Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England
Pixie O'Shaughnessy
by Mrs George de Horne Vaizey
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This is an absolutely delightful book. Pixie is a totally unique
character! Her mother had died and had left what money she had for
Pixie's education. The family live in a tumble-down old castle in
Ireland, and are all and each totally eccentric, in an Irish kind of
way. Pixies and her father travel to London, for she is to go to a
school for girls in the London suburbs. Suddenly her father realises
what a shabby little thing she is. Furthermore she has a very strong
Irish brogue. So how does she get on with the other girls. Famously,
in the end, but there were a few set-backs.
There is a very strongly written episode in the second half of the book,
where Pixie takes the blame for the loss of a perfume-bottle that had
been given to one of the mistresses by an old and beloved friend.
Everything points to Pixie being the culprit. She actually knows who
did it, but somehow had given her word that she wouldn't give the other
girl away. Pixie is punished severely, not only for having done the
deed, as generally assumed, but also for refusing to talk about it.
Could any of us show such strength of character? There are several
sequels to this book, but though good, they are mere sequels. The
inspiration that went into this book is unsurpassable. N.H.
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PIXIE O'SHAUGHNESSY
BY MRS GEORGE DE HORNE VAIZEY
CHAPTER ONE.
THE UGLY DUCKLING.
Pixie O'Shaughnessy was at once the joy and terror of the school. It
had been a quiet, well-conducted seminary before her time, or it seemed
so, at least, looking back after the arrival of the wild Irish tornado,
before whose pranks the mild mischief of the Englishers was as water
unto wine. Pixie was entered in the school-lists as "Patricia Monica de
Vere O'Shaughnessy," but no one ever addressed her by such a title, not
even her home-people, by whom the name was considered at once as a
tragedy and a joke of the purest water.
Mrs O'Shaughnessy had held stern ideas about fanciful names for her
children, on which subject she had often waxed eloquent to her friends.
"What," she would ask, "could be more trying to a large and bouncing
young woman than to find herself saddled for life with the title of
`Ivy,' or for a poor anaemic creature to pose as `Ruby' before a
derisive world?" She christened her own first daughter Bridget, and the
second Joan, and the three boys respectively Jack, Miles, and Patrick,
resolutely waving aside suggestions of more poetic names even when they
touched her fancy, or appealed to her imagination. Better err on the
safe side, and safeguard oneself from the risk of having a brood of
plain, awkward children masquerading through life under names which made
them a laughing-stock to their companions.
So she argued; but as the years passed by, it became apparent that her
children had too much respect for the traditions of the race to appear
an any such unattractive guise. "The O'Shaughnessys were always
beautiful," quoth the Major, tossing his own handsome head with the air
of supreme self-satisfaction which was his leading characteristic, "and
it's not my children that are going to break the rule," and certain it
is that one might have travelled far and wide before finding another
family to equal the one at Knock Castle in point of appearance. The
boys were fine upstanding fellows with dark eyes and aquiline features;
Bridgie was a dainty, fair-haired little lady; while Joan, (Esmeralda
for short, as her brothers had it), had reached such a climax of beauty
that strangers gasped with delight, and the hardest heart softened
before her baby smile. Well might Mrs O'Shaughnessy waver in her
decision; well might she suppose that she was safe in relaxing her
principles sufficiently to bestow upon baby number six a name more
appropriate to prospective beauty and charm. The most sensible people
have the most serious relapses, and once having given rein to her
imagination nothing less than three names would satisfy her--and those
three the high-sounding Patricia Monica de Vere.
She was an ugly baby. Well, but babies often were ugly. That counted
for nothing. It was really a bad sign if an infant were conspicuously
pretty. She had no nose to speak of, and a mouth of enormous
proportions. What of that? Babies' noses always were small, and the
mouth would not grow in proportion to the rest of the features. In a
few months she would no doubt be as charming as her sisters had been
before her; but, alas! Pixie disappointed that expectation, as she was
fated to disappoint most expectations during her life. Her nose refused
to grow bigger, her mouth to grow smaller, her small twinkling eyes
disdained the lashes which were so marked a feature in the faces of her
sisters, and her hair was thin and straight, and refused to grow beyond
her neck, whereas Bridgie and Esmeralda had curling manes so long that,
as their nurse proudly pointed out to other nurses, they could sit on
them, the darlints! and that to spare.
There was no disguising the fact that she was an extraordinarily plain
child, and as the years passed by she grew ever plainer and plainer, and
showed less possibility of improvement. The same contrariety of fate
which made Bridget look like Patricia, made Patricia look like Bridget,
and Mrs O'Shaughnessy often thought regretfully of her broken
principle. "Indeed it's a judgment on me!" she would cry; but always as
she said the words she hugged her baby to her breast, and showered
kisses on the dear, ugly little face, wondering in her heart if she had
ever loved a child so much before, or if any of Pixie's beautiful
sisters and brothers had had such strange, fascinating little ways. At
the age when most infants are content to blink, she smiled accurately
and with intent; when three months old she would look up from her pillow
with a twinkling glance, as who would say, "Such an adventure as I've
had with these cot curtains! You wait a few months until I can speak,
and I'll astonish you about it!" And when she could sit up she
virtually governed the nursery. The shrewdness of the glance which she
cast upon her sisters quite disturbed the enjoyment of those young
ladies in the pursuance of such innocent tricks as making lakes of ink
in the laps of their clean pinafores, or scratching their initials on
newly painted doors, and she waved her rattle at them with such an
imperious air that they meekly bowed their heads, and allowed her to tug
at their curls without reproach.
