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diff --git a/21230.txt b/21230.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d5dc685 --- /dev/null +++ b/21230.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5021 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Susan, by Amy Walton + +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: Susan + A Story for Children + +Author: Amy Walton + +Illustrator: Unknown + +Release Date: April 27, 2007 [EBook #21230] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SUSAN *** + + + + +Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England + + + + +Susan, by Amy Walton +_______________________________________________________________________ + +This charming little book was expressly written for younger children, +aged about 11 or 12. There's plenty in the book for children of that +age to enjoy, but older children might be a bit impatient. + +Susan and her family live in London, but she has a brother of ten years +old who has a nasty chronic illness, and is bed-ridden. His family are +advised to take him for the rest of the winter to a warmer climate, so +his mother takes him to Algiers. During this interlude Susan is to go +to stay with a great-aunt who lives at Ramsgate, a small town by the sea +in the eastern part of Kent, the county of England to the south-east of +London. + +There are several other girls staying with the aunt, two of them a bit +older than Susan, grown-up, almost, while Sophia Jane is Susan's age. +Sophia Jane appears to have what we would now call behavioural problems, +but during the course of the book we learn to see her in a better light, +and it is Susan who can be not altogether excellent. + +Both little girls learn a lot about life from each other. + +Intertwined with the story are the affairs of a charming French brother +and sister. We won't give away more of the story than that. Enjoy the +book. NH +_______________________________________________________________________ + +SUSAN + +BY AMY WALTON + + + +CHAPTER ONE. + +"MY AUNT ENTICKNAPP." + +"So there ain't no idea, then, of takin' Miss Susan?" + +"No, indeed! My mistress will have enough on her hands as it is, what +with the journey, and poor Master Freddie such a care an' all, an' so +helpless. I don't deny I've a sinkin' myself when I think of it; but if +it's to do the poor child good, I'm not the one to stand in his way." + +"Where's she to stay, then, while you're all away?" + +"With an aunt of Missis' at Ramsgate. An old lady by what I hear." + +"Por little thing!" + +Susan heard all this; for, though she was snugly curled up in her little +bed at the other end of the room, she was not asleep. Now and then she +opened her eyes drowsily and peeped from the bed-clothes, which nearly +covered her round face, at Nurse and Maria bending over their work by +the fire. There was only one candle on the table, and they poked their +heads so near the flame as they talked that she wondered the caps did +not catch light, particularly Maria's, which was very high and fussy in +front. Susan began to count the narrow escapes she had, but before she +had got far she became so interested in the conversation that she gave +it up. + +Not that they said anything at all new to her, for it had been settled +long ago, and her mother often talked about it. Susan knew it all as +well as possible. How the doctor had said that Freddie, her elder +brother, who was always ill and weakly, must now be taken out of England +to a warm climate for the winter months. She had heard her mother say +what a long journey it would be, how much it would cost, how difficult +it was to leave London; and yet it was the only chance for Freddie, and +so it must be done. She knew that very soon they were to start, and +Nurse was to go too; but she herself was to be left behind, with an old +lady she had never seen, all the time they were gone. + +But, although she knew all this she had not felt that it was a thing to +dread, or that she was much to be pitied; she had even looked forward to +it with a sort of pleased wonder about all the new things she should see +and do, for this old lady lived by the sea-side, and Susan had never +been there. She had seen it in pictures and read of it in story-books, +and her mother had told her of many pleasures she would find which were +not to be had anywhere else. When she thought of it, therefore, it was +of some unknown but very agreeable place where she would dig in the sand +and perhaps bathe in the sea, and pick up beautiful shells for Freddie +and herself. + +To-night, however, for the first time, as she listened to Nurse and +Maria mumbling over their work in the half-light, she began to think of +it differently, and even to be a little alarmed; so that when Maria +said, "Por little thing!" with such a broad accent of pity, Susan felt +sorry too. She _was_ a poor little thing, no doubt, to be left behind; +and then there was another matter she had not thought of much--the old +lady. "My Aunt Enticknapp," her mother always called her; a difficult +and ugly name to begin with, and very hard to pronounce. Would she be +pleasant? or would she be cross and full of corners like her name? +Whatever she was, she was a perfect stranger, and Susan felt sure she +should not want to stay with her all the winter. It was certainly a +hard case, and the more she considered it the less she liked it. She +wondered if Nurse and Maria would say anything more, but soon the little +clock on the mantelpiece struck ten, they put away their work and went +down to supper. Then Susan fixed her round brown eyes on the glowing +fire. "Por little thing!" someone seemed to go on saying over and over +again, each time more slowly. At last it got very slow indeed: "Por-- +little--" and while she waited for it to say "thing," she fell asleep. + +But she remembered it all directly she woke the next morning, and made +up her mind that she must find out more about Aunt Enticknapp than she +had yet done. Amongst other things she must know her Christian name. +It would not be very easy, because just now everyone in the house, and +her mother above all, seemed to have so much to think of that they had +no time to answer questions properly. Susan had never been encouraged +to ask questions, and it would be more than usually difficult at +present, for there was a mysterious bustle going on all over the house, +and nothing was just as usual. She constantly found strange boxes and +packages in different rooms, with her mother and nurse in anxious +consultation over them, and she was allowed to go where she liked and do +as she liked, provided only that she did not get in the way or give +trouble; above all, she knew she must not ask many questions, or say +"why" often, for that worried people more than anything. The governess, +who came every day to teach Susan and Freddie, had given them her last +lesson yesterday, and said "good-bye;" she was not coming again, she +told them, for the whole winter. In this state of things the only +person in the house who seemed always good-tempered and ready to talk +was Maria, the nursery-maid--perhaps she had not so much on her mind. +It was not, however, at all satisfactory to make inquiries of Maria, +for, with the best will in the world, and an eager desire to please, she +was rather stupid, and could seldom give any answer worth having. + +So Susan had little hope of learning much about Aunt Enticknapp, and yet +the more she thought of it the more she felt she must try to do so--even +if she had to ask her mother, which she was afraid to do, for Mother was +always so occupied and anxious about Freddie that Susan's wants and +wonders had to give way, or be kept to herself, and this she thought +quite natural because Freddie was ill. + +After breakfast she took a doll, a small work-box, and a tattered book, +and settled herself quietly in her favourite corner; this was in +Freddie's room, between the back of his couch and the wall, and, though +rather dark, very snug and private, and not too retired for her to see +all that went on. From here she could watch her mother as she came in +and out, and judge when it would be best to speak to her. Not yet +evidently. Mother's face looked full of worry and business this +morning, and if she sat down for one minute a maid-servant would be sure +to appear with, "If you please, ma'am," and then she would have to go +away again. Susan sighed as she pushed her sticky needle in and out the +doll's frock she was making. Her mind was full of Aunt Enticknapp; if +she was Mother's aunt she must, of course, be very very old. Very old +ladies always looked cross, and were nearly always deaf. Ought she to +call her "aunt" when she spoke to her? What was her other name? +Perhaps Freddie could tell her that, at any rate! She stood up and +looked at him over the back of the sofa--there he was, reading as usual, +with a frown on his white forehead, and all his thick black hair pushed +up by his impatient hand. Freddie was ten, two years older than Susan; +he had never been able to run about and play like other boys, and her +earliest recollection of him was that he was always lying on his back, +and always reading. The books he liked best were those that had plenty +of fighting and hunting and hardships in them. He was reading now a +tale of the Coral Islands, and she knew quite well that he would not +like to be disturbed. He was not always good-tempered, but Mother had +told Susan that she ought to be patient with him because he was so often +in pain. She stood there with her doll under her arm staring +thoughtfully at him, and at last he turned a page. + +"Freddie!" she said very quickly, so that he might not have time to get +interested again. "What do you think I ought to call her?" + +Freddie turned his great black eyes upon her with a puzzled and rather +vexed look in them; it was a long way from the Coral Islands to Susan. +But she stood expecting an answer, and he said at last with an impatient +glance at the doll: + +"Call her! Oh, call her what you like!" + +Susan saw his mistake at once. + +"Oh, I don't mean the doll!" she said in a great hurry. "I mean Aunt-- +Aunt--Emptycap." + +Freddie's attention was caught at last. He put the book down on his +knees. + +"Aunt _who_?" he said with real interest in his voice. + +Susan knew he was going to laugh at her, and this she never liked. + +"You know who I mean," she said, "it's not _quite_ the name, but it +sounds like that. I want to know if I ought to call her `Aunt.'" + +Freddie's eyes twinkled, though his face was quite grave: + +"I should just take care of one thing if I were you," he said; "and that +is, not to say her name wrong." + +"Why?" asked Susan. + +"Because nothing makes old ladies so angry as that. Why, if you were to +walk in and say, `How do you do, Aunt Emptycap?' it might make her cross +all the time you stay." + +"Might it really?" said Susan. She felt a little doubtful whether +Freddie was to be trusted, and yet he spoke as if he knew. It was +something, however, to have made him talk about it at all. + +"She's got another name, I suppose," she continued; "something easier to +say. I shall call her that, and then she couldn't be angry." + +"Oh, yes, she could," said Freddie quickly; "she would think that rude, +because she's Mother's aunt, you know, our _great_ aunt." + +"Do you suppose she's very old?" asked Susan, putting the next question +that had filled her mind. + +"Very," said Freddie; "and as for crossness!" He lifted up his eyes and +hands without finishing the sentence. + +Susan felt discouraged, though she had a feeling that Freddie was +"making up." Still, what he said was so like what she thought of the +matter herself that it had a great effect upon her. + +"If you like," continued Freddie graciously, "I'll tell you just what I +think she'll be like." + +Susan nodded, though she inwardly dreaded the description. + +"You know," began Freddie, opening his large eyes very wide, "that +picture of old Mother Holle in Grimm?" + +Susan knew it very well, for it always made her uncomfortable to look at +it, and she thought of it sometimes at night. + +"Aunt Enticknapp is something like that," he went on, speaking with +relish in a low tone, "only uglier. With a hookier nose, and bigger +eyebrows, and a hump on her back. She talks in a croaky sort of voice +like a frog, and she takes snuff, and carries a black stick with a +silver top." + +Susan stared at her brother without speaking, and clutched her doll more +tightly to her chest; but though this terrible picture really alarmed +her, she had a proud spirit, and was not going to let him know it. + +"You don't suppose I believe that," she said scornfully; "that's only +like a fairy old woman." + +"You just wait," said Freddie solemnly, "till you get down there and see +her." + +Just then Maria came into the room with her bonnet on. Miss Susan was +to go out with her, she said, and do some shopping for Nurse, and she +must come and be dressed at once. Susan collected her property and +marched out of the room, holding her head very high to show Freddie that +she did not care for what he had said; but, as soon as she was alone +with Maria, she thought of it with a very heavy mind. + +Late in the afternoon of that same day she was sitting in the +drawing-room window seat threading beads, when Mother's great friend +came to pay a visit. Susan knew her very well. She was a lady who +lived near, and often went out with Mother when she had to choose a new +bonnet or do shopping. Her name was Mrs Millet; but Mother always +called her "dear" or "Emily." Susan did not like her much; so she +remained quietly in her corner, and hoped she would not be called out to +say "How do you do?" It was a snug corner almost hidden by the window +curtain, and Mother had perhaps forgotten she was in the room at all. +At any rate no notice was taken of her, and she went on happily with her +work, but presently something in the conversation caught her attention. + +"So you really go on Tuesday, dear?" said Mrs Millet with a sigh. + +"Yes," said Mrs Ingram; "it's a great undertaking." + +"It is, _indeed_," agreed Mrs Millet in a deeply sympathetic tone. +Then, catching a glimpse of herself in a glass opposite, she patted her +bonnet-strings, looked more cheerful, and added, "And how about Susan?" + +"She goes to Ramsgate on Monday to my Aunt Enticknapp." + +"Ah," said Mrs Millet. "Quite satisfactory, I suppose?" + +"Perfectly. I heard this morning. I feared she might not have room +because of those Bahia girls, you know." + +"Exactly," replied Mrs Millet. "Quite _desirable_, I suppose?" + +"Quite. Susan, you can go upstairs now. It's nearly tea-time. Clear +those things away, and shut the door softly." + +Deeply disappointed, for she felt she had been on the very edge of +hearing something about Aunt Enticknapp, Susan slowly put her beads into +the box, and advanced to say good-bye to the visitor. + +"_Good_-bye, darling," said Mrs Millet, kissing her caressingly. "Why, +you _are_ a lucky little girl to be going to the sea-side." + +Her manner was always affectionate, but her voice never sounded kind to +Susan, and these words did not make half the impression of Maria's "Por +little thing." + +That remark still lingered in Susan's mind, and as she climbed slowly +upstairs to the top of the house, she thought to herself that the only +chance now of speaking to Mother was when she came up to see her after +she was in bed. That was sometimes very late indeed, often when Susan +was fast asleep, and knew nothing about it. + +"But to-night," she said to herself, "I _will_ keep awake. I'll pinch +myself directly I feel the least bit sleepy;" for the mystery +surrounding Aunt Enticknapp's house had deepened. Susan had now to +wonder what sort of things Bahia girls were, and why she kept them at +Ramsgate. + +So, after Nurse and Maria had gone down-stairs she lay with her eyes +wide open, watching the glimmering light which the lamps outside cast on +the ceiling, and listening to the noise in the street below. Roll, +roll, rumble, rumble, it went on without a break, for the house was in +the midst of the great city of London. In the day-time she never +noticed this noise much, but at night when everything else was silent, +and everyone was going to sleep, it was strange to think that it still +went on and on like that. Did it never stop? Sometimes she had tried +to keep awake, so that she might find out, but she had never been able +to do it. She had always fallen asleep with that roll, roll, roll, +sounding in her ears. It must be getting very late now, surely Mother +must come soon! I'll count a hundred, said Susan to herself, and then I +shall hear her coming upstairs. But when she had done there was no +sound at all in the house; not even a door shutting. It was all quite +quiet. + +"Can I have _been_ asleep without knowing it?" she thought in alarm, and +then--"can Mother have forgotten to come?" This last thought was so +painful that she sat up in bed, stretched out her arms towards the door, +and said out loud: + +"Oh, _do_ come, Mother." There was no answer, and no sound except the +cinders falling in the grate, and the rumble of the wheels below. Susan +gave a little sob; she felt deserted, disappointed, and ill-used. If +_only_ Mother would come! + +All sorts of fancies, too, began to make the dark corners of the room +dreadful, and chief amongst them loomed the form of Aunt Enticknapp just +as Freddie had pictured her that day. In another minute Susan felt she +should scream out with fear; but she must not do it, because it would +frighten Freddie, and make Mother so angry. What was that sudden gleam +on the wall? The fire or the lamps? Neither, because it jigged about +too much; it was the light of a candle, coming nearer and nearer, and +there was a step on the stairs at last. Almost directly someone gave +the half-open door a little push and came quickly into the room; it was +Mother in her pink dressing-gown which Susan always thought so +beautiful, and her fair hair all plaited up in one long tail for the +night. She came up to the bed, shading the flame of the candle with one +hand: + +"What, awake?" she said, "and crying! Oh, naughty Susan! What's the +matter?" + +Susan gulped down her tears. It was all right now that mother had not +forgotten to come. + +"I thought you weren't coming," she said. + +"Well, but here I am, you see. And now you must be a good little girl, +and go to sleep directly. Kiss me and lie down." + +In another second Mother would be out of the room again Susan knew. She +put up her hand and took hold of the lace frilling round the neck of the +pink dressing-gown to keep her from going away. + +"I've got something to ask you," she whispered eagerly. + +"Well, what is it? Make haste, there's a good child, for I must go to +Freddie; he's very restless to-night." + +Susan's head felt in a whirl. What should she ask first? She must do +it directly, or Mother would be gone. It all seemed confusion, and at +last she could only stammer out: + +"What's her other name? Is she cross?" + +"Whose? Oh, you little goose, you mean Aunt Enticknapp, I suppose. Her +name is Hannah. She's a very nice kind old lady, and she'll spoil you +dreadfully, I don't doubt. Now Susan," in a graver tone, "remember +you've promised not to give trouble, and if you're going to cry it will +trouble me very much. You must think of poor Freddie and not be silly +and selfish, but go away cheerfully on Monday. Will you?" + +"Are you coming with me?" asked Susan, lifting her large eyes anxiously +to her mother's face. + +"All the way to Ramsgate! No, indeed, I shouldn't have time. You know +we start ourselves the next day. Maria's going with you." + +Susan's little chest heaved, and her fingers clung tightly to the lace +frilling; Mother gently unclasped them one by one. + +"Lie down and I will tuck you up nicely. There now, a kiss. +Good-night, darling." + +In another second the light of the candle, the pink dressing-gown, the +fair hair, had all vanished together, and Susan was alone again. After +all she had not been able to ask nearly all the questions she had +prepared, and she could not help crying softly to herself for a little +while before she went to sleep; for the noises in the street seemed to +be saying now over and over again: + +"All the way to Ramsgate, all the way to Ramsgate. Maria's going with +you." + +After this it was surprising how quickly the days went by and Monday +came. Susan had her own little preparations to make for leaving home, +and while Nurse was packing her clothes she brought her many odd-looking +parcels, and asked anxiously: + +"Can you get this in?" + +Some of them _were_ got in, but others had to be left behind--put away +in the nursery cupboard for the whole winter. It seemed to Susan just +the same thing as putting them away for ever. She chose, after careful +thought, among her family of dolls the one to be taken with her; not the +newest one, or the most smartly dressed, but one she had always been +fond of, because she secretly considered her rather like Mother, +especially when she plaited up her hair. It was a wax doll called +Grace, with very blue eyes and yellow curls. After Grace's wardrobe had +been looked through and packed up in a work-box, there was another very +important thing to be finished, and that was a parting present for +mother. As she was not to know of it, this had to be done in secret +corners, and hastily hidden whenever she came near, so it had taken a +good deal of time. It was a tiny pink silk pin-cushion in the shape of +a heart, which Maria had cut out and fixed for her, and when it was done +the letters "SI" were to be marked on it with pins, and it was to be put +on mother's dressing-table on Sunday-night. There was more than one +small speck of blood on it, where Susan had pricked her hot little +fingers in a too earnest effort to take very small stitches, which was a +pity; perhaps, however, as it was _pink_ silk they would not show much, +and mother would not notice. Monday came; every one in the house was in +a greater bustle than ever, and every minute there was a fresh question +to be asked about something--about the journey to-day, or the journey +to-morrow, and so many small details, that a wearied frown gathered on +Mr Ingram's forehead and remained there; added to these troubles +Freddie had one of his bad headaches, and would hardly let his mother +leave him for a moment. Susan had scarcely spoken to her that morning, +and now she stood in the nursery ready for her journey, clasping Grace +in one arm, and a warm little cloak in the other. It was almost time to +start, all her other farewells had been said, but she hesitated. + +"Now, Miss Susan, my lamb," said Nurse kissing her again, "you've just +time to run down and say good-bye to Missis and Master Freddie, and then +you must be off." + +She went down-stairs and softly into the room. It was darkened; Freddie +was lying on his couch with a wet bandage on his forehead, and there was +a strong smell of eau de Cologne. Mother stood near and changed the +bandage now and then for a fresh one; she looked round, and held up her +finger when she heard the door open. + +"Ah, it's you dear," she said in a low voice; "be very quiet. Is it +time for you to go? Is the cab there? Where's Maria?" + +Susan walked up to the sofa; she had promised not to cry, and her throat +felt so funny that she thought she had better not speak, so she did not +answer any of these questions. + +"Good-bye, darling," said Mrs Ingram, stooping to kiss her. "Give my +love to Aunt Hannah, and remember that Maria has a note for her; and be +good and obedient. You may write to me once every week, and I shall +write to you when I can." + +Susan clung silently to her mother's neck. If only she might have +cried! Freddie pushed up the handkerchief, and looked at her with his +dark heavy eyes. + +"Good-bye, Susie," he murmured; "don't let old Emptycap bully you." + +"And now," said her mother, "you must really go. Is Maria there? Kiss +Freddie." + +She led Susan to the door where Maria waited; in the hall the cabman was +just shouldering the luggage. + +"You know what I have told you, Maria. Take care of Miss Susan, and I +shall expect you home early to-morrow." + +Susan looked back when she reached the foot of the stair, and Mother +smiled and nodded, waving her hand; then there was an impatient cry of +"Mother!" from Freddie's room, and she vanished. + +When Susan was in the cab with only Maria and Grace to see, she cried, +and refused all comfort for some time; not only because she was going +away to strangers, but also because up to the last minute she had so +much hoped that Mother would say something about the pink pin-cushion. +On rattled the cab past all the shops that Susan knew so well, and +through the streets where she had often walked with Mother or Nurse. +The journey to Ramsgate was to be made by sea, and they were to be +driven to Saint Katharine's Docks to take the steamer which started from +there at ten o'clock. Susan had heard her mother's directions to Maria, +and knew exactly what they had to do; she felt indeed that she should +remember them better, for she was accustomed to hear Nurse say that +Maria had "no head." She had not therefore much respect for her, and +thought it likely that she would make mistakes and forget things; but +though this was the case, there was a great deal to be liked in Maria. +For one thing she was always good-natured, and such a very good +listener; really interested in all Susan's information and startled at +any wonderful story, for she was a country girl, and had not yet ceased +to be surprised at London life. Presently, therefore, as they got +further on, Susan felt bound to point out and explain any objects or +buildings of interest they passed. She dried her eyes, looked out of +the window, and drew her companion's attention by sudden digs of her +elbow, which at last became so frequent that Maria's head was constantly +on the move from one side to the other for fear she should miss +anything. Soon with a more violent nudge than usual Susan shouted in +her ear: + +"Look, Maria! there's the Tower of London!" + +"Mercy on us!" exclaimed Maria, gazing open-mouthed; "what a big place!" + +"It's where they used to cut off people's heads, you know," continued +Susan excitedly; "and kept them in dungeons years and years. And where +they smothered the little princes with a pillow, and buried them under +the stairs." + +"Lawk!" said Maria. + +"And the queen keeps her crown there now in a glass case." + +"Well, I wouldn't do that," said Maria; "not if _I_ was queen. +Whatever's the good of having a crown?" + +What with the rattling of the cab, the noise in the street, and Susan's +own uncertainty on the subject, it was difficult to make Maria +understand this; so any further explanation was put off, and they both +looked silently out of the windows till they reached Saint Katharine's +Docks. + +Here there was a good deal of bustle and confusion, and also a little +delay; for Maria, who had held the cabman's exact fare tightly grasped +in one hand all the way, dropped it in getting out of the cab. A brisk +young porter, however, came to their assistance: he picked up the money, +shouldered the luggage, and showed Maria where to take the tickets; then +he led them down some slippery steps and on board the steamboat, which +lay alongside the wharf ready to start. It was all new and confusing to +Susan, and it was not till she was settled on deck, wrapped in a warm +shawl with Grace in her arms, that she looked round her at what was +going on. There was so much to see that she could hardly open her eyes +wide enough to take it all in. First there was the captain standing on +his bridge with his rough blue pea-coat buttoned up to his chin, and a +gold band round his cap; his face was quite round, and quite red, except +in places where it was a sort of blue colour. His voice was very +hoarse, and Susan could not make out a word he said, though he shouted +out very loud now and then. Then there were the passengers, hurrying +across the narrow gangway, with all sorts of bags, and parcels, and +bundles of wraps, jostling each other in their eagerness to secure good +places, and over their heads meanwhile dark smoke came rushing out of +the tall black funnel, and there was a constant hissing noise. Then +Susan noticed a silent man standing behind a great wheel at one end of +the boat, and in front of this was written, "Please do not speak to the +man at the wheel." She thought this very strange--it was almost as +though the man at the wheel were in disgrace. As she was gazing at him +and thinking how dull he must be, shut out from all conversation, she +saw him turn the wheel backwards and forwards by some handles on which +his hands were resting: at the same moment the captain gave a gruff +roar, a great rope was hauled on board, and the steamer, which till now +had been curtseying gently up and down on the water, began to move +smoothly on her way. + +Maria, who up to this time had not ceased to inquire if this was the +right boat for Ramsgate, settled herself at Susan's side when the start +was really made. The sun shone so brightly that it was warm and +pleasant on deck, and they found plenty to admire and point out to each +other as they went along. A journey by the steamboat was much nicer, +they agreed, than by the train. This agreeable state of things lasted +while they were on the river, but presently the steamer began to roll a +little, and to be tossed about by the waves of the open sea. Then Maria +became more and more silent, until quite suddenly, to Susan's alarm, she +rose, said hastily, "You stop here, Miss Susan," and dived down into the +cabin near which they were sitting. What could be the matter? Susan +looked helplessly round; she did not like to follow her, and yet it was +not at all pleasant to be left here alone amongst all these strangers; +she felt frightened and deserted. Next to her sat a tall thin man +reading a book. He was tightly buttoned up to the chin in a threadbare +great-coat greenish with age, and wore leather straps under his boots. +She had noticed this when he came on board, and thought he looked +different somehow from everyone else; now she lifted her eyes, and made +a side-way examination of his face. He was clean shaven except for a +short-pointed beard, and his greyish hair was very closely-cropped. His +eyes she could not see, for they were bent on the pages before him, but +presently raising them his glance fell on her, and he smiled +reassuringly. Susan had never been used to smile at strangers; so, +though she did not remove her gaze, it continued to be a very serious +one, and also rather distressed. + +"The Bonne has mal de mer?" he asked, after they had looked at each +other for a minute in silence. Susan did not answer, and, indeed, did +not know what he meant. This was a Frenchman, she thought to herself, +and that was why he looked different to the other people. + +"She is vot you call sea-seek," he repeated--"that is a bad thing--but +she will be soon better." It was a comfort to hear this, though Susan +could not imagine how he knew what was the matter with Maria. + +"It arrives often," he remarked again, "to those who travel on the sea-- +myself, I have also suffered from it." + +He looked so very kind as he said this, that Susan was encouraged to +smile at him, and little by little to say a few words. After that they +quickly became friends, and he proved a very amusing companion; for, +putting down his book, he devoted himself to her entirely, and told her +many wonderful facts about the sea, and ships, and the sea-gulls flying +overhead. She listened to these with great attention, bent on storing +them up to tell Maria afterwards, and then became confidential in her +turn. She told him about her home in London, and Freddie's illness, and +the long journey he was going to begin to-morrow, and Monsieur appeared +to take the very deepest interest in it all. By degrees Susan almost +forgot poor Maria in the pleasure of this new and agreeable +acquaintance. + +It was now between one and two o'clock, and Monsieur produced from under +the seat a long narrow black bag, and unlocked it In it Susan could not +help seeing there were a roll of manuscript, one or two books, a pair of +slippers, and a flat white paper parcel. This last being opened, +disclosed a hard round biscuit with seeds in it. + +"Voyons!" he said gaily, "let us dine, ma petite demoiselle." + +Now Susan was hungry, for it was past dinnertime, and she had +breakfasted early. She knew that Maria had brought sandwiches and buns +with her, but in her hasty retreat she had taken the bag, and had +evidently forgotten all about it. She looked hesitatingly at the +biscuit which her companion had broken in halves, and was now holding on +the paper in front of her. It was the French gentleman's only biscuit-- +ought she to take it? + +He guessed what was passing in her mind, and smiled kindly at her, +nodding his head. + +"If you will eat with me I shall have better appetite," he said. "It is +perhaps a little dry--but after all, if one is hungry!