"THE BEST-LAID SCHEMES"
Peter had been as good as his word, and had found a family returning to
India who were glad to take Ayah back to Bombay. And she, though sorry
to leave Jan and the children, acquiesced in all arrangements made for
her with the philosophic patience of the East. March was a cold month,
and she was often rather miserable, in spite of her pride in her shoes
and stockings and the warm clothes Jan had provided for her.
Before she left Jan interviewed her new mistress and found her kind and
sensible, and an old campaigner who had made the voyage innumerable
times.
It certainly occurred to Jan that Peter had been extraordinarily quick
in making this arrangement, but she concluded that he had written on the
subject before they left India. She had no idea that he had sent a long
and costly cable on the subject. His friend thought him very solicitous
for her comfort, but set it down entirely to her own merits and Peter's
discriminating good sense.
When the day came Jan took Ayah to her new quarters in a taxi. Of course
Ayah wept, and Jan felt like weeping herself, as she would like to have
kept her on for the summer months. But she knew it wouldn't do; that
apart from the question of expense, Hannah could never overcome her
prejudices against "that heathen buddy," and that to have explained that
poor Ayah was a Roman Catholic would only have made matters worse.
Hannah was too valuable in every way to upset her with impunity, and the
chance of sending Ayah back to India in such kind custody was too good
to lose.
Meg had deferred the adoption of the musical-comedy costume until such
time as she took over Ayah's duties. She in no way interfered, but was
helpful in so many unobtrusive ways that Jan, while she still felt
guilty in allowing her to stay at all, acknowledged she could never have
got through this time without her.
Fortunately the day of Ayah's departure was fine, so that while Jan took
her to her destination Meg took the children to spend the afternoon at
the Zoo. To escort little Fay about London was always rather an ordeal
to anyone of a retiring disposition. She was so fearless, so interested
in her fellow-creatures, and so ready at all times and in all places to
enter into conversation with absolute strangers, preferably men, that
embarrassing situations were almost inevitable; and her speech, high and
clear and carrying--in spite of the missing "r"--rendered it rarely
possible to hope people did not understand what she said.
They went by the Metropolitan to Baker Street and sat on one of the
small seats at right angles to the windows, and a gentleman wearing a
very shiny top-hat sat down opposite to them.
He looked at little Fay; little Fay looked at him and, smiling her
adorable, confident smile, leant forward, remarking: "Sahib, you wear a
very high hat."
Instantly the eyes of all the neighbouring passengers were fixed upon
the hat and its owner. His, however, were only for the very small lady
that faced him; the small lady in a close white bonnet and bewitching
curls that bobbed and fluttered in the swaying of the train.
He took off the immaculate topper and held it out towards her. "There,"
he said, "would you like to look at it?"
Fay carefully rubbed it the wrong way with a tentative woolly-gloved
finger. "Plitty, high hat," she cooed. "Can plitty little Fay have it to
keep?"
But the gentleman's admiration did not carry him as far as this.
Somewhat hastily he withdrew his hat, smoothed it (it had just been
ironed) and placed it on his head again. Then he became aware of the
smiling faces and concentrated gaze of his neighbours; also, that the
attractive round face that had given him so much pleasure had exchanged
its captivating smile for a pathetic melancholy that even promised
tears. He turned extremely red and escaped at the next station.
Whereupon ungrateful little Fay, who had never had the slightest
intention of crying, remarked loftily: "Tahsome man dawn."
When at last they reached the Zoo Meg took it upon herself to
remonstrate with her younger charge.
"You mustn't ask strangers for things, dear; you really mustn't--not in
the street or in the train."
"What for?" asked Fay. She nearly always said, "What for" when she meant
"Why"; and it was as hard-worked a phrase as "What nelse?"
"Because people don't do it, you know."
"They do--I've heard 'em."
"Well, beggars perhaps, but not nice little girls."
"Do nasty little girls?"
"_Only_ nasty little girls would do it, I think."
