Как на английском маленькая принцесса
маленькая принцесса
1 МАЛЕНЬКАЯ
2 вагон и маленькая тележка
4 принцесса
5 маленькая
6 маленькая булавка
7 маленькая вагонетка
8 маленькая вещь
9 маленькая группа
10 маленькая кружка
11 маленькая кучка
12 маленькая рюмка
13 маленькая спальня
14 маленькая флейта
15 очень маленькая вещь
16 очень маленькая доля
17 очень маленькая капля
18 маленькая неприятность
19 принцесса
20 вагон и маленькая тележка
См. также в других словарях:
Маленькая Принцесса — (1905) повесть английской писательницы Фрэнсис Бёрнетт. Входит в Золотой фонд детской литературы. Маленькая принцесса (фильм, 1995) американский фильм по одноименной повести Маленькая принцесса (фильм, 1997) Фильм Владимира Грамматикова по… … Википедия
МАЛЕНЬКАЯ ПРИНЦЕССА — «МАЛЕНЬКАЯ ПРИНЦЕССА», Россия, ГОСКИНО/ФОНД РОЛАНА БЫКОВА/ГЛОБУС, 1997, цв., 91 мин. Рождественская сказка. По мотивам одноименной повести Френсис Элизы Бернетт. Действие фильма происходит в конце XIX века в Лондоне, куда капитан Кру привозит… … Энциклопедия кино
Маленькая принцесса — Литература Маленькая принцесса (1905) повесть английской писательницы Фрэнсис Бёрнетт. Входит в Золотой фонд детской литературы. Маленькая принцесса книга Анхеля де Куатьэ Фильмы Маленькая принцесса (фильм, 1917) американский фильм по… … Википедия
Маленькая принцесса (фильм — Маленькая принцесса (фильм, 1995) Другие фильмы с таким же или схожим названием: см. Маленькая принцесса (фильм). Маленькая принцесса Little Princess … Википедия
Маленькая принцесса (фильм) — Маленькая принцесса (1905) повесть английской писательницы Фрэнсис Бёрнетт. Входит в Золотой фонд детской литературы. Маленькая принцесса (фильм, 1995) американский фильм по одноименной повести Маленькая принцесса (фильм, 1997) Фильм Владимира… … Википедия
Маленькая принцесса (фильм, 1995) — Другие фильмы с таким же или схожим названием: см. Маленькая принцесса (фильм). Маленькая принцесса A Little Princess Жанр Детский, мелодрама Режиссёр Альфонсо Куарон … Википедия
Маленькая принцесса (фильм, 1997) — Другие фильмы с таким же или схожим названием: см. Маленькая принцесса (фильм). Маленькая принцесса Жанр драма Режиссёр Владимир Грамматиков … Википедия
Маленькая принцесса (фильм, 1917) — У этого термина существуют и другие значения, см. Маленькая принцесса. Маленькая принцесса The Little Princess … Википедия
Моя маленькая принцесса — My Little Princess Жанр драма (жанр) Режиссёр Ева Ионеско Продюсер Франсуа Марки … Википедия
Принцесса Мононокэ — もののけ姫 (Мононокэ химэ) англ. Mononoke Hime … Википедия
Принцесса Эболи — Ана де Мендоса де ла Серда исп. Ana de Mendoza de la Cerda, princesa de Éboli, condesa de Mélito y duquesa de Pastrana … Википедия
МАЛЕНЬКАЯ ПРИНЦЕССА
1 Temple, Shirley
2 bad language
She was used to men in the bar flattering and «kidding» her, as they said. Behaved like a little princess if anybody got too free and easy, or used bad language. (K. S. Prichard, ‘The Roaring Nineties’, ch. 31) — Она привыкла к тому, что мужчины любезничают и шутят с ней. Но если кто-нибудь позволял себе вольность или непристойное слово, она держалась как маленькая принцесса.