--" + +He shrugged his shoulders without finishing the sentence, and Susan took +the half-biscuit, finding when she began it that she was even hungrier +than she thought. She was still hungry when it was all gone, and she +felt sure the French gentleman could easily have eaten more. She would +have liked to offer him some of her sandwiches or a bun, but there was +still no sign of Maria. + +So hour after hour went by, until, late in the afternoon, her companion +told her they were getting near Ramsgate. + +"In one quarter of an hour we shall be at the pier. The journey will +then be over. The passage has been fine and tranquil." + +But poor Maria had not found it so, for it was not until the steamer was +stopping that she appeared on deck looking very white, and staggering +about helplessly. It was fortunate, therefore, that Susan's new friend +was there, and that she herself could point out the luggage, for Maria +had now quite lost her head, and was of no use at all. + +The French gentleman, however, was most active and kind in their +service, and did not leave them till they were safely in a cab with +their property. Even then Maria had forgotten the address, and it was +Susan who said: + +"It is Belmont Cottage, Chatham Road." + +"Ah!" exclaimed Susan's friend; "it is the house of Madame Enticknapp! +We shall then perhaps meet again, ma petite amie." + +He put his feet quite close together and executed a graceful bow as the +cab drove away, with his hat pressed against his chest. + +"What an old figure of fun!" was Maria's remark. + +"I like him," said Susan. "He was very kind, and gave me half his +dinner." + +Maria said no more, for she was still in a very depressed state from the +effects of the journey, and her head was "all of a swim," as she +expressed it. So Susan was left to her own thoughts; and as the cab +rattled along the road in front of the sea, she wondered anxiously which +of those tall houses with balconies was Mrs Enticknapp's. But +presently they turned up a side street, lost sight of the sea +altogether, and drove through a town, where the shops were being lighted +up, and came at last to a quiet road. The houses were not tall here +like those facing the sea, and were not built in terraces, but stood +each alone with its own name on its gate, and its own little garden in +front, bordered with tamarisk bushes. Susan felt sure that one of those +would be called Belmont Cottage, and she was right, for the cab stopped +at last, and she really had arrived at Aunt Enticknapp's house! It was +just like the others, except that it had an extra room built on at the +side; the roof was low, and the windows had small diamond-shaped panes +in them. Susan noticed, as they walked up the strip of garden to the +door, that the borders were edged with cockle shells and whelk shells, +which she thought very pretty but rather wasteful. She was, however, +now beginning to feel extremely tired, and hungry with the sea-air, and +the two together produced a dizziness which made it difficult to think +of anything else. She could not even feel frightened at the idea of +seeing Mrs Enticknapp and the Bahia girls, and they hardly seemed like +real people when she was actually in the room with them. She knew that +there was a tall old lady with black curls and a cap, who spoke to her +and kissed her, and two "grown-up" girls who came and knelt down in +front of her and unpinned her shawl, chattering all the time. She also +heard one of them say to the other: "Pretty?" and the answer, "No. She +only looks so after Sophia Jane." + +Later on, after some supper, she became sleepier still and more giddy +and confused, so that she hardly knew that Maria was undressing her and +putting her to bed. When there, however, she roused herself +sufficiently to say: + +"Maria, I can hear noises in the street here just like there are at +home." + +Maria's answer was the last sound she heard that night: "Bless yer 'art, +Miss Susan, that ain't noises in the street. That's that botherin' sea +goin' on like that. Worse luck!" + + + +CHAPTER TWO. + +"SOPHIA JANE." + +Poor Maria was to go back to London the next morning, and she came into +Susan's room early to say good-bye, prepared for her journey in a very +tearful state. It was not merely that she looked forward with anything +but pleasure to another sea-voyage, but she had an affectionate nature, +and, was fond of Susan, who on her side was sorry to think that she +should not see Maria again. There were many parting messages to be +conveyed to Mother, and Nurse, and Freddie. But at last it was really +time to go, and Maria tore herself away with difficulty, hurriedly +pressing into Susan's hand a new sixpence with a hole in it. She was +gone now, and had taken the last bit of home with her--Susan was for the +first time in her life alone with strangers. As she dressed herself she +looked forward with alarm to meeting them all at breakfast, for she +could not even remember what they were like last night; they seemed all +mixed up together like things in a dream. + +At last she gathered courage to leave the room, made her way very slowly +down-stairs, and opening the first door she came to on the ground floor +peeped timidly in. There was no one there, but the table was laid for +breakfast, and she went in and stood before the fire. It was a long +room, very low, with faded furniture, and a French window opening into a +small garden, where there were gooseberry bushes. At the end opposite +the fireplace there were two steps leading up to a door, and Susan +wondered what was on the other side of it. On the mantelpiece, and in a +corner cupboard and on a side-table, there were quantities of blue china +mugs and plates and dishes, which she thought were queer things to have +for ornaments; there were also some funny little figures carved in ivory +and wood--dear little stumpy elephants amongst them, which she liked +very much. The only picture in the room she presently noticed, hung +over the fireplace in an oval frame. It was a portrait of a gentleman +with powdered hair and a pig-tail; his eyes were as blue as the cups and +dishes; he was clean shaven, and wore a blue coat and a very large white +shirt frill. As Susan was looking up at him the door at the end of the +room opened, and a maid-servant came stepping down with a dish in her +hand. Susan could now see that the door led straight into a kitchen, +which she thought odd but rather interesting. Almost immediately Aunt +Hannah, the two girls she had seen the night before, and a little girl +of about her own age came in, and they all sat down to breakfast. In +spite of great shyness, Susan was able to take many furtive glances at +her companions, and was relieved to find that at any rate Aunt Hannah +was not a bit like what Freddie had said. She was a tall, straight old +lady with a high cap, black curls, and a velvet band across her +forehead. She did not look either witch-like or cross, and Susan felt +that she should not be afraid of her when she knew her better. She soon +found that the names of the two "grown-up" girls, as she called them in +her mind, were Nanna and Margaretta; Nanna was fair and freckled, and +Margaretta very swarthy, with a quantity of black curls. They chattered +and laughed incessantly, and tried to pet Susan and make her talk, but +did not succeed very well. She thought she did not like either of them +much, and wished they would leave her alone, for she was interested in +watching the movements of the little girl and wondering who she was. +She was a very thin little thing with high shoulders and skinny arms, +dressed in a dingy-green plaid frock. Everything about her looked +sharp--her chin was sharp, her elbows were sharp; the glances she cast +at Susan over her bread and milk were sharp, and when she spoke her +voice sounded sharp also. Her features were not ugly, but her +expression was unchildlike and old. No one seemed to notice her much, +but if Nanna or Margaretta said anything to her, it was not in the +coaxing tones they used to Susan, but had a reproving sound. + +After breakfast came prayers, in which Buskin the maid-servant joined, +sitting a little apart at the end of the room with a severe look on her +face. Then Aunt Hannah sat down in the arm-chair near the fire. "And +now, my little Susan," she said, "come here and talk to me." + +Susan stood submissively at her side, and answered all the questions put +to her about Mother and Freddie and herself; but she did not do much of +the talking, for she was shy, and everything seemed forlorn and strange +to her. What a comfort Maria's well-known face would have been! As it +was, the only familiar object was her doll Grace, which she had brought +down-stairs, and now held tightly clutched under one arm. + +"And here," said Mrs Enticknapp, when she had finished her inquiries; +"here, you see is a nice little companion for you of your own age. She +will learn lessons with you, and play with you, and I hope you will soon +be good friends. Sophia Jane, come here." + +Sophia Jane came and stood on the other side of Aunt Hannah, rolled her +arms tightly up in her pinafore, and stared without winking at Susan and +her doll. + +"To-day," continued Mrs Enticknapp, "you shall not do any lessons, and +while I am busy with Nanna and Margaretta you may amuse yourselves +quietly. After dinner you shall all go out for a walk. If you crumple +up your pinafore in that way, Sophia Jane," she added, "you will have +another bad mark." + +Sophia Jane unrolled her arms, and smoothed the pinafore down in front +with her small bony hands; then she thrust out her pointed chin, and +asked eagerly: + +"May we go and play in the attic?" + +Aunt Hannah hesitated. "If it's not too cold for Susan, you may. If it +is, you must come and play at some quiet game in here. But understand +that you must make no noise while I am busy." + +"Come along," said Sophia Jane. She caught hold of Susan's hand and led +her quickly out of the room and upstairs, casting rapid glances at her +over her shoulder as they went. "Fond of dolls?" she inquired as they +were climbing the second flight of stairs. + +"I'm fond of _this_ one," answered Susan, clasping Grace a little +closer. + +"I had one once," said Sophia Jane with a superior air; "but I haven't +got her now." + +"Where is she?" asked Susan. + +"I killed her," said Sophia Jane in a cold voice. + +"Oh!" said Susan stopping still a moment; "what did you do that for?" + +"I hated her," replied Sophia Jane shortly; "she had such starin' eyes." + +Susan gazed at the small murderess with awe. "How did you do it?" she +asked at length in a lowered tone. + +"Drove a nail right through her skull," answered Sophia Jane, with a +spiteful gleam in her blue eyes. "Here's the attic!" + +They had reached the top storey after a last short flight of stairs +without any carpet. Here there were only two rooms, one for Buskin, the +maid-servant, and the other unfurnished. Sophia Jane flung open the +door of this last with an air of triumph. "We can do just as we like +here," she said; "and down-stairs we couldn't talk above a whisper while +they're doing lessons." + +Susan entered wondering. Everything seemed very odd at Aunt Hannah's; +but somehow its strangeness made it rather interesting, it was such a +contrast to home. There she had always played in well-furnished rooms +with plenty of toys, and good fires in winter. The attic had no carpet +and no fire, and the only things in it were one broken old chair, a +poker, some rolls of dusty wall-paper, and some large black boxes. Its +single attraction was its lone-ness; there was no one here who could say +"don't," and no need for lowered voices and quietness. This Susan soon +found to be a very delightful thing, for her life at home had been +carried on as it were on tip-toe, for fear of disturbing Freddie, and +she had always been taught that little girls should be never heard, and +very seldom seen. + +"If you like dolls," continued Sophia Jane in an off-hand manner, +"perhaps Nanna would lend you Black Dinah. She's more good-natured than +Margaretta." + +"I don't want to ask her, thank you," said Susan. "Why does she have a +doll? she's too old to play with it, isn't she?" + +"Oh, gracious me, yes, of course," said Sophia Jane with a shrug. +"They're both quite grown-up. Nanna's seventeen, and Margaretta's +eighteen. They only keep it as a cur'osity; all made of rags and +covered with black silk, and dressed like a native. The nuns made it in +the convent at Bahia." + +"What is Bahia?" asked Susan. + +"It's a place in America where they come from. They came over in a +ship." + +"What for?" + +"Why, to learn English, of course, you silly thing!--and French too--and +all sorts of things. There's a French master comes once a week to teach +them. And they learn lessons with Aunt too. They're doing them now." + +So this was the meaning of Bahia girls! Susan thought it over a little +and then asked: + +"Did you come over in the ship too?" + +Sophia Jane paused in the midst of a fantastic dance she was performing, +with the poker brandished in one hand. + +"Of course not," she said scornfully. "I'm English." + +"Who are you, then?" asked Susan. She felt that the question sounded +rude, but it was a thing that she must know. + +"I'm an orphan," said Sophia Jane cheerfully, and she took an agile leap +on to one of the old bores. + +Susan gazed at her. She was not at all her idea of an orphan. In +pictures they always wore black and looked sad, and at home there was a +crossing-sweeper who said he was an orphan, and seemed to think it a +hard thing, and that he was much to be pitied. Then another thought +struck her: "If Aunt Hannah's your aunt as well as mine, I suppose we're +cousins--ain't we?" she asked. + +"She isn't," said Sophia Jane, swinging her arms round and preparing to +jump off the box. "We all call her Aunt. She likes it better. See if +you can jump as far as I can." + +In these and other amusements the morning passed quickly away in a very +different manner to anything Susan had known before. It was certainly +better than playing alone, though the attic was bare and Sophia Jane's +speech and behaviour were sometimes strange and startling. Susan almost +forgot her home-sickness for a while, and found a companion of her own +age far more interesting than imaginary conversations with dolls. After +they were both tired of jumping, in which exercise Sophia Jane's spare +form was by far the most successful, the headless body of the murdered +doll was dragged out from behind a box and examined. + +"She _used_ to be a pretty doll," said its owner, looking enviously at +Grace. + +"It's a pity you killed her," said Susan, "because we could play at so +many more things if we had a doll each." + +"Well, she's dead," said Sophia Jane recklessly. "Where's her head?" +asked Susan; "perhaps we might mend it." + +"Broken all up into tiny little bits," said the other. + +Susan looked silently at the limp pink leather body stretched out on the +floor, then she exclaimed suddenly: + +"I tell you what!" + +"What?" said Sophia Jane. + +"We'll get a new head for her at the shop. I know you can do it, +because Maria once bought one for one of mine." + +"That's all very well," said Sophia Jane sharply; "but I haven't got +enough money. I've only got twopence-halfpenny left." + +"Oh, that wouldn't do, of course," said Susan. "You couldn't get one +large enough for the body under eighteenpence. When will you have some +more?" + +"Not till Saturday week, because I've lost all the next in bad marks." + +"What do you have bad marks for?" asked Susan. + +"Lots of things: rumpling my pinafores, leaving the door open, standing +on one side of my foot, making faces, not knowing my lessons--a farthing +every time." + +Susan's eyes opened wide. + +"Why don't you leave off doing them?" she asked. + +"Oh, I don't care to," said Sophia Jane; pressing her lips tightly +together. "I like to vex 'em sometimes. I'd rather do it than have the +money." + +Susan's round face grew more and more serious. She did not know what to +make of Sophia Jane, who seemed a very naughty little girl and certainly +did not deserve to be helped. She had thought of offering to give her +something towards the doll's head, but now she did not quite know whet +to do. + +"Well," she said patronisingly, "if you want to buy the new head you'll +have to be good, you know; and then you'll save your money." + +"Fiddle-di-dee!" was Sophia Jane's rude reply, tauntingly. This might +have led to a quarrel, for Susan, much shocked, was just preparing a +reproachful speech, but fortunately the voice of Nanna was heard calling +them down to dinner. During this both the little girls were silent and +subdued, and were seldom spoken to, except that Sophia Jane was +repeatedly corrected. It was wonderful how often she was told not to +fidget, not to eat so fast, not to shrug her shoulders, not to make +faces. As surely as anyone looked in her direction there was something +wrong. It did not seem to make much impression on her, although her +thin little face looked very sullen; and once when Nanna called Susan +"darling" a dark frown gathered on her brow. + +"Unless you can look more pleasant and aimiable, Sophia Jane," said Aunt +Hannah, observing this, "you will be left at home this afternoon." + +All this strengthened Susan's opinion that Sophia Jane was a very +naughty little girl. If it were not so they would not surely speak to +her so sharply and reprove her so often. She hoped, nevertheless, that +this last threat would not be carried out, for however naughty she might +be she was a companion with whom conversation was possible, and a walk +alone with Nanna and Margaretta would be dull. She was relieved, +therefore, at three o'clock to find that Sophia Jane was ready to go +too, dressed in a very unbecoming poke bonnet and black cape. They +might be out one hour and a half, Aunt Hannah said, but there was a +little delay at starting because each of the elder girls wished to go in +a different direction. Nanna preferred the town, and Margaretta to walk +on the parade, and it was some minutes before it was settled that they +should go one way and return the other, dividing the time equally. + +"Which way do you like best?" inquired Susan as she and Sophia Jane +followed closely behind their companions. + +"Neither of 'em," answered she. "I like to go on the beach and pick up +things, but they won't ever do that except in summer when they bathe." + +Neither of the little girls cared much about the walk in the town; for +though some of the shops looked interesting, these were not the ones +near which Nanna and Margaretta lingered. They only stopped and looked +in at the windows of bonnet shops or jewellers' shops, and these were +not attractive to Sophia Jane or Susan. But after a while they turned +down a street where there were no shops at all, and at the end of it +they came on to the parade and saw the sea. It was a wonderful sight to +Susan, for she had been too tired to notice it much the day she had +arrived, and now it burst upon her suddenly like something new. It was +so beautiful and there was so much of it that it made her quite gasp for +breath; the sun shining on it made a great glittering high-road +stretching away in the distance till it joined the sky and was lost +there; the waves came rolling, rolling, one after the other, up to the +shore, curled over, and dashed themselves down so hard that they were +broken up into hissing silver foam and tossed their spray high in the +air. Everything seemed to be silver and gold and diamonds at the +sea-side, it all sparkled, and twinkled, and shone so much. Susan's +eyes were dazzled and she put up her hand to shield them, for she was +used to the shadow and gloom of the London streets. + +"Oh," she cried, "how I should like to go down on the sands!" + +"Perhaps they'll let us go some day," said Sophia Jane. "It's best to +go on the rocks when the sea's out." + +"Out!" said Susan in astonishment. "Does it ever go quite away?" + +Sophia Jane was so amused at this innocent question that she was unable +to answer for some moments. She giggled so much and so loud that +Margaretta turned round and said angrily: + +"Vulgar child! Be quiet and walk properly." + +Susan did not like to be laughed at. She walked along in silence, with +hot cheeks, and determined that she would ask no more questions. + +Sophia Jane continued to chuckle softly to herself for a little while +and then said: + +"There's a low tide and a high tide, of course. When it's low it's ever +so far out, and when it's high it's ever so far in." + +"Oh yes, I know, I remember now; I've learned that," said Susan hastily, +for she did not wish Sophia Jane to think her quite ignorant. "It has +something to do with the moon." + +"The moon!" exclaimed Sophia Jane with utter disdain in her voice, +"you're muddling things up." + +"It has," repeated Susan positively, "it's in the geography book." + +"I don't believe it," said Sophia Jane. + +"I wonder," said Susan half to herself, with her eyes fixed on the sea, +"what prevents it from running right over all the land." + +Sophia Jane shrugged her shoulders. + +"That is a thing _no one_ understands," she said, "so it's no use to +bother about it." Then with a sudden sharp glance to the left, "There +goes Monsieur La Roche." + +Susan looked round and saw a tall thin figure just hurrying round a +corner, but she had time to recognise it before it disappeared; it was +the kind French gentleman. + +"He's the French master," continued Sophia Jane; "such a silly old +thing. We all laugh at him." + +"Why?" asked Susan. + +"Oh, we can't help it. He makes such funny bows and he smiles so, and +says his words wrong. You'll laugh at him too." + +Susan was silent. Somehow after this description she did not feel +inclined to tell Sophia Jane of her meeting with Monsieur La Roche on +the steamboat, and his kindness to her. + +"I should think he did not like to be laughed at," she said at last. + +"Oh, what does it matter," said Sophia Jane with much contempt, "he's +only a poor eggsile." + +"What does `eggsile' mean?" asked Susan. + +Sophia Jane hesitated; she did not know, but she would not confess +ignorance. + +"It means any person who isn't English," she said. + +For the rest of the walk Susan thought a good deal about the French +master. He had been kind to her when she needed a friend, and she had +felt grateful to him, and hoped she should see him again; she had +considered him a very pleasant gentleman. But now that Sophia Jane had +spoken so slightingly of him, and called him a "silly old thing," and +turned him into a sort of joke, she began to feel differently. She was +now rather sorry that she knew him, for she was afraid Sophia Jane would +laugh at her too, and she disliked that more than anything in the world. +It seemed easier now to join her in finding something ridiculous in the +"eggsile" as she called him, than to remember his kindness and +good-nature to herself and Maria. She hoped, therefore, that when he +came to Belmont Cottage to give his lesson that he would have forgotten +her, and would say nothing of the meeting on the steamboat. This first +day at Ramsgate had been full of so many strange sights and new people +that Susan had had no time to be home-sick, but when evening came she +suddenly felt a great longing to see some one she knew--Mother or Nurse +or Freddie, or even Maria. It seemed an immense while since she had +parted from them all; and when she remembered that it was really only +one day and one night, and how many days and nights must pass before she +saw them again, she could hardly bear it without crying. They were all +very kind to her here, but they were all strange. She did not care for +Nanna's and Margaretta's frequent kisses and endearing names, it was +impossible to be fond of them in a minute; as for Sophia Jane, though +she was amusing to play with, there was no comfort at all in her. It +was Aunt Hannah at length who saw her sitting dolefully in a corner, and +tried to give her consolation She called her to come and sit near her, +and talked so kindly that Susan forgot her troubles and became +interested. Aunt Hannah told her shout Algiers, the place where Freddie +was going, and how he would get there in a ship, and what he would see +and do; and then, pointing to the funny little figures and china things, +she said that they had been brought over the sea from countries a long +way off. + +When Susan ventured to ask who brought them, her aunt showed her the +portrait of the gentleman with the pig-tail hanging over the +mantle-piece. + +"It was your great-grandfather who brought them," she said, "Captain +John Enticknapp. He made many long voyages to China and Japan, and the +West Indies. Once he found out some islands where no one had ever been +before, and they are called after his name." + +Susan thought this very wonderful and she gazed up at her aunt with such +interest in her eyes that the old lady was pleased, and stroked her hair +kindly. + +"Some day, if you are a good child," she said, "and try to make yourself +happy here, I will tell you a story about Captain Enticknapp. A very +interesting one, and quite true." + +"May Sophia Jane hear it too?" asked Susan. + +Aunt Hannah's manner changed. + +"When Sophia Jane tries to please me, and correct her faults," she said, +"I shall be willing to give her pleasure, but not till then." + +Susan felt more and more certain that Sophia Jane was a very naughty +little girl. + + + +CHAPTER THREE. + +MONSIEUR LA ROCHE. + +And this feeling grew stronger as the days went on, for Susan found that +Sophia Jane was always in disgrace about something; she was so +constantly having bad marks and losing farthings, that there seemed no +chance at all that she would ever save enough money to buy a new head +for the doll. This was partly her own fault, and partly because the +whole household seemed to take for granted that she would behave badly +and never do right; indeed there were days when, after she had been +scolded and punished very often, a spirit of obstinacy entered her small +frame, and her whole being was bent upon ill-behaviour and mischief. + +Susan looked on in dismay, and counted up the farthings as one after the +other they were recklessly forfeited by some fresh piece of naughtiness. + +"You've lost two week's money," she whispered in Sophia Jane's ear, +hoping to check her; but its only result was to urge her to wilder acts, +and the next minute she was detected in making a grimace at Margaretta, +whom she specially disliked. Sophia Jane was certainly not a pleasant +child, and it was not surprising that no one loved her. + +"Look at Susan," they said to her constantly, "how well Susan behaves! +how upright Susan sits! how perfectly Susan says her lessons! how good +Susan is!"--but Sophia Jane took no heed, it did not improve her a bit, +but if possible made her worse to have this shining example held up for +her to copy. As to Susan, she now heard her own praises so often that +she began to think not only that Sophia Jane was very bad, but that she +herself must be uncommonly good. At home it had always been taken as a +matter of course that she would be quiet, obedient, and useful, and +learn her lessons properly; it had never been considered anything +remarkable. Here, however, she was continually called "clever," and +"good," and "dear little thing," when she did the most common things, so +that she soon began to hold her head higher and to look down upon Sophia +Jane with a very condescending air. + +Meanwhile there was one thing she dreaded, and that was Monsieur La +Roche's French lesson in which she was to join; she had now been a week +at Ramsgate, and the day was approaching. Whenever he was mentioned +Margaretta had always some giggling joke to make, and Sophia Jane echoed +them. They imitated the way in which he spoke English, and the way in +which he bowed when he came into the room, and the way in which he +smiled and rubbed his hands; everything he did appeared to be laughable, +and though Susan had not found it so on the steamboat, she now began to +think that they must be right. Even Maria, she remembered, had called +him "a figure of fun." How she hoped that he would not say anything +about that journey! Her cheeks grew quite hot when she thought of how +she had told him her name, and where she lived, and all sorts of +confidential things. They would all laugh at her--it would be dreadful. +Now, to laugh at Monsieur might be pleasant, but to be laughed at +herself was, Susan felt, a very different matter. + +So when the day came, and they were all sitting round the table with +their books ready for the class, she bent her head down as the French +master entered the room, in the faint hope that he would not notice her. +But that was of no use. Monsieur had hardly made his bow and taken his +seat before Aunt Hannah looked round from her arm-chair at the fireside. + +"You have a new pupil to-day, Monsieur. My little niece, Miss Susan +Ingram." + +His attention thus directed, Monsieur leaned forward, and a kindly smile +of recognition brightened his face as he saw Susan. + +"Ah! c'est vrai," he said; "it is my leetle friend, Mees Susanne. We +know ourselves already; is it not so?" + +The dreaded moment had come, and it was even more uncomfortable than she +had expected. Everyone was looking at her, and waiting for her to +answer, and she saw a mischievous glitter in Sophia Jane's eyes which +were fixed on her like two blue beads. + +Aunt Hannah said, "Indeed, how is that?" and Monsieur still leant +towards her, stroking his short beard and wrinkling up his face with a +pleased smile. But Susan said nothing. She hung down her head, her +cheeks crimsoned, and she looked as guilty and ashamed as though she had +done something wrong; a very different little girl to the one who had +chatted with Monsieur on board the steamboat and shared his biscuit. +She was shy, he thought, as the English miss very often was; and, though +he did not understand the complaint, he was far too good-natured to +lengthen her discomfort. "Nevare mind," he said kindly, "we shall talk +together later." Turning to Aunt Hannah he explained as well as he +could in English how he and Susan had met on the journey, his pupils +listening open-mouthed meanwhile and giggling at his broken attempts to +make his meaning clear. Then to Susan's relief the lesson began, and +she was no longer the object of everyone's attention; but she was +surprised to find how very little trouble they took to learn anything. +Instead of this they seemed to try which could remember least and +pronounce the words worst. When Nanna and Margaretta read aloud they +made the same mistakes a dozen times in one page, pitched their voices +in a high sing-song drawl, and stopped now and then to laugh in a +smothered manner at some hidden joke. A little worried frown gathered +on their patient master's brow as this went on, but he never lost his +temper or failed to make his corrections with courtesy. Susan at first, +from force of habit, bent her attention on the page of French dialogue +which she and Sophia Jane had to learn; but too soon the bad example +round her had its effect. She began to return Sophia Jane's nudges, to +listen to her whispers, to look out of the window opposite, and to make +no sort of effort to learn her lesson. True, when the time came to say +it, she was a little ashamed of not knowing a word correctly, and was +sorry when Monsieur returned the book with a sad shake of the head. But +this feeling did not last; none of the others cared to please him, so +why should she? He was only Monsieur La Roche, the French master, the +"poor eggsile," as Sophia Jane had called him. It did not matter. +Encouraged by her companions Susan soon became as rude, as careless, and +as troublesome as they were. If Monsieur had had any hope that she +would prove a better pupil than the rest he was sadly mistaken. "Soyez +sage, Mademoiselle," he said to her pleadingly, but it was of no use. +Susan had forgotten for the time how to behave wisely. And it was the +same on every occasion: the French lesson was always a scene of +impertinence and ill-behaviour. There were moments when Susan, seeing +Monsieur look unusually tired and worn, had twinges of conscience and +almost resolved to be good. But she had been naughty so long now that +it was too late to turn back; they would laugh at her, and it would be +quite impossible to be good all alone. Sophia Jane had only to rub her +hands like Monsieur, and say in broken English: "Ah! it is my leetle +friend, Miss Susanne," to make Susan ashamed and give up all idea of +changing her conduct. + +Now a complaint to Aunt Hannah would have altered all this at once; but, +unfortunately, Monsieur was far too good-natured to make one. Indeed, +as she always sat in the room during the French class, he may have +thought that she saw nothing wrong, and that these manners were usual in +England. The fact was, however, that Aunt Hannah knew very little +French, and concluded that as the girls were never troublesome at their +lessons with her it was the same thing with Monsieur. If she chanced to +hear the sound of a titter, it was at once checked when she glanced +round at the offender, and she would have been surprised, indeed, if she +had known of the sufferings the French master endured. + +When she inquired about the progress made, his reply was always the +same: "Assez bien," which she considered quite satisfactory. + +Time went on. Monsieur had given four lessons, Susan had written four +letters to Mother and had been four times to chapel with Aunt Hannah. +She had, therefore, now been four whole weeks at Ramsgate, and the days +seemed to go by quickly, instead of creeping along as they did at first. +And this was in a great measure owing to the companionship of Sophia +Jane, for, though Aunt Hannah was kind and Nanna and Margaretta +caressing, Susan's life would have been dull without someone to invent +games with her and play in the attic; and, although she thought herself +far superior to Sophia Jane, she knew this very well. When she wrote to +her mother she was able to say that she liked being at the sea-side very +much, but she always added: "We have not been on the sands yet." Now +this was a thing she longed to do, for Sophia Jane had told her of so +many delightful things to do and find there, that it seemed the most +desirable place on earth; besides, she wanted very much to begin a +collection of shells and sea-weed for Freddie. There was a card hanging +in her bed-room, on which pink and green sea-weeds were arranged in a +sort of bouquet, with some verses written underneath, each ending with +the line: "Call us not weeds, we are flowers of the sea." Susan thought +that very beautiful, and determined to try and make one just like it for +Mother. But the right day never seemed to come for the sands; it was +always too cold, or too windy, or Nanna and Margaretta wanted to go +somewhere else. Almost in despair, Susan made her usual request to Aunt +Hannah one morning: "May we go on the sands?" It was a Saturday, a +whole holiday, and the day was sunny and mild. + +"On the sands, my dear?" said her Aunt. "I am too busy to go, but I +daresay the girls will take you." + +But as usual, Nanna and Margaretta had widely different plans for +spending their Saturday, and neither of them wished to go on the sands. +Nanna had a hat to trim, and Margaretta was to visit some friends. Aunt +Hannah saw Susan's disappointment. + +"Well," she said, "we will manage it in this way. I will spare Buskin +to go with you and Sophia Jane as far as the little cove near the pier; +there she shall leave you to play for an hour and then fetch you again. +You must both promise me, however, not to stray further away, not to get +wet, not to lose sight of the pier, and to come back with Buskin +directly you see her. Can I trust you?" + +They both promised eagerly, much excited at the thought of such an +expedition, and above all at the idea of being left alone for a whole +hour. During the morning they watched the weather anxiously and made +many plans. + +"I shall take Grace," said Susan, "and my little basket. What shall +_you_ take?" + +Poor Sophia Jane had not many possessions to choose from. + +"I shall take my skipping-rope," she said. + +Thus provided, they set forth at three o'clock with the grave Buskin in +attendance. Susan jumped, and laughed, and chattered with pleasure, she +was so glad to think that she was going on the sands at last, and Sophia +Jane, though she never showed high spirits in the same manner, was in a +cheerful and agreeable mood. + +Soon they came to the little cove. The sea was as she had expressed it, +very far out indeed, and had left the great black rocks wet and shining, +all ready to be played on. Between them there were deep quiet pools, so +clear that you could see down to the very bottom, and watch all sorts of +cunning live things, which darted, or or lay motionless in them; +shrimps, tiny pale crabs, pink star-fishes, and strange horny shells +clinging so tightly to the rock that no small fingers could stir them. +Some of the rocks were bare, and others covered with masses of dark +sea-weed which made a popping noise when it was trodden on, like the +sound of little pistols. Here and there were spaces of sand, so white +and firm that it made you long to draw pictures on it, or at least to +write your name there. Could there, altogether, be a better playground +than this on a sunny day? Sophia Jane had been quite right; it was a +lovely place! + +It offered so many attractions, and was so new to Susan, that she did +not know where to begin first, but stood still uttering exclamations of +delight and wonder. Sophia Jane, however, had made the best of her time +already. As soon as Buskin disappeared, she at once removed her shoes +and stockings, and now stood bare-legged in the middle of a deepish pool +poking out crabs from under a ledge of rock. + +"You'd better begin to collect things," she called out to Susan, "or +you'll waste all your time." + +Susan felt that this was true, but the difficulty now was what to put +into the basket, and what to leave out; there were so many lovely things +she wanted to keep, and yet it would not hold them all She wandered from +rock to rock finding something fresh and curious every minute, and +calling out to Sophia Jane to ask what it was. Sometimes she knew, +sometimes she did not, but she always gave some sort of name to it which +satisfied her companion. So the time went by, and Susan's little basket +had been full and empty over and over again, but she had at last firmly +determined to keep the treasures that were now in it, and not to be +tempted to change them for anything new; she sat down on a comfortable +flat rock, and spread them all out beside her to examine them. At a +short distance was the witch-like form of Sophia Jane, bent nearly +double in her efforts to peer into the dwelling-place of some +sea-creature amongst the rocky crevices; she was very successful in +these sharp-eyed inquiries, a match even for the little scurrying crabs, +whose only chance of escape was to bury themselves hurriedly deep in the +wet sand. All at once she gave a short shriek of surprise and rapture +which was evidently wrung from her by some startling discovery. Susan +hastened to join her, tumbling over the slippery rocks, and leaving all +her possessions behind. It was indeed a very strange and a very +beautiful thing that Sophia had found sticking on to the ledge of a +rock. Something like a jelly, something like a flower, with crimson +petals which stirred faintly about as if moved by the wind. + +"Oh, _what_ is it?" said Susan in great excitement, "is it a sea-weed?" + +"Of _course_ not," answered Sophia Jane. "I've found 'em before, often. +It's a `Seen Enemy.'" + +"I've heard of a _flower_ with a name something like that," said Susan. + +"That's a `Wooden Enemy,'" replied Sophia Jane with scorn; "this isn't a +plant, it's an animal." + +"Is it alive, then?" asked Susan. + +"I should just think it is! It can eat like anything." + +"What does it eat?" + +"Little tiny crabs and shrimps. Now, I'm going to drop a pebble into +it, and you'll see it will think it's something to eat, and shut its +mouth. Look!" + +Susan thought it rather cruel to deceive the Enemy in this manner, but +she could not help watching curiously to see what it would do, as Sophia +Jane popped a little stone into the midst of its soft waving petals. It +happened just as she had said. The Enemy tucked them all in, and +suddenly became nothing but a mould of smooth red jelly. + +The two little girls bent over this new discovery for some time with the +keenest interest, but by and by there arose a dispute, for one wished to +tear it from its resting-place and carry it home, and the other to leave +it where it was. Sophia Jane declared that it was her Enemy because she +had found it, and she should do as she liked, and Susan begged her with +tears not to disturb it. When these were of no use she became angry, +and called Sophia cruel and naughty; but for that Sophia Jane did not +care one whit. She only repeated doggedly, "I shall take it home, and +keep it in a basin of salt water." + +"Then it will die," said Susan hotly, "and you're very cruel and +wicked." + +Sophia Jane did not answer. She was gazing fixedly over Susan's +shoulder at the spot where the basket and collection had been left. + +"Ha! ha!" she suddenly exclaimed triumphantly, pointing to it. + +Susan looked quickly round. Alas! while her back was turned the +deceitful sea had crawled quietly up and taken possession of her +treasures. The flat rock was covered by the waves, and the basket was +bobbing lightly up and down on the water. + +With a cry of vexation she scrambled over the rocks towards it; at least +she would try and save the basket, though the other things were lost; it +was one Mother had given her, and she was very fond of it. But no, she +could not reach it. Sometimes the waves brought it back almost to her +feet, but before she could seize it, it sailed merrily away further than +ever. After many vain efforts she stood looking hopelessly at it much +cast down and disappointed. Not only had she lost her collection, the +labours of nearly an hour, but now even if she made another she had +nothing to carry it home in. Sophia Jane, who had watched her failures +with chuckles of delight, now came and stood by her with her +skipping-rope in her hand. + +"I can get it," she said. + +Susan looked round in surprise; this was kind of Sophia Jane after she +had said so many cross things to her. + +"If I get it," she went on, tying a sort of noose at the end of the +rope, "will you give it me for my own?" + +Susan hesitated. She did not want to lose the basket, and yet it would +be almost the same thing to give it to Sophia Jane. Meanwhile it came +again nearly within reach of her outstretched fingers, just escaped +them, and was borne away by the waves. Sophia Jane stood waiting her +answer. + +"You may have it," said Susan, for she could not bear to see the basket +lost for ever. + +Then Sophia Jane watched her opportunity, cast the rope over it just at +the right instant, caught it in the noose, and drew it safely on to the +rock. + +"Now it's mine!" she cried exultingly, holding up her dripping prize, +"and I shall take the enemy home in it." + +What an unpleasant little girl Sophia Jane was! Susan felt at that +moment that she almost hated her; she was selfish, and mean, and cruel +and unkind, and deserved all the scoldings she had from everyone. She +could not bear to be near her just now; she would go as far from her as +she possibly could. Leaving her, therefore, crouched on the rock near +her prey, Susan turned her back upon her and started off by herself in +another direction, and in doing this she also turned her back upon the +pier. She was so injured in her mind, however, and so occupied with +hard thoughts about Sophia Jane, that she could not notice this or +anything else for some time. On she went, jumping from rock to rock +with Grace tucked under one arm, pausing now and then to look at some +strange and beautiful thing which lay in her path; how she wished for +her basket, that she might pick some of them up! But at least she could +take a few in her pocket, though it was inconveniently small. Soon it +was heavy with damp stones, sea-weed, and shells, then she lifted the +skirt of her frock in front and filled that, and all this while she was +going further from Sophia Jane, further from the pier, further from the +little cove, where they had promised to wait for Buskin. She never once +looked back, however, for there were always lovely things still further +in the distance that she must get. When she was close to these lovely +things they sometimes turned out to be quite common and not worth +picking up; but there was sure to be something more tempting just a +little way beyond. So she went on and on, and would have gone much +further but her progress was suddenly checked in a very disagreeable +manner; for, springing too heedlessly on to a slippery rock, and +overbalanced by her burden, she fell straightway into a large shallow +pool of water. It was such a sudden shock that all her treasures were +scattered far and wide, and poor Grace was thrown out of her arms to +some distance where she lay flat on her face. Confused and startled, +Susan's first thought was that she should be drowned, and she cried out +for help; but, having winked the water out of her eyes, she at once saw +that it was quite a shallow pool, scrambled quickly out and stood on the +rock. Then she looked down at herself with dismay; for, though there +was not enough water to drown her, it had wetted her from top to toe, +and she was a forlorn object indeed--her clothes hung to her dripping, +her straw-hat floated in the pool, and she had cut her chin in falling +against a sharp stone. The only thing to be done now was to get back to +Sophia Jane as fast as possible, and she also remembered for the first +time that Buskin must be waiting; so, shivering a good deal and feeling +very wretched, she fished out her hat, picked up Grace who was the only +dry piece of property she now possessed, and prepared to return. But +lo! when she looked round, the whole place seemed to have changed! +There was no Sophia Jane to be seen, no pier, nothing but high white +cliffs, and rocks, and sea. Sophia Jane must be hiding, and Susan felt +too miserable now to stand on her dignity, so she called her as loud as +she could, several times. + +No answer. No one to be seen. And where was the pier? How could that +have gone away? Confused, and still giddy with her tumble, Susan hardly +knew what she was doing, but her one idea was that she must find the +pier, and if it was not in this direction it must be in the other. So +she turned again, and went on _the wrong way_. Now, it was only hidden +from her by the projecting cliffs which formed the little bay into which +she had wandered, and at that very minute Buskin and Sophia Jane were +not really far away. But they could not see or hear her, and now she +was going further from them as quickly as she could. + +Not very quickly, because it was so difficult to get on, with her wet +clothes clinging so heavily; even her boots were full of water and made +queer gurgling noises at every step, and her hair hung limp and draggled +over her shoulders. Susan had never been so uncomfortable. The cut on +her chin hurt a good deal too, for the salt water got into it and made +it smart; when she drew her handkerchief out of her pocket, it was only +a little damp rag, and no use at all; everything was salt watery except +Grace, who was dry and clean, and had only suffered a dinge on her nose +by her fall. Susan envied her neat appearance; she was a dignified +little girl, and could not bear to look odd or ridiculous, so at first +she hoped she should meet no one before she got to Buskin and Sophia +Jane. The latter would certainly laugh at her; but, after all, the +accident had been her fault, for if she had not been so ill-behaved +about the Enemy and the basket, it would not have happened. + +Stumbling on, with these things in her mind, she expected every moment +to see the pier, but there were still only rocks and cliffs and sea. +The waves came rolling in, each one a tiny bit further than the last, +and one splashed suddenly so near her, that it covered her with spray. +She started back to avoid it; but "after all," she thought the next +minute, "it couldn't make me wetter than I am." On, on, on, and now +every step began to be more and more painful, for the sand was so wet +that she had to walk on the rough stony beach close to the foot of the +cliffs. Poor Susan! she felt very tired and desolate; her feet ached, +and her arms ached, and her head ached, she would have been thankful to +meet people now, even though they might laugh at her. Worst of all, the +thought suddenly darted into her mind that she had lost the way; she +stood still and looked vainly round for some familiar object, something +to guide her--there was nothing. As far as she could see, it was all +the same--tall white cliffs, yellow sand, and tossing waves. The only +living creature besides herself was a beautiful grey and white bird with +long wings which flew skimming about over the water, and sometimes +dipped down into it. As Susan watched it, she remembered where she had +seen birds of that kind before, and who had told her that they were +called sea-gulls; the steamboat, and Monsieur La Roche's kind voice came +back to her. How good he had been, and how badly she had repaid him +since; she had indeed been ungrateful and naughty to laugh at him. How +thankful she would be to see him now, and to hear him say, "My leetle +friend, Mees Susanne!" But there was no chance of that; Monsieur had +helped her once in trouble, but he could not come down from the skies to +her assistance, and there was no one in sight on land or sea. Suddenly +she felt too tired and aching and miserable to struggle on any further, +and sinking down on the hard beach like a little damp heap of clothes, +she hugged Grace up to her breast and hid her face against her. She sat +in this way for some minutes, hearing nothing but the breaking of the +waves on the shore and the rattle of the pebbles, when suddenly another +noise caught her ear--the regular tramp, tramp of a footstep crushing +down on the hard loose stones. She looked up; was it a dream? Not +three yards from her was the tall figure of the man she had been +thinking of--the French master! Yes, it really was he! There were his +threadbare greenish coat and his tightly-strapped trousers, there was +his kind face with its high cheek-bones and short-pointed beard. Had he +indeed come down from the skies? There seemed no other way, for Susan +did not know till afterwards that there were some steps cut zigzag down +the cliff just behind her. But wherever he had come from he was +undoubtedly there, real flesh and blood, and she was no longer alone +with the dreadful roaring sea. It was such a joyful relief that it gave +her new strength; she forgot her bedraggled and woebegone state, and +starting up began to try and explain how she had lost herself. Greatly +to her own surprise, however, something suddenly choked in her throat, +and she was obliged to burst into tears in the middle of her story. + +Monsieur looked at the little sobbing figure with much compassion in his +face and some dismay, then he touched her frock gently: + +"Ciel! how you are wet!" he exclaimed; "and cold too, without doubt, my +poor leetle friend." He fingered the top button of his coat doubtfully, +as though wishing to take it off and wrap her in it; but although it was +a great-coat there was no other underneath it, and he changed his mind +with a little shake of the head. + +"Come, then," he said, taking her small cold hand in his, "we will go +home together. You are now quite safe, and soon we shall be there. Do +not then cry any more." + +Susan did her best to stop her tears, and limped along the beach by his +side, clinging tightly on to his hand; but she was tired and worn out, +and her wet boots were so stiff and pressed so painfully upon her feet, +that at last she stumbled and nearly fell. Monsieur looked down at her +with concern. + +"Ah!" he said, "the road is rough, and the feet are very small. Voyons! +An idea comes to me! Instead of going to Madame your aunt, which is so +far, we will go to the house of my sister; it is scarcely ten minutes +from here. There I leave you, and go to assure Madame of your safety." + +If Susan had not been so worn out with fatigue she would have objected +strongly to this plan of Monsieur's, for his sister was a perfect +stranger to her, and she would much rather have gone home to Aunt +Hannah. But, feeling no strength or spirit left to resist anything, she +nodded her head silently and suffered him to lift her gently in his arms +and carry her up the steps cut in the cliff. How odd it all was! +Confused thoughts passed quickly through her mind as she clung fast to +the collar of the greenish coat. How kind Monsieur was! how many steps +there were, and how very steep! how heavy she was for him to carry, and +how he panted as he toiled slowly up! finally, how her dripping clothes +pressed against his neatly-brushed garments and made discoloured patches +on them. Would the steps never end? But at last, to her great relief, +they were at the top, and Monsieur was once more striding along on level +ground, uttering from time to time little sentences in broken English +for her encouragement and comfort. They were now in a part of Ramsgate +that she did not know at all, quite out of the town, and away from all +the tall terraces that faced the sea. The houses were mean and poor, +and the streets narrow; now and then came a dingy shop, and in almost +every window there was a card with "Apartments" on it. At one of these +Monsieur stopped and rang the bell. The door was opened at once, as if +someone had been waiting to do so, and a brown-faced, black-eyed lady +appeared, who talked very fast in French, and held up her hands at the +sight of Monsieur's damp burden. He answered in the same language, +calling the lady Delphine, who, chattering all the time, led them +down-stairs to a room where there was a good fire burning. Susan +wondered to herself why Monsieur and his sister sat in the kitchen, for +she saw pots and pans and dishes, all very bright and clean, at one end +of the room. The floor was covered with oil-cloth; but by the fire, on +which a saucepan hissed and bubbled gently, was spread a bright crimson +rug, which made a little spot of comfort. On it there stood a small +table neatly laid with preparations for a meal, and a pair of +large-sized carpet slippers, carefully tilted so that they might catch +the full warmth of the blaze. Sharing this place of honour a fluffy +grey cat sat gravely blinking, with its tail curled round its toes. +Opposite the table were a rocking-chair and a work-basket, and Susan +noticed that someone had been darning a large brown sock. + +While she looked at these things from the arm-chair where Monsieur had +placed her on his entrance, she also watched the eager face of Delphine +who had not ceased to exclaim, to ask questions, to clasp her hands, and +otherwise to express great interest and surprise. But it was all in +French, as were also Monsieur's patient replies and explanations. Susan +could not understand what they said, but she could make out a good deal +by Delphine's signs and gestures. It was easy to see that she wished to +persuade her brother not to go out again, for when he took up his hat +she tried to take it away, and pointed to the bubbling saucepan and warm +slippers. Monsieur, however, cast a gently regretful glance at them, +shook his head, and presently succeeded in freeing himself from her +eager grasp; then, when his steps had ceased to sound upon the stairs, +she shrugged her shoulders and said half aloud: + +"Certainly it is my brother Adolphe, who has the temper of an angel, and +the obstinacy of a pig!" + + + +CHAPTER FOUR. + +"HALF-A-CROWN." + +Mademoiselle now turned her attention to her guest with many +exclamations of pity and endearment. She took off Susan's wet frock, +boots, and stockings, rubbed her cold feet and hands, and placed her, +wrapped in a large shawl in the rocking-chair close to the fire. Next +she poured something out of the saucepan into a little white basin and +knelt beside her, saying coaxingly: + +"Take this, cherie, it will do you good." + +It was Monsieur's soup Susan knew, prepared for his supper, and the +saucepan was so small that there could not be much left; it was as bad +as taking half his biscuit, and after having been so ungrateful to him, +she felt she could not do it. + +"No, thank you," she said faintly, turning her head away from Delphine's +sharp black eyes and the steaming basin. + +But Mademoiselle was a person of authority, and would not have it +disputed. + +"Mais oui, mais oui," she said impatiently, taking some of the broth in +the spoon. "Take it at once, mon enfant, it will do you good." + +She looked so determined that Susan, much against her own will, +submissively took the spoon and drank the soup. It tasted poor and +thin, like hot water