The Talking Horse, and Other Tales. Anstey F.
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of your sweet Priscilla!'
So the end of it was that Priscilla went to stay with her aunt that very afternoon, and her family bore the parting with the greatest composure.
'I can't give you nice food, or a pretty bedroom to sleep in such as you have at home,' said her kind aunt. 'We are very plain people, my pet; but at least we can promise you a warm welcome.'
'Oh, auntie,' protested Priscilla, 'you mustn't think I mind a little hardship! Why, if beds weren't hard and food not nicely cooked now and then, we should soon grow too luxurious to do our duty, and that would be so very bad for us!'
'Oh, what beauties!' cried her aunt, involuntarily, as she stooped to recover several sparkling gems from the floor of the cab. 'I mean – it's better to pick them up, dear, don't you think? they might get in people's way, you know. What a blessing you will be in our simple home! I want you to do all you can to instruct your cousins; don't be afraid of telling them of any faults you may happen to see. Poor Cathie and Belle, I fear they are very far from being all they should be!' and Aunt Margarine heaved a sigh.
'Never mind, auntie; they will be better in time, I am sure. I wasn't always a good girl.'
Priscilla thoroughly enjoyed the first few days of her visit; even her aunt was only too grateful for instruction, and begged that Priscilla would tell her, quite candidly, of any shortcomings she might notice. And Priscilla, very kindly and considerately, always did tell her. Belle and Catherine were less docile, and she saw that it would take her some time to win their esteem and affection; but this was just what Priscilla liked: it was the usual experience of the heroines in the books, and much more interesting, too, than conquering her cousins' hearts at once.
Still, both Catherine and Belle persistently hardened their hearts against their gentle little cousin in the unkindest way; they would scarcely speak to her, and chose to make a grievance out of the fact that one or other of them was obliged, by their mother's strict orders, to be constantly in attendance upon her, in order to pick up and bring Mrs. Hoyle all the jewels that Priscilla scattered in profusion wherever she went.
'If you would only carry a plate about with you, Priscilla,' complained Belle one day, 'you could catch the jewels in that.'
'But I don't want to catch the jewels, dear Belle,' said Priscilla, with a playful but very sweet smile; 'if other people prize such things, that is not my fault, is it? Jewels do not make people any happier, Belle!'
'I should think not!' exclaimed Belle. 'I'm sure my back perfectly aches with stooping, and so does Cathie's. There! that big topaz has just gone and rolled under the sideboard, and mother will be so angry if I don't get it out! It is too bad of you, Priscilla! I believe you do it on purpose!'
'Ah, you will know me better some day, dear, was the gentle response.
'Well, at all events, I think you might be naughty just now and then, Prissie, and give Cathie and me a half-holiday.'
'I would do anything else to please you, dear, but not that; you must not ask me to do what is impossible.'
Alas! not even this angelic behaviour, not even the loving admonitions, the tender rebukes, the shocked reproaches that fell, accompanied by perfect cascades of jewels, from the lips of our pattern little Priscilla, succeeded in removing the utterly unfounded prejudices of her cousins, though it was some consolation to feel that she was gradually acquiring a most beneficial influence over her aunt, who called Priscilla 'her little conscience.' For, you see, Priscilla's conscience had so little to do on her own account that it was always at the service of other people, and indeed quite enjoyed being useful, as was only natural to a conscientious conscience which felt that it could never have been created to be idle.
Very soon another responsibility was added to little Priscilla's burdens. Her cousin Dick, the worldly one with the yellow boots, came home after his annual holiday, which, as he was the junior clerk in a large bank, he was obliged to take rather late in the year. She had looked forward to his return with some excitement. Dick, she knew, was frivolous and reckless in his habits – he went to the theatre occasionally and frequently spent an evening in playing billiards and smoking cigars at a friend's house. There would be real credit in reforming poor cousin Dick.
He was not long, of course, in hearing of Priscilla's marvellous endowment, and upon the first occasion they were alone together treated her with a respect and admiration which he had very certainly never shown her before.
'You're wonderful, Prissie!' he said; 'I'd no idea you had it in you!'
'Nor had I, Dick; but it shows that even a little girl can do something.'
'I should rather think so! and – and the way you look – as grave as a judge all the time! Prissie, I wish you'd tell me how you manage it, I wouldn't tell a soul.'
'But I don't know, Dick. I only talk and the jewels come – that is all.'
'You artful little girl! you can keep a secret, I see, but so can I. And you might tell me how you do the trick. What put you up to the dodge? I'm to be trusted, I assure you.'
'Dick, you can't – you mustn't – think there is any trickery about it! How can you believe I could be such a wicked little girl as to play tricks? It was an old fairy that gave me the gift. I'm sure I don't know why – unless she thought that I was a good child and deserved to be encouraged.'
'By Jove!' cried Dick, 'I never knew you were half such fun!'
'I am not fun, Dick. I think fun is generally so very vulgar, and oh, I wish you wouldn't say "by Jove!" Surely you know he was a heathen god!'
'I seem to have heard of him in some such capacity,' said Dick. 'I say, Prissie, what a ripping big ruby!'
'Ah, Dick, Dick, you are like the others! I'm afraid you think more of the jewels than of any words I may say – and yet jewels are common enough!'
'They seem to be with you. Pearls, too, and such fine ones! Here, Priscilla, take them; they're your property.'
Priscilla put her hands behind her: 'No, indeed, Dick, they are of no use to me. Keep them, please; they may help to remind you of what I have said.'
'It's awfully kind of you,' said Dick, looking really touched. 'Then – since you put it in that way – thanks, I will, Priscilla. I'll have them made into a horse-shoe pin.'
'You mustn't let it make you too fond of dress, then,' said Priscilla; 'but I'm afraid you're that already, Dick.'
'A diamond!' he cried; 'go on, Priscilla, I'm listening – pitch into me, it will do me a lot of good!'
But Priscilla thought it wisest to say no more just then.
That night, after Priscilla and Cathie and Belle had gone to bed, Dick and his mother sat up talking until a late hour.
'Is dear little cousin Priscilla to be a permanency in this establishment?' began her cousin, stifling a yawn, for there had been a rather copious flow of precious stones during the evening.
'Well, I shall keep her with us as long as I can,' said Mrs. Hoyle, 'she's such a darling, and they don't seem to want her at home. I'm sure, limited as my means are, I'm most happy to have such a visitor.'
'She seems to pay her way – only her way is a trifle trying at times, isn't it? She lectured me for half an hour on end without a single check!'
'Are you sure you picked them all up, dear boy?'
'Got a few of the best in my waistcoat-pocket now. I'm afraid I scrunched a pearl or two, though: they were all over the place, you know. I suppose you've been collecting too, mater?'
'I picked up one or two,' said his mother; 'I should think I must have nearly enough now to fill a bandbox. And that brings me to what I wanted to consult you about, Richard. How are we to dispose of them? She has given them all to me.'
'You haven't done anything with them yet, then?'
'How could I? I have been obliged to stay at home: I've been so afraid of letting that precious child go out of my sight for a single hour, for fear some unscrupulous persons might get hold of her. I thought that perhaps, when you came home, you