Kitty Canary | Page 5

did not want to do; and usually as I dress
in the morning I dance a new kind of highland fling which I made up
for times when I feel particularly happy. Everybody is well and Mother
and the girls are having a lovely time in a place where I would have had
a stupid one, being neither grown up nor a kid, but an
in-betweener--too young for some ages and not old enough for others;
and here in Twickenham Town I am as free as air, and Father is coming
to see me as often as he can. I can't let myself think much about Father
or I would take the train straight home.
I had begged him to let me stay with him, but neither he nor Mother
would agree. Just because I got the Grome medal at school they
imagined I had studied too hard and needed a quiet, restful summer in
the mountains; but I will never study too hard while on this little planet
called the earth. I got the medal because Billy said I'd never sit still
long enough to study for it, and just to show him he very often does not
know what he is talking about I made up my mind to get it.
The only thing I ever expect to work hard over is one book. I am going
to write one book that the critics will call a Discovery. It is to be dull
and dry and dreary, and therefore it will be thought deep and strong and
big, and only a few people will know that it has been written. After that
I am going to write books that sell, write what people want to
read--things that make them forget for a few moments that at times this

world is but a fleeting show and there is a good deal of rot in it. If I can
I am going to make people laugh, though I don't think I can do much in
that line. I see the funny side of things too quickly to ever be able to
write them down, as that takes time; but I am certainly going to be
cheerful, and I am not going to croak. I don't mean I am going to be
smiling all the time. I am not. Perpetual smilers are more than human
nature can stand. Nothing is ever wrong, everything is beautiful, their
smiles seem to say, which isn't so. There is a lot of life that is wrong,
and any day horrid, hurting things may pop up, but that doesn't mean
you've got to sit down and make a bosom friend of dolefulness. Some
of the things you can shake your fist at, and some turn your back on,
and some you have to face; but no matter what happens you can buck
up and begin again if you get knocked out or hit in the back. And that's
what I hope I will have sense enough to do--get up and get a move on
when things go wrong.
So far nothing has gone wrong in Twickenham. Everybody has been
lovely to me, and all sorts of ages have been to see me and asked me to
their homes, and if they know my name is not really and truly Kitty
Canary they never say so or mention my family, which is very nice of
them, for I am sure they must talk of who I am and where I came from,
that being the first thing done here when a stranger arrives. The reason
I think they haven't let me off among themselves is that one of Miss
Susanna's boarders started to say something to me on the subject one
day and I told her I was a very plain person, almost common, and she
could tell any one she chose. She has never mentioned the subject since.
Just Kitty Canary is all I am going to be this summer, and if anybody
doesn't care for me as Kitty Canary I don't care for them to care for me
as Katherine Bird. So endeth that.
CHAPTER IV
I have seen him every day since I came--seen my station help in time of
need--and I must say he bears bravely the dispensations of a female
person. He is not dejected, and he still seems to find life worth living;
and if he weeps in secret, he shows no sign in public of regrets; neither
does he hide himself from the gaze of others, but is always to be seen

when one goes down-town or to the homes of other people. I don't
know how we happen to meet so often, but I never go out that he
doesn't appear; and though he does not come in at Rose Hill,