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diff --git a/23622.txt b/23622.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a1e96a7 --- /dev/null +++ b/23622.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7688 @@ +Project Gutenberg's About Peggy Saville, by Mrs. G. de Horne Vaizey + +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: About Peggy Saville + +Author: Mrs. G. de Horne Vaizey + +Release Date: November 25, 2007 [EBook #23622] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ABOUT PEGGY SAVILLE *** + + + + +Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England + + + + +About Peggy Saville, by Mrs George de Horne Vaizey. + +________________________________________________________________________ +I have used part of the same introduction for this book, as I did for +one of the books about Pixie O'Shaughnessy, not because the books are +anything like the same, but because the observations are equally valid. + +This is another excellent book by Mrs de Horne Vaizey, dating from the +end of the nineteenth century. While of course it is dated in its +references to the world around its actors, yet nevertheless their +emotions are well-described, and no doubt are timeless. + +Some older children are being educated at a Vicarage near Brighton, +along with the vicar's own three. Peggy Saville is a "new girl", having +previously lived in India, where her parents still are. She has great +talent in some directions, but still has to add up by counting on her +fingers! She certainly gets up to some tricks, though. + +There is a fire at a dance given by the titled family of one of the +pupils, from which Peggy rescues the daughter of the house. Both girls +are injured, Peggy the more severely, but eventually they are both on +the way to recovery. + +In some ways the world around the people in the book is recognisable +today, in a way which a book written thirty or forty years before would +not have been. They have electricity, telephones, trains, buses, and +many other things that we still use regularly today. Of course one +major difference is that few people today have servants, while +middle-class and upper-class families of the eighteen nineties would +certainly have had them. + +So it is not so very dated after all. But I do think there is a real +value in reading the book. Oddly enough, I think that a boy would +benefit from reading any of the author's books, more than a girl would, +because it would give him an insight into the girlish mind which he +could not so easily otherwise obtain. + +________________________________________________________________________ + +ABOUT PEGGY SAVILLE, BY MRS GEORGE DE HORNE VAIZEY. + + + +CHAPTER ONE. + +A NEW INMATE. + +The afternoon post had come in, and the Vicar of Renton stood in the bay +window of his library reading his budget of letters. He was a tall, +thin man, with a close-shaven face, which had no beauty of feature, but +which was wonderfully attractive all the same. It was not an old face, +but it was deeply lined, and those who knew and loved him best could +tell the meaning of each of those eloquent tracings. The deep vertical +mark running up the forehead meant sorrow. It had been stamped there +for ever on the night when Hubert, his first-born, had been brought +back, cold and lifeless, from the river to which he had hurried forth +but an hour before, a picture of happy boyhood. The vicar's brow had +been smooth enough before that day. The furrow was graven to the memory +of Teddy, the golden-haired lad who had first taught him the joys of +fatherhood. The network of lines about the eyes were caused by the +hundred and one little worries of everyday life, and the strain of +working a delicate body to its fullest pitch; and the two long, deep +streaks down the cheeks bore testimony to that happy sense of humour +which showed the bright side of a question, and helped him out of many a +slough of despair. This afternoon, as he stood reading his letters one +by one, the different lines deepened, or smoothed out, according to the +nature of the missive. Now he smiled, now he sighed, anon he crumpled +up his face in puzzled thought, until the last letter of all was +reached, when he did all three in succession, ending up with a low +whistle of surprise-- + +"Edith! This is from Mrs Saville. Just look at this!" + +Instantly there came a sound of hurried rising from the other end of the +room; a work-basket swayed to and fro on a rickety gipsy-table, and the +vicar's wife walked towards him, rolling half a dozen reels of thread in +her wake with an air of fine indifference. + +"Mrs Saville!" she exclaimed eagerly. "How is my boy?" and without +waiting for an answer she seized the letter, and began to devour its +contents, while her husband went stooping about over the floor picking +up the contents of the scattered basket and putting them carefully back +in their places. He smiled to himself as he did so, and kept turning +amused, tender glances at his wife as she stood in the uncarpeted space +in the window, with the sunshine pouring in on her eager face. Mrs +Asplin had been married for twenty years, and was the mother of three +big children; but such was the buoyancy of her Irish nature and the +irrepressible cheeriness of her heart, that she was in good truth the +youngest person in the house, so that her own daughters were sometimes +quite shocked at her levity of behaviour, and treated her with gentle, +motherly restraint. She was tall and thin, like her husband, and he, at +least, considered her every whit as beautiful as she had been a score of +years before. Her hair was dark and curly; she had deep-set grey eyes, +and a pretty fresh complexion. When she was well, and rushing about in +her usual breathless fashion, she looked like the sister of her own tall +girls; and when she was ill, and the dark lines showed under her eyes, +she looked like a tired, wearied girl, but never for a moment as if she +deserved such a title as an old, or elderly, woman. Now, as she read, +her eyes glowed, and she uttered ecstatic little exclamations of triumph +from time to time; for Arthur Saville, the son of the lady who was the +writer of the letter, had been the first pupil whom her husband had +taken into his house to coach, and as such had a special claim on her +affection. For the first dozen years of their marriage all had gone +smoothly with Mr and Mrs Asplin, and the vicar had had more work than +he could manage in his busy city parish; then, alas, lung trouble had +threatened; he had been obliged to take a year's rest, and to exchange +his living for a sleepy little parish, where he could breathe fresh air, +and take life at a slower pace. Illness, the doctor's bills, the year's +holiday, ran away with a large sum of money; the stipend of the country +church was by no means generous, and the vicar was lamenting the fact +that he was shortest of money just when his children were growing up and +he needed it most, when an old college friend requested, as a favour, +that he would undertake the education of his only son, for a year at +least, so that the boy might be well grounded in his studies before +going on to the military tutor who was to prepare him for Sandhurst. +Handsome terms were quoted, the vicar looked upon the offer as a leading +of Providence, and Arthur Saville's stay at the vicarage proved a +success in every sense of the word. He was a clever boy who was not +afraid of work, and the vicar discovered in himself an unsuspected +genius for teaching. Arthur's progress not only filled him with +delight, but brought the offer of other pupils, so that he was but the +forerunner of a succession of bright, handsome boys, who came from far +and wide to be prepared for college, and to make their home at the +vicarage. They were honest, healthy-minded lads, and Mrs Asplin loved +them all, but no one had ever taken Arthur Saville's place. During the +year which he had spent under her roof he had broken his collar-bone, +sprained his ankle, nearly chopped off the top of one of his fingers, +scalded his foot, and fallen crash through a plate-glass window. There +had never been one moment's peace or quietness; she had gone about from +morning to night in chronic fear of a disaster; and, as a matter of +course, it followed that Arthur was her darling, ensconced in a little +niche of his own, from which subsequent pupils tried in vain to oust +him. + +Mrs Saville dwelt upon the latest successes of her clever son with a +mother's pride, and his second mother beamed, and smiled, and cried, "I +told you so!" + +"Dear boy!" + +"Of course he did!" in delighted echo. But when she came to the second +half of the letter her face changed, and she grew grave and anxious. +"And now, dear Mr Asplin," Mrs Saville wrote, "I come to the real +burden of my letter. I return to India in autumn, and am most anxious +to see Peggy happily settled before I leave. She has been at this +Brighton school for four years, and has done well with her lessons, but +the poor child seems so unhappy at the thought of returning, that I am +sorely troubled about her. Like most Indian children, she has had very +little home life, and after being with me for the last six months she +dreads the prospect of school, and I cannot bear the thought of sending +her back against her will. I was puzzling over the question yesterday, +when it suddenly occurred to me that perhaps you, dear Mr Asplin, could +help me out of my difficulty. Could you--would you, take her in hand +for the next three years, letting her share the lessons of your own two +girls? I cannot tell you what a relief and joy it would be to feel that +she was under your care. Arthur always looks back on the year spent +with you as one of the brightest of his life; and I am sure Peggy would +be equally happy. I write to you from force of habit, but really I +think this letter should have been addressed to Mrs Asplin, for it is +she who would be most concerned. I know her heart is large enough to +mother my dear girl during my absence; and if strength and time will +allow her to undertake this fresh charge, I think she will be glad to +help another mother by doing so. Peggy is bright and clever, like her +brother, and strong on the whole, though her throat needs care. She is +nearly fifteen--the age, I think, of your youngest girl--and we should +be pleased to pay the same terms as we did for Arthur. Now, please, +dear Mr Asplin, talk the matter over with your wife, and let me know +your decision as soon as possible." + +Mrs Asplin dropped the letter on the floor, and turned to confront her +husband. + +"Well!" + +"Well?" + +"It is your affair, dear, not mine. You would have the trouble. Could +you do with an extra child in the house?" + +"Yes, yes, so far as that goes. The more the merrier. I should like to +help Arthur's mother, but,"--Mrs Asplin leant her head on one side, and +put on what her children described as her "Ways and Means" expression. +She was saying to herself,--"Clear out the box-room over the study. +Spare chest-of-drawers from dressing-room--cover a box with one of the +old chintz curtains for an ottoman--enamel the old blue furniture--new +carpet and bedstead, say five or six pounds outlay--yes! I think I +could make it pretty for five pounds!..." The calculations lasted for +about two minutes, at the end of which time her brow cleared, she nodded +brightly, and said in a crisp, decisive tone, "Yes, we will take her! +Arthur's throat was delicate too. She must use my gargle." + +The vicar laughed softly. + +"Ah! I thought that would decide it. I knew your soft heart would not +be able to resist the thought of the delicate throat! Well, dear, if +you are willing, so am I. I am glad to make hay while the sun shines, +and lay by a little provision for the children. How will they take it, +do you think? They are accustomed to strange boys, but a girl will be a +new experience. She will come at once, I suppose, and settle down to +work for the autumn. Dear me! dear me! It is the unexpected that +happens. I hope she is a nice child." + +"Of course she is. She is Arthur's sister. Come! the young folks are +in the study. Let us go and tell them the news. I have always said it +was my ambition to have half a dozen children, and now, at last, it is +going to be gratified." + +Mrs Asplin thrust her hand through her husband's arm, and led him down +the wide, flagged hall, towards the room whence the sound of merry young +voices fell pleasantly upon the ear. + + + +CHAPTER TWO. + +MELLICENT'S PROPHECY. + +The schoolroom was a long, bare apartment running along one side of the +house, and boasting three tall windows, through which the sun poured in +on a shabby carpet and ink-stained tables. Everything looked well worn +and, to a certain extent, dilapidated, yet there was an air of cheerful +comfort about the whole which is not often found in rooms of the kind. +Mrs Asplin revelled in beautiful colours, and would tolerate no drab +and saffron papers in her house; so the walls were covered with a rich +soft blue; the cushions on the wicker chairs rang the changes from rose +to yellow; a brilliant Japanese screen stood in one corner, and a wire +stand before the open grate held a number of flowering plants. A young +fellow of seventeen or eighteen was seated at one end of the table +employed in arranging a selection of foreign stamps. This was Maxwell, +the vicar's eldest surviving son, who was to go up to Oxford at the +beginning of the year, and was at present reading under his father's +supervision. His sister Mellicent was perched on the table itself, +watching his movements, and vouchsafing scraps of advice. Her +suggestions were received with sniffs of scornful superiority, but +Mellicent prattled on unperturbed, being a plump, placid person, with +flaxen hair, blue eyes, and somewhat obtuse sensibilities. The elder +girl was sitting reading by the window, leaning her head on her hand, +and showing a long, thin face, comically like her father's, with the +same deep lines running down her cheeks. She was neither so pretty nor +so even-tempered as her sister, but she had twice the character, and was +a young person who made her individuality felt in the house; while +Maxwell was the beauty of the family, with his mother's crisp, dark +locks, grey eyes, and brunette colouring. + +These three young people were the vicar's only surviving children; but +there were two more occupants of the room--the two lads who were being +coached to enter the University at the same time as his own son. Number +one was a fair, dandified-looking youth, who sat astride a deck-chair, +with his trousers hitched up so as to display long, narrow feet, shod in +scarlet silk socks and patent-leather slippers. He had fair hair, +curling over his forehead; bold blue eyes, an aquiline nose, and an air +of being very well satisfied with the world in general and himself in +particular. This was Oswald Elliston, the son of a country squire, who +had heard of the successes of Mr Asplin's pupils, and was storing up +disappointment for himself in expecting similar exploits from his own +handsome, but by no means over-brilliant, son. The second pupil had a +small microscope in his hand, and was poring over a collection of +"specimens," with his shoulders hitched up to his ears, in a position +the reverse of elegant. Every now and then he would bend his head to +write down a few notes on the paper beside him, showing a square-chinned +face, with heavy eyebrows and strong roughly-marked features. His +clothes were worn, his cuffs invisible, and his hair ruffled into wild +confusion by the unconscious rubbings of his hands; and this was the +Honourable Robert Darcy, third son of Lord Darcy, a member of the +Cabinet, and a politician of world-wide reputation. + +The servants at the vicarage were fond of remarking, apropos of the +Honourable Robert, that he "didn't look it"; which remark would have +been a subject of sincere gratification to the lad himself, had it been +overheard; for there was no surer way of annoying him than by referring +to his position, or giving him the prefix to which he was entitled. + +The young folks looked up inquiringly as Mr and Mrs Asplin entered the +room, for the hour after tea was set apart for recreation, and the +elders were usually only too glad to remain in their own quiet little +sanctum. Oswald, the gallant, sprang to his feet and brought forward a +chair for Mrs Asplin, but she waved him aside, and broke impetuously +into words. + +"Children! we have news for you. You are going to have a new companion. +Father has had a letter this afternoon about another pupil--" + +Mellicent yawned, and Esther looked calmly uninterested, but the three +lads were full of interest. Their faces turned towards the vicar with +expressions of eager curiosity. + +"A new fellow! This term! From what school, sir?" + +"A ladies' boarding-school at Brighton!" Mrs Asplin spoke rapidly, so +as to be beforehand with her husband, and her eyes danced with +mischievous enjoyment, as she saw the dismay depicted on the three +watching faces. A ladies' school! Maxwell, Oswald, and Robert, had a +vision of a pampered pet in curls, and round jacket, and their backs +stiffened in horrified indignation at the idea that grown men of +seventeen and eighteen should be expected to associate with a "kid" from +a ladies' school! + +The vicar could not restrain a smile, but he hastened to correct the +mistake. "It's not a `fellow' at all, this time. It's a girl! We have +had a letter from Arthur Saville's mother, asking us to look after her +daughter while she is in India. She will come to us very soon, and +stay, I suppose, for three or four years, sharing your lessons, my +dears, and studying with you--" + +"A girl! Good gracious! Where will she sleep?" cried Mellicent, with +characteristic matter-of-fact curiosity, while Esther chimed in with +further inquiries. + +"What is her name? How old is she? What is she like? When will she +come? Why is she leaving school?" + +"Not very happy. Peggy. In the little box-room over the study. About +fifteen, I believe. Haven't the least idea. In a few weeks from now," +said Mrs Asplin, answering all the questions at once in her impulsive +fashion, the while she walked round the table, stroked Maxwell's curls, +bent an interested glance at Robert's collection, and laid a hand on +Esther's back, to straighten bowed shoulders. "She is Arthur's sister, +so she is sure to be nice, and both her parents will be in India, so you +must all be kind to the poor little soul, and give her a hearty +welcome." + +Silence! Nobody had a word to say in response to this remark; but the +eyes of the young people met furtively across the table, and Mr Asplin +felt that they were only waiting until their seniors should withdraw +before bursting into eager conversation. + +"Better leave them to have it out by themselves," he whispered +significantly to his wife; then added aloud, "Well, we won't interrupt +you any longer. Don't turn the play-hour into work, Rob! You will +study all the better for a little relaxation. You have proved the truth +of that axiom, Oswald--eh?" and he went laughing out of the room, while +Oswald held the door open for his wife, smiling assent in lazy fashion. + +"Another girl!" he exclaimed, as he reseated himself on his chair, and +looked with satisfaction at his well-shod feet. "This is an unexpected +blow! A sister of the redoubtable Saville! From all I have heard of +him, I should imagine a female edition would be rather a terror in a +quiet household. I never saw Saville,--what sort of a fellow was he to +look at, don't you know?" + +Mellicent reflected. + +"He had a nose!" she said solemnly. Then, as the others burst into +hilarious laughter, "Oh, it's no use shrieking at me; I mean what I +say," she insisted. "A big nose--like Wellington's! When people are +very clever, they always have big noses. I imagine Peggy small, with a +little thin face, because she was born in India, and lived there until +she was six years old, and a great big nose in the middle--" + +"Sounds appetising," said Maxwell shortly. "I don't! I imagine Peggy +like her mother, with blue eyes and brown hair. Mrs Saville is awfully +pretty. I have seen her often, and if her daughter is like her--" + +"I don't care in the least how she looks," said Esther severely. "It's +her character that matters. Indian children are generally spoiled, and +if she has been to a boarding-school she may give herself airs. Then we +shall quarrel. I am not going to be patronised by a girl of fourteen. +I expect she will be Mellicent's friend, not mine." + +"I wonder what sums she is in!" said Mellicent dreamily. "Rob! what do +you think about it? Are you glad or sorry? You haven't said anything +yet." + +Robert raised his eyes from his microscope, and looked her up and down, +very much as a big Newfoundland dog looks at the terrier which disturbs +its slumber. + +"It's nothing to me," he said loftily. "She may come if she likes." +Then, with sudden recollection, "Does she learn the violin? Because we +have already _one_ girl in this house who is learning the violin, and +life won't be worth living if there is a second." + +He tucked his big notebook under his chin as he spoke, and began sawing +across it with a pencil, wagging his head and rolling his eyes, in +imitation of Mellicent's own manner of practising, producing at the same +time such long-drawn, catlike wails from between his closed lips as made +the listeners shriek with laughter. Mellicent, however, felt bound to +expostulate. + +"It's not the tune at all," she cried loudly. "Not like any of my +pieces; and if I _do_ roll my eyes, I don't rumple up my hair and pull +faces at the ceiling, as _some_ people do, and I know who they are, but +I am too polite to say so! I hope Peggy will be my friend, because then +there will be two of us, and you won't dare to tease me any more. When +Arthur was here, a boy pulled my hair, and he carried him upstairs and +held his head underneath the shower-bath." + +"I'll pull it again, and see if Peggy will do the same," said Rob +pleasantly; and poor Mellicent stared from one smiling face to another, +conscious that she was being laughed at, but unable to see the point of +the joke. + +"When Peggy comes," she said, in an injured tone, "I hope she will be +sympathetic. I'm the youngest, and I think you ought all to do what I +want; instead of which you make fun, and laugh among yourselves, and +send me messages. For instance, when Max wanted his stamps brought +down--" + +Maxwell passed his big hand over her hair and face, then, reversing the +direction, rubbed up the point of the little snub nose. + +"Never mind, chubby, your day is over! We will make Peggy the +message-boy now. Peggy will be a nice, meek little girl, who will like +to run messages for her betters! She shall be my fag, and attend to me. +I'll give her my stamps to sort." + +"I rather thought of having her for fag myself; we can't admit a girl to +our study unless she makes herself useful," said Oswald languidly; +whereupon Rob banged the notebook on the table with clanging decision. + +"Peggy belongs to me," he announced firmly. "It's no use you two +fellows quarrelling. That matter is settled once for all. Peggy will +be my fag; I've barleyed her for myself, and you have nothing to say in +the matter." + +But Esther tossed her head with an air of superior wisdom. + +"Wait till she comes," she said sagely. "If Peggy is anything like her +brother, you may spare yourself the trouble of planning as to what she +must or must not do. It is waste of time. Peggy will be mistress over +us all!" + + + +CHAPTER THREE. + +ENTER MISS SAVILLE! + +A fortnight later Peggy Saville arrived at the vicarage. Her mother +brought her, stayed for a couple of hours, and then left for the time +being; but as she was to pay some visits in the neighbourhood it was +understood that this was not the final parting, and that she would spend +several afternoons with her daughter before sailing for India. On this +occasion, however, none of the young people saw her, for they were out +during the afternoon, and were just settling down to tea in the +schoolroom when the wheels of the departing carriage crunched down the +drive. + +"Now for it!" cried Maxwell, and they looked at one another in silence, +knowing full well what would happen. Mrs Asplin would think an +introduction to her young friends the best distraction for the strange +girl after her mother's departure, and the next item in the programme +would be the appearance of Miss Peggy herself. Esther rearranged the +scattered tea-things; Oswald felt to see if his necktie was in position, +and Robert hunched his shoulders and rolled his eyes at Mellicent in +distracting fashion. Each one sat with head cocked on one side, in an +attitude of eager attention. The front door banged, footsteps +approached, and Mrs Asplin's high, cheerful tones were heard drawing +nearer and nearer. + +"This way, dear," she was saying. "They are longing to see you!" + +The listeners gave a simultaneous gulp of excitement, the door opened, +and--Peggy entered! + +She was not in the least what they had expected! This was neither the +blonde beauty of Maxwell's foretelling, nor the black-haired elf +described by Mellicent. The first glance was unmitigated +disappointment. + +"She is not a bit pretty," was the mental comment of the two girls. +"What a funny little soul!" that of the three big boys, who had risen on +Mrs Asplin's entrance, and now stood staring at the new-comer with +curious eyes. + +Peggy was slight and pale, and at the first sight her face gave a +comical impression of being made up of a succession of peaks. Her hair +hung in a pigtail down her back, and grew in a deep point on her +forehead; her finely-marked eyebrows were shaped like eaves, and her +chin was for all the world like that of a playful kitten. Even the +velvet trimming on her dress accentuated this peculiarity, as it +zigzagged round the sleeves and neck. The hazel eyes were light and +bright, and flitted from one figure to another with a suspicious +twinkling; but nothing could have been more composed, more demure, or +patronisingly grown-up than the manner in which this strange girl bore +the scrutiny which was bent upon her. + +"Here are your new friends, Peggy," cried Mrs Asplin cheerily. "They +always have tea by themselves in the schoolroom, and do what they please +from four to five o'clock. Now just sit down, dear, and take your place +among them at once. Esther will make room for you by her side, and +introduce you to the others. I will leave you to make friends. I know +young people get on better when they are left alone." + +She whisked out of the room in her impetuous fashion, and Peggy Saville +seated herself in the midst of a ghastly silence. The young people had +been prepared to cheer and encourage a bashful stranger, but the +self-possession of this thin, pale-faced girl took them by surprise, so +that they sat round the table playing uncomfortably with teaspoons and +knives, and irritably conscious that they, and not the new-comer, were +the ones to be overcome with confusion. The silence lasted for a good +two minutes, and was broken at last by Miss Peggy herself. + +"Cream _and_ sugar!" she said, in a tone of sweet insinuation. "Two +lumps, if you please. Not very strong, and as hot as possible. Thank +you! So sorry to be a trouble." + +Esther fairly jumped with surprise, and seizing the teapot, filled the +empty cup in haste. Then she remembered the dreaded airs of the +boarding-school miss, and her own vows of independence, and made a +gallant effort to regain composure. + +"No trouble at all. I hope that will be right. Please help yourself. +Bread--and--butter--scones--cake! I must introduce you to the rest, and +then you will feel more at home! I am Esther, the eldest, a year older +than you, I think. This is Mellicent, my younger sister, fourteen last +February. I think you are about the same age." She paused a moment, +and Peggy looked across the table and said, "How do you do, dear?" in an +affable, grandmotherly fashion, which left poor Mellicent speechless, +and filled the others with delighted amusement. But their own turn was +coming. Esther pulled herself together, and went on steadily with her +introductions. "This is Maxwell, my brother, and these are father's two +pupils--Oswald Elliston, and Robert--the Honourable Robert Darcy." She +was not without hope that the imposing sound of the latter name would +shake the self-possession of the stranger, but Peggy inclined her head +with the air of a queen, drawled out a languid, "Pleased to see you!" +and dropped her eyes with an air of indifference, which seemed to imply +that an "Honourable" was an object of no interest whatever, and that she +was really bored by the number of her titled acquaintances. The boys +looked at each other with furtive glances of astonishment. Mellicent +spread jam all over her plate, and Esther unconsciously turned on the +handle of the urn and deluged the tray with water, but no one ventured a +second remark, and once again it was Peggy's voice that opened the +conversation. + +"And is this the room in which you pursue your avocations? It has a +warm and cheerful exposure." + +"Er--yes! This is the schoolroom. Mellicent and I have lessons here in +the morning from our German governess, while the boys are in the study +with father. In the afternoon, from two to four, they use it for +preparation, and we go out to classes. We have music lessons on Monday, +painting on Tuesday, calisthenics and wood-carving on Thursday and +Friday. Wednesday and Saturday are half-holidays. Then from four to +six the room is common property, and we have tea together and amuse +ourselves as we choose." + +"A most desirable arrangement. Thank you! Yes,--I _will_ take a scone, +as you are so kind!" said Peggy blandly; a remark which covered the five +young people with confusion, since none of them had noticed that her +plate was empty. Each one made a grab in the direction of the plate of +scones; the girls failed to reach it, while Oswald, twitching it from +Robert's hands, jerked half the contents on the table, and had to pick +them up, while Miss Saville looked on with a smile of indulgent +superiority. + +"Accidents will happen, will they not?" she said sweetly, as she lifted +a scone from the plate, with her little finger cocked well in the air, +and nibbled it daintily between her small white teeth. "A most +delicious cake! Home-made, I presume? Perhaps of your own concoction?" + +Esther muttered an inarticulate assent, and once more the conversation +languished. She looked appealingly at Maxwell. As the son of the +house, the eldest of the boys, it was his place to take the lead, but +Maxwell looked the picture of embarrassment. He did not suffer from +bashfulness as a rule, but since Peggy Saville had come into the room he +had been seized with an appalling self-consciousness. His feet felt in +the way, his arms seemed too long for practical purposes, his elbows had +a way of invading other people's precincts, and his hands looked red and +clammy. It occurred to him dimly that he was not a man after all, but +only a big overgrown schoolboy, and that little Miss Saville knew as +much, and was mildly pitiful of his shortcomings. He was not at all +anxious to attract the attention of the sharp little tongue, so he +passed on the signal to Mellicent, kicking her foot under the table, and +frowning vigorously in the direction of the stranger. + +"Er,"--began Mellicent, anxious to respond to the signal, but lamentably +short of ideas,--"Er,--Peggy! Are you fond of sums? I'm in decimals. +Do you like fractions? I think they are hateful. I could do vulgars +pretty well, but decimals are fearful. They never come right. So +awfully difficult." + +"Patience and perseverance overcome difficulties. Keep up your courage. +I'll help you with them, dear," said Peggy encouragingly, closing her +eyes the while, and coughing in a faint and ladylike manner. + +She could not really be only fourteen, Mellicent reflected. She talked +as if she were quite grown-up,--older than Esther, seventeen or eighteen +at the very least. What a little white face she had! what a great thick +plait of hair! How erect she held herself! Fraulein would never have +to rebuke her new pupil for stooping shoulders. It was kind of her to +promise help with those troublesome decimals! Quite too good an offer +to refuse. + +"Thank you very much," she said heartily, "I'll show you some after tea. +Perhaps you may be able to make me understand better than Fraulein. +It's very good of you, P--" A quick change of expression warned her that +something was wrong, and she checked herself to add hastily, "You want +to be called `Peggy,' don't you? No? Then what must we call you? What +is your real name?" + +"Mariquita!" sighed the damsel pensively, "after my grandmother-- +Spanish. A beautiful and unscrupulous woman at the court of Philip the +Second." She said "unscrupulous" with an air of pride, as though it had +been "virtuous," or some other word of a similar meaning, and pronounced +the name of the king with a confidence that made Robert gasp. + +"Philip the Second? Surely not? He was the husband of our Mary in +1572. That would make it just a trifle too far back for your +grandmother, wouldn't it?" he inquired sceptically; but Mariquita +remained absolutely unperturbed. + +"It must have been someone else, then, I suppose. How clever of you to +remember! I see you know something about history," she said suavely; a +remark which caused an amused glance to pass between the young people, +for Robert had a craze for history of all description, and had serious +thought of becoming a second Carlyle so soon as his college course was +over. + +Maxwell put his handkerchief to his mouth to stifle a laugh, and kicked +out vigorously beneath the table, with the intention of sharing his +amusement with his friend Oswald. It seemed, however, that he had aimed +amiss, for Mariquita fell back in her chair, and laid her hand on her +heart. + +"I think there must be some slight misunderstanding. That's my foot +that you are kicking! I cut it very badly on the ice last winter, and +the least touch causes acute suffering. Please don't apologise; it +doesn't matter in the least," and she rolled her eyes to the ceiling, +like one in mortal agony. + +It was the last straw. Maxwell's embarrassment had reached such a pitch +that he could bear no more. He murmured some unintelligible words, and +bolted from the room, and the other two boys lost no time in following +his example. + +In subsequent conversations, Mellicent always referred to this occasion +as "the night when Robert had _one cup_," it being, in truth, the only +occasion since this young gentleman entered the vicarage when he had +neglected to patronise the teapot three or four times in succession. + + + +CHAPTER FOUR. + +GOOD-BYE, MARIQUITA! + +For four long days had Mariquita Saville dwelt beneath Mr Asplin's +roof, and her companions still gazed upon her with fear and trembling, +as a mysterious and extraordinary creature whom they altogether failed +to understand. She talked like a book; she behaved like a +well-conducted old lady of seventy, and she sat with folded hands gazing +around, with a curious, dancing light in her hazel eyes, which seemed to +imply that there was some tremendous joke on hand, the secret of which +was known only to herself. Esther and Mellicent had confided their +impressions to their mother; but in Mrs Asplin's presence Peggy was +just a quiet, modest girl, a trifle shy, as was natural under the +circumstances, but with no marked peculiarity of any kind. She answered +to the name of "Peggy," to which address she was at other times +persistently deaf, and sat with neat little feet crossed before her, the +picture of a demure, well-behaved young schoolgirl. The sisters assured +their mother that Mariquita was a very different person in the +schoolroom, but when she inquired as to the nature of the difference, it +was not easy to explain. + +She talked so grandly, and used such great big words!--"A good thing, +too," Mrs Asplin averred. She wished the rest would follow her +example, and not use so much foolish, meaningless slang.--Her eyes +looked so bright and mocking, as if she were laughing at something all +the time.--Poor, dear child! could she not talk as she liked? It was a +great blessing she _could_ be bright, poor lamb, with such a parting +before her!--She was so grown-up, and patronising, and superior!--Tut! +tut! Nonsense! Peggy had come from a boarding-school, and her ways +were different from theirs--that was all. They must not take stupid +notions, but be kind and friendly, and make the poor girl feel at home. + +Fraulein on her side reported that her new pupil was docile and +obedient, and anxious to get on with her studies, though not so far +advanced as might have been expected. Esther was far ahead of her in +most subjects, and Mellicent learned with pained surprise that she knew +nothing whatever about decimal fractions. + +"Circumstances, dear," she explained, "circumstances over which I had no +control prevented an acquaintance, but no doubt I shall soon know all +about them, and then I shall be pleased to give you the promised help;" +and Mellicent found herself saying, "Thank you," in a meek and +submissive manner, instead of indulging in a well-merited rebuke. + +No amount of ignorance seemed to daunt Mariquita, or to shake her belief +in herself. When Maxwell came to grief in a Latin essay, she looked up +and said, "Can I assist you?" and when Robert read aloud a passage from +Carlyle, she laid her head on one side and said, "Now, do you know, I am +not altogether sure that I am with him on that point!" with an assurance +which paralysed the hearers. + +Esther and Mellicent discussed seriously together as to whether they +liked, or disliked, this extraordinary creature, and had great +difficulty in coming to a conclusion. She teased, puzzled, aggravated, +and provoked them; therefore, if they had any claim to be logical, they +should dislike her cordially, yet somehow or other they could not bring +themselves to say that they disliked Mariquita. There were moments when +they came perilously near loving the aggravating creature. Already it +gave them quite a shock to look back upon the time when there was no +Peggy Saville to occupy their thoughts, and life without the interest of +her presence would have seemed unspeakably flat and uninteresting. She +was a bundle of mystery. Even her looks seemed to exercise an uncanny +fascination. On the evening of her arrival the unanimous opinion had +been that she was decidedly plain, but there was something about the +pale little face which always seemed to invite a second glance, and the +more closely you gazed, the more complete was the feeling of +satisfaction. + +"Her face is so _neat_," Mellicent said to herself; and the adjective +was not inappropriate, for Peggy's small features looked as though they +had been modelled by the hand of a fastidious artist, and the air of +dainty finish extended to her hands and feet and slight, graceful +figure. + +The subject came up for discussion on the third evening after Peggy's +arrival, when she had been called out of the room to speak to Mrs +Asplin for a few minutes. Esther gazed after her as she walked across +the floor with her dignified tread, and when the door was closed she +said slowly-- + +"I don't think Mariquita is as plain now as I did at first; do you, +Oswald?" + +"N-no! I don't think I do. I should not call her exactly plain. She +is a funny little thing, but there's something nice about her face." + +"Very nice!" + +"Last night in the pink dress she looked almost pretty." + +"Y-es!" + +"Quite pretty!" + +"Y-es! really quite pretty." + +"We shall think her lovely in another week," said Mellicent tragically. +"Those awful Savilles! They are all alike--there is something Indian +about them. Indian people have a lot of secrets that we know nothing +about; they use spells, and poisons, and incantations that no English +person can understand, and they can charm snakes. I've read about it in +books. Arthur and Peggy were born in India, and it's my opinion that +they are bewitched. Perhaps the ayahs did it when they were in their +cradles. I don't say it is their own fault, but they are not like other +people, and they use their charms on us, as there are no snakes in +England. Look at Arthur! He was the naughtiest boy--always hurting +himself, and spilling things, and getting into trouble, and yet everyone +in the house bowed down before him, and did what he wanted.--Now mark my +words, Peggy will be the same!" + +Mellicent's companions were not in the habit of "marking her words," but +on this occasion they looked thoughtful, for there was no denying that +they were already more or less under the spell of the remorseless +stranger. + +On the afternoon of the fourth day Miss Peggy came down to tea with her +pigtail smoother and more glossy than ever, and the light of war shining +in her eyes. She drew her chair to the table, and looked blandly at +each of her companions in turn. + +"I have been thinking," she said sweetly, and the listeners quaked at +the thought of what was coming. "The thought has been weighing on my +mind that we neglect many valuable and precious opportunities. This +hour, which is given to us for our own use, might be turned to profit +and advantage, instead of being idly frittered away-- + + "`In work, in work, in work alway, + Let my young days be spent.' + +"It was the estimable Dr Watts, I think, who wrote those immortal +lines! I think it would be a desirable thing to carry on all +conversation at this table in the French language for the future. +_Passez-moi le beurre, s'il vous plait_, Mellicent, _ma tres chere. +J'aime beaucoup le beurre, quand il est frais. Est-ce que vous aimez le +beurre plus de la_,--I forget at the moment how you translate _jam, il +fait tres beau, ce apres-midi, n'est pas_?" + +She was so absolutely, imperturbably grave that no one dared to laugh. +Mellicent, who took everything in deadly earnest, summoned up courage to +give a mild little squeak of a reply. "_Wee_--_mais hier soir, il +pleut_;" and in the silence that followed Robert was visited with a +mischievous inspiration. He had had French nursery governesses in his +childhood, and had, moreover, spent two years abroad, so that French +came as naturally to him as his own mother-tongue. The temptation to +discompose Miss Peggy was too strong to be resisted. He raised his +dark, square-chinned face, looked straight into her eyes, and rattled +off a breathless sentence to the effect that there was nothing so +necessary as conversation, if one wished to master a foreign language; +that he had talked French in the nursery; and that the same Marie who +had nursed him as a baby was still in his father's service, acting as +maid to his sister. She was getting old now, but was a most faithful +creature, devoted to the family, though she had never overcome her +prejudices against England and English ways. He rattled on until he was +fairly out of breath, and Peggy leant her little chin on her hand, and +stared at him with an expression of absorbing attention. Esther felt +convinced that she did not understand a word of what was being said, but +the moment that Robert stopped, she threw back her head, clasped her +hands together, and exclaimed-- + +"_Mais certainement, avec_ pleasure!" with such vivacity and Frenchiness +of manner that she was forced into unwilling admiration. + +"Has no one else a remark to make?" continued this terrible girl, +collapsing suddenly into English, and looking inquiringly round the +table. "Perhaps there is some other language which you would prefer to +French. It is all the same to me. We ought to strive to become +proficient in foreign tongues. At the school where I was at Brighton +there was a little girl in the fourth form who could write, and even +speak, Greek with admirable fluency. It impressed me very much, for I +myself knew so little of the language. And she was only six--" + +"Six!" The boys straightened themselves at that, roused into eager +protest. "Six years old! And spoke Greek! And wrote Greek! +Impossible!" + +"I have heard her talking for half an hour at a time. I have known the +girls in the first form ask her to help them with their exercises. She +knew more than anyone in the school." + +"Then she is a human prodigy. She ought to be exhibited. Six years +old! Oh, I say--that child ought to turn out something great when she +grows up. What did you say her name was, by the bye?" + +Peggy lowered her eyelids, and pursed up her lips. "Andromeda +Michaelides," she said slowly. "She was six last Christmas. Her father +is Greek Consul in Manchester." + +There was a pause of stunned surprise; and then, suddenly, an +extraordinary thing happened. Mariquita bounded from her seat, and +began flying wildly round and round the table. Her pigtail flew out +behind her; her arms waved like the sails of a windmill, and as she +raced along she seized upon every loose article which she could reach, +and tossed it upon the floor. Cushions from chairs and sofa went flying +into the window; books were knocked off the table with one rapid sweep +of the hand; magazines went tossing up in the air, and were kicked about +like so many footballs. Round and round she went, faster and faster, +while the five beholders gasped and stared, with visions of madhouses, +strait-jackets, and padded rooms, rushing through their bewildered +brains. Her pale cheeks glowed with colour; her eyes shone; she gave a +wild shriek of laughter, and threw herself, panting, into a chair by the +fireside. + +"Three cheers for Mariquita! Ho! ho! he! Didn't I do it well? If you +could have _seen_ your faces!" + +"P-P-P-eggy! Do you mean to say you have been pretending all this time? +What do you mean? Have you been putting on all those airs and graces +for a joke?" asked Esther severely; and Peggy gave a feeble splutter of +laughter. + +"W-wanted to see what you were like! Oh, my heart! Ho! ho! ho! wasn't +it lovely? Can't keep it up any longer! Good-bye, Mariquita! I'm +Peggy now, my dears.--Give me some more tea!" + + + +CHAPTER FIVE. + +EXPLANATIONS. + +In the explanations that followed, no one showed a livelier interest +than Peggy herself. She was in her element answering the questions +which were showered upon her, and took an artistic pleasure in the +success of her plot. + +"You see," she explained, "I knew you would all be talking about me, and +wondering what I was like, just as I was thinking about you. As I was +Arthur's sister, I knew you would be sure to imagine me a mischievous +tom-boy, so I came to the conclusion that the best way to shock you +would be to be quite too awfully proper and well-behaved. I never +enjoyed anything so much in my life as that first tea-time, when you all +looked dumb with astonishment. I had made up my mind to go on for a +week, but mother is coming to-morrow, and I couldn't keep it up before +her, so I was obliged to explode to-night. Besides, I'm really quite +fatigued with being good--" + +"And are you--are you--really not proper, after all?" gasped Mellicent +blankly; whereat Peggy clasped her hands in emphatic protest. + +"Proper! Oh, my dear, I am the most awful person. I am always getting +into trouble. You know what Arthur was? Well, I tell you truly, he is +nothing to me. It's an extraordinary thing. I have excellent +intentions, but I seem bound to get into scrapes. There was a teacher +at Brighton, Miss Baker,--a dear old thing. I called her `Buns.'