The whole family vied with each other in adoring the ugly duckling, and
in happy Irish fashion regarded her shortcomings as a joke rather than a
misfortune. "Seen that youngster of mine?" the Major would cry genially
to his friends. "She's worth a visit, I tell you! Ugliest child in
Galway, though I say it that shouldn't." And Pixie's company tricks
were all based on the subject of personal shortcomings.
"Show the lady where your nose ought to be, darling," her mother would
say fondly, and the baby fingers would point solemnly to the flat space
between the eyes.
"And where's the Mammoth Cave of Kentucky, sweetheart?" would be the
next question, when the whole of Pixie's fat fist would disappear bodily
inside the capacious mouth.
"The Major takes more notice of her than he did of any of the others,"
Mrs O'Shaughnessy would tell her visitor. "He is always buying her
presents!"
And then she would sigh, for, alas! the Major was one of those careless,
extravagant creatures, who are never restrained from buying a luxury by
the uninteresting fact that the bread bill is owing, and the butcher
growing pressing in his demands. When his wife pleaded for money with
which to defray household bills, he grew irritable and impatient, as
though he himself were the injured party. "The impudence of the
fellows!" he would cry. "They are nothing but ignorant upstarts, while
the O'Shaughnessys have been living on this ground for the last three
centuries. They ought to be proud to serve me! This is what comes of
educating people beyond their station. Any upstart of a tradesman
thinks himself good enough to trouble an O'Shaughnessy about a trumpery
twenty or thirty pounds. I'll show them their mistake! You can tell
them that I'll not be bullied, and indeed they might as well save their
trouble, for, between you and me, there's not a five-pound note in my
pocket between now and the beginning of the year." After delivering
himself of which statement he would take the train to the nearest town,
order a new coat, buy an armful of toys for Pixie, and enjoy a good
dinner at the best hotel, leaving his poor wife to face the irate
tradesmen as best she might.
Poor Mrs O'Shaughnessy! She hid an aching heart under a bright
exterior many times over, as the pressure for money grew ever tighter
and tighter, and she saw her children running wild over the countryside,
with little or no education to fit them for the battle of life. The
Major declared that he could not afford school fees, so a daily
governess was engaged to teach boys and girls alike--a staid, old-
fashioned maiden lady, who tried to teach the young O'Shaughnessys on
the principles of fifty years ago, to her own confusion and their
patronising disdain. The three boys were sharp as needles to discover
the weak points in her armour, and maliciously prepared questions by
which she could be put to confusion, while the girls tittered and idled,
finding endless excuses for neglecting their unwelcome tasks. Half a
dozen times over had Miss Minnitt threatened to resign her hopeless
task, and half a dozen times had she been persuaded by Mrs
O'Shaughnessy to withdraw her resignation. The poor mother knew full
well that it would be a difficulty to find anyone to take the place of
the hard-worked, ill-paid governess, and the governess loved her wild
charges, as indeed did everyone who knew them, and sorrowed over them in
her heart, because she saw what their blind young eyes never noticed--
the coming shadow on the house, the gradual fading away of the weary,
overtaxed mother. Mrs O'Shaughnessy had fought for years against
chronic weariness and ill-health, but the time was coming when she could
fight no longer, and, almost before her family had recognised that she
was ill, the end drew near, and her husband and children were summoned
to bid the last farewell.
The eyes of the dying woman roamed from one to the other of her six
children--twenty-two-year-old Jack, handsome and manly, so like--oh, so
like that other Jack who had come wooing her nearly thirty years ago!
Bridgie, slim and delicate--so unfit, poor child, to take the burden of
a mother's place; Miles, with his proud, overbearing look, a boy who had
had especial claims on her care and guidance; Joan, beautiful and
daring, ignorant of nothing so much as of her own ignorance; Pat, of the
pensive face and reckless spirit; and last but not least, Pixie, her
baby--dear, naughty, loyal little Pixie, whom she must leave to the
tender mercies of children little older than herself! The dim eyes
brightened, the thin hand stretched out and gripped her husband by the
arm.
"Jack!" she cried shrilly--"Pixie! Give Pixie a chance! Take care of
her--she is so young--and I can't stay. For my sake, Jack, give Pixie a
chance!"
The Major promised with sobs and tears. In his own selfish way he had
adored his wife, and her last words could not easily be put aside. As
the months passed by, he was the more inclined to follow her wishes, as
the few thousands which fell to him at her death enabled him to pay off
his more pressing debts and enjoy a temporary feeling of affluence.
Jack went back to his office in London, where he had betaken himself
three years before, to the disgust of the father, who considered it more
respectable for an O'Shaughnessy to be in debt than to work for his
living in the City among City men. Pat and Miles remained at home,
ostensibly to help on the estate, and in reality to shoot rabbits and
get into mischief with the farm hands. Miss Minnitt was discharged,
since Bridgie must now be occupied with household duties, and Joan was
satisfied that her education was finished. And the verdict went forth
that Pixie was to go to school.
