THE MEAN-WELLS
[Illustration: “GEOFFREY EXAMINED THE BOX.”
Page 5.]
THE MEAN-WELLS
BY
MABEL QUILLER-COUCH
AUTHOR OF “THE CARROL GIRLS,” “TROUBLESOME URSULA,”
“A PAIR OF REDPOLLS,” “KITTY TRENIRE,” ETC.
ILLUSTRATED BY
G. E. ROBERTSON
LONDON
WELLS GARDNER, DARTON & CO. LTD.
3 & 4, PATERNOSTER BUILDINGS, E.C.
AND 44, VICTORIA STREET, S.W.
[Illustration]
TO
_LILY_
IN REMEMBRANCE
CONTENTS
CHAP. PAGE
I. THE WORTH OF A TOOTH 1
II. A DRIVE AND A PINK PARASOL 9
III. ON THE ROAD TO LANTIG 19
IV. A ROOMFUL OF BABIES, AND A GIANT’S CHAIR 26
V. SWEEPING THE DRAWING-ROOM 39
VI. MRS. TICKELL, MRS. WALL, AND AN ACCIDENT 48
VII. LOVEDAY GOES VISITING 60
VIII. PISKIES STILL LIVE AT PORTHCALLIS 70
IX. MISS POTTS COMES TO TEA 81
X. THE FAIRY RING 92
XI. LOVEDAY AND AARON PLAY AT BEING PISKIES 105
XII. THE PISKIES CAUGHT 115
XIII. PRISCILLA PAYS A CALL AND TAKES A JOURNEY 126
XIV. PRISCILLA PAYS ANOTHER CALL 137
XV. MR. WINTER 145
XVI. IN WHICH A GREAT MANY THINGS HAPPEN 154
ILLUSTRATIONS
“GEOFFREY EXAMINED THE BOX” _Frontispiece_
“THE GIANT’S FOOTSTOOL” _To face p._ 34
“‘I’LL TAKE THOMAS,’ SHE SAID” ” 64
“A BIG CATCH OF CRABS AND LOBSTERS” ” 72
“DON’T LET US LOOK ANY MORE” ” 96
“THEY SHOOK OUT THEIR PINAFORES OVER THE DIZZY HEIGHTS” ” 114
“PRISCILLA SLIPPED OUT EASILY” ” 144
“THEY WOULD LIGHT A FIRE AND BOIL THE KETTLE” ” 154
THE MEAN-WELLS
CHAPTER I
THE WORTH OF A TOOTH
It did seem very unjust, and the more they thought of it the more
unjust it seemed, especially to Priscilla.
“When I had a tooth pulled out no one gave me anything,” she grumbled;
“but Loveday has a shilling given her for hers, and some sweets, and
such a fuss made.”
“I only had sixpence, and mine was a double tooth,” said Geoffrey
thoughtfully, “and I am a boy.”
“I don’t see that being a boy ought to make any difference,” retorted
Priscilla; “boys’ teeth don’t hurt more than girls’, and boys ought to
be able to bear it better.”
“Oh, but boys always have more in--in comparison, just as men do.”
“Do they?” asked Priscilla thoughtfully. “I wonder why? I think it
ought to be just the other way, ’cause boys and men are stronger.”
“Oh, you’ll understand some day,” said Geoffrey loftily; “you are too
young now.”
There had been great excitement in the house that afternoon. Loveday
had been having toothache frequently for some time. Whenever she drank
anything hot or cold, or ate anything sweet, or put a lollipop in her
mouth, her tooth had begun to jump and ache; and as she was generally
doing one or the other, or wanting to, Loveday’s life lately had not
been a bed of roses, any more than had the lives of those who had to
relieve her pain and stop her sobs. So at last her father had decided
that the tooth must go. It was slightly loose already and decayed, and
Loveday was assured that she would know no comfort while it remained in
her mouth; but if it was taken away another would soon grow, they told
her, and she was promised some sweets and a shilling when the operation
was over, if she bore it bravely.
