I Say No | Page 4

This expression of generous sentiment appeared to have an irritating
effect on the peremptory young person who took the lead in the room.
Perhaps she disapproved of free trade in generous sentiment.
"I can tell you one thing, Cecilia," she said; "you shan't beat ME in
generosity. Strike a light, one of you, and lay the blame on me if Miss
Ladd finds us out. I mean to shake hands with the new girl--and how
can I do it in the dark? Miss de Sor, my name's Brown, and I'm queen
of the bedroom. I--not Cecilia--offer our apologies if we have offended
you. Cecilia is my dearest friend, but I don't allow her to take the lead
in the room. Oh, what a lovely nightgown!"
The sudden flow of candle-light had revealed Francine, sitting up in her
bed, and displaying such treasures of real lace over her bosom that the
queen lost all sense of royal dignity in irrepressible admiration. "Seven
and sixpence," Emily remarked, looking at her own night-gown and
despising it. One after another, the girls yielded to the attraction of the
wonderful lace. Slim and plump, fair and dark, they circled round the
new pupil in their flowing white robes, and arrived by common consent
at one and the same conclusion: "How rich her father must be!"
Favored by fortune in the matter of money, was this enviable person
possessed of beauty as well?
In the disposition of the beds, Miss de Sor was placed between Cecilia

on the right hand, and Emily on the left. If, by some fantastic turn of
events, a man--say in the interests of propriety, a married doctor, with
Miss Ladd to look after him--had been permitted to enter the room, and
had been asked what he thought of the girls when he came out, he
would not even have mentioned Francine. Blind to the beauties of the
expensive night-gown, he would have noticed her long upper lip, her
obstinate chin, her sallow complexion, her eyes placed too close
together--and would have turned his attention to her nearest neighbors.
On one side his languid interest would have been instantly roused by
Cecilia's glowing auburn hair, her exquisitely pure skin, and her tender
blue eyes. On the other, he would have discovered a bright little
creature, who would have fascinated and perplexed him at one and the
same time. If he had been questioned about her by a stranger, he would
have been at a loss to say positively whether she was dark or light: he
would have remembered how her eyes had held him, but he would not
have known of what color they were. And yet, she would have
remained a vivid picture in his memory when other impressions,
derived at the same time, had vanished. "There was one little witch
among them, who was worth all the rest put together; and I can't tell
you why. They called her Emily. If I wasn't a married man--" There he
would have thought of his wife, and would have sighed and said no
more.
While the girls were still admiring Francine, the clock struck the
half-hour past eleven.
Cecilia stole on tiptoe to the door--looked out, and listened--closed the
door again--and addressed the meeting with the irresistible charm of
her sweet voice and her persuasive smile.
"Are none of you hungry yet?" she inquired. "The teachers are safe in
their rooms; we have set ourselves right with Francine. Why keep the
supper waiting under Emily's bed?"
Such reasoning as this, with such personal attractions to recommend it,
admitted of but one reply. The queen waved her hand graciously, and
said, "Pull it out."

Is a lovely girl--whose face possesses the crowning charm of
expression, whose slightest movement reveals the supple symmetry of
her figure--less lovely because she is blessed with a good appetite, and
is not ashamed to acknowledge it? With a grace all her own, Cecilia
dived under the bed, and produced a basket of jam tarts, a basket of
fruit and sweetmeats, a basket of sparkling lemonade, and a superb
cake--all paid for by general subscriptions, and smuggled into the room
by kind connivance of the servants. On this occasion, the feast was
especially plentiful and expensive, in commemoration not only of the
arrival of the Midsummer holidays, but of the coming freedom of Miss
Ladd's two leading young ladies. With widely different destinies before
them, Emily and Cecilia had completed their school life, and were now
to go out into the world.
The contrast in the characters of the two girls showed itself, even in
such a trifle as the preparations for supper.
Gentle Cecilia, sitting on the floor surrounded by good things, left it to
the ingenuity of others to decide whether the baskets should be all
emptied at once,