A College Girl by Mrs. George de Horne Vaizey
CHAPTER NINE.
THE PERCIVALS.
It was really rather fun dressing for the visit to the Percivals onThursday; trying to make oneself look one's _very_ best, and imaginingtheir surprise at the transformation! Aunt Maria, too, seemed quite toenter into the spirit of the thing, inquired anxiously _which_ dress,and gave special instructions that it should be ironed afresh, so thatit might appear at its freshest and best.
"My woman" had evidently been instructed to take the young guest'swardrobe under her care, since new ribbons and frilling now appearedwith engaging frequency, giving quite an air to half-worn garments.Darsie in a blue muslin dress, with a white straw hat wreathed withdaisies, and her golden locks floating past her waist, made a charmingpicture of youth and happiness as she sat in the old barouche, and whenthe hall was reached Aunt Maria cast a keen glance around the grounds,transparently eager to discover the young people and share in the fun ofthe meeting.
Ralph was nowhere to be seen, that was _not_ to be wondered at under thecircumstances, but the two girls were on duty on the tennis-lawn infront of the house, ready to come forward and welcome their guestimmediately upon her arrival.
The blank gapes of bewilderment with which they witnessed the alightingof the radiant blue and gold apparition afforded keen delight both toaunt and niece. They were literally incapable of speech, and even afterAunt Maria had driven away, coughing in the most suspicious mannerbehind a raised hand, even then conversation was of the most jerky andspasmodic kind. It was amusing enough for a time, but for a wholeafternoon it would certainly pall, and Darsie _did_ want to enjoyherself when she had a chance. She decided that it was time to putmatters on a right footing, and looked smilingly to right and left, ather embarrassed, tongue-tied companions.
"I think," said Darsie politely, "that I owe you an explanation!"
She explained, and Noreen and Ida pealed with laughter, and danced upand down on the gravel path, and slid their hands through her arm,vowing undying friendship on the spot.
"How per-fectly killing! I do _love_ a girl who is up to pranks._What_ a prank! How you _must_ have felt when you saw us sitting there!And Lady Hayes--what _did_ she say? Was she per-fectly furious?"
"Aunt Maria behaved like an angel, a dignified angel! I never liked herso much. How did _you_ feel? Tell me just exactly your sentiments whenyou saw me walking into that room?"
"I certainly did feel upset, because we _had_ to ask you! Mother saidwe must, and we asked each other what on _earth_ should we do with youall day long. Ida did say that your eyes were pretty. She was the onlyone who stuck up for you at all! I thought you looked too appalling forwords."
"What did your brother say?" asked Darsie with natural femininecuriosity, whereupon Noreen answered with unabashed candour--
"He said you were `a rummy little frump,' and that he would take verygood care to have an engagement for to-day as many miles as possibleaway from home!"
"Did he, indeed!" The colour rose in Darsie's cheeks. "Well, I'm veryglad he did. I like girls best, and I thought _he_ looked conceited andproud. My best friend has a big brother, too, but he's not a bit likeyours. Rather shaggy, but _so_ clever and kind! He promised to writeto me while I was here, just because he knew I should be dull. It'sreally an honour, you know, for he is terrifically clever. Every onesays he will be Prime Minister one day. He's going to Cambridge. Yourbrother is, too, isn't he? I shouldn't think they would be at _all_ inthe same set!"
The Percival girls looked at each other and smiled.
"Poor old Ralph! Isn't she blighting? You don't know anything abouthim, you know. It's only because he called you a frump, but never mind,he has to be back to tea to look after some work for father, and thenhe'll see! If you are going to be friends with us, you mustn't begin bydisliking our brother. He may be conceited, but he is certainly not`shaggy,' and he is much nicer to his sisters than most big boys. Hethinks we are really nicer than other girls."
Darsie regarded them critically.
"Well, I think you are!" she conceded graciously. "Oh, how thankful Iam that there is some one _young_ in the neighbourhood. I was beginningto feel so painfully middle-aged. Let's sit down and talk. Tell meabout yourselves. Do you go to school? Which school? Do you go in forexams? What subjects do you like best?"
Noreen laughed, and shook her head.
"We have a governess. We are going for a year to a finishing school inParis, but mother doesn't approve of exams, for girls. She wants us tobe able to play, and sing, and draw, and speak German and French, andshe says that's enough. We don't bother about Latin or mathematics orany of those dull old things."
"They are not dull. They're glorious. I revel in them. But you'rerich, of course, and won't have to work. I shall have to earn moneymyself, so I want to pass all the exams. I can."
