The Getting of Wisdom | Page 6

more than once begun a friendship with the
words: "Have you ever fainted? I have."
From among these long, glossy curls, she now cut one of the longest
and most spiral, cut it off close to the root, and with it bound the
flowers together. Mother should see that she did know how to give up
something she cared for, and was not as selfish as she was usually
supposed to be.
"Oh . . h . . h!" said both little boys in a breath, then doubled up in
noisy mirth. Laura was constantly doing something to set their young
blood in amazement: they looked upon her as the personification of all
that was startling and unexpected. But Pin, returning with the reel of
thread, opened her eyes in a different way.
"Oh, Laura . . .!" she began, tearful at once.
"Now, res'vor!" retorted Laura scornfully--"res'vor" was Sarah's name
for Pin, on account of her perpetual wateriness. "Be a cry-baby, do."
But she was not damped, she was lost in the pleasure of self-sacrifice.
Pin looked after her as she danced off, then moved submissively in her
wake to be near at hand should intercession be needed. Laura was so
unsuspecting, and Mother would be so cross. In her dim, childish way
Pin longed to see these, her two nearest, at peace; she understood them
both so well, and they had little or no understanding for each other.--So
she crept to the house at her sister's heels.
Laura did not go indoors; hiding against the wall of the flagged
verandah, she threw her bouquet in at the window, meaning it to fall on
Mother's lap.

But Mother had dropped her needle, and was just lifting her face,
flushed with stooping, when the flowers hit her a thwack on the head.
She groped again, impatiently, to find what had struck her, recognised
the peace-offering, and thought of the surprise cake that was to go into
Laura's box on the morrow. Then she saw the curl, and her face
darkened. Was there ever such a tiresome child? What in all the world
would she do next?
"Laura, come here, directly!"
Laura had moved away; she was not expecting recognition. If Mother
were pleased she would call Pin to put the flowers in water for her, and
that would be the end of it. The idea of a word of thanks would have
made Laura feel uncomfortable. Now, however, at the tone of Mother's
voice, her mouth set stubbornly. She went indoors as bidden, but was
already up in arms again.
"You're a very naughty girl indeed!" began Mother as soon she
appeared. "How dare you cut off your hair? Upon my word, if it weren't
your last night I'd send you to bed without any supper!"--an unheard-of
threat on the part of Mother, who punished her children in any way but
that of denying them their food. "It's a very good thing you're leaving
home to-morrow, for you'd soon be setting the others at defiance, too,
and I should have four naughty children on my hands instead of one.--
But I'd be ashamed to go to school such a fright if I were you. Turn
round at once and let me see you!"
Laura turned, with a sinking heart. Pin cried softly in a corner.
"She thought it would please you, mother," she sobbed.
"I WILL not have you interfering, Pin, when I'm speaking to Laura.
She's old enough by now to know what I like and what I don't," said
Mother, who was vexed at the thought of the child going among
strangers thus disfigured.--"And now get away, and don't let me see
you again. You're a perfect sight."
"Oh, Laura, you do look funny!" said Leppie and Frank in weak chorus,
as she passed them in the passage.
"Well, you 'ave made a guy of yourself this time, Miss Laura, and no
mistake!" said Sarah, who had heard the above.
Laura went into her own room and locked the door, a thing Mother did
not allow. Then she threw herself on the bed and cried. Mother had not
understood in the least; and she had made herself a sight into the

bargain. She refused to open the door, though one after another rattled
the handle, and Sarah threatened to turn the hose in at the window. So
they left her alone, and she spent the evening in watery dudgeon on her
pillow. But before she undressed for the night she stealthily made a
chink and took in the slice of cake Pin had left on the door-mat. Her
natural buoyancy of spirit was beginning to reassert itself. By brushing
her hair well to one side she could cover up the gap, she found; and
after all, there was something rather