Pixie O'Shaughnessy

“ Bally William, oh, dear Bally William, how are you looking to-night? Is everything going on as usual, though Pixie O’Shaughnessy is far away in a cold, cruel land where no one knows her, and her best motives are misjudged and derided? Beautiful old castle, standing among your luxuriant green, are the lamps lit in your rooms, and twinkling like so many stars into the night? And there, where the red curtains are drawn so snugly, are the boys and girls gathered round the fire, the flames lighting up Bridgie’s sweet face and Esmeralda’s stormy beauty? ”

“ I should be myself. You don’t know what might happen—you might even be expelled! I don’t believe Miss Phipps would keep a girl who was so mean as to make all the school suffer rather than face a scolding. There’s one thing certain, I’m not going to have Pixie O’Shaughnessy fagging for me until this business is cleared up! I have tied my own hair bows before and can do them again, and I shall tell Flora and Ethel not to allow her in their cubicles either. If she is untruthful, how are we to know that she might not be dishonest next! ”

“ Couldn’t she ask herself? It would have been more friendly than grumbling behind her back,” said Pixie severely. “When I go out to meals with people I make myself at home. I went to déjeuner with some friends in Paris, and I was so much at home that when they had cabbage, I remarked that I wished it had been cauliflower. They smiled, and looked quite pleasant!”
Miss Munns looked over her spectacles, and grunted to herself. She considered Pixie O’Shaughnessy a most uncomfortable girl, and was never at ease in her society. ”

“ There was a look on Bridgie’s face this morning which reminded her of the dear dead mother, and she had a sudden feeling of dread and longing. “I want you, Bridgie! Come too! Come too!”
“I can’t, my dearie. Your box must go, you know, and there’s not room for both. But you won’t cry, Pixie. It’s only babies who cry, not girls like you—big girls, almost in their teens, going away to see the world like any grand lady. You may see the queen some day! Think of that, now! If you ever do, bow to her twice—once for yourself, and once for me—and tell her Bridget O’Shaughnessy is hers to the death. ”

“ Insinuation and innuendo were of no use where Pixie O’Shaughnessy was concerned; an ordinary girl might scent a proposal afar off and amuse herself by an affectation of innocence, but nothing short of a plain declaration of love would convince Pixie of his sincerity. ”

“ I believe Mademoiselle is sorry already that she made such a fuss, but Miss Phipps won’t rest until she has found out what she wants. If you will be obstinate, you must expect to be punished, but it’s hard lines on the rest of us who have done nothing wrong.”
“And we were all so kind to you, Pixie O’Shaughnessy, and made a regular pet of you—you know we did! We helped you like angels when you couldn’t do your lessons. I’ve been in this school five years, and I’ve never seen a new girl made such a fuss of before. ”

“ To bring a girl up all her life to believe it’s her duty in every small thing that comes along to put herself last and her family in front, and then when she’s a grown-up woman, and a man comes along who believes, poor thing! that she could help him and make him happy, then just at that moment you tell her to be selfish and think only of herself. ... ’Tis not that way I’ll conduct my love affairs!” cried Pixie O’Shaughnessy. Her eyes met Bridgie’s, and flashed defiance. “When I meet a man who needs me I’ll find my own happiness in helping him!” ”

“ What chance has a poor late-comer against such syndicates as these? There is nothing for her but to take a back place, and wait patiently for a chance at the beginning of another term.
Pixie O’Shaughnessy, however, has never taken a back place in her life, and has no intention of beginning now. On her very first evening the two head girls entered the school parlour to find a small, ugly girl seated in the middle of the hearth rug on the most comfortable chair which the room afforded, and were invited in the most genial manner to, “Shtep forward and take a seat!” ”

“ It happened one day that governess and pupil were alike suffering from cold and unable to go out for the usual walk, and the impressionable French heart went out in a wave of pity, as its owner entered the deserted schoolroom and found Pixie seated alone by the fire, her hands folded listlessly on her lap, a very Cinderella of misery and dejection. When the door opened she looked up with that shrinking expression of dread which is so pitiful to see on a young face, for to be left tête-à-tête with Mademoiselle seemed under the circumstances the most terrible thing that could happen. ”