Fay pondered this for a minute, then in a regretfully reflective voice
she said sadly: "Vat was a nasty, gleedy sahib in a tlain."
"Not at all," Meg argued, struggling with her mirth. "How would you have
liked it if he'd asked you to give him your bonnet 'to keep'?"
Little Fay hastily put up her hands to her head to be sure her bonnet
was in its place, then she inquired with great interest: "What's 'is
place, deah Med?"
"Deah Med" soon found herself followed round by a small crowd of other
sight-seers who waited for and greeted little Fay's unceasing comments
with joyful appreciation. Such popular publicity was not at all to Meg's
taste, and although the afternoon was extremely cold her cheeks never
ceased to burn till she got the children safely back to the flat again.
Tony was gloomy and taciturn. Nobody took the slightest notice of him.
Weather that seemed to brace his sister to the most energetic gaiety
only made him feel torpid and miserable. He was not naughty, merely
apathetic, uninterested, and consequently uninteresting. Meg thought he
might be homesick and sad about Ayah, and was very kind and gentle, but
her advances met with no response.
By this time Tony was sure of his aunt, but he had by no means made up
his mind about Meg.
When they got back to Kensington Meg joyously handed over the children
to Jan while she retired to her room to array herself in her uniform.
She was to "take over" from that moment, and approached her new sphere
with high seriousness and an intense desire to be, as she put it, "a
wild success."
For weeks she had been reading the publications of the P. N. E. U. and
the "Child-Study Society," to say nothing of Manuals upon "Infant
Hygiene," "The Montessori Method" and "The Formation of Character."
Sympathy and Insight, Duty and Discipline, Self-Control and Obedience,
Regularity and Concentration of Effort--all with the largest
capitals--were to be her watchwords. And she buttoned on her
well-fitting white linen apron (newest and most approved hospital
pattern, which she had been obliged to make herself, for she could buy
nothing small enough) in a spirit of dedication as sincere as that
imbuing any candidate for Holy Orders. Then, almost breathlessly, she
put her cap upon her flaming head and surveyed the general effect in the
long glass.
Yes, it was all very satisfactory. Well-hung, short, green linen
frock--was it a trifle short? Yet the little feet in the low-heeled
shoes were neat as the ankles above them were slim, and one needed a
short skirt for "working about."
Perhaps there _was_ a touch of musical comedy about her appearance, but
that was merely because she was so small and the cap, a muslin cap of a
Quakerish shape, distinctly becoming. Well, there was no reason why she
should want to look hideous. She would not be less capable because she
was pleasing to the eye.
She seized her flannel apron from the bed where she had placed it ready
before she went out, and with one last lingering look at herself went
swiftly to her new duties.
Tea passed peacefully enough, though Fay asked embarrassing questions,
such as "Why you wear suts a funny hat?"
"Because I'm an ayah," Meg answered quickly.
"Ayahs don't wear zose kind of hats."
"English ayahs do, and I'm going to be your ayah, you know."
Fay considered Meg for a minute. "No," she said, shaking her head.
"_No._"
"Have another sponge-finger," Jan suggested diplomatically, handing the
dish to her niece, and the danger was averted.
They played games with the children after tea and all went well till
bed-time. Meg had begged Jan to leave them entirely to her, and with
considerable misgiving she had seen Meg marshal the children to the
bathroom and shut the door. Tony was asked as a favour to go too this
first evening without Ayah, lest little Fay should feel lonely. It was
queer, Jan reflected when left alone in the drawing-room, how she seemed
to turn to the taciturn Tony for help where her obstreperous niece was
concerned. Over and over again Tony had intervened and successfully
prevented a storm.
Meg turned on the bath and began to undress little Fay. She bore this
with comparative meekness, but when all her garments had been removed
she slipped from Meg's knees and, standing squarely on the floor,
announced:
"I want my own Ayah. Engliss Ayah not wass me. Own Ayah muss come bat."
"She can't, my darling; she's gone to other little girls, you know--we
told you many days ago."
"She muss come bat--'_jaldi_,'" shouted Fay--"jaldi" being Hindustani
for "quickly."
