Chrissie

“ Polly’s eloquent face took an expression of pain and tears.
“Chris does not mean to vex you, mother darling; I am sure of it,” she said, eagerly; but her eagerness was not to defend Chrissie as in former times, but to give pleasure and solace to her mother’s heart.
Mrs. Pennington smiled faintly.
“Ah! Polly, dear,” she said, with a little break in her voice, “we all make big, sad mistakes sometimes. Pray God my Chris may never live to regret the mistake she is making.” ”

“ Chrissie is just as selfish as she is pretty. Do you know that she had fifty pounds this morning from Grandmother Pennington, and do you suppose she will offer to share one of those fifty pounds with us?” Winifred had laughed quietly. “She will put it away in a box or spend it on her own back. Oh! Chrissie is no angel, I can tell you!”
“She is my darling sister, and I love her,” had been Polly’s only argument. “I don’t know anything about [Pg 24] any fifty pounds, but I do know that if Chrissie ever dreams we want anything she will give it to us at once.” ”

“ It is really astonishing to find what progress may be made in the time.
“I really think, Auntie, we are beginning to learn to be neater and carefuller,” said Chrissie one Sunday morning when, passing their room on the way downstairs to go to church, she begged Miss Fortescue to “peep in.”
She glanced up brightly as she said it, and her aunt’s smile in return was bright also. But then Chrissie’s face clouded.
“There’s only one thing that keeps us miserable,” she murmured.
“Yes,” Leila agreed; “it always comes over me early in the morning, but Chrissie minds it most at night.” ”

“ You don’t expect a girl of eighteen to run about in short skirts, with her hair down her back?”
“She would look much nicer!” sighed Mr Rendell, looking regretfully first at the long white skirt, and then at the coiled-up tresses. “They grow up so quickly, Edith; I live in terror of having no children left—nothing but fashionable young ladies. One must give in to custom to a certain extent, I suppose, but I warn you frankly that Chrissie shall be the exception. It would break my heart to see Chrissie properly grown up. Chrissie shall always wear her hair down her back!” ”

“ Chrissie also offered sympathy.
"I know how wretched you must be," she said.
"Thanks," answered Marjorie. "It certainly makes one jumpy to have one's relations in the army."
"Isn't your brother fighting, Chrissie?" asked Betty.
"No," replied Chrissie briefly.
"But he must surely be of military age?"
"He's not very well at present."
Betty and Sylvia looked at each other. There was something mysterious about Chrissie's brother. [233] She seldom alluded to him, and she had lately removed his photograph from her dressing-table. The girls always surmised that he must be a conscientious objector. ”

“ You are going out, I know.”
“I can manage by myself, Polly, and you have a lot of work to do in the conservatory, my pet. Chrissie and I are going to her dressmaker; she has to have some new frocks, as she is going to spend Christmas with Sir Mark and his mother.”
Polly gave vent to a deep exclamation of disappointment.
“Oh! mother,” she said, “I thought Chrissie would be sure to be with us this Christmas; it is the last she will spend with us in a proper way,” she finished, quaintly. ”

“ Ross had known how Ferdy was going to talk to Chrissie, very probably she would not have told her all she had done. But Chrissie seemed to have grown years older in a few hours.
"And yet there must be lots of people who do bear it—just what you were saying yourself," said Chrissie thoughtfully. "I suppose they get accustomed to it."
"I think it must be more than getting accustomed to make them really seem happy," said Ferdy. "P'r'aps it's something to do with not being selfish." ”

“ You worry yourself far too much.” Chrissie’s voice was very like Winifred’s—even, musical, rather cold, and there was a strong resemblance between them.
The elder girl was, however, far more attractive; in fact, when Polly declared her eldest sister to be beautiful, she was not far wrong, for beautiful Christina Pennington was, in a delicate, classical way. ”

“ Jasper moved towards the door, but less readily than usual.
“Hurry up, child, can’t you?” exclaimed Chrissie.
“Mumsey wanted us to be very good,” said the little fellow timidly.
“Well, we’re not being naughty. What does it matter to Miss Earle which lessons come first? She’s only a governess, and I am sure Mums pays her well.”
Her raised tone of voice had caught even Leila’s unhearing ears. She turned sharply.
“Chrissie, I’m shocked at you,” she said. “That’s not like a lady. Suppose we were grown-up and had to be governesses, you wouldn’t like to be spoken to like that.” ”

