Latest / The Frances Hodgson Burnett Library / The Little Princess Chapter 10 - The Indian Gentleman
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: CHAPTER X. THE INDIAN GENTLEMAN But it was a perilous
- 0:03Speaker 1: thing for Ermengarde and Lottie to make pilgrimages to the attic.
- 0:07Speaker 1: They could never be quite sure when Sarah would be there.
- 0:23Speaker 1: and they could scarcely ever be certain that Miss Amelia
- 0:26Speaker 1: would not make a tour of inspection through the bedrooms
- 0:28Speaker 1: after the pupils were supposed to be asleep. So their
- 0:32Speaker 1: visits were rare ones, and Sarah lived a strange and
- 0:35Speaker 1: lonely life. It was a lonelier life when she was
- 0:39Speaker 1: downstairs than when she was in her attic. She had
- 0:42Speaker 1: no one to talk to, and when she was sent
- 0:45Speaker 1: out on errands and walked through the streets, a forlorn
- 0:48Speaker 1: little figure carrying a basket or a parcel— trying to
- 0:51Speaker 1: hold her hat on when the wind was blowing, and
- 0:54Speaker 1: feeling the water soak through her shoes when it was raining.
- 0:57Speaker 1: She felt as if the crowds hurrying past her made
- 1:00Speaker 1: her loneliness greater. When she had been the Princess Sarah,
- 1:04Speaker 1: driving through the streets in her broom, or walking attended
- 1:07Speaker 1: by Mariette, the sight of her bright, eager little face
- 1:11Speaker 1: and picturesque coats and hats had often caused people to
- 1:14Speaker 1: look after her. A happy, beautifully cared-for little girl naturally
- 1:19Speaker 1: attracts attention. Shabby, poorly dressed children are not rare enough
- 1:23Speaker 1: and pretty enough to make people turn around to look
- 1:25Speaker 1: at them and smile. No one looked at Sarah in
- 1:29Speaker 1: these days, and no one seemed to see her as
- 1:31Speaker 1: she hurried along the crowded pavements. She had begun to
- 1:35Speaker 1: grow very fast, and, as she was dressed only in
- 1:38Speaker 1: such clothes as the plainer remnants of her wardrobe would supply,
- 1:42Speaker 1: she knew she looked very queer indeed. All her valuable
- 1:46Speaker 1: garments had been disposed of, and such as had been
- 1:49Speaker 1: left for her use she was expected to wear so
- 1:51Speaker 1: long as she could put them on at all. Sometimes
- 1:54Speaker 1: when she passed a shop window with a mirror in it,
- 1:57Speaker 1: she almost laughed outright on catching a glimpse of herself,
- 2:01Speaker 1: and sometimes her face went red and she bit her
- 2:04Speaker 1: lip and turned away. In the evening when she passed
- 2:09Speaker 1: houses whose windows were lighted up, she used to look
- 2:12Speaker 1: into the warm rooms and amuse herself by imagining things
- 2:15Speaker 1: about the people she saw sitting before the fires or
- 2:18Speaker 1: about the tables. It always interested her to catch glimpses
- 2:22Speaker 1: of rooms before the shutters were closed. There were several
- 2:26Speaker 1: families in the square in which Miss Minchin lived, with
- 2:29Speaker 1: which she had become quite familiar in a way of
- 2:31Speaker 1: her own. The one she liked best she called the
- 2:34Speaker 1: Large Family. She called it the Large Family not because
- 2:37Speaker 1: the members of it were big, for indeed most of
- 2:40Speaker 1: them were little, but because there were so many of them.
