while susy sat in the parlor a tramp happened to pass the brightly lighted shop. he was weather-beaten and slipshod, and altogether made a most disreputable appearance. a hand was thrust into each of his pockets, and these pockets were destitute of coin. the tramp was hungry and penniless. the little shop with its gay light and tempting articles of stationery, and books and sealing-wax displayed in the window, were quite to the man's taste. he could not see the parlor beyond, nor the peep-hole where susy was supposed to be able to watch the shop; he only noticed that no one was within. the tramp was in the humor to do something desperate; he entered the shop under the pretense of begging; made straight for the till, pulled it open, and took out a handful of money. he had no time to count his spoils, but leaving the till-drawer still open, he dashed out of the shop.
now it so happened that susy, just when the tramp stole in, had gone upstairs to fetch a fresh exercise-book. she noticed nothing amiss on her return, and went tranquilly on with her work. eight o'clock struck. susy was in despair.
"i can't possibly fail kathleen," she said to herself. "she started this splendid idea in order to help me and give me pleasure. i must be at the quarry whatever happens to-night. something very unusual is detaining mother. i know what i'll do: i'll shut up the shop at half-past eight, leave a little note for mother, and then go to the quarry as fast as i can. i will tell mother that i am due at an important meeting, and she is sure not to question me; mother is always very kind, and gives me as much liberty as she can."
susy made a great struggle to keep her mind centered on her books, but with all her efforts her thoughts would wander. they wandered to kathleen and the wild irish girls' society; they wandered to her other schoolfellows; they wandered to the hardship of having to take care of the shop when she wished to be otherwise employed; and finally they settled themselves on ruth craven. she could not help wondering what ruth would do—whether she would continue to be a valuable aid to the queen of the new society, or whether she would give them up altogether.
"i'd almost like her not to stay with us," thought susy; "for then perhaps kathleen would make me her prime minister. i'd like that. kathleen is the dearest, truest, greatest lady i ever came across. she doesn't think anything of birth, nor of those sort of tiresome distinctions; she thinks of you for what you are worth yourself. and she is so splendid to look at, and has such a gallant sort of way. i do admire her just!"
the shop-bell rang. susy was out in a moment. a woman had called for a penn'orth of paper and an envelope. she put down her penny on the counter, and susy supplied her from a special box.
"i was in such a taking," said the woman. "i just remembered at the last moment that all the shops were shut. i don't know what i should have done if i hadn't recalled that mrs. hopkins kept hers open until nine o'clock. i am obliged to you, little girl. i have to send this letter to my son in india, and i'd miss the mail if it wasn't posted to-night. you couldn't now, i suppose, oblige me with a stamp."
"of course i can," said susy, cheerfully. "mother always keeps a supply of stamps in the till."
she turned to the till as she spoke, and for the first time noticed that the drawer was open.
"how careless of me not to have shut it!" she thought.
it did not occur to her to examine its contents, or to suppose for a single moment that any one had taken money out of it. she provided the woman with a stamp, and then, shut the drawer of the till. it was now half-past eight, and susy determined to take the bull by the horns and to close the shop without further ado. she sent for the little maid in the kitchen to put up the shutters, and in a minute or two the shop was in darkness and susy was racing through the remainder of her lessons. it would take her a quarter of an hour, running most of the way, to reach the old quarry, and she must have three or four minutes to dress. she stood up, therefore, at her work, in order, as she expressed it, to save time. she was so occupied when her mother came in.
"why have you shut the shop?" said mrs. hopkins in an annoyed voice. "it is only a very little past half-past eight, and i saw two poor women outside. they wanted a penn'orth of paper each. they said, 'we thought you always kept open until nine o'clock,' now it will spread all over the place that i shut at half-past eight. why did you do it, susy? it's hard enough to make ends meet without adding any more difficulties."
mrs. hopkins stood, looking very pale and perplexed, in the parlor. susy glanced at her mother, and could not help reflecting that the poor woman was fit to drop.
"do sit down, mother," she said. "i was so distracted; i have to be a good way from here at nine o'clock, i couldn't think whatever kept you. i was obliged to shut the shop. i am sorry."
"well, never mind. you didn't tell me that you were going out. i wish you wouldn't go out so much in the evening, susy; it does make it so hard for me. there's no one now to help me with a bit of mending, and all your things are getting so racketed through."
"what kept you, mother?" said susy, ignoring her mother's speech.
"oh, it was your aunt. she's in such a taking about little peter; she's quite certain he's in for measles or something worse. i'm persuaded that it's nothing but a cold. i never saw such a muddle-headed woman as your aunt bessie. she hadn't a thing handy in the place. i had to stay and see the doctor, and then to fetch the medicine myself, and then put the child to bed. i assure you i haven't sat down since i left."
