THE GIPSIES' SUPPER
IT is so dreadful when in the bottom of your heart you want to be good,
to find yourself wanting most frightfully to do what you know isn't
good. All the delicious things seem to be wrong. And I think this
gipsies' supper seemed the most delicious thing I had ever heard of.
After tea, I walked round and round the path in the garden and thought
about it. I knew perfectly well we shouldn't be allowed to go—certainly
we girls should not. But we were always in the garden till bedtime, so
it would be quite easy to slip away without being seen, and the walk
there in the dusk would be jolly, and the supper, with the fire, and
the gipsies all sitting round, would be simply entrancing, and then the
walk back afterwards by moonlight would be so unusual. I simply ached
and longed to do it.
And then I thought to myself that of course if I meant to be a faithful
servant, I couldn't go to anything that my Master wouldn't like me to,
and so I must ask Him about it first. And I hope it isn't priggish to
write it down, but I went into the shrubbery close to the church, where
no one could see me, and told Jesus Christ all about it, and asked Him
to make me stop at home if it was wrong to go. And when I got up I
felt quite, quite sure I mustn't go, and I knew I must try and prevent
Lynette from going too. So then I went to find her. I'm afraid I felt
very disappointed; particularly when I saw the boys stealing down the
drive.
I ran after them.
"Are you going?" I said.
"Yes; you had better be quick if you're coming," said Denys.
"I'm not coming," I said; "where's Lynette?"
"Trying to be as good as yourself!" said Aylwin in a mocking voice.
The tears would come into my eyes.
"Oh, I wish, I wish I could come!" I said.
And then I ran into the house, for it just struck me I was like Balaam,
who wanted to go when God didn't want him to. But I was glad the boys
were going off by themselves without Lynette.
I went all over the house calling to her, but I couldn't find her
anywhere. Then I thought she might have gone to wish Andy good-night,
so I went down to the field, and all over the garden, and asked Baldwin
and Emma and cook if they had seen her, but none of them had. And then
Aunt Caroline told me it was bedtime, and asked me where Lynette was. I
told her I could not find her, but she didn't seem to take it in. She
told me not to wait, but to go to bed myself, and Lynette must follow.
So I said good-night to father, who was in the study, and then I went
upstairs, and I felt lonely and miserable, and began to wish again I
had gone with the boys. And then I wondered if Lynette had gone with
them after all. I remembered what she said, that she meant to go,
however much she might be punished afterwards. I was in bed, rather
worrying over it, when Aunt Caroline came in.
"Where is Lynette, Grisel? Emma says she can't be found, and the boys
too—where are they?"
I was silent, for it isn't "good form" to tell tales. We never do.
Aunt Caroline would make me speak. She said she would fetch father up
if I didn't, so then I said:
"I know where the boys are, Aunt Caroline, but I'd rather not say. And
I don't know if Lynette is with them or not."
"But you must say where they have gone, Grisel; it is very naughty of
them to go off like this."
"They won't come to any harm," I said, "but they'll be in rather late."
"I shall speak to your father about it at once."
Aunt Caroline knew we would never tell tales of each other, and I was
sorry for her, because she looked so anxious.
No one came near me for some time, and then father did, and when I
heard his step, I was tempted to hide my head under the clothes and
pretend to be asleep. But I didn't, for he put his hand on my head. And
when he does that, it's like a kiss, and I feel I can tell him anything.
"Well, little woman, has Lynette not turned up yet? What pickles you
are! Your poor aunt is quite upset."
"I'm so sorry, father, but Lynette never told me she was going, and I
never saw her go."
"You know where the boys are?"
"Yes, father."
He was silent a minute, then he said:
"I am afraid you must tell me. I can't have one of my little daughters
out of the house at this time of the night without knowing where she
is."
So then I told him—I had to; and he heaved a sigh.
"It's very wrong of them, and they must know it. I am disappointed in
Denys!"
"Oh, father," I said, squeezing his hand, "if only you were a boy
again, I'm sure you'd like to do it yourself. Fancy! They may be
sitting round a camp fire, eating rabbit stew, and hearing gipsy songs
being sung! Why is it wrong to do it? I wish it wasn't!"
Father smiled.
"Well, Grisel, it might not do the boys much harm, but gipsies are not
fit company for my little girls, and Denys ought to have known better.
