7 The Little Girl Who Was Not a Beggar

CHAPTER 7 The Little Girl Who Was Not a Beggar After he had gone, Sara stood in the middle of her room and let all sorts of memories wash over her. The lascar had brought them back for her— especially when he had spoken to her so nicely, as though she were still a little princess and had a divine right to her place in the world. While some of her make-believe stories had come back to her in these recent hard

days—and indeed had saved her life, she thought—there had been one "pretend" that she still could not bring back to life. And that was the princess pretend. Not even an expert pretender, she had thought, could make that one real in her present situation. But somehow, seeing the lascar and the monkey made her strong once again. "Even if I am a pretend princess in rags and tatters," she thought, "I can still be a true princess— inside." And from then on, that's what she did. When someone treated her rudely, Sara would simply fix her eyes upon them and smile. "You don't know that you are saying and doing these things to a princess," she would think to herself. "If I chose to, I could send you off to jail with a wave of my hand. I spare you only because I am a princess, and because you are a poor, stupid, mean old

thing who doesn't know any better!" One time, when Sara was thinking these things, Miss Minchin almost seemed to read her mind. For some reason (that Miss Minchin herself was unaware of), she reached out and boxed Sara's ears in full view of the other girls. "Sister!" Miss Amelia was in shock. It seemed to her that Sara had just been standing there, doing nothing. And while her sister often boxed Sara's ears (and Becky's, too), never had she done so in the schoolroom. "Why did you do that? Did Sara say something smart-mouthed?" "Well, no," Miss Minchin admitted. "But she was thinking something—I'm sure of it!" Her eyes turned into slits as she stared at Sara. "You were thinking something rude— confess it!" "I was," Sara said steadily.

"How dare you think?" Miss Minchin screeched. This was such a silly remark that a few of the girls started to giggle. Miss Minchin turned red. "I mean," she corrected herself, "what were you thinking?" Sara thought perhaps it would be dangerous to reply to Miss Minchin, but felt it her duty to give an honest answer. "I was wondering how you would feel," she began in a slow, serious way, "if you found out that I really was a princess. I wondered if you would feel scared, or regret the fact that you had kept a true princess up in your attic, and had been treating her ill the whole time." All the other girls were listening closely. Not a sound could be heard as they waited with keen interest for Miss Minchin's answer. "Go to your room this instant!" Miss Minchin cried, out of breath. She felt as

though she might faint. How could she feel so defeated by such an uppity little girl? She became enraged and could no longer control it. She turned to the students. "And you, young ladies, attend to your lessons!" "Did you see her proud little face?" Jessie said to Lavinia, who seemed as oddly stirred by Sara's comment as Miss Minchin was. "I wouldn't be at all surprised if she did turn out to be someone important! I almost hope she does!" One evening, a very strange thing happened. The Large children were going to a party. They were getting into their carriage when Sara passed by. Veronica Eustacia Large and Rosalind Gladys Large (Sara had made up these names), in lovely dresses with sashes, had just climbed into the carriage, with little

Guy Clarence Large, aged five, behind them. He was such a cute little boy, with rosy chubby cheeks and blue eyes, that Sara forgot about her basket and her shabby, odd appearance. Instead of hurrying past, as she had lately been doing in public, she paused to look at Guy Clarence for a moment. Guy Clarence looked right back. It was Christmastime, and his parents had told him that there were poor children in the world who had no lovely Christmas presents or warm and delicious Christmas dinners. This story had made Guy Clarence so sad that he had vowed to find one such poor child, and give her the coins he had been keeping in his pocket. Guy Clarence didn't know much about money. He thought that his small treasure might make someone rich and, generous little soul that he was, he was glad to do it. And Sara seemed like the perfect choice.