3 индийская маленькая шлюпка
4 принцесса
5 cubicle (маленькая)
6 булавка
очную головку the size of a pin`s head.
7 вагон
compartment carriage, compartment car амер. ;
пассажирский
угля truckload of coal;
а времени у нас
разг. we have masses of time.
8 водиться
несов.
1. (иметься) be* found, be*;
здесь водятся медведи there are bears in these parts, bears are to be found here;
2. (с тв.) разг. (дружить) associate (with) ;
(о детях) play (with) ;
3. (за тв.;
наблюдаться): за ним водится маленькая слабость he has one small weakness;
за ним это водится that`s what you may expect from him;
как водится as usual.
9 грош
м.
1. уст. half-copeck piece;
2. обыкн. мн. (маленькая сумма денег) penny sg., farthing sg. ;
за
а ломанного не стоит е not worth a rap/scrap;
без
а за душой have* not a penny to bless one self with;
ни в
не ставить кого-л., что-л. not give*/care tuppence/a fig for smb., smth ;
10 задвижка
ку bolt a door, put* a door on the catch;
11 кикимора
12 перемена
2. разг. (комплект белья) change of underwear;
(постельного) change of bed-linen;
13 сумочка
14 хамса
15 -ess
16 -et
17 Charley
амер. воен. буква «С», третий
разг. ночной сторож
Чарли (прозвище лисы в фольклоре) Charlie: Charlie =Charley
18 Philistine
библ. филистимлянин;
to fall among Philistines = попасть в переделку, попасть в тяжелое положение
филистер, обыватель, мещанин
филистерский, обывательский, мещанский
библ. филистимлянин;
to fall among Philistines = попасть в переделку, попасть в тяжелое положение
19 Scotch
20 ace
первоклассный летчик, ас;
выдающийся спортсмен;
the ace of aces ав. лучший ас;
перен. лучший из лучших
первоклассный летчик, ас;
выдающийся спортсмен;
the ace of aces ав. лучший ас;
перен. лучший из лучших
of trumps главный козырь the
of на волосок от, чуть не
См. также в других словарях:
Маленькая Принцесса — (1905) повесть английской писательницы Фрэнсис Бёрнетт. Входит в Золотой фонд детской литературы. Маленькая принцесса (фильм, 1995) американский фильм по одноименной повести Маленькая принцесса (фильм, 1997) Фильм Владимира Грамматикова по… … Википедия
МАЛЕНЬКАЯ ПРИНЦЕССА — «МАЛЕНЬКАЯ ПРИНЦЕССА», Россия, ГОСКИНО/ФОНД РОЛАНА БЫКОВА/ГЛОБУС, 1997, цв., 91 мин. Рождественская сказка. По мотивам одноименной повести Френсис Элизы Бернетт. Действие фильма происходит в конце XIX века в Лондоне, куда капитан Кру привозит… … Энциклопедия кино
Маленькая принцесса — Литература Маленькая принцесса (1905) повесть английской писательницы Фрэнсис Бёрнетт. Входит в Золотой фонд детской литературы. Маленькая принцесса книга Анхеля де Куатьэ Фильмы Маленькая принцесса (фильм, 1917) американский фильм по… … Википедия
Маленькая принцесса (фильм — Маленькая принцесса (фильм, 1995) Другие фильмы с таким же или схожим названием: см. Маленькая принцесса (фильм). Маленькая принцесса Little Princess … Википедия
Маленькая принцесса (фильм) — Маленькая принцесса (1905) повесть английской писательницы Фрэнсис Бёрнетт. Входит в Золотой фонд детской литературы. Маленькая принцесса (фильм, 1995) американский фильм по одноименной повести Маленькая принцесса (фильм, 1997) Фильм Владимира… … Википедия
Маленькая принцесса (фильм, 1995) — Другие фильмы с таким же или схожим названием: см. Маленькая принцесса (фильм). Маленькая принцесса A Little Princess Жанр Детский, мелодрама Режиссёр Альфонсо Куарон … Википедия
Маленькая принцесса (фильм, 1997) — Другие фильмы с таким же или схожим названием: см. Маленькая принцесса (фильм). Маленькая принцесса Жанр драма Режиссёр Владимир Грамматиков … Википедия
Маленькая принцесса (фильм, 1917) — У этого термина существуют и другие значения, см. Маленькая принцесса. Маленькая принцесса The Little Princess … Википедия
Моя маленькая принцесса — My Little Princess Жанр драма (жанр) Режиссёр Ева Ионеско Продюсер Франсуа Марки … Википедия
Принцесса Мононокэ — もののけ姫 (Мононокэ химэ) англ. Mononoke Hime … Википедия
Принцесса Эболи — Ана де Мендоса де ла Серда исп. Ana de Mendoza de la Cerda, princesa de Éboli, condesa de Mélito y duquesa de Pastrana … Википедия
