"I can't help his letting me in, but he shan't see me off," she
said--"no one need do that. Well, now--go and join your sisters. Go to
bed at the usual hour, and come to me at ten o'clock; then I will put on
the dress and you shall judge of the effect."
The thought of seeing the wonderful dress and of possessing a real gold
bangle were two circumstances enough to turn the slight brain of Fanchon
Amberley. She did not confide to her sisters what her conversation had
been, and managed that evening to elude them and to present herself at
Brenda's door as the clock struck ten. The other two were sound asleep,
so she had little difficulty in getting away from them, and, as Brenda
was on the watch, she let her pupil in at once, immediately locking the
door as soon as Fanchon got inside.
"Now then," she said, "you just hop on to my bed, for I don't want you
to catch cold. See--here's the dress."
Madame Declasse was really an excellent dressmaker, and the pale blue
silk would have looked lovely to any eyes, but the unaccustomed ones of
Fanchon Amberley fairly blinked as they gazed at it.
"I never imagined anything so lovely!" she cried. "But you must put it
on--you promised."
Brenda obeyed. She was gratified by the curious mixture of vanity and
greed, envy and admiration which filled poor Fanchon's face, and she
attired herself, not only in the dress, which gave her little figure
such a "chic" appearance, but also put on the white hat and the dainty
white lace scarf, and drew the long white gloves upon her slender arms.
Finally, she slipped into the white serge coat which was to cover the
finery, lest the Reverend Josiah should catch sight of it.
"He won't see me to-morrow morning," she said, "and when I come back in
the evening, he'll think that I am wearing a cotton dress underneath the
serge. There now, Fanchon, you have seen everything, and you may rest
satisfied that I shall have plenty to tell you when I return."
"I am bewildered," said Fanchon. "Of course you look beautiful; of
course the prince or the king, whenever either of them comes along, will
fall in love with you, for you look like a princess or a queen yourself!
I wish I were beautiful too. I hate--yes--I _hate_ being ugly!" and
the poor child gave a sob of pain and disappointment.
"Now listen, Fanchon. You won't be ugly when you are grown up. It
doesn't matter a bit how you look now, for you are only a little girl.
What you have to do now is to help me all you can, and then, when you
come to be eighteen or nineteen years of age--I will help you, _petite_,
and get you a good husband, and drew you in the colours that will make
you look--oh--marvellous! Keep me as your friend and you will be a wise
little girl: do the reverse, and you will rue it."
Fanchon shed a few more tears, but finally yielded to Brenda's
seductions and clasped her arms round her neck and kissed that young
person's cool cheek with her own hot lips; then went to bed to dream of
that wonderful vision in blue silk and the prince who was surely going
to find her.
The next morning, at a very early hour, Brenda took her departure,
having successfully avoided the Reverend Josiah, who had gone to bed
with the full intention of getting up to see his dear young governess
off and to tell her that he would assuredly sit up and have something
hot for supper when she came back in the evening. He had not yet
thanked her for her consideration in buying the jam pots.
"The dear girl must have got them out of her own money," he said to
himself. "She really is a treasure, and I am so fond of gooseberry jam.
One can have so few indulgences--what with the sick of the parish and
my very small stipend. But when I think of that poor young creature,
and of what she is doing for me and my children, I cannot be too
thankful. I will certainly thank her in suitable words when she
returns, and I will see her off in the morning."
But, alack and alas! the Reverend Josiah was tired, for he had had a
very long and fatiguing day, and Brenda's footsteps were light as the
falling of snow, and she had left the house and gone out to the stables
and got the pony put to the cart. She had also awakened Jock--
universally known as "the boy," and had given him fourpence to drive her
to Harroway station. All these things had been done, and Brenda was
away--yes, away for her day's holiday before the Reverend Josiah opened
his eyes on that summer morning.