alice's home was nearly half a mile from the school. it was a big, commonplace suburban house standing at a corner. it had a small garden in front and a larger one at the back; but neither at front nor back were the gardens tidily kept. they were downtrodden by the constant pressure of many feet, and were further ornamented at intervals by sheds and kennels, for fred and philip denvers were devoted to all sorts of pets; there was also a rabbit-run at one end, and a little railed-off place where mrs. denvers tried to keep fowls.
alice at intervals had sighed for a tennis lawn; but whenever she dared to mention the idea she was hooted by her big brothers, who did not want the garden to be made in the least bit, as they expressed it, ornamental.
"but tennis isn't ornamental!" said alice.
"beastly game," remarked fred. "only meant for girls; just to give them an opportunity of hobnobbing together, and talking gossip, and making up mischief."
"you talk in the most ridiculous, unfair way," said alice in indignation; but she did not dare to mention the subject of the tennis court again, and the boys still continued to build fresh sheds and introduce new animals.
on this occasion, as alice walked up to the house, she was met by fred, who ran out to meet her in some excitement.
"i say, alice," he cried, "she's come, and she is a rum 'un!"
"who has come?" asked alice; "not—not kitty malone?"
"no one else, at your service, kitty malone, ohone!" cried fred. "and oh! isn't she irish! you come along and see her. i never saw anything like her before."
"why, fred, i didn't think you cared for girls."
"nor do i as a rule, but this one—oh! i say she is a jolly sort. why she's been down in the kitchen and up in the attics—she knows every one in the house already; and do you know what she is doing now—sitting in the drawing-room with the window wide open, grinning down at you, and she has got pointer in her arms. you know pointer, dirty old fellow!—well, she caught him up the moment she came in, and insisted on bringing him upstairs, and he has taken to her as if he had known her ever since he was a puppy. mean of him, isn't it; but i declare i don't blame him. oh! there you are, kitty malone." fred raised his laughing face to encounter another as laughing, a face at that moment grinning from ear to ear.
"are you alice?" called a voice. "are you the one i am to sleep with? just say, call out loud; don't mind if you shout, because i'm accustomed to that sort of thing."
"is this kitty malone?" thought alice. she liked frank, jolly girls; but she was not quite prepared for kitty.
she entered the house, flung down her bag of books, and ran upstairs to the drawing-room. the next moment she found herself in the firm embrace of a girl a little taller than herself, a slim, very pretty, very untidy, very overdressed girl.
"here i am and welcome to yourself," said kitty. "i was so vexed you were not here to greet me; but bless you, my dear, i'm quite comfortable. no, i'm not a bit tired—you haven't asked me, by the way, but i suppose you mean to. i had a spiffin' journey. sick! not i. i'm never seasick, and i enjoyed the train. i made friends with such a dear old gentleman and with two boys. i nearly kissed the boys when i was leaving them, but i didn't quite. is that you, fred? come along in now and let us be jolly together. why, alice, how stiff you are; you have not opened your lips yet."
"i have not had an opportunity," answered alice. "you do talk such a lot, kitty."
"do i? i expect we all do in old ireland. bless her! she's a dear old country, and i'm as sorry as anybody to say good-by to her. but, all the same, i am glad to see england (poky, stiff sort of place it seems). say now, alice, do you like my dress? it was made in dublin; it's the height of the fashion i am told."
"it's very showy," said alice.
"do you think so? well, you are plainly dressed; nothing but that brown merino. and—my dear, i thought they were always dressed up to the nines near london. this place is near london, isn't it?"
"yes, a few miles off. oh, of course your dress is very nice; but now i must get ready for dinner."
"oh! and ain't i peckish?" said kitty, clapping her hands and winking broadly at fred.
alice turned to leave the room.
"we may as well go together," said kitty, following her and slipping her hand through her arm. "do you know," she said, "when i first came to the house i could scarcely breathe. why, it's nothing but a nutshell. i never saw such a deeny dawn of a place in the whole course of my life. how many of you live here?"
"father and mother, and the two boys and i," answered alice.
"and you are the only girl?"
"yes."
"now come to the window and let me have a good squint at you." as kitty spoke she dragged alice forward, put her facing the light, and stood herself with her back to it. she began to make a careful scrutiny, calling out her remarks aloud: "eyes passable, forehead so-so, mouth pretty well, complexion not bad for england, hair—"
"oh, i say, kitty, i can't quite stand this," said alice. "are those your manners in ireland? what a wild country it must be!"