with something bitter in it; but she finished it +all, and Mademoiselle received the empty basin with a nod of +satisfaction. Then she busied herself in examining the condition of +Susan's wet clothes, and presently hung them all to dry at a careful +distance from the hearth. Susan herself, meanwhile, leaning lazily back +in the rocking-chair, began to feel warm and comfortable again; how +delicious it was after being so cold and wet and frightened! What would +she have done without Monsieur's help? His fire had warmed her, his +broth had fed her, his house had sheltered her, and now he had gone out +again into the cold night on her service. And yet, she had always been +rude and naughty to him. What would Delphine say, Susan wondered, if +she knew of it? She did not look as though she had the "temper of an +angel" like her brother. Her black eyes had quick sparkles in them, +quite unlike his, which were grey and quiet, shining always with a +gentle light. Mademoiselle Delphine looked quite capable of being +angry. Susan felt half afraid of her; and yet, it was pleasant to watch +her neat movements as she darted swiftly about the room preparing +another dish for Adolphe's supper, and Susan kept her eyes fixed on her. +At last, her arrangements over, she drew a chair near Susan, and took +up her darning; as she did so there was a sudden pattering of rain-drops +against the window-pane. + +"Ah!" she exclaimed, holding up the brown sock, "that poor Adolphe! How +he will be wet!" + +This made Susan feel still more guilty, but she could not think of +anything to say, and Delphine, who seemed to like talking better than +silence, soon began again. + +"Always rain, always clouds and mist, and shadow. The sun does not +shine here as in our beautiful, bright Paris?" + +"Doesn't it ever rain in Paris?" asked Susan. + +"Mais certainement, at moments," replied Mademoiselle; "enough to give a +charming freshness to the air." + +"Why did you come away?" asked Susan, gathering courage. + +Delphine dropped the brown sock into her lap, and raised her eyes to the +ceiling. + +"Mon enfant," she said slowly, "we are exiles! Exiles of poverty." + +Susan remembered that Sophia Jane had called Monsieur "a poor eggsile;" +but this way of putting it sounded much better, and she repeated it to +herself that she might be able to tell her when she went home. + +Meanwhile Mademoiselle bent her eyes on her darning again, and +proceeded: + +"We were never rich, you see, in Paris, but we had enough to live in a +pretty little appartement, very different from this. My brother Adolphe +wrote articles for a paper of celebrity on political affairs; he had a +great name for them, and if the pay was small it was certain. For me, I +was occupied with the cares of the menage, and we were both content with +our lives--often even gay. But trouble came. There was a crise in +affaires. Adolphe's opinions were no longer those of the many; the +paper for which he wrote changed its views to suit the world. Adolphe +was offered a magnificent sum to change also, and write against his +conscience. He lost his post; we became poorer every day. `Unless you +write, Adolphe,' I said to him, `we starve.' He has a noble heart, my +brother, full of honesty and truth. `I will rather starve,' he replied, +`than write lies.' So after a time we resolved to try our fortune here +in this cold, grey England. And we came. Adolphe was to become a +Professor of French, but it was long before he found work, and we +suffered. Mon Dieu! how we suffered during that first month!" + +She paused a moment when she reached this point, and nodded her head +several times without speaking, as though words failed her. Susan, who +had listened to it all with the most earnest attention, feared she would +not go on, and she wanted very much to know what happened next. + +"Was it because you had no money?" she asked softly at length. + +"My child," said Delphine, her bright eyes moist with tears, which she +winked quickly away, "it is a terrible thing to be hungry one's self, +but it is far worse to see anyone you love hungry and heart-broken, and +yet patient. That is a thing one does not forget. But at last, when we +almost despaired, the Bon Dieu sent us a friend. It is a little history +which may, perhaps, amuse you; it was like this:-- + +"One night Adolphe was returning to me to say, as usual, that he could +find no place; no one wanted a French master. He had scarcely eaten +that day, and for weeks we had neither of us tasted meat, for we lived +on what I could make by sewing, and it was very little. Adolphe +therefore felt low in spirits and body, for he had walked about all the +day, and his heart was heavy. As he passed a butcher's shop near here, +the wife, who stood in the doorway, greeted him. He had once bought of +her some scraps of meat, such as you English give to your cats and dogs, +but which, in hands that understand the French cuisine, can be made to +form a ragout of great delicacy. + +"`Good evening,' said she; `and how did the cat like his dinner?' + +"My brother removed his hat and bowed, (you may have observed his noble +air at such moments), then, drawing himself to his full height:-- + +"`Madame,' he replied, `_I_ am the cat!' + +"This answer, joined to the graceful manner of Adolphe, struck the good +Madame Jones deeply. They at once enter into conversation, and my +brother relates to her his vain attempts to find employment. She +listens with pity; she gives encouragement. Finally, before they part +she forces upon his acceptance two pounds of fillet steak. He returns +to me with the meat enveloped in a cabbage leaf, and that night we +satisfy our hunger with appetising food, and our hearts are full of +gratitude to Heaven and this good Madame Jones. And from that time," +finished Mademoiselle holding up one hand with the sock stretched upon +it, "things mend. Madame Jones recommends Adolphe to Madame, your aunt; +she again tells others of him, and he has now, enough to do. We are +hungry no longer. It is not very gay in the appartement; the sun does +not shine much, but we are together. Some day, who knows? we may be +able to return to our dear Paris. One must have courage." She stooped +and kissed Susan's upturned face, which was full of sympathy. + +"If she knew how badly I've always behaved to Monsieur she wouldn't have +done that," thought Susan penitently. + +"There now rests one great wish in Adolphe's heart," continued Delphine, +"and that is, to be able some day to reward Madame Jones for her +goodness. Strangers, and without money, she fed and cheered us, and it +is to her we owe our success. Never could either of us be so basely +ungrateful as to forget that if we are again blessed by prosperity. +Often has Adolphe, who is a fine English scholar, repeated to me the +lines of your poet, Shakespeare:-- + + "Freeze, freeze thou winter sky; + Thou dost not bite so nigh + As benefits forgot." + +Susan had remained wide awake in spite of great fatigue during the whole +of Mademoiselle's story; but now, when she came to the poetry, which she +repeated with difficulty and very slowly, there seemed to be something +lulling in her voice. The room was warm too, and presently the sounds +in it got mixed up together. The crackling of the fire, the bubbling of +the saucepan, and Delphine's tones, joined in a sort of lullaby. +Susan's eyelids gently closed, and she was fast asleep. So fast that +the next thing she knew was that Buskin had somehow arrived and was +carrying her upstairs; that Monsieur was in attendance with a candle, +and that a cab was waiting at the door. But having noticed this, it was +quite easy to go to sleep again, and she scarcely awoke when they +arrived at Aunt Hannah's and she was put to bed. + +So it was not till broad daylight the next morning that she began to +think over her adventures, and to remember all the wonderful things that +had happened the day before. And in particular all the details of +Delphine's story came back to her, and the earnest gratitude with which +she had talked of Mrs Jones' kindness. "`Strangers, and without money, +she fed and cheered us.' Now that is just exactly what Monsieur did for +me when I first saw him," thought Susan; "and all I've done in return is +to laugh at him and give him trouble. I haven't been grateful at all." +The more she considered her conduct the more ashamed she began to feel, +and she could not help wondering what Mademoiselle Delphine would think +of her if she knew. "At any rate," she resolved, "I won't do it any +more. I never will laugh at lesson-time, and I'll learn everything +quite perfectly and be as good as ever I can, whatever Sophia Jane likes +to say." Sophia Jane, that naughty, badly behaved child! After all, it +was her fault that Susan had done wrong, she went on to think, and it +was also her fault that she had lost herself yesterday, because she had +been so disagreeable about the Enemy and the basket. It was a comfort +to be able to shift the blame on Sophia Jane's shoulder, for Susan liked +to think well of herself, and she began to feel more cheerful and +satisfied as she dressed and went down-stairs. Here Nanna and +Margaretta were prepared with all manner of questions about Monsieur, +his house, and his sister, but Susan was quite determined to tell them +very little. She repeated gravely, "They were very kind, and I like +them very much;" and this was most unsatisfactory to her listeners, who +craved for the tiniest details of her adventure. Sophia Jane alone sat +mute, but sharply attentive to all that passed, hunching up her +shoulders and fixing her blue eyes on each speaker in turn. She was, as +usual, in disgrace Susan and, and had been forbidden to speak at meals; +but as soon as breakfast was over she made the best use of the hour +before lessons began, and examined her companion narrowly: + +"Whatever makes you look so solemn?" she asked at last. + +"I'm not going to laugh at Monsieur La Roche ever again," said Susan +solemnly. "I've made a good resolution." + +"What for?" asked Sophia Jane. + +"Because he's been very kind, and it's wrong to laugh at him," answered +Susan. + +Sophia Jane made a face that Susan very much disliked, it was so full of +contempt. + +"He hasn't been kind to me, and I don't care if it is wrong," she said. +"I shall do as I like." + +"But I want you not to either," said Susan. + +"I don't care a bit. Why should I?" asked Sophia Jane, who was +evidently in one of her most reckless moods. + +Susan was silent. There was not much reason certainly that Sophia Jane +should wish to please her; then a bright idea came into her head. + +"If you'll promise not to laugh at French lessons," she said, "I'll give +you a new head for your doll as soon as I've got enough money." + +Sophia Jane considered this offer with her head on one side; then she +asked: + +"What price?" + +"Half-a-crown," answered Susan, "and that will buy the very best you can +get." + +"Well," said Sophia Jane slowly, "I promise." + +"But if you whisper, or make faces, or nudge me with your elbow you +won't have it," added Susan hastily. + +"You didn't say all that at first," said Sophia Jane; "but I _will_ +promise." + +So the agreement was made, and moreover written down in Susan's best +printing hand, and signed by Sophia Jane. Even then Susan felt by no +means sure of the result, for it was so much more natural to her +companion to be naughty than good. + +Thursday came, and Monsieur La Roche also at his usual hour; Susan put +on her most discreet behaviour, and kept anxious watch over Sophia Jane. +But there was no need for anxiety, her conduct was perfect, and she not +only preserved the strictest gravity, but also showed the most +marvellous quickness in learning her lessons. Though she might be a +naughty child, no one could accuse her of being a dull one; she grasped +the meaning of anything like lightning, and while Susan was steadily +bringing her mind to bear on a French verb, Sophia Jane knew it already, +and could repeat it without a mistake. She showed indeed such zeal and +attention throughout the lessons, that it had a sobering effect even +upon Nanna and Margaretta, who were so employed in wondering at her that +they did not giggle nearly so much as usual. + +Monsieur himself was not less surprised at this sudden improvement in +his class, and above all in Sophia Jane, who had, without question, been +his worst and most backward pupil. When his lesson was finished he +beamed kindly at her and said, "It is _tr-res_ bien, mademoiselle. I am +much pleased with you to-day." + +It was such a new thing for anyone to be much pleased with Sophia Jane +that it hardly seemed possible, and everyone stared at her. Aunt Hannah +turned round from her chair at the fireside to see who had deserved this +praise. Sophia Jane! It was an unheard-of thing. The child herself +was so unused to the sound of kindness and approval, that it startled +her as though she had received a blow. She reddened, gave all her +features a sudden twist, and blinked her eyes at Monsieur for an answer. + +"Sit straight, Sophia Jane, and don't make faces," said Aunt Hannah, and +the well-known accents of blame at once restored her to her usual state. +The moment Monsieur was gone she was the old Sophia Jane again, +tiresome and disobedient as ever. And Susan, remembering the compact +about the half-crown, was not surprised at this, for, she thought to +herself, "she's not really doing it because she wants to be good, but +because she wants a new head for the doll." It was quite possible, +therefore, still to feel that she was much better than her companion, +and this was not unpleasant. + +Meanwhile she was much looking forward to seeing Mademoiselle Delphine +again, for Aunt Hannah intended to pay her a visit soon to thank her for +her kindness, and she had promised to take both the little girls with +her. Grace, the doll, must also be fetched home, for Susan had been too +sleepy to remember her, and had left her behind. Monsieur's house was +found with some difficulty, but at length Sophia Jane's sharp eyes spied +a dusty card in a window with "Monsieur La Roche, Professor of French," +written on it, and they knew that this must be the right one. Susan +wondered whether Mademoiselle would quickly open the door herself as she +had done before, but this time a very untidy maid-servant appeared with +smudges on her face. There were many other lodgers in the house beside +Monsieur and his sister, who had the cheapest rooms of all, an +underground one which Susan had thought to be the kitchen, and two tiny +attics in the roof. They found Mademoiselle waiting to receive them +with a yellow ribbon at her neck, and a manner full of gracious +affability. Gambetta sat on the hearth, and the room was perfectly neat +and clean, but by daylight; it wanted the air of snugness and comfort +which Susan remembered. There was a very tiny fire, and it all looked +bare and cold, for the window was so placed that the sunlight could not +possibly enter. Mademoiselle partly made up, however, for the +dreariness of her lodging by smiles and pleasant conversation. She was +delighted to see them all, and to renew her acquaintance with Susan, +chattering so fast that Sophia Jane had plenty of time to notice +everything, and presently fixed her eyes, full of admiration, on +Gambetta, who sat with rather a vexed look on his face by the small +fire. + +Presently he rose, stretched himself, humped his back, and then jumped +up on his mistress' lap. + +"Fi donc!" said she, settling her knees more comfortably for him. + +"That is a fine cat," remarked Aunt Hannah; "a great pet, no doubt?" + +"You say truly, Madame," replied Delphine gently rubbing Gambetta under +the chin; "but above all with my brother. I may say that Gambetta is +the pupil of his eye. How often have I made him reproaches because he +will leave the best of his potage, and pour it in the saucer for this +cat! And that in the days when there was not too much potage, look you, +for either of us. On his side the animal adores Adolphe. He knows his +step, he has his little pleasantries for him, and his caresses. When my +brother arrives at night tired, and perhaps a little dejected, it is +Gambetta who knows how to cheer him. And then, he reminds us of Paris, +he is the only thing of value we brought from there. He is an exile as +well as we, and has shared our fortunes." + +"No wonder you are so fond of him," said Aunt Hannah; "but I see he has +no collar. Are you not afraid of losing such a valuable cat?" + +"That is often in my mind," replied Mademoiselle. "I fear it may arrive +some day, for at times he makes long courses. The next time we have a +little money to spare we will buy him one, and cause the address to be +graved upon it." + +Both Susan and Sophia Jane listened with much interest to all this, and +the latter was particularly impressed by it; she looked from Delphine's +expressive face to Gambetta's when the collar was mentioned, and seemed +about to ask a question, but checked herself suddenly. Grace being now +produced from a table drawer, it was found that Mademoiselle's clever +fingers had actually made for her a new bonnet, a most elegant one, of +drawn grey silk. While Susan was admiring it, Delphine turned to Sophia +Jane: + +"And the leetle companion?" she said, "has she also a poupee?" + +Sophia Jane hung her head, and looked rather ashamed. "Only one without +a head," she muttered. + +"Ah! that is sad indeed," said Mademoiselle. "It is impossible to +fashion a bonnet for a lady without a head, is it not? But when you +have a new one, I will also make her a bonnet like this. I have yet +some more silk." + +Susan could not help giving a glance full of meaning at her companion, +but Sophia Jane did not respond to it, except by a dark frown. + +"When Mademoiselle La Roche is so kind, Sophia Jane," said Aunt Hannah, +"the least you can do is to thank her and look pleasant. You never see +Susan frown like that." + +On the way home there was a great deal to be said about Mademoiselle +Delphine, and Susan was so delighted with Grace's new bonnet that she +could not repeat too often how kind it was of her to have made it. + +"And aren't you glad she's going to make one for you too?" she asked. + +Sophia Jane had been unusually silent and thoughtful since they had +started, and made absent replies to all Susan's remarks. She seemed to +be turning something over in her mind, and the question had to be +repeated before she took any notice. Then she only answered calmly: + +"Oh, yes, of course," as if it were the very merest trifle, and she had +presents every day, which was by no means the case. Susan looked +curiously at her, there were often moments when she did not know what to +make of Sophia Jane. Then she said: + +"Shall I ask Aunt Hannah to let us stop and look up at Miss Powter's +window?" + +Miss Powter kept a toy-shop in the High Street, and only a few days ago +had shown in her window quite a collection of dolls' heads, both china +and wax. + +"If you like," said Sophia Jane indifferently. + +Susan ran up to Aunt Hannah, who was walking a little way in front, and +put her request, which being granted, the little girls were soon gazing +in at Mrs Powter's shop-front. The heads were still there, a long row +of them, some fair, some dark, some with blue eyes, some with black. + +"Now, which should you choose?" asked Susan with much interest; "a wax +or a china one?" + +"A wax one," said Sophia Jane; "because I could brush her hair." + +"But you couldn't wash her," objected Susan; "and china wears best." + +Sophia Jane did not seem disposed to linger long, though generally she +was never tired of Miss Powter's window. She did not enter into the +matter with nearly enough spirit to please Susan, who as they walked on +suggested: + +"If I were you I should have that one--the last in the row, with fair +hair. She's rather like Grace, and you see, as their bonnets will be +alike, we might call them sisters." + +"If I buy a head at all perhaps I may," was Sophia's puzzling remark. + +"Well, but you're sure to," said Susan. "Next week I shall have the +half-crown, and we can go and choose it together. You mean to, don't +you?" + +"Perhaps I do and perhaps I don't," answered Sophia Jane, and could not +be induced to say more on the subject. + +Certainly she would win that half-crown easily, for her behaviour to +Monsieur La Roche was worthy of all praise. Susan even began to think +that she was overdoing it a little, for she was now beyond all the +others in the class. Earnest effort, and a naturally quick intelligence +joined to it, produced such good results that Monsieur had now a habit +of turning to Sophia Jane when he asked an unusually difficult question. +Could it be entirely for the sake of the half-crown that she made these +extraordinary exertions? Susan began to feel jealous of her companion's +progress and a little ill-used; for although she tried hard to please +Monsieur, it was quite evident that the pupil he was most proud of was +Sophia Jane. "If he knew," thought Susan to herself, "why she does it, +perhaps he wouldn't be so pleased. And I don't suppose she'll take so +much trouble when once she's got the money." + +It was a very new thing for Sophia Jane to be more praised than herself; +and though Susan would not perhaps have acknowledged that she was sorry +to see her good behaviour, it yet made her feel uncomfortable when +Monsieur looked so very pleased with her. She had fully intended to be +his model pupil herself, an example to all the others, and it was +disappointing to give up that place to one whom she had considered so +far beneath her. Besides this, it was a little difficult when the time +came to part with the half-crown. It would only leave sixpence in her +purse--Maria's lucky sixpence with a hole in it--and that she did not +want to spend. It was comforting, however, to remember that her +birthday was near, when her mother would certainly send her some money +as a present. And she was really anxious for Sophia Jane to have a doll +to play with, and it would be nice to go and see Mademoiselle Delphine +again about the bonnet; and finally, a bargain was a bargain, and +decidedly the half-crown had been fairly earned. So, all these things +considered, she cheerfully counted out one shilling, two sixpences, and +six pennies, and went to look for Sophia Jane. + +She was in the sitting-room alone, seated in Aunt Hannah's large +arm-chair with an open book in her lap which she was intently studying. + +"Here's your money," said Susan, plunging at once into the business on +hand. + +Sophia Jane neither answered or took the least notice; but as this was +often a tiresome way of hers Susan was not surprised, and only repeated +a little louder: + +"Here's your money!" + +Sophia Jane looked up from her book, which Susan now saw to be a French +grammar, and said, holding out her hand: + +"Give it to me." + +"You ought to say `Thank you,'" remarked Susan in the reproving voice +she often used to her companion. + +Sophia Jane counted the coins carefully, going twice through the pennies +to be sure there were the right number. Then she said shortly: + +"It's all right." + +"Of course it's right!" cried Susan indignantly. But it was not of the +least use to be angry with Sophia Jane; she was now dropping the pieces +of money one by one into her pocket with a thoughtful air, and seemed +hardly to know that Susan was there. The latter waited a moment and +then said: + +"Shall I ask Aunt Hannah if we may go to Miss Powter's this afternoon?" + +"What for?" asked Sophia Jane. + +"What for!" repeated Jane in extreme astonishment. "Why, of course, now +you've got the money, you'll go and buy the head." + +Sophia Jane took up her grammar again and bent her eyes doggedly upon +it. + +"I'm not going to buy a head," she answered. + +This decided reply was so unexpected that for the moment Susan was +speechless; for on the whole Sophia Jane had seemed to look forward to +the purchase, and they had made many plans together about it, so that +she had come to think of it as a settled thing. It made her feel +injured and disappointed to be thrust out of the matter in this sudden +way, for if the head was not to be bought how would Sophia Jane spend +the money? She evidently had some secret plan of her own in which Susan +was not to share. With a rising colour in her face she said at last: + +"I don't think that's fair." + +"It's my money, and I shall do as I like with it," was Sophia Jane's +only reply. + +"But I shouldn't have given it you," said Susan hotly, "unless you were +going to buy a head." + +Sophia Jane chuckled. "Well, I've got it now," she said, "and I shall +keep it." + +"What a naughty, selfish, disagreeable little girl she was!" thought +Susan as she stood looking angrily at her. + +"What are you going to do with it?" she asked. + +"That's a secret," said Sophia Jane, chinking the money gently in her +pocket. + +"I believe," said Susan, now irritated beyond endurance, "that you mean +to spend it all on Billy Stokes' day." + +Billy Stokes was a man who came round once a week selling sweetmeats, +and it was Sophia Jane's custom to spend her pennies in this way when +she had any. + +"If you do," continued Susan, getting more cross every moment, "you'll +be dreadfully greedy, and most likely you'll make yourself ill." + +Sophia Jane only smiled gently and settled herself more comfortably in +her chair. + +"And I suppose you remember," said Susan, whose voice became louder and +more defiant with each sentence, "that if you don't get the head you +can't have the bonnet." + +The last word was almost shrieked, for she had now quite lost her +temper, and at this moment Margaretta looked into the room. Now it was +always taken for granted by the household that in any dispute Sophia +Jane must be in the wrong; so now Margaretta came at once to this +conclusion, in spite of Susan's hot and angry looks. + +"How can you be so naughty, Sophia Jane," she said, "as to quarrel with +a sweet-tempered child like Susan? You must have been very unkind and +tiresome to vex her so much." + +Neither of the little girls spoke, for Susan was still feeling too +angry, and Sophia Jane took a scolding as a matter of course. + +"If you don't say you're sorry," pursued Margaretta, "I sha'n't take you +out with me this afternoon. I don't wish to have a sulky little girl +with me. Susan shall go alone." + +There was no word from Sophia Jane, or even any sign of having heard +this speech. At another time Susan would have said something in her +defence, for she knew this blame to be entirely unjust. But just now +she was so vexed with her that she kept silence, and allowed Margaretta +to go on without interruption. + +"Very well," said the latter, "then you stay at home by yourself. Aunt +and Nanna are going to see Mrs Bevis, and Susan and I shall have a walk +together. Very likely we should call in at Buzzard's as we come back +and have some tarts." + +Susan glanced at her companion's face to see how she took this last +remark. Buzzard's open tarts were things that Sophia Jane specially +liked. Was she vexed? No. One corner of her mouth was tucked in, in a +way which looked far more like secret satisfaction. It was very +annoying, but after all she could not prefer to be left alone in the +dull house that bright day, so most likely she was concealing her +disappointment. + +Susan herself did not enjoy that walk so much as usual, though the band +was playing gay tunes, and the sun shone, and the sea twinkled merrily. +For one thing she felt that she had been unjust to Sophia Jane, and +allowed her to be punished for no fault; for, after all, it _was_ her +money, and she had a right to do as she liked with it. Only why should +she be so perverse and stupid as to have a will of her own, and not to +carry out Susan's wishes? What could she possibly be going to do with +that half-crown? What could it be that she wanted so much that she was +ready to give up all the nice games and plans they had thought of +together? As she walked soberly along by Margaretta's side Susan came +to the conclusion that it would be best to make no more inquiries about +it; she had noticed that Sophia Jane would seldom yield to persuasion +and never to force, but sometimes if you left her quite alone she would +do what you wished of her own accord. This once settled in her mind she +felt more cheerful, but the walk was dull with no one but Margaretta to +talk to, the open tarts at Buzzard's had lost their flavour, and she was +not at all sorry to get home. + +To do Sophia Jane justice she was quite ready to meet Susan's advances +in a friendly spirit, and did not seem disposed to bear malice. The +little girls played together as usual, and Susan, true to her +resolution, made not the smallest reference to the half-crown, but this +silence made her think of it all the more. It was, indeed, seldom out +of her mind, and every day her curiosity grew more intense; morning, +noon, and night she wondered about that half-crown, and at last her head +was so full of it that she mixed it up with everything she did in +lessons or play-time. And at last, one day when she and Sophia Jane +were reading aloud to Aunt Hannah, a new idea, and she thought a very +good one, was suggested to her. + +In the lesson there happened to be an account of a miser, who lived in a +wretched hovel, went without sufficient clothing, and almost starved +himself for the sake of hoarding money; everyone thought him poor, but +after his death it was found that he had lots of gold and silver coins +hidden away in the mattress of his bed. + +"What makes people misers?" asked Susan, when she came to the end of +this history. + +"Love of money, my dear," answered Aunt Hannah. + +"Is every one who saves up money a miser?" continued Susan. + +"No. Because they may be saving it for a wise and good purpose; but if +they hide it up as this man did, and only keep it for the pleasure of +looking at it, then they certainly would be called misers." + +"Are there any now?" asked Susan, fixing her eyes on Sophia Jane. + +"Oh, yes, I daresay there are, plenty," answered Aunt Hannah, who was +getting tired of the subject. "Now, get your