ALL SIX!
MOLLIE looked round on her governess's room with approving eyes.
"You have found out where to put your things," she remarked. "Do you
like your room?"
"Very much indeed, thank you."
"We have only had one governess before," said Mollie, "but the boys go
to school now, all but Randall, and he's spoilt." She laughed lightly
as she led the way down-stairs once more.
"Will you make acquaintance with the schoolroom first, Miss Ashlyn?"
"Anywhere you like, dear."
"Then here it is," she said, pausing on the landing of the first floor.
"That is mother's room, that is mine and Daisy's; there is the spare
room, and this is our own special study, where we 'grind,' and play,
and practise."
The view from the window looking towards the front, though different
from her room up-stairs, Gertrude considered very good "for London,"
for it was over the well-kept grounds of a gentleman's house, which was
nearly hidden in the autumn-tinted trees.
But only a glance did she give at that, for at the table sat her
pupils, who would henceforth be everything to her.
Daisy was a plain little girl with a dark, sober face, who looked up
quietly and even calmly into her face, murmuring, "Good afternoon, Miss
Ashlyn."
So different was the child from bright, energetic Mollie, that Gertrude
almost felt abashed by her reception. She shook her little hand,
however, and looked round at the other occupants of the room.
Ned, whose acquaintance she had already made, sat perched on the end of
the sofa, swinging his legs backwards and forwards.
"I'm not one of 'em," he announced with a wink at the others, at which
Randall winked back and gave a giggle.
"I know that," answered Gertrude pleasantly, "so now I must put names
to these two. This is Randall, I am sure, by what I have heard; and
this must be Hugh."
She bent towards the boy—rather taller than Randall, but not so
robust—and looked into his face.
Did something in him remind her for an instant of that little nephew
who had gone out of their life so mysteriously? For a moment she felt
as if she were speaking to him. Then her eyes nearly filled with tears,
and very tenderly she said, "I hope Hugh and I shall be friends."
The child, for he was about nine years old, looked up with great
astonishment. While Randall burst out—"He's a cry-baby; you won't care
for him."
"Shall I not?" answered Gertrude. "We shall see."
"Oh, fie!" said Daisy, colouring. "You should not tell tales out of
school."
"We haven't begun yet," said Randall, nodding.
"Why, there's mother; she's coming in."
He ran to the window to make sure, and then bounded down the stairs.
"What are you playing at?" asked Gertrude, turning to Daisy and Hugh.
"A word game," said Daisy, rather curtly.
"Would you care to join?" asked Mollie. "But I do not think it is worth
while, for mother is come in, and she will want to see you, she said."
"I will look on then," answered Gertrude.
She stood by the table watching the game till Randall came tearing
back to say that Mrs. Shaddock was in the drawing-room, and would Miss
Ashlyn go there to her.
She found Mrs. Shaddock a woman evidently accustomed to society,
apparently with but little in common with the life which Gertrude had
left—a life full of Sunday-school work, Church interests, and desires
after pleasing God above everything else.
"I am sure you will satisfy me," Mrs. Shaddock concluded, after they
had talked for half an hour; "so do not be discouraged if you find
things difficult at first."
She rose as she said these words, and Gertrude found herself dismissed,
with all the load of her six charges on her hands.
"I am out a great deal," Mrs. Shaddock had said, "and I require a
governess who will act in my absence as if she were an elder daughter."
She went up-stairs pondering deeply. So she was expected to "manage"
the whole six! What if they should prove too much for her?
Then she remembered a promise which she had often "tried and proved."
"'As thy days so shall thy strength be.'"
So she entered the study with a peaceful face.
"Here is Conway," said Mollie, looking up. "Now you have seen all of
us! And, Miss Ashlyn, Conway said he had something to tell us, when you
came up. Do you know we have a Strange House next door?"
[Illustration]
[Illustration]