THE MANOR SCHOOL
There were forty boarders at Penwerne House. Their ages varied from
thirteen to eighteen. They were almost all English girls, well brought
up, and of good family. The house was very old, but extremely roomy.
There were corridors and long passages and endless small rooms in
every imaginable direction. But although the house was really so
very ancient, the appearance of the rooms themselves spoke of a far
more luxurious state of living than people required at the time when
Penwerne Manor was built; for Miss Peacock had taken extraordinary
pains with her school, and the old rooms, wainscoted in the first
instance, were now enameled many pale shades of beautiful colors--some
ivory white, some the palest green, some blue, some pink. There were
whole corridors with only pink rooms, and whole corridors with only
blue ones; but the girls who had the choicest and largest rooms were
those who slept in the white chambers, as they were called.
Christian's room was one of a series that went down the entire length
of a corridor. Each of these pretty rooms boasted of two windows, and
in each two neat brass-mounted bedsteads were placed. Christian thought
herself in great luck to have a room to herself at first, and prepared
to enjoy herself thoroughly.
Miss Neil came up to the young girl's room to say good-by to her early
on the following morning.
"Well, my dear," she said, "I am sure you are in luck. What a nice
little room! Not little, though--quite a good-sized room. And you have
it to yourself. You ought to be exceedingly thankful, Christian; you
are a most lucky girl. I shall write to your dear father and mother
without fail by the next mail. You had better do the same. They will
have got over their dreadful shock about you by the time they receive
that letter. And now, dear, I must say good-by. Here is a little money
that you may need for pocket-money; and when you want anything more you
have but to write to me--Elm Lodge, Denvers Road, Southsea. See, I have
written the address distinctly on this paper. Miss Peacock knows that
she is to apply to me in any difficulty. You will stay here at Easter,
or go away with Miss Peacock, just as she thinks best; but if you
like to spend some of your summer holidays with me, I dare say I can
arrange it, but I cannot positively promise. I will do my best. Here
are the two sovereigns. You must make them do until Easter; as every
possible want is supplied, you cannot require more money than this. I
have asked Miss Peacock, and--somewhat reluctantly, I must say--she
has complied with my wish that your letters are, for the present at
least, to be overlooked; except, of course, those to your parents. It
is necessary, Christian, that this should be done; and there is no
use in your frowning over the matter, for a girl who could behave in
the disgraceful way you did cannot expect to be trusted. You are, of
course, absolutely forbidden to correspond with that naughty little
Rose Latimer; and even your nurse can only receive letters which Miss
Peacock has read. Now, I think that is all. Be good. Thank your lucky
star that you have come to such a considerate mistress; for if she
had proclaimed through the school the enormity of your act you would
have had a sorry time. I certainly never asked her to conceal it. I
thought she naturally would tell, and I felt that if she had done so
it would be a due punishment to you for your disgraceful behavior; but
she thinks otherwise, and as she has the care of your education for
the present, I must of course bow to her decree. Good-by, Christian. I
trust you will keep well, and be--as you ought to be--happy."
Miss Neil gave Christian a little peck on her forehead and then on her
lips, after which she hurried from the room.
According to Miss Jessie's promise, a fire had again been lit in the
young girl's chamber, and a neat-looking servant had brought in coffee,
toast, and rolls.
Christian ate her breakfast, and then waited somewhat shyly, wondering
what would happen next. Presently a great bell sounded all over the
house, and a minute later Miss Jessie bustled in.
"Ah! you are dressed," she said; "that is right. And very neat you look
in your pretty gray dress, with that nice frilled apron. Miss Peacock
will quite approve of your appearance. Most of our girls wear their
hair plaited behind, but I see you wear yours quite loose. Well, never
mind; you have pretty hair, dear--very pretty. Now then, come with me,
for the prayer-bell has rung. You will see your companions at prayers.
Soon, I trust, you will be quite happy, and a busy member of a useful
family."
Miss Jessie took Christian's hand and walked quickly down the corridor.
Doors were pushed open as she went, and more than one bright head, with
curling hair and laughing eyes, looked out. Christian felt a sudden
and intense accession of shyness; she dared not glance at any of her
schoolfellows. Her heart began to beat loudly in her ears, and by the
time she reached the great hall, where prayers were always read by Miss
Peacock, she was scarlet. There was a tittering laugh from a girl as
she went up to the seat appointed for her near Miss Jessie. Another
girl said "Hush!" and then in the midst of the solemn stillness Miss
Peacock read the lesson for the day. This was followed by a short
prayer, and after the girls had risen from their knees and the servants
had withdrawn, Miss Peacock mounted a little dais near her own desk and
looked around her.
