children, immediatelyappeared.
"Will you bring Ralph Durrant into the room?" said Mrs Burton.
A minute later, Ralph marched in. He looked his very manliest. Everygirl in the form felt her heart going pit-a-pat as she watched him. Hewas wearing a little suit of white on this warm day, but there was acrimson tie fastening his collar. Nothing could have been sweeter thanhis dress, and no little face in all the world could have looked moreeager and lovely. He had the perfect self-possession of a very youngchild. He came straight up to Mrs Burton, holding out his hand.
"Good morning, Mrs Burton," he said.
"Good morning, Ralph, my dear," she replied. "Will you come and standwith me, Ralph, up here?"
"Oh, thank you so very much," said Ralph.
He mounted on to the little dais, and Mrs Burton, taking his hand, ledhim forward.
"You see all these girls, Ralph," she said. "They are all your greatfriends, are they not?"
"Oh, yes!" said Ralph. He looked eagerly from one face to the other.To begin with, there was Robina. He had not seen her for a week. Shewas standing very erect; her face was quite calm and strong and kind.She looked full at Ralph, but with no special pleading in her eyes. Shewould have liked to be his school-mother, and she wanted the pony verymuch; but not for worlds would she condescend to plead with him. Agreat deal can be conveyed by the glance of an eye, and Robina's eyeswere of the sort that could convey any number of messages to thesensitive, warm heart of a little child. But at the present moment theywere dumb. Ralph looked past her.
"Here are all your kind friends," said Mrs Burton. "You know RobinaStarling. This is Robina. You remember how very kind she was to youand Curly Pate on the day you arrived. She helped you during that hardtime when your father went away."
"And I didn't cry not one tear," said Ralph, giving an eager glance atMrs Burton, and then looking back at Robina. Oh, if only her eyes hadsaid then: "Come to me," he would have chosen her above all the others.But the proud eyes were dumb.
"Yes," continued Mrs Burton, "this is Robina Starling, your greatfriend. And here comes Frederica. You had, I know, a very pleasant daywith her."
"Very pleasant," said Ralph. "Good morning, Frederica," he added,saying the words in a clear, sweet little voice.
"And this is Patience, Frederica's sister." Patience smiled at himquite broadly, and he smiled back at her just as though they held asecret between them, and the secret was very good fun.
"And this is Rose. You cannot forget how happy you were with Rose."
"Oh, yes, of course, I was," said Ralph. "Good morning, Rose."
"Good morning, dear," said Rose.
"And this is," said Mrs Burton, slightly altering her voice, as thoughit were scarcely worth while to speak of Harriet, "this is Harriet. Youspent Saturday with Harriet."
Ralph coloured. All the girls noticed how a flame of red swept over hislittle face. His eyes grew dark. He looked full at Harriet, as thoughshe fascinated him.
"And this is Jane Bush. And now we come to Cecil Amberley. I am sureCecil would be kind to any little boy."
"Yes, oh, yes," said Ralph.
"And last but not least, here is Vivian. You were with Vivianyesterday, don't you remember?"
"I remember," said Ralph.
"Then, my dear little boy, you are acquainted with every girl in thethird form. Now, listen to me. It is your dear father's wish that oneof these girls should take, as far as possible, the place of a mother toyou during the remainder of the term. For three weeks, Ralph, untilyour father returns, you will be given over to the special care of oneof these girls; and your father wishes you, as being, he considers, avery wise little boy, to choose your school-mother yourself. Havingmade a choice, you must abide by it, unless I personally interfere.That I shall not do except under extreme circumstances. Now, my boy,you have no cause to be afraid. Choose boldly the girl you like best,the girl with whom you will be happiest. Remember, Robina was youroldest friend, and Vivian your newest friend; the others came between.Look well at them all, and make your choice, as a wise little boyshould."
