A City Schoolgirl and Her Friends

  CHAPTER III.

  FRIENDS IN NEED.

  'They are not quite ladies and gentlemen--I mean, a lady andgentleman--but they are rather kind, and I think they will take care ofour furniture, Stella; so I should let them have it till we are richagain and can buy this place back from them,' said Vava, as she stood onthe steps watching the tail-light of the Montague Joneses'well-appointed car disappear down the drive.

  'How do you know anything about that?' inquired her sister in surprise;for unless her sister had been listening at the door, a meanness ofwhich she knew her to be incapable, she could not imagine how she couldguess what the new owners of Lomore had been proposing.

  'Ah, ha! a little bird told me. But I quite approve; it will save us thetrouble of moving it about, and you'll see we shall be back here againbefore long; that's another thing a little bird told me,' cried Vava,loosing her sister's arm to hop on one foot down the stone steps, andthen try to perform the same feat up them.

  'Vava! do be sensible at your age, and tell me what you mean by yournonsense about a little bird telling you a private conversation which noone could honourably know anything about,' said her sister severely.

  Vava was sobered for the minute; and, giving a last hop on to the topstep, she stood on her two feet before her sister and retorted, 'What doyou mean by your insinuations, pray? Do you imagine I have beenlistening through the keyhole? because, if so, I decline to parley withyou further. And as for my age, why shouldn't I do gymnastics? When I goto an English school I shall have to do far sillier things than that.And, oh Stella! do you think I shall go to that City school? I don'tthink I should like to be taught by Mr. Montague Jones, though he is akind old man.'

  'Mr. Montague Jones does not teach there; he told you that, and I don'tknow at all where you will go to school. Perhaps it will be aboarding-school after all, for we cannot live in London unless I getthis post as secretary, or some other like it; and you would perhaps bebest away from me, for you do not obey me,' replied her elder sister.

  'If you mean that you want to know how I knew about the Joneses andtheir offering to take care of our furniture, David told me; and if youwant to know how he knew--which I can see you do, because you havescrewed your eyebrows into a question-mark--Mr. Jones told him himself,when David said he knew we would never sell it--for it is half mine,isn't it, although you are my guardian?--and it's to look after it andthe place for us till we get it back that David is staying with them,though "they are not the quality," as he says.'

  This explanation satisfied Miss Wharton, and she only said, in answer toVava's last remark, 'Yes, the furniture is half yours, of course, and Ishould have told you about this offer, as I am legally responsible forit and all your property. And talking of property, Vava, it is very hardI know, but this place is no longer ours, nor can it ever be again, forwe have no rich relations to leave us enough money to buy it back; norshall we ever have enough ourselves even if the Joneses wanted to sellit, which I don't fancy they will, for they have bought it for their sonand heir, as they called him to me.'

  'How hateful! a Londoner Laird of Lomore! Oh but he sha'n't be thatlong, for I am going to earn a fortune and turn him out!' cried Vava,her eyes flashing.

  Stella laughed at her younger sister's vehemence, and inquired, 'In whatway are you going to earn money, pray?'

  'I'm going to invent something. I read the other day in that ladies'magazine of a man who invented a very simple little thing to savecandles, and he made thousands and thousands of pounds by it; and I'vegot an idea too--it's a thing to save matches,' announced Vava.

  'Matches! Why should one save matches? They are cheap enough withoutsaving them,' exclaimed Stella.

  'Not in every country. Don't you remember Mrs. M'Ewan saying that whenthey were abroad last year they paid a penny a box, and for such badones too? Well, my idea is to make them light at both ends; you alwaysthrow away half the match, and now it will do for twice,' explainedVava.

  Stella did not laugh for fear of hurting Vava's feelings and arousingher wrath, but only said, 'You do think of odd things, Vava; but I wishyou would not say all you think. I am often quite nervous of what youmay say or do next.'

  'You needn't be nervous now, because I am going to be quite grown-up andproper, and not give you any more trouble,' announced Vava, who meantwhat she said, though she did not always act up to her excellentresolutions, as will be seen.

  In fact, only two days later she made her sister nervous, besidesannoying her; for, as the elder girl was walking towards the village toMr. Stacey's office, in answer to a message from him requesting her tocall, she saw her sister, whom she had missed for the last hour, sittingbeside Mr. Montague Jones in his motor, being whirled past her at aterrible speed, or at least so it seemed to her. Whether Vava saw her ornot Stella could not be sure; but she took no notice of her, neither didMr. Jones, whom she supposed did not recognise her. Rather ruffled atthe occurrence, Miss Wharton continued her way to the lawyer's, herpretty head held still more erect, and a slightly scornful smile on herface at the way her sister's indignation against the London Laird hadevaporated.

  'Well, Miss Wharton, my dear, I have good news for you--at least, Isuppose I must call it good news, though it means that we shall loseyou, for the people whose advertisement I answered have written offeringyou the post of secretary to the junior partner of a very good firm inthe City of London--Baines, Jones & Co. Your hours will be ten tillfour, short hours for London clerks--er, secretaries I mean; and yourwork will be to translate French letters for him and write Frenchanswers, which he will dictate in English. You see it is a position oftrust, because they don't know much French and have to trust to yourtranslating their letters faithfully, and that I was able to assure themyou would do. In fact, after what I said they were quite ready to takeyou, and it is the best I can do for you--not what I should like foryour father's daughter, but it might be worse. You will have a nicelittle room to yourself with your typewriter, and need have nothing todo with any one, and I may tell you that if you give satisfaction yoursalary will be raised.'

