D. Wragg was out on business, down by the docks. He had left home
directly after breakfast, telling his lodger, the little Frenchman, that
he was "good to buy five hundred of zebras, or a hundred of grays, or a
miskellaneous assortment of anything fresh brought over;" and he tapped
his breast-pocket as he spoke, winking and jerking himself up and down.
"Dessay I could find a customer for a monkey, if I brought one home."
A sharp glance was directed at Patty by Janet, as the dealer spoke; for
Wragg's absence being likely to last the whole day, while Canau's
engagements would occupy him for a considerable portion of it, Mrs
Pellet had been persuaded to let Patty come and bear her friend company
during the time when she would otherwise have been left alone in charge
of D. Wragg's stock-in-trade.
"Coming back," said D. Wragg, "I shall see about the four-wheeler, so as
we can go down comfortable. What time shall we start?"
He looked at Janet as he spoke, but she was thoughtful and silent;
coming back though into the present, upon being again addressed.
"All right, then!" said D. Wragg; "to-morrow morning, directly arter
breakfast, say half arter eight, and that will be nine; and you and
Mother Winks will be sure and get a basket all ready."
D. Wragg took his departure, after an affectionate glance all round at
the birds and the rest of his stock-in-trade, while the little Frenchman
stood lighting his cigarette with the match handed him by Janet.
"You will stay with Janet?" he said to Patty, as he turned to go.
"Yes; she has promised," said Janet, quickly; "but you will be back in
an hour to paint the birds?"
"Good! yes, in one hour;" and raising his hat, he replaced it, old and
pinched of brim, very much on one side, and sauntered out.
The two girls, left now alone, stood silently in the shop for a few
minutes, and then entered the back-room, where, in a quiet, pre-occupied
manner, Janet commenced arranging cardboard, gum, and various packets of
feathers, upon the table; an operation interrupted almost directly by a
loud tapping upon the shop-counter.
Patty turned to answer the summons for her friend, but, on reaching the
glass-door, she started back, looking pale and anxious.
"Oh, pray go!" she whispered to Janet, whose dark eyes were fixed
maliciously upon her.
"So it is the gay cavalier, is it?" laughed Janet, in a harsh angry
fashion.
"No, no!" whispered Patty, "but that dreadful man. He follows me, and
always comes to the shop when he thinks I am here."
"I'll answer him," said Janet, fiercely; and then in a whisper, "should
you have turned back if it had been some one else?"
Patty's sole reply was a look of reproach, one, though, that spoke
volumes, as the deformed girl left the room to encounter the heavy,
surly-voiced young man, who, upon being sharply asked what he wanted--
"Didn't quite know. Perhaps it were a bird, or it might be a ferret;
but he wasn't quite sure. How-so-be, _she_ wasn't the one as was in the
shop the other day. Where was the other one? Oh! she was busy, was
she? Then p'raps he'd call again;" after which the heavy gentleman
loitered slowly out of the shop, to hang about the window, glancing in
at the birds and chewing straws.
"He's gone!" said Janet, returning to the room. "He's a hideous wretch,
ugly as I am. Such impudence! He did not want to buy anything. But
what a little coward you are!"
"Yes," sighed Patty, "I am--I know I am. Ah! Janet," she continued,
after a short pause, "I wish I were a lady!"
"For the sake of the gay cavalier, of course," laughed Janet,
sneeringly, and then she looked angrily across at her companion, who
bent her head, whispering to herself--
"She won't believe me--she won't believe me."
Janet's long fingers now grew very busy over her work, as she nimbly
arranged the wing, tail, back, and breast feathers of a partridge, with
gum, upon a stiff piece of card, following, with an accuracy learned of
the birds amongst which she had so long dwelt, the soft curves and
graceful swellings of the natural form, making up pair after pair of
ornaments, destined, after being finished off by Canau, and prettily
mounted, to be disposed of by D. Wragg at a profitable rate.
Punctual to his time, the little Frenchman returned, and, quite at home,
sauntered into the room.
