CHAPTER IX.
FROM BAD TO WORSE.
"Their hearts were laden With sorrow, surprise, and fear."
PRINCESS BOPEEP.
Nobody came to wake the children the next morning. They slept later thanusual, and when Gladys woke it was already as light as ever it was inthe dull little room. But it was very cold--the weather had turned tofrost in the night, which made the air clearer and brighter, and intheir own warm rooms at Mrs. Lacy's the children would have rejoiced atthe change. Here it was very different.
Gladys lay waiting some time, wondering if no one was coming with theirchocolate and bread, forgetting at first all that had happened the daybefore. By degrees it came back to her mind, and then she was no longersurprised at their being left alone.
"Anna has come back," she thought to herself, "and she won't let thembring us our breakfast."
She got out of bed, glad to see that Roger was still sleeping, andcrossed the room, the cold wooden floor striking chill to her bare feet.She reached the door and opened it, peering down the narrow darkstaircase.
"Francoise," she called softly, for the kitchen was nearer than theworkroom, and she hoped perhaps Francoise would come to her without Annaknowing. But no one answered. She heard voices in the distance--in thekitchen they seemed to be--and soon she fancied that she distinguishedthe sharp tones of Mademoiselle Anna, ordering about the poor littlecook. Gladys quickly but softly shut the door and crossed the room againon tiptoes. She stood for a moment or two hesitating what to do. It wasso cold that she felt half inclined to curl herself up in bed again andtry to go to sleep! But if Roger woke, as he was sure to do soon--no,the best thing was for her to get dressed as quickly as possible. Shebravely sponged herself as well as she could with the cold water, whichwas now always left in the room in a little jug; "no chance of any _hot_water to-day!" she thought to herself as she remembered how unhappy shehad been that first morning at not having a bath, and then went on todress, though not without a good deal of difficulty, as several of herlittle under-garments fastened behind. Not till the last button wassecured did Roger wake.
"Gladdie," he said in a sleepy tone, "are you dressed. We haven't hadour chocolate, Gladdie."
"Never mind, Roger dear," said Gladys. "They're all very busy to-day,you know, so I've got up and dressed quickly, and now I'll go down andbring up your breakfast. Unless you'd rather get up first?"
Roger considered. He was in rather a lazy mood, which was perhaps justas well.
"No," he decided. "I'll have my breakfast first. And you can eat yoursbeside me, can't you, Gladdie?"
"Yes," said Gladys, "that will be very nice."
She spoke with a cheerfulness she was far from feeling, for in her heartshe felt by no means sure of getting any breakfast at all. But just asshe was turning to go a slight knocking was heard at the door. It wasmore like a scratching indeed, as if the person were afraid of beingheard outside as well as by those in the room.
"Mademoiselle," came in a loud whisper after the queer rapping had goneon for some time, "are you awake? Open--I have the hands full."
It was Francoise. Gladys opened. The little servant, her round red facerounder and redder than usual, for she had been all the morning at thekitchen fire, and had besides been passing through unusual excitement,stumped into the room, a bowl, from which the steam of some hot liquidwas rising, in one hand, and a plate with a large hunch of bread in theother.
She put them down on the little table and wiped her hot face with herapron.
"Ah, Mademoiselle," she said, "no one would believe it--the trouble Ihave had to get some breakfast for you! _She_ would not have it--lazylittle creatures, she called you--you might come down and get it foryourselves--a piece of dry bread and some dripping soup--that was allshe would have given you, and I know you are not used to that. So whatdid I do but wait till her back was turned--the cross cat--and then inwith the milk and a tiny bit of chocolate--all I could find, and here itis! Hot, at any rate; but not very good, I fear."
Gladys did not, of course, understand a quarter of the words whichFrancoise rattled off in her queer Norman-French; but her wits weresharpened by anxiety, and she gathered quite enough of the sense of thelittle servant's long speech to feel very grateful to her. In her hurryFrancoise had poured all the chocolate--or hot milk rather, for therewas very little chocolate in the composition--into one bowl; but thechildren were too hungry to be particular. They drank turn-about, andfinished by crumbling up the remains of the bread in the remains of themilk and eating it with the spoon, turn-about also, Francoise standingby, watching them with satisfaction! Suddenly she started.