"Wait a minute, girls," she said; "I want to introduce you to your new
schoolfellow. Come here, Christian Mitford."
Christian advanced tremulously.
"This, my dear young people, is Christian Mitford, your new companion;
and, I trust, your new friend. She has never been in Cornwall before,
nor has she ever been in a boarding-school. Is that correct, Christian?"
"Yes, madam," said Christian in a low voice.
"Our ways, therefore," continued the head-mistress, "will be strange
to her, and I trust that each girl in the school will do her utmost
to make her happy by kindness, by sympathy, by showing her the ropes,
by letting her feel that you are glad to have her with you. I trust
you all, my dear girls, and know you will do your best for this young
stranger. I put her into the care of--Ah! Louisa Twining, my dear, come
here."
A slender girl, with soft, neat brown hair and brown eyes to match,
left her companions and walked up the room.
"Louisa," said Miss Peacock, "this is Christian Mitford. Will you
please see after her a bit, and let her stay by you in class, and take
her into the playground afterwards, and tell her all about the school
and the life here?"
"Yes, Miss Peacock," said Louisa.
She looked kindly at Christian as she spoke.
"Christian," said Miss Peacock, "you are in safe hands when I give you
into the charge of Louisa Twining. She is one of my oldest and most
trusted pupils. Now then, dear, it is the custom that the new pupil
should not have any lessons to do on the day after her arrival. Your
time is therefore absolutely your own, and you can unpack your things
and put them away in the neat cupboards in your room. You can arrange
your schoolroom desk, and ask for what books you require from your
English teacher, Miss Forest; and, in short, do anything you please. I
should counsel you to take Louisa absolutely into your confidence, for
she is a very sure guide for a new-comer. To-morrow you take your place
with the other pupils. I shall be glad to see you in my own private
room at five o'clock to tea. And now for the present, good-by, dear."
Miss Peacock nodded to Christian, smiled at Louisa, and left the room.
Louisa looked hard at Christian.
"Come," she said; "we must be great chums, mustn't we?"
"Oh, if you would be kind to me!" said poor Christian.
Her shyness was getting worse; the tears were very near her eyes, but
she did not dare to let them appear.
"I will introduce you to some of the others," said Louisa. "The sooner
you know us all the better. First of all, how old are you?"
"I shall be fourteen in three months' time."
"Oh, we make a great fuss about birthdays here; but yours is some way
off yet. You are only thirteen at present. Do you know that I am nearly
sixteen, and I am not much taller than you."
"I always knew that I was very tall," said Christian. "I hate it
myself; I'd much rather be a little girl."
"If you happened to be a little girl you would anything but wish it, I
can assure you. But now here we are; here is a whole bevy of the girls,
all so curious about you, and so anxious to be nice and kind."
"Well, Twine dear," said a merry-looking girl of about fourteen years
of age, bounding forward when she saw Louisa issuing out of the hall
accompanied by Christian, "so you have got her. You are the privileged
one. Now, I wanted to be. It's most unfair that you should have all the
plums, Twiny."
"Don't be a goose, Florry. You know that Miss Peacock would not give
the charge of a new girl to a little mite like you."
"Little mite indeed!" laughed Florry, tossing her head. "Well, I
suppose, whatever happens, I may talk to the sacred being."
"Don't!" said Christian suddenly, and speaking with irritation.
"She hates to be laughed at; can't you see that?" said Louisa, speaking
angrily.
She had scarcely said the words before a mocking voice, which seemed to
come from over their heads, cried in a high staccato:
"She hates to be laughed at; can't you see that?"
Christian looked round. She was startled and alarmed.
"That's only Star; she is incorrigible," said Louisa. "You will have
to get accustomed to her. But come now; you would like to see the
schoolroom. You will have your own desk, but its exact position I can't
tell you; your teachers will first have to find out what you know."
Now, Christian knew a great deal. From her earliest days she had been
well educated, and with regard to her attainments she was decidedly
above the average girl. As she remembered this fact a sense of
satisfaction stole over her. Nevertheless she felt exceedingly
depressed and considerably alarmed.
Louisa and Christian walked quickly to the farther end of the hall, and
Florence returned to her companions. Louisa now spoke quickly.