--She +vowed and declared that I shortened her life by bringing on palpitation +of the heart. I set the dressing-table on fire by spilling matches and +crunching them beneath my heels. It was not a proper dressing-table, +you know--just a wooden thing frilled round with muslin. We had two +blazes in the last term. And a dreadful thing occurred! Would you +believe that I was actually careless enough to sit down on the top of +her best Sunday hat, and squash it as flat as a pancake!" + +Despite her protestations of remorse, Peggy's voice had an exultant ring +as she detailed the history of her escapades, and Esther shrewdly +suspected that she was by no means so penitent as she declared. She put +on her most severe expression, and said sternly-- + +"You must be dreadfully careless. It is to be hoped you will be more +careful here, for your room is far-away from ours, and you might be +burned to death before anyone discovered you. Mother never allows +anyone to read in bed in this house, and she is most particular about +matches. You wouldn't like to be burned to a cinder all by yourself +some fine night, I should say?" + +"No, I shouldn't--or on a wet one either. It would be so lonely," said +Peggy calmly. "No; I am a reformed character about matches. I support +home industries, and go in for safeties, which `strike only on the box.' +But the boys would rescue me." She turned with a smile, and beamed +upon the three tall lads. "Wouldn't you, boys? If you hear me +squealing any night, don't stop to think. Just catch up your ewers of +water, and rush to my bedroom. We might get up an amateur fire-brigade, +to be in readiness. You three would be the brigade, and I would be the +captain and train you. It would be capital fun. At any moment I could +give the signal, and then, whatever you were doing--playing,--working,-- +eating,--or on cold frosty nights, just when you were going to bed, off +you would have to rush, and get out your fire-buckets. Sometimes you +might have to break the ice, but there's nothing like being prepared. +We might have the first rehearsal to-night--" + +"It's rather funny to hear you talking of being captain over the boys, +because the day we heard that you were coming, they all said that if +they were to be bothered with a third girl in the house, you would have +to make yourself useful, and that you should be their fag. Max said so, +and so did Oswald, and then Robert said they shouldn't have you. He had +lots of little odd things he wanted done, and he could make you very +useful. He said the other boys shouldn't have you; you were his +property." + +"Tut, tut!" said Peggy pleasantly. She looked at the three scowling, +embarrassed faces, and the mocking light danced back into her eyes. "So +they were all anxious to have me, were they? How nice! I'm gratified +to hear it. Is there any little thing I can do for your honourable self +now, Mr Darcy, before I dress for dinner?" + +Robert looked across the room at Mellicent with an expression which made +that young person tremble in her shoes. + +"All right, young lady, I'll remember you!" he said quietly. "I've +warned you before about repeating conversations. Now you'll see what +happens. I'll cure you of that little habit, my dear, as sure as my +name is Robert Darcy--" + +"The Honourable Robert Darcy!" murmured a silvery voice from the other +side of the fireplace. Robert turned his head sharply, but Peggy was +gazing into the coals with an air of lamb-like innocence, and he +subsided into himself with a grunt of displeasure. + +The next day Mrs Saville came to lunch, and spent the afternoon at the +vicarage. As Maxwell had said, she was a beautiful woman; tall, fair, +and elegant, and looking a very fashionable lady when contrasted with +Mrs Asplin in her well-worn serge, but her face was sad and anxious in +expression. Esther noticed that her eyes filled with tears more than +once as she looked round the table at the husband and wife and the three +tall, well-grown children; and when the two ladies were alone in the +drawing-room she broke into helpless sobbings. + +"Oh, how happy you are! How I envy you! Husband, children,--all beside +you. Oh, never, never let one of your girls marry a man who lives +abroad. My heart is torn in two; I have no rest. I am always longing +for the one who is not there. I must go back,--the major needs me; but +my Peggy,--my own little girl! It is like death to leave her behind!" + +Mrs Asplin put her arms round the tall figure, and rocked her gently to +and fro. + +"I know! I know!" she said brokenly. "I _ache_ for you, dear; but I +understand! I have parted with a child of my own--not for a few years, +but for ever, till we meet again in God's heaven. I'll help you every +way I can. I'll watch her night and day; I'll coddle her when she's +ill; I'll try to make her a good woman. I'll _love_ her, dear, and she +shall be my own special charge. I'll be a second mother to her." + +"You dear, good woman! God bless your kind heart!" said Mrs Saville +brokenly. "I can't help breaking down, but indeed I have much to be +thankful for. I can't tell you what a relief it is to feel that she is +in this house. The principals of that school at Brighton were all that +is good and excellent, but they did not understand my Peggy." The tears +were still in her eyes, but she broke into a flickering smile at the +last word. "My children have such spirits! I am afraid they really do +give more trouble than other boys and girls, but they are not really +naughty. They are truthful and generous, and wonderfully warm-hearted. +I never needed to punish Peg when she was a little girl; it was enough +to show that she had grieved me. She never did the same thing again +after that; but--oh, dear me!--the ingenuity of that child in finding +fresh fields for mischief! Dear Mrs Asplin, I am afraid she will try +your patience. You must be sure to keep a list of all the breakages and +accidents, and charge them to our account. Peggy is an expensive little +person. You know what Arthur was." + +"Bless him--yes! I had hardly a tumbler left in the house," said Mrs +Asplin, with gusto. "But I don't grieve myself about a few breakages. +I have had too much to do with schoolboys for that!--And now give me all +the directions you can about this precious little maid, while we have +the room to ourselves." + +For the next hour there the two ladies sat in conclave about Miss +Peggy's mental, moral, and physical welfare. Mrs Asplin had a book in +her hand, in which from time to time she jotted down notes of a curious +and inconsequent character. "Pay attention to private reading. +Gas-fire in her bedroom for chilly weather. See dentist in Christmas +holidays. Query: gold plate over eye-tooth? Boots to order, Beavan and +Company, Oxford Street. Cod-liver oil in winter. Careless about +changing shoes. Damp brings on throat. Aconite and belladonna." So +on, and so on. There seemed no end to the warnings and instructions of +this anxious mother; but when all was settled as far as possible, the +ladies adjourned into the schoolroom to join the young people at their +tea, so that Mrs Saville might be able to picture her daughter's +surroundings when separated from her by those weary thousands of miles. + +"What a bright, cheery room!" she said smilingly, as she took her seat +at the table, and her eyes wandered round as if striving to print the +scene in her memory. How many times, as she lay panting beneath the +swing of the punkah, she would recall that cool English room, with its +vista of garden through the windows, the long table in the centre, the +little figure with the pale face and plaited hair, seated midway between +the top and bottom! Oh! the moments of longing--of wild, unbearable +longing--when she would feel that she must break loose from her +prison-house and fly away,--that not the length of the earth itself +could keep her back, that she would be willing to give up life itself +just to hold Peggy in her arms for five minutes, to kiss the sweet lips, +to meet the glance of the loving eyes-- + +But this would never do! Had she not vowed to be cheerful? The young +folks were looking at her with troubled glances. She roused herself, +and said briskly-- + +"I see you make this a playroom as well as a study. Somebody has been +wood-carving over there, and you have one of those dwarf +billiard-tables. I want to give a present to this room--something that +will be a pleasure and occupation to you all; but I can't make up my +mind what would be best. Can you give me a few suggestions? Is there +anything that you need, or that you have fancied you might like?" + +"It's very kind of you," said Esther warmly; and echoes of "Very kind!" +came from every side of the table, while boys and girls stared at each +other in puzzled consideration. Maxwell longed to suggest a joiner's +bench, but refrained out of consideration for the girls' feelings. +Mellicent's eager face, however, was too eloquent to escape attention, +and Mrs Saville smiled at her in an encouraging manner. + +"Well, dear, what is it? Don't be afraid. I mean something really nice +and handsome; not just a little thing. Tell me what you thought?" + +"A--a new violin!" cried Mellicent eagerly. "Mine is so old and +squeaky, and my teacher said I needed a new one badly. A new violin +would be nicest of all." + +Mrs Saville looked round the table, caught an expressive grimace going +the round of three boyish faces, and raised her eyebrows inquiringly. + +"Yes? Whatever you like best, of course. It is all the same to me. +But would the violin be a pleasure to all? What about the boys?" + +"They would hear me play! The pieces would sound nicer. They would +like to hear them." + +"Ahem!" coughed Maxwell loudly; and at that there was a universal shriek +of merriment. Peggy's clear "Ho! ho!" rang out above the rest, and her +mother looked at her with sparkling eyes. Yes, yes, yes; the child was +happy! She had settled down already into the cheery, wholesome life of +the vicarage, and was in her element among these merry boys and girls! +She hugged the thought to her heart, finding in it her truest comfort. +The laughter lasted several minutes, and broke out intermittently from +time to time as that eloquent cough recurred to memory, but after all it +was Mellicent who was the one to give the best suggestion. + +"Well then, a--a what-do-you-call-it!" she cried. "A thing-um-me-bob! +One of those three-legged things for taking photographs! The boys look +so silly sometimes, rolling about together in the garden, and we have +often and often said, `Don't you wish we could take their photographs? +They _would_ look such frights!' We could have ever so much fun with a +what-do-you-call-it?" + +"Ah, that's something like!" "Good business." "Oh, wouldn't it be +sweet!" came the quick exclamations; and Mrs Saville looked most +pleased and excited of all. + +"A camera!" she cried. "What a charming idea! Then you would be able +to take photographs of Peggy and the whole household, and send them out +for me to see. How delightful! That is a happy thought, Mellicent. I +am so grateful to you for thinking of it, dear. I'll buy a really good +large one, and all the necessary materials, and send them down at once. +Do any of you know how to set to work?" + +"I do, Mrs Saville," Oswald said. "I had a small camera of my own, but +it got smashed some years ago. I can show them how to begin, and we +will take lots of photographs of Peggy for you, in groups and by +herself. They mayn't be very good at first, but you will be interested +to see her in different positions. We will take her walking, and +bicycling, and sitting in the garden, and every way we can think of--" + +"And whenever she has a new dress or hat, so that you may know what they +are like," added Mellicent anxiously. "Are her hats going to be the +same as ours, or is she to choose them for herself?" + +"She may choose them for herself, subject, of course, to your mother's +refraining influence. If she were to develop a fondness for scarlet +feathers, for instance, I think Mrs Asplin should interfere; but Peggy +has good taste. I don't think she will go far wrong," said the girl's +mother, looking at her fondly; and the little white face quivered before +it broke into its sunny, answering smile. + +Three times that evening, after Mrs Saville had left, did her +companions surprise the glitter of tears in Peggy's eyes; but there was +a dignified reserve about her manner which forbade outspoken sympathy. +Even when she was discovered to be quietly crying behind her book, when +Maxwell flipped it mischievously out of her hands,--even then did Peggy +preserve her wonderful self-possession. The tears were trickling down +her cheeks, and her poor little nose was red and swollen, but she looked +up at Maxwell without a quiver, and it was he who stood gaping before +her, aghast and miserable. + +"Oh, I say! I'm fearfully sorry!" + +"So am I," said Peggy severely. "It was rude, and not at all funny. +And it injures the book. I have always been taught to reverence books, +and treat them as dear and valued companions. Pick it up, please. +Thank you. Don't do it again." She hitched herself round in her chair, +and settled down once more to her reading, while Maxwell slunk back to +his seat. When Peggy was offended she invariably fell back upon +Mariquita's grandiose manner, and the sting of her sharp little tongue +left her victims dumb and smarting. + + + +CHAPTER SIX. + +A NEW FRIENDSHIP. + +A week after this, Mrs Saville came to pay her farewell visit before +sailing for India. Mother and daughter went out for a walk in the +morning, and retired to the drawing-room together for the afternoon. +There was much that they wanted to say to each other, yet for the most +part they were silent, Peggy sitting with her head on her mother's +shoulder, and Mrs Saville's arms clasped tightly round her. Every now +and then she stroked the smooth brown head, and sometimes Peggy raised +her lips and kissed the cheek which leant against her own, but the +sentences came at long intervals. + +"If I were ill, mother--a long illness--would you come?" + +"On wings, darling! As fast as boat and train could bring me." + +"And if you were ill?" + +"I should send for you, if it were within the bounds of possibility--I +promise that! You must write often, Peggy--long, long letters. Tell me +all you do, and feel, and think. You will be almost a woman when we +meet again. Don't grow up a stranger to me, darling." + +"Every week, mother! I'll write something each day, and then it will be +like a diary. I'll tell you every bit of my life..." + +"Be a good girl, Peggy. Do all you can for Mrs Asplin, who is so kind +to you. She will give you what money you need, and if at any time you +should want more than your ordinary allowance, for presents or any +special purpose, just tell her about it, and she will understand. You +can have anything in reason; I want you to be happy. Don't fret, +dearie. I shall be with father, and the time will pass. In three years +I shall be back again, and then, Peg, then, how happy we shall be! Only +three years." + +Peggy shivered, and was silent. Three years seem an endless space when +one is young. She shut her eyes, and pondered drearily upon all that +would happen before the time of separation was passed. She would be +seventeen, nearly eighteen--a young lady who wore dresses down at her +ankles, and did up her hair. This was the last time, the very, very +last time when she would be a child in her mother's arms. The new +relationship might be nearer, sweeter, but it could never be the same, +and the very sound of the words "the last time" sends a pang to the +heart. + +Half an hour later the carriage drove up to the door. Mr and Mrs +Asplin came into the room to say a few words of farewell, and then left +Peggy to see her mother off. There were no words spoken on the way, and +so quietly did they move that Robert had no suspicion that anyone was +near, as he took off his shoes in the cloak-room opening off the hall. +He tossed his cap on to a nail, picked up his book, and was just about +to sally forth, when the sound of a woman's voice sent a chill through +his veins. The tone of the voice was low, almost a whisper, yet he had +never in his life heard anything so thrilling as its intense and +yearning tenderness. "Oh, my Peggy!" it said. "My little Peggy!" And +then, as in reply, came a low moaning sound, a feeble bleat like that of +a little lamb torn from its mother's side. Robert charged back into the +cloak-room, and kicked savagely at the boots and shoes which were +scattered about the floor, his lips pressed together, and his brows +meeting in a straight black line across his forehead. Another minute, +and the carriage rolled away. He peeped out of the door in time to see +a little figure fly out into the rain, and walking slowly towards the +schoolroom came face to face with Mrs Asplin. + +"Gone?" she inquired sadly. "Well, I'm thankful it is over. Poor +little dear, where is she? Flown up to her room, I suppose. We'll +leave her alone until tea-time. It will be the truest kindness." + +"Yes," said Robert vaguely. He was afraid that the good lady would not +be so willing to leave Peggy undisturbed if she knew her real +whereabouts, and was determined to say nothing to undeceive her. He +felt sure that the girl had hidden herself in the summer-house at the +bottom of the garden, and a nice, damp, mouldy retreat it would be this +afternoon, with the rain driving in through the open window, and the +creepers dripping on the walls. Just the place in which to sit and +break your heart, and catch rheumatic fever with the greatest possible +ease. And yet Robert said no word of warning to Mrs Asplin. He had an +inward conviction that if anyone were to go to the rescue, that person +should be himself, and that he, more than anyone else, would be able to +comfort Peggy in her affliction. He sauntered up and down the hall +until the coast was clear, then dashed once more into the cloak-room, +took an Inverness coat from a nail, a pair of goloshes from the floor, +and sped rapidly down the garden-path. In less than two minutes he had +reached the summer-house, and was peeping cautiously in at the door. +Yes; he was right. There sat Peggy, with her arms stretched out before +her on the rickety table, her shoulders heaving with long, gasping sobs. +Her fingers clenched and unclenched themselves spasmodically, and the +smooth little head rolled to and fro in an abandonment of grief. Robert +stood looking on in silent misery. He had a boy's natural hatred of +tears, and his first impulse was to turn tail, go back to the house, and +send someone to take his place; but even as he hesitated he shivered in +the chilly damp, and remembered the principal reason of his coming. He +stepped forward and dropped the cloak over the bent shoulders, whereupon +Peggy started up and turned a scared white face upon him. + +"Who, who--Oh! it is you! What do you want?" + +"Nothing. I saw you come out, and thought you would be cold. I brought +you out my coat." + +"I don't want it; I am quite warm. I came here to be alone." + +"I know; I'm not going to bother. Mrs Asplin thinks you are in your +room, and I didn't tell her that I'd seen you go out. But it's damp. +If you catch cold, your mother will be sorry." + +Peggy looked at him thoughtfully, and there was a glimmer of gratitude +in her poor tear-stained eyes. + +"Yes; I p-p-romised to be careful. You are very kind, but I can't think +of anything to-night. I am too miserably wretched." + +"I know; I've been through it. I was sent away to a boarding-school +when I was a little kid of eight, and I howled myself to sleep every +night for weeks. It is worse for you, because you are older, but you +will be happy enough in this place when you get settled. Mrs Asplin is +a brick, and we have no end of fun. It is ever so much better than +being at school; and, I say, you mustn't mind what Mellicent said the +other night. She's a little muff, always saying the wrong thing. We +were only chaffing when we said you were to be our fag. We never really +meant to bully you." + +"You c-couldn't if you t-tried," stammered Peggy brokenly, but with a +flash of her old spirit which delighted her hearer. + +"No; of course not. You can stand up for yourself; I know that very +well. But look here: I'll make a compact, if you will. Let us be +friends. I'll stick to you and help you when you need it, and you stick +to me. The other girls have their brother to look after them, but if +you want anything done, if anyone is cheeky to you, and you want him +kicked, for instance, just come to me, and I'll do it for you. It's all +nonsense about being a fag, but there are lots of things you could do +for me if you would, and I'd be awfully grateful. We might be partners, +and help one another--" + +Robert stopped in some embarrassment, and Peggy stared fixedly at him, +her pale face peeping out from the folds of the Inverness coat. She had +stopped crying, though the tears still trembled on her eyelashes, and +her chin quivered in uncertain fashion. Her eyes dwelt on the broad +forehead, the overhanging brows, the square, massive chin, and +brightened with a flash of approval. + +"You are a nice boy," she said slowly. "I like you! You don't really +need my help, but you thought it would cheer me to feel that I was +wanted. Yes; I'll be your partner, and I'll be of real use to you yet. +You'll find that out, Robert Darcy, before you have done with me." + +"All right, so much the better. I hope you will; but you know you can't +expect to have your own way all the time. I'm the senior partner, and +you will have to do what I tell you. Now I say it's damp in this hole, +and you ought to come back to the house at once. It's enough to kill +you to sit in this draught." + +"I'd rather like to be killed. I'm tired of life. I shouldn't mind +dying a bit." + +"Humph!" said Robert shortly. "Jolly cheerful news that would be for +your poor mother when she arrived at the end of her journey! Don't be +so selfish. Now then, up you get! Come along to the house." + +"I wo--" Peggy began, then suddenly softened, and glanced apologetically +into his face. "Yes, I will, because you ask me. Smuggle me up to my +room, Robert, and don't, don't, if you love me, let Mellicent come near +me! I couldn't stand her chatter to-night!" + +"She will have to fight her way over my dead body," said Robert firmly; +and Peggy's sweet little laugh quavered out on the air. + +"Nice boy!" she repeated heartily. "Nice boy; I do like you!" + + + +CHAPTER SEVEN. + +AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHERS. + +Peggy looked very sad and wan after her mother's departure, but her +companions soon discovered that anything like outspoken sympathy was +unwelcome. The redder her eyes, the more erect and dignified was her +demeanour; if her lips trembled when she spoke, the more grandiose and +formidable became her conversation, for Peggy's love of long words and +high-sounding expressions was fully recognised by this time, and caused +much amusement in the family. + +A few days after Mrs Saville sailed, a welcome diversion arrived in the +shape of the promised camera. The Parcels Delivery van drove up to the +door, and two large cases were delivered, one of which was found to +contain the camera itself, the tripod and a portable dark room, while +the other held such a collection of plates, printing-frames, and +chemicals as delighted the eyes of the beholders. It was the gift of +one who possessed not only a deep purse, but a most true and thoughtful +kindness, for, when young people are concerned, two-thirds of the +enjoyment of any present is derived from the possibility of being able +to put it to immediate use. As it was a holiday afternoon, it was +unanimously agreed to take two groups and develop them straightway. + +"Professional photographers are so dilatory," said Peggy severely; "and +indeed I have noticed that amateurs are even worse. I have twice been +photographed by friends, and they have solemnly promised to send me a +copy within a few days. I have waited, consumed by curiosity, and, my +dears, it has been months before it has arrived! Now we will make a +rule to finish off our groups at once, and not keep people waiting until +all the interest has died away. There's no excuse for such dilatory +behaviour!" + +"There is some work to do, remember, Peggy. You can't get a photograph +by simply taking off and putting on the cap; you must have a certain +amount of time and fine weather. I haven't had much experience, but I +remember thinking that photographs were jolly cheap, considering all the +trouble they cost, and wondering how the fellows could do them at the +price. There's the developing, and washing, and printing, and toning,-- +half a dozen processes before you are finished." + +Peggy smiled in a patient, forbearing manner. + +"They don't get any less, do they, by putting them off? Procrastination +will never lighten labour. Come, put the camera up for us, like a good +boy, and we'll show you how to do it." She waved her hand towards the +brown canvas bag, and the six young people immediately seized different +portions of the tripod and camera, and set to work to put them together. +The girls tugged and pulled at the sliding legs, which were too new and +stiff to work with ease; Maxwell turned the screws which moved the +bellows, and tried in vain to understand their working; Robert peered +through the lenses, and Oswald alternately raved, chided, and jeered at +their efforts. With so many cooks at work, it took an unconscionable +time to get ready, and even when the camera was perched securely on its +spidery legs, it still remained to choose the site of the picture, and +to pose the victims. After much wandering about the garden, it was +finally decided that the schoolroom window would be an appropriate +background for a first effort; but a heated argument followed before the +second question could be decided. + +"I vote that we stand in couples, arm-on-arm,--like this!" said +Mellicent, sidling up to her beloved brother, and gazing into his face +in a sentimental manner, which had the effect of making him stride away +as fast as he could walk, muttering indignant protests beneath his +breath. + +Then Esther came forward with her suggestion. + +"I'll hold a book as if I were reading aloud, and you can all sit round +in easy, natural positions, and look as if you were listening. I think +that would make a charming picture." + +"Idiotic, I call it! `Scene from the Goodchild family; mamma reading +aloud to the little ones.' Couldn't possibly look easy and natural +under the circumstances; should feel too miserable. Try again, my dear. +You must think of something better than that." + +It was impossible to please those three fastidious boys. One suggestion +after another was made, only to be waved aside with lordly contempt, +until at last the girls gave up any say in the matter, and left Oswald +to arrange the group in a manner highly satisfactory to himself and his +two friends, however displeasing to the more artistic members of the +party. Three girls in front, two boys behind, all standing stiff as +pokers; with solemn faces, and hair ruffled by constant peepings beneath +the black cloth. Peggy in the middle, with her eyebrows more peaked +than ever, and an expression of resigned martyrdom on her small, pale +face; Mellicent, large and placid, on the left; Esther on the right, +scowling at nothing, and, over their shoulders, the two boys' heads, +handsome Max and frowning Robert. + +"There," cried Oswald, "that's what I call a sensible arrangement! If +you take a photograph, _take_ a photograph, and don't try to do a +pastoral play at the same time. Keep still a moment, and I will see if +it is focused all right. I can see you pulling faces, Peggy! It's not +at all becoming. Now then, I'll put in the plate--that's the way!-- +one--two--three--and I shall take you. Stea-dy?" + +Instantly Mellicent burst into giggles of laughter, and threw up her +hands to her face, to be roughly seized from behind and shaken into +order. + +"Be quiet, you silly thing! Didn't you hear him say steady? What are +you trying to do?" + +"She has spoiled this plate, anyhow," said Oswald icily. "I'll try the +other, and if she can't keep still this time she had better run away and +laugh by herself at the other end of the garden. Baby!" + +"Not a ba--" began Mellicent indignantly; but she was immediately +punched into order, and stood with her mouth wide open, waiting to +finish her protest so soon as the ordeal was over. + +Peggy forestalled her, however, with an eager plea to be allowed to take +the third picture herself. + +"I want to have one of Oswald to send to mother, for we are not complete +without him, and I know it would please her to think I had taken it +myself," she urged; and permission was readily granted, as everyone felt +that she had a special claim in the matter. Oswald therefore put in new +plates, gave instructions as to how the shutters were to be worked, and +retired to take up an elegant position in the centre of the group. + +"Are you read-ee?" cried Peggy, in professional sing-song; then she put +her head on one side and stared at the group with twinkling eyes. "Hee, +hee! How silly you look! Everyone has a new expression for the +occasion! Your own mothers would not recognise you! That's better. +Keep that smile going for another moment, and--how long must I keep off +the cap, did you say?" + +Oswald hesitated. + +"Well, it varies. You have to use your own judgment. It depends upon-- +lots of things! You might try one second for the first, and two for the +next, then one of them is bound to be right." + +"And one a failure! If I were going to depend on my judgment, I'd have +a better one than that!" cried Peggy scornfully. "Ready! A little more +cheerful, if you please--Christmas is coming! That's _one_. Be so good +as to remain in your positions, ladies and gentlemen, and I'll try +another." The second shutter was pulled out, the cap removed, and the +group broke up with sighs of relief, exhausted with the strain of +cultivating company smiles for a whole two minutes on end. Max stayed +to help the girls to fold up the camera, while Oswald darted into the +house to prepare the dark room for the development of the plates. + +When he came out, ten minutes later on, it was a pleasant surprise to +discover Miss Mellicent holding a plate in her hand and taking sly peeps +inside the shutter, just "to see how it looked." He stormed and raved, +while Mellicent looked like a martyr, wished to know how a teeny little +light like that could possibly hurt anything, and seemed incapable of +understanding that if one flash of sunlight could make a picture, it +could also destroy it with equal swiftness. Oswald was forced to +comfort himself with the reflection that there were still three plates +uninjured; and, when all was ready, the six operators squeezed +themselves in the dark room, to watch the process of development, +indulging the while in the most flowery expectations. + +"If it is very good, let me send it to an illustrated paper. Oh, do!" +said Mellicent, with a gush. "I have often seen groups of people in +them. `The thing-a-me-bob touring company,' and stupid old cricketers, +and things like that. We should be far more interesting." + +"It will make a nice present for mother, enlarged and mounted," said +Peggy thoughtfully. "I shall keep an album of my own, and mount every +single picture we take. If there are any failures, I shall put them in +too, for they will make it all the more amusing. Photograph albums are +horribly uninteresting as a rule, but mine shall be quite different. +There shall be nothing stiff and prim about it; the photographs shall be +dotted about in all sorts of positions, and underneath each I shall put +in--ah--conversational annotations." Her tongue lingered over the words +with triumphant enjoyment. "Conversational annotations, describing the +circumstances under which it was taken, and anything about it which is +worth remembering... What are you going to do with those bottles?" + +Oswald ruffled his hair in embarrassment. To pose as an instructor in +an art, when one is in doubt about its very rudiments, is a position +which has its drawbacks. + +"I don't--quite--know. The stupid fellow has written instructions on +all the other labels, and none on these except simply `Developer Number +1' and `Developer Number 2'; I think the only difference is that one is +rather stronger than the other. I'll put some of the Number 2 in a +dish, and see what happens; I believe that's the right way--in fact, I'm +sure it is. You pour it over the plate and jog it about, and in two or +three minutes the picture ought to begin to appear. Like this!" + +Five eager faces peered over his shoulders, rosy red in the light of the +lamp; five pairs of lips uttered a simultaneous "Oh!" of surprise; five +cries of dismay followed in instant echo. It was the tragedy of a +second. Even as Oswald poured the fluid over the plate, a picture +flashed before their eyes, each one saw and recognised some fleeting +feature; and, in the very moment of triumph, lo, darkness, as of night, +a sheet of useless, blackened glass! + +"What about the conversational annotations?" asked Robert slily; but he +was interrupted by a storm of indignant queries, levied at the head of +the poor operator, who tried in vain to carry off his mistake with a +jaunty air. Now that he came to think of it, he believed you _did_ mix +the two developers together! Just at the moment he had forgotten the +proportions, but he would go outside and look it up in the book; and he +beat a hasty retreat, glad to escape from the scene of his failure. It +was rather a disconcerting beginning; but hope revived once more when +Oswald returned, primed with information from the _Photographic Manual_, +and Peggy's plates were taken from their case and put into the bath. +This time the result was slow in coming. Five minutes went by, and no +signs of a picture--ten minutes, a quarter of an hour. + +"It's a good thing to develop slowly; you get the details better," said +Oswald, in so professional a manner that he was instantly reinstated in +public confidence; but when twenty minutes had passed, he looked +perturbed, and thought he would use a little more of the hastener. The +bath was strengthened and strengthened, but still no signs of a picture. +The plate was put away in disgust, and the second one tried with a like +result. So far as it was possible to judge, there was nothing to be +developed on the plate. + +"A nice photographer you are, I must say! What are you playing at now?" +asked Max, in scornful impatience; and Oswald turned severely to Peggy-- + +"Which shutter did you draw out? The one nearest to yourself?" + +"Yes, I did--of course I did!" + +"You drew out the nearest to you, and the farthest away from the lens?" + +"Precisely--I told you so!" and Peggy bridled with an air of virtue. + +"Then no wonder nothing has come out! You have drawn out the wrong +shutter each time, and the plates have never been exposed. They are +wasted! That's fivepence simply _thrown_ away, to say nothing of the +chemicals!" + +His air of aggrieved virtue; Peggy's little face staring at him, aghast +with horror; the thought of four plates being used and leaving not a +vestige of a result, were all too funny to be resisted. Mellicent went +off into irrepressible giggles; Max gave a loud "Ha, ha!" and once again +a mischievous whisper sounded in Peggy's ear-- + +"Good for you, Mariquita! What about the `conversational annotations'?" + + + +CHAPTER EIGHT. + +PEGGY SHOWS HERSELF IN HER TRUE COLOURS. + +The photographic fever burnt fiercely for the next few weeks. Every +spare hour was devoted to the camera, and there was not a person in the +house, from the vicar himself to the boy who came in to clean boots and +knives, who had not been pressed to repeated sittings. There were no +more blank plates, but there were some double ones which had been twice +exposed, and showed such a kaleidoscopic jumble of heads and legs as was +as good as any professional puzzle; but, besides these, there were a +number of groups where the likenesses were quite recognisable, though +scarcely flattering enough to be pleasant to the originals. There was +quite a scene in the dining-room on the evening when Oswald came down in +triumph and handed round the proofs of the first presentable group, over +which he had been busy all the afternoon. + +"Oh, oh, oh! I'm an old woman, and I never knew it!" cried Mrs Asplin, +staring in dismay at the haggard-looking female who sat in the middle of +the group, with heavy, black shadows on cheeks and temple. The vicar +cast a surreptitious glance in the glass above the sideboard, and tried +to straighten his bent shoulders, while Mellicent's cheeks grew scarlet +with agitation, and the tears were in her voice, as she cried-- + +"I look like a p-p-pig! It's not a bit like! A nasty, horrid, fat, +puffy pig!" + +"I don't care about appearances; but mine is not in the least like," +Esther said severely. "I am sure no one could recognise it; I look +seventy-eight at the very least." + +Robert flicked the paper across the table with a contemptuous "Bah!" and +Max laughed in his easy, jolly manner, and said-- + +"Now I know how I shall look when my brain softens! I'm glad I've seen +it; it will be a lesson to me to take things easily, and not +over-study." + +"But look at the leaves of the ivy," protested Oswald, in aggrieved +self-vindication, "each one quite clear and distinct from the others; +it's really an uncommonly good plate. The detail is perfect. Look at +that little bunch of flowers at the corner of the bed!" All in vain, +however, did he point out the excellences of his work. The victims +refused to look at the little bunch of flowers. Each one was occupied +with staring at his own portrait; the Asplin family sighing and +protesting, and Peggy placidly poking a pin through the eyes of the +various sitters, and holding the paper to the light to view the effect. +It was a little trying to the feelings of one who had taken immense +pains over his work, and had given up a bicycle ride to sit for a whole +afternoon in a chilly pantry, dabbling in cold water, and watching over +the various processes. Oswald was ruffled, and showed it more plainly +than was altogether courteous. + +"I'm sorry you're not pleased," he said coldly. "I aim at truthfulness, +you see, and that is what you don't get from a professional photograph. +It's no good wasting time, simply to get oneself disliked. I'll go in +for Nature, and leave the portrait business to somebody else. The girls +can try! They think they can do everything!" + +Peggy looked at Esther, and Esther looked at Peggy. They did not say a +word, but a flash of understanding passed from the brown eyes to the +grey, which meant that they were on their mettle. They were not going +to defend themselves, but henceforth it was a case of die or produce a +good photograph, and so oblige Oswald to alter his tone of scornful +incredulity. + +For the next week the camera was the one engrossing thought. Every +minute that could be spared was devoted to experiments, so that Fraulein +complained that lessons were suffering in consequence. The hearts of +her pupils were not in their work, she declared; it would be a good +thing if a rule could be made that no more photographs were to be taken +until the Christmas holidays. She looked very fierce and formidable as +she spoke, but soft-hearted Mrs Asplin put in a plea for forgiveness. + +"Ah, well, then, have patience for a few days longer," she begged. +"They are just children with a new toy; let them have as much of it as +they will at first, and they will tire of their own accord, and settle +down to work as well as ever. We can control their actions, but not +their thoughts; and I'm afraid if I forbade photography at present, you +would find them no more interested in lessons. I fancy there is +something especially engrossing on hand this week, and we might as well +let them have it out." + +Even Mrs Asplin, however, hardly realised the thoroughness with which +the girls were setting to work to achieve their end. They held a +committee meeting on Esther's bed, sitting perched together in attitudes +of inelegant comfort, with arms encircling their knees, and chins +resting on the clasped hands, wherein it was proposed and seconded that +Peggy, the artistic, should pose and take the sitters, while Esther, the +accurate, should undertake the after-processes. + +"And what am I to do?" cried Mellicent plaintively; and her elders +smiled upon her with patronising encouragement. + +"You shall wash up all the trays and glasses, and put them neatly away." + +"You shall carry the heavy things, dear, and stand to me for your back +hair. I think I could make a really good effect with your back hair." +Peggy put her head on one side and stared at the flaxen mane in +speculative fashion. "A long muslin gown--a wreath of flowers--a bunch +of lilies in your hands! If you weren't so fat, you would do +splendiforously for Ophelia. I might manage it, perhaps, if I took you +from the back, with your head turned over your shoulder, so as to show +only the profile. Like that! Don't move now, but let me see how you +look." She took Mellicent's head between her hands as she spoke, wagged +it to and fro, as if it belonged to a marionette, and then gave a +frog-like leap to a farther corner of the bed to study the effect. "A +little more to the right. Chin higher! Look at the ceiling. Yes-es--I +can do it. I see how it can be done." + +It turned out, indeed, that Peggy had a genius for designing and posing +pretty, graceful pictures. With a few yards of muslin and a basket, or +such odds and ends of rubbish as horrified Esther's tidy soul to behold, +she achieved marvels in the way of fancy costumes, and transformed the +placid Mellicent into a dozen different characters: Ophelia, crowned +with flowers; Marguerite, pulling the petals of a daisy; Hebe, bearing a +basket of fruit on her head, and many other fanciful impersonations, +were improvised and taken before the week was over. She went about the +work in her usual eager, engrossed, happy-go-lucky fashion, sticking +pins by the dozen into Mellicent's flesh in the ardour of arrangement, +and often making a really charming picture, only to spoil it at the last +moment by a careless movement, which altered the position of the camera, +and so omitted such important details as the head of the sitter, or left +her squeezed into one corner of the picture, like a sparrow on the +house-top. + +Out of a dozen photographs, three, however, were really remarkable +successes; as pretty pictures as one could wish to see, and, moreover, +exceedingly good likenesses of the bonnie little subject. Esther's part +of the work was performed with her usual conscientious care; and when +the last prints were mounted, the partners gazed at them with rapture +and pride. They were exhibited at the dinner-table the same evening +amid a scene of riotous excitement. The vicar glowed with pleasure; +Mrs Asplin called out, "Oh, my baby! Bless her heart!" and whisked +away two tears of motherly pride. Oswald was silent and subdued; and +even Robert said, "Humph--it's not so bad," a concession which turned +the girls' heads by its wonderful magnanimity. + +Their triumph was almost sweeter than they had expected; but, truth to +tell, they had had too much of photography during the last week, and +Mrs Asplin's prophecy came true, inasmuch as it now ceased to become an +occupation of absorbing interest, and assumed its rightful place as an +amusement to be enjoyed now and then, as opportunity afforded. + + + +CHAPTER NINE. + +THE HONOURABLE ROSALIND. + +By the beginning of October Peggy had quite settled down in her new +home, and had established her right to be Arthur Saville's sister by +convulsing the quiet household with her tricks and capers. She was +affectionate, obedient, and strictly truthful; her prim little face, +grandiose expressions, and merry ways, made her a favourite with +everyone in the house, from the vicar, who loved to converse with her in +language even more high-flown than her own, to the old North-country +cook, who confided in the housemaid that she "fair-ly did love that +little thing," and manoeuvred to have apple charlotte for dinner as +often as possible, because the "little thing" had praised her prowess in +that direction, and commended the charlotte as a "delicious confection." +Mrs Asplin was specially tender over the girl who had been left in her +charge, and, in return, Peggy was all that was sweet and affectionate, +vowed that she could never do enough to repay such kindness, and +immediately fell into a fresh pickle, and half frightened the life out +of her companions by her hairbreadth escapes. Her careless, +happy-go-lucky ways seemed all the more curious because of the almost +Quaker-like neatness of her appearance. Mellicent was often untidy, and +even Esther had moments of dishevelment, but Peggy was a dainty little +person, whose hair was always smooth, whose dress well brushed and +natty. Her artistic sense was too keen to allow of any shortcoming in +this respect; but she seemed blessed with a capacity of acting before +she thought, which had many disastrous consequences. She was by no +means a robust girl, and Mrs Asplin fussed over her little ailments +like an old mother-hen with a delicate nursling. One prescription after +another was unearthed for her benefit, until the washstand in her room +looked like a small chemist's shop. An array of doctor's tinctures, +gargles, and tonics, stood on one side, while on the other were a number +of home-made concoctions in disused wine-bottles, such as a paregoric +cough-mixture, and a cooling draught to be taken the first thing in the +morning, which last pretended to be lemonade, but in reality contained a +number of medicinal powders. "Take it up tenderly, treat it with care!" +was Peggy's motto with respect to this last-named medicine, for she had +discovered that by judicious handling it was possible to enjoy a really +tasty beverage, and to leave the sediment untouched at the bottom of the +bottle! + +Esther and Mellicent were almost equally well supplied by their anxious +mother, but their bottles behaved in a well-regulated fashion, and never +took upon themselves to play tricks, while those in Peggy's room seemed +infected by the spirit of the owner, and amused themselves with seeing +how much mischief they could accomplish. A bottle of ammonia had been +provided as a cure for bites of gnats and flies; Peggy flicked a towel +more hastily than usual, and down it fell, the contents streaming over +the wood, and splashing on to the wardrobe near at hand, with the +consequence that every sign of polish was removed, and replaced by white +unsightly stains. The glass stopper of a smelling-salts bottle became +fixed in its socket, and, being anointed with oil and placed before the +fire to melt, popped out suddenly with a noise as of a cannon shot, +aimed accurately for the centre of the mirror, and smashed it into a +dozen pieces. The "safety ink-pot," out of which she indited her +letters to her mother, came unfastened of its own accord and rolled up +and down the clean white toilet cover. This, at least, was the +impression left by Peggy's innocent protestations, while the gas and +soap seemed equally obstinate--the one refusing to be lowered when she +left the room, and the other insisting upon melting itself to pieces in +her morning bath! + +"Mrs Saville was right--Peggy is a most expensive person!" cried Mrs +Asplin in dismay, when the bills for repairs came in; but when the vicar +suggested the advisability of a reproof, she said, "Oh, poor child; she +is so lonely--I haven't the heart to scold her;" and Peggy continued to +detail accounts of her latest misfortune with an air of exaggerated +melancholy, which barely concealed the underlying satisfaction. It +required a philosophic mind to be able to take damages to personal +property in so amiable a fashion; but occasionally Peggy's pickles took +an irresistibly comical character. The story was preserved in the +archives of the family of one evening when the three girls had been sent +upstairs to wash their abundant locks and dry them thoroughly before +retiring to bed. A fire was kindled in the old nursery, which was now +used as a sewing-room, and Mrs Asplin, who understood nothing if it was +not the art of making young folks happy, had promised a supper of roast +apples and cream when the drying process was finished. + +Esther and Mellicent were squatted on the hearth, in their blue +dressing-gowns, when in tripped Peggy, fresh as a rose, in a long robe +of furry white, tied round the waist with a pink cord. One bath-towel +was round her shoulders, and a smaller one extended in her hands, with +the aid of which she proceeded to perform a fancy dance, calling out +instructions to herself the while, in imitation of the dancing-school +mistress. "To the right--two--three! To the left--two--three! Spring! +Pirouette! Atti-tude!" She stood poised on one foot, towel waving +above her head, damp hair dripping down her back, while Esther and +Mellicent shrieked with laughter, and drummed applause with heel and +toe. Then she flopped down on the centre of the hearth, and there was +an instantaneous exclamation of dismay. + +"Phew! What a funny smell! Phew! Phew! Whatever can it be?" + +"I smelt it too. Peggy, what have you been doing? It's simply awful!" + +"Hair-wash, I suppose, or the soap--I noticed it myself. It will pass +off," said Peggy easily; but at that moment Mrs Asplin entered the +room, sniffed the air, and cried loudly-- + +"Bless me, what's this? A regular Apothecaries' Hall! Paregoric! It +smells as if someone had been drinking quarts of paregoric! Peggy, +child, your throat is not sore again?" + +"Not at all, thank you. Quite well. I have taken no medicine to-day." + +"But it is you, Peggy--it really is!" Mellicent declared. "There was +no smell at all before you came into the room. I noticed it as soon as +the door was opened, and when you came and sat down beside us--whew! +simply fearful!" + +"I have taken _no_ medicine to-day," repeated Peggy firmly. Then she +started, as if with a sudden thought, lifted a lock of hair, sniffed at +it daintily, and dropped it again with an air of conviction. "Ah, I +comprehend! There seems to have been a slight misunderstanding. I have +mistaken the bottles. I imagined that I was using the mixture you gave +me, but--" + +"She has washed her hair in cough-mixture! Oh, oh, oh! She has mixed +paregoric and treacle with the water! Oh, what will I do! what will I +do! This child will be the death of me!" Mrs Asplin put her hand to +her side, and laughed until the tears ran down her cheeks, while +Mellicent rolled about on the floor, and Esther's quiet "He, he, he!" +filled up the intervals between the bursts of merriment. + +Peggy was marched off to have her hair re-washed and rinsed, and came +back ten minutes later, proudly complacent, to seat herself in the most +comfortable stool and eat roast apple with elegant enjoyment. She was +evidently quite ready to enlarge upon her latest feat, but the sisters +had exhausted the subject during her absence, and had, moreover, a piece +of news to communicate which was of even greater interest. + +"Oh, Peggy, what y'think?" cried Mellicent, running her words into each +other in breathless fashion, as her habit was when excited; "I've got +something beautiful to tell you. S'afternoon Bob got a letter from his +mother to say that they were all coming down next week to stay at the +Larches for the winter. They come almost every year, and have +shooting-parties, and come to church and sit in the big square pew, +where you can just see their heads over the side. They look so funny, +sitting in a row without their bodies. Last year there was a young lady +with them who wore a big grey hat--the loveliest hat you ever saw--with +roses under the brim, and stick-up things all glittering with jewels, +and she got married at Christmas. I saw her photograph in a magazine, +and knew her again in a moment. I used to stare at her, and once she +smiled back at me. She looked sweet when she smiled. Lady