- 2:43Speaker 1: There were eight children in the Large Family, and a stout,
- 2:47Speaker 1: rosy mother and a stout, rosy father— and a stout,
- 2:50Speaker 1: rosy grandmother, and any number of servants. The eight children
- 2:54Speaker 1: were always either being taken out to walk or to
- 2:57Speaker 1: ride in perambulators by comfortable nurses, or they were going
- 3:00Speaker 1: to drive with their mamma, or they were flying to
- 3:03Speaker 1: the door in the evening to meet their papa and
- 3:05Speaker 1: kiss him and dance around him and drag off his
- 3:08Speaker 1: overcoat and look in the pockets for packages, or they
- 3:11Speaker 1: were crowding about the nursery windows and looking out and
- 3:14Speaker 1: pushing each other and laughing. In fact, they were always
- 3:18Speaker 1: doing something enjoyable. and suited to the tastes of a
- 3:21Speaker 1: large family. Sarah was quite fond of them, and had
- 3:25Speaker 1: given them names out of books, quite romantic names. She
- 3:29Speaker 1: called them the Montmorencys, when she did not call them
- 3:31Speaker 1: the large family. The fat, fair baby with the lace
- 3:35Speaker 1: cap was Ethelberta Beauchamp Montmorency. The next baby was Violet
- 3:40Speaker 1: Colmondelet Montmorency. The little boy who could just stagger, and
- 3:44Speaker 1: who had such round legs, was Sidney Cecil Vivian Montmorency.
- 3:49Speaker 1: And then came Lillian Evangeline Maud Marion, Rosalind Gladys, Guy Clarence,
- 3:54Speaker 1: Veronica Eustacia, and Claude Harold Hector. One evening a very
- 4:00Speaker 1: funny thing happened, though perhaps in one sense it was
- 4:04Speaker 1: not a funny thing at all. Several of the Montmorencys
- 4:07Speaker 1: were evidently going to a children's party, and just as
- 4:10Speaker 1: Sarah was about to pass the door, they were crossing
- 4:13Speaker 1: the pavement to get into the carriage which was waiting
- 4:15Speaker 1: for them. Veronica Eustacia and Rosalind Gladys, in white lace
- 4:20Speaker 1: frocks and lovely sashes, had just got in, and Guy Clarence,
- 4:24Speaker 1: aged five, was following them. He was such a pretty fellow,
- 4:28Speaker 1: and had such rosy cheeks and blue eyes, and such
- 4:31Speaker 1: a darling little round head covered with curls, that Sarah
- 4:35Speaker 1: forgot her basket and shabby cloak altogether. In fact, forgot
- 4:39Speaker 1: everything but that she wanted to look at him for
- 4:41Speaker 1: a moment. So she paused and looked. It was Christmas time,
- 4:47Speaker 1: and the large family had been hearing many stories about
- 4:49Speaker 1: children who were poor and had no mamas and papas
- 4:52Speaker 1: to fill their stockings and take them to the pantomime,
- 4:55Speaker 1: children who were in fact cold and thinly clad and hungry.
- 5:00Speaker 1: In the stories, kind people, sometimes little boys and girls
- 5:04Speaker 1: with tender hearts, invariably saw the poor children and gave
- 5:07Speaker 1: them money or rich gifts or took them home to
- 5:10Speaker 1: beautiful dinners. Guy Clarence had been affected to tears that
- 5:13Speaker 1: very afternoon by the reading of such a story, and
- 5:16Speaker 1: he had burned with a desire to find such a
- 5:18Speaker 1: poor child and give her a certain sixpence he possessed,
- 5:22Speaker 1: and thus provide for her for life. An entire sixpence,
- 5:26Speaker 1: he was sure, would mean affluence for evermore. As he
- 5:29Speaker 1: crossed the strip of red carpet laid across the pavement
- 5:32Speaker 1: from the door to the carriage, he had this very
- 5:35Speaker 1: sixpence in the pocket of his very short man-of-war trousers. and,
- 5:39Speaker 1: just as Rosalind Gladys got into the vehicle and jumped
- 5:42Speaker 1: on the seat in order to feel the cushions spring
- 5:44Speaker 1: under her, he saw Sarah standing on the wet pavement
- 5:47Speaker 1: in her shabby frock and hat, with her old basket
- 5:50Speaker 1: on her arm, looking at him hungrily. He thought that
- 5:54Speaker 1: her eyes looked hungry because she had perhaps had nothing
- 5:57Speaker 1: to eat for a long time. He did not know
- 5:59Speaker 1: that they looked so because she was hungry for the warm,
- 6:02Speaker 1: merry life his home held and his rosy face spoke of.
