JOG'APHY.
The next day lessons began with a vengeance. It was one thing for the
four Delaney children to work with Miss Stevenson at the old Manor
House. Lessons in mother's time were rather pleasant than otherwise;
as often as not they were conducted in the garden, and when the day
happened to be very hot, and the little people somewhat impatient of
restraint, Miss Stevenson gave them a certain amount of liberty; but
lessons at the Rectory were an altogether different matter. Miss
Ramsay, when she awoke the next day, had seemed emphatically to have
put on all her armor. During the holiday, neither Orion nor Diana,
neither Apollo nor Iris, thought Miss Ramsay of any special account.
They stared a good deal at Uncle Dolman, and they watched Aunt Jane
with anxious eyes, but Miss Ramsay did not matter, one way or the
other. The next day, however, they came to have a totally different
opinion with regard to her.
At breakfast, on the following morning, whenever Diana opened her
rosebud lips, she was told that she must not speak unless she could do
so in the French tongue. Now, all that Diana could manage to say in
French was 'Oui' and 'Non,' nor was she very certain when to say
either of these very simple words. She hated being silent, for she was
a very talkative, cheery little body, except when she was angry.
Accordingly, the meal was a depressing one, and Diana began to yawn
and to look wearily out on the sunshiny garden before it was
half-finished. But, of course, there was no play in the garden for any
of the children that morning. Immediately after breakfast they all
went up to the schoolroom. Now, the schoolroom was a very pleasant
room, nicely and suitably furnished, but in summer it was hot, and on
very sunshiny days it was painfully hot; its single large bay window
faced due south, and the sun poured in relentlessly all during the
hours of morning school. Miss Ramsay, seated at the head of the
baize-covered table with her spectacles on, looked decidedly
formidable, and each of the children gazed at their governess with
anxious eyes. Mary and Lucy were always good little girls, but Philip
and Conrad were as idle as boys could possibly be, and did their
utmost to evade Miss Ramsay's endeavors to instill learning into their
small heads. Orion sat between his two little boy cousins, but for
some reason or other Orion did not look well that morning. His little
face, not unlike Diana's in appearance, was bloated, his eyes were
heavy, he had scarcely touched his breakfast, and he earnestly, most
earnestly longed to get out of the hot schoolroom.
Miss Ramsay, when all the little people were seated round her, knocked
sharply on the table with her ruler, and proceeded to make a speech.
"My dear old pupils," she said, looking at the five little Dolmans as
she spoke, "on account of your cousins, who, I fear, are ignorant
little children, I mean on this occasion to speak to you in the
English tongue. I have now got nine pupils to instruct, and nine
pupils are a great many for one person to teach. Your mother,
however, has promised that the master from the village shall come up
to instruct you all in arithmetic, and your French master and your
music master will, of course, attend here as usual. I trust,
therefore, that by more attention on the part of my pupils I may be
able to continue the heavy task which I have undertaken. What I want
to impress upon you children"--here she turned abruptly to the little
Delaneys--"is that lessons are lessons, and play is play. During
lesson-time I allow _no_ wandering thoughts, I allow no attempts at
shirking your duties. The tasks I set you will be carefully chosen
according to your different abilities, and I can assure you beforehand
that learned they must be. If I find that they are not carefully
prepared I shall punish you. By being attentive, by making the best of
your time, you can easily get through the lessons appointed you, and
then when they are over I hope you will thoroughly enjoy your time of
play. Now, all of you sit quiet. We will begin with a lesson from
English history."
Miss Ramsay then began to lecture in her usual style. She was really
an excellent teacher, and Iris found what she said very interesting.
She began to tell about the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and she made
that time quite live to the intelligent little girl. But Apollo had
not nearly come to the reign of Elizabeth in his English history. He,
consequently, could not follow the story, and soon began to look out
of the window, and to count the flies which were buzzing in the hot
sunshine on the window-panes. When Miss Ramsay addressed a sudden
question to him he was unable to reply. She passed it on to Ann, who
instantly gave the correct answer. But Apollo felt himself to be in
his governess' black books. As this was the first morning of lessons,
she was not going to be severe, and, telling the little boy to take
his history away to another table, desired him to read it all
carefully through.
"I will question you to-morrow about what I told you to-day," she
said. "Now, remember, you must tell me the whole story of the Spanish
Armada to-morrow."
"But I have not gone farther than the reign of John," said Apollo.
"Don't answer me, Apollo," said Miss Ramsay; "you are to read this
part of your history book. Now, sit with your back to the others and
begin."
Apollo shrugged his shoulders. For a short time he made an effort to
read his dull history, but then once again his eyes sought the
sunshine and the flies on the window panes.
Meanwhile Diana, Orion, and the two little Dolman boys were in a class
by themselves, busily engaged over a geography lesson.
Diana had not the smallest wish to become acquainted with any portion
of the globe where she was not herself residing. Her thoughts were all
full of the bow and arrow which Apollo had carefully hidden in a
little dell at the entrance of the wood, on the previous night. She
was wondering when she could run off to secure the prize, and when she
would have an opportunity of punishing her enemies. She began to think
that it would be really necessary to give Miss Ramsay a prick with the
fatal arrow. Miss Ramsay was turning out to be most disagreeable.
Meanwhile, the heat of the room, and a curious giddy sensation in her
head, caused it to sink lower and lower, until finally it rested on
her book, and little Diana was off in the land of dreams.
A sharp tap on her shoulders roused her with a start. Miss Ramsay was
standing over her, looking very angry.
"Come, Diana! this will never do," she cried. "How dare you go to
sleep! Do you know your geography?"
"P'ease, I doesn't know what jog-aphy is," said Diana.
"What a very naughty little girl you are! Have not I been taking pains
to explain it all to you? You will have to stay in the schoolroom when
lessons are over for quite five minutes. Now, stand up on your chair,
hold your book in your hands, don't look out of the window, keep your
eyes fixed on your book, and then you will soon learn what is required
of you."
Diana obeyed this mandate with a very grave face.
In about ten minutes Miss Ramsay called her to her side.
"Well, do you know your lesson?" she asked.
"Kite perfect," replied Diana.
"Well, let me hear you. What is the capital of England?"
"Dublin Bay," replied Diana, with avidity.
"You are a very naughty child. How can you tell me you know your
lesson? See, I will ask you one more question. What is the capital of
Scotland?"
"Ireland," answered Diana, in an earnest voice.
Miss Ramsay shut the book with a bang. Diana looked calmly at her.
"I thought I knew it," she said. "I's sossy. I don't think I care to
go on learning jog-aphy; it don't suit me." She stretched herself,
gave utterance to a big yawn, and half turned her back on her
teacher. "You is getting in temper," she continued, "and that isn't
wight; I don't care to learn jog-aphy."
What serious consequences might not have arisen at that moment it is
hard to tell, had not Orion caused a sudden diversion. He fell off his
chair in a heap on the floor.
Iris sprang from her seat and ran to the rescue.
"I'm drefful sick," said Orion; "I think it was the lollipops and
ginger-beer. Please let me go to bed."
"Lollipops and ginger-beer!" cried Miss Ramsay in alarm. "What does
the child mean?"