  'Thank you very much, Mr. Stacey,' replied Stella briefly. She wasgrateful, and the old man knew it; but the vision his words brought upof her future life in a stuffy, dingy City office, sitting at atypewriter writing dull business letters--a very different thing fromthe literary work she had helped her father with--depressed her for amoment. Then she roused herself, and went on to speak of the arrangementwhich had been agreed upon between the lawyer and Mr. Montague Jonesabout the furniture, and which only needed her signature to be settled.

  'Ah, yes, they have been most generous,' began the lawyer; but hehastened to correct himself when he saw Stella's face stiffen--'fair, Ishould say, and anxious to meet your wishes. I think we are fortunate infalling into their hands, and may safely trust them.' How fortunate, Mr.Stacey did not dare to say.

  'Yes, I think they will take care of our furniture, and they evidentlywish to be friendly, which is more than I do, though Vava seems to havetaken to them,' replied Stella.

  'And they to her. Here is the prospectus of that school Mr. MontagueJones is governor of. He is evidently a little afraid of you and yourstately airs'--here the lawyer's eyes twinkled--'not that he thinks theless of you for them, quite the contrary. However, to resume, it seemsan excellent school; the teaching staff is first-rate, the buildingpalatial, and the fees most moderate--two guineas a term. Moreover, asit is in the City, not far from your own office, you could go there andback together, which would be a great thing,' explained the lawyer.

  He was a busy man, for not only every one in the sleepy little town, butall round, great and small, came to him for advice, and Stella, knowingthis, was grateful for his interest in her affairs; and on his adviceagreed, if it proved to come up to the prospectus, to send Vava to theCity school. This business being settled, she turned homeward with afeeling that now she had no more to do with Lomore, and that the soonerthey left it and began their new life in London the better. In fact,this was p
ractically what Mr. Stacey said: Messrs Baines, Jones & Co.would like her to begin at her earliest convenience, and the new termbegan next Tuesday, and this was Wednesday.

  Vava was on the gate when her sister arrived. 'Where have you been? I'vebeen such a lovely drive with the Montagues--well, never mind theirother name; it's horribly common anyway. I met them up the road, andthey asked if we would come for a run, and we came back to fetch you;but you had gone to Mr. Stacey's, so I was sure you would not mind;and--what do you think?--they are going to drive us up to London intheir car!' the girl cried, pouring out the words so fast that hersister could hardly follow her.

  'Drive us to London? Indeed, they are going to do no such thing! I donot care to accept favours from strangers; and really, Vava, I don'tknow what you mean by knowing my affairs before I know them myself. Idon't know when we are going to London yet. Perhaps not for a week ortwo, and at any rate not with those people, who may be very kind, butare not educated; he can't even speak the King's English. No, if wecan't make friends in our own class we will go without.'

  Vava looked down at her sister, who stood with one hand on the gate,looking so stiff and proud that her face, which was really a sweet one,was almost forbidding. 'All right,' she said, swinging her feet to andfro in a way that made Stella quite nervous--'all right, then; we'll goin a stuffy railway-carriage, and have to sit up all night, and I shallbe sick, as I was when we went to Edinburgh; but you won't care as longas you can stick your head up and look down on people who try to befriendly and nice to you, just because he says "dy" instead of "day;"and what does it matter? We pronounce some words quite wrong, accordingto the English, and I dare say they'll laugh at us when we go south.Mrs. M'Ewan said the waiter at the hotel couldn't understand her whenshe asked for water.'

  Mrs. M'Ewan was a neighbouring laird's wife, and spoke very broadScotch.

  Stella made no answer to this tirade of her younger sister's, who swungherself off the gate and walked back to the house with Stella in nogood-humour.

  There they found a note from Mrs. Jones, which, to Stella's surprise,was quite grammatically written, asking whether they would honour themby occupying two seats in their car when they went back to town. 'Myhusband is so taken by your sister, and hearing that the train made hersick, he ventured to suggest your coming with us. He begs me to say thathe feels under such obligations to you for lending us your beautiful oldfurniture and plate--which no money could repay or replace--that hewould be glad if you would accept this attention as a mark of ourgratitude.'

  'That will fetch the proud hussy, if anything will. Poor girls, I amvery sorry for them, especially the elder, for she'll have a lot ofhumble pie to eat before she's done,' Mr. Montague Jones had said to hiswife; but this remark, needless to say, she did not mention in theletter. She only added that they were not particular which day theyreturned to town, but would go any day that suited Miss Wharton.

  Mr. Jones may not have been an educated man--in fact, he would have beenthe first to acknowledge it; but he certainly was a tactful man, andunderstood managing people, as indeed he well might, for he had manageda large place of business for many years, and done so successfully, ashis wealth testified.

  So, after reading the letter over slowly, Stella turned to her sisterwith a half-ashamed smile and said, 'If you like we will go with theMontague Joneses; but only on one condition, and that is that youpromise not to get too intimate, or to ask me to be friendly with themin town. They may not want to know us, for we shall be very poor; but Iwon't be patronised by any one, and I don't want them to call.'

  Vava looked as if she were going to say something, but thought better ofit, and gave the desired promise.