"Good girls! good girls!" he said, lightly. "Now the colours and the
brush. Did the Madame Vinks bring the music she said she would borrow
from the _chef d'orchestre_? No? Ah! then, but I am disappoint, and
must wait. Janet, that bird is too big--round--plump--too much like the
Madame Vinks; but we will paint his beak and leg. He does look fit for
the _chef_--the cook--and not for the ornament."
Then taking up cakes, first of one colour and then of another, he
moistened a camel's hair pencil in the gum, and, with the skill of a
finished artist, gave the finishing touches, beaks, eyes, legs, to the
young girl's work.
In the midst of the operation, though, there was again the sound of a
step in the shop.
Patty rose and left the room, for Janet's fingers were busy with the
feathers, and she determined this time not to let cowardice prevent her
from doing her friend the little service. The deformed girl's manner,
however, evinced but little gratitude for the act, for she sat with bent
head, but flashing eyes and distended nostrils, eagerly listening to
catch the slightest word.
And eager whispered words those seemed to her to be, but replied to only
in monosyllables, and at last, when she raised her head and gazed
through the open door, she winced as if she had been struck, on seeing a
be-ringed hand stretched across the counter, and tightly holding one of
Patty's little white palms.
Janet did not heed that the young girl seemed to be vainly trying to
release that hand, as she stood right back against the cages at the side
of the shop.
It was a bright hot summer day, with window and door open, so as to
catch every wandering breeze that might lose itself in the vast maze of
bricks and mortar; and as Janet had that one glance in at the shop, the
door of communication banged loudly, and her view was cut off.
For a moment the girl's face was contracted by pain; then a fierce
malicious look swept over it as she rose to re-open the door.
"No, no--no, no, _mon enfant_; let the door rest," said Monsieur Canau.
"Wait till I have finished this one bird. Patty will be here directly."
Janet shrunk back into her chair, craning her neck forward, though, as
she tried in vain to make out the words that were spoken. Her teeth
gnawed her lip, and her nails seemed to be pressed into her hands, while
the twitching of her wide nostrils told of the agitation that moved her
so strongly.
Twice she made as though to leap up, determined not to bear longer the
restraint put upon her, but only to subside again into her eager
listening attitude, as Monsieur Canau still painted on, humming softly
an operatic air the while, as from time to time he stood to watch the
progress of his work.
He was evidently totally ignorant of what was taking place in the shop,
his occupation for the time being completely filling his mind, so that
neither did he notice the agitation of Janet, which grew each moment
more marked and decided in character.
At last the girl sprang sharply up, and walked towards the door, but
only to be stayed by Canau.
"A moment, little one!" he said; "the Indian ink is not here. Reach it
down for me from the closet."
With trembling hands, Janet crossed to the cupboard, and strove to find
the cake of paint; but it was beyond her reach, and she had to take a
chair before she could find it and return to the table.
"Good! Now mix me a little upon that saucer; not too much."
Janet obeyed without a word, and still Canau did not notice her
agitation.
At last, though, she was free; and with eyes glittering, she made
towards the door, just as she could hear now some hurried words, uttered
in a low tone, as if some one were pleading importunately.
Then a few quick broken sentences followed, and one of the cages was
slightly moved from its place.
Another moment, and Janet's hand was upon the fastening of the door, and
she had thrown it open in time to see Patty's drawn farther and farther
over the counter in spite of her resistance, and there it was held.
There were more words--hurried, eager words--a faint cry of
remonstrance, and then Patty's hand was snatched away with a violent
effort, and she rushed, hot and excited, into the room.
"Aha! there, mind, my child," said Canau; "but you will make the
feathers fly. What is it? Has one of the little dogs got loose, and
have you hunted him? Eh? Ah, _ma foi_! but you are hot and red-faced,
and angry! Has any one dared--but what is this?"
Monsieur Canau uttered this last query in fierce tones, for, following
rapidly upon the entrance of Patty, there was the dislodging a cage or
two, the rattle of some chains, and a general fluttering amongst D.
Wragg's feathered possessions, as Lionel Redgrave, in full pursuit,
forced his way into the little room.
Volume 2, Chapter XI.