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The Little Princess Chapter 13 - One of the Populace · The Frances Hodgson Burnett Library

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Speaker 1: CHAPTER XIII. ONE OF THE POPULOUS The winter was a
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Speaker 1: wretched one. There were days on which Sarah tramped through
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Speaker 1: snow when she went on her errands. There were worse
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Speaker 1: days when the snow melted and combined itself with mud
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Speaker 1: to form slush. There were others when the fog was
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Speaker 1: so thick that the lamps in the street were lighted
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Speaker 1: all day, and London looked as it had looked the afternoon,
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Speaker 1: several years ago, when the cab had driven through the
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Speaker 1: thoroughfares with Sarah tucked up on its seat, leaning against
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Speaker 1: her father's shoulder. On such days the windows of the
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Speaker 1: house of the large family always looked delightfully cosy and alluring,
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Speaker 1: and the study in which the Indian gentlemen sat glowed
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Speaker 1: with warmth and rich colour. but the attic was dismal
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Speaker 1: beyond words. There were no longer sunsets or sunrises to
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Speaker 1: look at, and scarcely ever any stars, it seemed to Sarah.
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Speaker 1: The clouds hung low over the skylight, and were either
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Speaker 1: grey or mud colour, or dropping heavy rain. At four
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Speaker 1: o'clock in the afternoon, even when there was no special fog,
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Speaker 1: the daylight was at an end. If it was necessary
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Speaker 1: to go to her attic for anything, Sarah was obliged
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Speaker 1: to light a candle. The women in the kitchen were depressed,
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Speaker 1: and that made them more ill-tempered than ever. Becky was
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Speaker 1: driven like a little slave.' T' were' t for you, miss, she
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Speaker 1: said hoarsely to Sarah one night when she had crept
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Speaker 1: into the attic.' T' were' t for you, and the Bastille, and
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Speaker 1: being the prisoner in the next cell. I should die.
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Speaker 1: That there does seem real now, doesn't it? The missus
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Speaker 1: is more like the Ed Jailer every day she lives.
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Speaker 1: and just see them big keys you say she carries.
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Speaker 1: The cook, she's like one of the under-jailers. Tell me
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Speaker 1: some more, please, miss. Tell me about the subterranean passage
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Speaker 1: we've dug under the walls. I'll tell you something warmer,
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Speaker 1: shivered Sarah. Get your coverlet and wrap it round you,
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Speaker 1: and I'll get mine, and we will huddle close together
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Speaker 1: on the bed, and I'll tell you about the tropical
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Speaker 1: forest where the Indian gentleman's monkey used to live. When
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Speaker 1: I see him sitting on the table near the window
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Speaker 1: and looking out into the street with that mournful expression,
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Speaker 1: I always feel sure he is thinking about the tropical
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Speaker 1: forest where he used to swing by his tail from
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Speaker 1: coconut trees. I wonder who caught him, and if he
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Speaker 1: left a family behind who had depended on him for coconuts.
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Speaker 1: That is warmer, miss, said Becky gratefully. But some days
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Speaker 1: even the Bastille is sort of eaten when he gets
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Speaker 1: to telling about it. That is because it makes you
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Speaker 1: think of something else, said Sarah, wrapping the coverlet round
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Speaker 1: her until only her small, dark face was to be
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Speaker 1: seen looking out of it. I've noticed this. What you
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Speaker 1: have to do with your mind when your body is
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Speaker 1: miserable is to make it think of something else. Can
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Speaker 1: you do it, miss? faltered Becky, regarding her with admiring eyes.
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Speaker 1: Sarah knitted her brows a moment. Sometimes I can, and
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Speaker 1: sometimes I can't. she said stoutly.' But when I can,
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Speaker 1: I'm all right. And what I believe is that we
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Speaker 1: always could, if we practiced enough. I've been practicing a
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Speaker 1: good deal lately, and it's beginning to be easier than
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Speaker 1: it used to be. When things are horrible, just horrible,
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Speaker 1: I think as hard as ever I can of being
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Speaker 1: a princess. I say to myself, I am a princess,
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Speaker 1: and I am a fairy one, and because I am
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Speaker 1: a fairy nothing can hurt me or make me uncomfortable.'
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Speaker 1: You don't know how it makes you forget!' with a laugh.
