Sissy

“ A train meant domesticity and dignity to Sissy. In Split it bred and fostered a spirit of coquetry; she believed herself [Pg. 225] to be very French in long skirts. "I'll just say she said 'Yes' when I asked her. She never knows what she says when she's writing."
Sissy nodded understandingly, and rustled in a most ladylike manner after her senior. The twins saw the two beautiful creatures swishing down the front steps, bound for the street to show their glory and feel the peacock's delight in dragging his tail in the dust. ”

“ And Sissy, outraged in all the dignity of her eleven years at being carried like a child, but unspeakably happy in her father's favor, looked over his shoulder with a sheepish, smiling, [Pg. 37] sleepy face, murmuring, "Sour grapes, Split, sour grapes!"
Afterward, encouraged by the darkness and the strangeness of being laid in bed from her father's arms, Sissy held him a moment by her side.
"When men make promises on paper that they can't keep, father," she whispered, "what do they do?" ”

“ Sissy was perplexed for a few moments, and then their talk on the terrace a month before flashed into her mind—"Jael, or Judith, or Charlotte Corday," and she remembered the very intonation with which Percival had repeated "Judith." "Ah!" said the girl half aloud, with a sudden intuition, "he was thinking of her when he talked of heroic women!—Why wasn't I born noble and heroic as well as others? Is it my fault if I can't bear people to be angry with me—if I always stop and think and hesitate, and then the moment is gone? ”

“ Sissy hesitated before replying, and so plainly showed her sense that they were entering on forbidden ground, that Louisa added, ‘No one hears us; and if any one did, I am sure no harm could be found in such an innocent question.’
‘No, Miss Louisa,’ answered Sissy, upon this encouragement, shaking her head; ‘father knows very little indeed. It’s as much as he can do to write; and it’s more than people in general can do to read his writing. ”

“ Warner, and am so glad your father has asked me to be godfather to the wee motherless babe; but the real charge, Sissy, will devolve on you. You have, indeed, a great work before you in the care of all these children, for it is to you, far more than to Miss Vernon, they will look to fill their mother's place. And such a mother! You have, indeed, a work to do which even the angels might envy!"
The girl looked up, restraining with an effort the choking sob which the sound of her pet name had evoked. ”

“ She was;’ Sissy made the terrible communication nervously; ‘she was a dancer.’
‘Did your father love her?’ Louisa asked these questions with a strong, wild, wandering interest peculiar to her; an interest gone astray like a banished creature, and hiding in solitary places. ”

“ Still, as I have said already, I am disappointed."
"I wish I could have made a better acknowledgment, sir, of your kindness to a poor forlorn girl who had no claim upon you, and of your protection of her." said Sissy, weeping.
"Don't shed tears," added Mr. Gradgrind, "I don't complain of you. You are an affectionate, earnest, good young woman, and we must make that do."
"Thank you, sir, very much," said Sissy, with a grateful curtsey.
"You are useful to Mrs. Gradgrind, and you are serviceable in the family also; so I understand from Miss Louisa, and indeed, so I have observed myself. ”

“ She didn’t come to my bedside to wake me, as she always does; and I went to look for her. She was not in her own room either; and I went looking for her all over the house, until I found her here taking care of you and cooling your head. Will you see father? Sissy said I was to tell him when you woke.’
‘What a beaming face you have, Jane!’ said Louisa, as her young sister - timidly still - bent down to kiss her.
‘Have I? I am very glad you think so. I am sure it must be Sissy’s doing.’
The arm Louisa had begun to twine around her neck, unbent itself. ”

“ With her bare foot on the soft pedal, that none might hear her, Sissy played. It was dark and very quiet; the hush-hush of the throbbing mines filled the night and stilled it. At times her heart stood still for fear that she might be discovered; at other times the longing for a sensational uncovering of her belated and extraordinary goodness seized her, and her naked foot slipped from the cold pedal only to be hurriedly replaced before the jangle of the keys could escape. ”

“ But after she got up there, Sissy faded out of the world. In Baldy Bob's coach Split was [Pg. 200] seized with Wanderlust. She sat erect and still up there in front, her hands clasped in her lap, her shining eyes averted from the motionless tongue below and fixed on the unrolling landscapes of the world; on plains and valleys, on villages nestling in trees and flying past, on great rolling fields of grain—perhaps a smooth, light, continuous sort of sage-brush, wrinkling in the wind as the sunflowers seem to when one looks up at the mountain from the sluice-box. ”

