"Just wait for me a minute, Dumps, and I'll get dressed and come down
and inspect them."
"Oh, but you won't frighten them?"
"Frighten them? Well, if they're that sort they won't be much good to
you. But wait outside the door, and I'll come down. To think that Von
Marlo made the toast! And how do you say he prepared the egg?"
"Poached it, father."
"Poached an egg for me, and cured my headache, and I scolded him as
though he were a rascal! I'll make amends when I see him next. Wait
outside the door, Rachel; I'll join you in a minute."
I did wait outside the door, and when my father came out he looked quite
spruce. He had absolutely put on a less greasy and shabby coat than
usual, and he had brushed his grey hair across his lofty brow; his pale
face looked its most dignified and most serene. He took my hand, and we
went downstairs.
By this time, as I knew there would be, there were high-jinks going on
in the parlour. Von Marlo was not present, but Alex, Charley, Squibs,
and the girls were playing at blind-man's buff. They were endeavouring
not to be too noisy; I will say that. It was Rita who was blindfold
when my father appeared. The tea-table was pushed into a distant corner
of the room; a guard had been put on the fire; and Rita was running as
silently as she could, but also as swiftly, round and round, with one of
father's own silk handkerchiefs tied across her eyes. Agnes was in
convulsions of laughter, and the boys were also.
"Caught! caught!" she cried, not noticing the entrance of my father, and
she clasped him firmly round the waist.
Her horror when the handkerchief was removed, and she found herself
holding on to the Professor, may be better imagined than described.
Poor Rita! she very nearly turned silly on the spot. I had to convey
her to a chair. Father said, "I am your prisoner, Miss Rita Swan. Am I
now to be blindfolded?"
"Oh no, father, you couldn't think of such a thing," I said.
He smiled and looked at me.
"Well, young people," he said, "you seem to be having a very merry time.
But where's my Knight of the Poached Egg? Why is he not present?"
However inclined to be impertinent and saucy and rude to me Alex and
Charley were when father was not present, they never dared to show this
spirit when he was by.
Father related the story of Von Marlo and the poached egg to the other
children.
"He is a chivalrous fellow, and I shall talk to him about it when I see
him, and thank him. I was very rude to him just now; but as to you,
Alex and Charley, if you ever let it leak out at college that he did
this thing, or turn him into ridicule on account of it, you won't hear
the last of it from me. It's a right good flogging either of you'll
get, so just keep your own counsel. And now, boys, if I don't mistake,
it's time for you to get to your books.--Rachel, my dear, you and your
friends can entertain one another; but would it not be nicest and more
cheerful if you first of all requested the presence of Hannah to remove
the tea-things?"
As father spoke he bowed to the girls, marched the boys in front of him
out of the room, and closed the door behind him.
"Well, I never!" exclaimed Agnes. "To be sure, Dumps, you do have
exciting times in this house!"
"I am very glad you have enjoyed it," I said, and I sat down and pushed
my hair away from my face.
"How flushed your cheeks are! And where is the Knight of the Poached
Egg? What a very funny boy he must be!"
"But you two mustn't tell the story about him either," I said. "I mean,
if you have any friends at the college, you mustn't relate it, for they
might laugh, and he was really very chivalrous. Father thinks a lot of
him; I can see that. And as to me, I think he is the most chivalrous
boy I have ever come across in the whole course of my life."
"Oh, that's because he said you were pretty. That's a foreigner's way
of talking. Alex spoke about it when you had gone out of the room. He
said of course his sister was good-looking; he would always stand up for
his sister; but it was a foreigner's way."
As Agnes spoke she raised her somewhat piquant little face and glanced
at me, as much as to say, "Poor Dumps! you are very plain, but of course
your own people must stand up for you."
"Well, we can have some games now," I said, forcing myself to turn the
conversation.
But the girls were disinclined for games; they preferred to sit by the
fire and talk, and ask me innumerable questions about the school, my
brothers, and Mr Von Marlo, and if Mr Von Marlo would be allowed to
come to see them on Sunday evenings, and if I would bring him, and all
sorts of talk of that sort. I answered that I shouldn't be allowed to
do anything of the sort, and that the only boy I knew in the school
except my brothers was Squibs, and of course, now, Mr Von Marlo.
"Well, well! we'll come and see you again if you like; and you must have
tea with us, you know, Rachel. Come to see us the night after
to-morrow, and we'll have some friends who will surprise you a bit. You
do look very nice in that pale-blue dress. But good-bye now, for it is
getting late."