"and i suppose she never thought of giving you as much as a cup of tea?" said susy.
"no," answered her mother; then catching sight of the teapot, she added, "you might have had the tea-things removed, susy. i will make myself a fresh cup."
susy stood still for a moment. temptation tugged at her heart. her mother certainly required if ever a mother did require a daughter. but the wild irish girls—surely they were pining for her in the distance!
"i wish i could help you, mother. i would if i hadn't promised to go out. if you will give me the latchkey i can let myself in. you needn't wait up; i promise to lock up carefully."
"very well, dear," said mrs. hopkins.
she did not reproach susy; that was not her way. she put a little kettle on the gas-stove, fetched a clean cup and saucer, and presently sat down to her belated meal.
susy dashed upstairs. she put on her hat and jacket, snatched up a pair of gloves, and the next moment was out of the house.
"free at last," she thought. "but, oh, what an evening i have had! i must say it is horrid to be poor. now, if i was rich like kathleen, wouldn't i have a gay time of it? poor dear mother should drive in a carriage, and i'd ride on my pony by her side; and tom should be a public school boy. there'd be no horrid shop then, and no horrid women coming in for ha'p'orths and penn'orths of paper."
but as she ran through the autumn night-air she felt that, after all, there was something good in life. her pulses, which had been languid enough in the stuffy little parlor at the back of the shop, now galloped fiercely. she arrived two or three minutes after nine, but still in fairly good time to see a number of dark heads surrounding a bright light. this light was caused by two lamps which had been placed on the ground in the old quarry; kathleen had brought them herself in a hamper. she had managed to buy them that day, and had smuggled them off without any one being the wiser. a large bottle of crystalline oil accompanied the lamps. kathleen, who had dressed lamps for pleasure at home, knew quite well how to manage them, and when susy appeared they stood at each end of a wide patch of light. kathleen herself was in the midst of the light, and the other girls clustered round the edge.
"isn't it scrumptious?" said kate rourke.—"oh, is that you, susy hopkins? you are late."
"yes, i know i am. it's a wonder i could come at all," said susy.
"ruth craven hasn't come yet," said another voice.
"yes, here she is," cried a third, and ruth came and stood at the edge of the patch of light.
kathleen flung off her hat, and the light from the lamps lit up her brilliant hair. her cheeks were flaming with color, and her very dark-blue eyes looked as black as night. she faced her companions.
"well," she said, "here we are, and we call ourselves the wild irish girls. i really wonder if you english girls who are assembled here in the old quarry to-night have the least idea what it means to be a wild irish girl. if you don't know, i'd like to tell you."
"yes, do tell us," cried several.
"the principal thing that it means," continued kathleen, raising her voice to a slightly theatrical pitch, and extending her arm so that the lamplight fell all over it—"the chief thing that it means is to be free—yes, free as the air, free as the mountain streams, free as the dear, darling, glorious, everlasting mountains themselves. oh, to know freedom and then to be torn away from it! girls, i will tell you the truth. i feel in your dull old england as though i were in prison. yes, that's about it. i don't like england. i want you girls to join me in loving ireland."
"but we can't hate england," said kate rourke; "that is quite impossible. if ireland is your native land, england is ours, and we cannot help loving her very, very much."
"you have never known ireland," continued kathleen. "you are not cramped up in that favored spot; you are allowed to get up when you like and to go to bed when you like, to eat what you like, to read what books you like, to row on the lake, to shoot in the bogs, to gallop on your pony over the moors, and—and—oh, to live the life of the free."
it was ruth craven who now interrupted the eager words of the queen of the new society.
"can't you tell us, kathleen," she said, "how to get ireland into england—how to introduce what is good of ireland into england? that is the use of the society as far as i am concerned. with the exception of yourself we are all english girls."
"yes," said susy suddenly; "and we have very bad times most of us. i wish you knew what a dull evening i have just been living through—taking care of a tiny, very dull little shop. mother was out looking after a sick child, and i had to mind the shop. poor women came in for penn'orths of paper. i can tell you there wasn't much freedom about that; it was all horrid."