"dear, darling, jolly old place!" said kitty, dancing up and down.
"and you really give me to understand that people make remarks on one another in that sort of fashion?" said alice, darting away from her companion and pouring some water into a basin to wash her hands.
"well, yes, love, they do when they like, and they don't when they don't like. we are free and easy folk, i can tell you, and we have a gay time. i'll tell you all about father and the old castle, and the dogs, and the cows, and the cats, and the rabbits, and the mice when we have a spare moment. that brother of yours, fred, is not half a bad old chap; and i saw a nice, curly-headed little gossoon coming in just now with his books under his arm. what's his name?"
"oh, you mean philip. yes, he's the youngest; he's well enough if you don't spoil him, kitty."
"i won't spoil him, bless his heart," said kitty; "but of course i'll make friends with him. i couldn't live without boys. there are two at home, pat and laurence; and, oh! i shall miss laurie, dear old chap! i must not think of him." kitty's face underwent a swift change, the brightness went out of it just as if a heavy cloud had swept away the sun; the big, very handsome dark-blue eyes, so dark as to be almost black, grew full of sudden tears; the exquisitely curved lips trembled; she turned her head aside and looked out of the window.
at that moment it seemed to alice that she saw beneath kitty's wild, eccentric manners a heart of gold. she only caught a glimpse of it, for the next moment the girl was chatting away in the most light, frivolous, extraordinary style. the dinner-bell sounded through the house, and the pair went down to dinner.
"i'd like to sit near you, please, mr. denvers," said kitty.
philip's place was always near his father; this had been a custom ever since he had been a baby. kitty now ensconced herself in the little boy's chair.
"am i taking anybody's seat?" she asked, looking up.
"only mine," said phil.
"never mind, little gossoon; you shall have it to-morrow. i want to sit near mr. denvers because i expect he can tell me a good many things i don't understand."
"you must allow me to eat my dinner, miss malone. you see i have a good deal of carving to do, and besides i am a busy man," said mr. denvers in a good-humored voice, for it was difficult to resist the roguish glances of kitty's eyes, and the sort of affectionate way in which she cuddled up to her host's side.
"oh, i won't talk over much," she said, glancing with her flashing eyes round at the entire party. "but you see i am quite a stranger; and, oh my! the place does seem lonely. you are all so stiff, i cannot quite understand it. is it the english fashion, please, mr. denvers?"
"well, you see," answered mrs. denvers from the other end of the table, "we don't know you yet."
"but i am sure all the same we shall be very good friends," said mr.
denvers. "may i give you a glass of wine?"
"wine! bless you, i'm a teetotaller," said kitty. "why, it isn't habits of intoxication you'll be putting into me. i never take anything but water, or milk when i can get it; and it isn't miss malone you're going to call me is it, for if it is i tell you frankly that i'll die entirely. i must be kitty from this moment, or kitty malone, or anything of that sort, but kitty something it must be. now, is it settled fair and square, kitty shall i be? here's my hand on my heart; i'll die if i'm called miss malone!"
fred burst into roars of laughter.
"i say," he cried, "what an extraordinary girl you are!"
"well, and so are you an extraordinary boy," said kitty. "oh, dear me, i am hungry! do you mind handing me over the potatoes? why, you don't mean to say you peel 'em. i never heard of such a thing! why don't you have them in their jackets?"
"potatoes are generally mashed or peeled or something of that sort in
england," said mr. denvers. "i see, kitty—" he added.
"ah! bless you now for calling me that! what is it you want to say, dear
mr. denvers?"
"i see we shall have a good deal to teach you," he said, and then he too burst into a fit of laughter, and so the merry, somewhat rollicking meal proceeded.
alice alone would not succumb to the fascinations of the irish maiden. she sat holding herself somewhat stiff, feeling a good deal disgusted, wondering what bessie challoner would say, what gwin harley would think, anticipating in advance elma's sneers.
kitty, however, subjugated mr. and mrs. denvers and the two boys completely. as to pointer, he would not leave her side; as her long, white, taper fingers touched the top of his grizzled head, he looked at her with eyes of unutterable love.
"what have you done to the dog?" said fred at last. he felt almost afraid, in his great admiration of the bewitching stranger.
"only given him a taste of blarney," was the reply. "tell me now, fred, were you ever in ireland?"
