make her out. She seems good and_nice_ altogether; but she must be selfish. She does seem so perfectlydelighted when she is praised, and even put before you; and she does notreally try to make friends with us. She might make you like her."
Something was running in Gueda's head about the best way of winningwithheld liking or affection being to put oneself in the way ofreceiving a service from the one to be gained over. "If Miss Meredoncared to do it with Charlotte, she might. Charlotte is so generous: ifshe were appealed to by the girl to help her a little, she would respondat once, I know," thought Gueda.
"No," agreed Charlotte with some satisfaction, "she does not try. Idon't want her to, and I don't try myself. All the same, I am glad shedoesn't."
"Some of the girls say she is affected," said Gueda.
"It doesn't prevent them all from toadying her in a disgusting way,"said Charlotte, contemptuously.
"Not all of them," said Gueda. "Some of them are nicer than that, andare too proud to make friends with a girl who never seems able to speakto any of us naturally. _Some_ think her manners are very`distinguished,' and what one must expect from Lady Mildred's niece."
"Vulgar snobs!" ejaculated Charlotte.
"What can you expect?" said Gueda. "Perhaps she is really more shy thananything else, and yet I hardly think so. Now and then she seems as ifshe was ready to burst out laughing, and as eager to chatter and talknonsense as any of us. And sometimes she has a very curious look in herface, as if she were almost asking pardon of us all. And oh, Charlotte,how pretty she is!"
"You needn't repeat that. I hear it about fifty times an hour. And shecertainly does not look as if she were asking pardon of me every timeshe is put before me," said Charlotte. "Now do let us talk of somethingelse, Gueda. Don't spoil the last few days before you go."
And Claudia, in blissful ignorance of all the discussion she evoked, wasjust then writing home one of her happy, almost triumphant letters,telling of new laurels gained and satisfactory opinions everywhere. Shespoke warmly of Lady Mildred's kindness, and kept silence on herstrangely trying temper, as well as on the difficulties she was growingmore conscious of in her school-life.
"It would be wrong, distinctly wrong," she said to herself, "to complainof Aunt Mildred. So there, I have no choice. But about school--Iwonder if mamma could say anything to help me? No, I am afraid not. Imust just not mind if I am disliked."
So she told of nothing but of good. Still Mrs Meredon, being aremarkably clever and acute woman,--a woman too of somewhat moredetermined and less emotional calibre than Charlotte's gentle,sympathising mother,--read between the lines of her daughter's letterand saw some rocks ahead.
"She is determined to make the best of everything, and that is onlyright," she said to herself. "But she is too one-sided in her way oflooking at things just now. I must warn her."
And this letter brought in return some counsel to Claudia, which she hadafterwards even fuller reason to appreciate.
There happened one morning to be an unusually difficult exercise to dofor the French teacher. It related to some of the rules of grammarwhich it was evident the pupils had not thoroughly taken in."Mademoiselle" explained them again more fully and clearly, but at theend of her dissertation she looked round the circle of faces, with theirvarying expressions of intelligence, indifference, or bewilderment, andsighed.
"I don't believe you understand yet, young ladies," she said. "One ortwo of you may do so perhaps--Miss Meredon?"--and a smile from Claudiaconfirmed her hopefulness in that quarter,--"Miss Waldron?" butCharlotte's face was resolutely bent upon her exercise-book. "She doesnot understand, and she is too proud to own it," thought the governess,who, like some others of the teachers, was rather in awe of Charlotte."Ah, well!--Miss Knox, you Fanny, and Isabel, I am almost sure--" shewent on aloud.
"Oh, yes, indeed we understand quite well, even though we can't quitesay it," said Isabel Lewis hastily. Anything to have done with thelesson and poor conscientious "mademoiselle," who was so "tiresome"to-day. "You'll see, mademoiselle, we shall do it all right when itcomes up again in our exercises."