- 6:06Speaker 1: and that she had a hungry wish to snatch him
- 6:08Speaker 1: in her arms and kiss him. He only knew that
- 6:11Speaker 1: she had big eyes, and a thin face, and thin legs,
- 6:15Speaker 1: and a common basket, and poor clothes. So he put
- 6:19Speaker 1: his hand in his pocket, and found his sixpence, and
- 6:22Speaker 1: walked up to her benignly.' Here, poor little girl,' he said.'
- 6:26Speaker 1: Here is a sixpence. I will give it to you.'
- 6:30Speaker 1: Sarah started. and all at once realized that she looked
- 6:33Speaker 1: exactly like poor children she had seen in her better days,
- 6:36Speaker 1: waiting on the pavement to watch her as she got
- 6:38Speaker 1: out of her broom. And she had given them pennies
- 6:41Speaker 1: many a time. Her face went red, and then it
- 6:44Speaker 1: went pale, and for a second she felt as if
- 6:47Speaker 1: she could not take the dear little sixpence. Oh, no,
- 6:51Speaker 1: she said. Oh, no, thank you. I mustn't take it indeed.
- 6:56Speaker 1: Her voice was so unlike an ordinary street-child's voice, and
- 6:59Speaker 1: her manner was so like the manner of a well-bred
- 7:01Speaker 1: little person, that Veronica Eustacia, whose real name was Janet,
- 7:06Speaker 1: and Rosalind Gladys, who was really called Nora, leaned forward
- 7:10Speaker 1: to listen. But Guy Clarence was not to be thwarted
- 7:13Speaker 1: in his benevolence. He thrust the sixpence into her hand.' Yes,
- 7:18Speaker 1: you must take it, poor little girl,' he insisted stoutly.'
- 7:21Speaker 1: You can buy things to eat with it. It is
- 7:23Speaker 1: a whole sixpence.' There was something so honest and kind
- 7:28Speaker 1: in his face. and he looked so likely to be
- 7:30Speaker 1: heartbrokenly disappointed if she did not take it, that Sarah
- 7:34Speaker 1: knew she must not refuse him. To be as proud
- 7:37Speaker 1: as that would be a cruel thing. So she actually
- 7:40Speaker 1: put her pride in her pocket, though it must be
- 7:42Speaker 1: admitted her cheeks burned.' Thank you,' she said.' You are
- 7:48Speaker 1: a kind, kind little darling thing.' And as she scrambled
- 7:52Speaker 1: joyfully into the carriage, she went away, trying to smile,
- 7:56Speaker 1: though she caught her breath quickly, and her eyes were
- 7:59Speaker 1: shining through a mist. She had known that she looked
- 8:02Speaker 1: odd and shabby, but until now she had not known
- 8:06Speaker 1: that she might be taken for a beggar. As the
- 8:09Speaker 1: large family's carriage drove away, the children inside it were
- 8:13Speaker 1: talking with interested excitement. O'Donnell! This was Guy Clarence's name.
- 8:19Speaker 1: Janet exclaimed alarmedly. Why did you offer that little girl
- 8:22Speaker 1: your sixpence? I am sure she is not a beggar.
- 8:26Speaker 1: She didn't speak like a beggar, cried Nora, and her
- 8:29Speaker 1: face didn't really look like a beggar's face. Besides, she
- 8:32Speaker 1: didn't beg, said Janet. I was so afraid she might
- 8:35Speaker 1: be angry with you. You know, it makes people angry
- 8:38Speaker 1: to be taken for beggars when they are not beggars.
