"I don't mind betting that _you'll_ never be a school marm!" he said
calmly; and at that very moment, round a bend of the path, the two girls
came suddenly into view, trotting briskly towards the river. They waved
their hands, and tore down upon the visitor in lively welcome.
"There you are! This _is_ nice. Bates said you were in the garden, so
we just flew and changed, and rushed off in pursuit. So glad you had
Ralph to amuse you. The mill's working! We guessed you'd be there
looking on..."
"There's nothing to see but the old wheel creaking round. Tea is far
more to the point. I'm dying for some, and I'm sure--er--Miss--er--
Garnett is, too! She's had a tiring afternoon."
"Er--Miss--er--Garnett's name is Darsie. You can always call a girl by
her Christian name till her hair's up," said Darsie quickly, and Ralph
immediately availed himself of the permission.
"All right, Darsie. It's a jolly little name. Much easier to say."
Rather to Darsie's disappointment tea was served in the drawing-room in
formal, grown-up fashion, Mrs Percival presiding over the little table,
with its shining silver and fine old-world china. There were hot, brown
little scones, crisp buttered toast, iced cakes, thick cream, and other
indigestible luxuries, which came as an agreeable change from Lady
Hayes's careful dietary, and Darsie was acutely conscious of the beauty
and elegance of the room. How small and poky and drab the home drawing-
room would appear in comparison! How different the outlook on another
row of red-brick houses, from the sweep of green lawns, and the avenue
of great beech-trees seen through the four long French windows which
broke the side of this long, low room!
How different her own life promised to be from those of the two girls by
her side--the girls who had just returned from a ride on their own
horses over their own land! ... They would never need to worry about
money; their role in life for the next few years would consist in being
pretty and agreeable, wearing charming frocks, visiting at friends'
houses, travelling in summer, hunting in winter, and, finally, making
suitable Carriages, settling down as mistresses of other luxurious
houses, and living happily ever after!
She herself would study and cram for examination after examination; go
through agonies of suspense waiting for results, and as she passed or
failed, obtain a good or second-rate appointment in a suburban school.
Henceforth work, work, work--teaching by day, correcting exercises by
night, in a deserted schoolroom, with three months' holiday a year spent
at home among brothers and sisters whose interests had necessarily
drifted apart from her own! As the years passed by she would become
staid and prim; schoolmistressy manner; the girls would speak of her by
derisive nicknames...
A knifelike pang of envy pierced Darsie's heart; she dropped the dainty
morsel of cake on to her plate with a feeling of actual physical nausea;
for the moment her old ambitions lost their savour, and appeared grey
and dead; she was pierced with an overpowering pity for her own hard
lot.
The sensation was, perhaps, as much physical as mental, for no one can
pass through a moment of acute mental tension without suffering from a
corresponding nervous collapse, but being too young and inexperienced to
realise as much, Darsie mentally heaped ashes on her head, and shed
tears over her blighted life. The signs of her emotion were noticeable,
not only in an unusual silence but in whitening cheeks, which brought
upon her the quick attention of her friends.
"Aren't you feeling quite well, dear?" Mrs Percival asked kindly.
"You look pale. Would you like to lie down?"
"Darsie, you are _green_! What's the matter? You were all right a
moment ago."
"I'm all right now. Please, please, take no notice. I'm perfectly all
right."
Noreen was beginning to protest again, when Ralph called her sharply to
order--
"That's enough, Nora! Awfully bad form to fuss. Talk about something
else. What about that garden-party you were discussing? I thought you
wanted to ask suggestions."
Instantly both sisters were sparkling with excitement and animation.
"Oh, yes, yes. Of course! We must ask Darsie. She has such lovely
ideas. Darsie, we are going to have a garden-party. The invitations
are going out to-morrow. Hundreds of people are coming--mother's
friends, our friends, everybody's friends, every bowing acquaintance for
miles around. The question of the hour is--_What shall we do_? Garden-
parties are such monotonous occasions, always the same over and over
again--people sitting about in their best clothes, eating ices and
fruit, listening to a band, and quizzing each other's best clothes. We
want to hit on a brilliant novelty. What shall it be?"