Loveday had to think the matter over a little before she gave her
consent, for though she hated having pain and not being allowed to eat
sweets, she did like to have a wobbly tooth, one that she could move
with her tongue, and she had hoped that if she waited a little while it
would not hurt her when it wobbled.
But her father told her that that was very unlikely, and that if she
did not have it taken out now it would fall out some day soon, perhaps
while she was asleep, and then there would be danger of its choking her.
“If it felled out should I have a shilling and sweets, father?” she
asked.
But father, without any hesitation, said:
“Oh dear, no--certainly not.”
So Loveday consented to the operation. She wanted the shilling to buy a
paint-box with, and she wanted to see the tooth.
Then began a great bustle. One servant ran for a tumbler of warm
water, and another for a towel and different things, and they looked
at Loveday so pityingly that she began to wonder if it would be very
dreadful after all, and grew quite frightened. Then her father came in,
and perched her on the table, and told her to open her mouth and let
him see which tooth it was; and before she knew he had even seen which
was the right one, she felt a little tweak, and it was out! She did not
cry, for as soon as the pain began it was over, before she could even
make a sound, or screw out a tear; and then, when she realised what had
happened, every one was petting and praising her, and calling her a
brave little heroine, and Nurse gave her a box of chocolates, and her
father gave her a shilling, and her mother an extra penny because she
had not made any noise. Priscilla thought it the easiest and quickest
way of earning pocket-money that she had ever dreamed of--much easier
than catching snails or pulling weeds.
The extraction itself was far too quickly over to please Geoffrey and
Priscilla, who had been standing by the table, looking on. Priscilla
had covered her ears that she might not hear Loveday’s screams, and,
after all, Loveday had not screamed; and having closed her eyes
too--for when it came to the most exciting moment she felt she could
not look--Priscilla had missed everything, and when she unstopped one
ear a little to hear if the screams had begun, she heard Loveday saying
quite calmly:
“Thank you. Now I want my paint-box. Geoffrey, go and buy it for me at
once, please.”
And when Priscilla looked, Loveday was proudly handing to Geoffrey the
new shilling she had just earned.
It had been arranged beforehand that if she won it, Geoffrey should run
at once and buy her a box of paints with it.
So, finding that all the excitement was over, Priscilla decided to go
with Geoffrey to buy the paints, and it was while they were on their
way to the shop that the sense of injustice began to grow in her
small breast, and it grew and grew until, as she stood in Miss Potts’
toy-shop and gazed about her, she felt that at least two of the toys
she saw there were hers by right, for she had had out two teeth, and
one had hurt her very much. Geoffrey had not, of course, such deep
cause of complaint, for he had accepted the sixpence gladly, and if
he did not stick out for more at the time he could not very well say
anything now.
“And what kind of paints is it you want, Master Geoffrey?” asked Miss
Potts pleasantly when he had told her what he had come for.
Most of her customers--and they were not numerous--were penny-toy
customers, so she was very anxious to oblige her larger purchasers when
she did get any. Not but what she was polite and kind to every one who
entered her little shop; she did not know how to be anything else.
“It’s a shilling box I want, please,” said Geoffrey, as though such a
purchase was quite a small matter to him, and jingling in his pocket
all the while the shilling and a French halfpenny of his own. “I want
_Sans Poison_, please,” he added--he pronounced it in the English way,
so that it sounded like “Sands Poison”--“because then Loveday can’t
harm herself if she swallows some. She always will lick her brush, and
it’s no use trying to stop her.”
Miss Potts, in common with the children, felt the greatest respect and
faith in that mysterious person “Sans,” who, according to their belief,
had discovered how to make paints that any child might swallow and not
die.
“I’d never buy anybody else’s for Miss Loveday, if I were you, sir,”
said Miss Potts solemnly. “You see, he guarantees them harmless, and we
have proved them to be so, and ’tisn’t likely that now he’s made his
reputation he’d risk it by selling others. But there’s no knowing what
other folks will put in theirs; I wouldn’t trust them.”