"You must not get frightened; or, at least, if you are frightened you
must not show it. I assure you if you do your life won't be worth
living here. We are all rather a nice set of girls, but there are a few
of us who have an intolerable habit of teasing. If it is noticed that
you are easily impressed, or thin-skinned, you will be made thoroughly
unhappy. Your only plan is not to care one little bit what anyone says
to you, or what anyone does. Don't be startled when stupid jokes are
sprung on you. You did look so ridiculously alarmed when Star called
out that sentence just now."
"Of course I was. I can't think how she did it. Was she hanging on to
the ceiling anywhere?"
"Not a bit of it. Star Lestrange is immensely popular, because she
has got the power of ventriloquism. She can throw her voice anywhere.
I assure you there was a time when she terrified me. But now I am
accustomed to her, and she is so funny--so audacious. On one occasion
she whispered just above Miss Peacock's forehead, "Bless you, sweet
angel!" She nearly got into a scrape about that, for although we are
treated in this school in the most heavenly way, Miss Peacock is
intensely particular, and the discipline is sound--I must say it. There
can be no crooked ways in this school, nor obscure corners in the life
of any girl who lives here. Woe betide her if she has anything in her
past that she wants to hide. Why, how red you are getting! Aren't you
strong?"
"Yes, thank you."
"You are nervous. Now, do take my advice: don't show it to the others;
just uphold your own dignity. I wish you could have seen Star when she
first came to the school. They tried to bully her a bit, some of the
most mischievous spirits, but didn't she crush them all round? She's
awfully good-natured, you know, and she wouldn't hurt you really for
the world; but she has such mad spirits, she has to give way now and
then. Now, I mustn't gossip any more. We work here from nine to eleven."
"But isn't it long past nine now?" asked Christian.
Louisa laughed. "Of course not," she said. "It is five minutes to
nine. You had your breakfast at seven. You will have to come down to
refectory breakfast to-morrow. You are going to be awfully indulged and
petted to-day. I suppose that is on account of your illness."
"But I haven't been ill," said Christian, and her face became crimson.
"Then what was the matter with you? Why were you unavoidably detained?"
"Oh, please don't question me," said Christian.
"Why can't you speak? The girls will expect you to do so this evening.
We always get a new girl to tell us as much as ever she can of her
life's story--after dark. You look as though you were a splendid
story-teller. Are you?"
"I could tell you some stories," said Christian.
She thought of her darling attic and the heroines of her past life.
Nevertheless, her terrors were getting greater each moment. If the
girls insisted on questioning her with regard to the unlooked-for
circumstances which were supposed to have detained her, she would
certainly betray herself; and for a girl like Star Lestrange to know
of such an escapade would cause poor Christian almost to lose her
senses.
"I will introduce you to the nicest girls," said Louisa, who was
watching her face--"the nicest and the kindest--and I will ask them to
look after you when I am not with you myself."
"But mayn't I stay near you all day? Oh, I wish--I wish you'd let me."
"You dear young thing, of course you may. But then you see to-morrow
will come, and the day after, and the day after that. I am in the sixth
class of the school. I am rather young to be there, but I am, all the
same; and I am proud of it, I can tell you. You, of course, will be in
a different class, and you must associate with the girls of your own
age. You see, you can't help yourself. You will have great fun after a
bit. Here come the mistresses and the girls, and lessons have begun.
Sit down near me at this desk, and listen with all your might. Miss
Forest and Mademoiselle le Brume may question you a bit about your
attainments this morning. I am not quite certain, but I think they
will."
"I wish they would; I'd much rather," said Christian.
"Would you really? Then I'll go and speak to Miss Forest at once."
Each desk now had a bright and merry or a grave and serious girl seated
before it, and forty pairs of eyes were darting from time to time in
Christian's direction--some quizzical, some indifferent, some alive
with curiosity; some sober, earnest, kind. But whatever the feelings
that dwelt in the minds of the girls who owned the eyes, they all kept
gazing at Christian, who felt at last as though she were under forty
pairs of burning glasses, so keen became the torture.
Presently Louisa returned.
"Miss Forest will see you in half an hour, and Mademoiselle says you
must go to her in the French room when the rest of us are at play. Our
music-master, too, Mr. Frederick, is coming to-day, and you may as well
let him hear what you can do. Oh, you will soon be very busy and very
happy. And now don't look at the girls; or if you want to look at them,
stare well. That will put them in a good humor, and they will stop
staring at you."