THE INTERRUPTION AND CONCLUSION.
Just at this moment the Humming Top was suddenly interrupted by a
violent, loud noise which checked his humming pretty quickly, and
startled all the rest of the toys so much, that they rolled and rattled
back into their shelter, the toy cupboard, as speedily as they could.
"Vich of the painters is a coming to-morrow, Seusan, my child," said old
Mrs. Jones, the charwoman, as she popped her head in at the door, and
held up a tall dip in a tin candlestick to see if all was safe.
"Well, I thought I'd a shet up these here windows," said she, "but I
s'pose I didn't, and the wind must have blowed the cupboard door open,
and sent these here old playthings all over the room. Come in, my dear,
and just help me to put them in again, will ye?"
And with Susan's help, old Mrs. Jones made a complete, clean sweep of
all the poor dilapidated toys, huddled them roughly back into their
cupboard, and shut the door, not only turning the button firmly, but
locking it as well.
"Them painter chaps," said Mrs. Jones, as she put the key in her great
dimity pocket, "isn't to be trusted no ways. They're as likely to shy
all them old playthings out o' winder as not, and then the poor children
would miss 'em when they come home."
And so the room was once more left to stillness and darkness for the
night. The little mice came out and ran riot about the bare floor, and
tried to get into the cupboard, but they could not manage it; and the
crickets chirped loudly in the distant kitchen, for they were so used to
Mrs. Jones, they did not mind her a bit. But the poor toys were really
shut up again, and their holiday ended much quicker than they had
expected. They heard the distant sounds of the workmen all over the
house, and even heard them come into the nursery itself, but they saw
nothing more. They could even hear the regular dabs and sweeps of the
painter's brush, especially when he was at work on the door that shut
them up so closely, and then afterwards they heard the paper hangers
ripping off the old papers with a rushing noise, and scraping and sizing
the walls for the new paper, but they never got out.
Then the next sounds that greeted them, after a long interval, were the
voices of Mr. Spenser and old Mrs. Jones. He had come to see how the
house looked after the workmen had left, and she was showing him all
over it.
"The nursery looks very nice, sir," she said, as she opened the door,
"the old dirty paper all gone, and new paint, you can hardly know it
again. This here new paper, to my mind, with the trails of roses and
jessamy, is the prettiest in the house!"
"It looks very clean and bright certainly," replied Mr. Spenser, "but
why don't you open this door too? You can't have too much air!"
"This is only a cupboard, sir," answered Mrs. Jones. "There were a lot
of old playthings left here, and I thought them painters might fling 'em
about, so I just turned the key, sir, but I'm going to clean it right
down to-morrow. I thought, sir, that may be, the young ladies and
gentlemen might be put out if they found all their little things losed.
But here's the key, sir, in my pocket, and now they're all off the
premises, there's no need to keep it locked up."
"Quite right, Mrs. Jones," said Mr. Spenser, "I'm very glad you had so
much thought. I don't know how Nurse came to overlook this cupboard."
"Why, there, she had such a deal to do with packing up all the things,
sir," replied Mrs. Jones, "that t'aint to be wondered at, and its all
safe enough to my certain knowledge;" and then, after a little fumbling,
she unlocked the door, and threw it wide open, disclosing all the heap
of old toys huddled up together.
"Well this _is_ a queer collection!" said Mr. Spenser, laughing; "a
regular museum of antediluvian playthings! Where on earth could they
have come from? I don't remember seeing the children with any of these,
even any time back! However, shut them up, Mrs. Jones, till the children
come home, and then we'll enquire into the matter!"
Again was the door shut, and the Toys consigned once more to quiet and
darkness, but this time only the button was turned, and not the key, so
they slumbered peacefully enough and with the hope of freedom before
them. And next morning if they had not a holiday to themselves, they had
at any rate a little fresh air and sunshine. They were all turned out on
the floor, while Mrs. Jones brought her pail and scrubbing brush, and
gave the cupboard one of her "good cleans," as she called them. And when
it was all thoroughly dry, which she had taken care to hasten by setting
the windows and doors open, she came back and began to replace the Toys.
