MISS BERTHA'S BONNET
"OF course you must take home presents for everybody. People always buy
things when they come to London, and we'll begin with a present for
Miss Bertha!"
It was Dawn who spoke. The three children were in Kensington Gardens.
Blanche was with them, but she was now on a seat reading a book. They
had been having a series of games, and, tired out, were consulting as
to the next move.
"What can we buy her?" asked Christina. "It must be something very,
very nice."
"The great thing," said Dawn wisely, "is to give people what they like,
not what you like yourself. When I was a small kid I gave dad a penny
trumpet on his birthday. He didn't pitch it out of the window, but he
pretended he liked it. Of course I know better now, and I generally
give him some tobacco."
"We've got to think what old ladies like," asserted Puggy. "My sister
Ena gave the old women in the almshouses a pound of tea and a shawl."
"But Miss Bertha has lots of shawls, and very nice tea," said
Christina. "I wish we knew an old lady who would tell us what she
likes. I wonder if Mrs. Bolland could tell us. Father said I might go
and see her again."
"You ask Blanche," suggested Dawn; so Christina went across to her.
"Blanche, if you were an old lady, what would you like as a present?"
Blanche looked up a little impatiently from her book.
"Oh, a bonnet or a gown," she said, and Christina went back to the boys
and repeated her words.
"The very thing," said Dawn. "We'll get her the most lovely bonnet. How
much money have we got?"
They consulted, and found that between them they could manage thirty
shillings.
Miss Bertha was dear to their hearts. As Puggy said, the Christmas
holidays were rich times, and they determined that Miss Bertha should
have the very best bonnet that London could produce. The next question
was, where should they buy it and when?
"We mustn't have any grown-up person bothering us. Dad lets me go alone
to any shop, but Tina's father is so waxy about her that she'll have to
be left behind. You and me must choose it, Puggy."
Christina nearly dissolved into tears. "You won't choose it without
me," she pleaded. "I really must choose it with you."
There was a long talk about it. Finally, Blanche was taken into their
confidence, and persuaded to come with them to the nearest milliner's
on their way home. But she was made to wait outside, whilst they went
in and made their purchase.
It was a very grand shop indeed. Christina wondered at the audacity
of the boys. She grew nervous and shy at the low giggling of the
young lady assistants, as they produced various bonnets for the boys'
inspection. Puggy and Dawn were perfectly equal to the occasion. They
made the young women put the bonnets on, they tried them on themselves,
and insisted upon Christina doing so.
"It's for an old lady, and she's not at all gloomy," said Dawn, "so we
won't have a black bonnet. It must be a blue or pink one."
"Or one with cherries in," suggested Puggy, pointing to a small toque
trimmed entirely of that fruit. "Now that's a lovely one, it makes me
want to eat it! Do just put that on your head, Dawn, and let me get
behind you, because I do sit behind Miss Bertha in church, and if they
smell like cherries, I shall snap at them, I know I shall."
Christina did not like the cherry toque, it was too small she thought.
After a great deal of talk they settled on one at last. It was a
wonderful erection of red roses and black plumes. An obliging assistant
said she would take out the black feather and ribbon and put in red
instead, and Christina gave the address of the hotel. When the bill
was handed to them, they saw it came to four guineas. None of them had
asked the price, and none of them liked to say that they thought it
dear.
"Perhaps you would rather pay on delivery?" the children were asked.
"Oh, yes," said Puggy grandly. "Send it up to-night without fail."
They walked out of the shop, then gazed at each other with blank
feelings of despair.
"I've just half a crown more," said Dawn, "that will clear me out for
good and all. I did think my new half-sovereign would have been enough!"
"Blanche, how much does a bonnet generally cost?" asked Christina
tearfully.
Blanche had been sauntering outside looking into other shop windows.
She was in a very good humour to-day.
"It depends on the style, Miss Tina; a cheap one could be had for
eighteen or nineteen shillings. I've seen some at twenty guineas. And
I've seen them at five shillings and sixpence for the working classes."
