A week after the girls had taken possession of the flat Stephen joined
them, and spent his evenings carpentering, hanging up pictures, and
laying carpets, as a pleasant relaxation after a day's work in the City.
He had been unpleasantly surprised to discover that, though the firm
for which he worked was of long standing and first-class position, its
offices were by no means so large or so comfortable as those which he
had left behind in the little country town. The room in which he worked
was so dark that the gas seemed to be burning all day long; the windows
looked out on a narrow side-street; there was a continual roar of
traffic, a rumbling from the trains underground. His head ached, and he
found it impossible to concentrate his thoughts. But when the long day
came to an end, there was a certain exhilaration in walking home through
the crowded streets, in looking at historic scenes, and feeling that one
was an inmate of the greatest city, of the capital of the world!
Every evening, too, the flat looked more home-like, as suitable
resting-places were discovered for the old furniture, and the familiar
pictures smiled a welcome from the walls. Madge's paper-hanging had
been a success of which she was justly proud, and the little dining-room
looked both pretty and cosy when the curtains were drawn and the lamps
lighted. The girls were tired but cheerful, and had always amusing
little anecdotes to relate as gleanings from the day's work; the
workmen, the charwoman, the porter at the door downstairs, were all so
different from the country-folk to whom they had been accustomed; and
imitation of the Cockney accent proved an unfailing source of delight.
Madge cultivated special sentences with a view to impressing her sisters
on their arrival, and when they drove up to the door, insisted upon
"p'ying the keb" with a vehemence which left them speechless with
consternation.
Hope and Theo were conveyed upstairs flight after flight--for the lift
had not yet been introduced into these unfashionable mansions--and when
at last they could go no farther, lo! there was an open door, a blaze of
light sending forth a welcome, and the new home all ready to receive
them, even to the very tea on the table, and hot water in the basins in
the bedrooms. It was delightful to meet again, to have the first meal
in the new home, to feel that the step so long contemplated was an
accomplished fact; and if a certain amount of disillusion had to be
endured, the new-comers had enough good feeling to notice only what they
could admire. Dark though it was, it was scarcely seven o'clock when
the evening meal was finished; and in the state of pent-up excitement in
which the travellers found themselves, it seemed impossible to stay
quietly indoors.
"Couldn't we _do_ something?" asked Hope wistfully. "I feel like a
caged lion shut up here, knowing that London lies outside. We need not
go to bed for three hours at least. Oh Steve! the top of an omnibus--a
drive along the streets, with all the lights--past Saint Paul's and the
Abbey, and along the Embankment. Could we do it? Oh, do you think we
might do it?"
The eager voice and pleading eyes raised a general laugh of amusement,
and even the prudent Stephen could find no objection to so innocent a
request.
"Well, really, I think we might rise to that. Put on warm coats, and we
will lock the door behind us and sally forth. An omnibus to Saint
Paul's, and another to Victoria Station, and back the best way we can.
I don't know the ropes yet, but we shall easily find out. It will do
Phil and Madge good, too, for they have hardly stirred out of the flat
this last fortnight."
No sooner said than done. It was astonishing how quickly hats and
jackets were donned, and in a quarter of an hour's time the four girls
were fearfully clambering up the narrow steps leading to the top of a
"City" 'bus, and taking their seats on the foremost benches. Hope took
an outside place, but begged to change seats before she had driven a
hundred yards; at every turn and crossing her heart died within her, and
she seemed to look death in the face. She hung on to Philippa's arm and
groaned incessantly, but when asked if she would like to return home,
"Oh no, no! I love it," she cried, and groaned again, more fearfully
than before.
The other occupants of the benches stared with curious gaze at the five
young people, whose animation was in such marked contrast to their own
phlegmatic calm; and Theo studied them in her turn, making up little
romances concerning them, as her nature was. "That fat dark man is
married to the little woman in blue. She was left an orphan, and he was
a friend of her father's. He offered to marry her, and she was lonely
and sad, and didn't care very much what she did. He is very kind to
her; he is carrying all the parcels; but her heart isn't satisfied. She
stares before her all the time, and never speaks... The girl with the
pearl beads serves in a shop. She is going home to a suburb, and her
`young man' will meet her at the station. They are going to have a
little shop together, and she is thinking how she will manage it. How
she does turn and twist! Her hair is like a great turban round her
head. She would be pretty if she would not spoil herself so... That
poor, sad-looking young fellow has just had notice to leave his
situation. He is thinking how he can tell his wife. He will put his
arms round her, and they will cry together. She will kiss him and say,
`For better, for worse, dear; for richer, for poorer.' Her voice will
be like music. He will look at her, and his face will shine. Oh dear!
I am crying myself. How stupid! I'll write an article--`On a City
'Bus'--a character sketch, short and strong and dramatic. Where shall I
send it?"
She went off into a reverie, turning over in her mind the names of
different papers and magazines, planning, wondering, weaving dreams,
while the omnibus made its way down Holborn towards the Viaduct. Madge
and Steve were chattering gaily together. Hope sat with clasped hands,
gazing eagerly ahead for the first glimpse of the majestic dome. Tired
Philippa blinked at the rows of lamps, the flaring advertisements, and
gaily lighted saloons, and wished that the drive would last for hours,
so that she might sit still and feel the refreshing night-air play upon
her brow. She groaned when the stoppage came and Madge pulled her
impatiently by the arm; and had nothing but yawns to mingle with her
sisters' ecstasies as they stood at the corner of the Churchyard, and
gazed and gazed until it seemed that they would never tear themselves
away. Hope was hearing in imagination the swell of the great organ, the
reed-like sweetness of the voices of the white-robed choristers. Madge
was already painting a picture of the great edifice by night, the
twinkling lights beneath, the vast outline losing itself mysteriously in
the clouds.
Theo was trembling, and biting her lips to keep back the tears. To her
it was not a building at all; it was a sign--a symbol! The wide steps
were not empty--she saw on them the blaze of great national pageants;
the wide nave was filled with happy faces, with black-robed women who
wept and wrung their hands; in her ears was the tramp of armed men. She
shivered and drew her cloak closely round her. When the next omnibus
for Victoria came along she took a surreptitious opportunity of flicking
the drops from her eyelashes. Some day she would write about this too!
Oh, what wealth of subjects, what capital, what inspiration in this
wonderful, throbbing world! And then Stephen tapped her on the shoulder
and cried a well-known name:
"Fleet Street, Theo! Allow me to introduce you. Your special beat, my
dear."
"My publishers! Where are my publishers!" cried Theo loudly, as though
she expected to see the heads of the great firms ranged in a body to
greet her.
The other occupants of the benches overheard her words, and gazed upon
her with becoming awe. This was evidently a distinguished author! Note
her well--consider her features, so that she may be recognised by the
portraits in the shop windows! Philippa smiled whimsically at the
thought that already Theo had made an impression. What further triumphs
or humiliations had this Fleet Street in store for her?
Well, it was a wonderful drive! If Saint Paul's had been impressive,
what about that glorious pile of buildings at Westminster, and the first
glimpse of the river by night! It was like a dream--a wonderful dream--
in which the imagined glories of the world passed in review before the
eyes.
That night the girls were in the clouds, lifted far above mercenary
anxieties; but they came back to earth again next morning when their
boxes had been unpacked and stored away, and they were confronted with
the all-important question of the next move. When lunch was over
silence fell suddenly upon the little room, and four pairs of eyes met
in solemn conclave.
"I--er--I shall go round to the Slade School and make inquiries," said
Madge quickly. "We are settled down now, and must lose no more time. I
shall ask what is the very first day I can join."
"I shall write to Mr Hammond, the editor of the _Casket_. His firm
publish books as well as the magazine, and he took most of father's
things. I shall ask him if he can see me for ten minutes, as I am
thinking of devoting myself to literature as a profession, and should be
grateful for his advice."
"I--er--I am going to pay a call at Hampstead," said Hope, trying to
look confident and self-possessed, but flushing a tell-tale pink all
over her delicate face. "You remember the name of Miss Minnie
Caldecott, who sings some of father's songs? I found one of her cards,
and she is at home every Tuesday afternoon. I thought if I went early I
might see her before any one else arrived. I have been working at that
new song ever since you left, Phil, and it _is_ pretty! It's the best
thing I have written, and if she took a fancy to it, and promised to
sing it at concerts, it would be so much easier to find a publisher. If
I can summon courage I shall ask her to let me accompany her as well.
If I could sell a few songs, and make a little money by playing
accompaniments, it would help to pay for my lessons."
Poor Hope! She looked at once so frightened, so eager, and so pretty
that her sisters broke into a simultaneous murmur of sympathy.
"I'll go with you," said Philippa quickly. "You must have some one to
support you, poor dear! And how--oh, how are we going to find our way?"
"Ask the porter downstairs. We shall have to go about alone, so the
sooner we puzzle it out the better. Yes, do come, Phil! If you don't,
I shall probably run away as soon as I've rung the bell. Will she be
very formidable, do you think?"
Philippa did not know, could not conjecture. Professional singers
existed for her only on the programmes of concerts. She had never heard
one more celebrated than Miss James, the singing-mistress from Coventry.
Sometimes, she believed, they were paid fabulous prices for singing;
but Minnie Caldecott did not seem to come in the first rank. Perhaps
she, like themselves, was struggling to make her name.
The girls found their way to Hampstead with wonderfully little trouble;
but it was more difficult to find Mayfield Rood, and they wandered about
for half-an-hour before discovering its whereabouts. It was not an
attractive situation; neither was the house a palatial residence; and
though Miss Caldecott was "at home" as usual, the costume of the
servant-maid left much to be desired. She led the way down a narrow
entrance-hall, and showed the visitors into a room at the back of the
house, saying that Miss Caldecott would be with them in a few minutes'
time.
It was barely half-past three, yet two lamps were already burning under
elaborate pink shades, and there was a profusion of flowers on the
mantelpiece and on the small tables with which the floor was crowded.
The piano stood open, with a litter of torn sheets on the top, and there
were photographs--photographs everywhere--of extraordinary-looking
people, who all seemed to write their names underneath with fat
quill-pens and many dashes. The lady with the little ring in the middle
of her forehead was "Mabs;" the one swinging in a hammock was "Bella;"
"Fanny" smirked from a bower of palms, and wore ropes and ropes of
pearls round her neck. There was a framed photograph on the wall with a
signature like the rest. From across the room Hope recognised a
familiar name, and was about to rise to study it close at hand, when
swish-swish came the rustle of silken skirts, the door opened, and Miss
Caldecott herself made her appearance.