"I must run down," she said, "or she will be after me again. I wish Icould stay to help you to dress Monsieur Roger, but I dare not," andgathering up the dishes in her apron so that they could not be seen, sheturned to go.
"Dress him as quickly as you can," she said to Gladys, "and then shecannot say you have given any trouble. But stay--I will see if I cannotget you a little hot water for the poor bebe."
And off she set, to appear again in a minute with a tin jug of hot waterwhich she poured out into the basin at once for fear the absence of thetin jug should be discovered.
"She has eyes on every side of her head," she whispered as she went offagain.
Roger's toilet was accomplished more luxuriously than poor Gladys's own,and he was quite bright and happy with no fear of Mademoiselle Anna orany one else, chirping like a little bird, as his sister took him downthe narrow staircase to the room behind the shop where they spent themornings.
"Hush, Roger dear, we must be very quiet because poor Mrs. Nest is ill,you know," she said, when his shrill little voice rose higher andhigher, for he had had an exceedingly good night and felt in excellentspirits.
"She can't hear us down here," replied Roger. But Gladys still repeatedher "hush," for, in reality, it was Anna who she feared might overhearRoger's chatter. She looked about for something to keep him quiet, butcould see nothing. It was warm in the sitting-room--though if Anna couldhave done so, she would have ordered Francoise not to light the fire forthe little plagues, as she called them--but except for that they wouldhave been happier up in their bedroom, where Gladys had discovered afew of Roger's toys in a corner of the big trunk, which, however, MadameNest had not allowed them to bring down.
"When the Papa comes, I wish him to find all your things in good order,"she had said. "The toys might get broken, so while you are here I willfind you things to amuse you."
But this morning the bundle of cretonne and cut-out birds and flowerswas not to be seen!
"I must tell Roger stories all the morning, I suppose," thought Gladys,and she was just going to propose doing so, when Roger, who had beenstanding peeping through the glass door which led into the shop,suddenly gave a cry of pleasure.
"Oh, Gladdie," he said, "see what a pretty carriage and two pranceyhorses at the door!"
Gladys ran to look--the shop door was wide open, for one of theapprentice boys was sweeping it out, and they could see right into thestreet. The carriage had stopped, as Roger said, and out of it steppedone of two people seated in it. It was the younger of the two ladiesthat the children had seen that first day in the Rue Verte when theywere hidden behind the blue sofa in the corner.
She came forward into the shop.
"Is there no one here?" she said in French.
The apprentice, very dusty and looking rather ashamed, came out of acorner. It was not often that ladies in grand carriages came themselvesto the little shop, for though the Nestors had some very good customers,Monsieur Adolphe usually went himself to their houses for orders.
"I will call some one," said the boy, "if Mademoiselle will have thegoodness to wait a moment," and he disappeared through a little door inthe corner of the shop which led into the workroom another way.
The young lady shivered a little--it was very cold--and then walkedabout, glancing at the furniture now and then. She seemed to think ittoo cold to sit down. Ther
e was certainly no dearth of chairs!
"I wonder if we should ask her to come in here," said Gladys. But beforeshe had time to decide, the door by which the boy had gone out openedagain and Mademoiselle Anna appeared. She came forward with the mostgracious manner and sweetest smiles imaginable. Gladys, who had neverseen her like that, felt quite amazed.
The young lady received Anna's civilities very calmly. She had neverseen her before, and thought her rather a vulgar young woman. But whenAnna begged her to come for a moment into the sitting-room while shewent to fetch the patterns the young lady had come for she did notrefuse.
"It is certainly bitterly cold this morning," she said.
"And we are all so upset--by the sad accident to our poor dearMadame--Mademoiselle must excuse us," said Anna, leading the way to thesitting-room as she spoke.
Rosamond stopped short.
"An accident to that good Madame Nestor. I am very sorry," sheexclaimed.
