... other's acquaintance."
The pupils bowed ceremoniously, and Sara made a little curtsy, and then
they sat down and looked at each other again.
"Sara," said Miss Minchin in ... 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...
... awe in her voice,
"You areclever, aren't you?"
Sara looked out of the window into the dingy square, where the sparrows
were hopping and twittering on the wet, iron railings ... disconsolately
in a window-seat, she walked over to her and spoke. She only said the kind
of thing little girls always say to each other by way of beginning an
acquaintance, but ther...
...
merely thinking. Having paused for a few seconds to find this out, Lottie
thought she must begin again, but the quiet of the room and of Sara's odd,
interested face made her first howl rather ... Miss Minchin, drawing in her
mouth sharply. Then, seeing that Sara looked slightly chilled by her asperity,
she changed her manner. "But you are clever in everything," she...
... princess who was loved by a Prince
Merman, and went to live with him in shining caves under the sea.
The small drudge before the grate swept the hearth once and then swept it
again. Having ... admiration. Then she
said in an awed voice, "Onct I see a princess. I was standin' in the street with
the crowd outside Covin' Garden, watchin' the swells go i...
...
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 ... pricking up their ears interestedly. The truth was, they liked princesses,
and they all hoped they might hear something more definite about this one,
and drew nearer Sara according...
... ma'am," turning and
making an alarmed bob to Miss Minchin "for letting me take the liberty."
Miss Minchin waved her hand again this time it was in the direction of the
corner near the door. ...
shake.
THE LITTLE PRINCESS
Chapter 7
7. The Diamond Mines Again
When Sara entered the holly-hung schoolroom in the afternoon, she did so as
the head...
... never known her
aloud. Then there was something worse. This was certain scufflings and
scratchings and squeakings in the walls and behind the skirting boards. She
knew what they meant, because ... carry them through the streets in a basket on
her arm when the cook wanted them in a hurry, they felt rather as if, when
they spoke to her, they were addressing an under servant....
... of the room; and when the morning begins to come I can lie in
bed and look right up into the sky through that flat window in the roof. It is
like a square patch of light. If the sun is going ... in the world below seemed almost unreal. One
scarcely believed in the existence of Miss Minchin and Miss Amelia and the
schoolroom, and the roll of wheels in the squa...
... before the house. When the
footman dismounted from the box and opened the door the gentleman who
was the father of the Large Family got out first. After him there descended a
nurse in uniform, then ... when the wind was blowing, and feeling the water soak
through her shoes when it was raining, she felt as if the crowds hurrying past
her made her loneliness greater....
...
nothing."
The morning after the interview with Ram Dass and his monkey, Sara was in
the schoolroom with her small pupils. Having finished giving them their
lessons, she was putting the ... she said then; "but I
won't beg your pardon for thinking."
"What were you thinking?" demanded Miss Minchin.
"How dare you think? What were you thinking?&quo...