift."</p> + +<p>Eleanor nodded in a grave, almost abstracted manner.</p> + +<p>"Yes," she said, in low, dreamy tones, "He has." Then suddenly her +tranquil mood changed, and she appeared to be swept by a sudden gust of +passion. "And sometimes," she added bitterly, "I wonder why, if it is +only by resorting to trickery and roguery that I can make use of it."</p> + +<p>"My dear child, what do you mean?" Lady Strangways said in astonishment, +not unmixed with displeasure. "Those are strange words for a niece of +mine to apply to her own conduct."</p> + +<p>"Are they?" said Eleanor; "but tell me, wouldn't you stoop to any +trickery—any meanness, if you had a voice like mine, and saw no chance +of getting it trained?"</p> + +<p>Her face had grown very pale, but her eyes blazed into Lady Strangways as +she stood confronting her. The latter, seeing that the girl was literally +shaking with emotion, and not having the clue to her thoughts, supposed +that she was merely overwrought by her singing.</p> + +<p>"But why should it be necessary to resort to meanness of any sort to +have your voice trained?" she said, speaking purposely in a calm, +matter-of-fact voice. "Your grandfather appears perfectly willing to have +you taught, otherwise he would scarcely have put you under such a teacher +as Madame Martelli."</p> + +<p>"You don't understand," Eleanor muttered, turning away her head, unable +to meet Lady Strangways' serene, beautiful eyes. Somehow they made her +feel terribly ashamed of the part she was playing.</p> + +<p>"No; but I am trying to," said Lady Strangways in a perplexed tone, "and +I cannot imagine why you should be under any apprehension that your +grandfather will try and put obstacles in the way of your getting all the +training your beautiful voice deserves. Is he not proud of it?"</p> + +<p>Eleanor shook her head. "He doesn't know anything about it," she said; +"he just thinks his niece has a nice little drawing-room voice."</p> + +<p>Lady Strangways drew a deep breath. "Oh, I understand now," she said. +"You are afraid that he will not let you train for the stage, that he +will be prejudiced against it. But, my dear Margaret, that would be an +unheard-of pity; such a voice as yours must not be wasted—it would be a +sin. I shall use my influence with your grandfather, if he is really +against your being properly trained, and get him to consent to your +having the very best teaching that can be given to you. And if it is a +question of money——"</p> + +<p>But there Lady Strangways paused and looked a little doubtful. Truth to +say, she did not think that money had anything to do with the question; +she remembered vaguely to have heard that her brother had married an +heiress; if so, his only daughter would surely not lack means to train +for any career she fancied.</p> + +<p>"No, no!" Eleanor exclaimed almost violently, "I could not take money +from you—I could not. It will be far better if we never see each other +again." And brushing suddenly past the astounded Lady Strangways, Eleanor +dashed out of the window and disappeared in a flash round the corner of +the house.</p> + +<p>"Well, of all the most astonishing girls I ever met, my niece, Margaret +Anstruther, is certainly the most astonishing," was Lady Strangways' +inward comment as she gazed after Eleanor's flying figure. "She seems +to pass through a greater variety of moods in a shorter space of time +than any one I ever met. She must be a very uncomfortable person to live +with. But what a magnificent voice! What a tremendous gift she has been +endowed with!"</p> + +<p>But at that point Lady Strangways' musings were interrupted by the +belated appearance of her hostess, who came limping with the aid of a +stick, and with a slow and painful step into the room.</p> + +<p>For, as she had said in her letter to Mr. Anstruther, Mrs. Murray was a +martyr to an acute form of rheumatism, and though few people beyond her +old and attached servants knew it, she was seldom long out of pain. And, +partly on account of her rheumatism, and partly because she was so very +deaf, she shunned society, and was rarely to be met with in any one +else's house, although she gladly welcomed any one who, as she put it, +was kind enough to come and see her. But, on the other hand, she visited +a great deal among the poor, not only in her own village, but in the +villages for many miles around Windy Gap, and the sight of her fat, +sturdy, grey ponies drawing up outside the doors of their cottages was +one that never failed to give pleasure to their inmates. She and Lady +Strangways had met over a year ago at the bedside of a poor girl who was +suffering from an incurable malady, and whose parents rented a cottage on +the Wrexley estate. Lady Strangways, who was conscientiously trying, in +the intervals of a very full and busy life, to know all her husband's +tenants, and who, wherever she went, heard Mrs. Murray's praises sounded, +asked at once to be allowed to call on her. Mrs. Murray answered +courteously that it would give her great pleasure to know Lady +Strangways, but pleaded her infirmities as an excuse for paying any +visits herself. In spite of her deafness and her lameness, Mrs. Murray +was the soul of cheerfulness. Though she was cut off from much +intercourse with her fellow-creatures, she was never at a loss for +occupation, and had so many resources within herself that she rarely had +a dull moment. For one thing she was an omnivorous reader, and just as +Mrs. Danvers never sat down without a piece of knitting in her hand, so +Mrs. Murray never sat down without a book.</p> + +<p>"Needlework," she had said once when a friend had tried to induce her to +ply a needle of some sort, "is all very well for those who can hear. They +can work and listen at the same time, but if I took to knitting, or +crochet, or embroidery, I should be shut up with my own thoughts instead +of getting out of myself and away into some of the best company in the +world. My thinking," she added with a wry little smile, "is done at +night, when my rheumatism will not permit me to sleep."</p> + +<p>"So you have seen Margaret," she said, in the curious low voice habitual +to her, which made it almost as difficult for other people to hear what +she said as she found it to hear what they said. "I left you with her so +long on purpose that you might make her acquaintance. Is she not a +charming girl?"</p> + +<p>Now as "charming" was certainly not the word which her short experience +of Eleanor's behaviour that afternoon would have led her to apply to her +niece, Lady Strangways hesitated.</p> + +<p>"Ah!" said Mrs. Murray, quick to notice and to interpret aright her +hesitation. "But you have only seen her for the first time to-day. Now I +have known her for some weeks, and I have grown to love her. You do not +wish," and a pathetically anxious look came into her face, "to take her +away from me, do you?"</p> + +<p>Lady Strangways' shake of her head reassured Mrs. Murray on that point.</p> + +<p>"I hope her grandfather will leave her with me for many months to come +yet," she continued. "She is very happy with me; far happier than I think +any young girl ought to be with only one old deaf woman for company. But +she is so occupied with her studies and her music that I think I count +little one way or another with her."</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, I cannot believe that," Lady Strangways said in a tone of +remonstrance. "You are so good to her that she must be very fond of you, +and appreciate all your kindness to her."</p> + +<p>"It is not much that I can do," said Mrs. Murray. "She is so absorbed in +her work that she makes her own happiness. I wish," she added, a little +wistfully, "that she did desire my company a little more, but then I must +not be selfish. She did not come here to make a companion of me, but to +pursue her own studies. And she certainly does pursue them with an ardour +that, from what her grandfather told me of her dreamy, indolent ways, I +had not expected from her."</p> + +<p>"But surely she does not want to study all day long," said Lady +Strangways, with more than a hint of disapprobation in her voice. She +read more into Mrs. Murray's wistful remark than the latter had intended +to convey, and she began to fear that her new-found niece, in addition to +being odd mannered and hasty tempered, was a thoroughly selfish young +person into the bargain.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Murray seemed to guess her thoughts.</p> + +<p>"Now," she exclaimed in genuine distress, "I have given you a wrong +impression of the dear girl. I like her to be enthusiastic about her +work. It is only right that she should be. And, as I say, she did not +come here to amuse and entertain a deaf old woman like myself. But all +the same, I am the better for having her. Her vivacious personality +cheers and brightens the house without any effort on her part. And does +she not sing nicely?"</p> + +<p>"Nicely!" echoed Lady Strangways in sheer amazement, every other thought +of her niece being instantly put on one side directly her marvellous +voice came under discussion. "Nicely! Is it possible that you do not know +that she has a wonderful voice?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, very nice and strong, isn't it," said Mrs. Murray, who had really +only caught enough of her visitor's last remark to know that she was +praising her young guest. "But I have only heard her once or twice as +yet. Madame Martelli will not allow her to sing much to me, or to any +one, at present. She likes to hear every note she utters. I think her +grandfather will be pleased with her progress when she goes home. He told +me she had a nice voice, well worth some good finishing lessons, and +Madame Martelli seems to be taking great pains with her."</p> + +<p>Lady Strangways smiled as she thought of the immense difference that lay +between Mr. Anstruther's conception of the quality of his granddaughter's +voice, and that voice as it actually was. But she had no time to stay and +enlighten Mrs. Murray as to the truth. She was due at a house some miles +away for tea, and could not stay at Rose Cottage any longer.</p> + +<p>If the afternoon had been an exciting one for Eleanor, it had been +scarcely less so for Margaret. Lady Strangways' gracious personality had +made a deep and instant impression on her, and to have been obliged to +look on while such a charming person as her aunt, who had come specially +to make her acquaintance, was being coldly and rudely rebuffed by Eleanor +acting in her place, had been really a trying ordeal for her. Her own +aunt! How strange and wonderful it seemed that she, who had not known +that she possessed any relatives in the world but her grandfather, had +really owned an aunt all the time. An aunt, too, who was fully as anxious +to know and love her as Margaret was to respond to that affection. There +was in Margaret a fine large store of affection ready to be lavished upon +somebody. Hitherto that affection had not been wanted by any one; but now +she had her aunt's words for it that she was prepared to look upon her as +a daughter. And Eleanor had answered coldly and ungraciously, while she, +Margaret, would have made, oh! such a different answer if circumstances +of her own contriving—therein lay the sting—had not prevented from +answering on her own account at all. And, instead of talking to that nice +new aunt of hers, she had been compelled to hide behind a big clump of +perennial sunflowers—all her life Margaret felt she would hate those +flowers—and listen to Eleanor offending and estranging her aunt with +every word she uttered.</p> + +<p>And then Eleanor had taken her aunt away to sing to her. And the +exceeding beauty of Eleanor's voice as it floated out across the lawn had +sent another pang through Margaret's jealous heart. Oh, she knew how it +would be, she told herself miserably, as, seeking refuge in the shady +little arbour where she and Eleanor held their stolen meetings, she sat +down on the bench, and, resting her elbows on the little rustic table, +gave herself up to her moody reflections. Eleanor would win Lady +Strangways' heart so completely that, even when the truth about them +came out, her aunt would have no affection left for her.</p> + +<p>Margaret was so occupied with these dismal thoughts that she did not hear +Eleanor's step on the gravel, and was considerably startled when a touch +on her shoulder made her look up to see the other standing beside her. +She had expected to see Eleanor wearing a triumphant, elated air, and was +consequently very much surprised to find that, to judge from the +expression on her face at least, Eleanor's mood was not more happy than +her own.</p> + +<p>"Has my aunt gone?" she said.</p> + +<p>Eleanor gave a short, mocking little laugh.</p> + +<p>"I am afraid, for the time being at any rate," she said, "I must +claim half of her. So I may tell you that our aunt is still in the +drawing-room. But really I couldn't stand her any longer. So I fled and +left her there."</p> + +<p>"But—but, I thought she was being so nice to you," faltered Margaret, at +a loss for a moment to know what Eleanor meant, "and that you had taken a +great fancy to one another."</p> + +<p>"Oh, she was all right," said Eleanor. "I should think she was what +Americans would call just a lovely person. But somehow she made me feel +such a sham and a fraud that I never want to see her again, and so I +would have none of her kindness. Knowing that it was not meant for me, +and that I was getting it under false pretences, I was—well—so rude +that I don't expect she will ever want to see me again."</p> + +<p>"Oh!" said Margaret, and she could not help feeling just a little bit +pleased to hear that Eleanor had not found favour in Lady Strangways' +eyes. Certainly she did not deserve to after the way in which she had +repelled all her overtures. Then, of a sudden, a disquieting thought came +to her. "But oh, Eleanor," she said aghast, "can't you see that she will +think that it is I, her real niece, who has been so rude to her? Oh, +Eleanor, that is just as bad as, as——"</p> + +<p>"As if she had fallen in love with me," said Eleanor, bursting out +laughing. "Oh, Margaret, how transparent you are! I wonder you have been +able to deceive all the Danvers family so long. But I must confess that I +never thought how very unfavourably I was impressing your aunt with you. +Well, well, it can't be helped now. You will put matters straight some +day."</p> + +<p>"She reminded me so much of some one," said Margaret, pursuing her own +train of thought; "but I cannot think of whom. And that is curious +because I have seen so few people in my life, that I ought to remember +whom it is that she resembles without any difficulty. It was her eyes +that puzzled me most. Such beautiful eyes they are. And I am sure I know +some one else who has eyes like them."</p> + +<p>Eleanor glanced at Margaret and then began to laugh.</p> + +<p>"Of course you do," she said, "and so do I. You see that person every +time you look in the glass. It is you yourself who have Lady Strangways' +eyes, my dear Margaret."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII</h2> + +<h3>HILARY TURNS DETECTIVE</h3> + + +<p>"Eleanor," said Hilary, coming into the hall one afternoon with a couple +of books in her hand, "if you are going out I want you to go to Smith's, +please, and change these two library books for me."</p> + +<p>It had been raining all day, and though the rain had now changed to a +slight drizzle a thick mist creeping on from the sea had already blotted +out the downs, and was hanging like a low cloud over the town. It was as +cheerless an afternoon as could well be imagined, and Margaret who, +suffering from a bad cold in her head, had not been out for a couple +of days, hesitated a moment before replying. But the request was couched +in such a peremptory tone that she did not quite like to refuse it. After +all, since the children had gone away she was doing absolutely nothing in +return for her board and lodging, and, since Hilary had forgotten that +she was nursing a cold, it would have seemed ungracious to remind her of +the fact.</p> + +<p>But Hilary had not forgotten Margaret's cold. Had it been ten times as +bad, however, she would still have despatched her on this errand. For the +long-awaited, carefully planned-for moment when she could bring home +Margaret's guilt to her had, in Hilary's confident estimation, at length +arrived. A few minutes since, rummaging in the dressing-room next +Margaret's room in search of some gloves that needed cleaning, she had +chanced to espy under the bed the trunk in which the boys had hidden the +Colonel's property. They had supposed it to belong to their mother, but +Hilary knew that it was Eleanor's.</p> + +<p>Rendered thoroughly uneasy by the continued stir that Colonel Baker was +making about his loss, Jack and Noel had determined to smuggle his things +out of their house and to deposit them somewhere in his garden, where he +could easily find them, and to that end they had been trying, but without +success so far, to open the trunk with various keys belonging to their +mother. And it was the sight of these keys scattered about beside the +trunk that had fired Hilary's detective ardour. What was Eleanor doing +with her mother's keys? It could be for no good purpose that she had +secreted them under the bed.</p> + +<p>Without more ado, Hilary made up her mind to search that trunk. And the +first thing to be done was to secure herself against interruption. So she +invented an errand to take Eleanor out of the house for an hour or two. +The others were all down at the rink, and having seen Margaret start, +Hilary sped up to the box-room, secured a few keys, and set to work.</p> + +<p>Two or three keys were tried in vain, but the fourth turned easily in the +lock, and with hands that fairly trembled with excitement, she threw back +the lid. The tray was empty. She lifted it out, and as she did so gave +vent to a little cry of triumph. For there, at the bottom, reposed a +bundle tied up in a gold embroidered scarlet Indian tablecloth which any +one in Seabourne who had read any recent numbers of the local papers +would have recognised immediately as Colonel Baker's missing property.</p> + +<p>Literally pouncing upon it, Hilary dragged it out of the trunk and untied +the four knotted corners, when out fell the tumbled contents of the +Colonel's plate-basket—the big morocco case which contained his +family miniatures, his Etruscan bronze vase, and his collection of gold +coins.</p> + +<p>All things considered, Hilary took her astonishing discovery very calmly. +After all, it was only what she had been expecting. Her chief sensation +at that moment was one of surprise that the trunk did not also contain +the proceeds of the two other robberies. Probably, however, they would be +found in Miss Carson's bedroom. Had she not been so obsessed by the idea +that Miss Carson was the burglar with whose exploits the town had been +ringing of late, Hilary might have hesitated before taking the step of +searching the room of a girl who was, to all intents and purposes, a +guest in their house. But the idea that she was doing anything +disgraceful never occurred to her. The zeal of the amateur detective was +far too strong upon her to leave room for reflections of that sort. She +opened the door of Margaret's bedroom and went in. The room was +exquisitely neat, for not only had habits of tidiness been inculcated in +Margaret since she was old enough to fold a garment, but the spacious +bedroom allotted to her at The Cedars, with its big mahogany hanging +wardrobes and its deep chest of drawers, contained so much more room than +she needed that there would have been no excuse for any one to have been +untidy.</p> + +<p>At first it seemed to Hilary that her search here was going to be +unrewarded; the cupboards and drawers in which Margaret kept her dresses +were soon searched through and revealed nothing at all of a suspicious +nature. The two top drawers then underwent an examination, and the +orderly little piles of veils and handkerchiefs were ruthlessly tumbled +about by Hilary's eager hands. But all in vain. There was no vestige +of a proof here that Miss Carson had had a hand in the two first +burglaries as well as in the last. Feeling baffled and quite unreasonably +indignant, Hilary turned her attention next to the dressing-table. The +toilet articles on it were few and simple, and Hilary was about to turn +away, when her eyes were caught by Margaret's gold watch and chain, which +were hanging on a small velvet stand. The watch was an old-fashioned one, +with an open gold face, and the long slender chain was also of gold. +Attached to it were a watch-key and a very small steel key.</p> + +<p>Hilary remembered that Miss Carson invariably wore the watch and chain, +so that this small key evidently fitted something that she was careful +always to keep locked up. As Hilary picked up this key the chain slid +away from it, and she saw that the spring of the swivel was broken. That +accounted, then, for the fact that Miss Carson was not wearing her watch, +as she usually did. And when she left it on the dressing-table she had +evidently forgotten that she was leaving the little key, which as a rule +she was so careful to wear, lying about too.</p> + +<p>Criminals, Hilary reflected with immense satisfaction as she picked up +the key, always did forget important things of that sort. Now what did +that little key fit? Evidently some bag or some small box which contained +something that it behoved her to keep carefully concealed from every eye +but her own. Now, where could that bag or box be, Hilary wondered, as she +glanced round the room. Were there any drawers or cupboards that she had +not yet thoroughly searched? Yes, there was the big bottom drawer in the +wardrobe, in which Miss Carson kept her hats. She had looked into it +once, but seeing that it apparently contained nothing but the few simple +hats that the holiday governess owned, had pushed it to again. But now, +feeling that that cursory glance had not been sufficient, Hilary knelt +down before the wardrobe, and putting her hand to the back of the drawer, +pulled out Margaret's morocco dressing-bag. It was the work of a moment +only to fit the key in the lock, and then its contents were at the mercy +of her prying eyes. But beyond the leather-covered case that Margaret had +shown to Eleanor in the train the bag was empty, and Hilary, who had +expected to find it crammed full of jewellery, experienced a sharp pang +of disappointment. But when she opened the case and saw the pearl-studded +locket and the beautiful row of pearls that formed its chain, her face +brightened. The initials "M. A." on the back of the locket, to say +nothing of the fine, copper-plate inscription, "For my daughter +Margaret," that ran round the narrow gold setting of the miniature, were, +of course, conclusive proof that it did not belong to Miss Carson. Hilary +remembered, too, the handkerchief embroidered with those same +incriminating initials which Miss Carson had one day dropped in the +garden. Though it seemed to Hilary an unimportant matter now, she yet +looked upon it as a link in the long chain of circumstantial evidence +which she alone and unaided had forged against Miss Carson. Really, she +thought, she had a right to be proud of herself, for had she not shown +more intelligence and acumen in the detection of the Seabourne burglaries +than every police official in the town. How every one would admire her +skill! Her portraits might possibly appear in the illustrated papers, and +as for the local papers, they would, of course, print long accounts of +the marvellous way in which, working quite alone, she had succeeded in +unravelling the mystery that had baffled the whole of the Seabourne +police.</p> + +<p>And as Hilary sat there pluming herself on her cleverness and lost in the +pleasant dreams of the fame that would be shortly hers, the door opened, +and Margaret, who had only just come back and was still in her outdoor +things, walked into her bedroom.</p> + +<p>It was not until she had advanced some way into the room that she saw +Hilary, and then Margaret came to a sudden halt in sheer amazement at the +scene that greeted her. Her astonished gaze travelled from Hilary round +her room, with its disordered aspect, its open cupboards and ransacked +drawers, and then she looked again at Hilary, who, with the open morocco +case in her hand, met her eyes defiantly.</p> + +<p>"Will you tell me, please, what you mean by this conduct, Hilary?" she +said, feeling almost too amazed to be angry.</p> + +<p>"Oh yes, I will tell you fast enough," Hilary said, who had been as taken +aback by Margaret's sudden entry as the latter had been to find her +there, and who, considerably to her own surprise and annoyance, was +conscious of a distinct feeling of shame at the position in which she had +been caught. But as she scrambled to her feet and faced Margaret she +shook off that feeling. After all, it was for the latter to feel ashamed, +not for her.</p> + +<p>"You are found out," she said slowly and emphatically. "I have found you +out."</p> + +<p>"So," Margaret thought then, "it had come at last. Hilary, poking among +her possessions, had somehow discovered her real name. Oh, poor Eleanor! +What would happen to her now?"</p> + +<p>"You ask me what I mean by coming into your room; but that's nothing. It +is for you to explain how you dared to come into our house, a thief and +a burglar like you. But I," throwing out her arm dramatically, "have +unmasked you."</p> + +<p>If Hilary had not been too excited by the vigour of her own denunciation +to notice Margaret's expression, she might have been bewildered by the +look of very decided relief which succeeded to the one of startled dismay +with which Margaret had listened to the beginning of her speech. What +Hilary had discovered, or fancied she had discovered, really did not +matter as long as her secret and Eleanor's was safe.</p> + +<p>"Please give me that case at once," she said; "I am afraid, if you wave +it about like that, you will drop it, and I value it very much. You had +no right to come into my room and meddle with my things, and poke and pry +in all my drawers."</p> + +<p>"Meddle, and poke, and pry! How dare you use such words to me?" cried +Hilary, all the more furiously because the objectionable words contained +a sting of truth. "And your things, indeed! I suppose you will say next +that this is your necklace and your miniature?"</p> + +<p>"Certainly I will," said Margaret with spirit, and without seeing at +first whither this admission would lead her. "That is a miniature of my +mother; and if you will read the inscription you will see that she gave +it to me."</p> + +<p>"A fine story," said Hilary contemptuously; "only your name doesn't +happen to be Margaret, nor does your surname begin with an 'A.' Ah! you +forget that, I think, when you said that your mother gave it to you."</p> + +<p>Truly, Margaret had forgotten that, and she met Hilary's triumphant gaze +with an expression akin to dismay. She had got herself suddenly into an +awkward corner. If she persisted in saying that the miniature and pearls +were hers, Hilary would find out that she was passing under an assumed +name; whereas, on the other hand, if she did not assert her ownership of +them, she would lay herself open to the charge that she had stolen them. +It was a perplexing situation, and she hardly knew whether to be relieved +or not, when she found, as she speedily did, that Hilary had quite made +up her mind that she was a thief.</p> + +<p>"You are discovered, I tell you," said Hilary. "I know you belong to the +gang of burglars that have been robbing people's houses here during the +last six weeks. Come into the dressing-room, and you will see how useless +it is to brazen matters out like this."</p> + +<p>The fact that Margaret was totally unprepared to see her trunk, that she +believed to be empty and pushed away beneath the bed, standing out in the +middle of the room, half full of silver, had of course been anticipated +by Hilary, who enjoyed her surprise to the full. But the anger that was +mingled with Miss Carson's astonishment was, of course, a sham, and +Hilary treated it with the contempt she was so convinced that it +deserved.</p> + +<p>"Did you put all those things in my trunk?" Margaret said indignantly. +"What does it mean? Those are the things that were stolen from Colonel +Baker's house. I recognise the description of the Indian tablecloth."</p> + +<p>"Of course you do," said Hilary with a sneer, "seeing that you stole it +to wrap the things in, thief and burglar that you are!"</p> + +<p>"Do you really mean that you seriously believe I am a burglar?" Margaret +said, and, to Hilary's intense disgust, who felt that this flippant +conduct robbed her in some way of her triumph, she went off into a +perfect peal of laughter.</p> + +<p>"Oh, you are too funny! And do you think that I broke into Walker's shop, +too, and also carried off the actress's jewels?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, you may laugh if you like," said Hilary furiously. She would have +liked to have seen Margaret tremble before her as a criminal should +tremble, but she supposed she was too hardened. "But it is a joke that +will land you in prison to-night. I am now going down to tell mother all +about the sort of person we have in the house, and so that you shan't +escape before the police come to take you, I am going to lock you in +here."</p> + +<p>And almost before the last words had left her lips Hilary whisked herself +dexterously out of the room, and slammed the door after her. Margaret +heard her locking the door of the bedroom as she passed it on her way +downstairs. Margaret's mixture of feelings at this treatment was so +curious that at first she could neither laugh nor be angry. She was too +angry to laugh, and too amused to be angry. When, however, she walked +into her bedroom and saw how thoroughly Hilary had turned over every one +of her possessions, leaving them either in a rumpled state in the +drawers, or scattered on the floor, indignation triumphed over amusement.</p> + +<p>Hilary's charges, too, absurd though, of course, they were, had been +brought against her in all seriousness, and Margaret's rising anger made +her feel that she must be made to retract them immediately. She found, on +going first to one door and then to the other, that though the door of +her bedroom was locked, that of the dressing-room was not; for Hilary, +finding after she had slammed the door that the key was on the inside, +had been obliged to leave it unlocked rather than risk a struggle, for +she had been doubtful whether Miss Carson would have permitted herself to +be locked in had the swiftness of the action not taken her by surprise.