Part 2 (1/2)
”I'm sure I wish, then, they'd come and eat it,” said Duke. ”I'd be very glad to give it them.”
His boldness quite took away his sister's breath, and she looked up at him in astonishment.
”_Bruvver!_” she said reproachfully.
”Well, there's nothing naughty in that. It would be much better than letting it all be wasted. And----” but just at that moment came a queer little sound at the door, which made Duke tumble off his high chair as fast as he could, and hurry to open it.
”It's Toby,” he cried.
Toby, sure enough, it was--Toby with his little black nose and bright eyes gleaming from behind the overhanging s.h.a.ggy hair, that no one _but_ a Toby could have seen through without squinting--Toby, rather subdued and meekly inquiring at first, as if not quite sure of his welcome, till--a glance round the room satisfying him that there was no one to dread, no one but his two dearly-beloved friends--his courage returned, and he rushed towards them with short yelps of delight, twisting about his furry little body, and wagging his queer short feathery tail, till one could not tell what was what of him, and almost expected to see him shake himself into bits!
”Toby, dear Toby!” cried the children, all their perplexities forgotten for the moment. ”_How_ clever of him--isn't it?--to come to see us this morning, just as if he knew us was alone. Dear Toby--but hus.h.!.+ don't make a noise, Toby, or Nurse may be vexed--are you so pleased to see us, Toby?”
Suddenly Duke separated himself from the group of three all rolling in a heap on the floor together and made for the table, and before Pamela could see what he was doing he was back again--his bowl, into which he had poured the contents of his sister's as well, in his hand, and in another moment Toby's nose was in the bowl too, to Toby's supreme content! It was done now--there was no stopping him till _he_ had done.
Aghast, and yet filled with admiration, Pamela could only express her feelings by the one word--”Bruvver!”
”Isn't it a good thought?” said Duke. ”Why, he'll have finished it all in a minute, and n.o.body will ever know that it wasn't us. And nothing will have been wasted. There now,” as Toby, having really made wonderfully quick work, lifted from the now empty bowl his hairy muzzle bespattered with remains of bread and milk, which he proceeded to lick away with his sharp bright-red tongue, with an air of the greatest satisfaction.
For a moment or two Pamela's face expressed nothing but approval. But gradually a little cloud stole over it.
”What shall us say if Grandpapa and Grandmamma ask if us have eaten all our bread and milk?” she said.
Duke considered.
”Us can say the bowls are quite empty. _That_ won't be a story,” and Pamela's face cleared again. Just then she had no time for second thoughts, for the sound of a bell ringing downstairs made both children start.
”Prayers,” they exclaimed, and as they said the word a young housemaid put her face in at the door.
”Master Duke and Miss Pamela,” she said, ”Nurse says I'm to take you down to prayers. But you must come first to wash your hands and smooth your hair.”
A very correct little couple presented themselves a few minutes later at the dining-room door, and after the salute and the curtsey, and wis.h.i.+ng Grandpapa and Grandmamma ”a very good morning,” seated themselves one on each side of the old lady, while Grandpapa read from the prayer-book a few verses of the Bible, the Collect of last Sunday, and two or three prayers for the benefit of the whole family, including a row of neat, mostly elderly, servants near the door. Duke and Pamela listened attentively, their hands crossed on their knees, their eyes fixed on Grandpapa--no fidgetting or staring about or making signs to each other.
Such things would probably have been severely punished.
And then came what was almost the happiest part of the day for ”us,”--breakfast number two; that is, breakfast with Grandpapa and Grandmamma. With the greatest interest they watched to see what was to be given them. This morning there were no eggs, but there were some tempting little slices of toast, fresh b.u.t.ter, and a gla.s.s dish of honey, clear as amber, with which materials Grandmamma proceeded to fabricate two delicious sandwiches, having already filled the little cups with weak, but, this morning, sugarless tea.
”No need to put sugar when you are eating honey. You would not taste it,” she explained. ”Now, then, is not that a nice little treat for my two good children?” and Duke and Pamela were eagerly drawing in their chairs when another question from Grandmamma suddenly reminded them of what they had for the time forgotten. ”You ate your breakfast nicely upstairs, I hope? Did you finish all the bread and milk?”
