this was the beginning of july. towards the end the school would break up and the holidays would begin. the young singletons were going to the seaside, and every one was about to have a merry-making of one sort or another.
in the past irene and her mother had lived on in a dull sort of fashion at the follies. lady jane had never the heart to leave home, therefore irene knew nothing of the delights of traveling. but as the time approached for the holidays rosamund spoke once or twice of the fun which ought to be before them.
"where would you like to go?" she said to her young friend. "there are ever so many places where you can have amusement—you and lady jane."
"you want to tame me down," said irene. "i don't think i can be altogether tamed. there is something in me here"—and she put her hand on her breast—"a wild sort of thing that will assert itself now and then. i can't help myself. i can't, for instance, sit still in a drawing-room, or be a very good little girl in church, finding out the hymns and the lessons for the day, and the right psalms. i could not teach in the sunday-school—no, i couldn't, for all the world. i could do none of those things, because i have a wild living creature that seems to be inside me. i don't know what it means; i don't understand it myself. it is rampant when you are not here; but when you are present it stays quiet mostly, just because i love you. that is the whole reason."
"aren't you very much happier since i came to you?" said rosamund.
the two girls were pacing up and down in front of the lake, about a week before the holidays were to begin.
meanwhile, at sunnyside, school had recommenced. it is true that jane, far too delicate to resume her lessons, was away at the seaside; but lucy, laura, annie millar, phyllis flower, and agnes sparkes had all returned to their studies. miss archer and mademoiselle omont were also very much to the fore. the kind bretts had found rooms for the two governesses at dartford; but they could not manage to take them in themselves. the girls had therefore gone, after a certain manner, through their lessons; but now the holidays were approaching.
"what a queer term it has been!" said rosamund, talking to irene as they walked by the water-side. "i, who belonged to the merrimans' party, spending all my time with you; you working hard at your daily lessons and enjoying them; miss frost and miss carter the best of friends, and meeting sunday after sunday; and you having quite a fancy—yes, and more than a fancy—for maud singleton!"
"i am fond of her," said irene, "just because she is like yourself, so brave. i wanted brave people. i never came across a brave person until i met you."
"well, now we have to think of the holidays," said rosamund. "i have something to tell you, irene. you have been good—very good; but all our goodness is worth nothing until it has been tried. yours has not been tried yet."
"what do you mean by that?" said irene, in some terror, raising her lovely, wild, bright eyes to rosamund's face.
"well, it hasn't, darling—has it?"
"i don't understand. i can't tell you what an effort it has been not to collect worms and toads, and frogs and newts, and wasps and bees, and blue-bottles and spiders. i did so adore frightening the servants, particularly james; and there are such heaps of darling wasps this season. i just longed to stick one down his neck; but i refrained when i looked at you."
"you ought not even to speak of these things; they mean downright cruelty, and aren't the least bit funny."
"aren't they, now? are you sure? they used to seem very funny to me—the way james used to start at table; because i generally managed, when he attended, to put a spider on my plate when i handed it to him. i used to keep a little collection of them in my handkerchief, and generally popped one on my plate; and he used always to say 'oh!' and he would generally drop and break the plate, which was a valuable china one, and mother was quite annoyed."
"well, all those things are past. we needn't talk of them any more. i want to know what you are going to do in the holidays."
"what are you going to do, rose?"
"i am very sorry, irene, but i am afraid i must go away from you. i have to visit my parents; and there is something else they want me to do. they want me to go back to the merrimans' school in the autumn, and stay there for at least a term. they say that in no other way can i get over the disgrace of having, as it were, run away from school. i don't mind a bit having done that, for i know that you wanted me; but i think i ought to go back to the merrimans' for at least a term."
"even with lucy, odious creature?"
"well, now, you don't know her."
"but you do; and do you like her?"
"i can't honestly say that i do."
"it is sunday to-morrow; can't we both go to church, and then i can look at lucy in the distance and see what i think of her?"
