by L. T. Meade
her fairy tale. "Whosays we haven't?" she repeated.
"The reason we have been happy," continued Frederica, "is simply this:we have been--or at least we have tried to be--good. It would indeed,"continued the young girl, "be very difficult to be anything but goodhere--here, where things are so sweet and everyone is so kind, and evenlessons, even lessons are made such a pleasure. Why shouldn't we allkeep on being good? why should we be jealous?"
"Who says anyone is jealous?" said Harriet.
"Oh, Harriet!" said Frederica; "you know you are, just a little bit."
"I don't wonder she's jealous!" suddenly burst from Jane. "Robina hastaken her place in class. Harriet is our clever one; she doesn't wantto--to--"
"Oh, I am sure she is not small-minded enough for that," said Fredericaat once. "If a cleverer girl comes to the school--"
"She is _not_ cleverer!" burst from Harriet.
"Well, Harriet, you've got to prove it. If you are clever, work stillharder, and resume your place in the class, and I'm sure we'll all bedelighted: fair play is fair play, and it's very mean of you to be angryabout nothing. Ah! here comes tea, and I am so thirsty. Let's help tolay it out, girls!"
Immediately every girl had started to her feet: a white table-cloth wasspread on the lawn, cups and saucers followed suit; tea, cake, bread andbutter, dishes of fruit were soon being eagerly discussed. The smallchildren gave a whoop of excitement, and Robina returned, still carryingCurly Pate, with the others in her train.
During tea, one of the little ones suggested that they should turnRobina into a queen. No sooner had the thought been uttered than it wasput into execution. She was seated on a special chair and crowned withflowers, which the children had been gathering for her. A wreath offlowers surrounded her laughing face, and a garland of flowers wasplaced round her neck. Curly Pate looked on just for a minute, thensaid eagerly: "Me too! me too!"
"Why should there not be two queens?" said Robina. "Gather some whiteflowers for the baby, somebody."
"Somebody" meant everybody--that is, except Harriet, for even Jane wasdrawn into the whirlpool of excitement. Nothing could be prettier thanthe happy faces of the children; and especially of the queen with herflowers--her cheeks slightly flushed, her queer, half-wild,half-pathetic eyes brighter and darker than usual, one arm encirclingCurly Pate's dear little fat body, and of Curly Pate herself, shriekingwith delight while a crown of white daisies encircled her little head.
It was on this scene that Mrs Burton, accompanied by a gentleman whomthe girls had never seen before, suddenly appeared.
Book 1--CHAPTER FOUR.
AN UNUSUAL PRIZE.
The gentleman was holding by the hand a small boy. The boy could nothave been more than seven or eight years of age. He was rather a littleboy for that, so that some of the girls put him down as younger. He wasa very beautiful boy. He had a little dark face, with that nut-brownskin at once clear and yet full of colour which is in itself a greatloveliness. His eyes were large and brown like the softest velvet. Hehad very thick brown hair with a sort of bronze tone in it, and thishair hung in ringlets round his head. The boy was dressed in a peculiarway. He wore a suit of brown velvet, which fitted his agile littlefigure rather tightly. He had brown silk stockings and little breeches,and shoes with steel buckles. Round his neck he wore a large lacecollar made in a sort of Vandyke fashion. Altogether, this little boylooked exactly as though he had stepped out of a picture.
He was not at all shy. His eyes travelled over the scene, and theyfixed themselves on Curly Pate, while Curly Pate's eyes gazed on him.
There was dead silence for a minute, all the girls in the school lookingneither at Mrs Burton nor at the gentleman, but at the queer, new,little, beautiful boy. Then Curly Pate broke the stillness.
"I is kene," (queen), she said, "and--him is king!" and she pointed withrapture at the boy.
"Oh, you're king, are you, Ralph?" said the gentleman. Then he saidagain: "Come over to me, little queen, and let me introduce you to theking."
Never was anyone less shy than the school baby, and never, perhaps, wasanyone more fickle. She scrambled immediately off Robina's knee and,pushing aside her companions, went up to the boy and took his hand.
