Part 26 (1/2)
”It is this: poor Miss Sinclair-dear, nice Miss Sinclair-has been obliged to leave.”
”Oh, well, I am not sorry for that,” said Jasper. ”I was getting a bit jealous of her. You seemed to be getting on so well with her.”
”So I was. I quite loved her; she made my lessons so interesting. But what do you think, Jasper? Although I am very sorry she has gone, I am glad about the other thing. Audrey and I are going to school, as daily boarders, just outside the village; Chepstow House it is called. We are going to-morrow morning. Mothery would like that; she always did want me to go to school. I am glad. Are you not glad too, Jasper?”
”That depends,” said Jasper in an oracular voice.
”What does it all depend on? Why do you speak in that funny way?”
”It depends on you, my dear. I have heard a great deal about schools.
Some are nice and some are not. In some they give you a lot of freedom, and you are petted and fussed over; in others they discipline you. When you are disciplined you don't like it. If I were you--”
”Yes-what?”
”I would stay there if I liked it, and if I did not I would not stay. I would not have my spirit broke. They often break your spirit at school.
I would not put up with that if I were you.”
”I am sure they won't break my spirit,” said Evelyn in a tone of alarm.
”Why do you speak so dismally, Jasper? Do you know, I am almost sorry I told you. I was so happy at the thought of going, and now you have made me miserable. No, there is not the slightest fear that they will break my spirit.”
”Then that is all right, dear. Don't forget that you are the heiress.”
”I could let them know at school, could I not?”
”I would if I were you,” said the injudicious woman. ”I would tell the girls if I were you.”
”Oh yes; so I can. I wonder if they will be nice girls at Chepstow House?”
”You let them feel your power, and don't knock under to any of them,”
said Jasper. ”And now, my dear, I must really send you home. There, I'll walk a bit of the way back with you. You are looking very bonny, my little white Eve; you have got quite a nice color in your cheeks. I am glad you are well; and I am glad, too, that the governess has gone, for I don't want her to get the better of me. Remember what I said about school.”
”That I will, Jasper; I'll be sure to remember.”
”It would please her ladys.h.i.+p if you got on well there,” continued Jasper.
”I don't want to please Aunt Frances.”
”Of course you don't. Nasty, horrid thing! I shall never forgive her for turning me off. Now then, dear, you had best run home. I don't want her to see us talking together. Good-by, pet; good-by.”
CHAPTER XV.-SCHOOL.
The girls at Chepstow House were quite excited at the advent of Audrey and Evelyn. They were nice girls, nearly all of them; they were ladies, too, of a good cla.s.s; but they had not been at Chepstow House long without coming under the influence of what dominated the entire place-that big house on the hill, with its castellated roof and its tower, its moat too, and its big, big gardens, its s.p.a.cious park, and all its surroundings. It was a place to talk to their friends at home about, and to think of and wonder over when at school. The girls at Chepstow House had often looked with envy at Audrey as she rode by on her pretty Arab pony. They talked of her to each other; they criticised her appearance; they praised her actions. She was a sort of princess to them. Then there appeared on the scene another little princess-a strange child, without style, without manners, without any personal attractions; and this child, it was whispered, was the real heiress. By and by pretty Audrey would cease to live at Castle Wynford, and the little girl with the extraordinary face would be monarch of all she surveyed. The girls commented over this story amongst each other, as girls will; and when the younger Miss Henderson-Miss Lucy, as they called her-told them that Audrey Wynford and her cousin Evelyn were coming as schoolgirls to Chepstow House their excitement knew no bounds.
”They are coming here,” said Miss Lucy, ”and I trust that all you girls who belong to the house will treat them as they ought to be treated.”
”And how is that, Miss Lucy?” said Brenda Fox, the tallest and most important girl in the school.
”You must treat them as ladies, but at the same time as absolutely your equals in every respect,” said Miss Lucy. ”They are coming to school partly to find their level; we must be kind to them, but there is to be no difference made between them and the rest of you. Now, Brenda, go with the other girls into the Blue Parlor and attend to your preparation for Signor Forre.”