A City Schoolgirl and Her Friends

  CHAPTER XVII.

  A SUNDAY AT HEATHER ROAD.

  'Stella! Stella! wake up! the sun is shining, and I can see a tree, andhear birds singing, and I feel so happy that I really must get up,although it is Sunday morning and we have not to go off to the City!'cried Vava the next morning.

  Stella opened her eyes and looked at her sister, smiling. 'One mightalmost be in the country--everything looks so fresh and clean; we musttry and keep it so, and help nursie as much as we can, for she is notused to much housework,' she replied.

  'I don't mind how much I do to save her as long as we can have her withus. I think I had better get up and light the fire for her; I dare sayshe will be tired this morning,' observed Vava, sitting up in bed.

  There was a knock at the door, and Mrs. Morrison, bearing a tray, cameinto the room with a cheery, 'Good-morning, young leddies!'

  'Oh nursie, I meant to light the fire and get breakfast ready for you!'cried Vava.

  'What would you do that for? I am not tired; it's you that must beworn-out, so here's your breakfasts for you, and you can just stay whereyou are for a while, and get up in time for the kirk, which is not faroff, I hear,' replied Mrs. Morrison, unfolding their table-napkins, andwaiting on them as she used to do when they were children.

  Suddenly Vava exclaimed, 'Nursie, I must get up; the others will behungry too!'

  'And why will they be hungry, when they are eating their breakfastsquite comfortably?' inquired the good woman quietly.

  'That is good of you, nursie; but you must not wait upon us strongpeople!' protested Stella.

  'That's only for to-day, because you are all just worn-out, and I knewyou would oversleep yourselves. Next week I'll be obliged if you willjust make your own beds and tidy your own rooms a bit,' nurse answered.

  'Have we overslept ourselves?' inquired Stella; and, taking out herwatch, she exclaimed with surprise, 'A quarter to nine! How could wehave slept so late?'

  'I expect it's the quiet after the noise of Westminster and the excitingday we had yesterday,' said Vava, who was enjoying her breakfast in bed.

  It was a very happy day. Stella, Vava, and Mrs. Morrison went to theirown church, and Amy went to hers alone, for Eva was not up.

  When Eva came down to dinner she said with a yawn, 'You are energetic,you good people; I hope you feel better for having been to church; youlooked most frightfully righteous coming in with large prayer-books inyour hands. For my part, I think one can be just as religious withoutever going to church at all.'

  'Perhaps, but I think if one can go to church one should, and I do feelbetter for having been this morning,' said Stella quietly.

  When she found herself alone with Amy she asked her whether Eva reallynever went to church.

  Amy looked worried as she replied, 'I am afraid she has got into badhabits lately. She says she is tired on Sunday mornings, and that it isthe only day she can rest, and that she does not notice that people areany the better for going; in fact, she says, they generally come backcross and complaining of the heat or cold of the church or the length ofthe sermon.'

  'That's the kind of things people always say when they want to defendthemselves for not going to church. But if she is tired in the morning,surely she can go in the evening?' suggested Stella.

  'Perhaps you will be able to persuade her; I cannot,' responded Amy.

  But Stella shook her head. 'I shall not try; I do not believe in arguingabout such things. We must try by our own example to make her see thatchurchgoing does make us feel better. I know it made me feel ashamed ofmy discontent these last three months. I have hated my life here andevery one around me; and I certainly don't deserve things to have turnedout so well,' she said humbly.

  'And the funny part of it is that Eva has really been the person tobring it about, and--I don't like saying so--she managed to twist what Isaid, and what you said, so as to make us each believe that the one wasquite willing for the move and was only kept back by the other,'observed Amy, who had resented this management when she found it out.

  'It has happened to answer in this case, but it does not generallyanswer, and I am sorry for her sake that she has succeeded in gettingher way by rather crooked means,' said Stella.

  The girls had yet to learn that 'the mills of God grind slowly, but theygrind exceeding small,' and that the experiment which had started in sopromising a manner might turn out a failure, and that Eva had time yetto repent of her 'clever management.' At present, however, everythingwas _couleur de rose_, and after tea they all sat round the fire in theWhartons' sitting-room, while Stella played hymns on her piano, and Eva,who had a very pretty voice, joined in very heartily, to Mrs. Morrison'sdelight.

  'Let's go for a walk; I've got my presentiment again,' announced Eva,shutting up her hymn-book and jumping up from her chair.

  Mrs. Morrison looked at her over the top of her spectacles. 'What mightyou have?' she inquired, thinking that Eva was complaining of notfeeling well.

  'The hump, Mrs. Morrison, and I want a walk to shake it off,' shereplied.

  Mrs. Morrison did not understand this slang; but she understood that Evafelt depressed, and said, 'A walk will do you all good, and you willjust have time to go over the hill yonder before church.'

  Eva did not like to say that she was not going to church, but sheprivately decided to return home and amuse herself by trying over somewaltzes while the rest were all at church.

  The four accordingly set out for their walk; and, as Eva was a veryentertaining companion, Vava enjoyed the walk with her. Amy and Stellawere becoming such fast friends that they had dropped the formal 'Miss'in speaking to each other, and they enjoyed the walk. Mrs. Morrison hadtold them she should go straight to church. On the way back they passedthe Presbyterian Church; and the two Whartons, remarking that they wereonly five minutes too early, turned in there.

  'Won't you come to church with me, Eva?' asked Amy as the two walked ontogether.

  'No, thank you; I have something to do at home. It's so jolly having ahome that I prefer to stay in it. I sha'n't plague you to come to thepictures every night now,' replied Eva, going off.

