"Oh, you have brought all those horrid dingy books!" said Phyllis,
seeing that Miss Fleet carried a huge pile of half-worn-out lesson-books
in her arms.
"Keep away, Phyllis, a minute; I want to put them on the table," said
the governess.
"What stupid things they are!" said Phyllis, forgetting for a minute the
excitement which the thought of her little guests had given her, in her
dismay at the appearance of the books.
She took up one volume after another, letting it fall on the table with
an expression of great disdain.
"_Child's Guide to Knowledge_," she said. "Horrid book. And oh! what
is this? _Mrs Markham's History of England_. I hate _Mrs Markham_.
Oh, and this--and this!--I say, Miss Fleet!"
"Phyllis, I wish to speak to you," said her governess.
"What is it now?" said Phyllis, but she was aroused by the tone.
She looked full up into Miss Fleet's small grey eyes, and her heart beat
fast. For although Miss Fleet was really affectionate to the little
girl, and was as a rule gentle, there were times when she could be quite
the reverse. Phyllis saw that such a time had arrived.
"I wish to speak to you," said Miss Fleet. "During lessons you are to
be industrious, careful, studious, and respectful. These books are not
to be treated with levity; they are to be studied, and pondered over,
and digested."
"Well, let's begin and get it over," said Phyllis.
She sat down by the table, drew a blotting-pad towards her and a bottle
of ink, and looked up at her governess.
"And, oh, Miss Fleet! I want to say something. I can't go with you to
Dartfield to-day."
"Why not, pray?"
"The four Hilchesters, the Rectory children, are coming here; I asked
them yesterday. They are coming immediately after lunch, and they will
stay to supper. I thought perhaps we might have supper in the evenings
now that father is away. You don't mind, do you, Fleetie dear?"
"But I do mind very much indeed," said Miss Fleet. "What business had
you to ask the Hilchesters without my permission?"
Phyllis bit her lips; her face grew scarlet.
"Well, I did, you know," she said.
"And extremely naughty you were. Did your father know that you had
asked them?"
"I never told Dad; I--I forgot."
"Then you, a little girl of twelve years old, took it on you to ask a
party of wild, disreputable, untrained children to this house without
either his leave or mine!"
"Please, Miss Fleet," said Phyllis, who had a very quick temper when
roused, "they are not disreputable and they are not wild."
"I repeat what I have said--disreputable, untrained children. I will
have none of it."
"You cannot prevent it now--you daren't."
"Oh, we will see. Take this page of _Child's Guide_ and learn it
carefully. I will be back in a few minutes."
Miss Fleet went out of the room. Phyllis looked after her until the
door was closed; then she gave a wild, sharp scream, and rushing to the
window, looked out. From there she had a view of the stables, and
presently she saw one of the grooms get on her own special pony, Bob,
and gallop off. The groom carried a note in his hand.
"What are you doing, David?" shrieked Phyllis from the schoolroom
window.
The man paused, turned round in amazement, and looked up at the excited
child.
"I am going with a note to the Rectory, Miss; it is from Miss Fleet."
"Stop one minute."
Phyllis dashed to the table, seized a sheet of paper, scribbled on it,
"Come and save me; I am in the claws of a dragon," folded the note,
directed it to Ralph, and threw it out of the window.
"Take that note too to the Rectory," she said.
David picked it up, grinned from ear to ear, and galloped off.
When Miss Fleet returned she found Phyllis bending attentively over her
_Child's Guide_.
"I hope you know it," said Miss Fleet.
"I have sent a line to Mrs Hilchester to say that it is not convenient
for the children to come to-day. If you are very good I will ask the
two girls to tea some afternoon when we have settled to our routine of
work. Now don't say any more about them; attend like a good girl to
your lessons."
"But I'm not going to Dartfield this afternoon," said Phyllis.
"You are if I desire it."
Phyllis shut up her lips. She could look very obstinate when she
pleased. Her eyes now fixed themselves boldly on the governess's face,
and her eyes seemed to say:
"I am hating you for being cruel; I am hating you right hard." But Miss
Fleet was impervious to the flashing glances of her rebellious pupil.
Lessons went on after a fashion, and at last luncheon was announced.
Miss Fleet and her pupil lunched in the library.
"Now go upstairs, Phyllis," said her governess, "put on your hat, and
come down within a quarter of an hour. Tell Nurse to see that your
gloves are in order; and you had better wear a jacket; it may rain."
Phyllis went out of the room without a word. Miss Fleet stood at the
library door and watched the little figure as it mounted slowly--very
slowly--the winding stairs.
There was something very naughty about that little figure just then, and
yet at the same time something pathetic.
"Poor child! I am sorry I disappointed her," thought the governess;
"but I have my duty to perform. I hear on all hands that the four young
Hilchesters are the terror of the neighbourhood: so wild, so untrained,
so disobedient. I should certainly be unworthy of the position I hold
if I allowed Phyllis to have anything to do with them. Yes, I will keep
my word, and the girls may have tea here in a week or so, but they shall
not be alone with Phyllis; of that I am resolved."
Meanwhile the little girl, having turned a certain angle of the stairs,
stood quite still, uttered a strange laugh, and then, turning quite
aside from the nursery, ran down an unfrequented corridor and out into
the back yard. She had already secured, in preparation for a certain
adventure which she was fully resolved to have, a half-worn-out jacket
and a torn and very dirty sailor-hat. She popped the hat on her head
and fastened the jacket. Then she stood in the yard and looked around
her. The only person within view was David the groom. Somehow, Phyllis
expected to see David in the yard.
"Did you give the note?" asked the little girl, turning and speaking to
him in an imperious way.
"Yes, Miss. I met the young gentleman all alone in the avenue, and I
gave it him."
"And what did he say?"
"He only said, `All right,' Miss."
"Thank you, David," said Phyllis; "I am very much obliged to you."
She ran across the yard and into a small fir plantation just beyond, and
there she stood leaning over the railing. David could see her, and he
smiled to himself.
"She is a spirited little miss," he thought. "Didn't Master Ralph show
his white teeth just, when he read her note. His `All right' meant all
right, or I am much mistook. My word! the little miss will get into
trouble if she ain't careful; but I ain't the one to split on her."
So when the pony-trap came round to take Miss Fleet and her small charge
to Dartfield, nowhere could Phyllis be found. The whole house was
searched, and the servants were questioned, but no one had seen the
child.
Miss Fleet, in alarm, gave up her expedition and instituted a more
vigorous search, but try as she would, nowhere could she or Nurse get a
glimpse of the child. David, who alone knew the direction in which
Phyllis had gone, had taken care to absent himself, and no one else had
the slightest clue by which her whereabouts could be discovered.
Presently Miss Fleet, in great anger, started off to drive to the
Rectory.
"This really is intolerable," she thought. "I shall have to write to
the Squire. Oh, of course, the naughty, naughty child has gone to those
other wicked children. I shall have to give Mrs Hilchester a piece of
my mind."