- 8:41Speaker 1: She wasn't angry, said Donald, a trifle dismayed but still firm.
- 8:45Speaker 1: She laughed a little and she said I was a kind,
- 8:48Speaker 1: kind little darling thing. And I was, stoutly. It was
- 8:52Speaker 1: my whole sixpence. Janet and Nora exchanged glances. A beggar
- 8:58Speaker 1: girl would never have said that, decided Janet. She would
- 9:02Speaker 1: have said, Thank you kindly, little gentleman. Thank you, sir.
- 9:06Speaker 1: And perhaps she would have bobbed a curtsy. Sarah knew
- 9:09Speaker 1: nothing about the fact, but from that time, the large
- 9:12Speaker 1: family was as profoundly interested in her as she was
- 9:15Speaker 1: in it. Faces used to appear at the nursery windows
- 9:19Speaker 1: when she passed, and many discussions concerning her were held
- 9:22Speaker 1: round the fire. She is a kind of servant at
- 9:25Speaker 1: the seminary, Janet said, I don't believe she belongs to anybody.
- 9:29Speaker 1: I believe she is an orphan. But she is not
- 9:32Speaker 1: a beggar, however shabby she looks. And afterward she was
- 9:36Speaker 1: called by all of them the little girl who was
- 9:39Speaker 1: not a beggar, which was, of course, rather a long
- 9:41Speaker 1: name and sounded very funny sometimes when the youngest one
- 9:45Speaker 1: said it in a hurry. Sarah managed to bore a
- 9:48Speaker 1: hole in the sixpence and hung it on an old
- 9:50Speaker 1: bit of narrow ribbon around her neck. Her affection for
- 9:54Speaker 1: the large family increased. as, indeed, her affection for everything
- 9:58Speaker 1: she could love increased. She grew fonder and fonder of Becky,
- 10:02Speaker 1: and she used to look forward to the two mornings
- 10:04Speaker 1: a week when she went into the schoolroom to give
- 10:06Speaker 1: the little ones their French lesson. Her small pupils loved her,
- 10:10Speaker 1: and strove with each other for the privilege of standing
- 10:12Speaker 1: close to her and insinuating their small hands into hers.
- 10:17Speaker 1: It fed her hungry heart to feel them nestling up
- 10:20Speaker 1: to her. She made such friends with the sparrows that
- 10:23Speaker 1: when she stood upon the table, put her head and
- 10:25Speaker 1: shoulders out of the attic window, and chirped, she heard
- 10:28Speaker 1: almost immediately a flutter of wings and answering twitters, and
- 10:31Speaker 1: a little flock of dingy town birds appeared and alighted
- 10:35Speaker 1: on the slates to talk to her and make much
- 10:37Speaker 1: of the crumbs she scattered. With Melchizedek she had become
- 10:41Speaker 1: so intimate that he actually brought Mrs. Melchizedek with him sometimes.
- 10:45Speaker 1: and now and then one or two of his children.
- 10:48Speaker 1: She used to talk to him, and somehow he looked
- 10:51Speaker 1: quite as if he understood. There had grown in her
- 10:54Speaker 1: mind rather a strange feeling about Emily, who always sat
- 10:58Speaker 1: and looked on at everything. It arose in one of
- 11:01Speaker 1: her moments of great desolateness. She would have liked to believe,
- 11:05Speaker 1: or pretend to believe, that Emily understood and sympathized with her.
