CHAPTER VI.
IN LONELY LODGINGS.
When the two girls stood outside the door they turned and looked at eachother for a moment, and then without a word Stella led the way down thecorridor to her own little room.
Nothing could have had a greater effect upon Vava, who would far ratherhave had a good scolding than this silent disapproval. 'Is this yoursitting-room, Stella? What a nice one, and you have a fire; it has beenrather cold at school,' said the girl in a repressed voice as she spreadout her hands to the blaze.
Then Stella's heart melted. To be sure, Vava had been very disobedient;she had been told to speak to no one, but to learn her lessons quietlywhile she was waiting. Instead of which, Stella--remembering the voicesshe had heard in the next room--felt sure she had been talking in herfree way with every one. Still, it was their first day alone in London,and Vava looked so unlike herself with the joy and brightness gone outof her face, so she said kindly, if gravely, 'Yes, this is my room, andanother time, please, come straight here, unless I come and call foryou, which would be better, I think, if you do not obey me. But let mehear about school. I hope they have fires there?'
'Oh yes, but I was sitting near a window, and my feet and hands got coldwith having to sit still so long, I suppose; the girls say they getchilblains as soon as they come back to school,' replied Vava.
'You must wear mittens and warm house-shoes. But about the school,Vava--do you like it? Are you glad to go to school?'
'Not much; but, Stella, don't send me away from you. I will do what youtell me, really; I promise I will, unless I forget. I forgot to-day, orI would not have talked to any one. I know you're awfully angry with me;but I think I was a little flustered by all the crowds in the streets,and I just went into the first room where I saw Baines, Jones & Co.written!' cried Vava eagerly.
'I understand that you were bewildered; but you must try and rememberthat you are not at Lomore, and that you must not make friends withoutmy leave, or else I shall feel that I cannot take care of you, and thatit's not right to keep you with me,' said Stella.
'Then I shall die in this dreadful place without you,' declared Vava intragic tones.
'Vava, something has happened. What is it? What has made you take such adislike to London? You liked it well enough yesterday,' exclaimed Stellaanxiously. She had been putting on her hat and coat as she spoke, andhad just said this, when Mrs. Ryan, the housekeeper, came in with atray, on which there were two cups of tea and delicious thin bread andbutter and cakes.
'I have brought you a warm cup of tea to keep the cold out on your wayhome, and one for this young lady, who is your sister, as is plain tosee. Dear, dear! and to think of you two poor lambs all alone! My dear,don't be offended with me; but if, as you say, you have no relations orfriends in London, I hope you'll count me as one, and come to me if youare in any trouble, just as if I were'--a fine tact made the oldIrishwoman say, 'your old housekeeper,' instead of 'your mother.'
Stella held out her hand and smiled. 'Thank you, Mrs. Ryan; indeed youare a friend, and I will come to you for advice,' she said.
'And, do you know, you remind me a little of nursie, our housekeeper atLomore, only she is Scotch; but I can understand your way of speaking,and that's more than I can the people at school,' Vava remarked, withsuch a tone of disgust that the other two laughed.
But Stella looked relieved. 'So that's it, is it? I suppose they laughedat you for talking with a Scotch accent? I have often told you, Vava,that you should not copy old Duncan as you did,' protested Stella; forVava talked much broader Scotch than Stella, and used words which arenot in use or understood south of the Border.
'They're stupid things, and I don't want to talk like them. Anyway, theydon't pronounce lots of their words right; they say "wat" and "ware" for"what" and "where;" so of course I got a lot of mistakes in my Englishdictation. But I beat them in my French,' she wound up triumphantly.
'You'll soon get used to that, miss, and there isn't a better school inLondon than the one you're at; there's no money spared on it, for it's arich company that has it, though I don't know exactly why they have it,'said Mrs. Ryan.
'I do; a rich merchant's wife founded it!' cried Vava, and poured forththe history of the foundation of the school to her two listeners, tillStella stopped her.
