"Get her what, ma'am?"
"Get her shoes mended before Sunday, and remember that her petticoat was
torn when she--bless me! has that thing burst at last?"
"No, ma'am, not yet," said Niven.
"Now then, keep back; show your tickets, please," said the inspector,
pushing Niven aside.
"Imperence!" muttered the offended housekeeper, again advancing to the
window when the man had passed.
As the train was evidently about to start, Miss Peppy's memory became
suddenly very acute, and a rush of forgotten directions almost choked
her as she leaned out of the window.
"Oh! Niven, I forgot--the--the--dear me, what is it? I know it so well
when I'm not in a flurry. It's awful to be subjected so constantly to--
the Child's History of England! that's it--on the top of my--my--which
trunk _can_ it be? I know, oh yes, the leather one. Emmie is to read--
well now, that is too bad--"
As Miss Peppy stopped and fumbled in her pocket inquiringly, Mrs Niven
asked, in some concern, if it was her purse.
"No, it's my thimble; ah! here it is, there's a corner in that pocket
where everything seems to--well," (shriek from the whistle), "oh! and--
and--the baker's book--it must be--by the bye, that's well remembered,
you must get money from Mr Stuart--"
"What _now_, ma'am," inquired Mrs Niven, as Miss Peppy again paused and
grew pale.
"The key!"
"Of the press?" inquired Niven.
"Yes--no; that is, it's the key of the press, and not the key of my
trunk. Here, take it," (she thrust the key into the housekeeper's hand,
just as the engine gave a violent snort.) "What shall I do? My trunk
won't open without, at least I suppose it won't, and it's a new lock!
what shall--"
"Make a parcel of the key, Niven," said Kenneth, coming to the rescue,
"and send it by the guard of next train."
"And oh!" shrieked Miss Peppy, as the train began to move, "I forgot
the--the--"
"Yes, yes, quick, ma'am," cried Niven eagerly, as she followed.
"Oh! can't they stop the train for a moment? It's the--it's--dear me--
the pie--pie!"
"What pie, ma'am?"
"There's three of them--for my brother's dinner--I forgot to tell cook--
it'll put him out so--there's three of 'em. It's not the--the--two but
the--the--_other_ one, the what-d'ye-call-it pie." Miss Peppy fell back
on her seat, and gave it up with a groan. Suddenly she sprang up, and
thrust out her head--"The _deer_ pie," she yelled.
"The dear pie!" echoed the astonished Mrs Niven interrogatively.
Another moment and Miss Peppy vanished from the scene, leaving the
housekeeper to return home in despair, from which condition she was
relieved by the cook, who at once concluded that the "dear pie" must
mean the venison pasty, and forthwith prepared the dish for dinner.