Darcy always +comes to call on mother, and she and father go there to dinner ever so +many times, and we are asked to play with Rosalind--the Honourable +Rosalind. I expect they will ask you to go too. Isn't it exciting?" + +"I can bear it," said Peggy coldly. "If I try very hard, I think I can +support the strain." + +The Larches, the country house of Lord Darcy, had already been pointed +out to her notice; but the information that the family was coming down +for the yearly visit was unwelcome to her, for a double reason. She +feared, in the first place, lest it should mean a separation from Bob, +who was her faithful companion, and fulfilled his promise of friendship +in a silent, undemonstrative fashion, much to her fancy. In the second +place, she was conscious of a rankling feeling of jealousy towards the +young lady who was distinguished by the name of the Honourable Rosalind, +and who seemed to occupy an exalted position in the estimation of the +vicar's daughters. Her name was frequently introduced into +conversation, and always in the most laudatory fashion. When a heroine +was of a superlatively fascinating description, she was "Just like +Rosalind"; when an article of dress was unusually fine and dainty, it +would "do for Rosalind." Rosalind was spoken of with bated breath, as +if she were a princess in a fairy tale, rather than an ordinary +flesh-and-blood damsel. And Peggy did not like it; she did not like it +at all, for, in her own quiet way, she was accustomed to queen it among +her associates, and could ill brook the idea of a rival. She had not +been happy at school, but she had been complacently conscious that of +all the thirty girls she was the most discussed, the most observed, and +also, among the pupils themselves, the most beloved. At the vicarage +she was an easy first. When the three girls went out walking, she was +always in the middle, with Esther and Mellicent hanging on an arm at +either side. Robert was her sworn vassal, and Max and Oswald her +respectful and, on the whole, obedient servants. Altogether, the +prospect of playing second fiddle to this strange girl was by no means +pleasant. Peggy tilted her chin, and spoke in a cool, cynical tone. + +"What is she like, this wonderful Rosalind? Bob does not seem to think +her extraordinary. I cannot imagine a `Miss Robert' being very +beautiful, and as she is his sister, I suppose they are alike." + +Instantly there arose a duet of protests. + +"Not in the least. Not a single bit. Rosalind is lovely! Blue eyes, +golden hair--" + +"Down past her waist--" + +"The sweetest little hands--" + +"A real diamond ring--" + +"Pink cheeks--" + +"Drives a pony-carriage, with long-tailed ponies--" + +"Speaks French all day long with her governess--jabber, jabber, jabber, +as quick as that--just like a native--" + +"Plays the violin--" + +"Has a lovely little sitting-room of her own, simply crammed with the +most exquisite presents and books, and goes travelling abroad to France +and Italy and hot places in winter. Lord and Lady Darcy simply worship +her, and so does everyone, for she is as beautiful as a picture. Don't +you think it would be lovely to have a lord and lady for your father and +mother?" + +Peggy sniffed the air in scornful superiority. + +"I am very glad I've not! Titles are so ostentatious! Vulgar, I call +them! The very best families will have nothing to do with them. My +father's people were all at the Crusades, and the Wars of the Roses, and +the Field of the Cloth of Gold. There is no older family in England, +and they are called `Fighting Savilles,' because they are always in the +front of every battle, winning honours and distinctions. I expect they +have been offered titles over and over again, but they would not have +them. They refused them with scorn, and so would I if one were offered +to me. Nothing would induce me to accept it!" + +Esther rolled her eyes in a comical, sideway fashion, and gave a little +chuckle of unbelief; but Mellicent looked quite depressed by this +reception of her grand news, and said anxiously-- + +"But, Peggy, think of it! The Honourable Mariquita! It would be too +lovely! Wouldn't you feel proud writing it in visitors' books, and +seeing it printed in newspapers when you grow up? `The Honourable +Mariquita wore a robe of white satin, trimmed with gold!'" + +"Peggy Saville is good enough for me, thank you," said that young lady, +with a sudden access of humility. "I have no wish to have my clothes +discussed in the public prints. But if you are invited to the Larches +to play with your Rosalind, pray don't consider me! I can stay at home +alone. I don't mind being dull. I can turn my time to good account. +Not for the world would I interfere with your pleasure?" + +"But P-P-Peggy, dar-ling Peggy, we would not leave you alone!" +Mellicent's eyes were wide with horror, she stretched out entreating +hands towards the unresponsive figure. To see Peggy cross and snappish +like--any other ordinary mortal was an extraordinary event, and quite +alarming to her placid mind. "They will ask you, too, dear! I am sure +they will--we will all be asked together!" she cried; but Peggy tossed +her head, refusing to be conciliated. + +"I shall have a previous engagement. I am not at all sure that they are +the sort of people I ought to know," she said. "My parents are so +exclusive! They might not approve of the acquaintance!" + + + +CHAPTER TEN. + +AMBITIONS! + +Although Fraulein had charge over the girls' education, Mr Asplin +reserved to himself the right of superintending their studies and +dictating their particular direction. He was so accustomed to training +boys for a definite end that he had no patience with the ordinary +aimless routine of a girl's school course, and in the case of his +daughters had carefully provided for their different abilities and +tastes. Esther was a born student, a clear-headed, hard-thinking girl, +who took a delight in wrestling with Latin verbs and in solving problems +in Euclid, while she had little or no artistic faculty. He put her +through much the same course as his own boys, gave her half an hour's +private lesson on unoccupied afternoons, and cut down the two hours' +practising on the piano to a bare thirty minutes. Esther had pleaded to +give up music altogether, on the ground that she had neither love nor +skill for this accomplishment, but to this the vicar would not agree. + +"You have already spent much time over it, and have passed the worst of +the drudgery; it would be folly to lose all you have learnt," he said. +"You may not wish to perform in public, but there are many other ways in +which your music may be useful. In time to come you would be sorry if +you could not read an accompaniment to a song, play bright airs to amuse +children, or hymn tunes to help in a service. Half an hour a day will +keep up what you have learned, and so much time you must manage to +spare." + +With Mellicent the case was almost exactly opposite. It was a waste of +time trying to teach her mathematics, she had not sufficient brain power +to grasp them, and if she succeeded in learning a proposition by heart +like a parrot, it was only to collapse into helpless tears and +protestations when the letters were altered, and, as it seemed to her, +the whole argument changed thereby. + +Fraulein protested that it was impossible to teach Mellicent to reason; +but the vicar was loath to give up his pet theory that girls should +receive the same hard mental training as their brothers. He declared +that if the girl were weak in this direction, it was all the more +necessary that she should be trained, and volunteered to take her in +hand for half an hour daily, to see what could be done. Fraulein +accepted this offer with a chuckle of satisfaction, and the vicar went +on with the lessons several weeks, patiently plodding over the same +ground without making the least impression on poor Mellicent's brain, +until there came one happy never-to-be-forgotten morning when Algebra +and Euclid went spinning up to the ceiling, and he jumped from the table +with a roar of helpless laughter. + +"Oh, baby! baby! this is past all bearing! We might try for a century, +and never get any further. I cannot waste any more time." Then, seeing +the large tears gathering, he framed the pretty face in his hands, and +looked at it with a tender smile. "Never mind, darling! there are +better things in this world than being clever and learned. You will be +our little house-daughter; help mother with her work, and play and sing +to father when he is tired in the evening. Work hard at your music, +learn how to manage a house, to sew and mend and cook, and you will have +nothing to regret. A woman who can make a home, has done more than many +scholars." + +So it came to pass that Mellicent added the violin to her +accomplishments, and was despatched to her own room to practise +exercises, while her elder sister wrestled with problems and equations. + +When Peggy Saville arrived, here was a fresh problem, for Fraulein +reported that the good child could not add five and six together without +tapping them over on her finger; was as ignorant of geography as a +little heathen, and had so little ear for music that she could not sing +"Rule Britannia" without branching off into "God save the Queen." But +when it came to poetry!--Fraulein held up her hands in admiration. It +was absolutely no effort to that child to remember, her eyes seemed to +flash down the page, and the lines were her own, and as she repeated +them her face shone, and her voice thrilled with such passionate delight +that Esther and Mellicent had been known to shed tears at the sound of +words which had fallen dead and lifeless from their own lips. And at +composition, how original she was! What a relief it was to find so +great a contrast to other children! When it was the life of a great man +which should be written, Esther and Mellicent began their essays as +ninety-nine out of a hundred schoolgirls would do, with a flat and +obvious statement of birth, birthplace, and parentage; but Peggy +disdained such commonplace methods, and dashed headlong into the heart +of her subject with a high-flown sentiment, or a stirring assertion +which at once arrested the reader's interest. And it was the same with +whatever she wrote; she had the power of investing the dullest subject +with charm and brightness. Fraulein could not say too much of Peggy's +powers in this direction, and the vicar's eye brightened as he listened. +He asked eagerly to be allowed to see the girl's manuscript book, and +summoned his wife from pastry-making in the kitchen to hear the three or +four essays which it contained. + +"What do you think of those for a girl of fourteen? There's a pupil for +you! If she were only a boy! Such dash--such spirit--such a gift of +words! Do you notice her adjectives? Exaggerated, no doubt, and +over-abundant, but so apt, so true, so strong! That child can write: +she has the gift. She ought to turn out an author of no mean rank." + +"Oh, dear me! I hope not. I hope she will marry a nice, kind man who +will be good to her, and have too much to do looking after her children +to waste her time writing stories," cried Mrs Asplin, who adored a good +novel when she could get hold of one, but harboured a prejudice against +all women-authors as strong-minded creatures, who lived in lodgings, and +sported short hair, inky fingers, and a pen behind the ear. Mariquita +Saville was surely destined for a happier fate. "When a woman can live +her _own_ romance, why need she trouble her head about inventing +others?" + +Her husband looked at her with a quizzical smile. + +"Even the happiest life is not all romance, dear. It sometimes seems +unbearably prosaic, and then it is a relief to lose oneself in fiction. +You can't deny that! I seem to have a remembrance of seeing someone I +know seated in a big chair before this very fire devouring a novel and a +Newton pippin together on more Saturday afternoons than I could number." + +"Tuts!" said his wife, and blushed a rosy red, which made her look +ridiculously young and pretty. Saturday afternoon was her holiday-time +of the week, and she had not yet outgrown her schoolgirl love of eating +apples as an accompaniment to an interesting book; but how aggravating +to be reminded of her weakness just at this moment of all others! "What +an inconvenient memory you have!" she said complainingly. "Can't a poor +body indulge in a little innocent recreation without having it brought +up against her in argument ever afterwards? And I thought we were +talking about Peggy! What is at the bottom of this excitement? I know +you have some plan in your head." + +"I mean to see that she reads good books, and only books that will help, +and not hinder, her progress. The rest will come in time. She must +learn before she can teach, have some experience of her own before she +can imagine the experiences of others; but writing is Peggy's gift, and +she has been put in my charge. I must try to give her the right +training." + +From that time forward Mr Asplin studied Peggy with a special interest, +and a few evenings later a conversation took place among the young +people which confirmed him in his conclusion as to her possibilities. +Lessons were over for the day, and girls and boys were amusing +themselves in the drawing-room, while Mr Asplin read the _Spectator_, +and his wife knitted stockings by the fire. Mellicent was embroidering +a prospective Christmas present, an occupation which engaged her leisure +hours from March to December; Esther was reading, and Peggy was supposed +to be writing a letter, but was, in reality, talking incessantly, with +her elbows planted on the table, and her face supported on her clasped +hands. She wore a bright pink frock, which gave a tinge of colour to +the pale face, her hair was unbound from the tight pigtail and tied with +a ribbon on the nape of her neck, from which it fell in smooth heavy +waves to her waist. It was one of the moments when her companions +realised with surprise that Peggy could look astonishingly pretty upon +occasion; and Oswald, from the sofa, and Max and Bob, from the opposite +side of the table, listened to her words with all the more attention on +that account. + +She was discussing the heroine of a book which they had been reading in +turns, pointing out the inconsistencies in her behaviour, and +expatiating on the superior manner in which she--Mariquita--would have +behaved, had positions been reversed. Then the boys had described their +own imaginary conduct under the trying circumstances, drawing forth +peals of derisive laughter from the feminine audience; and the question +had finally drifted from "What would you do?" to "What would you be?" +with the result that each one was eager to expatiate on his own pet +schemes and ambitions. + +"I should like to come out first in all England in the Local +Examinations, get my degree of M.A., and be a teacher in a large High +School," said Esther solemnly. "At Christmas and Easter I would come +home and see my friends, and in summer-time I'd go abroad and travel, +and rub up my languages. Of course, what I should like best would be to +be headmistress of Girton, but I could not expect that to come for a +good many years. I must be content to work my way up, and I shall be +quite happy wherever I am, so long as I am teaching." + +"Poor old Esther! and she will wear spectacles, and black alpaca +dresses, and woollen mittens on her hands! Can't I see her!" cried Max, +throwing back his head with one of the cheery bursts of laughter which +brought his mother's eyes upon him with a flash of adoring pride. "Now +there's none of that overweening ambition about me. I could bear up if +I never saw an improving book again. What _I_ would like would be for +some benevolent old millionaire to take a fancy to me, and adopt me as +his heir. I feel cut out to be a country gentleman, and march about in +gaiters and knickerbockers, looking after the property, don't you know, +and interviewing my tenants. I'd be strict with them, but kind at the +same time; look into all their grievances, and put them right whenever I +could. I'd make it a model place before I'd done with it, and all the +people would adore me. That's my ambition, and a very good one it is +too; I defy anyone to have a better." + +"I should like to marry a very rich man with a big moustache, and a +beautiful house in London with a fireplace in the hall," cried Mellicent +fervently. "I should have carriages and horses, and a diamond necklace +and three children: Valentine Roy--that should be the boy--and +Hildegarde and Ermyntrude, the girls, and they should have golden hair +like Rosalind, and blue eyes, and never wear anything but white, and big +silk sashes. I'd have a housekeeper to look after the dinners and +things, and a governess for the children, and never do anything myself +except give orders and go out to parties. I'd be the happiest woman +that ever lived." + +Lazy Oswald smiled in complacent fashion. + +"And the fattest! Dearie me, wouldn't you be a tub! I don't know that +I have any special ambition. I mean to get my degree if I can, and then +persuade the governor to send me a tour round the world. I like moving +about, and change and excitement, and travelling is good fun if you +avoid the fag, and provide yourself with introductions to the right +people. I know a fellow who went off for a year, and had no end of a +time; people put him up at their houses, and got up balls and dinners +for his benefit, and he never had to rough it a bit. I could put in a +year or two in that way uncommonly well." + +Rob had been wriggling on his chair and scowling in his wild-bear +fashion all the while Oswald was speaking, and at the conclusion he +relieved his feelings by kicking out recklessly beneath the table, with +the result that Peggy sat up suddenly with a "My foot, my friend! Curb +your enthusiasm!" which made him laugh, despite his annoyance. + +"But it's such bosh!" he cried scornfully. "It makes me sick to hear a +fellow talk such nonsense. Balls and dinners--faugh! If that's your +idea of happiness, why not settle down in London and be done with it! +That's the place for you! I'd give my ears to go round the world, but I +wouldn't thank you to go with a dress suit and a valet; I'd want to +rough it, to get right out of the track of civilisation and taste a new +life; to live with the Bedouin in their tents as some of those artist +fellows have done, or make friends with a tribe of savages. +Magnificent! I'd keep a notebook with an account of all I did, and all +the strange plants and flowers and insects I came across, and write a +book when I came home. I'd a lot rather rough it in Africa than lounge +about Piccadilly in a frock coat and tall hat." Robert sighed at the +hard prospect which lay before him as the son of a noble house, then +looked across the table with a smile: "And what says the fair Mariquita? +What _role_ in life is she going to patronise when she comes to years +of discretion?" + +Peggy nibbled the end of her pen and stared into space. + +"I've not quite decided," she said slowly. "I should like to be either +an author or an orator, but I'm not sure which. I think, on the whole, +an orator, because then you could watch the effect of your words. It is +not possible, of course, but what I should like best would be to be the +Archbishop of Canterbury, or some great dignitary of the Church. Oh, +just imagine it! To stand up in the pulpit and see the dim cathedral +before one, and the faces of the people looking up, white and solemn.-- +I'd stand waiting until the roll of the organ died away, and there was a +great silence; then I would look at them, and say to myself--`A thousand +people, two thousand people, and for half an hour they are in my power. +I can make them think as I will, see as I will, feel as I will. They +are mine! I am their leader.'--I cannot imagine anything in the world +more splendid than that! I should choose to be the most wonderful +orator that was ever known, and people would come from all over the +world to hear me, and I would say beautiful things in beautiful words, +and see the answer in their faces, and meet the flash in the eyes +looking up into mine. Oh-h! if it could only--only be true; but it +can't, you see. I am a girl, and if I try to do anything in public I am +as nervous as a rabbit, and can only squeak, squeak, squeak in a tiny +little voice that would not reach across the room. I had to recite at a +prize-giving at school once, and, my dears, it was a lamentable failure! +I was only audible to the first three rows, and when it was over I +simply sat down and howled, and my knees shook. Oh dear, the very +recollection unpowers me! So I think, on the whole, I shall be an +authoress, and let my pen be my sceptre. From my quiet fireside," cried +Peggy, with a sudden assumption of the Mariquita manner, and a swing of +the arms which upset a vase of chrysanthemums, and sent a stream of +water flowing over the table--"from my quiet fireside I will sway the +hearts of men--" + +"My plush cloth! Oh, bad girl--my new plush cloth! You dreadful Peggy, +what will I do with you?" Mrs Asplin rushed forward to mop with her +handkerchief and lift the dripping flowers to a place of safety, while +Peggy rolled up her eyes with an expression of roguish impenitence. + +"Dear Mrs Asplin, it was not I, it was that authoress. She was +evolving her plots... Pity the eccentricities of the great!" + + + +CHAPTER ELEVEN. + +A SHAKESPEARE READING. + +Esther was preparing for the Cambridge Local Examination at Christmas, +and making a special study of _The Merchant of Venice_, as the play +chosen for the year. + +Fraulein explained the notes, and expatiated on the Venice of the past +and the manners and customs of its inhabitants; but it was Mr Asplin +who had the brilliant idea of holding a Shakespeare reading which should +make the play live in the imagination of the young people, as no amount +of study could do. The suggestion was made one day at dinner, and was +received with acclamation by everyone present. + +"Oh, how lovely, father! It will help me ever so much!" said Esther. +"And Peggy must be Portia." + +"I'd like to be that funny little man Launcelot--what do you call it?-- +only I know I couldn't do it," said Mellicent humbly. "I'll be the +servants and people who come in and give messages. But, of course, +Peggy must be Portia." + +"Peggy shall be Portia, and I'll be the Jew, and snarl at her across the +court," said Rob, with an assurance which was not at all appreciated by +his companions. + +"I've rather a fancy to try Shylock myself," Max declared. "Oswald +would make a capital Bassanio, and you could manage Antonio all right if +you tried, for he has not so much to do. Let me see: Peggy--Portia; +Esther--Nerissa; Mellicent--Jessica (she's so like a Jewess, you see!); +you and Oswald--Bassanio and Antonio; Shylock--my noble self. Father +and mother to help out with the smaller characters. There you are! A +capital cast, and everyone satisfied. I'm game to be Shylock, but I +can't do the sentimental business. You two fellows will have to take +them, and we'll divide the smaller fry among us." + +"Indeed we will do nothing of the kind. I'm not going to take Bassanio; +I couldn't do it, and I won't try. I'll have a shot at Shylock if you +like, but I can't do anything else. The cast is all wrong, except so +far as Peggy is concerned. Of course she is Portia." + +"Proposed, seconded, and carried unanimously that Peggy is Portia!" said +Mr Asplin, smiling across the table at that young lady, who tried to +look modest and unconcerned, but was plainly aglow with satisfaction. +"For Shylock, as the character seems so much in demand, we had better +draw lots. I will write the names on slips of paper, and you must all +agree to take what comes, and make the best of it. I will fill in the +gaps, and I am sure mother will help all she can--" + +"Lemonade in the intervals, and coffee for those who prefer it, with +some of my very best company cake," said Mrs Asplin briskly. "It will +be quite an excitement. I should rather like to be Shylock myself, and +defy Peggy and her decree; but I'll give it up to the boys, and make +myself generally useful. Why couldn't we begin to-night?" + +"Oh, Mrs Asplin, no! It will take me days to get up my part! And the +costumes--consider the costumes!" cried Peggy anxiously. And her +hostess raised her hands in surprise. + +"The costumes! Are you going to dress up? I never thought of that!" + +"Surely that is unnecessary, Peggy! You can read the play without +changing your clothes!" echoed the vicar; but, from the chorus of +disclaimer which greeted his words, it appeared that the young people +could do nothing of the sort. + +Max wanted to know how a fellow could possibly "talk Shylock" in a white +tie and an evening jacket. Oswald thought it equally ridiculous to pose +as an Italian lover in English clothing; and Peggy turned up her eyes +and said she could not really abandon herself to her part if her costume +were inappropriate. Even Esther, the sober-minded, sided with the rest, +so the vicar laughed and gave way, only too pleased to sanction anything +which helped the object which he had at heart. + +"Dress up by all means, if it pleases you. It will be interesting to +see the result. But, of course, I must be absolved from any experiments +of the kind." + +"Oh, of course! And mother, too, if she likes, though I should love to +see her made-up as Shylock! You must not see or ask about our dresses +until the night arrives. They must be a secret. You will lend us all +your fineries, mother--won't you?" + +"Bless your heart, yes! But I haven't got any!" said Mrs Asplin, in +her funny Irish way. "They were all worn out long, long ago." She gave +a little sigh for the memory of the days when she had a wardrobe full of +pretty things and a dozen shimmery silk dresses hanging on the pegs, and +then flashed a loving smile at her husband, in case he might think that +she regretted their loss. "If there is anything about the rooms that +would do, you are welcome to use it," she added, glancing vaguely at the +sideboard and dumb waiter, while the boys laughed loudly at the idea of +finding any "properties" in the shabby old dining-room. + +Peggy, however, returned thanks in the most gracious manner, and sat +wrapt in thought for the rest of the evening, gazing darkly around from +time to time, and scribbling notes on sheets of note-paper. + +Short of playing Shylock, which in the end fell to Maxwell's share, it +seemed as if all the responsibility of the performance fell on Peggy's +shoulders. She was stage manager, selecting appropriate pieces of +furniture from the different rooms and piling them together behind the +screen in the study, whence they could be produced at a moment's notice, +to give some idea of the different scenes. She coached Esther and +Mellicent in their parts, designed and superintended the making of the +costumes, and gave the finishing touches to each actor in turn when the +night of the "Dramatic Reading" arrived. + +"Taking one consideration with another," as Max remarked, "the costumes +were really masterpieces of art." + +To attire two young gentlemen as Italian cavaliers, and a third as a +bearded Jew, with no materials at hand beyond the ordinary furnishings +of a house, is a task which calls for no small amount of ingenuity, yet +this is exactly what Peggy had done. + +Antonio and Bassanio looked really uncommonly fine specimens, with +cycling knickerbockers, opera cloaks slung over their shoulders, and +flannel shirts pouched loosely over silk sashes, and ornamented with +frills of lace at wrists and neck. Darkened eyebrows gave them a +handsome and distinguished air, and old straw hats and feathers sat +jauntily on their tow wigs. + +The vicar sat in the arm-chair by the fire, Shakespeare in hand, waiting +to fill in the odd parts with his wife's help, and simultaneous cries of +astonishment and admiration greeted the appearance of the two actors at +the beginning of the first scene. + +"It's wonderful! Did I ever see such children? What in the world have +they got on their heads? Milly's old leghorn, I declare, and my pink +feathers. My old pink feathers! Deary me! I'd forgotten all about +them. I've never worn them since the year that--" + +"`In sooth, I know not why I am so sad,'" quoth the wearer of the +feathers, scowling darkly at the frivolous prattler, who straightway hid +her head behind her book, and read Salanio's first speech in a tone of +meek apology. + +There was a great deal of confusion about the first scene, for four +people had to read the parts of six, and one of the number was so much +occupied with gazing at the costumes of the actors that she invariably +lost her place, and had to be called to order by significant coughs and +glances. By this time it generally happened that the vicar had made up +his mind to come to the rescue, and both husband and wife would begin to +read at the same moment, to their own amusement, and to the disgust of +the two lads, who felt uncomfortable in their borrowed plumes, and +keenly sensitive about their precious dignity. Antonio mumbled his last +speech in undignified haste, and followed Bassanio out of the room, +prepared to echo his statement that this sort of thing was "tomfoolery," +and that he wasn't going to make an idiot of himself any longer to +please Peggy Saville, or any other girl in the world. But the words +died on his lips, for outside, in the hall, stood Peggy herself, or +rather Portia, and such a Portia as made him fairly blink with +amazement! Amidst the bustle of the last few days Portia's own costume +had been kept a secret, so that the details came as a surprise to the +other members of the party. Nerissa stood by her side, clad in a +flowing costume, the component parts of which included a dressing-gown, +an antimacassar, and a flowered chintz curtain; but, despite the nature +of the materials, the colouring was charming, and frizzled hair, flushed +cheeks, and sparkling eyes, transformed the sober Esther into a very +personable attendant on the lady of Belmont. There was nothing of the +dressing-gown character about Portia's own attire, however. Its +magnificence took away the breath of the beholders. The little witch +had combed her hair to the top of her head, and arranged it in a coil, +which gave height and dignity to her figure. A string of pearls was +twisted in and out among the dark tresses; her white silk frock was +mysteriously lengthened and ornamented by two large diamond-shaped +pieces of satin encrusted with gold, one placed at the bottom of the +skirt, and the other hanging loosely from the square-cut neck of the +bodice. Long yellow silk sleeves fell over the bare arms and reached +the ground; and from the shoulders hung a train of golden-hued plush, +lined with a paler shade of yellow. Bassanio and Gratiano stood aghast, +and Portia simpered at them sweetly in the intervals between dispensing +stage directions to the boot boy, who was clad in his best suit for the +occasion, and sent to and fro to change the arrangement of the scenery. +He wheeled the sofa into the centre of the room, piled it up with blue +cushions, and retired to make way for the two ladies, who were already +edging in at the door. + +A gasp of astonishment greeted their appearance, but when Peggy dragged +her heavy train across the room, threw herself against the cushions in +an attitude calculated to show off all the splendour of her attire, when +she leant her pearl-decked head upon her hand, turned her eyes to the +ceiling, and said, with a sigh as natural and easy as if they were her +own words which she was using, and not those of the immortal Shakespeare +himself, "`By my troth, Nerissa, my little body is a-weary of this great +world!'"--then the vicar broke into a loud "Hear! hear!" of delight, and +Mrs Asplin seized the poker and banged uproarious applause upon the +fender. For the first few minutes amazement and admiration held her +dumb; but as the girls moved to and fro, and the details of their +costumes became more apparent, she began to utter spasmodic cries of +recognition, somewhat trying to the composure of the actors. + +Portia's description of her lovers was interrupted by a cry of, "My +table centres! The Turkish squares I bought at the Exhibition, and have +never used! Wherever did they find them?" while a little later came +another cry, as the identity of the plush train made itself known, "My +_portiere_ from the drawing-room door! My beautiful _portiere_--with +the nice new lining! Oh dear, dear! it's dragging about all over the +dirty carpet! Don't sit on it, dear! For pity's sake, don't git on +it!" + +"Mother!" cried Esther, in a deep tone of remonstrance; but Portia was +unconscious of interruption. The other actors held their books in their +hands, and, for the most part, read their speeches; but Peggy trusted +entirely to memory, and sighed and yawned over the denunciation of her +lovers, with evident satisfaction to herself as well as to the +beholders. Nerissa read her part "conscientiously," as the newspapers +would say, punctuating her sentences in exemplary fashion, and laying +the emphasis upon the right words as directed by the stage manageress; +but, such is the contrariness of things, that, with all her efforts, the +effect was stiff and stifled, while Peggy drawled through her sentences, +or gabbled them over at break-neck speed, used no emphasis at all, or +half a dozen running, at her own sweet will, and was so truly Portia +that the vicar wondered dreamily if he should have to interview the Duke +of Morocco in his study, and Mrs Asplin sighed unconsciously, and told +herself that the child was too young to be troubled with lovers. She +must not dream of accepting any one of them for years to come! + +At the end of the scene, however, anxiety about her beloved _portiere_ +overpowered everything else in the mind of the vicar's wife, and she +rushed after the actors to call out eager instructions. "Hang it up at +once--there's good children. If you put it down on a chair, Peggy will +sit on it as sure as fate! And oh! my table centres! Put them back in +the drawer if you love me! Wrap them up in the tissue paper as you +found them!" + +"Mother, you are a terrible person! Go back, there's a dear, and do +keep quiet!" cried a muffled voice from behind the dining-room door, as +Shylock dodged back to escape observation; and Mrs Asplin retreated +hastily, aghast at the sight of a hairy monster, in whom she failed to +recognise a trace of her beloved son and heir. Shylock's make-up was, +in truth, the triumph of the evening. The handsome lad had been +transformed into a bent, misshapen old man, and anything more ugly, +frowsy, and generally unattractive than he now appeared it would be +impossible to imagine. A cushion gave a hump to his shoulders, and over +this he wore an aged purple dressing-gown, which had once belonged to +the vicar. The dressing-gown was an obvious refuge; but who but Peggy +Saville would have thought of the trimming, which was the making of the +shaggy, unkempt look so much desired? Peggy had sat with her hands +clasped on her lap, and her head on one side, staring at the gown when +it was held out for her approval two days before, then had suddenly +risen, and rushed two steps at a time upstairs to the topmost landing, a +wide, scantily furnished space which served for a playground on wet +afternoons. An oilcloth covered the floor, a table stood in a corner, +and before each of the six doors was an aged wool rug, maroon as to +colouring, with piebald patches here and there where the skin of the +lining showed through the scanty tufts. Peggy gave a whoop of triumph, +tucked one after the other beneath her arm, and went flying down again, +dropping a mat here and there, tripping over it, and nearly falling from +top to bottom of the stairs. Hairbreadth escapes were, however, so much +a part of her daily existence that she went on her way unperturbed, and +carried her bundle into the study, where the girls sniffed derisively, +and the boys begged to know what she intended to do with all that +rubbish. + +"`They that have no invention should be hanged,'" quoted Peggy, +unperturbed. "Give me a packet of pins, and I'll soon show you what I +am going to do. Dear, dear, dear, I don't know what you would do +without me! You are singularly bereft of imagination." + +She tossed her pigtail over her shoulder, armed herself with the largest +pins she could find, and set to work to fasten the mats down the front +of the gown, and round the hem at the bottom, so that the wool hung in +shaggy ends over the feet. The skins were thick, the heads of the pins +pressed painfully into her fingers, but she groaned and worked away +until the border was arranged for stitching, and could be tried on to +show the effect. + +"Perfectly splendid!" was the verdict of the beholders. And so the +matter of Shylock's gown was settled; but his beard still remained to be +provided, and was by no means an easy problem to solve. + +"Tow!" suggested Mellicent; but the idea was hooted by all the others. +The idea of Shylock as a blonde was too ridiculous to be tolerated. +False hair was not to be bought in a small village, and Maxwell's +youthful face boasted as yet only the faintest shadow of a moustache. + +The question was left over for consideration, and an inspiration came +the same afternoon, when Robert hurled one of the roller-like cushions +of the sofa at Oswald's head, and Oswald, in catching it, tore loose a +portion of the covering. + +"Now you've done it!" he cried. "The room will be covered with +feathers, and then you will say it was my fault! We shall have to +fasten the stupid thing up somehow or other!" He peered through the +opening as he spoke, and his face changed. "It's not feathers--it's +horsehair! Here's a find! What about that wig for Shylock?" + +Esther was dubious. + +"It would take a great deal of horsehair to make a wig. It would spoil +the cushion if the horsehair were taken away; it would spoil the sofa if +the cushion were small; it would spoil the room if the sofa--" + +Peggy interrupted with a shriek of laughter. "Oh, oh, oh! It's like +the `House that Jack built'! How long do you intend to go on like that? +Nonsense, my dear! It would be perfectly easy to take out what we +want, and put it back afterwards. I'll promise to do it myself and sew +it up tightly, though, if you desire my opinion, I think the cushion +would be improved by letting in a little air. You might as well lean +your head on a brick. Max, you are a made man! You shall have a +beautiful, crinkly black wig, and a beard to match! We will sew them to +your turban, and fasten them with black elastic. It will never show, +and I'll finish off the joins after you are dressed. You'll see?" + +"You can do as you like! I'm in your hands!" said Max easily; and when +the night of the reading arrived, and he was attired in wig and gown, +Peggy seated him in a chair and tucked a towel under his chin with an +air of business. She had a number of small accessories on a table near +at hand, and Max was first instructed to stick pieces of black plaster +over alternate teeth, so that he might appear to possess only a few +isolated fangs, and then made to lie back in his chair, while his +dresser stood over him with a glue-brush in one hand and a bunch of +loose horsehair in the other. + +"Shut your eyes!" she cried loudly. And before he could say "Jack +Robinson" a tuft of the wiry stuff covered his eyebrow. "Keep your face +still!" And, to his horror, the gum was daubed from the borders of the +beard, halfway up to his eyes, and little prickly ends of hair were held +in Peggy's palm and pressed against his cheeks until they were firmly +attached. + +This, indeed, was more than he had bargained for! He jerked back his +head, and began a loud-voiced protest, only to be interrupted by shrieks +of excitement. + +"Oh, oh, oh! It's beautiful--beautiful! What a fright! What a +delicious fright! No one would know you! You look an old hairy monster +who would gobble up half a dozen Christians. Do look at yourself!" + +Peggy felt the pride of an artist in the result of her efforts, and Max +was hardly less delighted than herself as he stood before the glass, +gazing at his hairy cheeks and leering horribly, to admire his toothless +gums. If the result were so hideous as to astonish even those who had +watched the process of his make-up, what wonder that the effect upon +Shylock's fond parents was of a stupefying nature! + +Horror kept Mrs Asplin silent until the middle of the scene between +Shylock and Antonio when the bond is signed, and then her agitation +could no longer be controlled, and Shylock's little speeches were +interrupted by entreaties to take that horrid stuff off his teeth, to +use plenty of hot water in washing his face, and to be sure to anoint it +plentifully with cold cream after doing so. + +An ordinary lad would have lost his temper at these interruptions; but +Max adored his mother, and could never take anything she did in a wrong +spirit. Anger being therefore impossible, the only other resource was +to laugh, which, in Peggy's opinion, was even worse than the former. A +Shylock who chuckled between his speeches, and gave a good-humoured "Ha! +ha!" just before uttering his bitterest invective, was a ridiculous +parody of the character, with whom it would be impossible to act. It +would be hard indeed if all her carefully rehearsed speeches lost their +effect, and the famous trial scene were made into a farce through these +untimely interruptions! + +The second part of the play went more smoothly, however, as the audience +settled down to a more attentive hearing, and the actors became less +self-conscious and embarrassed. If four out of the six were sticks, who +never for a moment approached the verge of the natural, Portia and +Shylock did nobly, and, when the reading was over and the young people +gathered round the fire in the drawing-room, it was unanimously agreed +that they had acquired a more intimate knowledge of the play by this one +evening's representation than by weeks of ordinary study. + +"I feel so much more intimate with it!" said Esther. "It seems to have +made it alive, instead of just something I have read in a book. It was +a delightful thought, father, and I am grateful to you for proposing it. +I wish I could do all my lessons in the same way." + +"I've not enjoyed myself so much for ages. You just did beautifully, +all of you, and the dresses were a sight to behold. As for Peggy, she's +a witch, and could make up costumes on a desert island, if she were put +to it! But I don't know what is going to happen to my poor, dear boy's +face. Oswald, what is he doing? Isn't he coming to have some lemonade +and cake?" asked Mrs Asplin anxiously. And Oswald chuckled in a +heartless fashion. + +"Pride must abide. He would be Shylock, whether we liked it or not, so +let him take the consequences. He is fighting it out with cold cream in +the bathroom, and some of the horsehair sticks like fun. I'll go up and +tell him we have eaten all the cake. He was getting savage when I came +down, and it will sweeten his temper!" + + + +CHAPTER TWELVE. + +PEGGY IN TROUBLE. + +As Peggy sat writing in the study one afternoon, a shaggy head came +peering round the door, and Robert's voice said eagerly--"Mariquita! A +word in your ear! Could you come out and take a turn round the garden +for half an hour before tea, or are you too busy?" + +"Not at all. I am entirely at your disposal," said Peggy elegantly; and +the young people made their way to the cloak-room, swung on coats and +sailor hats, and sallied out into the fresh autumn air. + +"Mariquita," said Robert then, using once more the name by which he +chose to address Peggy in their confidential confabs, "Mariquita, I am +in difficulties! There is a microscope advertised in _Science_ this +week, that is the very thing I have been pining for for the last six +years. I must _get_ it, or die; but the question is--_how_? You see +before you a penniless man." He looked at Peggy as he spoke, and met +her small, demure smile. + +"My dear and honourable sir--" + +"Yes, yes, I know; drop that, Mariquita! Don't take for granted, like +Mellicent, that because a man has a title he must necessarily be a +millionaire. Everything is comparative! My father is rich compared to +the vicar, but he is really hard-up for a man in his position. He gets +almost no rent for his land nowadays, and I am the third son. I haven't +as much pocket-money in a month as Oswald gets through in a week. Now +that microscope costs twenty pounds, and if I were to ask the governor +for it, he wouldn't give it to me, but he would sigh and look wretched +at being obliged to refuse. He's a kind-hearted fellow, you know, who +doesn't like to say `No,' and I hate to worry him. Still--that +microscope! I must have it. By hook or by crook, I must have it. I've +set my mind on that." + +"I'm sure I hope you will, though for my part you must not expect me to +look through it. I like things to be pretty, and when you see them +through a microscope they generally look hideous. I saw my own hand +once--ugh!" Peggy shuddered. "Twenty pounds! Well, I can only say +that my whole worldly wealth is at your disposal. Draw on me for +anything you like--up to seven-and-six! That's all the money I have +till the beginning of the month." + +"Thanks!