Carrie was very pretty; and it was not strange that she knew it. Ever since she could remember, she had heard from her nurses the praises of her curling hair; bright, black eyes, rosy cheeks and white teeth. Even strangers whom she met in the street spoke of her beauty; and if she had not been blessed with a judicious mother, she would probably have had her little head quite turned by the flattery which she received. But Mrs. Stanley had taught her that mere external beauty was no substitute for loveliness of character. Carrie was by no means free from faults. She was impulsive, hasty and extremely careless and disorderly; but she was the life of the house, and the idol of all the servants, from the oldest to the youngest,—so that they were too apt to try and screen her from her mother’s just reproof by failing to report her wrong-doings. If she was ill-natured or angry, she was so sorry for it afterwards, and so ready to apologize, that the domestics could not bear to have Mrs. Stanley hear of it, since they well knew that Carrie would be punished, and there was not one of them who did not prefer to be in disgrace rather than to see “Miss Caro” in trouble.
The only drawback to her happiness was her father’s long absences,—for he was a sea-captain, and of course much away from home; but she was passionately attached to her mother; and there was always her father’s return, to which she looked forward with joy.
Even in his absence the time did not pass heavily. They had a great deal of company, and sailing-parties, picnics and rides were frequent,—so frequent that they interfered sadly with Carrie’s studies; and it was for this reason that Mrs. Stanley had decided to send the girls away to school, instead of employing a teacher at home for them, as had been her custom.
Carrie’s life had been all sunshine; but poor Susie’s had been stormy enough.
Before she was fifteen, she had passed through more trouble than falls to the lot of many women in a lifetime. Her father, Lieutenant Cameron, was an army-officer, and had been stationed chiefly on the frontier. Moving from one military post to another, where of necessity they were deprived of many comforts, Susie’s life had been a succession of changes and hardships. Her mother’s health was delicate; and in their frequent removals a great part of the care had fallen on Susie. She was an active, willing and able assistant to her feeble parent, and by degrees Mrs. Cameron came to depend on her for almost every thing. The younger children were intrusted to her charge also, and most of the duties of housekeeping were resigned to her. She was her mother’s constant companion; and this, together with the trust reposed in her, had developed her character prematurely. She shared all her parent’s troubles and perplexities, and had never known what it was to be a careless, happy child.
When at last her mother died, it was to her that her father turned for consolation; and, almost heart-broken as she was, she was obliged to control herself for his sake, lest the sight of her grief, added to his own wretchedness, should unman him altogether.
One short year after Mrs. Cameron’s death the whole family had been attacked by cholera, and of them all Susie alone was spared! The desolate little orphan then came to live with her aunt Stanley, who had been her mother’s favourite sister; and here no pains were spared to make her as happy as possible.
It was not a long journey to Manchester, but both the girls were very glad to hear the conductor call out the name of the station,—for Carrie was impatient to see the place where she was anticipating so much pleasure during the next six months, and Susan was anxious to get established again quietly somewhere, even if it were at school.
The school-building was a large brick edifice, situated very pleasantly in the midst of finely-laid-out grounds; and the girls were received very cordially by the principal, Mr. Worcester, who had been expecting them, as he had received intelligence of their intended coming. He was an old friend of Mrs. Stanley’s; and this fact made Carrie feel quite at home immediately.
They were soon shown to their room,—“No. 40,”—a large and airy chamber.