Wild Kitty by L. T. Meade

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"If you want to make friends, Alice, it's as right as rain," she cried.
"I know I was vexed, but it is over now; yes it is over. I am willing to
be friends if you are willing."

"Of course," said Alice; "and I know I ought not to have spoken as I
did; but you do manage to fret me dreadfully. I never saw a girl exactly
like you before."

"It is all right now you really want to be friends," answered Kitty;
"and I will try to be as dull as you please." Here she paused and seemed
to consider. "There's no use," she continued after a moment; "I mean I
must be myself whatever happens. I must be genuine. Please, Alice, let
me be genuine for a week; if at the end of that time you find me
intolerable, why I'll be off."

"Don't say anything about that," said Bessie; "everything is quite new
to you, and Alice did speak unkindly; but please, Kitty, don't be angry
if I say something."

"Oh, no, I won't be angry with you; you're a real duck," cried Kitty.

"Well, we English girls are not quite accustomed to your sort of way; we
are quieter here and more reserved. Perhaps you had better--"

"Oh, I know exactly what the end of that pretty little speech is going
to be," said Kitty; "but I cannot. I must be Kitty Malone or nothing. I
was born that way. Why, bless you, it is in our race. Aunt Bridget was
just the same when she was young, and so was Aunt Honora, and even
father; oh, and--and Laurie. If you only saw Laurie and Pat! Oh, I wish
you knew Laurie; if you saw him you would say, 'If there is a broth of a
boy in the world he is one.'"

The girls had now reached the avenue gates at Harley Lodge, and the
lodge-keeper ran out to open them. A few moments later they found
themselves in sight of the pretty, modern mansion which Mr. Harley had
lately purchased. The door was opened by a butler in very correct
livery, and the young folk were shown into a handsome drawing-room at
the other side of a broad hall. There was no one in the room when they
entered, and Kitty walked straight up to a glass let into the wall, and
began to survey herself with intense satisfaction. She had by this time
forgotten the rebuff which Alice had given her, tears had only added to
the brightness of her eyes, and her momentary fit of vexation and temper
had deepened the color in her blooming cheeks. She nodded to herself
with smiles of intense satisfaction, pushed her velvet cap in a slightly
more coquettish way over her mass of black curls, and began once again
to dance a very graceful _pas de seul_ in front of the glass.

"I do think I have nice feet," she said; and just at that moment the
door was opened, and Gwin Harley and Elma Lewis entered the room.

Gwin, statuesque, graceful, dressed in the most suitable manner, made a
perfect contrast to poor, excitable Kitty. Kitty's words had been
plainly audible, and Alice flushed deeply with vexation.

"Why, then, I had better introduce myself," said Kitty, who was by no
means abashed. "Are you Miss Harley? You have got a very nice looking
glass, let me tell you; it shows off the figure to perfection."

Gwin could not help coloring in surprise and astonishment.

"I am Kitty Malone, at your service," continued Kitty. "Shall I drop you
a courtesy in the true Irish way? Some of us bob like this--so, and some
of us step back like this," here Kitty performed a very elaborate and
very graceful courtesy, then stood upright, and laughing heartily,
showed rows of pearly teeth. Gwin held out her hand.

"May I introduce my friend, Elma Lewis? Elma, this is Miss Malone."

"Kitty Malone. I won't be called Miss Malone," said the incorrigible
Kitty.

"Won't you all come upstairs now, girls?" said Gwin, who perceived that
both Alice and Bessie were annoyed by Kitty's manners.

"If we take off our things we can go into the library and have a good
game before tea, or would you prefer a walk?"

"Well, I for one am tired," said Kitty. "The fact is," she continued,
these boots are somewhat tight. They're awfully becoming, you know,
aren't they? but they do squeeze a little just across the toes; how
ever, as Aunt Honora says, 'Pride feels no pain,' and I am desperate
proud of my feet. Shall we all look at our feet, and see which has got
the prettiest pair?"

"I don't think we will just at present," said Gwin. "If you are tired
you must take your boots off. Have you not just come from Ireland?"

"Bless you, yes," answered Kitty; "I only arrived to-day. The place is
as new to me as it can be. Up to the present I don't think much of it,
although you have got a lovely house, Miss Harley--fine and airy with
plenty of big rooms. I suppose you have got money _galore_; have you?"

"I believe we have," said Gwin in some astonishment, and a haughty note
coming into her voice.