"I am glad to hear it," the French teacher replied in a peculiar tone."You shall then give me the gratification you promise me without delay.For the next lesson you shall translate into French the followingpassage in English which I shall now dictate to you."
And she proceeded to read aloud a passage of English especially composedto test the pupil's comprehension of the knotty point.
Isabel made a grimace, but wrote it off readily enough. It was neverher way to anticipate troubles. Who knew what might happen before thenext lesson? She might discover some unanswerable reason for coaxing aholiday out of "papa"; she _might_ have one of the convenient coldswhich were not much of a penance; the skies might fall! And she onlylaughed when her companions reproached her for having brought this extrapiece of work upon them.
It was really a difficult exercise. It took all Claudia's thoroughknowledge of the rules to complete it correctly; and Charlotte, whoseadvantages of training in modern languages had been fewer, found herselfin one or two details hopelessly baffled. But she kept this to herself;she did her best, and trusted there was not much wrong. Where was theuse of speaking about it? There was no one who could help her. MrsWaldron's French was a long ago story; as to her companions, she waspretty sure that, with one exception, they were far more in the darkthan herself. But it was new and painful to her to feel misgivings, andthe very afternoon on which the exercises had to be given in she sat,her book open before her, trying to see what were her mistakes, andhoping to be able even then to correct them. She was so absorbed thatshe did not hear herself sigh, nor a light step approaching her in hercorner.
"Miss Waldron," said a voice she knew well, with an inflection oftimidity which, till recently, happy, hearty Claudia's tones had neverknown, "please forgive me for asking you if you are puzzled about thatexercise. I found it very difficult, but ma--I was rather severelydrilled in those rules, and I _think_ I have got it right."
"Indeed!" said Charlotte coldly.
"It is the last phrase that is so particularly worrying, is it not?--ofcourse it is made to be so. Many French girls themselves would not knowhow to put it perfectly."
Now it was this last phrase that to Charlotte had been a veritable ass'sbridge. And besides her ambition, she had the purer motive of astudent's real interest in thoroughly comprehending the working of therule. As Claudia spoke she half unconsciously relaxed a little in herstiff, stand-off manner.
"Yes," she said more frankly, "it is the last part that I cannot satisfymyself about."
"Would you let me?--oh, please do," said Claudia, her face flushing, hervoice literally trembling with eagerness. "Might I just explain to youhow I have said it to myself?" and without waiting for Charlotte'shalf-hesitating reply, she ran on. In a few clear, terse sentences sheput it before her listener, as all mademoiselle's long explanations orthe involved language of the grammar had failed to do. Charlotte forgotherself and her prejudices in real admiration and satisfaction.
"I see," she exclaimed delightedly. "Miss Meredon, you have a realgenius for teaching."
"Do you really think so?" Claudia replied joyously. "And you are sucha good judge. Oh, if you only--" but she checked herself sharply. "Youdo work so well and so hard, Miss Waldron."
"Yes," said Charlotte, with a slight return of the cold moodiness whichClaudia had rarely seen behind, "I don't spare myself. I care fornothing on earth so much as for getting on well with my lessons."
There was an intensity in her tone which almost startled Claudia. Atthe same time it touched a sympathetic chord.
"Oh, do you really feel so?" she exclaimed impulsively. "I think I canunderstand it. You have probably some very great motive as well as loveof learning. Are you perhaps looking forward to making some use of youreducation, of all you are learning, before long--to help your parents,perhaps?" Charlotte grew crimson.
"Do you mean to s
ay, am I being educated to be a governess?" she saidhaughtily. "No, Miss Meredon, I am not I think before you make suchremarks you might be at the trouble to understand whom you are talkingto, though you seem to think yourself of a perfectly different worldfrom every one about you. But even in _our_ world there are such thingsas well-educated ladies who are not governesses, though the idea may bea new one to you."
Claudia's face grew pale with distress. She clasped her hands together,while her eyes filled with tears.
"Oh, dear, what have
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