geography books." + +But during the rest of the lesson Susan's mind was very far away, and +she made all kinds of stupid mistakes, for what she was thinking of had +nothing to do with the map of England. It was something much more +interesting and important; for quite suddenly, while reading about the +misers, an idea relating to Sophia Jane and the half-crown had darted +into her head. She had hidden it away somewhere, and did not mean to +spend it at all. The manner in which she had chinked those coins in her +pocket and counted them over, and her secret and crafty behaviour since, +all pointed to this. The next question was, "_Where_ had she hidden +it?" What mysterious hole had she found unknown to anyone? Susan ran +over all the possible places in her mind, and was earnestly occupied in +this when Aunt Hannah suddenly asked her a question: + +"Where is the town of Croydon?" + +"In the attic," answered Susan hurriedly, and then flushed up and gave a +guilty look at Sophia Jane, who merely stared in amazement. + +"My dear Susan," said Aunt Hannah, "you are strangely inattentive this +morning. I can't let you play in the attic if you think of your games +during lesson-time." + +As the days passed, Susan, watching her companion narrowly, felt more +and more certain that her suspicions were correct. True, she never saw +her retire to the attic alone to count over and rejoice in her secret +hoard, which real misers were always known to do; but there was this to +be remarked: _she bought nothing of Billy Stokes_. When Susan saw her +look wistfully at the cocoa-nut rock, and twisted sticks of sugar-candy, +and remembered all those pennies, she asked: + +"Which are you going to buy?" + +"None of 'em," said Sophia Jane, turning away. And now Susan doubted no +longer. Sophia Jane was a miser! + +Sunday came soon after this. It was a day the children never liked +much, because, for several reasons, it was dull. Aunt Hannah did not +allow them either to play at their usual games or to read their usual +books. Grace was put away, the attic was forbidden, and they had to be +very quiet; the only books considered "fit for Sunday," were _Line upon +Line_, _The Peep of Day_, _The Dairyman's Daughter_ and _The Pilgrim's +Progress_. Bits of this last were always interesting, and the more so +because it was a large old copy with big print and plenty of pictures +throughout. That of Saul raising Samuel had a never-ceasing attraction +for Susan, and Sophia Jane was fond of the part about Giant Despair and +his grievous crab-tree cudgel. In the morning they all went with Aunt +Hannah to chapel, which was only five minutes' walk from the house; the +prayers were long, and they could seldom understand the sermon, though +they had to listen to it because Aunt Hannah asked them questions about +it afterwards. + +Mr Bevis, the minister, who was a great friend of hers, often came to +Belmont Cottage, and stayed to have tea. On these occasions it was +difficult to Susan to think that he really was the same man who wore a +long black gown on Sundays, and white bands under his chin, and often +hit the red cushion so hard that she had seen dust rise from it. His +voice was quite different, all mystery had left him, and he became just +a common grey-haired gentleman, eating muffins and asking for more sugar +in his tea. She was afraid sometimes that he would ask her some +questions about his sermons, or perhaps where some text came from out of +the Bible, but he never did so, and indeed took very little notice of +the children. On this Sunday they were surprised to find, when the time +came up for the sermon, that it was not Mr Bevis that was going to +preach. A much younger man mounted the steep stairs into the pulpit, +and gave out a text about the widow's mite, and Susan began to listen +attentively to the sermon which followed, for, strangely enough, it was +all about "giving." How exactly suited to Sophia Jane! + +"To give," said the minister at the close of the sermon, "though it +leaves a man poor, yet makes him rich; but to keep and hoard up +treasure, though he be called wealthy, yet makes him exceeding poor. +But the thing given need not be money; it may only be a kind effort, a +forgiving word, a little trouble for some one, but if love go with it, +then it becomes great and worthy at once, for it is part of the giver's +very self. It is not what a man gives, but how he gives it, that +matters. Gold and silver coming from a full purse and a cold heart, is +a barren gift compared to the widow's mite, which was `all she had.' + + "`Not what we give, but what we share, + For the gift without the giver is bare.'" + +On the way home Aunt Hannah talked about the sermon a good deal with +Nanna and Margaretta, for it was rather an event to hear a stranger at +the chapel. She said that the preacher was "original," but that she did +not consider it a "Gospel" sermon, and preferred Mr Bevis; she doubted +also whether the lines quoted at the end were from a sacred writer. Now +these lines were just what Susan remembered best; they came into her +head again and again that afternoon while she was learning a hymn by +heart, and it was difficult not to mix the two up together. She was +also occupied with wondering whether Sophia Jane had attended to the +sermon, and would alter her mind about the half-crown. That was as +mysterious as ever, and Sophia Jane's pointed little face told nothing, +though Susan fancied that there was a softer look upon it now and then, +and an expression as of secret satisfaction. + + + +CHAPTER FIVE. + + "O what a tangled web we weave, + When first we practise to deceive!" + +Susan's mind was very full of all this, and she was still watching her +companion with suspicion, when something happened which gave her +thoughts a new direction; for shortly after the strange minister had +preached at the chapel, Sophia Jane became very ill. She had been +ailing for some time, and had refused to join Susan in their usual +games; complaining of headache, but no one had taken much notice of +this; she was so often perverse and tiresome that it was natural to +think her only sulky when she sat about in corners with her head propped +on her hand and her eyes closed. But at last Aunt Hannah called in the +doctor, and after his visit she looked very grave, and talked in a low +voice to Buskin. Susan could not hear all she said, but she gathered +enough to know that the doctor thought Sophia Jane very ill, and that he +could not yet say what sort of illness it would be. She longed to ask +some questions about it, but she knew from the worried look on Aunt +Hannah's face that it would be better to wait, so she took Grace and +stole upstairs to Sophia Jane's door. She had been put to bed in a +small inner room opening out of Aunt Hannah's, which was rather apart +from the other bed-rooms, and had a little flight of stairs all to +itself. On these stairs Susan took up her post, and listened anxiously +to the sounds within; the door was a little open and she could hear her +aunt giving some orders to Buskin, who presently came hurriedly out, +nearly tumbling over her in her haste. + +"Gracious me, miss! find some other place to sit in, do," she said +crossly clutching at the balusters. + +"What's the matter with Sophia Jane?" asked Susan. But Buskin only +muttered to herself, rubbed her elbow, and went quickly on. Susan +wished they would let her go in and sit with Sophia Jane. She would be +very useful and quiet, she thought to herself; she was quite used to +that when Freddie had bad headaches. She wished now that she had not +called her companion cross and stupid so often lately; but perhaps +to-morrow she would be better, and then she would tell her she was +sorry. Just then Nanna came up, and not being so full of business as +Buskin, was able to answer a few questions. From her Susan learned that +Dr Martin thought Sophia Jane was sickening from a fever of some kind; +perhaps, if it did not prove infectious, Susan would be allowed to see +her sometimes. + +"What is infectious?" asked Susan. + +"Anything you can catch," answered Nanna. + +"If it's scarlet fever, or measles, or anything of that kind, I should +think aunt will send you away." + +"Where to?" asked Susan in alarm. + +"Oh, I don't know," replied Nanna; "anywhere. But I can't stay now, I +have to go to the chemist's for aunt." + +She went down-stairs, and Susan was left to her own thoughts. She hoped +that Aunt Hannah would not send her away, for she felt sure she could be +of great use in nursing Sophia Jane if they would only let her try. And +where could she be sent? Perhaps to stay with Mrs Bevis, the +minister's wife, who lived in a dull house near the chapel with no +children but only Mr Bevis. The idea was an alarming one, but it did +not trouble her long, for when Dr Martin called the next morning he +declared the illness to be a low fever, and not in the least infectious; +there was no necessity, he said, for Susan to leave the house, though +she ought not be much in the sick-room. Alter this she was allowed to +do very much as she liked; the days passed as they had done in London +when Freddie was so ill, for the thought of every one in the house was +fixed on the patient. Suddenly, from utter insignificance Sophia Jane +was raised to importance. Her whims and fancies, once unheeded, were +now attended to with care; the least change in her condition was marked +with interest, and her name was in every one's mouth, spoken softly and +with kindness. Poor little Sophia Jane! She had not much strength, Dr +Martin said, to fight against this attack; it was a serious matter for +any one so frail and weak, and she must be carefully nursed. Every one +did their best. Aunt Hannah sat up at night with her, and in the +day-time while she rested, Nanna and Margaretta took turns to be in the +sick-room. Buskin bent her whole mind on beef-tea, broth, and jelly, +became shorter in her speech, and less inclined to answer questions as +the days went on. Only Susan, in spite of her most earnest wish, was +not allowed to go into Sophia Jane's room, and found there was very +little she could do to help. She had no opportunity, therefore, of +telling her companion that she was sorry for her past unkindness; she +could only sit on the stairs outside her room ready to carry messages +when wanted, watching for the visits of the doctor, and trying to gather +from the expression of his face whether Sophia Jane were better. + +It was hard to be left out when every one else was doing something, and +at last Susan bethought herself that Grace might be a comfort to the +invalid, and sent her in by Nanna. To her disappointment, however, she +brought the doll back almost directly, dropped it into Susan's lap, and +said: + +"She's too ill to take any notice of it." + +Too ill to take any notice of Grace dressed in her new bonnet, Sophia +Jane must indeed be unlike herself. Perhaps her head ached very badly +like Freddie's. "How I wish they would let me help with the bandages!" +sighed Susan to herself. Day after day followed, till Sophia Jane had +been ill a week. No improvement. The fever did not leave her; each +morning she seemed a little weaker and less able to bear it, and each +morning Aunt Hannah's face looked graver and more conscious, so that +Susan did not like to ask the question always in her mind, "May I see +Sophia Jane to-day?" + +One afternoon, however, she was in her usual place on the stairs reading +when the door behind her opened, and some one said softly, "Susan." She +looked up; Aunt Hannah stood there beckoning her to come in. + +"You may see Sophia Jane for five minutes," she said; "she wants to ask +you something. You must promise her to do whatever she wishes, and +speak very gently." + +Susan followed on tip-toe through the first room, where there were +medicine bottles and a strong smell of vinegar, into the second. She +looked timidly towards the bed and felt as though she should see a +stranger there and not Sophia Jane. This was almost the case, for the +little figure sitting propped up with pillows had nothing familiar about +it. Her hair had been cut quite short, and stood up in spikes all over +her head, there was a burning pink flush on each cheek, and her eyes +glistened like two steel beads. + +"My darling," said Aunt Hannah soothingly, as she led Susan forward, +"here is Susan, tell her what you wish, and then you must lie down +quietly and go to sleep, as you promised." + +What a different voice Aunt Hannah had now that Sophia Jane was ill! +And she had called her "darling!" Such a thing had never happened +before! + +But Sophia Jane took no notice of the caressing tone: she waved her hand +fretfully as Aunt Hannah bent over her, and the gesture said more +plainly than words, "Go away, and let me speak to her." Everything +seemed strangely altered, for, to Susan's surprise, Aunt Hannah meekly +obeyed, went into the next room, and shut the door. + +At this Sophia Jane put out a hand about the size of a canary's claw, +and caught hold of Susan's sleeve: + +"It's behind the big box in the attic!" she said, in a small hoarse +voice. Of course it was the half-crown, but Susan was so confused by +the eager gaze fixed on her, that she only said: + +"What is?" + +"A parcel. Done up in newspaper. For Madmozal. You must give it her." + +Susan nodded. + +"Soon," said Sophia Jane, with a feeble pull at the sleeve. + +"To-morrow, if I can," answered Susan earnestly. "What shall I say to +her?" + +Sophia Jane's fingers let go their hold, her head drooped on the +pillows, and she closed her eyes; but she murmured something as she did +so, and, bending down to listen, Susan heard: + +"A collar for his cat." + +"Come away, my dear," said Aunt Hannah's voice. "She is too tired to +talk any more. Perhaps she will sleep now." + +Susan went softly out of the room and sat down in her old place on the +stairs. So this was how Sophia Jane had spent the half-crown! How +differently to anything Susan had imagined. Instead of being miserly +and selfish, she was generous and self-sacrificing--instead of her own +pleasure, she had preferred to give pleasure to Monsieur. And why? +Because he had been kind to her. He was the only person, Susan +remembered, who had ever praised Sophia Jane, or had looked at her as +though he liked her; and so, in return, she had given him her very +best--all she had. As she considered this she grew more and more sorry +to think how she had despised her poor little companion, and suspected +her of being mean; how she had always joined Margaretta and Nanna in +blaming and laughing at her, and how ready she had been to say, "It's +Sophia Jane's fault." She longed more than ever now to be able to tell +her how sorry she was for all this, and resolved very earnestly that +when she got well she would never behave unkindly to her again. +Meanwhile, there was the collar--she would go and look for it at once, +so that on the first opportunity she might take it to Mademoiselle +Delphine. She could not give it to Monsieur, for his lessons had been +discontinued since Sophia Jane's illness. + +She went up to the attic which she and Sophia Jane had made their +play-room, and where they had had such merry games together. How +deserted and cheerless it looked! Everything seemed to know that Sophia +Jane was ill. It was late in the afternoon, dark, and gloomy; there was +never too much light in the attic at the brightest of times, and now it +was so shadowy and dull that Susan shivered as she glanced round it. +There was the dusty roll of wall-paper leaning up in one corner; there +was the thin, bent, old poker, which had somehow a queer likeness to +Sophia Jane; there was the body of the poor doll, still headless and +forlorn, stretched on the floor; and there, under the cobwebby window, +was the big black box. Behind that was what she had come to seek--the +collar. + +Susan knelt on the top of the box, and, peering down, could plainly see +the parcel jammed tightly between it and the wall. It was too far for +her to reach, but presently with the help of the poker she got it up, +and proceeded to examine it, quite breathless with excitement. The +newspaper had been partly torn away from it already, and soon the collar +itself was in her hands. She gave an exclamation of delight. It _was_ +a pretty collar! Not only was it made of brass and lined with bright +scarlet leather, but at the side was fastened a little round bell which +gave a charming tinkle. The very present of all others which Susan +would have chosen herself for Monsieur--if she had thought of it. But +it was not her present at all; it was Sophia Jane who had thought of it, +and of course it was very good of her. And yet--she went on to think, +turning the collar round and round--Sophia Jane couldn't have bought it +if I hadn't given her that half-crown. It _really_ is as much my +present as hers, but Monsieur and Mademoiselle won't ever know anything +about that. It was not nice of Sophia Jane to keep it all to herself; +if she had told me I should have said, "Let me pay half," and then we +could have given it together. I liked Monsieur and Mademoiselle before +she did. + +Every moment, as she looked at the pretty collar, Susan's thoughts +became more and more jealous and unjust; she almost forgot her +companion's illness and what she had asked her to do, in the sense that +she herself had been hardly treated; she forgot, too, all her resolves +to behave more kindly. As she sat thus, the shadows grew deeper and +deeper in the attic until it became almost dark, and looking up, she +could only see one thing quite distinctly: it was the body of Sophia +Jane's doll. There it lay without a head--it would most likely never +have one now; it had a sad deserted look, and yet it reminded her as +nothing else would have done of her promise half an hour ago. She +seemed to see Sophia Jane's eager little face, to hear her whisper +"soon," and to feel the clasp of her weak fingers. Better feelings came +back, to her. She put her jealous thoughts aside with a struggle, and +as she wrapped up the collar again determined that to-morrow, if +possible, she would take it to Mademoiselle and tell her. It was Sophia +Jane's present. + +Strange dreams visited Susan that night: sometimes she saw Gambetta's +comfortable furry face, which seemed to smile smugly at her; and then it +changed; and there was Sophia Jane frowning angrily, with terribly +bright eyes. The first thing she saw when she woke in the morning was +the collar, which she had put on a chair by her bedside, and she at once +remembered what she was to do that day. As she dressed herself she +could not help the wish returning strongly that it was to be her present +as well as Sophia Jane's. How well Gambetta would look in it, and how +delighted Mademoiselle would be! And this time nothing happened to +check those reflections, so that by the time she went down-stairs they +filled her mind entirely. + +Aunt Hannah looked much more cheerful this morning. Sophia Jane had +slept quietly for some hours, and the fever was less; it was the first +improvement she had seen. + +She was quite ready to consent when Susan asked if she might go to see +Mademoiselle. + +"Certainly," she said; "Margaretta shall take you, and, if convenient to +Mademoiselle La Roche, you can stay there an hour or so. Perhaps she +will bring you back herself in the afternoon; if not, I will manage to +send Buskin." + +So it was settled, and at twelve o'clock they set forth, the precious +parcel tucked under Susan's arm, and reminding her every moment of her +promise to Sophia Jane. Mademoiselle was not there when they arrived; +she was generally out at this hour, the woman of the house said, but +would certainly return before long. Susan, therefore, was left with +Aunt Hannah's note to wait her coming, while Margaretta hastened back at +once. There was no one in the room but Gambetta, who sat stiffly +upright in Monsieur's arm-chair blinking his yellow eyes. Susan went up +to him, scratched his head, and made some friendly advances, but he took +very little notice of her. He evidently kept his "pleasantries," as +Mademoiselle called them, for his friends, and would not waste them on +strangers. How soft and thick his fur was! particularly just at the +neck, where it stood out in a sort of ruff. How would he look in the +new collar, and would it fit him properly? He had such a large neck. +It would surely be a good plan to put the collar on, so that +Mademoiselle might have all the pleasure of a great surprise when she +came in. It was such a splendid idea, and there was so much risk of her +arriving too soon, that Susan's fingers quite trembled with excitement +as she unwrapped the newspaper. As she did so, the little bell tinkled, +and Gambetta looked up in lazy surprise at the noise close to his ears. +"Pretty puss," said Susan coaxingly, and she quickly slipped the collar +over his head and fastened the strap. It fitted beautifully, and though +it gave Gambetta a somewhat constrained air, like that of a gentleman +with too tight a shirt collar, it was certainly very becoming, and made +him look like a cat of dignity and high rank. It was hardly done, and +Susan still stood with clasped hands admiring his appearance, when +Mademoiselle's quick step and quicker chatter were heard on the stairs. +In a moment she hurried in with a neat basket on her arm, and her face +alive with eagerness. She chattered so fast in French and English that +it was some minutes before Susan could present her aunt's note, and when +Mademoiselle had read that, she had still more to say. For in one +breath she was charmed to see Susan, and in the next desolated to hear +that Sophia Jane was ill, and she flew from one subject to the other +with such astonishing rapidity that Susan gave up trying to follow her, +and waited patiently till she should have leisure to notice Gambetta. +And at length he drew attention to himself, for evidently feeling +neglected, he opened his mouth and uttered a tiny plaintive mew. +Mademoiselle looked round at once at her favourite, and her eye fell on +the new decoration. + +"Mais--ciel!" she exclaimed, clasping her hands. She was a person of +such quick thoughts and impulses that, waiting for no explanation, she +at once took for granted that Susan had given the collar, and poured out +her delighted thanks mingled with caresses. It was really difficult to +get in a word, though Susan several times tried to begin the sentence, +"It's Sophia Jane's present;" but the words were choked by hugs and +kisses, and she said to herself, "I'll tell her presently when she gets +quieter." + +This time did not come soon, for even when her first excitement was over +Mademoiselle's spirits continued to be very gay, and she talked without +ceasing; she was unusually happy, she presently told Susan, because +Adolphe had that very day obtained another excellent engagement. + +"Figure to yourself," she said, as she carefully took some fresh eggs +out of her basket and laid them on a dish, "how rejoiced I am that his +patience is at length rewarded. As I went out this morning I said to +myself, `Delphine, this occasion demands a little fete of some kind; it +would be well to prepare an omelette au fines herbes for supper.' I +therefore buy fresh eggs in addition to my usual outlay. I return, and +behold! all good things arrive at once. You are here, petite, and have +been so amiable for our cherished Gambetta. He, too, will join the fete +this evening in his charming new toilette, for I have not forgotten to +provide the morsel of liver he loves much." + +Susan looked on and listened, and soon became very much interested in +Mademoiselle's preparations. It appeared that as Adolphe was never home +till late they were accustomed to have their principal meal together in +the evening; to-day, however, in honour of her guest, she was bent on +preparing a choice little mid-day repast. First she made some coffee +and put the pot on the hearth to keep warm, and then, Susan having +helped her to lay the table, she proceeded to make a sweet omelette. +This process was most attractive. It was delightful to see how deftly +she shook the handle of the little pan, how she coaxed and patted and +tossed the eggs into the form of an omelette, and how, just at the very +right moment, she hastily removed it into a hot dish, swiftly inserted +the jam, and folded it over. It looked like magic to Susan, and for the +moment it put everything about Sophia Jane out of her head. She soon +thought of her again, however. Mademoiselle, having taken off a large +white apron, sat down to do the honour of the table with a slightly +increased colour but unsubdued powers of conversation, and her first +remark was: + +"So the poor little companion is ill. That is a great pity. You are +quite alone, petite, are you not?" + +Here was the very moment to correct the mistake, and Susan was just +going to speak when Delphine added: + +"Adolphe has informed me of the excellent progress she has lately made. +It is a child of much ability he considers, and very amiable." + +Alas for Susan! This remark checked the words on her lips, and brought +back all her jealous feelings of Sophia Jane. She could not bear to +hear her praised. She would put off saying anything about the present +just now, she thought. She would still do it of course; but it would be +easier out of doors when she and Mademoiselle were walking home +together. And it really seemed as though she were to have constant +opportunities given to her; for, when they started an hour or so later, +Mademoiselle remarked that the doll Grace wore her new bonnet, and +asked: + +"And does your little friend yet possess a doll with a head?" + +What could be better? The answer in Susan's mind was, "she might have +had one, but she bought the collar instead;" but somehow she could not +get the words out. A strange voice seemed to reply for her: + +"She doesn't care about dolls, now she's ill." + +"Pauvre petite!" exclaimed Mademoiselle in a tone full of sympathy, then +suddenly glancing across the road her face became alight with smiles, +she waved her hand to someone, bowed repeatedly, and said in a low +voice, "It is that brave Madame Jones!" Susan looked in the same +direction; she had always been curious to see Madame Jones since the +story of the beefsteak. There she was, standing at the door of her shop +with her sleeves tucked up; joints of meat and carcasses hung all round. +Her face was broad and red, and she wore a black net cap with pink +roses in it. She might be brave, and noble, and all that Mademoiselle +had said, but Susan thought her not at all nice-looking, and was quite +disappointed. She had not expected her to be like that. + +"It is a most excellent woman," murmured Delphine enthusiastically, "and +of a noble heart. It is to her we owe the commencement of our success." + +Aunt Hannah's gate was reached wonderfully soon after this, and still +Susan had not told her of the mistake. "It was only put off, however," +she said to herself, "and it really had not been her fault. She would +explain all, the very next time they met." + +Mademoiselle left her at the gate with an affectionate good-bye, and as +Susan walked up the path to the door the doctor came out. He was +generally in's great hurry, but to-day he stopped and smiled at her: + +"Good news," he said. "If this improvement continues you may see your +companion to-morrow, and sit with her an hour. She's much stronger and +better." + +Was it good news? Of course Susan was glad that Sophia was better, but +the thought at once came into her mind, as she watched the doctor out of +the gate, "she will ask me about the collar. She will expect a message +from Mademoiselle." All that evening she was troubled about this, and +even hoped that Sophia Jane might not be _quite_ so well to-morrow, so +that she might have time to see Mademoiselle again and make it all +right. "What should I do if Sophia Jane asks me straight out whether I +said the collar was from her? I couldn't tell her I didn't, and I +couldn't tell her I did. Oh, how I wish I had not put it off." Now, in +all her reflections, Susan still made excuses for herself, and still +said, "it was not my fault." She did not see that she had been mean and +jealous and deceitful; but she did see that she had got herself into a +difficulty, and was anxious, not to atone for her fault, but to escape +the consequences of it. When conscience told her that the right thing +was confession to her companion, she would not listen. "After all," she +said, "she perhaps won't ask me, and then it will be all right; for I +_certainly will_ explain it to Mademoiselle, as I always meant to." And +in this way Susan got more and more enclosed in the tangled web she was +weaving; for how can we make anything right unless we first see that it +is wrong? + +Sophia Jane continued better, and was much looking forward, Aunt Hannah +said, to her companion's visit. Susan was cautioned before she went +upstairs to be very kind and gentle, not to vex or thwart the invalid, +and to call Buskin if anything should be wanted. Aunt Hannah would go +out a little while, which she had scarcely done since Sophia Jane's +illness. All this was promised, and it seemed another reason against +saying anything about the collar; for, if Sophia Jane knew the truth, it +would certainly vex and thwart her. Susan collected some things which +she thought might amuse her, and perhaps prevent her from dwelling long +on the dreaded subject. The game of dominoes, Grace, a box of beads, +and Andersen's fairy tales. Struggling upstairs with these, she was +soon in the invalid's room. + +Sophia Jane looked much more like herself than when Susan had last seen +her. She was lying quietly down among her pillows with a very white +little face, and one hand resting feebly on the substantial form of +Dinah, Margaretta's black doll. By her side was a tiny bunch of +snowdrops which Nanna had found in the garden that morning; how kind +everyone was to her now! It gave Susan a little pang to remember that +she herself had done nothing to please her, but just the opposite. +Often, when Sophia Jane was well, she had asked to be allowed to have +Dinah to herself for a little while, but had always been refused. Now, +here she was. She was a most attractive doll, for there was a foreign +air about her that distinguished her from all English ones. The nuns at +Bahia had stuffed her so cleverly that her plump black face and limbs +glistened; she wore earrings, a gay turban, and very full flowered +chintz skirts. All her under-garments would "take off," and were +trimmed with curious hand-made lace. It was a great privilege to be +allowed to play with her. + +Sophia Jane received her visitor quietly, with a small pinched smile. +In answer to Susan's inquiries she pronounced herself better, but added +with her usual old-fashioned air: + +"I'm not well yet, though. I'm still ill and shaky." + +"What would you like to play at?" was Susan's next inquiry put rather +hastily. + +"Nothing at all," was the decided answer. "I want to talk." + +"But," said Susan earnestly, "aunt told me you were not to talk much-- +she did, really." + +"Well, I'll ask questions, and you talk," said Sophia Jane. + +"Wouldn't you rather have a game of dominoes?" Susan ventured to +suggest. + +"No," answered Sophia Jane snappishly, "I wouldn't." Such an angry +gleam came into her eyes that Susan, remembering she was not to vex or +thwart her, resigned herself to be questioned. Her heart beat quickly. +What would the first question be? It was quite an easy one. + +"Did she like it?" asked Sophia Jane, settling herself comfortably on +her elbow, and staring at her companion. + +"Very much indeed," answered Susan. + +"Did it fit him? Tell me all about it." + +"Beautifully. I put it on myself, and he looked very nice in it. I had +dinner with Mademoiselle, and she made an omelette--and coffee--and I +helped to lay the table--and to wash the things afterwards--and she told +me Monsieur has got some more lessons. Then she brought me home, and on +the way we saw Mrs Jones standing in the door of the shop. She's not a +nice-looking woman, but Mademoiselle says she has a noble heart. I +should think it must be horrid to be a butcher's wife. Shouldn't you?" + +Pausing for a reply, Susan gave a nervous glance at her companion, whose +eyes were still fixed upon her, and who took no notice whatever of the +question. + +"Did Mademoiselle send a message to me about the collar?" she asked. + +"No, she didn't," said Susan. Then, seeing how crest-fallen the poor +little face looked, she added hastily: + +"I expect she means to come and thank you herself, or perhaps to write +you a letter." + +A small tear had gathered in each of Sophia Jane's eyes, but she winked +them quickly away. + +"You're _sure_," she said in a troubled voice, "that she understood it +was from me?" + +The moment had come. Susan looked straight back in her friend's face +and answered instantly: + +"Yes; I am quite sure." + +It was over. She had now told a real story--a very bad one. Nothing +worse could happen. + +Sophia Jane seemed satisfied, She gave a little sigh, and said softly: + +"Thank you. Then I expect she'll write." + +After this she did not mention the collar again, but was willing to play +at dominoes, though she could not get through more than one game. + +"I'm tired now," she said. "You may read aloud." When, however, she +found that Susan had only brought a book of fairy tales, she was much +displeased, and declared fretfully that fairy tales were nonsense. +"They're wicked too," she added, "because they tell stories." + +Susan disputed this, whereupon Sophia Jane grew so excited and angry, +and spoke in such a shrill voice that Buskin came in from the next room +to see what was the matter. + +"You've been here long enough, Miss Susan," she said, glancing at Sophia +Jane's flushed cheeks. "You better go down-stairs and let Miss Sophia +Jane be quiet. It's time she took her medicine." + +Susan collected her property and went away. There were a good many +things to carry, but she took one with her which weighed more heavily +than all the rest put together--the knowledge that she had told a story. + +And now, at last, her eyes were opened wide, and she could see clearly +the tangled web she had been weaving for some time past. She could see +that she had first despised Sophia Jane, and then been jealous of her; +first been conceited and proud, and then mean and deceitful. Good Susan +no longer, but far far worse than her poor little friend, whom she had +always considered so naughty. Little by little the web had become more +and more twisted and confused. Would it ever be straight again? She +made no excuse for herself now. Her heart was so full of sorrow and +repentance that she hardly knew how to bear it, and, creeping +sorrowfully up into the attic, she cast herself down on the big black +box and cried. She had thought herself so good since she had come to +Ramsgate, they had all told her so, and yet how naughty she had been-- +naughtier and naughtier, until at last she had told a story. What +should she do? An old rhyme of Maria's came into her head as she lay +there sobbing: + + "A fault confessed + Is half redressed." + +That was what she must do. Confess it all to Sophia Jane. But what a +humbling, miserable thing! She could see the expression on Sophia +Jane's face when she heard that Susan--good Susan--who had always been +held up as an example, had deceived Mademoiselle and told a story. "Oh, +I _couldn't_!" said Susan to herself. "Anything else--any other +punishment I would bear, but _not_ that." And then she went on to +remember Monsieur and Mademoiselle would know too, and they would never +like her again, or think her a good little girl--it would be too +dreadful. "I shall never never be happy again any way," said Susan half +aloud. "If I don't tell I shall be miserable, and if I do tell I shall +be miserable too." + +Nanna's voice calling her down to tea put an end for the moment to these +thoughts; but they came back during the evening with yet greater force, +and when she went to bed she felt unhappier than she had ever been in +her life. She was still, however, undecided about confessing her fault. + +During the next few days she did not see Sophia Jane, though the +improvement continued. It was a relief not to see her; and yet to go +about with a feeling like a lump of lead in her bosom was not, Susan +found, a comfortable thing. It did not get lighter as each day passed, +and at last something happened which so increased its weight that she +thought any punishment--any open disgrace--would be easier to bear. +For, how it happened no one could tell, Sophia Jane managed to catch a +chill, the fever returned with renewed violence, and she became +seriously ill again. Susan could soon tell from the grave face of the +doctor, and from the scraps of conversation she overheard, that her poor +little companion was even worse than she had been. Besides this, Mr +Bevis came one evening, and after he had talked a little while to Aunt +Hannah her eyes filled with tears, and Susan heard her say: + +"The child's life hangs on a thread." + +Mr Bevis said some texts and soon went away, but that one sentence +remained in Susan's mind and made her more miserable than ever. A +thread! It was such a thin, weak thing to hang on, and if it snapped +where would Sophia Jane's life be? Perhaps it would break soon, that +very night, before she could see her again and ask her pardon. It was +such a dreadful thought that Susan was unable to keep it to herself any +longer. She shut her eyes, said her evening prayer all through, and at +the end added very earnestly: "Don't let it break. _Please_ don't let +it break." + +Then Margaretta came rushing into the sitting-room where Susan was +curled up in the window seat. She looked pale and frightened. + +"Where's Aunt Hannah?" she said. + +"Just gone out of the room," answered Susan. + +"Oh!" she added, "_do_ tell me--is Sophia Jane worse?" + +"I don't know," said Margaretta hurriedly. "I want aunt. She ought to +see her; I think perhaps she would send for Dr Martin again." + +Dr Martin was sent for, and came, but he did not give much comfort. + +"You can't do anything," he said, "but try and keep up her strength. A +great deal will depend on the next few hours." + +From her lonely corner Susan watched and waited all that wretched +evening, and, not daring to ask questions, stayed there, chill with +misery, until long past her usual bed-time. At last Buskin came to find +her. Wonder of wonders! there were tears in Buskin's eyes, and Susan +was encouraged by this display of softness to stretch out her arms to +her for comfort, and whisper, "Will she get better?" + +"The Lord only knows, my dear," answered Buskin gruffly; "_we're_ all in +His hands." + + + +CHAPTER SIX. + +SOPHIA JANE POSTS A LETTER, AND SUSAN PAYS A VISIT. + +Susan remained awake a long, long time that night listening with +strained ears to the subdued noises in the house. She heard Dr Martin +come and go away again, his boots creaking softly on each stair; she +heard Aunt Hannah's voice, mysterious and low, wishing him good-night, +and after that the shutting of the door. Then a great stillness seemed +to fall over everything, and she went to sleep at last. + +When she next opened her eyes the darkness was over--here was bright +daylight again, and Buskin drawing up her blind. The first words she +heard were like part of a dream: + +"She's had a beautiful sleep, and the fever's taken a turn." + +Susan rubbed her eyes to be quite sure she was awake, and that the good +news was true. + +"The doctor's been already this morning," continued Buskin, coming up to +the bedside, "and he says she'll do now with care." + +Susan had a hundred questions to ask, and her joy and relief were so +great that she wanted to pour it all out at once. But this morning +Buskin was "herself again," her soft expression was gone; she was cold +and stiff as usual, and would scarcely say more than "yes" and "no" to +these eager inquiries. "I shall hear all about it," said Susan to +herself, "at breakfast-time;" and she dressed as quickly as she could +and went down-stairs. + +She was right, for no one mentioned any other subject throughout the +meal. Sophia Jane had been neither liked or valued while she was strong +and well, but her illness seemed to have drawn all hearts towards her. +And yet she was the same Sophia Jane! + +"I never could have believed," said Aunt Hannah with tears in her eyes, +as she put down her tea-cup, "that I should have grown so fond of that +child!" + +"Poor little darling!" said Nanna. + +"I cried my eyes out last night," added Margaretta, "after Dr Martin +had gone." + +"The relief of seeing her fall asleep!" continued Aunt Hannah. "I shall +never forget it! It was just two o'clock, and I had sent Buskin to bed. +Presently, I thought the child was lying more quietly, and her +breathing sounded different. I hardly dared to look at her, but when I +did she was sleeping as calmly as a baby, and her forehead quite moist. +I shall never forget it!" + +"Dear little thing!" repeated Nanna. + +"We shall all be very thankful, I'm sure," said Aunt Hannah looking +round the table, "if Sophia Jane gets quite well again." + +"Of course we shall!" exclaimed everyone together. + +"And during her illness I have felt that when she was well we were all +sometimes too hard upon her faults." + +There was silence. + +"Everyone is better for being loved," pursued Aunt Hannah. "And I fancy +no one has ever loved Sophia Jane much in her life. Perhaps this has +made her hard and disagreeable. At any rate, I think we might all with +advantage be more patient and kind than we have been." + +It seemed difficult to Aunt Hannah to get through this speech, for she +stopped very often; and Susan could see that once she was nearly crying. +She had been sitting up half the night and was no doubt very tired, but +how wonderful it was to hear her speak like that of Sophia Jane! It +made her resolve still more firmly than she had yet done, that as soon +as ever her companion was well enough she would make full and free +confession of her fault. + +And this time Sophia Jane seemed to have made up her mind to go straight +on and get well, for she improved every day; and though it was only a +little way at a time there were no drawbacks. The morning arrived which +Susan had long been waiting for, when Aunt Hannah said, "You may see +Sophia Jane." Susan thought that Mary Queen of Scots could not have +felt worse when they told her that the block was ready; but she did not +flinch. The moment she was alone with Sophia Jane she faltered out her +story, and stood before her with burning cheeks and downcast eyes. The +little invalid peered curiously out of the frilled white cap she wore. +It was one of Aunt Hannah's adapted to her size, because she complained +that her head felt cold, and it gave her such a strangely old witch-like +air that it greatly increased Susan's fear and distress. + +"But I thought you said Mademoiselle understood I sent it?" + +"So I did," murmured Susan. + +"But that was a story?" + +No answer. + +"But I thought you were always good?" with a gleam of gratification in +her eyes. + +"I'm very sorry," said the culprit. + +Sophia Jane paused a moment, then she asked: + +"Does Mademoiselle know now?" + +"No," said Susan. "I haven't seen her." + +"Well!" exclaimed Sophia Jane scornfully, "I should think you might +write." + +"So I will," said Susan earnestly; "and then will you forgive me?" + +"Oh, I don't know about that!" said Sophia Jane, shaking her head till +the frill of her cap trembled. "You see it was so very bad of you." + +"I know," said Susan humbly. Then venturing to glance at Sophia Jane's +face she was surprised to see a sudden little smile appear, and to hear +her exclaim: + +"At any rate there's _one_ thing! They'll never be able to say again, +`try to be as good as Susan,' because you've been much naughtier now +than I've ever been!" + +She chuckled softly to herself, and then said--suddenly and sharply: + +"Why don't you write the letter?" + +It was not the least part of Susan's punishment to be treated as a child +who could not be trusted. But she bore it patiently, fetched her desk, +and wrote the words sternly dictated by Sophia Jane. The latter then +requested that she might read the letter, and having done so watched +while Susan directed the envelope and put a stamp on it. Then she said: + +"Give it me," and immediately pushed it under her pillow. + +"Sha'n't I post it?" asked Susan humbly. + +"Certainly not!" said Sophia Jane decidedly. "That would be a pretty +thing indeed!" + +Susan felt humbled to the dust, and yet when she left her companion's +room her heart was lighter, and she was really happier than she had been +for a long time. She had done what she could to repair her fault, and +all the pricks and stabs which Sophia Jane thrust into her were not +nearly so hard to bear as the reproaches of her own self. True they +were painful, for Susan was a proud child and liked to be well thought +of; but after all she was suffering justly. Even if Monsieur and +Mademoiselle should always despise her after reading that letter she +should deserve it. But, oh, what a pity it was! So the thing next to +be dreaded was the meeting with Mademoiselle Delphine, and to see her +kindly brown face look cold and displeased. Susan could not help hoping +that it would not happen just yet. She did not want to see either her +or Monsieur for a long time. She wondered whether Sophia Jane had sent +the letter at once, and whether Mademoiselle would write in answer or +come herself. She was not, however, kept long in uncertainty about +this, for two days after her interview with Sophia Jane there came a +note for Aunt Hannah, which she opened at breakfast, saying: + +"This is from Mademoiselle Delphine." + +Susan watched her face anxiously, and saw a puzzled expression as she +read on. + +"She wants to know," said Aunt Hannah, at last looking up, "if she may +come and see Sophia Jane this evening at five o'clock, and says she +brings a friend. What friend can she mean?" + +"Very strange, indeed!" said Margaretta. "I've no objection whatever to +Mademoiselle's seeing the child," continued Aunt Hannah. "In fact, I +think it would interest and amuse her to have a visitor. But the +friend! I must say I consider that rather thoughtless and ill-judged. +I am always glad to see Monsieur La Roche or his sister--but their +_friends_! That is quite another matter." + +"Quite," said Nanna and Margaretta both at once. + +Susan was at first too occupied with the idea that Mademoiselle was +coming that very evening to think about the friend at all, or to wonder +whom it could be; she hastened with the news to Sophia Jane, who had now +so far improved in strength that she was allowed to sit up a little +while every afternoon. She was delighted at the idea of the visit, and +at once made a suggestion about the friend which filled Susan with +dismay, it was this: + +"Perhaps, as she's so fond of Mrs Jones, she means to bring her." + +What an idea! and yet when Susan thought it over it did not seem +unlikely, for Mademoiselle always spoke with great admiration of "Madame +Jones" as an acquaintance to be much valued. "A noble-hearted being," +she had called her more than once. Susan wondered what Margaretta and +Nanna would think of her if she came. They always talked so much about +appearance, and manner, and dress, and if they disapproved of it they +said, "rather common." They would certainly call Madame Jones "rather +common," for they would not understand about her noble heart; and indeed +Susan remembered she should not have done so herself without +Mademoiselle's explanation. It was a pity that when people had noble +hearts it did not make them look noble outside, and she ended by hoping +very much that Madame Jones would not come. + +It was between four and five o'clock in the afternoon of the expected +visit, and the little girls were alone together. Aunt Hannah had +promised that Mademoiselle should have a snug tea with them upstairs if +she came alone, so that they were awaiting her arrival with some +anxiety. Susan could not help a little secret hope now that she would +_not_ be alone, so that the dreaded meeting might be deferred. Sophia +Jane had made no further reference to the collar, but Susan felt as much +abashed in her presence as any prisoner before his judge, and sometimes +found it difficult to talk. She gave a timid look at her; she was in a +large arm-chair close to the fire, very much covered up and surrounded +by pillows, in the midst of which she looked like a small white mouse in +a red-flannel gown. Her features were sharpened by illness, and she +still insisted on wearing Aunt Hannah's cap; but though all this made +her more like an old woman than a child, there was to-day a softened +light in her blue eyes which Susan noticed at once. She had never seen +it there before. She took courage. + +"Do you suppose," she said, glancing at black Dinah, "that Margaretta +will let you play with Dinah when you are well?" + +"I don't want to get well," said Sophia Jane at once. + +"Don't--want--to get--well!" repeated Susan in surprise. + +"I shouldn't mind always being ill," said Sophia Jane. "Everyone's +kind, no one scolds you; you have nice things to eat, and lemonade. I +don't want to get well." + +"I want you to get well to play with me again," said Susan. "And I know +everybody wants you to get well." + +"Why do they?" asked the invalid. + +"Oh, because--of course they do," was the only reason Susan could give. + +"Well," said Sophia Jane thoughtfully, "of course there's the trouble of +it, and the doctor to pay." + +She wrinkled her brow as she said this, and looked sideways at Susan +with her old cunning expression. + +"Oh, it isn't that," said Susan very earnestly; "why, they're all +dreadfully sorry. That night you were worst, you know, Aunt Hannah +cried, and every one, and so did Buskin." + +"I don't think I should cry if they were ill," said Sophia Jane after +some reflection. + +"Well, it shows how fond they are of you, doesn't it?" remarked Susan. + +"Perhaps," replied Sophia Jane, and after that she was silent for a long +time, and Susan stationed herself at the window to watch for +Mademoiselle and her friend. + +Whenever she saw two people in the distance she cried out, "Here they +are!" And this happened so often, and turned out to be not the least +like them, that at last it made the invalid quite peevish. So many +false alarms, when she could not look out of the window herself, were +most distracting. + +"You're not to say it again," she exclaimed in a weak voice of command, +"unless you see them _acshally_ coming in at the gate." + +Susan controlled herself with difficulty, for she was getting very much +excited as the time drew near. And now, stepping quickly and neatly +along with a large basket on her arm, Mademoiselle's figure did really +appear--alone. Where was the friend? Susan's heart sank, and her hands +grew quite cold. In another minute she must meet Mademoiselle, and +then-- "She's coming in at the gate," she announced to the invalid in a +trembling voice; "and she hasn't brought Mrs Jones or anyone, but only +a large basket." + +"You're sure?" said Sophia Jane in a husky agitated tone; "then look +here, quick, before she comes in." + +Susan turned sharply round from the window. Sophia Jane was leaning +forward over the grate, with a flush on her white cheeks and her eyes +very bright, and in her hand she held, soiled and crumpled, Susan's +letter of confession. The next second it had dropped into the heart of +the fire, and as the door opened to admit Mademoiselle a little flame +sprang brightly up. And that was how Sophia Jane posted the letter. It +was such a sudden thing, and so completely altered the state of affairs +that Susan could not at first take it in, or remember that she might now +answer Mademoiselle's greetings without shame. These were most +affectionate and cheerful, and she presently seated herself close to +Sophia Jane's arm-chair with her basket on her knees, and untied her +bonnet-strings. + +"Madame, your aunt, is so kind to ask me to take tea with you," she +said, "and I have taken the liberty to bring also a Monsieur who is +anxious to make his compliments to Miss Sophia." + +"Is he down-stairs?" asked Sophia Jane. + +"Mais non," said Mademoiselle with a little burst of laughter; "he is +here, in this room, and waits to make himself known." + +She opened the lid of the basket a very little way and peeped in. + +"It's Gambetta!" exclaimed Sophia Jane, in a voice hoarse with +excitement; "that's what you meant by a friend." + +There was the tiny tinkle of a bell. Mademoiselle opened the basket +wide, and there indeed was Gambetta in all the dignity of the new +collar. + +Nothing could exceed Sophia Jane's delight as she clasped her hands in +an ecstasy and laughed aloud. "Doesn't he look nice in it?" she said. +Mademoiselle smiled and nodded in return; everyone looked pleased except +Gambetta himself, who held his neck stiffly as though he said, "Pride +must suffer pain." + +Susan stood a little behind the group while this was going on; now she +came in front of Mademoiselle and caressed Gambetta's soft furry neck. + +"It's Sophia Jane's present," she said, "not mine. She sent it to +Monsieur for him." + +Mademoiselle looked puzzled. + +"It was got with Susan's half-crown," added Sophia Jane quickly, "so +it's from both of us." + +"Ah, that is very amiable of you both," said Mademoiselle. "Gambetta +has both the two of you to thank--and Adolphe also; that is very +agreeable." + +And so the event which Susan had thought of and dreaded so much passed +with this slight remark. The confession had been made, and her mind was +clear again, and free. Free to laugh, and talk, and look people +straight in the face, and be her old happy self. But there was one +thing she never forgot, and that was Sophia Jane's generosity. By +burning that letter she had gained not only Susan's affection but her +respect; she should never look down upon her again. + +Meanwhile Gambetta became restive, and, in spite of all his mistress's +entreaties, broke away from her, and refused to settle down till he had +made a thorough examination of the room. He jumped on to the table, +smelt all the chairs, looked suspiciously behind the chest of drawers, +and walked gingerly in his high furry boots amongst Sophia Jane's +medicine bottles. His every movement was watched and admired, and by +the time Buskin brought in tea he had finished his inquiries and drawn +near the group by the fire. Then, after one thoughtful glance round, he +chose Sophia Jane's position as being the warmest, softly leapt on to +her lap, and snuggled himself among her shawls, In this situation he +presently began a purring song of comfort, in which he was joined by the +tea-kettle. Sophia Jane's satisfaction was now complete. Mademoiselle +Delphine's face beamed, and Susan, pouring out tea with Aunt Hannah's +best pink set, felt almost too happy for words. Probably few rooms held +four happier creatures that evening. + +It was pleasant to see how Mademoiselle enjoyed herself; how she said, +"Excellente!" to the tea, and water-cresses, and muffins, and how she +coaxed Sophia Jane to eat, and made her laugh. She was one of those +fortunate people who pick up pleasures everywhere, and find amusement in +the most common things of life. After tea she told them stories. +Interesting details about Paris, and Adolphe, and their journey to +England with poor Gambetta in a basket, and all this made the time pass +so quickly, that when the clock struck seven everyone was startled. +Mademoiselle herself sprang up at once with a little shriek. She had +promised to meet Adolphe at a certain point on her way home, and he +would without doubt be waiting for her. Gambetta, therefore, was +hustled into his basket before he had time to resist, and Mademoiselle, +having embraced her little friends heartily, was soon on her way. + +The two little girls were silent for a minute after she had gone. +Sophia Jane, languid after such unusual excitement, stared absently at +the fire, and Susan, not yet quite at her ease, did not like to speak +first. But when Buskin entered it seemed to give her courage, and she +said: + +"Haven't we had a nice tea-party?" + +"Yes," answered Sophia Jane; and added thoughtfully, "it's very nice to +be ill." + +"But I want you to get well," said Susan. "You can't think how dull it +is down-stairs without you." + +Buskin would not allow any further conversation, and Susan had to say +good-night and go away. As she kissed her friend's tiny befrilled face, +she felt for the first time really fond of her, and grateful also. She +had made the discovery lately that you could not judge people by their +outsides, or even by what others said of them. Under her cross, crabbed +manner Sophia Jane had hidden a grateful heart, which had answered to +the first touch of kindness; and disguised by sharp and shrewish words, +she had shown a really generous and forgiving spirit. Like Madame +Jones, it appeared that she had a noble heart. + +The next day was one of some excitement to Susan, for it had been +arranged that she was to spend it with some friends of Margaretta and +Nanna who lived at Ramsgate. Their name was Winslow. It was not +altogether a pleasant prospect, for she had never been there before, and +she had very little hope that she should find them agreeable. Not that +she knew anything against them; on the contrary, their name was never +uttered without words of admiration, and if Nanna or Margaretta wished +to bestow high approval on anything, they always said it was like +something the Winslows had. It appeared, indeed, that these friends +were much favoured by fortune. Their house was the pleasantest, their +horses the best, their taste the most excellent, their children the +prettiest and most clever. It was this last point which had specially +interested Sophia Jane and Susan, and they had gradually come to dislike +the little Winslows, though they knew nothing of them but their names +and appearance. Whenever Nanna or Margaretta returned from seeing these +friends they were brimful of admiration at the excellent conduct and +talent of the children, and did not fail to draw unfavourable contrasts. +They described their dresses, repeated their speeches, and gave many +instances of their polite behaviour and obedience to rules. Little Eva, +who was not so old as Susan, could already play "The Harmonious +Blacksmith" without a mistake. Dear Julia, who was Sophia Jane's exact +age, danced the minuet with the utmost elegance, and always held herself +upright. As for darling Lucy, she spoke French with ease, and had +begged to be allowed to begin German. + +Although they had never spoken to these wonderful children, the little +girls had often met them out of doors walking with their governess, and +had long ago made up their minds about them. + +They thought them prim and dull-looking, and found something annoying in +their neatly-dressed little figures, and the perfect propriety with +which they stepped along, holding their small round heads rather high. +They imagined, too, that they had seen them cast glances of surprise and +disdain on Sophia Jane's clothes, which were often shabby, and never +becoming. They agreed, therefore, in considering them disagreeable +children, and were by no means anxious for their acquaintance. + +Remembering all this, Susan felt there was no chance at all that she +should enjoy herself, and she did not get much comfort from Sophia Jane, +when she went to say good-bye. + +"I'm glad I'm not going," she said. "I know I should hate 'em. You +know we always have." + +"Perhaps they'll be nicer in-doors," said Susan, though she did not +think it probable. + +"I believe they're all horrid, every one of 'em," said Sophia Jane +decidedly, "in-doors and out, and I'm glad I'm not going." + +"It wouldn't be quite so bad if you were," said Susan with a sigh, +"because we could talk about it afterwards. But I must go; there's +Margaretta calling me." + +"I hope, Susan," said Margaretta, as they walked along the parade +together, "that you will remember to behave very nicely, and answer +properly when Mrs Winslow