Chapter 1.
Sarah, Not terribly long ago, on a dark winter's day, a little girl sat in a coach with her father and stared out the windows at the broad, fog-covered streets of London.
It seemed to her like only yesterday that they had been strolling the sunny streets of India.
But, of course, it hadn't been yesterday.
They had taken a long sea voyage and Now they were here in this new and strange place.
Sarah was only seven but felt very much older, as though she had lived a long, long time.
"'Papa,' she said as the coach started to slow down.
"'Papa?'
Captain Crewe looked down at his daughter.
"'Yes, my little missus?'
Captain Crewe was a boyish, happy-go-lucky sort of man with a post in the British Army in India.
Little Mrs. was his pet name for her because she seemed to be so old-fashioned and wise for her age.
Sarah loved it when he called her that.
"'Are we there yet?' she whispered.
The driver steered the coach through tall iron gates and into a cobblestone square.
Yes, Sarah, we are finally here.
Although he tried to hide his sadness, Sarah knew that he wished they hadn't arrived.
For a long time now he had been preparing her for here, the boarding school that was to be her new home.
Because the climate of India was bad for children either blazing hot or cold and wet during the monsoons they were generally sent away to England.
She had seen other children go and sometimes felt excited about leaving on such an adventure herself, but was sad and scared at the thought of parting from her father.
It will only be for a little while. her papa had always said.
Everyone would be nice to her there, and he would send her plenty of books that she would devour.
Before she knew it, she would be grown up and smart enough to come back to India and take care of him.
Sarah liked the thought of that.
Since her mother had died when Sarah was born, only the two of them were left to take care of each other.
For that reason only, she decided she would go.
Well, she said, teasing him, if I have plenty of books, I guess I shall be all right.
Her father laughed and kissed her.
He wasn't sure he would be all right though, without his sprightly little companion Sarah, but he knew he must keep that a secret for her sake.
The driver let them out in front of a big brick building that seemed fussy and old but at the same time stiff and cold.
An engraved brass plate on the front door read Miss Mention, Select Boarding School for Young Ladies.
They pulled open the heavy door and went inside.
The first thing Sarah thought of when Miss Mention entered the room was that she too was fussy and old, but somehow also stiff and cold.
Miss Minchin smiled a fake and fishy smile.
'It will be a great honor to take care of such a clever and beautiful child, Captain Crewe'.
She flattered Sarah.
Sarah thought about Miss Minchin's words.
She supposed that she was clever for her age.
She had often heard people say so to her papa.'
Miss Mention was right about that.
However, although mistaken, Sarah was thinking that she was not beautiful at all.
I am the skinniest, ugliest girl in the world, she thought.
Miss Mention is a big storyteller.
Later she would learn that Miss Mention said the same things to each parent who brought a child to her school.
Sarah listened while her papa and Miss Mention talked.
Sarah was to be given anything she asked for.
They agreed, and Captain Cruz, business manager of the firm Barrow and Skipworth, would pay all her bills.
At the school.
She was to have a pretty bedroom and sitting room of her own toys and treats to eat, along with a pony and carriage.
To replace her Indian nanny, her Aya, who was so devoted to her.
She would even have her own French maid, Mariette.
Another little girl might be spoiled by such pampering, Captain Crewe said, but not his Sarah.
And for a friend, while her papa was away, Sarah would have a special doll she had named Emily.
Emily was one of the gifts Captain Crew and Sarah had bought during the previous day's shopping.
He had also bought her dresses and hats trimmed with feathers and fur, tiny gloves, scarves and many pairs of silk stockings.
The saleswomen had whispered to each other that Sarah must be the daughter of an Indian prince or a Raja.
But of all the new things, Emily was Sarah's favorite.
With her bright blue eyes and shiny hair and the matching clothes they had picked out together, the doll looked almost human, like Sarah's little sister.
Best of all, she seemed to really listen when Sarah talked, which was unusual for a doll.
After seeing hundreds of dolls that day, Sarah knew Emily the minute she saw her in the window.
It was like recognizing an old friend.
The evening before he was to return to India, Captain Crewe took Sarah to Miss Mentions to spend her first night alone.
As they said goodbye, Sarah sat on her father's lap and stared at him.
She seemed afraid to even blink, lest she lose sight of him for one second.
Are you trying to learn me by heart? he asked.
No, she answered.
I already know you by heart.
You are inside my heart.
And closing her eyes only then, she hugged him as if she would never let go.
After her father left, Sarah went to her room and closed the door.
Hours went by without a peep to be heard from inside.
Miss Mention's fat and frumpy sister, Miss Amelia, didn't know what to make of it.