The Percivals stared in solemn surprise. The idea was so strange ittook some time to digest. All their friends were well off likethemselves; really, when they came to think of it, they had never met aprospective _working_ girl before! They regarded Darsie with acuriosity tinged with compassion.
"Do you mean it--really? Tell us about yourself? Where do you live?"
"In Birchester, Craven Street, Sandon terrace--the corner house inSandon Terrace."
"Craven Street. Really!" The girls were plainly shocked, but Idarallied bravely, and said in her most courteous air: "It must be so_interesting_ to live in a street! So much to see. And have you _very_interesting people living across the road?"
"No. Rather dull. Husbands and wives, and one old bachelor with aleg--lame leg, I mean. No one at all thrilling, but our friends--our_best_ friends--live in a terrace at right angles with ours. We havegreat times with them. I'll tell you about our latest craze."
Noreen and Ida sat breathlessly listening to the history of thetelegraph, till it was time to go into the house for lunch, when Darsiewas introduced to Mrs Percival, a very smartly dressed lady, who lookedastonishingly young to be the mother of a grown-up family. After lunchthe three girls attempted tennis, but gave it up in deference to thevisitor's lack of skill, visited stables and kennels and conservatory,and were again brought face to face with the different points of viewexisting between the town and the country dweller.
"Do all people who live in the country go and stare at their horses anddogs every day of their lives?" demanded Darsie with an air of patientresignation, as Noreen and Ida patted, and whistled, and rubbed thenoses of their four-footed friends, fed them with dainty morsels, andpointed out good points in technical terms which were as Greek in thelistener's ears. "Aunt Maria goes every single day; it's a part of theregular programme, like knitting in the afternoon and Patience at night.I get--_so_ bored!"
The shocked looks which the Percival sisters turned upon her seemedludicrously out of proportion with the circumstances.
"Don't you--don't you _love_ animals?"
"Certainly--in their place. But I _cannot_ see the interest in staringin through a stable door at the same horses standing munching in thesame stalls day after day. It's no use pretending that I can," declaredDarsie obstinately. "And the dogs make such a noise, and drag at yourclothes. I'm always thankful to get away. Let's go back to the gardenand look at the flowers. I could stare at flowers for ages. It seemstoo glorious to be true to be able to pick as many roses as you like.At home mother buys a sixpenny bunch on Saturday, and cuts the stalksevery day, and puts them into fresh water to make them last as long aspossible, and we have nasturtiums for the rest of the week. I love thefruit and vegetable garden, too. It's so amusing to see how thingsgrow! Especially,"--she laughed mischievously, showing a whole nest ofbaby dimples in one pink cheek, "I warn you frankly that this is ahint!--especially things you can _eat_!"
Noreen and Ida chuckled sympathetically.
"Come along! There is still a bed of late strawberries. We'll takecamp-stools from the summer-house, and you shall sit and feast until youare tired, and we'll
"And I," said Darsie with a sigh, "have never in my life had enough! Itwill be quite an epoch to go on eating until I _want_ to stop. That'sthe worst of a large family, the dainties divide into such tiny shares!"
Ten minutes later the three girls had taken up their position in thekitchen garden in a spot which to the town-bred girl seemed ideal forcomfort and beauty. The strawberry-bed ran along the base of an oldbrick wall on which the branches of peach-trees stretched out in theformal upward curves of great candelabra. An old apple-tree curvedobligingly over the gravel path to form a protection from the sun, andit was the prettiest thing in the world to glance up through thebranches with their clusters of tiny green apples, and see the patchesof blue sky ahead. Darsie sat stretching out her hand to pluck one bigstrawberry after another, an expression of beatific contentment on herface.
"Yes--it's scrumptious to live in the country--in summer! If it werealways like this I'd want to stay for ever, but it must be dreadfullydull in winter, when everything is dead and still. I shouldn't like ita bit."
"No! No!" the Percival girls protested in chorus. "It's beautifulalways, and livelier than ever, for there's the hunting. Hunting isjust _the_ most delightful sport! We hunt once a week always, and oftentwice--the most exciting runs. We are sorry, absolutely sorry whenspring comes to stop us."
"Oh, do you hunt!" Darsie was quite quelled by the thought of suchsplendour. In town it was rare even to see a girl on horseback; a huntwas a thing which you read about, but never expected to behold with yourown eyes. The knowledge that her new friends actually participated inthis lordly sport raised them to a pinnacle of importance. She munchedstrawberries in thoughtful silence for several moments before recoveringenough spirit to enter another plea in favour of town.
"Well, anyway--if you _don't_ hunt, it must be dull. _And_ lonely!Aren't you scared to death walking along dark lanes without a singlelamppost? I should live in terror of tramps and burglars, and neverdare to stir out of the house after three o'clock."
