CHAPTER X.
PADDY WHEEL-ABOUT.
The next day there was a whisper through the school that Kitty Malonewas about to do public penance. She had already made more or lesssensation in that part of the school where she worked. In her own classthe girls, as has already been stated, adored her; but the other girlsalso looked at her with interest. They admired her dress, her free,careless gait, her upright, erect figure, and the bright, happy glancein her eyes. They all thought her charming, and the expression of herface was often so comical, the shrug of her shoulders so ludicrous, thatat a glance she set the girls tittering.
On this special occasion she sat down between her favorite Mary Daviesand Agnes Moore, and whispered to the former:
"Ah, then, darling, it is not your place I'll be taking to-day; sure myhead is bothered entirely. But I have got all kinds of nice things aboutme. Do you know that I sat up late last night putting a pocket in theleft side of my dress as well as the right, so now the girl on each sideof me can have as many chocolates as she has a fancy for? You dive inyour hand whenever you feel the least bit inclined for a sweetie, Agnes;and you do the same, Mary Davies; and, Mary, you might pass one on nowand then to that poor, little, thin Katie Trafford at the other end ofthe class."
It was certainly impossible for a girl like Kitty Malone not to bepopular; and the other girls valued her, and thought themselves highlyprivileged to be in the same class with her, dunce as she was.
Kitty had learned her lessons a little better, but the thought of thepublic confessions which she was about to make rested heavy on her soul.It made her restless; and her lessons, although they had been betterprepared, gained her no more marks than on the previous day.
"I wonder how I ought to do it," she whispered more than once to AgnesMoore.
"To do what?" asked Agnes, who was a very earnest little student, andwhose dream was that she might get a remove at the end of the term."About what, Kitty? I wish you would not interrupt me."
"Oh, bother it, dear. Have a chocolate, won't you? What are your lessonscompared to my perplexities? What ought I to say? Ought I to drop acourtesy or go on my knees? There was an old romance which I found inthe garret at home; and when the heroine did wrong she always droppedupon her knees and folded her hands, and raised her eyes towardheaven--is that the way I ought to do it?"
"Don't, don't, Kitty; you'll make me laugh, and then I'll be sent down.Please, don't talk to me any more."
Kitty turned her attention to Mary Davies.
"Would you, Mary, go on one knee or on two? If you dip your hand down tothe very bottom of my pocket, you'll find some caramels--some peoplelike them better than chocolate creams."
"You must not talk to me any more or I'll get into disgrace," whisperedMary in a low, frightened voice. "Look, Miss Worrick has come into theroom. Now do open your history book, there's a dear girl."
Kitty bent her curly head over her book. She was really interested inthe cruel fate of the martyr-king, but at that moment she saw nothingbut the picture she was conjuring up each moment before her excitedimagination--the tall girl asking pardon of the little teacher. Was thegirl to go on her knees?
"It really would be better," thought Kitty. "I'd be lower than her then.It does seem ridiculous that the big should ask pardon of the little,and--Oh, Miss Worrick, I beg your pardon; were you speaking to me?"
"I was, Kitty. Stand up; I am just going to lecture."
The history lesson began. Kitty did no better than yesterday. It came toan end. The mathematical teacher took her class, and then the great bellwas rung for recess. Just at the moment when its last note echoedthrough the vast school Miss Worrick came a step forward into the room,and held up her hand to arrest the movement of the classes. She lookedat Kitty with an expectant expression. Kitty returned her gaze, and saidnothing. Kitty Malone felt glued to her seat. For a moment every nerveseemed paralyzed, her face became crimson, her eyes filled with readytears, she looked down, the great tears splashed upon the desk beforeher. At that instant she encountered the vindictive and delightedglance of Alice Denvers.
Kitty had confided all her trouble to Alice on the previous night, andAlice at the time had pretended to give a little sympathy; but where washer sympathy now?
"I hate her," thought the Irish girl. "No one else would be glad to seeme so miserable."
"You have something to say to me, have you not, Miss Malone?" said MissWorrick in her stiff, precise voice.
Kitty staggered to her feet.
"I don't want to say it a bit," she grumbled.
"Come forward, my dear; come forward."
Kitty left the protection of her desk, and staggered across the room.Miss Worrick had mounted a little platform, all the other teachers stoodwaiting, and the girls waited also. Kitty looked round, the eyes in eachface seemed multiplied fourfold--the room seemed to be all eyes. Shelonged for the mountains, for her father, for Laurie, for the old home.She hated the school, she hated England. Why was she to be publiclydisgraced?
"Oh, it is very wrong indeed to ask me to do it," she cried. Then thefollowing words rushed out: "Miss Worrick, I am sorry I disobeyed youyesterday, and I'll stay in class to-day. Yes, I will stay; but I hateevery one of you, and I hate England, and I wish I was back again indear Old Ireland. Oh, dear! oh, dear! oh, dear! Why was I ever sent intothis horrid, cold, freezing land? Oh, my heart is broken! my heart isbroken!"
Kitty's sobs were distinctly heard across the great schoolroom. Shereturned to her seat. Miss Worrick with a wave of her hand dismissed therest of the girls. Kitty bent her head low down upon the desk beforeher, and sobbed louder and louder. At last she felt a hand restinglightly on her shoulder.
"I know I did it dreadfully, Miss Worrick," she said; "but it was sobad. Why did you make me, why did you make me?"
"There, Kitty, it is over now, and you will never disobey your teacheragain as long as you live," said a kind voice, and Kitty raised her eyesto see, not the face of Miss Worrick, but that of the head-mistress.
"Oh, Miss Sherrard, how could you make me do it?" she sobbed. "It wasn'tin me. None of the Malones could beg anybody's pardon, and I couldn't goon my knees when the moment came because they felt stiff, they had nojoints in them. I could not do it properly; no, I could not."
"You did it, dear, but not very well. You did it, however, and you havelearned your lesson. Now come with me into my private sitting-room. Youand I will have lunch together, and I will excuse you from any morelessons to-day."
Kitty Malone never forgot that next hour. Miss Sherrard was an idealhead-mistress. She had the keenest sympathy with girls. In her longexperience she had met girls of every shade of character, the bold, theambitious, the timorous, the idle, the frivolous, the noble, theearnest. She knew all about the Christian girl as well as the pagangirl; all about the girl who had a terrible battle with her own evil propensities, and the girl whose nature was so amiable, so gentle, sosweet, that life would be comparatively easy for her. But although shehad been head-mistress of the great Middleton School now for severalyears, she had never before met quite such an extraordinary specimen asKitty Malone. Where, however, others would see nothing but a spirit offrivolity, a love of admiration, dress, pleasure, in Kitty, MissSherrard peeped below the surface and discovered some really noblequalities. She determined to be very gentle to this wild, willfulgirl--to take her, in short, as she was.
"Oh, I wonder you care to speak to me," said Kitty, when her sobs havingceased, she stood looking half-repentant, half-rebellious in MissSherrard's private room.
"You are not to be the subject of our conversation at all for thepresent, Kitty," said Miss Sherrard. "Lunch is ready, and you must behungry. Would you like to go into my room--it is just next to this--andwash your hands and brush out your hair?"
Kitty looked at Miss Sherrard's small and beautifully-kept hands. Shewas fastidious to a remarkable degree about her personal appearance.
"I dare say my hair is somewhat untidy," she said. "I might as well take
a squint at myself in the glass. I never like to look ugly. Is my nosevery red, Miss Sherrard?"
"Never mind about your appearance," said Miss Sherrard, who could nothelp feeling slightly annoyed at what she considered such a veryirrelevant remark.
"I expect I am a fright," said Kitty standing up and talking half toherself and half for the benefit of the head-mistress. "Crying alwaysspoils me. Now, I knew a girl at home, and the more she cried theprettier she got. She used to let her tears roil down her cheeks ingreat drops, and never attempted to wipe them away, and her nose nevergot red, and her eyes only got bigger and quite dewy. Now, as to me whenI cry, my nose----"
"Kitty, will you please remember that I am waiting for lunch,"interrupted Miss Sherrard.
"Oh, I beg your pardon, ma'am," answered Kitty. She ran into the nextroom, examined herself critically in the glass, arranged her hair,dipped her hands into hot water, and came back looking spruce, bright,pretty, and once more restored to the highest good-humor.
"I said yesterday that I would love you, ma'am," she said, as she seatedherself at the other side of the appetizing board. "Oh! what a dearlittle pie! I wonder is it pigeon pie"
"No, it is lamb pie," answered Miss Sherrard. "Will you help yourself?"
Kitty cut herself a generous slice.
"I like all sorts of good things," she said. "I am sure I was meant todo nothing in life but dress well, and look pretty, and have the nicestfood to eat, and----"
"How dare you?" interrupted Miss Sherrard. Her words coming firm andstrong, the expression on her kind face arrested the idle girl's sillyremarks.
"What do you mean?" asked Kitty.
"I mean this, Miss Malone, that you are a girl with a considerableamount of ability----"
"Oh, now that I have not got."
"With a considerable amount of ability," continued Miss Sherrard, "andwith a great many talents."