"Your mother was always grieving that she could not educate your sisters
like other girls, and it was her wish that you should have a chance.
I'll send you to London to the best school that can be found, if I have
to sell the coat off my back to do it," said the Major fervently; for
there was no sacrifice which he was not ready to make--in anticipation,
and he hoped to discover a school which did not demand payments in
advance. He patted the child on the shoulder in congratulation; but
Pixie was horrified, and, opening her mouth, burst into howls and yells
of indignation.
"I won't! I shan't! I hate school! I won't go a step! I'll stay at
home and have Miss Minnitt to teach me! I won't! I won't! I won't!"
The Major smiled and stroked his moustache. He was used to Pixie's
outbursts, and quite unperturbed thereby, although a stranger would have
quailed at the sound, and would certainly have imagined that some
horrible form of torture was being employed. Pixie checked herself
sufficiently to peep at his face, realised that violence was useless,
and promptly changed her tactics. She whimpered dismally, and essayed
cajolery.
"It will break me heart to leave you. Father darlin', let me stay!
What will you do without your little girl at all?"
"I'll miss you badly, but it's for your own good. That brogue of yours
is getting worse and worse. And such a fine school, too! Think of all
you will be able to learn!"
"Me education's finished," said Pixie haughtily. "I know me tables and
can read me books, and write a letter when I want, and that's all that's
required of a young gentlewoman living at home with her parents. I've
heard you say so meself--a hundred times, if once."
It was too true. The Major recognised the argument with which he had
been wont to answer his wife's pleas for higher education, and was
incensed, as we all are when our own words are brought up against us.
"You are a very silly child," he said severely, "and don't understand
what you are talking about. I am giving you an opportunity which none
of your brothers and sisters have had, and you have not the decency to
say as much as `Thank you.' I am ashamed of you. I am bitterly
ashamed!"
Such a statement would have been blighting indeed to an ordinary child,
but Pixie looked relieved rather than otherwise, for her quick wits had
recognised another form of appeal, and she was instantly transformed
into an image of penitence and humiliation.
"I am a bad, ungrateful choild, and don't deserve your kindness. I
ought to be punished, and kept at home, and then when I grew older and
had more sense I'd regret it, and it would be a warning to me.
Esmeralda's cleverer than me. It would serve me right if she went
instead."
It was of no avail. The Major only laughed and repeated his decision,
when Pixie realised that it was useless fighting against fate, and
resigned herself to the inevitable with characteristic philosophy.
Her outbursts of rebellion, though violent for the time being, were of
remarkably short duration, for she was of too sunny a nature to remain
long depressed, and moreover it was more congenial to her pride to pose
as an object of envy than pity. On the present occasion she no sooner
realised that go to school she must, than she began to plume herself on
her importance, and prepare to queen it over her sisters.
"You had better make the most of me, my dears," she announced in the
morning-room five minutes later, "for it's not long you'll be having me
with you. I'm off to a grand London school to correct me brogue and
learn accomplishments. It will cost a mint of money, and father can't
afford to send you too; but I'll tell you all about it when I come back,
and correct your accent and show you me fine new clothes!"
"Thank you, darling!" said Bridgie meekly, while Esmeralda stifled a
laugh and turned her lovely eyes on the ugly duckling with a glance of
fondest admiration. Both sisters had overheard the shrieks of ten
minutes before and could still see tell-tale tear-marks, but nothing in
the world would have induced them to say as much or check their darling
in her newly found complacency.
After all it was not until some months had elapsed that the dilatory
Major discovered a school to his liking, and even then he allowed his
own engagements to interfere with the date of her arrival, for he
insisted upon accompanying Pixie himself, and could not see that it made
the least difference whether she arrived at the beginning of the term or
a few weeks later on. Miss Minnitt protested faintly, but soon relapsed
into silence, and consoled herself by turning seamstress and helping
Bridgie and Joan with the school outfit. It was a case of making new
lamps out of old, for little money was forthcoming to buy fresh
material, and, with the best will in the world, the workers were still
unskilled in their efforts.
Bridgie's tender heart was pierced with sorrow as she looked at the
dismal little outfit spread out on the bed preparatory to packing--so
poor it seemed, so shabby, oh, so black, black, black and sorrowful!
Poor little Pixie going forth alone into the unknown world--little,
wild, ignorant Irish girl, bound for a strange land among strange
people! Would those fine English girls laugh among themselves and jeer
at her untamed ways? Would they imitate her brogue in their thin
mincing voices, and if so, how, oh, how would Pixie conduct herself in
return? Bridgie was barely twenty years old, but since her mother's
death she had grown into a woman in thoughtfulness and love for others,
and now it weighed on her mind that it was her duty to speak seriously
to Pixie before she left home, and prepare her in some sort for the
trials which might lie before her. If she did not, no one would, and it
was cruel to let the child leave without a word of counsel. She lay
awake wondering what to say and how to say it.
"It's no use telling Pixie not to get into mischief, for she can't help
it, the darling! It's the nature of her, but she has such a loving
little heart that she will never go far wrong."
The next day she watched her opportunity, and took advantage of a quiet
moment to speak her words of counsel.
