“Sometimes! Do I ever!” Elma echoed the words with startling emphasis. “Always, always! It is here,”—she pressed her hands on her breast—“stifled up here all the time—a horrible, rebellious longing to get out; to be free, to do—I don’t know what—really I don’t—but something different! I’ve lived in Norton all my life, and hardly ever been away. Mother hates travelling in winter, and in the summer she hates to leave the garden, and I’m so strong that I don’t need change. I never went to school like other girls. Mother disapproves of school influences, so I had governesses instead. It’s awful to have a resident teacher in the house, and be an only pupil; you feel governessed out of your life. And now I have no friends to visit, or to visit me, only the Norton girls, for whom I don’t care. It seems ungrateful when I have so much to be thankful for, but I feel pent! Sometimes I get such a wicked feeling that I just long to snap and snarl at everybody. I’m ashamed all the time, and can see how horrid I am, but—”
She broke off, sighing deeply, and Cornelia crouched forward, clasping her knees as before, and bending her chin to meet them, her eyes ashine with eagerness and curiosity.
“Yes, I know; I’ve been there myself. I was there this morning after just two weeks. I don’t begin to have your endoorance, my dear, but you take a straight tip from me. When you feel the symptoms coming on, don’t you go trying to be sweet and forbearing, and bottling up all the froth; it’s not a mite of use, for it’s bound to rise to the top, and keeping don’t improve it. Just let yourself go, and be right-down ugly to somebody—anyone will do, the first that comes handy—and you’ll feel a heap better!” She sighed, and turned a roguish glance towards the shrouded windows of The Nook. “I was ugly to Aunt Soph before I came out!”
Already Elma had mastered the subtleties of Americanese sufficiently to understand that the terms “lovely” and “ugly” had no bearing on outward appearance, but were descriptive of character only. Her eyes widened, partly in horrified surprise at listening to a doctrine so diametrically opposed to everything which she had previously heard, and partly in pure, unadulterated curiosity to know the cause of the rebellion.
“To Miss Briskett? Oh, how had you the courage? I should never have dared. What was it about?”
“Teas!” replied Cornelia, shortly. “I’ve attended tea-parties regularly for the last ten days, and met the same people every single time, and now I’ve struck. I’ve had about enough teas to last the rest of my natural life, but Aunt Soph seemed to think I was bound to go wherever I was asked. Two more old ladies sent invitations to-day.”
“I know—at lunch-time. We got ours, too. You can’t refuse, Cornelia, if you haven’t another engagement.”
“Can’t I just? You bet I can. Besides, what’s to hinder having an engagement if I want to? Say! let’s fix one up right here. I’d be delighted to have you come a drive with me to show me the country, Thursday afternoon at a quarter after four. We could hire something, I suppose, to drive in, and find a place to have tea on the way. We’d have a high old talk, and you’d enjoy it a heap more than the tea-party.”
“Oh, I know that, but I don’t know if I ought,—Mrs Nevins’ invitation came first.”
“Shucks!” cried Cornelia, “you’ve got too much conscience—that’s what’s the matter with you. You’ll never have much of a time in this world if you don’t take the pick of a choice. What’s two hours, anyway? You go right home, and write nice and pretty to say you’re real sorry you’ve got another engagement. Your mother can trot along with Aunt Soph. They’ll enjoy themselves a heap better sitting round without us, talking over the perversities of the young. They were all tame angels when they were girls, and never did anything they ought not to have done. My!” She twisted her saucy nose, and rolled her eyes heavenwards. “I’m thankful I struck a livelier time! As for you, Elma Ramsden, you’re going to be equal to any one of them, if nothing happens to shake you up. I guess it’s my mission to do the shaking, so we’ll start fair from now on. You’re engaged to me Thursday afternoon. D’you understand? I guess we’d better go home and break the news before the answers are written.”