“Louise isn’t mischievous,” she declared suddenly. “What made you think she was, Aunt Prissy?”
Aunt Prissy was evidently surprised at this sudden change of subject, but she replied pleasantly:
“I ought not to have said such a thing; but Louise has improved every day since you became her friend. How does she get on in her learning to read?”
For Faith stopped at the shoemaker’s house every day on her way home from school to teach Louise; and “Flibbertigibbet,” as her father generally called her, was making good progress.
“She learns so quickly,” replied Faith, “and she is learning to write. I do wish she would go to school, Aunt Prissy,” for Louise had become almost sullen at the suggestion.
Faith did not know that Louise had appeared at the schoolhouse several years before, and had been so laughed at by some of the rough children of the village that she had turned on them violently and they had not dared come near her since. They had vented their spite, however, in calling, “Witch! Witch! Fly home on your broomstick,” as Louise hobbled off toward home, vowing that never again would she go near a school, and sobbing herself to sleep that night.
Aunt Prissy had heard something of the unfortunate affair, and was glad that Louise, when next she appeared at school, would have some little knowledge to start with and a friend to help her.
“Perhaps she will go next term, now that she has a girl friend to go with her,” responded Mrs. Scott.
Faith was making friends with two girls whose seats in the schoolroom were next her own. Their names were Caroline and Catherine Young. Faith was quite sure that they were two of the prettiest girls in the world, and wondered how it was possible for any one to make such beautiful dresses and such dainty white ruffled aprons as these two little girls wore to school. The sisters were very nearly of an age, and with their soft black curls and bright brown eyes, their flounced and embroidered dresses with dainty collars of lace, they looked very different from the more suitably dressed village children.
Caroline was eleven, and Catherine nine years old. But they were far in advance of the other children of the school.