</p> + +<p>As Margaret went downstairs she heard Hilary's voice talking fast and +eagerly in the drawing-room. She had had five or six minutes start to +tell her tale in, and a good deal can be said in five or six minutes, +provided that the listener does not hinder the narrator by interruptions. +And Mrs. Danvers had not once interrupted, and Hilary had therefore been +able to make such good use of her time that she had given her mother a +full and complete account of the way in which her first suspicions that +there was something mysterious about Miss Carson had gradually grown into +a certainty, as clue after clue came into her hands, until this +afternoon, by finding all Colonel Baker's stolen property locked away in +a box under her bed, she had actually proved her to be a member of the +notorious gang of burglars.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Danvers' knitting had long ago dropped on to her lap, her ball +of wool had rolled unheeded under a chair, and her eyes, round with +incredulity and dismay, had been fixed unblinkingly upon her daughter.</p> + +<p>"In a box under her bed! All Colonel Baker's things!" she gasped. "Oh, +Hilary! and you mean to say that you actually found them there?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, every one of them, not half an hour ago," returned Hilary +complacently. "And what is more, hidden away in her drawer, I found +this." And she opened the case and displayed the necklace and miniature +to her mother. "She doesn't attempt to claim Colonel Baker's things as +her own, but she persists in saying that this is hers. And considering +the inscription, 'To my daughter Margaret,' that is written on it, it is +rather silly of her. Without doubt," Hilary added, "it belongs to Miss +Cora Anatolia, the Bulgarian dancer."</p> + +<p>"But her name doesn't begin with an 'M,' either," said Mrs. Danvers.</p> + +<p>"Oh, actresses have lots of names," Hilary said impatiently. "That's not +a point we need consider. The point is that whoever it belongs to, it is +not Miss Carson's."</p> + +<p>And it was at that moment that Margaret, still wearing the hat and the +rainproof coat that she had donned to go into the town, entered the +drawing-room. She carried her head high, and walked straight down the +long drawing-room to Mrs. Danvers' side.</p> + +<p>"Your daughter Hilary has been telling you that I am a thief and a +burglar, hasn't she?" she said, "and I have come to ask you if you +believe her."</p> + +<p>Mrs. Danvers shifted uneasily in her chair. There was nothing she +disliked more than anything approaching a dispute, and really, when she +looked up at the slim, pale girl standing before her it seemed quite too +ridiculous to believe, as she had been inclined a moment before to do, +that she was a member of a desperate gang of burglars. Hilary was quick +to notice her mother's wavering manner, and intervened quickly.</p> + +<p>"Then how do you account for all Colonel Baker's things being found +locked up in your box?" she exclaimed quickly. "Tell me that."</p> + +<p>"I have already told you that I know nothing at all about them. I +unpacked my box when I came, and Collins put it away under my bed, and I +have never opened it or looked at it since."</p> + +<p>There was such an air of sincerity in her voice, that Mrs. Danvers veered +round to her side once more.</p> + +<p>"There, my dear," she said to Hilary, "you hear what Miss Carson said. +She knows nothing whatever about Colonel Baker's things."</p> + +<p>"Oh, of course, she would say anything to clear herself," said Hilary +angrily. "Don't be so weak as to listen to her, mother. Let her explain +how they were found in her box, then. And let her, while she is about it, +too, explain how she claims this necklace as her own. Is it the sort of +necklace that a holiday governess would own? It must be worth several +hundreds of pounds at least. I found it locked up in her dressing bag, +and hadn't she happened to leave the key which, as a rule, she is always +careful to carry about with her, lying on her dressing table, I could not +have got at it."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Hilary!" said Mrs. Danvers feebly, "I don't think it was nice of you +to poke and pry about in her room, I really don't."</p> + +<p>"That is what I told her," said Margaret coldly and contemptuously. "She +first of all invented an errand that took me out of the house, and then +used the opportunity to search my room."</p> + +<p>"Detectives have to do things of that sort," said Hilary, reddening in +spite of herself; "but that's not the point. The point is that she says +this necklace belongs to her, that the miniature inside the locket is one +of her mother who gave it to her. Now, seeing that her name is Eleanor +Carson, and not Margaret or a surname beginning with an 'A.,' it is plain +enough to any one that she is telling a lie."</p> + +<p>"Oh dear!" said Mrs. Danvers feebly, feeling quite unequal to cope with +the gravity of the situation, "I wish you both would not quarrel like +this, Hilary; you talk so fast that you bewilder me. Now, Miss Carson, +it is your turn to speak. I am quite sure that you can explain everything +if you will. You are too young, and—and far too nice a girl to be a +burglar, and if you will only tell us how Colonel Baker's things got +under your bed, I am sure Hilary will gladly apologise for anything she +may have said to hurt your feelings. And—and I am sure, as you are so +young, and this must be your first offence, that Colonel Baker will not +be too hard on you."</p> + +<p>"Then you do believe I am a thief!" Margaret exclaimed, staring almost +incredulously at Mrs. Danvers. Then without another word she turned +abruptly on her heel, and walked towards the door. As she went her foot +caught in Mrs. Danver's ball of pink wool; she picked it up, replaced it +on Mrs. Danvers' lap, and in another minute was gone from the room. The +little action, which was one that she had performed a dozen times a day +for Mrs. Danvers since she had been in the house, was sufficient to cause +that hapless lady to change her mind again about the character of her +holiday governess.</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, my dear!" she called out, "I don't, indeed, I don't!"</p> + +<p>There was no answer, for Margaret had already shut the door behind her. +Mrs. Danvers turned to Hilary:—</p> + +<p>"It is all a pack of rubbish that you have been telling me," she said +angrily, scarcely knowing what she was saying. "I don't believe a word of +it!"</p> + +<p>"Just because she picked up your ball of wool!" Hilary exclaimed, with a +disdain which, though neither dutiful nor polite, was perhaps not +altogether unmerited. "Really, mother!"</p> + +<p>Meanwhile Margaret, with anger burning hot within her, had walked +straight out of the house. Nothing, she told herself passionately, should +induce her to stay a moment longer within it, or ever to enter it again.</p> + +<p>Where she was going, or what she was going to do she did not stop to +think. The sole idea that possessed her was to get as far away from +The Cedars as quickly as she could. Never again, she told herself +passionately, would she see or speak to one of the Danvers again. And +just as she had come to that resolution she ran full tilt into all of +them.</p> + +<p>By that time dusk had fallen, and the fog which was coming on thicker +than ever, made it almost impossible for any one to see where they were +going, so that as she turned a corner of the road which they were +approaching from the other direction, she was in the middle of them +before she was aware of it. The three girls had met the boys on the +parade, and had walked up with them.</p> + +<p>"Whither away in such a hurry, Miss Carson?" said Geoffrey, who was the +first to recognise her by the light of the street lamp, close to which +the encounter took place.</p> + +<p>"Ask your mother—ask Hilary," Margaret cried bitterly, and breaking away +from him, as he would have detained her, darted across the road, and was +immediately swallowed up by the fog.</p> + +<p>"Something has happened; she mustn't go like that!" cried Geoffrey, +starting after her. But Margaret's movement away from them all had been +so sudden and so quick that he could find no trace of her in the dense +fog, and realising the hopelessness of pursuit he returned in rather a +perturbed frame of mind to the others who were waiting for him by the +lamp.</p> + +<p>"She was in a right, royal rage," said Maud. "I have never seen Miss +Carson angry before. I really didn't know she had it in her."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps Hilary has sent her on another message," suggested Nancy.</p> + +<p>"Hardly at this hour of the evening," said Edward. "It must be nearly +half-past six."</p> + +<p>So wondering and speculating as to what could have happened during their +absence, but never coming near the truth, they all hurried home as fast +as they could, and made their way at once to the drawing-room, where +their mother was sitting, looking very helpless and unhappy, while +Hilary, with a complacent expression on her face, was telling her all +over again of the many and varied clues which had caused her to discover +in the person of Miss Carson one of the gang of the Seabourne burglars.</p> + +<p>"Why, mother, what is up with Miss Carson?" said Geoffrey at once. "We +met her a minute ago running down the road as hard as she could go."</p> + +<p>"Running down the road!" echoed Mrs. Danvers. "There, Hilary!" she added, +turning to her. "I told you I heard her going out of the hall door, and +you said you heard her going upstairs."</p> + +<p>"What!" exclaimed Hilary, disregarding her mother altogether. "Miss +Carson has escaped! She ought to be brought back. Oh, Geoffrey, why +didn't you catch her!"</p> + +<p>"I tried to stop her, but she had gone like a flash. But why do you talk +about her escaping and of catching her. She isn't a criminal fleeing from +justice, is she?"</p> + +<p>"But that is just what she is?" cried Hilary triumphantly. "Oh, you have +all been finely taken in by her; but I suspected her from the first, and +to-night, I have proved her to be a thief and a burglar. I, alone and +unaided, have brought her to justice."</p> + +<p>"Miss Carson a thief and a burglar!" cried Geoffrey when his astonishment +would allow him to speak. "What mad idea have you got into your head now, +Hilary?"</p> + +<p>Hilary would dearly have liked to have told the long history of the +growth of her suspicions about Miss Carson from the very beginning, but +knowing that she could not expect the same patient attention from her +brothers and sister as her mother had given her, she came straight to the +point at once. After all, she was not sure that it was not the most +dramatic way of telling her tale.</p> + +<p>"I have got no mad idea as you call it, Geoffrey, in my head at all," she +said with dignity. "I have merely found out who the Seabourne burglars +are, that's all. At least, I have put my hand on one of them, and that +one is Miss Carson. This afternoon, locked up in her trunk in the +dressing-room upstairs, I found all Colonel Baker's plate and other +valuable things."</p> + +<p>"Rot!" exclaimed Geoffrey incredulously.</p> + +<p>"It isn't rot at all," said Hilary nonchalantly; "it's the truth. But +when I taxed her with the crime she denied it."</p> + +<p>"Well, of course she did," said Geoffrey. "Of all the nonsense I ever +heard this is about the greatest."</p> + +<p>Hilary shrugged her shoulders. "Call it nonsense if you like," she said, +"but there are the things themselves, every one of them, even to the +Indian tablecloth she carried them off in, upstairs in her box at this +moment. Go and see them for yourselves if you don't believe me. And if +she didn't put them there, who did? Pray tell me that."</p> + +<p>Noel looked at Jack, and Jack looked back at Noel. Then they sighed. The +moment for confession had undoubtedly arrived, and they both took a step +forward.</p> + +<p>"We put them there," they said together.</p> + +<p>"You!" exclaimed simultaneously every voice in the room except Hilary's, +and she was too utterly dumbfounded even to utter that monosyllable.</p> + +<p>"It was a joke," said Noel. "Tommy started it really. It was his idea, +and he got us to hide the whole of the beastly things here. I am sure we +wish we had never seen them. Of course we didn't know the trunk belonged +to Miss Carson, or we wouldn't have hidden them in it. We thought it was +an old one of mother's that was never used. We would have taken them back +to Colonel Baker ages ago, only Tommy, the young idiot! chose to go off +to Scotland and took the key with him. We couldn't open the trunk anyhow, +though we tried ever so many keys."</p> + +<p>"Oh boys, boys!" moaned Mrs. Danvers, "a nice mess you have got +yourselves into. The Colonel will be furious. You have made him the +laughing stock of the town. He will certainly summons you, and it will +get into the papers, and you will certainly be expelled from Osborne and +Dartmouth."</p> + +<p>"And serve them right too, for a couple of silly young asses!" growled +Geoffrey.</p> + +<p>"That is all very well," said Hilary, swallowing her intense +mortification as well as she could; "but what about this case?" opening +it and displaying as she spoke the locket encircled by the string of +pearls. "I found it locked up in her dressing bag, and she declares it is +hers, although 'To my daughter Margaret' is inscribed inside the locket."</p> + +<p>But Geoffrey would not as much as glance at it.</p> + +<p>"I think you have behaved disgracefully," he said, turning upon his +sister, "and ought to be thoroughly ashamed of yourself. The idea of +going prying about in her room."</p> + +<p>"I did it in a good cause," said Hilary, who, fully conscious now of the +sorry figure she cut, had much ado to keep tears of mortification and +rage from coming into her eyes. "How was I to know that the boys had put +them into her box and not she herself? It's as much their fault as mine +that Miss Carson got accused of taking them."</p> + +<p>"Oh, oh, Miss Hilary!" said Edward, "that's rather good from one who not +five minutes ago was boasting of having alone and unaided—those were +your exact words, I think—brought the criminal to justice."</p> + +<p>Hilary winced. She knew that for weeks, perhaps months to come, her brief +and inglorious career as a detective would be one of the stock jokes of +the family, and the thought of all the chaff she would have to endure was +anything but pleasing to her.</p> + +<p>"Never mind whose fault it is," said Geoffrey with a touch of impatience +in his voice, "what does that matter now? The point is that a girl +staying in our house has been terribly insulted and practically driven +out of it, and she ought to be found and persuaded to come back, when the +first thing you will do, Miss," turning to Hilary, "will be to make her +the most abject apology you ever made to any one in all your born days."</p> + +<p>"She'll come back of her own accord, surely, by dinner-time," said Mrs. +Danvers uneasily.</p> + +<p>"Don't you believe it, mother," Geoffrey said emphatically. "When we met +Miss Carson just now the very last thought she had in her mind was the +intention of ever darkening our doors again."</p> + +<p>At that moment Martin opened the drawing-room door. They had all been so +intent upon the conversation that was taking place that none of them had +heard the sound of wheels upon the gravel a few minutes previously, +consequently they were all taken by surprise to see two strangers behind +Martin.</p> + +<p>"Mr. Anstruther and Miss Eleanor Carson," Martin said, and a tall and +thin old man with a long white beard, and a girl who none of them had +ever seen before, advanced into the room.