FANNY'S VIEWS UPON HERALDRY.
Fanny was overflowing with laughter, and her face was the perfection
of glee. Her dark eyes fairly danced, and the profuse black curls
which rippled around her face, were never still for a moment.
In her hand Miss Fanny carried a wreath of primroses and other
children of the autumn, which spread around them as she came a faint
perfume. From the appearance of the young lady's feet, it seemed that
she had gathered them herself. Her shoes and ankles, with their white
stockings, were saturated with the dews of morning.
After imprinting upon Miss Redbud's cheek the kiss which we have
chronicled, Fanny gaily raised the yellow wreath, and deposited it
upon the young girl's head.
"There, Redbud!" she cried, "I declare, you look prettier than ever!"
Redbud smiled, with an affectionate glance at her friend.
"Oh!" cried the impulsive Fanny, "there you are, laughing at me, as
much as to say that you are not pretty! Affected!"
"Oh, no," said Redbud.
"Well, I don't say you are."
"I don't like affectation."
"Nor I," said Fanny; "but really, Reddy, I had no idea that yellow was
so becoming to you."
"Why?" asked Redbud, smiling.
"You are blonde, you know."
"Well."
"I wonder if blonde don't mean yellow," said the philosophic Fanny.
"Does it?"
"Yes."
"What then?"
"Why, of course, I thought yellow primroses would'nt become you;--now
they would suit me--I'm so dark."
"You do not need them."
"Fie--Miss Flatterer."
"Oh, no, Fanny, I never flatter."
"Well, I'm glad you like me, then!" cried Fanny, "for I declare
I'm desperately in love with you, Reddy. Just think, now, how much
flattered Miss Sallianna would have been if I had carried these
flowers to her--you know she loves the 'beauties of nature.'"
And Miss Fanny assumed a languishing air, and inclining her head upon
one shoulder, raised her eyes lackadaisically toward the ceiling, in
imitation of Miss Sallianna.
"No, Fanny!" said Redbud, "that is not right."
"What?"
"Mimicking Miss Sallianna."
"Not right!"
"No, indeed."
"Well, I suppose it is not, and I have been treating her very badly.
Suppose I take your wreath of yellow primroses and carry them to her."
"Oh, yes--if you want to," said Redbud, looking regretfully at the
wreath, which she had taken from her brow.
Fanny laughed.
"No, I will not," she said; "I have a good reason."
"What?"
"The axiom in heraldry."
"What axiom?"
"Never put color upon color--yellow upon yellow in this instance!"
And Miss Fanny burst into laughter, and fairly shook with glee.
Redbud gave her a little reproachful glance, which showed Fanny the
uncharitable nature of her observation.
"Well," said the owner of the soiled ankles, "I ought not to have
said that; but really, she is so ridiculous! She thinks she's the
handsomest person in the world, and I do believe she wants to rob us
of our beaux."
Redbud smiled, and lightly colored.
"I mean Verty and Ralph," Fanny went on, "and I know something is
going on. Miss Sallianna is always in love with somebody; it was Mr.
Jinks the other day, and now I think it is one of our two visitors."
"Oh, Fanny!"
"Yes, I do! you need'nt look so incredulous--I believe she would
flirt with either of them, and make love to them; which," added the
philosophic Fanny, "is only another phrase for the same thing."
Redbud remained for a moment confused, and avoiding Fanny's glance.
Then her innocent and simple smile returned, and leaning her arm
affectionately upon the young girl's shoulder, she said, seriously:
"Fanny, please don't talk in that way. You know Verty is not an
ordinary young gentleman--"
"Oh, no--!" cried Fanny, laughing.
"I mean," Redbud went on, with a slight color in her cheek, "I mean,
to amuse himself with compliments and pretty speeches--if Miss
Sallianna thinks he is, she is mistaken."
"Odious old thing!--to be flirting with all the young men who come to
see _us_!" said Fanny.
"No, no," Redbud went on, "I think you are mistaken. But as you have
mentioned Verty, please promise me one thing, Fanny."
"Promise! certainly, Reddy; just ask me whatever you choose. If it's
to cut off my head, or say I think Miss Sallianna pretty, I'll do
it--such is my devotion to you!" laughed Fanny.
Redbud smiled.
"Only promise me to amuse Verty, when he comes."
"Amuse him!"
"Yes."
"What do you mean."
