The Rebel of the School | Page 4

to lay the cloth for supper. Her pile of books, which
she had brought in her satchel, lay on a chair.
"I can have a look at your books while I am waiting, can't I, little
woman?" said the old man.
Ruth brought him over the pack of books somewhat unwillingly. He
gave a sigh of contentment, drew the lamp a little nearer, and was lost
for the time being.
"Now, child," said old Mrs. Craven, "you heat that plate by the fire.
Have you got the pepper and salt handy? Sausages ain't worth touching
unless you eat them piping hot. Your grandfather wants his beer. Dear,
dear! What a worry that is! I never knew that the cask was empty. What
is to be done?"
"I can go round to the shop and bring in a quart," said Ruth.
"But you--a member of the Shirley School! No, you mustn't. I'll do it."
"Nonsense, granny! I'll leave school to-morrow if you don't let me
work for you just the same as ever."
Mrs. Craven sank into her chair.
"You are a good child," she said. "All day I have been so fretting that
we were taking you out of your station; and that is a sad mistake--sad
and terrible. But you are a good child. Yes, go for it, dear; it won't do
you any harm."
Ruth wrapped an old shawl round her head, picked up a jug, and went
off to the nearest public-house. They were accustomed to see her there,
for old Mr. Craven more often than not had his little cask of beer empty.
She went to a side entrance, where a woman she knew served her with
what she required.

"There, Ruth Craven," she said--"there it is. But, all the same, I'm
surprised to see you here to-night."
"But why so?" asked Ruth.
"Isn't it true that you are one of the Shirley scholars now?"
"I am; I joined the school to-day."
"And yet you come to fetch beer for your old grandfather!"
"I do," said Ruth, with spirit. "And I shall fetch it for him as long as he
wants it. Thank you very much."
She took the jug and walked carefully back to the cottage.
"She's the handsomest, most spirited, best little thing I ever met,"
thought the landlady of the "Lion," and she began to consider in her
own mind if one of her men could not call round in the morning and
leave the necessary beer at the Cravens'.
Supper was served, and was eaten with considerable relish by all three.
"Now," said old granny when the meal had come to an end, "you stay
and talk to your grandfather--he is all agog to hear what you have got to
say--and I will wash up. Now then, child, don't you worry. It isn't
everybody who has got loving grandparents like us."
"And it isn't many old bodies who have got such a dear little
granddaughter," said the old man, smiling at Ruth.
Mrs. Craven carried the supper things into the kitchen, and Ruth sat
close to her grandfather.
"Now, tell me, child, tell me," he said. "What did they do? What class
did they put you into?"
"I am in the third remove; a very good class indeed--at least they all
said so, grandfather."

"I don't understand your modern names; but tell me what you have got
to learn, dear. What sort of lessons are they going to put into that smart
little head of yours?"
"Oh, all the best things, grandfather--French, German, English in all its
branches, music, and Latin if I like. I am determined to take up Latin; I
want to get to the heart of things."
"Quite right--quite right, too. And you are ever so pleased at having got
in?"
"It does seem a grand thing for me, doesn't it, grandfather?"
"Most of the girls are ladies, aren't they?"
"It is a big school--between three and four hundred girls. I don't
suppose they are all ladies."
"Well, you are, anyhow, my little Ruth."
"Am I, granddad? That is the question."
"What do you think yourself?"
"I think so; but what does the world say?"
"Ruth, I never told you, but your mother was a lady. You know what
your father was. I saved and stinted and toiled and got him a
commission in the army. He died, poor fellow, shortly after you were
born. But he was a commissioned officer in the Punjab Infantry. Your
mother was a governess, but she was a lady by birth; her father was a
clergyman. Your parents met in India; they fell in love, and married.
Your mother died at your birth, and you came home to us. Yes, child,
by birth you are a lady, as good as any of them--as good as