"Tiss I--king; won't oo?" she said, and she raised her little cherubicmouth to the small boy.
The boy, who was no more shy than Curly Pate herself, stooped, kissedher, and said:
"Oh, you little darling!" Curly Pate gave her fat hand to his Majesty,and the king and queen trotted off together.
"Does oo 'ike fairies, and butterflies and flowers?" the queen was heardto say as she conducted His Majesty round the garden.
The girls all looked after them with pleasure, and the gentleman said toMrs Burton:
"Then I shall have no fear whatever. I see he is happy already, and Iknow all you girls will treat my little man kindly."
"Of course we will," said Robina, taking the lead in that way whichnearly drove poor Harriet mad. "Is he going to stay here? What aperfect little darling he is!"
"He is going to stay from now until the end of the term," said thegentleman; "then I am coming back for him, and I am going to give aprize to the girl whom he himself likes best."
"Oh! then, of course, that will be Curly Pate," said Robina, stillsmiling and looking very interesting and absolutely out of the common.
"Curly Pate won't count," said the gentleman. "The prize is to be givenby Mrs Burton's permission to a girl in the third form. Who are thegirls in the third form, if I may venture to ask, my dear madam?"
The gentleman had a most courteous way; his manners were so nice, andhis voice so--perhaps harmonious is the right word, that he might almosthave been a king himself.
"Girls of the third form," said Mrs Burton in reply, "come and standover here, will you?"
At the word of command, Frederica and Patience Chetwold, the threeAmberleys, Harriet and Jane, and last, but by no means least, RobinaStarling, stood in a long row before the strange gentleman and MrsBurton.
"So you are the third form girls," he said very kindly. "Well, I amexceedingly pleased to make your acquaintance. One of you--that onewhom Mrs Burton considers the most truly kind to my little boy--shallreceive from my hands, on my return to claim my child, a prize. It willbe, after a fashion, a prize for conduct, for it will be given to thatgirl who does not spoil Ralph, but who helps him to be good, who winshis love, who, in short, understands him. I know he is a very prettyboy, and on the whole, perhaps he is good; but he is by no means allgood, and perhaps it would be well, girls of the third form, to give youa hint--he can be led, but never driven. I think he is an honourablelittle fellow, and I am sure he would not willingly tell a lie, or bewillingly disobedient. I want one of you to be, in short, hisschool-mother, and the school-mother who really adopts my Ralph shall berewarded by me."
Mrs Burton now spoke.
"You shall all be put on trial with regard to Ralph," she said, "for thenext week. At the end of that time he will himself select hisschool-mother, and unless something unforeseen occurs, I think, MrDurrant, the prize will be already won. The fact is, my dear sir, thereare a great many prizes to be competed for just now, and I do not wantmy girls to be kept in a state of suspense."
"I will give as my prize," said Mr Durrant, "a pony, with aside-saddle, and a habit made to order and to fit the girl who wins theprize. In order, too, that the pony shall be no expense to thefortunate owner, I will provide for its maintenance a certain sum peryear, until the owner can assure me that she is in a position toundertake this expense herself. What I mean is this," continued MrDurrant: "I don't want the girl's parents to have any expense with thepony. He will be my gift to the little girl who mothers my boy. Andnow I think I have said all that is necessary."
"I will talk to you girls on the subject of little Ralph this eveningafter prayers," said the headmistress. Then she turned away with MrDurrant, who, however, first of all shook hands with the girls of thethird form, and sa
id a few words to the sixth form girls, and, in short,charmed everyone.
Harriet was the person selected now to find the king and queen.
"Bring them both to the house, dear," said Mrs Burton, and Harriet,well pleased, ran off to obey. Nowhere within sight could the littlepair be found, and Harriet, after running for a few minutes, paused toconsider.
She wondered if this unexpected state of affairs would in any waypromote her own interest. As a matter of fact, she hated smallchildren. There was no small girl at the school who was ever seen tointerrupt Harriet's work, or to fling herself against Harriet's knees,or to look into Harriet's