EMPTY AND FURNISHED.
"You find the poor cottage in a sad state," was Dick's melancholy
observation, as his mother, after the first loving greeting, seated
herself at his side, holding his thin hand in her own, and looking
tenderly at his pale features.
"O mother, if you had only seen it before the fire!" exclaimed Nelly;
"it was beautiful--quite beautiful--so much better furnished than any of
ours!"
"It will be beautiful again," said Dame Desley, cheerfully; "my boy only
wants a little more Time-money when his strength is perfectly restored.
And I can see," she added, rising and opening the back-door, through
which she could view the garden, "that great pains were once taken
here."
"I have not been able to attend to it since my illness," said Dick; "but
as soon as I am able to set to work again, I will try to get all into
order."
"I must now go and examine the other cottages," said Dame Desley; "I
noticed as I came here that the wall of Matty's had been scorched, and
that the new thatch which has been put on does not look quite so well as
the old; but I hear that the inside has sustained no harm, and I shall
now examine with pleasure the furniture bought by my child."
As Dame Desley was proceeding to the next cottage, which, as we all
know, was that of Lubin, whom should she meet but Mr. Learning, cane in
hand, and spectacles on nose, with a white box under his arm.
"Oh, what on earth brings him here just now!" exclaimed Lubin to Nelly,
ready to stamp with vexation; "as if it were not bad enough to have
mother examining my poor empty cottage, without having him to look on
all the time through those horrid spectacles, that will magnify every
defect. Just hear now how mother is thanking him for all that he has
done for her children, and see what a sly meaning glance he is casting
at me, looking through his glasses, as much as to say--'There's one
stupid dunce of a fellow; I could never make anything of him.'"
"You will do better in future," whispered Nelly, as she went forward to
shake hands with Mr. Learning, who benignantly smiled at his pupil.
"We will go in here first," said Dame Desley; "Lubin, dear, come to my
side."
The poor boy would gladly have kept back, and had some thoughts of
running away down the hill, so grievously was he ashamed that his mother
and guardian should see what little use he had made of his hours. He
dared not, however, disobey; so with Dame Desley on one side, and
stately Mr. Learning on the other, feeling like a culprit between two
constables, he entered his ill-furnished cottage.
Dame Desley looked to the right hand, and then she looked to the left;
and the longer she looked the longer grew her face, and the graver the
expression which it wore. There was a terribly awkward silence. Nelly
felt quite uncomfortable, and Lubin stood twisting the button on his
jacket, and wishing himself up to the neck in brook Bother, or anywhere
but at home. At last the mother spoke, but her accents were those of
displeasure.
"What can you have done, stupid boy, with all your minutes and hours?"
"I gave some to my shopping--" whimpered Lubin.
"Humph!" growled Mr. Learning.
"Very few, I fear," said Dame Desley.
"Procrastination picked my pocket of some, and--and--"
"I suspect that the frequenters of Amusement's Bazaar could tell us
where the best part have gone," said Mr. Learning with freezing
severity. "You have thrown away your minutes and your hours upon balls,
ninepins, marbles, and lollypops."
What could poor Lubin reply? He knew that the accusation was too true.
His distress reached its height on his seeing that the eyes of his
mother were resting on the big DUNCE, which stared in black letters from
the wall.
"Oh, that I could pummel Mr. Learning for writing it up there!" thought
Lubin.
"I wonder that you do not blush to look at that!" exclaimed Dame Desley,
in high displeasure. "This very day you must be off to Mr. Reading's,
and get a respectable paper to cover that shameful wall."
"And don't forget the ladder of Spelling," cried Mr. Learning; "there's
nothing to be done without that."
Nelly, who saw that Lubin's face was growing as red as the feathers of
Parade, now timidly came forward to try and draw attention from the
unhappy sluggard. "Dear mother, I hope that you remember that you have
other cottages to see," she said, placing her hand in that of Dame
Desley.
"And I hope that I shall find them very different indeed from this,"
said the disappointed parent, as she crossed over the way to Matty's.
The little owner ran on in front, with mingled feelings of hope and
fear. She knew that her home was not empty; that the furniture looked
very gay; but she could not help suspecting that her mother, and yet
more the sage Mr. Learning, might think some of it tawdry and worthless.
Flinging the door wide open to admit her guests, Matty ran in so
hurriedly to put a piece of furniture straight, that her foot was caught
in her unfastened carpet, and down she fell on her nose.
"My dear child, I hope that you're not hurt," cried Dame Desley.
Matty jumped up, rubbed her nose, and said that it was "nothing," though
looking extremely annoyed at such a beginning to the survey.
"What a hole you have torn in the carpet!" cried her mother. "Why, it is
not fastened down with nails; you must be in danger of tripping every
minute."
"Such a carpet!" exclaimed Learning, with contempt, kicking it up with
his heel.
"And what a paper!" cried the mother; "as shabby as it is gaudy, and all
with the damp showing through."
"But I have some things very pretty indeed," said Matty, in rather a
petulant tone; for she could not bear that any fault should be found
with her beautiful cottage. "I'm sure that the porcelain jars on the
mantelpiece are fit for the palace of a princess; and just look at my
gilded French mirror, and my elegant tambourine."
Dame Desley appeared by no means as much delighted at these fine things
as her daughter had expected; and Mr. Learning dryly observed, "I see
that you have troubled Mr. Arithmetic, the ironmonger, as little as Mr.
History, the carpet manufacturer; and however pretty your fancy articles
may be, I must just venture to remark that a poker is more useful than
porcelain, a mat than a gilded French mirror, and that, though a
tambourine may be charming, it can't supply the place of a table."
"Your furniture also looks so light and fragile," observed Dame Desley,
"that I should be almost afraid to use it."
"Oh, it does exceedingly well," cried the mortified Matty, tossing
herself down on a chair, to show that her mother was mistaken. She had
chosen, however, an unfortunate way of displaying the strength of her
furniture; the luckless chair gave way with a crash, and Matty came down
with a thumping blow--not this time on her nose, but on the back of her
head.
More hurt than she had been by her former tumble, and yet more mortified
than hurt, the poor child began to cry. Dame Desley and Nelly ran to
raise her, while Mr. Learning, grave as he usually was, could hardly
refrain from laughing.
"She has quite a bump on her poor head!" cried Nelly. "Dear Matty! what
can we do for her?"
"Get me the pink salve from the mantelpiece," sobbed Matty. Her sister
hurried to the place as fast as she could.
"Let me see it first," said Dame Desley, examining the little china pot,
which was labelled, "FLATTERY SALVE, _patronized by the nobility and
gentry. Warranted to heal all manner of bruises and sores._"
"Where did you get this?" inquired the mother. Matty whimpered out that
she had had it from Miss Folly.
"Let Miss Folly keep her own trash to herself!" cried the indignant
dame, flinging the little pot out of the window; "that is a most
dangerous salve: its effect is often that of injuring the brain,
weakening the senses--producing dizziness and delirium! Bring a little
cold water, Nelly; that is a far better thing to apply to a bump on the
head like this."
"I am afraid," observed Mr. Learning, as the simple remedy was tried
with effect, "that Matty, quick and ready a pupil as she is, will have
almost as much to do as Lubin before her cottage is really well
furnished. She had better at once commence the work of getting rid of
the trash; and I should recommend her to make a famous large bonfire of
it to celebrate her mother's return."
Poor Matty, who had at first eyed with mingled curiosity and hope the
white box under the arm of her guardian--believing that it must contain
the silver crown of Success--felt her heart sink at these words; and
with drooping head and melancholy mien, she went with her companions to
the cottage adjoining.