  But Eva had counted without her host, as Mrs. Morrison, having supposedthat they would all go to church, had locked up and gone out, taking thekey with her. As they were not on a main road, the door was not keptlatched, and so they had no latchkeys. There was a light in the hall,and Eva turned the handle of the door, expecting it to open; but invain. Then it flashed upon her that she was locked out, and must eitherwait there for an hour and a half or else go to church; neither of whichthings did she wish to do. A thought then struck her, and she knocked atthe Hackneys' door; but they were all out, it appeared, for she knockedin vain. So turning away in annoyance, Eva sauntered back to the mainstreet where Amy had gone to church.

  'I believe that Scotchwoman did it on purpose; she thought I ought to goto church, and so she locked me out of my own home. But if she thinksshe's going to manage me she's very much mistaken, as she will find, andI'll just show her that,' she said to herself; for she had just come toa brilliantly lighted kinematograph show, and made up her mind to go inthere.

  It was the first time she had gone there on Sunday, and to make herselffeel more comfortable she had to remind herself that she must put herfoot down and not be dictated to by strangers; and soon the music andthe scenes before her distracted her thoughts, and this was what Evareally wanted. For some of her thoughts were troubling her, and shewanted to banish them.

  But unfortunately the pictures could not last for ever, and when theywere over there was Mrs. Morrison to face; and though Mrs. Morrison hada very kindly face, and had been very friendly and nice to Eva, whom sheliked, the latter had a feeling that she could be very stern, and thatshe would disapprove of going to an entertainment on Sunday evening. Toher surprise, when she came out there were no churchgoers to be seen inthe streets, and when she passed Amy's church it was in darkness, andshe guessed that it must be past nine o'clock, and that the others wouldbe home.
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  'That comes of leaving my watch at home and trusting that man, who saidwe should be out before nine,' she muttered to herself, and hurried toHeather Road.

  'Here she is!' cried a voice as Eva opened the gate; and Vava, who wasstanding looking out of the bow-window, came running to the door togreet her.

  'We are so very sorry you were locked out! Mrs. Morrison understood youwere both going to church, and she hurried home so as to be back beforeyou. But it will not happen again; we will have a latch put on, and haveour own keys,' said Stella, apologising.

  'It doesn't matter. I had a headache, so did not go to church,' saidEva.

  'And have you been walking about all this time in the dark by yourself?How horrid; nursie will be vexed!' cried Vava.

  'I enjoyed myself very much, thank you,' said Eva, escaping upstairs totake off her hat and coat.

  She had not said where she had been; and though Amy, who knew her, didnot believe she had walked for more than two hours after their longwalk, and guessed what she had done, no one asked any questions. Forthat Eva was thankful, and in spite of a bad conscience, which shouldhave pricked her, she enjoyed the pie which Mrs. Morrison had made theday before and left in the oven to heat up along with baked potatoes.

  'Sunday's dinner and supper always cook themselves,' she explained.

  As a kind of amends for her un-Sunday-like day, Eva went into thekitchen and asked Mrs. Morrison if she might help her to wash-up.

  It was on the tip of the good woman's tongue to refuse, and tell herthat she must be too tired to stand about any more; but a glance atEva's face showed that the girl was not tired, and some intuition toldher that she had better accept the offer and try and make friends withthis girl, who, after all, was only sixteen, and had no one to keep herin order. So she said, 'Thank you kindly, Miss Barnes, my dear; if youtake this mop you will not put your hands in the water so much, and as Inever use soda they will not get spoilt, and here 's a nice apron foryou.'

  Eva accordingly, enveloped in a large apron, stood at the tub andconversed with the Scotchwoman, who watched her quick movements withinterest and admiration, for she was very graceful, and she did her workin a very business-like manner, which pleased the methodicalhousekeeper.

  'There's a right way and a wrong way of doing everything, but you've gotthe right way of washing-up, and it makes a deal of difference, thoughfolk won't believe it. I can't bear to see a young girl doing a fewthings at a time, and then going to find some more, and putting in thegreasy things first, and the glasses and silver last,' she observed.

  'My mother taught me that; once a week we went into the kitchen to learnhow to do cooking and kitchen-work,' said Eva, and she gave a sigh.

  'She must have been a wise woman and a good mother. Have you lost herlong, my poor bairn?' inquired the housekeeper.

  'A year and a half, but it feels like ten,' said Eva; and then she beganto tell Mrs. Morrison about her past life at the pretty home inCambridge, of which she had never spoken to Vava. 'Things were verydifferent then,' she wound up.

  'But they are not so bad now, and you have your old friends. Do younever see them or hear from them?' inquired the housekeeper.

  'They have written, but I don't care to answer them. They have asked meto go and stay with them, and wanted to come and see me; but I had not anice place to ask them to come to, and I won't stay with people I can'task back.'

  'I think you are wrong there; anybody would like to have a bright youngleddie like you as a visitor, and you would like to see your old friendsagain, I'm sure. At any rate, now you have a nice home, and we'll soonhave your sitting-room fit to receive a queen,' said Mrs. Morrison.

  'I'll write to Mrs. Croker. She often comes to town, and she has adaughter just my age, only she is still at school and going on tocollege, and I am working for my living and not learning anything,' saidEva, a little bitterly.

  'But you should be learning; you can get books anywhere, and can alwaysimprove yourself in the evenings. You shouldn't let Miss Croker getbefore you,' said Mrs. Morrison.

  The good woman's interest touched Eva, and had its effect; for shedelighted Mrs. Croker by writing to her and telling her where she was,and what she was doing; and Mrs. Croker said to her husband, 'I am soglad she has written. I was so vexed at losing sight of her, but sheseemed to want to drop us all.'

  'People do when they are poor, and she felt having her educationstopped. You must ask her down for Easter. She has a few days then, Isuppose?' replied the professor.

  So the first Sunday at Heather Road did them all good in different ways.