Family life -- Juvenile fiction; Girls -- Conduct of life -- Juvenile fiction
"Oh, dear," cried Audrey again, "I expect I look an object!" She jumped
up and tried to see herself in the strip of looking-glass conveniently
placed along the back of the opposite seat. "What a bother it is that one
can't cry without getting to look so----" She subsided on to her seat
hastily, leaving her thought unfinished, and pulled her hat down over her
eyes, turned her back on the platform end of her carriage and gazed
fixedly out of the opposite window, for a whole party of people had caught
sight of her nice empty carriage, and were making for it.
"There are heaps of room here, mother, and such a nice carriage too!" said
a boy's voice eagerly.
Audrey could not help looking round, but she pretended it was to pick up
one of her magazines, and, being still afraid that her eyes and nose were
red, she continued to pretend to be absorbed in the contents. She was so
vexed with the newcomers for invading her carriage that she would not have
looked at them--so she told herself--even if her eyes had not been red;
but, if she refused to look, she could not refuse to hear, and she soon
knew that there were two girls of the party, as well as the boy and his
mother; and that their voices were pretty and refined. They were all so
happy and jolly, too, that, in spite of her vexation, Audrey could not
help growing interested and amused, and, finally, even rather glad of
their company. It had certainly been rather melancholy, travelling with
nothing but one's sad thoughts for company.
She felt, too, rather than saw, that they in their turn were interested in
her, and were inclined to be friendly, and once again she experienced a
thrill of satisfaction that she was so well dressed, and that all her
belongings were so good and so dainty.
Before very long she grew tired of her self-imposed task of reading.
It seemed so silly to be continually holding open the pages and casting
her eyes over and over them without taking in a word. It gave one a crick
in the neck too, keeping it bent so long, and, after all, the people in
the carriage were so much more interesting than the people in the stories.
If she could hold her head out of the window a little while and blow away
the last signs of weeping, she would be able, she thought, to look about
her. She threw aside her magazine, took off her hat, and, lowering her
window, thrust her head out. The sun turned her red hair to a golden
radiance about her; the wind, catching the heavy locks, blew them out like
fluttering red-gold pennons. All the Carlyles had red hair of varying
shades and natures. Audrey's was long and heavy, with a pretty wave in
it. Faith's was shorter, darker, and curly. Tom's curled tightly over
his head, a fiery mat of curls. Deborah's, finest and silkiest of all,
hung in soft auburn waves to her waist. Baby Joan's fluffy curls were the
colour of newly-spun silk.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account