- 11:09Speaker 1: She did not like to own to herself that her
- 11:11Speaker 1: only companion could feel and hear nothing. She used to
- 11:15Speaker 1: put her in a chair sometimes and sit opposite to
- 11:17Speaker 1: her on the old red footstool and stare and pretend
- 11:20Speaker 1: about her until her own eyes would grow large with
- 11:23Speaker 1: something which was almost like fear, particularly at night when
- 11:27Speaker 1: everything was so still, when the only sound in the
- 11:29Speaker 1: attic was the occasional sudden scurry and squeak of Melchizedek's
- 11:33Speaker 1: family in the wall. One of her pretends was that
- 11:37Speaker 1: Emily was a kind of good witch who could protect her, Sometimes,
- 11:41Speaker 1: after she had stared at her almost until she was
- 11:43Speaker 1: wrought up to the highest pitch of fancifulness, she would
- 11:46Speaker 1: ask her questions and find herself almost feelings if she
- 11:50Speaker 1: would presently answer. But she never did.' As to answering, though,'
- 11:56Speaker 1: said Sarah, trying to console herself,' I don't answer very often.
- 12:00Speaker 1: I never answer when I can help it. When people
- 12:03Speaker 1: are insulting you, there's nothing so good for them as
- 12:06Speaker 1: not to say a word, just to look at them
- 12:09Speaker 1: and think.' Miss Minchin turns pale with rage when I
- 12:12Speaker 1: do it. Miss Amelia looks frightened, and so do the girls.
- 12:17Speaker 1: When you will not fly into a passion, people know
- 12:19Speaker 1: you are stronger than they are, because you are strong
- 12:22Speaker 1: enough to hold in your rage. And they are not.
- 12:25Speaker 1: And they say stupid things they wish they hadn't said afterward.
- 12:29Speaker 1: There's nothing so strong as rage, except what makes you
- 12:32Speaker 1: hold it in. That's stronger. It's a good thing not
- 12:35Speaker 1: to answer your enemies. I scarcely ever do. Perhaps Emily
- 12:39Speaker 1: is more like me than I am like myself. Perhaps
- 12:43Speaker 1: she would rather not answer her friends, even. She keeps
- 12:45Speaker 1: it all in her heart. But, though she tried to
- 12:49Speaker 1: satisfy herself with these arguments, she did not find it easy. When,
- 12:54Speaker 1: after a long, hard day, in which she had been
- 12:57Speaker 1: sent here and there, sometimes on long errands through wind
- 13:00Speaker 1: and cold and rain, she came in wet and hungry,
- 13:04Speaker 1: and was sent out again, because nobody chose to remember
- 13:07Speaker 1: that she was only a child. and that her slim
- 13:10Speaker 1: legs might be tired, and her small body might be chilled,
- 13:14Speaker 1: when she had been given only harsh words and cold
- 13:16Speaker 1: sliding looks for thanks, when the cook had been vulgar
- 13:20Speaker 1: and insolent, when Miss Minchin had been in her worst mood,
- 13:23Speaker 1: and when she had seen the girls sneering among themselves
- 13:26Speaker 1: at her shabbiness. Then she was not always able to
- 13:29Speaker 1: comfort her sore, proud, desolate heart with fancies, when Emily
- 13:34Speaker 1: merely sat upright in her old chair and stared. One
- 13:38Speaker 1: of these nights, When she came up to the attic,
- 13:40Speaker 1: cold and hungry, with the tempest raging in her young breast,
- 13:45Speaker 1: Emily's stare seemed so vacant, her sawdust legs and arms
- 13:49Speaker 1: so inexpressive, that Sarah lost all control over herself. There
- 13:54Speaker 1: was nobody but Emily, no one in the world. And
- 13:58Speaker 1: there she sat.' I shall die presently,' she said at first.
- 14:05Speaker 1: Emily simply stared.' I can't bear this!' said the poor child, trembling.'
- 14:11Speaker 1: I know I shall die. I'm cold, I'm wet, I'm
- 14:15Speaker 1: starving to death. I've walked a thousand miles to-day, and
- 14:19Speaker 1: they have done nothing but scold me from morning till night.
