THE WHITE LADY OF FERNLEY.
Margaret was waked the next morning by the cheerful and persistent song
of a robin, which had perched on a twig just outside her window. She had
gone to bed in a discouraged frame of mind, and dreamed that her two
cousins had turned into lionesses, and were fighting together over her
prostrate body; but with the morning light everything seemed to
brighten, and the robin's song was a good omen.
"Thank you, Robin dear," she said aloud, as she brushed her long hair.
"I dare say everything will go well after a while, but just now, Robin,
I do assure you, things have a kittle look."
She was down first, as the night before; but Peggy soon appeared,
rubbing her eyes and looking still half asleep.
Breakfast was ready, and Peggy, at sight of the omelette and muffins,
was about to fling herself headlong into her chair; but Margaret held
her back a moment.
"Elizabeth," she said, hesitating, "is Mrs. Cheriton--is she not here? I
see you have put me at the head of the table again."
"Mrs. Cheriton seldom leaves her own rooms, miss," replied Elizabeth.
"She asked me to say that she would be glad to see the young ladies
after breakfast. And shall I call the other young lady, Miss Montfort?"
Before Margaret could reply, a clear voice was heard calling from above,
in impatient tones:
"Elizabeth! somebody! come here this moment!"
Elizabeth obeyed the imperious summons, and as she reached the foot of
the stairs, Rita's voice broke out again.
"Why has no coffee been brought to me? I never saw such carelessness.
There is no bell in my room, either, and I have been calling till I am
hoarse."
"I am very sorry, miss!" replied Elizabeth quietly. "We supposed you
would come down to breakfast with the other young ladies. Shall I bring
you a cup of tea now? There is no coffee in the house, as Mr. Montfort
never drinks it."
"_No coffee!_" cried Rita. "I _have_ come to a wilderness! Well--bring
the tea! and have it strong, do you hear?" And the young Cuban swept
back into her room, and shut the door with more vehemence than good
breeding strictly allowed.
Margaret listened in distressed silence to this colloquy. Peggy giggled
and chuckled. "Aha!" she said, "I'm so glad she didn't get the coffee.
Greedy thing! Please hand me the muffins, Margaret. How small they are!
The idea of her having her breakfast in bed!" and Peggy sniffed, and
helped herself largely to marmalade.
"Perhaps her head aches still," said peace-loving Margaret.
"Don't believe a word of it!" cried Peggy. "She's used to being waited
on by darkeys, and she thinks it will be just the same here. That's
all!"
Margaret thought this was probably true, but she did not say so,
preferring the safer remark that it was a delightful day.
"When you have finished your breakfast," she said, "we will go out into
the garden. I can see a bit of it from here, and it looks lovely. Oh! I
can just catch a glimpse of the swing. I wonder if it is the same old
one. I love to swing, don't you?"
"I like shinning better!" said Peggy, putting half a muffin in her
mouth. "Can you shin?"
"Shin! what--oh! up a tree, you mean. I'm afraid not."
"I can!" said Peggy triumphantly. "I can beat most of the boys at it,
only Ma won't let me do it, on account of my clothes. Says I'm too old,
too; bother! I'm not going to be a primmy, just because I am fifteen.
How old are you, Margaret?"
"Seventeen; and as two years make a great difference, you know, Peggy, I
shall put on all the airs of an elder sister. You know the Elder
Sister's part,--
"Good advice and counsel sage,
And 'I never did so when I was your age!'"
"All right!" said Peggy. "I'll call you elder sister. Ma always says I
ought to have had one, instead of being one."
"Well, first comes something that we must both do; that is, go and see
Mrs. Cheriton; and if you will let me, dear, I am going to tie your
necktie for you."
Peggy submitted meekly, while Margaret pulled the crumpled white tie
round to the front, re-tied, patted, and poked it. Then her hair must be
coaxed a little--or not so very little!--and then--
"What have you done to your frock, child? it is buttoned all crooked!