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Speaker 1: She had many opportunities of making her mind think of
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Speaker 1: something else, and many opportunities of proving to herself whether
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Speaker 1: or not she was a princess. But one of the
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Speaker 1: strongest tests she was ever put to came on a
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Speaker 1: certain dreadful day, which, she often thought afterward, would never
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Speaker 1: quite fade out of her memory, even in the years
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Speaker 1: to come. For several days it had rained continuously, The
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Speaker 1: streets were chilly and sloppy and full of dreary, cold mist.
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Speaker 1: There was mud everywhere, sticky London mud, and over everything
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Speaker 1: the pall of drizzle and fog. Of course, there were
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Speaker 1: several long and tiresome errands to be done. There always
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Speaker 1: were on days like this. And Sarah was sent out
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Speaker 1: again and again until her shabby clothes were damp through.
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Speaker 1: The absurd old feathers on her forlorn hat were more
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Speaker 1: draggled and absurd than ever, and her downtrodden shoes were
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Speaker 1: so wet that they could not hold any more water.
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Speaker 1: Added to this, she had been deprived of her dinner,
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Speaker 1: because Miss Minchin had chosen to punish her. She was
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Speaker 1: so cold and hungry and tired that her face began
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Speaker 1: to have a pinched look, and now and then some
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Speaker 1: kind-hearted person passing her in the street glanced at her
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Speaker 1: with sudden sympathy. But she did not know that. She
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Speaker 1: hurried on trying to make her mind think of something else.
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Speaker 1: It was really very necessary. Her way of doing it
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Speaker 1: was to pretend and suppose with all the strength that
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Speaker 1: was left in her. But really this time it was
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Speaker 1: harder than she had ever found it, and once or
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Speaker 1: twice she thought it almost made her more cold and
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Speaker 1: hungry instead of less so. But she persevered obstinately, and
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Speaker 1: as the muddy water squelched through her broken shoes and
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Speaker 1: the wind seemed trying to drag her thin jacket from her,
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Speaker 1: she talked to herself as she walked, though she did
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Speaker 1: not speak aloud or even move her lips. Suppose I
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Speaker 1: had dry clothes on, she thought. Suppose I had good
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Speaker 1: shoes and a long thick coat and merino stockings and
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Speaker 1: a whole umbrella. And suppose, suppose, just when I was
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Speaker 1: near a baker's where they sold hot buns, I should
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Speaker 1: find sixpence, which belonged to nobody. Suppose if I did,
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Speaker 1: I should go into the shop and buy six of
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Speaker 1: the hottest buns and eat them all without stopping. Some
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Speaker 1: very odd things happen in this world sometimes. It certainly
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Speaker 1: was an odd thing that happened to Sarah. She had
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Speaker 1: to cross the street just when she was saying this
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Speaker 1: to herself. The mud was dreadful. She almost had to wade.
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Speaker 1: She picked her way as carefully as she could, but
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Speaker 1: she could not save herself much. Only in picking her
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Speaker 1: way she had to look down at her feet and
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Speaker 1: the mud, and in looking down, just as she reached
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Speaker 1: the pavement, she saw something shining in the gutter. It
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Speaker 1: was actually a piece of silver, a tiny piece trodden
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Speaker 1: upon by many feet, but still with spirit enough left
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Speaker 1: to shine a little. Not quite a sixpence, but the
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Speaker 1: next thing to it, a four-penny piece. In one second
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Speaker 1: it was in her cold little red-and-blue hand. Oh, she gasped,
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Speaker 1: it is true, it is true. And then, if you
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Speaker 1: will believe me, she looked straight at the shop directly
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Speaker 1: facing her. And it was a baker's shop, and a cheerful, stout,
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Speaker 1: motherly woman with rosy cheeks was putting into the window
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Speaker 1: a tray of deliciously newly baked hot buns, fresh from
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Speaker 1: the oven, large, plump, shiny buns, with currants in them.
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Speaker 1: It almost made Sarah feel faint for a few seconds,
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Speaker 1: the shock and the sight of the buns and the
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Speaker 1: delightful odors of warm bread floating up through the baker's
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Speaker 1: cellar window. She knew she need not hesitate to use
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Speaker 1: the little piece of money. It had evidently been lying
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Speaker 1: in the mud for some time, and its owner was
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Speaker 1: completely lost in the stream of passing people who crowded
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Speaker 1: and jostled each other all day long.' But I'll go
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Speaker 1: and ask the baker woman if she has lost anything,'
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Speaker 1: she said to herself, rather faintly. So she crossed the
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Speaker 1: pavement and put her wet foot on the step. As
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Speaker 1: she did so, she saw something that made her stop.