- 14:22Speaker 1: And because I could not find that last thing the
- 14:24Speaker 1: cook sent me for, they would not give me any supper.
- 14:28Speaker 1: Some men laughed at me because my old shoes made
- 14:30Speaker 1: me slip down in the mud. I'm covered with mud now,
- 14:34Speaker 1: and they laughed. Do you hear?' She looked at the
- 14:39Speaker 1: staring-glass eyes and complacent face, and suddenly a sort of
- 14:43Speaker 1: heartbroken rage seized her. She lifted her little savage hand
- 14:48Speaker 1: and knocked Emily off the chair, bursting into a passion
- 14:51Speaker 1: of sobbing. Sarah, who never cried. You are nothing but
- 14:56Speaker 1: a doll, she cried. Nothing but a doll, doll, doll.
- 15:01Speaker 1: You care for nothing. You are stuffed with sawdust. You
- 15:04Speaker 1: never had a heart. Nothing could ever make you feel.
- 15:07Speaker 1: You are a doll!' Emily lay on the floor, with
- 15:11Speaker 1: her legs ignominiously doubled up over her head, and a new,
- 15:15Speaker 1: flat place on the end of her nose. But she
- 15:18Speaker 1: was calm, even dignified. Sarah hid her face in her arms.
- 15:23Speaker 1: The rats in the wall began to fight and bite
- 15:26Speaker 1: each other and squeak and scramble. Melchizedek was chastising some
- 15:30Speaker 1: of his family. Sarah's sobs gradually quieted themselves. It was
- 15:36Speaker 1: so unlike her to break down that she was surprised
- 15:38Speaker 1: at herself. After a while she raised her face and
- 15:41Speaker 1: looked at Emily, who seemed to be gazing at her
- 15:44Speaker 1: round the side of one angle, and somehow, by this time,
- 15:48Speaker 1: actually with a kind of glassy-eyed sympathy. Sarah bent and
- 15:52Speaker 1: picked her up. Remorse overtook her. She even smiled at herself,
- 15:57Speaker 1: a very little smile. You can't help being a doll,
- 16:02Speaker 1: she said with a resigned sigh. Any more than Lavinia
- 16:06Speaker 1: and Jessie can help not having any sense. We are
- 16:09Speaker 1: not all made alike. Perhaps you do your sawdust best.
- 16:14Speaker 1: And she kissed her and took her clothes straight and
- 16:17Speaker 1: put her back upon her chair. She had wished very
- 16:20Speaker 1: much that someone would take the empty house next door.
- 16:24Speaker 1: She wished it because of the attic window which was
- 16:26Speaker 1: so near hers. It seemed as if it would be
- 16:29Speaker 1: so nice to see it propped open some day and
- 16:31Speaker 1: head and shoulders rising out of the square aperture. If
- 16:35Speaker 1: it looked a nice head, she thought, I might begin
- 16:39Speaker 1: by saying, Good morning, and all sorts of things might happen.
- 16:44Speaker 1: But of course, it's not really likely that anyone but
- 16:47Speaker 1: underservants would sleep there. One morning, on turning the corner
- 16:51Speaker 1: of the square after a visit to the grocers, the butchers,
- 16:54Speaker 1: and the bakers, she saw to her great delight that
- 16:57Speaker 1: during her rather prolonged absence, a van full of furniture
- 17:01Speaker 1: had stopped before the next house, the front doors were
- 17:04Speaker 1: thrown open, and men in shirt-sleeves were going in and
- 17:06Speaker 1: out carrying heavy packages and pieces of furniture. It's taken,
- 17:11Speaker 1: she said. It really is taken, though I do hope
- 17:15Speaker 1: a nice head will look out of the attic window.
