CHAPTER III.
WILL YOU HAVE ME FOR A FRIEND?
"Late again! Winnifred Blake, I am ashamed of you; come, run as fastas you can;" and scolding herself vigorously, Winnie changed herleisurely step to a brisk trot which brought her to the schoolhousedoor exactly fifteen minutes after the hour. "Punishment exerciseyesterday, and fine to-day--how horrible!" she broke out again,entering the empty dressing-room and surveying the array of hats on thevarious pegs, all of which seemed to rebuke her tardiness. "Miss Smithwill purse up her lips, and utter some cutting sarcasm of course, but Idon't care," and Winnie, kicking off her boots, pitched them--well, Idon't think she herself knew where. The jacket being next unfastened,she proceeded to divest herself of her hat, and pulled with suchviolence that the elastic snapped and struck her face severely.Winnie's temper (so Dick declared) resembled nothing so much as apop-gun, going off, as it were, with a great bang on the leastprovocation. Flinging the offending article to the other side of theroom, and addressing it in anything but complimentary terms, she pickedup her books, shook her shaggy mane over her face, and marched straightto the large class-room, where the girls were already busy over theirBible lesson.
"Half-an-hour late, Miss Blake. You really are improving. Allow me toremind you of the fine, also of Mrs. Elder's instructions to take thelowest seat;" and Miss Smith, the senior governess, uttered the wordswith withering scorn.
"Good-morning," replied the culprit, hiding an angry little heart undera smiling exterior, and slipping her penny into the box on theteacher's desk; "my sleep was slightly broken last night, and that mademe late."
Here the girls tittered, and Miss Smith frowned. "Indeed," shecommented haughtily; "pray, does your constitution require a statedinterval of so many hours for sleep _every_ night?" and the governesslaid special stress on the word "every."
"Well, perhaps not," replied Winnie, coolly sitting down and proceedingto unfasten her books; "but I always indulge in an extra half hour if Iam disturbed in my slumbers. Broken rest tells sorely on my nervoussystem, and renders both myself and others miserable."
At this point some of the pupils laughed outright, and Miss Smith'sanger rose.
"Silence!" she said, rising and tapping rapidly on the desk. "MissBlake, you are a disgrace to the school. Attend to your lesson, andlet me hear no more rude, impertinent language, or I shall punish youseverely," and the governess treated Winnie to one glance of supremecontempt as she spoke.
The child ground her little white teeth together as she gazed on theteacher's sour-faced visage and listened to the tones of herhigh-pitched voice. "Regular crab-apple, and as cross as two sticks,"she muttered, knitting her brow in an angry frown, but smoothing ithastily and calling up the necessary look of attention as Miss Smithcast a swift glance in her direction; "how I should like to tell herevery horrid thought in my heart concerning herself. She would beedified," and at the bare idea Winnie shook so much with suppressedmerriment that the girl next her opened a pair of bright, hazel eyesand stared in amazement at the audacious child.
The little mischief caught the look, and returning it with interestfound she was seated beside the new pupil whose advent had occasionedyesterday's quarrel. There was something very engaging in the frank,open countenance, and Winnie smiled pleasantly as she met theastonished gaze.
"Am I very rude and disobedient?" she asked, or rather whisperedroguishly; "you look so shocked and amazed. Please, don't judge byfirst impressions; my bark is worse than my bite, and I can be a verygood girl when I choose. Self-praise is no honour, of course, and Iought to be silent with regard to my various perfections andimperfections; but if you wait patiently you will find out thatWinnifred Blake is a most eccentric character, and says and does whatno other person would say or do."
Nellie Latimer's astonishment increased as she gazed on this (to her)new specimen of humanity. What a dainty, fairy-like creature sheseemed, and what a mischievous gleam was lurking in the depths of thosegreat, shining eyes! Nellie felt quite awkward and commonplace in herpresence; however, she managed to say shyly, "I am afraid it is I whohave been rude staring at you so; but I did not mean any harm, only youare so different from the other girls."
Winnie gave her an admonishing touch.
"Hush!" she whispered, "the raven is watching us. I mean Miss Smith,"as Nellie looked bewildered. "We call her that because she iseverlastingly croaking;" and here Winnie, leaning back on her seat,assumed an expression of childlike innocence and solemnity, andappeared to be thoroughly interested in the teacher's explanations.
The lesson proceeded; slowly but surely the hands of the clock movedsteadily forward, and at last pointed to the hour, on which Miss Smith,rising, closed her book and dismissed the class with evident feelingsof relief.
