Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England
Tom and some other GirlsA Public School Story
By Mrs George de Horne Vaizey________________________________________________________________________You would be mistaken if you thought this was going to be a book abouta girl called Thomasina, for it is actually about a girl call RhodaChester. Rhoda has been brought up as the child of rich parents. Herbrothers have done well, but she has been kept at home, and has beentaught by governesses and other visiting tutors. The German frauleingoes to her own home in Germany for a holiday, where she gets marriedand never comes back.
This prompts Mr Chester to consider sending Rhoda away to a boardingschool. There is a discussion, Rhoda's mother not being at all infavour of the idea, but Rhoda is keen to go.
They settle on a school. Rhoda goes there, and enjoys herself, doingwell. Tom and the other girls are of course her schoolmates. But thereis to be an important exam, for which Rhoda overworks, to the pointwhere her brain no longer works when she is in the examination hall.So life is downward, instead of upward, she realises. We will leaveyou to read the rest of the story. Vaizey is at her best again. N.H.________________________________________________________________________TOM AND SOME OTHER GIRLSA PUBLIC SCHOOL STORY
BY MRS. GEORGE DE HORNE VAIZEY
CHAPTER ONE.
A CHANGE.
"Yes, she must go to school!" repeated Mr Chester.
A plaintive sob greeted his words from the neighbourhood of the sofa.For once in her life Mrs Chester's kindly, good-tempered face had lostits smiles, and was puckered up into lines of distress. She let onefat, be-ringed hand drop to her side and wander restlessly over thesatin skirt in search of a pocket. Presently out came a handkerchief,which was applied to each eye in turn, and came away bedewed with tears.
"It will break my heart to part from her!" she faltered. Her husbandlaughed with masculine scepticism.
"Oh, nonsense, dear," he said; "hearts are not so easily broken. Youare too sensible to grieve over what is for the child's good, and willget used to the separation, as other mothers have done before you. Itwill be the making of Rhoda to leave home for a few years, to mix withother girls, and find her level. She is getting an altogetherexaggerated idea of her own importance!"
"Her level, indeed! Find her level! I should like to know the schoolwhere you could find another girl like her!" cried the mother, in a tonewhich showed plainly enough who was responsible for Miss Rhoda'sconceit. The tears dried on her face for very indignation, and she satupright in her seat, staring across the room.
It was a gorgeous apartment, this drawing-room of Erley Chase, theresidence of Henry Chester, Esquire, and Marianne his wife; a gorgeousroom in the literal acceptance of the term, for each separate article offurniture looked as if it had been chosen more from the fact of itsintrinsic value than for its usefulness or beauty.
Mr Chester, the son of a country clergyman, had considered himselfpassing rich when a manufacturer uncle took him into his employ, at asalary of L400 a year. The first thing he did after this position wasassured was to marry his old love, the daughter of the village doctor,with whom he had played since childhood; and the young couple spent thefirst dozen years of their married lives very happily and contentedly ina little house in a smoky manufacturing town. The bachelor uncle wasproud of his clever nephew and fond of the cheery little wife, who wasalways kind and thoughtful even when gout and a naturally irritabletemper goaded him into conduct the reverse of amiable. When Harold wasborn, and christened after himself, he presented the child with a silvermug, and remarked that he hoped he would turn out better than most youngmen, and not break his parents' hearts as a return for their goodness.When Jim followed, the mug was not forthcoming; but when little Rhodamade her appearance six years later he gave her a rattle, and trustedthat she would improve in looks as she grew older, since he neverremembered seeing an uglier baby. He was certainly neither a graciousnor a liberal old gentleman, but the young couple were blessed withcontented minds and moderate ambitions, so they laughed good-naturedlyat his crusty speeches, and considered themselves rich, inasmuch as theywere able to pay their way and were spared anxiety for the future. Andthen an extraordinary thing happened! The old man died suddenly, andleft to his beloved nephew a fortune which, even in these days ofmillionaires, might truthfully be called enormous. Henry Chester couldnot believe the lawyers when the amount of his new wealth was broken tohim, for his uncle had lived so unostentatiously that he had had no ideaof the magnitude of his savings. The little wife, who had never knownwhat it was to spend sixpence carelessly in all her thirty-five years,grew quite hysterical with excitement when an arithmetical calculationproved to her the daily riches at her disposal; but she recovered hercomposure with wonderful celerity, and expressed her intention ofenjoying the goods which the gods had sent her. No poking in gloomytown houses after this! No hoarding of riches as the poor old uncle haddone, while denying himself the common comforts of life! She herselfhad been economical from a sense of duty only, for her instincts wereall for lavishness and generosity--and now, now! Did not Henry feel ita provision of Providence that Erley Chase was empty, and, as it were,waiting for their occupation?
