by L. T. Meade
CHAPTER XXII.
NOT A COUNTER-JUMPER.
The holidays came to an end on the whole satisfactorily. Irene was by nomeans perfect; even Agnes showed signs of being spoiled owing to the new_regime_. Hughie expressed a strong desire to be back at school. MissFrost never ceased to watch the two, and the struggle within her breastdid not die out. Lady Jane alone was thankful for the marked improvementin her child. Not that she saw very much of Irene, for Irene and Agneswere together almost all day long; Agnes the petted darling of the eldergirl, Irene yielding to her every whim, delighting in the daring spiritwhich slowly but surely began to awaken in the little one. Nevertheless,the servants were unmolested, Miss Frost had a peaceful time, Lady Janebegan to breathe freely, and even Hughie turned to other occupations andmore or less forgot Irene and his little sister. He had never told anyone of that awful time which he had spent with Irene in the boat. Thatsecret he kept confined within his own breast; but he never could forgetit; the moment when his young manhood seemed to forsake him, when thespirit of cowardice arose before him, and he felt certain that he shoulddie; the longing which arose to his lips to implore Irene at any cost tosave him; the way he kept back the words. Then her test and hisacceptance of it, the victory he had really won over her, the knowledgethat in the future she would treat him with respect.
Irene, with all her faults, was true to her word, and one day just whenthe long summer holidays were coming to an end, and when every one wastalking and thinking again of school life and school affairs, and itsjoys and sorrows, Irene went and sat down on a low stool by her mother'sside.
"You are sending me next week to the Merrimans'," she said. "I don't atall know whether I shall be able to endure it. You think me greatlyimproved, but I don't know that I am improved. Be that as it may,however, I want to ask you a great favor, mothery."
"What is that, my darling?" asked Lady Jane.
"You, of course, mean to go away. Rosamund said that you would. She saidyou would take a rest, and forget all the worries that your naughty,naughty child has given you all these years. You will do that, won'tyou, mothery darling?"
"Yes, I will go away," said Lady Jane. "I have arranged it. But what isyour request, Irene?"
"Well, it has something to do with Hughie. You know about Miss Frost?"
"I know she is an excellent creature."
"She is; and you know how fond I am of little Agnes."
"No wonder. She is a sweet little soul," said Lady Jane; "although,sometimes, Irene"----
"Please don't!" said Irene, putting her hand to her mother's lips. "Ihave made a resolution. Agnes is to be my child in the future. She is tolive with me always and always, mother. I couldn't do without her. Sheis my doll, my baby, my plaything--the creature that keeps me human.With Rosamund on one side and Agnes on the other, I can be good,mothery. But if you were to take either or both of them away, I shouldbe worse than ever. Miss Frost must give Agnes up to me."
"I don't think she will be able to stand that. I don't see how you canexpect it."
"Well, I do expect it, and I don't mean to discuss the point now. Agnescomes with me, does she not, to Mrs. Merriman's school?"
"She does. Rosamund's mother is paying for her during this term."
"And Miss Frost goes, too?"
"Yes, dear, certainly."
"Well, now, there is Hughie. Miss Frost says that she cannot give himthe education sufficient to make a gentleman of him. But, mother, he isa nice boy--he is, really."
"He is quite a plain boy," said Lady Jane--"very different from hislittle sister--a little rough, I call him."
"But he is quite nice, all the same. Anyhow, mother, I wish it--I wanthim to be made a gentleman. I want him to be sufficiently educated, andI want us to help Miss Frost. We needn't take all the burden off hershoulders, for I know you pay her very well indeed; but I want him to beleft at school until he is old enough to take up some profession. Idon't know what he would like. I'll run and ask him now; may I?"
"But, first of all, let me consider. Why should I have this on me? Ihave--although you never seem to remember it, you naughty littleIrene--a great many expenses."
"Yes, but you are rich, and I am your only child. I want Hughie, justbecause he is Agnes's brother, to be a gentleman. Agnes's brother can'tbe a counter-jumper, can he, mothery?"
"What a horrid expression! Where did you learn it, Irene?"
"Oh, I picked it up from one of the servants; her cousin was acounter-jumper. She always made me laugh when she spoke about it. Shedescribed how he doled out yards of ribbon, and she said that hisfigure was all gone to nothing, but he was very genteel-looking. I usedto make her tell me about him, because I used to frighten her withspiders and wasps if she didn't. But I don't do that sort of thing now.I'll take to it again, though, if you don't do what I wish."
"Then I am sure I will do what you wish, although I am rather puzzled."
"Well, we'll settle it, and at once," said Irene.
She ran out of the room and met Miss Frost, who was crossing the hall.
"Frosty," said the little girl, going up to her governess, "I want toask you a question. How much money do you pay a year for Hughie'sschooling?"
Miss Frost turned painfully red.
"That is scarcely your affair, is it, Irene?" she said.
"I am not naughty, really; I want to know for a most serious, importantreason. Do you pay much, or do you pay little?"
"I pay what is really very little. I pay fifty pounds a year. It is nota good school, but it is the best I can afford. It is a commercialschool. I trust to get Hughie a place in a shop when he is sixteen--thatis, in two years' time. I think I can manage his school for thepresent."
"Thank you, Miss Frost. That is all I need."
Irene then went out, and whistling in a boyish fashion, presentlybrought Hughie to her side. He was quite at home with her now, andwalked willingly along the gravel path listening as she spoke to him.
"Hughie, you know the promise I made to you?"
"Yes, I know," he said, his eyes dancing. "I am to be a gentleman. Yousaid so."
"You are; but I must know all about it. Your sister pays fifty pounds ayear to keep you at school."
"It's an awfully low sort of place," said the boy. "I mean the fellowsthere aren't gentlemen, and it is frightfully difficult to be agentleman when no one else is."
"Well, it ought not to be. A gentleman ought to be a gentleman througheverything," said Irene. "However, that is not the point. Whatprofession would you like best if, supposing you were rich, you couldhave your choice?"
"I'd like best in all the world," said Hughie, "to be educated to becomea lawyer--I mean a barrister. But there's no chance of that. I likearguing and disputing, and proving that other people are wrong, morethan anything else in the world."
"You are not particularly amiable, Hughie," said Irene, with a laugh;"but I think I understand."
"Well, that is all right. Have you anything more to say?"
"Not just at present, only I want to speak to mother."
Lady Jane was sitting just where Irene had left her. Irene went and laidher head on her mother's lap.
"Frosty pays fifty pounds a year," she said, "and it's a horridcommercial school, so we'll have to pay a quarter's fees, for I thinkthat is what is done generally, and Hughie must go to a proper school atonce--a really good one--and we will pay the difference between a reallygood school and Frosty's fifty pounds. Then, if Hughie is clever andgets a scholarship, he can go to one of the 'Varsities, and afterward hemust study for the Bar. You see, I have read up all about it, and Iknow. You must help me to do it, mother. I dare say he will make a veryclever barrister, for he looks quite disagreeable enough to be so."
Lady Jane struggled against Irene's whim. But Irene, as she knew quitewell, had the victory; for the next morning there was a seriousconversation with Miss Frost, who left Lady Jane's presence in floods ofgrateful tears, the result of which was that Hughie was sent to afirst-class school on
the very day that Rosamund, Irene, Agnes, and MissFrost went to the Merrimans'.
"Now, indeed, the world is beginning to go in the right direction," saidIrene, who considered herself one of the most important people in thewhole of creation.