"Now I've cleaned the cupboard, I s'pose I'm bound to tidy up the
playthings," said she to herself; "anyhow I'll dust 'em a bit."
How they all quaked as they came under her hands, for she did dust them
with a vengeance! She rubbed and scrubbed them with an old piece of tea
cloth, she tugged asunder the Kite and the Skipping-rope in a lively
manner, that ended in the loss of half his long tail and much of his
fringe, she shook the dust out of the old Doll, and almost all the
little life and bran she had left with it; she mixed up the Tea-things
and Marbles in a bowl of cold water, and then dry rubbed them with a
hard duster; she bumped the Ball, she flapped the Toy Kitchen, she
rubbed down the Rocking Horse till his last leg fell off; in short she
cleaned them all, up and down, till they hardly knew whether they were
wood or tin! She finished up by arranging them all after her own fancy
on the shelf of the cupboard.
"Well really," said she, taking a step backward to survey the general
effect, "it looks almost as nice as a toy shop!" And in the pride of her
heart at her own work, she left the door ajar, that it might not be lost
upon the family. And by-and-bye the housemaid and cook returned from
their holiday, and they set to work and unpacked all the furniture out
of the lumber room and replaced each article in its proper position. And
the carpenter came and nailed down the carpets and put up the curtains,
and the work proceeded fast and merrily, for they were all expected home
the next evening. So the Toys heard and saw more life around them than
they had done for years, but they were not able to resume their gossips,
for there were people in and out the whole day; and even by night they
were not alone, for the cook slept in the room on a hasty-shake down
bed, so as to be able to get every other room settled. And when the
evening came, the arrival of the family was soon made known by the noisy
bustle of the children and the clatter all over the house. The mice
trembled with fear behind the wainscots, and the crickets shrunk back
into their farthest holes, for they understood well enough that their
reign was over for the present. As for the Toys, they rather rejoiced
than otherwise, for they had been in their time used to human
companionship, and after their lonely captivity, were not sorry to
welcome it once again.
And as for the children, they were boiling over with wild spirits and
merriment at their return to such a pleasant, bright home. They rambled
all over the house, and held solemn councils in each room as to the new
paper and paint, and were altogether thoroughly happy. Their long visit
by the seaside had done them a world of good, for the fresh salt breezes
had seemed to send new strength to every fibre of their bodies and rosy
colour to their cheeks, although the sun had done his part so well, that
they were tanned of a healthy brown as well as red. Indeed, as Frank
said, they had all had a coat of paint too, only that it was of a light
mahogany colour!
When Miss Watson came next morning, she was so hugged, and welcomed, and
talked to eagerly by all three at once, that after enduring it patiently
for a little while, she laughed gaily, and said:--
"My dears, I really must say to you, as the French king did to his
courtiers and the donkey, when they all deafened him with their clamour,
'one at a time, gentlemen, if you please!' for while Celia prattles in
one ear, and Florry gabbles in the other, and while Frank dances before
me and shouts into both, I am quite unable to understand one word from
either. You are not more rejoiced to see me than I am to welcome you all
back, especially my dear Celia," said Miss Watson, as she affectionately
drew Celia close to her and kissed her, "for I see I have been a true
prophet, and that you have found the roses I promised you. So I think,
as this morning evidently is not likely to be spent in lessons, I must
take you one at a time and hear all you have to tell me, only remember,
gentlemen, it must be one at a time!"