Anna opened the door sharply, as she did everything, andin so doing overthrew the small person of Roger.]
"Ah, yes," Anna went on in her honeyed tones, "it is really too sad. Itwas--but will not Mademoiselle come out of the cold, and I will tell herabout it," she went on, backing towards the glass door. It openedinwards; the children, very much interested in watching the little scenein the shop, and not quite understanding Anna's intention, had notthought of getting out of the way. Anna opened the door sharply, as shedid everything, and in so doing overthrew the small person of Roger,whose short fat legs were less agile than the longer and thinner onesof his sister. Gladys sprang away like a kitten, but only to spring backagain the next moment, as a doleful cry rose from poor Roger.
"You're not hurt, darling, are you?" she said, as she knelt down to pickhim up.
Roger went on crying softly. He preferred to take his time aboutdeciding that he wasn't hurt. And in the meantime the stranger younglady had come into the room and was looking round her in some surprise.
"Has the little boy fallen down?" she asked in French. "Poor littlefellow! Are they Madame Nestor's grandchildren?"
"Oh dear, no," replied Anna, casting a contemptuous glance at Gladys andRoger, who, crouching on the floor in a corner of the always duskylittle room, could not be very clearly distinguished. "Get up,"continued she, turning to them, "get up at once and go to your ownroom."
Frightened by her tone and by Roger's continued sobbing, Gladys draggedhim up from the floor as well as she could, and escaped with him by thedoor leading upstairs, near to which they happened to be. Something inthe sudden change of Anna's tone roused the young lady's suspicions.
"Who are they, then?" she asked again. "And are you sure the little boyis not hurt?"
"He cries for nothing, Mademoiselle--he is always crying. They arechildren our good Madame has taken in out of charity; it is verydifficult to manage with them just now, poor little things. They havebeen so neglected and are so troublesome; but we must do our best tillour dear Madame gets better," and then she went on into a longdescription of the accident, how she herself had just gone to spend twodays with her sister, whom she had not seen for years, when she had beenrecalled, etc., etc., all told so cleverly that Rosamond went away,thinking that after all she must be a very good sort of young woman, andthat it was not right to yield to prejudice. Yet still she could notquite forget the glimpse she had had of the two little creatures takenin "out of charity," and the sound of Roger's stifled sobs.
Gladys and he stayed upstairs till they were called down to "dejeuner."It was cold, but they minded the cold less than sharp words and unkindlooks. Gladys wrapped Roger up in a shawl and pulled a blanket off thebed for herself, and then they both cuddled down together in a corner,and she told him all the stories she could think of. By twelve o'clockthey were very hungry, for in spite of Francoise's endeavours they hadhad much less breakfast than usual, but they had no idea what time itwas, and were too frightened to go down, and there they would havestayed, all day perhaps, if Adolphe, reminded of them by his poormother's constant questions, had not sent one of the apprentice boys tofetch them down, and meek and trembling the two poor little thingsentered the long narrow room where all the members of the household wereseated round the table.
But there was no kindly welcome for them as at dinner the day before.Monsieur Adolphe's usually good-humoured face looked worried and vexed.
"Sit down and take your food," he said coldly. "I am very sorry to hearfrom Mademoiselle Anna how troublesome you have been this morning. Ithought you, Mademoiselle, as so much older than your brother, who isreally only a baby, would have tried to keep him quiet for the sake ofmy poor mother."
Gladys's face turned scarlet; at first she could scarcely believe thatshe had heard aright, for it was very difficult to understand the youngman's bad English, but a glance at his face showed her she was notmistaken. She clasped her hands in a sort of despair.
"Oh, Mr. 'Dolph," she said, "how can you think we would be so naughty?It was only that Roger fell down, and that made him cry."
"Do not listen to her," said Anna in a hard indifferent tone, "naughtychildren always make excuses."
But the sight of the real misery in Gladys's face was too much forkind-hearted Adolphe. He noticed, too, that both she and Roger werelooking pale and pinched with cold, and he had his own doubts as toAnna's truthfulness, though he was too much under her to venture tocontradict her.
