A City Schoolgirl and Her Friends

  CHAPTER XII.

  'SAVE.'

  'I have made such a wonderful discovery,' observed Eva to StellaWharton, as she sat with the Wharton sisters and Amy Overall at thelittle table which was now left by common consent for these four friendsat the Enterprise Club.

  Miss Wharton rather liked Eva, who was bright and amusing, and her frankliking for the sisters flattered the lonely Scotch girl. Moreover,Stella was not so good a judge of character as her younger sister, anddid not notice a want of candour in the girl. So she smiled and saidpleasantly, 'Well, what is this wonderful discovery?'

  'It is a motto. Vava says they have a special motto each term at herschool, and I found a motto for our new house, and it is formed by ourfour names,' explained Eva.

  The other three all looked interested, and Vava asked, 'How do you mean?By jumbling all the letters up? Because "Wharton, Overall, Barnes" doesnot make much sense.'

  'No, but we might get something out of those names, such as "Union overall ills," or something of that kind. Let's try and work it out!'exclaimed Eva, whose mind turned easily from one subject to another. Ina moment she had her note-book open, and was setting down all theletters of Wharton and Barnes to try and make suitable words out ofthem.

  But the other stopped her, and Amy said, 'Let us hear your motto first,Eva; we have not too much time to waste, and, after all, a motto is nota very important thing.'

  'Oh my motto--I forgot; _it_ is a very important thing--it is "Save,"'she answered.

  This remark was received with silence, and then the elder Miss Whartonsaid, with hesitation, 'I don't quite understand. Save whom or what?'

  'Save money,' replied Eva.

  'That's all very well as a precept; but what has that to do with ournames, and how did you make that out of them?' demanded Amy.

  'It's a very good motto; but never mind about it. I have got a betterone; it is "Live and let live,"' put in Vava hastily.

  Stella looked reprovingly at her sister, and said with grave politeness,'I don't know that it is better; but Miss Barnes was going to explain tous how she got our names down to make "Save." That is a result of amathematical mind; perhaps she can reduce even names to their lowestcommon denominator.' Stella's strong point was not mathematics, norindeed was she very quick at any subject; though her knowledge was solidand reliable on the subjects she had studied.

  'It's easy enough--S A V E, the initials of Stella, Amy, Vava, Eva,'said Eva airily.

  Stella coloured, but said nothing. Amy, after looking at her, said, 'Howabsurd you are, Eva! Besides, you should not take liberties with otherpeople's names.'

  Then, seeing that Eva looked very crestfallen, Stella repented her ofthe proud reserve which had made her resent this same liberty, and said,'It may be a good omen; and, after all, it is my motto for the present.'

  Vava looked relieved, and remarked, 'It's funny that you are the firstto "save" or in "Save."'

  'I wish you would all begin to save time,' remonstrated Amy. 'We have somuch to talk over and arrange, and we have only these meetings at theclub for the purpose.'

  So the four young heads drew closer together as they talked over waysand means, and argued and calculated, till a hasty movement by Eva, whowas the most enthusiastic of the four, was followed by a loud clatter onthe floor, which made them all start.

  'I'm sorry; it's only my frying-pan,' she said, as she dived under thetable and brought out a parcel, off which the brown paper had fallen,disclosing to view a large iron frying-pan.

  Stella opened her beautiful eyes wide as she looked at it in wonder. Amyonly smiled; but Vava, impulsive as usual, exclaimed, 'What are youdoing with that old frying-pan? Do you have to cook your own dinner inyour office?'

  'I should think not, indeed! I should like to see our boss's face if westarted making smells like that; besides, we don't need to; we get verygood lunches at this club,' cried Eva, trying to pack the despisedfrying-pan up again in the paper; a futile attempt, as the wrapping wasall torn.

  'Then what on earth are you carrying such a thing about with you for?'demanded Amy, looking half-annoyed and half-amused.

  'I brought it to show you all; it is for the new house!' she exclaimedtriumphantly.

  'Which we have not got yet,' put in Amy.

  'But it's old--old and dirty,' objected Vava, who had been looking at itwith disgust.

