A Plucky Girl Read online

  CHAPTER VII

  THE PAYING GUESTS

  Everything went smoothly after my interview with Jane Mullins. In anincredibly short space of time the contract for the house was signed.It was signed by mother, by me, and by Jane Mullins. Then we hadexciting and extraordinary days hunting for that furniture which Janeconsidered suitable, and consulting about the servants, and thethousand and one small minutiae of the establishment. But finally Janetook the reins into her own hands, whisking my mother and me off tothe country, and telling us that we could come and take possession onthe 29th of September.

  "There won't be any visitors in the house then," she said, "but allthe same, the house will be full, from attic to cellar, before theweek is out, and you had best be there beforehand. Until then enjoyyourselves."

  Well, I did enjoy myself very much. It was quite terrible of me, fornow and then I saw such a look of sorrow on mother's face; but Ireally did get a wonderful heartening and cheering up by Jane, andwhen the weeks flew by, and the long desired day came at last, Ifound myself in excellent spirits, but mother looked very pale anddepressed.

  "You will get accustomed to it," I said, "and I think in time you willlearn to like it. It is a brave thing to do. I have been thinking offather so much lately, and I am quite certain that he would approve."

  "Do you really believe that, West?" asked my mother; "if I thought so,nothing would really matter. West, dearest, you are so brave andmasculine in some things, you ought to have been a man."

  "I am very glad I am a woman," was my reply, "for I want to prove thatwomen can do just as strong things as men, and just as brave things ifoccasion requires."

  So we arrived at the boarding-house, and Jane Mullins met us on thesteps, and took us all over it. It was a curious house, and at thesame time a very beautiful one. There was a certain mixture of tasteswhich gave some of the rooms an odd effect. Jane's common-sense andbarbarous ideas with regard to colour, rather clashed with ouraesthetic instincts and our more luxurious ideas. But the drawing-roomat least was almost perfect. It was a drawing-room after mother's ownheart. In reality it was a very much larger and handsomer room thanthe one we had left in Sumner Place, but it had a home-like look, andthe colouring was in one harmonious scheme, which took away from anyundue effect of size, and at the same time gave a delicious sense ofspace. The old pictures, too, stood on the walls, and the old lovelycurtains adorned the windows; and the little easy chairs that motherloved, stood about here and there, and all the nicknacks and articlesof vertu were to be found in their accustomed places; and there wereflowers and large palms, and we both looked around us with a queersense of wonder.

  "Why, mother," I said, "this is like coming home."

  "So it is," said mother, "it is extraordinary."

  "But Miss Mullins," I continued, "you told me you had no taste. How isit possible that you were able to decorate a room like this, and, youdear old thing, the carpet on the floor has quite a Liberty tone, andwhat a lovely carpet, too!"

  Jane absolutely blushed. When she blushed it was always the tip of hernose that blushed--it blushed a fiery red now. She looked down, andthen she looked up, and said after a pause--

  "I guessed that, just what I would not like you would adore, so I didthe furnishing of this room on that principle. I am glad you arepleased. I don't hold myself with cut flowers, nor nicknacks, norrubbish of that sort, but you do; and when people hold with them, andbelieve in them, the more they have of them round, the better pleasedthey are. Oh, and there's a big box of Fuller's sweetmeats on thatlittle table. I thought you would eat those if you had no appetite foranything else."

  "But I have an excellent appetite," I answered; "all the same, I amdelighted to see my favourite sweets. Come, mother, we will have afeast, both of us; you shall enjoy your favourite bon-bon thisminute."

  Mother got quite merry over the box, and Jane disappeared, and in fiveminutes or so, a stylishly dressed parlour-maid came in with a_recherche_ tea, which we both enjoyed.

  Mother's bedroom was on the first floor, a small room, but a verydainty one; and this had been papered with a lovely shade of very palegold, and the hangings and curtains were of the same colour. There wasa little balcony outside the window where she could sit, and where shecould keep her favourite plants, and there in its cage was her oldBully, who could pipe "Robin Adair," "Home, sweet Home," and "Charlieis my Darling." The moment he saw mother he perked himself up, andbent his little head to one side, and began piping "Charlie is myDarling" in as lively a tone as ever bullfinch possessed.

  I had insisted beforehand on having my room at the top of the housenot far from Jane's, for of course the best bedrooms were reserved forthe boarders, the boarders who had not yet come.

  "But I have sheafs of letters, with inquiries about the house," saidJane, "and after dinner to-night, my dear Miss Wickham, you and I mustgo into these matters."

  "And mother, too," I said.

  "Just as she pleases," replied Jane, "but would not the dear lady likeher little reading-lamp and her new novel? I have a subscription atMudie's, and some new books have arrived. Would it not be best forher?"

  "No," I said with firmness, "mother must have a voice in everything;she must not drop the reins, it would not be good for her at all."