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Speaker 1: It was a little figure, more forlorn even than herself,
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Speaker 1: a little figure which was not much more than a
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Speaker 1: bundle of rags, from which small, bare, red, muddy feet
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Speaker 1: peeped out, only because the rags with which their owner
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Speaker 1: was trying to cover them were not long enough. Above
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Speaker 1: the rags appeared a shockhead of tangled hair, and a
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Speaker 1: dirty face with big, hollow, hungry eyes. Sarah knew they
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Speaker 1: were hungry eyes the moment she saw them, and she
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Speaker 1: felt a sudden sympathy.' This,' she said to herself with
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Speaker 1: a little sigh,' is one of the populace, and she
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Speaker 1: is hungrier than I am.' The child, this one of
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Speaker 1: the populace, stared up at Sarah, and shuffled herself aside
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Speaker 1: a little, so as to give her room to pass.
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Speaker 1: She was used to being made to give room to everybody.
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Speaker 1: She knew that if a policeman chanced to see her,
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Speaker 1: he would tell her to move on. Sarah clutched her
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Speaker 1: little four-penny piece and hesitated for a few seconds. Then
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Speaker 1: she spoke to her. Are you hungry? she said. The
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Speaker 1: child shuffled herself and her rags a little more. Ain't
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Speaker 1: I just? she said in a hoarse voice. Just ain't I.
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Speaker 1: Haven't you had any dinner? said Sarah. No dinner. More
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Speaker 1: hoarsely still, and with more shuffling. Nor yet no breakfast.
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Speaker 1: Nor yet no supper. No nothing. Since when? asked Sarah.
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Speaker 1: Don't know. Never got nothing today. Nowhere. I've axed and axed.
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Speaker 1: Just to look at her made Sarah more hungry and faint,
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Speaker 1: but those queer little thoughts were at work in her brain,
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Speaker 1: and she was talking to herself, though she was sick
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Speaker 1: at heart. If I'm a princess, she was saying, if
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Speaker 1: I'm a princess, when they were poor and driven from
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Speaker 1: their thrones, they always shared with the populace' if they
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Speaker 1: met one poorer and hungrier than themselves.' They always shared.'
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Speaker 1: Buns are a penny each.' If it had been sixpence,
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Speaker 1: I could have eaten six.' It won't be enough for
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Speaker 1: either of us,' but it will be better than nothing.''
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Speaker 1: Wait a minute,' she said to the beggar child.' She
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Speaker 1: went into the shop.' It was warm and smelled deliciously.'
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Speaker 1: The woman was just going to put more hot buns
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Speaker 1: into the window.' if you please,' said Sarah.' Have you
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Speaker 1: lost fourpence, a silver fourpence?' And she held the forlorn
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Speaker 1: little piece of money out to her. The woman looked
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Speaker 1: at it, and then at her, at her intense little face,
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Speaker 1: and draggled, once fine clothes.' Bless us, no,' she answered.'
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Speaker 1: Did you find it?'' Yes,' said Sarah, in the gutter.'
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Speaker 1: Keep it, then,' said the woman.' It may have been
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Speaker 1: there for a week.' And goodness knows who lost it.
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Speaker 1: You could never find out.'' I know that,' said Sarah.'
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Speaker 1: But I thought I would ask you.'' Not many would,'
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Speaker 1: said the woman, looking puzzled and interested and good-natured all
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Speaker 1: at once.' Do you want to buy something?' she added,
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Speaker 1: as she saw Sarah glance at the buns.' Four buns,
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Speaker 1: if you please,' said Sarah.' Those at a penny each.'
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Speaker 1: The woman went to the window and put some in
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Speaker 1: a paper bag. Sarah noticed that she put in six.'
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Speaker 1: I said four, if you please,' she explained.' I have
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Speaker 1: only fourpence.'' I' ll throw in two for make-weight,' said the
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Speaker 1: woman with her good-natured look.' I dare say you can
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Speaker 1: eat them sometime. Aren't you hungry?' A mist rose before
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Speaker 1: Sarah's eyes.' Yes,' she answered.' I am very hungry, and
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Speaker 1: I am much obliged to you for your kindness,' And,
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Speaker 1: she was going to add, there's a child outside who
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Speaker 1: is hungrier than I am. But just at that moment
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Speaker 1: two or three customers came in at once, and each
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Speaker 1: one seemed in a hurry, so she could only thank
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Speaker 1: the woman again and go out. The beggar girl was
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Speaker 1: still huddled up in the corner of the step. She
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Speaker 1: looked frightful in her wet and dirty rags. She was
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Speaker 1: staring straight before her with a stupid look of suffering.
