she thought. "I shall have to write tothe Squire. Oh, of course, the naughty, naughty child has gone to thoseother wicked children. I shall have to give Mrs Hilchester a piece ofmy mind."
CHAPTER FIVE.
Ralph Hilchester had never felt better pleased in the whole course ofhis life than when he got Phyllis's letter. That she should tell himthat she was in trouble was more delightful to him than even a costlypresent would be--than even half-a-crown would be--and costly presentsand half-crowns were rare treasures in the Rectory household.
His first determination was to tell his brother and sisters, but onsecond thoughts he resolved to keep to himself the delicious fact thatPhyllis had written to him. He opened the blotted sheet of paper andlooked at the words again:
"Come and save me; I am in the claws of a dragon."
"I should think I just will," thought Ralph; "it is exactly what I ammade for. I always guessed there was something heroic about me. Fancy,in these prosaic days, having to deliver a princess from a dragon; Ideclare I feel exactly like Saint George of England."
So Ralph held his head very high, and, with the precious letter reposingagainst his heart, entered the Rectory. There dismay and indignationmet him on every side.
"Oh Ralph," cried Rose, "what do you think? You know what a jollyafternoon we were all going to have!"
"Well?" said Ralph, his brown eyes dancing.
"Oh, you won't look quite so happy when you know! The Squire's littlegirl was nice enough yesterday, but she seems to have changed her mind.`Other matters to attend to'--that is what that odious governess of herssaid. Far too grand to notice us, of course."
"I wish you would speak plain," said Ralph. "I cannot get a scrap ofsense out of that gabble of yours."
"How rude you are!" said Susie. "You will be as gloomy as us when youknow. Well, it is this: we are not to go to the Hall this afternoon.We are not to play with Phyllis. It was the governess who wrote--thatodious woman; she signed herself `Josephine Fleet.' She says thatPhyllis had no right to invite us, and we are not to come. Prettycheek, I call it. Well, if Phyllis does not want us, I'm sure we don'twant her."
"But that is all very fine," said Rosie; "I do want Phyllis. Shepromised me an old doll she had discarded, and she gave distinct hopesthat we might have a baby-house of hers; and, anyhow, she is very jolly,and I did want to have a good time at the Hall. I call it horrid; I doindeed."
"And so do I," said Ned. "It is a precious big shame. But there,Ralph, we will go out rabbit-hunting this afternoon; I want to see ifsome of our snares have caught any."
"You are horridly cruel about rabbits; you know you are," said Rosie.
"Not at all; the sort of snare I have laid does not hurt any of them,"said Ned. "Come along, Ralph, won't you?" But Ralph held back.
"Sorry I can't," he said; "other things to attend to."
He spoke in a lofty tone, and the feel of the precious letter in hispocket made his heart throb.
The Hilchesters were not a patient family, and they fell upon Ralphtooth and nail. He was mean; he was shabby; he was hard-hearted; he didnot care a bit for their disappointment; but nothing, nothing they couldsay altered the lad's determination. They might amuse themselves: hehad other fish to fry; he could not accompany any of them thatafternoon. It was in vain to plead and catechise, and reproach andfight. Ralph stuck to his resolve. The early dinner at the Rectory wastherefore a somewhat sorry affair, and Ralph was all too glad when itcame to an end. He had now, if possible, to blind his very sharpsisters and brother. This was no easy matter. During dinner he made uphis mind what he would do.
There were occasions when Ralph, all alone and unaccompanied, walked asfar as Dartfield. Dartfield was five or six miles away. He announcedgravely to the family that he was going on a long expedition, and thenhe went upstairs and brushed his hair, and washed his hands, and put ona clean collar.
"What can it mean?" said Rosie, who was watching him through thekeyhole. "Ralph with clean hands! Something must be up!"
"Of course something is up," whispered Susie. "Oh Rose! he hears us.He will be down upon us with a vengeance. Let's fly!"