"Ah, now, don't begin to be proud and stiff!" exclaimed Kitty. "It is
quite wonderful; every one I speak to here seems to take me the wrong
way. What in the world do you all mean? I thought when I came to England
that people would say, 'Well, now, that's a remarkably pretty girl. I am
sure she's Irish by the twinkle in her eye and the roll of the brogue in
her voice; but we'll like her all the better for that.' But, bless my
heart! that's not the way you're taking me. Every time I open my lips
somebody seems to think I have said something wrong. Upon my word it's a
nice state of things, and I, the darling of my old father. If Aunt
Honora and Aunt Bridget were here they would soon put matters straight;
and Laurie, dear, darling, old Laurie, if he saw his Kitty put upon,
wouldn't he give it to you all?"

"We none of us want to put upon you, Miss Malone," said Gwin Harley.

"_Miss_ Malone!"

"Yes," said Gwin firmly, "it is the custom here to call girls by their
surnames for a little until we get to know them; but I am sure," she
added kindly, "you will soon be Kitty with us all, for I see you are
very nice, although you have not quite our ways."

"Ah, there, that is all I want you to say," answered Kitty with a
profound sigh, "and now I'll go upstairs and slip off my bits of boots,
for they are a trifle tight. Can you lend me a pair of your shoes, Miss
Harley?"

"Yes, with pleasure," replied Gwin, and turning, she led the way out of
the room. The rest of the evening passed off better. Kitty became a
little subdued, and satisfied herself with talking less, and casting
ravishing glances of delight and roguish entreaty first at one girl and
then at the other. It was extremely difficult to withstand her, for her
voice was low and singularly sweet, her eyes were beautiful, she could
not do an ungraceful thing, she was altogether like a bright, flashing
meteor, and soon she began to exercise an extraordinary fascination both
over Bessie Challoner and Gwin Harley. Having got over her first
astonishment, Gwin began to take a sincere interest in the pretty
stranger. The lovely expression of her coral lips made her long to kiss
them, and to assure the Irish girl that she for one would be her friend;
but the next instant Kitty said something so very much against the grain
that Gwin felt as much repulsed as a moment before she was delighted.

Immediately after tea Bessie went off to the library to hunt up her
darling "Encyclopaedia."

"Now that she has gone," exclaimed Gwin, "we are not likely to get her
back for some time. What a remarkably earnest student she is!"

"The Earnest Student?" interrupted Kitty. "I thought that was the name
of a religious book. I think father has got it at home."

"Perhaps so," replied Gwin, "but we always call it to Bessie. She is
wonderfully clever. She gets on splendidly at school, taking everything
before her. I am certain she is the kind of girl who will make her mark
by and by."

"I hate studies!" said Kitty in her low, humorous voice.

"I am sorry for that," answered Gwin, "for if you come to school you
won't be at all popular if you do not care for your books."

"Popular? How do you mean? Is it with the teachers or with the girls?"

"Well, with both I fancy."

"Then, I tell you what," exclaimed Kitty, "I'd like to bet with you that
you are wrong--that I'll be the most popular girl in the whole of the
school with the teachers--yes, with the teachers--and the scholars as
well."

"You must be very conceited," exclaimed Elma, who had sat silent during
the greater part of the evening, taking Kitty in, however, all the same.

"Conceited? No more than you are," cried Kitty, "but I know my powers,
and I have not kissed the Blarney Stone for nothing."

"Oh, you need not tell us that ridiculous story over again," said Alice.

"But I should like to hear it," cried Gwin.

"You really would not Gwin; it is too absurd. We must show Kitty, now
she has come to live among us, what is real wit and what is not. Her
way of talking is only silly."

Gwin knit her brows, and looked pained.

"I would rather not correct her now," she said in a gentle voice. Then
she added, her eyes sparkling with sudden eagerness, "Would it not be a
good opportunity for talking over the rules of our society, girls?"

"Oh yes," cried Elma, "yes; but is it well to----"

Here she bent forward, and began to whisper vigorously in Gwin's ear.

"Yes, I think so," answered Gwin.

"I wouldn't, I really wouldn't," said Elma. "I am certain Alice agrees
with me."

"I can guess what you are saying," cried Alice, "and I do agree most
heartily."

"And I can guess what you are saying," exclaimed Kitty, starting to her
feet with flashing eyes. "You don't want to talk about your society or
whatever it is because I am present. Well, discuss it without me. I'll
find my way to the library. Poor dear Bessie is the only decent one
among you, and I shall go and sit with her. How do you know I won't take
up with literature just to spite you all? I can do anything I have a
mind to, and that you will soon find to your cost."

She ran out of the room as she spoke, slamming the door behind her.

"There, that's a comfort," cried Alice, breathing freely for the first
time. "Did you ever, girls, in all your lives, see a more terrible
creature? What is to be done? Why, she will disgrace us all at school.
You know what a very nice set we are in at present."