speaks to you. Don't blush and look shy. +The little Winslows never look silly, and I have never seen them blush." + +"Are you fond of Mrs Winslow?" asked Susan. "She's very kind," +answered Margaretta, "and very clever. She knows a great deal about +education." + +Susan asked no more questions, and in a quarter of an hour they arrived +at the house which was large and tall, with green balconies, and a great +many windows. Part of it faced the sea, and part of it went round the +corner into a street, and it all looked, inside and out, so bright and +clean and new that it was quite dazzling. Susan thought she had never +seen a house where everything shone so much, and there was so much +light. Not a shadow, not a dark corner anywhere, and all the furniture +was polished so highly that she saw herself and Margaretta reflected a +dozen times as they moved along. When they reached the drawing-room it +was still more confusing, for there were so many mirrors, and windows, +and statuettes under glass cases, that the brilliancy almost brought +tears to her eyes, it was such a contrast to the dimness of Aunt +Hannah's low ceilings and small rooms. Wherever she turned her head, +too, another Susan stared at her, and this made her feel shy and +uncomfortable. + +"Isn't it a beautiful room?" said Margaretta, seating herself on a +pompous yellow sofa. "So cheerful!" + +Before Susan could answer, Mrs Winslow came in. She was a fair lady +with a very straight nose, and she welcomed them kindly, and asked after +Sophia Jane. + +"My little people," she continued, scarcely waiting, Susan noticed, for +Margaretta's answer, "are just returning from their walk. Air and light +are as necessary to the young as to flowers, are they not? How can we +expect their minds to expand unless the body is healthy?" + +"No, indeed," said Margaretta. + +Mrs Winslow then proposed that they should go and take off their hats, +which being done she led the way down-stairs into the dining-room, where +the "little people" were already assembled with their governess for +their early dinner. During this Susan had plenty of time for +observation, and she soon decided that she should have to tell Sophia +Jane that they were _not_ nicer in-doors than out. They were +wonderfully alike: all had little straight noses, fair complexions, and +pale blue eyes, and when they spoke they said all their words very +distinctly, and never cut any of them short. They were very polite to +Susan. + +"I encourage conversation with my children during meal-time, on +principle," said Mrs Winslow. "How can you expect them to acquire +right habits of speaking if silence is imposed?" + +"No, indeed," said Margaretta again. + +"The force of habit," continued Mrs Winslow, putting down her knife and +fork, and looking from Margaretta to Miss Pink, the governess, "has +never, it seems to me, been sufficiently considered in education. It in +a giant power. It rests with us to turn it this way or that, to give it +a right or a wrong direction, to use it for good or for evil. I say to +my children, for instance, `always think before you act, in the smallest +as well as the greatest things.' By degrees I thus form in them habits +of steadiness, thoughtfulness, calmness, which will not desert them when +called upon to act in moments of danger and difficulty. `Train up a +child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart +from it'--nay more, he _cannot_ depart from it." + +It was quite by chance as Mrs Winslow said these last words that her +eyes rested on Susan, who had been staring at her all the while she had +been speaking, and who now felt that an answer of some kind was +expected. She had none to give, however, for she had not been listening +at all to what had been said, her mind being filled with wonder and awe +at Mrs Winslow, who talked as though she were reading aloud. She only +blushed, therefore, and immediately became aware that three pairs of +pale blue eyes were fastened upon her from the other side of the table. +The little Winslows never blushed, Margaretta had said, and of course +they thought her very silly. She longed for the meal to be over, and +the visit also. Why, she wondered, were Margaretta and Nanna so fond of +coming here? Margaretta did not look as if she were enjoying herself +much. She was sitting in a stiff position, with her head a little on +one side, watching every glance of Mrs Winslow's, so that she might +say, "yes, indeed," or "quite so," or "exactly," in the right place. +Her voice did not sound like the voice she had at Aunt Hannah's, but +smaller, and she said her words mincingly. Susan felt sure she was not +enjoying herself. Why _did_ she come? + +Presently the conversation became more interesting, and Susan now +listened to it with some anxiety, for Mrs Winslow was making +arrangements for the afternoon, and she hoped to hear of an early return +to Belmont Cottage. She did not want to see any more of the little +Winslows, and quite longed to get back to Sophia Jane and tell her all +about them. It was disappointing, therefore, to hear it decided that +Margaretta should drive out with Mrs Winslow, who would leave her at +Aunt Hannah's, and that Susan should walk back later with Miss Pink and +the little people. Margaretta was almost to be envied. Perhaps it was +because she liked driving in a carriage with a pair of swift horses that +she liked coming here. And yet Mrs Winslow's presence would spoil +anything, Susan thought. If she went on talking like that, and +Margaretta had to sit up and listen to her and make little remarks, the +drive would not be worth having; it could not be much worse to walk home +with the little Winslows. + +After dinner the little girls took their visitor into the schoolroom, +where they were to amuse themselves until it was time to start for their +walk. It was a large bright room like all the others in the house; but +this cheerfulness did not seem to have affected the Winslows themselves. +They were quiet children, always good and obedient, but rather dull. +They did not seem to understand games, and seldom laughed. How very +different they were to Sophia Jane! Certainly she was not nearly so +well behaved, but then she was a far more amusing companion. The +afternoon seemed endless. + +"Don't you ever play with dolls?" Susan asked at last. + +"No," answered Lucy the eldest, "we are too old. Eva has one, but we +put away our dolls on my last birthday." + +"What _do_ you play at?" inquired Susan. + +"We haven't much time to play," replied Lucy seriously, "because we +belong to so many things." + +"What things?" + +"There's the `Early Rising Society,' and the `Half-hour Needlework for +the East-End Society,' and the `Reading Society,' and the `Zenana +Meetings;' and we're all `Young Abstainers.'" + +"What's that?" asked Susan. + +"It's the children's temperance society. We pledge ourselves not to +take alcohol, and to prevent others from taking it if we can. There's a +meeting once a month. It's our turn next time to have it here." + +"What do you do when you meet?" inquired Susan. + +"Some of us work," said Lucy, "and someone reads aloud." + +"And then," added little Eva, "we have tea." + +There was a faint look of satisfaction on Eva's face as she said this. + +"Eva thinks tea is the best part of all," said Julia, the next sister, +rather scornfully. + +"Well," said Susan, "I expect I should too, because I'm not fond of +needlework. Unless," she added, "the book was _very_ interesting to +listen to." + +"Sometimes it is," said Julia, "and sometimes it isn't. Are you fond of +reading?" + +"Some books," answered Susan. + +"If you belonged to the Reading Society," put in Lucy, "you'd have to +read an improving book for half an hour every day, and perhaps at the +end of the year you'd get a prize." + +"I suppose you mean an uninteresting book like a lesson book," said +Susan. "I shouldn't like that." + +"Well, of course, it mustn't be a _story_-book," said Julia. + +"Would the _Pilgrim's Progress_ do?" asked Susan. + +The little girls looked doubtfully at each other. "I'm not sure," said +Lucy, "whether that that _would_ be considered an improving book." + +Susan proceeded to make more inquiries about the various societies, but +she did not think any of them sounded attractive, and certainly had no +wish to join the little Winslows in belonging to them. This filled up +the time until four o'clock, when, with Miss Pink, they all set out on +their walk to Belmont Cottage. Susan was surprised to see that each +little girl was provided with a hoop, which was the nearest approach to +a toy of any kind that she had observed during her visit. + +"We always take hoops out in the afternoon until the month of May," +explained Lucy. "Mother considers the exercise healthy." + +It was such a relief to Susan to feel that the visit was over, and that +she was really going back, that she could not walk quite soberly with +Miss Pink, but danced along the parade by little Eva's side as she +bowled her hoop, and was almost inclined to sing aloud with pleasure. +There were a great many people about, and quite a crowd of carriages, +and soon in the distance they saw Mrs Winslow's black horses +approaching. She had left Margaretta at Belmont Cottage, and was now +returning. Just as the carriage passed, Eva, who was staring at her +mother, gave her hoop a blow which sent it in the wrong direction, and +it trundled out into the middle of the road, almost under the horses' +feet. Not quite, however, for Susan, who was watching it, sprang after +it and caught it away just in time. Mrs Winslow nodded and smiled at +the children, the carriage drove on, and Susan carried the hoop back to +the path where the little Winslows were drawn up in a row with very +serious faces. + +"You might have been run over," said Lucy gravely. + +"I didn't think about it," said Susan. + +"Mother says," continued Lucy, "_Always_ think before you act." + +"My dear," interrupted Miss Pink hastily, "Susan has done very well. +There are exceptions to every rule." + +When Susan reached home she found Sophia Jane still sitting up, and +eager to hear all the news about the visit. She at once inquired if the +Winslows were "horrid;" but Susan would not quite say that. "They were +very kind to her and very good, but--" she added, "I haven't enjoyed +myself a bit, and I never want to go there again or see them any more." + +"I told you so," said Sophia Jane, and she gave herself a hug of +satisfaction. + + + +CHAPTER SEVEN. + +"CAPTAIN ENTICKNAPP." + +It was the end of March before Sophia Jane was allowed to go +down-stairs. She had been ill six long weeks, and even now she was very +far from strong, and walked in a tottering manner like a little old +lady. Susan, much excited and pleased, hovered round her, anxious to be +useful and add to her comfort. She led her carefully to the large +arm-chair which she had dragged near the window, put a cushion at her +back and a footstool under her feet, and brought her a cup of beef-tea. +Sophia Jane looked out of the window and clapped her hands with +pleasure. + +"How beautiful it is!" she exclaimed. + +For the sun was shining very brightly, and all the crocuses in Aunt +Hannah's garden were in bloom--smart little soldiers in their trim +uniforms of purple, gold, and white, standing in rows amongst their +bristling green spears. There were tiny green leaves on all the +gooseberry bushes, the sky was blue, and it all looked like a fresh new +world to her after she had been shut up so long in one room. + +"I may go out of doors to-morrow, mayn't I?" she asked eagerly as Aunt +Hannah came into the room. But Aunt shook her head. + +"You must be patient, my dear," she said. "The sun is hot, but the wind +is in the east, and it is not really warm yet. The doctor says we must +be careful not to risk a chill. Susan must think of something to amuse +you in-doors." + +"I know something she would like," said Susan. She nodded her head +towards the portrait over the mantelpiece, and the gentleman in the +pig-tail seemed to answer her glance with his kind blue eyes. + +"You promised long ago you would tell us a story about him--a true one. +We should both like that." + +"Perhaps I will this evening," replied Aunt Hannah; "but you must amuse +Sophia Jane quietly until then, and be careful not to tire her." + +This Susan readily promised, and looked forward with great pleasure to +the evening, not only because she was extremely fond of hearing a story, +but because she had gradually come to take a good deal of interest in +Captain Enticknapp. He was her mother's aunt's father, and therefore +Susan's great-grandfather, and it was wonderful to think how long ago he +lived, and what strange things he must have seen and done. The +sitting-room, and indeed the whole house, was full of objects he had +brought home from his different voyages: oddly shaped-cups and bowls and +dishes of blue china, ivory carvings, and curious inlaid snuff-boxes. +There was one idol Susan specially liked. He was made of sandalwood, +and sat cross-legged in the middle of the mantelpiece just under the +portrait. His forehead was high and shining, and his expression +benevolent; here and there, he had been chipped and notched, so that one +might smell the fragrance of the wood. In her own mind Susan had given +him the name of Robin Grey, which she thought seemed to suit his face. +He was the nicest of all the idols, and there were a great many of all +kinds. + +Captain Enticknapp's blue eyes looked quietly down from the picture upon +all these things, and also upon sundry of his personal possessions which +had gone on many and many a voyage with him, and seen rough weather in +his company. There stood the square camphor-wood chest which had fitted +into his cabin, and since its last journey had remained here in the calm +retreat of Aunt Hannah's sitting-room. There was his great watch, +double cased, with a hole through it; made, Susan had heard, by a bullet +which might have killed Captain Enticknapp if it had not struck against +the watch first. There, too, was the snuff-box he had always carried. +It was a flat silver one, with portraits of Queen Anne and Dr +Sacheverel engraved upon it; but they were so faint now with age, and +the constant pressure of the captain's thumb that they could hardly be +traced. + +These things served to keep her great-grandfather and his voyages and +adventures constantly before Susan's mind, and she thought of him very +often. At night, when the wind was high, and she heard the great waves +tossing and tumbling on the shore, she liked to fancy him far out at sea +in his ship, and to wonder if he ever felt afraid. When Aunt Hannah +read prayers she came to a verse in the Psalms sometimes, which seemed +quite to belong to him: + +"Such as go down to the sea in ships, and occupy their business in great +waters; these men see the works of the Lord, and his wonders in the +deep." + +That was just what Captain Enticknapp had done, and Susan had now made +up so many stories about him in her head, that she was very glad to +think she was really to hear a true one at last. + +Aunt Hannah did not forget her promise, and that evening, Margaretta and +Nanna being away, and the children comfortably settled near the fire, +she took up her knitting and began as follows: + +"You both know that the old watch I have shown you sometimes, with holes +through the case, belonged to my father, Captain John Enticknapp. I am +going to tell you the story of how those holes were made, and how that +watch and the gratitude of a man were once the means of saving his life. +It happened long ago, when I was a little girl of Susan's age, and +lived with my father and mother in a house on the river at Wapping." + +The children gazed at Aunt Hannah. She wore a front and a cap; her face +was wrinkled. What did she look like when she was a little girl of +Susan's age? + +"You know, Susan," continued she, looking up at the portrait, "that +Captain Enticknapp was your great-grandfather, and I daresay it seems +impossible to you to think of him as young as as he was when that +picture was painted." + +"Was he young?" asked Sophia Jane. "Then, why has he got grey hair?" + +"That is not grey hair, my dear, it is powder; nearly every one who +could afford to pay the tax wore powder in those days. When that +picture was done my father was only thirty-five years old. Well, as I +told you, we lived at Wapping, on the banks of the river Thames, close +to the great London Docks. Since then other docks have been built, and +Wapping is no longer such an important place; but then it was the chief +entrance for shipping, and nearly all the great merchantmen came in +there with their cargoes, or started thence for foreign countries. Many +large vessels lay there for months at a time to be refitted, and as our +house stood close to the water's-edge you could see from its windows all +that went on, and all the different crafts and barges which passed on +the river. When you wished to go anywhere by water you had only to step +down a narrow flight of stone stairs outside, get into a boat, and be +rowed where you pleased, and this was a very pleasant way of travelling +and cost little. At that time few lived at Wapping but sea-faring +people, and those who owned great wharfs, and had to do with merchandise +and shipping. My father was in the merchant service, well-known for his +successful voyages, and always to be trusted to carry through a matter +honourably and well. He was a man of his word, firm and true, and one +who would look neither to right or left, but go straight on where his +duty led. When you think of your great-grandfather, Susan, you can +always feel proud of this; there is nothing better than to have had +people belonging to us in the past who have been high-minded and good. +He was, of course, often absent from us for months at a time, and had +much to tell us about his voyages when he returned. He was the first to +take out a gang of convicts in the ship _Scarborough_, and land them in +the place which was afterwards called Botany Bay, then a wild and +desolate country; this happened in the year 1788, when a new law was +passed to establish a penal settlement in Australia with a governor at +its head. Until then convicts had been sent to America and the West +Indies. The account of this landing always interested me very much; +but, on his second voyage to Australia, there happened to my father such +a strange adventure, and such a narrow escape from a dreadful death that +I never wearied of hearing about it, and it is now as fresh in my memory +as if he had just told it to me. This is how it came to pass. It was +in the spring of 1789, when he had been at home with us for a month, +that he received orders to start for the colony with a second lot of 200 +convicts, some to be taken on board at Woolwich, and some at Portsmouth; +he was afterwards to proceed to China for a cargo of tea, and would +therefore be away a long, long time. The whole household was sorry for +this, because we all missed his cheerful companionship; but my mother +grieved most of all, for she understood better than we did, the dangers +he would go through, and felt each time he left her, that she might +never see him again. But she showed her trouble as little as she could +until he was out of her sight, so that he might go on his way with a +good heart, and not be too much cast down at leaving us alone. + +"Well, he got down to Portsmouth, and the convicts came on board, +looking at the first glance all very much alike, with their cropped +heads and their prison clothes. But this was not really so, there was a +great difference between them; for some were men of education and some +were ignorant; some were brutal and wicked by nature, and others only +weak and foolish; some were stupid, and others clever, and each of these +things stamps its own expression on the face and form. + +"As my father stood on the quay watching the men as they passed him, +someone tapped him on the shoulder, and turning he saw a certain Major +Grose standing there. + +"`Captain Enticknapp,' he said; `a word with you about one of those men. +Notice the one standing fourth from us now; his name is Birt. I know +him well and his father too. He can be trusted; it is misfortune rather +than vice which has brought him to this evil pass. If you can, allow +him some privileges, and show him kindness during the voyage. You will +do me a service if you will bear this in mind.' + +"Now my father was a man only too ready to think well of others, and to +do them a kindness if possible, so he willingly promised, and observed +Birt closely that he might know him again. He was a slight young fellow +of about twenty, with delicate features and large melancholy eyes which +he bent on the ground; so shame-faced and sad looking, and such a +contrast in his bearing to the recklessness of many of the other men, +that my father's heart was at once touched with pity for him. + +"On the voyage he took every possible occasion of being kind to Birt, +and allowed him the privilege of being on deck all day instead of only +two hours like the rest of the convicts. He also lent him books, +encouraged him to talk of his troubles, and by degrees learned the whole +story of his misfortunes. Now, in doing this my father became fond of +him, for to bestow benefits on anyone is a sure way to make a friendly +feeling towards them, and as for Birt he would have done anything to +serve the captain and show his gratitude. Very soon this chance was +given to him. + +"At night the convicts were all locked down under hatches and sentinels +placed over them. The men lay six in a berth, and it so happened that +one of these disclosed to Birt a plot that forty of them had made and +signed with their blood. Would he join them and have his share of the +prize? + +"Now Birt dared not say no, for he feared for his life amongst those +desperate men. + +"`Before I say that I will,' he replied, `I must know your plan. How is +it possible to seize the ship when such a good look-out is kept?' + +"Then the convict told him all that had been settled by the mutineers. +At four o'clock when the hatches were raised most of the officers went +to their cabins, and there would be more than twenty convicts on deck +who were all in the plot. They would then knock down the sentinels, get +possession of the quarter-deck, and seize the firearms which were ready +loaded. They would next release their other comrades and alter the +course of the ship. + +"`But what,' asked Birt, `will you do with the captain, officers, and +soldiers?' + +"`We will kill the captain,' replied the wretch, `and put his head at +the main topgallant masthead--and we will put the first-mate's head at +the mizzen, and the boatswain's at the fore. The other convicts who are +not with us in the matter we shall put on shore at some island, and +leave them to shift for themselves, they are worth nothing. The ship is +a good prize, for the captain has a large sum of money on board to take +out for the East India Company. These things done, we shall kill the +great hog, and with plenty of drink we shall have a good time of it. Do +you join us?' + +"Birt consented, for he dared not do otherwise; but all night long he +thought, and thought, and wondered how to get the plot to the captain's +knowledge. He was determined to save his life and that of the crew; but +it was not an easy matter, for he knew that the convicts would now watch +him narrowly and that he must not be seen talking to any of the +officers. The only thing to do was to put it down in writing and get it +somehow into their hands. But how to write it, when he was never a +moment alone? and it must be done the next day. + +"At last after much puzzling he hit upon a plan. + +"In the morning when he went on deck he washed a shirt and took it up to +the foretop to dry. Now the foretop is a place high up in the rigging +of the ship, a very giddy height indeed, and when a man is there he is +really almost out of sight and it is impossible to see what he is doing +from the deck. Birt had a little pocket book with him, and in it, as he +sat on the foretop, he wrote down all he knew about the intended mutiny. +When he went below he hoped to get a chance of slipping it into the +captain's hand, or of putting it where he would be likely to find it. + +"But luck was against him, for he could not get near the captain the +whole of that day, and there were keen eyes always fastened upon him by +the convicts, who were on deck by fifty at a time, and watched each +other closely for fear of treachery. Amongst each fifty there were +always some who were in the plot, and if they had suspected Birt of +betraying them they would have made short work of him, and this he knew +very well. Evening came, and still he had been able to do nothing. The +next morning at four o'clock the bloody deed was to be done. He paced +the deck to and fro, to and fro, almost in despair, and yet determined +to venture something for the captain's sake. Then he noticed that the +first-mate was in the hold, serving out water, and suddenly an idea came +into Birt's head. He pretended to stumble, threw himself right down the +hatchway as though by accident, and fell a distance of sixteen feet into +the hold. As you may imagine all was immediately stir and excitement, +for at first they thought he was killed--and, indeed, he was badly +bruised, having fallen on to a water-cask. In the bustle, however, he +managed to slip the book into the mate's hand, and the thing was done. +The surgeon was sent for and they got him up on deck, where, while his +hurts were being looked to, he had the satisfaction of seeing the mate +go aft and then into the captain's cabin. + +"Promptly the soldiers were ordered up, but when the convicts on deck +found their plot discovered they did not yield without a struggle. It +was a short but a violent one, for in the confusion they got hold of +some fire arms and fought desperately. The captain was twice wounded, +and it was then that the old watch you see there had its share in saving +his life. For the bullet, striking against the case and passing through +it, was thus lessened in force, and did not reach a vital part of the +body. It was, nevertheless, a serious hurt, and caused him much +suffering, for it was some days before the bit of metal could be +extracted from the wound. + +"Meanwhile the convicts, being overpowered, were secured under hatches +again, and the captain then made Birt point out the ringleaders and the +most desperate of the men, which he did to the number of thirteen. +These were placed in irons for the rest of the voyage, and when the +vessel arrived at Port Jackson it was supposed they would have been +hanged. But the governor declaring that it was not in his power to do +so, they were registered to be kept in irons, chained two and two +together, all their lives long. + +"And thus this wicked plot was found out, and those wicked men punished, +and thus it pleased Heaven to preserve your great-grandfather's life-- +first by reason of the gratitude and devotion of Mr Birt, and secondly +through his stout old watch which did him good service and turned aside +the enemy's bullet." + +Aunt Hannah paused, and looked up at the picture again. + +"But," said Susan, "what became of Mr Birt?" + +"He was pardoned," replied my aunt, "on the representation of my +father--because of the service he had rendered in saving the ship and +crew at the risk of his own life." + +"I'm glad of that," said Sophia Jane; "because it was so very good of +him to tumble down the hatchway." + +"He never returned to England," continued Aunt Hannah, "but settled in +China, where I believe he prospered and became at last a rich man. My +father often heard from him and always spoke of him with affection." + +"That's a very nice story, indeed," said Susan. "I'm sorry it's over." + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +The account of the convicts' mutiny is taken from the Unpublished diary +of Captain John Marshall, In command of the ship _Scarborough_ at the +time. + + + +CHAPTER EIGHT. + +SHRIMPS AND GOOD-BYES. + +Six months had passed. Susan's visit to Ramsgate was drawing to a +close, for her mother had said in her last letter that she should soon +be able to fix the day of her return. Six whole months! How long, how +endless they had seemed to look forward to, but how very short they were +to look back on. Susan could hardly believe they were really gone. She +remembered well how desolate she had felt at first, how strange +everything had been to her, and how she had longed to see a familiar +face; but now, though of course it would be delightful to go home, there +really were some things in Ramsgate she would be sorry to leave. One of +these was the sea. It had almost frightened her at first, but now she +had grown to love its changing face and voice, which were scarcely ever +the same for two days together. For sometimes, sparkling with smiles, +it would keep up a pleasant ripple of conversation, breaking now and +again into laughter. At other times, darkly frowning, it would toss +itself up and down in restless vexations, and hurl its waves on the +shore with hoarse exclamations of anger. You could never be sure of it +for long together, and in this it was strangely like the other thing +which Susan felt she should miss--Sophia Jane. She and the sea were +about equal in the uncertainty of their moods, for it must not be +supposed that her nature was so changed by her illness that she became +at once a good and agreeable little girl. This is not easy when one has +become used for a long while to be tiresome and ill-tempered, for +"habit," as Mrs Winslow had said, is a "giant power." The longer we +have done wrong the more difficult it is to do right. And yet in some +ways she was altered; she was not quite the same Sophia Jane who had +said, "I like to vex 'em," six months ago. + +Grateful for past kindness she now made many small efforts to please +Aunt Hannah, and would even sometimes check herself when most irritated +by Nanna's and Margaretta's reproofs. Naughty or good, she had now +become such a close companion to Susan that any pleasure or amusement +unshared by her would have been blank and dull. Now Susan knew what it +was to have a companion she did not like to think of the time when she +should learn lessons alone, and play alone, and have no one to talk over +things with and make plans. Troubles were lessened and joys doubled by +being shared, and when she thought of life at home without Sophia Jane +she felt quite sad. At such moments she wondered whether her friend +would be sorry too when the time came for them to part, and whether she +really cared at all about her. It was difficult to find out, for Sophia +Jane was not given to express herself affectionately, or to use terms of +endearment to anyone. She had never been accustomed to it. The two +people to whom she showed most attachment were Monsieur La Roche and his +sister, and even to these she was never what Mademoiselle called +"expansive." Remembering this, Susan felt it was quite possible that +Sophia Jane would see her depart with an unmoved face and no word of +regret, and sometimes this made her unhappy. She would have given a +good deal for a word of fondness from her once despised companion, but +all her efforts to extract it were useless. + +"Shall you be dull after I go away?" she would ask, and Sophia Jane +would answer shortly: + +"You're not going yet. What's the good of talking about it?" + +A day was now drawing near in which both the little girls were much +interested--Sophia Jane's birthday. Susan's present, prepared with much +caution and secrecy, was quite ready, and put away in a drawer till the +time came. She had bought the wax head out of Miss Powter's shop which +Sophia Jane had admired long ago, and fixed it to the body of the old +doll. Then little by little she had carefully made a complete set of +clothing for it, after the pattern of those Grace wore, and Mademoiselle +Delphine had added the promised grey silk bonnet to the costume. +Altogether it made a substantial and handsome present, and Susan often +went to look at it, and pictured to herself her companion's surprise and +pleasure. And besides this there was something else to look forward to, +for Aunt Hannah had promised that on this same occasion the children +should go to Pegwell Bay and have shrimps for tea. + +The Pegwell Bay shrimps were already famous in those days, and were +considered far superior to any caught elsewhere; but the place itself +had not yet become noisy and crowded as was the case in after years. It +was still a quiet and beautiful little bay with only one countrified inn +standing close to the shore. In the garden of this there were green +arbours, or boxes, with neat tables and chairs, where you might sit at +your ease, look out over the sea, watch the vessels sailing in the +distance, and eat the dusky-brown shrimps for which Pegwell Bay was +well-known. To these were added small new loaves of a peculiar shape, +fresh butter, and tea. Nothing else could be had, but this simple fare +was all very good of its kind, and to Susan and Sophia Jane it was more +attractive than the finest banquet. And its attractions were increased +by the fact that Aunt Hannah had given Sophia Jane leave to ask whom she +chose to join her birthday party. + +"Whom shall you ask?" said Susan as soon as they were alone after this +permission. + +"Only two people beside you," answered Sophia Jane immediately. +"Monsieur La Roche and his sister." + +"Oh!" exclaimed Susan. She paused a moment, for it seemed a bold stroke +on Sophia Jane's part; then she added: + +"I should like them to go very much; but sha'n't you ask anyone else? +Not Margaretta and Nanna?" + +"I don't mind _asking_ them," said Sophia Jane, "because I know they +won't come." + +And she was quite right, for on hearing of who were to form Sophia +Jane's party to Pegwell Bay, Nanna and Margaretta became very scornful. + +"What a ridiculous party!" exclaimed Margaretta. "Now, if you were to +ask the little Winslows and their governess, and Mr and Mrs Bevis and +those nice-looking pupils, how much better it would be. Nanna and I +would go with you then." + +"_Of course_," added Nanna, "if you're going to have Monsieur and his +sister, who always look such absurd objects, you _couldn't_ ask any one +else. But I call it very nonsensical. I wonder Aunt Hannah allows it?" + +"Aunt said I might ask who I liked," replied Sophia Jane, "and I do like +Monsieur and Mademoiselle, and I don't like the Winslows, and I can't +bear Mr Bevis' pupils. You and Nanna may come if you like." + +"We're much obliged to you," answered Margaretta with dignity, "but we +greatly prefer staying at home." + +So as Sophia Jane had said, there were only to be two guests beside +Susan, for though Aunt Hannah was invited and made no objection at all +to the party, she excused herself from joining it. + +The invitation written and accepted, they had now only to wait till the +time came, to wish heartily for a fine day, and to look forward to the +event with an excitement quite unknown to those who have many pleasures. +It seemed slow in coming, but it came. The weather was bright and +cloudless, and nothing was wanting to their satisfaction. It is true +Nanna and Margaretta still looked scornfully superior when the party was +mentioned, but that was not enough to spoil it, and both Susan and +Sophia Jane set forth on their expedition with the lightest possible +hearts, prepared for enjoyment. + +Aunt Hannah was to take them to meet Monsieur and Mademoiselle at the +place where the omnibus started for Pegwell Bay, and when they got +within a short distance they could see that their punctual guests were +already there waiting. They were both in the most cheerful spirits, and +had attired themselves in a manner suitable to "le voyage." Monsieur, +in particular, had cast aside his ordinary garments, and had now quite a +marine and holiday air. He wore a white waistcoat and trousers rather +shrunk, a sailor hat, and a short blue coat; slung round him by a bright +new leather strap he carried a telescope in a neat case, with which to +survey distant shipping, and in his hand a cane with a tassel. +Mademoiselle on her side had not forgotten to do honour to the occasion +by a freshly-trimmed bonnet, and a small bouquet of spring flowers in +the front of her black dress. + +After some delay--partly caused by Monsieur, who had many polite +speeches to make, and stepped about in front of Aunt Hannah with +repeated bows, and partly by Mademoiselle's extreme reluctance to +getting on to the top of the omnibus--the start was really made. Susan +drew a deep breath of delight, and thought it was the most beautiful +drive she had ever had. + +Their way, after they had rattled through the streets of the town, lay +for some distance along a sandy road with woods on each side of it. The +sea was hidden, but there were the fresh green buds on the trees to look +at, and the blue sky overhead flecked with little white clouds, and the +larks to listen to singing high up in the air over distant cornfields. +By and by the road came out on the cliff again, and soon made a sudden +dip so that the sea was now quite close to them, and on the other side +another sea of freshly-springing wheat stretched away inland for miles. +It was such a steep and stony hill that Mademoiselle began to be seized +with panics of terror in case the horses should slip, so that she often +clung tightly to Adolphe and cried, "Ciel!" This enlivened the journey +a good deal, and she joined in laughing at herself with much +good-nature, though it was really with a sigh of relief that she +exclaimed, "Nous voici!" when the omnibus stopped at the door of the +inn. It stood about half-way down the road leading to the shore, high +enough to have a broad view over the sea, which was now at low tide. In +the distance you could see the shrimpers slowly pushing their nets +before them, and nearer on the rocks below the bent forms of people +gathering cockles; the grey gulls wheeled about overhead and poised +themselves on their broad wings, or rode triumphantly on the gentle +rippling of the water, and far far away on the edge of everything the +shadowy sails of ships glided slowly past like ghosts. To these last +Monsieur turned his attention, and having unstrapped his telescope took +up a commanding position on a rising mound in the garden, and proceeded +to sweep the horizon. Not with much success at first, but after it had +been pointed out to him that he was looking at the wrong end he got on +better, and Mademoiselle and the children leaving him thus employed +strolled down to the shore until the tea should be ready. When there it +was astonishing and delightful to discover Mademoiselle's extreme +ignorance of marine objects. She had lived nearly all her life in +Paris, she told them, and since she had been at Ramsgate had been too +busy to go further than the town. It was most interesting, therefore, +to search for curiosities, explain their habits to her and tell her +their names, and she never failed to express the utmost wonder and +admiration as each fresh one appeared. Even when Susan suddenly placed +a star-fish on her lap as she sat gazing over the sea, and requested her +to feel how flabby it was, she came bravely through the trial, though +she inwardly regarded it with disgust and fear. Then with garments held +tightly round her, and feverishly grasping her parasol, she was +persuaded to venture on a little journey over the slippery rocks. +Sophia Jane and Susan, on either hand, advised the safest places to +tread on, watched each footstep carefully, and made encouraging remarks +as though to a child. Finally, after many perils and narrow escapes, +she was conducted with much applause safely back to the dry land, and up +again to the inn garden. + +Here they found Monsieur in a state of placid enjoyment expecting their +return, and in a convenient arbour facing the sea the meal was ready +prepared. Sophia Jane poured out the tea because it was her birthday, +but not without difficulty, for the tea-pot was enormous, and her hands +so small and weak, that she had to stand up and use her utmost strength. +No one offered to help, however, for they well knew that it would have +been considered an insult. Unlike some entertainments much looked +forward to, Sophia Jane's party was a complete success. There were no +disappointments at Pegwell Bay. Everything was good, everyone was +merry, the shrimps more than came up to everyone's expectation. + +The meal was nearly finished, and it was drawing near the time for the +omnibus to start back to Ramsgate, when Mademoiselle suddenly drew a +letter from her pocket. + +"Stupid animal that I am!" she exclaimed, "I have till this moment +forgotten to give you this, Adolphe. It arrived after you left this +morning. My head is turned, it appears, by going to fetes." + +She smiled at the little girls as she handed the letter to her brother, +and he put on his spectacles and opened it. Susan watched him. It was +a thin foreign envelope, and the letter inside it was short, but it +seemed to puzzle him a great deal. He held it out at arm's length, +frowned at it, and gave it an impatient tap with one finger. Then he +took off his glasses, rubbed them, put them on, and read it again, after +which he rose suddenly, and leaning across the table, stretched the +letter out to his sister, and said in a strange excited voice: + +"Read Delphine--read, my sister." + +Delphine was not long in doing so, one swift glance was enough, and +next, to the children's surprise, she rushed from her place to Adolphe's +side, threw her arms round his neck, kissed him a great many times, and +burst into a torrent of tears. What could be the matter? What dreadful +misfortune could have happened? Susan and Sophia Jane looked at each +other in alarm. A moment before all had been happiness and gaiety, and +now both Monsieur and his sister appeared to have lost all control over +themselves, and were giving way to the most heartfelt distress. Some +terrible news must have been contained in that letter. They stood at a +little distance from the table, clasping each other's hands, uttering +broken French sentences, and lifting their eyes to the sky, while tears +rolled unrestrained down their faces. "If any one else saw them," said +Susan to herself, "they would think they were mad," and she looked with +some anxiety towards the inn door. There was no one in sight +fortunately, and soon, a little subdued but still in a strange excited +state, the brother and sister advanced hand in hand to the table. The +odd part of it was that Mademoiselle was now actually laughing though +her eyes were wet with tears. + +"Forgive us, my children," she said, "it relieves the heart to weep. +Trouble we have borne without complaint, but now joy comes, the tears +come also. Adolphe, my brother, you are more able to speak. Tell them. +I can no more." + +She sunk down in a chair and covered her face with her hands. + +Thus appealed to, Monsieur stood up at the end of the table facing the +sea, like one prepared to make a speech, took off his sailor hat, and +passed his hand thoughtfully over his closely-cropped head. Susan and +Sophia Jane, still puzzled and confused, stared up at him spellbound +without saying a word, deeply impressed. For suddenly there seemed to +be a change in Monsieur. He looked taller, and drew a deep breath like +one who is relieved from some oppression. It was as though a burden had +dropped from his shoulders, and set him free to stand quite upright at +last. + +His grey eyes, though red with weeping, had a light in them now of hope +and courage, and he fixed them on the distance as though he were talking +to someone far away across the sea in his native country. + +"My children," he said, "my sister has told you that we have borne our +troubles without complaint, and that is true. But they have been hard +troubles. Not only often to be hungry and very weary in the body--that +is bad, but there is worse. It is a sore thing to be hungry in the mind +and grieved in the spirit. To leave one's real work undone, so that one +may earn something to eat and drink, to have no outlet for one's +thoughts, to lose the conversation and sympathy of literary men. That +is a bondage and a slavery, and that is what a man who is very poor must +do. He must leave his best part unused, wasted, unknown. He is bound +and fettered as though with iron. But that is now past. To-day we hear +that we are no longer poor people. This letter tells me that I am now a +rich man. Free. Free to go back to Paris to take up again my neglected +work, to see my sister's adorable patience rewarded by a life of ease +and leisure--to see again my friends--" + +Monsieur stopped suddenly, and Mademoiselle, clasping his hand, +immediately rushed in with a mixture of French and English. + +"Oh, Adolphe! Adolphe! it is too much. Figure it all to yourself! The +Champs Elysees, and the Bois, and the toilettes and the sunshine. To +dine at Phillippe's perhaps, and go the theatre, and to hear French +words, and see French faces, and taste a French cuisine again. Nothing +more English at all! No more cold looks and cold skies--" + +"Calm yourself, Delphine, my sister," said Monsieur, "we forget our +little friends here." + +"It is true," said Mademoiselle wiping her eyes with her +pocket-handkerchief, and glancing at the children's upturned astonished +faces, "I am too much exalted. I will restrain myself. Voyons petites +amies," she continued, sitting down between them, "it is this which has +so much moved us. It is that a magnificent, yes, a magnificent fortune +comes to my brother by the death of his cousin. It is a little sudden +at first, but," drawing herself up with dignity, "he will adorn the +position, and we shall now resume the `De' in our name, for our family +is an ancient one." + +"Shall you go away?" asked Sophia Jane. + +"Assuredly. My brother," looking with much admiration at Adolphe, "will +now have large and important affairs to conduct in Paris." + +"I am sorry," said Sophia Jane dejectedly. + +Mademoiselle kissed her and Susan with much affection. + +"If the sky is cold and grey here in England, we have also found good +and warm hearts," she said, "which we shall never forget. It is +Gambetta with his little tinkling bell who will remind us of some of +them." + +But Sophia Jane still looked grave. It was difficult to be glad that +Monsieur and his sister were going away, and Susan's spirits were also +more sober, though it was a relief to find that the letter had contained +good news. A quietness had indeed fallen upon the whole party, for +Adolphe, now that the first excitement was over, sat silently musing +with his gaze fixed dreamily on the distance. Even for Mademoiselle it +was almost impossible to keep on talking all alone, and her remarks +gradually became fewer until the start homewards was made. Then the +movement and the chill evening air seemed to restore her usual +briskness, and she proceeded to describe to the children the exact +situation of the "appartement" which she and Adolphe would occupy on +their return to Paris, and make many brilliant plans for the future. As +they entered the town, observing that her brother still remained silent +and thoughtful, she touched him gently on the knee. + +"A quoi pense tu, mon frere?" she asked. + +"Of many things, my sister," he replied in French; "and amongst them, of +how we shall best recompense the brave Madame Jones." + +Buskin was waiting to take the little girls home, and looked on with +severity at Monsieur's parting bows and graceful wavings of the sailor +hat. + +"Make my compliments to Madame, your aunt," said Delphine to Susan, "and +say that I shall wait on her to-morrow." + +So Sophia Jane's party to Pegwell Bay was over, and all that remained +was to repeat the wonderful news of Monsieur's fortune at Belmont +Cottage. It was received with enough excitement and interest to be +quite satisfactory, and to be sufficient reason for sitting up much +later than usual. There were many questions to answer from everyone, +and Nanna and Margaretta appeared to find the smallest details welcome. +"How did Monsieur look when he opened the letter? What did he say? +What did Mademoiselle say? How large was the fortune? What was the +cousin's name who left it to him?" + +"They're an ancient family," said Sophia Jane, "and you must be sure to +call them _De_ La Roche now." + +"I always thought," said Margaretta, "that there was something +gentlemanly about Monsieur. Odd, you know, but not common." + +"Oh, certainly not common!" replied Nanna. + +It seemed strange to Susan to hear that, for she remembered how they had +both thought it impossible to invite anyone to meet him at Pegwell Bay. + +She was still occupied with wondering about this when the evening post +came in. There was a letter for Aunt Hannah, and when she had read it +she looked over her glasses at Susan. + +"Dear me!" she said. "This is sudden news indeed. Your mother writes +from London, my dear, where she arrived yesterday." + +"Am I to go home?" said Susan, getting up from her chair as though ready +to start at once. + +"Nurse is to fetch you the day after to-morrow," said Aunt Hannah, +looking at the letter again. "Are you in such a great hurry to leave us +that you cannot wait till then?" + +Susan had grown fond of Aunt Hannah, and did not wish to seem +ungrateful. She went and stood by her chair and said earnestly: + +"I'm very sorry to go away. I am, indeed; but, of course, I want to see +Mother." + +As she spoke she gave a glance at Sophia Jane. "Did she mind? Was she +sorry now that the time had come?" + +If she were she gave no sign of it. Her face expressed neither +surprise, or interest, or sorrow, but was bent closely over some shells +she had brought from Pegwell Bay. + +"We shall all miss our little Susan," continued Aunt Hannah, kissing her +affectionately. + +"That we shall," said Nanna. + +"Dear, good little thing!" said Margaretta. + +Surely Sophia Jane would say something too. No. She went on arranging +her shells in small heaps, and took no manner of notice. + +"And as for Sophia Jane," continued Aunt Hannah, "she will be completely +lost without her companion." + +Susan looked entreatingly at her friend, longing for a word or look of +affection, but not a muscle of the small face moved; it might have been +made of stone. + +"Won't you be sorry to lose Susan, my dear?" asked Aunt Hannah. + +"I suppose so," was all the answer, with an impatient jerk of the +shoulders. + +Susan was so hurt at this coldness that she went to bed in low spirits, +and thought of it sorrowfully for a long while before she slept. It +cast a gloom over the prospect even of going home to think that Sophia +Jane did not love her. + +She had evidently not forgotten Susan's behaviour in the past, and did +not wish to have her for a friend. It was the more distressing because +Susan had made a plan which she thought a very pleasant one, and was +anxious to carry out. It was to ask her mother to allow her to have +Sophia Jane on a visit in London. She would then be able to show her +many things and places she had never seen, and enjoy her enjoyment and +surprise. The Tower, the Zoological Gardens, Astley's, Westminster +Abbey, Saint Paul's, and all the wonders and delights of town. It was a +beautiful idea, but if Sophia Jane held aloof in this way it must be +given up. And yet it was a most puzzling thing to account for this +chilling behaviour, because lately she had been more kind and pleasant +than usual, and sometimes almost affectionate. It was useless, however, +as Susan now knew, to wonder about Sophia Jane's moods. They came and +they went, and it was, after all, just possible that she would be quite +different in the morning. + +When the next day came she got up with a feeling that she had a great +deal on her hands, for it was her last day at Ramsgate, and she must say +good-bye to everyone and let them know she was going away. At +breakfast-time something was said about going to make a farewell visit +to the Winslows, but Susan thought there were more important matters to +be done first. + +"I'll go if I've time," she said seriously; "but you see I have a great +deal to do, because this is my last day." + +Her round of acquaintances was not large, but the people who formed it +lived at long distances from each other, so that it took up a good deal +of time to see them all. There was the periwinkle woman, who sat at the +corner of Aunt Hannah's road; there was the donkey and bath-chair man, +and a favourite white donkey; there was Billy Stokes, the sweetmeat man; +and Miss Powter, who kept the toy-shop. There was also a certain +wrinkled, old Cap'en Jemmy, who walked up and down the parade with a +telescope under his arm and said, "A boat yer honour!" to passers-by. + +The children had made these acquaintances in their daily walks, and were +on friendly terms with them all; so that Susan was not satisfied till +she had found each of them and gone through the same form of farewell. + +"Good morning!" she said. "I've come to say good-bye, because I'm going +home to-morrow." + +None of them seemed so much surprised and interested to hear this as she +had hoped. They took it with a calm cheerfulness, which was rather +disappointing, for it seemed that her departure would not make much +difference to anyone in Ramsgate. It was a little depressing. There +were now only two more good-byes to be said, and they were to Monsieur +and Mademoiselle De La Roche, who arrived in the afternoon and stayed +some time receiving congratulations, and talking over the wonderful +change in their fortunes with Aunt Hannah. Compared to this, Susan's +going away seemed a very insignificant thing, and though they were both +kind, and Mademoiselle invited her to stay some day with her in Paris, +she did not feel that it made much impression on them; they soon began +to talk again of their own affairs. Susan felt disappointed. She would +have liked someone to be very sorry indeed that she was going away from +Ramsgate, and, after the visitors had left, she looked round for Sophia +Jane, with a lingering hope that she might be in a softer frame of mind. +She was not in the room, and Susan hesitated. Should she go and find +her, and risk the rebuff which was nearly sure to come, or should she +leave her alone? This would be the only chance. To-morrow, in the +bustle and hurry of preparation, they would not be a moment alone. She +stood considering, and then the desire for sympathy was too strong to be +restrained, and she took her way slowly towards the attic. She felt no +doubt that Sophia Jane was there, but on the threshold of the half-open +door she stopped a minute to get courage, for she was very uncertain as +to how she might be received. Perhaps her companion might be angry at +being followed. Presently as she stood there she heard a little gasping +noise. She listened attentively; it was like someone crying, and +struggling to keep it from being heard. Could it be Sophia Jane, and +was she really sorry? Much encouraged by the idea Susan hesitated no +longer, but marched boldly in. There was Sophia Jane lying flat on the +big black box, face downwards, her little frame shaken with stormy sobs, +which she tried in vain to control. As Susan entered she raised her +head for an instant, and then turned from her to the wall. + +Susan perched herself on the end of the box and sat silent for a moment +before she said gently: + +"What's the matter?" + +"Go away!" sobbed Sophia Jane. "I'm very poorly. My head aches." + +"Let me put wet rags on it," said Susan eagerly. "I've done it often +for Freddie. I'll fetch Aunt Hannah's eau de Cologne. It'll soon make +it better." + +Sophia Jane turned her head round from the wall and fixed two inflamed +blue eyes upon her companion. + +"I'm not crying," she said, "but I'm very poorly. The sun made my eyes +water when we were out this afternoon, and my head aches." + +"I'll soon do it good," said Susan. + +She jumped off the box and ran down-stairs, quickly returning with some +eau de Cologne mixed with water in a tumbler, and a clean +pocket-handkerchief. + +Sophia Jane was quieter now, and lay watching her preparations with some +satisfaction, though her chest heaved now and then, and she blinked her +red eyelids as though the light hurt them. When the cool bandage was +put on her forehead she gave a sigh of comfort, and rested her head on +Susan's lap as she sat behind her on the edge of the box. + +"I'll tell you something," she said presently. + +"I _was_ crying. I'm dreadfully, dreadfully sorry you're going away." + +"I'm glad you're sorry," said Susan, "because I was afraid you didn't +mind." + +"Everyone's going away but me," went on Sophia Jane. "Monsieur and +Mademoiselle and Gambetta and you. Everyone I like. There's no one +left. I don't think I can bear it. What shall I do?" + +A tear rolled from under the bandage. + +"There'll be Aunt Hannah," said Susan. + +"I only like her pretty well," said Sophia Jane. "I could easily do +without her. I used not to like anyone at all; but now I do, they're +all going away." + +"Well," said Susan, casting about in her mind for some crumb of comfort, +"I shall write to you when I get home, and tell you everything once +every week, and you must write to me." + +"You'll forget," said Sophia Jane in a miserable voice. + +"I _never_ forget," answered Susan firmly. "And then there's another +thing--I mean to ask Mother to ask you to come and stay with me. +Wouldn't that be fun? Just think of all the things we could do!" + +"Do you think she would?" asked Sophia Jane. + +She started up so suddenly to look at Susan that the bandage fell over +one eye. A little quivering smile appeared round her mouth. + +"I _think_ so," said Susan with caution, "if I wanted it very much." + +"And _do_ you?" + +"I'm _sure_ I do," replied Susan earnestly, and she ventured to kiss the +cheek nearest her, wet with tears and eau de Cologne. + +It had been Sophia Jane's custom on such occasions, either to rub off +the kiss impatiently or to make a face expressing disgust. This time +she did neither; she laid her head down again in Susan's lap and said +quietly: + +"I like you very much." + +The words of affection she had wished for had come at last, and few +though they were, Susan liked them better than any she had heard since +she had been in Ramsgate. And, indeed, they were worth more than many +caressing speeches from some people, for Sophia Jane never said more +than she meant. Susan felt quite proud and satisfied, now that she knew +Sophia Jane really liked her. + +And so, on the morrow, when the time really came to say good-bye to +Belmont Cottage and everyone in it, it was a comfort to think that +perhaps she should soon see her companion again. It was, indeed, the +only thing that kept up her spirits at all as she drove away with Nurse, +and left the little group gathered round the gate. Aunt Hannah, Nanna, +and Margaretta, even the stiff Buskin, had all come out to see the "last +of Susan" and wave their farewells, but the person she was most sorry to +leave was the once despised Sophia Jane. + +Thus they parted; Susan to go back to the busy murmur of the London +streets, Sophia Jane to remain within sound of the great sea. Would +they meet again? Perhaps, at some future time, they would, but whether +they did or not, they had taught each other certain lessons at Ramsgate +which it is possible for us all to learn. Only we must open our eyes +and take the trouble to study them, for though they lie close round +about us we cannot always see them, because we are blinded by pride and +vanity, and despise or lightly esteem the very people who could teach +them. Then we miss them altogether; and that is a great pity, for they +are the best things we can learn in life--Lessons of Self-sacrifice, +Humility, and Love. + +THE END. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Susan, by Amy Walton + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SUSAN *** + +***** This file should be named 21230.txt or 21230.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/1/2/3/21230/ + +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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