"Don't cry, my child," he said kindly. "Try to be very good and quietthe rest of the day, and eat your dejeuner now."
Gladys made a valiant effort to choke down her tears.
"Is Mrs. Nest better to-day," she asked.
The son shook his head.
"I fear not," he replied sadly; "she has a great deal of fever. And Iam, unfortunately, obliged to go into the country for a day or two aboutsome important business."
"You are going away! oh, Mr. 'Dolph, there will be no one to take careof us," cried Gladys, the tears rushing to her eyes again.
The young man was touched by her distress.
"Oh yes, yes," he said; "they will all be very kind to you. I will speakto them, and I shall be soon back again, and you and my little Rogerwill be very good, I am sure."
There was nothing more to be said. Gladys tried to go on eating, thoughher hunger had quite left her, and it was difficult to swallow anythingwithout crying again. Only one thought grew clearer in her mind--"I mustwrite to Miss Susan."
During the rest of the meal Adolphe kept talking to Anna about the workand other things to be seen to while he was away.
"You must be sure to send to-morrow early to put up those curtains atthe English ladies'--9 Avenue Gerard."
"9 Avenue Gerard--that is their new house," said Anna, and the address,which she had already heard twice repeated, caught Gladys's ear.
"And tell the one who goes to ask for the patterns back--those the younglady took away to-day. Oh, by the bye, did she see the children?" askedAdolphe.
"No, you may be sure. That is to say, I hurried them out of the way,forward little things. It was just the moment she was here, that he, thebebe there, chose for bursting out crying," replied Anna.
"I hope she did not go away with the idea they were not kindly treated,"said Adolphe, looking displeased.
"She thought nothing about them--she hardly caught sight of them."
"She did not see that they were English--her country-people?"
"Certainly not," replied Anna. "Do you think I have no more sense thanto bother all your customers with the history of any little beggars yourmother chooses to take in?"
"I was not speaking of all the customers--I was speaking of thoseEnglish ladies who might have taken an interest in these children,because they too are English--or at least have given us some advice whatto do. I have already been thinking of asking them. But now it may betoo late if they saw the children crying and you scolding them; nodoubt, they will either think they are naughty disagreeable children orthat we are unkind to them. Either will do harm. You
have made a greatmistake."
He got up and left the room, afraid perhaps of saying more, for at thismoment he could not afford to quarrel with Anna. Poor man, his troublesseemed to be coming on him all at once! Gladys understood very little ofwhat they were saying, but she saw that Adolphe was not pleased withMademoiselle Anna, and it made her fear that Anna would be still crosserto Roger or her. But she took no notice of them, and when they hadfinished she called Francoise, and told her to take them into thesitting-room and make up the fire.
"P'raps she's going to be kind now, Gladdie," said Roger, with the happyhopefulness of his age. But Gladys shook her head.
Monsieur Adolphe set off that afternoon.
For the first day or two things went on rather better than Gladys hadexpected. Anna had had a fright, and did not dare actually to neglect orill-treat the children. So Gladys put off writing to Miss Susan, which,as you know, she had the greatest dislike to doing till she saw howthings went on. Besides this same writing was no such easy matter forher. She had neither pen, ink, nor paper--she was not sure how to spellthe address, and she had not a halfpenny of money! Very likely if shehad spoken of her idea to Adolphe he would have been only too glad forher to write, but Anna was a very different person to deal with.
"If I asked her for paper and a pen she would very likely scold me--verylikely she wouldn't like me to write while Mr. 'Dolph is away, for fearhe should think she had been unkind and that that had made me do it,"reflected Gladys, whose wits were much sharpened by trouble. "And I_daren't_ make her angry while we're alone with her."
Thus the letter was deferred. Things might possibly have gone smoothlytill Adolphe's return, for Anna _wished_ to avoid any upset now she sawhow strongly the Nestors felt on the subject. But unfortunatelybad-tempered people cannot always control themselves to act as theircommon sense tells them would be best even for themselves. AndMademoiselle Anna had a very bad and violent temper, which often gotquite the mastery of her.
So the calm did not last long.