Again Ralph looked full at Robina, and again Robina knew that her eyeshad but to say: "Come," and not all the gipsies in all the world, norall the picnic teas and breakfasts and boxes of matches in a littleboy's pocket, and possible knives--the temptation to possess which alittle boy might succumb to--could have influenced Ralph in the veryleast. But alack and alas! for all that was to follow: those eyes stillwere dumb. So Ralph's own brown eyes wandered past Robina and rested,without any special desire or longing in them, on Frederica's face, andpast Frederica to Patience, and then they lingered and seemed to dilate,and the whole little face trembled as the boy gazed at Harriet. Buteven now he was wise, and would not make his choice too hastily; for,past Harriet, his eyes travelled to Jane, who looked down, and turnedwhite and pink, and from Jane he gazed at Cecil, who was all unconsciousand looked full back at him, being quite certain in her heart of heartsthat she would not be the one chosen; and then he looked at Vivian, who,as a matter of fact, counted nothing at all to him.
His heart beat. He thought of a hundred things, but most of all at thatmoment of not learning to read much, of not troubling himself withfigures, of being the manly sort of boy who would play with fire and notbe burnt, and have knives and not be cut, and, above all things, of acertain gipsy caravan which was called a house on wheels. Once again,his eyes sought those of Harriet; and now she looked boldly at him, andRalph looked boldly back at her, and smiled, and, loosing his hold ofMrs Burton's hand, he said in a loud voice:
"I choose Harriet for my school-mother, because I love her the best ofall."
Book 1--CHAPTER EIGHT.
CONSEQUENCES.
The astonishment which this announcement caused in the school may bebetter imagined than described. Even Mrs Burton was struck dumb for aminute. Then she said quietly:
"Harriet, you are the favoured one. Will you please take Ralph to MissFord, and get her to set him his lessons, and then will you take himinto the third form room, and give him a seat by yourself and attend tohis work in the intervals when you can spare some moments from your own?I will arrange later on that you have plenty of time to do this. Now,my dear, attend to your duties. You have been elected in a fair field,and I don't think any favour has been shown, and I congratulate you, andhope you will be the proud possessor of the prize pony on the day whenyou leave school."
The rest of the girls in the form congratulated Harriet also, and shewalked out of Mrs Burton's parlour with her head in the air, holdingRalph by the hand. Never had such a moment of intoxicating triumph beengiven her before. She was trembling from head to foot.
"Now we'll have fun, won't we?" whispered Ralph. "Yes, of course," saidHarriet back. "But come along at once, Ralph. We must get yourlessons. You will be a very good little boy, won't you, and not tootroublesome?" She longed to add: "I can't stand troublesome children,"but refrained for the time being.
Miss Ford gave Ralph some easy lessons, telling Harriet where his weakpoints lay, and how often he ought to repeat them over to her.
"You must be very particular indeed with regard to his sums," she said."These sums in addition and this little one in subtraction must be doneperfectly. I think that is all for to-day."
Harriet, still holding Ralph's hand, but holding it rather loosely,marched now in the direction of the third form class-room. As they weregoing there, Ralph spoke:
"I thought--I thought--that--if you were my school-mother, there would_not_ be sums and things."
"Oh, nonsense!" replied Harriet, rather tartly. "There must be sums and_things_, as you call them. How are you to be wise if you don't learn?"she continued. Then, seeing that the colour swept over his face, sheadded hastily, "I won't be hard on you, no fear, and when lessons areover, we'll have great fun."
"Yes, great fun," repeated Ralph. "The gipsies, perhaps?" he added,pleadingly.
But Harriet, who had not the l
east idea in her heart of hearts ofbothering herself with regard to gipsies, was silent. They entered theschool-room, where all eyes followed them to their seats. Ralph'schoice was considered too wonderful for words, and more than one girlfelt that the thing had been managed by foul play. What had occurredthey could not tell, but they were positively certain that Ralph of hisown accord would never have chosen Harriet.
Meanwhile, lessons went on, and Ralph struggled over tasks which Robinaor any other girl in the form would have rendered easy and pleasant forhim, but which Harriet did not trouble herself to think about.
"Don't bother!" she whispered