--I didn't intend to borrow; I have a better idea than that. I +was reading a magazine the other day, and came upon a list of prize +competitions. The first prize offered was thirty pounds, and I'm going +to win that prize! The microscope costs only twenty pounds, but the +extra ten would come in usefully for--I'll tell you about that later on! +The _Piccadilly Magazine_ is very respectable and all that sort of +thing; but the governor is one of the good, old-fashioned, conservative +fellows, who would be horrified if he saw my name figuring in it. I'm +bound to consider his feelings, but all the same I'm going to win that +prize. It says in the rules--I've read them through carefully--that you +can ask your friends to help you, so that there would be nothing unfair +about going into partnership with someone else. What I was going to +suggest was that you and I should collaborate. I'd rather work with you +than with any of the others, and I think we could manage it rather well +between us. Our contribution should be sent in in your name; that is to +say, if you wouldn't object to seeing yourself in print." + +"I should love it. I'm proud of my name; and it would be a new +sensation." But Peggy spoke in absent-minded fashion, as if her +thoughts were running on another subject. Rob had used a word which was +unfamiliar in her ears, a big word, a word with a delightful +intellectual roll, and she had not the remotest idea of its meaning. +Collaborate! Beautiful! Not for worlds would she confess her +ignorance, yet the opportunity could not be thrown away. She must +secure the treasure, and add it to her mental store. She put her head +on one side, and said pensively-- + +"I shall be most happy to er--er--In what other words can I express +`collaborate,' Rob? I object to repetition?" + +"Go shags!" returned Robert briefly. "I would do the biggest part of +the work, of course--that's only fair, because I want two-thirds of the +money--but you could do what you liked, and have ten pounds for your +share. Ten pounds would come in very usefully for Christmas." + +"Rather! I'd get mother and father lovely presents, and Mrs Asplin +too; and buy books for Esther, and a little gold ring for Mellicent-- +it's her idea of happiness to have a gold ring. I'll help you with +pleasure, Rob, and I'm sure we shall get the prize. What have we to do? +Compose some poetry?" + +"Goodness, no! Fancy me making up poetry! It's to make up a calendar. +There are subjects given for each month--sorrow, love, obedience, +resignation--that sort of thing, and you have to give a quotation for +each day. It will take some time, but we ought to stand a good chance. +You are fond of reading, and know no end of poetry, and where I have a +pull is in knowing French and German _so_ well. I can give them some +fine translations from the Latin and Greek too, for the matter of that, +and put the authors' names underneath. That will impress the judges, +and make 'em decide in our favour. I've been working at it only three +days, and I've got over fifty quotations already. We must keep +note-books in our pockets, and jot down any ideas that occur to us +during the day, and go over them together at night. You will know a +lot, I'm sure." + + "`Sorrow and silence are strong, + and patient endurance is godlike, + Therefore accomplish thy labour of love, + till the heart is made godlike.'" + +quoted Peggy with an air; and Rob nodded approval. + +"That's it! That's the style! Something with a bit of a sermon in it +to keep 'em up to the mark for the day. Bravo, Mariquita! you'll do it +splendidly. That's settled, then. We shall have to work hard, for +there is only a month before it must be sent off, and we must finish in +good time. When you leave things to the last, something is bound to +come in the way. It will take an age to write out three hundred and +sixty-five extracts." + +"It will indeed, for they must be very nicely done," said Peggy +fastidiously. "Of course it is most important that the extracts +themselves should be good, but it matters almost as much that they +should look neat and attractive. Appearances go such a long way." And +when Robert demurred, and stated his opinion that the judges would not +trouble their heads about looks, she stuck firmly to her point. + +"Oh, won't they, though! Just imagine how you would feel if you were in +their position, and had to look over scores of ugly, uninteresting +manuscripts. You would be bored to death, and, after plodding +conscientiously through a few dozen, you would get so mixed up that you +would hardly be able to distinguish one from another. Then suddenly-- +suddenly,"--Peggy clasped her hands with one of her favourite dramatic +gestures--"you would see before you a dainty little volume, prettily +written, easy to read, easy to hold, nice to look at, and do you mean to +say that your heart wouldn't give a jump, and that you would not take a +fancy to the writer from that very moment? Of course you would; and so, +if you please, I am going to look after the decorative department, and +see what can be done. I must give my mind to it--Oh! I'll tell you +what would be just the thing. When I was in the library one day lately +I saw some sweet little note-books with pale green leaves and gilt +edges. I'll count the pages, and buy enough to make up three hundred +and sixty-five, and twelve extra, so as to put one plain sheet between +each month. Then we must have a cover. Two pieces of cardboard would +do, with gilt edges, and a motto in Old English letters--`_The months in +circling-orbit fly_.' Have I read that somewhere, or did I make it up? +It sounds very well. Well, what next?" Peggy was growing quite +excited, and the restless hands were waving about at a great rate. "Oh, +the pages! We shall have to put the date at the top of each. I could +do that in gold ink, and make a pretty little skriggle-- +er--`_arabesque_' I should say, underneath, to give it a finish. Then +I'd hand them on to you to write the extracts in your tiny little +writing. Rob, it will be splendid! Do you really think we shall get +the prize?" + +"I _mean_ to get it! We have a good library here, and plenty of time, +if we like to use it. I'm going to get up at six every morning. I +shan't fail for want of trying, and if I miss this I'll win something +else. My mind is made up! I'm going to buy that microscope!" Robert +tossed his head and looked ferocious, while Peggy peered in his rugged +face, and, womanlike, admired him the more for his determination. + +They lingered in the garden discussing details, planning out the work, +and arranging as to the different books to be overlooked until the tea +hour was passed, and Mrs Asplin came to the door and called to them to +come in. + +"And nothing on your feet but your thin slippers? Oh, you Peggy!" she +exclaimed in despair. "Now you will have a cold, and ten to one it will +fly to your throat. I shall have to line you a penny every time you +cross the doorstep without changing your shoes. Summer is over, +remember. You can't be too careful in these raw, damp days. Run +upstairs this minute and change your stockings." + +Peggy looked meek, and went to her room at once to obey orders; but the +mischief was done--she shivered, and could not get warm, her head ached, +and her eyes felt heavy. Mrs Asplin looked anxiously at her in the +drawing-room after dinner, and finally called her to her side. + +"Peggy, come here! Aren't you well? Let me feel your hand. Child, +it's like a coal! You are in a fever. Why didn't you tell me at once?" + +"Because I--really, it's nothing, Mrs Asplin! Don't be worried. I +don't know why I feel so hot. I was shivering only a minute ago." + +"Go straight upstairs and take a dose of ammoniated quinine. Turn on +the fire in your room. Max! Robert! Oswald! Esther! Mellicent! will +everyone please look after Peggy in the future, and see that she does +not run out in her slippers!" cried Mrs Asplin in a despairing voice; +and Peggy bolted out of the door, in haste to escape before more +reproaches could be hurled at her head. + +But an alarm of a more serious nature than a threatened cold was to take +place before the evening was over. The young people answered briefly, +Mrs Asplin turned back to her book, and silence settled down upon the +occupants of the drawing-room. It was half-past eight, the servants had +carried away the dinner things, and were enjoying their evening's rest +in the kitchen. The vicar was nodding in his easy-chair, the house was +so quiet that the tick of the old grandfather clock in the hall could be +heard through the half-opened door. Then suddenly came the sound of +flying footsteps, the door burst open, and in rushed Peggy once more,-- +but such a Peggy, such an apparition of fear, suffering, and terror as +brought a cry of consternation from every lip. Her eyes were starting +from her head, her face was contorted in spasmodic gaspings for breath, +her arms sawed the air like the sails of a windmill, and she flew round +and round the room in a wild, unheeding rush. + +"Peggy, my child! my child! what is the matter? Oh, Austin--oh! What +shall we do?" cried Mrs Asplin, trying to catch hold of the flying +arms, only to be waved off with frenzied energy. Mellicent dissolved +into tears and retreated behind the sofa, under the impression that +Peggy had suddenly taken leave of her senses, and practical Esther +rushed upstairs to search for a clue to the mystery among the medicine +bellies on Peggy's table. She was absent only for a few minutes; but it +seemed like an hour to the watchers, for Peggy's face grew more and more +agonised, she seemed on the verge of suffocation, and could neither +speak nor endure anyone to approach within yards of her mad career. +Presently, however, she began to falter, to draw her breath in longer +gasps, and as she did so there emerged from her lips a series of loud +whooping sounds, like the crowing of a cock, or the noise made by a +child in the convulsions of whooping-cough. The air was making its way +to the lungs after the temporary stoppage, and the result would have +been comical if any of the hearers had been in a mood for jesting, +which, in good truth, they were not. + +"Thank Heaven! She will be better now. Open the window and leave her +alone. Don't try to make her speak. What in the world has the child +been doing?" cried the vicar wonderingly; and at that moment Esther +entered, bearing in her hand the explanation of the mystery--a bottle +labelled "Spirits of Ammonia," and a tumbler about an eighth full of a +white milky-looking fluid. + +"They were in the front of the table. The other things had not been +moved. I believe she has never looked at the labels, but seized the +first bottle that came to her hand--this dreadfully strong ammonia which +you gave her for the gnat bites when she first came." + +A groan of assent came from the sofa on which Peggy lay, choking no +longer, but ghastly white, and drawing her breath in painful gasps. +Mrs Asplin sniffed at the contents of the tumbler, only to jerk back +her head with watery eyes and reddened lips. + +"No wonder that the child was nearly choked! The marvel is that she had +ever regained her breath after such a mistake. Her throat must be raw!" +She hurried out of the room to concoct a soothing draught, at which +Peggy supped at intervals during the evening, croaking out a hoarse, +"Better, thank you!" in reply to inquiries, and looking so small and +pathetic in her nest of cushions that the hearts of the beholders +softened at the sight. Before bedtime, however, she revived +considerably, and, her elastic spirits coming to her aid, entertained +the listeners with a husky but dramatic account of her proceedings. How +she had not troubled to turn the gas full up, and had just seized the +bottle, tilted some of the contents into a tumbler in which there was a +small portion of water, without troubling to measure it out, and gulped +it down without delay. Her description of the feelings which ensued was +a really clever piece of word-painting, but behind the pretence of +horror at her own carelessness there rang a hardly concealed note of +pride, as though, in thus risking her life, she had done something quite +clever and distinguished. + +Mrs Asplin exhausted herself in "Ohs!" and "Ahs!" of sympathy, and had +nothing harsher to say than-- + +"Well now, dearie, you'll be more careful another time, won't you?" But +the vicar's long face grew longer than ever as he listened, and the +lines deepened in his forehead. Peggy was inexperienced in +danger-signals, but Esther and Mellicent recognised the well-known +signs, and were at no loss to understand the meaning of that quiet, "A +word with you in the study, Mariquita, if you please!" with which he +rose from the breakfast-table next morning. + +Peggy's throat was still sore, and she fondly imagined that anxiety on +its behalf was the cause of the summons, but she was speedily +undeceived, for the vicar motioned towards a chair, and said, in short +grave sentences, as his manner was when annoyed-- + +"I wish to speak to you about the event of last night; I am afraid that +you hardly realise the matter in its true light. I was not at all +pleased with the manner in which you gave your explanation. You +appeared to imagine that you had done something clever and amusing. I +take a very different view. You showed a reprehensible carelessness in +trifling with medicines in the dark; it might have caused you your life, +or, at best, a serious injury. As it was, you brought pain upon +yourself, and gave us all a serious alarm. I see nothing amusing in +such behaviour, but consider it stupid, and careless to an almost +criminal extent." + +Peggy stood motionless, eyes cast down, hands clasped before her--a +picture of injured innocence. She did not say a word in self-defence, +but her feelings were so plainly written on her face that the vicar's +eyes flashed with impatience. + +"Well, what have you to say?" + +Peggy sighed in dolorous fashion. + +"I am sorry; I know it was careless. I am always doing things like +that. So is Arthur. So was father when he was a boy. It's in the +family. It's unfortunate, but--" + +"Mariquita," said the vicar sternly, "you are _not_ sorry! If I had +seen that you were penitent, I should not have spoken, for you would +have been sufficiently punished by your own sufferings, but you are not +sorry; you are, on the whole, rather proud of the escapade! Look into +your own heart and see if it is not so?" + +He paused, looking at her with grave, expectant eyes, but there was no +sign of conviction upon the set face. The eyes were still lowered, the +lips drooped with an expression of patient endurance. There was silence +in the room while Peggy studied the carpet, and the vicar gazed at her +downcast face. A moment before he had been on the verge of anger, but +the sternness melted away in that silence, and gave place to an anxious +tenderness. Here was a little human soul committed to his care--how +could he help? how best guide and train? The long, grave face grew +beautiful in that moment with the expression which it wore every Sunday +as he gazed around the church at the beginning of the sermon, noting +this one and that, having a swift realisation of their needs and +failings, and breathing a prayer to God that He would give to his lips +the right word, to his heart the right thought, to meet the needs of his +people. Evidently, sternness and outspoken blame was not the best way +to touch the girl before him. He must try another mode. + +"Peggy," he said quietly, "do you think you realise what a heavy +responsibility we laid upon ourselves when we undertook the care of you +for these three years? If any accident happened to you beneath our +roof, have you ever imagined what would be our misery and remorse at +sending the news to your parents? About their feelings I do not speak; +you can realise them for yourself. We safeguard you with every +precaution in our power; we pray morning and night that you may be +preserved in safety; is it too much to ask that you will do your part by +showing more forethought, and by exercising some little care in the +daily duties of life? I ask it for our sakes as well as your own." + +A pink flush spread over Peggy's cheeks; she gulped nervously and raised +her eyes to the vicar's face. Twice her lips opened as if to speak, but +the natural reserve, which made it agony to her to express her deepest +feelings, closed them again before a word had been spoken. The question +was not answered, but a little hand shot out and nestled in Mr Asplin's +with a spasmodic grip which was full of eloquence. + +"Yes, dear, I know you will! I know you will!" he said, answering the +unspoken promise, and looking down at her with one of his sweet, kindly +smiles. "It will be a comfort to my wife as well as myself. She is +very nervous about you. She was upstairs three times in the night, to +satisfy herself that you were well after your fright, and is too tired +herself to come downstairs this morning. She is always bright and +cheery, but she is not very strong. You would be sorry to make her +ill." + +No answer, only another grip of the hand, and a sudden straightening of +the lips, as if they were pressed together to avoid an involuntary +trembling. There is something especially touching in the sight of +restrained emotion; and as the vicar thought of his own two daughters, +his heart was very tender over the girl whose parents were separated +from her by six thousand miles of land and sea. + +"Well now, dear, I have said my say, and that is an end of it. I don't +like finding fault, but my dear wife has thrown that duty on my +shoulders by being too tender-hearted to say a word of blame even when +it is needed. Her method works very well, as a rule, but there are +occasions when it would be criminal to withhold a just reprimand." The +vicar stopped short, and a spasm of laughter crossed his face. Peggy's +fingers had twitched within his own as he spoke those last two words, +and her eyes had dilated with interest. He knew as well as if he had +been told that she was gloating over the new expression, and mentally +noting it for future use. Nothing, however, could have been sweeter or +more natural than the manner in which she sidled against him, and +murmured-- + +"Thank you so much. I am sorry! I will truly try;" and he watched her +out of the room with a smile of tender amusement. + +"A nice child--a good child--feels deeply. I can rely upon her to do +her best." + +Robert was hanging about in the passage, ready, as usual, to fulfil his +vows of support, and Peggy slid her hand through his arm and sauntered +slowly with him towards the schoolroom. Like the two girls, he had been +at no loss to understand the reason of the call to the study, and would +fain have expressed his sympathy, but Peggy stopped him with uplifted +finger. + +"No, no--he was perfectly right. You must not blame him. I have been +guilty of reprehensible carelessness, and merited a reprimand!" + + + +CHAPTER THIRTEEN. + +JEALOUS THOUGHTS. + +Peggy felt weak and shaken for some days after her fright, and was +thankful to stay quietly indoors and busy herself with her new task. +The gas-fire could be turned on in her room whenever she desired, and at +every spare moment she ran upstairs, locked her door behind her, and +began to write. Robert insisted that the work should be kept secret, +and that not a word should be said about the competition downstairs, for +he was sensitive about the remarks of his companions, and anxious to +keep a possible failure to himself. All the work had to be done +upstairs, therefore, and the frequent absence of the partners from the +schoolroom, though much regretted, did not seem at all inexplicable to +the others. It was understood that Peggy and Robert had some interest +in common; but as winter advanced this was no unusual occurrence in a +house where Christmas was a carnival, and surprises of an elaborate +nature were planned by every member of the household. It was taken for +granted that the work had some connection with Christmas, and inquiries +were discreetly avoided. + +With an old calendar before her as a model for the lettering, Peggy did +her work neatly and well, and the gilt "arabesques" had an artistic +flourish which was quite professional. When Robert was shown the first +half-dozen sheets he whistled with surprise, and exclaimed, "Good old +Mariquita!" a burst of approval before which Peggy glowed with delight. +It had been agreed that, after printing the first ten days of January, +Peggy should go on to the first ten of February, and so on throughout +the year, so that Rob should be able to use what quotations had already +been found under each heading, and should not be detained until the +whole thirty or thirty-one had been chosen. + +The partners were most fastidious in their selection at the beginning of +their work; but when half the time had passed, and not one-third of the +necessary number of quotations had been found, alarm seized upon the +camp, and it was realised that a little more latitude must be shown. + +"We shall have to use up all the old ones which we struck off the list," +said Rob disconsolately. "I'm sorry; but I never realised before that +three hundred and sixty-five was such an outrageously large number. And +we shall have to get books of extracts, and read them through from +beginning to end. Nearly two hundred more to find; a hundred and fifty, +say, when we have used up those old ones! It will take us all our +time!" + +"I'll get up at six every morning and read by my fire," said Peggy +firmly. "If it's necessary, I'll get up at five, and if I can't find +bits to suit all the stupid old things, I'll--I'll write some myself! +There! Why shouldn't I? I often make up things in my head, and you +wouldn't believe how fine they are. I think of them days afterwards, +and ask myself, `Now where did I read that?' and then it comes back to +me. `Dear me; I made it up myself!' If we get very short, Rob, there +wouldn't be any harm in writing a few sentences and signing them +`Saville,' would there?" + +"Not if they were good enough," said Rob, trying to suppress the laugh +which would have hurt Peggy's feelings, and looking with twinkling eyes +at the little figure by his side, so comically unprofessional, with her +lace collar, dainty little feet, and pigtail of dark brown hair. + +"You mustn't get up too early in the morning and overtire yourself. I +can't allow that!" he added firmly. "You have looked like a little +white ghost the last few days, and your face is about the size of my +hand. You must get some colour into your cheeks before the holidays, or +that beloved Arthur will think we have been ill-treating you when he +comes down." + +Peggy gave a sharp sigh, and relapsed into silence. It was the rarest +thing in the world to hear her allude to any of her own people. When a +letter arrived, and Mrs Asplin asked questions concerning father, +mother, or brother, she answered readily enough, but she never offered +information, or voluntarily carried on the conversation. Friends less +sympathetic might have imagined that she was so happy in her new home +that she had no care beyond it, but no one in the vicarage made that +mistake. When the Indian letter was handed to her across the +breakfast-table, the flush of delight on the pale cheeks brought a +reflected smile to every face, and more than one pair of eyes watched +her tenderly as she sat hugging the precious letter, waiting until the +moment should come when she could rush upstairs and devour its contents +in her own room. Once it had happened that mail day had arrived and +brought no letter, and that had been a melancholy occasion. Mrs Asplin +had looked at one envelope after another, had read the addresses twice, +thrice, even four times over, before she summoned courage to tell of its +absence. + +"There is no letter for you to-day, Peggy!" Her voice was full of +commiseration as she spoke, but Peggy sat in silence, her face +stiffened, her head thrown back with an assumption of calm indifference. +"There must have been some delay in the mail. You will have two +letters next week, dearie, instead of one." + +"Probably," said Peggy. Mellicent was staring at her with big, round +eyes; the vicar peered over the rim of his spectacles; Esther passed the +marmalade with eager solicitude; her friends were all full of sympathy, +but there was a "Touch-me-if-you-dare!" atmosphere about Peggy that day +which silenced the words on their lips. It was evident that she +preferred to be left alone, and though her eyes were red when she came +down to lunch, she held her chin so high, and joined in the conversation +with such an elegant flow of language, that no one dare comment on the +fact. Two days later the letter arrived, and all was sunshine again; +but, in spite of her cheery spirits, her friends realised that Peggy's +heart was not in the vicarage, and that there were moments when the +loneliness of her position pressed on her, and when she longed intensely +for someone of her very own, whose place could not be taken by even the +kindest of friends. + +Like most undemonstrative people, Peggy dearly loved to be appreciated, +and to receive marks of favour from those around. Half the zest with +which she entered into her new labour was owing to the fact that Robert +had chosen her from all the rest to be his partner. She was aglow with +satisfaction in this fact, and with pleasure in the work itself, and the +only cloud which darkened her horizon at the present moment was caused +by those incidental references to the fair Rosalind which fell so often +from her companions' lips. + +"Everything," said Peggy impatiently to herself, "everything ends in +Rosalind! Whatever we are talking about, that stupid girl's name is +bound to be introduced! I asked Mellicent if she would have a scone at +tea this afternoon, and she said something about Rosalind in reply-- +Rosalind liked scones, or she didn't like scones, or some ridiculous +nonsense of the sort! Who wants to know what Rosalind likes? I don't! +I'm sick of the name! And Mrs Asplin is as silly as the rest! The +girls must have new dresses because Rosalind is coming, and they will be +asked to tea at the Larches! If their green dresses are good enough for +us, why won't they do for Rosalind, I should like to know? Rob is the +only sensible one. I asked him if she were really such a marvellous +creature, and he said she was an affected goose! He ought to know +better than anyone else! Curls indeed! One would think it was +something extraordinary to have curls! My hair would curl too, if I +chose to make it, but I don't; I prefer to have it straight! If she is +the `Honourable Rosalind,' I am Mariquita Saville, and I'm not going to +be patronised by anybody--so there!" and Peggy tossed her head, and +glared at the reflection in the glass in a lofty and scornful manner, as +though it were the offending party who had had the audacity to assume +superiority. + +Robert was one with Peggy in hoping that his people would not leave town +until such time as the calendar should be despatched on its travels, for +when they were installed at the Larches he was expected to be at home +each week from Saturday until Monday, and the loss of that long holiday +afternoon would interfere seriously with the work on hand. He had seen +so little of his people for the last few years, that he would be +expected to be sociable during the short time that he was with them, and +could hardly shut himself up in his room for hours at a time. Despair +then settled down upon both partners, when a letter arrived to say that +the Darcy family were coming down even earlier than had been expected, +and summoning Robert to join them at the earliest possible moment. + +"This is awful!" cried the lad, ruffling his hair with a big, restless +hand. "I know what it means--not only Saturdays off, but two or three +nights during the week into the bargain! Between you and me, Mariquita, +the governor is coming down here to economise, and intends to stay much +longer than usual. Hector has been getting into debt again; he's the +eldest, you know--the one in the Life Guards. It's a lot too bad, for +he has had it all his own way so far, and when he runs up bills like +this, everyone has to suffer for it. Mother hates the country for more +than a few weeks at a time, and will be wretched if she is kept here all +through the winter. I know how it will be: she will keep asking people +down, and getting up all sorts of entertainments to relieve the dulness. +It's all very well in its way, but just now when I need every minute--" + +"Shall you give up trying for the prize?" asked Peggy faintly, and Rob +threw back his head with emphatic disclaimer. + +"I never give up a thing when I have made up my mind to do it! There +are ten days still, and a great deal can be done in ten days. I'll take +a couple of books upstairs with me every night, and see if I can find +something fresh. There is one good thing about it, I shall have a fresh +stock of books to choose from at the Larches. It is the last step that +costs in this case. It was easy enough to fix off the first hundred, +but the last is a teaser!" + +On Saturday morning a dogcart came over to convey Robert to the Larches, +and the atmosphere of the vicarage seemed charged with expectation and +excitement. The Darcys had arrived; to-morrow they would appear at +church; on Monday they would probably drive over with Rob and pay a +call. These were all important facts in a quiet country life, and +seemed to afford unlimited satisfaction to every member of the +household. Peggy grew so tired of the name of Darcy that she retired to +her room at eight o'clock, and was busy at work over the September batch +of cards, when a knock came to the door, and she had to cover them over +with the blotting-paper to admit Mellicent in her dressing-gown, with +her hair arranged for the night in an extraordinary number of little +plaited pigtails. + +"Will you fasten the ends for me, Peggy, please?" she requested. "When +I do it, the threads fall off, and the ends come loose. I want it to be +specially nice for to-morrow!" + +"But it will look simply awful, Mellicent, if you leave it like this. +It will be frizzed out almost on a level with your head. Let me do it +up in just two tight plaits; it will be far, far nicer," urged Peggy, +lifting one little tail after another, and counting their number in +dismay. But no, Mellicent would not be persuaded. The extra plaits +were a tribute to Rosalind, a mark of attention to her on her arrival +with which she would suffer no interference; and as a consequence of her +stubbornness she marched to church next morning disfigured by a mop of +untidy, tangled hair, instead of the usual glossy locks. + +Peggy preserved a demeanour of stately calm, as she waited for the +arrival of the Darcy family, but even she felt a tremor of excitement +when the verger hobbled up to the square pew and stood holding the door +open in his hand. The heads of the villagers turned with one consent to +the doorway; only one person in the church disdained to move her +position, but she heard the clatter of horses' hoofs from without, and +presently the little procession passed the vicarage pew, and she could +indulge her curiosity without sacrifice to pride. First of all came +Lord Darcy, a thin, oldish man, with a face that looked tired and kind, +and faintly amused by the amount of attention which his entrance had +attracted. Then his wife, a tall, fair woman, with a beautiful profile, +and an air of languid discontent, who floated past with rustling silken +skirts, leaving an impression of elegance and luxury, which made Mrs +Asplin sigh and Mellicent draw in her breath with a gasp of rapture. +Then followed Robert with his shaggy head, scowling more fiercely than +ever in his disgust at finding himself an object of attention, and last +of all a girlish figure in a grey dress, with a collar of soft, fluffy +chinchilla, and a velvet hat with drooping brim, beneath which could be +seen a glimpse of a face pink and white as the blossoms of spring, and a +mass of shining, golden hair. Peggy shut her lips with a snap, and the +iron entered into her soul. It was no use pretending any longer! This +was Rosalind, and she was fairer, sweeter, a hundred times more +beautiful than she had ever imagined! + + + +CHAPTER FOURTEEN. + +ROSALIND'S VISIT. + +Robert did not make his appearance next morning, and his absence seemed +to give fresh ground for the expectation that Lady Darcy would drive +over with him in the afternoon and pay a call at the vicarage. + +Mrs Asplin gathered what branches of russet leaves still remained in +the garden and placed them in bowls in the drawing-room, with a few +precious chrysanthemums peeping out here and there; laid out her very +best tea-cloth and d'oyleys, and sent the girls upstairs to change their +well-worn school dresses for something fresher and smarter. + +"And you, Peggy dear--you will put on your pretty red, of course!" she +said, standing still, with a bundle of branches in her arms, and looking +with a kindly glance at the pale face, which had somehow lost its sunny +expression during the last two days. + +Peggy hesitated and pursed up her lips. + +"Why `of course,' Mrs Asplin? I never change my dress until evening. +Why need I do it to-day, just because some strangers may call whom I +have never seen before?" + +It was the first time that the girl had objected to do what she was +told, and Mrs Asplin was both surprised and hurt by the tone in which +she spoke--a good deal puzzled too, for Peggy was by no means +indifferent to pretty frocks, and as a rule fond of inventing excuses to +wear her best clothes. Why, then, should she choose this afternoon of +all others to refuse so simple a request? Just for a moment she felt +tempted to make a sharp reply, and then tenderness for the girl whose +mother was so far-away took the place of the passing irritation, and she +determined to try a gentler method. + +"There is not the slightest necessity, dear," she said quietly. "I +asked only because the red dress suits you so well, and it would have +been a pleasure to me to see you looking your best. But you are very +nice and neat as you are. You need not change unless you like." + +She turned to leave the room as she finished speaking; but before she +had reached the door Peggy was by her side, holding out her hands to +take possession of twigs and branches. + +"Let me take them to the kitchen, please! Let me help you!" she said +quickly, and just for a moment a little hand rested on her arm with a +spasmodic pressure. That was all; but it was enough. There was no need +of a formal apology. Mrs Asplin understood all the unspoken love and +penitence which was expressed in that simple action, and beamed with her +brightest smile. + +"Thank you, my lassie, please do! I'm glad to avoid going near the +kitchen again, for when cook once gets hold of me I can never get away. +She tells me the family history of all her relatives, and indeed it's +very depressing, it is," (with a relapse into her merry Irish accent), +"for they are subject to the most terrible afflictions! I've had one +dose of it to-day, and I don't want another!" + +Peggy laughed, and carried off her bundle, lingered in the kitchen just +long enough to remind the cook that "apple charlotte served with cream" +was a seasonable pudding at the fall of the year, and then went upstairs +to put on the red dress, and relieve her feelings by making grimaces at +herself in the glass as she fastened the buttons. + +At four o'clock the patter of horses' feet came from below, doors opened +and shut, and there was a sound of voices in the hall. The visitors had +arrived! + +Peggy pressed her lips together, and bent doggedly over her writing. +She had not progressed with her work as well as she had hoped during +Rob's absence, for her thoughts had been running on other subjects, and +she had made mistake after mistake. She must try to finish one batch at +least, to show him on his return. Unless she was especially sent for, +she would not go downstairs; but before ten minutes had passed, +Mellicent was tapping at the door and whispering eager sentences through +the keyhole. + +"Peggy, quick! They've come! Rosalind's here! You're to come down! +Quick! Hurry up!" + +"All right, my dear, keep calm! You will have a fit if you excite +yourself like this!" said Peggy coolly. + +The summons had come, and could not be disregarded, and on the whole she +was not sorry. The meeting was bound to take place sooner or later, +and, in spite of her affectation of indifference, she was really +consumed with curiosity to know what Rosalind was like. She had no +intention of hurrying, however, but lingered over the arrangement of her +papers until Mellicent had trotted downstairs again, and the coast was +clear. Then she sauntered after her with leisurely dignity, opened the +drawing-room door, and gave a swift glance round. + +Lady Darcy sat talking to Mrs Asplin a few yards away, in such a +position that she faced the doorway. She looked up as Peggy entered, +and swept her eyes curiously over the girl's figure. She looked older +than she had done from across the church the day before, and her face +had a bored expression, but, if possible, she was even more elegant in +her attire. It seemed quite extraordinary to see such a fine lady +sitting on that well-worn sofa, instead of the sober figure of the +vicar's wife. + +Peggy flashed a look from one to the other--from the silk dress to the +serge, from the beautiful weary face to the cheery loving smile--and +came to the conclusion that, for some mysterious reason, Mrs Asplin was +a happier woman than the wife of the great Lord Darcy. + +The two ladies stopped talking and looked expectantly towards her. + +"Come in, dear! This is our new pupil, Lady Darcy, for whom you were +asking. You have heard of her--" + +"From Robert. Oh yes, frequently! I was especially anxious to see +Robert's little friend. How do you do, dear? Let me see! What is your +funny little name? Molly--Dolly--something like that, I think--I forget +for the moment?" + +"Mariquita Saville!" quoth Peggy grandiloquently. She was consumed with +regret that she had no second name to add to the number of syllables, +but she did her best with those she possessed, rolling them out in her +very best manner and with a stately condescension which made Lady Darcy +smile for the first time since she entered the room. + +"Oh-h!" The lips parted to show a gleam of regular white teeth. +"That's it, is it? Well, I am very pleased to make your acquaintance, +Mariquita. I hope we shall see a great deal of you while we are here. +You must go and make friends with Rosalind--my daughter. She is longing +to know you." + +"Yes, go and make friends with Rosalind, Peggy dear! She was asking for +you," said Mrs Asplin kindly; and as the girl walked away the two +ladies exchanged smiling glances. + +"Amusing! Such grand little manners! Evidently a character." + +"Oh, quite! Peggy is nothing if not original. She is a dear, good +girl, but quite too funny in her ways. She is really the incarnation of +mischief, and keeps me on tenter-hooks from morning until night, but +from her manner you would think she was a model of propriety. Nothing +delights her so much as to get hold of a new word or a high-sounding +phrase." + +"But what a relief to have someone out of the ordinary run! There are +so many bores in the world, it is quite refreshing to meet with a little +originality. Dear Mrs Asplin, you really must tell me how you manage +to look so happy and cheerful in this dead-alive place? I am desolate +at the idea of staying here all winter. What in the world do you find +to do?" + +Mrs Asplin laughed. + +"Indeed, that's not the trouble at all; the question is how to find time +to get through the day's duties! It's a rush from morning till night, +and when evening comes I am delighted to settle down in an easy-chair +with a nice book to read. One has no chance of feeling dull in a house +full of young people." + +"Ah, you are so good and clever, you get through so much. I want to ask +your help in half a dozen ways. If we are to settle down here for some +months, there are so many arrangements to make. Now tell me, what would +you do in this case?" The two ladies settled down to a discussion on +domestic matters, while Peggy crossed the room to the corner where +Rosalind Darcy sat in state, holding her court with Esther and Mellicent +as attendant slaves. She wore the same grey dress in which she had +appeared in church the day before, but the jacket was thrown open, and +displayed a distractingly dainty blouse, all pink chiffon, and frills, +and ruffles of lace. Her gloves lay in her lap, and the celebrated +diamond ring flashed in the firelight as she held out her hand to meet +Peggy's. + +"How do you do? So glad to see you! I've heard of you often. You are +the little girl who is my bwothar's fwiend." She pronounced the letter +"r" as if it had been "w," and the "er" in brother as if it had been +"ah," and spoke with a languid society drawl more befitting a woman of +thirty than a schoolgirl of fifteen. + +Peggy stood motionless and looked her over, from the crown of her hat to +the tip of the little trim shoe, with an expression of icy displeasure. + +"Oh dear me, no," she said quietly, "you mistake the situation. You put +it the wrong way about. Your brother is the big boy whom I have allowed +to become a friend of mine!" + +Esther and Mellicent gasped with amazement, while Rosalind gave a trill +of laughter, and threw up her pretty white hands. + +"She's wexed!" she cried. "She's wexed, because I called her little! +I'm wewwy sowwy, but I weally can't help it, don't you know. It's the +twuth! You are a whole head smaller than I am." She threw back her +chin, and looked over Peggy's head with a smile of triumph. "There, +look at that, and I'm not a year older. I call you wewwy small indeed +for your age." + +"I'm thankful to hear it! I admire small women," said Peggy promptly, +seating herself on a corner of the window-seat, and staring critically +at the tall figure of the visitor. She would have been delighted if she +could have persuaded herself that her height was awkward and ungainly, +but such an effort was beyond imagination. Rosalind was startlingly and +wonderfully pretty; she had never seen anyone in real life who was in +the least like her. Her eyes were a deep, dark blue, with curling dark +lashes, her face was a delicate oval, and the pink and white colouring, +and flowing golden locks, gave her the appearance of a princess in a +fairy tale rather than an ordinary flesh-and-blood maiden. Peggy looked +from her to Mellicent, who was considered quite a beauty among her +companions, and, oh dear me! how plain, and fat, and prosaic she +appeared when viewed side by side with this radiant vision! Esther +stood the comparison better, for, though her long face had no +pretensions to beauty, it was thoughtful and interesting in expression. +There was no question which was most charming to look at; but if it had +come to choice of a companion, an intelligent observer would certainly +have decided in favour of the vicar's daughter. Esther's face was +particularly grave at this moment, and her eyes met Peggy's with a +reproachful glance. What was the matter with the girl this afternoon? +Why did she take up everything that Rosalind said in that hasty, +cantankerous manner? Here was an annoying thing--to have just given an +enthusiastic account of the brightness and amicability of a new +companion, and then to have that companion come into the room only to +make snappish remarks, and look as cross and ill-natured as a bear! She +turned in an apologetic fashion to Rosalind, and tried to resume the +conversation at the point where it had been interrupted by Peggy's +entrance. + +"And I was saying, we have ever so many new things to show you-- +presents, you know, and things of that kind. The last is the nicest of +all: a really good big camera with which we can take proper photographs. +Mrs Saville--Peggy's mother--gave it to us before she left. It was a +present to the schoolroom, so it belongs equally to us all, and we have +such fun with it. We are beginning to do some good things now, but at +first they were too funny for anything. There is one of father where +his boots are twice as large as his head, and another of mother where +her face has run, and is about a yard long, and yet it is so like her! +We laughed till we cried over it, and father has locked it away in his +desk. He says he will keep it to look at when he is low-spirited." + +Rosalind gave a shrug to her shapely shoulders. + +"It would not cheer me up to see a cawicature of myself! I don't think +I shall sit to you for my portrait, if that is the sort of thing you do, +but you shall show me all your failures. It will amuse me. You will +have to come up and see me vewwy often this winter, for I shall be so +dull. We have been abroad for the last four years, and England seems so +dark and dweawy. Last winter we were at Cairo. We lived in a big +hotel, and there was something going on almost every night. I was not +out, of course, but I was allowed to go into the room for an hour after +dinner, and to dance with the gentlemen in mother's set. And we went up +the Nile in a steamer, and dwove about every afternoon, paying calls, +and shopping in the bazaars. It never rains in Cairo, and the sun is +always shining. It seems so wonderful! Just like a place in a fairy +tale." She looked at Peggy as she spoke, and that young person smiled +with an air of elegant condescension. + +"It would do so to you. Naturally it would. When one has been born in +the East, and lived there the greater part of one's life, it seems +natural enough, but the trippers from England who just come out for a +few months' visit are always astonished. It used to amuse us so much to +hear their remarks!" + +Rosalind stared, and flushed with displeasure. She was accustomed to +have her remarks treated with respect, and the tone of superiority was a +new and unpleasing experience. + +"You were born in the East?" + +"Certainly I was!" + +"Where, may I ask?" + +"In India--in Calcutta, where my father's regiment was stationed." + +"You lived there till you were quite big? You can remember all about +it?" + +"All I want to remember. There was a great deal that I choose to +forget. I don't care for India. England is more congenial to my +feelings." + +"And can you speak the language? Did you learn Hindostanee while you +were there?" + +"Naturally. Of course I did." + +A gasp of amazement came from the two girls in the window, for a +knowledge of Hindostanee had never been included in the list of Peggy's +accomplishments, and she was not accustomed to hide her light under a +bushel. They gazed at her with widened eyes, and Rosalind scented +scepticism in the air, and cried quickly-- + +"Say something, then. If you can speak, say something now, and let us +hear you." + +"Pardon me!" said Peggy, simpering. "As a matter of fact, I was sent +home because I was learning to speak too well. The language of the +natives is not considered suitable for English children of tender age. +I must ask you to be so kind as to excuse me. I should be sorry to +shock your sensibilities." + +Rosalind drew her brows together and stared steadily in the speaker's +face. Like many beautiful people, she was not over-gifted with a sense +of humour, and therefore Peggy's grandiose manner and high-sounding +words failed to amuse her as they did most strangers. She felt only +annoyed and puzzled, dimly conscious that she was being laughed at, and +that this girl with the small face and the peaked eyebrows was trying to +patronise her--Rosalind Darcy--instead of following the vicar's +daughters in adoring her from a respectful distance, as of course it was +her duty to do. She had been anxious to meet the Peggy Saville of whom +her brother had spoken so enthusiastically, for it was a new thing to +hear Rob praise a girl, but it was evident that Peggy on her side was by +no means eager to make her acquaintance. It was an extraordinary +discovery, and most disconcerting to the feelings of one who was +accustomed to be treated as a person of supreme importance. Rosalind +could hardly speak for mortification, and it was an immense relief when +the door opened, and Max and Oswald hurried forward to greet her. Then +indeed she was in her element, beaming with smiles, and indulging a +dozen pretty little tricks of manner for the benefit of their admiring +eyes. Max took possession of the chair by her side, his face lighted up +with pleasure and admiration. He was too thoroughly natural and healthy +a lad to be much troubled with sentiment, but ever since one winter +morning five years before, when Rosalind had first appeared in the +little country church, she had been his ideal of all that was womanly +and beautiful. At every meeting he discovered fresh charms, and to-day +was no exception to the rule. She was taller, fairer, more elegant. In +_some_ mysterious manner she seemed to have grown older than he, so +that, though he was in reality three years her senior, he was still a +boy, while she was almost a young lady. + +Mrs Asplin looked across the room, and a little anxious furrow showed +in her forehead. Maxwell's admiration for Rosalind was already an old +story, and as she saw his eager face and sparkling eyes, a pang of fear +came into his mother's heart. If the Darcys were constantly coming down +to the Larches, it was only natural to suppose that this admiration +would increase, and it would never do for Max to fall in love with +Rosalind! The vicar's son would be no match for Lord Darcy's daughter; +it would only mean a heartache for the poor lad, a clouded horizon just +when life should be the brightest. For a moment a prevision of trouble +filled her heart, then she waved it away in her cheery, hopeful +fashion-- + +"Why, what a goose I am! They are only children. Time enough to worry +my head about love affairs in half a dozen years to come. The lad would +be a Stoic if he didn't admire her. I don't see how he could help it!" + +"Rosalind is lovelier than ever, Lady Darcy, if that is possible!" she +said aloud, and her companion's face brightened with pleasure. + +"Oh, do you think so?" she cried eagerly. "I am so glad to hear it, for +this growing stage is so trying. I was afraid she might outgrow her +strength and lose her complexion, but so far I don't think it has +suffered. I am very careful of her diet, and my maid understands all +the new skin treatments. So much depends on a girl's complexion. I +notice your youngest daughter has a very good colour. May I ask what +you use?" + +"Soap and water, fresh air, good plain food,--those are the only +cosmetics we use in this house," said Mrs Asplin, laughing outright at +the idea of Mellicent's healthy bloom being the result of "skin +treatment." "I am afraid I have too much to do looking after the +necessities of life for my girls, Lady Darcy, to worry myself about +their complexions." + +"Oh yes. Well, I'm sure they both look charming; but Rosalind will go +much into society, and of course,"--She checked herself before the +sentence was finished; but Mrs Asplin was quick enough to understand +the imputation that the complexions of a vicar's daughters were but of +small account, but that it was a very different matter when the +Honourable Rosalind Darcy was concerned. She understood, but she was +neither hurt nor annoyed by the inferences, only a little sad and very, +very pitiful. She knew the story of the speaker's life, and the reason +why she looked forward to Rosalind's entrance into society with such +ambition. Lady Darcy had been the daughter of poor but well-born +parents, and had married the widower, Lord Darcy, not because she loved +him or had any motherly feeling for his two orphan boys, but simply and +solely for a title and establishment, and a purse full of money. Given +these, she had fondly imagined that she was going to be perfectly happy. +No more screwing and scraping to keep up appearances; no more living in +dulness and obscurity; she would be Lady Darcy, the beautiful young wife +of a famous man. So, with no thought in her heart but for her own +worldly advancement, Beatrice Fairfax stood before God's altar and vowed +to love, honour, and obey a man for whom she had no scrap of affection, +and whom she would have laughed to scorn if he had been poor and +friendless. She married him, but the life which followed was not by any +means all that she had expected. Lord Darcy had heavy money losses, +which obliged him to curtail expenses almost immediately after his +wedding; her own health broke down, and it was a knife in her heart to +know that her boy was only the third son, and that the two big, handsome +lads at Eton would inherit the lion's share of their father's property. +Hector, the Lifeguardsman, and Oscar, the Dragoon, were for ever running +into debt and making fresh demands on her husband's purse. She and her +children had to suffer for their extravagances; while Robert, her only +son, was growing up a shy, awkward lad, who hated society, and asked +nothing better than to be left in the country alone with his frogs and +his beetles. Ambition after ambition had failed her, until now all her +hopes were centred in Rosalind, the beautiful daughter, in whom she saw +a reproduction of herself in the days of her girlhood. She had had a +dull and obscure youth; Rosalind should be the belle of society. Her +own marriage had been a disappointment; Rosalind should make a brilliant +alliance. She had failed to gain the prize for which she had worked; +she would live again in Rosalind's triumphs, and in them find fullest +satisfaction. + +So Lady Darcy gloated over every detail of her daughter's beauty, and +thought day and night of her hair, her complexion, her figure, striving +still to satisfy her poor tired soul with promises of future success, +and never dreaming for a moment that the prize which seemed to elude her +grasp had been gained long ago by the vicar's wife, with her +old-fashioned dress and work-worn hands. But Mrs Asplin knew, and +thanked God in her heart for the sweetness and peace of her dear, shabby +home; for the husband who loved her, and the children whom they were +training to be good servants for Him in the world Yes, and for that +other child too, who had been taken away at the very