"Talents! I thought talents meant genius. Now, I have always and alwaysbeen told that I was a dunce of the dunces. It's not joking me you are,is it, Miss Sherrard?"
"No, Kitty; I am in very sober earnest. You have been sent to me to makesomething of you."
"Well, my dear woman, I am afraid you won't make much. The fact is, I amwild through and through. I come of a wild stock. I wish you could seeus at home, and Laurie, and----"
"You must tell me about your home afterward," said Miss Sherrard. "Butnow I have something to say about yourself."
As she spoke, Miss Sherrard drew her cup of coffee to the side of thetable, leaned back, and looked fixedly into the bright and lovely faceof the girl who sat opposite her.
"You have read your Bible, have you not?" she said.
"My Bible!" cried Kitty. "Yes; I read it every day."
"I am glad to hear that."
"Why, you don't suppose we are a lot of heathens at Castle Malone, doyou, Miss Sherrard? Father has prayers every morning, and we all troopin, every one of us, into the big hall. Oh, I wish you could see thehall, and the pictures of my ancestors, and----"
"Afterward you shall tell me about them," interrupted Miss Sherrard. "Soyou do read your Bible every day. Then I dare say you happen to knowthe beautiful story, or rather parable, spoken by Christ himself aboutthe talents?"
"Yes, I love that story; only I don't think it applies specially to me,for I have not got any."
"Have not you? Perhaps I can find that you have."
Kitty gazed at her mistress very earnestly.
"What is it I am good in?" she asked after a pause. "Is it my English?Bless you, they tell me it's awfully Irish."
"It certainly is, Kitty."
"Then, I don't know any music, although I can sing and whistle. Oh, Ican whistle anything. There's not an air that Laurie plays (it's he thathas the genius for music, bless the boy)--but there's not an air heplays that I can't whistle it right up and down, and with variationstoo."
"Yes, my dear, yes; but I was not thinking of this special talent. Now,let me tell you something that you have got."
"What? Please speak."
"You have plenty of money."
"I never thought that was a talent," cried Kitty.
"I should think it a very great and responsible talent. You have beengiven that money to do something for God. He wants you to use it forHim. Then, also, you have a very bright, attractive, loving manner."
"Oh, I feel every word I say. It's not manner," said Kitty. "You don'tsuppose I'm a hypocrite, do you?"
"No, I think on the contrary you are very sincere. We will now admitthat you have got two talents; you have got money and you have got apleasant manner. I think also that you have got a third, and I may beable to prove to you that you have got a fourth."
"Dear me, this is most entertaining!" exclaimed Kitty. "So I have reallygot two talents, and you think I have more. What is the third?"
"I don't wish to make you vain; but you have--yes, I must tell you--aremarkably pretty face."
"Ah, now, what a darling you are! I always thought you were sweet. Whatpart of me do you admire most, the eyes or the mouth? I have the realIrish eyes I know--gentian-blue, yes, that's the color--and myeyelashes--aren't they long?"
"We need not discuss your beauty piece by piece," said Miss Sherrard."You are pretty, and I am willing to admit it. Now, a bright face likeyours, with an attractive manner, is a gift. Then, besides, youhave--you will be astonished when I say this--lots of becoming dress,which adds to the charm of your appearance. Kitty, if you were all youmight be--if you would use that money which God has given you, thatbeauty which God has given you, that attractive manner which God hasgiven you, all for His service--why, you could do a great deal in theworld. You could make it a better place, a brighter place, a happierplace. Now, my dear child, your father has trusted you to me. He wroteto me a great deal about you before you came to Middleton School----"
"Dear old dad!" cried Kitty.
"He loves you with all his heart."
"I should think so, the darling blessed man--may the saints preservehim!"
"As your father feels so strongly about you, and as I promised him todo what I could for his child, will you help me, Kitty? Will youremember that you are equipped for the battle of life much more bravely,much more strongly than most of the other girls in Middleton School? Useyour beauty for Him, dear; use your attractive manner for Him."
"You make me feel very solemn," said Kitty. She rose. "I will try andthink about it," she said. "I wish I was not quite such a giddypate; butI'll try and think about it."
Miss Sherrard kissed her.
"And now I want you to do something more," she said. "You won't be ableto be a better girl than you were in the past if you don't pray to Godto help you; and when you pray, Kitty, ask Him to teach you to restrainyour feelings a little, not to let them all rush to the surface, to keepa little back. Thus you will gain strength of character, and--and be allthe better for it, my child."
"You are very good to me," said Kitty. "I don't mind what I do for thoseI love. I suppose now you would wish me to learn my lessons perfectlyevery day?"
"I certainly should."
"And to--to turn poor little Agnes Moore from the head of her class?"
"Well, Kitty, I cannot say anything about that. II you do better workthan Agnes Moore you will get to the head of the class and she will godown; but I doubt your being able to do so, for Agnes is a very cleverand a very diligent little pupil. But I want you, dear, soon to get outof that class, for it is a great deal too young for you. I want you tobe with girls of your own age. We are yet one month to the end of theterm. By the end of term I want to be able to tell you that you have gota remove. And now, dear, good-by. Remember, I shall watch you, and--yes,I shall pray for you."
"You are very good to me," repeated Kitty; and she walked out of MissSherrard's presence with her head lowered, and a mist before her eyes.
For the next few days Kitty was strangely thoughtful. She did not speaknearly so much as usual, she felt inclined to go away by herself, andsh
e was much puzzled about her talents. Miss Sherrard's words had madequite a deep impression. She learned her lessons with care, and hadevery chance, so her teachers told her, of a remove at the end of term.Even Alice found less to say against her. Kitty began to look on herschool life as something roseate and delightful; but all these thingswere to come to a speedy end.
On a certain afternoon she got home to find Alice out and Mrs. Denversseated in the drawing-room with a great basket of mending before her.
"Oh, what a lot of work! Would you like me to help you?" said Kitty.
"Very much, dear; but what kept you so late? Oh, here is a letter foryou."
"A letter!" cried Kitty eagerly. "Oh, it is from Laurie. Hurrah!hurrah!"
She forgot all about her offer to help Mrs. Denvers with her darning,tossed the letter in the air two or three times, and then sank down onthe nearest ottoman to read it. These were the words on which her eyesrested:
"DEAR OLD KITTERKINS: I have got into the greatest bother of a mess thatever assailed a poor gossoon, and if you can't help me, old girleen,well, I shall be done brown, as the saying is. The whole matter concernsPaddy Wheel-about. The poor creature has been getting queerer andqueerer lately, and father has been ever so much worried about him. Ididn't know a word of this, mind you, at the time, but learnt itafterwards; and it makes my bit of a frolic all the blacker, I can tellyou. Father got Dr. Milligan to go and see Paddy in his cabin at the topof Sleeve Nohr, and the doctor said that the poor old boy was going offhis head as fast as he could, and we must be careful not to give him anyshock. Well, but to come to my part of it. You know that coat of his,and what diversion we have had out of it from time to time? You made oneof the patches yourself, don't you remember, Kitty? We always told himthat in each patch he had concealed a sovereign. Well, hot as the daysare, he has been wearing that coat, and a figure of fun he did look. TheMahoney boys and Pat and I thought we would take a rise out of him; soone night when he was asleep we stole up to his lair and got hold of theprecious coat. We bundled it up and were off with it. We had to crossthe lake, in the old boat with a hole in the bottom, in order to gethome in time, and what do you think happened? Up came a squall, the boatwas upset, and Paddy's coat sank to the bottom of the lake. We swam tothe shore and thought it would be an easy matter to fish up the old coaton the following morning; but although we dragged and dragged, and Patand I both dived down to the bottom a good dozen of times, the coat hadsunk in the deep mud and we could not find it, no nor a sign of it.Well, of course, our one hope was that no one should know; but what wasour horror to be confronted by no less a person than Wheel-abouthimself. You know that craze he has about never speaking. Well, he spoketo us and pretty sharp too, and told us he knew we had taken the coat,and didn't he look thunders and daggers at us, and we funked it soawfully--yes, I will confess it, Kits, your brave Laurie funked it likeanything--for Wheel-about did really look like a roadman; at last therewas no help for it--we had to out with the truth. Oh, didn't he raise ayell louder than anything you ever heard, and then I told him that if Icould not get back the coat I would give him ten pounds for certain bySaturday next. He said if I did he would lie quiet for a bit and nottell the governor, so I want you like a blessed girleen to lend me themoney. Send it off the very instant you read this; for if you don't thesaints alone know what will happen. We are certain to be sent to aschool in England, at least I am. From what you tell me, Kitterkins, ofthat place, I should think it would break our hearts to smithereens. Nowlook sharp and send the money. Your loving brother,
"LAURIE."
"Oh, dear!" exclaimed Kitty starting to her feet. "Do you mind my goingout at once, Mrs. Denvers?"
"Certainly not, my love. Tea will be ready at five o'clock. Are yougoing far?"
"Only to Elma Lewis' house. I want to see her; it is awfully important."
"But Elma lives quite two miles from here."
"Oh, that does not matter. I am sure to find my way. It is most urgent,"said Kitty.
She rushed out of the room, pinned on her hat, and a moment later waswalking down the street as fast as she could go. She crossed a fieldand a common, and after a time got into that part of the town where Elmalived. By dint of asking half a dozen children and three or fourpolicemen she at last reached Constantine Road, and presently found theright house. She ran up the steps and sounded a rattling rat-tat on theknocker. The moment she did so a girl with a mop of untidy red hairpeeped up at her from the area below.
"Come and open the door at once," called Kitty. "Why do you keep a ladywaiting?"
The girl soon appeared, tying on her cap and apron as she did so.
"I thought as they was all out for the day," she began, "--Oh, miss, Ibeg your pardon."
Kitty, notwithstanding her rather rude words, presented a very charmingspectacle as she stood on the steps. She was dressed not only in theheight of the fashion, but wore such a perfectly captivating littletoque at the back of her head as to fire the fancy and take the littlewit which she possessed out of Mrs. Lewis' maid-of-all-work.
Maggie had never seen anything so captivating nor so ravishing. A wilddesire to make a toque like it to put on her own towzled locks on thefollowing Sunday caused her to stare so hard at Kitty with her mouthwide open that she did not hear a word that young lady was saying.
"Are you in a dream?" asked Kitty Malone. "I want to see Miss ElmaLewis. Is she at home?"
"Miss Helma? No, miss, that she ain't," replied Maggie. "Oh, I beg yourpardon, miss; but it's it's the bonnet at the top of your head."
"My bonnet?" said Kitty.
"Yes, miss. Oh, I do beg your pardon, miss--I was took all of a heap.Yes, miss, I'm attending now. But oh, if you would just turn your head alittle."
"You must be mad," said Kitty. But her eyes began to sparkle.
"Do listen to me," she continued; "it's most important. Is Miss Elma notat home?"
"No, miss; she's out for the day, and so is the missus and Miss Carrie.They're all out a-pleasuring in their different ways, and they has leftme at home to drudge. I'm the household drudge, miss, and no wonder I'mtook with anything so pretty. Do you mind telling me, miss, if themwiolets is real?"
"Oh, the violets in my toque--are those what you are staring at?" saidKitty. "Well, now, I'll tell you what I'll do--I'll give you the wholebunch if you'll let me come into the house and write a letter to Elma,and if you'll further faithfully promise that you will give it to herthe instant she comes home."
"To be sure I will, miss. Come right along in. Oh, what a beautifulyoung lady you is!"
"Every one tells me I am beautiful," thought Kitty. "It really is verypleasant. I am more flattered here than I was in Ireland. People told methere I had a face like cream and roses, or cream and strawberries, andfather used to say that I had washed it in the fairies' dew, and Lauriewould tell me that I was a bouncing girl and no mistake; but then AuntHonora was always saying: 'Kitty dear, beauty is only skin deep, anddon't be set up by it, child. Handsome is that handsome does, Kitty.'Oh, how she would deave me with that old proverb. But here they seem tothink beauty is a talent, and I ought to be desperately proud of it. Oh,faith, but why do I think of these things when my precious duck of aLaurie is in the mess he has got into. He go to England to break hisheart, the darling! Not a bit of it; not while his Kitty has her witsabout her."
Meanwhile Maggie conducted this ravishing and welcome visitor into thetiny sitting-room, furnished her with pen, ink, and paper, and thenbegan to hover about near the door in order to get another view of thelovely cap.
Kitty bent her head over the sheet of paper and indited a letter in hotand furious haste:
"DEAR ELMA: I am so sorry, but I must ask you to return that eightpounds to me immediately. I want it for Laurie. He has got into troubleand requires it; so don't keep me waiting a single minute if you canhelp it. I am so sorry you are out; but will you bring it to me theinstant you return home? It is of the most vital importance. I am indreadful trouble, and nothing else will save Laurie. Y
ours in greathaste, KITTY MALONE."
Having written the letter, Kitty looked round for an envelope; Maggiealso searched to right and left, but could not find one.
"But it will be all right, miss," she said. "I'll lay it just as it isflat out on the table, and Miss Helma will see it the moment she comesin."
"Thank you," answered Kitty. "And now I must go. Be sure you give it toher her the instant she returns, and tell her to come straight to mewith the money, for I must send it off to-night whatever happens. It isa money transaction; and you understand, don't you? What is your name?"
"Maggie, miss."
"Well, you understand, Maggie, that any transaction connected with moneyis very important."
"Like the Bank of England, miss?"
"Yes, to be sure, and--"
"Oh, miss, forgive me; but you promised me them wiolets."
"To be sure I did."
Kitty snatched them from her toque, flung them to Maggie, who caughtthem in an ecstacy, and a moment later was running home as fast as shecould.