"You won't be disappointed if school isn't all you expect, will you,
dear?" she began nervously. "I have heard girls say that they felt
dreadfully lonely and homesick at first, and when the pupils are all
strange to you, and chums with one another, you may think they are not
as friendly as you could wish. And the teachers may seem stern. Miss
Minnitt has spoiled us by being too mild and easy, and you will feel the
difference. Then you have run wild all your life, and it will seem
strange to be allowed out for walks only; but, Pixie, I want you to
remember that you are our pet and baby, and that our happiness depends
on you. If you get a good report and bring home prizes, the pride we
shall feel, the airs we shall be giving ourselves, going into Galway and
telling everyone we meet on the street; but if you are disobedient and
we hear complaints, it's covered with disgrace we shall be in the eyes
of the county. Now, there will be good girls in that school, and bad
girls, and lazy girls, and industrious ones, and girls who would tell
the truth if they were to be shot for it the next moment; and girls who
would trick and deceive to get a mean advantage over another. Patricia
O'Shaughnessy, which are you going to choose for your companions?"
Pixie fairly jumped upon her seat with surprise, the use of that seldom-
heard name impressing her more than anything else could possibly have
done with the importance of the occasion. A murmur of protest did duty
as a reply, and Bridgie continued impressively--
"Yes, I am sure you will choose the right sort of friend, for the honour
of your name and the family to which you belong; but you must be
industrious with your work as well. Now that I have left off lessons I
wish I had worked twice as hard, for I feel so ignorant and stupid
beside other girls; and you are clever, Pixie, and can do well if you
choose. Don't be troublesome to the teachers, dearie; it must be
maddening to have to teach day after day, and they have to be cross now
and then--the creatures!--to relieve their feelings. And if you feel
tempted to be rude and naughty, just remember that you are mother's
little baby, and that the last thing she asked was that you should have
your chance! Perhaps she sees you still, Pixie! Perhaps God lets her
be a white angel to watch over her boys and girls. If you thought
mother was watching, you never could do anything to grieve her!"
The ready tears poured down Pixie's face. She sobbed and moaned, and
with clasped hands repeated her vow to be good, good, good; never to be
naughty again so long as she lived! And Bridgie wept too, smiling
through her tears at the impracticability of the promise, the while she
clasped the dear little sister to her breast.
CHAPTER TWO.
FOND FAREWELLS.
The morning rose clear and fair, and the sun shone as cheerfully as if
no tragedy were about to be enacted, and Pixie O'Shaughnessy would
presently run out of doors to sit swinging on a gate, clad in
Esmeralda's dyed skirt, Pat's shooting jacket, and the first cap that
came to hand, instead of starting on the journey to school in a new
dress, a hat with bows and two whole quills at the side, and her hair
tied back with a ribbon that had not once been washed! It was almost
too stylish to be believed!
Pixie entered the breakfast-room with much the same stride as that with
which the big drum-major heads the Lord Mayor's procession, and spread
out her dress ostentatiously as she seated herself by the table. The
armholes stuck into her arms, the collar was an inch too high, and the
chest painfully contracted, but she was intensely proud of herself all
the same, and privately thought the London girls would have little
spirit left in them when confronted with so much elegance. Bridgie was
wiping her eyes behind the urn, Esmeralda was pressing the mustard upon
her, the Major was stroking his moustache and smiling as he murmured to
himself--
"Uglier than ever in that black frock! Eh--what! Bless the child, it
is the mischief to let her go! The house will be lost without her!"
Pat and Miles were conversing together in tones of laboured mystery, a
device certain to arrest Pixie's vivid attention.
"On Sundays--yes! Occasionally on Wednesdays also. It _does_ seem
rather mean, but I suppose puddings are not good for growing girls. Two
a week is ample if you think of it!"
"Good wholesome puddings too!" said Pat, nodding assent. "Suet and
rice, and perhaps tapioca for a change! Very sensible, I call it.
Porridge for breakfast, I think they said, but no butter, of course?"
"Certainly not! Too bad for the complexion, but cod-liver oil regularly
after every meal. Especially large doses to those suffering from change
of climate!"
The Major was chuckling with amusement; Bridgie was shaking her head,
and murmuring, "Boys, don't! It's cruel!" Pixie was turning from one
to the other with eager eyes, and mouth agape with excitement. She knew
perfectly well that the conversation was planned for her benefit, and
more than guessed its imaginary nature, but it was impossible to resist
a thrill--a fear--a doubt! The bread-and-butter was arrested in her
hand in the keenness of listening.
"Did I understand you to say _no_ talking allowed?" queried Pat
earnestly. "I had an impression that on holiday afternoons a little
more liberty might be given?"
"My dear fellow, there are no holidays! They are abolished in modern
schools as being unsettling, and disturbing to study. `In work, in
work, in work always let my young days be spent!' Pass the marmalade,
please! The girls are occasionally allowed to speak to each other in
French, or, if they prefer it, in German, or any other Continental
language. The constant use of one language is supposed to be bad for
the throat. I hope, by the way, father, that you mentioned distinctly
that Pixie's throat requires care?"