"you ought not to go to church in that spirit."
"well, perhaps something else will happen. maud singleton is always asking me to go to church. i think i will, if you will come with me. we can go to the evening service. i have never been. maud says i wouldn't feel so like a changeling if i could pray like other people, and sing hymns like other people. but then i'm sure i can't. may we sit near the door, and if i feel it impossible to remain quiet any longer, do you mind if i rush out?"
"we will certainly go to church, and we can sit near the door, and you shall rush out if you feel inclined, and i will come with you," said rosamund. "but this is rather starting away from our question. what do you want to do during the holidays? you wouldn't, for instance, think of spending them with the singletons at the seaside?"
"i will tell you another time," said irene. "i can't make up my mind on that point quite so soon. now, let us come in, and you shall read me some more from those wonderful arabian nights fairy-tales. they are so beautiful; i feel they were written for me. afterwards we will have hans andersen."
"for my part, i like hans andersen best," said rosamund.
the two girls went towards the house. rosamund read, as was her wont, for half-an-hour to irene, during which time that young person grew very sleepy, and soon afterwards went away to bed. rosamund was about to follow her when lady jane came into the room.
"my dear rose," she said, "i have had a letter from your mother. she says that you are to join them in switzerland during the first week of the holidays. i suppose you wouldn't think it possible that irene and i should accompany you?"
"i should like it very much," said rosamund. "but i don't know that mother would think it quite fair. mother is not accustomed to a girl like irene, and although she is wonderfully good to what she used to be, you can scarcely call her a good girl yet—not an ordinary good girl, i mean."
"i suppose not, but she is quite sweet to me. only i feel certain that when your influence is withdrawn we shall have the old dreadful things occurring again."
"i don't think so, indeed. but do tell me what mother has said."
"she says that you are to go back to the merrimans' for the next term; but after that you can come and live with us if we want you. she suggested that we should take a house for the winter in town, so that you and irene should have the advantage of the best masters possible to be obtained, and the best literature classes, and the best concerts. i am quite agreeable, for i am tired of living at the follies."
"you ought to take irene away for the holidays, and of course miss frost will go with you," said rosamund. "i wish i could stay. i would with a heart and a half; but i know father and mother would be terribly put out."
"i feel very despondent," said lady jane; "for although irene is very much improved, there is a lot of the old nature in her still; and when you are gone, even the singletons will be away, for they are going to the seaside for the month of august—to herne bay, i believe. we shall have no one at home, and irene and i alone at the seaside would make a terrible pair."
"i will write to mother. something ought to be done," said rosamund very thoughtfully. "leave it to me," she continued. "what i have been thinking is this: that irene ought to come with me to the merrimans' for one term."
"you mean that i am to part with her—that she is not to live with me? besides, would the merrimans take a child with such a character?"
"she is quite a good character now, and it would be just the very thing. it would be the making of her. then, perhaps, afterwards we might go together to a good foreign school and learn languages properly. i am sure it would do her a lot of good. but i will think about the holidays."
rosamund felt rather old and worn. a very heavy burden had been laid on her young shoulders. she, a girl of only fifteen years of age, was more or less responsible for the entire life, the entire future, of a brilliant little sprite like irene ashleigh.
the next day was sunday, and it arose in great beauty and majesty. the sun shone out of a cloudless sky, the flowers bloomed everywhere, the birds sang, the heat was excessive, the gardens looked their best. visitors came and went. irene, no longer in the objectionable red frock, but now dressed as a pretty young girl of her age ought to be dressed, walked by rosamund's side and chatted about books, about music, about all sorts of things, the existence of which she had scarcely known a few weeks ago. her intellect was of such a keen and brilliant order that she grasped knowledge almost as easily as she imbibed her food. rosamund felt more and more proud of her.
"with such talent and such beauty, what might she not aspire to?" thought the elder girl. the younger looked at her with a light in her eyes.
"what are you thinking about, rose?" she said.