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV</h2> + +<h3>THE HOUR OF RECKONING</h3> + + +<p>The cheerless weather that had prevailed during the last few days had, as +Margaret had foreseen it would, prevented Eleanor from spending her +afternoons in the little summer-house, as had been her custom since she +had come to Rose Cottage. For bad though the mist was in the town, it was +worse on the downs, and the excessive rawness and chilliness of the +atmosphere had laid poor Mrs. Murray low with a very bad attack of +rheumatism.</p> + +<p>As a rule, Eleanor slept soundly from the moment she laid her head on the +pillow until she was roused in the morning, but a few nights ago she had +been wakened by hearing Mrs. Murray moving about her room. Her first +inclination had been to turn round and fall asleep again, but fearing +that Mrs. Murray was ill, she had got rather reluctantly out of bed, put +on her dressing-gown, and after tapping at Mrs. Murray's door, a useless +proceeding, as the poor lady was far too deaf to hear her, had opened it +and gone in. She had found Mrs. Murray sitting in her armchair, with her +face twisted with pain, rubbing lotion into her rheumatic knee. The +candles, which were burning low, showed that she had been awake for some +hours.</p> + +<p>When she perceived that she had wakened Eleanor, her distress was great, +and she begged of her to go back to bed at once.</p> + +<p>"My dear," she said, as she poured a fresh supply of embrocation into the +hollow of her hand and set to work again, "I never disturb any one in the +night if I can help it. Oh dear, how selfish it is of me to keep you out +of your bed like this!" This last protest was uttered when Eleanor, +taking the bottle from her hand, knelt down on the floor and began to +rub the swollen knee.</p> + +<p>For the sight of the deaf old lady sitting up in pain and alone, during +the night had roused a sudden wave of pity in Eleanor's rather hard +heart. A swift feeling of compunction smote her as she reflected how +little thought she had taken of Mrs. Murray since she had come to live in +her house. All her kindness had been accepted as a matter of course, and +when Eleanor found that in return for that kindness no claim of any sort +was made upon her, she had been conscious of a feeling of relief. She +remembered how she had thought that her time would be far too fully +occupied in taking advantage of all the lessons she was going to get to +have any over to spend in providing companionship for Mrs. Murray.</p> + +<p>For over half an hour Eleanor knelt and rubbed gently and steadily, first +with one hand and then with the other, and though Mrs. Murray entreated +her over and over again to go back to bed, Eleanor paid no heed to her.</p> + +<p>"Think of your studies, my dear," Mrs. Murray said at last; "you won't +feel fresh for them, and that will distress you so much to-morrow."</p> + +<p>Eleanor winced. In what a selfish light must she have appeared to Mrs. +Murray all these weeks if the latter could suppose that the fear of being +too sleepy to do her lessons to-morrow would send her post-haste back to +bed now!</p> + +<p>"Bother my studies!" she said energetically, and Mrs. Murray seeing the +uselessness of further protest said no more. But at last she declared +that the pain was gone for the moment, and that if she got into bed +quickly she might fall asleep before it returned. So Eleanor helped her +into bed, and had the satisfaction of seeing her doze off before she left +the room. It would be rather too much to say that Eleanor returned to her +bed an hour and a half after she had left it with a totally changed +character, but she did go back with a clearer recognition of her +besetting sin of selfishness than she had ever had before.</p> + +<p>"It's always been Eleanor Carson first, Eleanor Carson second, and +Eleanor Carson third with me," she thought, "and the rest of the field +nowhere. I take all and I give nothing. I am selfish and hard and narrow. +Miss McDonald knew it. That was what she meant when she said one day that +selfish people didn't know what they missed, and that I should be a +happier girl if I thought more of others. Oh dear! there I go again; I +don't seem able to leave myself out of consideration for a moment. And +if I am only going to be unselfish for the sake of becoming a nicer +character myself, I don't see where the true nobility of unselfishness +comes in."</p> + +<p>Eleanor fell asleep before she had worked that question out to her +satisfaction, and all the next day she was too busy practising the +quality to have much time to think about it. Madame Martelli had sent up +in the morning to say that the sudden change in the weather had given her +such a bad cold that she would be unable to receive her pupil until +further notice, and as Mrs. Murray had wisely resolved to stay in bed for +a few days, Eleanor, with a total disregard for her studies of which a +few days ago she really would not have believed herself capable, devoted +all her energies to nursing her. She carried all her meals up to her, sat +with her, rubbed her knee, gave her her medicine, brought her hot +bottles, and generally made a great fuss over her. And Mrs. Murray was so +appreciative of all she did that Eleanor told her ruefully she was +spoiling it all by being too grateful.</p> + +<p>"For, you see," she explained as Mrs. Murray not unnaturally looked much +perplexed at this remark, "I wanted to be unselfish and improve my +character; but you make it such a pleasure to do anything for you, that +if I was really to practise self-denial I would go away and leave you to +Hannah."</p> + +<p>"All the time I have been with you," she went on suddenly dropping her +tone of half-whimsical complaint, and speaking very earnestly, "I have +taken all and given nothing. And people who do that must have such hard, +selfish natures that I feel dreadfully ashamed of myself."</p> + +<p>"My dear, it has been an infinite pleasure to have you with me," said +Mrs. Murray, when she had gathered the drift of Eleanor's remark. +"Though, owing to my being so deaf, and you being always so busy, we have +not perhaps been much together; still, I have enjoyed having you in the +house more than I can say. You have been a fresh interest in my rather +restricted life, and I shall feel parting with you dreadfully. Ah, how +I wish your grandfather would let me keep you altogether! But that, of +course, I cannot expect. Did he give you any idea how long he meant you +to stay?"</p> + +<p>"I—I don't remember," Eleanor said, flushing scarlet. And to herself she +thought sadly how completely Mrs. Murray's good opinion of her would +change when she knew how she had deceived her. That reflection was really +her first step towards repentance, and she was astonished and not a +little dismayed to find how rapidly her newly awakened conscience was +driving her along to a point where confession would become essential to +her own peace of mind. But she had some distance yet to travel before she +reached it, and as it happened she missed for ever the opportunity of +making a voluntary confession of her misdeeds, for on the afternoon of +the day on which Margaret left The Cedars, Mr. Anstruther made a totally +unexpected appearance at Rose Cottage.</p> + +<p>Mrs. Murray had come downstairs for the first time, and she and Eleanor +were sitting over the fire about half-past four enjoying a cosy tea, when +the sound of wheels grating on the gravel was heard, and Eleanor saw a +cab draw up at the front door. Visitors on such a day when the mist was +so thick that even the other end of the lawn was shrouded from view, were +totally unexpected, and Eleanor glancing out of the window wondered who +the brave people might be who would venture up on to the downs in such +weather. But when she saw that the cab was a station cab, and that its +passenger was a tall, thin, elderly man, her heart gave a great jump, and +then suddenly seemed to sink away into her shoes. She felt sure that this +visitor was Mr. Anstruther. She looked at Mrs. Murray, who was just +unfolding the <i>Times</i> and preparing herself for an hour or so of peaceful +enjoyment. She had heard neither the wheels of the cab on the gravel, nor +the ring at the bell, nor did she even look up until Hannah, who had +ushered Mr. Anstruther into the room, crossed it herself, and bending +over her mistress pronounced his name clearly in her ear.</p> + +<p>Eleanor meanwhile stood immovable on the hearth-rug, bracing herself to +meet the hour of reckoning that had come so swiftly and in such a totally +unannounced manner upon her. She watched Mrs. Murray greet her old friend +with mingled surprise and pleasure, and then saw her look with perplexity +from him to herself as she stood motionless before the fire. Why, her +face mutely asked, did they not greet one another? Why did he merely +glance at his granddaughter and bow slightly in his stiff, old-fashioned +way as if to a stranger? and why did she give no greeting at all to her +grandfather?</p> + +<p>"Margaret," she said at last, when the pause had lasted a full thirty +seconds, "do you not see your grandfather, dear?"</p> + +<p>Mr. Anstruther fairly jumped at that, and shot a keen glance at Eleanor, +who still stood rigidly silent with the curious feeling strong on her +that the direction of affairs did not lie with her at all. This stern old +man who was eyeing her so severely would bring them to a crisis far more +swiftly than she was capable of doing. From her expressionless face he +looked straight into Mrs. Murray's puzzled, perturbed one. Obviously his +first thought was that her mind was as deficient as her hearing. What he +saw seemed to convince him that such was not the case, and very +deliberately he bent down and spoke loudly and clearly in her ear.</p> + +<p>"That girl," pointing a lean accusing finger at Eleanor, "is not my +granddaughter Margaret. I never saw her before. Where is Margaret?"</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter"> +<a name="img5" id="img5"></a> +<img src="images/img5.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<h3>"THAT GIRL," POINTING WITH A LEAN ACCUSING FINGER AT +ELEANOR, "IS NOT MY GRANDDAUGHTER MARGARET."</h3> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + + +<p>"My dear, is it true?" said Mrs. Murray in a bewildered tone. "I don't +understand. If you are not Margaret Anstruther, who are you, and where is +she?"</p> + +<p>"That is precisely what I wish to know," broke in Mr. Anstruther sternly. +"What is this girl doing here, and where is my granddaughter? Do you +really mean to say," he added, "that Margaret has not been here at all? +What is your name, and what are you doing masquerading here in hers?"</p> + +<p>Though Mr. Anstruther in his anger had spoken loudly, he had not used the +tone of voice suited to a deaf person, and it was pitiful to see the +anxious way in which Mrs. Murray looked from one to the other, striving +to hear what was said. So realising that the kindest thing she could do +for her now was to tell her story quickly and not allow Mr. Anstruther to +drag it from her by means of questions which Mrs. Murray could not hear, +Eleanor knelt down by her chair and put her lips close to her ear.</p> + +<p>"Shall I tell you everything from the beginning?" she said. "I can do it +quickly. My name is Eleanor Carson, and on the 28th of July I was on my +way from London to Seabourne to take up a position as holiday governess +there, which had been offered to me for the summer holidays. I had to +wait at Carden Junction for over an hour and a half, and as I was sitting +in the waiting-room a girl came in. We began to talk presently, and she +told me her name was Margaret Anstruther and that she was on her way to +Windy Gap to stay with a Mrs. Murray, an old friend of her grandfather's, +and she was to spend the summer learning Italian and having singing +lessons with Madame Martelli. I envied her from the bottom of my heart, +and said I wished I was in her shoes, and she said she wished she were in +mine. And so in the end we decided to change. She became Eleanor Carson +and went on to The Cedars, and I became Margaret Anstruther, and came +here."</p> + +<p>"The audacity, the unparalleled insolence, the unheard-of irregularity of +the whole proceeding astounds me!" said Mr. Anstruther. "And where is my +granddaughter now?"</p> + +<p>"She is still with Mrs. Danvers at a house called The Cedars, Durham +Road, Seabourne," said Eleanor.</p> + +<p>"And you mean to say, Charlotte," Mr. Anstruther said loudly, "that you +had no idea of the deception that had been practiced on you?"</p> + +<p>"No, indeed, how could I have?" said Mrs. Murray, who still seemed almost +overpowered by the astonishing revelation that had been made to her. "You +must remember that I had never seen your granddaughter, so how could I +know?"</p> + +<p>"Of your share in this disgraceful business it is not necessary to +speak," said Mr. Anstruther, giving Eleanor a glance of the very +strongest disapproval and dislike, "but Margaret's share in it concerns +me deeply, and first of all I must apologise to you," he added, turning +to Mrs. Murray, "in her name for the liberty she has dared to take with +your most kind and hospitable house. To send a stranger into it in her +place, under her name, and to go off under an assumed one to total +strangers seems to be incredible. I can really hardly grasp the amazing +fact now, that Margaret, whom I have brought up so carefully, and who has +had her every action regulated by me since her infancy, should at the +very first opportunity break loose in this manner." He gazed with renewed +disapproval at Eleanor. "You must have gained an enormous influence over +her in a very short space of time to have been able to persuade her to +act in such an outrageous manner."</p> + +<p>"It was her idea; she persuaded me into it," said Eleanor, the words +slipping out of her mouth unawares. Then fearing that they might sound as +though she wished to lay all the blame upon Margaret, she added +impulsively, "But it was I who kept her to it so long. She wanted to give +up the idea weeks ago, and confess everything, after she had only tried +it for two or three days, but I would not let her go back from her word. +And so though she has not been nearly so happy with young people as she +thought somehow she must be, she has bravely stayed on there for my +sake."</p> + +<p>Was it merely her imagination or did the severity of Mr. Anstruther's +face relax somewhat as he heard that his granddaughter had not been as +happy as she had hoped to be? His tone, however, when he spoke again +had lost none of its former anger. "Your shameful audacity in +impersonating my granddaughter and thrusting yourself, uninvited, into a +house in which you have no right, deserves to be severely punished. I am +not at all sure that such an offence is not punishable by law. How would +you like to find yourself in prison? Mrs. Murray could prosecute you if +she liked, and if she takes my advice she will."</p> + +<p>"And would you advise Mrs. Danvers to prosecute Margaret?" Mrs. Murray +asked.</p> + +<p>"Eh—er—that is a different matter altogether," Mr. Anstruther answered, +thoroughly taken aback by the unexpected remark.</p> + +<p>"Yes, but she, too, impersonated somebody else and thrust herself into +a house to which she was not invited," said Mrs. Murray, "so we could +hardly put one in prison and leave the other out, could we?"