The gentleman was holding by the hand a small boy. The boy could not
have been more than seven or eight years of age. He was rather a little
boy for that, so that some of the girls put him down as younger. He was
a very beautiful boy. He had a little dark face, with that nut-brown
skin at once clear and yet full of colour which is in itself a great
loveliness. His eyes were large and brown like the softest velvet. He
had very thick brown hair with a sort of bronze tone in it, and this
hair hung in ringlets round his head. The boy was dressed in a peculiar
way. He wore a suit of brown velvet, which fitted his agile little
figure rather tightly. He had brown silk stockings and little breeches,
and shoes with steel buckles. Round his neck he wore a large lace
collar made in a sort of Vandyke fashion. Altogether, this little boy
looked exactly as though he had stepped out of a picture.
He was not at all shy. His eyes travelled over the scene, and they
fixed themselves on Curly Pate, while Curly Pate's eyes gazed on him.
There was dead silence for a minute, all the girls in the school looking
neither at Mrs Burton nor at the gentleman, but at the queer, new,
little, beautiful boy. Then Curly Pate broke the stillness.
"I is kene," (queen), she said, "and--him is king!" and she pointed with
rapture at the boy.
"Oh, you're king, are you, Ralph?" said the gentleman. Then he said
again: "Come over to me, little queen, and let me introduce you to the
king."
Never was anyone less shy than the school baby, and never, perhaps, was
anyone more fickle. She scrambled immediately off Robina's knee and,
pushing aside her companions, went up to the boy and took his hand.
"Tiss I--king; won't oo?" she said, and she raised her little cherubic
mouth to the small boy.
The boy, who was no more shy than Curly Pate herself, stooped, kissed
her, and said:
"Oh, you little darling!" Curly Pate gave her fat hand to his Majesty,
and the king and queen trotted off together.
"Does oo 'ike fairies, and butterflies and flowers?" the queen was heard
to say as she conducted His Majesty round the garden.
The girls all looked after them with pleasure, and the gentleman said to
Mrs Burton:
"Then I shall have no fear whatever. I see he is happy already, and I
know all you girls will treat my little man kindly."
"Of course we will," said Robina, taking the lead in that way which
nearly drove poor Harriet mad. "Is he going to stay here? What a
perfect little darling he is!"
"He is going to stay from now until the end of the term," said the
gentleman; "then I am coming back for him, and I am going to give a
prize to the girl whom he himself likes best."
"Oh! then, of course, that will be Curly Pate," said Robina, still
smiling and looking very interesting and absolutely out of the common.
"Curly Pate won't count," said the gentleman. "The prize is to be given
by Mrs Burton's permission to a girl in the third form. Who are the
girls in the third form, if I may venture to ask, my dear madam?"
The gentleman had a most courteous way; his manners were so nice, and
his voice so--perhaps harmonious is the right word, that he might almost
have been a king himself.
"Girls of the third form," said Mrs Burton in reply, "come and stand
over here, will you?"
At the word of command, Frederica and Patience Chetwold, the three
Amberleys, Harriet and Jane, and last, but by no means least, Robina
Starling, stood in a long row before the strange gentleman and Mrs
Burton.
"So you are the third form girls," he said very kindly. "Well, I am
exceedingly pleased to make your acquaintance. One of you--that one
whom Mrs Burton considers the most truly kind to my little boy--shall
receive from my hands, on my return to claim my child, a prize. It will
be, after a fashion, a prize for conduct, for it will be given to that
girl who does not spoil Ralph, but who helps him to be good, who wins
his love, who, in short, understands him. I know he is a very pretty
boy, and on the whole, perhaps he is good; but he is by no means all
good, and perhaps it would be well, girls of the third form, to give you
a hint--he can be led, but never driven. I think he is an honourable
little fellow, and I am sure he would not willingly tell a lie, or be
willingly disobedient. I want one of you to be, in short, his
school-mother, and the school-mother who really adopts my Ralph shall be
rewarded by me."
Mrs Burton now spoke.
"You shall all be put on trial with regard to Ralph," she said, "for the
next week. At the end of that time he will himself select his
school-mother, and unless something unforeseen occurs, I think, Mr
Durrant, the prize will be already won. The fact is, my dear sir, there
are a great many prizes to be competed for just now, and I do not want
my girls to be kept in a state of suspense."
"I will give as my prize," said Mr Durrant, "a pony, with a
side-saddle, and a habit made to order and to fit the girl who wins the
prize. In order, too, that the pony shall be no expense to the
fortunate owner, I will provide for its maintenance a certain sum per
year, until the owner can assure me that she is in a position to
undertake this expense herself. What I mean is this," continued Mr
Durrant: "I don't want the girl's parents to have any expense with the
pony. He will be my gift to the little girl who mothers my boy. And
now I think I have said all that is necessary."