"well, we have shops in ireland too," continued kathleen, "and i suppose people have to mind them. but what i want to say now is this. i have been sent over to this country to learn. my aunt katie o'flynn—she's the finest figure of a woman you ever laid eyes on—thought that i ought to have learning; mother thought so too, but the dad didn't much care. however, i needn't worry you about that. i have been sent here, and here i am. when i came to your wonderful school and looked all around me, i said to myself, 'if i'm not to have companions, why, i'll die; the heart of kathleen o'hara will be broken. now, who amongst the schoolgirls will suit me? i saw that very dull cassandra weldon, and i noticed a few companions of hers who were much the same sort. then i observed dear, pretty little ruth craven, and some one said to me, 'you won't take much notice of ruth, for she's only a foundation girl.' that made me mad. oh yes, it did—give me your hand, ruth.—that made my whole heart go out to ruth. then i was told that a lot of the girls were foundation girls, and they weren't as rich as the others, and they were somewhat snubbed. so i thought, 'my time has come. i am an irish girl, and the heritage of every irish girl, handed down to her from a long line of ancestors, is to help the oppressed,' so now i am going to help all of you, and we are going to found this society, and we are going to have a good time."
kathleen's somewhat incoherent speech was received with shouts of applause.
"we must make a few rules," she continued when her young companions had ceased to shout—"just a few big rules which will be quite easy for all of us to obey."
"certainly," said kate. "and i have brought a note-book with me, and if you will dictate them, kathleen, i will jot them down."
"that is easy enough," said kathleen. "well, i am queen."
"certainly you are!" "who else could be?" "of course you are queen!" "darling!" "dear!" "sweet!" "duck!" fell from various pairs of lips.
"thank you," said kathleen, looking round at them, her dark-blue eyes becoming dewy with a sudden emotion. "i think," she added, "i love you all already, and there is nothing on earth i wouldn't do for you."
"hear her, the dear! she is bringing a fine change into our lives, cried a mass of girls who stood a little out of the line of light.
"well," said kathleen, "i am queen, and i have my cabinet. now the girls of my cabinet are the following: ruth craven is my prime minister; kate rourke comes next in importance; then follow susy hopkins, clara sawyer, hannah johnson, rosy myers, and mary rand. now all of you girls whom i have named are expected to uphold order—such order as is alone necessary for the wild irish girls. you are expected on all occasions to uphold the authority of me, your queen. you are never under any circumstances to breathe a word against dear old ireland. the other girls who join the society will be looked after by you; you will instruct them in our rules, and you will help them to be good members of a most important society. i believe there are a great many girls willing to join. if so, will they hold up their hands?"
immediately a great show of hands was visible.
"now, kate rourke," cried kathleen, "please take down the names of the girls who intend to become members of the wild irish girls."
the girls came forward one by one, and kate took down their names; and it was quickly discovered that, out of the hundred foundationers who belonged to the great shirley school, sixty had joined kathleen's society.
"we shall soon get the remaining forty," said mary rand. "they will be all agog to come on. their positions are not so very pleasant as it is, poor things!"
"perhaps sixty are about as many as we can manage for the present," said kathleen. "now, girls, i intend to present you each with a tiny badge. i have a bag full of them here. will you each come forward and accept the badge of membership?"
kathleen's badges were very much admired, the eager girls bending down towards the light of the lamps in order to examine them more thoroughly. she had strung narrow green ribbon through each of the little silver hearts, and the girls could therefore slip them over their heads at once.
"you must hide them," said kathleen. "the thing about these badges is that you will always feel them pressing against your hearts, and nobody else will know anything about them. they belong to ireland and to me—to the home of the free and to kathleen o'hara. they seal you as my loving friends and followers for ever and ever."
girls are easily impressed, and kathleen's words were so fervent that some of them felt quite choky about the throat. they received their badges with hands that very nearly trembled. kathleen next handed a slightly handsomer badge, but with exactly the same device, to the members of her cabinet. finally, she took the box of pale-blue cashmere blouses and opened it in the light of the lamps. the enthusiasm, which had been extremely keen before the appearance of the blouses, now rose to fever-height. whom were these exquisite creations meant for? kathleen smiled as she handed one to mary rand, another to ruth craven, another to kate rourke, and finally to each member of her cabinet.
"i wish i could give you all a blouse apiece," she said to the other girls of the society, "but i am afraid that is not within my means. i chose these sweet blouses on purpose, because i know you could wear them at any time, girls," she added, turning to the members of her cabinet. "outsiders won't know. they will wonder at the beauty of your dress, but they won't know what it means; but we will know," she shouted aloud to her companions—"we will know that these girls belong to us and to old ireland, and in particular to me, and they will be faithful to me as their queen."
"oh dear," said little alice harding, a pale-faced girl, who loved fine dress and never could aspire to it, "what means can i take to become a member of the cabinet?"