Pixie cast an agonised glance round the table, caught Bridgie's eye, and
sighed with relief, as a shake of the head and an encouraging smile
testified to the absurdity of the boys' statements.
"There's not a word of truth in it, darling. Don't listen to them.
They are only trying to tease you."
"I'd scorn to listen! Ignorant creatures, brought up at home by a lady
governess! What do they know about schooling?" cried Pixie cruelly; for
this was a sore point, on which it was not safe to jest on ordinary
occasions. Miles rolled his eyes at her in threatening fashion, and Pat
stamped on her foot; but she smiled on unabashed, knowing full well that
her coming departure would protect her from the ordinary retribution.
After breakfast it seemed a natural thing to go a farewell round of the
house and grounds, escorted by the entire family circle, and a
melancholy review it would have been to anyone unblessed with Irish
spirits, and the Irish capability of shutting one's eyes to unpleasant
truths. Knock Castle sounded grandly enough, and a fine old place it
had been some centuries before; but for want of repairs it had now
fallen into a semi-ruinous condition pathetic to witness. Slates in
hundreds had fallen off the roof and been left unreplaced; a large
staircase window, blown in by a storm, was still boarded up, waiting to
be mended "some time," though more than a year had elapsed since the
accident had taken place; the walls in the great drawing-room were
mouldy with damp, for it had been deserted for many a day, because its
owner could not afford the two big fires necessary to keep it aired.
Pixie sniffed with delight when she entered the gloomy apartment, for
the room represented the family glory to her childish imagination, so
that the smell of mildew was irresistibly associated with luxury. The
dining-room carpet was worn into holes, and there was one especially big
one near the window, where Esmeralda, who was nothing if not artistic,
had painted so accurate a repetition of the pattern on the boards
beneath that one could scarcely see where one ended, and the other
began!
The original intention had been to disguise the hole, but so proud was
the family of the success of the imitation, that it became one of the
show places of the establishment. When the hounds met at Bally William,
and the Major brought old Lord Atrim into the house for lunch, he called
the old gentleman's attention to it with a chuckle of enjoyment. "My
daughter's work! The second, Joan here--Esmeralda, we call her. She'll
be an artist yet! A real genius with the brush." And the old lord had
laughed till he cried, and stared at Esmeralda the whole time of lunch,
and when Christmas-time came round, did he not send her the most
beautiful box of the best possible paints, the very thing of all others
for which she had been longing, so that it seemed after all that it had
been a good thing when the terriers Tramp and Scamp had scratched the
thin web into a hole! The ceilings were black with the smoke of fire
and lamps, but the silver on the oak dresser would have delighted the
heart of a connoisseur, and the china in daily use would have been laid
out for view in glassed-in cabinets in most households, instead of being
given over to the care of an Irish biddy who tried to hang cups upon
hooks with her head turned in an opposite direction, and had a weakness
for sitting on the corner of the table to rest herself in the midst of
washing the plates.
Outside the garden was an overgrown wilderness of vegetation, for the
one gardener, realising the impossibility of doing the work of the six
who would have been required to keep the place in order, resigned
himself to doing nothing at all, or as little as was compatible with the
weekly drawing of wages. The stables were empty, save for the two fine
hunters which were necessary for the Major's enjoyment of his favourite
sport, and the rough little pony which did duty for all the rest of the
family in turns. The row of glass-houses looked imposing enough from a
distance, but almost squalid at a nearer view, for, as the Major could
not afford to keep them in working order, broken panes greeted the eye
in every direction, and plants were replaced by broken pieces of
furniture and the hutches and cages of such live-stock as white mice,
guinea-pigs, and ferrets. Pixie had many farewells to bid in this
quarter, and elaborate instructions to give as to the care to be
lavished on her favourites during her absence. The ferret was boarded
out to Pat, who had no idea of doing anything for nothing, but was
willing to keep the creature supplied with the unsavoury morsels, in
which its soul delighted, for the fee of a halfpenny a week, to be paid
"some time," an happy O'Shaughnessy fashion. The white mice looked on
coldly with their little pink eyes, while their mistress's own grew red
with the misery of parting from them, and the rabbit seized the
opportunity to gnaw Bridgie's skirt with its sharp teeth; but for Pixie
the keenest pang of parting was over when she saw no more the floor with
its scattered cabbage-leaves, and the door closed behind her, shutting
out the dear mousy, rabbity smell associated with so many happy hours.
Outside on the gravel path old Dennis was sitting on a wheelbarrow
enjoying a pipe in the sunshine. He made no attempt to rise as "the
family" approached, but took the pipe out of his mouth and shook his
head lugubriously.
"This is the black day for us, for all the sun's shining in the skies.
Good luck to ye, Miss Pixie, and don't forget to spake a good word for
Ould Ireland when the opportunity is yours. The ould place won't seem
like itself with you and Mr Jack both going off within the same month;
but there's one comfort--one frettin' will do for the pair of you!" And
with this philosophic reflection he stuck the pipe back in the corner of
his mouth and resigned himself to the inevitable.
"Pixie darling," said Bridgie nervously, "I think we must go back to the
house. It's time--very nearly time that you were getting ready. Father
is going to drive you over in the cart, and he won't like to be kept
waiting."