“ Left to herself, Pixie stole into the corridor and flattened herself into a doorway to watch the gay figures descending the staircase. The tidying away could wait for a few moments, but it was not often that one had the opportunity of watching so festive a scene. Doors opened on every side, and out they came, one girl after another, so smart and fine that one could hardly recognise them for the blue-serged damsels of ordinary school life. Down the stairs they tripped, with rustlings of silk and crinklings of muslin, dainty white shoes, looking daintier than ever against the well-worn carpet. ”

“ To her own heart, Bridgie realised the likelihood of such a theft, and the naturalness thereof: outwardly, for Pixie’s benefit she appeared shocked to death.
“L–lovers!” gasped Bridgie. “Lovers! Is it you, Pixie O’Shaughnessy, I hear talking of such things? I’m surprised; I’m shocked! I never could have believed you troubled your head about such matters.”
“But I do,” asserted Pixie cheerfully. “Lots. Not to say trouble, exactly, for it’s most agreeable. I pretend about them, and decide what they’ll be like. When I see a man that takes my fancy, I add him to the list. ”

“ Pixie said bravely. “I was glad to learn. Love is such a big, big thing. When it is given to you it’s a big responsibility. You must not fail; nothing in the world must make you fail!”
Stephen said no word. The questions which had filled his brain for the last five days were answered now. There was no more room for doubt. Pixie O’Shaughnessy was ready and waiting to marry Stanor Vaughan at any time when it pleased him to come home and claim her promise. ”

“ Lottie hitched her shoulder with an impatient movement which drew her arm free from her companion.
“Well, I’m fond of Pixie O’Shaughnessy, and I am going to stick to her, whatever happens! It’s mean of Mademoiselle to make such a fuss about an accident which nobody could help. I’ll buy her another scent-bottle myself, if that will satisfy her. I have lots of money, and can get as much more as I want. It’s absurd making thirty people miserable for the sake of a few pounds. I’ll ask Miss Phipps if I may go into town and buy one this very day.” ”

“ A young woman, with grace, with charm, with—what shall I say?—an air such as your English girls do not know how to possess, and everyone shall say, ‘How she is accomplished, that Pixie! How she is clever and chic!’”
The tears had risen in Bridgie’s eyes, but now she was obliged to laugh at the same time, for it was so droll to think of Pixie as a young lady “with an air!” She laid her hand on Mademoiselle’s arm, with one of her pretty caressing gestures.
“You are a dear, kind Thérèse, and it all sounds too charming, but I am afraid it cannot be done. ”

“ Perhaps she sees you still, Pixie! Perhaps God lets her be a white angel to watch over her boys and girls. If you thought mother was watching, you never could do anything to grieve her!”
The ready tears poured down Pixie’s face. She sobbed and moaned, and with clasped hands repeated her vow to be good, good, good; never to be naughty again so long as she lived! And Bridgie wept too, smiling through her tears at the impracticability of the promise, the while she clasped the dear little sister to her breast. ”

“ Next morning Pixie’s face was still swollen and puffy, but her elastic spirits had sufficiently recovered to enable her to make repeated attempts to converse with her taciturn companions, and to run in and out of their cubicles to play lady’s-maid as usual, in such useful, unostentatious ways as carrying water, folding nightgowns, and tying hair ribbons. This morning she was even more assiduous than usual in her attentions, for there was an edge of coldness and reserve in the manner even of Flora herself which cut deeply into the sensitive heart. ”

“ She came forward to where the major was standing, and held out her hand with a smile of welcome.
“Major O’Shaughnessy! I am very pleased to see you. I hope you have had a good journey and a comfortable crossing.” Then she turned and looked at the crumpled little figure on the sofa, and her eyes softened tenderly. “Is this my new pupil? How do you do, dear? I hope we shall be very good friends!”
“Oi trust we may!” returned Pixie fervently, and with a broadening of the already broad brogue which arose from the emotion of the moment and made her father frown with embarrassment. ”

