CHAPTER IX.
THE ENTERPRISE CLUB.
In one of the City of London's busiest thoroughfares, among the numerousplates bearing the names and callings of the occupants of the differentchambers or offices in a certain big building, is a small plate with thewords 'Enterprise Club.' That is all the outward sign of the fact thatthe only ladies' club in the City, a veritable haven of refuge forlady-clerks and secretaries, has its quarters here.
It was here that Stella sat one lunch-time, looking so worried that aladylike-looking girl, to whom she had spoken once or twice, asked herif she had a headache.
'No, no, thank you; I am quite well,' replied Stella, her brows stillknitted.
The girls at the Enterprise contented themselves with a nod of the head,or a 'Good-morning,' to Stella, whom they put down as proud andstuck-up. But this girl had gone a little farther, and had even elicitedthe fact that she had a younger sister; and to-day, seeing Miss Whartonlook so grave, it occurred to her that it might be something connectedwith this younger sister that was troubling her, and she asked, 'Is yoursister quite well? I have never seen her here. Doesn't she ever come?'
'My sister? No, she is not a member; she is only a schoolgirl. I did notthink it would be allowed,' said Stella.
'She could come as a visitor, and I am sure if you asked the secretaryshe would make an exception and allow her to join. It would be so niceif she could stay and play cards or dominoes after office hours on thesecold winter afternoons,' suggested the girl.
Stella's face brightened up so wonderfully that her companion guessedthat this was the difficulty. 'If she could, I should be so glad; she isvery good, but she feels the dullness of life in lodgings, and I ambeginning to be quite anxious about her. She would like to come heresometimes, I am sure.'
'Then let us ask the secretary at once, and she can come this evening,'suggested the good-natured girl.
The secretary gave a ready consent, and that afternoon, instead of goingstraight home, Vava was brought into the Enterprise Club, and sank witha little exclamation of pleasure into one of the comfortableeasy-chairs, and looked round the tastefully furnished room. She wassoon invited to play a game of draughts by one of the younger girls, forVava did not inspire awe as Stella did.
'If next Saturday is wet or horrid like last Saturday, I shall askStella to bring me here,' Vava announced, as she moved one of her 'men.'
'On Saturday! I should have thought you would want to get away from theCity as soon as possible! I should, I know,' said the other.
'But you are staying this evening,' Vava pointed out.
'That is because my chum Amy is working late; I always wait for herrather than go home alone; but on Saturdays we generally go for a longbicycle ride or something, to get some fresh air and fresh ideas,'announced the girl, hopping over two of Vava's 'men.'
'I wish I rode a bicycle; but we always rode horses in Scotland--atleast Stella did; I had a pony,' explained Vava.
'This must be a change for you!' cried the other; but said no more, forthe game absorbed her attention.
But the result of this conversation was that, the next Saturday beingwet, Vava's opponent suddenly said to her chum, 'Amy, we can't cycleto-day; suppose we lunch at the Enterprise, and have some games withthose two new girls in mourning?'
'Oh the Misses Wharton? Have you fallen in love with the beautiful MissWharton too?' replied the girl called Amy.
'Is that their name? But it isn't Miss Wharton I am thinking of; it'sher younger sister. Fancy, they have been used to riding their ownhorses, and now they walk to the City and back! She wants to stay at theEnterprise on Saturday, so they can't have very nice "diggings,"'replied her companion.
'It's not a bad place to spend a wet afternoon in; so, if you like, wewill lunch there; it's just as comfortable as Bleak House,' replied Amy.
'Yes, but one gets tired of living in a crowd. Oh how I wish we couldafford a cottage in the country!' said the younger girl.
'But we cannot, Eva; so let us try to be contented with our lot,'replied Amy.
By way of showing her content, Eva grumbled loudly at it to Vava. Thefour were sitting at the same table, having lunch, and she found onlytoo willing a listener in Vava Wharton to sympathise with her.
'Cheer up, Eva; things might be worse. Here we are sitting on a wet andbitterly cold afternoon in a pleasant, warm room, in comfortable chairs,surrounded by newspapers, magazines, and fashion papers! What more couldyou have if you were a fashionable young lady?' inquired her chum Amy.
'I could have this room as my own, and money to spend on the fashions Ilook at, and somewhere to show them off better than a stuffy office orBleak House,' retorted Eva.
'Bleak House! That is the name of one of Dickens's books!' exclaimedVava.
'It is the name of a large hostel or boarding-house for ladies who earntheir own living, where Eva and I live, and it is really quitecomfortable, only that it is not home,' said Amy, and she lookedsympathetically at Eva, who was only sixteen, and had begun early towork for her daily bread.
There was silence for a moment, and the four young faces looked as graveas if they had the cares of the world upon their shoulders.
Suddenly Eva broke out, 'I wouldn't mind if I had something different tolook forward to; but to think of going on for years the same dull grindand back to the same crowd of girls, who can talk of nothing but theiroffice or else roller-skating; and Amy does not approve of going out toamusements every evening.'
'We wanted to take a house, but it is too expensive, and the one welooked at was dreadfully dear, although it had no garden. Oh how I wouldlove a house with a garden! Some of the girls at school have gardens,and even greenhouses, for they bring leaves and flowers to school forour painting and botany lessons, and yet they are not rich,' observedVava.
'All houses are not dear. Girls! I have an idea; let's take a housebetween us--the four of us!' cried Eva suddenly.
Stella looked up, startled at this abrupt suggestion; but Eva's chumAmy, who was used to her ways, only smiled, and said jestingly, 'Wheredo you mean to take a house, and how would you furnish it?'
'In the suburbs; and as for furnishing, we could do that on thehire-system. It shall have a garden and a lawn and a tree--I must have atree; it's so ideal to sit and have tea in the garden under a tree, orread a book in a canvas-chair on a summer's day,' replied Eva.
