Part 2 (1/2)
”Annie will be gay and light-hearted to the end of the chapter!”
exclaimed Hester.
”But she was naughty when she was my age, wasn't she?”
”She is not naughty now.”
”Well, no more will I be when I am sixteen. Now, good-night, Het. Am I to sleep in your room?”
”Yes.”
”How scrumptious. Look out for a fine waking early in the morning.”
Nan hugged Hester in her usual rough-and-ready manner, and danced upstairs, singing as she went--
”_Old Daddy-long-legs wouldn't say his prayers, Catch him by his left leg and throw him downstairs._”
This was one of Nan's rhymes which Sir John detested. Her voice was loud and somewhat piercing. He heard it in the drawing-room, and went deliberately and shut the door.
”Miss Forest,” he said to his young guest, ”there are moments when I feel extremely uneasy with regard to the fate of my youngest daughter.”
”About Nan's fate?” exclaimed Annie, raising her arched eyebrows; ”why, she is quite the dearest little thing in the world. I wish you could see her at school; she is the pet of all the girls at Lavender House.”
”That may be,” said Sir John, with a slightly sarcastic movement of his thin lips; ”but it does not follow that school pets are home pets. If my good friend, Mrs. Willis, finds Nan's society so agreeable, I wish she would arrange to keep her for the holidays.”
Annie's young face, so round, so fresh, so charming, was fixed in grave surprise on her elderly host.
”Don't you love Nan at all?” she asked, wonder in her tone.
Sir John had been giving Miss Forest credit for great tact. Up to this moment, he had considered her a very pretty, agreeable little girl, who would be an acquisition in the house. Now he winced; she had trodden very severely on one of his corns.
”I naturally have a regard for my child,” he said, after a pause, ”and I presume that I show it best by having her properly educated and disciplined in her youth.”
”Oh, no, I don't think you do,” said Annie. ”You must forgive me for saying frankly what I really think. I used to be like Nan when I was a little girl, and I'd never have changed--never--never, I'd never have become thoughtful for others, I'd always have been an unmitigated horror to all my friends if my father had treated me like that. He's not a bit like you, Sir John. I don't mean to compare him to you for a moment. He is quite a rough sort of man, and he has led a rough life; but, oh dear me, from the time he came back from Australia, and I knew that I had a living father, I cannot tell you what a difference there has been in my life. I have generally spent my holidays with him, and he has loved me so much that I have loved him back again, and have learnt to know exactly what will please him and make him happy. Nothing tamed me so much as the knowledge that I was necessary to my father's happiness. I am sure,” added Annie in a low voice, and with a suspicion of tears in her eyes, ”that it would be just the same with dear little Nan.”
She broke down suddenly, half afraid of her own temerity. There was silence for nearly half a minute then Sir John rose from his chair, and, going over to a lamp which was slightly smoking, turned it down.
”If your father has been in Australia,” he said, turning again and looking fixedly at his young visitor, ”you will be interested in books on that country. I have got all Henry Kingsley's novels. You will find them in the library. Ask Hester to show you the book-case.”
He strode deliberately out of the room, and Annie had to own to herself that she felt crushed.
CHAPTER III.
TWO PROVERBS.
Hester Thornton and Annie Forest had been educated at the same school--the well-known Lavender House. The fame of this school, the n.o.ble character of its mistress, the excellent training which each girl who went there received, formed a recommendation for each young student in after life. Hester and Annie had gone through severe storms in these early days. Their friends.h.i.+p had been cemented under the influence of great trouble. It was exactly a year now since Hester had been suddenly sent for from her busy and happy school life to take care of her father through a dangerous illness. He found her company so sweet, her skill and tact in managing his house so great, that he resolved not to allow her to go back to school again. Annie Forest was now, therefore, the head girl at Lavender House. She was Mrs. Willis's right hand; her help and support in every way. Annie was as great a favourite as of old, and as love and kindness had developed all the best side of her character, she was no longer the tomboy of the school, nor the one who was invariably the ringleader when mischief was afloat. She was still impulsive, however--eager, impatient--for such a nature as hers must fight on to the end of the chapter. She did not possess Hester Thornton's steady principles, and would always be influenced, whether for good or evil, by her companions. She was only to spend one more term at school; the future, after that, was practically unknown to her.
”I wish you'd tell me about Nan,” said Hester, on the first evening of Annie's visit to the Grange. ”I don't know why, but I feel a little anxious about her.”