The Diamond Mines Again, Part 1 (A Little Princess)

01CHAPTER VII.

02THE DIAMOND MINES AGAIN.

03When Sarah entered the holly-hung schoolroom in the afternoon, she did so as the head of a sort of procession.

04Miss Minchin, in her grandest silk dress, led her by the hand.

05A man-servant followed, carrying the box containing the last doll.

06A housemaid carried a second box, and Becky brought up the rear, carrying a third, and wearing a clean apron and a new cap.

07Sarah would much have preferred to enter in the usual way, but Miss Minchin had sent for her, and, after an interview in her private sitting-room, had expressed her wishes.

08"'This is not an ordinary occasion,' she said.

09"'I do not desire that it should be treated as one.' So Sarah was led grandly in, and felt shy when, on her entry, the big girl stared at her, and touched each other's elbows, and the little ones began to squirm joyously in their seats.

10"'Silence, young ladies,' said Miss Minchin, at the murmur which arose.

11"'James, place the box on the table, and remove the lid.

12Emma, put yours upon a chair.' "'Becky!' suddenly and severely.

13Becky had quite forgotten herself in her excitement, and was grinning at Lottie, who was wriggling with rapturous expectation.

14She almost dropped her box—the disapproving voice so startled her—and her frightened, bobbing curtsy of apology was so funny that Lavinia and Jessie tittered.

15"'It is not your place to look at the young ladies,' said Miss Minchin.

16"'You forget yourself.

17Put your box down.' Becky obeyed with alarmed haste, and hastily backed toward the door.

18"'You may leave us,' Miss Minchin announced to the servants, with a wave of her hand.

19Becky stepped aside respectfully to allow the superior servants to pass out first.

20She could not help casting a longing glance at the box on the table.

21Something made of blue satin was peeping from between the folds of tissue paper.

22"'If you please, Miss Minchin,' said Sarah suddenly, "'mayn't Becky stay?' It was a bold thing to do.

23Miss Minchin was betrayed into something like a slight jump.

24Then she put her eyeglass up, and gazed at her show-pupil disturbedly.

25"'Becky!' she exclaimed.

26"'My dearest Sarah!' Sarah advanced a step toward her.

27"'I want her because I know she will like to see the presents,' she explained.

28"'She is a little girl too, you know.' Miss Minchin was scandalized.

29She glanced from one figure to the other.

30"'My dear Sarah,' she said, "'Becky is the scullery-maid.

31Scullery-maids are—are not—little girls.' It really had not occurred to her to think of them in that light.

32Scullery-maids were machines who carried coal-scuttles and made fires.

33"'But Becky is,' said Sarah, "'and I know that she would enjoy herself.

34Please let her stay, because it is my birthday.' Miss Minchin replied with much dignity.

35"'As you ask it as a birthday favour, she may stay.

36Rebecca, thank Miss Sarah for her great kindness.' Becky had been backing into the corner, twisting the hem of her apron in delighted suspense.

37She came forward, bobbing curtsies, but between Sarah's eyes and her own there passed a gleam of friendly understanding, while her words tumbled over each other.

38"'Oh, if you please, Miss.

39I'm that grateful, Miss.

40I did want to see the door, Miss, that I did.

41Thank you, Miss.

42And thank you, ma'am,' turning and making an alarmed bob to Miss Minchin, "'for letting me take the liberty.' Miss Minchin waved her hand again.

43This time it was in the direction of the corner near the door.

44"'Go and stand there,' she commanded.

45"'Not too near the young ladies.' Becky went to her place, grinning.

46She did not care where she was sent, so that she might have the luck of being inside the room, instead of being downstairs in the scullery, while these delights were going on.

47She did not even mind when Miss Minchin cleared her throat ominously and spoke again.

48"'Now, young ladies, I have a few words to say to you,' she announced.

49"'She's going to make a speech,' whispered one of the girls.

50"'I wish it was over.' Sarah felt rather uncomfortable.

51As this was her party, it was probable that the speech was about her.

52It is not agreeable to stand in a schoolroom and have a speech made about you." "'You are aware, young ladies,' the speech began, for it was a speech, "'that dear Sarah is eleven years old to-day.' "'Dear Sarah!' murmured Lavinia.

53"'Several of you here have also been eleven years old, but Sarah's birthdays are rather different from other little girls' birthdays.

