Not Like Other Girls

by Rosa Nouchette Carey

“What an absurd name!” sotto voce from Archie: but he offered no further check to Mattie’s gossip.

“I asked Mrs. Crump, as a matter of course, the name of the new people; and she said it was Challoner. There was a mother and three daughters, she believed. She had seen two of them,—pretty, nice-spoken young creatures, and quite ladies. They had been down before to see the cottage and to have it done up. It looks quite a different place already,—nicely painted, and the shrubs trimmed. The door was open, and as I stood at Mrs. Crump’s window, peeping between her geraniums, I saw such a respectable gray-haired woman, like an upper servant, carrying something into the house; and a moment after one of those young ladies we saw in the Library—not the pretty one, but the other—came to the door and spoke to the men.”

“Are you sure you did not make a mistake, Mattie?” asked her brother, incredulously. “You are very short-sighted: perhaps you did not see correctly. How can those stylish-looking girls live in such a shabby place? I can hardly believe it possible.”

“Oh, it was the same, I am positive about that. She was in the same cambric dress you admired. I could see distinctly. I watched her for a long time; and then the pretty one came out and joined her. She is pretty, Archie, she has such a lovely complexion.”

“But are they poor?—they don’t look so. What on earth can it mean?” he asked, in a perplexed voice; but Mattie only shook her head, and went on:

“We must find out all about them by and by. They are worth knowing, I am sure of that. Poor?—well, they cannot be rich, certainly, to live in the Friary; but they are gentle-people, one can see that in a moment.”

“Of course! who doubted it?” was the somewhat impatient answer.

“Well, but that is not all,” went on Mattie, too delighted with her brother’s interest to try to curtail her story. “Of course I could not stand long watching them, so I did my errand and came away; and then I met Miss Middleton, and we walked down to the Library together to change those books. Miss Milner was talking to some ladies when we first went in and, as Miss Masham was not in the shop, we had to wait our turn, so I had a good look at them. The elder one was such a pretty, aristocratic-looking woman,—a little too languid, perhaps for 112 my taste; and the younger one was a little like Isabel, only nicer-looking. I shouldn’t have stared at them so much,—at least, I am afraid I stared,” went on Mattie, forgetting for the moment how often she had been taken to task for this very thing,—“but something Miss Milner said attracted my attention, ‘I am not to send it to the Friary, then, ma’am?’ ‘Well, no,’ the lady returned, rather hesitatingly. She had such a nice voice and manner, Archie. ‘My youngest daughter and I are at Beach House at present; I am rather an invalid, and the bustle would be too much for me. Dulce, we had better have these things sent to Beach House.’ And then the young lady standing by her said, ‘Oh, yes, mother; we shall want them this evening.’ And then they went out.”

“There is a third sister, then?” observed Archie, not pretending to disguise his interest in Mattie’s recital.

“Yes, there is a third one: she is certainly a little like Isabel; she has a dimple like hers, and is of the same height. I asked Miss Milner, when they were out of hearing, if their name were Challoner, and if they were the new people who were coming to live at the empty cottage on the Braidwood Road. I thought she did not seem much disposed to give me information. Yes, their name was Challoner, and they had taken the Friary; but they were quite strangers in the town, and no one knew anything about them. And then Miss Middleton chimed in; she said her father had noticed the young ladies some weeks ago, and had called her attention to them. They were very pretty girls, and had quite taken his fancy; he had not forgotten them, and had spoken of them that very morning. She supposed Mrs. Challoner must be a widow, and not very well off: did Miss Milner know. Would you believe it, Archie? Miss Milner got quite red, and looked confused. You know how she enjoys a bit of gossip generally; but the questions seemed to trouble her. ‘They were not at all well off, she knew that, but nicer young ladies she had never seen, or wished to see; and she hoped every one would be kind to them, and not forget they were real born ladies, in spite of––’ And here the old thing got more confused than ever, and came to a full stop, and begged to know how she could serve us.”