“ And if they are not walking now, Why, then, they're running still. The cow-boys rose up from the dust With faces black and blue; "Remember, beauteous maid," said they, "We've bled and died for you!" "And though we suffer grievously, We gladly hail the lot That brings us toils and pains and wounds For charming Sissy Knott!" But Sissy Knott still wailed and wept, And still her fate reviled; For who could patch her dolly up— Who, who could mend her child? Then out her doting mother came, And soothed her daughter then; "Grieve not, my darling, I will sew Your dolly up again!" ”

“ If you should hear a dog, sir, it's only Merrylegs, and he only barks."
They followed the girl up some steep stairs, and stopped while she went on for a candle. Reappearing, with a face of great surprise, she said, "Father is not in our room, sir. If you wouldn't mind walking in, sir? I'll find him directly."
They walked in; and Sissy having set two chairs for them, sped away with a quick, light step. They heard the doors of rooms above opening and shutting, as Sissy went from one to another in quest of her father. ”

“ Sissy was recovering. "Never mind, Split," she added, [Pg. 73] heavily sarcastic and assuming a comforting air that maddened Irene, who desired nothing more than to impress her new suitor with the elegant gentility of her manner, her family's, and all that was hers. "Just to have a boy from the city even pretend to think you're good-looking is worth living for. Boys know so much—in the city!" ”

“ I’ve learned in my life that things don’t happen twice alike. Maybe you won’t be just here again in such terr’ble agreeable company—” and he playfully touched Melvin on the shoulder—“and best improve it. And, Sissy, strikes me you’re real likely. Sort of a common sense sort of little creetur without so many airs as some the girl-towerists put on. If so be ’t you stop a spell in Digby just tip me the wink and I’ll haul you with any load I happen to have on my ‘Mobile.’ Or, if so be we never meet again on earth, be sure, little Sissy, ’t you meet me in Heaven. ”

“ Haven't you got any nice clothes for the baby?" said she to the young girl, who had heard her, and was moving off with the wee child hugged closely to her breast—"because sissy has a great [Pg 137] many, and I know mother can spare you one," and with that she ran up the steps, and pulled the bell as hard as she could.
"Oh! mamma," said she, all out of breath with haste and excitement, "there's a little bit of a baby out there, just like my sissy, and it hasn't any thing on its feet, and the old flannel rag can't cover it half over ”

“ It's a women's walking-match."
"Sure," said Cody, without withdrawing his attention for a moment from the view inside. "The big, long feet belong to the one they call La Tourtillotte. She's French. The German one's Von Hagen."
"I think it's a shame," gasped Sissy. "Let's go home, Split."
Split, at her own particular knot-hole, affected not to hear. But Crosby Pemberton, perched in the elbow of some long scantlings bracing the building, took heart at Sissy's words.
[Pg. 242] "It isn't respectable, Sissy," he called to her. "No ladies go. Your aunt wouldn't like it." ”

“ Thank you, just the same, Miss Maude; this is not a theme worthy of your brilliant rendition, but, as I said, a simple, old-fashioned playing of the fiddle. I'll supply the old-fashioned part, and Sissy here can do the simple accompaniment, if she will."
If she would! Sissy was so gaspingly happy and proud that she forgot even to pretend that she wasn't. Seating herself, she let her trembling fingers sink into the opening chord, while the old doctor's bow sought the strains of "Kathleen Mavourneen," of "Annie Laurie," the "Blue Bells of Scotland," and "Rose Marie." ”

“ Sissy. Yith ma'am, I geth tho; and tell Mith Peath, the thent her thome of her pickleth.
Sadie and Bessie. Pickles! O, you dear little thing!
Jenny. O, isn't she a darling! (They all crowd round Sissy, take off her bonnet, kiss and hug her.) Isn't she splendid?
Bessie. I'll take the pail, little girl.
Sissy. (Putting pail behind her.) Yith marm; I geth not. My mother thed I muthn't give it to nobody but Mith Peath.
Bessie. Well, take off the cover, little girl. The pickles will spoil.
Sissy. I geth not. My mother's pickleth never thpoil.
Jenny. The little plague! Say, Sissy; do you like candy? ”

