Aikenside | Page 6

twelve
times three were thirty-six, more than a tenth of what her grandfather
must borrow. It seemed like a little fortune, and blithe as a singing bird
she flitted about the house, now stopping a moment to fondle her pet
kitten, while she whispered the good news in its very appreciative ear,
and then stroking her grandfather's silvery hair, as she said:
"You can tell them that you are sure of paying thirty-six dollars in the
fall, and if I do well, maybe they'll hire me longer. I mean to try my
very best. I wonder if ever anybody before me taught a school when
they were only fourteen and a half. Do I look as young as that?" and for
an instant the bright; childish face scanned itself eagerly in the
old-fashioned mirror, with the figure of an eagle on the top.
She did look very young, and yet there was something womanly, too, in
the expression of the face, something which said that life's realities
were already beginning to be understood by her.

"If my hair were not short I should do better. What a pity I cut it the last
time; it would have been so long and splendid now," she continued,
giving a kind of contemptuous pull at the thick, beautiful brown hair on
whose glossy surface there was in certain lights a reddish tinge, which
added to its beauty.
"Never mind the hair, Maddy," the old man said, gazing fondly at her
with a half sigh as he remembered another brown head, pillowed now
beneath the graveyard turf. "Maybe you won't pass muster, and then the
hair will make no difference. There's a new committee-man, that Dr.
Holbrook, from Boston, and new ones are apt to be mighty strict."
Instantly Maddy's face flushed all over with nervous dread, as she
thought: "What if I should fail?" fancying that to do so would be an
eternal disgrace. But she should not. She was called by everybody the
very best scholar in school, the one whom the teachers always put
forward when desirous of showing off, the one whom Mr. Tiverton,
and Squire Lamb, and Lawyer Whittemore always noticed so much. Of
course she should not fail, though she did dread Dr. Holbrook,
wondering much what he would ask her first, and hoping it would be
something in arithmetic, provided he did not stumble upon decimals,
where she was apt to get bewildered. She had no fears of grammar. She
could pick out the most obscure sentence and dissect a double relative
with perfect ease; then, as to geography, she could repeat whole pages
of that, while in the spelling-book, the foundation of a thorough
education, as she had been taught, she had no superiors, and but a very
few equals. Still she would be very glad when it was over, and she
appointed Monday, both because it was close at hand, and because that
was the day her grandfather had set in which to ride to Aikenside, in an
adjoining town, and ask its young master for the loan of three hundred
dollars.
He could hardly tell why he had thought of applying to Guy Remington
for help, unless it were that he once had saved the life of Guy's father,
who, as long as he lived, had evinced a great regard for his benefactor,
frequently asserting that he meant to do something for him. But the
something was never done, the father was dead, and in his strait the old

man turned to the son, whom he knew to be very rich, and who he had
been told was exceedingly generous.
"How I wish I could go with you clear up to Aikenside! They say it's so
beautiful," Madeline had said, as on Saturday evening they sat
discussing the expected events of the following Monday. "Mrs. Noah,
the housekeeper, had Sarah Jones there once, to sew, and she told me
all about it. There are graveled walks, and nice green lawns, and big,
tall trees, and flowers--oh! so many!--and marble fountains, with gold
fishes in the basin; and statues, big as folks, all over the yard, with two
brass lions on the gateposts. But the house is finest of all. There's a
drawing-room bigger than a ballroom, with carpets that let your feet
sink in so far; pictures and mirrors clear to the floor-- think of that,
grandpa! a looking-glass so tall that one can see the very bottom of
their dress and know just how it hangs. Oh, I do so wish I could have a
peep at it! There are two in one room, and the windows are like doors,
with lace curtains; but what is queerest of all, the chairs and sofas are
covered with real silk, just like that funny, gored gown of