"Ten minutes' respite, then heigh-ho for a long spell of grammar,etc.," cried Winnie, addressing Nellie as they passed into the hall."You don't know your lessons to-day of course, and I am so well up inmine that I shall not be able to answer a single word; so come awaywith me to this quiet nook at the end of the passage and let us enjoy acosy talk."
The "quiet nook" referred to was a recess at the hall window,partitioned off by a drapery of tapestried curtains. It was afavourite resort of Winnie's, and here the wonderful thoughts, theoutbursts of passion, the mischievous plots and schemes, all found freecourse, and many a childish secret could those heavy folds of curtainhave told had they been gifted with tongues wherewith to speak.
Dismissing the other school-fellows who were gathering round, andshooting a triumphant glance at Ada Irvine's haughty face, she halfdragged her amused but by no means unwilling companion to the sacredspot; and when both were comfortably perched on the window niche, shebegan eagerly, "Won't you tell me your name and where you live? I amcalled Winnifred Mary Blake. I have three big brothers, and a littleone; two sisters older than myself; a cross papa and proud step-mamma.We live about a mile from here--No. 3 Victoria Square--and I go home todinner every day during recess." Having delivered this wonderfulannouncement in one breath, Winnie paused and waited for her companionto speak.
Nellie smiled as she replied,--
"My name is Helen Latimer, and my home is far away in a countryvillage. I am staying, however, in town with my aunts at present, theylive in a small cottage in Broomhill Road."
"Broomhill Road!" echoed Winnie doubtfully; "that is not west, I fancy."
"Oh no, east; I have to take the 'bus, as it is too great a distance towalk daily."
"Not an aristocratic locality," Winnie decided mentally, "and AdaIrvine getting hold of that little fact would use it as a means ofexquisite torture to this new girl's sensitive heart. Poor thing! shelooks so happy and blithe too." Thinking such thoughts, themischievous child turned to her companion with a soft, pitying light inher eyes, and holding out a small flake of a hand, said gently,--
"We have not much time at our disposal just now, and I cannot say all Iwould wish; but you won't find it all plain sailing at school, Nellie,and you will be none the worse of having some one to stand by you, sowill you have me for a friend?"
"Will you have me for a friend?"]
The quaint gipsy face with its framework of wavy hair; the bright,sunny countenance and laughing lips; above all, the soft, childishvoice, charmed simple-hearted Nellie, who willingly grasped the handextended, with these words, "I shall be only too pleased indeed." Sothe compact was sealed--a compact which remained unbroken through thelong months and years that followed. Time and adversity only served tostrengthen the bond, and the gray twilight of life found the friends ofchildhood's days friends still.
"Hark to the bell! are you ready?" asked Winnie, stretching her lazylittle form and rising reluctantly from the cosy corner; "now for along, long lecture on subject and predicate, ugh! How I do hatelessons, to be sure;" and Miss Blake, parting the tapestried curtains,stepped along the hall with a very mutinous face.
Nellie having come to school with the fixed determination to make themo
st of her time, prepared to listen to the master's instructions withall due attention; but Winnie's incessant fidgeting and yawning baffledevery attempt, and the ludicrous answers, given with tantalizingreadiness, almost upset her gravity, despite Mr. King's unconcealedvexation.
"This is one of her provoking days," whispered a girl, noting Nellie'spuzzled face; "she will tease and annoy each teacher as much aspossible all this afternoon---she always does so when in these moods.Do not think her stupid, Miss Latimer; as the French master often says,'It is not lack of ability, but lack of application.' She won'tlearn," and Agnes Drummond, one of Winnie's stanchest allies, shook herhead admonishingly at the little dunce as she spoke; but a defiant poutof the rosy lips was the only answer vouchsafed to the friendlywarning, and the next moment an absurdly glaring error brought down onWinnie the righteous indignation of her irritated teacher, and resultedin solitary confinement during recess.
Sitting alone in the large empty class-room, the poor child burst intoa flood of passionate tears. "It's too bad," she cried rebelliously,wiping her wet eyes and flinging her book aside with contemptuoustouch. "There, I can't go home now, and we are to have jam pudding todinner. Dick will chuckle--horrid boy! and eat my share as well as hisown. I know he will, and I do so love those kind of puddings,especially when they are made with strawberry jam. Oh dear, how I envyAlexander Selkirk on his desert island! I am sure he never had anynasty old lessons to learn, and I think he was very stupid to grumbleover his solitude when he could do every day simply what he pleased.Well, if I must study, I must; so, here goes," and, drawing thedespised grammar towards her once more, Winnie set herself steadily tomaster part of the contents.
