evelyn met jasper, as arranged, on tuesday evening. she found it quite easy to slip away unnoticed, for in truth lady frances was too unhappy to watch her movements particularly. the girls had been dining alone. audrey had a headache, and had gone to bed early. evelyn rushed up to her room, put on a dark shawl, which completely covered her fair hair and white-robed little figure, and rushed out by a side entrance. she wore thin shoes, however, being utterly reckless with regard to her health. jasper was waiting for her. it took but an instant for jasper to clasp her in her arms, lifting her off the ground as she did so.
“oh, my little darling,” cried the affectionate woman—“my sweet little white eve! oh, let me hug you; let me kiss you! oh, my pet! it is like cold water to a thirsty person to clasp you in my arms again.”
“do not squeeze me quite so tight, jasper,” said evelyn. “yes, of course, i am glad to see you—very glad.”
“but let me feel your feet, pet. oh, to think of your running out like this in your house-shoes! 277 you will catch your death! here, i will sit down on this step and keep you in my arms. now, is not that cozy, my fur cloak wrapped round you, feet and all? is not that nice, little eve?”
“yes, very nice,” said evelyn. “it is almost as good as if i were back again on the ranch with mothery and you.”
“ah, the happy old days!” sighed jasper.
“yes, they were very happy, jasper. i almost wish i was back again. i am worried a good bit; things are not what i thought they would be in england. there is no fuss made about me, and at school they treat me so horribly.”
“you bide your time, my love; you bide your time.”
“i don’t like school, jas.”
“and why not, my beauty? you know you must be taught, my dear miss evelyn; an ignorant young lady has no chance at all in these enlightened days.”
“oh! please, jas, do not talk so much like a horrid book; be your true old self. what does learning matter?”
“everything, love; i assure you it does.”
“well, i shall never be learned; it is too much trouble.”
“but why don’t you like school, pet?”
“i will tell you. i have got into a scrape; i did not mean to, but i have.”
“oh, you mean about that book. sylvia told me. why did you tell sylvia, evelyn?” 278
“i had to tell some one, and she is not a schoolgirl.”
“she is not your sort, evelyn.”
“is she not? i like her very much.”
“but she is not your sort; for instance, she could not do a thing of that kind.”
“oh, i do not suppose many people would have spirit enough,” said evelyn in the voice of one who had done a very fine act.
“she could not do it,” repeated jasper; “and i expect she is in the right, and that you, my little love, are in the wrong. you were differently trained. well, my dear eve, the long and short of it is that i admire what you did, only somehow sylvia does not, and you will have to be very careful or she may——”
“what—what, jasper?”
“she may not regard it as a secret that she will always keep.”
“is she that sort? oh, the horrid, horrid thing!” said evelyn. “oh, to think that i should have told her! but you cannot mean it; it is impossible that you can mean it, jasper!”
“don’t you fret, love, for i will not let her. if she dares to tell on you, why, i will leave her, and then it is pretty near starvation for the poor little miss.”
“you are sure you will not let her tell? i really am in rather a nasty scrape. they are making such a horrid fuss at school. this evening was the limit given for the guilty person—i should not say the guilty person, but the spirited person—to tell, and 279 the spirited person has not told; and to-morrow morning goodness knows what will happen. miss henderson has a rod in pickle for us all, i expect. i declare it is quite exciting. none of the girls suspect me, and i talk so openly, and sometimes they laugh, too. i suppose we shall all be punished. i do not really know what is going to be done.”
“you hold your tongue and let the whole matter slide. that is my advice,” said jasper. “i would either do that or i would out with it boldly—one or the other. say you did it, and that you are not ashamed to have done it.”
“i could not—i could not,” said evelyn. “i may be brave after a fashion, but i am not brave enough for that. besides, you know, jasper, i did say already that i had not done it.”
“oh, to be sure,” answered jasper. “i forgot that. well, you must stick to your colors now, eve; and at the worst, my darling, you have but to come to me and i will shield you.”
“at the worst—yes, at the worst,” said evelyn. “i will remember that. but if i want to come to you very badly how can i?”
“i will come every night to this stile at nine o’clock, and if you want me you will find me. i will stay here for exactly five minutes, and any message you may like to give you can put under this stone. now, is not that a ’cute thought of your dear old jasper’s?”
“it is—it is,” said the little girl. “perhaps, jasper, i had better be going back now.” 280
“in a minute, darling—in a minute.”
“and how are you getting on with sylvia, jasper?”
“oh, such fun, dear! i am having quite an exciting time—hidden from the old gentleman, and acting the gipsy, and pretending i am feeding him with old fowls when i am giving him the tenderest chicken. you have not, darling, a little scrap of money to spare that you can help old jasper with?”
“oh! you are so greedy, jasper; you are always asking for things. uncle edward makes me an allowance, but not much; no one would suppose i was the heiress of everything.”
“well dear, the money don’t matter. i will come here again to-morrow night. now, keep up your pecker, little eve, and all will be well.”
evelyn kissed jasper, and was about to run back to the house when the good woman remembered the light shoes in which she had come out.
“i’ll carry you back,” she said. “those precious little feet shall not touch the frosty ground.”
jasper was very strong, and evelyn was all too willing. she was carried to within fifty yards of the side entrance in jasper’s strong arms; then she dashed back to the house, kissed her hand to the dark shadow under a tree, and returned to her own room. read had seen her, but evelyn knew nothing of that. read had had her suspicions before now, and determined, as she said, to keep a sharp lookout on young miss in future.