</p> + +<p>"Of course, Charlotte, if you are disposed to look upon the matter +leniently, nothing more remains for me to say," Mr. Anstruther said in a +displeased tone. "I gather, then, that you are not even angry with Miss +Carson for her treatment of you. Certainly I have not yet heard you utter +one word of blame to her, and when you consider how callously she has +deceived you all these weeks no condemnation could be too strong for +her."</p> + +<p>"I don't believe you are callous, my dear," said Mrs. Murray, looking +gently into Eleanor's downcast face.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I am ashamed, so dreadfully ashamed!" Eleanor said, "when I think of +all your kindness to me, and of how little right I had to any of it."</p> + +<p>"And so you ought to be ashamed of yourself," said Mr. Anstruther. "But, +however, as I said before, your share in the matter has not so much to do +with me as my granddaughter's has. I am going now to see her, and you +must come with me. I do not intend to lose sight of you until I have +found her. How do I know that you are telling me the truth, and that she +is at this particular house you mention?"</p> + +<p>Though Eleanor's eyes flashed at this remark, she recognised the justice +of it and received it in silence. After all, why should Mr. Anstruther +believe anything she said?</p> + +<p>"Yes, go, my dear," said Mrs. Murray, and Eleanor rose obediently.</p> + +<p>"And if you will take my advice Charlotte, you will get your housemaid to +pack her boxes, so that she can leave for good and all the first thing +to-morrow," Mr. Anstruther said before she was well out of the room.</p> + +<p>He was standing in the hall when she came down with her hat and coat on, +and he motioned her to precede him into the cab, but giving her head a +little shake, Eleanor opened the drawing-room door and, after hesitating +for a moment on the threshold, went in. Mrs. Murray was sitting before +the fire crying silently. At the sight of her tears Eleanor's hesitation +vanished and she ran across the room and flung herself on her knees and +put both her arms in a protecting fashion round the old lady's neck.</p> + +<p>"Don't cry about me," she said. "Oh, I am so sorry, so ashamed! I ought +never to have done it."</p> + +<p>"And I thought you were such a dear girl," said Mrs. Murray, "so good, +so straightforward, so merry, and charming. And to think that you were +deceiving me all the time. Oh, it is bitter to be disappointed in any one +like this! Tell me what tempted you to do it. Mr. Anstruther says it was +the thought of living in comparative ease and comfort for a time, and so +you sent Margaret to the drudgery of a governess's life in your place."</p> + +<p>"No, no," said Eleanor vehemently; "I may be selfish and deceitful, but I +am not so calculating as all that. Besides, Margaret has been made no +drudge of. As far as mere comfort, food, and good rooms, and so on goes, +she has been treated quite as well there as I have here. It was the +singing lessons that tempted me. I did want to have my voice trained so +much, and when I heard Madame Martelli was going to teach Margaret I just +could not help coming in her place."</p> + +<p>Though Eleanor was scarcely aware of it herself, her voice and manner had +altered when she began to speak of her singing. Neither were any longer +repentant or humbled. She spoke as if she were trying to excuse even to +justify, her conduct.</p> + +<p>"You are neither ashamed nor sorry," said Mr. Anstruther's stern voice +from the doorway, "so do not seek to deceive Mrs. Murray on that point. +Will you kindly come now. I am waiting."</p> + +<p>But when Mr. Anstruther told the driver that he wished to go into +Seabourne, the man refused, rather sulkily, to take him across the downs +in that mist, "to say nothing of my being stranded miles away from home, +then," he said; "but I'll take you back to the station, and from there +you can train into Seabourne almost as quick."</p> + +<p>So they drove down to Chailfield Station where they were fortunate enough +just to catch a train, and on arriving at Seabourne station they took +another cab up to The Cedars. During the whole way Mr. Anstruther spoke +no single word to his companion, and Eleanor, glancing from time to time +at his grim face, fairly shivered as she thought of how Margaret was +going to catch it.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV</h2> + +<h3>AN UNEXPECTED VISITOR</h3> + + +<p>It was in the midst of an astonished silence that Mr. Anstruther, +followed by Eleanor, walked up the length of the long drawing-room +towards Mrs. Danvers, the young people making way for them as they +advanced. When he had arrived opposite her he gave her a stiff bow, which +she returned with her eyes fixed on the girl, who had the same name, and +yet was not the Eleanor Carson they knew. It was very puzzling, she +thought.</p> + +<p>"When I have explained the reasons for my presence here this evening, you +will agree with me, I trust, that no apology is required for what, so +far, must seem to you an unwarrantable intrusion," he began in his most +deliberate manner.</p> + +<p>"Certainly," murmured Mrs. Danvers, rather vaguely, though she meant, of +course, that no apology was needed.</p> + +<p>One of the boys—it was Noel—gave a little snigger, but when Mr. +Anstruther turned with raised eyebrows in his direction, Noel tried, but +without success, to look as if he had made no sound.</p> + +<p>"I have come here," Mr. Anstruther resumed then, addressing himself once +more to Mrs. Danvers, "in search of my granddaughter Margaret, who, I +understand, has been living in your house in the capacity of holiday +governess since the 28th of July."</p> + +<p>"Margaret Anstruther!" said Mrs. Danvers. "I am very sorry, but I have +never heard the name before."</p> + +<p>"So I understand, madam," was the grim reply. "My granddaughter has been +known to you under the name of Eleanor Carson."</p> + +<p>At that the excitement with which the entire family had been listening to +him could no longer be restrained, and they broke into a perfect chorus +of exclamations and questions. And high above them all Hilary's voice +could be heard saying over and over again, "I knew it; I knew it. Perhaps +you will believe me now. I always suspected that she was an imposter. +Now, perhaps, none of you will contradict me again about her being a +thief and a burglar."</p> + +<p>Her persistent, exultant tone so dominated all her brothers' and sisters' +disjointed exclamations that she eventually silenced them, and her shrill +voice finished alone. And when at length she had done, it was to find Mr. +Anstruther's piercing eyes gazing attentively at her.</p> + +<p>"Young lady," he said, and Eleanor, who had easily identified Hilary as +the member of the family whom Margaret liked least, exulted at the +thought that she was now going to get a taste of Mr. Anstruther's wrath, +"young lady, will you oblige me by repeating quietly and without any +display of excitement the extraordinary statement you have just made +relative to my granddaughter being a burglar."</p> + +<p>But Hilary was not in the least daunted by his icy tones. Hot with +indignation at the recollection of the scorn with which her family had +received proof of her detective skill, she burst into an eager account of +all the suspicions she had entertained about Margaret, and though, +fortunately for herself, she did not again say anything about Colonel +Baker's silver, she wound up by thrusting the case containing the +necklace and the miniature into his hand.</p> + +<p>"There," she said triumphantly, "I found that in her dressing bag this +afternoon, and when I taxed her with having stolen them, she said——"</p> + +<p>"Yes, what did she say?"</p> + +<p>"That they were hers."</p> + +<p>Mr. Anstruther looked her up and down; then he took the open case from +her hand, snapped it to, and slipped it into his pocket.</p> + +<p>"And so they are hers," he said. "Does your assertion that my +granddaughter is a burglar and a thief rest on any other evidence but +this?"</p> + +<p>"N—no," faltered Hilary, feeling smaller and of less account than she +had ever felt in her life before.</p> + +<p>"Then do me the favour of not addressing me again while I remain in this +house," said Mr. Anstruther; and turning his back upon the now thoroughly +discomfited girl, he resumed his conversation with Mrs. Danvers at the +point at which it had been broken off. And Hilary shrank back behind the +others, and received scant comfort for the snubbing she had got from any +of them.</p> + +<p>"I did my best to stop you making such an awful goat of yourself," +whispered Edward. "Couldn't you see that that precious bit of proof of +yours was just so much evidence for the other side? He had just told us +that Miss Carson's name was Margaret Anstruther, and Margaret was written +inside the locket, wasn't it, and the initial outside was 'A'?"</p> + +<p>Hilary nodded, too mortified even to speak. Now that it was too late she +did see the silly, stupid blunder she had made, and she could have bitten +out her tongue with annoyance.</p> + +<p>"As I was saying, madam," Mr. Anstruther had gone on directly he had +finished with Hilary, "my granddaughter has been known to you by the name +of Eleanor Carson. This," and he waved his hand in the direction of +Eleanor, "is the—the young lady whom you engaged to be your holiday +governess. She met my granddaughter at a railway station some way up +the line, and decided to change names and addresses. My granddaughter +came here, and Miss Carson went up to the house of a friend where I had +arranged for my granddaughter to stay; and she deceived this lady as +completely as my granddaughter has deceived you."</p> + +<p>"Miss Carson not Miss Carson at all!" murmured Mrs. Danvers. "Well, of +all the extraordinary things I ever heard! And so it is you," glancing +at Eleanor, "that my old friend Miss McDonald sent down to me. Dear me, +who would have believed such a thing! I used to wonder sometimes why +Miss Carson—Miss Anstruther, I should say—was always so reluctant to +speak about Hampstead. Now I suppose it was because she had never been +there. Yes, that must have been it. And that accounts, too, for Miss +Carson—Miss Anstruther, I mean—speaking in such a queer, stiff way. I +think you said she had been brought up entirely at home. It used to seem +odd to me that Miss Carson—Miss Anstruther, I mean—should have been a +governess in a girls' school for years and years. I forget how long she +said she had been at Hampstead, but I know it was a long time, and yet +she did not understand a word of slang. That was when she first came +here. She has learned to speak rather differently now."</p> + +<p>"I regret to hear it, madam," said Mr. Anstruther, who had, with +difficulty, restrained himself from interrupting Mrs. Danvers' rambling +speech. "I abhor slang in men, women, and boys. In girls I would not +tolerate it for one instant. But all this is beside the point. And now, +if you please, will you be so kind as to summon my granddaughter. I wish +to have an interview with her immediately."</p> + +<p>His look was so exceedingly stern, his tone so fraught with ominous +meaning as to the reception his erring granddaughter would get when she +entered his presence, that scarcely one of the young Danvers but felt +glad that the terrific scolding he so evidently had in store for her must +inevitably be postponed for the present. And perhaps by the time he did +see her his wrath would have had time to cool.</p> + +<p>"Where is my granddaughter?" he demanded.</p> + +<p>"That is what we should all like to know, sir," said Geoffrey, "but what +none of us do know. We were talking of that when you came in. I am sorry +to say she has left our house. She has run away. The rest of us were out, +and she had a sort of quarrel—a misunderstanding—with one of my +sisters——"</p> + +<p>"With the one, no doubt, who ransacked her boxes and called her a thief +and a burglar," interpolated Mr. Anstruther.</p> + +<p>"And she ran straight out of the house. We are hoping she means to come +back, but we are very much afraid she will not."</p> + +<p>"I am dreadfully upset about it," said Mrs. Danvers helplessly. "If you +had only come an hour—even half an hour—ago, you would have found her +here safe and sound. If anything happens to her—such a dreadful foggy +night as it is, too—I shall never forgive myself for not having known +she was going to run away, and stopped her."</p> + +<p>"I fail to see any reason for anticipating that harm will come to her," +said Mr. Anstruther harshly. He turned to Eleanor, "Perhaps you, Miss +Carson, as her accomplice in this disgraceful business, can inform us +where she would be likely to go?"</p> + +<p>"She would come up to me," Eleanor answered; "that was the agreement we +had both made, that if either of us were suddenly found out, or couldn't +for any reason continue any longer to be the other, we would come and say +so at once. She knows the way quite well; she often came up in the +afternoon to see me."</p> + +<p>"Yes, but it is one thing to find your way there on a summer's +afternoon," said Mrs. Danvers nervously, "but quite another on a night +like this. Why, the fog is now so thick that you can't see a yard in +front of you down here even; and if it is like that here, it will be ten +times worse up on the downs, and instead of finding her way to Windy Gap, +she would be far more likely to walk in the opposite direction."</p> + +<p>"Oh, don't say that, mother, for the opposite direction would lead her +straight over the cliffs," said Geoffrey, and was immediately sorry for +his thoughtless remark when he saw how alarmed Mrs. Danvers became; "but +I agree with you that she is not very likely to arrive at Windy Gap in +such a fog as this, so I suggest that we turn ourselves into a search +party without loss of time, and go and look for her."</p> + +<p>"One minute, if you please," said Mr. Anstruther; "when you say 'we,' to +whom do you refer?"</p> + +<p>"Why, to my brothers and myself," Geoffrey answered; "you Noel, and Jack, +and Edward. Of course, you will all turn out and search?"</p> + +<p>"Rather!" they answered in chorus, and from their eager voices it was +easy to see that they looked upon the expedition as a novel and +delightful adventure.</p> + +<p>"I intend also to accompany you," said Mr. Anstruther.</p> + +<p>"Just as you like, of course, sir," said Geoffrey, in rather a doubtful +tone, "but if you will excuse my saying so, we would get on quicker +without you. You see we know every yard of the way, and my idea was for +us all to scatter when we get to the top of the downs, and search +separately. We shall cover more ground in less time that way; for I feel +perfectly certain that though Miss Anstruther may have started from here +with every intention of getting to Windy Gap, she will never find it. The +mist will be almost as thick as a London fog, and she will get hopelessly +lost. But just on the chance that she may have got as far, I will go up +to Windy Gap on my motor bicycle and find out, for it is no good our +spending hours searching about on the downs if she is safe and sound +there all the time."</p> + +<p>He left the room as he spoke, and the three younger boys slipped out +quickly after him, each fearing to be the last, lest Mr. Anstruther +should persist in accompanying them. The latter, however, recognising +that Geoffrey was right, and that his presence would be a hindrance +rather than a help, had already given up the idea of joining them.