Light O' the Morning Part 21

"Oh, my dear, yes; I'll stay. School has just begun over again, you know, and I am always in hot water. I cannot help it; it is a sort of way of mine. This is the kind of way I live. Breakfast every morning; then a lecture from mother or from father. Off I go in low spirits, with a great, sore heart inside me; then comes the hateful discipline of school; and every day I get into disgrace. I have a lot of lessons returned, and am low down in my cla.s.s, instead of high up, and am treated from first to last as a naughty child. By the middle of the day I am a very naughty child indeed."

"But you are not a child at all, Molly; you are a woman. Why, you are older than I."

"Oh, what have years to do with it?" interrupted Molly. "I shall be a child all my days, I tell you. I shall never be really old. I like mischief and insubordination, and--and--let me whisper it to you, little Nora--vulgarity. Yes, I do love to be vulgar. I like shocking mother; I like shocking father. Since Terence came I have had rare fun shocking him. I have learned a lot of slang, and whenever I see Terence I shout it at him. He has got quite nervous lately, and avoids me. He likes Linda awfully, but he avoids me. But, to go on with my day. I am back from school to early dinner, generally in disgrace. I am not allowed to speak at dinner. Back again I go to school, and I am home, or supposed to be home, at half-past four; but not a bit of it, my dear; I don't get home till about six, because I am kept in to learn my lessons. It is disgraceful, of course; but it is a fact. Then back I come, and mother has a talk with me. However busy mother may be, and she is a very busy woman, Nora--you will soon find that out--she always has time to find out if I have done anything naughty; and, as fibs are not any of my accomplishments, I always tell her the truth; and then what do you think happens? An evening quite to myself in my bedroom; my dinner sent up to me there, and I eating it in solitary state. They are all accustomed to it. They open their eyes and almost glare at me when by a mere chance I do come down to dinner. They are quite uncomfortable, because, you see, I am waiting my opportunity to fire slang at one of them. I always do, and always will. I never could fit into the dull life of the English."

"You must be Irish, really," said Nora.

"You don't say so! But I am afraid I am not. I would give all the world to be, but am quite certain I am not. There, now, of course I'd be awfully scolded if it was found out that I had awakened you at this hour, and had confided my little history to you. I am over sixteen. I shall be seventeen in ten months' time. And that is my history, insubordination from first to last. I don't suppose anybody really likes me, unless it is poor Annie Jefferson at school."

"Who is Annie Jefferson, Molly?"

"A very shabby sort of girl, who is always in hot water too. I have taken to her, and she just adores me. There is no one else who loves me; and she, poor child, would not be admitted inside these walls; she is not aristocratic enough. Dear me, Nora! it is wrong of me to give you all this information so soon; and don't look anxious about me, little goose, for I have taken an enormous fancy to you."

"I will tell you one thing," said Nora after a pause, "if you will never tell again."

"Oh, a secret!" said Molly. "Tell it out, Nora. I love secrets. I'll never betray; I have no friends to betray them to. You may tell me with all the heart in the world."

"Well, it is this," said Nora; "we are not at all rich at home. We are poor, and have no luxuries and the dear old house is very bare; and, oh! but, Molly, there is no place like it--no place like it. It's worth all the world to me; and when I came here last night, and saw your great, rich, beautiful house, I--I quite hated it, and I almost hated Linda too; and even my uncle, who has been so kind, I could not get up one charitable thought for him, nor for your mother, who is such a beautiful, gracious lady; and even Terence--oh! Terry seemed quite English. Oh, I was miserable! But when I saw you, Molly, I said to myself, 'There is one person who will fit me'; and--oh, don't Molly! What is it?"

"Only, if you say another word I shall squeeze you to death in the hug I am giving you," said Molly. Her arms were flung tightly round Nora's neck. She kissed her pa.s.sionately three or four times.

"We'll be friends. I'll stick up for you through thick and thin,"

said Molly. "And now I'm off; for if Linda caught me woe betide me."

"One word before you go, Molly," called out Nora.

"Yes," said Molly, standing at the door.

"Try to keep straight to-day, for my sake, for I shall want to say a great deal to you to-night."

"Oh, yes, so I will," answered Molly. "Now then, off I go."

The door was banged behind her. It awoke Mrs. Hartrick, who turned slowly on her pillow, and said to herself, "I am quite certain that wicked girl Molly has been disturbing our poor little traveler." But she fell asleep, and Nora lay thinking of Molly. How queer she was!

And yet--and yet she was the only person in the English home who had yet managed to touch Nora's warm Irish heart.

The rest of the day pa.s.sed somewhat soberly. Molly and Linda both started for school immediately after an early breakfast. Terence went to town with his uncle, and Nora and her aunt were left alone.