"Oh, an excellent set," said Elma, in a sarcastic voice.

"You know, Elma, that we do belong to the nicest set in the school, and
I am sure, Gwin, your father--"

"You need not drag father in," cried Gwin. Father likes all the people I
like."

"But, surely--" began Alice.

Gwin looked at her gravely, then she nodded.

"I am not quite certain yet," she said; "but I think it highly probable
that I shall take up that poor, wild, little Kitty. At least she is
fresh; she speaks out her mind plainly, and there is a great deal to
admire about her."

"Then, listen, Gwin," cried Alice; "if she is taken into our special
society I will resign."

"Will you really, Alice? What, if I ask you to stay?"

"It is hard to refuse you, dear; but you scarcely know what all this
means to me. I am rubbed the wrong way; I don't understand myself. But
frankly, Gwin, you are not going to ask Kitty Malone to join our
society?"

"What if it does her good?"

"But ought we not to think of the others? She is a perfect stranger to
us all at present."

"But she won't be long. Bless the child, she has no reserve in her, and
I do want to help her, poor little girl! Well, we need not decide that
point at present."

"Do let us vote to leave her out," cried Alice.

"No, Alice, we will leave the point undecided. Now let us set to work,
and begin to form our rules, for really we have no time to lose."

"But what are we to do without Bessie?" exclaimed Alice. "Whatever
happens, we cannot do without Bessie Challoner; she will be the life and
soul of the whole society. Shall we send for her, Gwin?"

"No, Kitty is with her, and they had better not be disturbed."

"What a difference Kitty makes," cried Alice. "I did think we should
have had a delightful and heavenly evening, and it has been all ruction
from first to last."

"Because you dislike her so much, Alice," said Gwin.

"Well, I do," said Alice; "I can't abide her. But do I show my dislike
so plainly?" she added.

"Rather! Any one can see it in the curl of your lip and the expression
in your eyes; and then you say such terribly withering things to the
poor girl. You try to crush her."

"Well, if I may say what I think," cried Elma, "Kitty Malone seems to me
to be a very unpleasant, vulgar girl, and I cannot imagine why she has
been sent here."

"Oh, as to her vulgarity," said Alice, who suddenly felt forced to
defend herself against Elma's spiteful speeches, "Kitty comes of a very
old family, and her father is as rich as ever he can be. They live in a
wonderful castle in County Donegal, just overhanging the sea; and from
what I learn are considered county people. Father was very pleased to
have her, and whatever she is, she is a lady by birth."

"So she is rich?" remarked Elma in a low voice. "Well, at any rate,"
she continued after a pause, "she is very pretty."

"Pretty!" cried Gwin; "I should just think she is. She has the most
lovely face I ever saw. Girls, it is quite true what she says; she will
fascinate any number of people. That dashing, daring way of hers will go
down with numbers. Yes, she will make a revolution in Middleton School,
I am certain."

CHAPTER V

INCORRIGIBLE KITTY

Mr. Harley's library was a beautiful room. It was lined with books from
floor to ceiling, and these books had been selected with the greatest
care. Standard works of all sorts and in three languages were to be
found on certain bookshelves, also modern works, both poetry and prose,
with some of the best novels of the day.

Bessie Challoner never envied rich people. She cared nothing whatever
for fine dresses, nor for carriages and horses, nor for the luxurious
life of the wealthy, but she did envy Gwin Harley the use of her
father's library; and when she entered the room now, with that delicious
faint smell of leather which all libraries possess, she sniffed first
with ecstasy, and then climbing on the ladder secured the volume of the
"Encyclopaedia" which she required, and seating herself at one of the
center tables, was soon lost in the fascinations of her subject. After a
time a little cough, very gentle, however, caused her to raise her head,
and there standing before her was Kitty Malone.

Kitty's long arms had dropped to her sides, and she had pushed back her
masses of dark hair. There was a pathetic expression about her rosy
lips, and tears trembled on her long eyelashes.

"Why, what is it, Kitty; what do you want?" asked Bessie.

"Ah, then it's good to hear you say that word, aroon," said Kitty. "I
want to sit near you. I won't speak, no, not a syllable. Hush will be
the only word with me, hush! hush! hush! You can go on with your beloved
reading and I'll stay near you; that's all I require. Why, then, it's
just a shelter I need, and nothing more. Read away, Bessie, my honey,
and I'll do nothing to interrupt you."

"But why have you left the others?" asked Bessie.

"Never mind, dear, now. I'll just sit quietly here, and contemplate you
while you are studying."