They all laughed heartily, and promised to comply with her desire, and
so, as Frank said he could not keep his word if he stayed there, for he
should be sure to begin telling her some of his adventures, he went off
to the garden to see how that was getting on, and whether the scarlet
runners in his little plot bid fair to give him one dish of beans that
year. Florry was so eager to talk to Miss Watson, and so full of
chatter, that by common consent she was banished to the nursery, where
she made a descent upon the open toy cupboard, and routed them all about
till they hardly knew what had come upon them. Meanwhile Miss Watson and
Celia had a very pleasant chat upon all that had happened during the
holidays. And presently Mrs. Spenser came in, and greeted Miss Watson
heartily.
"It does seem so good to be at home again," she said. "We have enjoyed
our trip immensely, and the young folks have benefited by it so much
that I quite rejoice in it. Don't you think Celia is looking blooming
again, Miss Watson. You were quite right in your predictions; the nice
rambles and drives on the beach, and a fair amount of sea bathing, have
indeed brought back her rosy cheeks. And Frank is all the better for it
too, so I think the change will quite set him up before he goes to
Westminster. And I don't know whether they told you that dear Harry came
to us from Winchester, and was with us the whole time, which was a great
treat, especially to me; and, dear boy, he enjoyed it so much. He is
grown such a fine fellow, Miss Watson, you would hardly know your old
pupil, and he is now gone to spend the rest of his vacation with his
uncle Henry, in the Isle of Man."
"I am sure it has done you all good," replied Miss Watson, "but I must
confess, my dear Mrs. Spenser, the change for the better in yourself
seems to me the best of all. You were looking so worn and thin when I
last saw you, that I observed to my sister I thought _you_ were the
person who needed change most!"
"I believe I did," answered Mrs. Spenser, smiling; "I had been feeling
far from strong for a long while, so that the rest and freedom from care
has been a real holiday to me. But I _am_ so glad to get home once more,
indeed, I believe one of the great blessings in going away lies in the
pleasure of coming back; and all looks so fresh and bright, it is like a
new house!"
"Mamma, Mamma," cried Florry, eagerly, "we have found all the old toys
we thought we had lost! There was a cupboard in the nursery, which Nurse
says she had lost the key of for a long while--and she thought it was
empty. Do come and see, Celia; there's your old doll, and the
skipping-rope, and all Harry's marbles, besides the big kite, and such a
lot of things." "Oh!" said Celia, clapping her hands and dancing round
the room, "it's like Ali Baba's hoard of riches, and Frank says it's a
regular treasure of Toys!"
[Illustration]
WERTHEIMER, LEA AND CO., PRINTERS, FINSBURY CIRCUS.
Transcriber's notes:
1. Extensive normalisation of " (used for direct speech) and '
(used for speech-within-speech).
2. Corrected "could'nt" to "couldn't".
3. Replaced "roley poley" with "roley-poley" for consistency.
4. Corrected "surburban" to "suburban".
5. Corrected "I can, myself remember" to "I can myself remember"
(superfluous comma).
6. Corrected "and done her hair." to "and done her hair?"
(? missing in original)
7. Corrected "usually termed 'Jean'" to "usually termed 'Jean,'"
(comma missing in original)
8. Corrected "lovedher" to "loved her".
9. Corrected "wont" to "won't".
10. Corrected "the fellow to he" to "the fellow to ye".
11. Corrected "Mrs. Spencer's" to "Mrs. Spenser's" (typo 3x).
12. Corrected "The Story of the Leaden Tea-things" (ToC) to "The
Fate of the Leaden Tea-things" (used in text).
13. Corrected "The Toy Kitchen and its Maker" (ToC) to "The Toy
Kitchen; and its Maker" (used in text).
14. Corrected "pantomine" to "pantomime" (typo).
15. Corrected "belonging" to "belonged" (typo).
16. Corrected "is'nt" to "isn't".
17. Corrected "such a lot of things. Oh!" to "" such a lot of
things." "Oh!" (change of speaker).
18. Changed for consistency: playbox to play-box, kindhearted to
kind-hearted, goodnatured to good-natured, "penn'orth"
to "pennorth".
19. Corrected "drivin" to "drivin'".
20. Corrected "hav'nt" to "haven't".