"Wilkie Collins - I Say No" - читать интересную книгу автора (Collins Wilkie)

again--and addressed the meeting with the irresistible charm of her sweet voice
and her persuasive smile.
"Are none of you hungry yet?" she inquired. "The teachers are safe in their
rooms; we have set ourselves right with Francine. Why keep the supper waiting
under Emily's bed?"
Such reasoning as this, with such personal attractions to recommend it, admitted
of but one reply. The queen waved her hand graciously, and said, "Pull it out."
Is a lovely girl--whose face possesses the crowning charm of expression, whose
slightest movement reveals the supple symmetry of her figure--less lovely
because she is blessed with a good appetite, and is not ashamed to acknowledge
it? With a grace all her own, Cecilia dived under the bed, and produced a basket
of jam tarts, a basket of fruit and sweetmeats, a basket of sparkling lemonade,
and a superb cake--all paid for by general subscriptions, and smuggled into the
room by kind connivance of the servants. On this occasion, the feast was
especially plentiful and expensive, in commemoration not only of the arrival of
the Midsummer holidays, but of the coming freedom of Miss Ladd's two leading
young ladies. With widely different destinies before them, Emily and Cecilia had
completed their school life, and were now to go out into the world.
The contrast in the characters of the two girls showed itself, even in such a
trifle as the preparations for supper.
Gentle Cecilia, sitting on the floor surrounded by good things, left it to the
ingenuity of others to decide whether the baskets should be all emptied at once,
or handed round from bed to bed, one at a time. In the meanwhile, her lovely
blue eyes rested tenderly on the tarts.
Emily's commanding spirit seized on the reins of government, and employed each
of her schoolfellows in the occupation which she was fittest to undertake. "Miss
de Sor, let me look at your hand. Ah! I thought so. You have got the thickest
wrist among us; you shall draw the corks. If you let the lemonade pop, not a
drop of it goes down your throat. Effie, Annis, Priscilla, you are three
notoriously lazy girls; it's doing you a true kindness to set you to work.
Effie, clear the toilet-table for supper; away with the combs, the brushes, and
the looking-glass. Annis, tear the leaves out of your book of exercises, and set
them out for plates. No! I'll unpack; nobody touches the baskets but me.
Priscilla, you have the prettiest ears in the room. You shall act as sentinel,
my dear, and listen at the door. Cecilia, when you have done devouring those
tarts with your eyes, take that pair of scissors (Miss de Sor, allow me to
apologize for the mean manner in which this school is carried on; the knives and
forks are counted and locked up every night)--I say take that pair of scissors,
Cecilia, and carve the cake, and don't keep the largest bit for yourself. Are we
all ready? Very well. Now take example by me. Talk as much as you like, so long
as you don't talk too loud. There is one other thing before we begin. The men
always propose toasts on these occasions; let's be like the men. Can any of you
make a speech? Ah, it falls on me as usual. I propose the first toast. Down with
all schools and teachers--especially the new teacher, who came this half year.
Oh, mercy, how it stings!" The fixed gas in the lemonade took the orator, at
that moment, by the throat, and effectually checked the flow of her eloquence.
It made no difference to the girls. Excepting the ease of feeble stomachs, who
cares for eloquence in the presence of a supper-table? There were no feeble
stomachs in that bedroom. With what inexhaustible energy Miss Ladd's young
ladies ate and drank! How merrily they enjoyed the delightful privilege of