Bessie sighed impatiently. She then bent again over her book, and began
to devour the pages. Kitty watched her with marked interest.

"I wonder if it will be my fate to have to take up with literature in
sober earnest," she said to herself, "I, who can never abide a book. Oh,
to be back again in the dear old place! I should not be a bit surprised
if Laurie is out fishing now, and Pat with him. And oh, suppose they are
bringing in the trout, and the creatures are leaping and struggling as
they come to shore, and father is going round to feed the dogs--why, the
thought is enough to madden me. Oh, then, why did I ever leave home? I
don't care _that_ for books, nor for being clever nor for--How she works
to be sure! How earnest she looks. She has got a very fine forehead,
although it is miles too high. She ought to wear a fringe; it would
improve her wonderfully. I will cut her hair some day if she will let
me. I will cut it and curl it. I have got the dearest little jewel of a
pair of curling tongs that ever was seen! Aunt Honora sent it to me in a
box with a spirit lamp all complete when I got the rest of my things.
I'll just exercise those little tongs on dear, nice Bessie. I do wish
she would not be so devoted to that book, she might talk. Oh, I am
lonely. I think I'll fidget a bit."

Kitty moved her chair, creaking it ominously; but Bessie had got to a
most thrilling part of her subject, and Kitty might have creaked the
library down before she would have roused her companion's attention.

"Now, if I sigh, perhaps that will do it," thought Kitty. She opened her
mouth and let some profound sighs come up from the depths of her heart;
but they only depressed her still more, and had no effect whatever on
Bessie.

"I think I hate intellectual people," muttered the Irish girl. She
jumped to her feet.

"I must do something to rouse her or I shall go mad. She is the nicest
of them all, much. I wish she would speak to me. Why should I break my
heart, and why should she simply go on devouring that stupid book? Here,
I know what I'll do. I'll just toss down one of the big volumes; it will
make a clatter and she will have to look up. Perhaps I'll let it drop
just the tiniest bit in the world on the corner of her toe; that will
finish her." Here Kitty laughed excitedly, pushed out her arm and
knocked over a huge volume which certainly fell a good deal more than a
tiny bit on poor Bessie's foot.

"Oh, Kitty, what have you done?" cried Bessie. "You have quite hurt me.
I wish you would not drop the books about."

"There, darling, I had to do it. Pray forgive me," said Kitty.

"You had to do it!" answered Bessie. "Do you mean that you did it on
purpose?"

"Why, then, yes, love--that's what I do mean exactly. I did it because
I wanted you to talk to me, and you _would_ think of nothing but that
book."

"It is such a chance," answered Bessie, "and I wanted to find out for
myself all about that wonderful magnetic iron ore. You know it never
loses its power, it is potent for hundreds and hundreds of years, and--"

"Oh, don't tell me any more, or I'll lose my senses. Dear Bessie, what
does magnetic iron ore matter. Bessie, I'm awfully unhappy. Every one is
so unkind to me. Promise you'll be my friend, won't you?"

Bessie looked up, and then she saw something so touching in Kitty's face
that she closed her book with a reluctant sigh, to devote herself the
next moment with all the sympathy she possessed to her companion.

"I am sure you are suffering, Kitty, and I am sorry for you," she said.
"I'll fetch my hat and we'll go out for a little."

"Oh, what a darling you are!" answered Kitty.

A moment or two later the girls were walking across the beautifully-kept
garden; they soon reached a shady path at the further end.

"And now, Kitty," said Bessie, "I mean to lecture you a little."

"Anything in the world you like, darling. I'm quite agreeable. Aunt
Honora and Aunt Bridget lecture me, and so does the dear old dad
sometimes; but I always say when they have finished that it is like
water on a duck's back--it rolls off without making the least bit of
impression, and then they laugh and say that I am the queerest mixture
they ever came across, and that they had best leave me to nature. But
perhaps I'll listen to you, Bessie."

"I wish you would," said Bessie. "I am sure," she added, speaking with
great earnestness, "that you are a very nice girl, Kitty; but at the
same time you are wild."

"Oh, I pride myself on that," said Kitty in her frankest of voices.

"But I wish you would not, Kitty, for it really isn't nice."

"Not nice! Now what may you be meaning by that, aroon?"

"Well, there is a sort of dignity which I think a really well brought-up
girl ought to possess."

"Oh, my! dignity is it?" said Kitty. She stepped away from her
companion, drew down her face to a ridiculous length, nearly closed her
eyes, and folded her hands demurely across her breast.

"Is that pleasing you, mavourneen?" she said. "Is it dignified and sober
enough poor Kitty Malone looks now?"