"I mean," Redbud said, sighing, "that I don't think I shall be able to
do so."
"What!"
"Fanny, you cannot understand," said the young girl, with a slight
blush; "I hope, if you are my real friend, as you say, that you will
talk with Verty, when he comes, and make his time pass agreeably."
Redbud's head sank.
Fanny gazed at her for a moment in silence, and with a puzzled
expression, said:
"What has happened, Reddy, between you and Verty--anything?"
"Oh, no."
"You are blushing! Something must have happened."
"Fanny--" murmured Redbud, and then stopped.
"Have you quarreled? You would'nt explain that scene in the parlor the
other day, when I made him tie my shoe. You have quarreled!"
"Oh, no--no!"
"I'm glad to hear it," cried Fanny, "though I could easily have made it
up. I would have gone to Mr. Verty, and told him that he was a wretch,
or something of that sort, and made him come and be friends again."
Redbud smiled, and said:
"We have not quarreled; but I don't think I shall be able to amuse
him very much, if he comes this morning, as I think he will. Please
promise me--I don't like Verty to be unhappy."
And the ingenuous face of the young girl was covered with blushes.
"I suppose not!--you and Verty are very good friends!" cried Fanny,
looking out of the window, and not observing Redbud's confusion; "but
suppose _my_ cavalier comes--what then, madam?"
"Oh, then I absolve you."
"No, indeed!"
"'No, indeed' what?"
"I won't be absolved."
"Why?"
"Because I don't know but I prefer Mr. Verty to that conceited cousin
of mine."
"What cousin--not Ralph?"
"Yes; I don't fancy him much."
"I thought you were great favorites of each other."
"You are mistaken!" said Fanny, coloring; "I did like him once, but he
has come back from college at Williamsburg a perfect coxcomb, the most
conceited fop I ever saw."
"Oh, Fanny!"
"Yes, indeed he has!"
And Miss Fanny blushed.
"I hate him!" she added, with a pout; then bursting into a fit of
laughter, this young lady added:
"Oh! he promised to bring his album to-day, and show me all the 'good
wishes' his friends wrote in it for him. Won't that be funny! Just
think of finding out how those odious young college geese talk and
feel toward each other."
Redbud smiled at Miss Fanny's consistency, and was about to reply,
when the bell for prayers rang.
The two young girls rose, and smoothing their hair slowly, descended,
arm in arm, and still conversing, to the dining-room, where old
Scowley, as Verty called her, and Miss Sallianna, awaited them, in
state, with their scholars.
Prayer was succeeded by breakfast; and then--the young damsels having
eaten with the most unromantic heartiness--the whole school scattered:
some to walk toward "town;" others to stroll by the brook, at the foot
of the hill; others again to write letters home.
As Miss Sallianna had informed Verty, that day was a holiday,
and young ladies going to school have, in all ages of the world,
appreciated the beauties and attractions of this word, and what it
represents--recreation, that is to say.
Redbud and Fanny strolled out in the garden with their arms locked as
before, and the merry autumn sunshine streaming on them.
They had a thousand things to talk about, and we may be sure that they
did not neglect the opportunity. What do _not_ young ladies at school
discuss? Scarcely anything escapes, and these criticisms are often
very trenchant and severe.
How they criticise the matrimonial alliance between aged Dives with
his crutch and money-bags, and the fascinating and artless Miss Sans
Avoir, who dedicates her life to making happy the old gentleman!
How gaily do they pull in pieces the beautiful natural curls of Mr.
Adonis, who purchased them at the perruquier's; and how they scalp
Miss Summer Morning, with her smiles and bright-eyed kindness, in the
presence of gentlemen--while behind the scenes she is a mixture of the
tigress and the asp! All these social anomalies do young ladies at
school talk about--as do those who have left school also.
But Redbud and Fanny did not--they were far too good-natured to take
pleasure in such comments, and instead, spent the hours in laughing,
playing and reading in the pleasant arbor. Thus the morning drew on,
and the lovely autumn day sailed past with all its life and splendor
toward the west. Fanny was gazing toward the house, as they thus sat
in the arbor, and Redbud was smiling, when a gentleman, clothed in a
forest costume, and carrying a rifle, made his appearance at the door
of the Bower of Nature.
"Oh, Reddy!" cried Fanny, "there's your friend, Verty; and look what a
fright he is!"