“ If you caught a girl from above, she would be startled out of her wits, and squeal like anything. It would be splendid fun. The next one, then, who came upstairs!
The girls were divided between horror and delight. Dared she? Really! Would it hurt? What would Miss Phipps say? Did she really think she ought? But their agitation acted as fuel to Pixie’s determination, and she would only laugh and lean over the banisters, experimenting with the long green rope, and altering the length until it met with her approval. ”

“ But it was too early for the dead man’s child to realise that beautiful truth, and Pixie burst into a passion of grief, and the girls without heard the long pitiful wails and nestled close to each other and sobbed in sympathy.
Miss Phipps talked on and on, saying comforting words in that new sweet voice, and Mademoiselle put her arms fondly round the little figure and said—
“You will be brave, chérie. You are always brave! All the O’Shaughnessys are brave—your Bridgie told me so, and said it was the pride of the family! You will not be the first to act like a coward. ”

“ I’m happy to leave you in such good hands, and it’s a lucky child you are to have such a school to come to! It will be your own fault if you are not happy.”
“I’ve no doubt I’ll be very comfortable, thank you,” Pixie said pleasantly, lifting her cheek to receive her father’s kiss, with little sign of the emotion dreaded by the two onlookers, for her mind was too full of the new excitements to allow her to realise his departure. He hurried out of the room, followed by Miss Phipps, and Pixie withdrew into her cubicle, pulled the curtains closely around her, and felt monarch of all she surveyed. ”

“ Last of all Pixie made her appearance, to be invited to a seat on each knee, and embraced with a fervour which made Mademoiselle realise more fully than ever what the child must have suffered during those weeks of suspicion and coldness.
“How’s my ferret?” she inquired, with her mouth full of toast, selected from her father’s plate; and Pat seized the occasion to deliver his outstanding account.
“Grown out of knowledge! Eightpence halfpenny you owe me now. I had to put on another farthing a week because his appetite grew so big. I knew you would rather pay more than see him suffer. ”

“ I guess Honor P Ward has too much grit for that!”
Pixie nodded slowly.
“But you mustn’t be too hard on him, Honor—It’s natural to want to live in one’s own country, and he loves his work just as you do yours. He’ll be a judge some day—chins like that always do succeed—and ambition means so much to a man. You might have been pleased for your own sake; but would you have thought more of him as a man if he’d thrown it all up and lived on your pickles?”
Honor brought her eyebrows together in a frown.
“Now, Pixie O’Shaughnessy, don’t you go taking his part! ”

“ Bridgie says you’ll find fifty people to cry with you, for one who will sympathise about jokes. Have you found it that way in your experience?”
“Upon my word,” cried the Duchess with unction, “this Bridgie appears to be a remarkably sensible young woman! My experience has been that I rarely meet a joke that is not my own exclusive property, to judge by the faces of my companions. Do you happen to possess a name, my youthful philosopher? I should like to know to whom I am talking.”
“I’m Pixie O’Shaughnessy, and Geoffrey married my sister Esmeralda. ”

“ Pixie gasped and pranced on ahead, her back towards the direction in which she was going, her face turned upon the culprit in kindling reproach.
“Joan O’Shaughnessy, what’s happened to you to talk in such a fashion this day? You, that doesn’t know the meaning of work, to be sighing and groaning that you haven’t enough to do! You, to be saying that it would cheer you to be busy, when ye sigh like a furnace and grumble the day long if you have to work for an hour on end! ”

“ When My lover comes, there’ll be only—Me!” The words sounded modest enough, but there was a complacence in the tilt of the head which told another story. Pixie O’Shaughnessy had no pity to waste on the man who should win herself.
Stanor’s lip twisted in a self-conscious smile. The other girls had been rich. He pondered for a moment, and then said suddenly—
“I wonder, Miss Pixie, with your temperament, and—er—under the circumstances that you have not been fired with the modern craze to do something before now. Girls nowadays don’t seem happy unless they have some work—”
“But I have, I have! ”