She had earnestly hoped that she might have had one of her first important talks with Mr. Hartrick before he left that morning; but he evidently had no idea of giving her an opportunity. He spoke to her kindly, but seemed to regard her already as quite one of the family, and certainly was not disposed to alter his plans or put out his business arrangements on her account. She resolved, with a slightly impatient sigh, to abide her time, and followed her aunt into the morning-room, where the good lady produced some fancywork, and asked Nora if she would like to help her to arrange little squares for a large patchwork quilt which was to be raffled for at a bazar shortly to be held in the place.

Nora gravely took the little bits of colored silk, and, under her aunt's supervision, began to arrange them in patterns. She was not a neat worker, and the task was by no means to her taste.

"What time ought I to write in order to catch the post?" she said, breaking the stillness, and raising her lovely eyes to Mrs.

Hartrick's face.

"The post goes out many times in the day, Nora; but if you want to catch the Irish mail, you must have your letter in the box in the hall by half-past three. There is plenty of time, my dear, and you will find notepaper and everything you require in the escritoire in the study. You can always go there if you wish to write your letters."

"Thank you," answered Nora.

"When you are tired of work, you can go out and walk about the grounds. I will take you for a drive this afternoon. I am sorry that you have arrived just when the girls have gone back to school; but you and Linda can have a good deal of fun in the evenings, you know."

"But why not Molly too?" asked Nora. She felt rather alarmed at mentioning her elder cousin's name.

Mrs. Hartrick did not speak at all for a moment; then she gave a sigh.

"I am sorry to have to tell you, Nora, that Molly is by no means a good girl. She is extremely rebellious and troublesome; and if this state of things goes on much longer her father and I will be obliged to send her to a very strict school as a boarder. We do not wish to do that, as my husband does not approve of boarding-schools for girls. At present she is spending a good deal of her time in punishment."

"I hope she won't be in punishment to-night," said Nora. "I like her so much."

"Do you, my dear? I hope she won't influence you to become insubordinate."

Nora felt restless, and some of the bits of colored silk fluttered to the floor.

"Be careful, my dear Nora," said her aunt in a somewhat sharp voice; "don't let those bits of silk get about on the carpet. I am most particular that everything in the house should be kept neat and in order. I will get you a little work-basket to keep your things in when next I go upstairs."

"Thank you, Aunt Grace," answered Nora.

"And now, as we are alone," continued the good lady, "you might tell me something of your life. Your uncle is very anxious that your mother should come and pay us a visit. He is very much attached to his sister, and it seems to me strange that they should not have met for so many years. You have a beautiful place at home, Nora--have you not?"

"Yes," said Nora; "the place is"--she paused, and her voice took an added emphasis--"beautiful."

"How emphatically you say it, dear! You have a pretty mode of speech, although very, very Irish."

"I am Irish, you see, Aunt Grace," answered Nora.

"Yes, dear, you need scarcely tell me that; your brogue betrays you."

"But mother was always particular that I should speak correctly,"

continued the girl. "Does my accent offend you, Aunt Grace?"

"No, dear; your uncle and I both think it quite charming. But tell me some more. Of course you are very busy just now with your studies, Nora. A girl of your age--how old did you say you were--sixteen?--a girl of your age has not a moment to lose in acquiring those things which are essential to the education of an accomplished woman of the present day."

"I am afraid I shall shock you very much indeed, Aunt Grace, when I tell you that my education is supposed to be finished."

"Finished!" said Mrs. Hartrick. She paused for a moment and stared full at Nora. "I was astonished," she continued, "when your uncle suggested that you should pay us a visit now. I said, as September had begun, you would be going back to school; but you accepted the invitation, or rather your mother did for you, without any allusion to your school. You must have got on very well, Nora, to be finished by now. How many languages do you know?"

"I can chatter in Irish after a fashion," said Nora; "and I am supposed, after a fashion also, to know my own tongue."

"Irish!" said Mrs. Hartrick in a tone of quivering scorn. "I don't mean anything of that sort. I allude to your acquaintance with French, German, and Italian."

"I do know a very little French," said Nora; "that is, I can read one or two books in French. Mother taught me what I know; but I do not know any German or any Italian. I don't see that it matters,"

she continued, a flush coming into her cheeks. "I should never talk German or Italian in Ireland. I wouldn't be understood if I did."

"That has nothing to do with it, Nora; and your tone, my dear, without meaning it, of course, was just a shade pert just now. It is essential in the present day that all well-educated women should be able to speak at least in three languages."

"Then I am sorry, Aunt Grace, for I am afraid you will despise me. I shall never be well educated in that sense of the word."

Mrs. Hartrick was silent.

"I will speak to your uncle," she said after a pause. "While you are here you can have lessons. It would be possible to arrange that you went to school with Linda and Molly, and had French and German lessons while there."