Why, Lynette is a baby!"
He walked towards the door, then he gave a little nod at me.
"Good child!" he said, and then he left the room.
I heard the hall door shut immediately after, so I knew that he had
gone to meet them coming back. I tried to keep awake, but I couldn't,
and I never woke till the next morning.
I looked over towards Lynette's bed, and found she was there right
enough, and when she woke up she was very sleepy and cross.
"Do tell me all about it," I said. "Did you go with the boys?"
"Of course I did, you stupid! I told you I would go. I ran out before
they did, in case you might try to stop me, and I waited on Mrs.
Ribbon's doorstep till they came by, and then I joined them."
Lynette stopped, then she added mischievously:
"Denys wanted to send me back, so I told him I wasn't one of his Sunday
scholars, and he didn't like that at all. He said he would punch my
head for cheek, if I didn't look-out."
"Do tell me about the supper," I said eagerly.
"There was none," said Lynette crossly. "It was all for nothing, and my
legs ached with tiredness. When we got there, it was all dark, and the
van and the tent were gone, and there wasn't a single person there. But
there was a piece of paper nailed to a tree, and in awful bad letters
it was written:
"'THE GIPSIES' SUPPER
First catch your hare, then cook it.'
"Denys said it was quite a clever joke for gipsies, but he and Aylwin
were awfully angry, and so was I."
"It was just a sell, then!" I said.
And I tried not to feel glad. I'm not properly good at all. I wish I
was. I felt much gladder now that I hadn't gone, for I didn't miss
anything. And I ought to have been just as glad if they really had had
a ripping good supper.
"It's too bad," grumbled Lynette; "we're all going to be punished for
nothing at all, for we never had the supper."
The boys were very quiet at breakfast. I knew father must have given
them a good scolding, and neither they nor Lynette were to go out into
the garden after tea. They had to stay up in the schoolroom. Father
doesn't often punish, and it's more the disgrace than the punishment
itself that we mind. Though after tea is our favourite time in the day,
because lessons are over, and we meant to ride the donkey in turns
round and round the field to get him accustomed to us. Just before the
boys went off to school, Denys said to me in the hall:
"I don't wonder grown-up people are always saying the world is getting
worse, and everybody is quite different from what they used to be, I
know jolly well the gipsies are!"
And that was all he ever said about the gipsies' supper-party.
For the next few days we were all very busy getting the donkey-cart
ready. Father let the boys have some paint. Mrs. Ribbon got it for
them; they chose the brightest green they could get. We wanted scarlet,
but it seems red paint is the most expensive, and we had to have the
cheapest. Denys and Aylwin are very good painters; they've done a lot
of things before, and they don't make themselves in a mess. I do; and
when they let me paint the shafts, I just covered my hands all over,
and my dress too; the brushes got so full of paint, that the paint
ran down the handle and covered me with it. I suppose I try to be too
quick. However, Lynette and I cleaned the brass parts of the harness,
and we got a brush and groomed Andy. We caught him and brought him into
the stable. He seemed to like it, and I'm sure we did. And all the time
Denys was trying to settle how we could buy a saddle.
"Of course we must have one," he said. "We can't always go about in the
cart. I shall have to go on fishing for a bit, and you'll have to fish
too, Aylwin, and Lynette can go on toffeeing."
"And I'll go on selling vegetables and flowers," I cried. "We can all
go on doing it till we get enough."
"And Puff can go on praying," said Aylwin.
"You're not to be irreverent!" I said.
"I'm not," said Aylwin. "I really do think his prayers were answered,
because granny must have been made to send the money. She never has
done such a thing before."
"Cook is always saying, 'God helps those who help themselves,'" I said.
"Yes," said Denys, "and I'd rather earn the money than have it arrive
in a letter."
So we set to work again, but we found time to have some rides on Andy,
though we had to ride bareback.
The next thing that happened was our school-treat. We always love
school-treats, but when we lived in a town we used to go out in
wagonettes to the country. Here they're held in fields or gardens close
by.
Lady Laura always has the children in her park, and they march from our
village with flags, and the next village joins us, and so it is a very
big thing indeed.
The day before the treat Denys came back from school with a black eye
and a cut just above it. He told me at once he had been fighting "the
Sausage." That's the boy with thick legs, who's so nasty.
Father asked Denys at once about it, and Denys said:
"I kept my hands off him too long, father. He got to think he could say
anything. He said the convicts in prison were nearly all parsons' sons,
because their fathers were all snivelling hypocrites. I told him to
take it back, and he looked me full in the face and said:
"'Your snivelling dad may lay down the law in the pulpit, but his
bounder of a boy won't dictate to me, I can jolly well tell you!'"
"And then I went for him, and he actually ran away, and picked up a
stone and flung it at me. I wouldn't have minded having a fist in my
eye—but a stone! We all howled and yelled at him, and he tried to take
refuge in old Gray's study, but we had him out of that, and we made him
stand up, and I gave him a jolly good licking. And it was a good thing
I did it and not some of the others, for I knew when to stop, and if
young Gray had got at him I believe he would have half killed him!"
"Yes," Aylwin chimed in, "and he went blabbing to old Gray, and he told
him he jolly well deserved what he had got."
Father did not say much. He seems to understand boys, but just before
we went to bed, Denys came to me, when no one was near, and he said:
"Look here, Grizzy, I'll hand you over the infants' class to teach. I
can't keep it up. I can't tell them not to fight when I do it myself. I
separated two boys in the village yesterday. It was a mistake my trying
to do it, but I wanted to carry out the 'go' we heard about. And then
there was that scrape, taking Lynette out at night. I can't keep it up,
it's no good."
"All right," I said, "but I'm afraid I won't be much better. Must you
never do one wrong thing if you teach a class?"
"I won't be a hypocrite," Denys said, and then he ran off.
When father heard of the class being handed over to me, he shook his
head at Denys. "My boy, do you know why you failed?" he said. "You put
the cart before the horse: you began to 'go' before you had 'come.'"
Denys got very red and didn't say anything for a minute, and then he
said:
"How do you mean?"
"You were like a civilian insisting upon marching out to battle with
soldiers, and considering himself a soldier, when he had never enlisted
and couldn't draw soldier's rations, or uniform, or arms."
Denys said no more, but I saw he was thinking hard. And I began to
think over it too, and I think I see what father meant. He often tells
us that though he gave us to God in our baptism to be His soldiers and
servants, the time must come when we must do it ourselves. And he says
we need not wait till our confirmation to do it. And I am wondering if
I have got my uniform and arms to fight. After all, if I have given
myself to be Christ's soldier and servant, He will look after me, and
give me all I want.
Denys didn't much like the idea of going to the school-treat with his
black eye, and father told him he must please himself about it.
"If you stay at home," he said, "you might like to drive your donkey
over to Morton Relton. It's five miles from here, and I want a message
taken to a farmer there."
So Denys quite cheered up, and said he would do it. The school-treat
was on Saturday, so of course we all had a holiday.
All of us except Denys started with the school-children at two o'clock.
Even Puff trudged along, though it was a long walk for him. We joined
the other school-children at Cross Glen village, and then we all walked
up through the big gates to the Hall.
Clarice and Beatrice were waiting on the steps. They were awfully
excited when they saw us. Beatrice was much better, and was able
to limp about on crutches. We stayed with them a little whilst the
school-children went on. There were all kinds of games in the park, and
races, and a Punch and Judy, and then came tea. One thing surprised us
at tea—all the plum cake was buttered; the children won't eat any cake
unless it is buttered. I think it is only a custom in our part of the
country. It seemed very funny to us, and I thought everybody must be
very rich in Lincolnshire; we could never afford to have it, I know. I
wish we could. Aunt Caroline told me to see that Puff didn't eat too
much of it, because he is rather greedy.
We told Beatrice and Clarice all about our donkey and cart and how we
got it, and then we planned that they should come over to our village
in their pony-carriage. It's the one thing they are allowed to do
alone. And then we'll bring out our donkey-cart, and we'll have a race
with them. I believe Andy will go quite as fast as their pony, though
Lynette said the pony tore like the wind when it ran away with her.
There were a lot of grown-up people at the school-treat. We kept away
from them as much as we could, because it's very dull when you have to
talk to them; they are never very interesting, and they always think
if they know father, they ought to know us. But presently a lady came
up to me when I was playing at "nuts and may," and I saw she was Mrs.
Rogers.
