The house inhabited by Miss Ladd and her pupils had been built,in the early part of the present century,by a wealthy merchant--proud of his money,and eager to distinguish himself as the owner of the largest country seat in the neighborhood.
After his death,Miss Ladd had taken Netherwoods (as the place was called),finding her own house insufficient for the accommodation of the increasing number of her pupils.A lease was granted to her on moderate terms.Netherwoods failed to attract persons of distinction in search of a country residence.The grounds were beautiful;but no landed property--not even a park--was attached to the house.Excepting the few acres on which the building stood,the surrounding land belonged to a retired naval officer of old family,who resented the attempt of a merchant of low birth to assume the position of a gentleman.No matter what proposals might be made to the admiral,he refused them all.The privilege of shooting was not one of the attractions offered to tenants;the country presented no facilities for hunting;and the only stream in the neighborhood was not preserved.In consequence of these drawbacks,the merchant's representatives had to choose between a proposal to use Netherwoods as a lunatic asylum,or to accept as tenant the respectable mistress of a fashionable and prosperous school.They decided in favor of Miss Ladd.
The contemplated change in Francine's position was accomplished,in that vast house,without inconvenience.There were rooms unoccupied,even when the limit assigned to the number of pupils had been reached.On the re-opening of the school,Francine was offered her choice between two rooms on one of the upper stories,and two rooms on the ground floor.She chose these last.
Her sitting-room and bedroom,situated at the back of the house,communicated with each other.The sitting-room,ornamented with a pretty paper of delicate gray,and furnished with curtains of the same color,had been accordingly named,"The Gray Room."It had a French window,which opened on the terrace overlooking the garden and the grounds.Some fine old engravings from the grand landscapes of Claude (part of a collection of prints possessed by Miss Ladd's father)hung on the walls.The carpet was in harmony with the curtains;and the furniture was of light-colored wood,which helped the general effect of subdued brightness that made the charm of the room."If you are not happy here,"Miss Ladd said,"I despair of you."And Francine answered,"Yes,it's very pretty,but I wish it was not so small."On the twelfth of August the regular routine of the school was resumed.Alban Morris found two strangers in his class,to fill the vacancies left by Emily and Cecilia.Mrs.Ellmother was duly established in her new place.She produced an unfavorable impression in the servants'hall--not (as the handsome chief housemaid explained)because she was ugly and old,but because she was "a person who didn't talk."The prejudice against habitual silence,among the lower order of the people,is almost as inveterate as the prejudice against red hair.
In the evening,on that first day of renewed studies--while the girls were in the grounds,after tea--Francine had at last completed the arrangement of her rooms,and had dismissed Mrs.
Ellmother (kept hard at work since the morning)to take a little rest.Standing alone at her window,the West Indian heiress wondered what she had better do next.She glanced at the girls on the lawn,and decided that they were unworthy of serious notice,on the part of a person so specially favored as herself.She turned sidewise,and looked along the length of the terrace.At the far end a tall man was slowly pacing to and fro,with his head down and his hands in his pockets.Francine recognized the rude drawing-master,who had torn up his view of the village,after she had saved it from being blown into the pond.
She stepped out on the terrace,and called to him.He stopped,and looked up.
"Do you want me?"he called back.
"Of course I do!"
She advanced a little to meet him,and offered encouragement under the form of a hard smile.Although his manners might be unpleasant,he had claims on the indulgence of a young lady,who was at a loss how to employ her idle time.In the first place,he was a man.In the second place,he was not as old as the music-master,or as ugly as the dancing-master.In the third place,he was an admirer of Emily;and the opportunity of trying to shake his allegiance by means of a flirtation,in Emily's absence,was too good an opportunity to be lost.
"Do you remember how rude you were to me,on the day when you were sketching in the summer-house?"Francine asked with snappish playfulness."I expect you to make yourself agreeable this time--I am going to pay you a compliment."He waited,with exasperating composure,to hear what the proposed compliment might be.The furrow between his eyebrows looked deeper than ever.There were signs of secret trouble in that dark face,so grimly and so resolutely composed.The school,without Emily,presented the severest trial of endurance that he had encountered,since the day when he had been deserted and disgraced by his affianced wife.
"You are an artist,"Francine proceeded,"and therefore a person of taste.I want to have your opinion of my sitting-room.
Criticism is invited;pray come in."