Little princess
1 дочка
2 Temple, Shirley
3 bad language
She was used to men in the bar flattering and «kidding» her, as they said. Behaved like a little princess if anybody got too free and easy, or used bad language. (K. S. Prichard, ‘The Roaring Nineties’, ch. 31) — Она привыкла к тому, что мужчины любезничают и шутят с ней. Но если кто-нибудь позволял себе вольность или непристойное слово, она держалась как маленькая принцесса.
4 little
короткое, непродолжительное время;
after a little you will feel better скоро вам станет лучше;
for a little на короткое время little короткий (о времени, расстоянии) ;
come a little way with me проводите меня немного
короткое, непродолжительное время;
after a little you will feel better скоро вам станет лучше;
for a little на короткое время from
up амер. разг. с детства to go but a
с глаголами know, dream, think и т. п. совсем не;
little did he think that или he little thought that он и не думал, что
немного, мало;
I like him little я его недолюбливаю;
a little немного;
rest a little отдохните немного in
жив. в миниатюре in
в небольшом масштабе knows a
of everything знает понемногу обо всем little короткий (о времени, расстоянии) ;
come a little way with me проводите меня немного
короткое, непродолжительное время;
after a little you will feel better скоро вам станет лучше;
for a little на короткое время
a (less, lesser;
least) маленький;
небольшой;
little finger мизинец;
little toe мизинец (на ноге)
малый, незначительный;
little things мелочи
мелочный, ограниченный;
little things amuse little minds мелочи занимают (лишь) мелкие умы;
little Mary разг. желудок
небольшое количество;
немногое, кое-что, пустяк;
little by little мало-помалу, постепенно
немного, мало;
I like him little я его недолюбливаю;
a little немного;
rest a little отдохните немного
немного, мало;
I like him little я его недолюбливаю;
a little немного;
rest a little отдохните немного
с глаголами know, dream, think и т. п. совсем не;
little did he think that или he little thought that он и не думал, что
небольшое количество;
немногое, кое-что, пустяк;
little by little мало-помалу, постепенно
с глаголами know, dream, think и т. п. совсем не;
little did he think that или he little thought that он и не думал, что
a (less, lesser;
least) маленький;
небольшой;
little finger мизинец;
little toe мизинец (на ноге)
less (more) than немного меньше (больше), чем
мелочный, ограниченный;
little things amuse little minds мелочи занимают (лишь) мелкие умы;
little Mary разг. желудок
употр. как словозаместитель в знач. «человек»: he is the one I mean он тот самый( человек), которого я имею в виду;
the little ones дети
or nothing почти ничего the
малый, незначительный;
little things мелочи
мелочный, ограниченный;
little things amuse little minds мелочи занимают (лишь) мелкие умы;
little Mary разг. желудок
a (less, lesser;
least) маленький;
небольшой;
little finger мизинец;
little toe мизинец (на ноге)
ways маленькие, смешные слабости way:
(of smth.) не принимать всерьез, не придавать значения not a
немного, мало;
I like him little я его недолюбливаю;
a little немного;
rest a little отдохните немного
5 little boy
6 little endian format
7 little fellow
8 little finger
9 little toe
10 little-endian
11 little-endian format
12 little-go
13 princess
принцесса;
княгиня;
княжна;
princess royal старшая дочь английского короля
принцесса;
княгиня;
княжна;
princess royal старшая дочь английского короля
Маленькая принцесса
A Little Princess
The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Little Princess, by Frances Hodgson Burnett
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
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with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
Title: A Little Princess
Being the whole story of Sara Crewe now told for the first time
Author: Frances Hodgson Burnett
Illustrator: Ethel Franklin Betts
Release Date: September 7, 2011 [EBook #37332]
Produced by Juliet Sutherland, eagkw and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
A LITTLE PRINCESS
BEING THE WHOLE STORY OF SARA CREWE
NOW TOLD FOR THE FIRST TIME
FRANCES HODGSON BURNETT
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLORS BY
ETHEL FRANKLIN BETTS
Copyright, 1888 and 1905, by
CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS
Copyright, 1916, by
FRANCES HODGSON BURNETT
Printed in the United States of America
All rights reserved. No part of this book
may be reproduced in any form without
the permission of Charles Scribner’s Sons
THE WHOLE OF THE STORY
I do not know whether many people realize how much more than is ever written there really is in a story—how many parts of it are never told—how much more really happened than there is in the book one holds in one’s hand and pores over. Stories are something like letters. When a letter is written, how often one remembers things omitted and says, “ Ah, why did I not tell them that ” In writing a book one relates all that one remembers at the time, and if one told all that really happened perhaps the book would never end. Between the lines of every story there is another story, and that is one that is never heard and can only be guessed at by the people who are good at guessing. The person who writes the story may never know all of it, but sometimes he does and wishes he had the chance to begin again.
When I wrote the story of “Sara Crewe” I guessed that a great deal more had happened at Miss Minchin’s than I had had time to find out just then. I knew, of course, that there must have been chapters full of things going on all the time; and when I began to make a play out of the book and called it “A Little Princess,” I discovered three acts full of things. What interested me most was that I found that there had been girls at the school whose names I had not even known before. There was a little girl whose name was Lottie, who was an amusing little person; there was a hungry scullery-maid who was Sara’s adoring friend; Ermengarde was much more entertaining than she had seemed at first; things happened in the garret which had never been hinted at in the book; and a certain gentleman whose name was Melchisedec was an intimate friend of Sara’s who should never have been left out of the story if he had only walked into it in time. He and Becky and Lottie lived at Miss Minchin’s, and I cannot understand why they did not mention themselves to me at first. They were as real as Sara, and it was careless of them not to come out of the story shadowland and say, “ Here I am—tell about me. ” But they did not—which was their fault and not mine. People who live in the story one is writing ought to come forward at the beginning and tap the writing person on the shoulder and say, “ Hallo, what about me? ” If they don’t, no one can be blamed but themselves and their slouching, idle ways.
Фрэнсис Элиза Бёрнетт
A Little Princess / Маленькая принцесса. Книга для чтения на английском языке
Комментарии и словарь Д. В. Алексеенко
1
Sara
At this moment she was remembering the voyage she had just made from Bombay [5] with her father, Captain Crewe. She was thinking of the big ship, of the Lascars [6] passing silently to and fro on it, of the children playing about on the hot deck, and of some young officers’ wives who used to try to make her talk to them and laugh at the things she said.
Principally, she was thinking of what a queer thing it was that at one time one was in India in the blazing sun, and then in the middle of the ocean, and then driving in a strange vehicle through strange streets where the day was as dark as the night. She found this so puzzling that she moved closer to her father.
“Papa,” she said in a low, mysterious little voice which was almost a whisper, “papa.”
“What is it, darling?” Captain Crewe answered, holding her closer and looking down into her face. “What is Sara thinking of?”
“Is this the place?” Sara whispered, cuddling still closer to him. “Is it, papa?”
“Yes, little Sara, it is. We have reached it at last.” And though she was only seven years old, she knew that he felt sad when he said it.
During her short life only one thing had troubled her, and that thing was “the place” she was to be taken to some day. The climate of India was very bad for children, and as soon as possible they were sent away from it – generally to England and to school. She had seen other children go away, and had heard their fathers and mothers talk about the letters they received from them. She had known that she would be obliged [11] to go also, and though sometimes her father’s stories of the voyage and the new country had attracted her, she had been troubled by the thought that he could not stay with her.
“Couldn’t you go to that place with me, papa?” she had asked when she was five years old. “Couldn’t you go to school, too? I would help you with your lessons.”
“But you will not have to stay for a very long time, little Sara,” he had always said. “You will go to a nice house where there will be a lot of little girls, and you will play together, and I will send you plenty of books, and you will grow so fast that it will seem scarcely a year [12] before you are big enough and clever enough to come back and take care of papa.”
She had liked to think of that. To keep the house for her father; to ride with him, and sit at the head of his table when he had dinner parties; to talk to him and read his books – that would be what she would like most in the world, and if one must go away to “the place” in England to attain it, she must make up her mind [13] to go. She did not care very much for other little girls, but if she had plenty of books she could console herself. She liked books more than anything else, and was, in fact, always inventing stories of beautiful things and telling them to herself. Sometimes she had told them to her father, and he had liked them as much as she did.
He laughed at her old-fashioned speech and kissed her. He was really not at all resigned himself, though he knew he must keep that a secret. His quaint little Sara had been a great companion to him, and he felt he should be a lonely fellow when, on his return to India, he went into his bungalow knowing he need not expect to see the small figure in its white frock come forward to meet him. So he held her very closely in his arms as the cab rolled into the big, dull square in which stood the house which was their destination.
It was a big, dull, brick house, exactly like all the others in its row, but that on the front door there shone a brass plate on which was engraved in black letters:
Select Seminary for Young Ladies.
As she sat down in one of the stiff mahogany chairs, Sara cast one of her quick looks [19] about her.
“I don’t like it, papa,” she said. “But then I dare say [20] soldiers – even brave ones – don’t really LIKE going into battle.”
Captain Crewe laughed outright at this. He was young and full of fun, and he never tired of hearing Sara’s queer speeches.
“Oh, little Sara,” he said. “What shall I do when I have no one to say solemn things to me? No one else is as solemn as you are.”
“But why do solemn things make you laugh so?” inquired Sara.
“Because you are such fun when you say them,” he answered, laughing still more. And then suddenly he swept her into his arms and kissed her very hard, stopping laughing all at once and looking almost as if tears had come into his eyes.
It was just then that Miss Minchin entered the room. She was very like her house, Sara felt: tall and dull, and respectable and ugly. She had large, cold, fishy eyes, and a large, cold, fishy smile. It spread itself into a very large smile [21] when she saw Sara and Captain Crewe. She had heard a great many desirable things of the young soldier from the lady who had recommended her school to him. Among other things, she had heard that he was a rich father who was willing to spend a great deal of money [22] on his little daughter.
“It will be a great privilege to have charge [23] of such a beautiful and promising child, Captain Crewe,” she said, taking Sara’s hand and stroking it. “Lady Meredith has told me of her unusual cleverness. A clever child is a great treasure in an establishment like mine.”
Sara stood quietly, with her eyes fixed upon Miss Minchin’s face. She was thinking something odd, as usual.
“I should be telling a story if I said she was beautiful,” she thought; “and I should know I was telling a story. I believe I am as ugly as she is – in my way. What did she say that for?”
After she had known Miss Minchin longer she learned why she had said it. She discovered that she said the same thing to each papa and mamma who brought a child to her school.
“Papa,” said Sara, “you see, if I went out and bought a new doll every few days I should have more than I could be fond of. Dolls ought to be intimate friends. Emily is going to be my intimate friend.”
Captain Crewe looked at Miss Minchin and Miss Minchin looked at Captain Crewe.
“Who is Emily?” she inquired.
“Tell her, Sara,” Captain Crewe said, smiling.
Sara’s green-gray eyes looked very solemn and quite soft as she answered.
“She is a doll I haven’t got yet,” she said. “She is a doll papa is going to buy for me. We are going out together to find her. I have called her Emily. She is going to be my friend when papa is gone. I want her to talk to about him.”
Miss Minchin’s large, fishy smile became very flattering indeed.
“What an original child!” she said. “What a darling little creature!”
“Yes,” said Captain Crewe, drawing Sara close. “She is a darling little creature. Take great care of her for me, Miss Minchin.”
And at last they found Emily, but they went to a number of toy shops and looked at a great many dolls before they discovered her.
“I want her to look as if she wasn’t a doll really,” Sara said. “I want her to look as if she LISTENS when I talk to her. The trouble with dolls, papa” – and she put her head on one side and reflected as she said it – “the trouble with dolls is that they never seem to HEAR.” So they looked at big ones and little ones – at dolls with black eyes and dolls with blue – at dolls with brown curls and dolls with golden braids, dolls dressed and dolls undressed.
“You see,” Sara said when they were examining one who had no clothes. “If, when I find her, she has no frocks, we can take her to a dressmaker and have her things made to fit. They will fit better if they are tried on. [32] ”
After a number of disappointments they decided to walk and look in at the shop windows and let the cab follow them. They had passed two or three places without even going in, when, as they were approaching a shop which was really not a very large one, Sara suddenly started and clutched her father’s arm.
“Oh, papa!” she cried. “There is Emily!”
A flush had risen to her face [33] and there was an expression in her green-gray eyes as if she had just recognized someone she was intimate with and fond of.
“She is actually waiting there for us!” she said. “Let us go in to her.”
“Dear me,” said Captain Crewe, “I feel as if we ought to have someone to introduce us.”
“You must introduce me and I will introduce you,” said Sara. “But I knew her the minute I saw her – so perhaps she knew me, too.”
Perhaps she had known her. She had certainly a very intelligent expression in her eyes when Sara took her in her arms. She was a large doll, but not too large to carry about easily; she had naturally curling golden-brown hair, which hung like a mantle about her, and her eyes were a deep, clear, gray-blue, with soft, thick eyelashes which were real eyelashes and not mere painted lines.
“Of course,” said Sara, looking into her face as she held her on her knee, “of course papa, this is Emily.”
So Emily was bought and actually taken to a children’s outfitter’s shop [34] and measured for a wardrobe as grand as Sara’s own. She had lace frocks, too, and velvet and muslin ones, and hats and coats and beautiful lace-trimmed underclothes, and gloves and handkerchiefs and furs.
“I should like her always to look as if she was a child with a good mother,” said Sara. “I’m her mother, though I am going to make a companion of her.”
He got out of his bed in the middle of that night and went and stood looking down at Sara, who lay asleep with Emily in her arms. Her black hair was spread out on the pillow and Emily’s golden-brown hair mingled with it, both of them had lace-rufled nightgowns, and both had long eyelashes which lay and curled up on their cheeks. Emily looked so like a real child that Captain Crewe felt glad she was there. He drew a big sigh and pulled his mustache with a boyish expression.
“Heigh-ho, little Sara!” he said to himself. “I don’t believe you know how much your daddy will miss you.”
The next day he took her to Miss Minchin’s and left her there. He was to sail away the next morning. He explained to Miss Minchin that his solicitors, Messrs. Barrow & Skip-worth, had charge of his affairs in England and would give her any advice she wanted, and that they would pay the bills she sent in for Sara’s expenses. He would write to Sara twice a week, and she was to be given every pleasure she asked for.
“She is a sensible little thing, and she never wants anything it isn’t safe to give her,” he said.
“Are you learning me by heart, little Sara?” he said, stroking her hair.
“No,” she answered. “I know you by heart. You are inside my heart.” And they put their arms round each other and kissed as if they would never let each other go.
When the cab drove away from the door, Sara was sitting on the floor of her sitting room, with her hands under her chin and her eyes following it until it had turned the corner of the square. Emily was sitting by her, and she looked after it, too. When Miss Minchin sent her sister, Miss Amelia, to see what the child was doing, she found she could not open the door.
Miss Amelia was fat and dumpy, and stood very much in awe of her sister. She was really the better-natured person of the two, but she never disobeyed Miss Minchin. She went downstairs again, looking almost alarmed.
“I’ve been opening her trunks and putting her things away,” said Miss Amelia. “I never saw anything like them – sable and ermine on her coats, and real Valenciennes lace [40] on her underclothing. You have seen some of her clothes. What DO you think of them?”
“I think they are perfectly ridiculous,” replied Miss Minchin, sharply; “but they will look very well at the head of the line when we take the schoolchildren to church on Sunday. She has been provided for as if she were a little princess.”
And upstairs in the locked room Sara and Emily sat on the floor and stared at the corner round which the cab had disappeared, while Captain Crewe looked backward, waving and kissing his hand as if he could not bear to stop.
2
A French Lesson
“It was full of petticoats with lace frills on them – frills and frills,” she whispered to her friend Jessie as she bent over her geography. “I saw her shaking them out. I heard Miss Minchin say to Miss Amelia that her clothes were so grand that they were ridiculous for a child. My mamma says that children should be dressed simply. She has got one of those petticoats on now. I saw it when she sat down.”
“She has silk stockings on!” whispered Jessie, bending over her geography also. “And what little feet! I never saw such little feet.”
“Oh,” sniffed Lavinia, spitefully, “that is the way her slippers are made. My mamma says that even big feet can be made to look small if you have a clever shoemaker. I don’t think she is pretty at all. Her eyes are such a queer color.”
“She isn’t pretty as other pretty people are,” said Jessie, stealing a glance across the room; “but she makes you want to look at her again. She has tremendously long eyelashes, but her eyes are almost green.”
Sara was sitting quietly in her seat, waiting to be told what to do. She had been placed near Miss Minchin’s desk. She was not abashed at all by the many pairs of eyes watching her. She was interested and looked back quietly at the children who looked at her. She wondered what they were thinking of, and if they liked Miss Minchin, and if they cared for their lessons, and if any of them had a papa at all like her own. She had had a long talk with Emily about her papa that morning.
“He is on the sea now, Emily,” she had said. “We must be very great friends to each other and tell each other things. Emily, look at me. You have the nicest eyes I ever saw – but I wish you could speak.”
“You can read that while I am downstairs,” she said; and, seeing Mariette looking at her curiously, she spoke to her with a serious little face.
“What I believe about dolls,” she said, “is that they can do things they will not let us know about. Perhaps, really, Emily can read and talk and walk, but she will only do it when people are out of the room. That is her secret. You see, if people knew that dolls could do things, they would make them work. So, perhaps, they have promised each other to keep it a secret. If you stay in the room, Emily will just sit there and stare; but if you go out, she will begin to read, perhaps, or go and look out of the window. Then if she heard either of us coming, she would just run back and jump into her chair and pretend she had been there all the time.”
“Comme elle est drôle! [45] ” Mariette said to herself, and when she went downstairs she told the head housemaid about it. But she had already begun to like this odd little girl who had such an intelligent small face and such perfect manners. She had taken care of children before who were not so polite. Sara was a very fine little person, and had a gentle, appreciative way of saying, “If you please, Mariette,” “Thank you, Mariette,” which was very charming. Mariette told the head housemaid that she thanked her as if she was thanking a lady.
After Sara had sat in her seat in the schoolroom for a few minutes, being looked at by the pupils, Miss Minchin rapped in a dignified manner upon her desk.
The pupils bowed ceremoniously, and Sara made a little curts y, and then they sat down and looked at each other again.
“Sara,” said Miss Minchin in her schoolroom manner, “come here to me.”
She had taken a book from the desk and was turning over its leaves. Sara went to her politely.
“As your papa has engaged a French maid for you,” she began, “I conclude that he wishes you to make a special study of the French language.”
Sara felt a little awkward.
“I think he engaged her,” she said, “because he – he thought I would like her, Miss Minchin.”
“I am afraid,” said Miss Minchin, with a slightly sour smile, “that you have been a very spoiled little girl and always imagine that things are done because you like them. My impression is that your papa wished you to learn French.”
If Sara had been older or less punctilious about being quite polite to people, she could have explained herself in a very few words. But, as it was, she felt a flush rising on her cheeks. Miss Minchin was a very severe and imposing person, and she seemed so absolutely sure that Sara knew nothing whatever of French that she felt as if it would be almost rude to correct her. The truth was that Sara could not remember the time when she had not seemed to know French. Her father had often spoken it to her when she had been a baby. Her mother had been a French woman, and Captain Crewe had loved her language, so it happened that Sara had always heard and been familiar with it.
“I – I have never really learned French, but – but —” she began, trying shyly to make herself clear.
One of Miss Minchin’s chief secret annoyances was that she did not speak French herself, and was desirous of concealing the irritating fact. She, therefore, had no intention of discussing the matter and laying herself open to innocent questioning by a new little pupil.
“That is enough,” she said with polite tartness. “If you have not learned, you must begin at once. The French master, Monsieur Dufarge, will be here in a few minutes. Take this book and look at it until he arrives.”
Sara’s cheeks felt warm. She went back to her seat and opened the book. She looked at the first page with a grave face. She knew it would be rude to smile, and she was very determined not to be rude. But it was very odd to find herself expected to study a page which told her that “le père” meant “the father,” and “la mère” meant “the mother.”
Miss Minchin glanced toward her scrutinizingly.
“I am very fond of it,” answered Sara, thinking she would try again; “but – ”
“You must not say ‘but’ when you are told to do things,” said Miss Minchin. “Look at your book again.”
And Sara did so, and did not smile, even when she found that “le fils” meant “the son,” and “le frère” meant “the brother.”
“When Monsieur Dufarge comes,” she thought, “I can make him understand.”
Monsieur Dufarge arrived very shortly afterward. He was a very nice, intelligent, middle-aged Frenchman, and he looked interested when his eyes fell upon Sara trying politely to seem absorbed [49] in her little book of phrases.
“Is this a new pupil for me, madame?” he said to Miss Minchin. “I hope that is my good fortune.”
“Her papa – Captain Crewe – is very anxious that she should begin the language. But I am afraid she has a childish prejudice against it. She does not seem to wish to learn,” said Miss Minchin.
“I am sorry of that, mademoiselle,” he said kindly to Sara. “Perhaps, when we begin to study together, I may show you that it is a charming tongue.”
When she began to speak Miss Minchin started quite violently and sat staring at her over her eyeglasses, almost indignantly, until she had finished. Monsieur Dufarge began to smile, and his smile was one of great pleasure. To hear this pretty childish voice speaking his own language so simply and charmingly made him feel almost as if he were in his native land – which in dark, foggy days in London sometimes seemed worlds away. When she had finished, he took the phrase book from her, with a look almost affectionate. But he spoke to Miss Minchin.
“Ah, madame,” he said, “there is not much I can teach her. She has not LEARNED French; she is French. Her accent is exquisite.”
“I – I tried,” said Sara. “I – I suppose I did not begin right.”
“Silence, young ladies!” she said severely, rapping upon the desk. “Silence at once!”
And she began from that minute to feel rather a grudge against her show pupil.