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Speaker 1: and Sarah saw her suddenly draw the back of her
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Speaker 1: roughened black hand across her eyes to rub away the tears,
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Speaker 1: which seemed to have surprised her by forcing their way
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Speaker 1: from under her lids. She was muttering to herself. Sarah
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Speaker 1: opened the paper bag and took out one of the
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Speaker 1: hot buns, which had already warmed her own cold hands
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Speaker 1: a little.' See,' she said, putting the bun in the
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Speaker 1: ragged lap,' this is nice and hot. Eat it, and
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Speaker 1: you will not feel so hungry.' The child started and
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Speaker 1: stared up at her, as if such sudden amazing good
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Speaker 1: luck almost frightened her. Then she snatched up the bun
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Speaker 1: and began to cram it into her mouth with great
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Speaker 1: wolfish bites. Oh my! Oh my! Sarah heard her say
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Speaker 1: hoarsely in wild delight. Oh my! Sarah took out three
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Speaker 1: more buns and put them down. The sound in the
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Speaker 1: horse's ravenous voice was awful. She is hungrier than I am,
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Speaker 1: she said to herself. She's starving. But her hand trembled
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Speaker 1: when she put down the fourth bun. I'm not starving,
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Speaker 1: she said, and she put down the fifth. The little
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Speaker 1: ravening London savage was still snatching and devouring when she
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Speaker 1: had turned away. She was too ravenous to give any thanks,
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Speaker 1: even if she had ever been taught politeness, which she
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Speaker 1: had not. She was only a poor little wild animal. Goodbye,
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Speaker 1: said Sarah. When she reached the other side of the street,
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Speaker 1: she looked back. The child had a bun in each
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Speaker 1: hand and had stopped in the middle of a bite
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Speaker 1: to watch her. Sarah gave her a little nod, and
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Speaker 1: the child, after another stare, a curious, lingering stare, jerked
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Speaker 1: her shaggy head in response. Until Sarah was out of sight,
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Speaker 1: she did not take another bite or even finish the
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Speaker 1: one she had begun. At that moment, the baker woman
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Speaker 1: looked out of her shop window.' Well, I never—' she exclaimed.
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Speaker 1: If that young'un hasn't given her buns to a beggar child,
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Speaker 1: it wasn't because she didn't want them, neither. Well, well,
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Speaker 1: she looked hungry enough. I'd give something to know what
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Speaker 1: she did it for. She stood behind her window for
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Speaker 1: a few moments and pondered. Then her curiosity got the
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Speaker 1: better of her. She went to the door and spoke
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Speaker 1: to the beggar child. Who gave you those buns? she
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Speaker 1: asked her. The child nodded her head toward Sarah's vanishing figure.
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Speaker 1: What did she say? inquired the woman.' Axed me if
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Speaker 1: I was hungry,' replied the hoarse voice.' What did you say?'
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Speaker 1: said a wasgist.' And then she came in and got
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Speaker 1: the buns and gave them to you, did she?' The
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Speaker 1: child nodded.' How many?'' Five.' The woman thought it over.'
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Speaker 1: Left just one for herself,' she said in a low voice.'
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Speaker 1: And she could have eaten the whole six. I saw
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Speaker 1: it in her eyes.' She looked after the little, draggled,
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Speaker 1: faraway figure and felt more disturbed in her usually comfortable
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Speaker 1: mind than she had felt for many a day.' I
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Speaker 1: wish she hadn't gone so quick,' she said.' I' m blessed
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Speaker 1: if she shouldn't have had a dozen.' Then she turned
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Speaker 1: to the child.' Are you hungry yet?' she said.' I' m
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Speaker 1: all as hungry,' was the answer,' but taint as bad
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Speaker 1: as it was.'' Come in here,' said the woman, and
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Speaker 1: she held open the shop door. The child got up
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Speaker 1: and shuffled in. To be invited into a warm place
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Speaker 1: full of bread seemed an incredible thing. She did not
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Speaker 1: know what was going to happen. She did not care even.'