"Aren't you coming too?" queried Pixie eagerly. There was a look on
Bridgie's face this morning which reminded her of the dear dead mother,
and she had a sudden feeling of dread and longing. "I want you,
Bridgie! Come too! Come too!"
"I can't, my dearie. Your box must go, you know, and there's not room
for both. But you won't cry, Pixie. It's only babies who cry, not
girls like you--big girls, almost in their teens, going away to see the
world like any grand lady. You may see the queen some day! Think of
that, now! If you ever do, bow to her twice--once for yourself, and
once for me--and tell her Bridget O'Shaughnessy is hers to the death.
_I_ wouldn't cry, Pixie, if I were going to see the queen!"
"Is it cry?" asked Pixie airily, with the tears pouring down her face
and splashing on to her collar, which had been manufactured out of the
strings of an old bonnet, with only three joins at the back to betray
the fact that it had not been cut out of "the piece."
"It's not likely I'll cry, when I'm going on a real train and steamer,
and meals on the way right up to to-morrow night! _You_ never had lunch
on a train, Bridgie, and you are eight years older than me!"
"'Deed I didn't, then. No such luck!" sighed Bridgie regretfully,
making the most of her own privation for the encouragement of the young
traveller. "That will be a treat for you, Pixie, and there are
sandwiches and cakes in the dining-room for you to eat before you go.
Come straight in, for I brought down your coat before going out. You
must write often, dear, and tell us every single thing. What Miss
Phipps is like, and the other teachers, and the girls in your class, and
who sleeps in your bedroom, and every single thing that happens to you."
"And remember to write every second letter to your brothers, for if you
don't, they won't write to you. Girls get all the letters, and it isn't
fair. Tell us if you play any games, and what sort of food they give
you, and what you think of the English," said Miles, helping himself to
sandwiches, and turning over the cakes to select the most tempting for
his own refreshment, despite the young housekeeper's frowns of
disapproval. "Stick up for your country, and stand no cheek. You
understand, of course, that you are to be the Champion of Ireland in the
school."
"I do!" said little Pixie, and her back straightened, and her head
reared itself in proud determination.
"And if any English upstarts dare to try bullying you, just let them
know that your name is O'Shaughnessy, and that your ancestors were Kings
of Ireland when theirs were begging bread on the streets! Talk to them
straight, and let them know who they are dealing with!"
"I will so!" said Pixie. She chuckled gleefully at the anticipation;
but, alas! her joy was short-lived, for at that moment the shabby
dogcart passed the window, and the Major's voice was heard calling
impatiently from the hall.
"Ten minutes late already. We shall need all our time. Tumble in, now,
tumble in! You have had the whole morning for saying good-bye. Surely
you have finished by now!"
The children thought they had hardly begun; but perhaps it was just as
well to be spared the last trying moments. Bridgie and Esmeralda
wrapped their arms round the little sister and almost carried her to the
door; Pat and Miles followed with their hands in their pockets, putting
on a great affectation of jollity in their anxiety to disguise a natural
regret; the two women-servants wailed loudly from the staircase. Pixie
scrambled to her seat and looked down at them, her poor little chin
quivering with emotion.
"Bridgie, write! Esmeralda, write!" she cried brokenly. "Oh, write
often! Write every day. Pat, Pat, be kind to my ferret. Don't starve
it. Don't let it die. Take care of it for me till I come back."
"I'll be a mother to it," said Pat solemnly.
And so Pixie O'Shaughnessy went off to school.
CHAPTER THREE.
THE NEW SCHOLAR.
Major O'Shaughnessy and his little daughter reached London on the
following afternoon, after a comfortable and unadventurous journey.
Pixie had howled dismally all the way to the station, but had dried her
eyes at the sight of the train, and even brightened into hilarious
spirits on boarding the steamer. She ate an enormous dinner of the
richest and most indigestible dishes on the menu, slept peacefully
through a stormy passage, and was up on deck conversing affably with the
men who were washing down, long before her father had nerved himself to
think of dressing. The journey to London was a more or less
disappointing experience, for, if she had not known to the contrary, she
was not at all sure that she would have recognised that she was in a
strange land. What she had expected, it was impossible to say; but that
England should bear so close a resemblance to her beloved land seemed
another "insult to Ireland," as Pat would have had it, and that it
should in some respects look better, more prosperous and orderly, this
was indeed a bitter pill to swallow.
As the train neared London, and other passengers came in and out of the
carriage, Major O'Shaughnessy became conscious for the first time what a
dusty, dishevelled little mortal he was about to introduce to an English
school. He was not noticing where his children were concerned, and
moreover, his eye had grown accustomed to the home surroundings, but the
contrast between these trim strangers and his own daughter was too
striking to be overlooked. Pixie had wriggled about until her frock was
a mass of creases, her hat was grey with dust, and she had apparently
forgotten to brush her hair before leaving her cabin. The Major was too
easy-going to feel any distress at this reflection. He merely remarked
to himself whimsically that, "the piccaninny would astonish them!"
meaning the companions to whom she was about to be introduced, and
decided then and there to take her straight to her destination. This
had been the only point upon which he and his young daughter had been at
variance; for from the start Pixie had laid down, as her idea of what
was right and proper, that her father should take her for the night to a
grand hotel, introduce her next morning to the Tower, the Zoological
Gardens, and Madame Tussaud's, and deposit her at Surbiton in the
afternoon. The Major's ideas on the subject were, however, that an
exacting little daughter was a drawback to a man's enjoyment of a visit
to London, and that there were other forms of amusement which he would
prefer to a visit to the before-mentioned historic resorts. With
accustomed fluency, he found a dozen reasons for carrying out his own
wishes, and propitiated Pixie by promising that Jack should take her
sight-seeing before many weeks were over.