Christina said no more; the children were very quiet till they reached
their hotel, then Puggy said in the entrance hall as Dawn was wishing
them good-bye:
"Look here! You shan't go home and leave us in this fix. It's share
alike. We said so."
"Come into our sitting-room. Father and mother are out," suggested
Christina, "and we can talk quietly without any one hearing us."
So to the sitting-room they went, and it was with very sober faces they
anxiously consulted together. "Would they take it back and let us have
a cheaper one?" Christina asked.
"Of course they wouldn't!" exclaimed Dawn. "There wasn't another
nice one in the shop. Besides, we ought to be willing to sacerryfice
anything for Miss Bertha. We must sell our clothes or something.
There's lots of ways of getting money, you know; lots, and awfully nice
ways too. I'll give my last half-crown. I was a cad to mind giving it
for Miss Bertha, and mind you two clear your money bags clean out. Not
one penny do you keep back!"
Christina hastily left the room, and soon returned with her money-box.
Puggy went away and brought his last pennies. They put their money in a
pile and counted it up. With Dawn's twelve shillings and sixpence they
made out exactly two pounds one shilling and sevenpence halfpenny, and
then, with pencil and paper, they came to the alarming conclusion that
they must get together two pounds two shillings and fourpence halfpenny
more.
"We shall never do it. How can we pay it to-night?" Christina's face
was very woe-begone.
"Oh, we must ask them to wait for their money for a few days," said
Dawn airily. "We'll do it!"
"I know," said Puggy, with the air of a martyr, as he unbuttoned his
waistcoat and took his silver watch and chain out and laid it on the
table. "A chap in our school got into debt, and took his watch to the
pawnshop. I'll do the same. It's true the chap was found out and nearly
expelled, but that was because his debts were backing horses, it wasn't
for pawning his watch. I'll go now. What have you got, Tina?"
Christina wildly suggested a great many of her treasures; but as they
were chiefly books and toys the boys scoffed at her.
"It must be something silver or gold," they said. "I have my gold
bangle that father gave me," said Christina humbly. "I hope he won't be
angry if I sell it; but we couldn't be in debt, could we? That's much
worse. Don't they put you into prison for debt?"
"No," said Puggy, "they send a seedy-looking chap to follow you
wherever you go, and he gets inside your house and lives on the fat of
the land, and you daren't turn him out, and then he takes any furniture
or pictures or silver he likes, to pay for what you owe."
"Oh," said Christina with a little shiver, "will they send him here
to-night?"
"You fetch me your bangle and I'll take my watch, and Dawn and I will
go off to the pawnshop at once. And don't you say anything to any one
till we come back."
"But if the bonnet comes while you are away?"
"Tell them to wait till we come."
The boys slipped out of the hotel, and Christina sat down to wait for
their return in great unhappiness of mind. She was unhappy about her
bangle; she felt she ought to have asked some one's leave before she
parted with it; she was dreading the arrival of the bonnet, and felt
she would not be equal to the occasion; and she did not know whether
Puggy was right in going out with Dawn so late in the afternoon. This
was quite enough to bring careworn wrinkles on her small brow.
She started violently when the door opened suddenly and the waiter said:
"A parcel for Miss Maclahan. Is it to come in here? Waiting for an
answer."
"Oh!" cried Christina excitedly, getting down from her chair. "It must
wait, please. At least, it must come in—it belongs to us—but they must
wait."
"I'll tell the young person to bring it in," said the waiter; and the
next moment poor Christina was face to face with a tall young woman,
who held a bandbox in her hand. She was not one of the attendants whom
Christina had already seen in the shop, and for a moment the child
looked at her with an agonized face. How could she keep her till the
boys came back she wondered!
The young woman looked at Christina, and spoke sharply.
"Waiting for payment!" she said. "Is there any one I can speak to?"
Then Christina rose to the occasion, as she generally did in an
emergency.
"Please sit down; we are expecting you. They will be here presently.
It's a very fine day."
The girl took a seat. If Christina's voice trembled with nervousness,
she did not seem to notice it. She looked at her with a little smile.
"If it is a fine day it doesn't make any odds to me. I'm always
tramping about all weathers."
There was a pause, then Christina said shyly:
"I should like to see the bonnet. Will you take it out for me?"
"What will your mamma say?"
"Oh, it isn't for her. It is a present the boys and I are going to give
Miss Bertha. The bonnet belongs to us, you know."
"I didn't understand that. Then have you got the money for me?"
"The boys will be here very soon with it." Christina's cheeks flushed
crimson as she spoke.
"Well, my time is precious," said the young woman, and her tone was
sharp again.
She took out the bonnet, and Christina gazed at it admiringly. It
certainly was a very striking structure; the red ribbons and plumes and
flowers made you hot to look at it!
"The old lady will be seen a mile off when she wears it," said the
young woman. "It'll act as a danger signal anywhere!"
Christina did not understand this. She looked at the clock. It was
six o'clock. Would the boys ever be back? Then she tried to make more
conversation.
"Do you like London?" she asked.
A short laugh was the only answer she got, and then to her infinite
relief she heard a scuffle outside, and the door burst open.
"We've got it, we've got it!"
The boys paused abruptly when they saw that Christina was not alone.
Dawn, seeing the bonnet on the table, made a dash at it, put it on his
head, and danced round the table. Puggy, with a very business-like air,
turned to the young woman.
"Hold out your hand, and I'll count the money into it, and mind you
give me a proper receipt for it. I know all about bills. You can't take
me in!"
Dawn paused in his antics to see the transaction, and Christina watched
breathlessly whilst Puggy began to count out his gold and silver. He
was inflated with pride and importance as he did so, but the young
woman did not seem impressed; on the contrary, she laughed in his face
as she wrote out the receipt and gave it to him.
"I hope the lady will like the bonnet," she said, as she took her
leave; "it isn't often we send out such a specimen!"
"Now what did she mean by that?" demanded Dawn. "Something rude, I bet!"
Forgetting he still wore the bonnet, he dashed out of the room after
her, and putting his head over the banister, he shouted out:
"It isn't often your shop mistress sends out such a specimen like you!"
A shout of laughter greeted him, and he saw three or four ladies and
gentlemen in the entrance hall below looking up.
"Is it a monkey?" he heard some one say, and then remembering his
headgear, he scampered back to the sitting-room.
Christina and Puggy were in anxious consultation.
"Shan't I ever get my gold bangle back again?"
"Well, you see, we couldn't find a proper pawnshop, so we went into the
first jeweller's we came to. The man was a decent chap. He asked how
much we wanted, and we told him the exact sum. He gave it to us. He
said my watch was very old, and your bangle out of fashion, or he could
have given us more."
"I thought you were never coming," said Christina. "Where shall we put
the bonnet? She has taken the box away."
"Oh, you must keep it somewhere," said Puggy impatiently, "girls take
care of bonnets, boys don't!"
"I wish I was coming back with you two," said Dawn gravely. "I should
awfully like to see Miss Bertha's face when she sees her present.
Now, mind you don't say a word to anybody, Tina. Let it be a proper
surprise."
"But I think I ought to tell father about my bangle."
"Rubbish! Why should you? You'll spoil it all!"
Christina said no more, but she carried a heavy burden with her to bed
that night, and the next morning took counsel with Puggy.
"I shall never be happy till father knows. I can't laugh or smile or
talk or play while I remember it. Do let me tell him."
"Now, look here, don't make an ass of yourself! You had to do it! I'm
sure the Squire would be awfully waxy if he knew you had debts you
couldn't pay. You'll see what he says. I'll ask about it at breakfast."
Accordingly Puggy began, when he and Christina were seated at the
breakfast table with Mr. and Mrs. Maclahan:
"Squire, isn't it a bad thing to run into debt?"
"Very bad. I hope you have not been doing it."
Puggy shook his head virtuously.
"No. I never mean to. But it's better to sell all the clothes off your
back, isn't it, than to run up a bill you can't pay?"
His sister looked sharply at him.
"Not in your case," she said, "because your clothes aren't your own to
sell."
Puggy shook his shoulders impatiently.
"I was only speaking in—a—a allegory fashion," he said. "I'm not going
to sell my clothes; I was thinking of the world and all the people
in it who have bills they can't pay. Why, if Christina and I—" here
he kicked Christina under the table, for he was treading on delicate
ground—"had a bill to pay and we hadn't the money, it would be quite
right if we sold some of our own toys and things!"
"It would be quite wrong for you to have any bill that you could not
pay," said his sister, looking at him suspiciously.
Puggy crammed his mouth with bread and jam; for an instant he looked up
stolidly into his sister's face, then went on eating steadily.
Mrs. Maclahan glanced from him to Christina, who turned colour and
looked scared at once.
"I am not naturally suspicious," said Mrs. Maclahan, "but I am sure you
two children have been up to something. What is it?"
"We've been up to lots of things," said Puggy readily. "And we're up to
be taken to the Zoo to-day. We haven't been there yet."
"You must wait till to-morrow. I'll take you there myself, and Dawn can
come too. It is the only day you have, for we shall be returning home
on Saturday!"
"Hurray! We'll send Dawn a telegram, shall we, so that he may know at
once?"
Puggy had turned the conversation, as he had meant to do, but Christina
did not feel any happier. When her father asked her if she would like
to come out for a walk in the gardens with him she did not respond as
cheerfully as usual. Puggy had a word with her before she went.
"Mind you don't split on us!" he said severely.
Then Christina turned at bay.
"I shall split on myself if I like," she said.
"You'll be a sneak if you do, and you can't separate yourself from me.
England and Scotland are joined together, and they must stand or fall
together. Remember that!"
Christina put her fingers in her ears and turned away from him. But she
did not enjoy her time with her father, and he thought she must be out
of spirits. She came home as miserable as when she went out, and was
slowly toiling up the hotel stairs to her bedroom when she was met by
Mrs. Maclahan.
"Ah, Tina, here you are! Now you can explain. Connie tells me she has
found a huge red bonnet under your bed. It looks perfectly new. Is it a
secret?"
"Yes," said Christina, with frightened eyes.
"So Puggy says. He told me you would explain. I hope to goodness it is
not going to be a present to me?"
"Oh, no," said Christina eagerly. "It's—it's for Miss Bertha. We have
bought it for her."
Mrs. Maclahan began to laugh, and she laughed so heartily that
Christina looked at her in wonder.
"You ridiculous children! Oh, if Miss Bertha appears in it, I shall
die! Where on earth did you get it?"
"At a shop."
Christina's tones were faltering.
"Did Puggy say I was to tell you?" she asked.
"He had better answer for himself. Come into the sitting-room; I left
him there."
Christina followed her stepmother, and in a few minutes the whole story
was told.
"The game is up!" Puggy exclaimed tragically; but he was relieved that
the confession had to be made to his sister, and not to the Squire.
But even she looked very vexed when she heard about the watch and the
bangle, and insisted upon telling her husband. And Mr. Maclahan spoke
very sharply to the children about it.
"When you knew you had not the money to buy it, you ought to have had
the pluck to say so. Now, Puggy, come with me to the jeweller's at
once, and we will see if we cannot get these things back. If you had
asked me for money, Christina, I would have given it to you gladly. I
cannot bear this underhand behaviour."
Christina was by this time in tears, and her stepmother interceded for
her.
"There, Herbert, not much harm is done! Miss Bertha must get that
bonnet at all costs. I will go shares; or, if it is to be the
children's present, I will give them each a tip which will bring them
out of debt. You must get the bangle and watch back, of course."
This was done; but to teach them a lesson, the Squire locked up both
bangle and watch in his dressing-case, and neither Puggy nor Christina
had them again till three months had gone by.