A Sweet Girl Graduate | Page 2

Now, not another
word. I'm off to bed. Good night, my love."
Priscilla kissed her aunt and went out. It was a lovely autumn evening.
She stepped on to the green sward which surrounded the little cottage,
and with the moonlight casting its full radiance on her slim figure,
looked steadily out over the sea. The cottage was on the top of some
high cliffs. The light of the moon made a bright path over the water,
and Priscilla had a good view of shining, silvered water and dark, deep
blue sky.
She stood perfectly still, gazing straight out before her. Some of the
reflection and brightness of the moonlight seemed to get into her
anxious eyes and the faint dawn of a new-born hope to tremble around
her lips. She thought herself rich with ten shillings a month
pocket-money. She returned to the house, feeling overpowered at Aunt
Raby's goodness.
Upstairs in Prissie's room there were two beds. One was small; in this
she herself slept. The other had now three occupants. Three heads were
raised when Prissie entered the room and three shrill voices exclaimed:
"Here we are, all wide awake, Prissie, darling!"
This remark, made simultaneously, was followed by prolonged peals of
laughter.
"Three of you in that small bed!" said Priscilla.

She stood still, and a smile broke all over her face. "Why, Hattie," she
said, catching up the eldest of the three girls and giving her a fervent
hug-- "how did you slip out of Aunt Raby's room?"
"Oh, I managed to," said Hattie in a stage whisper. "Aunt Raby came
upstairs half an hour ago, and she undressed very fast, and got into bed,
and I heard her snoring in about a minute. It was then I slipped away.
She never heard."
"Hop up on the bed now, Prissie," exclaimed Rose, another of the
children, "and let us all have a chat. Here, Katie, if you'll promise not to
cry, you may get into the middle, between Hattie and me, then you'll be
very close to darling Prissie."
Katie was the youngest of the three occupants of the bed; she was about
eight years old; her small face was delicate in its outline, her mouth
peevish; she did not look a strong child, and self-control could scarcely
be expected of her.
Priscilla placed her candle on the chimney-piece, jumped on the bed
according to orders and looked earnestly at her three small sisters.
"Now, Prissie," said Hattie in the important little voice which she
always used, "begin, go on-- tell us all about your grand college life."
"How can I, Hattie, when I don't know what to say. I can't guess what I
am to do at college."
"Oh, dear," sighed Rose, "I only wish I were the one to go! It will be
very dull living with Aunt Raby when you are away, Priscilla. She
won't let us take long walks, and if ever we go in for a real, jolly lark
we are sure to be punished. Oh, dear, oh, dear!"
"Even though it is for your good, I wish with all my heart you were not
going away, Prissie," said Hattie in her blunt fashion.
Katie burst into sudden loud wails.

Priscilla colored. Then she spoke with firmness. "We have had enough
of this kind of talk. Katie, you shall come and sit in my lap, darling. I'll
wrap you up quite warm in this big shawl. Now, girls," she said, "what
is the use of making things harder? You know, perfectly, you two elder
ones, why I must go away, and you, Katie, you know also, don't you,
pet?"
"Yes, Prissie," answered Katie, speaking in a broken, half-sobbing
voice, "only I am so lonely."
"But you're not going to be selfish, darling. By and by I'll come back to
you all. Once every year, at least, I'll come back. And then, after I've
gone through my course of study, I'll get a situation of some sort-- a
good situation-- and you three shall come and live with me. There,
what do you say to that? Only three years, and then such a jolly time.
Why, Katie will be only eleven then."
Priscilla spoke in a remarkably cheerful voice, but the appalling
magnitude of three years could not be diminished, and the three little
sisters who were to stay behind with Aunt Raby were still disposed to
view things dismally.
"If she wasn't just what she is----" began Hattie.
"If she didn't think the least tiny morsel of a lark wrong----" continued
Rose.
"Why, then we could pull along somehow," sighed Hattie.
"Oh, you'll pull along as it is," said Priscilla "I'll write to you as often as
ever I can. If possible I'll keep a sort of journal and send it to