</p> + +<p>For once, as Edward remarked, Geoffrey's motor bicycle happened to be in +full working order, and in less than five minutes he had his acetylene +lamp lighted, and had gone vigorously hooting down the drive. It was then +half-past seven; he expected, he said, to be easily back by a quarter +past eight with the news whether the fugitive had reached Windy Gap or +not. Edward, however, had shaken his head at that, and replied that, what +with the bad roads and the fog, he could not be back in anything like +that time.</p> + +<p>Hardly had Geoffrey gone than the boys were joined by Maud.</p> + +<p>"I am coming with you three," she said. "Mother has just asked Mr. +Anstruther to dinner, and though I'm pretty hungry, I don't fancy the +meal in his society. What a waxy old gentleman it is! and how mother will +catch it if she airs any of the slang she has picked up from us!"</p> + +<p>The three boys laughed, and when presently, armed with lanterns and +bicycle lamps, they set off down the drive, they all amused themselves by +repeating and jesting over as many of Mr. Anstruther's caustic remarks as +they could remember. They agreed among themselves that poor Margaret must +indeed have an awful time of it with him, and that she was highly to be +commended for the pluck she had shown in calmly escaping from his +authority directly she got the chance.</p> + +<p>"But who would have thought she had it in her to go in for a thing of +this sort?" said Noel. "The cool cheek of it beats anything I ever heard. +I say, I wonder what the other girl—the real Eleanor Carson—is like? +She looked frightfully subdued, didn't she? I expect she has been +catching it from him pretty well."</p> + +<p>The plan that the little band of searchers had formed was to follow the +road taken by Geoffrey until they got to the top of the steep brow of the +hill, and then, leaving the road, to strike across the grass, for it was +probable that Margaret had essayed the short cut to Windy Gap, and that +she might be wandering about hopelessly lost not very far from the point +where she had left the road. In any case, they resolved not to stay out +for more than an hour or so, but to return home at the end of that time +and find out what news Geoffrey had of her.</p> + +<p>But it was not until the town hall clock was solemnly striking midnight +that the four searchers, who had set out so gaily and valiantly at +half-past seven, turned wearily in at their own gate. The thing they +did not believe possible had happened, and long before the hour they had +planned to stay out was over, they were hopelessly lost themselves, and +must, as Maud said with a groan, have walked miles and miles before they +found themselves quite by chance not far from the point where they had +first left the road.</p> + +<p>They were tired and hungry, damp, and very cold; and the last time Edward +had tripped and tumbled headlong into a furze bush—they had each had so +many stumbles and falls that they had lost count of the number they had +had—he dropped his new bicycle lamp, and had been unable to find it +again. Their expedition could not therefore be termed a success, and Maud +said that the last straw would be if they heard directly they got in that +Margaret had been found hours ago.</p> + +<p>"As, of course, she has been," said Edward, when turning the corner of +the drive they saw Geoffrey's bicycle leaning against the porch. "I +expect she's in the drawing-room with her grandfather. There seem to be +lights everywhere. Well, I'm going to make a bee-line for the dining-room +for grub. We had a very sketchy lunch, no tea, and no dinner, so I think +we've earned something."</p> + +<p>So as soon as they got into the house, the three boys went off in the +direction of the dining-room, but Maud, although she was hungry enough +too, felt that she must first hear if Miss Anstruther had been found. +Considering that lights were burning everywhere, the house seemed +strangely silent, and Maud was beginning to wonder if every one had gone +to bed, when the door leading from the pantry opened, and Martin, without +seeing her, followed the three boys into the dining-room, closing the +door after him. Yes, that must be it, Maud thought—every one must have +gone to bed, and he had shut the door lest their voices might disturb the +household. She was just about to go to the dining-room too, when the +sound of some one crying violently in the drawing-room came to her ears, +and rather hesitatingly she opened the door and went in.</p> + +<p>Hilary and Eleanor Carson were alone there together. The latter, with +her elbows on her knees and her head buried in her hands, was sitting +motionless in a chair near the fire, and Hilary was crouched in a +huddled-up position on the ground by a sofa into the cushions of which +she was sobbing.</p> + +<p>As Maud came in Eleanor lifted her head and stared at her for a moment. +Then she dropped her face again into her hands without a word. Brief as +was the glimpse that Maud had got of her face, she was startled beyond +measure at the expression it wore. It was as white as a sheet of paper, +and her eyes, though dry and tearless, were full of grief and misery.</p> + +<p>"Hilary!" Maud said in an awed tone. She did not venture to address +Eleanor. "What is it? Where is Miss Anstruther?"</p> + +<p>But she had to cross the room and repeat the question with her hand on +her sister's shoulder before the latter heard her.</p> + +<p>Then Hilary lifted her face in turn and stared vacantly at her sister. +It was so blurred and swollen with incessant crying that if Maud had not +known it was her sister who lay crouched there before her, she could +scarcely have recognised her.</p> + +<p>"Miss Anstruther is dead!" she wailed. "She fell over the cliffs and was +killed. And it is all my fault. If I hadn't——" But at that point her +tears, which never ceased for an instant, choked her further utterance, +and letting her head drop back on the cushions, she went on crying.</p> + +<p>Seeing that it would be as useless as it was cruel to question Hilary +further, and still not daring to disturb the rigid, stony silence in +which Eleanor sat, Maud hurried, horror-struck at what she had heard, +from the room, and crossing the hall, went into the dining-room. The +three boys were seated at the table eagerly devouring some hot soup, +which Martin, whose face was very grave, had had in readiness for them.</p> + +<p>Evidently he had not told them the dreadful news, and checking the +questions which had been on the point of rising to her lips, Maud +beckoned him from the room. He came out, carefully closing the door +behind him.</p> + +<p>"It's no use upsetting the young gentlemen by letting them know about it +to-night," he said in a low tone. "They had better be got off to bed as +soon as possible."</p> + +<p>"It is really true, then?" Maud said, feeling sick at heart.</p> + +<p>"I am afraid there is no doubt about it, Miss. It was a coastguardsman +that told Master Geoffrey about it. He had been up to Windy Gap and heard +that Miss Anstruther had not been seen there. And then coming back, he +lost his way—went clean off the road in the dark, and then couldn't find +it again for ever so long. He might have gone over the cliffs himself, +Miss Maud. Then he met a coastguardsman and told him he was out looking +for a young lady and asked him if he had seen her, and then the man said +that about eight o'clock a young lady had fallen over the cliffs, just +beyond the lighthouse, and had been picked up in a dying condition on the +rocks below. They had taken her along the beach until they got to the end +of the sea-wall, and then they had telephoned for an ambulance, and she +was taken to the hospital, for, of course, they didn't know her name or +where she lived then."</p> + +<p>At that moment the three boys stumbled wearily into the hall rubbing +their eyes. "I say, we're off to bed," said Noel. "Martin says that Miss +Anstruther hasn't come back yet, but we can't do anything more, he +thinks, so as we can scarcely keep our eyes open, we are going to turn +in. Go and have some grub, Maud, and do likewise." And yawning their +heads off as they went, the three boys trailed up to bed, far too +sleepy to notice Maud's silence and horror-struck face.</p> + +<p>"And Mr. Geoffrey has gone down to the hospital with Mr. Anstruther," +continued Martin, as soon as the boys were out of earshot. "They were +obliged to walk, for there wasn't a cab about when Mr. Geoffrey came +back, for it was then close on eleven, and they wouldn't wait until I +went to get one from the livery stables up the road. And now, Miss Maud, +you must come and have something to eat. You had no dinner."</p> + +<p>But Maud turned away with a little shake of the head. The mere idea of +food was distasteful to her. She asked where her mother was. Martin was +about to answer that his mistress was upstairs with Miss Joan and Miss +Nancy, when the sound of footsteps coming at racing speed up the drive +was heard, and the next moment Geoffrey dashed breathless and hatless +into the house. "I say," he panted out as soon as he could speak, "it's +all right. It wasn't Miss Anstruther who fell over the cliffs. It was +somebody else altogether. A visitor at one of the hotels, they say. Poor +thing, she has been terribly injured, and won't live till the morning, I +believe. But the point is that it wasn't Miss Anstruther. Where are +Hilary and poor Miss Carson? I must tell them at once."</p> + +<p>He broke away from Maud, who would have detained him with a dozen eager +questions, and burst into the drawing-room, shouting out his good news as +he went.</p> + +<p>Hilary, who was still crying—she had cried steadily for over two +hours—received his news with a scream of joy, but though Eleanor heard +it much more quietly, no one looking at her could fail to see how deeply +she was moved to thankfulness.</p> + +<p>The Danvers could only dimly realise how great her suffering had been +during the last two hours, ever since Geoffrey had returned from the +downs and in an awestruck tone, and with halting, stammering speech had +broken to them all the news of the catastrophe which had, so he then +thought, overtaken Margaret. Hilary had at once broken out into the noisy +grief and passionate self-reproaches which she had kept up without +intermission ever since, but Eleanor's agony of mind had lain too deep +for outward expression. She knew that if Margaret had really been killed, +she would never have been able to forgive herself. The awful thought that +it was she who was responsible for her death would never have left her, +and now that the strain of those terrible hours was over, Eleanor could +only look back upon the utter blackness of despair that had been hers +through every minute of them with a shudder.</p> + +<p>Then Mrs. Danvers who had been upstairs with her two nieces, for Joan had +had an attack of crying only second in intensity to that to which Hilary +had given way, informed by Martin of the good news which Geoffrey had +brought, came down, followed by Nancy and Joan in their dressing-gowns, +to share in the general rejoicing, and presently Mr. Anstruther returned, +having been driven up in a motor by one of the doctors who had been at +the hospital.</p> + +<p>And Mr. Anstruther's harshness and anger against his erring granddaughter +was now a thing of the past. Though he had given scarcely more outward +sign of his inward feelings than Eleanor, the tragic fate that he had +believed to have overtaken Margaret had so appalled and shaken him that +the escapade of which she had been guilty had sunk to but insignificant +proportions in his eyes, and had she only returned now he would have +uttered no word of blame to her.</p> + +<p>But meanwhile she had not come back, and they were as far off as ever +from knowing what had become of her, although in the general relief and +gladness that for anything they knew to the contrary at least she was +still alive, they had temporarily lost sight of that fact.</p> + +<p>It was Mr. Anstruther who reminded them of it by mentioning that the +doctor who had so kindly driven him up to The Cedars had taken him round +to the police station on the way, where he, Mr. Anstruther, had given the +sergeant on duty a brief description of his granddaughter. This was to be +immediately telephoned to all the policemen on their night beats. The +sergeant had also telephoned up to the coastguard station, telling them +that the poor girl at the hospital was not the missing young lady, and to +ask them to keep a sharp look-out for her on the cliffs all night, and to +ring up the police station at once if anything was seen or heard of her.</p> + +<p>Though Geoffrey's first search had proved so barren of result, he +announced his intention of going up on to the downs again, this time on +foot, and Maud volunteered to go with him. Her mother would have +preferred her to go to bed, but she scouted that notion. Hilary, however, +and the two Green girls, were glad enough to go docilely off to bed, and +when Maud and Geoffrey, fortified with sandwiches and soup, had departed +with freshly filled lanterns on a second expedition, Eleanor and Mr. +Anstruther and Mrs. Danvers were left alone in the drawing-room together +to get through the intervening hours of waiting as best they could.</p> + +<p>Mr. Anstruther had deprecated the idea of Mrs. Danvers sitting up, but +she had averred that she had no desire either to go to bed or to sleep. +The former statement might have been true, but the latter was soon +contradicted by the gentle snores which emanated from the direction of +her chair. Mr. Anstruther sat so still that he, too, might have been +asleep, but Eleanor, glancing at him once or twice, saw that his eyes +were wide open and gazing fixedly before him. After awhile, his utter +immobility no less than Mrs. Danvers' regular snoring, got on Eleanor's +nerves, and rising quietly she slipped from the room, closing the door +softly behind her.</p> + +<p>The lights were burning in the hall, and there she kept her lonely vigil, +pacing up and down. The slow hours wore away, two o'clock, three o'clock +struck, and still Geoffrey and Maud did not return. The huge relief and +joy she had felt when Geoffrey had come back from the hospital with the +news that the girl who had fallen over the cliffs was not Margaret had +long since ebbed away, and the anxiety to know what had become of her was +almost torturing in its intensity. She wondered how any one in the house +could sleep, or how Mr. Anstruther could sit patiently hour after hour by +the fire waiting for news. Then she remembered that at least his +conscience was at ease, for it was through no fault of his that his +granddaughter was wandering about on the downs on such a dreadful night, +and she envied him, envied any one who was not, like herself, burdened +with remorse, and that awful sense that had grown up with her anxiety +that, for whatever might befall Margaret that night, she alone was +directly responsible.</p> + +<p>Eleanor was seeing things very clearly that night, and quite +dispassionately she told herself that she hated her own character. It was +selfish through and through. The specious plea with which she had salved +her conscience heretofore, that Margaret had been far the more eager of +the two for the mutual exchange of their names, she brushed aside as +worthless. Though there was little difference in their ages, Margaret +was, as regarded experience of the world, a mere child compared to her, +and she felt that in acceding to the deception she had been like a +grown-up person cheating a child. Of course, Margaret had been old enough +to know the difference between right and wrong, but that was no excuse +for her; she ought not to have taken advantage of her.