"I'll tell Miss Phipps that I wish you to go out with your brother on
Saturday afternoons, and you'll have a fine time together seeing all
that is to be seen. Far greater fun than if we tried to hurry about
with not a minute to spare."
"I like to do things _now_," sighed Pixie pensively; but as usual she
resigned herself to the inevitable, and a box of chocolates, bought at
Waterloo, sufficed to bring back the smiles to her face and restore her
equanimity.
The arrival at Surbiton Station was a breathless experience, though it
was a distinct blow to her vanity to find that no deputation from Holly
House was in waiting to receive Patricia O'Shaughnessy with the honours
she deserved. No one took any notice of her at all. When the cabman,
when directed to drive to Holly House, preserved an unmoved stolidity of
feature, and had no remark whatever to offer on the subject. How
different from dear, friendly, outspoken Bally William, where each man
was keenly interested in the affairs of his neighbour, and the poorest
peasant upon the road felt himself competent to offer advice on the most
intimate family matters! Pixie felt a chill of foreboding as she drove
through the trim Surbiton streets and noticed girls like herself walking
demurely beside mother or governess, with laced-in boots, gloved bands,
and silky manes flowing down their backs in straight, uninterrupted
flow. She looked down at her own new, stout, little boots. Sixteen
buttons in all, and only one missing! Such a pitch of propriety made
her feel quite in keeping with her surroundings, and she had kid gloves
too--dyed ones--which looked every bit as good as new, and left no mark
at all except round the fastenings, and the lobes of the fingers. She
gave a wriggle of contentment, and at that moment the cab turned in at
the gate of Holly House.
The name of the house seemed to have more appropriateness than is
usually the case, for the garden was surrounded by a thick holly hedge,
and the beds were planted with holly trees so dark that they appeared to
be almost black in hue. To the eyes of the new pupil there was
something awe-inspiring in the sight of the grim flowerless beds and the
foliage which looked so stern and prickly, almost as bad as the pieces
of broken glass which are laid on the top of high walls to prevent
escape or intrusion. The house itself was big and square, with a door
in the centre, and at the top two quaint dormer windows, standing out
from the roof like big surprised-looking eyes. "Dear, dear!" they
seemed to say. "If this isn't Pixie O'Shaughnessy driving up to the
door! Wonders will never cease!"
The hall was wide and cold, and, oh, so clean--"fearful clean," thought
the new pupil with a sigh, as she stepped gingerly over the polished
oilcloth and gazed awesomely at spotless wood and burnished brass. The
drawing-room had none of the splendour of that disused apartment at
Knock Castle, but it was bright and home-like, with an abundance of
pretty cushions and tablecloths, a scent of spring flowers in the air,
and a fire dancing cheerily in the grate. Pixie's prejudices received a
shock at the sight of so much frivolity in a drawing-room, and she could
not echo her father's admiration. She seated herself on the edge of the
sofa and began to paint imaginary pictures of the mistress of this fine
house. "She will be tall, with yellow hair. She will have cold fingers
and a nose that looks thin and has a hump in the middle. No, I don't
believe she will, after all. I believe she'll be fussy, and then they
are small and dark--dark, with eyeglasses, and those funny red cheeks
that are made up of little lines, and never get lighter or darker. And
she'll have a chain hanging from her waist with a lot of things that
jingle, like the lady in the train. Oh, me dear, suppose she was old!
I never thought of that. Suppose she was old, in a cap and a black
satin dress, and chilblains on her hands!" And when the door opened--it
was really a most exciting occasion!--and Miss Phipps came into the
room.
She was not in the least like any of the three pictures which Pixie had
imagined, she was far, far nicer and prettier. She was tall, and so
graceful and elegantly dressed as to be quite dazzling to the eyes of
the country-bred stranger. She had waving brown hair, which formed a
sort of halo round her face, a pale complexion, and grey eyes which
looked at you with a straight long glance, and then lightened as if they
liked what they saw. She was quite young, too, not a bit old and
proper; the only thing that looked old were the little lines about the
eyes, and even those disappeared when her face was in repose. She came
forward to where the major was standing, and held out her hand with a
smile of welcome.
"Major O'Shaughnessy! I am very pleased to see you. I hope you have
had a good journey and a comfortable crossing." Then she turned and
looked at the crumpled little figure on the sofa, and her eyes softened
tenderly. "Is this my new pupil? How do you do, dear? I hope we shall
be very good friends!"
"Oi trust we may!" returned Pixie fervently, and with a broadening of
the already broad brogue which arose from the emotion of the moment and
made her father frown with embarrassment.