Darsie mused, her face lighting with pleasure and anticipation.
"I know nothing about garden-parties. There aren't any in town. What
have you done before?"
"Tennis, croquet, clock-golf, ping-pong, archery, yeomanry sports, blue
bands, red bands, black and yellow bands, glee-singers, Punch and Judy,"
Ida counted off one item after another on the ringers of her left hand.
"And now we seem to have come to the end of our resources. We can't
think of anything else. Do, like a darling, give us an idea!"
The darling deliberated once more, head on one side, lips pursed, eyes
on the ceiling, while the Percival family looked on, and exchanged
furtive glances of admiration. She _was_ pretty! prettier by far than
ordinary pretty people, by reason of some picturesque and piquant
quality more readily felt than denned. It didn't seem to matter one bit
that her nose turned up, and that her mouth was several sizes too large.
"If you described me on paper, I'd sound far nicer, but I look a wur-r-
rm beside her!" sighed Noreen mentally, just as Darsie lowered her eyes
to meet those of her hostess, and inquired gravely--
"How much may it cost?"
It was the question which accompanied every home plan, and on which hung
a momentous importance, but the Percivals appeared quite taken aback by
the suggestion. The girls stared, and their mother smilingly waved it
aside.
"Oh-h, I don't think we need trouble about that! It's only once a year,
and we must do the thing well. If you have a suggestion, dear, please
let us have it!"
"I was thinking," said Darsie hesitatingly, "of a treasure hunt!"
Instantly all four hearers acclaimed the idea with such unanimity and
fervour that the proposer thereof was quite overpowered by the thanks
lavished upon her.
"The _very_ thing! Why did we never think of it ourselves? Every one
will like it, and it will keep them moving about, which is always the
great problem to solve. Presents, presents, lots of presents, stowed
away in odd corners..."
"We'll each take a certain number and hide them in our _own_ pet corners
when no one else is in the garden. We'll make the parcels up in _green_
paper, so as to be less easy to find..."
"Every one must be told to bring them back to the lawn for a grand
public opening, so that the disappointed ones may join in the fun..."
"We may take part ourselves, mother? We _must_ take part! Get lots and
lots of presents, and let us hunt with the rest!"
"Certainly, dears, certainly. It is your party as much as mine; of
course you must hunt. I'll run up to town and buy the presents at the
stores. You must help me to think of suitable things. Bags, purses,
umbrellas, blotters, manicure-cases--"
"Boxes of French bonbons, belts, scarfs--"
"Cigarettes, brushes--"
"Nice little bits of jewellery--"
Suggestions poured in thick and fast, and Mrs Percival jotted them down
on a little gold and ivory tablet which hung by her side unperturbed by
what seemed to Darsie the reckless extravagance of their nature. It was
most exciting talking over the arrangements for the hunt; most agreeable
and soothing to be constantly referred to in the character of author and
praised for cleverness and originality. Darsie entirely forgot the wave
of depression which had threatened to upset her composure a few minutes
before, forgot for the time being the suspense and danger of the earlier
afternoon.
Some one else, it appeared, however, was more remindful, for when she
prepared to depart the dog-cart stood at the door, and Ralph announced
in his most grand seigneur manner--
"We're going to drive you back, don't you know! Too awfully fagging to
bicycle on a hot afternoon. Put on your hats, girls, and hurry up."
The girls obediently flew upstairs, and Darsie's protestation of "My
bicycle!" was silenced with a word.
"The stable-boy shall ride it over to-morrow morning. You're a bit
jumpy still and can't be allowed to run any risks. I mean to see you
safely back in your aunt's charge."
Darsie scrambled up to her high seat and leaned back thereon with an
agreeable sense of importance.
"I feel like a cat that's been stroked," she said to herself, smiling.
"When you're one of a large family you are not used to fussing. It's
most invigorating! I'd like to go in for a long course!"