CHAPTER XV. THE RAPE¹ OF THE LOCK

June was crowded full of interest that year. We gathered in with its sheaf of fragrant² days the choicest harvest of childhood. Things happened right along. Cecily declared she hated to go to sleep for fear she might miss something. There were so many dear delights along the golden road to give us pleasure—the earth dappled with new blossom, the dance of shadows in the fields, the rustling³, rain-wet ways of the woods, the faint fragrance⁴ in meadow lanes, liltings of birds and croon of bees in the old orchard⁵, windy pipings on the hills, sunset behind the pines, limpid⁶ dews filling primrose⁷ cups, crescent moons through darklings boughs⁸, soft nights alight with blinking stars. We enjoyed all these boons⁹, unthinkingly and light-heartedly, as children do. And besides these, there was the absorbing little drama of human life which was being enacted¹⁰ all around us, and in which each of us played a satisfying part—the gay preparations for Aunt Olivia’s mid-June wedding, the excitement of practising for the concert with which our school-teacher, Mr. Perkins, had elected to close the school year, and Cecily’s troubles with Cyrus Brisk, which furnished unholy mirth for the rest of us, though Cecily could not see the funny side of it at all.

Matters went from bad to worse in the case of the irrepressible Cyrus. He continued to shower Cecily with notes, the spelling of which showed no improvement; he worried the life out of her by constantly threatening to fight Willy Fraser—although, as Felicity sarcastically¹¹ pointed¹² out, he never did it.

“But I’m always afraid he will,” said Cecily, “and it would be such a DISGRACE to have two boys fighting over me in school.”

“You must have encouraged Cyrus a little in the beginning or he’d never have been so persevering,” said Felicity unjustly.

“I never did!” cried outraged¹³ Cecily. “You know very well, Felicity King, that I hated Cyrus Brisk ever since the very first time I saw his big, fat, red face. So there!”

“Felicity is just jealous because Cyrus didn’t take a notion to her instead of you, Sis,” said Dan.

“Talk sense!” snapped Felicity.

“If I did you wouldn’t understand me, sweet little sister,” rejoined aggravating¹⁴ Dan.

Finally Cyrus crowned his iniquities¹⁵ by stealing the denied lock of Cecily’s hair. One sunny afternoon in school, Cecily and Kitty Marr asked and received permission to sit out on the side bench before the open window, where the cool breeze swept in from the green fields beyond. To sit on this bench was always considered a treat, and was only allowed as a reward of merit; but Cecily and Kitty had another reason for wishing to sit there. Kitty had read in a magazine that sun-baths were good for the hair; so both she and Cecily tossed their long braids over the window-sill and let them hang there in the broiling¹⁶ sun-shine. And while Cecily sat thus, diligently¹⁷ working a fraction sum on her slate¹⁸, that base Cyrus asked permission to go out, having previously¹⁹ borrowed a pair of scissors from one of the big girls who did fancy work at the noon recess²⁰. Outside, Cyrus sneaked²¹ up close to the window and cut off a piece of Cecily’s hair.

This rape of the lock did not produce quite such terrible consequences as the more famous one in Pope’s poem, but Cecily’s soul was no less agitated²² than Belinda’s. She cried all the way home from school about it, and only checked her tears when Dan declared he’d fight Cyrus and make him give it up.

“Oh, no, You mustn’t.” said Cecily, struggling with her sobs²³. “I won’t have you fighting on my account for anything. And besides, he’d likely lick you—he’s so big and rough. And the folks at home might find out all about it, and Uncle Roger would never give me any peace, and mother would be cross, for she’d never believe it wasn’t my fault. It wouldn’t be so bad if he’d only taken a little, but he cut a great big chunk²⁴ right off the end of one of the braids. Just look at it. I’ll have to cut the other to make them fair—and they’ll look so awful stubby.”

But Cyrus’ acquirement of the chunk of hair was his last triumph. His downfall was near; and, although it involved Cecily in a most humiliating experience, over which she cried half the following night, in the end she confessed it was worth undergoing just to get rid of Cyrus.

Mr. Perkins was an exceedingly strict disciplinarian. No communication of any sort was permitted between his pupils during school hours. Anyone caught violating this rule was promptly²⁵ punished by the infliction²⁶ of one of the weird²⁷ penances²⁸ for which Mr. Perkins was famous, and which were generally far worse than ordinary whipping.

One day in school Cyrus sent a letter across to Cecily. Usually he left his effusions in her desk, or between the leaves of her books; but this time it was passed over to her under cover of the desk through the hands of two or three scholars. Just as Em Frewen held it over the aisle²⁹ Mr. Perkins wheeled around from his station before the blackboard and caught her in the act.

“Bring that here, Emmeline,” he commanded.

Cyrus turned quite pale. Em carried the note to Mr. Perkins. He took it, held it up, and scrutinized³⁰ the address.

“Did you write this to Cecily, Emmeline?” he asked.

“No, sir.”

“Who wrote it then?”

Em said quite shamelessly that she didn’t know—it had just been passed over from the next row.

