The Heart of Una Sackville
Vaizey Mrs. George de Horne
English
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Below is a summary of The Heart of Una Sackville
The Heart of Una Sackville
by Mrs George de Horne Vaizey
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This book is not really in the same league as Pixie, but it
certainly is a well-written story about the inner life of a
young woman in search of a wooer and future husband in the
months and years after she leaves school. All the characters,
men and women, boys and girls, are well-drawn, and the book is
an enjoyable read, which we would recommend, particularly to the
fairer sex. Dated in 1895, it contains contains a good deal
of local and historical colour, and is worth reading for the
insight into the social background of girls of the professional
middle classes of those days.
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"THE HEART OF UNA SACKVILLE"
A TALE OF A YOUNG WOMAN'S SEARCH FOR THE FUTURE LOVE OF HER LIFE
BY MRS. GEORGE DE HORNE VAIZEY
CHAPTER ONE.
_May 13th, 1895_.
Lena Streatham gave me this diary. I can't think what possessed her,
for she has been simply hateful to me sometimes this last term. Perhaps
it was remorse, because it's awfully handsome, with just the sort of
back I like--soft Russia leather, with my initials in the corner, and a
clasp with a dear little key, so that you can leave it about without
other people seeing what is inside. I always intended to keep a diary
when I left school and things began to happen, and I suppose I must have
said so some day; I generally do blurt out what is in my mind, and Lena
heard and remembered. She's not a bad girl, except for her temper, but
I've noticed the hasty ones are generally the most generous. There are
hundreds and hundreds of leaves in it, and I expect it will be years
before it's finished. I'm not going to write things every day--that's
silly! I'll just keep it for times when I want to talk, and Lorna is
not near to confide in. It's quite exciting to think all that will be
written in these empty pages! What fun it would be if I could read them
now and see what is going to happen! About half way through I shall be
engaged, and in the last page of all I'll scribble a few words in my
wedding-dress before I go on to church, for that will be the end of Una
Sackville, and there will be nothing more to write after that. It's
very nice to be married, of course, but stodgy--there's no more
excitement.
There has been plenty of excitement to-day, at any rate. I always
thought it would be lovely when the time came for leaving school, and
having nothing to do but enjoy oneself, but I've cried simply
bucketfuls, and my head aches like fury. All the girls were so
fearfully nice. I'd no idea they liked me so much. Irene May began
crying at breakfast-time, and one or another of them has been at it the
whole day long. Maddie made me walk with her in the crocodile, and
said, "Croyez bien, ma cherie, que votre Maddie ne vous oubliera
jamais." It's all very well, but she's been a perfect pig to me many
times over about the irregular verbs! She gave me her photograph in a
gilt frame--not half bad; you would think she was quite nice-looking.
The kiddies joined together and gave me a purse--awfully decent of the
poor little souls--and I've got simply dozens of books and ornaments and
little picture things for my room. We had cake for tea, but half the
girls wouldn't touch it. Florence said it was sickening to gorge when
your heart was breaking. She is going to ask her mother to let her
leave next term, for she says she simply cannot stand our bedroom after
I'm gone. She and Lorna don't get on a bit, and I was always having to
keep the peace. I promised faithfully I would write sheets upon sheets
to them every single week, because my leaving at half term makes it
harder for them than if they were going home too.
"We shall be so flat and dull without you, Circle!" Myra said. She
calls me "Circle" because I'm fat--not awfully, you know, but just a
little bit, and she's so thin herself. "I think I'll turn over a new
leaf and go in for work. I don't seem to have any heart for getting
into scrapes by myself!"
"Well, we _have_ kept them going, haven't we!" I said. "Do you
remember," and then we talked over the hairbreadth escapes we had had,
and groaned to think that the good times were passed.
"I will say this for Una," said Florence, "however stupid she may be at
lessons, I never met a girl who was cleverer at scenting a joke!"
When Florence says a thing, she _means_ it, so it was an awful
compliment, and I was just trying to look humble when Mary came in to
say Miss Martin wanted me in the drawing-room. I did feel bad, because
I knew it would be our last real talk, and she looked simply sweet in
her new blue dress and her Sunday afternoon expression. She can look as
fierce as anything and snap your head off if you vex her, but she's a
darling all the same, and I adore her. She's been perfectly sweet to me
these three years, and we have had lovely talks sometimes--serious
talks, I mean--when I was going to be confirmed, and when father was
ill, and when I've been homesick. She's so good, but not a bit goody,
and she makes you long to be good too. She's just the right person to
have a girls' school, for she understands how girls feel, and that it
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