“ The changed spelling of the name told me something about her. To the Miss Foster of that date the younger brothers were boisterous schoolboys, troublesome creatures with tops and marbles and rough games. She was Sissy no more, but Cis, which is a name derived from Cecilia, and full of romantic possibilities. Cecilia, at full length, is a stately maiden, aloof a little from common things, to be wooed gloriously by one in the guise of a prince. Cis smacks more of the world, of gay laughter, of daring attractiveness. ”

“ How was Sissy?
Hammond replied that Mrs. Middleton had aged a good deal, but that she and Sissy were both pretty well, and had got an idea—he could not think from whom—that Percival had gone in for the law and was going to do something very amazing indeed. "They are waiting to be surprised," Godfrey wrote, "like children on their birthdays. St. Cecilia especially wouldn't for worlds open her eyes till the right moment comes and you appear in your glory as lord chancellor or attorney-general, or something of the kind. ”

“ In the very certainty of security a sudden panic fell upon Sissy. If she only dared to move, to reassure herself! Of course it couldn't mean herself—oh!
She felt a sudden tug that almost dislodged her. "You t'ink I don't see—huh?" shouted the perspiring Teuton below. "What for you leave dis trail hang down den—hey?" And he tugged again.
With a sickly remnant of dignity Sissy [Pg. 246] stepped down and out. She had forgotten her train—the train that had been at once her pride and her undoing. ”

“ Missing this she sat up in her berth and shrieked aloud:
“Rudanthy! Ru-dan-thy! RUDANTHY!”
[14] CHAPTER II.
A HUMAN EXPRESS PARCEL.
“Hush, sissy! Don’t make such a noise. You’re disturbing a whole car full of people,” said somebody near her.
Josephine suppressed her cries, but could not stifle the mighty sob which shook her. She looked up into the face of the black porter, Bob, studied it attentively, found it not unkind, and regained her self-possession.
“My name is not sissy. It’s Josephine Smith. I want my dolly. I cannot go to sleep without her. Her name is Rudanthy. ”

“ Sissy's arrival was hailed by a populous nightgowned world, sent, like herself, supperless for its sins to the purgatory of early bedtime. Split came stealing in from the other room, [Pg. 250] bringing Frank along that she might not cry and betray her elder sister's movements—a successful sort of blackmail the youngest Madigan often practised. And later, Kate, looking most conventional and full-dressed in this nightgowned society, brought succor for the starving. They munched chocolate and camped comfortably, three on each bed, while Sissy told her adventures. ”

“ Straight in their line of vision sat Kate, and upon her old Westlake's eyes were ardently fixed as he sang.
"It's—it's not decent," declared Sissy, wrathfully.
"He does look like a calf." Split grinned. Kate looked very pretty in that white cashmere embroidered in red rosebuds, which had been made over from the box from Ireland, Split said to Sissy, and so was deserving of forgiveness, she hinted ”

“ There's nothing left in that dry, hot city to be regretted.
Jenny. Stop. There is one thing I should like.
Sadie and Bessie. What is that?
Jenny. One of mother's pickles.
Sadie and Bessie. What! a pickle?
Jenny. Yes. I'm dying for one of mother's sour, peppery pickles.
Sadie. O, don't, Jenny. Do you want to make me homesick?
[page 128]
Bessie. My mouth puckers at the thought. I want to go home.
Enter, R., Sissy Gabble, a very small girl, with a very large cape bonnet on her head, and a tin pail in her hand.
Sissy. If yer pleath, Mith Peath, if, if—Mith Peath, if you pleath—
Jenny. ”

“ The cars won't take back tracks for nobody."
I thought he didn't understand.
"Why, my cousin Lydia bought me a ticket, sir, right out of that hole. Don't you know she did? And that railroad went off and left me. I was getting in in a minute, as soon as I found my kitty!"
"O, that's it, hey? Well, you see this ere's only a flag-station, and they don't stop for cats."
I began to cry. The man patted me on the back, just as if I had a fish-bone in my throat, and called me "Poor sissy." It made me very angry—seven whole years old—to be called sissy! ”

“ She took the glass with a slight inclination of her head, and explained that she wanted an old servant who had been Sissy's nurse when she was a little child. "Mrs. Latimer is very kind," she said, "but Sissy will like her own people best. And Sarah would be broken-hearted—" She paused. ”