"I will talk to you girls on the subject of little Ralph this evening
after prayers," said the headmistress. Then she turned away with Mr
Durrant, who, however, first of all shook hands with the girls of the
third form, and said a few words to the sixth form girls, and, in short,
charmed everyone.
Harriet was the person selected now to find the king and queen.
"Bring them both to the house, dear," said Mrs Burton, and Harriet,
well pleased, ran off to obey. Nowhere within sight could the little
pair be found, and Harriet, after running for a few minutes, paused to
consider.
She wondered if this unexpected state of affairs would in any way
promote her own interest. As a matter of fact, she hated small
children. There was no small girl at the school who was ever seen to
interrupt Harriet's work, or to fling herself against Harriet's knees,
or to look into Harriet's face with that childish petition: "Oh! do tell
us a story, please." The little ones left Harriet wisely alone, and
Harriet never concealed her aversion to them.
"Horrid little sticky things," she was heard to say, "with their
lollipops in their hands and their faces wanting washing, and their
clothes so grubby!" These statements were quite false, for the small
children were kept by their kind teacher, Miss Ford, in the most
immaculate order. But Harriet was well-known in the school not to stick
to the truth when she wished to give vent to her sentiments. Now,
however, her feelings were changed. She must, of course, find the king
and queen at once.
"Ridiculous name!" she murmured. "That little tiresome, fat baby girl
and that small boy, dressed for all the world as though he were a
peacock! But still--but still--a pony with a side-saddle and habit, and
his keep provided for, is worth struggling to win. And then it would be
_such_ fun to get the prize over Robina's head. She is certain sure of
it already, I see by her smug face. I am sure I am clever enough to get
this from her, and I will."
Harriet now spied both children standing much too near the edge of a
round pond which ornamented part of the grounds.
"Oh, Curly Pate!" she shrieked. "Come back this minute, you naughty
child, from the edge of the water!"
Curly Pate, who had been gazing at her own little image in the pond,
looked up. Her fair face was flushed with passion, and seizing Ralph's
hand, she said imperiously:
"Turn away, king. Curly Pate hates that howwid dirl."
Harriet was near enough to hear the words. Angry already, and disliking
Curly Pate more than words could say, she rushed up to her now, seized
her by the waist, and planted her several feet away from the pond.
"There, you naughty, disobedient little thing!" she said. "You'll be
drowned if you don't take care!"
Curly Pate burst into roars of tears, and set to work screaming as she
alone knew how. Ralph, furious at having his queen abused, turned to
Harriet and began to beat her.
"Go away, go away!" he said. "You're not a bit a nice girl. Go away,
you horrid thing!"
"Horrid thing yourself!" said Harriet and she slapped Ralph across the
face.
Little Ralph Durrant was much too proud to cry; the slap stung him, and
the little olive-tinted face grew red. After a minute, during which he
was struggling with himself, he turned towards Harriet and said gently:
"'Twasn't ladylike of you to slap me, but I forgive you."
"Oh, your Mightiness! Do you, indeed?" said Harriet. "I am sure, your
Majesty, I am exceedingly obliged."
The scornful tone was quite new to little Ralph. What would have
happened next is hard to tell, if at that moment Robina had not rushed
up.
"Well, Curly," she said; "well, my little precious! Why, what are you
crying about? And Ralph, dear, is anything the matter with you?"
Curly, whose tears were now growing less, flung herself impetuously into
Robina's arms, while Robina laid a trembling hand on her shoulder.
Robina by this time was on her knees, both children fondling her.
Harriet stood still for a minute. Then she said in a lofty tone:
"Take them to the house--or rather, take the boy to the house. _I_ was
sent to fetch them, but of course it would be like you to interfere.
You want to be his school-mother, and to get the pony--I know you; and
let me say at once that I despise you for your horrid ways!"
Robina turned scarlet.
"You have no right--no right to say such things to me!" was her first
remark. Then with a great effort she managed to quiet herself. Her
eyes, with a wild light in them, were fixed on Harriet's face.
"I despise you too much," she said slowly, "to take any notice of your
words. Curly, you shall have a ride, my sweet, on my shoulder; and
Ralph, you will hold one of my hands. We must come quickly to the
house, for Mr Durrant wants you to say good-bye."
"Oh, good-bye," said Ralph; "that hurts, doesn't it?"
He forgot Harriet, who was watching the scene from a few feet away. A
new expression filled his beautiful little face, his eyes were fixed on
Robina with a world of appeal.
"Yes," said Robina; "it hurts; but brave people don't mind pain."
"I am brave; I shan't mind it," said Ralph. "Hold my hand for a bit
after _he_ goes, will you? and then I shall not mind at all."
Book 1--CHAPTER FIVE.