"No you wouldn't, if you were accustomed to it. Our maids come homequite happily at ten o'clock at night, but if they go to a city they arenervous in the brightly lit streets. That's curious, but it's true. Weused to leave doors and windows open all day long, and hardly trouble tolock up at night, until a few months ago when we had a scare which madeus more careful. Till then we trusted every one, and every one trustedus."
"A scare!" Darsie pricked her ears, scenting an excitement. "Whatscare? Do tell me! I love gruesome stories. What was it? Thieves?"
Noreen nodded solemnly.
"Yes! It's gruesome enough. Simply horrid for us, for so many otherpeople lost their--but I'll tell you from the beginning. It was thenight of the Hunt Ball at Rakeham, and the house was crammed withvisitors. We were allowed to sit up to see them all start. They lookedso lovely--the men in their pink coats, and the ladies in their verybest dresses and jewels. Well, it was about half-past seven; the ladieshad gone upstairs to dress about half an hour before, when suddenlythere was a great noise and clamour, and some one shouted `Fire!' andpealed an alarm on the gong. No one knew where it was, but you neverheard such a hubbub and excitement. Doors opened all down thecorridors, and the ladies rushed out in dressing-gowns and dressing-jackets, with hair half done, or streaming down their backs, shriekingand questioning, and clinging to one another, and rushing downstairs.The men were more sensible; they took it quite calmly, and just set towork to put the fire out. It was in a little room on the second floor,and the strange thing was that it hadn't been used for months, and noone could account for there being a fire there at all. After a littletime one of the men came out into the corridor, and said: `There'ssomething wrong about this--this is not the result of accident! I don'tlike the look of it at all.' Then he turned to the ladies, who were allhuddled together, gasping and questioning, with their maids and theother servants in the background, and said: `Ladies! I advise you to goback to your rooms as quickly as possible. There is not the slightestdanger, but it might be just as well to look after your jewellery!'
"You should have heard them shriek! They turned and rushed likerabbits, and the maids rushed after them, shrieking too, but that wasnothing to the noise two minutes after, when they got back to theirrooms and found their jewels gone! They were laid out ready to be puton, on the dressing-tables, and the alarm had been cleverly timed togive the ladies enough time to get half dressed, but not enough to haveput on their jewellery. Only one out of all the party had put on hernecklace. She _was_ pleased!
"Well, they shrieked, and shrieked, and some of the men left the fireand came upstairs to the rescue. Captain Beverley was the smartest, andhe just tore along the corridor to a dressing-room over the billiard-room, and there was a man letting himself drop out of the window, andscrambling over the billiard-room roof to the ground! Captain Beverleygave the alarm, and the servants rushed out to give chase. It was verydark, and they could not tell how many men there were, for they keptdodging in and out among the trees. Some people said there were onlytwo, and some said they saw four, but only one was caught that night--anidle, loafing young fellow who had been staying at the village inn for afew weeks, pretending to be a city clerk convalescing after an illness.The worst of it was that he had only a few of the smaller things in hispockets, none of the really big, valuable pieces."
"Goodness!" Darsie's eyes sparkled with animation. "That _was_ anexcitement. I wish I'd been here. Go on! What happened after that?"
"Oh, my dear, the most awful evening! The visitors had all broughttheir very _best_ things, as the Hunt Ball is a great occasion, and theyalmost all cried, and one poor lady went into hysterics. Her father hadbeen an ambassador and had all sorts of wonderful orders and thingswhich she had had made into brooches and pendants, and they could neverbe replaced, no matter how much money she spent. Dinner was the mostweepy meal you can imagine, and only one or two of the sensible oneswent on to the ball. The others stayed at home and moped, and motherhad to stay, too. Poor dear! she had to keep calm, and comfort everyone else, when she'd lost all her own pet things. There was one stringof pearls which has been in our family for generations, and each newowner adds a few more pearls, so that it gets longer and longer, andmore and more valuable. It would have belonged to Ralph's wife someday. He was so funny about it, so disappointed! He kept saying: `Poorlittle girl! it _is_ rough luck!' We said: `Why pity her, when youhaven't the least idea who she is?' He said: `Why not, when I know verywell that I _shall_ know some day!'"
Darsie smiled with politely concealed impatience. She was not in theleast interested in Ralph's problematical wife, but she was devouredwith anxiety to hear further particulars of the exciting burglary.