Meg sighed. "I'm afraid she can't do that. Come, my precious, and let me
bathe you; you'll get cold standing there."
With a quick movement Meg seized the plump, round body. She was muscular
though so small, and in spite of little Fay's opposition she lifted her
into the bath. She felt Tony pull at her skirts and say something, but
was too busy to pay attention.
Little Fay was in the bath sure enough, but to wash her was quite
another matter. You may lead a sturdy infant of three to the water in a
fixed bath, but no power on earth can wash that infant if it doesn't
choose. Fay screamed and struggled and wriggled and kicked, finally
slipping right under the water, which frightened her dreadfully; she
lost her breath for one second, only to give forth ear-splitting yells
the next. She was slippery as a trout and strong as a leaping salmon.
Jan could bear it no longer and came in. Meg had succeeded in lifting
the terrified baby out of the bath, and she stood on the square of cork
defying the "Engliss Ayah," wet from her topmost curl to her pink toes,
but wholly unwashed.
Tony ran to Jan and under all the din contrived to say: "It's the big
bath; she's frightened. Ayah never put her in the big bath."
Meg had forgotten this. The little tin bath they had brought from India
for the voyage stood in a corner.
It was filled, while Fay, wrapped in a Turkish towel, sobbed more
quietly, ejaculating between the gurgles: "Nasty hat, nasty Engliss
Ayah. I want my own deah Ayah!"
When the bath was ready poor Meg again approached little Fay, but Fay
would have none of her.
"No," she wailed, "Engliss Ayah in nasty hat _not_ wass me. Tony wass
me, _deah_ Tony."
She held out her arms to her brother, who promptly received her in his.
"You'd better let me," he said to the anxious young women. "We'll never
get her finished else."
So it ended in Tony's being arrayed in the flannel apron which, tied
under his arm-pits, was not so greatly too long. With his sleeves
turned up he washed his small sister with thoroughness and despatch,
pointing out somewhat proudly that he "went into all the corners."
[Illustration: He washed his small sister with thoroughness and
despatch, pointing out ... that he "went into all the corners."]
The washing-glove was very large on Tony's little hand, and he used a
tremendous lot of soap--but Fay became all smiles and amiability during
the process. Meg and Jan had tears in their eyes as they watched the
quaint spectacle. There was something poignantly pathetic in the
clinging together of these two small wayfarers in a strange country, so
far from all they had known and shared in their short experience.
Meg's "nasty hat" was rakishly askew upon her red curls, for Fay had
frequently grabbed at it in her rage, and the beautiful green linen gown
was sopping wet.
"Engliss Ayah clying!" Fay remarked surprisedly. "What for?"
"Because you wouldn't let me bathe you," said Meg dismally. Her voice
broke. She really was most upset. As it happened, she did the only thing
that would have appealed to little Fay.
"Don't cly, deah Med," she said sweetly. "You sall dly me."
And Meg, student of so many manuals, humbly and gratefully accepted the
task.
It had taken exactly an hour and a quarter to get Fay ready for bed.
Indian Ayah used to do it in fifteen minutes.
Consistently and cheerfully gracious, Fay permitted Meg to carry her to
her cot and tuck her in.
Meg lit the night-light and switched off the light, when a melancholy
voice began to chant:
"_My_ Ayah always dave me a choccly."
Now there was no infant in London less deserving of a choccly at that
moment than troublesome little Fay. "Nursery Hygiene" proclaimed the
undeniable fact that sweetmeats last thing at night are most injurious.
Duty and Discipline and Self-Control should all have pointed out the
evil of any indulgence of the sort. Yet Meg, with all her theories quite
fresh and new, and with this excellent opportunity of putting them into
practice, extracted a choccly from a box on the chest of drawers; and
when the voice, "like broken music," announced for the third time, "_My_
Ayah always dave me a choccly," "So will this Ayah," said Meg, and
popped it into the mouth whence the voice issued.
