by L. T. Meade
CHAPTER VI
BELLE THE SAGE.
Belle Acheson was an ideal scholarly girl of the latter end of thenineteenth century. She wore spectacles, not pince-nez. Her hair wasparted smoothly on her forehead and done up in a tiny knot or dab at theback of her neck. Her forehead was high, her complexion sallow, her eyesshort-sighted and small. She had a long upper lip, and her mouth wasthin and wide. In figure she was extremely spare, her feet and handswere large, and her shoulders angular. She was a plain girl, and shegloried in the fact. Belle Acheson lived altogether for the joys ofintellect; to learn was her delight. The more abstruse, the more dry,the science, the more eagerly did Belle absorb it, and make it part ofherself. She was a good classical scholar, and was also fond of modernlanguages. She studied Shakespeare, not for his beauty of language, butfor his archaisms. She adored musty professors, and never had a goodword to say for an athletic man. Her ambition was to carry offdouble-firsts, and some people thought that she had a fair chance ofobtaining this blue ribbon.
Belle was an inmate of St. Wode's College, Wingfield. There were fourhalls of residence at St. Wode's, and Belle occupied an attic in NorthHall. She had been there now for three terms, and had already made aprofound impression on her tutors. She amassed knowledge with greatrapidity. No nut was too hard for her to crack.
Now, if there was a girl in the entire of England that Mrs. Chetwyndloathed it was Belle Acheson. Mrs. Acheson was Mrs. Chetwynd's oldfriend. Their husbands had fought side by side in the same campaigns inIndia. They had belonged to the same regiment. She felt that nothingwould induce her to desert her old friend; but alas! that old friend'sdaughter! It was fearful to think that such a girl was coming to pay avisit to Marjorie and Eileen at this important crisis in their lives.
"Can anything be done to prevent it?" said Mrs. Chetwynd on the morningof the fatal day. She was addressing Letitia, who was gradually gettingherself more and more into the good woman's confidence.
"My dear Lettie," she said, "I would honestly pay twenty pounds to anyhansom-driver to let his horse fall between here and Mrs. Acheson's inorder to give Belle a wrench of the arm or a twist of the wrist, orsomething which would give her sufficient pain to send her home again."
"Then, as those are your very heathenish wishes, Aunt Helen, you may bequite certain that Belle will arrive in perfect health, without anyaccident, not in a hansom, but in that two-horse conveyance which ismeant for the convenience of the poorer people of London."
Mrs. Chetwynd sighed.
"I beseech of you, dear," she said, "not to leave the children alonewith that pernicious girl. Stay in the room yourself. When you perceivethat the conversation is getting into dangerous channels, turn it, mydear child. Now, remember, Lettie, I trust you. Everything depends onyour discretion."
"I will do what I can, of course, Aunt Helen; but I must frankly admitthat I shall have very little influence."
"I only wish Providence had made you one of my daughters. If you andMarjorie, for instance, had been my daughters, and Eileen had been you,then things might have been quite pleasant, for you would haveinfluenced Marjorie and brought her back again into the right ways. Asit is, however----"
"As it is, we must make the best of things," said Letitia.
There came a ring at the hall-door, and Mrs. Acheson and the redoubtableBelle were ushered in. Mrs. Acheson, in her usual somewhat diffidentmanner, kissed Mrs. Chetwynd, and then Belle flew up to her and gave hera little peck on her cheek.
"How do?" she cried. "Where are the girls? I am most anxious to see themat once. Pray, don't ring; I'll run up to them. I know the oldschoolroom. I have a great deal to say. You know I go up again nextweek, and can think of nothing else. But I determined that whoever elsewas left in the cold, I must interview Marjorie and Eileen. Mother, haveyou got my small Virgil in your bag? I am writing a paper on that greatman, and I wish to read it to the girls in order to get their opinion."
"They know nothing whatever about the classics," interrupted Mrs.Chetwynd. "I believe they are going out for a walk; would you like to gowith them?"
"I don't think we shall have time for that," replied Belle. "I'll findthem; don't you trouble."
She nodded to Mrs. Chetwynd and to her mother in a friendly, offhandstyle, and left the room. Mrs. Chetwynd glanced at Letitia, of whomBelle had not taken the slightest notice, and the young girl followedthe eccentric, scholarly undergraduate of St. Wode's upstairs.
Marjorie and Eileen had an old-fashioned schoolroom at the top of thehouse, They had cleaned it out themselves, and put it into orderaccording to their individual tastes. It was now neat and bare.Marjorie, still wearing her shabby serge dress, was standing near anopen window. She was holding a long, yellow canary on her finger, andwhistling to the bird, who pecked at her in happy confidence.
