CHAPTER THREE.
ENTER MISS SAVILLE!
A fortnight later Peggy Saville arrived at the vicarage. Her motherbrought her, stayed for a couple of hours, and then left for the timebeing; but as she was to pay some visits in the neighbourhood it wasunderstood that this was not the final parting, and that she would spendseveral afternoons with her daughter before sailing for India. On thisoccasion, however, none of the young people saw her, for they were outduring the afternoon, and were just settling down to tea in theschoolroom when the wheels of the departing carriage crunched down thedrive.
"Now for it!" cried Maxwell, and they looked at one another in silence,knowing full well what would happen. Mrs Asplin would think anintroduction to her young friends the best distraction for the strangegirl after her mother's departure, and the next item in the programmewould be the appearance of Miss Peggy herself. Esther rearranged thescattered tea-things; Oswald felt to see if his necktie was in position,and Robert hunched his shoulders and rolled his eyes at Mellicent indistracting fashion. Each one sat with head cocked on one side, in anattitude of eager attention. The front door banged, footstepsapproached, and Mrs Asplin's high, cheerful tones were heard drawingnearer and nearer.
"This way, dear," she was saying. "They are longing to see you!"
The listeners gave a simultaneous gulp of excitement, the door opened,and--Peggy entered!
She was not in the least what they had expected! This was neither theblonde beauty of Maxwell's foretelling, nor the black-haired elfdescribed by Mellicent. The first glance was unmitigateddisappointment.
"She is not a bit pretty," was the mental comment of the two girls."What a funny little soul!" that of the three big boys, who had risen onMrs Asplin's entrance, and now stood staring at the new-comer withcurious eyes.
Peggy was slight and pale, and at the first sight her face gave acomical impression of being made up of a succession of peaks. Her hairhung in a pigtail down her back, and grew in a deep point on herforehead; her finely-marked eyebrows were shaped like eaves, and herchin was for all the world like that of a playful kitten. Even thevelvet trimming on her dress accentuated this peculiarity, as itzigzagged round the sleeves and neck. The hazel eyes were light andbright, and flitted from one figure to another with a suspicioustwinkling; but nothing could have been more composed, more demure, orpatronisingly grown-up than the manner in which this strange girl borethe scrutiny which was bent upon her.
"Here are your new friends, Peggy," cried Mrs Asplin cheerily. "Theyalways have tea by themselves in the schoolroom, and do what they pleasefrom four to five o'clock. Now just sit down, dear, and take your placeamong them at once. Esther will make room for you by her side, andintroduce you to the others. I will leave you to make friends. I knowyoung people get on better when they are left alone."
She whisked out of the room in her impetuous fashion, and Peggy Savilleseated herself in the midst of a ghastly silence. The young people hadbeen prepared to cheer and encourage a bashful stranger, but theself-possession of this thin, pale-faced girl took them by surprise, sothat they sat round the table playing uncomfortably with teaspoons andknives, and irritably conscious that they, and not the new-comer, werethe ones to be overcome with confusion. The silence lasted for a goodtwo minutes, and was broken at last by Miss Peggy herself.
"Cream _and_ sugar!" she said, in a tone of sweet insinuation. "Twolumps, if you please. Not very strong, and as hot as possible. Thankyou! So sorry to be a trouble."
Esther fairly jumped with surprise, and seizing the teapot, filled theempty cup in haste. Then she remembered the dreaded airs of theboarding-school miss, and her own vows of independence, and made agallant effort to regain composure.
"No trouble at all. I hope that will be right. Please help yourself.Bread--and--butter--scones--cake! I must introduce you to the rest, andthen you will feel more at home! I am Esther, the eldest, a year olderthan you, I think. This is Mellicent, my younger sister, fourteen lastFebruary. I think you are about the same age." She paused a moment,and Peggy looked across the table and said, "How do you do, dear?" in anaffable, grandmotherly fashion, which left poor Mellicent speechless,and filled the others with delighted amusement. But their own turn wascoming. Esther pulled herself together, and went on steadily with herintroductions. "This is Maxwell, my brother, and these are father's twopupils--Oswald Elliston, and Robert--the Honourable Robert Darcy." Shewas not without hope that the imposing sound of the latter name wouldshake the self-possession of the stranger, but Peggy inclined her headwith the air of a queen, drawled out a languid, "Pleased to see you!"and dropped her eyes with an air of indifference, which seemed to implythat an "Honourable" was an object of no interest whatever, and that shewas really bored by the number of her titled acquaintances. The boyslooked at each other with furtive glances of astonishment. Mellicentspread jam all over her plate, and Esther unconsciously turned on thehandle of the urn and deluged the tray with water, but no one ventured asecond remark, and once again it was Peggy's voice that opened theconversation.
"And is this the room in which you pursue your avocations? It has awarm and cheerful exposure."
