Mrs. George de Horne Vaizey

“ Mildred walked out into the garden, a pang of compunction at her heart. Dreadful to be so old!—not to be able to see without spectacles; to hear,—unless people spoke at the pitch of their voices; to walk,—unless supported by a stick; to feel cold even on the hottest day; to feel tired the first thing in the morning;—how dreadful! Lady Sarah had looked sad too—not merely cross, as usual, but really and truly sad and lonely. ”

“ I love to read about people who have had terrible trials, and have been brave and heroic, and overcome them all. I have an ambition to see if I could imitate them.”
“Well, I haven’t,” said Mildred, “not a bit; and you won’t like it either, Bertha, when it comes to your turn! Besides, I don’t see that there is much chance of being heroic in living alone by yourself in a ladies’ school. Heroes have to fight against armies, and plagues, and terrible calamities, and I have to face only dullness and disappointment. Even if I bear them well it will be no more than is expected of me. ”

“ I am a lonely old woman, Mildred!”
“But there is no need that you should be! There are so many people in the world who need a friend, and you are rich—you can do kind things every day in the year! I have often thought how nice it would be to be a dear old lady with curls, and a beautiful big house, and lots of money. It is one of my castles in the air. I would be a sort of fairy godmother to poor people; help struggling young geniuses, pretty girls who had to work for their living, and old women in dingy lodgings. ”

“ It is easy to fit a dress when one has the perfect model. You have the back like an arrow, Mademoiselle. Most young ladies get into the bad habits at school, and bend their shoulders like old women, but you are not so. There are many princesses who would give thousands of pounds to have a figure like yours.”
“They must be very silly princesses, then,” said Mildred brusquely. How was it that she could not get over her dislike to Cécile—that the touch of her thin fingers, the sight of her face in the glass brought with them a shiver of repulsion? ”

“ She was an ideal old lady so far as appearances went. Her hair was white as snow; her chin nestled upon bows of lavender ribbon, and her face beamed with good nature; nevertheless Mildred found her fixed scrutiny a trifle discomposing, and stared out of the window by way of escape. For ten minutes on end the old lady gazed away with unblushing composure, then suddenly burst into conversation.
“Dear me, my love, you have a great deal of it! Are you not afraid that it may injure your health?” ”

“ I hate people to be grieved! I detest it! It’s fifty thousand times worse than being angry. If people are angry you can defend yourself and take your own part, but if they are ‘grieved’ you can only feel a wretch, as if you had no right to live. Oh, dear, what will she think of me! It was only the other day she was saying that I kept my temper so well, and now I’ve disgraced myself for ever! She will never, never forgive me!”
Before the girls could say anything by way of comfort, Mrs Faucit herself entered the room and walked straight towards the couch on which Mildred was sitting. ”

“ Bertha repeated gently, and at that Mildred’s tense attitude relaxed. She put her hand to her head as one awakening from a dream, and clutching Bertha by the arms, burst into a flood of tears.
“Take me away!” she sobbed; “take me away!” and Bertha led her forward into the breakfast-room, followed by a murmur of sympathy from the onlookers.
James had found time to give a brief account of what had taken place to his fellow-servants, and they were filled with wonder and admiration.
“To come down all by herself, in the dead of night—that child! She is brave and no mistake! ”

“ It is still quite early; if Mademoiselle would put the dress on now, for one little minute, I could then see what is required, and put in a stitch here and there.”
Mildred unfastened her dress with mechanical fingers. She was bewildered by this sudden display of amiability on the part of Lady Sarah’s maid, and filled with remorse for her former misjudgments. She had taken a dislike to Cécile from the moment when they had first met in the corridor and the Frenchwoman’s sharp eye had scanned her from head to foot, as if taking in every detail of her attire and appraising its value. ”

“ Lady Sarah gave an impatient toss to her head.
“Oh, my dear Evelyn!” she cried; “it is easy for you to talk. You have your husband and children, and are not dependent upon a servant. I am! Cécile has it in her power to make my comfort or misery, and she is a capable woman, who understands my requirements. I have suffered so much from inefficient maids that I cannot afford to quarrel with one who really suits me!”
She evidently did not appreciate her friend’s interference, and Mrs Faucit realised that there was no more to be said on the subject. ”