Why, isn't there a looking-glass in your room?"
"Oh, yes!" said Peggy. "But I hate to look in the glass! There's sure to
be something the matter, and I do despise fussing over clothes."
By this time Margaret had rebuttoned the dress, with a sigh over the
fact that the buttons did not match it, and that one sleeve was put in
wrong. Now she declared that they must go without more delay, and
Elizabeth came to show them the way.
Peggy hung back, muttering that she never knew what to say to strangers;
but Margaret took her hand firmly, and drew her along.
Perhaps Margaret may have felt a little nervous herself about this
strange lady, who never left her rooms, and yet was to entertain and
care for them, as her uncle's note had said. Both girls followed in
silence, as Elizabeth led them through the hall, past a door, then down
three steps and along a little passage to another door, at which she
knocked.
"Come in!" said a pleasant voice. Elizabeth opened the door and motioned
the girls to enter.
"The young ladies, ma'am!" she said; and then shut the door and went
away.
The sudden change from the dark passage to the white room was dazzling.
It was a small room, and it seemed to be all white: walls, floor
(covered with a white India matting), furniture, and all. The strange
lady sat in a great white armchair. She wore a gown of soft white
cashmere, and her hair, and her cap, her hands, and her face, were all
different shades of white, each softer than the other. Only her eyes
were brown; and as she looked kindly at the girls and smiled, they
thought they had never seen anything so beautiful in their lives.
"Why, children," she said; "do you think I am a ghost? Come here, dears,
and let me look at you! I am real, I assure you." She laughed, the
softest little laugh, hardly more than a rustle, and held out her hand.
Margaret came forward at once, still dragging Peggy after her,--Peggy,
whose eyes were so wide open, it looked as if she might never be able to
shut them again.
Mrs. Cheriton took a hand of each, and looked earnestly from one to the
other.
"How are you called?" she asked. "I know that you have the same name."
"We thought I had better be Margaret," was the timid reply from the girl
who was able to speak, "and this is Peggy."
"I see!" said the old lady, putting her hand on Peggy's flaxen mane.
"You look like Peggy, little one! I used to call my sister Peggy. And
where is the third Margaret?"
"She has not come down yet; she had a headache last night," said
Margaret, losing all shyness before the kindly glance of those soft
brown eyes. "She is called Rita, and she is very beautiful."
[Illustration: AUNT FAITH'S ROOM.]
"That is pleasant!" said Mrs. Cheriton. "I like pretty people, when they
are good as well. You are a Montfort, Margaret! You have the Montfort
mouth, and chin; but this child must look like her mother." Peggy
nodded, but could not yet find speech.
"And now," the old lady went on, "I am sure you are longing to know who
I am, and why I live here by myself, like an old fairy godmother. Sit
down, my dears, and be comfortable! Here, Margaret, the little
rocking-chair is pleasant; Peggy, child, take the footstool! So! now you
look more at home.
"Well, children, the truth is, I am very old. When my next birthday
comes, I shall be ninety years old; a very great age, my dears! Your
grandfather was my cousin; and when, five years ago, I was left alone in
the world by the death of my dear only son, John Montfort, your uncle,
like the good lad he is, found me out and brought me home with him to
live. He is my godson, and I loved him very much when he was a little
child; so now, when I am old and helpless, he makes return by loving
me."
She paused to wipe her eyes; then went on.
"When one is nearly ninety years old, one does not care to move about
much, even if one is perfectly well, as I am. John knew this (he knows
a great deal), and he fitted up these pleasant rooms, in the warmest and
quietest corner of the house, and here he put me, with my little maid,
and my books, and my cat, and my parrot; and here I live, my dears, very
cheerfully and happily. On pleasant days I go out in my garden, and sit
under the trees. Look out of the window, girls, and see my green
parlour. Is it not pretty?"
