Modern Broods | Page 5

whether it meant
being as well off as the Colonel and Lady Mary -
"Who keep a carriage and pair, and a butler," interposed Vera.
"Oh no, my dear. If I keep any kind of carriage it will be only a basket
or governess cart, and a pony or donkey."
"That's all right," said Agatha. "I would not be rich and stupid for the
world."
"Small fear of that!" said Magdalen, laughing. "Our home, the Goyle, is
not more than a cottage, in a beautiful Devonshire valley--"
"What's the name of it?"
"The Goyle. I believe it is a diminutive of Gully, a narrow ravine. It is

lovely even now, and will be delightful when you come to me in
April--"
"Shall I leave school?" asked Vera. "I shall be seventeen in May."
"You will all leave school. Mrs. Best has made it easy to me by her
wonderful goodness in keeping you on cheaper terms; but if Agatha
goes to the University you must be content to work for a time with me."
"Oh!" cried Thekla. "Shall I have always holidays? My bicycle!"
Everybody burst out laughing at this--not a very trained cachinnation,
but more of the giggle, even in Agatha; and Magdalen answered:
"You will have plenty of time for bicycling if the hills are not too steep,
but I hope to make your lessons pleasant to you." She did not know
whether to mention Mrs. Best's intention of soon giving up her house,
which would have much increased her difficulties but for her legacy;
and Agatha said, "You know, I think, that Vera and Polly both ought to
make a real study of music. They both have talent, and cultivation
would do a great deal for it."
Agatha spoke in a dogmatic way that amused Magdalen, and she said,
"Well, I shall be able to judge when we are at the Goyle. Vera, I think
you sing--"
Vera looked shy, and Agatha said, "She has a good voice, and Madame
Lardner thinks it would answer to send her to some superior
Conservatoire in process of time."
Vera did not commit herself as to her wishes, and Mrs. Best returned to
say that if Miss Prescott wished to see the headmistress it was time to
set out for the school; and accordingly the whole party walked up
together to the school, Magdalen with Agatha, who was chiefly
occupied in explaining how entirely it was owing to the one- sidedness
of the examiners that she had not gained the scholarship. Magdalen had
heard of such examiners before from the mothers of her pupils.
She had to wish her sisters good-bye for the next three months, not
having gathered very much about them, except their personal
appearance. She administered a sovereign to each of them as they
parted. Agatha thanked her in a tone as if afraid to betray what a boon it
was; Vera, with an eager kiss, asking if she could spend it as she liked;
Paulina, with a certain grave propriety; and Thekla, of course, wanted
to know whether it would buy a bicycle, or, if not, how many rides
could be purchased from it.

When they were absorbed in the routine of the day, the interview with
the head mistress disclosed, what Magdalen had expected, that Agatha,
was an industrious, ambitious girl, with very good abilities quite worth
cultivating, though not extraordinary; that Vera had a certain sort of
cleverness, but no application and not much taste for anything but
music; and that Paulina was a good, dutiful, plodding girl, who
surpassed brighter powers by dint of diligence. The little one was a
mere child, who had not yet come much under notice from the higher
authorities.
On the whole, Magdalen went away with pleasant hopes, and the
affectionate impulses of kindred blood rising within her, to complete
her term with Lady Milsom, by whom she could not well be spared till
towards Easter; while, in the meantime, her house was being repaired.

CHAPTER II
--THE GOYLE

"A poor thing, but mine own."--SHAKESPEARE.
"Thaay stwuns, thaay stwuns, thaay stwuns, thaay stwuns." --T.
HUGHES, Scouring of the White Horse.
Magdalen Prescott stood on her own little terrace. Her house was, like
many Devonian ones, built high on the slope of a steep hill, running
down into a narrow valley, and her abode was almost at the narrowest
part, where a little lively brawling stream descended from the moor
amid rocks and brushwood. If the history of the place were told, it had
been built for a shooting box, then inherited by a lawyer who had
embellished and spent his holidays there, and afterwards, his youngest
daughter, a lonely and retiring woman, had spent her latter years there.
The house was low, stone built, and roofed with rough