“And I suppose you have no idea where it came from?” said Mr. Perkins, with his frightful³¹, sardonic³² grin. “Well, perhaps Cecily can tell us. You may take your seat, Emmeline, and you will remain at the foot of your spelling class for a week as punishment for passing the note. Cecily, come here.”

Indignant Em sat down and poor, innocent Cecily was haled forth³³ to public ignominy. She went with a crimson³⁴ face.

“Cecily,” said her tormentor³⁵, “do you know who wrote this letter to you?”

Cecily, like a certain renowned³⁶ personage, could not tell a lie.

“I—I think so, sir,” she murmured faintly.

“Who was it?”

“I can’t tell you that,” stammered³⁷ Cecily, on the verge³⁸ of tears.

“Ah!” said Mr. Perkins politely. “Well, I suppose I could easily find out by opening it. But it is very impolite to open other people’s letters. I think I have a better plan. Since you refuse to tell me who wrote it, open it yourself, take this chalk, and copy the contents on the blackboard that we may all enjoy them. And sign the writer’s name at the bottom.”

“Oh,” gasped³⁹ Cecily, choosing the lesser⁴⁰ of two evils, “I’ll tell you who wrote it—it was—

“Hush⁴¹!” Mr. Perkins checked her with a gentle motion of his hand. He was always most gentle when most inexorable. “You did not obey me when I first ordered you to tell me the writer. You cannot have the privilege of doing so now. Open the note, take the chalk, and do as I command you.”

Worms will turn, and even meek⁴², mild, obedient little souls like Cecily may be goaded⁴³ to the point of wild, sheer rebellion.

“I—I won’t!” she cried passionately⁴⁴.

Mr. Perkins, martinet⁴⁵ though he was, would hardly, I think, have inflicted⁴⁶ such a punishment on Cecily, who was a favourite of his, had he known the real nature of that luckless missive. But, as he afterwards admitted, he thought it was merely a note from some other girl, of such trifling⁴⁷ sort as school-girls are wont⁴⁸ to write; and moreover, he had already committed himself to the decree, which, like those of Mede and Persian, must not alter. To let Cecily off, after her mad defiance⁴⁹, would be to establish a revolutionary precedent⁵⁰.

“So you really think you won’t?” he queried⁵¹ smilingly. “Well, on second thoughts, you may take your choice. Either you will do as I have bidden you, or you will sit for three days with”—Mr. Perkins’ eye skimmed over the school-room to find a boy who was sitting alone—“with Cyrus Brisk.”

This choice of Mr. Perkins, who knew nothing of the little drama of emotions that went on under the routine of lessons and exercises in his domain⁵², was purely⁵³ accidental, but we took it at the time as a stroke of diabolical⁵⁴ genius. It left Cecily no choice. She would have done almost anything before she would have sat with Cyrus Brisk. With flashing eyes she tore open the letter, snatched up the chalk, and dashed at the blackboard.

In a few minutes the contents of that letter graced the expanse usually sacred to more prosaic⁵⁵ compositions. I cannot reproduce it verbatim, for I had no after opportunity of refreshing⁵⁶ my memory. But I remember that it was exceedingly sentimental⁵⁷ and exceedingly ill-spelled—for Cecily mercilessly copied down poor Cyrus’ mistakes. He wrote her that he wore her hare over his hart—“and he stole it,” Cecily threw passionately over her shoulder at Mr. Perkins—that her eyes were so sweet and lovely that he couldn’t find words nice enuf to describ them, that he could never forget how butiful she had looked in prar meeting the evening before, and that some meels he couldn’t eat for thinking of her, with more to the same effect and he signed it “yours till deth us do part, Cyrus Brisk.”

As the writing proceeded we scholars exploded into smothered⁵⁸ laughter, despite our awe⁵⁹ of Mr. Perkins. Mr. Perkins himself could not keep a straight face. He turned abruptly⁶⁰ away and looked out of the window, but we could see his shoulders shaking. When Cecily had finished and had thrown down the chalk with bitter vehemence⁶¹, he turned around with a very red face.

“That will do. You may sit down. Cyrus, since it seems you are the guilty person, take the eraser and wipe that off the board. Then go stand in the corner, facing the room, and hold your arms straight above your head until I tell you to take them down.”

Cyrus obeyed and Cecily fled to her seat and wept, nor did Mr. Perkins meddle⁶² with her more that day. She bore her burden of humiliation⁶³ bitterly for several days, until she was suddenly comforted by a realization⁶⁴ that Cyrus had ceased to persecute⁶⁵ her. He wrote no more letters, he gazed no longer in rapt adoration⁶⁶, he brought no more votive offerings of gum and pencils to her shrine⁶⁷. At first we thought he had been cured by the unmerciful chaffing he had to undergo from his mates, but eventually his sister told Cecily the true reason. Cyrus had at last been driven to believe that Cecily’s aversion to him was real, and not merely the defence of maiden⁶⁸ coyness. If she hated him so intensely that she would rather write that note on the blackboard than sit with him, what use was it to sigh like a furnace longer for her? Mr. Perkins had blighted⁶⁹ love’s young dream for Cyrus with a killing⁷⁰ frost. Thenceforth sweet Cecily kept the noiseless tenor⁷¹ of her way unvexed by the attentions of enamoured swains.