"Oh,do you?I wonder now!It wasn't 'The PRINCE and the Pauper,'but the PRINCESS and the Pauper,"cited David;"and they used to wave signals,and answer with flags.Do you know the story?"There was no answer.Miss Holbrook was putting away her work,hurriedly,and with hands that shook.David noticed that she even pricked herself in her anxiety to get the needle tucked away.
Then she drew him to a low stool at her side.
"David,I want you to tell me that story,please,"she said,"just as Mr.Jack told it to you.Now,be careful and put it all in,because I--I want to hear it,"she finished,with an odd little laugh that seemed to bring two bright red spots to her cheeks.
"Oh,do you want to hear it?Then I will tell it,"cried David joyfully.To David,almost as delightful as to hear a story was to tell one himself."You see,first--"And he plunged headlong into the introduction.
David knew it well--that story:and there was,perhaps,little that he forgot.It might not have been always told in Mr.Jack's language;but his meaning was there,and very intently Miss Holbrook listened while David told of the boy and the girl,the wavings,and the flags that were blue,black,and red.She laughed once,--that was at the little joke with the bells that the girl played,--but she did not speak until sometime later when David was telling of the first home-coming of the Princess,and of the time when the boy on his tiny piazza watched and watched in vain for a waving white signal from the tower.
"Do you mean to say,"interposed Miss Holbrook then,almost starting to her feet,"that that boy expected--"She stopped suddenly,and fell back in her chair.The two red spots on her cheeks had become a rosy glow now,all over her face.
"Expected what?"asked David.
"N--nothing.Go on.I was so--so interested,"explained Miss Holbrook faintly."Go on."And David did go on;nor did the story lose by his telling.It gained,indeed,something,for now it had woven through it the very strong sympathy of a boy who loved the Pauper for his sorrow and hated the Princess for causing that sorrow.
"And so,"he concluded mournfully,"you see it isn't a very nice story,after all,for it didn't end well a bit.They ought to have got married and lived happy ever after.But they didn't."Miss Holbrook drew in her breath a little uncertainly,and put her hand to her throat.Her face now,instead of being red,was very white.
"But,David,"she faltered,after a moment,"perhaps he--the--Pauper--did not--not love the Princess any longer.""Mr.Jack said that he did."
The white face went suddenly pink again.
"Then,why didn't he go to her and--and--tell her?"David lifted his chin.With all his dignity he answered,and his words and accent were Mr.Jack's.
"Paupers don't go to Princesses,and say "I love you.'""But perhaps if they did--that is--if--"Miss Holbrook bit her lips and did not finish her sentence.She did not,indeed,say anything more for a long time.But she had not forgotten the story.David knew that,because later she began to question him carefully about many little points--points that he was very sure he had already made quite plain.She talked about it,indeed,until he wondered if perhaps she were going to tell it to some one else sometime.He asked her if she were;but she only shook her head.And after that she did not question him any more.And a little later David went home.
