before Hester could prevent her, she had trotted acrossthe room, and was kneeling with the other children and shouting withdelight over Annie's play.
"She'll get her, you'll see, Hester," said one of the girls maliciously;"she'll soon be much fonder of Annie Forest than of you. Annie wins theheart of every little child in the school."
"She won't win my Nan's from me," said Hester in a confident tone; butin spite of her words a great pang of jealousy had gone through her.She rose to her feet and followed her little sister.
"Nan, you are sleepy, you must go to bed."
"No, no, Hetty; me not s'eepy, me kite awake; go 'way, Hetty, Nan wantto see the pitty tibby toy."
Annie raised her eyes to Hester's. She did not really want to beunkind, and at that moment it had certainly never entered into her headto steal Hester's treasure from her, but she could not help a look ofsuppressed delight and triumph filling her eyes.
Hester could scarcely bear the look; she stooped down, and taking one ofNan's little dimpled hands tried to drag her away.
Instantly Annie threw the cup and ball on the floor.
"The play is all over to-night, little darling," she said; "give AnnieForest one kiss, and run to bed with sister Hester."
Nan, who had been puckering up her face to cry, smiled instantly; thenshe scrambled to her feet, and flung her little fat arms round Annie'sneck.
"Dat a vedy pitty p'ay," she said in a patronising tone, "and me like'oo, me do."
Then she gave her hand willingly to Hester, and trotted out of theplay-room by her side.
CHAPTER TWENTY.
IN THE SOUTH PARLOUR.
Immediately after Easter the real excitement of the school-year began.All the girls who had ambition, who had industry, and who had a desireto please distant fathers, mothers, or guardians, worked hard for thatgreat day at Midsummer when Mrs Willis distributed her valuable prizes.
From the moment of Hester's entrance into the school she had heard thisday spoken of. It was, without doubt, the greatest day of the year atLavender House. Smaller prizes were given at Christmas, but the greathonours were always reserved for this long sunshiny June day, when MrsWillis herself presented her marks of approbation to her successfulpupils.
The girls who had lived in the school for two or three years gave Hestervivid descriptions of the excitements, the pleasures, the delights ofthis day of days. In the first place, it was the first of the holidays,in the second it was spent almost from morning to night in the openair--for a great tent was erected on the lawn; and visitors thronged toLavender House, and fathers and mothers, and aunts and uncles, arrivedfrom a distance to witness the triumphs of the favoured children who hadwon the prizes. The giving away of the prizes was, of course, _the_event of the day; but there were many other minor joys. Always in theevenings there was some special entertainment. These entertainmentsdiffered from year to year, Mrs Willis allowing the girls to choosethem for themselves, and only making one proviso, that they must takeall the trouble, and all the pains--in short, that they themselves mustbe the entertainers. One year they had tableaux vivants; another afancy ball, every pretty dress of which had been designed by themselves,and many even made by their own industrious little fingers. Mrs Willisdelighted in the interest and occupation that this yearly entertainmentgave to her pupils, and she not only, encouraged them in their effortsto produce something very unique and charming, but took care that theyshould have sufficient time to work up their ideas properly. Alwaysafter Easter she gave the girls of the three first classes two eveningsabsolutely to themselves; and these they spent in a pretty room calledthe South Parlour, which belonged to Mrs Willis's part of the house,and was rarely used, except for these great preparations.
Hester, therefore, after Easter found her days very full indeed. Everyspare moment she devoted to little Nan, but she was quite determined towin a substantial prize, and she was also deeply interested in variousschemes proposed in the South Parlour.
With regard to prizes, Mrs Willis also went on a plan of her own. Eachgirl was expected to come up to a certain standard of excellence in allher studies, and if she fell very much below this standard she was notallowed to try for any prize; if she came up to it, she could select onesubject, but only one, for competition.