</p> + +<p>The sting of shame she had felt before. Mrs. Murray's unvarying kindness +and the gratitude she showed for any little mark of attention or service +rendered to her while she had been ill, had made Eleanor both remorseful +and ashamed, but her repentance then had not led to amendment. Even while +she had been deeply ashamed of herself, she had known that, for the sake +of her voice, she would have done it all over again, deceived Mrs. +Murray, taken advantage of Margaret, held her, in spite of her tears, to +her word, sacrificed her own truth and honesty to her ambition.</p> + +<p>And this was the pass to which her ambition had brought her. Even though +Margaret's death was not mercifully to be laid at her door, as for two +long, never-to-be-forgotten hours that night she had feared, who could +tell what the effects of a night of exposure and fright on the downs +might not have upon her constitution?</p> + +<p>No wonder, then, that with those miserable thoughts for company, Eleanor +could not rest. But her repentance if tardy was at least sincere. Could +the clock of time have been put back seven weeks, and were she and +Margaret to be meeting now for the first time in the dingy little +waiting-room at Carden Station, ah, how differently would she act! Not +for the sake of being the greatest singer in the whole round world would +she have consented to the deception. Rather would she have drudged as a +poorly paid teacher in second-rate schools all the days of her life.</p> + +<p>"Oh—if I could only have the time over again!" groaned Eleanor. It +seemed such a small thing to wish for she thought despairingly. Just +seven short weeks over again.</p> + +<p>At five o'clock Mr. Anstruther opened the drawing-room door and came out +into the hall. He did not see Eleanor who, wearied out at length with her +ceaseless pacing to and fro, had flung herself down a few-minutes +previously on Nancy's favourite couch behind the screen, but the ever +watchful Martin came forward immediately, and though his offer of coffee +was declined, he was permitted to help Mr. Anstruther into his overcoat. +From the brief colloquy that ensued between them Eleanor gathered that he +was going down to the police station. As soon as he had left she sprang +up and went out into the garden. The long and seemingly endless night was +at least over, and surely with daylight they might hope for news of +Margaret. The morning had broken cold and chilly, but the mist was +sweeping away in great rolling clouds before a light easterly breeze that +had sprung up at dawn.</p> + +<p>At six o'clock Geoffrey and Maud came home. Eleanor, who then was pacing +up and down the drive, was the first to greet them, and her heart sank +when, in answer to her eager look, they shook their heads. They had +neither seen nor heard anything of Margaret.</p> + +<p>"But no news is at least good news," said Geoffrey, quickly seeing how +sick at heart she looked, and remembering the news with which he had +returned the time before, she could not but agree with him there. "We +have scoured the downs between here and Windy Gap thoroughly, and I am +beginning to believe that she never tried to get there at all. We have +just come straight back from there now. Mrs. Murray has been up all night +with a hot bed, and hot blankets, and a hot bath, and all sorts of other +hot things, waiting for Miss Anstruther directly she turns up. And her +coachman and a couple of men from the village have been beating about on +the downs most of the night. I really believe she has crept into a rabbit +hole and means to lie low until all this fuss has blown over."</p> + +<p>Though this remark did not succeed in bringing a smile to Eleanor's pale +lips, his cheery manner insensibly comforted her, and she turned and +walked back to the house with him and Maud, feeling that the load of her +trouble was somewhat lightened by their society.</p> + +<p>"Hot soup again, Martin!" Geoffrey exclaimed, as the servant made his +appearance with a tray bearing some steaming cups directly they entered +the house, "we really can't do it. What with you at this end of the +journey, and Mrs. Murray at the other, this night has been a perfect +picnic of hot soup."</p> + +<p>"It's not soup, Master Geoffrey, it's coffee," said Martin imperturbably.</p> + +<p>"Oh, if it's coffee I am on for some. You must have some, too, Miss +Carson. You look a perfect wreck. I expect you have had a harder time of +it than we have."</p> + +<p>Eleanor shook her head. His sympathetic tone made her lower lip tremble. +"I have done nothing all night—" she said, "but wait," she added.</p> + +<p>"And awfully hard work that must have been by the look of you," he said; +"and where is everybody, Martin?"</p> + +<p>"The mistress is in the drawing-room, Mr. Anstruther has gone down to the +police station, and the rest of the young ladies and gentlemen are in +bed. And I think, Mr. Geoffrey, if you and Miss Maud went to bed now, +too, it would be a good thing."</p> + +<p>"Go to bed at half-past six in the morning! What an idea! Do you want to +go to bed, Maud?"</p> + +<p>"No," she answered promptly; "but what I do want is a stinging hot bath. +That would freshen me up wonderfully. Come and have one, too, Miss +Carson. It would do you a world of good."</p> + +<p>Eleanor did not feel as if she particularly wanted a hot bath at that +moment, but both Maud and Geoffrey so strongly advocated her taking one +that out of gratitude to them for the sympathy they evidently desired to +show her, she followed them upstairs. After all, she might as well have a +bath as do anything else; it would at least help to pass the time. And +when she had had her bath and done her hair, and was dressed and +downstairs again, she certainly felt wonderfully better for it. The +horrid sort of up-all-night feeling that she had experienced had quite +left her.</p> + +<p>Presently the whole household was astir. Mrs. Danvers, firmly convinced +that she had been awake all night, left the drawing-room when the +housemaid entered it and went upstairs, intending to have a bath and +dress, but she went to bed instead.</p> + +<p>To escape the curious eyes of the servants, who now seemed to be in every +room and to be regarding her with not unnatural curiosity, Eleanor +wandered out into the hall again and resumed the restless pacing to and +fro which she had kept up the greater part of the night. By eight o'clock +she seemed to have the principal sitting-rooms to herself. Geoffrey and +Maud had not yet come downstairs, and the servants, having finished their +dusting and sweeping, had gone to their breakfast.</p> + +<p>Consequently when the telephone bell in the morning-room rang sharply she +was the first person to hear it. Hurrying toward it with the wild hope +that at last she was to hear news of Margaret, she caught up the +receiver.</p> + +<p>"Hullo!" she heard, "are you there? Is that The Cedars? Mrs. Danvers? Who +then? I can't hear—Carson?—Eleanor Carson, you say? What! the young +lady who has been impersonating my wife's niece? Yes, I know all about +it. Yes—yes, I am telling you. Margaret Anstruther is here. I found her +myself, not half an hour ago, in a wood shed in the wood at the back of +our house here. She lost her way on the downs last night trying to get to +Mrs. Murray's. Yes—yes, well and safe. My wife has sent her to bed. She +has a temperature and a bad cold in the head. We have sent for a doctor. +No—no not ill, but it is best to be on the safe side. And I sent a motor +off ten minutes ago to let Mrs. Danvers know she is safe——" But the +rest was a buzzing noise only. Either they had been cut off or Sir +Richard had abruptly stopped speaking.</p> + +<p>But Eleanor had heard enough. Margaret was safe. In her intense relief +and joy at the news Eleanor let the receiver fall with a clang, and when +Geoffrey and Maud, having heard her voice at the telephone, came flying +downstairs, they found her shedding tears of joy.</p> + +<p>"Margaret is found!" she said in glad accents. "Sir Richard Strangways +has just telephoned." And she repeated to them the substance of what she +had heard.</p> + +<p>"I wonder why they did not send her back here," said Maud presently, when +their first excitement was over.</p> + +<p>"Because Margaret has evidently told them everything," replied Eleanor. +"For Sir Richard spoke of her as Margaret, and, of course, they know now +that she, not I, is Lady Strangways' niece."</p> + +<p>"Is she really Lady Strangways' niece?" said Maud, in the wildest +astonishment, "but they did not seem to know each other."</p> + +<p>"They didn't," said Eleanor, "or, of course, our plot would have been +found out at once. It's rather a long story to tell you now, but the gist +of it is that as Lady Strangways has been out of England for years she +and Margaret had never met. And so when Mrs. Murray told her that she had +a niece of Mr. Anstruther's staying with her—meaning me then, of +course—I had to pretend to be her niece. But she didn't take to me," +added Eleanor ruefully.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI</h2> + +<h3>CONCLUSION</h3> + + +<p>After that events moved very quickly. When a few minutes later Mr. +Anstruther returned in a cab, he was met on the doorstep by most of the +members of the family, who crowded round him and shouted out the good +news that his granddaughter was found.</p> + +<p>"Margaret at Wrexley Park!" he said, when he had alighted from the cab +and could make his voice heard. "How exceedingly strange that she should +have found her way there!"</p> + +<p>"Well, I don't know," said Geoffrey. "If one shot by Windy Gap, which is +what she must have done in the darkness, she had only to keep on and on +and she would be bound to strike Wrexley next. You see, sir, it lies +right under the lee of the downs."</p> + +<p>"Quite so, quite so," said Mr. Anstruther patiently. "But when I +commented on the singularity of the circumstance which had directed the +steps of my granddaughter towards Wrexley, I was not referring so much to +the relative geographical positions of Windy Gap and Wrexley, with which +indeed I am unacquainted, but——"</p> + +<p>"You were thinking how funny it was that she should have fetched up at +her own aunt's house in the end," broke in Maud, for which unceremonious +interruption she received a glance of reproof from Mr. Anstruther, and +scant thanks afterwards from the other members of the family who had been +hanging delightedly on Mr. Anstruther's careful phraseology, and who had +all wanted to hear him finish his remark for himself.</p> + +<p>Then Mr. Anstruther went up to Eleanor, who was standing a little apart +from all the others, and after subjecting her to a moment's severe +scrutiny, spoke abruptly:—</p> + +<p>"I am glad your anxiety is at an end. I think you have been sufficiently +punished."</p> + +<p>Eleanor smiled a little tremulously. The punishment had indeed been +sharp, although it had been nothing but the voice of her own conscience.</p> + +<p>"Can you forgive me?" she said.</p> + +<p>"Yes," he answered, in his cold, precise accents, "I can now. Though I +make no secret of the fact that, had my just resentment against you not +been softened by the anxiety we have shared in common, my reply to that +question would have been in the negative."</p> + +<p>Then the motor from Wrexley having arrived, Mr. Anstruther made his +formal farewells and drove away, followed, it must be confessed, by a +sigh of universal relief at his departure.</p> + +<p>When he had gone Eleanor became conscious that her position in the house +was rather a peculiar one. She had been dumped there, she reflected, just +as if she had been a bale of goods, and the person who had brought her +had neglected to remove her again. But, at any rate, she could remove +herself, and that she would do as speedily as possible, and she was on +the point of saying good-bye to Mrs. Danvers when the sound of wheels was +heard on the gravel, and up drove Mrs. Murray in her pony carriage.</p> + +<p>She had arrived to fetch Miss Carson, she said, when Geoffrey, who had +become very friendly with her during his nightly visits, went out to her. +No, she would not alight. Yes, she had heard the good news about Miss +Anstruther. Could Miss Carson come at once, as Punch and Judy were +already very cross at having been taken out at that hour in the morning, +and would not stand.</p> + +<p>The ponies' bad behaviour spared Eleanor the embarrassment of prolonged +farewells, nor had she even the chance of making the apology to Mrs. +Danvers, which she knew she owed her, but hastily flinging on her hat and +coat, she ran out at once and took her seat beside Mrs. Murray, and the +next minute they were bowling at a smart trot down the drive. Eleanor was +touched to the quick by this act of kindness on Mrs. Murray's part.</p> + +<p>"But you should not have come out so early in the morning after you have +been in the house for so many days," she said.</p> + +<p>"My dear," said Mrs. Murray, "it will have done me no harm. I wanted to +come and fetch you back myself."</p> + +<p>Except for those two remarks the drive was accomplished almost in +silence. And Eleanor was only too glad not to have to speak. The reaction +after the long strain of the night was beginning to tell at length on her +and she was almost too tired to keep her eyes open.</p> + +<p>She wondered if Mrs. Murray would let her go to bed when they got to Rose +Cottage, or if she must pack her box and take her departure then and +there. But Mrs. Murray set her doubts on that point at rest directly they +reached home by telling her to go straight to bed. "And sleep as long as +you can," she added.</p> + +<p>"But," said Eleanor, hanging back as Mrs. Murray gave her a gentle little +push towards the staircase, "if I sleep too late I shan't be able to +leave to-night."</p> + +<p>"I will wake you in time to catch the train I wish you to catch," Mrs. +Murray said. And Eleanor said no more, but stumbled wearily upstairs, +thinking as she went that, of course, she had not expected that Mrs. +Murray would let her stay even to the end of the holidays, now some eight +or ten days distant, but she had not guessed that she would be turned out +of the house quite so summarily and even have her train chosen for her. +However, the thought just passed through her mind; she was far too weary +to dwell upon it, and in less than five minutes she was in bed and fast +asleep.</p> + +<p>And she slept the whole day without waking, and while she was thus +occupied Mrs. Murray went down to Wrexley Park and saw the real Margaret, +the girl who should have come to her, but who had elected to do +otherwise.</p> + +<p>Fresh from an interview she had just had with her grandfather, in which, +though true to the resolution he had formed not to blame her very +severely, he had been unable to refrain from letting her know how heinous +he considered her conduct, Margaret was too nervous and upset to be at +ease in Mrs. Murray's presence, and that lady, though making every +allowance for her perturbed, conscience-stricken state of mind, could not +help contrasting her constrained, embarrassed manner unfavourably with +Eleanor's frank, bright demeanour. And Mrs. Murray felt convinced that +the real Margaret would never have been as happy with her as her +substitute had been.