- 17:18Speaker 1: She would almost have liked to join the group of
- 17:20Speaker 1: loiterers who had stopped on the pavement to watch the
- 17:22Speaker 1: things carried in. She had an idea that if she
- 17:25Speaker 1: could see some of the furniture, she could guess something
- 17:27Speaker 1: about the people it belonged to. Miss Minchin's tables and
- 17:31Speaker 1: chairs are just like her, she thought. I remember thinking
- 17:35Speaker 1: that the first minute I saw her, even though so little,
- 17:38Speaker 1: I told Papa afterward, and he laughed and said it
- 17:41Speaker 1: was true. I am sure the large family have fat,
- 17:44Speaker 1: comfortable armchairs and sofas, and I can see that their
- 17:48Speaker 1: red flowery wallpaper is exactly like them. It's warm and
- 17:51Speaker 1: cheerful and kind-looking and happy. She was sent out for
- 17:56Speaker 1: parsley to the greengrocers later in the day, and when
- 17:58Speaker 1: she came up the area steps, her heart gave quite
- 18:01Speaker 1: a quick bead of recognition. Several pieces of furniture had
- 18:05Speaker 1: been set out of the van upon the pavement. There
- 18:08Speaker 1: was a beautiful table of elaborately wrought teakwood and some
- 18:11Speaker 1: chairs and a screen covered with rich oriental embroidery. The
- 18:16Speaker 1: sight of them gave her a weird homesick feeling. She
- 18:19Speaker 1: had seen things so like them in India. One of
- 18:23Speaker 1: the things Miss Minchin had taken from her was a
- 18:25Speaker 1: carved teakwood desk her father had sent her. They are
- 18:29Speaker 1: beautiful things, she said. They look as if they ought
- 18:33Speaker 1: to belong to a nice person. All the things look
- 18:36Speaker 1: rather grand. I suppose it is a rich family.' The
- 18:39Speaker 1: vans of furniture came and were unloaded and gave place
- 18:43Speaker 1: to others all the day. Several times it so happened
- 18:46Speaker 1: that Sarah had an opportunity of seeing things carried in.
- 18:50Speaker 1: It became plain that she had been right in guessing
- 18:52Speaker 1: that the newcomers were people of large means. All the
- 18:55Speaker 1: furniture was rich and beautiful, and a great deal of
- 18:58Speaker 1: it was oriental. Wonderful rugs and draperies and ornaments were
- 19:03Speaker 1: taken from the vans, many pictures, and books enough for
- 19:06Speaker 1: a library. Among other things, there was a superb god
- 19:10Speaker 1: Buddha in a splendid shrine. Someone in the family must
- 19:14Speaker 1: have been in India, Sarah thought. They have got used
- 19:17Speaker 1: to Indian things and like them. I am glad. I
- 19:21Speaker 1: shall feel as if they were friends, even if a
- 19:23Speaker 1: head never looks out of the attic window. When she
- 19:27Speaker 1: was taking in the evening's milk for the cook, there
- 19:30Speaker 1: was really no odd job she was not called upon
- 19:32Speaker 1: to do she saw something occur which made the situation
- 19:36Speaker 1: more interesting than ever the handsome rosy man who was
- 19:39Speaker 1: the father of the large family walked across the square
- 19:42Speaker 1: in the most matter-of-fact manner and ran up the steps
- 19:45Speaker 1: of the next-door house he ran up them as if
- 19:48Speaker 1: he felt quite at home and expected to run up
- 19:50Speaker 1: and down them many a time in the future. He
- 19:53Speaker 1: stayed inside quite a long time, and several times came
- 19:56Speaker 1: out and gave directions to the workmen, as if he
- 19:59Speaker 1: had a right to do so. It was quite certain
- 20:02Speaker 1: that he was in some intimate way connected with the newcomers,
- 20:05Speaker 1: and was acting for them.' If the new people have children,'
- 20:10Speaker 1: Sarah speculated, the large family children will be sure to
- 20:13Speaker 1: come and play with them, and they might come up
- 20:15Speaker 1: into the attic just for fun. At night, after her
- 20:18Speaker 1: work was done, Becky came in to see her fellow
- 20:21Speaker 1: prisoner and bring her news. It's an Indian gentleman that's
- 20:25Speaker 1: coming to live next door, miss, she said. I don't
- 20:28Speaker 1: know whether he's a black gentleman or not, but he's
- 20:30Speaker 1: an Indian one. He's very rich and he's ill, and
- 20:34Speaker 1: the gentleman of the large family is his lawyer. He's
- 20:36Speaker 1: had a lot of trouble, and it's made him ill
- 20:38Speaker 1: and low in his mind. He worships idols, miss. He's
- 20:42Speaker 1: an heathen and bows down to wooden stone. I seen
- 20:45Speaker 1: an idol being carried in for him to worship. Somebody
- 20:48Speaker 1: had ought to send him a track. You can get
- 20:50Speaker 1: a track for a penny. Sarah laughed a little. I
- 20:54Speaker 1: don't believe he worships that idol, she said. Some people
- 20:57Speaker 1: like to keep them to look at because they're interesting.