“ It was just the hour before dinner, and Polly could see that her mother had struggled against her attack of illness, and had come down simply so that her husband should not be alarmed when he came home.
“Father has so much on his mind just now,” she had [Pg 42] said, when Polly had ventured on a protest; “we must all do what we can to make things bright and cheerful. Has—has Chrissie come in yet, Polly dear? I fancy I heard her steps.”
But Chrissie had not come back, and her note brought in at that moment struck the final touch of loving, confident hope from the mother’s heart. ”

“ Chrissie tried to toss her head in the way she usually did when found fault with, but I scarcely think the effort was a success, and she was very glad that as her father was late that morning, having had letters to write in his study, she had finished her breakfast before he came in.
“Yes,” said her mother, in answer to her unspoken question, “yes, you can go upstairs at once and make yourself fit to be seen.”
“Leila,” said Mrs Fortescue in a moment or two, “I do think you might take a little charge of Chrissie. After all she is younger and more thoughtless by nature than you are. ”

“ Mr Vanburgh hasn’t any children of his own, but he may like us all the more for that. It would be an interest in life for him to make us happy, and we should reward him by our devotion. It sounds like a book, and perhaps it may turn out for the best, after all. I believe it will!”
“Don’t be so horribly resigned! I hate people who are resigned when I am miserable!” said Chrissie sharply. “I want some nice girls, and I don’t care a rap about phonographs—silly, squeaky things! ”

“ Are you going to tell Miss Lilly, mamma?"
"Oh yes, I am hoping that she will be a great help. I will see her this morning as soon as she comes."
"Are we to do any lessons to-day?" asked Chrissie. "Is Ferdy to do lessons in bed?"
"In a few days perhaps he may," said Mrs. Ross. "He will seem better in a few days, for he [Pg 56] has had a great shock besides the hurt to his back, and he must have time to get over it; but I think you had better do some lessons, Chrissie—those that you have separately from Ferdy. ”

“ Chrissie in her private talks with her chum upheld that view of the matter, but Marjorie had her own opinions. She often looked at Miss Norton and wondered what secrets were hidden under that calm exterior. To all outward appearance the house mistress was scholastic, cold, and entirely occupied with her duties. She was essentially a disciplinarian, and kept St. Elgiva's under a strict régime. Her girls often wished she were less conscientious in her superintendence of their doings. ”

“ Betty and Sylvia were inclined to have fun together and leave Marjorie out of their calculations, a state of affairs which she hotly resented. During the whole of last term she had not found a chum. She was rather friendly with Mollie Simpson, but Mollie was in another dormitory, and this term had been moved into IV Upper A, so that they were no longer working together in form. It was perhaps only natural that she adopted Chrissie; she certainly found her an amusing companion, if nothing more. Chrissie was humorous, and [145] always inclined for fun. ”

“ Do you think," and his voice grew still more solemn, "that p'r'aps I'll never be able to stand or walk again?"
Chrissie's heart was beating fast. She was so glad to be able with truth to answer cheerfully.
"Oh no, Ferdy dear. I really do think you'll be able to get up and be dressed before very long. But I should think the quieter you keep just now the quicker you'll get better. And it's so nice in this room, and you can see so nicely out of the window. You don't want to get up just yet, do you—not till you feel stronger? Mamma says you'll feel much stronger in a few days." ”

“ Miss Lilly saw it, and went on speaking quietly. "I don't mean anything very dreadful, dear, but he may have to stay in bed or on a couch for a long time, and of course that cannot but be a great trial to an active boy. Let us get on with [Pg 77] your lessons now, Chrissie, in case Ferdy is awake when they are over." ”

“ It soon became evident to Chrissy that George liked her society. It never occurred to her what a boon it was to the rugged Nor'wester to be thrown, for the first time, into the society of a young woman not only of considerable intellectual attainments but of deep spirituality.
Chrissy did not think of love or marriage at first. What she did think of was the possibility of leading the young Scotchman into the highest realm of life—the spiritual. ”

