She held out her hand appealingly, but Mademoiselle still tilted her head, and kept up an air of offence.
“My feelings are ’urt,” she said with dignity, “and they can only be appeased if you withdraw your remarks, and promise that Pixie shall come. You can pay for the lessons she takes, and the Paris Conservatoire will not ruin you, my dear, I can tell you that; but for the rest, do you suppose Pixie will do nothing for me in return for her board? It is not too lively, a house with an invalid and an old maid, and they may perhaps be glad to have a young thing about; to be made to laugh sometimes and have some interest in life beyond rheumatism and asthma! Do not disturb yourself; if you are too proud to accept help from me, be assured that I shall make the child useful. She shall work for her living!”
“You are pretending to be cross, to make me say ‘Yes,’ but you needn’t keep it up any longer, dear. I’ll say it with thankfulness this minute, if it is indeed a pleasure to you too. I don’t feel at all too proud to accept a favour from you, and besides, it seems as if Providence meant it to be so, and just the most wonderful and beautiful reason for your coming here, which seemed at first so extraordinary. If you will really let us pay for her lessons and make her as useful as if she were your own little sister, why, then, thank you a thousand times, and a thousand times more for lifting a weight off my mind. I was worrying myself about her future, and now I shall worry no more, and father will be so relieved, so happy! Are you sufficiently appeased to let me kiss you, you haughty Mademoiselle?”
“With pleasure; yes! but my feelings are still sensitive. With the slightest irritation I should have a relapse!” said Mademoiselle stiffly; for it would not do to indulge in sentiment to-day, and Bridgie’s tears were dangerously near the surface.
The time for parting came at last, and the Major nerved himself to bid adieu to his piccaninny with a composure which should leave her unsuspicious of its final nature. He was very white, but Pixie had grown accustomed to his pallor, and mingling with her grief at leaving home was a keen pleasure at the thought of returning to her school companions, of seeing Margaret and Ethel, of hearing Flora’s fat, contented chuckle, and seeing poor Lottie, and hearing how she had fared at home. It was all very interesting and exciting, and somehow or other home had been unusually dull during the last fortnight. Even Esmeralda had turned quiet and mild, and Pat abandoned practical joking, and for once been as good as he looked. The longing for some of the old mischievous days made Pixie listen to her father’s precepts with a decided lack of enthusiasm.
“You will be a good child now, piccaninny, and work hard at your tasks. Remember what I say to you, that you couldn’t please me more than by being good and industrious, and obedient to your teachers. I let you run wild too long, and that’s made you behind other girls of your age, but you’ll promise me that you will settle down, and make the most of your opportunities?”
“I don’t feel as if I wanted to ‘settle down.’ It sounds so dull! Ye can work without being so awfully proper, can’t you, father? I can be a little mischievous sometimes, can’t I—especially on half-holidays? I’ll work all the better for it afterwards. And the girls would be so disappointed if I were proper. You wouldn’t believe how I liven them up. Ye wouldn’t like it yourself, now, Major, if ye never saw any more of my pranks!”
He winced at that, but smiled bravely, his eye resting longingly upon the thin little figure wriggling to and fro in the earnestness of its appeal. With the remembrance of all that her brightness had been to him, he could not bring himself to forbid it to others.
“Be as happy as you can, darling, and make other people happy too. So long as you consider their feelings, and are careful not to go too far, you will do no harm. Good-bye, my piccaninny! God bless you! Never mind if you are not clever. Go on loving and making sunshine, and you will do a great work in the world. Remember your old father when you get back among your new friends!”
“I’ll think of you for ever!” said Pixie solemnly. “Haste and get well, Major, and come and take me out. You must be getting tired of your bed, poor creature, but I’m glad you have no pain! You won’t be here long now.”