54When she is older she will be heiress to a large fortune, which it will be her duty to spend in a meritorious manner.' "'The diamond mines!' giggled Jessie in a whisper.

55Sarah did not hear her, but as she stood with her green-grey eyes fixed steadily on Miss Minchin, she felt herself growing rather hot.

56When Miss Minchin talked about money, she felt somehow that she always hated her, and of course it was disrespectful to hate grown-up people.

57"'When her dear papa, Captain Crewe, brought her from India and gave her into my care,' the speech proceeded, he said to me in a jesting way, "'I am afraid she will be very rich, Miss Minchin.' My reply was, "'Her education at my seminary, Captain Crewe, shall be such as will adorn the largest fortune.

58Sarah has become my most accomplished pupil.

59Her French and her dancing are a credit to the seminary.

60Her manners, which have caused you to call her Princess Sarah, are perfect.

61Her amiability she exhibits by giving you this afternoon's party.

62I hope you appreciate her generosity.

63I wish you to express your appreciation of it by saying aloud altogether, thank you, Sarah.' The entire schoolroom rose to its feet as it had done the morning Sarah remembered so well.

64"'Thank you, Sarah,' it said, and it must be confessed that Lottie jumped up and down.

65Sarah looked rather shy for a moment.

66She made a curtsey, and it was a very nice one.

67"'Thank you,' she said, "'for coming to my party.' "'Very pretty indeed, Sarah,' approved Miss Minchin.

68That is what a real princess does when the populace applauds her.

69Lavinia?' scathingly.

70"'The sound you just made was extremely like a snort.

71If you are jealous of your fellow-pupil, I beg you will express your feelings in some more ladylike manner.

72Now I will leave you to enjoy yourselves.' The instant she had swept out of the room, the spell her presence always had upon them was broken.

73The door had scarcely closed before every seat was empty.

74The little girls jumped or tumbled out of theirs, the older ones wasted no time in deserting theirs.

75There was a rush toward the boxes.

76Sarah had bent over one of them with a delighted face.

77"'These are books, I know,' she said.

78The little children broke into a rueful murmur, and Ermengarde looked aghast.

79"'Does your papa send you books for a birthday present?' she exclaimed.

80"'Why, he's as bad as mine.

81Don't open them, Sarah.' "'I like them,' Sarah laughed.

82But she turned to the biggest box.

83When she took out the last doll, it was so magnificent that the children uttered delighted groans of joy, and actually drew back to gaze at it in breathless rapture.

84"'She's almost as big as Lottie,' someone gasped.

85Lottie clapped her hands and danced about, giggling.

86"'She's dressed for the theatre,' said Lavinia.

87"'Her cloak is lined with ermine.' "'Oh!' cried Ermengarde, darting forward.

88"'She has an opera-glass in her hand—a blue and gold one.

89"'Here is her drunk,' said Sarah.

90"'Let us open it and look at her things.' She sat down upon the floor and turned the key.

91The children crowded clambering around her, as she lifted tray after tray and revealed their contents.

92Never had the schoolroom been in such an uproar.

93There were lace collars and silk stockings and handkerchiefs.

94There was a jewel-case containing a necklace and a tiara, which looked quite as if they were made of real diamonds.

95There was a long sealskin and muff.

96There were ball-dresses and walking-dresses and visiting-dresses.

97There were hats and tea-gowns and fans.

98Even Lavinia and Jessie forgot that they were too elderly to care for dolls, and uttered exclamations of delight and caught up things to look at them.

99"'Suppose,' Sarah said, as she stood by the table, putting a large black velvet hat on the impassively smiling owner of all these splendours, "'suppose she understands human talk, and feels proud of being admired.' "'You are always supposing things,' said Lavinia, and her air was very superior.

100"'I know I am,' answered Sarah, undisturbedly.

101"'I like it.

102There is nothing so nice as supposing.

103It's almost like being a fairy.

104If you suppose anything hard enough, it seems as if it were real.' "'It's all very well to suppose things if you have everything,' said Lavinia.

105"'Could you suppose and pretend if you were a beggar and lived in a garret?' Sarah stopped arranging the last doll's ostrich-plumes, and looked thoughtful.

106"'I believe I could,' she said.

107"'If one was a beggar, one would have to suppose and pretend all the time.