"'Well, at least she isn't kicking and screaming like some of them do,' Miss Mention said tartly.
Miss Amelia had unpacked Sarah's things earlier and hadn't known what to make of them either.
Although Miss Amelia was more sweet-natured than her sister, it was sometimes hard to tell, since she was afraid to disobey Miss Minchin.
"'They are ridiculous,' Miss Minchin said.
"'That child has been spoiled as if she were a little princess.'
Miss Amelia nodded in agreement."
Still, Miss Minchin added.
I do believe that Sarah will make us look good at the head of the line when we take the girls to church on Sunday.
Miss Minchin was very worried about how she looked to the rest of the world.
She hoped that Sarah would be a model pupil in more ways than one.
Upstairs, Sarah and Emily sat at the window, still staring at the empty street corner where Captain Crew's coach had vanished from sight.
He had waved to them out the back window as if he could not bear to say goodbye.
Sarah didn't know if she would be able to bear it either.
The next morning, while dressing for her first day of school, Sarah sighed to her doll.
Oh, Emily, I wish you could go to class with me.
Mariette, who was helping Sarah get ready, looked at her as if she were crazy for talking to a doll.
What are you staring at?
Sarah asked in her fluent French, shrugging.
I'll have you know, dolls lead secret lives.
They can walk and talk, but...
She paused.
"'Will only do so when nobody is watching.'
"'Why?'
Mariette asked her, also in French.
"'Well, if people knew what dolls could do,' Sarah replied, "'they would make them do their chores.'
"'I know I would,' Mariette said.'
How funny Sarah was, she thought next, always saying please and thank you.
Sarah had the air of a perfect little princess.
When Sarah walked into the classroom, everyone turned to gaze.
Lavinia Herbert, who was thirteen, was staring especially hard.
Lottie Lee was looking at her cross-eyed, but then she was only four.
For heaven's sake, Lavinia whispered to her friend Jesse.
Look at what the new girl is wearing.
Frills and more frills and more frills still.
She has silk stockings on, Jesse whispered back.
And look at her tiny feet. sniffed Lavinia.
Even enormous feet look tiny when shoved into silk stockings.
I don't think she's pretty at all.
She looks rather odd.
Jesse nodded.
She was afraid of Lavinia.
But when Lavinia wasn't looking, Jesse stole another glance across the room in secret.
She wasn't sure if Sarah was pretty either, but there was something about Sarah that made her want to look again.
Perhaps it was her tall, slim build or her very black curled-up hair, or maybe it was her uncommon gray-green eyes that looked at you with a strange wisdom, far beyond that of a seven-year-old.
Miss Mention rapped on her desk for silence.
Young ladies, she called out.
Please stand.
The girls rose in their places.
This is Miss Crew, our new student.
She has come to us all the way from India.
The girls bowed and Sarah curtsied back.
Let's get started, Miss Minchin said.
Because your papa hired a French maid for you, I believe it is because he wants you to study French.
Oh, Miss Mention, Sarah said, with all due respect.
I think he hired her because he thought I might like her.
Miss Mention's fake fish smile turned into a displeased frown.
You are a spoiled little girl, she snapped.
But then she quickly changed her tone.
It wouldn't look good for Sarah to complain to her rich father.
All I mean she corrected herself is that things in this life are not always done because you like them.
Sarah didn't know what to do.
She could not remember a time when she did not speak French.
Her mother had been French.
Her father had spoken French to her as a baby.
And earlier, when she was telling Mariette about Emily's secret life, she had spoken and thought in French as well.
But, like everyone else, Sarah was a bit afraid of mismention.
I...
I have never really learned French, but... She began trying to explain.
But nothing, Miss Minchin said, snapping again in spite of herself.
You will start first-year French class today.
The French teacher, Monsieur Dufort, will be here shortly.
Now sit down.
At the end of the girls' first class, Monsieur Dufarge took Sarah to a room off the main hall for a private lesson.
He was a nice man with a curly French mustache.
He started slowly and simply telling Sarah the French words for dog and cat.
Next, he tried to teach her to say spoon and fork.
I have to try again, Sarah thought.
Maybe I can make him understand.
And so she did.
She looked up into Monsieur Dufarge's kind face and, in a soft and fluent French whisper, explained everything.
Monsieur Dufarge smiled so widely that the ends of his mustache curled up.
He later told Miss Minchin, Ah, madame, this girl does not need to learn French.
She is French.
The other pupils had been listening, and on hearing this, some started giggling.
She could have told me, Miss Minchin said, glaring at Sarah, instead of making me look like a fool.
It was the beginning of Miss Mention's uneasy feeling about Sarah.
Somehow, the little girl almost seemed to see right through her.