Just as Ralph opened the door they did fly, scrambling up to the attics,where they locked themselves in.
"They watched me, the monkeys. I must blind them," thought Ralph.
So he started off quite in the opposite direction from the Hall, andgained the high-road. Ned now shouted to his sisters to come and helpto search for rabbits, and the girls, in high discontent, saw nothingfor it but to obey. But Ralph was generally the ringleader of all formsof fun and mischief, and his absence made the rest of the party doublydepressed.
Ralph ran a whole mile in the direction of Dartfield; then lookingcautiously about him, he doubled back, got into the wood, skirted it,and presently came within measurable distance of the Hall. To hisdisgust, he heard his sisters' and brother's voices as they rambledabout the wood.
Suppose by any chance Phyllis met them first; she scarcely knew one fromthe other of the Rectory children so far. If she saw them she wouldthink they had come to save her, and would rush to them and tell themall about her trouble. Ralph would indeed then be out of it. Hequickened his steps therefore, boldly entered the wood, which was onSquire Harringay's property, and a moment later came face to face withthe little girl.
She was leaning against the stile waiting for him. It had not occurredto her that he would come alone, but when she saw him, and noticed howtall and manly he looked, and how strong and well developed, her heartgave a bound of rapture. She ran to him, took both his hands, andlaughed aloud in her glee.
"Here I am," said Ralph. "Of course I mean to save you; you were rightto trust me."
"I thought I was," said Phyllis; "I felt that somehow yesterday. Butwhere are the others?"
"Oh! the others," said Ralph. "I thought you wanted me alone."
"It is ever so good of you to come, but I should like you all best,"answered the little girl. "But there, you have come, and I will tellyou everything. Let us walk round by the back of the stables. If _she_sees us I am lost."
"She in other words is the dragon," said Ralph.
"Yes--Miss Fleet; and I quite, quite hate her now."
"Tell me all about it," said Ralph, and he tucked Phyllis's hand throughhis arm, and they sauntered slowly in the direction of the field whichled to the back of the stables.
Meanwhile Miss Fleet, in dismay and indignation, drove straight to theRectory. Mrs Hilchester happened to be at home. She was in a roomwhich was very plainly furnished. At a large centre table the Rector'swife had spread bales of red flannel and coarse grey serge andunbleached calico, and was busy cutting out garments which were to bemade up immediately for the poor of the parish. When she heard MissFleet's step, she did not trouble even to look round.
"Is that you, my dear?" she said.
"And have you come to help me? But you are very late."
"I don't know what you mean by `my dear,'" answered the indignantgoverness, "but I have certainly never had the pleasure of speaking toyou before, and I may as well emphatically say I have not come to helpyou."
Mrs Hilchester dropped her large cutting-out scissors, and turned andfaced her visitor.
"I am sorry," she said abruptly; "I thought you were Mildred Jones; shepromised to look in and do what she could. I have a heavy pile to getthrough before nightfall. As you are here, do you mind holding thisunbleached calico while I divide it into yards?"
"Really,"--began Miss Fleet.
But indignant looks and even words were absolutely thrown away on thebusy Rector's wife.
"Catch," she said, "and hold tight. If you have anything to say, youcan say it while we are busy. No one who ever comes to the Rectory isallowed to waste time or to be idle. Thank you very much."
It was impossible for Miss Fleet not to hold the unbleached calico, andit was difficult for her to be quite as indignant and as dignified asshe had intended to be in such a positio
n.
"Why, really, this is most extraordinary," she said.
"Oh! pray, don't let go, or I shall have all my trouble over again."
Miss Fleet held tight to the calico, which got heavier and heavier asmore and more yards were measured off.
"Now, for goodness' sake lay it gently on the table. Thanks; that is ahelp. Now, my good friend, what is your business? If I can help you Ishall be pleased to do so; at present I don't even know your name."
"My name is Josephine Fleet."
"Ah, you are little Phyllis Harringay's governess. I received asomewhat extraordinary