dawn of his +manhood, and who, they believed, was doing still better work in the +unseen world. + +Until Lady Darcy discovered that the only true happiness rose from +something deeper than worldly success, there was nothing in store for +her but fresh disappointments and heart-hunger; while as for Rosalind, +the unfortunate child of such a mother--Mrs Asplin looked at the girl +as she sat leaning back in her chair, craning her throat, and showing +off all her little airs and graces for the benefit of the two admiring +schoolboys, gratified vanity and self-love showing on every line of her +face. + +"It seems almost cruel to say so," she sighed to herself, "but it would +be the best thing that could happen to the child if she were to lose +some of her beauty before she grew up. Such a face as that is a +terrible temptation to vanity." But Mrs Asplin did not guess how soon +these unspoken words would come back to her memory, or what bitter cause +she would have to regret their fulfilment. + + + +CHAPTER FIFTEEN. + +A PINK LUNCHEON. + +For the next week conversation was more strictly centred on Rosalind +than ever, and the gloomy expression deepened on Peggy's face. She was, +in truth, working too hard for her strength, for, as each day passed, +the necessity of hurrying on with the calendar became more apparent; and +as Robert was no longer master of his own time, she was obliged to come +to his aid in writing out the selected quotations. + +At every spare moment of the day she was locked in her room, scribbling +away for dear life or searching for appropriate extracts, and, as a +consequence, her brain refused to rest when she wished it to do so. She +tossed wakefully on her pillow, and was often most inclined for sleep +when six o'clock struck, and she dragged herself up, a white-cheeked, +weary little mortal, to sit blinking over the fire, wishing feebly that +it was time to go to bed again, instead of getting up to face the long, +long day. + +Robert was not more observant than most boys of his age, and Peggy would +have worked herself to death before she had complained to him. She was +proud to feel that he depended on her more than ever, that without her +help he could not possibly have finished his task, while his words of +gratitude helped to comfort a heart which was feeling sore and empty. + +In truth, these last few weeks had been harder for Peggy than those +immediately following her mother's departure. Then each one in the +house had vied with the other in trying to comfort her, whereas now, +without any intention of unkindness, her companions often appeared to be +neglectful. + +When Rosalind was present Esther hung on one arm and Mellicent on the +other, without so much as a glance over the shoulder to see if Peggy +were following. Instead of a constant "Peggy, what would you like?" + +"What does Peggy say?" her opinion was never even asked, while +Rosalind's lightest word was treated as law. + +It would have been hard for any girl under the circumstances, but it was +doubly hard when that girl was so dependent on her friends, and so +sensitive and reserved in disposition as Peggy Saville. She would not +deign to complain or to ask for signs of affection which were not +voluntarily given, but her merry ways disappeared, and she became so +silent and subdued that she was hardly recognisable as the audacious +Peggy of a few weeks earlier. + +"Peggy's so grumpy," Mellicent complained to her mother. "She never +laughs now, nor makes jokes, nor flies about as she used to do! She's +just as glum and mum as can be, and she never sits with us! She is +always in her bedroom with the door locked, so that we can't get in! +She's there now! I think she might stay with us sometimes! It's mean, +always running away!" + +Mrs Asplin drew her brows together and looked worried. She had not +been satisfied about Peggy lately, and this news did not tend to +reassure her. Her kind heart could not endure that anyone beneath her +roof should be ill or unhappy, and the girl had looked both during the +last few days. She went upstairs at once and tapped at the door, when +Peggy's voice was raised in impatient answer. + +"I can't come! Go away! I'm engaged!" + +"But I want to speak to you, dear! Please let me in!" she replied in +her clear, pleasant tones; whereupon there was a hasty scamper inside, +and the door was thrown open. + +"Oh-h! I didn't know it was you; I thought it was one of the girls. +I'm sorry I kept you waiting." + +Mrs Asplin gave a glance around. The gas-fire was lit, but the chair +beside it stood stiffly in the corner, and the cushion was uncrushed. +Evidently, the girl had not been sitting there. The work-basket was in +its accustomed place, and there were no cottons or silks lying about-- +Peggy had not been sewing at Christmas presents, as she had half hoped +to find her. A towel was thrown over the writing-table, and a piece of +blotting-paper lay on the floor. A chair was pushed to one side, as if +it had been lately used. That looked as if she had been writing +letters. + +"Peggy dear, what are you doing all by yourself in this chilly room?" + +"I'm busy, Mrs Asplin. I lit the fire as soon as I came in." + +"But a room does not get warm in five minutes. I don't want you to +catch cold and be laid up with a sore throat. Can't you bring your +writing downstairs and do it beside the others?" + +"I would rather not. I can get on so much better by myself." + +"Are you writing to India--to your mother?" + +"N-no, not just now." + +"Then really, dear, you must come downstairs! This won't do! Your +mother wished you to have a fire in your room, so that you might be able +to sit here when you wanted to be alone, but she never meant you to make +it a habit, or to spend all your spare time alone. It isn't healthy to +use a room night and day, and to burn so much gas, and it isn't +sociable, Peggy dear. Mellicent has just been complaining that you are +hardly ever with them nowadays. Come along, like a good girl; put the +writing away and amuse yourself downstairs. You have done enough work +for one day. You don't do me credit with those white cheeks." + +Peggy stood with her eyes fixed on the carpet without uttering a word. +It would have been the easiest thing in the world to say, "Oh, do let me +stay upstairs as much as I like for a day or two longer. I have a piece +of work on hand which I am anxious to finish. It is a secret, but I +hope to tell you all about it soon, and I am sure you will be pleased." +If she had done so, she knew perfectly well how hearty and pleasant +would have been Mrs Asplin's consent; but there are some states of mind +in which it is a positive pleasure to be a martyr, and to feel oneself +misunderstood, and this was just the mood in which Peggy found herself +at present. She heard Mrs Asplin sigh, as if with anxiety and +disappointment, as she left the room, and shrugged her shoulders in +wilful indifference. + +"She thinks I like sitting shivering here! I slave, and slave, from +morning till night, and then people think I am sulky! I am not working +for myself. I don't want the wretched old ten pounds; I could have ten +pounds to-morrow if I needed it. Mother said I could. I am working to +help Rob, and now I shall have to sit up later, and get up earlier than +ever, as I mayn't work during the day. Mellicent said I was never with +them, did she! I don't see that it matters whether I am there or not! +They don't want me; nobody wants me, now that Rosalind has come! I hate +Rosalind--nasty, smirking, conceited thing!" and Peggy jerked the towel +off the writing-table and flicked it violently to and fro in the air, +just as a little relief to her overcharged feelings. + +She was crossing the hall with unwilling steps when the postman's knock +sounded at the door, and three letters in long, narrow envelopes fell to +the ground. Each envelope was of a pale pink tint, with a crest and +monogram in white relief; one was addressed to the Misses Asplin, +another to Oswald Elliston, and a third to Miss Mariquita Saville. + +"Invitations!" cried Peggy, with a caper of delight. "Invitations! How +scrumptious!" Her face clouded for a moment as the sight of the letters +"R.D." suggested the sender of the letters; but the natural girlish +delight in an unexpected festivity was stronger even than her +prejudices, and it was the old, bright Peggy who bounced into the +schoolroom holding up the three letters, and crying gleefully, "_Quis, +Quis_, something nice for somebody! An invitation!" + +"_Ego, Ego_!" came the eager replies, and the envelopes were seized and +torn open in breathless haste. + +"From Rosalind! Oh, how funny! `Requests the pleasure--company--to a +pink luncheon.' What in the world is a `pink luncheon'?--`on Tuesday +next, the 20th inst.'" + +"A p-p-pink luncheon? How wewwy stwange!" echoed Mellicent, who had +been suddenly affected with an incapacity to pronounce the letter "r" +since the arrival of Rosalind Darcy on the scene--a peculiarity which +happened regularly every autumn, and passed off again with the advent of +spring. "How can a luncheon possibly be pink?" + +"That's more than I can tell you, my dear! Ask Rob. What does it mean, +Rob?" asked Peggy curiously; and Robert scowled, and shook back his +shock of hair. + +"Some American fad, I believe. The idea is to have everything of one +colour--flowers, drapery, and food, china--everything that is on the +table. It's a fag and an awful handicap, for you can't have half the +things you want. But let us be modern or die--that's the motto +nowadays. Mother is always trying to get hold of new-fangled notions." + +"`Peggy Saville requests the pleasure of Jane Smith's company to a +magenta supper.'--`Peggy Saville requests the pleasure of Mr Jones's +company to a purple tea.' It's a splendid idea! I like it immensely," +said Peggy, pursing her lips, and staring in the fire in meditative +fashion. "Pink--pink--what can we eat that is pink? P-prawns, +p-pickles, p-p-pomegranates, P-aysandu tongues (you would call those +pink, wouldn't you--pinky red?) Humph! I don't think it sounds very +nice. Perhaps they dye the things with cochineal. I think I shall have +a sensible brown and green meal before I go, and then I can nibble +elegantly at the pinkies. Would it be considered a delicate mark of +attention if I wore a pink frock?" + +"Certainly it would. Wear that nice one that you put on in the +evenings. Rosalind will be in pink from head to foot, you may depend on +it," said Robert confidently; whereupon Mellicent rushed headlong from +the room to find her mother, and plead eagerly that summer crepon +dresses of the desired tint should be brought forth from their +hiding-place and freshened up for the occasion. To accede to this +request meant an extra call upon time already fully occupied, but +mothers have a way of not grudging trouble where their children are +concerned. Mrs Asplin said, "Yes, darling, of course I will!" and set +to work with such goodwill that all three girls sported pink dresses +beneath their ulsters when they set off to partake of the mysterious +luncheon, a few days later. + +Rosalind came to the bedroom to receive them, and looked on from an +arm-chair, while Lady Darcy's maid helped the visitors to take off their +wraps. She herself looked like a rose in her dainty pink draperies, and +Peggy had an impression that she was not altogether pleased to see that +her guests were as appropriately dressed as herself. She eyed them up +and down, and made remarks to the maid in that fluent French of hers +which was so unintelligible to the schoolgirls' ears. The maid smirked +and pursed up her lips, and then, meeting Peggy's steady gaze, dropped +her eyes in confusion. Peggy knew, as well as if she had understood +every word, that the remarks exchanged between mistress and maid had +been of a depreciatory nature, not as concerned her own attire--that was +as perfect in its way as Rosalind's own--but with reference to the +home-made dresses of the vicar's daughters, which seemed to have +suddenly become clumsy and shapeless when viewed in the mirrors of this +elegant bedroom. She was in arms at once on her friends' behalf, and +when Peggy's dignity was hurt she was a formidable person to tackle. In +this instance she fixed her eyes first on the maid, and then on Rosalind +herself with a steady, disapproving stare which was not a little +disconcerting. + +"I am sorry," she said, "but we really don't know French well enough to +follow your conversation! You were talking about us, I think. Perhaps +you would be kind enough to repeat your remarks in English?" + +"Oh-h, it doesn't matter! It was nothing at all important!" Rosalind +flushed, and had the grace to look a trifle ashamed of her own +ill-breeding, but she did not by any means appreciate the reproof. The +girls had not been ten minutes in the house, and already that +aggravating Peggy Saville had succeeded in making her feel humiliated +and uncomfortable. The same thing happened whenever they met. The +respect and awe and adoring admiration which she was accustomed to +receive from other girls of her own age seemed altogether wanting in +Peggy's case; and yet, strange to say, the very fact that she refused to +fall down and worship invested Peggy with a peculiar importance in +Rosalind's eyes. She longed to overcome her prejudices and add her name +to the list of her adorers, and to this end she considered her tastes in +a way which would never have occurred to her in connection with Mrs +Asplin's daughters. In planning the pink luncheon Peggy had been +continually in her mind, and it is doubtful whether she would have taken +the trouble to arrange so difficult an entertainment had not the party +from the vicarage included that important personage, Miss Mariquita +Saville. + +From the bedroom the girls adjourned to the morning-room, where Lady +Darcy sat waiting; but almost as soon as they had exchanged greetings, +the gong sounded to announce luncheon, and they walked across the hall +aglow with expectation. + +The table looked exquisite, and the guests stood still in the doorway +and gasped with admiration. The weather outside was grey and murky, but +tall standard lamps were placed here and there, and the light which +streamed from beneath the pink silk shades gave an air of warmth and +comfort to the room. Down the centre of the table lay a slip of +looking-glass, on which graceful long-necked swans seemed to float to +and fro, while troughs filled with soft pink blossoms formed a +bordering. Garlands of pink flowers fell from the chandelier and were +attached to the silver candelabra, in which pink candles burned with +clear and steady flare. Glass, china, ornaments, were all of the same +dainty colour, and beside each plate was a dainty little buttonhole +nosegay, with a coral-headed pin, all ready to be attached to the dress +or coat of the owner. + +"It's--it's beautiful!" cried Mellicent ecstatically; while Peggy's +beauty-loving eye turned from one detail to another with delighted +approbation. "Really," she said to herself in astonishment, "I couldn't +have done it better myself! It's quite admirable!" and as Rosalind's +face peered inquiringly at her beneath the canopy of flowers, she nodded +her head, and smiled generous approval. + +"Beautiful! Charming! I congratulate you! Did you design it and +arrange everything yourself?" + +"Mother and I made it up between us. We didn't do the actual work, but +we told the servants what to do, and saw that it was all right. The +flowers and bonbons are easy enough to manage; it's the things to eat +that are the greatest trouble." + +"It seems to be too horribly prosaic to eat anything at such a table, +except crumpled rose-leaves, like the princess in the fairy tale," said +Peggy gushingly; but at this Mellicent gave an exclamation of dismay, +and the three big lads turned their eyes simultaneously towards the soup +tureen, as if anxious to assure themselves that they were not to be put +off with such ethereal rations. + +The soup was pink. "Tomato!" murmured Peggy to herself, as she raised +the first creamy spoonful to her lips. The fish was covered with thick +pink sauce; tiny little cutlets lurked behind ruffles of pink paper; +pink baskets held chicken souffles; moulds of pink cream and whipped-up +syllabubs were handed round in turns, and looked so tempting that +Mellicent helped herself at once, and nearly shed tears of mortification +on finding that they were followed by distracting pink ices, which were +carried away again before she could possibly finish what was on her +plate. Then came dessert-plates and finger-glasses, in which +crystallised rose-leaves floated in the scented water, as if in +fulfilment of Peggy's suggestion of an hour before, and the young people +sat in great contentment, eating rosy apples, bananas pared and dipped +in pink sugar, or helping themselves to the delicious bonbons which were +strewed about the table. + +While they were thus occupied the door opened, and Lord Darcy came into +the room. He had not appeared before, and he shook hands with the +visitors in turn, and then stood at the head of the table looking about +him with a slow, kindly smile. Peggy watched him from her seat, and +thought what a nice face he had, and wondered at the indifferent manner +in which he was received by his wife and daughter. Lady Darcy leant +back in her chair and played with her fruit, the sleeves of her pink +silk tea-gown falling back from her white arms. Rosalind whispered to +Max, and neither of them troubled to cast so much as a glance of welcome +at the new-comer. Peggy thought of her own father, the gallant soldier +out in India, of the joy and pride with which his comings and goings +were watched; of Mr Asplin in the vicarage, with his wife running to +meet him, and Mellicent resting her curly bead on his shoulder; and the +figure of the old lord standing unnoticed at the head of his own table +assumed a pathetic interest. It seemed, however, as if Lord Darcy were +accustomed to be overlooked, for he showed no signs of annoyance; on the +contrary, his face brightened, and he looked at the pretty scene with +sparkling eyes. The room was full of a soft rosy glow, the shimmer of +silver and crystal was reflected in the sheet of mirror, and beneath the +garlands of flowers the young faces of the guests glowed with pleasure +and excitement. He looked from one to the other--handsome Max, dandy +Oswald, Robert with his look of strength and decision; then to the +girls--Esther, gravely smiling; wide-eyed Mellicent; Peggy, with her +eloquent, sparkling eyes; Rosalind, a queen of beauty among them all; +finally to the head of the table, where sat his wife. + +"I must congratulate you, dear," he said heartily. "It is the prettiest +sight I have seen for a long time. You have arranged admirably, but +that's no new thing; you always do. I don't know where you get your +ideas. These wreaths--eh? I've never seen anything like them before. +What made you think of fastening them up there?" + +"I have had them like that several times before, but you never notice a +thing until its novelty is over, and I am tired to death of seeing it," +said his wife, with a frown and an impatient curve of the lip, as if she +had received a rebuke instead of a compliment. + +Peggy stared at her plate, felt Robert shuffle on his chair by her side, +and realised that he was as embarrassed and unhappy as herself. The +beautiful room with its luxurious appointments seemed to have suddenly +become oppressive and cheerless, for in it was the spirit of discontent +and discord between those who should have been most in harmony. Esther +was shocked, Mellicent frightened, the boys looked awkward and +uncomfortable. No one ventured to break the silence, and there was +quite a long pause before Lady Darcy spoke again in quick, irritable +tones. + +"Have you arranged to get away with me on Thursday, as I asked you?" + +"My dear, I cannot. I explained before. I am extremely sorry, but I +have made appointments which I cannot break. I could take you next week +if you would wait." + +"I can't wait. I told you I had to go to the dentist's. Do you wish me +to linger on in agony for another week? And I have written to Mrs +Bouverie that I will be at her `At Home' on Saturday. My appointments +are, at least, as binding as yours. It isn't often that I ask you to +take me anywhere, but when it is a matter of health I do think you might +show a little consideration." + +Lord Darcy drew his brows together and bit his moustache. Peggy +recalled Robert's description of the "governor looking wretched" when he +found himself compelled to refuse a favour, and did not wonder that the +lad was ready to deny himself a pleasure rather than see that expression +on his father's face. The twinkling light had died out of his eyes, and +he looked old and sad and haggard, far more in need of physical remedies +than his wife, whose "agony" had been so well concealed during the last +two hours as to give her the appearance of a person in very comfortable +health. Rosalind alone looked absolutely unruffled, and lay back in her +chair nibbling at her bonbon, as though such scenes were of too frequent +occurrence between her parents to be deserving of attention. + +"If you have made up your mind to go to-morrow, and cannot go alone, you +must take Robert with you, Beatrice, for I cannot leave. It is only for +four days, and Mr Asplin will no doubt excuse him, if you write and +explain the circumstances." + +Lord Darcy left the room, and Robert and Peggy exchanged agonised +glances. Go away for nearly a week, when before two days were over the +calendar must be sent to London, and there still remained real hard work +before it was finished! Peggy sat dazed and miserable, seeing the +painful effort of the last month brought to naught, Robert's ambition +defeated, and her own help of no avail. That one glance had shown the +lad's face flushed with emotion; but when his mother spoke to him in +fretful tones, bidding him be ready next morning when she should call in +the carriage on her way to the station, he answered at once with polite +acquiescence-- + +"Very well, mater, I won't keep you waiting. I shall be ready by +half-past ten if you want me." + + + +CHAPTER SIXTEEN. + +AN UNEXPECTED VISITOR. + +Lady Darcy left the young people by themselves after luncheon, and, as +was only natural, conversation at once turned on the proposed visit to +London. Peggy was too much perturbed to speak, but Mellicent put the +very inquiry which she most wished answered, being never troubled with +bashfulness in asking questions. + +"Has your mother's tooth been hurting her very much, Rosalind?" + +"Tooth! what tooth? Oh, I think she did have a little twinge one night; +but it's not the dentist whom she is really going to see. That's only +an excuse. She really wants to go to some parties," said Rosalind +lightly; whereat her brother scowled at her under heavy brows. + +"What business have you to say that? What can you know about it, pray? +If mother says she is in pain, it is not for you to contradict, and make +up your own explanations. Leave her to manage her own affairs--" + +He spoke rapidly, but Rosalind only shrugged her shoulders, and +whispered something in Max's ear, at which he smiled and nodded his +head, evidently taking her part against her brother, to Peggy's intense +indignation. + +No words were exchanged between the partners on the subject of the +calendar until they were once more at home; when Robert took advantage +of the first quiet opportunity, and came up to Peggy with a face of set +determination. + +"Mariquita!" he said, "_I_--_am_--_not_--_going_--_to give in_! If you +stick to me, we can still manage to get the calendar off in time. There +are twenty more quotations to be found. I'll sit up to-night and fix +them off, and go on writing as long as I can keep awake, but I can't +take a dozen books up to town with me, so I must leave it to you to +finish up. I'll mark the passages I choose, write the full address on a +piece of paper, and leave everything ready for you to make up the +parcel. All you will have to do will be to write the remaining cards, +and to see that it is sent off on Friday. Five o'clock will be time +enough, but if you can get it off in the morning, so much the better. +You think you can manage as much as that?" + +"Oh yes! I'd do anything rather than give up now. It would be too +grudging. I am not afraid of a little more work." + +"You have done more than your share already. I am mad about it, but it +can't be helped. I couldn't refuse to go with the mater, and I wouldn't +if I could. She is really not at all strong, and does not like the life +down here. It will do her good to have a few days' change." + +Peggy looked at him steadily. She did not speak, but her eyes grew soft +and shining, and there was something at once so sweet, so kindly, and so +gentle in her expression that Rob exclaimed in surprise-- + +"I say, Peggy, you--you do look pretty! I never saw you look like that +before--what have you been doing to yourself?" + +"Doing!" Peggy straightened herself at that, in offended dignity. +"Doing, indeed! What do you mean? Don't you think I am pretty as a +rule?" + +"Never thought about it," returned Robert carelessly. "You are Peggy-- +that's enough for me. A nice state I should be in to-day if it were not +for you! You are the jolliest little brick I ever met, and if I get +this prize it will be far more your doing than my own." + +Well, that was good hearing! Peggy held her head high for the rest of +that evening, and felt as if nothing would have power to depress her for +the future. But, alas, when the pendulum is at its highest it begins to +swing downwards. Peggy's heart sank as she watched Robert drive away +from the door the next morning, and it went on sinking more and more +during the next twenty-four hours, as she realised the responsibility +which weighed upon her shoulders. When she came down to breakfast on +Friday morning the calendar was finished and ready to be made up for the +post, but her head was splitting with pain as the result of the long +hours' work stolen from sleep, and a dead weight of depression had +settled on her spirits. It seemed of a sudden that all this work and +effort was waste of time; that the chances of being successful were +infinitesimally small; that even if it were gained, the prize was of +little value; that if Robert's absence for four days made such a +difference in the life at the vicarage, it would become altogether +unbearable when he said good-bye at the beginning of the year and went +up to Oxford; that she was a desperately unfortunate little unit, thrust +into the midst of a family which was complete in itself, and had only a +kindly toleration to offer to a stranger; that, in all probability, +there would shortly be a war in India, when her father would be killed, +her mother die of a broken heart, and Arthur be called out to join the +ranks of the recruits. She conjured up a touching picture of herself, +swathed in crape, bidding good-bye to her brother at the railway +station, and watching the scarlet coat disappear in the distance, as the +train steamed away. It was all most miserable and picturesque, and +outside the fog gathered, and the rain poured down in a fine, persistent +drizzle. It was one of those typical November days when it seems as if +the earth itself is in the blues, and that it becomes everyone living on +its surface to follow its example. + +When afternoon came Peggy curled herself in an arm-chair in the corner +of the study, and stared gloomily at the fire. It was four o'clock. In +another hour the postman would call for the letters, and she would +deliver the precious packet into his hands. She had made it up in the +dinner-hour, with some faint idea of carrying it to the village; but she +was tired, the rain poured, and Rob had said that the afternoon post +would do. She had given up the idea of going out, and taken a nap +instead on the top of her bed. And now it was four o'clock. Mellicent +called out that she was dying for tea-time to come; it had seemed such a +long, long day; they really ought to have tea earlier on these dreary, +murky afternoons. "_I want my tea_!" she chanted, in shrill, +penetrating tones, and instantly the refrain was taken up by the other +voices, and repeated over and over again with ever-increasing volume, +until the mistress of the house rushed in to discover the reason of the +clamour. + +"Bless your hearts, you shall have it at once!" she cried. "I'll ring +and have it brought in, and ransack my cupboards to see what treats I +can give you. Poor dears, it _is_ dull for you sitting indoors all day +long. We must think of some bright, exciting games for this evening." +No sooner said than done; she did not wait until Mary appeared, but +bustled off to meet her, to enlist the cook's sympathy, and put out the +promised delicacies, and when the table was set she returned to the room +and seated herself, smilingly, in Esther's place. + +"I am going to stay with you this afternoon," she said brightly. "Draw +up your chairs, dears, and let us be jovial. There is no credit in +being happy when the sun is shining, as dear old Mark Tapley would have +said; but it will really be praiseworthy if we succeed in being festive +this afternoon. Come, Peggy, dearie!" + +Peggy turned her dreary little face and stared at the table. From +outside came the sound of the opening and shutting of the door, of +footsteps in the hall. She glanced at the clock, wondering if it could +possibly be the postman already, found it was only ten minutes past +four, and dismissed the supposition with a sigh. "I don't--think--I +want--" she was beginning slowly, when, of a sudden, there came a +tremendous rat-tat-tat on the schoolroom door; the handle was not +turned, but burst open; a blast of chilly air blew into the room, and in +the doorway stood a tall, handsome youth, with square shoulders, a +gracefully poised head, and Peggy Saville's eave-like brows above his +dancing eyes. + +"Oh, what a surprise!" came the cry in loud laughing tones. "How do you +do, everybody? Just thought I would step in as I was passing, and have +a cup of tea, don't you know." + +"My boy! My boy! Oh, how good to see you!" cried Mrs Asplin +rapturously. Mellicent gurgled with surprise, and Peggy stood up by her +chair and stretched out both arms like a child to its mother. + +"Arthur!--oh--Arthur!" she gasped, and there was a pathos, a longing, an +almost incredulous rapture in her voice which made the tears start in +Mrs Asplin's eyes, and brought a cloud of anxiety over the new-comer's +face. + +"Why, Peg!" he cried. "My little Peg! Is something wrong, dear? You +look as melancholy as--" + +"Peggy has not been like herself for the last few weeks. I think she +has had an attack of homesickness and longing for her own people. I'm +so glad you've come. You will do her more good than a dozen tonics. +Bless the boy; how big he is! And how did you manage to get away, dear, +and how long can you stay? Tell me all about it. I am consumed with +curiosity--" + +"I can stay till Monday or Tuesday, if you can put me up; and I came +away because I--I suppose I am not quite up to the mark. My head +bothers me. It aches, and I see black specks floating before my eyes. +The doctor advised me to knock off for a few days, and I thought I would +rather come here than anywhere." + +"I should think so, indeed. Of course we can put you up--proud and +pleased to do so. Well, this is a pleasant surprise for a dull November +day! You couldn't have had a better one if you had had a hundred +wishes, could you, Peggy? You won't feel melancholy any longer?" + +"I'm just enraptured! Saturday, Sunday, Monday--three whole days and +two halves, as good as four days--almost a week! It's too delicious-- +too utterly delicious to realise!" + +Peggy drew deep sighs of happiness, and hung on to Arthur's arm in an +abandonment of tenderness which showed her in a new light to her +companions. She would not loosen her grasp for a moment, and even when +seated at the table kept her fingers tightly locked round his arm, as +though afraid that he might escape. + +As for Arthur himself, he was in the wildest spirits. He was as +handsome a young soldier as one could wish to see, and his likeness to +Peggy seemed only to make him more attractive in the eyes of the +beholders. + +"Hurrah!" he cried cheerily. "Hurrah, for a good old vicarage tea! +Scones? that's the style! Mary made them, I hope, and put in lots of +currants. Raspberry jam! I say, mater, do you remember that solemn +waitress you had, who told you that the jam was done again, and when you +exclaimed in horror, said, `Yes, 'um, it's not a bit of good buying +raspberry jam. _They like it_!' Ha, ha, ha! I've often thought of +that! That looks uncommonly good cake you have over there. Thank you, +I think I will! Begin with cake, and work steadily back to bread and +butter--that's the style, isn't it, Peggums? Esther, I looks towards +you! Mellicent, you are as thin as ever, I see. You should really do +something for it. There are regular hollows in your cheeks." + +"Nasty, horrid thing! You are always teasing! How would you like it if +you were struck fat yourself?" cried Mellicent, aggrieved. But, in +spite of herself, her chubby cheeks dimpled with smiles as Arthur rolled +his eyes at her across the table, for there was something irresistibly +fascinating about this young fellow, and it was like old times to see +him seated at the tea-table and to listen to his merry rattling voice. + +"The dominie must grant a general holiday to-morrow," he declared, "and +we will do something fine to celebrate the occasion. We'll have out +this wonderful camera in the morning and take some groups. You and I +must be taken together, Peggy, to send out to the parents. You promised +to send me copies of all the things you took, but you are as false in +that respect as the whole race of amateur photographers. They are grand +hands at promising, but they never, by any chance--Hallo! What's that? +My cup over? Awfully sorry, mater, really! I'll put a penny in the +missionary-box. Was it a clean cloth?" + +"Oh, my dear boy, don't apologise! I should not have felt that it was +really you if you had not knocked your cup over! To see the table-cloth +swimming with tea all round convinces me that it is Arthur himself, and +nobody else! Tut, tut! What does a table-cloth matter?" And Mrs +Asplin beamed upon her favourite as if she were really rather delighted +than otherwise at his exploit. + +It was a merry, not to say noisy, meal which followed. Peggy's lost +spirits had come back with the first glimpse of Arthur's face; and her +quips and cranks were so irresistibly droll that three separate times +over Mellicent choked over her tea, and had to be relieved with vigorous +pounding on the back, while even Esther shook with laughter, and the +boys became positively uproarious. + +Then Mr Asplin came in, and Arthur was carefully concealed behind the +window-curtains, while he was asked whom he would most like to see if +the choice were given him. In provoking manner he mentioned at once a +brother in Australia, and, when informed that relatives were not on the +list, recollected an old college chum who was out in the Mauritius. + +"Oh dear, what a stupid man!" cried his wife in despair. "We don't mean +the friends of your youth, dear! Think of the last few years and of +your young friends! Now, if you could choose, whom would you--" + +"Arthur Saville!" said the vicar promptly, upon which Arthur made a +loophole between the curtains and thrust his mischievous face through +the gap, to the vicar's amazement and the uproarious delight of the +onlookers. A dozen questions had to be asked and answered about +studies, examinations, and health, while Peggy sat listening, beaming +with happiness and pride. + +It came as quite a shock to all when the vicar announced that it was +time to dress for dinner, and Mrs Asplin looked at Peggy with an +apologetic smile. + +"We were all so charmed to see Arthur that I'm afraid we have been +selfish and engrossed too much of his attention. You two will be +longing for a cosy little chat to yourselves. If you run upstairs now, +Peggy, and hurry through your dressing, there will be a little time +before dinner, and you could have this room to yourselves." + +"Yes, run along, Peg! It won't take me ten minutes to get into my +clothes, and I'll be here waiting for you!" cried Arthur eagerly. And +Peggy went flying two steps at a time upstairs to her own room. + +The gas was lit; the can of hot water stood in the basin, the towel +neatly folded over the top; the hands of the little red clock pointed to +six o'clock, and the faint chime met her ear as she entered. + +Peggy stood still in the doorway, an icy chill crept through her veins, +her hands grasped the lintel, and her eyes grew wide and blank with +horror. There, on the writing-table lay a brown paper parcel--the +precious parcel which contained the calendar which had been the object +of such painful work and anxiety! + + + +CHAPTER SEVENTEEN. + +PEGGY IS LOST. + +Arthur Saville waited in vain by the schoolroom fire, for his sister did +not join him. And when he entered the dining-room in response to the +summons of the gong, she had not yet made her appearance. + +Mrs Asplin looked at him with uplifted brows. + +"Where is Peggy?" + +"I don't know. I haven't seen her since she went upstairs. The little +wretch can't have hurried very much." + +"She hasn't been with you, then! Never mind, there is plenty of time to +come. She must be making a special toilet for your benefit." + +But when the first course was nearly over and the girl had not yet +appeared, Mrs Asplin grew impatient, and despatched the servant to +hasten her movements. + +"Just tell her that we have been at table for nearly ten minutes. Ask +if she will be long." + +Mary left the room, was absent a short time, and came back with an +extraordinary statement. + +"Miss Peggy is not in her room, ma'am." + +"Not in her room! Then she must have come downstairs. Perhaps she +didn't hear the gong. Just look in the schoolroom, Mary, and in the +other rooms too, and tell her to come at once." + +Another few minutes passed, and back again came Mary, looking flushed +and mysterious. + +"I can't see Miss Peggy anywhere, ma'am. She has not come downstairs." + +"You have looked in the drawing-room--Mr Asplin's study?" + +"Yes, ma'am." + +"Did you go upstairs again?" + +"No, ma'am. I had looked there before." + +"Esther dear, you go!" cried Mrs Asplin quickly. "Bring her down at +once! What in the world is the child doing? It's most extraordinary!" + +"She's not given to playing games of hide-and-seek just at dinner-time, +is she?" asked Arthur, laughing. "I am never surprised at anything +Peggy does. She has some little prank on hand, depend upon it, and will +turn up in good time. It's her own fault if she misses her dinner." + +"But it's so extraordinary! To-night of all nights, when you have just +arrived! I wish the child would come!" replied Mrs Asplin, craning her +neck forward to listen to the cries of "Peggy! Peggy!" which came from +the upper storey. + +The door stood open, and everyone ceased talking to follow Esther's +footsteps to and fro, to count the opening and shutting of doors--one, +two, three, four, five--to look apprehensively at each other as the +messenger returned--alone! + +"Mother, she is not there! I've looked everywhere--in every corner--and +she has not changed her dress, nor washed, nor anything. The room looks +exactly as if she had never gone in; but she did, for we all followed +her upstairs. I looked over the wardrobe, and all her dresses are +there, and the can of hot water is untouched, and the gas left full up." + +"Oh dear, what can have happened?" Mrs Asplin pushed back her chair +and stood up, looking anxious and puzzled. "I cannot rest until she is +found! I must look myself! Go on with dinner, all of you; I won't be +long. Where can the child be hiding herself?" + +"Don't worry, mater!" said Arthur kindly. "It's very tiresome of Peggy +to disappear at such an inopportune moment, but no harm can have +happened to her, you know. It's impossible! As I said before, she has +probably some wild prank in her head of which this is a part. I'll give +her a lecture when I catch her for spoiling dinner like this, and such +an uncommonly good dinner too!" And Arthur smiled in cheery fashion, +and tried his best to keep up the failing spirits of the company by +chatting away while his hostess was out of the room, as if nothing had +happened which was the least unusual or alarming. + +When Mrs Asplin returned, however, after a lengthened absence, there +was a simultaneous rising from the table to listen to her report. + +"She is not in the house! Jane began at the top and I began at the +bottom, and we searched every hole and corner. I have looked in the +very cupboards and wardrobes! I even searched the cistern-room, but she +is not to be found. I don't know what to do next. It seems impossible +that she can have disappeared--yet where can she be?" + +"Have you looked in the cloak-room to see if any of her outdoor things +are missing?" + +"I went in, but I never thought of looking at her clothes. Outdoor? +What on earth should take the child out at this hour in the dark and +rain?" + +"I can't tell you that, dear, but we must think of every possibility. +Esther, you know best what Peggy had in the cloak-room--see if anything +is missing. Mellicent, run upstairs and find if any hats or jackets +have been taken from their places. If she is not in the house, she must +have gone out. It was most thoughtless and foolish to go without asking +permission, and at such an hour; but, as Arthur says, there is not much +chance of any harm befalling her. Try not to work yourself up into a +state of anxiety, dear; we shall soon find your truant for you. Well, +Esther, what is it?" + +"Her mackintosh has gone, father, and her red tam-o'-shanter, and her +snow-shoes. Her peg is next to mine, and there is nothing on it but her +check golf cape." + +"She has gone out, then! What can it mean?--to-night of all nights, +when she was so happy, when Arthur had just arrived, when she promised +to be downstairs in ten minutes--" + +"It is most extraordinary! It must have been something of great +importance, one would say. Does anyone know if Peggy had any special +interest on hand at present? Was there any gift which she wished to +buy? It does not happen to be anyone's birthday to-morrow, does it? +Yours, Arthur, for instance? No? The birthday of a school-friend, +then? She might suddenly have remembered such an occasion, and rushed +out to post a letter--" + +"But there is no post until to-morrow morning, so she would gain no time +by doing that. The postman called at five o'clock, and the letters were +on the hall-table waiting for him as usual. I do not know of any work +that she had on hand, but the girls have complained that she has spent +all her spare time in her room lately, and when I spoke to her about it +she said she was writing--" + +"Perhaps she is writing a book," suggested Mellicent thoughtfully. "She +says she is going to be an authoress when she grows up. I think Robert +knew what she was doing. They were always talking together and looking +over books, and I heard him say to her, `Bring me all you have finished, +to look over.' I said something to her about printing some photographs +for Christmas cards, and she said she could do nothing until after the +nineteenth." + +"The nineteenth!" echoed the vicar sharply. "That is to-day. We gather +from that, then, that Peggy had been busy with work, either by herself +or in conjunction with Robert, which had to be completed by to-day. +Nobody has the least idea of what nature it was? No? Then I shall go +to Robert's room and see if there is anything lying about which can give +me a clue." + +"I'll go with you, sir," said Arthur, who was beginning to look a little +anxious and uneasy, as the moments passed by and brought no sign of his +sister; but, alas, the scattered papers on Rob's table gave no clue to +the mystery! + +When one is endeavouring to find a reason why a girl should mysteriously +disappear from her home, it does not help very much to find a few slips +of paper on which are written such items as "Tennyson's Poems, page 26," +"Selections from British Authors, 203", "Macaulay's Essays, 97," +etcetera. + +Arthur and Mr Asplin looked at one another, puzzled and disappointed, +and had no alternative but to return to the dining-room and confess +their failure. + +"Would not it be a good thing to go up to the Larches, and hear what +Robert has to say on the subject?" Arthur asked; and when he was told +that Robert was in London he still held to his suggestion. + +"For someone else in the house may know about it," he declared. "Rob +may have confided in his mother or sister. At the worst we can get his +address, and telegraph to him for information, if she has not returned +before we get back. She might even have gone to the Larches herself +to--to see Rosalind!" + +"Peggy doesn't like Rosalind. She never goes to see her if she can help +it. I'm quite sure she has not gone there," said Mellicent shrewdly. +"It is more likely she has gone to Fraulein's lodgings to tell her about +Arthur. She is fond of Fraulein." + +The suggestion was not very brilliant, but it was hailed with eagerness +by the listeners as the most probable explanation yet offered. + +"Then I'll tell you what we will do. I'll go off to the Larches," cried +Arthur, "and one of you fellows can see Fraulein, and find out if Peggy +has been there. We must try every place, likely and unlikely. It is +better than sitting here doing nothing." + +Max frowned and hesitated. "Or--er--or you might go to Fraulein, and +I'll take the Larches! It is a long walk for you after your journey," +he suggested, with a sudden access of politeness, "and there seems more +probability that Fraulein may be able to help us. You could go there +and back in a short time." + +"Just as you like, of course. It is all the same to me," returned +Arthur, in a tone which plainly intimated that it was nothing of the +sort. Mrs Asplin looked from one to the other of the flushed faces, +realising that even in the midst of anxiety the image of beautiful, +golden-haired Rosalind had a Will-o'-the-wisp attraction for the two big +lads; but her husband saw nothing of what lay behind the commonplace +words, and said calmly-- + +"Very well, then, Max, be off with you as fast as you can go. Find out +if Robert has said anything about the work which he has had on hand; +find out his address in town, and, if possible, where a telegram would +reach him this evening. Arthur will call at Fraulein's lodgings; and, +Oswald, you might go with him so far, and walk through the village. Ask +at old Mrs Gilpin's shop if Miss Saville has been there, but don't talk +about it too much; we don't want to make more fuss than we can help. +Keep your eyes open!" + +The three lads departed without further delay; the vicar put on his coat +and hat preparatory to searching the garden and the lanes in the +immediate neighbourhood, and the womenkind of the household settled down +to an hour of painful waiting. + +Mrs Asplin lay back in her chair, with her hand to her head, now +silent, now breaking out into impetuous lamentations. The fear lest any +accident had happened to Peggy paralysed her with dread. Her thoughts +went out to far-away India; she imagined the arrival of the ominous +cablegram; pictured it carried into the house by a native servant; saw +the light die out of two happy faces at the reading of the fatal words. +"Oh, Peggy, Peggy!" she groaned. "Oh, the poor father--the poor mother! +What will I do? What will I do? Oh, Peggy, dearie, come back I come +back!" + +Esther busied herself looking after a dozen little domestic +arrangements, to which no one else seemed capable of attendance, and +Mellicent laid her head on her mother's lap, and never ceased crying, +except for one brief interval, when she darted upstairs to peep inside +the old oak chest, prompted thereto by a sudden reminiscence of the +bride of the "Mistletoe Bough." There was no Peggy inside the chest, +however; only a few blankets, and a very strong smell of camphor; so +Mellicent crept back to her footstool, and cried with redoubled energy. +In the kitchen the fat old cook sat with a hand planted on either knee, +and thrilled the other servants with an account of how "a cousin of me +own brother-in-law, him that married our Annie, had a child as went +a-missing, as fine a girl as you could wish to see from June to January. +Beautiful kerly 'air, for all the world like Miss Mellicent's, and such +nice ways with her! Everybody loved that child, gentle and simple. +`Beller,' 'er name was, after her mother. She went out unbeknownst, +just as it might be Miss Peggy, and they searched and better +searched,"--cook's hands waved up and down, and the heads of the +listeners wagged in sympathy--"and never a trace could they find. 