A Sweet Girl Graduate

brought down the house with ringing applause.

The curtain fell and rose again. The Prince and Princess stood with hands clasped. The eyes of the conquered Princess looked again at the people in the gallery, but the eyes she wanted to see did not meet hers.

An hour later Maggie Oliphant had occasion to go back to the forsaken green-room to fetch a bracelet she had left there. Priscilla was standing in the corridor when she passed. Quick as lightning Prissie disappeared, and, making her way into the library, which was thrown open for a general reception that evening, sought out Hammond, and, taking his hand, said, abruptly —

“I want you; come with me.”

In surprise he followed her into the hall.

“Maggie is in the green-room; go to her,” said Priscilla.

He raised his brows; his eyes seemed to lighten, and then grow dark. They asked Priscilla a thousand questions; his lips refused to ask one.

Replying to the look in his eyes, Priscilla said again: “It is cruel of you to leave her alone. Go to her; she is waiting for you – and oh, I know that her heart has been waiting for you for a long, long time.”

“If I thought that,” said Hammond’s eyes.

He turned without a word, and went down the long corridor which led to the little theatre.

Late that evening, after all the bustle and excitement were over, and most of the guests had left, Miss Heath was standing in her own sitting-room talking to Prissie.

“And you have quite made up your mind, Prissie?”

“Yes,” answered Priscilla. “I heard from Aunt Raby to-day; she told me all about Mr Hammond’s visit, for Mr Hayes went to see her, and told her everything.”

“Well, Prissie,” said Miss Heath, “what have you decided? It is a great chance for you, and there is nothing wrong in it; indeed, for aught we can tell, this may be the direct guiding of Providence.”

“But I don’t think it is,” said Priscilla, in a slow voice. “I have thought it all over very carefully, and I don’t think the chance offered by dear Maggie would be a good one for me.”

“Why not, my dear? Your reasons must be strong when you say this.”

“I don’t know if they are strong,” answered Priscilla, “but they are at least decided. My father and mother were poor and independent. Aunt Raby is very poor, and also independent I fancy that were I rich in comparison, I might cease to be independent. The strong motive power might go. Something might be taken out of me which I could never get back, so I – ” Her lips trembled.

“Pause a minute, Prissie; remember what Maggie offers, a sufficient income to support your aunt, to educate your sisters, and to enable you to pursue those studies at St. Benet’s for which you have the greatest talent. Think of the honours that lie before you; think how brilliantly you may pass your tripos examination with your mind at rest.”

“That’s not the point,” said Priscilla. There was a ring in her voice which she must have inherited from a long line of rugged, proud, but worthy ancestors. “In a question of this kind, I ought never to content myself with looking at the brilliant and tempting side. Forgive me, Miss Heath. I may have done wrong after all; but, right or wrong, I have made my resolve. I will keep my independence.”

“Have you considered your Aunt Raby in this?”

“She has put herself absolutely out of the question by declining all aid as far as she is concerned. She says such assistance would kill her in a week. If I can earn money to help her before she dies, she will accept it from me with thankfulness, but from no one else.”

“Then you will give up your Latin and Greek?”

“For the present, I must.”

“And you are quite happy?”

“If Maggie and Mr Hammond will only marry one another, I shall be one of the happiest girls in the world.”

There came a knock at Miss Heath’s door. Priscilla flew to open it.

“Prissie, darling!” said Maggie Oliphant’s voice. She flung her arms round the young girl’s neck, and kissed her several times.

“It’s all right, Priscilla,” said Hammond.

Miss Heath made a step or two forward.

“Come and tell Miss Heath,” said Prissie. “Miss Heath, here is Maggie! Here is dear Maggie and here is Mr Hammond, and it is all right.” Tears of gladness filled Priscilla’s eyes. She went up to Hammond, took one of his hands in both her own, and said, in a voice of rapture, “I did help you to-night, didn’t I? You know I said I would do anything in the world for you.”

“You have done everything for me, Priscilla,” replied Hammond. “I shall bless you while I live.”

Maggie Oliphant’s arms were round Miss Heath’s neck; her head rested against her breast. “We have come straight to you,” she said; “you told me that if – if such an occasion came, you would act as a mother to me.”

“So I can, and so I will, dear child. God bless you. You are happy now.”

“Happy!” Maggie’s eyes were glistening through the softest rainbow of tears. Hammond came and took the hand which she had suddenly thrown at her side.

“We both owe everything to Priscilla,” he said.

Chapter Thirty Three

Conclusion

Before Maggie Oliphant left St. Benet’s she brought some of the honour which had long been expected from her to the dearly-loved Halls: she took a first-class in her tripos examination. With her mind at rest, a great deal of the morbidness of her character disappeared, and her last term at St. Benet’s reminded the students who had known her in Annabel Lee’s time of the old, brilliant, and happy Maggie. Miss Oliphant’s bad half-hours became rarer and rarer, and Hammond laughed when she spoke to him of them, and said that she could not expect him to believe in their existence.

Shortly after the conclusion of the summer term Maggie and Hammond were married, and her little world at St. Benet’s had to get on without the presence which had always exerted the influence of a strong personality, and which had been potent both for good and evil.

By this time, however, a girl whose personal charms were few, whose poverty was apparent, and whose gaucherie was even now often extreme, was more than filling the place left vacant by Maggie. Extreme earnestness, the sincerity of a noble purpose, the truthfulness of a nature which could not stoop to deceit, was spreading an influence on the side of all that was good and noble. No girl did more honour to Heath Hall than she who, at one time, was held up to derision, and laughed at as odd, prudish, and uninteresting.

Everyone prophesied well for Priscilla in the future which lay before her; her feet were set in the right direction; the aim of her life was to become – not learned, but wise; not to build up a reputation, but to gain character; to put blessedness before happiness – duty before inclination.

Women like Priscilla live at the root of the true life of a worthy nation. Maggie Oliphant had brilliance, beauty, wealth; she had also strong personal influence, and the power of creating love wherever she went; but, when Priscilla Peel leaves St. Benet’s, she will be more missed than was Maggie.

The End.