'I don't care for the hire-system, and houses with gardens and lawns andtrees are not to be found in London. I am afraid we must wait until weare old ladies, and can retire on our savings and live in some littlecountry village,' said Amy, laying her hand upon Eva's and smiling ather.
Possibly the conversation would have ended here but for Vava, andsomething that she said. 'But couldn't we have a little house in anunfashionable part? All the girls at school have houses or flats oftheir own; it would be so nice to have a home.'
'So we will have a home. Why shouldn't we? Lots of families live on twohundred pounds a year, and that would be a pound a week each. Why, theSmiths are a family of five, and they have only about two hundred, andthey have a garden and an arbour covered with ivy and creepers andthings!' cried Eva.
'Oh where is that?' asked Vava eagerly, her eyes shining.
'My dear Eva!' protested Amy, looking apologetically at Stella, who wasvery grave and silent.
'Well, what is the matter?' demanded Eva.
'You do talk such nonsense. How can four people, who are strangers toeach other, suddenly take a house and live together? Why, we do not evenknow each other's names!' said Amy, laughing.
'My name is Eva Barnes, and this is my greatest and best friend, AmyOverall,' said Eva promptly; and then, turning to Vava, she added,'Let's talk it over by ourselves; old people are always cautious,' andshe and Vava began to talk in low tones. Presently Eva took out a penciland note-book, and began making elaborate calculations.
The two 'elders' smiled at them. They were not more than twenty-one andtwenty-four respectively; but they let the younger
ones whisper nonsensetogether, while they talked of books; and Stella found that Amy Overallhad read the same sort of books that she had, which surprised her, forhers had been chosen for her by her literary father.
'My father was a professor at Cambridge, and that is why I have readthese books,' explained Amy, delighted to find some one whose tasteswere congenial; in fact, it is to be doubted which of the two was mostpleased.
They were so interested in discussing a certain author that they tooklittle notice of the other two. Every now and then a low laugh told themthat the two younger girls were enjoying themselves as much as the 'oldpeople,' as they called their elders.
'Now,' cried Eva, 'let us lay a statement of accounts before them!'
The elders stopped in their conversation, and looked at Eva and Vava,whose faces were flushed with excitement, and whose eyes were dancing asStella had not seen Vava's dance since she left Lomore, not even ontheir motor drive.
Amy took the sheet of paper Eva handed her, saying, 'Eva is a greatmathematician; she takes after her father.'
'Barnes! Did he write an arithmetic?' inquired Vava; and when Evanodded, she added, 'Why, I use it at school!'
'What accounts have you been making out?' asked Stella in a friendlytone, for this last fact seemed a link between them as the daughters ofliterary men.
'Our new house and its expenses,' announced Vava.
Amy looked half-fearfully at Stella, for she thought she would beannoyed at the girl's persistence; but, to her surprise, Stella read thepaper through with apparent interest.
'Rent, L34; taxes, L12; food, L90; firing and gas, L20; servant, L12;washing, L12, extras, L20--total, L200,' she read out.
'That's only the summary of it; here are the details. We have made out amenu for a week and washing for four people and household linen,'explained Eva.
'It is a step which requires consideration; we might not care for eachother's company on closer acquaintance,' said Stella.
But Vava interrupted impulsively, 'We have arranged for that; we wouldhave two sitting-rooms, and only come together when we liked; and,anyway, they couldn't be as disagreeable as our landlady. Fancy, shewon't cook in the evenings, and she always wants to know if we are notgoing out to friends on Sunday, and it makes us feel as if we ought togo somewhere out of her way.'
Stella did not quite like Vava's frankness. Seeing which, Amy hastenedto say, 'That was our experience in lodgings, and one of the reasons wegave them up. It is very difficult to know what to do; but at BleakHouse we have not that difficulty. I should like you to see it. Wouldyou'--here she hesitated and coloured--'would you and your sister giveus the pleasure of your company to-morrow? We are so many that a fewmore make no difference, and we are encouraged to bring our friends.'
It would have been difficult to refuse an invitation so diffidentlygiven; besides, Stella liked Amy Overall, and Vava's eyes were beggingher to say 'Yes,' and she did so, and was rewarded by the evidentpleasure which she had given every one.
'Stella, couldn't we do it, don't you think?' pleaded Vava on the wayhome.
'Take a house, do you mean? I don't know, Vava; we may some day--whoknows?--but not yet awhile,' replied Stella, who was anxious not to dampher sister's delight in these castles in the air.
'If you only knew how horrid it is to hear the other girls talking ofgoing home; they have all got homes but me,' said Vava wistfully.
Stella tried to comfort her, and began to talk of their visit next day,and of how they could get there after church, and Vava cheered up at thethought of a day with Eva, who was so little older than she that theygot on very well together.
Amy meanwhile was taking Eva to task. 'You surely were not serious; and,if not, do you think it was kind to raise hopes and put ideas which cannever be realised into that child's head?' she demanded severely.
'I was quite serious; it was a sudden inspiration, and, mark my words,it will be realised!' declared Eva.
'Not by me; I am not going to run into all sorts of expenses which ahouse always entails,' said Amy.
'Now, isn't that funny? It is always the unexpected that happens; onewould have expected the cautious Scotch Miss Wharton to be the one tomake objections, whereas she is inclined to risk it--I could see that inthe corner of her eye--and you are the timid one,' declared Eva.
'On the contrary, Miss Wharton was only too polite to crush you. Whenshe says she's ready to take a house with us I shall certainly be readyto agree,' replied Amy Overall, feeling certain that she would not beasked to do so.
'All right; that's a promise of which I shall remind you before long,you will see,' said Eva; and then talked of the morrow and what theyshould do with their visitors.