Tom and Some Other Girls | Page 3

came lunch, and more often than not some
excuse for getting off the hour's lessons with Fraulein before the
"visiting professors" arrived. Music master, drawing master, French
master--they each came in their turn, and Rhoda exerted herself to do
her best, as she invariably did, given the stimulus of an audience, and
was praised and flattered to her heart's desire. It was a happy life, and
most satisfactory from the girl's point of view; so that it seemed most
annoying that it should be interrupted, and by Fraulein too, who had
always been so meek and tractable! Who could have imagined when
she went home for the summer holidays that an old love would appear
and insist upon marrying her out of hand?
"But what am I to do?" cried Rhoda, when the news was first received;
and then, in stern disapproval, "I'm surprised at Fraulein! At her age
she should know better. She always professed to be so devoted. I can't
understand how she could make up her mind to leave me."
"It must have been a terrible trial to her, dearest," said Mrs Chester
soothingly, and she meant what she said. How could any one prefer a
fat, long-haired, spectacled lover (all Germans were fat, long-haired,
and spectacled!) to her beautiful, clever daughter? She sighed, once for
Rhoda's disappointment, and once again, and with an added stab, for
herself.
Several times lately Mr Chester had hinted that Rhoda was getting too
much for Fraulein, and should be sent to school, while Harold had
treacherously seconded his father with remarks of such brotherly
candour as made his mother hot with indignation. Jim was mercifully
away from home, but even so it was two against one, and she
instinctively felt that Fraulein's defection would be seized upon by the

enemy and the attack pressed home upon the first opportunity. And
now it had come, and there sat the poor, dear soul, shedding tears of
anguish on her lace-edged handkerchief, as she vainly tried to oppose
the inevitable.
"I cannot, and will not, part from my child!"
"Nonsense, mother, you parted from me, and I shall take it as a
personal insult if you insinuate that you would feel Rhoda's absence
more than you did mine. Remember how delighted you were when I
came back! Remember the holidays, how happy you were, how
interested in all I had to tell!"
Harold Chester crossed the room, and laid his hand on his mother's
shoulder with a kindly gesture. He looked as if he were made on the
same principle as the other objects of vertu in the room, and if Mrs
Chester had desired to possess "the most superfine specimen of sons
and heirs," she had certainly got her wish, so far as appearances were
concerned. Harold was tall and fair, with aquiline features and a manly
carriage. His hair would have curled if it had not been cropped so close
to his head; his clothes were of immaculate cut. At twenty-five he was
known as one of the most daring sportsmen in the county, and if he had
not distinguished himself at college, he had, at least, scrambled through
with the crowd. His mother declared with pride that he had never given
her an hour's anxiety since he had had the measles, and thanked Heaven
for her mercies every time she saw him ride off to the hunt in his
beautiful pink coat. Harold was her first-born darling, but Rhoda was
the baby, and she could not bring herself to believe that her baby was
growing up.
"The child will fret and break her heart. I don't care about myself, but I
will not have her made unhappy. She has such a sensitive heart!" She
sobbed as she spoke, and Harold laughed.
"You trust me, mater; Rhoda is as well able to take care of herself as
any girl can be. You will regret it all your life long if you keep her at
home now. School is what she needs, and school she must have, if she
is to make a woman worth having. She is a jolly little soul, and I'm

proud of her; but her eyes are so taken up admiring Miss Rhoda
Chester that she has no attention left for anything else. Let her go,
mother, and find out that there are other girls in the world beside
herself!"
"But the other girls will b-b-bully her. They will make fun of her and
laugh at her little ways--"
"And a good--" Harold checked himself and said cheerily: "Rhoda
won't let herself be bullied without knowing the reason why, mother.
Whatever faults she may have, no one can accuse her of lack of spirit. I
believe she would like to go. She has very few girl friends, and would
enjoy