"Well, well! Go on! You said they only caught one man that night.That means, I suppose--"
"Yes!" Noreen sighed tragically. "That was the saddest part of it.The next morning they found another man lying just outside the walledgarden. He had scrambled up, holding on to the fruit-trees, and hadthen jumped down and broken his leg, and he was not a stranger, but oneof our very own men--an under-gardener whom we had all liked so much.Father believed that he had been bribed and led away by the man fromLondon, and offered to let him off if he would tell all he knew, howmany thieves there had been, and give the names and descriptions of theones who had escaped, but he wouldn't. Nothing would make him speak.We all tried in turns, and then the Vicar came and was shut up with himfor an age, but it was no use. They say `there's honour among thieves,'and it's true. He wouldn't give the others away, so the two were sentto prison together, and they are there still. Father says they won'tmind a few months' imprisonment, for when they come out they will gettheir share of the money and be quite rich. They'll probably sail offfor America or Australia and buy land, and live in luxury ever after.It _is_ a sha
"Yes! it's a comfort to have nothing to lose. Mother has one diamondring, which she always wears above the wedding one, and there's nothingelse worth stealing in the house, except watches and silver spoons, sothat Aunt Maria need fear no qualms on account of her present visitor.No one will set her house on fire on account of my jewels--a few glassbeads and a gold safety-pin, all told! You see them before you now!"Darsie tossed her head and pointed towards her treasures with an air ofsuch radiant satisfaction that Noreen and Ida dropped the effort to bepolite, and pealed with delighted laughter.
"You _are_ a funny girl! You do amuse us. It's so nice to have a newfriend. The girls near here are so deadly dull. You seem so full ofspirit."
"Too full. It runs away with me. I act first and think afterwards._Not_ a good principle for a working life," pronounced Miss Darsiesententiously as she searched among the green leaves for a strawberrysufficiently large and red to suit her fastidious taste. The Percivalswatched her with fascinated gaze. An hour before they would haveprofessed the most profound pity for a girl who lived in a street, ownedneither horse nor dog, and looked forward to earning her own living, butit was with something more closely resembling envy that they nowregarded Darsie Garnett, weighted as she was with all these drawbacks.There was about her an air of breeziness, of adventure, which shook themout of their self-complacence. It no longer seemed the all-importantthing in life to belong to a county family, attend the hunt, and lookforward to a presentation at Court; they felt suddenly countrified anddull, restricted in aim and interest.
It was while Darsie was still conversing in airy, discursive fashion,and her companions listening with fascinated attention, that footstepswere heard approaching, and Ralph's tall figure appeared at the end ofthe path. He was evidently taking a short cut through the grounds, andas Darsie was out of his line of vision, being planted well back amongthe strawberry plants, he saw only his two sisters, and advanced to meetthem with cheerful unconcern.
"Hulloa! Here's luck! Hasn't she come?"
"Oh, yes! But it is luck all the same. Look for yourself!" criedNoreen gleefully, pointing with outstretched hand to where Darsie sat, apale blue figure among a nest of greenery, her little, flushed, laughingface tilted upward on the long white throat, her scattered locks ashinein the sun. With the air of a queen she extended finger-tips crimsonwith the strawberry juice towards the newcomer, and with the air of acourtier Ralph Percival stooped to take them in his own.
For a moment they stared full into each other's eyes, while thebewilderment on the young man's face slowly gave place to recognition.
"Glad to see you again, Princess Goldenlocks! Let me congratulate youon the breaking of the spell. Who was the kind fairy who set you freeto appear among us in your rightful guise?"
He spoke like a book; he looked tall and handsome enough to be a princehimself. Darsie forgave him on the instant for his former lack ofrespect, and bent upon him her most dimpling smile.
"I freed myself. I wove my own spell, and when I was tired of it Ibroke loose."
Ralph looked down at her with a slow, quizzical smile.
"You had better be careful! Spells are awkward things to move about.They might alight, you know, on some other shoulders, and not be soeasily shaken off!"
His eyes, his voice, added point to the words. It was the first, thevery first compliment which Darsie had ever received from masculinelips, and compared with the blunt criticisms of Dan Vernon, she found itwonderfully stimulating.
"Come along, girls!" cried Ralph with a sudden return to a natural,boyish manner. "There's a whole hour yet before tea, and we can't sithere doing nothing. Let's go down to the river and punt. Do you punt,Miss Garnett? I'll teach you! You look the sort of girl to be good atsport. You'll pick it up in no time."
The three girls rose obediently and followed Ralph's lead riverwards,while Noreen and Ida, gesticulating and grimacing in the background,gave the visitor to understand that a great honour had been bestowedupon her, and that she might consider herself fortunate in being therecipient of an unusual mark of attention.