"i was wondering about something. you have promised to come to church with me this evening. i will tell you after church."
rosamund went away to her room, and there she sat down and wrote a long letter to her mother. she did not tell any one the contents of that letter; but it took her a long time to write, and when she had finished her cheeks were flushed and her eyes brighter than ever.
at last the sweet bells ringing out the time for evening service smote upon the summer air, and the two girls, in their white dresses, started off to walk to the pretty church, which was in reality not far away. irene had not been in church since she was a tiny child, when she had screamed loudly, uttered naughty words, declared that the clergyman had no right to come in in his night-gown, and, in short, disgraced herself so thoroughly that she was carried out amidst a tempest of tears and protestations.
now the older and wiser irene, beautifully dressed all in white, looking more like an angel than a naughty, wayward, disagreeable girl, entered the old building and sat down near rosamund in a pew at the end of the church. one of the churchwardens invited the two young people to come up higher; but rosamund requested to be left where they were, and presently the rest of the congregation streamed in.
irene was all excitement. she was, in fact, trembling all over. the quiet grayness and the age of the building impressed her, she knew not why. then the boys in their white surplices excited her wonder; then she watched the congregation. the singletons, as usual, were in their simple white and green; as usual their beautiful fair hair flowed down their backs; as usual they walked up the old aisle in pairs, two, and two, and two; and last of all came miss carter.
"she doesn't look nice at all," said irene to herself.
"how well i remember all about her: that rather crooked back of hers, those sloping shoulders, that ill-made dress, and that hat put on always at the wrong angle. she is rather like frosty. i wonder why i never had a stylish governess? but i'd have hated her worse than ever. well, now i have got rosamund—my dear, darling rosamund—and she is beautiful as well as good."
irene gazed with adoring eyes at her friend. miss frost was not present at the evening service.
by-and-by the merriman party made their appearance, and took their seats in the large square family pew. there was the professor, with his slightly bent figure and his white hair; there was mrs. merriman, round and cherubic, looking as though no care had ever troubled her; and there was lucy, fair almost as the singletons, with that particularly prim face which aggravated rosamund, and which would certainly drive irene to distraction. none of these three even glanced at rosamund cunliffe and her friend; but when laura everett and one or two other girls appeared, they did see the pair seated in a pew all alone at the end of the church, and laura nodded with a bright glance at rosamund, who colored with pleasure in reply.
"is that stiff un, all prunes and prisms, lucy?" whispered irene in a loud voice.
"i'll talk to you afterwards," said rosamund. "the service is going to begin. this is the right place. i will find all your places for you to-night. you will find the service so nice. remember, we are here to pray to god, and not to think evil of our fellow-creatures."
"you're getting quite too goody-goody," laughed irene in an excited voice.
the service began; the music, of the simplest kind, but quite sweet and true, filled the little church. irene fidgeted, turned first white, then red, and finally, grasping rosamund's arm, said in a choking voice, "i don't like it. i can't stand the music. the wild, wild thing in me is just as though it would tear me in pieces. i must get out. come! you promised to come with me."
rosamund took her eccentric young friend outside the church.
"what is the matter, irene? you ought to try to control yourself."
"i do as a rule. i am much better as a rule; but it came over me in church how proper people were, and they all of them talk about being miserable sinners, and every one looks so good and righteous, and knowing down deep in their hearts that every single one of them is a miserable sinner, except your darling, precious self; and they all repeat the words, not feeling them a bit. i couldn't be like that. if they'd all lie flat on their faces, and cry and tear their hair, or do anything to show that they were really sorry, i could sympathize with them. but i can't sympathize with the proper sort of people who fill a village church."
"they have learned to control themselves. they very likely do feel that they are miserable sinners in the sight of god. we must learn not to judge people. oh, irene, what am i to do with you? what will you do when i am gone?"