"Oh, Kitty, you will joke about everything."

Kitty immediately changed her mood.

"No, I won't," she said. "I am really awfully obliged to you. You don't
know what all this has been to me. Father said I was growing too
wild--yes, the darling dad did; he agrees with you down to the core of
his heart, and he said I must go to England and be taught manners. But,
bless you, they'll have a job. I told him so when I was going. I said,
'Dad, it's the hearts of the teachers I'll be breaking;' and dad said,
'Oh, no, you won't, Kitty, aroon. You'll be a good girl, and you'll try
to please your old dad and you'll come back a beautiful, perfect lady!'
He said it with tears in his eyes, he did, the darling; and I promised,
and down on my knees I went and asked God to help me. But, dear, it's
like the froth of the sea-foam inside me, the fun and the mischief and
the nonsense and the ways that you think queer; but, all the same, those
ways delight the good folk at home. Must I really give them up,
Bessie--must I?"

"To a certain extent," said Bessie, "or you will have a lot of enemies
here, Kitty, and you won't be at all happy."

"How I wish I lived with you, Bessie Challoner. You're a broth of a
girl, that you are. You have not taken a dislike to me just because of
the fun bubbling up in my heart?"

"No, dear; on the contrary, I like you extremely."

"Ah, you precious duck of a darling! It is a good squeeze you would
like, if I gave it to you?"

"Well, I am not very fond of being kissed; but if you must, Kitty."

"I must, dear, I must, for the heart in me is full to the brim. Now
then, stand still, and I'll catch you up close to my heart. There! isn't
that better?"

Poor Bessie gave some long-drawn breaths, for the firmness, in fact the
ferocity, of Kitty's embrace quite hurt her for a moment.

"There," said Kitty, "that's the way we hug in Old Ireland. Now I'm a
sight better, and I'll let go. So you do like me, Bessie?"

"Yes, very much indeed, Kitty, only--please don't do it again."

"I won't to-night, I won't really, but it's wonderful that you don't
like it. I wish you could see Aunt Honora and Aunt Bridget hug one
another. Why, it's the noise they make when they get together, and the
way they kiss! Oh, dear, I hope some day you'll come to Ireland."

"You don't tempt me by these descriptions," replied Bessie. "But now,
Kitty, will you promise just to be a little quieter, to keep in all
those irrepressible and--really I must say it, dear, at the risk of
hurting you--those silly words."

"But then I'm silly myself," said Kitty. "Can you expect wisdom out of
nonsense? I am pure and simple nonsense from first to last."

"But you do want to be something better? You do want to lead a good
life?"

"A good life! I never thought there was anything bad in me."

"You want to learn for instance?"

"No; that I don't, darling."

"You don't want to learn, Kitty? Then what is the good of coming to
Middleton School?"

"Listen," said Kitty. "I'll do anything for father. Father said I was to
learn, and that I was to get manners. Now I think your manners are
perfect. I'll model myself on you, dear; that I will. Will you teach me
your manners, Bessie Challoner?"

"I'll do all I can to help you, Kitty."

"And you'll be my real faithful friend?"

"Yes, only please not--"

"I won't, dear, I won't to-night; but when I meet you to-morrow you'll
allow me just once?"

"Well, if it will break you in."

"It will, it will. It will enable me to bear Alice. I am not the sort to
hate people; but I'll soon get to hate her. It's an awful affliction
that I have got to live with the Denvers; not that Mrs. Denvers is bad,
nor Mr. Denvers, poor dear, nor Fred, but Alice! I'd like to get Alice
over to Ireland, to Castle Malone. I could punish her a bit if I put her
into Laurie's hands. But there!"

"Well, Kitty, time is going," said Bessie. "It is a bargain that I help
you to learn some of our English ways, and that you, in order to pay me,
try to be gentle yourself, and to restrain some of your wild words."

"I'll try. I'll do my very, very best. You'll see when I get to
Middleton School what a proper, respectable sort of girl I'll become."

"And you'll work hard too, won't you, Kitty? For I know it will do you a
great deal of good, and I am sure you are very intelligent."

"Well, I can take in most things; only it's no end of a bother."

"I am certain you will succeed if you try," said Bessie. "Then it's a
bargain, isn't it? You'll try to learn a great deal, and you will do
your best to get better mannered?"

"Why, of course I will. I hate learning, and I don't want to be bothered
with lessons: but there's nothing under the sun I wouldn't do for those
I love; and I love father and I love you too, Bessie Challoner."

"They are calling us. We must go into the house," said Bessie.

"Do yield to me on one point," cried Kitty.

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