VOLUME I
CHAPTER I
The Heroine's Home
FIVE o'clock on a July afternoon in a London schoolroom, and the depressing sound of the scale of C.
Would not such a combination make the least
frivolous rejoice that their education was completed? <...> Cecily Middleton, aged seven, is toiling up and
down the piano, with hot heavy fingers, giving her wrist
and arm a tremendous jerk every time it is her thumb's
turn to go under; for which clumsy man!uvre she is every
time pulled up by the governess at her side, and compelled
to return to the bottom of the piano, and begin the ascent
again. <...> Nina Middleton, some years her senior, is sitting at
the table, limp and listless, by way of doing a rule-of-three
sum. <...> With her hair all pushed back from her hot face, and
her chin resting on her hands, she is determining in her
own mind that it is far too hot for any sum to come right;
and she feels profoundly indifferent as to workmen and
the rate of their wages, which is the problem she has been
given to consider. <...> Whether the answer
will be in money or in workmen she feels incapable of
hazarding an opinion, and it seems to her so very unimportant.
"Nina, vous ne faites rien."
Thus suddenly rebuked, Nina roused herself, and
proceeded with a long-drawn sigh to multiply the first and
6
second terms together, and to divide by the third, producing thereby a hideous confusion. <...> Of course anything that created a momentary diversion from the scale of C was hailed as a relief by Cecily;
and it took Mademoiselle some minutes first to reprove
Nina, and then to rise and reset the sum. <...> She rolled about on her seat till she nearly fell off the
music-stool; and Mademoiselle, in an injured and somewhat huffy tone, desired her to resume her practice; and
soon laughter and amusement were lost in the intricacies
of the scale of C.
Meanwhile Nina worked away at her sum, and finished it; put away her slate <...>
Thrown_together.pdf
PREFACE
THE following Story,
like its predecessor "Misunderstood,"
is not intended for children. Even less so, since
in the course of the narrative, the Author is obliged, now
and then, to side, as it were, with the children against the
parents.
The Story, though not devoid of "grown-up" characters,
is mainly founded on the lives of children; and so
appeals only to those who are interested in the subject.
May 1872.
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VOLUME I
CHAPTER I
The Heroine's Home
FIVE o'clock on a July afternoon in a London schoolroom,
and the depressing sound of the scale of C.
Would not such a combination make the least
frivolous rejoice that their education was completed?
Cecily Middleton, aged seven, is toiling up and
down the piano, with hot heavy fingers, giving her wrist
and arm a tremendous jerk every time it is her thumb's
turn to go under; for which clumsy man!uvre she is every
time pulled up by the governess at her side, and compelled
to return to the bottom of the piano, and begin the ascent
again.
Nina Middleton, some years her senior, is sitting at
the table, limp and listless, by way of doing a rule-of-three
sum. With her hair all pushed back from her hot face, and
her chin resting on her hands, she is determining in her
own mind that it is far too hot for any sum to come right;
and she feels profoundly indifferent as to workmen and
the rate of their wages, which is the problem she has been
given to consider. What can it matter? Whether the answer
will be in money or in workmen she feels incapable of
hazarding an opinion, and it seems to her so very unimportant.
"Nina,
vous ne faites rien."
Thus suddenly rebuked, Nina roused herself, and
proceeded with a long-drawn sigh to multiply the first and
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6
second terms together, and to divide by the third, producing
thereby a hideous confusion. Seeing her mistake, she,
with another sigh of weariness and boredom, rubbed out
what she had done, and began again; but the melancholy
intonation of the scale of C, combined with the state of the
atmosphere, seemed to render calculation impossible, and
she found herself reducing pence to shillings, and allowing
for forty-eight farthings in a pound. Growing desperate
at last, with heat and incapacity, she rubbed out the
whole sum — question and all; and then, in despair at
what she had done, she drew her pencil down the slate
with a terrific squeak, which brought upon her the wrath
of Mademoiselle, and elicited shrieks
of delight and
amusement from Cecily.
Of course anything that created a momentary diversion
from the scale of C was hailed as a relief by Cecily;
and it took Mademoiselle some minutes first to reprove
Nina, and then to rise and reset the sum.
But this was no solitary instance of Cecily's power
of deriving amusement from the trifling events of everyday
life. The squeak of a pencil was quite sufficient, in
lesson-time, to evoke her mirth; and any of the hundred
little accidents to which we are all more or less exposed in
our daily path could send her into fits of laughter at any
moment. If Mademoiselle knocked her funny-bone, or
caught her gown in the fender, upset a cup of tea into her
lap, or stumbled over a stool, Cecily was off, and there
was no stopping her.
She enjoyed the few minutes of leisure at the piano
to the full; and, after having recovered from the laughter
produced by the squeak, she proceeded to swing her legs
backwards and forwards to cool herself. In so doing, she
made the startling discovery that by kicking the piano
above the pedal, a vibration could be produced, and was
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7
immensely delighted. But, on attempting to bring the discovery
to greater perfection by a somewhat more violent
kick, Mademoiselle remonstrated from the table, and put
an end at once to any further experiments. An attempt at
"hot-cross buns" with one finger met with a similar reception,
and she was reduced to twisting round and round on
the music-stool, till Mademoiselle once more returned to
her side.
But opportunities for amusement were not quite over
yet; for, as Mademoiselle reseated herself, she contrived to
knock her finger against the notes, and raised that
wounded member to her mouth with an exclamation of
pain. Peal upon peal from Cecily — truly delighted was
she! She rolled about on her seat till she nearly fell off the
music-stool; and Mademoiselle, in an injured and somewhat
huffy tone, desired her to resume her practice; and
soon laughter and amusement were lost in the intricacies
of the scale of C.
Meanwhile Nina worked away at her sum, and finished
it; put away her slate, and went to the open window,
where she arrived just in time to see a hansom drive up to
the door, and her father jump out of it.
This was rather an unusual event, and Nina felt puzzled
to account for it. It was very seldom that he came
home at this hour. He generally went straight to the park
from his club, and she thought something particular must
have brought him home, which opinion was confirmed by
hearing him call out to the footman at the door, in a tone
of unwonted excitement, "Has Mrs. Middleton come home
from her drive?"
Nina felt very curious to know what could make him
in such a hurry, and was just about to lean out of the window,
in order to make herself still further mistress of what
was going on below, when Cecily's music-lesson came to
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