Eileen was putting some pins into a great rent in her petticoat. Thedoor was burst open, and Belle rushed in.
"How do, dears, both?" she said in a friendly voice. "Pray don't rush atme and devour me with kisses; we never go on in that way at North Hall.My dear Marjorie, how you have grown! Oh! I am pleased to see you inthat plain serge dress; and Eileen--petticoat out of order? Nevermind--here, this pin will set it finally right."
"Do stop for a moment, Belle. Of course I am delighted to see you," saidMarjorie, "but I must put Daffodil back into his cage."
She crossed the room, still holding the bird on her finger, opened thedoor of his cage, and let him fly in. She then shut the cage-door andcame back to where her friend was standing.
"I didn't know you wore spectacles, Belle," she said.
"Yes, dear, my sight is bad. I have been to Wiesbaden to the celebratedoculist, and he has ordered these special glasses. I have astigmatism inone eye, and have therefore to wear special spectacles. By the way,Marjorie, you look as if you ought to be short-sighted."
"Ought to be short-sighted?" said Marjorie. "I am not; I have excellentsight."
"You ought to be," repeated Belle; "it gives one a distinguished look.In all probability you will be very short-sighted when you come tocollege. Most scholarly girls--I see by the shape of your brow that youare meant to be scholarly--are obliged to wear spectacles."
"When I come to college!" replied Marjorie, "and I am supposed to be ascholarly girl. Delightful! And yet I am not sure that I wish to bescholarly; but what a dear delicious creature you are, Belle! Sit down;do sit down."
"Thanks," said Belle. She squatted down on a wooden bench in an ungainlyfashion, crossing one leg over the other.
Letitia now advanced; she had been standing near the door.
"Who is that young person?" said Belle, raising her very short-sightedeyes, and staring hard at Lettie.
"You know quite well who I am," replied Letitia. "I am the cousin whohas always lived with the twins. We are all three eighteen, and we arecoming out in about a week or a fortnight."
"We are not coming out," said Eileen.
"Coming out!" cried Marjorie. "Now, Lettie, for goodness' sake, don't besilly. You know that unpleasant matter has been arranged. Perhaps youwould like to go down to the drawing-room to mother and Mrs. Acheson.Eileen and I have a great deal to say to Belle."
"No, I mean to stay and listen," replied Lettie. "I may have a good dealto say to Belle on my own account."
"Stay, if you wish to," said Belle; "but I don't suppose for a momentour conversation will interest you. You are fashionable; and that isquite enough.--Marjorie, what is it you have to say?"
"I want to ask you all about your life, dear," said Marjorie. "Eileenand I have left school. We have come home, and mother wishes us to gointo society--poor, dear little mother, the best of souls; but we are notgoing to allow her to order our lives."
"Certainly not," said Eileen, "we are going to take our lives into ourown hands, and we wish to consult you about the matter, Belle. Youare--where did you say?"
"At St. Wode's College, Wingfield, the place in all England where womenwho wish to distinguish themselves ought t
o receive training."
"Then, would you recommend us to come to St. Wode's College?" askedEileen.
"That I cannot say; but I will tell you about it if you like. By theway, I wish that young person--I beg her pardon----"
"Letitia is my name," said Lettie.
"I wish Letitia would sit so that I need not see that fashionablearrangement of her hair--it irritates me terribly. Why should peoplewaste time in fluffing and crimping their hair. It not only ruins thehair and ages the appearance, but, what is of much more consequence, itcauses the unhappy victim to commit a sin--yes, a sin. It wastes time,and oh, time is so precious! I feel this more and more the longer Ilive. Each precious, valuable moment has to be accounted for. The brainis master of the body. To enlarge the brain, to cultivate the----"
"Hear! hear! This is as good as a lecture," said Eileen. "Go on, please,Belle; you are just the same dear, odd, delightful girl you alwayswere."
"Whether I am delightful or not, it is very rude of you to interruptme," said Belle, frowning. She had no sense of humor, and could see nofun in Eileen's remark.
"I will tell you both about the college if you really wish to learn,"she continued; "but I must not stay here long to-day, for I have toomuch to do. Mother mentioned that you had come back from school, andthat your mother intended to take you at once into that whirlpool offrivolity which is given the name of Society; and when I heard that, Ithought it was my duty to tell you both plainly what I thought on thesubject."
"But that is unnecessary, because you see we agree with you," saidMarjorie.
"Well, well, so far so good; but you want my advice now as to what youwill do. You distinctly intend to oppose your mother and that young girlwith the fashionable head?"