  'That's only rust; it will clean off. I got it for threepence at anEast-End market; it is a tremendous bargain, and is the beginning of our"save"--pots and pans are a most expensive item in house-furnishing; andI am going to undertake that part of it myself, and get one article eachday. There was a splendid big iron kettle, with a hole in it, forsixpence'----she said.

  But a chorus of laughter stopped her in her list of bargains.

  'I don't think I care about eating things fried in a pan coming from anEast-End market,' remarked Vava.

  'And I don't see much good in a kettle with a hole in it,' said Stella;but instead of being shocked, as Vava evidently was, she seemed ratheramused.

  'It can easily be mended with solder, and sixpence is dirt-cheap for alarge iron kettle,' observed Eva.

  'I should call it "cheap dirt," if you will excuse the bad joke; and,seriously, Eva, it is very foolish spending your money on such rubbish;shillings soon run away in that manner, and we want all our spareshillings just now,' protested Amy Overall.

  'You are an ungrateful set,' said Eva; but she put the frying-pan out ofsight, and listened seriously while the two elder girls talked over thedifferent houses proposed, and Miss Wharton said finally, 'The only onethat really suits is this one at Heather Road, Blackstead.'

  'Then let us go there first,' agreed Amy.

  'I expect the name attracted you, Miss Wharton,' said Eva, with atwinkle in her eye.

  Stella laughed. 'It is an attractive name to us; but I am not so foolishas that, I hope; and it has fruit-trees in the garden, which do attractme, and I thought would attract you,' she replied.

  'So they do, and it sounds too good to be true. Forty pounds, and theman would come down to thirty-eight. Let's go there on Saturday,' agreedEva.

  'There is one thing that I wanted to say,' observed Stella, looking alittle uncomfortable, 'and that is, that I--I mean we--would rather havea very little furniture at first, and get it by degrees. We only need abed and a washstand in our bedroom, and we have only enough money tofurnish a sitting-room and half what is necessary for the kitchen andhall.'

  'Oh but you need not worry about that. We can furnish on thehire-system; they will let you have any amount!' cried Eva.

  'I would rather not,' persisted Stella.

  Amy looked grave. 'I don't see how we are to manage without hiring, andI don't think our landlord would feel satisfied if we had no furnitureto speak of, and I have only ten pounds to spend, and Eva has less, Ibelieve.'

  'I should think that the landlord would be better satisfied if we didnot run into debt,' said Stella.

  'I'd sooner go to a workhouse than live in a room with only a bed and awashstand! Where would you hang your clothes or keep your linen? Why, itwould not be a home at all,' protested Eva.

  'Of course I did not mean to dictate to you,' said Stella hastily; 'butVava and I will be quite satisfied with a comfortable sitting-room, andwe shall receive the landlord there, not in our bedroom,' she added witha smile.

  'That is true, and as long as we have pretty curtains and blinds thereis no need to furnish completely at once; besides, we have nearly twomonths to quarter-day, and we can save a few pounds if we are veryeconomical,' agreed Amy.

  'We will save in advance,' agreed Eva; but on the way home she observedto her friend Amy, 'Those two Wharton girls are as narrow-minded aspossible, and I am going to have a proper suite in my room, whateverthey say; I should never feel comfortable unless I had looked at myselfin a long glass before I went out.'

  'I think they are right, and I shall not get anything I cannot pay for,'announced Amy.

  'Well! you are easily led;
but you won't lead me, for I am not going tobe the talk of the neighbours because we have no decent furniture. Ishall get a handsome satinwood bedroom suite, and that will give a toneto the place at any rate,' said Eva.

  Amy laughed, but did not try to turn the girl, who, in spite of beingonly sixteen years old, was very determined in her opinions; and asunfortunately she was an orphan and independent of every one, it was noteasy to control her, and her friend had always found it better to leaveher alone until she had cooled down a little in her enthusiasm foranything, and then reason with her, and this she hoped to do now. So nomore was said about buying furniture, about which it would be folly tothink until the house had been taken and they knew the size of the roomsand other details.

