Maid Sally Part 8

She whispered, with her small brown hand before her mouth:

"And we were both talking about getting learning!"

CHAPTER VIII.

A LONG GOOD-BY

August flew by with its sultry air, and the grand house lay warm and quiet until supper time, no one venturing out until the heat of the day was past.

A disappointment it was to Sally that so little time was spent by the young people in the arbor, for it was not easy for her to see or hear them anywhere else.

Then came there a day in September when all the place was stirred as by some great and important event. Captain Rothwell was at the dock or on the deck giving swift orders, the sailors were hurrying to and fro, and the brave _Belle Virgeen_ stood ready winged for sailing.

Sally a little while before had begged of Mistress Brace a piece of gray and white print, out of which, being exceeding deft with her needle, she had made for herself a neat gown.

Then the hired men had each agreed to pay her a few pence if every week she would darn their stockings. And the darns were indeed of surprising neatness for a little maid of but eleven years of age.

Sally could buy no stockings as yet with her earnings, but a cheap pair of shoes she already had bought, and on the sweet September day, away with the rest she went to see the _Belle Virgeen_ set sail.

Very hard she strained her eyes to get a glimpse of her Fairy Prince, and her poor little heart was aching at thought of his crossing the great lonely ocean to remain nearly a year away.

"Oh, a year doth seem such a very long while," she murmured, "and although I should be ready to die of shame did any one know it, yet great comfort and company hath it been for me to dream and imagine about the Fairy Prince."

So much was there going on, and so great the bustle, that not much thought could fill her mind, and soon there came an extra stir, a carriage drove along the road, a lithe young form sprang out, and midst a cheer from the "hands" that crowded the landing, Lionel Grandison went up the gangplank.

Then came the signal from Captain Rothwell to draw in the hawsers, and let the trim vessel glide.

Yes, there were Sir Percival Grandison, young Mistress Lucretia, and Mistress Rosamond Earlscourt, all waving their kerchiefs, and smiling bravely at the young student, who held his sea-cap high above his head, waving it constantly.

Lady Gabrielle had not come to see him sail away. Like unto other mothers at such times, she had not wished to see the lad depart.

On the edge of the crowd stood Sally. Still farther back she went, and not much notice did she take that she was standing near a great wagon that had brought some luggage to the dock, until all at once, from around the other side, she heard a musical voice half sobbing out a prayer:

"O Lorr Gord, do keep de chile f'om all de dangers ob de mighty deep!

Doan't let de waves nor de billows be swallerin' ob him up. Keep my babby safe f'om all de mis'ries ob a forr'n land. Dese yere arms has held him troo all kiner sickernesses. Deah Lorr, keep my chile safe--Yah! yah! yah!"

It was Mammy Leezer, who, without stopping to end her prayer in proper shape, had suddenly joined the cheer that went up as the vessel dropped slowly down the stream.

Very still it grew again as the _Belle Virgeen_ drifted off and away, until in the distance the staunch s.h.i.+p grew small, and the figure of a boy standing straight and tall looked like a mere point against the sky.

Sallie's breast heaved and tears filled her eyes.

"Farewell, O Fairy Prince," she sighed, "farewell! I hate to see thee go. I hope to see thee back some day, my Fairy Prince, and ah, what joy would it be, if, without shame, I might sometime meet thee face to face."

"Then away and prepare," cried her Fairy, and without stopping to look back, or even to say a word to Mammy Leezer, Sally went swiftly to the pine woods and began talking to herself again.

"Now one thing am I bound to do. It will be hard to see the way, but--I am going to a dame school!

"Mistress Maria Kent has long had pupils, and a likely teacher she must be. School goes in this day week. I mean to be there! But how? I know not, yet some way will I find to learn."

That night Sally lay long awake. How busy was her mind! How many ways she tried to plan! At length she exclaimed:

"I have it! I have it! That will I do. If Mistress Cory Ann makes a noise about it,--and I greatly fear me she will,--then must I put on bravery and tell her, with seemly respect, but with a good show of will, that learning I want and that learning I must have."

The next afternoon, as soon as she was through her supper, Sally made herself both neat and pretty in appearance. Her hair was now all the time made to look almost smooth, the gray and white print with a red rose for a breastpin was well brightened up. The decent shoes were on her feet.

She slipped away without being seen by the sharp eyes of Mistress Cory Ann, for she felt that her looks would not be pleasing to her. More than once had Mistress Brace spoken smartly of her smoother hair, and she had not liked the buying of the shoes.

Now, should she see Sally gliding away, the new dress on, a rose for ornament, and with shoes on, she would demand being told at once whither she was bound.

Mistress Maria Kent was sitting on the porch at her pretty little home, the picture of an old-time schoolmistress. Her hair was parted with a precision that could not have been increased, and it was brought smoothly down on either side, where it was rounded just in front of her ears, a little hard quirl being carried over her ears and pinned closely to her back hair.

Her long-waisted dress of blue cambric was of a Puritan plainness, while the deeply wrought collar lying flat around her neck was fastened with a round breastpin that had hair curiously plaited in the centre, surrounded by black and white enamel, and all framed in gold.

She lifted her eyes from the book she was reading to see a spare little figure coming up the garden walk.

"Good evening, little maid," she said pleasantly, "was there something you wished to say to me?"

[Ill.u.s.tration: "'GOOD EVENING, LITTLE MAID,' SHE SAID, PLEASANTLY."]

Sally swallowed hard, and scarcely lifting her eyes, she replied, in a frightened voice:

"Yes, Mistress Kent, I want to get learning."

"That is praiseworthy," said Mistress Maria, "and have any arrangements been made by which you can enter upon the duties and privileges of a youthful scholar?"

Sally had told herself on the way that she must be brave, and so, scarcely understanding or even knowing what Mistress Kent had said, she began with a good show of courage for so timid and untaught a child:

"There is no one to help me, Mistress, I must help myself, but I can do things if I try. I have set my heart on getting learning, which I shall!

I have no money but about fourpence-ha'penny a week for darning stockings, but I have skill with the needle somewhat. If I could clean, or weed, or sew, my work should be well done. Could I sew for you or your mother, Mistress Kent, or do any kind of work that would pay for learning to read and write and spell? For learn I shall!"

Sally was on the point of crying out loud as she finished her speech, so very hard had it been for her to make it, yet glad and half surprised she was, that, without stopping, the whole story had been told.

Mistress Kent was silent for a time after Sally had spoken. She was thinking to herself:

"This is something new. Here is a little maid ten or eleven years of age, who, all by herself, has come to my door, saying that learning she wants and must have, and will gladly pay for it what she can with her own small hands."

But the Mistress had to be wise and prudent. The children who came to her school were well taught and well reared, came of proud parents who paid well for their schooling, and would never let their little people a.s.sociate with children of the poorer cla.s.ses.

They were all well dressed, carefully washed and combed, wore fine stockings and tasteful shoes, and had high notions already in their own proud little heads.

So Mistress Kent, who had a good, kind heart under her stiff waist, was quiet so long a time that Sally raised her eyes and saw a look of trouble on the face of the schoolmistress. She was looking far off on the distant fields, and was surely trying to think something out. At length she said, slowly and distinctly: