CHAPTER XVI.
VAVA'S BUSINESS LETTER.
Eva's presentiment was already a thing of the past, for she was themerriest of the four, and the day would not have been half such fun norhave passed so pleasantly and easily if she had not made a joke of alldifficulties, and helped by her suggestions, which were very shrewd, inspite of their being mixed up with a great deal of nonsense.
Mrs. Morrison had made the Misses Whartons' large bedroom habitable, andin a very short time it was pronounced quite comfortable for thepresent; so there really were only the hall and staircase to arrange,about which Eva had numerous theories, which she propounded sitting onthe top stair in an apron made of newspapers.
'Leave half a yard at each end for moving the stair-carpet up and downevery week,' she observed.
'That is a very good idea, if we have enough,' replied Amy.
'If not, you must put mats at the turnings of the stair; it's mostimportant; also, you must put a pad on each step, then you feel as ifyou were sinking into velvet,' came from Eva, still sitting at her easeand surveying the workers.
'What kind of pad?' asked Stella, who with Amy was laying thestair-carpet.
'Velvet,' said Eva, absent-mindedly.
'What nonsense, Eva! What do you mean?' demanded Amy.
Eva, who had been looking out of the staircase window, turned her head.'I wasn't thinking of what I was saying--felt, I mean--or, failing that,folds of newspapers, and by so doing you double the life of yourcarpet,' she explained.
'Then, suppose you go and get that pile of newspapers that came fromScotland, and fold them into pads, instead of sitting there coolly andwatching us work?' suggested her friend.
'I might, for a consideration,' agreed Eva, and help she did with suchgood-will that the house was quite comfortable by night.
Mrs. Morrison kept to her kitchen, and sent in a nice dinner, for whichVava laid the table, having spent her morning flitting in and out of thekitchen, helping 'nursie,' as she imagined, and it is doubtful which ofthem was the happier--the old Scotchwoman, who had her bairns with heragain, or the child, who obeyed her old nurse more willingly than herelder sister.
'Vava, the post has just brought this. I wish you would sit down andanswer it politely, and say that I am obliged by his kind offer, butthat I shall be at the office on Monday morning at the usual time,' saidStella, coming into the kitchen with an open letter in her hand, whichshe handed to her younger sister.
Vava took it, and found that it was a very polite letter from the juniorpartner, saying, that as he understood they were moving and would bebusy for a few days, he would be glad for her to take a holiday, andthought they would manage without her till Wednesday. 'He _is_ kind, andI'm sure I don't know why, for you never smile at him, and till you dosmile you really look disagreeable,' commented Vava.
'I am sorry, but I shall continue to look disagreeable then, for I haveno intention of smiling at Mr. James Jones, or any other stranger withwhom I have business,' observed Stella.
'Why don't you answer it yourself? It's got nothing to do with me,'grumbled Vava.
'Because I am busy; you can tell him that,' said Stella; who might haveadded, 'Because I do not choose to,' but she refrained.
'My lamb, you should not answer your sister as you do,' said Mrs.Morrison, when Stella had left the kitchen, her head very much in theair.
'She aggravates me with her airs and unfriendliness,' said Vava in anapologetic tone.
'And who are you to criticise your elders in that unbecoming way? Whatdo you know of the world? Miss Stella is quite right not to be toofriendly with strangers and to keep her bonny smiles for friends; andeven if she were not right, it is not for you to question her doings orsayings, and she your guardian,' protested her old nurse with decision.
'She is not so very old after all--only seven years older than I am;last year she was an infant in the eye of the law,' announced the girl,who had read this piece of information somewhere.
'She is of age this year, at any rate, Miss Vava, and you had better doas she bids you; she knows what she is about, and you will understand itbetter in seven years' time--seven years make a great difference in ayoung girl; so write that letter like a good child, and don't worry MissStella, who has plenty to do without fashing herself aboutletter-writing,' admonished Mrs. Morrison.
'But you know, nursie, this is a business letter, and he is the man shegets her living by; she really might be civil to him. Suppose he getsoffended and tells her to go? That would be a nice thing, just after wehave got into a new house!' exclaimed Vava.
'If he is a business man he'll not be so silly as to be offended becausea young lady isn't too friendly; and if he is so foolish, the sooner sheleaves his office and gets with sensible people the better. That will dofor those currants, Miss Vava, they are quite clean now, and I'll makethe pudding while you write that letter. You'll find paper and stampsand all in the bureau in the sitting-room,' said nurse.
Vava went off as she was told, and found that nurse had 'found up' aquantity of writing-paper and envelopes at Lomore, as well as stamps,all of which she had packed into the bureau and brought south with her,besides other treasures, the looking over which took Vava some time. Butat last she set to work to write the letter; and, being very muchexcited by all the events of the day, she took a large sheet of paper,and wrote a long letter to the junior partner, which was likely to amusehim very much. It ran as follows:
'DEAR MR. JONES,--Thank you very much for offering to give my sister a holiday. She says to tell you she is very busy putting down the stair-carpet, so can't answer herself; but she will be quite able to come to the office on Monday morning at the usual time. She did not say she was putting down the stair-carpet, but she is; it's a horrid work, as you have to pad it. When I 'm rich I'll have workmen to do all that when I move house, and never go near it till it's quite tidy. I can't find a single thing.
'The other Joneses who have bought Lomore (I hope they are no relation of yours) have been very kind; they have sent down all the furniture of Stella's sitting-room, and lots and lots of things that they must want themselves, and I'm sorry I called them "horrid;" they have been very friendly to us, and even brought us to town in their motor. I only said that because I felt horrid at that moment to think of an English Jones being Laird of Lomore. Oh dear! I forgot your name was Jones; but I would not mind your being laird so much, you look a great deal more like one than old Mr. Montague Jones. But our old nurse, whom we found here this morning, says he has been very good to all the old servants, and is not turning out one, or changing anything; so things might have been worse. I must stop and help to put the house in order.--I remain, your sincere friend, VAVA WHARTON.
'_P.S._--Please be sensible, and don't mind Stella being so stiff and stuck-up; it's being poor that makes her like that, and I'm sure she's grateful to you, really. V. W.'
Now, Vava was a very open child; but it never entered her head that sheought not to have written a letter like that to Mr. James Jones, northat her sister would expect to see it. 'Nursie' had said that therewere stamps there, and evidently meant her to write, close, and post theletter, so as to save Stella trouble, and this she accordingly did, asthere happened to be a pillar-box just outside the front-gate.
Stella, who was still putting down the stair-carpet, heard the gateclick, and observed, 'Oh dear, I hope that nobody is coming; they can'tcome through the hall.'
'No, it is only Vava; she is posting a letter,' replied Eva, who fromthe top stair, where she was folding newspapers to form pads, could seethe front-gate and road.
Stella stopped abruptly in her work. 'I wouldn't'----she began; andthen, dropping the hammer, she continued, 'I will be back in a minute,Miss Overall; I just want to speak to Vava,' and went into thesitting-room to await her sister.
Vava saw her through the bay-window, and went in to her, sayingcheerfully, 'I've written the lette
r and posted it and everything.'
'Why did you not show it to me first?' demanded Stella.
'Why should I? I never thought of it. Besides, you never read myletters; you always say you trust me,' said Vava.
'So I do; but you do sometimes say things you had better not have said,and as this is my business I think you should have brought the letter tome. What did you say in it?'
Upon reflection, Vava was not sure that she wanted to tell Stella whatshe had written, and upon further reflection she began to doubt whethershe ought to have written it. 'I told him you thanked him for his offerof holiday, and that you were busy putting down the stair-carpet, so hadtold me to write, and that you would be there on Monday at the usualtime. That's all I said about you--I mean about your business. The restof the letter was just a friendly one from myself,' she said.
This was just what Stella was afraid of, and she exclaimed, 'I nevertold you to say what I was doing.'
'I told him that,' interrupted Vava.
Stella was speechless for a moment; then she continued, in a tone ofexasperation, 'Will you please tell me what you did say, Vava?'
'It's got nothing to do with you. Mr. Jones has been very kind to me,and I just wrote him a friendly letter; but it sounds silly repeated.Don't bother about it, Stella; if you were so particular about theletter you should have written it yourself,' retorted Vava.
'I wish I had--I wish to goodness I had!' she exclaimed, and went out ofthe room.
Vava felt rather uncomfortable for a time; and then, saying to herselfthat Stella made a great fuss about nothing, she went off to the kitchento help Mrs. Morrison to prepare tea for them.
Stella seemed to have forgotten her annoyance when she came in to tea,for she was laughing heartily; but when Vava asked her if she weretired, she said, 'No,' very coldly, and addressed no more conversationto her.
Vava consequently talked to Eva; but this kind of thing could not go on,and after tea, when she found herself with Mrs. Morrison, she unburdenedherself to her old nurse. 'And you see, nursie, I don't know what to do.If I don't tell Stella she will be horrid and cold with me; and if I dotell her she will be frightfully annoyed,' she explained.
But Mrs. Morrison would not sympathise with her. 'You ought not to writeletters you do not wish your sister to see; you have done very wrong,and must go and tell Miss Stella so at once, and if she is angry andscolds you you must bear it,' she said decidedly.
'There was no harm in what I said, and--and, nursie, I simply can't tellStella!' cried Vava, as her postscript came into her mind.
Mrs. Morrison looked at her gravely. 'What did you say, my lamb? Tellme,' she inquired.
Vava told her, as well as she could remember, all that she had said inthe letter.
A grim look of amusement came over the good woman's face; but she turnedaway and poked the fire to prevent Vava seeing it, and when she turnedround again she was quite grave as she replied, with a shake of herhead, 'You should not have said that about Mr. Montague Jones being"horrid," you let your pen run on too fast, and you should not havewritten that bit about Miss Stella, and you may well say that she willbe annoyed. But for all that, you must tell her what was in the letter,and it will be a lesson to you to mind what you write in future.'
Vava groaned, but went off obediently and told Stella, who listened insilence till she came to the postscript, whereat she gave anexclamation; but all she said when Vava had finished was, 'I am glad youtold me, for I think I can prevent Mr. Jones getting that letter. I wasso busy this morning that I forgot that to-day was Saturday, and thatconsequently the letter would not arrive any sooner than myself onMonday morning; so that you need not have written at all.'
'But, Stella, what will you do? You can't take away a letter addressedto Mr. Jones. The clerks may tell him how many there were, and he wouldmiss it,' protested Vava.
'I have no intention of touching Mr. Jones's correspondence without hisknowledge; but, as I get there before him, I shall ask him not to openthat particular letter, and I shall tell him why,' replied Stella.
'Then he might as well read it!' cried Vava.
'I shall not tell him what you said,' replied Stella; and as she hadevidently made up her mind on the subject, Vava said no more, but shewished with all her heart that she had never written the unfortunateletter.
However, Stella was friends with her again, and the first day at HeatherRoad ended happily enough; for, tired though they were, the four girlswere able to go to bed in a tidy house, with carpets, curtains, andfurniture in their proper places, which was really a comfortable homeagain.