"Angela, has Fluffy laid an egg to-day?"
"Yes. Why?"
"Will you sell it to me? I've got the money for it." Poppy opened her
hand to display the penny she had been tightly grasping.
"What do you want to buy an egg for?" asked Angela, with sudden caution.
"I don't think you had better eat any more without asking Cousin Charlotte
first. You had a big breakfast."
"I don't want to eat it," cried Poppy, in a tone of wounded dignity.
"I want it to--to give to some one."
"Some poor person?"
"Well, yes, I think she is poor. I know she is not well, and eggs are
good for people who are not well."
"Yes, very. Well, there's the egg. Isn't it a beauty? _I_ call it
perfectly lovely." Angela looked at it lovingly. To her there never were
or would be such eggs as her Fluffikins laid. "Now do be careful.
How are you going to carry it?"
Poppy ran off, and in a moment was back again with a little covered basket
lined with hay. Evidently it had been prepared beforehand for this
purpose. The egg was laid in and carefully covered over, and the lid shut
down and secured.
"Are you going with it now?" asked Angela.
"In a minute. I have to get something else too."
The girls were always very considerate to each other over their little
mysteries and secrets, so Angela, without further inquiry, went away to
her hens, and Poppy hurried off to the end of the garden, where she
gathered a bunch of beautiful green parsley, and wrapped it round with a
piece of paper which she tied with a little piece of pink ribbon she had
saved on some previous occasion.
Miss Charlotte and Anna were in the kitchen arranging the meals for the
day. Esther was busy in the bedroom, Angela was in the hen-house, and
Penelope already at the church, practising, for although it was Easter,
and holiday time, she continued her organ-practice daily. So no one saw
Poppy as she and Guard started off together. She was bound on a secret
expedition to Mademoiselle Leperier, carrying with her all she could
compass as suitable offerings to an invalid--a new-laid egg and a bunch of
her own fresh parsley. She had not mentioned her plan to Miss Charlotte--
not because she was afraid of being stopped, but because she wanted to
give of her very own, and not make demands on Cousin Charlotte.
She knew if she did speak of it that Miss Ashe would be thinking of all
sorts of things to send, and Poppy did not want that. She wanted it to be
entirely her own little scheme, in gratitude to the poor lady for her
kindness to Esther.
She did not know in the least how long the walk would be, but she was
prepared for it to take her a very great while. Essie had said it was a
long way there but a short way back, and it had not occurred to either of
them to wonder how this could be possible. Thinking, though, of the
expedition before her as something very great, she hurried along without
once pausing to look at the river or play on the bridge or pay heed to any
of the hundreds of attractions which lie on a walk on a beautiful spring
day. Guard made little dashes and excursions in all directions, but was
never absent for more than a moment or two from his little mistress's
side.
Now and again Poppy sat down on a big boulder to rest, standing her basket
on the ground beside her, and she and Guard would gaze eagerly about them
at the wide-spreading sunny moorland; and probably both of them thought of
the games they might be having there if matters so serious were not
engaging their attention, but no thought of doing so crossed their minds
now.
The result of all this haste was that, long before she expected it, Poppy
found herself face to face with the little brown cottage, and felt there
must be some mistake. This could not be the place, she thought; it must
be another. Perhaps, oh dreadful doubt! she had come the wrong way. She
was a very wise little person, though, and to make sure, before she went
further, she determined to go in and inquire.
Rather timidly, but full of interest, she walked along the paved garden
path, and tapped at the door with her knuckles, not being able to reach
the knocker. It was a feeble knock, but soon called forth an answer. A
man opened it, an elderly man--Anne himself, in fact.
"Please does Mademoiselle Le-le-, the French lady, live here?" she asked,
finding some difficulty in pronouncing the long French name.
"Yes, m'amzelle. M'amzelle Leperier lives here."
Poppy was a little non-plussed. She had not thought out any plan or
reason to give for her visit, nor how she was to reach the presence of
Esther's new friend, but her usual ready frankness stood her in good
stead. "I have come to ask how she is, and how--how Anne's wife is.
My sister Esther was here last night. Made--Miss, the French lady, asked
her to tea, and--and sent her home with a Mr. Anne." The man smiled.
"Ah! I know. The young lady I conducted to her home last night--
Miss Esthaire. Come inside, m'amzelle. I know M'amzelle Leperier will
wish to see you."
A sudden shyness rushed over Poppy. "Oh, I--I don't think I had better
come in, thank you. I didn't mean to do that. I have to go all the way
home, and it will take me rather a long time. I--I only brought a fresh
egg that Angela's hen laid this morning, and some parsley out of my own
garden for--for Miss Leperier, and perhaps if she didn't like it she might
give it to your wife. I am sorry I had nothing nicer."
"There couldn't be anything nicer, m'amzelle," said Anne Roth with ready
tact. "It will come in for an omelette for the mistress's lunch, and the
parsley too, it will be most useful. How fine it is. We have none here.
It is always a difficulty to get any."
"Oh, I am so glad I brought it!" cried Poppy, flushing with delight.
"If ever you want any, _do_ come and have some of mine. I have a whole
bedful, and all from a penny packet of seed that I sowed myself.
I should be delighted to give you some at any time."
She refrained from mentioning the fact that it was her only source of
income. She had thrust the basket and the parsley into the man's hand,
and was edging away.
"But M'amzelle will be annoyed with me if I let you go all the way back
without any rest," he pleaded. "Please to enter, m'amzelle."
At that moment Mademoiselle Leperier herself appeared. Anne turned to her
with relief.
"Here, M'amzelle, is the sister of the young lady who was here last night.
She has come with kind inquiries for M'amzelle and my wife."
Mademoiselle Leperier stepped to the door, and taking the blushing Poppy's
hands in both her own, stooped and kissed her. "Oh, you dear child,
how sweet of you," she cried with warm delight. "Come in, you must come
in. Is that beautiful dog at the gate yours? I saw him there and felt I
must go out and speak to him, and then I heard your voice and Anne's.
Do call him in, I want to know him too. You must both come."
There was no shyness or hesitation about Guard; he hurried in almost
before he was invited to, and he and his little mistress found themselves
in the room Esther had described so vividly the night before, only now it
was lit by sunshine instead of fire and lamp. Poppy did not like to look
about her, she knew it was not polite to do so, but her eye fell on the
dresser with its lovely china, and the blue bowl of primroses and moss and
ivy leaves on the little black table, and thought it all more perfect even
than she had imagined.
Guard, as though feeling he was too large for the small room, went over
and sat close against the wall by the window, shedding around him genial
smiles in return for all the attentions lavished on him. Anne was
despatched for milk and biscuits; and while he was gone Mademoiselle
inquired for Esther, and how she got home, politely hoping they had not
been very anxious.
"Yes, we were; we were very anxious, thank you," said Poppy, half
absently. She was looking at her hostess, and thinking of the story she
had heard of her. It seemed so wonderful that after going through such
terrible tragedies she could laugh and talk and be interested in little
every-day matters. But she was, especially when Poppy, at last recovering
her tongue, told her all about themselves, and their father and mother in
Canada, and how they four came to Cousin Charlotte's because no one else
could have them, and how frightened they ware until they saw her, but were
never frightened after, she was so kind; and how they all wanted to help
her, and how they tried all sorts of ways.
Mademoiselle was very interested in the parsley-bed, and Angela's hen,
and Esther helping in the house, and Penelope's desire to be able to play
the organ and sing; and Poppy chattered on, delighted to find so
interested a listener.
"I think it quite cheered her and did her good," she confided to Angela
later. "She said it did, and she asked me to come again; and I am to keep
threepennyworth of parsley for her every week. Isn't it lovely!
A whole shilling a month! Oh, I wish I had a whole garden to sow parsley
in. Do you think it will go on growing for ever, Angela?"
Angela did not know, but she was hopeful. Ephraim, however, thought that
at the rate she was picking it her crop would not last another month, and
strongly advised the clearing of a part of the bed and tilling more seeds.
But when Poppy went to Esther to tell her about her expedition, she met
with a disappointment. Esther did not seem at all pleased at the
attentions she had shown the invalids. She seemed, in fact, quite
annoyed.
"I was going myself," she said coldly, "by and by; but I sha'n't now, of
course. I don't suppose Mademoiselle Leperier wants the whole Carroll
family continually going to her house. It was not right for you, either,
to go all that way alone; it was not safe."
"I had Guard with me," said the crestfallen Poppy. "I didn't know you
wouldn't like it, Essie. I thought you--you would be glad." Her lip
would quiver a little as she spoke. "I--I only wanted to be kind to the
poor lady because she was kind to you, and I--didn't mean to go inside,
but she made me. Aren't you really going again, Esther? She expects you,
she said so."
"I can't go if all the rest of you keep going. Besides, Mademoiselle
won't want me."
"Oh yes, she will," cried Poppy, almost in tears. "She _does_ want you;
and--and I won't go any more if you don't like me to. You can take the
parsley for me. I wish now I hadn't promised to bring it; but they can't
get any one to come, and--and--" and then a tear really forced its way out
and fell; but at the sight of it Esther's better nature conquered her
temper, and she took her little sister in her arms with real remorse.
"No, darling, you shall go, and we will go together; but not always,"
she added presently. "I should like to go alone sometimes, Poppy, to have
a quiet talk with Mademoiselle."