Her husband gasped at the audacity of the idea. Erley Chase! the finestplace around, one of the largest properties in the county, and Mariannesuggested that he should take it! that he should remove from his fifty-pound house into that stately old pile! The suggestion appalled him,and yet why not? His lawyer assured him that he could afford it; hischildren were growing up, and he had their future to consider. Hethought of his handsome boys, his curly-headed girl, and decided proudlythat nothing was too good for them; he looked into the future, and sawhis children's children reigning in his stead, and the name of Chesterhonoured in the land. So Erley Chase was bought, and little MrsChester furnished it, as we have seen, to her own great contentment andthat of the tradespeople with whom she dealt; and in the course of a fewmonths the family moved into their new abode.
At first the country people were inclined to look coldly on the new-comers, but it was impossible to keep up an unfriendly attitude towardsMr and Mrs Chester. They were utterly free from affectation, and, sofar from apeing that indifference to wealth adopted by most _nouveauxriches_, were so frankly, transparently enchanted with their newpossessions that they were more like a couple of children with a new toythan a steady-going, middle-aged couple. They won first respect, andthen affection, and were felt to be a decided acquisition to the well-being of the neighbourhood, since they were never appealed to in vain inthe cause of charity.
In the days of her own short means, when she had been obliged to lookhelplessly at the trials of her neighbours, Mrs Chester had solacedherself by dreaming of what she would do if she had money and to spare,and to her credit be it said, she did not forget to put those dreamsinto execution when the opportunity arose. The days are past when fairygodmothers flash suddenly before our raptured eyes, clad in spangledrobes, with real, true wings growing out of their shoulders, but therace is not dead; they appear sometimes as stout little women, in satingowns and be-feathered bonnets, and with the most prosaic of red,beaming faces. The Chester barouche was not manufactured out of apumpkin, nor drawn by rats, but none the less had it spirited away manya Cinderella to the longed-for ball, and, when the Prince was found, thefairy godmother saw to it that there was no lack of satin gowns, orglassy slippers. Dick Whittingtons, too, sitting friendless by theroadside, were helped on to fortune; and the Sleeping Beauty was rescuedfrom her dull little home, and taken about to see the world. It iswonderful what fairy deeds can be accomplishe
d by a kind heart and afull purse, and the recipients of Mrs Chester's bounty were relievedfrom undue weight of obligation by the transparent evidence that herenjoyment was even greater than their own!
Harold went to Eton and Oxford, and Jim to Sandhurst; but Rhoda stayedat home and ruled supreme over her mother, her governesses, and theservants of the establishment. Her great-uncle's wish had beenfulfilled, inasmuch as she grew up tall and straight, with a mane ofreddish-gold hair and more than an average share of good looks. She wasclever, too, and generous enough to have acknowledged her faults if ithad for one moment occurred to her that she possessed any; which it hadnot. It was one of Mrs Chester's articles of faith that her daughterwas the most beautiful, the most gifted, and the most perfect of createdbeings, and Rhoda agreeably acquiesced in the decision, and was pitifulof other girls who were not as herself. Every morning when she had nota headache, and did not feel "floppy" or "nervey," she did lessons withFraulein, who adored her, and shed tears behind her spectacles whenobliged to point out a fault. Then the two would repair together to thetennis courts and play a set, the pupil winning by six games to love; orgo a bicycle ride, when Rhoda would practise fancy figures, while hergood, but cumbersome, companion picked herself up from recumbentpositions on the sidewalk, and shook the dust from her garments. Atother times Rhoda would put on her riding habit and go a ride round theestate, taking care to emerge from the west gate at the moment when thevillage children were returning from school. The little girls would"bob" in old-fashioned style, and the boys would pull off their caps,and Rhoda would toss her flaxen mane and acknowledge their salutationswith a gracious smile and a wave of the little gloved hand. Thechildren thought she looked like a fairy princess, and no more dreamtthat she was of the same flesh and blood as themselves than did MissRhoda herself. Then came lunch, and more often than not some excuse forgetting off the hour's lessons with Fraulein before the "visitingprofessors" arrived. Music master, drawing master, French master--theyeach came in their turn, and Rhoda exerted herself to do her best, asshe invariably did, given the stimulus of an audience, and was praisedand flattered to her heart's desire. It was a happy life, and mostsatisfactory from the girl's point of view; so that it seemed mostannoying that it should be interrupted, and by Fraulein too, who hadalways been so meek and tractable! Who could have imagined when shewent home for the summer holidays that an old love would appear andinsist upon marrying her out of hand?