'Er +father--he's a stone-mason by trade, and getting good money--he knocked +off work, and his friends they knocked off too, and they searched the +country far and wide. Day and night I tell you they searched, a week on +end, and poor Isabeller nearly off her head with grief. I've heard my +sister say as she never tasted bite nor sup the whole time, and was +wasted to a shadow. Eh, poor soul, it's hard to rare up a child, and +have it go out smiling and bonnie, and never see nothink of it again but +its bones--for she had fallen into a lime pit, had Beller, and it was +nothing but her skeleton as they brought 'ome. There was building going +on around there, and she was playing near the pit--childlike--just as it +might be Miss Peggy..." Soon and on. The horrors accumulated with +every moment. The housemaid had heard tell of a beautiful little girl, +the heiress to a big estate, who had been carried off by strolling +gipsies, and never been seen again by her sorrowing relatives; while the +waitress hinted darkly that the time might come when it would be a +comfort to know force had been employed, for sharper than a serpent's +tooth was an ungrateful child, and she always _had_ said that there was +something uncanny about that little Miss Saville! + +The clock was striking nine o'clock when the first of the messengers +came back to report his failure; he was closely followed by a second; +and last of all came Max, bringing word that nothing had been seen or +heard of Peggy at the Larches; that neither Lord Darcy nor Rosalind had +the faintest idea of the nature of the work which had just been +completed; and, further, that on this evening Robert was escorting his +mother to some entertainment, so that even if sent off at once a +telegram could not reach him until a late hour. Mrs Asplin turned her +white face from one speaker to the other, and, when the last word was +spoken, broke into a paroxysm of helpless weeping. + + + +CHAPTER EIGHTEEN. + +THE SECRET CONFESSED. + +"Something has happened! Something terrible has happened to the child! +And she was left in our charge. We are responsible. Oh, if any harm +has happened to Peggy, however, ever, ever, can I bear to live and send +the news to her parents--" + +"My dearest, you have done your best; you could not have been kinder or +more thoughtful. No blame can attach to you. Remember that Peggy is in +higher hands than yours. However far from us she may be, she can never +stray out of God's keeping. It all seems very dark and mysterious, +but--" + +At this moment a loud rat-tat-tat sounded on the knocker, and with one +accord the hearers darted into the hall, and stood panting and gasping, +while Arthur threw open the door. + +"Telegram, sir!" said a sharp, young voice, and the brown envelope which +causes so much agitation in quiet households was thrust forward in a +small cold hand. Arthur looked at the address and handed it to the +vicar. + +"It is for you, sir, but it cannot possibly be anything about--" + +Mr Asplin tore open the envelope, glanced over the words, and broke +into an exclamation of amazement. "It is! It is from Peggy +herself!--`Euston Station. Returning by 10.30 train. Please meet me at +twelve o'clock.--Peggy.' What in the world does it mean?" He looked +round the group of anxious faces, only to see his own expression of +bewilderment repeated on each in turn. + +"Euston! Returning! She is in London. She is coming back from town!" + +"She ran away to London, to-night when she was so happy, when Arthur had +just arrived! Why? Why? Why?" + +"She must have caught the seven o'clock train." + +"She must have left the house almost immediately after going upstairs to +dress for dinner." + +"Oh, father, why should she go to London?" + +"I am quite unable to tell you, my dear," replied the vicar drily. He +looked at his wife's white, exhausted face, and his eyes flashed with +the "A-word-with-you-in-my-study" expression, which argued ill for Miss +Peggy's reception. Mrs Asplin, however, was too thankful to know of +the girl's safety to have any thought for herself. She began to smile, +with the tears still running down her face, and to draw long breaths of +relief and satisfaction. + +"It's no use trying to guess at that, Millie dear. It is enough for me +to know that she is alive and well. We shall just have to try and +compose ourselves in patience until we hear Peggy's own explanation. +Let me see! There is nearly an hour before you need set out. What can +we do to pass the time as quickly as possible?" + +"Have some coffee, I should say! None of us have had too much dinner, +and a little refreshment would be very welcome after all this strain," +said Arthur promptly, and Mrs Asplin eagerly welcomed the suggestion. + +"That's what I call a really practical proposal! Ring the bell, dear, +and I will order it at once. I am sure we shall all have thankful +hearts while we drink it." She looked appealingly at Mr Asplin as she +spoke; but there was no answering smile on his face, and the lines down +his cheeks looked deeper and grimmer than ever. + +"Oh, goody, goody, goodness, aren't I glad I am not Peggy!" sighed +Mellicent to herself; while Arthur Saville pursed his lips together, and +thought, "Poor little Peg! She'll catch it. I've never seen the +dominie look so savage. This is a nice sort of treat for a fellow who +has been ordered away for rest and refreshment! I wish the next two +hours were safely over." + +Wishing, unfortunately, however, can never carry us over the painful +crises of our lives. We have to face them as best we may, and Arthur +needed all his cheery confidence to sustain him during the damp walk +which followed, when the vicar tramped silently by his side, his shovel +hat pulled over his eyes, his mackintosh coat flapping to and fro in the +wind. + +They reached the station in good time, and punctually to the minute the +lights of the London express were seen in the distance. The train drew +up, and among the few passengers who alighted the figure of Peggy, in +her scarlet-trimmed hat, was easily distinguished. She was assisted out +of the carriage by an elderly gentleman, in a big travelling coat, who +stood by her side as she looked about for her friends. As Mr Asplin +and Arthur approached, they only heard his hearty, "Now you are all +right!" and Peggy's elegant rejoinder, "Exceedingly indebted to you for +all your kindness!" Then he stepped back into the carriage, and she +came forward to meet them, half shy, half smiling, "I--I am afraid that +you--" + +"We will defer explanations, Mariquita, if you please, until we reach +home. A fly is waiting. We will return as quickly as possible," said +the vicar frigidly; and the brother and sister lagged behind as he led +the way out of the station, gesticulating and whispering together in +furtive fashion. + +"Oh, you Peggy! _Now_ you have done it! No end of a row!" + +"Couldn't help it! Had to go. Stick to me, Arthur, whatever you do!" + +"Like a leech! We'll worry through somehow. Never say die!" Then the +fly was reached, and they jolted home in silence. + +Mrs Asplin and the four young folks were sitting waiting in the +drawing-room, and each one turned an eager, excited face towards the +doorway as Peggy entered, her cheeks white, but with shining eyes, and +hair ruffled into little curls beneath the scarlet cap. Mrs Asplin +would have rushed forward in welcome, but a look in her husband's face +restrained her, and there was a deathlike silence in the room as he took +up his position by the mantelpiece. + +"Mariquita," he said slowly, "you have caused us to-night some hours of +the most acute and painful anxiety which we have ever experienced. You +disappeared suddenly from among us, and until ten o'clock, when your +telegram arrived, we had not the faintest notion as to where you could +be. The most tragic suspicions came to our minds. We have spent the +evening in rushing to and fro, searching and inquiring in all +directions. Mrs Asplin has had a shock from which, I fear, she will be +some time in recovering. Your brother's pleasure in his visit has been +spoiled. We await your explanation. I am at a loss to imagine any +reason sufficiently good to excuse such behaviour; but I will say no +more until I have heard what you have to say." + +Peggy stood like a prisoner at the bar, with hanging head and hands +clasped together. As the vicar spoke of his wife, she darted a look at +Mrs Asplin, and a quiver of emotion passed over her face. When he had +finished she drew a deep breath, raised her head and looked him full in +the face with her bright, earnest eyes. + +"I am sorry," she said slowly. "I can't tell you in words _how_ sorry I +am. I know it will be difficult, but I hope you will forgive me. I was +thinking what I had better do while I was coming back in the train, and +I decided that I ought to tell you everything, even though it is +supposed to be a secret. Robert will forgive me, and it is Robert's +secret as much as mine. I'll begin at the beginning. About five weeks +ago Robert saw an advertisement of a prize that was offered by a +magazine. You had to make up a calendar with quotations for every day +in the year, and the person who sent in the best selection would get +thirty pounds. Rob wanted the money very badly to buy a microscope, and +he asked me to help him. I was to have ten pounds for myself if we won, +but I didn't care about that. I just wanted to help Rob. I said I +would take the money, because I knew if I didn't he would not let me +work so hard, and I thought I would spend it in buying p-p-presents for +you all at Christmas."--Peggy's voice faltered at this point, and she +gulped nervously several times before she could go on with her +story.--"We had to work very hard, because the time was so short. +Robert had not seen the advertisement until it had been out some time. +I printed the headings on the cards; that is why I sat so much in my own +room. The last fortnight I have been writing every morning before six +o'clock. Oh, you can't think how difficult it was to get it finished, +but Robert was determined to go on; he thought our chance was very good, +because he had found some beautiful extracts, and translated others, and +the pages really looked pretty and dainty. The manuscript had to be in +London this morning; if it missed the post last night, all our work +would have been wasted, and at the last moment Lady Darcy took Rob away +with her, and I was left with everything to finish. I _may_ have slept +a little bit the last two nights; I did lie down for an hour or two, and +I _may_ have had a doze, but I don't think so! I wrote the last word +this morning after the breakfast-bell had rung, and I made up the parcel +at twelve o'clock. I thought of going out and posting it then; of +course, that is what I should have done, but,"--her voice trembled once +more--"I was so tired! I thought I would give it to the postman myself, +and that would do just as well. I didn't put it with the letters +because I was afraid someone would see the address and ask questions, +and Rob had said that I was to keep it a secret until we knew whether we +had won. I left the parcel on my table. Then Arthur came! I was so +happy--there was so much to talk about--we had tea--it seemed like five +minutes. Everyone was amazed when we found it was time to dress, but +even then I forgot all about the calendar. I only remembered that +Arthur was here, and was going to stay for four days, and all the way +upstairs I was saying to myself, `I'm happy, I'm happy; oh I _am_ +happy!' because, you know, though you are so kind, you have many +relatives belonging to you whom you love better than me, and my own +people are all far-away, and sometimes I've been very lonely! I thought +of nothing but Arthur, and then I opened the door of my room, and there, +before my eyes, was the parcel--Rob's parcel that he had trusted to me-- +that I had solemnly promised to post in time--" + +She stopped short, and there was a gasp of interest and commiseration +among the listeners. Peggy caught it; she glanced sharply at the +vicar's face, saw its sternness replaced by a momentary softness, and +was quick to make the most of her opportunity. Out flew the dramatic +little hand, her eyes flashed, her voice thrilled with suppressed +excitement. + +"It lay there before my eyes, and I stood and looked at it.--I thought +of nothing, but just stood and stared. I heard you all come upstairs, +and the doors shut, and Arthur's voice laughing and talking; but there +was only one thing I could remember--I had forgotten Rob's parcel, and +he would come back, and I should have to tell him, and see his face! I +felt as if I were paralysed, and then suddenly I seized the parcel in my +hands, and flew downstairs. I put on my cap and cloak and went out into +the garden. I didn't know what I was going to do, but I was going to do +_something_! I ran on and on, through the village, down towards the +station. I knew it was too late for the post-office, but I had a sort +of feeling that if I were at the station something might be done. Just +as I got there a train came in, and I heard the porter call out, `London +express.' I thought--No! I did not think at all--I just ran up to a +carriage and took a seat, and the door banged, and away we went. The +porter came and asked for my ticket, and I had a great deal of trouble +to convince him that I had only come from here, and not all the way. +There was an old lady in the carriage, and she told him that it was +quite true, for she had seen me come in. When we went off again, she +looked at me very hard, and said, `Are you in trouble, dear?' and I +said, `Yes, I am; but oh, please don't talk to me! Do please leave me +alone!' for I had begun to realise what I had done, and that I couldn't +be back for hours and hours, and that you would all be anxious and +unhappy. I think I was as miserable as you were when I sent off that +telegram. I posted the parcel in London, and went and sat in the +waiting-room. I had an hour and a half to wait, and I was wretched and +nervous and horribly hungry. I had no money left except a few coppers, +and I was afraid to spend them and have nothing left. It seemed like a +whole day, but at last the train came in, and I saw an old gentleman +with white hair standing on the platform. I took a fancy to his +appearance, so I walked up to him, and bowed, and said, `Excuse me, +sir--I find myself in a dilemma! Will you allow me to travel in the +same carriage as yourself?' He was most agreeable. He had travelled +all over the world, and talked in the most interesting fashion, but I +could not listen to his conversation. I was too unhappy. Then we +arrived, and Mr Asplin called me `M-M-Mariquita!' and w-wouldn't let +you kiss me--" + +Her voice broke helplessly this time, and she stood silent, with +quivering lip, while sighs and sobs of sympathy echoed from every side. +Mrs Asplin cast a glance at her husband, half defiant, half appealing, +met a smile of assent, and rushed impetuously to Peggy's side. + +"My darling! I'll kiss you now. You see we knew nothing of your +trouble, dear, and we were so very, very anxious. Mr Asplin is not +angry with you any longer, are you, Austin? You know now that she had +no intention of grieving us, and that she is truly sorry--" + +"I never thought--I never thought,"--sobbed Peggy; and the vicar gave a +slow, kindly smile. + +"Ah, Peggy, that is just what I complain about. You don't think, dear, +and that causes all the trouble. No, I am not angry any longer. I +realise that the circumstances were peculiar, and that your distress was +naturally very great. At the same time, it was a most mad thing for a +girl of your age to rush off by rail, alone, and at night-time, to a +place like London. You say that you had only a few coppers left in your +purse. Now suppose there had been no train back to-night, what would +you have done? It does not bear thinking of, my dear; or that you +should have waited alone in the station for so long, or thrown yourself +on strangers for protection. What would your parents have said to such +an escapade?" + +Peggy sighed, and cast down her eyes. "I think they would have been +cross too. I am sure they would have been anxious, but I know they +would forgive me when I was sorry, and promised that I really and truly +would try to be better and more thoughtful! They would say, `Peggy +dear, you have been sufficiently punished! Consider yourself +absolved!'" + +The vicar's lips twitched, and a twinkle came into his eye. "Well then, +I will say the same! I am sure you have regretted your hastiness by +this time, and it will be a lesson to you in the future. For Arthur's +sake, as well as your own, we will say no more on the subject. It would +be a pity if his visit were spoiled. Just one thing, Peggy, to show you +that, after all, grown-up people are wiser than young ones, and that it +is just as well to refer to them now and then, in matters of difficulty. +Has it ever occurred to you that the mail went up to London by the very +train in which you yourself travelled, and that by giving your parcel to +the guard it could still have been put in the bag? Did that thought +never occur to your wise little brain?" + +Peggy made a gesture as of one heaping dust and ashes on her head. "I +never did," she said, "not for a single moment! And I thought I was so +clever! I am prostrate with confusion!" + + + +CHAPTER NINETEEN. + +ROSALIND'S BALL. + +In consideration of Arthur's presence and of the late hours and +excitement of the night before, the next day was observed as a holiday +in the vicarage. Mrs Asplin stayed in bed until lunch-time, the boys +went for a bicycle ride, and Peggy and her brother had a delightful chat +together by the schoolroom fire, when he told her more details about his +own plans than he had been able to touch upon in a dozen letters. + +"The preliminary examination for Sandhurst begins on the 26th this +year," he explained, "and so far as I can make out I shall romp through +it. I am going to take all the subjects in Class One--mathematics, +Latin, French, geometrical drawing, and English composition; I'll +astonish them in the last subject! Plenty of dash and go, eh, Peggy,-- +that's the style to fetch 'em! In Class Two you can only take two +subjects, so I'm going in for chemistry and physics. I rather fancy +myself in physics, and if I don't come out at the head of the list, or +precious near the head, it won't be for want of trying. I have worked +like a nigger these last six months; between ourselves, I thought I had +worked too hard a few days ago; I felt so stupid and dizzy, and my head +ached until I could hardly open my eyes. If I had not come away, I +believe I should have broken down, but I'm better already, and by +Tuesday I shall be as fit as a fiddle. I hope I do well, it would be so +jolly to cable out the news to the old pater; and I say, Peg, I don't +mean to leave Sandhurst without bringing home something to keep as a +souvenir. At the end of each Christmas term a sword is presented to the +cadet who passes out first in the final exam.--`The Anson Memorial +Sword.' Mariquita!"--Arthur smote his breast, and struck a fierce and +warlike attitude,--"that sword is mine! In the days to come, when you +are old and grey-headed, you will see that rusty blade hanging over my +ancestral hearth, and tell in faltering tones the story of the gallant +youth who wrested it from his opponents." + +"Ha, ha!" responded Peggy deeply. There was no particular meaning in +the exclamation, but it seemed right and fitting in the connection, and +had a smack of melodrama which was quite to her taste. "Of course you +will be first, Arthur!" she added; "and, oh dear! how proud I shall be +when I see you in all your uniform! I am thankful all my men relatives +are soldiers, they are so much more interesting than civilians. It +would break my heart to think of you as a civilian! Of course wars are +somewhat disconcerting, but then one always hopes there won't be wars." + +"I don't!" cried Arthur loudly. "No, no--active service for me, and +plenty of it! + + "`Come one, come all, this rock shall fly + From its firm base as soon as I!' + +"That's my motto, and my ambition is the Victoria Cross, and I'll get +that too before I'm done; you see if I don't! It's the ambition of my +life, Peg. I lie awake and think of that little iron cross; I go to +sleep and dream of it, and see the two words dancing before my eyes in +letters of fire, `For Valour,' `For Valour,' `For Valour.' Ah!"--he +drew a deep breath of excitement--"I don't think there is anything in +the world I should envy, if I could only gain that." + +Peggy gazed at him with kindling eyes. "You are a soldier's son," she +said, "and the grandson of a soldier, and the great-grandson of a +soldier; it's in your blood; you can't help it--it's in my blood too, +Arthur! I give you my solemn word of honour that if the French or +Germans came over to invade this land, I'd--" Peggy seized the ruler and +waved it in the air with a gesture of fiercest determination--"I'd fight +them! There! I'd shoot at them; I'd go out and spike the guns; I'd-- +I'd climb on the house-tops and throw stones at them. You needn't +laugh, I tell you I should be _terrible_! I feel as if I could face a +whole regiment myself. The spirit--the spirit of my ancestors is in my +breast, Arthur Reginald, and woe betide that enemy who tries to wrest +from me my native land!" Peggy went off into a shriek of laughter, in +which Arthur joined, until the sound of the merry peals reached Mrs +Asplin's ears as she lay wearily on her pillow, and brought a smile to +her pale face. "Bless the dears! How happy they are!" she murmured to +herself; nor even suspected that it was a wholesale massacre of foreign +nations which had been the cause of this gleeful outburst. + +Arthur left the vicarage on Tuesday evening, seemingly much refreshed by +the few days' change, though he still complained of his head, and +pressed his hand over his eyes from time to time as though in pain. The +parting from Peggy was more cheerful than might have been expected, for +in a few more weeks Christmas would be at hand, when, as he himself +expressed it, he hoped to return with blushing honours thick upon him. +Peggy mentally expended her whole ten pounds in a present for the dear +handsome fellow, and held her head high in the consciousness of owning a +brother who was destined to be Commander-in-Chief of the British forces +in the years to come. + +The same evening Robert returned from his visit to London. He had heard +of Peggy's escapade from his father and sister, and was by no means so +grateful as that young lady had expected. + +"What in all the world possessed you to play such a mad trick?" he +queried bluntly. "It makes me ill to think of it. Rushing off to +London on a wet, foggy night, never even waiting to inquire if there was +a return train, or to count if you had enough money to see you through! +Goodness only knows what might have happened! You are careless enough +in an ordinary way, but I must say I gave you credit for more sense than +that." + +"Well, but, Rob," pleaded Peggy, aggrieved, "I don't think you need +scold! I did it for you, and I thought you would be pleased." + +"Did you indeed? Well, you are mightily mistaken; I wouldn't have let +you do a thing like that for all the microscopes in the world. I don't +care a rap for the wretched old microscope." + +"Oh! oh!" + +"In comparison, I mean. Of course I should have been glad to get it if +it had come to me in an ordinary way, but I was not so wrapped up in the +idea that I would not have been reasonable, if you had come to me +quietly and explained that you had missed the post." + +Peggy shook her head sagely. "You think so now, because the danger is +over, and you are sure it can't happen. But I know better. I can tell +you exactly what would have happened. You wouldn't have stormed or +raged, it would have been better if you had, and sooner over; you would +just have stood still, and--glared at me! When I'd finished speaking, +you would have swallowed two or three times over, as if you were gulping +down something which you dared not say, and then turned on your heel and +marched out of the room. That's what you would have done, my dear and +honourable sir, and you know it!" + +Robert hung his head and looked self-conscious. + +"Well, if I had! A fellow can't hide all he feels in the first moment +of disappointment. But I should have got over it, and you know very +well that I should never have brought it up against you. `Glared!' +What if I _did_ glare? There is nothing very terrible in that, is +there?" + +"Yes, there is. I could not have borne it, when I had been trying so +hard to help you. And it would not have been only the first few +minutes. Every time when you were quiet and depressed, when you looked +at your specimens through your little old glass and sighed, and pitched +it away, as I've seen you do scores and scores of times, I should have +felt that it was my fault, and been in the depths of misery. No, no, +I'm sorry to the depths of my heart that I scared dear Mrs Asplin and +the rest, but it is a matter of acute satisfaction to me to know that +your chance has in no way been hindered by your confidence in me!" and +Peggy put her head on one side, and coughed in a faint and ladylike +manner, which brought the twinkle back into Robert's eyes. + +"Good old Mariquita!" he cried, laughing. "`Acute satisfaction' is +good, Mariquita--decidedly good! You will make your name yet in the +world of letters. Well, as I said before, you are a jolly little brick, +and the best partner a fellow ever had! Mind you, I tell you straight +that I think you behaved badly in cutting off like that; but I'll stand +by you to the others, and not let them sit upon you while I am there." + +"Thanks!" said Peggy meekly. "But, oh, I beseech of you, don't bring up +the subject if you can help it! I'm tired to death of it all! The +kindest thing you can do is to talk hard about something else, and give +them a fresh excitement to think about. Talk about--about--about +Rosalind if you will; anything will do--only, for pity's sake, leave me +alone, and pretend there is not such a thing in the world as a +calendar!" + +"Right you are!" said Robert, laughing. "I'll steer clear of the rocks! +And as it happens, I have got a piece of news that will put your doings +into the background at one fell swoop. Rosalind is going to give a +party! The Earl and Countess of Berkhampton are coming down to the +Larches the week after next, and are going to bring their two girls with +them. They are great lanky things, with about as much `go' in the pair +as in one of your little fingers; but this party is to be given in their +honour. The mater has asked everyone of a right age within a dozen +miles around, and the house will be crammed with visitors. Your card is +coming to-morrow, and I hope you will give me the honour of the first +round, and as many as possible after that." + +"The first, with pleasure; I won't promise any more until I see how we +get on. It doesn't seem appropriate to think of your dancing, Rob; +there is something too heavy and serious in your demeanour. Oswald is +different; he would make a charming dancing master. Oh, it will be an +excitement! Mellicent will not be able to eat or sleep for thinking of +it; and poor Mrs Asplin will be running up seams on the sewing-machine, +and making up ribbon bows from this day to that. I'm glad I have a +dress all ready, and shan't be bothered with any trying on! You don't +know what it is to stand first on one leg and then on the other, to be +turned and pulled about as if you were a dummy, and have pins stuck into +you as if you were a pin-cushion! I adore pretty clothes, but every +time I go to the dressmaker's I vow and declare that I shall take to +sacks. Tell them at dinner, do, and they will talk about it for the +rest of the evening!" + +Peggy's prophecy came true, for the subject of Rosalind's party became a +topic of such absorbing interest as left room for little else during the +next few weeks. New dresses had to be bought and made for the girls, +and Peggy superintended the operations of the village dressmaker with +equal satisfaction to herself and her friends. + +Rosalind appeared engrossed in preparations, and two or three times a +week, as the girls trudged along the muddy roads, with Fraulein lagging +in the rear, the jingle of bells would come to their ears, and +Rosalind's two white long-tailed ponies would come dashing past, drawing +the little open carriage in which their mistress sat, half-hidden among +a pile of baskets and parcels. She was always beautiful and radiant, +and as she passed she would turn her head over her shoulders and look at +the three mud-bespattered pedestrians with a smile of pitying +condescension, which made Peggy set her teeth and draw her eyebrows +together in an ominous frown. + +One day she condescended to stop and speak a few words from her throne +among the cushions. + +"How de do? So sowwy not to have been to see you! Fwightfully busy, +don't you know. We are decowating the wooms, and don't know how to +finish in time. It's going to be quite charming!" + +"We know! We know! Rob told us. I'm dying to see it. You should ask +Peggy to help you, if you are in a hurry. She's s-imply splendid at +decorations! Mother says she never knew anyone so good at it as Peggy!" +cried Mellicent, with an outburst of gushing praise, in acknowledgment +of which she received a thunderous frown and such a sharp pinch on the +arm as penetrated through all her thick winter wrappings. + +Rosalind, however, only ejaculated, "Oh, weally!" in an uninterested +manner, and whipped up her ponies without taking any further notice of +the suggestion; but it had taken root in her mind all the same, and she +did not forget to question her brother on the first opportunity. + +Mellicent Asplin had said that Peggy Saville was clever at decoration. +Was it true, and would it be the least use asking her to come and help +in the decorations? + +Robert laughed, and wagged his head with an air of proud assurance. + +Clever! Peggy? She was a witch! She could work wonders! If you set +her down in an empty room, and gave her two-and-sixpence to transform it +into an Alhambra, he verily believed she could do it. The way in which +she had rigged up the various characters for the Shakespeare reading was +nothing short of miraculous. Yes, indeed, Peggy would be worth a dozen +ordinary helpers. The question was, Would she come? + +"Certainly she will come. I'll send down for her at once," said +Rosalind promptly, and forthwith sat down and wrote a dainty little +note, not to Peggy herself, but to Mrs Asplin, stating that she had +heard great accounts of Peggy Saville's skill in the art of decoration, +and begging that she might be allowed to come up to the Larches to help +with the final arrangements, arriving as early as possible on the day of +the party, and bringing her box with her, so as to be saved the fatigue +of returning home to dress. It was a prettily worded letter, and Mrs +Asplin was dismayed at the manner of its reception. + +"No, Peggy Saville won't!" said that young person, pursing her lips and +tossing her head in her most high and mighty manner. "She won't do +anything of the sort! Why should I go? Let her ask some of her own +friends! I'm not her friend! I should simply loathe to go!" + +"My dear Peggy! When you are asked to help! When this entertainment is +given for your pleasure, and you can be of real use--" + +"I never asked her to give the party! I don't care whether I go or not! +She is simply making use of me for her own convenience!" + +"It is not the first or only time that you have been asked, as you know +well, Peggy. And sometimes you have enjoyed yourself very much. You +said you would never forget the pink luncheon. In spite of all you say, +you owe Rosalind thanks for some pleasant times; and now you can be of +some service to her. Well, I'm not going to force you, dear. I hate +unwilling workers, and if it's not in your heart to go, stay at home, +and settle with your conscience as best you can." + +Peggy groaned with sepulchral misery. + +"Wish I hadn't got no conscience! Tiresome, presuming thing--always +poking itself forward and making remarks when it isn't wanted. I +suppose I shall have to go, and run about from morning till night, +holding a pair of scissors, and nasty little balls of string, for +Rosalind's use! Genius indeed! What's the use of talking about genius? +I know very well I shall not be allowed to do anything but run about +and wait upon her. It's no use staring at me, Mrs Asplin. I mean it +all--every single word." + +"No, you don't, Peggy! No, you don't, my little kind, warm-hearted +Peggy! I know better than that! It's just that foolish tongue that is +running away with you, dearie. In your heart you are pleased to do a +service for a friend, and are going to put your whole strength into +doing it as well and tastefully as it can be done." + +"I'm not! I'm not! I'm not! I'm savage, and it's no use pretending--" + +"Yes, you are! I know it! What is the good of having a special gift if +one doesn't put it to good use? Ah, that's the face I like to see! I +didn't recognise my Peggy with that ugly frown. I'll write and say +you'll come with pleasure." + +"It's to please you, then, not Rosalind!" said Peggy obstinately. But +Mrs Asplin only laughed, dropped a kiss upon her cheek, and walked away +to answer the invitation forthwith. + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY. + +AT THE LARCHES. + +The next morning, immediately after breakfast, Peggy went up to her own +room to pack for her visit to the Larches. The long dress-box, which +had been stored away ever since its arrival, was brought out, and its +contents displayed to an admiring audience, consisting of Mrs Asplin, +Esther, Mellicent, and Mary the housemaid. + +Everything was there that the heart of girl could desire, and a mother's +forethought provide for her darling's use when she was far-away. A +dress of cobweb Indian muslin embroidered in silk, a fan of curling +feathers, a dear little satin pocket in which to keep the lace +handkerchief, rolls of ribbons, dainty white shoes, with straggly silk +stockings rolled into the toes. + +Peggy displayed one article after another, while Mellicent groaned and +gurgled with delight; Mary exclaimed, "My, Miss Peggy, but you will be +smart!" and Mrs Asplin stifled a sigh at the thought of her own +inferior preparations. + +Punctually at ten o'clock the carriage drove up to the door, and off +Peggy drove, not altogether unwillingly, now that it had come to the +pinch, for after all it _is_ pleasant to be appreciated, and, when a +great excitement is taking place in the neighbourhood, it is only human +to wish to be in the thick of the fray. + +Lady Darcy welcomed her guest with gracious kindness, and, as soon as +she had taken off her hat and jacket in the dressing-room which was +allotted to her use, she was taken straight away to the chief room, +where the work of decoration was being carried briskly forward. The +village joiner was fitting mirrors into the corners and hammering with +deafening persistence, a couple of gardeners were arranging banks of +flowers and palms, and Rosalind stood in the midst of a bower of +greenery, covered from head to foot in a smock of blue linen, and with a +pair of gardening gloves drawn over her hands. + +She gave a little cry of relief and satisfaction as Peggy entered. + +"Oh, Mawiquita, so glad you have come! Mother is so busy that she can't +be with me at all, and these wretched bwanches pwick my fingers! Do +look wound, and say how it looks! This is weally the servants' hall, +you know, as we have not a pwoper ballroom, and it is so square and high +that it is perfectly dweadful to decowate! A long, narrow woom is so +much better!" + +Peggy thought the arrangements tasteful and pretty; but she could not +gush over the effect, which, in truth, was in no way original or +striking. There seemed little to be done in the room itself, so she +suggested an adjournment into the outer hall, which seemed to offer +unique opportunities. + +"That space underneath the staircase!" she cried eagerly. "Oh, +Rosalind, we could make it look perfectly sweet with all the beautiful +Eastern things that you have brought home from your travels! Let us +make a little harem, with cushions to sit on, and hanging lamps, and +Oriental curtains for drapery. We could do it while the men are +finishing this room, and be ready to come back to it after lunch." + +"Oh, what a sweet idea! Mawiquita, you are quite too clever!" cried +Rosalind, aglow with pleasure. "Let us begin at once. It will be ever +so much more intewesting than hanging about here." + +She thrust her hand through Peggy's arm as she spoke, and the two girls +went off on a tour through the house to select the most suitable +articles for their decoration of the "harem." There was no lack of +choice, for the long suite of reception-rooms was full of treasures, and +Peggy stopped every few minutes to point with a small forefinger and +say, "That screen, please! That table! That stool!" to the servants +who had been summoned in attendance. The smaller things, such as +ornaments, table-cloths, and lamps she carried herself, while Rosalind +murmured sweetly, "Oh, don't twouble! You mustn't, weally! Let me help +you!" and stood with her arms hanging by her side, without showing the +faintest sign of giving the offered help. + +As the morning passed away, Peggy found indeed that the Honourable Miss +Darcy was a broken reed to lean upon in the way of assistance. She sat +on a stool and looked on while the other workers hammered and pinned and +stitched--so that Peggy's prophecy as to her own subordinate position +was exactly reversed, and the work of supervision was given entirely +into her hands. + +It took nearly two hours to complete the decorations of the "harem," but +when all was finished the big ugly space beneath the staircase was +transformed into as charming a nook as it is possible to imagine. +Pieces of brilliant flag embroidery from Cairo draped the farther wall, +a screen of carved work shut out the end of the passage, gauzy curtains +of gold and blue depended in festoons from the ascending staircase, and +stopped just in time to leave a safe place for a hanging lamp of wrought +iron and richly coloured glass. On the floor were spread valuable rugs +and piles of bright silken cushions, while on an inlaid table stood a +real Turkish hookah and a brass tray with the little egg-shaped cups out +of which travellers in the East are accustomed to sip the strong black +coffee of the natives. + +Peggy lifted the ends of her apron in her hands and executed a dance of +triumph on her own account when all was finished, and Rosalind said, +"Weally, we have been clever! I think we may be proud of ourselves!" in +amiable effusion. + +The two girls went off to luncheon in a state of halcyon amiability +which was new indeed in the history of their acquaintance, and Lady +Darcy listened with an amused smile to their rhapsodies on the subject +of the morning's work, promising faithfully not to look at anything +until the right moment should arrive, and she should be summoned to gaze +and admire. + +By the time that the workers were ready to return to the room, the men +had finished the arrangements at which they had been at work before +lunch, and were beginning to tack festoons of evergreens along the +walls, the dull paper of which had been covered with fluting of soft +pink muslin. The effect was heavy and clumsy in the extreme, and +Rosalind stamped her foot with an outburst of fretful anger. + +"Stop putting up those wreaths! Stop at once! They are simply hideous! +It weminds me of a penny weading in the village schoolwoom! You might +as well put up `God save the Queen' and `A Mewwy Chwistmas' at once! +Take them down this minute, Jackson! I won't have them!" + +The man touched his forehead, and began pulling out the nails in +half-hearted fashion. + +"Very well, miss, as you wish. Seems a pity, though, not to use 'em, +for it took me all yesterday to put 'em together. It's a sin to throw +'em away." + +"I won't have them in the house, if they took you a week!" Rosalind +replied sharply, and she turned on her heel and looked appealingly in +Peggy's face. "It's a howwid failure! The woom looks so stiff and +stwaight--like a pink box with nothing in it! Mother won't like it a +bit. What can we do to make it better?" + +Peggy scowled, pursed up her lips, pressed her hand to her forehead, and +strode up and down the room, rolling her eyes from side to side, and +going through all the grimaces of one in search of inspiration. +Rosalind was right: unless some device were found by which the shape of +the room could be disguised, the decorations must be pronounced more or +less a failure. She craned her head to the ceiling, and suddenly beamed +in triumph. + +"I have it! The very thing! We will fasten the garlands to that middle +beam, and loop up the ends at intervals all round the walls. That will +break the squareness, and make the room look like a tent, with a ceiling +of flowers." + +"Ah-h!" cried Rosalind; and clasped her hands with a gesture of relief. +"Of course! The vewy thing! We ought to have thought of it at the +beginning. Get the ladder at once, Jackson, and put in a hook or wing, +or something to hold the ends; and be sure that it is strong enough. +What a good thing that the weaths are weady! You see, your work will +not be wasted after all." + +She was quite gracious in her satisfaction, and for the next two hours +she and Peggy were busily occupied superintending the hanging of the +evergreen wreaths and in arranging bunches of flowers to be placed at +each point where the wreaths were fastened to the wall. At the end of +this time, Rosalind was summoned to welcome the distinguished visitors +who had arrived by the afternoon train. She invited Peggy to accompany +her to the drawing-room, but in a hesitating fashion, and with a glance +round the disordered room, which said, as plainly as words could do, +that she would be disappointed if the invitation were accepted; and +Peggy, transformed in a moment into a poker of pride and dignity, +declared that she would prefer to remain where she was until all was +finished. + +"Well, it weally would be better, wouldn't it? I will have a tway sent +in to you here, and do, Mawiquita, see that evewything is swept up and +made tidy at once, for I shall bring them in to look wound diwectly +after tea, and we must have the wooms tidy!" + +Rosalind tripped away, and Peggy was left to herself for a lonely and +troublesome hour. The tea-tray was brought in, and she was just seating +herself before an impromptu table, when up came a gardener to say that +one of "these 'ere wreaths seemed to hang uncommon near the gas-bracket. +It didn't seem safe like." And off she went in a panic of +consternation to see what could be done. There was nothing for it but +to move the wreath some inches farther away, which involved moving the +next also, and the next, and the next, so as to equalise the distances +as much as possible; and by the time that they were settled to Peggy's +satisfaction, lo, table and tray had been whisked out of sight by some +busy pair of hands, and only a bare space met her eyes. This was blow +number one, for, after working hard all afternoon, tea and cake come as +a refreshment which one would not readily miss. She cheered herself, +however, by putting dainty finishing touches here and there, seeing that +the lamp was lighted in the "harem" outside, and was busy placing fairy +lamps among the shrubs which were to screen the band, when a babel of +voices from outside warned her that the visitors were approaching. +Footsteps came nearer and nearer, and a chorus of exclamations greeted +the sight of the "harem." The door stood open, Peggy waited for +Rosalind's voice to call and bid her share the honours, but no summons +came. She heard Lady Darcy's exclamation, and the quick, strong tones +of the strange countess. + +"Charming, charming; quite a stroke of genius! I never saw a more +artistic little nook. What made you think of it, my dear?" + +"Ha!" said Peggy to herself, and took a step forward, only to draw back +in dismay, as a light laugh reached her ear, followed by Rosalind's +careless-- + +"Oh, I don't know; I wanted to make it pwetty, don't you know; it was so +dweadfully bare, and there seemed no other way." + +Then there was a rustle of silk skirts, and the two ladies entered the +room, followed by their respective daughters, Rosalind beautiful and +radiant, and the Ladies Berkhampton with their chins poked forward, and +their elbows thrust out in ungainly fashion. They paused on the +threshold, and every eye travelled up to the wreath-decked ceiling. A +flush of pleasure came into Lady Darcy's pale cheeks, and she listened +to the countess's compliments with sparkling eyes. + +"It is all the work of this clever child," she said, laying her hand +fondly on Rosalind's shoulder. "I have had practically nothing to do +with the decorations. This is the first time I have been in the room +to-day, and I had no idea that the garlands were to be used in this way. +I thought they were for the walls." + +"I congratulate you, Rosalind! You are certainly very happy in your +arrangements," said the countess cordially. Then she put up her +eyeglass and stared inquiringly at Peggy, who stood by with her hair +fastened back in its usual pigtail, and a big white apron pinned over +her dress. + +"She thinks I am the kitchen-maid!" said Peggy savagely to herself; but +there was little fear of such a mistake, and, the moment that Lady Darcy +noticed the girl's presence, she introduced her kindly enough, if with +somewhat of a condescending air. + +"This is a little friend of Rosalind's who has come up to help. She is +fond of this sort of work," she said; then, before any of the strangers +had time to acknowledge the introduction, she added hastily, "And now I +am sure you must all be tired after your journey, and will be glad to go +to your rooms and rest. It is quite wicked of me to keep you standing. +Let me take you upstairs at once!" + +They sailed away with the same rustle of garments, the same babel of +high-toned voices, and Peggy stood alone in the middle of the deserted +room. No one had asked her to rest, or suggested that she might be +tired; she had been overlooked and forgotten in the presence of the +distinguished visitor. She was only a little girl who was "fond" of +this sort of work, and, it might be supposed, was only too thankful to +be allowed to help! The house sank into silence. She waited for half +an hour longer, in the hope that someone would remember her presence, +and then, tired, hungry, and burning with repressed anger, crept +upstairs to her own little room and fell asleep upon the couch. + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY ONE. + +ANOTHER ACCIDENT! + +Dinner was served unusually early that evening, and was an embarrassing +ordeal from which Peggy was thankful to escape. + +On her way upstairs, however, Rosalind called her back with an eager +petition. + +"Oh, Peggy! would you mind awwanging some flowers? A big hamper has +just awwived from town, and the servants are all so dweadfully busy. I +must get dwessed in time to help mother to weceive, but it wouldn't +matter if you were a few minutes late. Thanks so much! Awfully +obliged." + +She gave her thanks before an assent had been spoken, and tripped +smilingly away, while Peggy went back to the big room to find a great +tray full of hothouse treasures waiting to be arranged, and no availing +vases in which to place them. The flowers, however, were so beautiful, +and the fronds of maidenhair so green and graceful, that the work was a +pleasure; she enjoyed discovering unlikely places in which to group +them, and lingered so long over her arrangements that the sudden +striking of the clock sent her flying upstairs in a panic of +consternation. Another quarter of an hour and the vicarage party would +arrive, for they had been bidden a little in advance of the rest, so +that Robert might help his mother and sister in receiving their guests. +Peggy tore off dress and apron, and made all the speed she could, but +she was still standing in dressing-jacket and frilled white petticoat, +brushing out her long waves of hair when the door opened and Esther and +Mellicent entered. They had begged to be shown to Miss Saville's room, +and came rustling in, smiling and beaming, with woollen caps over their +heads, snow-shoes on their feet, and fleecy shawls swathed round and +round their figures, and fastened with a hairpin on the left shoulder, +in secure and elegant fashion. Peggy stood, brush in hand, staring at +them and shaking with laughter. + +"He! he! he! I hope you are warm enough! Esther looks like a sausage, +and Mellicent looks like a dumpling. Come here, and I'll unwind you. +You look as if you could not move an inch, hand or foot." + +"It was mother," Mellicent explained. "She was so afraid we would catch +cold. Oh, Peggy, you are not half dressed. You will be late! Whatever +have you been doing? Have you had a nice day? Did you enjoy it? What +did you have for dinner?" + +Peggy waved her brush towards the door in dramatic warning. + +"Rosalind's room!" she whispered. "Don't yell, my love, unless you wish +every word to be overheard. This is her dressing-room, which she lent +to me for the occasion, so there's only a door between us.