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Speaker 1: Get yourself warm,' said the woman, pointing to a fire
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Speaker 1: in the tiny back room.' And look here, when you
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Speaker 1: are hard up for a bit of bread, you can
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Speaker 1: come in here and ask for it. I'm blessed if
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Speaker 1: I won't give it to you, for that young one's sake.'
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Speaker 1: Sarah found some comfort in her remaining bun. At all
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Speaker 1: events it was very hot and it was better than nothing.
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Speaker 1: As she walked along she broke off small pieces and
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Speaker 1: ate them slowly to make them last longer. Suppose it
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Speaker 1: was a magic bun, she said, and a bite was
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Speaker 1: as much as a whole dinner. I should be overeating
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Speaker 1: myself if I went on like this. It was dark
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Speaker 1: when she reached the square where the select seminary was situated.
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Speaker 1: The lights in the houses were all lighted. The blinds
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Speaker 1: were not yet drawn in the windows of the room
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Speaker 1: where she nearly always caught glimpses of members of the
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Speaker 1: large family. Frequently at this hour she could see the
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Speaker 1: gentleman she called Mr. Montmorency sitting in a big chair,
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Speaker 1: with a small swarm round him, talking, laughing, perching on
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Speaker 1: the arms of his seat, or on his knees, or
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Speaker 1: leaning against them. This evening the swarm was about him,
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Speaker 1: but he was not seated. On the contrary, there was
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Speaker 1: a good deal of excitement going on. It was evident
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Speaker 1: that a journey was to be taken— and it was Mr.
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Speaker 1: Montmorency who was to take it. A broom stood before
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Speaker 1: the door, and a big portmanteau had been strapped upon it.
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Speaker 1: The children were dancing about, chattering and hanging on to
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Speaker 1: their father. The pretty, rosy mother was standing near him,
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Speaker 1: talking as if she was asking final questions. Sarah paused
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Speaker 1: a moment to see the little ones lifted up and kissed,
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Speaker 1: and the bigger ones bent over and kissed also.' I
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Speaker 1: wonder if he will stay away long,' she thought.' The
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Speaker 1: portmanteau is rather big.' Oh dear, how they will miss him!
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Speaker 1: I shall miss him myself, even though he doesn't know
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Speaker 1: I am alive. When the door opened she moved away,
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Speaker 1: remembering the Sixpence, but she saw the traveller come out
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Speaker 1: and stand against the background of the warmly lighted hall,
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Speaker 1: the older children still hovering about him.' Will Moscow be
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Speaker 1: covered with snow?' said the little girl Janet.' Will there
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Speaker 1: be ice everywhere?'' Shall you drive in a drosky?' cried another.'
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Speaker 1: Shall you see the Tsar?' I will write and tell
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Speaker 1: you all about it,' he answered, laughing.' And I will
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Speaker 1: send you pictures of musiques and things. Run into the house.
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Speaker 1: It is a hideous damp night. I would rather stay
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Speaker 1: with you than go to Moscow. Good night. Good night, duckies.
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Speaker 1: God bless you.' And he ran down the steps and
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Speaker 1: jumped into the broom.' If you find the little girl,
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Speaker 1: give her our love,' shouted Guy Clarence, jumping up and
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Speaker 1: down on the doormat. Then they went in and shut
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Speaker 1: the door. Did you see? said Janet to Nora as
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Speaker 1: they went back to the room. The little girl who
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Speaker 1: was not a beggar was passing. She looked all cold
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Speaker 1: and wet, and I saw her turn her head over
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Speaker 1: her shoulder and look at us. Mama says her clothes
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Speaker 1: always look as if they had been given her by
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Speaker 1: someone who was quite rich, someone who only let her
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Speaker 1: have them because they were too shabby to wear. The
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Speaker 1: people at the school always centre out on errands on
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Speaker 1: the horridest days and nights there are. Sarah crossed the
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Speaker 1: square to Miss Minchin's area steps, feeling faint and shaky.
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Speaker 1: I wonder who the little girl is, she thought. The
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Speaker 1: little girl he is going to look for. And she
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Speaker 1: went down the area steps, lugging her basket and finding
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Speaker 1: it very heavy indeed. as the father of the large
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Speaker 1: family drove quickly on his way to the station, to
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Speaker 1: take the train which was to carry him to Moscow,
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Speaker 1: where he was to make his best efforts to search
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Speaker 1: for the lost little daughter of Captain Crewe. End of
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Speaker 1: chapter 13