“ Make up your minds that you will not allow little things to annoy you, and set yourselves to be cheerful and forbearing. The rest will follow as a matter of course. Bertha, I leave the children to you—see that they are happy. If any accident or sudden illness should happen, telegraph at once for me. Lois, you must take my place in the house. Look after the flowers, and see that a fire is lit in the small drawing-room if the weather is at all chilly. Mildred, I have a task for you too. I wonder if you can guess what it is? I am going to leave Lady Sarah in your care! ”

“ I wasn’t home at Easter, though almost all the girls went. I can’t live six whole months longer without seeing Mother. It makes me wild even to think of it!”
“Don’t think of it, Mildred. Six months is a long way ahead; a hundred things may happen before then. Don’t worry yourself about months, think only of to-day, and try to be bright, and brave, and patient.”
“It would be horrid of me to be bright when Mother is in trouble. I can’t be brave when everything goes wrong; I can’t be patient when my heart is breaking.” ”

“ Mildred laughed and cried in one breath, and lay back against the cushions, drinking tea, and eating raspberries in great contentment of spirit.
“I was awfully hungry, though I didn’t know it. I feel as if I had been ill. Oh, Mardie, isn’t it a lovely feeling when the pain goes, and you can just rest and be thankful! ... It’s worse to have a pain in your mind than in your body. I feel ashamed now that I made such a fuss about staying at school—it seems such a little thing in comparison, but don’t say ‘I told you so!’ Mardie, or that will make me feel horrid again. ”

“ You must not imagine that it is a children’s picnic,” explained Bertha anxiously. “We are always the youngest there. We would not be allowed to go at all except that the Newlands are very old friends, and that Mother chaperones us herself. Mrs Newland takes two or three of the servants with her, and they carry hampers, and clear away the things while we amuse ourselves. We sit on the rocks in the middle of the river, and come home late at night, singing part songs on the top of the coach, with mandolin and guitar accompaniments. Oh, it’s lovely! You will enjoy yourself, Mildred!” ”

“ How long she slept Mildred never knew, but it seemed as if at one moment she was lost in unconsciousness, and at the next she was awake—wide, wide awake,—with her heart beating like a sledge-hammer, and an unusual chilling of fear in her veins. Something had aroused her—what was it? The echo of the sound rang in her ears, shrill, piteous, beseeching. What could it have been? Mildred sat up in bed and looked searchingly round the room. The light was high enough to show the furthest corner. The door was closed, the window as she had left it, the sash opened a few inches at the bottom ”

“ On the drive home Mrs Faucit leant back in her corner of the carriage, and listened to the conversation which went on between the three girls in smiling silence. She soon heard enough to prove that it was the attraction of opposites which drew the stranger and her own daughters so closely together, but though Mildred’s impetuosity was a trifle startling, she was irresistibly attracted, not only by her beauty, but by the frank, open expression of the grey eyes.
“Plenty of spirit,” she said to herself, “as well as honest and true-hearted! Miss Chilton was right. She will do the girls good. ”

“ The grand-nephew is more important than all the rest put together. Oh-h!” she gazed round the room with big, bewildered eyes, “I can’t believe it. My aunt! Your niece! If someone doesn’t pinch me this moment, I shall believe I am asleep and dreaming. Mrs Faucit,—Bertha,—Lois,—do you believe it? Do I look at all altered? Lady Sarah’s niece! I—I suppose it doesn’t make any difference in my name, does it? If I have come into a title, break it to me gently, please! I can’t bear much more excitement!”
“Oh, Mildred!” cried the twins in chorus. ”

“ When the twins went into Mildred’s bedroom to say good-night, Bertha could not refrain from putting these sentiments into words.
“Poor Lady Sarah, she does look dull! She has had a lonely day. I must say I feel rather—mean.”
“I feel mean too,” said Lois; but at this Mildred interrupted with an impatient protest.
“What in the world have you to feel mean about? You have done nothing. It was not your fault. You did nothing to prevent her going.” ”

