FAIRY GOLD
By CHRISTIAN REID
Author of "Véra's Charge," "Philip's Restitution," "A Child of
Mary," "His Victory," etc.
THE AVE MARIA PRESS
NOTRE DAME, INDIANA
Copyright, 1897,
BY
D.E. HUDSON.
FAIRY GOLD.
PRELUDE.
"Claire! do stop that tiresome practicing and come here. Helen and Iwant you."
The voice was very clear and vibrating, and had a ring of command in itas it uttered these words; while the summer dusk was dying away, andthe summer air came soft and sweet into the school-room of a convent,that, from the eminence on which it stood, overlooked a city at itsfeet, and the rise and fall of Atlantic tides. It was drawing towardthe close of the exercise-hour, but the two girls who stood togetherin school-girl fashion beside an open window, and the third, who in anadjoining music-room was diligently practicing Chopin, were not theonly ones who had neglected its observance and incurred no rebuke;for was not to-morrow the end of the scholastic year, and did notrelaxation of rules already reign from dormitory to class-room?
Many hearts were beating high at the thought of the freedom which thatmorrow would bring; many dreams were woven of the bright world whichlay beyond these quiet shades; of pleasures which were to replacethe monotonous round of occupation in which youth had so far beenspent—the round of lessons from teachers whose voices were gentle astheir faces were holy and serene; of quiet meditations in the beautifulchapel, with its sculptured altar and stained-glass windows andnever-dying lamp; of walks in the green old garden, and romps along itsfar-stretching alleys. They were ready to leave it all behind, thesecareless birds, eager to try their new-fledged wings; and when the heatand burden of the day should come down upon them, how much they wouldgive for one hour of the old quiet peace, the old happy ignorance!
And among them all no face was more bright with triumphant hope—orwas it triumphant resolve?—than hers whose voice went ringing throughthe almost deserted school-room, in the half-entreaty, half-commandrecorded above.
The sound of the piano ceased on the instant; a slight rustlingfollowed, as of music being put away; and then a girl came down themiddle aisle of desks, toward the window which overlooked the gardenand faced the glowing western sky, where the two girls were standing,both of whom turned as she advanced.
"You must pardon me," she said, in a tone of apology. "I did not meanto stay so long, but I forget myself when I am at the piano, and Icould scarcely bear to think that this was my last hour of practice."
"I am quite sure that it will not be your last hour of practice," saidthe girl who had spoken first. "You are too fond of drudgery for that.But how can you talk of not bearing to think of its being the lasthere, when Helen and I have been congratulating each other on thefact until we exhausted all our expressions of pleasure, and had tocall on you to help us?"
"Then you would have done better to let me finish my practicing,"said the other, with a faint smile; "for I cannot help you with oneexpression of pleasure: I am too sorry."
"Sorry!"—it was the one called Helen who broke in here. "Oh! how canyou say that, when we are going home to be so happy?"
"You are going home, dear," remarked Cla