There was a satisfied smacking and munching for a space, when the voice
took up the tale:
"Once Tony had thlee----"
But what it was Tony once had "thlee" of Meg was not to know that night,
for naughty little Fay fell fast asleep.
* * * * *
For a week Tony bathed his sister every night. Neither Jan nor Meg felt
equal to facing and going through again the terrors of that first night
without Ayah. Little Fay was quite good--she permitted Meg to undress
her and even to put her in the little bath, but once there she always
said firmly, "Tony wass me," and Tony did.
Then he burned his hand.
He was never openly and obstreperously disobedient like little Fay. On
the whole he preferred a quiet life free from contention. But very early
in their acquaintance Jan had discovered that what Tony determined upon
that he did, and in this he resembled her so strongly that she felt a
secret sympathy with him, even when such tenacity of purpose was most
inconvenient.
He liked to find things out for himself, and no amount of warning or
prohibition could prevent his investigations. Thus it came about that,
carefully guarded as the children were from any contact with the fires,
Tony simply didn't believe what was told him of their dangers.
Fires were new to him. They were so pretty, with their dancing flames,
it seemed a pity to shut them in behind those latticed guards Auntie Jan
was so fond of. Never did Tony see the fires without those tiresome
guards and he wanted to very much.
One afternoon just before tea, while Meg was changing little Fay's
frock, he slipped across to the drawing-room where Auntie Jan was busy
writing a letter. Joy! the guard was off the fire; he could sit on the
rug and watch it undisturbed. He made no noise, but knelt down softly in
front of it and stretched out his hands to the pleasant warmth. It was
the sort of fire Tony liked to watch, red at the heart, with little
curling flames that were mirrored in the tiled hearth.
Jan looked up from her writing and saw him there, saw also that there
was no guard, but, as little Fay had not yet come, thought Tony far too
sensible to interfere with the fire in any way. She went on with her
writing; then when she looked again something in the intentness of his
attitude caused her to say: "Be sure you don't get too near the fire,
Tony; it hurts badly to be burned."
"Yes, Auntie Jan," Tony said meekly.
She wrote a few lines more, looked up, and held her breath. It would
have been an easy matter even then to dash across and put on the guard;
but in a flash Jan realised that to let Tony burn himself a little at
that moment might save a very bad accident later on. There was nothing
in his clothes to catch alight. His woollen jersey fitted closely.
Exactly as though he were going to pick a flower, with curved hand
outstretched Tony tried to capture and hold one of the dancing flames.
He drew his hand back very quickly, and Jan expected a loud outcry, but
none came. He sat back on the hearth-rug and rocked his body to and fro,
holding the burnt right hand with his left, but he did not utter a
sound.
"It does hurt, doesn't it?" said Jan.
He started at the quiet voice and turned a little puckered face towards
her. "Yes," he said, with a big sigh; "but I know now."
"Come with me and I'll put something on it to make it hurt less," said
Jan, and crossed to the door.
"Hadn't we better," he said, rather breathlessly, "put that thing on for
fear of Fay?"
Jan carefully replaced the "thing" and took him to her room, where she
bandaged the poor little hand with carron-oil and cotton-wool. The outer
edge was scorched from little finger to wrist. She made no remark while
she did it, and Tony leaned confidingly against her the while.
"Is that better?" she asked, when she had fastened the final safety-pin
in the bandage. There was one big tear on Tony's cheek.
"It's nice and cool, that stuff. _Why_ does it hurt so, Auntie Jan? It
looks so kind and pretty."
"It is kind and pretty, only we mustn't go too near. Will you be sure
and tell Fay how it can hurt?"
"I'll _tell_ her," he promised, but he didn't seem to have much hope of
the news acting as a deterrent.
When at bed-time Jan announced that Tony could not possibly bathe Fay
because he mustn't get his hand wet or disturb the dressing, she and Meg
tremblingly awaited the awful fuss that seemed bound to follow.
But Fay was always unexpected. "Then Med muss wass me," she remarked
calmly. The good custom was established and Meg began to perk up again.