--There, now, +you are free. Oh, dear me, how you have squashed your sash! You really +must remember to lift it up when you sit down. You had better stand +with your back to the fire, to take out the creases." + +Mellicent's face clouded for a moment, but brightened again as she +caught sight of her reflection in the swing glass. Crumples or no +crumples, there was no denying that blue was a becoming colour. The +plump, rosy cheeks dimpled with satisfaction, and the flaxen head was +twisted to and fro to survey herself in every possible position. + +"Is my hair right at the back? How does the bow look? I haven't burst, +have I? I thought I heard something crack in the cab. Do you think I +will do?" + +"Put on your slippers, and I'll tell you. Anyone would look a fright in +evening dress and snow-shoes." + +Peggy's answer was given with a severity which sent Mellicent waddling +across the room to turn out the contents of the bag which lay on the +couch, but the next moment came a squeal of consternation, and there she +stood in the attitude of a tragedy queen, with staring eyes, parted +lips, and two shabby black slippers grasped in either hand. + +"M-m-m-my old ones!" she gasped in horror-stricken accents. +"B-b-b-brought them by mistake!" It was some moments before her +companions fully grasped the situation, for the new slippers had been +black too, and of much the same make as those now exhibited. Mrs +Asplin had had many yearnings over white shoes and stockings, all silk +and satin, and tinkling diamond buckles like those which had been +displayed in Peggy's dress-box. Why should not her darlings have dainty +possessions like other girls? It went to her heart to think what an +improvement these two articles would make in the simple costumes; then +she remembered her husband's delicate health, his exhaustion at the end +of the day, and the painful effort with which he nerved himself to fresh +exertions, and felt a bigger pang at the thought of wasting money so +hardly earned. As her custom was on such occasions, she put the whole +matter before the girls, talking to them as friends, and asking their +help in her decision. + +"You see, darlings," she said, "I want to do my very best for you, and +if it would be a real disappointment not to have these things, I'll +manage it somehow, for once in a way. But it's a question whether you +would have another chance of wearing them, and it seems a great deal of +money to spend for just one evening, when poor dear father--" + +"Oh, mother, no, don't think of it! Black ones will do perfectly well. +What can it matter what sort of shoes and stockings we wear? It won't +make the least difference in our enjoyment," said Esther the sensible; +but Mellicent was by no means of this opinion. + +"I don't know about that! I love white legs!" she sighed dolefully. +"All my life long it has been my ambition to have white legs. Silk ones +with little bits of lace let in down the front, like Peggy's. They're +so beautiful! It doesn't seem a bit like a party to wear black +stockings; only of course I know I must, for I'd hate to waste father's +money. When I grow up I shall marry a rich man, and have everything I +want. It's disgusting to be poor... Will they be nice black slippers, +mother, with buckles on them?" + +"Yes, dearie. Beauties! Great big buckles!" said Mrs Asplin lovingly; +and a few days later a box had come down from London, and the slippers +had been chosen out of a selection of "leading novelties"; worn with +care and reverence the previous evening, "to take off the stiffness," +and then after all--oh, the awfulness of it!--had been replaced by an +old pair, in the bustle of departure. + +The three girls stared at one another in consternation. Here was a +catastrophe to happen just at the last moment, when everyone was so +happy and well satisfied! The dismay on the chubby face was so pitiful +that neither of Mellicent's companions could find it in her heart to +speak a word of reproof. They rather set to work to propose different +ways out of the difficulty. + +"Get hold of Max, and coax him to go back for them!" + +"He wouldn't; it's no use. It's raining like anything, and it would +take him an hour to go there and come back." + +"Ask Lady Darcy to send one of the servants--" + +"No use, my dear. They are scampering up and down like mice, and +haven't a moment to spare from their own work." + +"See if Rosalind would lend me a pair!" + +"Silly goose! Look at your foot. It is three times the size of hers. +You will just have to wear them, I'm afraid. Give them to me, and let +me see what can be done." Peggy took the slippers in her hands and +studied them critically. They were certainly not new, but then they +were by no means old; just respectable, middle-aged creatures, slightly +rubbed on the heel and white at the toes, but with many a day of good +hard wear still before them. + +"Oh, come," she said reassuringly, "they are not so bad, Mellicent! +With a little polish they would look quite presentable. I'll tap at the +door and ask Rosalind if she has some that she can lend us. She is sure +to have it. There are about fifty thousand bottles on her table." + +Peggy crossed the room as she spoke, tapped on the panel, and received +an immediate answer in a high complacent treble. + +"Coming! Coming! I'm weady;" then the door flew open; a tiny pink silk +shoe stepped daintily over the mat, and Rosalind stood before them in +all the glory of a new Parisian dress. Three separate gasps of +admiration greeted her appearance, and she stood smiling and dimpling +while the girls took in the fascinating details--the satin frock of +palest imaginable pink, the white chiffon over-dress which fell from +shoulder to hem in graceful freedom, sprinkled over with exquisite +rose--leaves--it was all wonderful--fantastic--as far removed from +Peggy's muslin as from the homely crepon of the vicar's daughters. + +"Rosalind! what a perfect _angel_ you look!" gasped Mellicent, her own +dilemma forgotten in her wholehearted admiration; but the next moment +memory came back, and her expression changed to one of pitiful appeal. +"But, oh, have you got any boot-polish? The most awful thing has +happened. I've brought my old shoes by mistake! Look! I don't know +what on earth I shall do, if you can't give me something to black the +toes." She held out the shoes as she spoke, and Rosalind gave a shrill +scream of laughter. + +"Oh! oh! Those things! How fwightfully funny! what a fwightful joke! +You will look like Cinderwella, when she wan away, and the glass +slippers changed back to her dweadful old clogs. It is too scweamingly +funny, I do declare!" + +"Oh, never mind what you declare! Can you lend us some boot-polish-- +that's the question!" cried Peggy sharply. She knew Mellicent's horror +of ridicule, and felt indignant with the girl who could stand by, secure +in her own beauty and elegance, and have no sympathy for the misfortune +of a friend. "If you have a bottle of peerless gloss, or any of those +shiny things with a sponge fastened on the cork, I can make them look +quite respectable, and no one will have any cause to laugh." + +"Ha, ha, ha!" trilled Rosalind once more, "Peggy is cwoss! I never knew +such a girl for flying into tantwums at a moment's notice! Yes, of +course I'll lend you the polish. There is some in this little +cupboard--there! I won't touch it, in case it soils my gloves. Shall I +call Marie to put it on for you?" + +"Thank you, there's no need--I can do it! I would rather do it myself!" + +"Oh--oh, isn't she cwoss! You will bweak the cork if you scwew it about +like that, and then you'll never be able to get it out. Why don't you +pull it pwoperly?" + +"I know how to pull out a cork, thank you; I've done it before!" + +Peggy shot an angry glance at her hostess, and set to work again with +doubled energy. Now that Rosalind had laughed at her inability, it +would be misery to fail; but the bottle had evidently lain aside for +some time, and a stiff black crust had formed round the cork which made +it difficult to move. Peggy pulled and tugged, while Rosalind stood +watching, laughing her aggravating, patronising little laugh, and +dropping a word of instruction from time to time. And then, quite +suddenly, a dreadful thing happened. In the flash of an eye--so quickly +and unexpectedly, that, looking back upon it, it seemed like a nightmare +which could not possibly have taken place in real life--the cork jerked +out in Peggy's hand, in response to a savage tug, and with it out flew +an inky jet, which rose straight up in the air, separated into a +multitude of tiny drops, and descended in a flood--oh, the horror of +that moment!--over Rosalind's face, neck, and dress. + +One moment a fairy princess, a goddess of summer, the next a figure of +fun with black spots scattered thickly over cheeks and nose, a big +splash on the white shoulder, and inky daubs dotted here and there +between the rose-leaves. What a transformation! What a spectacle of +horror! Peggy stood transfixed; Mellicent screamed in terror; and +Esther ran forward, handkerchief in hand, only to be waved aside with +angry vehemence. Rosalind's face was convulsed with anger; she stamped +her foot and spoke at the pitch of her voice, as if she had no control +over her feelings. + +"Oh, oh, oh! You wicked girl! you hateful, detestable girl! You did it +on purpose, because you were in a temper! You have been in a temper all +the afternoon! You have spoiled my dress! I was weady to go +downstairs. It is eight o'clock. In a few minutes everyone will be +here, and oh, what shall I do--what shall I do! Whatever will mother +say when she sees me?" + +As if to give a practical answer to this inquiry, there came a sound of +hasty footsteps in the corridor, the door flew open, and Lady Darcy +rushed in, followed by the French maid. + +"My darling, what is it? I heard your voice. Has something happened? +Oh-h!" She stopped short, paralysed with consternation, while the maid +wrung her hands in despair. "Rosalind, what _have_ you done to +yourself?" + +"Nothing, nothing! It was Peggy Saville; she splashed me with her +horrid boot-polish--I gave it to her for her shoes. It is on my face, +my neck, in my mouth--" + +"I was pulling the cork. It came out with a jerk. I didn't know; I +didn't see!--" + +Lady Darcy's face stiffened with an expression of icy displeasure. + +"It is too annoying! Your dress spoiled at the last moment! +Inexcusable carelessness! What is to be done, Marie? I am in despair!" + +The Frenchwoman shrugged her shoulders with an indignant glance in +Peggy's direction. + +"There is nothing to do. Put on another dress--that is all. +Mademoiselle must change as quick as she can. If I sponge the spots, I +spoil the whole thing at once." + +"But you could cut them out, couldn't you?" cried Peggy, the picture of +woe, yet miserably eager to make what amends she could. "You could cut +out the spots with sharp scissors, and the holes would not show, for the +chiffon is so full and loose. I--I think I could do it, if you would +let me try!" + +Mistress and maid exchanged a sharp, mutual glance, and the Frenchwoman +nodded slowly. + +"Yes, it is true; I could rearrange the folds. It will take some time, +but still it can be done. It is the best plan." + +"Go then, Rosalind, go with Marie; there is not a moment to spare, and +for pity's sake don't cry! Your eyes will be red, and at any moment now +the people may begin to arrive. I wanted you to be with me to receive +your guests. It will be most awkward being without you, but there is no +help for it, I suppose. The whole thing is too annoying for words!" + +Lady Darcy swept out of the room, and the three girls were once more +left alone; but how changed were their feelings in those few short +moments! There was not the shadow of a smile between them; they looked +more as if they were about to attend a funeral than a scene of +festivity, and for several moments no one had the heart to speak. Peggy +still held the fatal cork in her hand, and went through the work of +polishing Mellicent's slippers with an air of the profoundest dejection. +When they were finished she handed them over in dreary silence, and was +recommencing the brushing of her hair, when something in the expression +of the chubby face arrested her attention. Her eyes flashed; she faced +round with a frown and a quick, "Well, what is it? What are you +thinking now?" + +"I--I wondered," whispered Mellicent breathlessly, "if you did do it on +purpose! Did you _mean_ to spoil her dress, and make her change it?" + +Peggy's hands dropped to her side, her back straightened until she stood +stiff and straight as a poker. Every atom of expression seemed to die +out of her face. Her voice had a deadly quiet in its intonation. + +"What do you think about it yourself?" + +"I--I thought perhaps you did! She teased you, and you were so cross. +You seemed to be standing so very near her, and you are jealous of her-- +and she looked so lovely! I thought perhaps you did..." + +"Mellicent Asplin," said Peggy quietly, and her voice was like the east +wind that blows from an icy-covered mountain,--"Mellicent Asplin, my +name is Saville, and in my family we don't condescend to mean and +dishonourable tricks. I may not like Rosalind, but I would have given +all I have in the world sooner than this should have happened. I was +trying to do you a service, but you forget that. You forget many +things! I have been jealous of Rosalind, because when she arrived you +and your sister forgot that I was alone and far-away from everyone +belonging to me, and were so much engrossed with her that you left me +alone to amuse myself as best I might. You were pleased enough to have +me when no one else was there, but you left me the moment someone +appeared who was richer and grander than I. I wouldn't have treated +_you_ like that, if our positions had been reversed. If I dislike +Rosalind, it is your fault as much as hers; more than hers, for it was +you who made me dread her coming!" + +Peggy stopped, trembling and breathless. There was a moment's silence +in the room, and then Esther spoke in a slow, meditative fashion. + +"It is quite true!" she said. "We _have_ left you alone, Peggy; but it +is not quite so bad as you think. Really and truly we like you far the +best, but--but Rosalind is such a change to us! Everything about her is +so beautiful and so different, that she has always seemed the great +excitement of our lives. I don't know that I'm exactly fond of her, but +I want to see her, and talk to her, and hear her speak, and she is only +here for a short time in the year. It was because we looked upon you as +really one of ourselves that we seemed to neglect you; but it was wrong, +all the same. As for your spoiling her dress on purpose, it's +ridiculous to think of it. How could you say such a thing, Mellicent, +when Peggy was trying to help you, too? How _could_ you be so mean and +horrid?" + +"Oh, well, I'm sure I wish I were dead!" wailed Mellicent promptly. +"Nothing but fusses and bothers, and just when I thought I was going to +be so happy! If I'd had white shoes, this would never have happened. +Always the same thing! When you look forward to a treat, everything is +as piggy and nasty as it can be! Wish I'd never come! Wish I'd stayed +at home, and let the horrid old party go to Jericho! Rosalind's crying, +Peggy's cross, you are preaching! This is a nice way to enjoy yourself, +I must say!" + +Nothing is more hopeless than to reason with a placid person who has +lapsed into a fit of ill-temper. The two elder girls realised this, and +remained perfectly silent while Mellicent continued to wish for death, +to lament the general misery of life, and the bad fortune which attended +the wearers of black slippers. So incessant was the stream of her +repinings, that it seemed as if it might have gone on for ever, had not +a servant entered at last, with the information that the guests were +beginning to arrive, and that Lady Darcy would be glad to see the young +ladies without delay. Esther was anxious to wait and help Peggy with +her toilet, but that young lady was still on her dignity, and by no +means anxious to descend to a scene of gaiety for which she had little +heart. She refused the offer, therefore, in Mariquita fashion, and the +sisters walked dejectedly along the brightly-lit corridors, Mellicent +still continuing her melancholy wail, and Esther reflecting sadly that +all was vanity, and devoutly wishing herself back in the peaceful +atmosphere of the vicarage. + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY TWO. + +FIRE! + +It was fully half an hour later when Peggy crept along the passage, and +took advantage of a quiet moment to slip into the room and seat herself +in a sheltered corner. Quick as she was, however, somebody's eyes were +even quicker, for a tall figure stepped before her, and an aggrieved +voice cried loudly-- + +"Well, I hope you are smart enough to satisfy yourself, now that you +_are_ ready! You have taken long enough, I must say. What about that +first waltz that you promised to have with me?" + +Peggy drew in her breath with a gasp of dismay. + +"Oh, Rob, I am sorry! I forgot all about it. I've been so perturbed. +Something awful has occurred. You heard about it, of course--" + +"No, I didn't? What on earth," began the boy anxiously; but so soon as +he heard the two words "Rosalind's dress!" he shrugged his shoulders in +contemptuous indifference. "Oh, that! I heard something about it, but +I didn't take much notice. Spilt some ink, didn't you? What's the odds +if you did? Accidents will happen, and she has a dozen others to choose +from. I don't see anything wrong with the dress. It looks decent +enough." + +Peggy followed the direction of his eyes, and caught a glimpse of +Rosalind floating past on the arm of a tall soldierly youth. She was +sparkling with smiles, and looking as fresh and spotless as on the +moment when she had stepped across the threshold of her own room. +Neither face nor dress bore any trace of the misfortune of an hour +before, and Peggy heaved a sigh of relief as she watched her to and fro. + +"Jolly enough, isn't she? There's nothing for you to fret about, you +see," said Rob consolingly. "She has forgotten all about it, and the +best thing you can do is to follow her example. What would you think of +some light refreshment? Let's go to the dining-room and drown our +sorrows in strawberry ice. Then we can have a waltz, and try a +vanilla--and a polka, and some lemonade! That's, my idea of enjoying +myself. Come along, while you get the chance!--" + +"Oh, Rob, you _are_ greedy!" protested Peggy; nevertheless she rose +blithely enough, and her eyes began to sparkle with some of their wonted +vivacity. There was something strong and reassuring about Robert's +presence; he looked upon things in such an eminently sensible, +matter-of-fact way, that one was ashamed to give way to moods and tenses +in his company. + +Peggy began to feel that there was still some possibility of happiness +in life, and on her way to the door she came face to face with Lady +Darcy, who reassured her still further by smiling as amiably as if +nothing had happened. + +"Well, dear, enjoying yourself? Got plenty of partners?" Then in a +whispered aside, "The dress looks all right! Such a clever suggestion +of yours. Dear, dear, what a fright we had!" and she swept away, +leaving an impression of beauty, grace, and affability which the girl +was powerless to resist. When Lady Darcy chose to show herself at her +best, there was a charm about her which subjugated all hearts, and, from +the moment that the sweet tired eyes smiled into hers, Peggy Saville +forgot her troubles and tripped away to eat strawberry ices, and dance +over the polished floor with a heart as light as her heels. + +One party is very much like another. The room may be larger or smaller, +the supper more or less substantial, but the programme is the same in +both cases, and there is little to be told about even the grandest of +its kind. Somebody wore pink; somebody wore blue; somebody fell down on +the floor in the middle of the lancers, which are no longer the stately +and dignified dance of yore, but an ungainly romp more befitting a +kitchen than a ballroom; somebody went in to supper twice over, and +somebody never went at all, but blushed unseen in a corner, thinking +longingly of turkey, trifle, and crackers; and then the carriages began +to roll up to the door, brothers and sisters paired demurely together, +stammered out a bashful "Enjoyed myself so much! Thanks for a pleasant +evening," and raced upstairs for coats and shawls. + +By half-past twelve all the guests had departed except the vicarage +party, and the sons and daughters of the old squire who lived close by, +who had been pressed to stay behind for that last half-hour which is +often the most enjoyable of the whole evening. + +Lord and Lady Darcy and the grown-up visitors retired into the +drawing-room to regale themselves with sandwiches and ices, and the +young people stormed the supper-room, interrupted the servants in their +work of clearing away the good things, seated themselves +indiscriminately on floor, chair, or table, and despatched a second +supper with undiminished appetite. Then Esther mounted the platform +where the band had been seated, and played a last waltz, and a very last +waltz, and "really the last waltz of all." The squire's son played a +polka with two fingers, and a great deal of loud pedal, and the fun grew +faster and more uproarious with every moment. Even Rosalind threw aside +young ladylike affectations and pranced about without thinking of +appearances, and when at last the others left the room to prepare for +the drive home she seized Peggy's arm in eager excitement. + +"Peggy! Peggy! Such a joke! I told them to come back to say good-bye, +and I am going to play a twick! I'm going to be a ghost, and glide out +from behind the shwubs, and fwighten them. I can do it beautifully. +See!" She turned down the gas as she spoke, threw her light gauze skirt +over her head, and came creeping across the room with stealthy tread, +and arms outstretched, while Peggy clapped her hands in delight. + +"Lovely! Lovely! It looks exactly like wings. It makes me quite +creepy. Don't come out if Mellicent is alone, whatever you do. She +would be scared out of her seven senses. Just float gently along toward +them, and keep your hands forward so as to hide your face. They will +recognise you if you don't." + +"Oh, if you can see my face, we must have less light. There are too +many candles, I'll put out the ones on the mantelpiece. Stay where you +are, and tell me when it is wight," Rosalind cried gaily, and ran across +the room on her tiny pink silk slippers. + +So long as she lived Peggy Saville remembered the next minutes; to the +last day of her life she had only to shut her eyes and the scene rose up +before her, clear and vivid as in a picture. The stretch of empty room, +with its fragrant banks of flowers; the graceful figure flitting across +the floor, its outline swathed in folds of misty white; the glimpse of a +lovely, laughing face as Rosalind stretched out her arm to reach the +silver candelabra, the sudden flare of light which caught the robe of +gauze, and swept it into flame. It all happened within the space of a +minute, but it was one of those minutes the memory of which no years can +destroy. She had hardly time to realise the terror of the situation +before Rosalind was rushing towards her with outstretched hands, calling +aloud in accents of frenzied appeal-- + +"Peggy! Peggy! Oh, save me, Peggy! I'm burning! Save me! Save me!" + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY THREE. + +A NIGHT OF TERROR. + +While the young folks had been enjoying themselves in the ballroom, +their elders had found the time hang somewhat heavily on their hands. +The evening had not been so interesting to them as to their juniors. +Lady Darcy was tired with the preparations of the day, and the countess +with her journey from town. Both were fain to yawn behind their fans +from time to time, and were longing for the moment to come when they +could retire to bed. If only those indefatigable children would say +good-night and take themselves off! But the echo of the piano still +sounded from the room, and seemed to go on and on, in endless +repetition. + +Everything comes to those who wait, however--even the conclusion of a +ball to the weary chaperon. At long past midnight the strains died +away, and in the hope of an early release the ladies roused themselves +to fresh conversational effort. What they said was unimportant, and +could never be remembered; but at one moment, as it seemed, they were +smiling and exchanging their little commonplace amenities, two languid, +fine ladies whose aim in life might have been to disguise their own +feelings and hide the hearts that God had given them; the next the +artificial smiles were wiped away, and they were clinging together, two +terrified, cowering women, with a mother's soul in their faces--a +mother's love and fear and dread! A piercing cry had sounded through +the stillness, and another, and another, and, while they sat paralysed +with fear, footsteps came tearing along the passage, the door was burst +open, and a wild, dishevelled-looking figure rushed into the room. A +curtain was wound round face and figure, but beneath its folds a long +white arm gripped convulsively at the air, and two little feet staggered +about in pink silk slippers. + +Lady Darcy gave a cry of anguish; but her terror seemed to hold her +rooted to the spot, and it was her husband who darted forward and caught +the swaying figure in his arms. The heavy wrappings came loose in his +grasp, and as they did so an unmistakable smell pervaded the room--the +smell of singed and burning clothing. A cloud of blackened rags +fluttered to the ground as the last fold of the curtain was unloosed, +and among them--most pitiful sight of all--were stray gleams of gold +where a severed lock of hair lay on the carpet, its end still turned in +glistening curl. + +"Rosalind! Rosalind!" gasped the poor mother, clutching the arms of her +chair, and looking as if she were about to faint herself, as she gazed +upon the pitiful figure of her child. The lower portion of Rosalind's +dress was practically uninjured, but the gauze skirt and all the frills +and puffing round the neck hung in tatters, her hair was singed and +roughened, and as the air touched her skin she screamed with pain, and +held her hands up to her neck and face. + +"Oh! Oh! Oh! I am burning! Cover me up! Cover me up! I shall die! +Oh, mother, mother! The pain--the pain!" + +She reeled as if about to faint, yet if anyone attempted to approach she +beat them off with frantic hands, as if in terror of being touched. + +One of the ladies ran forward with a shawl, and wrapped it forcibly +round the poor scarred shoulders, while the gentlemen hurried out of the +room to send for a doctor and make necessary arrangements. One of the +number came back almost immediately, with the news that he had failed to +discover the cause of the accident. There was no sign of fire upstairs, +the ballroom was dark and deserted, the servants engaged in setting the +entertaining rooms in order. For the present, at least, the cause of +the accident remained a mystery, and the distracted father and mother +occupied themselves in trying to pacify their child. + +"I'll carry you upstairs, my darling. We will put something on your +skin which will take away the pain. Try to be quiet, and tell us how it +happened. What were you doing to set yourself on fire?" + +"Peggy! Peggy!" gasped Rosalind faintly. Her strength was failing by +this time, and she could hardly speak; but Lady Darcy's face stiffened +into an awful anger at the sound of that name. She turned like a +tigress to her husband, her face quivering with anger. + +"That girl again! That wicked girl! It is the second time to-night! +She has killed the child; but she shall be punished! I'll have her +punished! She shall not kill my child, and go free! I'll--I'll--" + +"Hush, hush, Beatrice! Take care! You frighten Rosalind. We must get +her to bed. There is not a moment to lose." + +Lord Darcy beckoned to one of the servants, who by this time were +crowding in at the door, and between them they lifted poor, groaning +Rosalind in their arms, and carried her up the staircase, down which she +had tripped so gaily a few hours before. Tenderly as they held her, she +moaned with every movement, and, when she was laid on her bed, it seemed +for a moment as if consciousness were about to forsake her. Then +suddenly a light sprung into her eyes. She lifted her hand and gasped +out one word--just one word--repeated over and over again in a tone of +agonised entreaty. + +"Peggy! Peggy! Peggy!" + +"Yes, darling, yes! I'll go to her. Be quiet--only be quiet!" + +Lady Darcy turned away with a shudder as the maid and an old family +servant began the task of removing the clothes from Rosalind's writhing +limbs, and, seizing her husband by the arm, drew him out on the landing. +Her face was white, but her eyes gleamed, and the words hissed as they +fell from her lips. + +"Find that girl, and turn her out of this house! I will not have her +here another hour! Do you hear--not a minute! Send her away at once +before I see her! Don't let me see her! I can't be responsible for +what I would do!" + +"Yes, yes, dear, I'll send her away! Try to calm yourself. Remember +you have work to do Rosalind will need you." + +The poor old lord went stooping away, his tired face looking aged and +haggard with anxiety. His beautiful young daughter was scarcely less +dear to him than to her mother, and the sound of her cries cut to his +heart; yet in the midst of his anguish he had a pang of compassion for +the poor child who, as he believed, was the thoughtless cause of the +accident. What agony of remorse must be hers! What torture she would +now be suffering! + +The guests and servants were standing huddled together on the landing +upstairs, or running to and fro to procure what was needed. Every +thought was concentrated on Rosalind, and Rosalind alone, and the part +of the house where the dance had been held was absolutely deserted. + +He took his way along the gaily decorated hall, noted with absent eye +the disordered condition of the "harem," which had been pointed out so +proudly at the beginning of the evening, and entered the empty room. +The lights were out, except for a few candles scattered here and there +among the flowers. He walked slowly forward, saw the silver candlestick +on the floor before the fireplace, and stood gazing at it with a quick +appreciation of what had happened. For some reason or other Rosalind +had tried to reach the candle, and the light had caught her gauzy skirt, +which had burst into flames. It was easy--terribly easy to imagine; but +in what way had Peggy Saville been responsible for the accident, so that +her name should sound so persistently on Rosalind's lips,--and who had +been the Good Samaritan who had come to the rescue with that thick +curtain which had killed the flames before they had time to finish the +work of destruction? + +Lord Darcy peered curiously round. The oak floor stretched before him +dark and still, save where its polished surface reflected the light +overhead; but surely in the corner opposite to where he stood there was +a darker mass--a shadow deeper than the rest? + +He walked towards it, bending forward with straining eyes. Another +curtain of the same pattern as that which had enveloped Rosalind--a +curtain of rich Oriental hues with an unaccountable patch of white in +the centre. What was it? It must be part of the fabric itself. Lord +Darcy told himself that he had no doubt on the subject, yet the way +across the room seemed unaccountably long, and his heart beat fast with +apprehension. In another moment he stood in the corner, and knew too +well the meaning of that patch of white, for Peggy Saville lay stretched +upon the curtain, motionless, unconscious--to all appearance, dead! + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR. + +THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW. + +It was one o'clock in the morning when a carriage drove up to the door +of the Larches, and Mrs Asplin alighted, all pale, tear-stained, and +tremulous. She had been nodding over the fire in her bedroom when the +young people had returned with the news of the tragic ending to the +night's festivity, and no persuasion or argument could induce her to +wait until the next day before flying to Peggy's side. + +"No, no!" she cried. "You must not hinder me. If I can't drive, I will +walk! I would go to the child to-night, if I had to crawl on my hands +and knees! I promised her mother to look after her. How could I stay +at home and think of her lying there? Oh, children, children, pray for +Peggy! Pray that she may be spared, and that her poor parents may be +spared this awful--awful news!" + +Then she kissed her own girls, clasped them to her in a passionate +embrace, and drove off to the Larches in the carriage which had brought +the young people home. + +Lady Darcy came out to meet her, and gripped her hand in welcome. + +"You have come! I knew you would. I am so thankful to see you. The +doctor has come, and will stay all night. He has sent for a nurse--" + +"And--my Peggy?" + +Lady Darcy's lips quivered. + +"Very, very ill--much worse than Rosalind! Her poor little arms! I was +so wicked, I thought it was her fault, and I had no pity, and now it +seems that she has saved my darling's life. They can't tell us about it +yet, but it was she who wrapped the curtain round Rosalind, and burned +herself in pressing out the flames. Rosalind kept crying, `Peggy! +Peggy!' and we thought she meant that it was Peggy's fault. We had +heard so much of her mischievous tricks. My husband found her lying on +the floor. She was unconscious; but she came round when they were +dressing her arms. I think she will know you--" + +"Take me to her, please!" Mrs Asplin said quickly. She had to wait +several moments before she could control her voice sufficiently to add, +"And Rosalind, how is she?" + +"There is no danger. Her neck is scarred, and her hair singed and +burned. She is suffering from the shock, but the doctor says it is not +serious. Peggy--" + +She paused, and the other walked on resolutely, not daring to ask for +the termination of that sentence. She crept into the little room, bent +over the bed, and looked down on Peggy's face through a mist of tears. +It was drawn and haggard with pain, and the eyes met hers without a ray +of light in their hollow depths. That she recognised was evident, but +the pain which she was suffering was too intense to leave room for any +other feeling. She lay motionless, with her bandaged arms stretched +before her, and her face looked so small and white against the pillow +that Mrs Asplin trembled to think how little strength was there to +fight against the terrible shock and strain. Only once in all that long +night did Peggy show any consciousness of her surroundings, but then her +eyes lit up with a gleam of remembrance, her lips moved, and Mrs Asplin +bent down to catch the faintly whispered words-- + +"The twenty-sixth--next Monday! Don't tell Arthur!" + +"`The twenty-sixth!' What is that, darling? Ah, I remember--Arthur's +examination! You mean if he knew you were ill, it would upset him for +his work?" + +An infinitesimal movement of the head answered "Yes," and she gave the +promise in trembling tones-- + +"No, my precious, we won't tell him. He could not help, and it would +only distress you to feel that he was upset. Don't trouble about it, +darling. It will be all right." + +Then Peggy shut her eyes and wandered away into a strange world, in +which accustomed things disappeared, and time was not, and nothing +remained but pain and weariness and mystery. Those of us who have come +near to death have visited this world too, and know the blackness of it, +and the weary waking. + +Peggy lay in her little white bed, and heard voices speaking in her ear, +and saw strange shapes flit to and fro. Quite suddenly, as it appeared, +a face would be bending over her own, and as she watched it with languid +curiosity, wondering what manner of thing it could be, it would melt +away and vanish in the distance. At other times again it would grow +larger and larger, until it assumed gigantic proportions, and she cried +out in fear of the huge, saucer-like eyes. There was a weary puzzle in +her brain, an effort to understand, but everything seemed mixed up and +incomprehensible. She would look round the room and see the sunshine +peeping in through the chinks of the blinds, and when she closed her +eyes for a moment--just a single fleeting moment--lo! the gas was lit, +and someone was nodding in a chair by her side. And it was by no means +always the same room. She was tired, and wanted badly to rest, yet she +was always rushing about here, there, and everywhere, striving vainly to +dress herself in clothes which fell off as soon as they were fastened, +hurrying to catch a train to reach a certain destination; but in each +instance the end was the same--she was falling, falling, falling--always +falling--from the crag of an Alpine precipice, from the pinnacle of a +tower, from the top of a flight of stairs. The slip and the terror +pursued her wherever she went; she would shriek aloud, and feel soft +hands pressed on her cheeks, soft voices murmuring in her ear. + +One vision stood out plainly from those nightmare dreams--the vision of +a face which suddenly appeared in the midst of the big grey cloud which +enveloped her on every side--a beautiful face which was strangely like, +and yet unlike, something she had seen long, long ago in a world which +she had well-nigh forgotten. It was pale and thin, and the golden hair +fell in a short curly crop on the blue garment which was swathed over +the shoulders. It was like one of the heads of celestial choir-boys +which she had seen on Christmas cards and in books of engravings, yet +something about the eyes and mouth seemed familiar. She stared at it +curiously, and then suddenly a strange, weak little voice faltered out a +well-known name. + +"Rosalind!" it cried, and a quick exclamation of joy sounded from the +side of the bed. Who had spoken? The first voice had been strangely +like her own, but at an immeasurable distance. She shut her eyes to +think about it, and the fair-haired vision disappeared, and was seen no +more. + +There was a big, bearded man also who came in from time to time, and +Peggy grew to dread his appearance, for with it came terrible stabbing +pain, as if her whole body were on the rack. He was one of the Spanish +Inquisitors, of whom she had read, and she was an English prisoner whom +he was torturing! Well, he might do his worst! She would die before +she would turn traitor and betray her flag and country. The Savilles +were a fighting race, and would a thousand times rather face death than +dishonour. + +One day, when she felt rather stronger than usual, she told him so to +his face, and he laughed--she was quite sure he laughed, the +hard-hearted wretch! And someone else said, "Poor little love!" which +was surely an extraordinary expression for a Spanish Inquisitor. That +was one of the annoying things in this new life--people were so +exceedingly stupid in their conversation! Now and again she herself had +something which she was especially anxious to say, and when she set it +forth with infinite difficulty and pains the only answer which she +received was a soothing, "Yes, dear, yes!" + +"No, dear, no!" or a still more maddening, "Yes, darling, I quite +understand!"--which she knew perfectly well to be an untruth. Really, +these good people seemed to think that she was demented, and did not +know what she was saying. As a matter of fact, it was exactly the other +way about; but she was too tired to argue. And then one day came a +sleep when she neither dreamt nor slipped nor fell, but opened her eyes +refreshed and cheerful, and beheld Mrs Asplin sitting by a table +drinking tea and eating what appeared to be a particularly tempting +slice of cake. + +"I want some cake!" she said clearly; and Mrs Asplin jumped as if a +cannon had been fired off at her ear, and rushed breathlessly to the +bedside, stuttering and stammering in amazement-- + +"Wh-wh-wh-what?" + +"Cake!" repeated Peggy shrilly. "I want some! And tea! I want my +tea!" + +Surely it was a very natural request! What else could you expect from a +girl who had been asleep and wakened up feeling hungry? What on earth +was there in those commonplace words to make a grown-up woman cry like a +baby, and why need everyone in the house rush in and stare at her as if +she were a figure in a waxwork? Lord Darcy, Lady Darcy, Rosalind, the +old French maid--they were all there--and, as sure as her name was Peggy +Saville, they were all four, handkerchief in hand, mopping their eyes +like so many marionettes! + +Nobody gave her the cake for which she had asked. Peggy considered it +exceedingly rude and ill-bred; but while she was thinking of it she grew +tired again, and, rolling round into a soft little bundle among the +blankets, fell afresh into sweet refreshing slumbers. + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE. + +CONVALESCENCE. + +"Convalescence," remarked Peggy elegantly, a week later on, +"convalescence is a period not devoid of attraction!" She was lying on +a sofa in her bedroom at the Larches, wrapped in her white +dressing-gown, and leaning against a nest of pink silk cushions, and, +what with a table drawn up by her side laden with grapes and jelly, a +pile of Christmas numbers lying close at hand, and the presence of an +audience consisting of Rosalind, Lady Darcy, and Mrs Asplin, ready to +listen admiringly to her conversation, and to agree enthusiastically +with every word she uttered, it did indeed seem as if the position was +one which might be endured with fortitude! Many were the questions +which had been showered upon her since her return to consciousness, and +the listeners never grew tired of listening to her account of the +accident. How Rosalind had clutched too carelessly at the slender +candlestick, so that it had fallen forward, setting the gauze dress in +flames, how she herself had flown out of the room, torn down the +curtains which draped the "harem," and had flung them round the frantic, +struggling figure. With every day that passed, however, Peggy gained +more strength, and was petted to her heart's content by everyone in the +house. The old lord kissed her fondly on the cheek, and murmured, "God +reward you, my brave girl, for I never can." Lady Darcy shed tears +every morning when the burns were dressed, and said, "Oh, Peggy dear, +forgive me for being cross, and do, do be sure to use the lotion for +your arms regularly every day when you get better!" And the big doctor +chucked her under the chin, and cried-- + +"Well, `Fighting Saville,' and how are we to-day? You are the pluckiest +little patient I've had for a long time. I'll say that for you! Let's +have another taste of the rack!" It was all most agreeable and soothing +to one's feelings! + +One of the first questions Peggy asked after her return to consciousness +was as to how much her father and mother had been told of her accident, +and whether the news had been sent by letter or cable. + +"By letter, dear," Mrs Asplin replied. "We talked it over carefully, +and concluded that that would be best. You know, dearie, we were very, +very anxious about you for a few days, but the doctor said that it would +be useless cabling to your mother, because if all went well you would be +up again before she could arrive, and if--if it had gone the other way, +Peggy, she could not have been in time. I sent her a long letter, and I +have written every mail since, and now we are going to calculate the +time when the first letter will arrive, and send a cable to say that you +are quite out of danger, and sitting up, and getting hungrier and more +mischievous with every day as it passes!" + +"Thank you," said Peggy warmly. "That's very kind. I am glad you +thought of that; but will you please promise not to be economical about +the cable? They won't care about the money. Spend pounds over it if it +is necessary, but do, do manage to make them believe that I am quite +perky. Put at the end, `Peggy says she is perky!' They will know that +is genuine, and it will convince them more than anything else." And so +those five expressive words went flashing across the world at the end of +a long message, and brought comfort to two hearts that had been near to +breaking. + +So soon as Peggy was pronounced to be out of danger, Mrs Asplin went +back to the vicarage, leaving her in the charge of the kind hospital +nurse, though for that matter every member of the household took it in +turns to wait upon her. A dozen times a day the master and mistress of +the house would come into the sick-room to inquire how things were +going, or to bring some little gift for the invalid; and as she grew +stronger it became the custom for father, mother, and daughter to join +her at her early tea. Peggy watched them from her sofa, too weak to +speak much, but keenly alive to all that was going on, among other +things, to the change which had come over these three persons since she +had known them first. Lord Darcy had always been kind and considerate, +but his manner seemed gentler and more courteous than ever, while +Rosalind's amiability was an hourly surprise, and Lady Darcy's manner +had lost much of its snappish discontent. On one occasion, when her +husband made some little request, she replied in a tone so sweet and +loving that the listener started with surprise. What could it be that +had worked this transformation? She did not realise that when the Angel +of Death has hovered over a household, and has at last flown away with +empty arms, leaving the home untouched, they would be hard hearts that +were not touched, ungrateful natures that did not take thought of +themselves, and face life with a higher outlook! Lady Darcy's social +disappointments seemed light compared with the awful "might have been"; +while Rosalind's lamentations over her disfigurement had died away at +the sight of Peggy's unconscious form. Perhaps, when Lord Darcy thanked +Peggy for all she had done for him and his, he had other thoughts in his +mind than the mere physical deliverance of which she had been the +instrument! + +Arthur had been kept well informed of his sister's recovery, and proved +himself the kindest of brothers, sending letters by the dozen, full of +such nonsensical jokes, anecdotes, and illustrations, as would have +cheered the gloomiest invalid in the world. But the happiest day of all +was when the great news arrived that his name was placed first of all in +the list of successful candidates. This was indeed tidings of comfort +and joy! Peggy clapped her bandaged hands together, and laughed aloud +with tears of pain streaming down her face. "Arthur Saville, V.C., +Arthur Saville, V.C.!" she cried, and then fell to groaning because some +days must still elapse before the medical examination was over, and her +hero was set free to hasten to her side. + +"And I shall be back at the vicarage then, and we shall all be together! +Oh, let us be joyful! How happy I am! What a nice old world it is, +after all!" she continued hilariously, while Rosalind gazed at her with +reproachful eyes. + +"Are you so glad to go away? I shall be vewy, vewy sowwy--I'll miss you +awfully. I shall feel that there is nothing to do when you have gone +away, Peggy!"--Rosalind hesitated, and looked at her companion in +uncertain bashful fashion. "I--I think you like me a little bit now, +and I'm vewy fond of you, but you couldn't bear me before we were ill. +You might tell me why?" + +"I was jealous of you," said Peggy promptly; whereat Rosalind's eyes +filled with tears. + +"You won't be jealous now!" she said dismally, and raised her head to +stare at her own reflection in the mirror. The hair which had once +streamed below her waist was now cut short round her head, her face had +lost its delicate bloom, and an ugly scar disfigured her throat and the +lower portion of one cheek. Beautiful she must always be, with her +faultless features and wonderful eyes, but the bloom and radiance of +colour which had been her chief charm had disappeared for the time being +as completely as though they had never existed. + +"I'll love you more," said Peggy reassuringly. "You are ever so much +nicer, and you will be as pretty as ever when your hair grows and the +marks fade away. I like you better when you are not _quite_ so pretty, +for you really were disgustingly conceited; weren't you now? You can't +deny it." + +"Oh, Peggy Saville, and so were you! I saw that the first moment you +came into the woom. You flared up like a Turkey cock if anyone dared to +offend your dignity, and you were always widing about on your high +horse, tossing your head, and using gweat long words." + +"That's pride, it's not conceit. It's quite a different thing." + +"It's about the same to other people," said Rosalind shrewdly. "We both +gave ourselves airs, and the wesult was the same, whatever caused it. I +was pwoud of my face, and you were pwoud of your--your--er--family--and +your cleverness, and--the twicks you played; so if I confess, you ought +to confess too. I'm sorry I aggwavated you, Mawiquita, and took all the +pwaise for the decowations. It was howwibly mean, and I don't wonder +you were angwy. I'm sorry that I was selfish!" + +"I exceedingly regret that I formed a false estimate of your character! +Let's be chums!" said Peggy sweetly; and the two girls eyed one another +uncertainly for a moment, then bent forward and exchanged a kiss of +conciliation, after which unusual display of emotion they were seized +with instant embarrassment. + +"Hem!" said Peggy. "It's very cold! Fire rather low, I think. Looks +as if it were going to snow." + +"No," said Rosalind; "I mean--yes. I'll put on some more--I mean coals. +In half an hour Esther and Mellicent will be here--" + +"Oh, so they will! How lovely!" Peggy seized gladly on the new +opening, and proceeded to enlarge on the joy which she felt at the +prospect of seeing her friends again, for on that afternoon Robert and +the vicarage party were to be allowed to see her for the first time, and +to have tea in her room. She had been looking forward to their visit +for days, and, new that the longed-for hour was at hand, she was eager +to have the lamps lit, and all preparations made for their arrival. + +Robert appeared first, having ridden over in advance of the rest. And +Rosalind, after going out to greet him, came rushing back, all shaken +with laughter, with the information that he had begun to walk on tiptoe +the moment that he had left the drawing-room, and was creeping along the +passage as if terrified at making a sound. + +Peggy craned her head, heard the squeak, squeak of boots coming nearer +and nearer, the cautious opening of the door, the heavy breaths of +anxiety, and then, crash!--bang!