108But it mightn't be easy.' She often thought afterwards how strange it was that just as she had finished saying this, just at that very moment, Miss Amelia came into the room.

109"'Sarah,' she said, "'your papa's solicitor, Mr.

110Barrow, has called to see Miss Minchin, and as she must talk to him alone, and the refreshments are laid in her parlour, you had all better come and have your feast now, so that my sister can have her interview here in the schoolroom.

111Refreshments were not likely to be disdained at any hour, and many pairs of eyes gleamed.

112Miss Amelia ranged the procession into decorum, and then, with Sarah at her side heading it, she led it away, leaving the last doll sitting upon a chair with the glories of her wardrobe scattered about her, dresses and coats hung upon chair-backs, piles of lace-frilled petticoats lying upon their seats.

113Becky, who was not expected to partake of refreshments, had the indiscretion to linger a moment to look at these beauties.

114It really was an indiscretion.

115"'Go back to your work, Becky,' Miss Amelia had said.

116But she had stopped to pick up reverently first a muff, and then a coat, and while she stood looking at them adoringly, she heard Miss Minchin upon the threshold, and being smitten with terror at the thought of being accused of taking liberties, she rashly darted under the table, which hid her by its tablecloth.

117Miss Minchin came into the room, accompanied by a sharp-featured, dry little gentleman, who looked rather disturbed.

118Miss Minchin herself also looked rather disturbed, it must be admitted, and she gazed at the dry little gentleman with an irritated and puzzled expression.

119She sat down with stiff dignity, and waved him to a chair.

120"'Pray be seated, Mr.

121Barrow,' she said.

122Mr.

123Barrow did not sit down at once.

124His attention seemed attracted by the last doll and the things which surrounded her.

125He settled his eye-glasses, and looked at them in nervous disapproval.

126The last doll herself did not seem to mind this in the least.

127She merely sat upright, and returned his gaze indifferently.

128"'A hundred pounds,' Mr.

129Barrow remarked succinctly.

130"'All expensive material, and made at a Parisian modiste's.

131He spent money lavishly enough, that young man.' Miss Minchin felt offended.

132This seemed to be a disparagement of her best patron, and was a liberty.

133Even solicitors had no right to take liberties.

134"'I beg your pardon, Mr.

135Barrow,' she said stiffly.

136"'I do not understand.' "'Birthday presents,' said Mr.

137Barrow, in the same critical manner.

138"'To a child eleven years old.

139Mad extravagance, I call it.' Miss Minchin drew herself up still more rigidly.

140"'Captain Crewe is a man of fortune,' she said.

141"'The diamond-mines alone—'!

142Mr.

143Barrow wheeled round upon her.

144"'Diamond-mines,' he broke out.

145"'There are none.

146Never were.' Miss Minchin actually got up from her chair.

147"'What?' she cried.

148"'What do you mean?' "'At any rate,' answered Mr.

149Barrow, quite snappishly, "'it would have been much better if there never had been any.' "'Any diamond-mines?' ejaculated Miss Minchin, catching at the back of a chair, and feeling as if a splendid dream was fading away from her.

150"'Diamond-mines spell ruin oftener than they spell wealth,' said Mr.

151Barrow.

152"'When a man is in the hands of a very dear friend, and is not a businessman himself, he had better steer clear of the dear friend's diamond-mines, or gold-mines, or any other kind of mines dear friends want his money to put into.

153"'The late Captain Crewe—' Here Miss Minchin stopped him with a gasp.

154"'The late Captain Crewe!' she cried out.

155"'The late!

156You don't mean to tell me that Captain Crewe is—' "'He's dead, ma'am,' Mr.

157Barrow answered with jerky bruskness.

158"'Died of jungle fever and business troubles combined.

159The jungle fever might not have killed him if he had not been driven mad by the business troubles, and the business troubles might not have put an end to him if the jungle fever had not assisted.

160"'Captain Crewe is dead.' Miss Minchin dropped into her chair again.

161The words he had spoken filled her with alarm.

162"'What were his business troubles?' she said.

163"'What were they?' "'Diamond-mines,' answered Mr.

164Barrow, and dear friends.

165"'And ruin.' Miss Minchin lost her breath.

166"'Ruin!' she gasped out.

167Lost every penny.

168That young man had too much money.