"I really cannot see why I and my head should be dragged into thiscontroversy," said Letitia. "I am not speaking; I am simply sitting andlistening. May I not listen to the words of wisdom which drop from yourlips?"
"You talk, Lettie, as if poor Belle was Minerva," said Eileen. "You knowwhatever we do you'll have to do; because, though you are fashionableand horribly neat and particular about your outward appearance, you loveus so well that you could not live without us."
"There is some truth in that," said Letitia, with a sigh.
"Well, now, stop wrangling, you three," said Belle, "and let me speak.You can go on with your quarrel when I am away; but during the fewmoments that I can spare from my own heavy tasks, for I have a vast dealto acquire before I return to college, I surely may be allowed to saywhat I have come to say?"
"So good of you to come, dear Belle," said Eileen, patting Belle's long,large, angular hand.
Belle snatched her hand away.
"I hate being petted and fondled," she said; "we never do that at NorthHall, it is so schoolgirlish--at least not those girls who are worthanything. In every house of residence, in every college, there aredrones, poor useless creatures, who follow the busy bees; but at St.Wode's such dangerous adjuncts to the public peace are generally rootedout. Miss Lauderdale, our adored principal, sees to that. Now, girls, ifyou wish to hear what the busy bees do, I will tell you."
"I wish you would begin," said Lettie; "you do nothing but walk roundthe subject and never attack it."
"I don't suppose it will interest you," said Belle; "but here goes.--Bythe way, have either of you two"--as she spoke she turned to Eileen andMarjorie--"have either of you two ever been to St. Wode's College,Wingfield?"
"Never," said Eileen; "but Fay Everett, a girl at our school, has asister there, and she sometimes describes the place to us. She said thestudents' rooms were so sweetly pretty, and that each girl couldexercise her own individual taste."
"Good gracious! am I sitting here to talk of the girls who are supposedto have taste?" cried Belle. "Taste, what is taste? It is nothing but adevice of the Evil One for wasting time. I am here to talk to you aboutthe students, the real students. I, for instance, have a room. Would youlike to know how my room is furnished?"
Letitia gave a perceptible shudder, and walking to the windowdeliberately shut it.
"What are you doing that for?" said Eileen. "It is going to be a veryhot day."
"I felt a sudden chill," said Lettie.
"Well, do let the window remain shut; what does it matter?" cried Belle."I have placed myself high above the mere influence of the weather. Isit hot? is it cold? I can never tell; I simply don't know. My mind isabsorbed in abstruse speculations and such trivial matters as bodilydiscomforts cannot touch it. Oh, girls, it is grand to allow your mindto soar! Have you, for instance, ever dipped deep into the intricaciesof Virgil?"
"Never," said Eileen.
She looked at Marjorie.
"I don't think, after all," she continued, "we wish to be so verylearned. Our idea was to be just useful, plain sort of women. Of coursewe should never think of marrying; but we should like to be women whohelp their fellow-creatures, who are ready to take their place in asudden emergency. We want to know a little about nursing, something tooabout medicine. We should not object to going through a regular courseof household training; but as to learning, we don't want to bebookworms."
"In that case, why, in the name of Heaven, have I been asked over here?"cried Belle. "Is my precious time to be wasted?" Here she jumped upsuddenly and confronted the two girls. In her agitation and anger herspectacles dropped from her nose; they fell with a crash on the floor,and one glass was broken.
"Now, what am I to do?" said Belle. "Oh, the irreparable injury you twogirls have done me! One of my glasses is broken, and I, who haveastigmatism in one eye, cannot get it mended in a hurry. It is crackedright across. Most fortunately I took the precaution to provide myselfwith another pair, or I should be lost, simply lost. Oh dear! what awasted afternoon!"
"But can't you tell us what you were going to say, even without seeingus very plainly?" said Eileen. "Do, Belle, sit down and be comfortable;tell us everything. We are not at all settled in our own minds as towhat we will do yet. You have a room, and it is not ornamental. Well, wedon't care about ornamental rooms. This room is bare, is it not?"
