Part 1 (1/2)
The School Queens
by L T Meade
BIOGRAPHY AND BIBLIOGRAPHY
L T Meade (Mrs Elizabeth Tholish novelist, was born at Bandon, County Cork, Ireland, 1854, the daughter of Rev R T
Meade, Rector of Novohal, County Cork, and married Toulmin Smith in 1879 She wrote her first book, _Lettie's Last Hoe of seventeen and since then has been an unusually prolific writer, her stories attaining wide popularity on both sides of the Atlantic
She worked in the British Museu special studies of East London life which she incorporated in her stories She edited _Atlanta_ for six years Her pictures of girls, especially in the influence they exert on their elders, are draith intuitive fidelity; pathos, love, and hu easily fro devoted toely with questions of home life, are: _David's Little Lad; Great St
Benedict's; A Knight of To-day (1877); Miss Toosey's Mission; Bel-Marjory (1878); Laddie; Outcast Robbin: or, Your Brother and Mine; A Cry from the Great City; White Lillie and Other Tales; Scafinnan; Dot and Her Treasures; The Children's Kingdom: the Story of Great Endeavor; The Water Gipsies; A Dweller in Tents; Andrew Harvey's Wife; Mou-setse: A Negro Hero (1880); Mother Herring's Chickens (1881); A London Baby: the Story of King Roy (1883); Hermie's Rose-Buds and Other Stories; How it all Came Round; Two Sisters (1884); Autocrat of the Nursery; Tip Cat; Scarlet Anemones; The Band of Three; A Little Silver Truel of Love (1885); A World of Girls (1886); Beforehand; Daddy's Boy; The O'Donnells of Inchfawn; The Palace Beautiful; Sweet Nancy (1887); Deb and the duchess (1888); nobody's Neighbors; Pen (1888); A Girl from America (1907)_
THE SCHOOL QUEENS
CHAPTER I
THE FASCINATING MAGGIE
Cicely Cardew and her sister Merry were twins At the time when this story opens they were between fifteen and sixteen years of age They were bright, airls, who had never wanted for any pleasure or luxury during their lives Their home was a happy one
Their parents were affectionate and lived solely for them They were the only children, and were treated--as only children often are--with a considerable amount of attention They were surrounded by all the appliances of wealth They had ponies to ride and carriages to drive in, and each had her own luxurious and beautifully furnished bedroohters should be educated at home In consequence they were not sent to any school, but had daily overnesses to instruct theht be truly said that for theuarded froht and a quite beautiful They had not the slightest knowledge of what the world ht up in such a sheltered way that it seemed to them that there were no storms in life They were not discontented, for no one ever breathed the word in their presence Their requests were reasonable, for they knew of no very big things to ask for Even their books were carefully selected for them, and their amusements were of a irls when this story opens on a bright day towards the end of a certain July Their home was called Meredith Manor, and Merry was called after an old ancestor on their ed
Mr Cardeas a ed to an old county fa in the world that Cicely and Merry thought nothing whatever about, it was money They could understand neither poverty nor the absence of gold
The little village near Meredith Manor was a ed, devoted himself absolutely to it The houses ell drained and taken great care of Prizes were offered for the best gardens; consequently each cottager vied with the other in producing the e consisted entirely of Mr Cardew's laborers and the different servants on his estate There were, therefore, no hardshi+ps for the girls to witness at Meredith village They were fond of popping in and out of the cottages and talking to the young wives andwith the babies; and they particularly enjoyed that great annual day when Mr Cardew threw open the grounds of Meredith to the entire neighborhood, and when games and fun and all sorts of amusements were the order of the hour
Besides the people who lived in the village, there was, of course, the rector, who had a pretty, picturesque, old brown house, with a nice garden in one corner of the grounds He had a good-natured, round-faced, happy wife, and a fahters He was known as the Reverend Williaift of the Meredith family, he was a distant connection of Mrs Cardew, and had been appointed by her husband to the living of Meredith at her request
The only playfellows the girls had ever enjoyed were the young Tristraer, the girls the elder The boys were not yet in their teens, but Molly and Isabel Tristra Cardews Molly was, in fact, a year older, and was a very syirl She and her sister Isabel had not been educated at hon schools both in France and Germany; and Molly, in her heart of hearts, rather looked down upon what she considered theCardews and their want of knowledge of the world
”It is ridiculous!” she was heard to say to Isabel on that very July irls, and would be splendid if they could do anything or knehat to do; but, as it is, they are nothing whatever but half-grown-up children, with noitself at the present h,” said Isabel ”They will learn by-and-by I don't suppose Mr and Mrs Cardew mean to keep them always shut up in a nutshell”
”I don't know,” replied Molly ”Mr and Mrs Cardew are like no other people I have heard father say that he thinks it a great pity that girls should be so terribly isolated”
”Well, as to that,” replied Isabel, ”I wouldn't be in their shoes for creation I have so enjoyed my time at Hanover and in France; and now that we are to have two years at Aylton, I cannot tell you how I look forward to it”
”Yes, won't it be fine?” replied Molly ”But noe had better go up at once to Meredith Manor and ask the girls if we ie Howland with us this afternoon Father has sent the pony-trap to the station to ht,” said Isabel; ”but one of us had better stay at home to receive her You, Molly, can run up to the Manor and ask the girls if we ht,” replied Molly Then she added ”I wonder if Maggie is as fascinating as ever Don't you remember, Belle, what a spell she cast over us at our school at Hanover? She was like no one else I ever met