City and town life -- Fiction; England -- Social life and customs -- Fiction; Social classes -- Fiction; Women teachers -- Fiction
And then he stood and listened, and the boys involuntarily listened too,
while their master failed to urge them on, as he too stood and forgot
all but the fact that was being lyrically told of how--
"Down in a green and shady bed,
A modest violet grew;
Its stalk was bent, it hung its head
As if to hide from view."
And, as they both listened, the Reverend Henry Lambent and Samuel Chute
felt that Hazel Thorne was in some way identified with that modest
violet hiding from view down in shady Plumton All Saints, diffusing a
sweet perfume of good works, as the song went on to tell in a way that
went straight to both their hearts.
Then their eyes met.
Directly after the sweet tones ceased, and the tune was commenced again
in chorus by the singing class, the modest violet now becoming
identified with the strident voice of Miss Feelier Potts who absolutely
yelled.
The vicar went straight out, turning to the left as he reached the path
instead of to the right, for he could not visit the girls' school then;
and he walked home, telling himself that the disenchantment was
complete--there was that open shutter--his strange feelings for Hazel
Thorne were at an end--and he paced his study all the evening, his
bedroom half the night, with the sweet air and words of that simple
school song repeating themselves for ever in his ears.
"Why, Henry, what is the matter?" cried Beatrice Lambent the next
morning, as she came upon her brother in the dining-room, waiting for
her to make his coffee.
"Matter?" he said, flushing scarlet like a girl. "Matter?"
"Yes! you singing? I never heard you sing before in your life."
"Was I--was I singing?" he said huskily.
"Yes, that stupid, hackneyed violet song, that the children shriek at
the schools."
"Was I? Dear me, how strange! To be sure--yes. The children were
singing it while I was talking to Mr Chute yesterday. We could hear it
through the partition."
CHAPTER FOURTEEN.
"HENRY!"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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