'Now, Vava, we must not keep Mrs. Ryan.--My sister does not understandthat the City is the place for business, not for paying visits oramusing one's self; and you might tell her that she must not makeacquaintance with strangers,' said Stella, turning to Mrs. Ryan.
Mrs. Ryan raised her hands in amazement at such imprudence. 'Indeed no.There was a young girl I knew up from the country, and one day she wastaking her ticket at one of the London stations, and there was rather acrowd, so, being timid, she stepped back and waited; then who shouldcome up to her but a gentleman, as she called him, and, taking off hishat as polite as could be, says, "Can I take your ticket for you, miss?It's not fit for you to be pushing into a rough crowd like that;" andshe, like the silly she was, thanks him and hands him her purse with allher week's money in it; and off he goes.' Here Mrs. Ryan ended, andnodded her head at Vava.
But Vava in her innocence did not understand the moral of the story, andsaid simply, 'That was very kind of him?'
'Yes, very kind! But he never got the ticket, and the poor girl neversaw her purse nor the kind gentleman again,' explained Mrs. Ryan.
Vava's eyes were wide with horror. 'What a wicked, cruel man! Buteverybody can't be wicked like that!' she cried.
'No, indeed; thank God, there are many good people here; but there arerogues as well, and as you are too young to know the one from the otheryou must not talk to any of them,' Mrs. Ryan said.
The story made Vava very thoughtful. 'I wonder whether Mr. Jones is arogue?' she said musingly.
But Mrs. Ryan was scandalised. 'Sakes alive, miss, don't say such athing in his own office! He is one of the best and most respectedgentlemen in the City of London, as I well know, having worked for himand his father this thirty years!' she exclaimed.
'Vava lets her tongue run away with her.--Come, Vava, we really must begoing,' said Stella hastily, and she took her younger sister off withher.
It was dusk now, but the two enjoyed their walk back along theEmbankment, for it did not occur to them to take a bus or train; threemiles was nothing to them. Moreover, they had had tea, and were in nohurry to get back to their cramped lodgings. It was well that Vava couldnot see her sister's amused smile, which broke out several times on theway home at the remembrance of the younger girl's suggestion that thejunior partner might be a rogue; and it is to be feared that Stellawould not have been sorry if her employer--whom she suspected unjustlyof thinking a good deal of himself and of wishing to patronise her andpity her for having 'come down in the world'--had heard Vava's remark.
It might have gratified her if she had known that Mrs. Ryan wentstraight to her master and told him the whole story.
Mr. James, as she called him, laughed heartily. 'I'm sure that's whather elder sister thinks me. Well, it does not much matter, as long asshe does her work as well as she did to-day, so business-like andcorrectly--first accurate young woman I have ever met with; and the poorthing will have a better time here than she would with many firms. Youwill be sure to look after her well, Mrs. Ryan? My father is mostparticular that she should be comfortable--as comfortable as possible,that is to say; so be sure and give her tea before she goes, or anythingshe wants.'
From which conversation it will be seen that Mr. Stacey had found a goodberth for his young client, and had evidently given her a hightestimonial.
It was six o'clock by the time the girls reached Vincent Street, andthey seated themselves on uncomfortable arm-chairs in front of the smokyfire, which they lit as soon as they got in. Vava had her lessons to do;but after their tea-supper, for which the landlady declined to cookanything but eggs--'London eggs,' as Vava said--Stella looked round forsomething to do. There was no piano, she had no books, nor was she
fondof fancy-work, and of useful work she had none, for 'nursie' had alwaysdone most of the mending for her young ladies, though she had taughtthem both to work. Before they left home she had set their wardrobes inthorough order. 'So that you'll not have to trouble about them for along while yet; and perhaps, who knows, the Lord may have made a way forme to come to you before they need looking to again,' the old woman hadsaid, with some kind of idea that her beautiful young mistress would notsomehow be left by Providence in a position for which she was sounfitted, in the old housekeeper's opinion.