</p> + +<p>In more ways than one that day, the first she had passed for many weeks +under her own name, was a very trying one for Margaret. She would gladly +have spent it in bed, as Eleanor had done, but as the doctor who had come +to see her had pronounced her little the worse for her night in the wood +shed, there had been no excuse for her to stay in bed, and she had been +obliged, about eleven o'clock, to get up to see her grandfather first, +then Mrs. Murray, and later in the morning Mrs. Danvers, and Hilary, who +had been brought out to Wrexley to apologise for her outrageous behaviour +of the day before. Mrs. Danvers had been naturally anxious to know where +Margaret had passed the night while search had been so vainly made for +her, and she could scarcely believe that mere chance had indeed led +Margaret across the downs to Wrexley woods in the darkness. And yet such, +as Geoffrey had surmised, had been the case. Trying to reach Windy Gap +Margaret had passed close by it in the fog and had wandered on and on +until, somewhere about midnight, she had found herself at the entrance to +a small hut in the wood, and, thankful beyond words to be in shelter of +some sort, she had crept into it and, making herself as comfortable as +she could on some dry faggots of sticks, had fallen sound asleep. And she +had been still sleeping when Sir Richard, who usually took a stroll +before breakfast every morning, had come suddenly upon her. But when +Margaret, who said that she freely forgave Hilary—as, indeed, she +did—for all her unkindness and foolish suspicions about her, would have +apologised in her turn for the deception she had practised upon her, that +good-natured lady checked her at once.</p> + +<p>"My dear," she said, "I can't see that you did me any harm. You made the +children an excellent holiday governess, and you were always so kind +about winding my wool and picking up my stitches that I shall miss you +dreadfully. So say no more about the wrong you did me. I am quite sure +that I liked you a great deal better than I should have liked the real +Miss Carson, though I dare say she might have got on better with my young +people. You have heard, of course, that it was my two boys, Noel and +Jack, who put all those things in your box. Oh, not with a view to +getting you into trouble, but it was a prank they had played off upon +Colonel Baker. I made them go down and confess to him this morning and +take his property back with them, and, judging from their crestfallen +looks ever since, I fancy they have had a talking-to that they won't +forget in a hurry. So they have been well punished, and Tommy has been +wired to to come home at once, so he has been punished. And Hilary's +punishment here is to come. It will take the form of such endless banter +and chaff from her brothers and sisters that it will be a long time +before she thinks of playing private detective to any one in my house +again."</p> + +<p>That Margaret, too, had been punished for her conduct no one knew better +than herself. Not only had she suffered from a troubled conscience for +the last seven weeks, but she had been distinctly unhappy in the +uncongenial surroundings into which she had forced herself, and for that +she had no one but herself to thank. Nevertheless, although she fully +recognised how much she had been to blame in breaking loose as she had +done, she had learned, from seeing the lives of other girls, that her +grandfather's rigorous rule over her was as absurd as it was unjust. She +was eighteen and she was treated as though she were eight. Why, even +Daisy and David had far more liberty of action than she was allowed. She +looked forward with positive dread to the thought of going back to +Greystones and resuming the queer, solitary life she had led there since +Miss Bidwell had left.</p> + +<p>But her surprise was unbounded when she learned, as she did later in the +afternoon of the same day, that Greystones was never again to be her +home. "Though, of course, my dear Margaret, Miss Bidwell and I—that is +to say, my future wife and I, for Miss Bidwell is doing me the honour of +becoming my wife on the 9th of next month—will always be pleased to see +you there on very long visits whenever and as often as you like to come."</p> + +<p>For it was in that manner that Mr. Anstruther broke the news to Margaret +of his intended marriage to her late governess. As it had already +transpired in conversation with Mrs. Murray, he had spent the last +fortnight in the little German town where Miss Bidwell was staying with +friends and undergoing treatment for her eyes, and it was because he had +given no directions for his letters to be forwarded that Mrs. Murray had +had no answer to the last two she had written him. It was for the purpose +of telling her and Mrs. Murray that he was shortly to be married to Miss +Bidwell that he had come to Windy Gap the previous day and also to learn +if Mrs. Murray would consent to keep his granddaughter with her for some +months longer. However, as he was at some pains to explain to Mrs. Murray +at the sort of family conclave that was being held that morning at +Wrexley Park, "As she has not been with you at all and seeing in what an +ungrateful spirit she treated your kind invitation to her, I cannot +expect you to be willing to receive her into your house. I must therefore +endeavour to make other arrangements for her. I should like to add that +it is in no spirit of vindictiveness towards her that I wish her now to +make her home elsewhere, but because I am convinced that it would not be +for her happiness to reside permanently at Greystones now that her late +governess will be installed there as mistress. Miss Bidwell is a lady of +very strong character and might continue to look upon Margaret as a child +and to treat her as such." He paused for a moment and then added, "I +realise now that a girl of eighteen requires more liberty of thought and +action than I permitted to Margaret."</p> + +<p>That was the only admission Mr. Anstruther was ever heard to make that +perhaps his system of education was not as perfect as he had deemed it, +but coming from him it meant a good deal.</p> + +<p>But it was then that Lady Strangways had intervened with a suggestion of +her own.</p> + +<p>"Let me have her, Mr. Anstruther," she said, "After all, I am her aunt, +and I should like nothing better than to adopt her as my daughter. I have +taken a great fancy to Margaret and she to me. I fancy I could make her +very happy if she would consent to come to me."</p> + +<p>"I think her consent may be taken for granted," said Mr. Anstruther in +his old arbitrary manner and quite forgetting his admission of a few +moments back; "she is still considerably under age and is therefore +subject to my orders until she attains her majority."</p> + +<p>"But I should not care in the least for a daughter who was ordered to +love me," said Lady Strangways, smiling.</p> + +<p>However, when Margaret was summoned to the library and her aunt's +suggestion made known to her, the radiant look of happiness with which +she received it left no one, least of all Lady Strangways, in doubt of +her willingness to obey this last command of her grandfather's.</p> + +<p>And so Margaret's immediate future being satisfactorily settled, Mrs. +Murray went back to Windy Gap. She found Eleanor in her room on her knees +before her open trunk which she was busily engaged in packing.</p> + +<p>Very deliberately Mrs. Murray closed the trunk, and, perhaps because all +the available chairs were strewn with Eleanor's clothes, sat down on the +lid.</p> + +<p>"Lady Strangways has adopted Margaret," she said.</p> + +<p>"Oh," exclaimed Eleanor eagerly, "I am glad! Margaret will like that. She +had already fallen in love with her aunt, and will like nothing better +than to be with her. How is she after last night?"</p> + +<p>"Quite well, except for a very bad cold in her head. But I will tell you +all about her adventures presently. It is of you I want to speak now." +Suddenly she bent forward and put her hands on Eleanor's shoulders. +"Eleanor, dear," she said, "will you let me adopt you as Lady Strangways +has adopted Margaret? I would not make the offer, dear, if you had any +relations of your own to go to. A lonely, deaf old woman has not much to +offer to a young girl like you with all her life before her, but it would +be such a pleasure to feel that I had you to live for. Hush, don't answer +yet. Lady Strangways has told me all about you—as much, at least, as she +had learned from Margaret. And I know all about your wonderful voice and +the possibilities that lie in front of you, if you can have proper +training. I am not a wealthy woman, but I have more than enough for both +of us, and if you will stay with me we will go to Paris, Milan, or any +other place that Madame Martelli says you ought to go to. And you shall +have the best teaching in Europe."</p> + +<p>What answer Eleanor made to this astoundingly splendid offer neither she +nor Mrs. Murray could ever remember. It is doubtful, indeed, if she made +any in words, for after trying once or twice to speak she gave up the +attempt and cried out of pure joy.</p> + +<p>But apparently Mrs. Murray was quite satisfied with this answer, for her +kind old face, which had worn an anxious look while waiting for Eleanor's +reply, took on a most contented expression.</p> + +<p>"But your dear little home," Eleanor said presently when her tears were +dry, and being such happy ones they had dried very quickly. "How will you +like to leave that?"</p> + +<p>"I am tired of my dear little home," said Mrs. Murray briskly. "I want to +travel. Besides, the doctor has told me that in any case I mustn't spend +another winter here until I get my rheumatism out of my system. And so, +my dear, we will be off as soon as you like."</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Eleanor and Margaret only met once before the former started for Italy +with Mrs. Murray. Madame Martelli had recommended a course of study at +Milan, and armed with many introductions to musical people of note, they +were to leave almost immediately for that town.</p> + +<p>Margaret had motored up to Rose Cottage with her aunt to say good-bye, and +the two girls had gone out into the garden together. By common consent +their steps led them towards the little summer-house where they had held +so many stolen interviews.</p> + +<p>"Strictly speaking," said Eleanor, "neither of us deserve to be as +happy as we are. At least," she added, "I know I don't. We behaved +disgracefully—at least I know I did. And yet, in the end, we have got +everything we wanted."</p> + +<p>"Would you do it again?" Margaret asked.</p> + +<p>Eleanor shook her head most emphatically. "No," she said, "if I live to +be ninety I shall never forget that long night. I would not go through it +again on any account whatever—at least, I mean, you know that I would +not again risk anything happening to you through me."</p> + +<p>"Not even for the sake of your voice?" said Margaret rather wonderingly.</p> + +<p>"No," said Eleanor firmly, "not even for the sake of my voice. If you had +been killed that night I should never, never have forgiven myself. I feel +now that it would have served me perfectly right if you had tumbled over +the cliff and been killed. It would have been only what I deserved, for +then I should have been obliged to suffer from a life-long remorse."</p> + +<p>"Oh!" said Margaret rather doubtfully. Then she laughed. "Don't you +think," she asked, "that it would have been rather hard on me if you had +been punished like that?"</p> + +<p>Eleanor laughed too. "I must say that I wasn't thinking of you at the +moment," she said; "to forget other people's feelings was always a trick +of mine, as you know; however, I really am reforming fast. By the way, +have you seen anything of the Danvers since you left them?"</p> + +<p>"I saw Hilary in the town, and she stopped to speak to me. She is +reforming, too," Margaret added, with another smile. "I seem to be having +quite an improving effect upon other people's characters. She told me +that one reason why she took such a dislike to me was because she was +afraid that I would accept her sister's offer to go out to Los Angelos +with her in the spring as her governess, and that she had been jealous of +me because she wanted to go herself. But the funny part is," continued +Margaret, "that now she no longer wants to go either; her latest idea is +to go to Girton, and she is going to read hard with a tutor at home all +this winter so that she can pass the necessary examinations in the +spring."</p> + +<p>"And a very good thing for her too," said Eleanor; "if she had had more +to occupy herself with this summer, she wouldn't have busied herself so +disastrously with our affairs. I am afraid she made you very unhappy +while you were there, and I, like a selfish oyster, sat tight here and +kept you out of your rightful place."</p> + +<p>"I am very glad you did," said Margaret earnestly, "or perhaps I might +never have gone to live with Aunt Helen."</p> + +<p>"You mean, you think that Mrs. Murray would never have given you up +to her," said Eleanor with twinkling eyes. "You need not be afraid, +Margaret, Mrs. Murray likes me much better than she would have ever liked +you; she as good as told me so."</p> + +<p>"And Aunt Helen likes me best," retorted Margaret.</p> + +<p>"All's well that end's well, then," said Eleanor laughing; "though, mind +you, I must candidly confess that I don't believe that that is a very +moral reflection to apply to the end of our conspiracy. However, as we +have been forgiven all round, and as we really did no one any harm, we +need not be very severe on ourselves.</p> + +<p>"But don't forget, Margaret, that I was your first friend; the first +girl, with the exception of your dream-friend Eleanor, that you ever +spoke to. And you will write to me regularly, won't you, dear?"</p> + +<p>"Oh yes, I will write," Margaret answered, smiling a little wistfully; +"but I do not believe you will answer many of my letters. You will be so +full of your own interests, and so busy getting famous, that I shall soon +drop out of your remembrance."</p> + +<p>"Never!" said Eleanor with a passionate vehemence that fairly startled +Margaret. "Please, please, Margaret, get it out of your head that I am +the selfish, hard sort of person you first knew. I shall never forget the +girl who helped me out of my shallows and miseries and set me afloat on +my full sea. You will only come second in my affections to Mrs. Murray, +to whom I shall simply never be able to repay all her kindness and +goodness, so if you want to hurt me, Margaret, accuse me again of +fickleness and ingratitude."</p> + +<p>"But I don't wish to hurt you," Margaret protested. "You know, Eleanor, +I am only too pleased to have you for a friend. Let us always be friends, +Eleanor dear."</p> + +<p>"We always will," Eleanor declared. "It is the fashion to laugh at girls' +vows of eternal friendship. I laughed at them myself, you know, for have +I not lived four years in a girls' school! But no one need trouble to +laugh at our vows, Margaret, for I know you to be a faithful little soul, +and I owe you far too much ever to cease to love you."</p> + + +<p>THE END.</p> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Rebellion of Margaret, by Geraldine Mockler + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE REBELLION OF MARGARET *** + +***** This file should be named 18844-h.htm or 18844-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/8/8/4/18844/ + +Produced by Louise Pryor, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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