More about Pixie | Page 5

is taken! It has been empty for a
year, and I have simply longed for someone to come, for it is the most
convenient house to watch, and I take such interest in the neighbours.
It's pretty lonely for me here, for I haven't a single girl-friend. Father
kept me at school in Brussels for the sake of learning the language, but
almost all the girls were French or American, and none of them live in
London. Aunt Margaret introduced me to some `young friends' when I
first arrived, but I thought they were horrid prigs, and I suppose they
thought I was mad, so the friendship didn't progress. I amuse myself
with my music and in dreaming of the time when father comes home,
but every time a house changes hands I have a wild hope that there will
be a girl in the family, who would be lively and jolly like myself. I'm
very nice when I'm well, Whitey--I am really! You needn't laugh like
that. I daresay you would be fractious yourself if you had to lie in bed
for months and months, and had an old griffin to mount guard over you,
who made you eat against your will, and bullied you from morning till
night... What was I talking about last? Oh yes, I wanted to ask if you
had seen anything of these new people, and what they were like."

"I haven't had much time for looking out of the window, but I have
seen a young lady and gentleman going out and in. I think they are a
newly- married couple, for they look very juvenile and affectionate. He
is dark and handsome, and she is fair, and I should say very pretty."
Sylvia's face clouded with disappointment.
"Bother the husband! She won't want me or anyone else to interrupt the
duet. I do wish it could have been a family with a daughter. The
curtains don't look newly-married, Whitey!"
"No, they don't. I thought that myself. The house doesn't look as smart
and fresh as one expects under the circumstances, but perhaps they are
not well off, and had to be content with what they could get. You
should not leap to the conclusion that she won't want you. Brides often
feel very lonely through the day when their husbands are in the city,
and I should think she would be delighted to have a friend of her own
age so near at hand. We will watch and see if we can get a glimpse of
her. She is almost sure to have gone out for a walk this fine morning,
and if so she will come home in time for lunch."
From that moment Sylvia's eyes were glued to the window, and every
woman between the ages of sixteen and sixty was in turn heralded as
the bride, and scornfully laughed aside by the nurse.
"I told you that she was young and pretty!" she repeated laughingly. "I
didn't mean that she was a schoolgirl, or a middle-aged woman. If she
is coming at all she will be here within the next half-hour, so lie still
and rest, and I'll play Sister Anne for you."
Ten minutes passed, twenty minutes, thirty minutes, and Whitey was
beginning to hint at a return to bed, when at last the longed-for figure
hove in sight. Sylvia raised herself on her pillows and peered eagerly
forward, her scarlet dressing-jacket making a brilliant patch of colour
against the background of white. She saw a slight, graceful figure clad
in a tightly fitting black cloth costume, and a mass of flaxen hair
beneath a sailor hat, and even as she looked the girl raised her head and
stared upward with eager interest. She had a delicate, oval face and

grey-blue eyes beneath thoughtful brows, but at the sight of the invalid
the whole face flashed into sunshine, and the lips curled into a smile of
such irrepressible rejoicing which was more eloquent than words. The
next moment her head was lowered, and she walked demurely up the
path dividing the little gardens, while Sylvia lay back on her pillows
a-quiver with excitement.
"Oh, oh, the d-arling! What a perfect duck of a darling! Did you see her
smile? Didn't she look glad to see me? Whitey, why did she look so
pleased? What can she know about me?"
"My dear, she has seen the doctor's carriage drive up at all hours of the
day, and two nurses going in and out, to say nothing of the bark which
was laid down on the road. She must have known that someone was
seriously ill, and no doubt the servants have told her that it was a young
girl like herself. Yes, it was delightful to see her. You won't have