--crash! down flopped the heavy screen +round the doorway, and Rob was discovered standing among the ruins in +agonies of embarrassment. From his expression of despair, he might have +supposed that the shock would kill Peggy outright; but she gulped down +her nervousness, and tried her best to reassure him. + +"Oh, never mind--never mind! It doesn't matter. Come over here and +talk to me. Oh, Rob, Rob, I am so glad to see you!" + +Robert stood looking down in silence, while his lips twitched and his +eyebrows worked in curious fashion. If it had not been altogether too +ridiculous, Peggy would have thought that he felt inclined to cry. But +he only grunted, and cried-- + +"What a face! You had better tuck into as much food as you can, and get +some flesh on your bones. It's about as big as the palm of my hand! +Never saw such a thing in my life." + +"Never mind my face," piped Peggy in her weak little treble. "Sit right +down and talk to me. What is the news in the giddy world? Have you +heard anything about the prize? When does the result come out? +Remember you promised faithfully not to open the paper until we were +together. I was so afraid it would come while I was too ill to look at +it!" + +"I should have waited," said Robert sturdily. "There would have been no +interest in the thing without you; but the result won't be given for ten +days yet, and by that time you will be with us again. The world hasn't +been at all giddy, I can tell you. I never put in a flatter time. +Everybody was in the blues, and the house was like a tomb, and a jolly +uncomfortable tomb at that. Esther was housekeeper while Mrs Asplin +was away, and she starved us! She was in such a mortal fright of being +extravagant that she could scarcely give us enough to keep body and soul +together, and the things we had were not fit to eat. Nothing but milk +puddings and stewed fruit for a week on end. Then we rebelled. I +nipped her up in my arms one evening in the schoolroom, and stuck her on +the top of the little bookcase. Then we mounted guard around, and set +forth our views. It would have killed you to see her perched up there, +trying to look prim and to keep up her dignity. + +"`Let me down this moment, Robert. Bring a chair and let me get down.' + +"`Will you promise to give us a pie to-morrow, then, and a decent sort +of a pudding?' + +"`It's no business of yours what I give you. You ought to be thankful +for good wholesome food!' + +"`Milk puddings are not wholesome. They don't agree with us--they are +too rich! We should like something a little lighter for a change. Will +you swear off milk puddings for the next fortnight if I let you down?' + +"`You are a cruel, heartless fellow, Robert Darcy--thinking of puddings +when Peggy is ill, and we are all so anxious about her!' + +"`Peggy would die at once if she heard how badly you were treating us. +Now then, you have kept me waiting for ten minutes, so the price has +gone up. Now you'll have to promise a pair of ducks and mince-pies into +the bargain! I shall be ashamed of meeting a sheep soon, if we go on +eating mutton every day of the week.' + +"`Call yourself a gentleman!' says she, tossing her head and withering +me with a glance of scorn. + +"`I call myself a hungry man, and that's all we are concerned about for +the moment,' said I. `A couple of ducks and two nailing good puddings +to-morrow night, or there you sit for the rest of the evening!' + +"We went at it hammer and tongs until she was fairly spluttering with +rage; but she had to promise before she came down, and we had no more +starvation diet after that. Oswald went up to town for a day, and +bought a pair of blue silk socks and a tie to match--that's the greatest +excitement we have had. The rest has been all worry and grind, and +Mellicent on the rampage about Christmas presents. Oh, by the bye, I +printed those photographs you wanted to send to your mother, and packed +them off by the mail a fortnight ago, so that she would get them in good +time for Christmas." + +"Rob, you didn't! How noble of you! You really are an admirable +person!" Peggy lay back against her pillows and gazed at her "partner" +in great contentment of spirit. After living an invalid's life for +these past weeks, it was delightfully refreshing to look at the big +strong face. The sight of it was like a fresh breeze coming into the +close, heated room, and she felt as if some of his superabundant energy +had come into her own weak frame. + +A little later the vicarage party arrived, and greeted the two +convalescents with warmest affection. If they were shocked at the sight +of Rosalind's disfigurement and Peggy's emaciation, three out of the +four were polite enough to disguise their feelings; but it was too much +to expect of Mellicent that she should disguise what she happened to be +feeling. She stared and gaped, and stared again, stuttering with +consternation-- + +"Why--why--Rosalind--your hair! It's shorter than mine! It doesn't +come down to your shoulders! Did they cut it all off? What did you do +with the rest? And your poor cheek! Will you have that mark all your +life?" + +"I don't know. Mother is going to twy electwicity for it. It will fade +a good deal, I suppose, but I shall always be a fwight. I'm twying to +wesign myself to be a hideous monster!" sighed Rosalind, turning her +head towards the window the while in such a position that the scar was +hidden from view, and she looked more like the celestial choir-boy of +Peggy's delirium than ever, with the golden locks curling round her +neck, and the big eyes raised to the ceiling in a glance of pathetic +resignation. + +Rob guffawed aloud with the callousness of a brother; but the other two +lads gazed at her with an adoring admiration which was balm to her vain +little heart. Vain still, for a nature does not change in a day; and, +though Rosalind was an infinitely more lovable person now than she had +been a few weeks before, the habits of a lifetime were still strong upon +her, and she could never by any possibility be indifferent to +admiration, or pass a mirror without stopping to examine the progress of +that disfiguring scar. + +"It wouldn't have mattered half so much if it had been Peggy's face that +was spoiled," continued Mellicent, with cruel outspokenness, "and it is +only her hands that are hurt. Things always go the wrong way in this +world! I never saw anything like it. You know that night-dress bag I +was working for mother, Peggy? Well, I only got two skeins of the blue +silk, and then if I didn't run short, and they hadn't any more in the +shop. The other shades don't match at all, and it looks simply vile. I +am going to give it to--ahem! I mean that's the sort of thing that +always happens to me--it makes me mad! You can't sew at all, I suppose? +What do you do with yourself all day long, now that you are able to get +up?" + +Peggy's eyes twinkled. + +"I sleep," she said slowly, "and eat, and sleep a little more, and eat +again, and talk a little bit, roll into bed, and fall fast asleep. +_Voila tout, ma chere! C'est ca que je fais tous les jours_." + +Rosalind gave a shriek of laughter at Peggy's French, and Mellicent +rolled her eyes to the ceiling. + +"How s-imply lovely!" she sighed. "I wish I were you! I'd like to go +to bed in November and stay there till May. In a room like this, of +course, with everything beautiful and dainty, and a maid to wait upon +me. I'd have a fire and an india-rubber hot-water bottle, and I'd lie +and sleep, and wake up every now and then, and make the maid read aloud, +and bring me my meals on a tray. Nice meals! Real, nice invalidy +things, you know, to tempt my appetite." Mellicent's eyes rolled +instinctively to the table, where the jelly and the grapes stood +together in tempting proximity. She sighed, and brought herself back +with an effort to the painful present. "Goodness, Peggy, how funny your +hands look! Just like a mummy! What do they look like when the +bandages are off? Very horrible?" + +"Hideous!" Peggy shrugged her shoulders and wrinkled her nose in +disgust. "I am going to try to grow old as fast as I can, so that I can +wear mittens and cover them up. I'm really rather distressed about it, +because I am so--so addicted to rings, don't you know. They have been a +weakness of mine all my life, and I've looked forward to having my +fingers simply loaded with them when I grew up. There is one of +mother's that I especially admire--a big square emerald surrounded with +diamonds. She promised to give it to me on my twenty-first birthday, +but, unless my hands look very different by that time, I shall not want +to call attention to them. Alack-a-day! I fear I shall never be able +to wear a ring--" + +"Gracious goodness! Then you can never be married!" ejaculated +Mellicent, in a tone of such horrified dismay as evoked a shriek of +merriment from the listeners--Peggy's merry trill sounding clear above +the rest. It was just delicious to be well again, to sit among her +companions and have one of the old hearty laughs over Mellicent's quaint +speeches. At that moment she was one of the happiest girls in all the +world. + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY SIX. + +ALAS, FOR ARTHUR! + +A few days later Peggy was driven home to the vicarage, and stood the +drive so well that she was able to walk downstairs at tea-time, and sit +at the table with only a cushion at her back, to mark her out as an +invalid just recovering from a serious illness. There was a special +reason why she wished to look well this afternoon, for Arthur was +expected by the six o'clock train; and the candidate who had come out +first in his examination lists must not have his reception chilled by +anxiety or disappointment. + +Peggy was attired in her pink dress, and sat roasting before the fire, +so as to get some colour into her cheeks. If her face were only the +size of the palm of a hand, she was determined that it should at least +be rosy; and if she looked very bright, and smiled all the time, perhaps +Arthur would not notice how thin she had become. + +When half-past six struck, everyone crowded into the schoolroom, and +presently a cab drove up to the door, and a modest rap sounded on the +knocker. + +"That's not Arthur!" cried Mrs Asplin confidently. "He knocks straight +on without stopping, peals the bell at the same time, and shouts +Christmas carols through the letter-box! He has sent on his luggage, I +expect, and is going to pounce in upon us later on." + +"Ah, no, that's not Arthur!" assented Peggy; but Mr Asplin turned his +head quickly towards the door, as if his ear had caught a familiar note, +hesitated for a moment, and then walked quickly into the hall. + +"My dear boy!" the listeners heard him cry; and then another voice spoke +in reply--Arthur's voice--saying, "How do you do, sir?" in such flat, +subdued tones as filled them with amazement. + +Mrs Asplin and Peggy turned towards each other with distended eyes. If +Arthur had suddenly slid down the chimney and crawled out on the hearth +before them, turned a somersault in at the window, or crawled from +beneath the table, it would have caused no astonishment whatever; but +that he should ring at the bell, walk quietly into the hall, and wait to +hang up his hat like any other ordinary mortal,--this was indeed an +unprecedented and extraordinary proceeding! The same explanation darted +into both minds. His sister's illness! He was afraid of startling an +invalid, and was curbing his overflowing spirits in consideration for +her weakness. + +Peggy rose from her chair, and stood waiting, with sparkling eyes and +burning cheeks. He should see in one glance that she was better--almost +well--that there was no need of anxiety on her behalf. And then the +tall, handsome figure appeared in the doorway, and Arthur's voice +cried-- + +"Peggikens! Up and dressed! This is better than I hoped. How are you, +dear little Peg?" + +There was something wrong with the voice, something lacking in the +smile; but his sister was too excited to notice it. She stretched out +her arms towards him, and raised her weak, quavering little voice in a +song of triumph-- + +"See-ee the conquering he-he-he-he-hero com-ums! Sow-ow-ow-ow-ownd the +trumpet, play--a--a--a--" + +"Don't, Peg!" cried Arthur sharply. "Don't, dear!" He was standing by +her side by this time, and suddenly he wrapped his arms round her and +laid his curly head on hers. "I'm plucked, Peg!" he cried, and his +voice was full of tears. "Oh, Peg, I'm plucked! It's all over; I can +never be a soldier. I'm plucked--plucked--plucked!" + +"Arthur dear! Arthur darling!" cried Peggy loudly. She clasped her +arms round his neck, and glared over his shoulder, like a tigress whose +young has been threatened with danger. "You plucked! My brother +plucked! Ho! ho! ho!" She gave a shrill peal of laughter. "It's +impossible! You were first of all, the very first. You always are +first. Who was wicked enough, and cruel enough, and false enough, to +say that Arthur Saville was plucked in an examination?" + +"Arthur, my boy, what is it? What does it mean? You told us you were +first. How can you possibly be plucked?" + +"My--my eyes!" said Arthur faintly. He raised his head from Peggy's +shoulder and looked round with a haggard smile. "The medical exam. +They would not pass me. I was rather blind when I was here before, but +I thought it was with reading too much. I never suspected there was +anything really wrong--never for a moment!" + +"Your eyes!" The vicar pressed his hand to his forehead, as if unable +to grasp this sudden shattering of his hopes. "But--but I don't +understand! Your eyes never gave you any trouble when you were here. +You were not short-sighted. One knew, of course, that good sight was +necessary; but there seemed no weakness in that direction. I can't +imagine any cause that can have brought it on." + +"I can!" said Arthur drearily. "I got a bad knock at lacrosse two years +ago. I didn't tell you about it, for it wasn't worth while; but my eyes +were bad for some time after that. I thought they were all right again; +but I had to read a lot of things across a room, and made a poor show of +it. Then the doctor took me to a window and pointed to an omnibus that +was passing. + +"`What's the name on that 'bus?' he said. `What is the colour of that +woman's hat? How many horses are there?' + +"I guessed. I couldn't see. I made a shot at it, and it was a wrong +shot. He was a kind old chap. I think he was sorry for me. I--I came +out into the street, and walked about. It was very cold. I tried to +write to you, but I couldn't do it--I couldn't put it down in black and +white. No V.C. now, little Peg! That's all over. You will have a +civilian for your brother, after all!" + +He bent down to kiss the girl's cheeks as he spoke, and she threw her +arms round his neck and kissed him passionately upon his closed eyelids. + +"Dear eyes!" she cried impetuously. "Oh, dear eyes! They are the +dearest eyes in all the world, whatever anyone says about them. It +doesn't matter what you are--you are my Arthur, the best and cleverest +brother in all the world. Nobody is like you!" + +"You have a fine career before you still, my boy! You will always +fight, I hope, and conquer enemies even more powerful than armed men!" +cried Mrs Asplin, trembling. "There are more ways than one of being a +soldier, Arthur!" + +"I know it, mater," said the young man softly. He straightened his back +and stood in silence, his head thrown back, his eyes shining with +emotion, as fine a specimen of a young English gentleman as one could +wish to meet. "I know it," he repeated, and Mrs Asplin turned aside to +hide her tears. "Oh, my pretty boy!" she was saying to herself. "Oh, +my pretty boy! And I'll never see him in his red coat, riding his horse +like a prince among them all! I'll never see the medals on his breast! +Oh, my poor lad that has the fighting blood in his veins! It's like +tearing the heart out of him to turn Arthur Saville into anything but a +soldier. And the poor father--what will he say at all, when he hears +this terrible news?" She dared not trust herself to speak again; the +others were too much stunned and distressed to make any attempt at +consolation, and it was a relief to all when Mellicent's calm, +matter-of-fact treble broke the silence. + +"Well, for my part, I'm very glad!" she announced slowly. "I'm sorry, +of course, if he has to wear spectacles, because they are not becoming, +but I'm glad he is not going to be a soldier. I think it's silly having +nothing to do but drill in barracks, and pretending to fight when there +is no one to fight with. I should hate to be a soldier in times of +peace, and it would be fifty thousand times worse in war. Oh, my +goodness, shouldn't I be in a fright! I should run away--I know I +should; but Arthur would be in the front of every battle, and it's +absurd to think that he would not get killed. You know what Arthur is! +Did you ever know him have a chance of hurting himself and not taking +it? He would be killed in the very first battle--that's my belief--and +_then_ you would be sorry that you wanted him to be a soldier! Or, if +he wasn't killed, he would have his legs shot off. Last time I was in +London I saw a man with no legs. He was sitting on a little board with +wheels on it, and selling matches in the street. Well, I must say I'd +rather have my brother a civilian, as you call it, than have no legs, or +be cut in pieces by a lot of nasty naked old savages." + +A general smile went round the company. There was no resisting it. +Even Arthur's face brightened, and he turned his head and looked at +Mellicent with his old twinkling smile. + +"Bravo, Chubby!" he cried. "Bravo, Chubby! Commend me to Mellicent for +good, sound commonsense. The prospect of squatting on a board, selling +matches, is not exhilarating, I must confess. I'm glad there is one +person at least who thinks my prospects are improved." He gave a little +sigh, which was stifled with praiseworthy quickness. "Well, the worst +is over, now that I have told you and written the letter to India. +Those were the two things that I dreaded most. Now I shall just have to +face life afresh, and see what can be made of it. I must have a talk +with you, sir, later on, and get your advice. Cheer up, Peggikens! +Cheer up, mater! It's no use grieving over spilt milk, and Christmas is +coming. It would never do to be in the dolefuls over Christmas! I've +got a boxful of presents upstairs--amused myself with buying them +yesterday to pass the time. You come up with me to-night, Peg, and I'll +give you a peep. You look better than I expected, dear, but fearsome +scraggy! We shall have to pad her out a bit, shan't we, mater? She +must have an extra helping of plum-pudding this year." + +He rattled on in his own bright style, or in as near an imitation of it +as he could manage, and the others tried their best to follow his +example and make the evening as cheery as possible. Once or twice the +joy of being all together again in health and strength conquered the +underlying sorrow, and the laughter rang out as gaily as ever; but the +next moment Arthur would draw in his breath with another of those short, +stabbing sighs, and Peggy would shiver, and lie back trembling among her +pillows. She had no heart to look at Christmas presents that night, but +Arthur carried her upstairs in his strong arms, laid her on her bed, and +sat beside her for ten minutes' precious private talk. + +"It's a facer, Peg," he said. "I can't deny it's a facer. When I +walked out of that doctor's room I felt as weak as a child. The shock +knocked the strength out of me. I had never thought of anything else +but being a soldier, you see, and it's a strange experience to have to +face life afresh, with everything that you had expected taken out of it, +and nothing ahead but blankness and disappointment. I've been so strong +too--as strong as a horse. If it hadn't been for that blow--well, it's +over! It's a comfort to me to feel that it was not my own fault. If +I'd been lazy or careless, and had failed in the exam., it would have +driven me crazy; but this was altogether beyond my control. It is +frightfully rough luck, but I don't mean to howl--I must make the best +of what's left!" + +"Yes, yes, I'm sure you will. You have begun well, for I think you have +been wonderfully brave and courageous about it, Arthur dear!" + +"Well, of course!" said Arthur softly. "I always meant to be that, Peg; +and, as the mater says, it is only another kind of battle. The other +would have been easier, but I mean to fight still. I am not going to +give up all my dreams. You shall be proud of me yet, though not in the +way you expected." + +"I never was so proud of you in my life!" Peggy cried. "Never in all +my life." + +Long after Arthur had kissed her and gone to his own room she lay awake, +thinking of his words and of the expression on his handsome face as the +firelight played on moistened eye and trembling lip. "I mean to fight." + +"You shall be proud of me yet." The words rang in her ears, and would +not be silenced. When she fell asleep Arthur was still by her side; the +marks of tears were on his face. He was telling her once more the story +of disappointment and failure; but she could not listen to him, for her +eyes were fixed on something that was pinned on the breast of his coat-- +a little cross with two words printed across its surface. + +In her dream Peggy bent forward, and read those two words with a great +rush of joy and exultation. + +"For Valour!" + +"For Valour!" Yes, yes, it was quite true! Never was soldier flushed +with victory more deserving of that decoration than Arthur Saville in +his hour of disappointment and failure. + + + +CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN. + +THE PARTING OF THE WAYS! + +Arthur kept his word, and tried manfully not to let his own +disappointment interfere with the enjoyment of Christmas Day. + +The party at the vicarage was smaller than usual, for Rob and Oswald had +both gone home for the festive season, and he knew well that the +knowledge that "Arthur was coming" had seemed the best guarantee of a +merry day to those who were left. + +Peggy too--poor little Peg, with her bandaged hands and tiny white +face--it would never do to grieve her by being depressed and gloomy! + +"Begone, dull care!" cried Arthur to himself then, when he awoke on +Christmas morning, and, promptly wrapping himself in his dressing-gown, +he sallied out on to the landing, where he burst into the strains of +"Christians, awake!" with such vigorous brush-and-comb accompaniment on +the panels of the doors as startled the household out of their dreams. + +"Miserable boy! I was having such a lovely nap! I'll never forgive +you!" cried Mrs Asplin's voice, in sleepy wrath. + +"Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas!" shouted the girls; and Peggy's +clear pipe joined in last of all. "And many of them! Come in! Come +in! I was lying awake and longing to see you!" + +Arthur put his ruffled head round the door and beamed at the little +figure in the bed, as if he had never known a trouble in his life. + +"What a wicked story! I heard you snore. Merry Christmas, Peg, and a +Happy New Year! And don't you go for to do it again never no more! +It's a jolly morning. I'll take you out for a toddle in the garden when +we come home from church, if you are a good girl. Will you have your +present now, or wait till you get it? It begins with a B. I love my +love with a B, because she's a--" + +"Oh, Arthur!" interrupted Peggy regretfully. "I haven't half such a +nice present for you as I expected. You see I couldn't work anything, +and I couldn't get out to the shops, and I hadn't nearly as much money +as I expected either. If Rob and I had won that prize, I should have +had ten pounds; but the stupid editors have put off announcing the +result week after week. They say there were so many competitors; but +that's no consolation, for it makes our chance less. I do hope it may +be out next week. But, at any rate, I didn't get my ten pounds in time, +and there I was, you see, with little money and practically no hands-- +a--er--a most painful contingency, which I hope it may never be your lot +to experience. You must take the will for the deed." + +"Oh, I will!" agreed Arthur promptly. "I'll take the will now, and you +can follow up with the deed as soon as you get the cash. But no more +journeys up to London, my dear, if you love me, and don't use such big +words before seven o'clock in the morning, or you'll choke. It's bad +for little girls to exert themselves so much. Now I'm going to skate +about in the bath for a bit, and tumble into my clothes, and then I'll +come back and give you a lift downstairs. You are coming down for +breakfast, I suppose?" + +"Rather! On Christmas morning! I should just think I was!" cried Peggy +emphatically; and Arthur went off to the bathroom, calling in at Max's +room _en route_, to squeeze a sponge full of water over that young +gentleman's head, and pull the clothes off the bed, by way of giving +emphasis to his, "Get up, you lazy beggar! It's the day after +to-morrow, and the plum-pudding is waiting!" + +Peggy was the only one of the young folks who did not go to church that +morning; but she was left in charge of the decorations for the +dinner-table, and when this was finished there was so much to think +about that the time passed all too quickly. + +Last year she and Arthur had spent Christmas with their mother; now both +parents were away in India, and everything was strange and altered. As +Peggy sat gazing into the heart of the big gloomy fire, it seemed to her +that the year that was passing away would end a complete epoch in her +brother's experiences and her own, and that from this hour a new chapter +would begin. She herself had come back from the door of death, and had +life given, as it were, afresh into her hands. Arthur's longed-for +career had been checked at its commencement, and all his plans laid +waste. Even the life in the vicarage would henceforth take new +conditions, for Rob and Oswald would go up to Oxford at the beginning of +the term, and their place be filled by new pupils. There was something +solemnising in the consciousness of change which filled the air. One +could never tell what might be the next development. Nothing was too +unexpected to happen--since Arthur's success had ended in failure, and +she herself had received Rosalind's vows of love and friendship. + +"Good things have happened as well as bad," acknowledged Peggy honestly; +"but how I do hate changes! The new pupils may be the nicest boys in +the world, but no one will ever--ever be like Rob, and I'd rather Arthur +had been a soldier than anything in the wide world. I wish one could go +on being young for ever and ever. It's when you grow old that all these +troubles and changes come upon you." And Peggy sighed and wagged her +head, oppressed with the weight of fifteen years. + +It was a relief to hear the clatter of horses' hoofs, and the sound of +voices in the hall, which proved that the church-goers had returned +home. Mr and Mrs Asplin had been driven home from church by Lord and +Lady Darcy, and the next moment they were in the room, and greeting +Peggy with demonstrative affection. + +"We couldn't go home without coming to see you, dear," said Lady Darcy +fondly. "Rosalind is walking with the rest, and will be here in a few +minutes. A merry Christmas to you, darling, and many, many of them. +I've brought you a little present which I hope you will like. It's a +bangle bracelet--quite a simple one that you can wear every day--and you +must think of me sometimes when you put it on." + +She touched the spring of a little morocco case as she spoke, and there +on the satin lining lay a band of gold, dependent from which hung the +sweetest little locket in the world--heart-shaped, studded with pearls, +and guarding a ring of hair beneath the glass shield. + +Lady Darcy pointed to it in silence--her eyes filling with tears, as +they invariably did on any reference to Rosalind's accident, and Peggy's +cheeks flushed with pleasure. + +"I can't thank you! I really can't," she said. "It is too lovely. You +couldn't possibly have given me anything I liked better. I have a +predilection for jewellery, and the little locket is too sweet, dangling +on that chain! I do love to have something that waggles!" She held up +her arm as she spoke, shaking the locket to and fro with a childlike +enjoyment, while the two ladies watched her with tender amusement. Lord +Darcy had not spoken since his first greeting, but now he came forward, +and linking his arm in Peggy's led her to the farther end of the room. + +"I have no present for you, my dear--I could not think of one that was +good enough--but yesterday I really think I hit on something that would +please you. Robert told us how keenly you were feeling your brother's +disappointment, and that he was undecided what to try next. Now, I +believe I can help him there. I have influence in the Foreign Office, +and can ensure him an opening when he is ready for it, if your father +agrees that it is desirable. Would that please you, Peggy? If I can +help your brother, will it go some little way towards paying the debt I +owe you?" + +"Oh-h!" cried Peggy rapturously. "Oh!" She clasped Lord Darcy's hands +in her own and gazed at him with dilated eyes. "Can you do it? Will +you do it? There is nothing in all the world I should like so much. +Help Arthur--give him a good chance--and I shall bless you for ever and +ever! I could never thank you enough--" + +"Well, well, I will write to your father and see what he has to say. I +can promise the lad a start at least, and after that his future will be +in his own hands, where I think we may safely leave it. Master Arthur +is one of the fortunate being's who has an `open sesame' to all hearts. +Mr Asplin assures me that he is as good at work as at play; I have not +seen that side of his character, but he has always left a most pleasing +impression on my mind, most pleasing." The old lord smiled to himself, +and his eyes took a dreamy expression, as if he were recalling to memory +the handsome face and strong manly presence of the young fellow of whom +he was speaking. "He has been a favourite at our house for some years +now, and I shall be glad to do him a service; but remember, Peggy, that +when I propose this help, it is, in the first instance at least, for +your sake, not his. I tell you this because I think it will give you +pleasure to feel that you have been the means of helping your brother. +Talk it over with him some time when you are alone together, and then he +can come up and see me. To-day we must leave business alone. Here they +come! I thought they would not be long after us--" + +Even as he spoke voices sounded from the hall, there was a clatter of +feet over the tiled flooring, and Mellicent dashed into the room. + +"P-P-P-Postman!" she stammered breathlessly. "He is coming! Round the +corner! Heaps of letters! Piles of parcels! A hand-cart, and a boy to +help him! Here in five minutes! Oh! oh! oh!" She went rushing back to +the door, and Rosalind came forward, looking almost her old beautiful +self, with her cheeks flushed by the cold air, and the fur collar of her +jacket turned up so as to hide the scarred cheek. + +"Merry Christmas, Rosalind! How--how nice you look!" cried Peggy, +looking up and down the dainty figure with more pleasure in the sight +than she could have believed possible a few weeks before. After being +accustomed for four long weeks to gaze at those perfectly cut features, +Esther's long chin and Mellicent's retrousse nose had been quite a trial +to her artistic sensibilities on her return to the vicarage. It was +like having a masterpiece taken down from the walls and replaced by an +inferior engraving. She gave a sigh of satisfaction as she looked once +more at Rosalind's face. + +"Mewwy Chwistmas, Peggy! I've missed you fwightfully. I've not been to +church, but I dwove down to meet the others, and came to see you. I had +to see you on Chwistmas Day. I've had lovely pwesents, and there are +more to come. Mother has given you the bwacelet, I see. Is it what you +like?" + +"My dear, I love it. I'm fearfully addicted to jewellery. I had to put +it on at once, and it looks quite elegant on top of the bandages! I'm +inexpressibly obliged. I've got heaps of things--books, scent, +glove-box, writing-case, a big box coming from India, and--don't tell +her--an apron from Mellicent! The most awful thing. I can't think +where she found it. Yellow cloth with dog-roses worked in filoselle! +Imagine me in a yellow apron with spotty roses around the brim!" + +"He! he! I can't! I weally can't. It's too widiculous!" protested +Rosalind. "She sent me a twine bag made of netted cotton. It's awfully +useful if you use twine, but I never do. Don't say I said so. Who got +the night-dwess bag with the two shades of blue that didn't match?" + +"Esther! You should have seen her face!" whispered Peggy roguishly, and +the girls went into peals of laughter, which brought Robert hurrying +across the room to join them. + +"Now then, Rosalind; when you have quite done, I should like to speak to +Peggy. The compliments of the season to you, Mariquita; I hope I see +you well." + +Peggy pursed up her lips, and looked him up and down with her dancing +hazel eyes. + +"Most noble sir, the heavens rain blessings on you--Oh, my goodness, +there's the postman!" she said all in one breath; and the partners +darted forward side by side towards the front door, where the old +postman was already standing, beaming all over his weatherbeaten face, +as he began turning out the letters and calling out the names on the +envelopes. + +"Asplin, Asplin, Saville, Asplin, Saville, Saville, Miss Peggy Saville, +Miss Mellercent Asplin, Miss Saville, Miss M. Saville, Miss Peggy +Saville." + +So the list ran on, with such a constant repetition of the same name +that Max exclaimed in disgust, "Who _is_ this Miss Peggy Saville that we +hear so much about? She's a greedy thing, whoever she may be;" and +Mellicent whined out, "I wish I had been at a boarding-school! I wish +my relatives lived abroad. There will be none left for me by the time +she has finished." Then Arthur thrust forward his mischievous face, and +put in a stern inquiry-- + +"Forbes! Where's that registered letter? That letter with the +hundred-pound note. Don't say you haven't got it, for I know better. +Hand it over now, without any more bother." + +The old postman gave a chuckle of amusement, for this was a standing +joke renewed every Christmas that Arthur had spent at the vicarage. + +"'Tasn't come ter-day, Muster Saville. Missed the post. 'Twill be +coming ter-morrer morning certain!" + +"Forbes!" croaked Arthur solemnly. "Reflect! You have a wife and +children. This is a serious business. It's ruin, Forbes, that's what +it is. R-u-i-n, my friend! Be advised by me, and give it up. The +hundred pounds is not worth it, and besides I need it badly. Don't +deprive a man of his inheritance!" + +"Bless yer rart, I'd bring it yer with pleasure rif I could! Nobody'd +bring it quicker ran I would!" cried Forbes, who like everyone else +adored the handsome young fellow who was always ready with a joke and a +kindly word. "It's comin' for the Noo Year, sir. You mark my words. +There's a deal of luck waitin' for yer in the Noo Year!" + +Arthur's laugh ended in a sigh, but he thanked the old man for his good +wishes, tipped him even more lavishly than usual, and followed his +companions to the drawing-room to examine their treasures. + +Parcels were put on one side to await more leisurely inspection, but +cards and letters were opened at once, and Rob seated himself by Peggy's +side as she placed the pile of envelopes on a table in the corner. + +"We are partners, you know," he reminded her, "so I think I am entitled +to a share in these. What a lot of cards! Who on earth are the +senders?" + +"My godfathers, and my godmothers, and all my relatives and friends. +The girls at school and some of the teachers. This fat one is from +`Buns'--Miss Baker, the one whose Sunday hat I squashed. She used to +say that I was sent to her as wholesome discipline, to prevent her being +too happy as a hard-worked teacher in a ladies' school, but she wept +bucketfuls when I came away. I liked Buns! This is from Marjorie +Riggs, my chum. She had a squint, but a most engaging disposition. +This is from Kate Strong: now if there is a girl in the world for whom I +cherish an aversion, it is Katie Strong! She is what I call a specious +pig, and why she wanted to send me a Christmas card I simply can't +imagine. We were on terms of undying hatred. This is from Miss Moss, +the pupil teacher. She had chilblains, poor dear, and spoke through her +dose. `You busn't do it, Peggy, you really busn't. It's bost adoying!' +Then I did it again, you know, and she sniggered and tried to look +cross. This is--I don't know who this is from! It's a man's writing. +It looks like a business letter--London postmark--and something printed +in white on the seal. What is it? `The Pic-Pic-Piccadilly'--Robert!" +Peggy's voice grew shrill with excitement. "_The Piccadilly Magazine_." + +"Wh-at!" Robert grabbed at the envelope, read the words himself, and +stared at her with sparkling eyes. "It is! It's the prize, Mariquita! +It must be. What else would they write about? Open it and see. Quick! +Shall I do it for you?" + +"Yes, yes!" cried Peggy breathlessly. She craned her head forward as +Rob tore open the envelope, and grasped his arm with both hands. +Together they read the typewritten words, together they gasped and +panted, and shrieked aloud in joy. "We've done it! We have! We've won +the prize! Thirty pounds! Bravo, Rob! Now you can buy your +microscope!"--"Good old Mariquita, it's all your doing. Don't speak to +us; we are literary people, far above ordinary commonplace creatures +like you. Thir-ty pounds! made by our own honest toil. What do you +think of that, I'd like to know?" + +Each member of the audience thought something different, and said it +amid a scene of wild excitement. The elders were pleased and proud, +though not above improving the occasion by warnings against secret work, +over-anxiety, midnight journeys, etcetera. Mellicent exclaimed, "How +jolly! Now you will be able to give presents for the New Year as well +as Christmas;" and Arthur said, "Dear Peggums! I always loved you; I +took the `will,' you know, without any grumbling, and now you can follow +up with the deed as quickly as you like!" Each one wanted to hold the +precious document in his own hands, to read it with his own eyes, and it +was handed round and round to be exclaimed over in accents of wonder and +admiration, while Rob beamed, and Peggy tossed her pigtail over her +shoulder, holding her little head at an angle of complacent +satisfaction. + +The moment of triumph was very sweet--all the sweeter because of the +sorrows of the last few weeks. The partners forgot all the hard work, +worry, and exhaustion, and remembered only the joy of success and hope +fulfilled. Robert said little in the way of thanks, preferring to wait +until he could tell Peggy of his gratitude without an audience to +criticise his words; but when his mother began to speak of leaving, it +was he who reminded Mrs Asplin of the promise that the invalid should +have her first walk on Christmas Day. + +"Let us go on ahead, and take her with us until the carriage overtakes +us. It will do her no harm. It's bright and dry--" + +"Oh, mater, yes! I told Peg I would take her out," chimed in Arthur, +starting from his seat by Rosalind's side, and looking quite distressed +because he had momentarily forgotten his promise. "Wrap her up well, +and we'll take care of her. The air will do her good." + +"I think it will, but you must not go far--not an inch beyond the +crossroads. Come, Peggy, and I'll dress you myself. I can't trust you +to put on enough wraps." Mrs Asplin whisked the girl out of the room, +and wrapped her up to such an extent that when she came downstairs again +she could only puff and gasp above her muffler, declare that she was +choking, and fan herself with her muff. Choking or not, the eyes of the +companions brightened as they looked at her, for the scarlet +tam-o'-shanter was set at a rakish angle on the dark little head, and +Peggy the invalid seemed to have made way for the Peggy of old, with +dimpling cheeks and the light of mischief in her eyes. + +The moment that Mrs Asplin stopped fumbling with her wraps, she was out +at the door, opening her mouth to drink in the fresh chill air, and +Robert was at her side before anyone had a chance of superseding him. + +"Umph! Isn't it good? I'm stifling for a blow. My lungs are sore for +want of exercise. I was longing, longing to get out. Robert, do you +realise it? We have won the prize! Can you believe it? It is almost +too good to be true. It's the best present of all. Now you can buy +your microscope, and get on with your work as you never could before!" + +"Yes, and it's all your doing, Mariquita. I could not have pulled it +off without your help. If I make anything out of my studies, it will be +your doing too. I'll put it down to you, and thank you for it all my +life." + +"H-m! I don't think I deserve so much praise, but I like it. It's very +soothing," said Peggy reflectively. "I'm very happy about it, and I +needed something to make me happy, for I felt as blue as indigo this +morning. We seem to have come to the end of so many things, and I hate +ends. There is this disappointment about Arthur, which spoils all the +old plans, and the break-up of our good times here together. I shall +miss Oswald. He was a dear old dandy, and his ties were quite an +excitement in life; but I simply can't imagine what the house will be +like without you, Rob!" + +"I shall be here for some weeks every year, and I'll run down for a day +or two whenever I can. It won't be good-bye." + +"I know--I know! but you will never be one of us again, living in the +house, joining in all our jokes. It will be quite a different thing. +And you will grow up so quickly at Oxford, and be a man before we know +where we are." + +"So will you--a woman at least. You are fifteen in January. At +seventeen, girls put their hair up and wear long dresses. You will look +older than I do, and give yourself as many airs as if you were fifty. I +know what girls of seventeen are like. I've met lots of them, and they +say, `That boy!' and toss their heads as if they were a dozen years +older than fellows of their own age. I expect you will be as bad as the +rest, but you needn't try to snub me. I won't stand it." + +"You won't have a chance, for I shan't be here. As soon as my education +is finished I am going out to India, to stay until father retires and we +come home to settle. So after to-day--" + +"After to-day--the deluge! Peggy, I didn't tell you before, but I'm off +to-morrow to stay in town until I go up to Oxford on the fourteenth. +The pater wants to have me with him, so I shan't see you again for some +months. Of course I am glad to be in town for most things, but--" + +"Yes, but!" repeated Peggy, and turned a wan little face upon him. "Oh, +Rob, it is changing quickly I never thought it would be so soon as this. +So it is good-bye. No wonder I felt so blue this morning. It is +good-bye for ever to the old life. We shall meet again, oh yes! but it +will be different. Some day when I'm old and grown-up I will see in a +newspaper the name of a distinguished naturalist and discoverer, and +say, `I used to know him once. He was not at all proud. He used to +pull my hair like any ordinary mortal.' + +"Some day I shall enter a ballroom, and see a little lady sitting by the +door waving her hands in the air, and using words a mile long, and shall +say to myself, `Do my eyes deceive me? Is it indeed the Peggy Pickle of +the Past?' and my host will say, `My good sir, that is the world-famous +authoress, Mariquita de Ponsonby Plantagenet Saville!' Stevenson, I +assure you, is not in it for flow of language, and she is so proud of +herself that she won't speak to anyone under a belted earl." + +"That sounds nice!" said Peggy approvingly. "I should like that; but it +wouldn't be a ball, you silly boy--it would be a conversazione, where +all the clever and celebrated people of London were gathered together, +`To have the honour of meeting Miss Saville.' There would be quite a +number of people whom we knew among the Lions. A very grand Lady +Somebody or other, the beauty of the season--Rosalind, of +course--all sparkling with diamonds, and leaning on the arm of a +distinguished-looking gentleman with orders on his breast. That's +Arthur. I'm determined that he shall have orders. It's the only thing +that could reconcile me to the loss of the Victoria Cross, and a +dress-coat is so uninteresting without trimmings! A fat lady would be +sitting in a corner prattling about half a dozen subjects all in one +moment--that's Mellicent; and a tall, lean lady in spectacles would be +imparting useful information to a dandy with an eyeglass stuck in one +eye--that's Esther and Oswald! Oh dear, I wonder--I wonder--I wonder! +It's like a story-book, Rob, and we are at the end of the first volume. +How much shall we have to do with each other in the second and third; +and what is going to happen next, and how, and when?" + +"We--we have to part, that's the next thing," said Rob sadly. "Here +comes the carriage, and Arthur is shouting for us to stop. It's +good-bye, for the present, Mariquita; there's no help for it!" + +"At the crossroads!" said Peggy slowly, her eye wandering to the +sign-board which marked the paths branching north, south, east, and +west. She stopped short and stood gazing into his face, her eyes big +and solemn, the wind blowing her hair into loose little curls beneath +her scarlet cap, her dramatic mind seizing eagerly on the significance +of the position. "At the crossroads, Rob, to go our different ways! +Good-bye, good-bye! I hate to say it. You--you won't forget me, and +like the horrid boys at college better than me, will you, Rob?" + +Robert gave a short, strangled little laugh. + +"I think--not! Cheer up, partner! We will meet again, and have a +better time together than we have had yet. The third volume is always +more exciting than the first. I say we shall, and you know when I make +up my mind to a thing, it has to be done!" + +"Ah, but how?" sighed Peggy faintly. "But how?" Vague prophecies of +the future were not much comfort to her in this moment of farewell. She +wanted something more definite; but Rob had no time to enter into +details, for even as she spoke the carriage drew up beside them, and, +while the occupants congratulated Peggy on having walked so far and so +well, he could only grip her hand, and take his place in silence beside +his sister. + +Lady Darcy bent forward to smile farewell; Rosalind waved her hand, and +then they were off again, driving swiftly homewards, while Peggy stood +watching, a solitary figure upon the roadside. + +Arthur and his companions hurried forward to join her, afraid lest she +should be tired, and overcome with grief by the parting with her friend +and partner. + +"Poor little Peg! She won't like it a bit," said Arthur. "She's +crying! I'm sure she is." + +"She is putting her handkerchief to her eyes," said Mellicent. + +"We will give her an arm apiece, and take her straight back," said Max +anxiously. "It's a shame to have left the poor little soul alone!" + +They stared with troubled eyes at the little figure which stood with its +back turned towards them, in an attitude of rigid stillness. There was +something pathetic about that stillness, with just the flutter of the +tell-tale handkerchief, to hint at the quivering face that was hidden +from view. The hearts of Peggy's companions were very tender over her +at that moment; but even as they planned words of comfort and cheer, she +wheeled round suddenly and walked back to meet them. + +It was an unusually mild morning for the season of the year, and the sun +was shining from a cloudless sky. Its rays fell full upon Peggy's face +as she advanced--upon reddened eyes, trembling lips, and two large tears +trickling down her cheeks. It was undeniable that she was crying, but +she carried her head well back upon her shoulders, rather courting than +avoiding observation, and as she drew nearer it became abundantly +evident that Peggy had retired in honour of Mariquita, and that +consolations had better be deferred to a more promising occasion. + +"A most lacerating wind!" she said coolly. "It draws the moisture to my +eyes. Quite too piercingly cold, I call it!" and even Mellicent had not +the courage to contradict. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +And here, dear readers, we leave Peggy Saville at a milestone of her +life. In what direction the crossroads led the little company of +friends, and what windings of the path brought them once more together, +remains still to be told. It was a strange journey, and in their +travelling they met many friends with whom all young people are +acquainted. The giant barred the way, and had to be overcome before the +palace could be reached; the Good Spirit intervened at the right moment +to prevent calamity, the prince and princess stepped forward and made +life beautiful; for life is the most wonderful fairy tale that was ever +written, and full of magic to those who have eyes to see. + +Farewell, then, to Peggy Pickle; but if it be the wish of those who have +followed her so far, we may meet again with Mariquita Saville, in the +glory of sweet and twenty, and learn from her the secret of the years. + +THE END. + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's About Peggy Saville, by Mrs. G. de Horne Vaizey + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ABOUT PEGGY SAVILLE *** + +***** This file should be named 23622.txt or 23622.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/3/6/2/23622/ + +Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England + +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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