Geoffrey agreed gravely, while he examined the box to see that the
brushes and saucers were in perfect order. He was five years older than
Loveday, and felt at least twenty.
Priscilla, who had been wandering about the shop, eagerly examining its
treasures, came up to the counter.
“Miss Potts,” she asked very gravely, “don’t you think that if a double
tooth is worth a shilling, a single one is worth sixpence?”
“I dare say you’re right, dearie,” said Miss Potts kindly, “but I never
found mine worth anything, not even for chewing.”
“Did you have some once?” asked Priscilla, in genuine astonishment. The
question was excusable, for she had never seen Miss Potts with even
one.
Miss Potts, quite unembarrassed, laughed good-temperedly.
“Why, yes, dearie, of course I had; but I was glad enough to get rid of
them, I can assure you.”
“So should I be if I could get a shilling for each;” and Priscilla
began to count her teeth, to find out what wealth might be hers. “Do
you think I shall have none some day?” she asked eagerly.
“Oh dear no, missie; I don’t suppose so. You’ll be looked after too
well for that.”
Priscilla grew thoughtful.
“I do think, though, that two teeth ought to be worth a--a----”
She looked around the shop to see what she could choose out of all
that was there. It was very difficult, and Geoffrey, having finished
examining a top that had caught his fancy, began to grow impatient.
“Come along, Prissy,” he said impatiently; “you know Loveday will be
waiting for us,” and he strolled to the door.
“I shall ask father if I may have a hoop,” said Priscilla to Miss
Potts. “I don’t think that’s too much. There were two teeth, and both
hurt a lot, and oh, how they bled! You never saw such a thing! Much
more than Loveday’s! But every one pets Loveday so,” she added, in a
confidential tone, “because she is the youngest. They always say, ‘Ah,
but she is the baby!’ But she isn’t; she is nearly seven years old, and
babies aren’t babies when they are as old as that, are they?”
“Well, dear, you see folks always think a lot of the youngest,” said
Miss Potts gently.
Priscilla nodded her head very soberly.
“They do!” she said gravely, “and of the eldest, too, I think.
Yesterday when granny gave Geoffrey a book and didn’t give me one, she
said it was given to Geoffrey because he was the eldest. I don’t think
it is very nice to be an in-between, do you, Miss Potts?”
“I don’t know, dear,” said Miss Potts, with a deep sigh. “I’d be glad
to be anything if only I’d got some brothers and sisters.”
“Miss Potts, didn’t you ever have any?” Priscilla was standing at the
end of the counter, gazing up at the tall, thin woman behind it. Miss
Potts was certainly a very interesting person, she thought--so much
seemed to have happened in her life. Miss Potts shook her head, and
passed her hand across her eyes.
“I had them, Miss Priscilla,” she said softly, “but I’m the only one
left.”
“I am very sorry,” said Priscilla, in a tone of sympathy. “It must be
dreadfully sad for you; I hope you didn’t mind my asking.” Then, after
a moment’s pause, “I’ll be your sister, if you would like me to, Miss
Potts. Of course, I couldn’t live with you always, but----”
“I wonder what your pa and ma would say to that, dear,” said Miss
Potts, half laughing, half crying. “It is very kind of you to think
of it, I’m sure, but I reckon you’ve got brothers and sisters enough
already.”
“Well, anyhow I can come in very often to see you. That will make it
seem a _little_ less lonely, won’t it? And-- Oh, there’s Geoffrey
running away. I _must_ go, because I want to see Loveday unwrap her
paint-box. I wonder if she will let me use it too. I think she might,
considering. There are two brushes, aren’t there? and she can’t use
both at once. Good-bye, Miss Potts. I will come again soon. O Geoffrey,
you are mean! You might as well wait, when you know I am hurrying as
fast as ever I can.”