"by being a very good outside member, and trusting to your luck," laughed kathleen. "but the time is passing, and we must proceed to what little business is left for to-night."
each member of the cabinet took possession of her own blouse, wrapped it up tenderly, and tucked it under her arm. kathleen desired some one to throw the tell-tale box away, and then she collected her followers round her.
"now," she said, "rule one. to stick through thick and thin each to the other."
"yes!" cried every voice.
"rule two. if possible, never to quarrel each with the other."
this rule also was received with acclamations.
"rule three. to have a bit of fun all to ourselves at least once a week."
this rule quite "brought down the house." they shouted so loud that if the spot had been less lonely some one would certainly have taken cognizance of their proceedings.
"rule four. that as far as possible we hold ourselves aloof from the paying members of the great shirley school."
this rule was not quite as enthusiastically received. the foundationers were not altogether without friends amongst the other girls of the school. ruth craven in particular had several.
"i don't think that is a very fair rule," she said. "i am fond of alice tennant, and i am fond of cassandra weldon."
"and i care for lucy sharp"; "and i am devoted to amelia dawson," said other members of the cabinet.
nevertheless kathleen was firm.
"the rule must be held," she said. "in a society like ours there are always rules which are not quite agreeable to every one. my principal object in starting this society is to put those horrid paying girls in their proper places. there must not be friendship—not real friendship, i mean—between us and them."
"you are a paying girl yourself," suddenly exclaimed mary rand.
"i know. i wish i were not, but i can't help myself. you must allow me to stand alone; i am your queen."
"that you are, and i love you," said mary.
"this rule must hold good," repeated kathleen. "i must insist on my society adhering to it.—ruth craven, why are you silent?"
"because i earnestly wish i had not joined. i cannot give up cassandra, nor alice, nor—nor other girls."
"nonsense, ruth! you dare not fail me now," said kathleen, with enthusiasm. "i will make it up to you. you shall come with me to ireland in the summer. you shall. oh ruth, don't fail me!"
"i won't; but i hate that rule."
"and, girls, i think we must part now," said kate rourke. "it is getting late, and it would never do for our secret meetings to be discovered."
"whatever happens, we must stick together," said kathleen. "well, good-night; we meet again this day week."
there was quite a flutter of excitement along that lonely road as the wild irish girls returned to their different homes. susy hopkins felt quite the happiest and most light-hearted of any. by-and-by she and ruth craven found themselves the only girls who were walking down the road called southwood lane. this road led right into the centre of the shops where susy's mother lived.
"what a good thing," said susy, "that i took the latchkey with me! it is past ten o'clock. mother would be wild if she had to sit up so late."
ruth was silent.
"aren't you happy, ruthie? don't you think it is all splendid?" cried susy.
"yes and no," said ruth. "you see, i am a foundationer, and when she pressed me to join i hated not to; but now i am sorry that i have joined. what am i to do about cassandra and about alice?"
"you think a great deal about cassandra, don't you?"
"oh, yes; she is quite a splendid girl, and she has been so very good to me."
"i suppose you are quite in love with her?"
"no, i don't think i am. it isn't my way to fall violently in love with girls, like some of the rest of you. but i like her; and i like alice tennant."
"all the same," said susy, "it is worth sacrificing a little thing to belong to the wild irish girls. did you ever in all your life see any one look more splendid than kathleen as she stood with the light of those big lamps upon her? she is a wonderful girl—so graceful, and with such a power of eloquence. and she has such a way of just taking you by storm; and her language is so poetic. oh, i adore her! she is the sort of girl that i could die for. if all irish girls are like her, ireland must be a wonderful country to live in."
"but they are not," said ruth. "half of them are quite commonplace. she happens to be rich and beautiful, and to have a taking way; but all the others are not like her, i am certain of it."
"anyhow, whether they are or not, i am glad to belong to the society," said susy. "it will give us great fun, and we need not mind now whether the paying girls are disagreeable to us or not. then, too, think of the blouses we have got. oh dear! oh dear! when i put mine on on sunday mother will gape. i shall feel proud of myself in it. it was just sweet of her to get things like this to give us. and she knew we weren't well off. oh, i do think she's one in a thousand! she must have thought of you, ruth, when she ordered these sweet pale-blue colors, for that color is yours, isn't it?"
"i suppose so," said ruth. "well, all the same, i feel rather anxious. i like her, of course, but i think she is mistaken. i must go on now, but i feel somehow——"
"what?" said susy, with some impatience.
"as though i had not done right—as though i had something to conceal. well, i can't help myself, only i won't hate the girls who are good to me. good-night, susy. we won't be in time for school in the morning if we stay talking any longer."
