"I'll be in time for school," I said, "for I'll run all the way. Get me
a little chop for dinner--please do, Hannah; and--and to-night we'll
have supper, and we'll ask Von Marlo, and you shall come and have supper
with us, dear, darling Hannah!"
Hannah grinned.
"You're wonderful coaxing in your ways just now, Dumps. I can't make
out what sort of maggot you've got in your head. But there! you shall
have your chop; it's as cheap as anything else."
I always brought my hat and jacket down with me when I came to
breakfast; now I put them on and went off to school. I really was very
ridiculous; but I always was wanting in common-sense. I forced myself
to believe that father's letter was a sort of practical joke, and I was
comfortably conning over the fact that we would have another jolly
evening to-night, and that he doubtless would have forgotten all about
having ever put pen to paper when he returned home, when I saw a number
of my schoolfellows waiting for me just round the corner which led into
the great school. Amongst them was Augusta Moore. But Augusta Moore,
who might have been a sort of refuge from the ordinary girls, was now
flanked on the right hand by Rita Swan and on the left by Agnes Swan;
and there were several other girls behind this trio. When they saw me
they all shouted, "Here she is! Here she is!" and they made for me in a
body.
I stood still when I saw them advancing. It wasn't that they came
slowly; they came in a great rush as from a catapult. They drew up when
they got within a few inches of me. Then Rita said, "We were making a
bet about you."
"A bet?" I said. "What do you mean?"
"Augusta said you would come; Agnes and I said you wouldn't."
"Why should I come?" I said.
"Well," exclaimed Rita, "I know most girls would take a holiday on the
day after their father's wedding. Most girls would--but you!"
"What do you mean?" I said.
My face was as white as a sheet then, I knew, for I felt very cold, and
my eyes were smarting, and that dimness was coming over them again.
"Oh, there, there!" said Augusta Moore.
She wrenched herself away from the Swans, and came up to me and took my
hand. I don't exactly know what followed next; I only knew that there
was a great buzzing, and a number of people were talking, and I knew
that Augusta went on saying, "There, there, dear!" Finally I found
myself walking away from school, led by Augusta--away from school, and
towards home. I was making no protest of any sort whatever.
At last we reached our own house, and Augusta looked wistfully at the
tall steps which led to the front door; but she said, "I am not coming
in with you, for I know you would rather be alone. It must be a fearful
trial for you to have that noble, exalted father of yours united in
marriage to such a very commonplace woman as Miss Donnithorne. I feel
for you, from the bottom of my heart. Kiss me; I am truly sorry for
you."
Of course, I could not go to school that day. I allowed Augusta to
print a little kiss--a tiny, tiny kiss--on my forehead, and then I
waited until Hannah opened the door. I felt so stupid that perhaps I
should not have rung the bell at all; but Augusta, roused out of herself
for the time being, had performed this office for me, and when Hannah
opened the door I crept into the house and sank down on a chair.
"Hannah," I said--"Hannah, it is true, and he hasn't taken leave of his
senses. He was united in marriage yesterday with Grace Donnithorne. Oh
Hannah! Oh Hannah!"
Perhaps I expected Hannah to show great surprise; but all she really did
was to kneel down beside me, and open her arms wide, and say, "Come,
then, honey! Come, then, honey!" and she clasped me in her bony arms
and drew my head down to rest on her breast. Then I had relief in a
burst of tears. I cried long. I cried as I had not cried since I could
remember, for no one in the old house had time for tears; tears were not
encouraged in that austere, neglected abode.
After a time Hannah lifted me up, just as though I were a baby, and
conveyed me into the parlour. There she laid me on two chairs, and put
cushions under my head, and said, "I have got a drop of strong broth
downstairs, and you shall have it."
I enjoyed being coddled and petted by Hannah, and we both, by a sort of
tacit consent, agreed not to allude for the present to the terribly
painful topic which had at last intruded itself upon us. After I had
taken the soup I felt better and was able to sit up. Then Hannah
squatted down in front of the fire and looked into it. I observed that
her own eyes were red; but all she did was to sway herself backwards and
forwards and say, "Dearie me! Oh, my word! Dearie me!"
At last the mournful sort of chant got upon my nerves. I jumped up with
alacrity.
"Hannah, the boys will be in soon. We must tell them, and we must get
the place in order, and--"
"Miss Dumps!" cried Hannah.
She spoke in a loud, shrill voice. "If you think, Miss Dumps, even for
a single minute, that I'm going to put up with it, you've mistook me,
that's all."
"But what are you going to do, Hannah? You won't leave us, will you?"
"Leave you? Go out of the house into which I came when Master Alex was
a baby, bless him! and when you were but a tiny, tiny tot! Leave the
house? No, it ain't me as 'ull do that."
"Then, Hannah, what will you do?"