"no," answered fred.
"ah! i thought as much. if you had been, and if you had kissed the
blarney stone, why then, it's nothing could withstand you."
"what is the blarney stone?" asked fred.
"don't you know that much? why you are an ignoramus out and out. well, i'll tell you. it's a stone on blarney castle, set low down in the wall, five or six feet from the top; and to kiss it, why that is no easy matter, for you have to be held by your heels and let hang over the wall; and if you can get some one to hold you tight—very tight, mind—you slide down and you reach the stone and you kiss it, and from that moment—oh glory! but you carry everything before you. there's not a man, a woman, nor a child, no, nor a beastie either, that can resist you. you bewitch 'em."
"i have no doubt, kitty, you kissed the stone," said mr. denvers.
"why then, it's yes, sir," she answered raising her big eyes and then dropping them again with an inimitable expression.
"what a queer little girl you are!" he said. "you are very amusing; but
i think we must tame you a bit."
"you won't do that, sir. they call me the wild irish girl at home, and the wild irish girl i'll be to the end of the chapter. if it's schooling i want, why, i'll have it, but taming, no thank you."
kitty jumped from her seat and began to dance a sort of improvised irish jig about the room.
"do you know the jig?" she said, dancing up to fred as she spoke.
"no," he answered; "are you trying it on now?"
"yes; jump up, my hearty, and i'll teach you in a twinkling. here, watch me; point your toes so, turn round—pirouette as we call it. now, then, put your hand on your hip, courtesy to me, and come back again. that's how it's done. oh, fred, i'll soon have you as beautiful a broth of a boy as if you were born in old ireland."
"fred, my son, it is time for you to go back to college," said his father. "kitty, we are very pleased to have you here, and you are a very amusing girl; but you know life is not all play."
kitty pulled a long face. fred darted a laughing glance at her, and ran off. kitty and alice at last found themselves alone.
"you're disapproving of me a good bit, aren't you, alice?" said kitty, going up to the other girl and taking both her hands in hers.
"well, i think you are very odd," said alice.
"and do you want me to be quite sober and tame, and to have all the spirit knocked out me, alanna?"
"no; but we don't do exactly as you do in this country."
"and you think you'll tame me into your cut-and-dry pattern?"
"i don't know about that. i don't understand you, kitty."
"you will after a bit, alice. it's here i am for sure, and a gray sort of land it is! why, the sun doesn't even shine!"
"oh, doesn't it," said alice angrily. "it's ridiculous to talk in that strain about this country. we have much finer weather than you have in ireland."
"don't be cross, darling; i mean it metaphorically. you see we live a gay life over there, we have a joke about everything, and the wit that runs out of our mouths—why, it's like flashes of lightning. oh, we have a good time in the old country, and when you come and stay with me at castle malone you'll say so for yourself. now, then, what do you want to do this afternoon?"
"i must look over my lessons first."
"lessons—how many?"
"a good few. you see of course i want to get on."
"by the way, alice," said mrs. denvers, who came into the room at that moment, "i am afraid you had a bad mark for unpunctuality this morning."
"yes, mother, that is so."
"and what is your place in form?"
"i went down two or three places, mother."
"i am sorry to hear it; your father will be very much annoyed."
"i'll try and make up for it to-morrow, mother. and, mother, gwin harley has asked me to go to tea with her this afternoon—may i?"
"i don't see how you can. there is kitty malone."
"but she has asked kitty too."
"what's that?" asked kitty, bounding forward. "a tea party, bless you?"
"you have been asked to tea at harley grove. mother, may we go? i think
kitty would enjoy it."
"if you are sure you are not too tired, kitty; you have had a long journey," said mrs. denvers.
"i'm not a scrap tired," said kitty. "i'm as gay as a lark and as fresh as a daisy. i hope it's rather a big swell party, for i have got some awfully pretty dresses. i want to make myself look smart. you can tell me how they manage these sort of things in england. i'm all agog to go."
"yes, alice, you may go," said mrs. denvers. "but kitty, my dear, if i were you i would let them down lightly."
"what do you mean, dear mrs. denvers?"
"don't startle them too much. they are not accustomed to such—such frankness as you are disposed to give."
"i'll bewitch 'em," said kitty, beginning again to dance with light fantastic measure up and down the room. "i'll bewitch 'em one and all. i have made up my mind. i didn't kiss the blarney stone for nothing!"