On the Monday after the Easter holidays the special subjects for theMidsummer prizes were given out, and the girls were expected to send intheir answers as to the special prize they meant to compete for by thefollowing Friday.
When this day arrived Hester Thornton and Dora Russell both discoveredthat they had made the same choice--they were going to try for theEnglish composition prize. This subject always obtained one of the mostcostly prizes, and several of the girls shook their heads over Hester'schoice.
"You are very silly to try for that, Hetty," they exclaimed, "for MrsWillis has such queer ideas with regard to English composition. Ofcourse, we go in for it in a general way, and learn the rules of grammarand punctuation, and so forth, but Mrs Willis says that school-girls'themes are so bad and affected, as a rule, and she says she does notthink anyone will go in for her pet prize who has not natural ability.In consequence, she gives only one prize for composition between thethree first classes. You had better change your mind, Hetty, before itis too late, for much older girls will compete with you, and there areseveral who are going to try."
Hester, however, only smiled, and assured her eager friend that shewould stick to her pet subject, and try to do the best she could.
On the morning when the girls signified their choice of subject, MrsWillis came into the school-room and made one of her little yearlyspeeches with regard to the right spirit in which her girls should tryfor these honours. The few and well-chosen words of the head-mistressgenerally roused those girls who loved her best to a fever ofenthusiasm, and even Hester, who was comparatively a newcomer, felt agreat wish, as she listened to that clear and vibrating voice andwatched the many expressions which passed over the noble face, that shemight find something beyond the mere earthly honour and glory of successin this coming trial. Having finished her little speech, Mrs Willismade several remarks with regard to the choice of subjects. She spokeof the English composition prize last, and here she heightened theinterest and excitement which always hung around this special prize.Contrary to her usual rule, she would this year give no subject for anEnglish theme. Each girl might choose what pleased her best.
On nearing these words Annie Forest, who had been sitting by her desklooking rather dull and dejected, suddenly sprang to her feet, her faceaglow, her eyes sparkling, and began whispering vigorously to Miss Good.
Miss Good nodded, and, going up to Mrs Willis, said aloud that Anniehad changed her mind, and that from not wishing to try for any of theprizes, she now intended to compete for the English composition.
Mrs Willis looked a little surprised, but without any comment sheimmediately entered Annie's name in the list of competitors, and Anniesat down again, not even glancing at her astonished school-fellows, whocould not conceal their amazement, for she had never hitherto shown theslightest desire to excel in this department.
On the evening of this Friday the girls of the three first classesassembled for the first time in the South Parlour. Hitherto thesemeetings had been carried on in a systematic and business-like fashion.It was impossible for all the girls who belonged to these three largeclasses to assemble on each occasion. Careful selections, therefore,were, as a rule, made from their numbers. These girls formed acommittee to superintend and carry on the real preparations for thecoming treat, and the others only met when specially summoned by thecommittee to appear.
As usual now the three classes found themselves in the South Parlour--asusual they chattered volubly, and started schemes, to reject them againwith peals of laughter. Many ideas were put forward, to be cast asideas utterly worthless. No one seemed to have any very brilliant thought,and as the first step on these occasions was to select what theentertainment should be, proceedings seemed to com
e to a standstill.
The fact was the most daring originator, the one whoso ideas were alwaysflavoured with a spice of novelty, was absolutely silent.
Cecil Temple, who had taken a seat near Annie, suddenly, bent forwardand spoke to her aloud.
"We have all said what we would like, and we none of us appear to havethought of anything at all worth having," she said; "but you have notspoken at all, Annie. Give us an idea, dear--you know you originatedthe fancy ball last year."
Thus publicly appealed to, Annie raised her full brown eyes, glanced ather companions, not one of whom, with the exception of Cecil, returnedher gaze fully; then, rising to her feet, she spoke in a slightlycontemptuous tone.
"These preparations seem to me to be much ado about nothing; they lakeup a lot of our time, and the results aren't worth the trouble--I havenothing particular to say.