"i know what i will do when you are away," said irene. "i have thought it all out. i'll have a wild, wild time. i have been good long enough. i'll go back to my frogs and toads and leeches, and spiders and wasps and bees. i'll terrify the servants again, and scare mother, and send frosty off her head. that's what i'll do; and i'll wear my little red dress, and i'll get frosty into the middle of the lake, and i'll make her promise to go away, and if she refuses to go—i know she won't, for even those children won't keep her when such a thing as that is thought of"——
"oh, i have such a splendid thought!" said rosamund suddenly. "suppose you make frosty happy instead of miserable? you can if you like. suppose you allow her to ask the two children, agnes and hughie, to spend the holidays at the follies?"
"the two children—frosty's two children?"
"yes, her little brother and sister. she was telling me the other day she didn't know what to do with them. it would be such a splendid opportunity, and there is really no necessity whatever for you to leave the follies. you could be there, and they would look up to you. they don't know that you are naughty—they need never know. i would be with you for the first two or three days, for their different schools break up before most schools, so they could come next week, and i could help you with them. what do you think? you wouldn't be without companions, and it would be a tremendous trust to repose in you, irene. do you think you would be worthy of it?"
"these were those words the clergyman said—mr. singleton, i mean—'i will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him: father, i have sinned.' they made such a lump come in my throat; and when you talk to me a great lump comes in my throat too, and i feel that i have done nothing but sin all my life. oh, i can't be sure of myself; that's about the end of the matter, rosamund."
"i know—i know!" said rosamund. "i know it is very hard; but then, anything worth living for is hard; and you have done so much that is wrong, it would be a splendid thing to turn over a new leaf now. do you know what i have further in my mind? you know that i am to go back to the merrimans' next term, but only till christmas, and i want your mother to let you come with me. the merrimans want another governess, so frosty could come; and perhaps her little sister agnes could be another pupil. everything can be arranged if only you will promise to be good."
"but you weren't good yourself while you were at the merrimans'. how can you expect me to be?"
"we'll keep each other good. when i am inclined to be naughty you shall correct me, and when you are inclined to be naughty i will correct you. we will arrange to sleep in the same room. shall we try it, irene—shall we?"
irene paused for a minute. there were tears in her eyes. after a moment she said, "how long is it since i have known you?"
"about six or seven weeks."
"it seems like quite that number of years. i never can believe that there could have been a time when i didn't know you. i know you, oh, so well now, and i love you so much! you have done a great deal for me."
"i don't pretend that i haven't, irene. but i must do what my father and mother want during the holidays. i do think it would be a splendid plan to ask little hughie and agnes to spend august at the follies. i wonder what frosty would say? let us ask her after supper."
irene flung her arms round rosamund's neck.
"i don't quite promise to be good," she said; "but i'll do my best. i will do it for your sake, more particularly if you will promise that you will be with us for the first few days."
"yes, i'll be with you for the first week. they could come early next week, and i am not going away until the week after."
"oh! don't talk about it; it is too horrible. let us come into the fields and talk about ourselves."
the two girls did walk together, and it was irene's turn to tell rosamund some of the wild and fanciful fairy-tales which she was always making up. but she could never be still very long, and in the midst of her most earnest and fascinating stories she would rush from one end of the field to the other, or turn a somersault, or climb a tree and look down at rosamund with her laughing, mocking face from the midst of the branches. but then again she would be good, and come back and say that the wicked little living thing inside her was quiet for the time being.
"i wonder if it will ever go away?" she said. "if it were gone i'd be much like other girls; but as long as it is there i can't be like any girl—i can't."
"there is such a thing as praying to god to take it away. but perhaps it is never meant to go," said rosamund.
"what do you mean by that?"
"perhaps it is a very beautiful gift that god has given you—something that you can't quite control at present, but something which will make you by-and-by different from others: more earnest, more enthusiastic, more full of spirit, more full of zeal. you have set your face steadily towards everything that has been naughty. you don't know yourself. just tell that thing, as you call it, inside you that you are going up, not down, in future, and see if it won't behave itself and help you all the time."
"i wonder if it will?" said irene. "it is a good thought."