  Accordingly after dinner we all sat in the drawing-room, and Janeproduced the letters. Mother and I were dressed as we were accustomedto dress for the evening. Mother wore black velvet, slightly, veryslightly, open at the throat, and the lace ruffles round her throatand wrists were of Brussels, and she had a figment of Brussels lacearranged with velvet and a small feather on her head. She lookedcharming, and very much as she might have looked if she had been goingto the Duchess's for an evening reception, or to Lady Thesiger's fordinner.

  As to me, I wore one of the frocks I had worn last season, when I hadnot stepped down from society, but was in the thick of it, midst ofall the gaiety and fun.

  Jane Mullins, however, scorned to dress for the evening. Jane wore inthe morning a kind of black bombazine. I had never seen that materialworn by anybody but Jane, but she adhered to it. It shone and itrustled, and was aggravating to the last degree. This was Jane'smorning dress, made very plainly, and fitting close to her sturdylittle figure, and her evening dress was that harsh silk which I havealready mentioned. This was also worn tight and plain, and round herneck she had a white linen collar, and round her wrists immaculatewhite cuffs, and no cap or ornament of any kind over her thin lighthair. Jane was certainly not beautiful to look at, but by this timemother and I had discovered the homely steadfastness of her abilities,and the immense good nature which seemed to radiate out of her kindeyes, and we had forgotten whether she was, strictly speaking,good-looking or not.

  Well, we three sat together on this first evening, and Jane producedher letters.

  "Here is one from a lady in the country," she began; "she wishes tocome to London for the winter, and she wishes to bring a daughter withher; the daughter requires lessons in something or other, some uselessaccomplishment, no doubt--anyhow that is their own affair. They wishto come to London, and they want to know what we will take them for aspermanent boarders. The lady's name is Mrs. Armstrong. Her letter ofinquiry arrived yesterday, and ought to be answered at once. She addsin a postscript--'I hope you will do me cheap.' I don't like thatpostscript; it has a low, mean sort of sound about it, and I doubt ifwe will put up with her long, but, as she is the very first to applyfor apartments, we cannot tell her that the house is full up. Now Ipropose that we give Mrs. Armstrong and her daughter the large frontattic next to my room. If the young lady happens to be musical, andwishes to rattle away on a piano, she can have one there, and play toher heart's content without anybody being disturbed. She cannot playanywhere else that I can see, for your lady mother, my dear MissWickham, cannot be worried and fretted with piano tunes jingling inher ears."

  "West's mother must learn to put up with disagreeables," was mymother's very soft reply.

  But I did not want he
r to have any disagreeables, so I said--

  "Perhaps we had better not have Mrs. Armstrong at all."

  "Oh, my dear," was Jane's reply, "why should my spite at thatpostscript turn the poor woman from a comfortable home? She shallcome. We will charge three guineas a week for the two."

  "But that is awfully little," I replied.

  "It is quite as much as they will pay for the attic, and they will beawfully worrying, both of them. I feel it in my bones beforehand.They'll be much more particular than the people who pay five guineas ahead for rooms on the first floor. Mark my words, Miss Wickham, it isthe attic boarders who will give the trouble, but we cannot helpthat, for they are sure and certain, and are the backbone of theestablishment. I'll write to Mrs. Armstrong, and say that if they cangive us suitable references they can come for a week, in order thatboth parties may see if they are pleased with the other."

  "Shall I write, or will you?" I asked.

  "Well, my dear, after a bit I shall be very pleased if you will takethe correspondence, which is sure to be a large item, but just atfirst I believe that I can put things on a more business-likefooting."

  "Thank you very much," I said in a relieved tone.

  "That letter goes to-night," said Jane. She took a Swan fountain penfrom its place by her waist, scribbled a word or two on the envelopeof Mrs. Armstrong's letter, and laid it aside.

  "Now I have inquiries from a most genteel party, a Captain and Mrs.Furlong: he is a retired army man, and they are willing to pay fiveguineas a week between them for a comfortable bedroom."

  "But surely that is very little," I said again.

  "It is a very fair sum out of their pockets, Miss Wickham, and I thinkwe can afford to give them a nice room looking south on the thirdfloor, not on the second floor, and, of course, not on the first; buton the third floor we can give them that large room which is decoratedwith the sickly green. It will turn them bilious, poor things, ifthey are of my way of thinking."

  Accordingly Captain and Mrs. Furlong were also written to thatevening, to the effect that they might enter the sacred precincts of17 Graham Square as soon as they pleased.

  Two or three other people had also made inquiries, and having talkedtheir letters over and arranged what replies were to be sent, MissMullins, after a certain hesitation which caused me some smallastonishment, took up her final letter.

  "A gentleman has written who wishes to come," she said, "and I thinkhe would be a desirable inmate."

  "A gentleman!" cried mother, "a gentleman alone?"

  "Yes, madam, an unmarried gentleman."