"But what am _I_ to do?" cried Rhoda, when the news was first received;and then, in stern disapproval, "I'm _surprised_ at Fraulein! At herage she should know better. She always professed to be so devoted. Ican't understand how she could make up her mind to leave me."
"It must have been a terrible trial to her, dearest," said Mrs Chestersoothingly, and she meant what she said. How could any one prefer afat, long-haired, spectacled lover (all Germans were fat, long-haired,and spectacled!) to her beautiful, clever daughter? She sighed, oncefor Rhoda's disappointment, and once again, and with an added stab, forherself.
Several times lately Mr Chester had hinted that Rhoda was getting toomuch for Fraulein, and should be sent to school, while Harold hadtreacherously seconded his father with remarks of such brotherly candouras made his mother hot with indignation. Jim was mercifully away fromhome, but even so it was two against one, and she instinctively feltthat Fraulein's defection would be seized upon by the enemy and theattack pressed home upon the first opportunity. And now it had come,and there sat the poor, dear soul, shedding tears of anguish on herlace-edged handkerchief, as she vainly tried to oppose the inevitable.
"I cannot, and will not, part from my child!"
"Nonsense, mother, you parted from me, and I shall take it as a personalinsult if you insinuate that you would feel Rhoda's absence more thanyou did mine. Remember how delighted you were when I came back!Remember the holidays, how happy you were, how interested in all I hadto tell!"
Harold Chester crossed the room, and laid his hand on his mother'sshoulder with a kindly gesture. He looked as if he were made on thesame principle as the other objects of _vertu_ in the room, and if MrsChester had desired to possess "the most superfine specimen of sons andheirs," she had certainly got her wish, so far as appearances wereconcerned. Harold was tall and fair, with aquiline features and a manlycarriage. His hair would have curled if it had not been cropped soclose to his head; his clothes were of immaculate cut. At twenty-fivehe was known as one of the most daring sportsmen in the county, and ifhe had not distinguished himself at college, he had, at least, scrambledthrough with the crowd. His mother declared with pride that he hadnever given her an hour's anxiety since he had had the measles, andthanked Heaven for her mercies every time she saw him ride off to thehunt in his beautiful pink coat. Harold was her first-born darling, butRhoda was the baby, and she could not bring herself to believe that herbaby was growing up.
"The child will fret and break her heart. I don't care about myself,but I will not have her made unhappy. She has such a sensitive heart!"She sobbed as she spoke, and Harold laughed.
"You trust me, mater; Rhoda is as well able to take care of herself asany girl can be. You will regret it all your life long if you keep herat home now. School is what she needs, and school she must have, if sheis to make a woman worth having. She is a jolly little soul, and I'mproud of her; but her eyes are so taken up admiring Miss Rhoda Chesterthat she has no attention left for anything else. Let her go, mother,and find out that there are other girls in the world beside herself!"
"But the other girls will b-b-bully her. They will make fun of her andlaugh at her little ways--"
"And a good--" Harold checked himself and said cheerily: "Rhoda won'tlet herself be bullied without knowing the reason why, mother. Whateverfaults she may have, no one can accuse her of lack of spirit. I believeshe would like to go. She has very few girl friends, and would enjoythe new experience."
"We will tell her about it, and see what she says," said Mr Chester;and at that very moment the door opened and Rhoda walked into the room.