“ How can it make it easier to know that other people have worse troubles? It makes it harder, for I have to be sorry for them as well as myself. It’s no use trying to reason; you had better leave me alone. If you say another word I—I—I shall—” Mildred’s voice broke, she struggled in vain against the rising sobs, and burying her face in her hands, burst into a storm of bitter weeping.
Miss Margaret did not try to check her, for she knew that tears would be a relief, and that after this outburst Mildred would be calmer and more reasonable. ”

“ If you had been in my place, and one of your school-fellows had appeared upon the scene, you would have behaved rather differently, I imagine!”
“Rather!” cried Mildred; “I can’t think how you can have been so calm! If I had been there, and had seen Bertha coming, I’d have whooped like a red Indian, and rushed down, and simply smothered her with kisses. Men must be awfully cold-blooded.”
“I don’t know about that. There are different ways of expressing one’s emotion. A grip of the hand goes a long way sometimes. Well, I was fortunate, you see, for I had my chum with me once more. ”

“ So Mildred marched meekly upstairs, to put on hat and jacket, without uttering a single protest. She would have liked to say, “Oh, do leave me alone! I would far rather stay at home and mope;” and Miss Chilton probably guessed as much, though she took no notice of her companion’s downcast expression, and sat with the same unconscious smile upon her face all the length of the journey.
She had some shopping to do, in preparation for her own holidays, but when that was over, she and her pupil repaired to the house of a friend, where they were to lunch and spend the afternoon. ”

“ Then for the first time the girls’ lips were opened, and they spoke. Up till now the tension of suspense had been so great that they seemed scarcely able to breathe.
“Oh, yes, Mother, it will be delightful!”
“Oh, yes, Mrs Faucit, splendid! Miss Turner will be nicer than anyone if you can’t go yourself. But are you really obliged to go away? Why can’t you stay at home when it is only for two days?”
“My dear Mil! and allow Father to go by himself!” Bertha waxed quite mischievous in the relief of the moment. “You don’t know what an absent-minded creature he is! ”

“ Poor Mildred smoothed down the folds of the blue crepe dress. The romp in the garden had not improved its condition; it was looking sadly crumpled and out of condition, but it had been washed a dozen times, and had a delightful knack of issuing from the ordeal a softer and more becoming shade than before. ”

“ Miss Margaret and her pupil had a great many nice things to say to each other in the few minutes before the train steamed out of the station. Mildred had said “thank you” so many times during the last few days, that there was little left to be done in that direction, but she was full of warm-hearted affection.
“I shall always remember how good you have been to me, Mardie. I think you are the nicest person in the world next to Mother. I shouldn’t mind being old if I could be like you.”
“But my dear child, I don’t consider myself old at all! ”

“ The walls are of oak, and there are secret cupboards on the stairs. There is a legend that on moonlight nights one of the rooms is haunted by a lady in white, who comes and sits by an old spinning-wheel. One evening I dressed up in a sheet, powdered my hair, and blacked my eyebrows, then I got the landlady to suggest to the others that they should go upstairs and look for the ghost. ”

“ The blue dress returned from the laundress looking crisper and fresher than ever in its newly-ironed folds, and when Mildred went up to her room the same afternoon she beheld Cécile seated by the dressing-table busily engaged in sewing the lace-frills round neck and sleeves.
“Why, Cécile—you!” she exclaimed, and the Frenchwoman raised her shoulders with a shrug of protest.
“Ah, Mademoiselle, what would you have? They are so careless, these servants. Mary would iron the lace as it was, sewn in the dress, but I say, ‘No, it is impossible so to do it well. ”

“ Mildred laughed merrily.
“Oh, well! it’s quite different with me, I have plenty of strength left over for myself. I am as strong as a horse, and have hardly been ill a day in my life.”
“Dear! Dear!” ejaculated the old lady. “And with that complexion too—pink and white. Now I should have been afraid—”
She fell to shaking her head in lugubrious fashion, and watched the girl’s movements with anxious scrutiny.
“Do you think you are quite wise to sit next the window, love?” she asked presently. “You look a little flushed, and there is always a draught. Won’t you come over and sit by me? ”