“I am glad you did not give way to your passion. It was very good and brave of you.”
She looked out of the schoolroom window and saw the gypsy band turn down the road, which she knew they would take in their route from the city, for it was now about the latter part of September. She knew they had delayed starting out in the hope of finding her, but she concluded that they had given up the search. How her heart leaped as she saw Crisp moving away. He was her brother, but she could not remember one kind word he had ever spoken to her. She could not remember one kind act from her mother—not even one look. She wondered why it was that they seemed to hate her very presence and she sincerely hoped that she had looked on them for the last time. She was but a child, but she had experienced a woman’s heartaches. Only eleven summers had passed over her head, and yet she had seen no childhood. She was brave and ambitious, which traits were more essential than self-esteem, so that if she did sometimes get discouraged, and think she was the dullest person in the whole school, others looked on and admired the work she finally wrought. It was perhaps quite as well that she was ignorant of her own ability, for she had never possessed the opportunity to gain the first rudiments of a school education, and it was remarkable how rapidly she advanced. Had she known her capacity for devouring knowledge she might have been less eager to make up for lost time. The idea that there were any idle moments to be spent in the schoolroom never presented itself to her mind. Thus her time was well improved.
CHAPTER VI.
SILVERY WAVES.
Three years had passed since Zula entered the home of her kind benefactor. She had improved vastly in every way. In an atmosphere of love and sympathy, the passionate nature was growing more and more subdued, though the old spark was still lying deep down in her heart, and if not so often fanned to a flame was still there.
Mrs. Platts had decided to visit a sister, the wife of a merchant, who lived in the western town of Clear Lake, situated on a lake of the same name, whose waters are as clear as crystal, while its shores are lined with shells and pebbles of rare shapes and colors. Pleasure boats ply between the mainland and the island lying four miles out in the lake, whereon stands a commodious hotel, and where pleasure-seekers find a cool and pleasant resort during the heated months. Mrs. Platts’ sister, Mrs. Horton, like her sister, possessed a sweet disposition and lady-like manners. She was a fine looking woman, some years younger than Mrs. Platts. There had always existed a marked attachment between the two. She was the mother of two children; a boy of sixteen 40 and a girl of thirteen years of age. Guy was a very intelligent boy, stout and rosy, and very studious. He was usually in advance of his class and was called the best writer in school. In fact, so apt was he in his literary efforts that it had become a fixed idea with the people of the town that Guy Horton would, some day, make a mark in the world. Guy’s father was wealthy, and consequently Guy was not to receive one rebuke from strangers for fear of hurting his feelings. This Zula noticed, after a time, and she wondered why people were so much more careful of hurting the feelings of the rich than of the poor. Guy’s sister Carrie was a sweet-tempered girl, ever ready to oblige and seldom ill-tempered.
Mr. Horton always made the visits of his guests pleasant, although very much occupied with his business.
Mrs. Platts had prepared for Zula a liberal wardrobe, and when she stood before the mirror in her pretty dress of garnet with its satin folds, she wondered if the image she saw there was really Zula, the gypsy, or had she been transformed into a young princess, with sparkling eyes and raven hair. Although she had no idea that any one would think she was pretty, yet she was glad that the tan was wearing off, and that her hands had grown more plump and even more beautiful in shape than before. She wondered what Crisp would think of her now. She did not feel quite as much like shooting him as she had heretofore, but she would just like to see him unhappy, for she still carried the marks of his cruelty, and would carry them to her grave. She had said to Mrs. Platts: