Not very long after this a very exciting thing happened.
Not only Sara,but the entire school,found it exciting,and made it the chief subject of conversation for weeks after it occurred.
In one of his letters Captain Crewe told a most interesting story.
A friend who had been at school with him when he was a boy had unexpectedly come to see him in India.He was the owner of a large tract of land upon which diamonds had been found,and he was engaged in developing the mines.If all went as was confidently expected,he would become possessed of such wealth as it made one dizzy to think of;and because he was fond of the friend of his school days,he had given him an opportunity to share in this enormous fortune by becoming a partner in his scheme.This,at least,was what Sara gathered from his letters.It is true that any other business scheme,however magnificent,would have had but small attraction for her or for the schoolroom;but "diamond mines"sounded so like the Arabian Nights that no one could be indifferent.Sara thought them enchanting,and painted pictures,for Ermengarde and Lottie,of labyrinthine passages in the bowels of the earth,where sparkling stones studded the walls and roofs and ceilings,and strange,dark men dug them out with heavy picks.Ermengarde delighted in the story,and Lottie insisted on its being retold to her every evening.
Lavinia was very spiteful about it,and told Jessie that she didn't believe such things as diamond mines existed.
"My mamma has a diamond ring which cost forty pounds,"she said.
"And it is not a big one,either.If there were mines full of diamonds,people would be so rich it would be ridiculous."
"Perhaps Sara will be so rich that she will be ridiculous,"
giggled Jessie.
"She's ridiculous without being rich,"Lavinia sniffed.
"I believe you hate her,"said Jessie.
"No,I don't,"snapped Lavinia."But I don't believe in mines full of diamonds."
"Well,people have to get them from somewhere,"said Jessie.
"Lavinia,"with a new giggle,"what do you think Gertrude says?"
"I don't know,I'm sure;and I don't care if it's something more about that everlasting Sara."
"Well,it is.One of her `pretends'is that she is a princess.
She plays it all the time--even in school.She says it makes her learn her lessons better.She wants Ermengarde to be one,too,but Ermengarde says she is too fat."
"She IS too fat,"said Lavinia."And Sara is too thin."
Naturally,Jessie giggled again.
"She says it has nothing to do with what you look like,or what you have.It has only to do with what you THINK of,and what you DO>."
"I suppose she thinks she could be a princess if she was a beggar,"
said Lavinia."Let us begin to call her Your Royal Highness."
Lessons for the day were over,and they were sitting before the schoolroom fire,enjoying the time they liked best.It was the time when Miss Minchin and Miss Amelia were taking their tea in the sitting room sacred to themselves.At this hour a great deal of talking was done,and a great many secrets changed hands,particularly if the younger pupils behaved themselves well,and did not squabble or run about noisily,which it must be confessed they usually did.When they made an uproar the older girls usually interfered with scolding and shakes.They were expected to keep order,and there was danger that if they did not,Miss Minchin or Miss Amelia would appear and put an end to festivities.
Even as Lavinia spoke the door opened and Sara entered with Lottie,whose habit was to trot everywhere after her like a little dog.
"There she is,with that horrid child!"exclaimed Lavinia in a whisper.
"If she's so fond of her,why doesn't she keep her in her own room?
She will begin howling about something in five minutes."
It happened that Lottie had been seized with a sudden desire to play in the schoolroom,and had begged her adopted parent to come with her.
She joined a group of little ones who were playing in a corner.
Sara curled herself up in the window-seat,opened a book,and began to read.It was a book about the French Revolution,and she was soon lost in a harrowing picture of the prisoners in the Bastille--men who had spent so many years in dungeons that when they were dragged out by those who rescued them,their long,gray hair and beards almost hid their faces,and they had forgotten that an outside world existed at all,and were like beings in a dream.
She was so far away from the schoolroom that it was not agreeable to be dragged back suddenly by a howl from Lottie.Never did she find anything so difficult as to keep herself from losing her temper when she was suddenly disturbed while absorbed in a book.
People who are fond of books know the feeling of irritation which sweeps over them at such a moment.The temptation to be unreasonable and snappish is one not easy to manage.
"It makes me feel as if someone had hit me,"Sara had told Ermengarde once in confidence."And as if I want to hit back.I have to remember things quickly to keep from saying something ill-tempered."
She had to remember things quickly when she laid her book on the window-seat and jumped down from her comfortable corner.
Lottie had been sliding across the schoolroom floor,and,having first irritated Lavinia and Jessie by making a noise,had ended by falling down and hurting her fat knee.She was screaming and dancing up and down in the midst of a group of friends and enemies,who were alternately coaxing and scolding her.
"Stop this minute,you cry-baby!Stop this minute!"Lavinia commanded.
"I'm not a cry-baby ...I'm not!"wailed Lottle."Sara,Sa{--}ra!"
"If she doesn't stop,Miss Minchin will hear her,"cried Jessie.
"Lottie darling,I'll give you a penny!"
"I don't want your penny,"sobbed Lottie;and she looked down at the fat knee,and,seeing a drop of blood on it,burst forth again.
Sara flew across the room and,kneeling down,put her arms round her.
"Now,Lottie,"she said."Now,Lottie,you PROMISED Sara."
"She said I was a cry-baby,"wept Lottie.
Sara patted her,but spoke in the steady voice Lottie knew.