"Ha--hum--ha--I am afraid I have brought you rather a rough specimen,"
he said apologetically. "Pixie is the baby of the family, and has been
allowed to run wild, and play with all the children about the place. I
hope you will not find her very backward in her lessons. She has had a
governess at home, but--"
"But she wasn't much good, either!" interrupted Pixie, entering into the
conversation with the ease and geniality of one whose remarks are in the
habit of being received with applause. "I didn't pay much attention to
her. I expect there's a good deal I don't know yet, but I'm very quick
and clever, and can be even with anyone if I choose to try."
"Then please try, Pixie! I shall be disappointed if you don't!" said
Miss Phipps promptly. Her cheeks had grown quite red with surprise, and
she pulled in her upper lip, and bit at it hard as she looked down at
her new pupil, and noted the flat nose, the wide mouth, and the elf-like
thinness of the shabby figure. "Pixie! that's a very charming little
name, but a fancy one, surely. What is your Christian name?"
Father and daughter gazed at each other appealingly. It was a moment
which they had both dreaded, and the Major had fondly hoped that he
might escape before the question was asked. He remained obstinately
silent, and Pixie nerved herself to reply.
"Me name's not suited to me appearance," she said sadly. "I'd rather,
if you please, that ye didn't tell it to the girls. I am always called
Pixie at home. Me name's Patricia!"
Miss Phipps bit her lip harder than ever, but did managed to control her
features, and Pixie was relieved to see that she did not even smile at
the mention of the fatal name.
"It's rather a long name for such a small person, isn't it?" she said
seriously. "I think we will keep to Pixie. It will make school more
home-like for you, than if we changed to one to which you are not
accustomed." Then turning to the Major, "I am sorry my head mistress,
Miss Bruce, is not at home to-day, as I should have liked you to see
her. She is very bright and original, and has a happy knack of bringing
out the best that is in her pupils. She directs the teaching, and I am
the housekeeper and sick-nurse of the establishment. Would you like to
come upstairs, and see the room in which Pixie will sleep, or shall we
wait perhaps until after tea?"
The Major declared that he could not wait for tea. He had kept the cab
waiting at the door, and was all anxiety to get the parting over as
quickly as possible and return to the fascinations of town, so he
discussed a few business matters with Miss Phipps, and then took Pixie's
hand and accompanied her up the staircase to the third-floor bedroom
which she was to share with three other pupils.
Two windows looked out on to the garden in front of the house, and an
arrangement of curtains hung on rods made each little cubicle private
from the rest. Pixie's handbag had already been laid by her bed, and
she felt quite a swelling of importance as she surveyed her new domain,
wherein everything was to be her very own, and not shared with someone
else, as had always been the case at home. The Major gushed over all he
saw, and professed himself as more than satisfied, but he was plainly
ill at ease, and after walking twice round the room was all eagerness to
make his escape.
"I'll say good-bye to you now, Pixie," he said, "for your bag is there,
I see, and you would be much the better for a wash and brush. It's no
use coming downstairs again. Be a good girl, now, and Jack shall come
often to see you! I'm happy to leave you in such good hands, and it's a
lucky child you are to have such a school to come to! It will be your
own fault if you are not happy."
"I've no doubt I'll be very comfortable, thank you," Pixie said
pleasantly, lifting her cheek to receive her father's kiss, with little
sign of the emotion dreaded by the two onlookers, for her mind was too
full of the new excitements to allow her to realise his departure. He
hurried out of the room, followed by Miss Phipps, and Pixie withdrew
into her cubicle, pulled the curtains closely around her, and felt
monarch of all she surveyed. A dear little white bed, so narrow that if
you turned, you turned at your peril and in instant dread of landing on
the floor; a wonderful piece of furniture which did duty as dressing-
table, washstand, and chest of drawers combined; a single chair and a
hanging cupboard. Everything fresh, spotlessly clean, and in perfect
order; absolutely, if you can believe it, not a single broken thing to
be seen! Pixie drew a quick breath of admiration, and wondered how long
it could possibly be before she succeeded in cracking that lovely blue
and white china, and exactly what would happen if she spilt the water
over the floor! She was so much occupied in building castles in the air
that ten minutes passed by and she had not moved from her seat, when
suddenly there came the sound of footsteps running up the stairs, the
door was pushed open, and tramp, tramp, in came her future companions,
hidden from sight, but talking volubly to each other as they took off
hats and jackets after the afternoon walk.
"The new girl has arrived!" cried number one, in a tone of breathless
excitement. "I saw her box as I came through the hall. I peeped at the
label, but hadn't time to read it properly."
"I did, though!" cried another. "A funny name--O something or other.
`Shog-nessie,' or something like that. Such a shabby old trunk! Looked
as if it came out of the Ark."
"It will be rather fun having an Irish girl, don't you think?" number
two suggested. "They are untidy and quarrelsome, of course, but it is
funny to hear them talk, and they make such droll mistakes. I shouldn't
like to be Irish myself, but it will be a pleasant change to have a
Paddy among us!"
"Well, I hope she isn't quarrelsome in this room, that's all!" said a
third speaker, who had hitherto been silent, "because if she is, I shall
feel it my duty to give her a taste of Home Rule that she may not
appreciate. And if she snores I shall squeeze my sponge over her, so
you may tell her what she has to expect. There's nothing like training
these youngsters properly from the beginning!"