  The next day, when Vava left her sister at the usual point in the City,she saw Doreen Hackney coming up out of the Metropolitan Station. Shecame up by the train arriving at 9.20, and as the Whartons were verypunctual, and arrived at this time, they almost invariably met her; butthis morning, although she was almost certain Doreen had seen her, thelatter walked on without turning her head.

  But Vava knew Doreen too well to believe she did not wish to see her,and ran after her. 'Doreen! Doreen! wait a minute!' she panted. At thesound of her voice, Doreen stopped and apologised for having made herrun. 'Are you blind? Didn't you see me when you came out of thestation?' cried Vava.

  Doreen gave her a very funny look. 'Yes-s,' she said hesitatingly; andthen, seeing Vava's look of astonishment, she added lamely, 'I was in ahurry to get to school.'

  'How absurd; we have plenty of time, and I want to tell you something.We are perhaps going to live at Blackstead, for we have heard of alovely little house there with a garden and fruit-trees--at least, sothe agent says, though Stella says it may only be a tiny apple-tree,with no apples on it, because they always exaggerate in advertisements,'observed Vava.

  'Oh but there are fruit-trees--apples and pears and plums!' exclaimedDoreen, and then stopped abruptly.

  'Are there such gardens in London suburbs? But there may not be in thisone. Do you know the part--it is Heather Road, Blackstead?'

  'Oh yes, I know it,' said Doreen in rather a reserved tone.

  Vava had been so full of her news that she had not noticed Doreen'smanner, or rather had put it down to discomfort at having been rude innot stopping for her; but it struck her at last that her friend was notlike herself, and she asked suddenly, 'What is the matter, Doreen?'

  'Nothing--nothing,' said Doreen hastily.

  'Then what do you know about the house? Isn't it in a nice part?'inquired Vava, as a thought struck her.

  'Oh yes, the part is all right; it's very open; you will like it verymuch if you come, and I do hope you will,' said Doreen so cordially thatVava was relieved.

  'I hope we shall, then. Is it very far from you?' inquired Vava.

  No; it's--it's quite near. But, you know, in London one need not knowone's next-door neighbour unless one likes. We never said anything morethan "Good-morning!" to the people we lived next door to for threeyears. Mother is not one of those who is always talking over the wall toher neighbour; so you need not be afraid of that,' observed Doreen.

  'But we don't mind knowing our next-door neighbour; in fact, we shallknow him, because he is our landlord, and a very honest, nice man, theagent says; not educated'----

  'Vava, was that the bell?' interrupted Doreen abruptly.

  Doreen's manners were certainly very bad, and Vava said severely, 'Youare rude, Doreen, and if I did not know you I should think you took nointerest in our new house.'

  'I do, and I hope very much you will come to Heather Road; I know youwill like it and be happy there.'

  'Where do you live? We may pass your house to-morrow, because we aregoing to Heather Road to look at this house, and I will look out for youin case you are at the window,' said Vava.

  To Vava's astonishment, Doreen did not answer her, but appeared not tohave heard, and called out in her loud way to two girls who were on theother side of the road. It took a good deal to offend Vava, but thismorning she felt decidedly ruffled; and as she did not particularly carefor the new-comers, she walked on alone in a slightly aggrieved mood.

  But Doreen seemed quite unconscious of having given offence in themorning, and was more attentive and friendly than usual to Vava as theywalked down the road after school. When she said good-bye to her at theMetropolitan Station she called after her, 'I say, I do hope you'll cometo Heather Road; you'll like it awfully, I know.'

  But when Vava turned round to reply, no Doreen was to be seen; she haddisappeared into the station. Vava, recounting the tale to her sister,observed, 'She has such bad manners, but she doesn't mean it.'

  'Perhaps she had to run to catch her train?' suggested Stella.

  'Oh no, she hadn't; she always has ten minutes to wait. She generallywaits and tries to make me loiter and talk to her; but to-day shedidn't, and she never told me where she lives, though she knew that Iwanted to look out for her house to-morrow. I was just going to ask herhow far it was from Heather Road when off she went. I almost think shemust be ashamed of her home, and doesn't want me to know where it is,'declared Vava.

  'Then you had better not ask her again,' said Stella.

  Whether this was true or not will be seen in the next chapter, when thefour young house-hunters went to look at No. 2 Heather Road.