And in a few minutes she took me off to see her husband, who was
sitting under a tree with several other grown-up people. We had been so
busy that Lynette had quite forgotten to write the letter she promised,
and Captain Rogers wanted to hear if we had got a donkey.
"We heard old Nell had misbehaved herself, but I didn't wonder at
that," said Captain Rogers.
So I told him everything, and how our cart was painted and the harness
done up, and we were still trying to earn enough money to buy a
saddle. Then he asked how we were doing it, and when he heard of the
boys' fishing, he told me to tell them that he was awfully fond of
fresh-water fish and would like some for breakfast every morning if
they could bring some. So then I went and fetched Aylwin and told him I
had got him a customer. Aylwin didn't like coming at first, but when he
knew Captain Rogers was a man, he didn't mind. And in a minute he was
talking as hard as ever he could to him. Captain Rogers is such an easy
man to talk to. He told us he had got his steed and was going to crawl
about the lanes in a bath-chair, but he said it as if he liked it, and
Aylwin told him he could have great fun if he was game for it.
"A bath-chair and fun don't seem to fit," said Captain Rogers gravely.
"You could race in it," suggested Aylwin.
"Yes," I put in, "we're going to have a chariot race next week. I'm
going to get Denys to mark out the course. Beatrice and Clarice are
coming in their carriage, and if you could come in your bath-chair
there will be three of us."
"It sounds ripping, only must we drive three abreast? For the lanes
aren't over wide."
"I had thought of a big field," I said; "round and round, you know,
like the Romans used to drive in the ampi—something."
"Have you got any laurel crowns?"
"Yes," I said excitedly, "we have lots of laurel in the shrubbery, and
we'll make them."
"Oh, Charlie, what nonsense you talk!" said Mrs. Rogers, with a laugh,
but her eyes looked quite sad.
My face fell, for I thought it might be all chaff. So I begged her to
help us have the race.
She said to me, "The doctors won't let my husband go out of a foot's
pace, dear; he must not be shaken."
"Never mind," said Captain Rogers cheerfully; "I'll be umpire, and give
the crowns away."
"And we could have a tortoise race," said Aylwin, "and that could be an
easy crawl; last in, best man."
"I think you'll all have to come over to our big field close to the
farm. Mr. Donnyball has cut his hay and isn't ploughing it up for a
bit."
"That will be lovely," I said. "If you could fix a day, I would tell
Beatrice and Clarice about it. Saturday is our best day, because it is
a holiday."
"Next Saturday then, sharp at two o'clock, and we'll have tea down by
the river, which runs at the bottom of the field."
"There's the choir practice," whispered Aylwin to me; "we're always
missing it. I do wish Aunt Caroline would change the day. It's our only
holiday."
I felt rather impatient that he had reminded me of it. Father had been
talking to us about it. He said children nowadays thought of nothing
but amusement, and exercised no self-denial. And if they took up a
thing, they never stuck to it if it interfered with their pleasure.
I knew he meant the choir practice, as we had been rather irregular
lately, but I was simply longing to have the race, and it seemed such a
pity to put it off.
"When do your summer holidays begin?" asked Captain Rogers, seeing our
hesitation.
"The last of this month," I said; "at least the boys' do. I believe
Aunt Caroline is going to keep Lynette and me at lessons longer. She
says we have lost such a lot of our time because of our move."
"Well, let us put off the race till the 1st of August," suggested
Captain Rogers. "That will be a Thursday, and you can be practising for
it beforehand."
"Yes," I said, cheering up, "we will. Andy must beat Clarice's pony;
we'll make him."
"And where's the lady of the hair?" asked Captain Rogers.
I knew he meant Lynette, so I called her, and then I went back to the
games, and Lynette stayed and talked.
I found out Clarice and Beatrice, and told them about it, and they were
awfully delighted. They said their mother had known Mrs. Rogers when
she was a little girl, and had recommended her to bring her husband to
the farm, so she would be sure to let them come.
Soon after, we came home, and we told Denys about it. He said he must
be charioteer, for girls couldn't drive, but I said Clarice was going
to drive their pony, so I should drive Andy. We almost got into a
quarrel over it, until Aylwin said that he should offer to be their
charioteer, and then it would make us quits.
And then Lynette and I suddenly thought we would cover our cart with
flowers and make it lovely. So we were all friends again, and longed
for the 1st of August to be here.