169The dear friend was mad on the subject of the diamond-mine.

170He put all his own money into it, and all Captain Crewe's.

171Then the dear friend ran away.

172Captain Crewe was already stricken with fever when the news came.

173The shock was too much for him.

174He died delirious, raving about his little girl, and didn't leave a penny.

175Now Miss Minchin understood, and never had she received such a blow in her life.

176Her show-pupil, her show-patron, swept away from the select seminary at one blow.

177She felt as if she had been outraged and robbed, and that Captain Crewe and Sarah and Mr.

178Barrow were equally to blame.

179"'Do you mean to tell me?' she cried out.

180"'That he left nothing?

181That Sarah will have no fortune?

182That the child is a beggar?

183That she has left on my hands a little pauper instead of an heiress?' Mr.

184Barrow was a shrewd businessman, and felt it as well to make his own freedom from responsibility quite clear without any delay.

185"'She is certainly left a beggar,' he replied.

186"'And she is certainly left on your hands, ma'am, as she hasn't a relation in the world that we know of.' Miss Minchin started forward.

187She looked as if she was going to open the door and rush out of the room to stop the festivities going on joyfully and rather noisily that moment over the refreshments.

188"'It is monstrous!' she said.

189"'She is sitting in my sitting-room at this moment, dressed in silk gauze and lace petticoats, giving a party at my expense.' "'She is giving it at your expense, madam—if she is giving it,' said Mr.

190Barrow, calmly.

191Barrow and Skipworth are not responsible for anything.

192There never was a cleaner sweep made of a man's fortune.

193Captain Crewe died without paying our last bill, and it was a big one.' Miss Minchin turned back from the door in increased indignation.

194This was worse than any one could have dreamed of its being.

195"'That is what has happened to me,' she cried.

196"'I was always so sure of his payments that I went to all sorts of ridiculous expenses for the child.

197I paid the bills for that ridiculous doll and her ridiculous fantastic wardrobe.

198The child was to have anything she wanted.

199She has a carriage and a pony and a maid, and I've paid for all of them since the last cheque came.' Mr.

200Barrow evidently did not intend to remain to listen to the story of Miss Minchin's grievances, after he had made the position of his firm clear and related the mere dry facts.

201He did not feel any particular sympathy for irate keepers of boarding-schools.

202"'You had better not pay for anything more, ma'am,' he remarked, "'unless you want to make presents to the young lady.

203No one will remember you.

204She hasn't a brass farthing to call her own.' "'But what am I to do?' demanded Miss Minchin, as if she felt it entirely his duty to make the matter right.

205"'What am I to do?' "'There isn't anything to do,' said Mr.

206Barrow, folding up his eyeglasses and slipping them into his pocket.

207"'Captain Crewe is dead.

208The child is left a pauper.

209Nobody is responsible for her but you.' "'I am not responsible for her, and I refuse to be made responsible.' Miss Minchin became quite white with rage.

210Mr.

211Barrow turned to go.

212"'I have nothing to do with that, madam,' he said, uninterestedly.

213"'Barrow and Skipworth are not responsible.

214Very sorry the thing has happened, of course.' "'If you think she is to be foisted off on me, you are greatly mistaken,' Miss Minchin gasped.

215"'I have been robbed and cheated.

216I will turn her into the street.' If she had not been so furious, she would have been too discreet to say quite so much.

217She saw herself burdened with an extravagantly brought-up child whom she had always resented, and she lost all self-control.

218Mr.

219Barrow undisturbedly moved toward the door.

220"'I wouldn't do that, madam,' he commented.

221"'It wouldn't look well.

222Unpleasant story to get about in connection with the establishment—pupil bundled out penniless and without friends.' He was a clever businessman, and he knew what he was saying.

223He also knew that Miss Minchin was a businesswoman, and would be shrewd enough to see the truth.

224She could not afford to do a thing which would make people speak of her as cruel and hard-hearted.

225"'Better keep her and make use of her,' he added.

226"'She's a clever child, I believe.

227You can get a good deal out of her as she grows older.' "'I will get a good deal out of her before she grows older,' exclaimed Miss Minchin.

228"'I am sure you will, ma'am,' said Mr.

229Barrow, with a little sinister smile.

230"'I am sure you will.

231Good morning.'" End of chapter 7, part 1