“ Now was Christopher so troubled that he knew not what countenance to make, and scarce might he get a word out of his mouth a long while. At last he said: "Lord, I see that I must needs do thy will if this be no trap which thou hast set for me. But overwonderful it is, that a great lady should be wedded to a gangrel churl."
The Earl laughed: "Many a ferly fares to the fair-eyed," quoth he; "and also I will tell thee in thine ear that this Lady may not be so great as her name is great. Did she praise her life-days to thee?" ”

“ She never felt for an instant that he was dead to her. She did not think of him with hopes that were withered, with a tenderness frozen; the man whom she loved never once became a vague, dreamy idea to her, for to Chrissy George was a living, bright reality, who would come some day to fulfil his promise, when she would at last enter into the glorious consummation of her heart's deepest longing. It was this confidence that cheered and sustained her as she became her mother's most efficient coadjutor in missions of mercy and love. ”

“ I know I have so much to endure from my mother!"
"But you are mine, Chrystal; and who can take you from me now? Are you not my own, my very own?"
"I know it: I feel secure of you; but my mother will say such harsh things!"
"Fear not, my beloved. If we are true to each other, surely we can endure a little trial of patience."
Yes, he spoke truly. Christobelle could endure a long, long trial for his love. She could suffer a protracted misery, to deserve a heart so excellent. ”

“ I am not one of those white-shirt-fronted gentlemen such as we frequently meet with here, but, thank God, I can now offer you a heart that is white, a life that is pure. Life in the woods has rubbed off any of the veneer or polish that I may have brought with me from the Old Land, and I am just as you see me, Chrissy, a plain, rough man from the wilds of the West. ”

“ The Earl rose up, and fell to pacing the prison to and fro; and at last he stood over against Christopher, and said: "Hearken, forester: I will foretell thy fortune; it is that thou shalt become great by wedding."
Christopher held his peace; and the Earl spake again: "Now is the shortest word best. We deem thee both goodly and doughty, and would wed thee to a great lady, even that one to whom thou hast shown kindness in the wilderness."
Said Christopher: "It is the wont of great lords to mock poor folk, therefore I must not show anger against thee." ”

“ But this did not mollify Chriss.
'Speaking won't hurt a person when they are sore all over,' she replied, with her usual contradiction. 'I hate prying, of course, and it is a pity one can't enjoy a comfortable little cry without being put through one's catechism. But I do want Aunt Milly. There!' finished Chriss, with another ominous shaking of the bed-clothes; 'and I want her more than you do with all your mysterious we's.'
'I meant Cardie,' replied Olive, mildly, too much used to Chriss's oddities to be repulsed by them. ”

“ It is so tiresome not to be able to provoke people.'
But even Chrissy was secretly learning to value the kind forbearance that bore with her wayward fancies, and the skilfulness that helped her out of many a scrape. Mildred had made the rule that after six o'clock no lesson-books were to be opened. In the evening they either walked or drove, or sat on the lawn working, while Richard or Roy read aloud, Mildred taking the opportunity to overlook her nieces' work, and to remonstrate over the giant strides that Chriss's needle was accustomed to take. ”

“ Chris looked delighted. "Well, you mustn't tell Aunt Philippa, because she would call it shocking extravagance, and I really only did it to please you."
"Oh! Then I am afraid I haven't guessed right." Mordaunt's expression became one of grave doubt.
Chris laughed aloud. "You will have to guess again. No, please go on dancing. One only gets hotter standing still."
"But, Chris," he said, "I want to know."
His tone was perfectly kind, as gentle as it always was when he addressed her, and yet the quick glance that she threw him was not without a hint of misgiving. ”

“ She hung her head and answered nought a while, and he also seemed ashamed: but presently she spake: "Thou hast been kind to us, wouldst thou tell us thy name? and then, if it like thee, what thou art?"
"Lady," he said, "my name is easy to tell, I hight Christopher; and whiles folk in merry mockery call me Christopher King; meseems because I am of the least account of all carles. As for what else I am, a woodman I am, an outlaw, and the friend of them: yet I tell thee I have never by my will done any harm to any child of man ”