Part 42 (1/2)
”I am deeply sorry. I was prepared for this. It will take more than this to subdue you.”
”Are you going into the schoolroom with those sc.r.a.ps of paper, and are you going to tell all the girls I am guilty?” said Evelyn.
”No, I shall not do that; I will give you another chance. There was to have been a holiday to-day, but because of that sin of yours there will be no holiday. There was to be a visit on Sat.u.r.day to the museum at Chisfield, which the girls were all looking forward to; they are not to go on account of you. There were to be prizes at the break-up; they will not be given on account of you. The girls will not know that you are the cause of this deprivation, but they will know that the deprivation is theirs because there is a guilty person in the school, and because she will not confess. Evelyn, I give you a week from now to think this matter over. Remember, my dear, that I know you are guilty; remember that my sister Lucy knows it, and Miss Thompson; but before you are publicly disgraced we wish to give you a chance. We will treat you during the week that has yet to run as we would any other girl in the school. You will be treated until the week is up as though you were innocent. Think well whether you will indeed doom your companions to so much disappointment as will be theirs during the next week, to so dark a suspicion. During the next week the school will practically be sent to Coventry. Those who care for the girls will have to hold aloof from them. All the parents will have to be written to and told that there is an ugly suspicion hanging over the school. Think well before you put your companions, your schoolfellows, into this cruel position.”
”It is you who are cruel,” said Evelyn.
”I must ask G.o.d to melt your hard heart, Evelyn.”
”And are you really going to do all this?”
”Certainly.”
”And at the end of the week?”
”If you have not confessed before then I shall be obliged to confess for you before all the school. But, my poor child, you will; you must make amends. G.o.d could not have made so hard a heart!”
Evelyn wiped away her tears. She scarcely knew what she felt; she scarcely comprehended what was going to happen.
”May I bathe my eyes,” she said, ”before I go with you into the schoolroom?”
”You may. I will wait for you here.”
The little girl left the room.
”I never met such a character,” said Miss Henderson to herself. ”G.o.d help me, what am I to do with her? If at the end of a week she has not confessed her sin, I shall be obliged to ask Lady Frances to remove her.
Poor child-poor child!”
Evelyn came back looking pale but serene. She held out her hand to Miss Henderson.
”I do not want your hand, Evelyn.”
”You said you would treat me for a week as if I were innocent.”
”Very well, then; I will take your hand.”
Miss Henderson entered the schoolroom holding Evelyn's hand. Evelyn was looking as if nothing had happened; the traces of her tears had vanished. She sat down on her form; the other girls glanced at her in some wonder. Prayers were read as usual; the head-mistress knelt to pray. As her voice rose on the wings of prayer it trembled slightly. She prayed for those whose hearts were hard, that G.o.d would soften them. She prayed that wrong might be set right, that good might come out of evil, and that she herself might be guided to have a right judgment in all things. There was a great solemnity in her prayer, and it was felt throughout the hush in the big room. When she rose from her knees she ascended to her desk and faced the a.s.sembled girls.
”You know,” she said, ”what an unpleasant task lies before me. The allotted time for the confession of the guilty person who injured my book, _Sesame and Lilies_, has gone by. The guilty person has not confessed, but I may as well say that the injury has been traced home to one of your number-but to whom, I am at present resolved not to tell. I give that person one week in order to make her confession. I do this for reasons which my sister and I consider all-sufficient; but during that week, I am sorry to say, my dear girls, you must all bear with her and for her the penalty of her wrong-doing. I must withhold indulgences, holidays, half-holidays, visits from friends; all that makes life pleasant and bright and home-like will have to be withdrawn. Work will have to be the order of the hour-work without the impetus of reward-work for the sake of work. I am sorry to have to do this, but I feel that such a course of conduct is due to myself. In a week's time from now, if the girl has not confessed, I must take further steps; but I can a.s.sure the school that the cloud of my displeasure will then alone visit the guilty person, on whom it will fall with great severity.”
There was a long, significant pause when Miss Henderson ceased speaking.
She was about to descend from her seat when Brenda Fox spoke.
”Is this quite fair?” she said. ”I hope I am not asking an impertinent question, but is it fair that the innocent should suffer for the guilty?”
”I must ask you all to do so. Think of the history of the past, girls.