Brother looked at sister and sister looked at brother. Both grew rosier than usual, but Grandmamma, though fairly quick of hearing, was somewhat near-sighted. Pamela touched Duke without the old lady seeing, and _looked_ what he understood--”Let us tell, Duke.” But Duke would not allow himself to think he did understand. The tea and the honey sandwiches were so tempting!
”The bowls were quite empty, Grandmamma,” he said. And Grandmamma, who had wondered a little at their hesitation in answering, seemed relieved.
For, kind as she was, ”rules were rules,” to Grandmamma's thinking; and, though it would have pained her more than the children, she would certainly have thought it right to send them upstairs treatless had the answer been different.
”That is well,” she said cheerfully, and then the two climbed on to their chairs and drew their cups and plates close to them; while Grandmamma went round to her own end of the table, where--for she was a very tiny little old lady--she was almost hidden from view by the large silver tea-urn. She went on talking to Grandpapa, and the children set to work at what was before them. They were quite silent; not that they ever thought of really speaking, except when ”spoken to,” at their grandparents' table, but no little whispers or smiles pa.s.sed between themselves as usual; they ate on solemnly, and _somehow_--how was it?--the honey sandwiches did not taste quite as delicious as they had expected. But though each had the same sort of disappointed feeling, neither said anything about it to the other.
After breakfast Grandpapa went off to his study, and Grandmamma rang the bell for Dymock, who carried away the big tea-urn, the silver hot-water dish in which was served Grandpapa's rasher of bacon, the knives and forks,--everything, in short, on the table except the cups and saucers and the rest of the china belonging to the breakfast-service. This china was very curious, and, to those who understood such things, very beautiful. Grandpapa had got it in his travels at some out-of-the-way place, and the story went that it had been made for some great Chinese lady--some ”mandarin-ess,” Grandmamma used to say in laughing, who had never allowed it to be copied. How it had been got from _her_ I cannot say. It was very fine in quality, and it was painted all over with green dragons, with gilt tongues and eyes, and the edges of the cups and saucers were also gilt. There were large as well as small cups; the large ones, of course, were for breakfast, and the small ones for tea, but Grandmamma always kept out two of the latter for Duke and Pamela. In those days one never saw large cups of oriental china, and this was what made the service particularly uncommon, and Grandpapa had never been able to find out if the large ones were really Chinese or only imitation, copied from the smaller ones. If really Chinese, then the lady-mandarin was most likely an Englishwoman after all, who had had them specially made for her.
You will be surprised to hear that during the thirty or forty years during which Grandpapa and Grandmamma had daily used this precious china not a single piece had been broken, scarcely even chipped, though, by force of simple usage, the green dragons had grown less brilliant, and here and there the golden tongues and eyes had altogether disappeared, while the whole had grown soft and mellowed, so that a moment's glance was enough to show it was really _old_ porcelain. And perhaps you will be still more surprised to learn how it was that these happy cups and saucers had escaped the usual fate of their kind. It was because Grandmamma always washed them up herself! I think there was no part of the day more pleasant to ”us” than when--Dymock having cleared away all that was his charge, and brought all that Grandmamma required from the pantry--the old lady established herself at one end of the table, with two bowls of beautifully white wood, and a jug of hot water before her, and a towel of fine damask in her hand, and set to work daintily to rinse out each cup and saucer in the first bowl, pa.s.sing them then into the fresh water of the second, and wiping them--after they had stood to drip for a moment or two on a small slab of wood made for the purpose--most carefully with the little cloth. It was nice to watch her--her hands looked so white, and moved so nimbly, and--I had forgotten to mention that--looked so business-like with the brown holland cuffs braided in white which she kept for this occasion, and always put on, with the big holland ap.r.o.n to match, before she began operations. Yes, it had been a treat to ”us” merely to watch her, and so you can fancy how very proud Duke and Pamela felt when she at length allowed them, each with a little towel, to wipe their own cups and saucers. They had been promoted to this for some months now, and no accident had happened; and on those days--few and far between, it must be allowed--on which they had not been found deserving of their breakfast number two, I think the punishment of not ”helping Grandmamma to wash up” had been quite as great as that of missing the treat itself.