So now Stella looked round for something to do, and finding nothing,passed a dreary evening, till Vava had finished preparing her lessons,and said with a yawn, 'Let's go to bed, Stella. What's the good ofsitting up, staring at this horrid wall-paper with those hideous flowersthat aren't like any flowers that ever grew in a garden?'
Stella gave a sigh, which, in spite of all her resolutions to be brave,she could not suppress. 'It is not very comfortable here, to be sure;but I don't know where else to go. There is a large kind of ladies'residential club near here, but I do not know if we should like it, andwe should have no private sitting-room; so you would have to prepareyour lessons in your bedroom, which I dislike,' she replied.
'Oh that would be horrid; the room would get so hot and stuffy, and weshould not sleep. I wish we could have a little house of our own. I amsure there must be little houses to let that we could afford, like theone Dr M'Farlane's sisters lived in at Lomore.'
'We will go and have a look to-morrow on our way home,' said Stella,smiling. She was glad of something to look forward to besides going tothe City. She had only had one day of it; but she disliked it intensely,and asked herself how she was to bear her life with nothing but this tolook forward to through the long years. Yet, if she had but known it,she was extremely fortunate, and her lot was a far better one than itmight have been but for the influence of kind friends.
And so the two tired heads were laid down to rest, intending, in theirignorance, to look for a small house which they could rent, and whichwould be more comfortable and no more expensive than their presentabode. Next day, however, was wet, and they had quite enough walking tothe City and back, and came in at five o'clock, with another longevening before them, lightened in Stella's case by a book from thelibrary of her City Club for Lady-Clerks; so that it was not untilFriday that the two girls looked about on their way home for a smallhouse to let.
Vava, who seemed singularly uncommunicative about her life at school,was quite eager in the search for this ideal small house, and looked upeach street they passed by to see if there were any prospect of itsbeing found there.
'I think, Vava, it will be no use looking so near the City. Mrs. Ryantells me that rents are very high here; Westminster is a cheaper part,'said Stella.
'Still, there's no harm in looking, I'm sure. I have seen quite smallhouses that can't cost much,' said Vava; and at last she cried out withdelight at sight of quite a small-looking house, jammed between twolarge buildings, which bore the words, 'To Let.' It was situated in oneof the narrow streets leading from the Strand to the river.
Stella looked doubtfully at it. 'I think it is larger than it looks,Vava, and we really only need five or six rooms; and you know we mustnot give too much rent, for I do not want to spend all our income,' shesaid gravely.
'I'm sure this will be quite cheap. Do let's ask,' said Vavaimpatiently.
So urged, Stella rang the bell marked 'Caretaker;' and after a longwait, a grim and unfriendly-looking man appeared.
'Would you please tell me the rent of this house?' inquired Stella.
'Do you want an office in it?' inquired the caretaker.
'No-o. I wanted to know the rent of the whole house,' said the girl.
The man looked at her curiously; but she looked so grave and dignifiedthat he concluded that she was sent by some one else. 'Well, the rent'sthree hundred pounds on a long lease, you may tell them,' he informedher.
'Thank you,' said Stella quietly, and turned away.
'Three hundred pounds for that dirty little house! Oh London is a horridplace, Stella! Let's go back to Lomore!' cried Vava.
Stella wished they could; but her sense of duty came to her aid, and shesaid, 'That is quite impossible, Vava; we must stay in London. So thebest thing we can do is to try and be as happy as we can here, and doour duty. We will live upon as little as we can, and save money, so thatwe can go away for our holidays.'
These same holidays, if she had but known it, were a most unusual thing;for Stella was to have a month in the summer, and ten days at Easter.And the two began to plan a delightful Easter at the seaside somewhere,and by the time they got home to their lodgings Vava was quite cheerfulagain.