  I looked at mother. Mother's face turned a little pale. We had neitherof us said anything of the possibility of there being unmarriedgentlemen in the house, and I think mother had a sort of dimunderstanding that the entire establishment was to be filled withwomen and married couples. Now she glanced at Jane, and said in ahesitating voice--

  "I always felt that something unpleasant would come of this."

  Jane stared back at her.

  "What do you mean, Mrs. Wickham? The gentleman to whom I allude is areal gentleman, and it would be extremely difficult for me to refusehim, because he happens to be a friend of the friend who lent me theseven thousand pounds capital."

  "There is a secret about that," I exclaimed, "and I think you ought totell us."

  Jane looked at me out of her honest twinkling eyes, and her resolutemouth shut into a perfectly straight line; then nodding her head shesaid--

  "We cannot refuse this gentleman; his name is Randolph. He signshimself James Randolph, and specially mentions the friend who lent themoney, so I do not see, as the house is almost empty at present, howwe can keep him out. I should say he must be a nice man from the wayhe writes. You have no objection to his coming, have you, Mrs.Wickham?"

  Still mother made no answer, but I saw a hot spot coming into both hercheeks.

  "Didn't I tell you, Westenra," she said after a pause, "that mattersmight be made very disagreeable and complicated? To be frank with you,Miss Mullins," she continued, "I would much rather have only marriedcouples and ladies in the house."

  "Then, my dear madam, we had better close within the week," said JaneMullins in a voice of some indignation. "You ought to have arrangedfor this at the time, and if you had mentioned your views I wouldcertainly not have joined partnership with you. What we want areladies _and_ gentlemen, and so many of them that the commonplace andthe vulgar will not be able to come, because there will not be room toreceive them. As to this gentleman, he has something to do in thecity, and likes to live in Bloomsbury, as he considers it the mosthealthy part of London." Here Miss Mullins began to talk veryvigorously, and the tip of her nose became suspiciously red once more.

  "I propose," she continued, "as he is quite indifferent to what hepays, charging Mr. Randolph five guineas a week, and giving him thesmall bedroom on the drawing-room floor. It is a little room, butnicely furnished. He will be a great acquisition."

  "May I see his letter?" asked mother.

  "I am sorry, Madam, but I would rather no one saw it. It mentions myfriend, and of course my friend would not like his name to get out, soI must keep the letter private, but if Mr. Randolph makes himself inany way disagreeable to you ladies I am sure he will go immediately,but my impression is that you will find him a great acquisition. Iwill write to him to-night, and say that he can have the accommodationhe requires, and ask him to name the day when he will arrive."

  After this we had a great deal of talk on other matters, and finallyJane retired to her premises, and mother and I sat together in thebeautiful drawing-room.

  "Well, Westenra," said mother, "it is done. What do you think of it?"

  "It has only begun, mother dear. Up to the present I am charmed. Whata treasure we have secured in Jane."

  "It is all very queer," said mother. "Why would not she show us Mr.,Mr.----what was his name, Westenra?"

  "Randolph," I interrupted.

  "Why would she not show us Mr. Randolph's letter? I must say franklythat I do not like it. The fact is, West, we are not in the positionwe were in at Sumner Place, and we must be exceedingly circumspect.You, for instance, must be distant and cold to all the men who comehere. You must be careful not to allow any one to take liberties withyou. Ah, my child, did we do wrong to come? Did we do wrong? It isterrible for me to feel that you are in such an equivocal position."

  "Oh but, mother, I am not. I assure you I can look after myself; andthen I have you with me, and Jane Mullins is such a sturdy littlebody. I am sure she will guide our ship, our new, delightful ship,with a flowing sail into a prosperous harbour; and I cannot see,mother, why we should not receive a man who is a real gentleman. It isthe men who are not gentlemen who will be difficult to deal with. Mr.Randolph will probably be a great help to us, and for my part I amglad he is coming."

  "Things are exactly as I feared," said mother, and I saw her anxiouseyes look across the room as though she were gazing at a vision whichgave her the greatest disquietude.

  Early the next day I hung father's picture in such a position in thedrawing-room that mother could have the eyes following her wherevershe turned. She often said that she was never comfortable, nor quiteat home, unless under the gaze of those eyes, and we made up our mindsnot to mind the fact of our new boarders asking questions about thepicture, for we were intensely proud of my father, and felt that wecould say in a few dignified words all that was necessary, and that mydear father would in a measure protect us in our new career.

  Early the next week the first boarders arrived. Three or four familiescame the same day. Jane said that that was best. Jane was the one whoreceived them. She went into the hall and welcomed them in her brusquetone and took them immediately to their rooms, in each of whichprinted rules of the establishment were pinned up, and mother and Idid not appear until just before dinner, when the different boardershad assembled in the drawing-room.

  "Dress for dinner and make yourself look as nice as you possibly can,"was Jane's parting
shot to me, and I took her advice in my own way.