"Er--yes! This is the schoolroom. Mellicent and I have lessons here inthe morning from our German governess, while the boys are in the studywith father. In the afternoon, from two to four, they use it forpreparation, and we go out to classes. We have music lessons on Monday,painting on Tuesday, calisthenics and wood-carving on Thursday andFriday. Wednesday and Saturday are half-holidays. Then from four tosix the room is common property, and we have tea together and amuseourselves as we choose."
"A most desirable arrangement. Thank you! Yes,--I _will_ take a scone,as you are so kind!" said Peggy blandly; a remark which covered the fiveyoung people with confusion, since none of them had noticed that herplate was empty. Each one made a grab in the direction of the plate ofscones; the girls failed to reach it, while Oswald, twitching it fromRobert's hands, jerked half the contents on the table, and had to pickthem up, while Miss Saville looked on with a smile of indulgentsuperiority.
"Accidents will happen, will they not?" she said sweetly, as she lifteda scone from the plate, with her little finger cocked well in the air,and nibbled it daintily between her small white teeth. "A mostdelicious cake! Home-made, I presume? Perhaps of your own concoction?"
Esther muttered an inarticulate assent, and once more the conversationlanguished. She looked appealingly at Maxwell. As the son of thehouse, the eldest of the boys, it was his place to take the lead, butMaxwell looked the picture of embarrassment. He did not suffer frombashfulness as a rule, but since Peggy Saville had come into the room hehad been seized with an appalling self-consciousness. His feet felt inthe way, his arms seemed too long for practical purposes, his elbows hada way of invading other people's precincts, and his hands looked red andclammy. It occurred to him dimly that he was not a man after all, butonly a big overgrown schoolboy, and that little Miss Saville knew asmuch, and was mildly pitiful of his shortcomings. He was not at allanxious to attract the attention of the sharp little tongue, so hepassed on the signal to Mellicent, kicking her foot under the table, andfrowning vigorously in the direction of the stranger.
"Er,"--began Mellicent, anxious to respond to the signal, but lamentablyshort of ideas,--"Er,--Peggy! Are you fond of sums? I'm in decimals.Do you like fractions? I think they are hateful. I could do vulgarspretty well, but decimals are fearful. They never come right. Soawfully difficult."
"Patience and perseverance overcome difficulties. Keep up your courage.I'll help you with them, dear," said Peggy encouragingly, closing hereyes the while, and coughing in a faint and ladylike manner.
She could not really be only fourteen, Mellicent reflected. She talkedas if she were quite grown-up,--older than Esther, seventeen or eighteenat the very least. What a little white face she had! what a great thickplait of hair! How erect she held herself! Fraulein would never haveto rebuke her new pupil for sto
oping shoulders. It was kind of her topromise help with those troublesome decimals! Quite too good an offerto refuse.
"Thank you very much," she said heartily, "I'll show you some after tea.Perhaps you may be able to make me understand better than Fraulein.It's very good of you, P--" A quick change of expression warned her thatsomething was wrong, and she checked herself to add hastily, "You wantto be called `Peggy,' don't you? No? Then what must we call you? Whatis your real name?"
"Mariquita!" sighed the damsel pensively, "after my grandmother--Spanish. A beautiful and unscrupulous woman at the court of Philip theSecond." She said "unscrupulous" with an air of pride, as though it hadbeen "virtuous," or some other word of a similar meaning, and pronouncedthe name of the king with a confidence that made Robert gasp.
"Philip the Second? Surely not? He was the husband of our Mary in1572. That would make it just a trifle too far back for yourgrandmother, wouldn't it?" he inquired sceptically; but Mariquitaremained absolutely unperturbed.
"It must have been someone else, then, I suppose. How clever of you toremember! I see you know something about history," she said suavely; aremark which caused an amused glance to pass between the young people,for Robert had a craze for history of all description, and had seriousthought of becoming a second Carlyle so soon as his college course wasover.
Maxwell put his handkerchief to his mouth to stifle a laugh, and kickedout vigorously beneath the table, with the intention of sharing hisamusement with his friend Oswald. It seemed, however, that he had aimedamiss, for Mariquita fell back in her chair, and laid her hand on herheart.
"I think there must be some slight misunderstanding. That's my footthat you are kicking! I cut it very badly on the ice last winter, andthe least touch causes acute suffering. Please don't apologise; itdoesn't matter in the least," and she rolled her eyes to the ceiling,like one in mortal agony.
It was the last straw. Maxwell's embarrassment had reached such a pitchthat he could bear no more. He murmured some unintelligible words, andbolted from the room, and the other two boys lost no time in followinghis example.
In subsequent conversations, Mellicent always referred to this occasionas "the night when Robert had _one cup_," it being, in truth, the onlyoccasion since this young gentleman entered the vicarage when he hadneglected to patronise the teapot three or four times in succession.