"Bare! Do you call this a bare room?" cried Belle. "There are sixchairs, for instance. Do you ever expect to entertain six people in theroom where you work? In addition to the six ordinary chairs there is anarmchair. Who wants to loll in an armchair? There is also a bench onwhich I am now sitting. Tell me, is a bench necessary as well as sixordinary chairs and an armchair? Are four tables required? Is thatcarpet essential? Does it stimulate the brain to keep the feet upon acarpet? Are those thick curtains necessary--they are only traps tocollect dirt. Blinds to the windows I grant are required, or peoplemight stare in. Oh yes, I will allow blinds; they are necessary. Now Iwill tell you about my room. I have asked to be put in one of theattics. The house is very full, and the vice-principal of North Hall,Miss Penrose, was quite willing to oblige me. The attic was notfurnished when I got it, and I begged and implored of her to allow me tofurnish it in my own way. I have therefore a camp-bed in one corner, aparticularly narrow one. There is a small, hard mattress on it; Thecounterpane is colored; it is dark-blue, and does not require to bewashed often--that is one item off the mind. The mind, my dear girls--thatis, the minds of those who are students at St. Wode's College--have suchdeep problems to solve that they cannot be fretted by external worries.The minds of the real students must be left free to solve problems--theintricacies of Virgil, the great masterpieces of Homer, Dante in hismagnificent original----"
Belle had now forgotten her auditors. She ceased staring at them, herglasses were useless, her eyes were dim; but nevertheless she herselfwas seeing visions.
Marjorie patted her on the arm.
"Go on, Belle, go on," she said; "we will find out about Virgil andHomer and Dante presently. Now, what else have you in the room? Youcannot live in a room that contains nothing but a camp-bed and a blind,and at present that is all you have admitted."
"I have a desk, specially made for myself, in the window," continuedBelle; "there is
a stool, a high stool, on which I sit. The stool has noback; I should scorn to lean back. I have a shelf on the wall whichcontains my books--my few books, twenty in all--standard works, mostly inthe classics. Amongst them are to be found Polybius, Appian's Civil War(Book 1.), Cicero's Letters, Plato's Republic, Bacon's Novum Organum,Aristotle's Politics, Locke On the Human Understanding, and----"
"Good gracious!"
Lettie was the one who made this exclamation.
"Quiet, quiet, Lettie; do let her finish," said Eileen. She kicked outher foot and gave Lettie a poke.
Letitia drew in her own neatly shod little foot and sat with her handsfolded in her lap and her eyes dancing with suppressed mirth.
"I have a chair besides the one I occupy," continued Belle. "That chairis for a friend if a friend happens to come in. There is a small dealtable upon which I never allow a cloth to be put, as it is apt to comeoff and spill the ink--such waste of time sopping up ink. Often, in mymoments of frenzy, have I jumped up suddenly and pulled the cloth withme. You don't know what I feel at times with the greatness of thethoughts which surge through my brain. Having spilt the ink three orfour times, I have discarded the cloth. A washhand-stand is of courseessential, and there is a chest of drawers where I keep my things."
"By the way, how many dresses have you, Belle?" said Eileen suddenly."Two--have you two?"
"I cannot tell you," replied Belle, turning her eyes towards Eileen, andlooking at her as if she did not see her. "I have not the faintest ideawhat dresses I have. Mother supplies them. I put a dress on in themorning--I take it off at night. Occasionally, in the excitement of mythoughts, I have been known to come down to breakfast in an eveningdress. I will admit that this has attracted attention and annoyed me; soas a rule I am careful to see that it is a morning dress which I amabout to wear."
"But do you think evening dresses necessary at all?" said Eileen in ananxious voice. "We think it would be so much more useful to save ourmoney. Marjorie and I mean to do great good in the world."
"Then if you will take my advice," said Belle, jumping to her feet, "youwill come as soon as possible to St. Wode's. When you are there I willtalk to you again. I cannot waste any more time to-day. You will have topass in Responsions; but doubtless that could be easily managed. Yes,when you are there I shall do my utmost to guide you. Marjorie, just letme place my finger on your brow; I shall be able to tell you in a momentwhether you will be able to manage Virgil."
Marjorie submitted to this test with exemplary patience. Lettie laughedaloud.
"You'll do," cried Belle. "I'll just enter your name in my book.'Marjorie Chetwynd comes to St. Wode's College as soon as possible.' Thespring term begins in a fortnight, Marjorie, so you have little time tolose.--Now, Eileen, let me look at you. Yes, you also would do well; butI think perhaps your forte will be modern languages and Englishliterature. All lighter accomplishments you will of course eschew."
"Oh, please don't leave the room," said Lettie, bounding forward, "untilyou have placed your fingers on my brow to see what I am worth. Really,this is most interesting. You are a kind of magician, Belle."
"You will be one of the frivols; one of the drones of our hive," repliedBelle sternly. "Don't, I beg of you, come to St. Wode's."
"I can only tell you this," answered Lettie, running after Belle as shewas flying downstairs, "if Eileen and Marjorie go I mean to accompanythem."