Meanwhile, Nellie, deprived of the companionship of her new friend, wasbeing sharply catechised by Ada Irvine as to her antecedents andgeneral history. The girl at first innocently replied to eachquestion; but after a time she resented the queries, and therebyincurred that young lady's haughty displeasure, and brought down onherself the sharp edge of Ada's sarcastic tongue.
"Not much of a pedigree to boast about, girls," was the final verdict,given with a slight curl of the lip, signifying unboundedcontempt,--"the grandfather on the one side a farmer, on the other adraper; the father a poor country doctor; three old maiden aunts livingin one of our commonest localities, keeping no servant, doing their ownwork, and dressing like Quakers. It's a wonder to hear Miss Latimerspeak without dropping her h's, or otherwise murdering the Queen'sEnglish, ha, ha!" and Miss Irvine shrugged her elegant shouldersscornfully.
"Oh, come, Ada, that is going too far," protested some of the girls,shocked at the rude words and the cool deliberate manner in which theywere said; but their insolent school-fellow silenced them with animpatient gesture, as she surveyed the flushed face of her victim andawaited a reply.
Nellie felt both hurt and indignant. She had grown up in her quiet,country home, totally ignorant of the arrogancy and pride so muchabroad in the busy world; and coming to school with the expectancy offinding pleasant companions and friends, the words struck home to herheart with a chill.
"How unkind you are!" she murmured, struggling to suppress the angrytears; "you have no right to speak so to me. My aunts are not rich, itis true, and cannot afford to dress so extravagantly as many; but thatdoes not prevent them from being perfect gentlewomen, does it? Yourown mother cannot be a more thorough lady than my Aunt Judith, I amsure."
"Is that so?" said Ada with mocking sarcasm, and the contempt in hervoice was indescribable. "What presumption! the lower classes arebeginning to look up, sure enough."
"Shame!" cried some of the girls standing near; "you are cruel, Ada."But at that moment a slim hand touched Nellie's arm, and a merry voicesaid soothingly, "Never mind her, Nellie; we all know she is notresponsible for her statements at times. Her brain is a littledefective on one point," and Winnie's great eyes shot a mischievousglance at Miss Irvine's haughty face.
"May I ask the reason of your special interference just now?" inquiredAda, an angry flush deepening the rose-tint on her cheek; "possibly youwish yesterday's scene to be repeated over again."
"Oh dear, no," answered Winnie brightly, "home-truths seldom needrepetition; they are not so easily forgotten. But Nellie is my friend,and I intend to fight her battles as well as my own. Please understandthat once for all, and remember at the same time with what metal youhave to deal.--Come, Nellie, I am free at last," and the spiritedlittle creature led her weeping school-mate from the room.
"Didn't I warn you not to expect plain sailing?" she continued with aknowing look; "and Ada Irvine is a perfect hurricane. She will swoopdown on you at every opportunity, and bluster and blow; but let heralone and never mind."
"I wish I had never left home," replied Nellie, dashing her hand acrossher eyes and winking away the tear-drops vigorously. "How can girlssay such dreadful things? I can't bear them;" and a fresh burst ofgrief followed.
"Phew!" cried Winnie, giving her an energetic shake, and knitting herbrow in a childish frown, "that's babyish. You'll strike on every rockand bend before each gale if you talk in such a fashion. Don't be afool, Nellie; pluck up some spirit, and show Ada Irvine you're aboveher contempt." Winnie spoke as if possessed with all the wisdom of theancients, and gave due emphasis to every word. "She and I are alwaysat what Dick calls 'loggerheads,' and I enjoy an occasional passage ofarms amazingly; only, sometimes I come off second on the field, andthat is not so pleasant. Now," with a pretty coaxing air, "dry yourtears; the hour is almost up, and the bell will be ringing shortly. Ihate to see people crying, I do indeed, so please stop;" and Winnieeyed the tear-stained countenance of her friend with mingled sympathyand impatience.
"I daresay I am very silly," replied Nellie, wiping her eyes andscrubbing her wet cheeks with startling vehemence; "anyhow I'll stopnow. And thank you for taking my part, Winnie; you'll be a friendworth having, I am sure of that."
"Yes," answered the young girl, a strange dreamy smile playing on herlips, and a soft look gleaming in the mischievous eyes, "I shall betrue as steel;" and Nellie never forgot the earnest light on thechildish face as Winnie made her simple vow.