- 21:01Speaker 1: My papa had a beautiful one and he did not
- 21:03Speaker 1: worship it. But Becky was rather inclined to prefer to
- 21:07Speaker 1: believe that the new neighbour was an heathen. It sounded
- 21:11Speaker 1: so much more romantic than that he should merely be
- 21:13Speaker 1: the ordinary kind of gentleman who went to church with
- 21:16Speaker 1: a prayer-book. She sat and talked long that night of
- 21:19Speaker 1: what he would be like, of what his wife would
- 21:21Speaker 1: be like if he had one, and of what his
- 21:23Speaker 1: children would be like if they had children. Sarah saw
- 21:26Speaker 1: that privately she could not help hoping very much that
- 21:29Speaker 1: they would all be black and would wear turbans, and
- 21:32Speaker 1: above all that, like their parent, they would all be heathens.'
- 21:37Speaker 1: I never lived next door to no heathens, miss,' she said.
- 21:41Speaker 1: I should like to see what sort of ways they'd have.
- 21:44Speaker 1: It was several weeks before her curiosity was satisfied, and
- 21:47Speaker 1: then it was revealed that the new occupant had neither
- 21:50Speaker 1: wife nor children. He was a solitary man with no
- 21:53Speaker 1: family at all, and it was evident that he was
- 21:55Speaker 1: shattered in health and unhappy in mind. A carriage drove
- 22:00Speaker 1: up one day and stopped before the house. When the
- 22:02Speaker 1: footman dismounted from the box and opened the door, the
- 22:05Speaker 1: gentleman who was the father of the large family got
- 22:08Speaker 1: out first. After him there descended a nurse in uniform.
- 22:12Speaker 1: Then came down the steps two men-servants. They came to
- 22:16Speaker 1: assist their master, who, when he was helped out of
- 22:18Speaker 1: the carriage, proved to be a man with a haggard,
- 22:21Speaker 1: distressed face and a skeleton body wrapped in furs. He
- 22:25Speaker 1: was carried up the steps, and the head of the
- 22:28Speaker 1: large family went in with him, looking very anxious. Shortly
- 22:32Speaker 1: afterward a doctor's carriage arrived, and the doctor went in,
- 22:36Speaker 1: plainly to take care of him. There is such a
- 22:39Speaker 1: yellow gentleman next door, Sarah, Lottie whispered at the French
- 22:42Speaker 1: class afterward. Do you think he is a Chinese? The
- 22:46Speaker 1: geography says the Chinese men are yellow. No, he is
- 22:50Speaker 1: not Chinese, Sarah whispered back. He is very ill. Go
- 22:54Speaker 1: on with your exercise, Lottie. Non, monsieur, je n'ai pas
- 22:58Speaker 1: le canif de mon oncle. That was the beginning of
- 23:01Speaker 1: the story of the Indian gentleman. End of chapter 10