The girls knelt on the broad window-seat, and looked out. Before them
was a square, grassy place, smooth and green as an emerald. The house
enclosed it on two sides; the other two were screened by a hedge of
Norway fir, twenty feet high, and solid as a wall. Over this the
sunbeams poured in, flecking the green with gold. In one corner stood a
laburnum-tree, covered with yellow blossoms; under a tall elm near by
was a rustic seat.
"How do you like my kingdom?" asked the old lady, smiling at their eager
faces.
"It is like a fairy place!" said Margaret. "You are quite sure you are
real, Mrs. Cheriton?" They smiled at each other, feeling friends
already.
"'Mrs. Cheriton' will never do, if we are to see each other every day,
as I hope we are. How would you like to call me Aunt Faith?"
"Oh, the lovely name!" cried Margaret. "Thank you so much! Now we really
belong to some one, and we shall not feel strange any more; shall we,
Peggy?"
"I--s'pose not!" stammered Peggy. "I shall like it ever so much."
The girls sat a little longer, chatting and listening. Mrs. Cheriton
told them of her parrot, who was old too, and who spoke Spanish and
French, and did not like English; she showed them her books, many of
which were bound in white vellum or parchment. "It is a fancy of
John's," she said, "to have all my belongings white. I think he still
remembers his Aunt Phoebe. Do you know about your Great-aunt Phoebe?"
The girls said no, and begged to hear, but Mrs. Cheriton said that must
be for another time.
"I must not keep you too long," she said, "for I want you to come often.
I will call Janet, and she shall show you the way through my green
parlour to the garden. The Fernley garden is the pleasantest in the
world, I think."
She touched the bell, and told the pretty rosy-cheeked maid who appeared
to take the young ladies by the back way, and introduce them to
Chiquito; and they took their leave regretfully, begging that they might
come every day to the white chamber.
Chiquito's cage hung in the porch, and Chiquito was hanging in it upside
down. He swore frightfully at the sight of strangers, and bit Peggy's
finger when she tried to stroke him; but at a word from Janet he was
quiet, and said, "_Me gustan todas!_" in a plaintive tone, with his head
on one side.
"What does that mean?" asked Peggy. "He's horrid, isn't he?"
Janet's feeling were hurt. "He doesn't mean it!" she said. "And he
always wants to be pleasant when he says that. Something out of a
Spanish song, Mrs. Cheriton says it is, and means that he likes folks.
You do like folks when they like you, don't you, poor Chico?"
"_En general!_" said the bird, cocking his yellow eye at Peggy. "_Me
gustan todas en general!_"
"Well, I never!" said Peggy. "I think he's a witch, Margaret."
They went through a low door cut in the green wall, and found themselves
in the great shady garden, a place of wonder and mystery. The trees and
plants had been growing for two hundred years, ever since James Montfort
had left the court of Charles II. in disgust, and come out to build his
home and make his garden in the new country, where freedom waited for
her children.
The great oaks and elms and chestnuts were green with moss and hoary
with lichens, but the flower-beds lay out in broad sunshine, and here
were no signs of age, only of careful tending and renewal. Margaret was
enchanted with the flowers, for her home had been in a town, and she
knew little of country joys. Peggy glanced carelessly at the geraniums
and heliotropes, and told Margaret that she should see a field of
poppies in bloom.
They came across the gardener, who straightened himself at sight of
them, and greeted them with grave politeness. He was a tall, strongly
made man, with, grizzled hair and bright, dark eyes.
"May we pick a few flowers?" asked Margaret in her pleasant way.
"Surely, miss; any, and all you like, except these beds of young slips
here, which I am nursing carefully. I hope you will be often in the
garden, young ladies!" and he saluted again, in military fashion, as the
girls walked away.
"What a remarkable-looking man!" said Margaret. "I wonder if I can have
seen him anywhere. There is something about his face--"
"Oh, there is the swing!" cried Peggy. "Come along, Margaret; I'll race
you to that big chestnut-tree!" and away flew the two girls over the
smooth green turf.