A Bunch of Cherries: A Story of Cherry Court School. Meade L. T.

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СКАЧАТЬ will keep you with me, darling, until the end of the vacation." Kitty gave a perceptible shudder. "I am going to the seaside with Florence Aylmer, and you shall come with us. I will try and give you as good a time, dear little Kitty, as ever I can, but it would not be fair to the other girls to keep you here for nothing."

      "No, of course it would not be fair," said Kitty. "And where am I to go," she added, after a very long pause, "when the vacation is over, when the girls come back here again at the end of August?"

      "Then, my dear child, I greatly fear you will have to go and stay with your father's cousin, Miss Dartmoor, in Argyleshire."

      "Helen Dartmoor!" said Kitty, suddenly springing to her feet, "father's cousin, Helen Dartmoor! She came to stay with us for a month after mother died, and if there is a person in the whole world whom I loathed it was her. No, I won't go to her; I'll write and tell father I can't – I won't; it shan't be. Nothing would induce me to live with her. Oh, Mrs. Clavering, you don't know what she is, and she – why, she doesn't speak decent English, and she knows scarcely anything. How am I to be educated, Mrs. Clavering? I could not do it."

      "There is a school not far from Miss Dartmoor's; of course, not a school like this, but a school where you can be taught some things, my poor child."

      "I won't go to Helen Dartmoor – I won't!" said Kitty, in a passionate voice.

      "I fear there is no help for it, my love; but when you see your father he will tell you all about it. I wish with all my heart, I could keep you here, but I greatly fear there is no help for it."

      "And is that all you have to say?" said Kitty, rising slowly as she spoke.

      "Yes, dear, all for the present."

      "Then I am a very miserable girl. I'll go away to my room for a little. I may, may I not?"

      "On this occasion you may, although you know it is the rule that none of the girls go to their dormitories during the daytime."

      Kitty left the room, walking very slowly. She had scarcely done so before a loud ring, followed by a rat-tat on the knocker of the front door, was heard through the house.

      A moment later the door of Mrs. Clavering's oak parlor was flung open, and Sir John Wallis entered the room.

      Sir John Wallis was the great man in the neighborhood.

      He was the owner of Cherry Court School, renting the house and beautiful grounds to Mrs. Clavering year by year. He was an unmarried man, and took a great interest in the school. He was a very benevolent, kindly person, and Mrs. Clavering and he were the closest friends.

      "Ah, my dear madam," he said, bowing now in his somewhat old-fashioned way, and then extending his hand to the good lady, "I am so glad to see you at home. How are you and how are the girls?"

      "Oh, very well, Sir John."

      "But you look a little bit worried; what is wrong?"

      "Well, the fact is, one of my girls, Kitty Sharston – "

      "That pretty, queer-looking half-wild girl whom I saw in church on Sunday?"

      "The same; she is the daughter of Major Sharston, a very estimable man."

      "Sharston, Sharston, I should think he is. Why, he is an old brother officer of mine; we served together in the time of the Crimea. Anything wrong with Sharston! What's up, my dear madam, what is up!"

      "Well, it's just this," said Mrs. Clavering. "Major Sharston has lost a lot of money, and is obliged to take an appointment in India, and he cannot afford to leave poor Kitty at the school longer than till the end of term. I intend to have her as my guest during the holidays, but afterwards she must go to an old cousin in Scotland, and the poor child has little chance of ever being very well educated. She is very much shaken by the blow."

      "But this is fearful," said Sir John, "fearful! What can we do?"

      "Nothing, I am afraid," said Mrs. Clavering. "Nothing would offend Major Sharston more than for his daughter to accept charity in any form. He is a very proud man, and Kitty, when all is said and done, although very wild and needing a lot of training, has got a spirit of her own. She will be a fine girl by and by."

      "And a beautiful one to boot," interrupted Sir John. "Well, this is terrible; what can we do?"

      "Nothing," repeated Mrs. Clavering again.

      Sir John looked very thoughtful.

      "Is it to-night," he said, "you announce your programme for the Cherry Feast?"

      "Yes," answered the good lady.

      "Then I have a crow to pluck with you; you never sent me notice to attend."

      "I did not, for I thought you would be away, but will you come in this evening, Sir John, we shall all be delighted to see you?"

      Sir John considered for a moment.

      "I will," he said, "and you know I always offer a prize of my own, which is to be given at the Cherry Feast. Now, why should not we on this occasion offer a prize which Kitty Sharston runs a chance of winning, and which would save her from leaving Cherry Court School?"

      Mrs. Clavering shook her head.

      Sir John bent forward and began to speak eagerly.

      "Now, come," he said, "I think I can manage it. Could it not be done in this way?" He spoke in a low tone, and Mrs. Clavering bent her head to listen.

      "But, even if you did offer such a prize," she said, "which in itself would be very valuable, what chance has Kitty of winning it? She is not particularly forward in any of her studies, and then the girls who did not want it would get it."

      "I am persuaded that Kitty has plenty of ability," said Sir John.

      "I quite agree with you, and to work for such a prize would be an immense stimulus; but then, you know, the feast comes on so soon, and there are only three weeks in which to prepare."

      "We can manage it by means of a sort of preliminary canter," said the baronet, in a musing tone; "I am sure we can work the thing up. Now, let us put our heads together and get some idea into shape before to-night. That child must be saved; her father's feelings must be respected. She must stay here and be under your wing, and I will go and have a chat with Sharston and see if I cannot make life endurable to the poor little girl, even though he is away in India."

      "Well, it is very nice your being a friend of Major Sharston's. If you will stay here for about half an hour while I am attending to something else, I will come back and we will see what scheme we can draw up."

      "Good," said Sir John, "and don't hurry back, for I am going to put on my considering-cap. This thing must be managed by hook or by crook."

      CHAPTER IV.

      SIR JOHN'S GREAT SCHEME

      It was in this way that the great prize which caused such excitement in Cherry Court School was started.

      It was called the Scholarship prize, and was a new and daring idea of the early seventies. Girls were not accustomed to big prizes in those days, and scholarships were only in vogue in the few public schools which were then in existence.

      Sir John and Mrs. Clavering СКАЧАТЬ