The Getting of Wisdom | Page 9

was goin', not 'er."
The ramshackle old vehicle, one of Cobb's Royal Mail Coaches,
big-bodied, lumbering, scarlet, pulled by two stout horses, drew up
before the door, and the driver climbed down from his seat.
"Now good day to you, ma'am, good day, miss"--this to Sarah who,
picking up the box, handed it to him to be strapped on under the apron.
"Well, well, and so the little girl's goin' to school, is she? My, but time
flies! Well do I remember the day ma'am, when I drove you all across
for the first time. These children wasn't big enough then to git up and
down be thimselves. Now I warrant you they can--just look at 'em, will
you?--But my! Ain't you ashamed of yourself"--he spoke to Pin--"pipin'
your eye like that? Why, you'll flood the road if you don't hould
on.--Yes, yes, ma'am, bless you, I'll look after her, and put her inter the
train wid me own han's. Don't you be oneasy. The Lord he cares for the
widder and the orphun, and if He don't, why Patrick O'Donnell does."
This was O'Donnell's standing joke; he uttered it with a loud chuckle.
While speaking he had let down the steps and helped the three children
up--they were to ride with Laura to the outskirts of the township. The
little boys giggled excitedly at his assertion that the horses would not
be equal to the weight. Only Pin wept on, in undiminished grief.
"Now, Miss Laura."
"Now, Laura. Good-bye, darling. And do try and be good. And be sure
you write once a week. And tell me everything. Whether you are
happy--and if you get enough to eat--and if you have enough blankets
on your bed. And remember always to change your boots if you get
your feet wet. And don't lean out of the window in the train."
For some time past Laura had had need of all her self-control, not to cry
before the children. As the hour drew near it had grown harder and
harder; while dressing, she had resorted to counting the number of
times the profile of a Roman emperor appeared in the flowers on the
wallpaper. Now the worst moment of all was come--the moment of
good-bye. She did not look at Pin, but she heard her tireless, snuffly
weeping, and set her own lips tight.
"Yes, mother . . . no, mother," she answered shortly, "I'll be all right.
Good-bye." She could not, however, restrain a kind of dry sob, which

jumped up her throat.
When she was in the coach Sarah, whom she had forgotten climbed up
to kiss her; and there was some joking between O'Donnell and the
servant while the steps were being folded and put away. Laura did not
smile; her thin little face was very pale. Mother's heart went out to her
in a pity which she did not know how to express.
"Don't forget your sandwiches. And when you're alone, feel in the
pocket of your ulster and you'll find something nice. Good-bye,
darling."
"Good-bye . . . good-bye."
The driver had mounted to his seat, he unwound the reins cried "Get
up!" to the two burly horses, the vehicle was set in motion and trundled
down the main street. Until it turned the corner by the Shire Gardens,
Laura let her handkerchief fly from the window. Sarah waved hers;
then wiped her eyes and lustily blew her nose. Mother only sighed.
"It was all she could do to keep up," she said as much to herself as to
Sarah. "I do hope she'll be all right. She seems such a child to be
sending off like this. Yet what else could I do? To a State School, I've
always said it, my children shall never go--not if I have to beg the
money to send them elsewhere."
But she sighed again, in spite of the energy of her words, and stood
gazing at the place where the coach had disappeared. She was still a
comparatively young woman, and straight of body; but trouble, poverty
and night-watches had scored many lines on her forehead.
"Don't you worry," said Sarah. "Miss Laura'll be all right. She's just a
bit too clever--brains for two, that's what it is. An' children WILL grow
up an' get big . . . an' change their feathers." She spoke absently,
drawing her metaphor from a brood of chickens which had strayed
across the road, and was now trying to mount the wooden verandah
-"Shooh! Get away with you!"
"I know that. But Laura--The other children have never given me a
moment's worry. But Laura's different. I seem to get less and less able
to manage her. If only her father had been alive to help!"
"I'm sure no father livin' could do more