Part 17 (1/2)
Peggy lifted the ends of her ap.r.o.n in her hands and executed a dance of triumph on her own account when all was finished, and Rosalind said, ”Weally, we have been clever! I think we may be proud of ourselves!” in amiable effusion.
The two girls went off to luncheon in a state of halcyon amiability which was new indeed in the history of their acquaintance, and Lady Darcy listened with an amused smile to their rhapsodies on the subject of the morning's work, promising faithfully not to look at anything until the right moment should arrive, and she should be summoned to gaze and admire.
By the time that the workers were ready to return to the room, the men had finished the arrangements at which they had been at work before lunch, and were beginning to tack festoons of evergreens along the walls, the dull paper of which had been covered with fluting of soft pink muslin. The effect was heavy and clumsy in the extreme, and Rosalind stamped her foot with an outburst of fretful anger.
”Stop putting up those wreaths! Stop at once! They are simply hideous!
It weminds me of a penny weading in the village schoolwoom! You might as well put up 'G.o.d save the Queen' and 'A Mewwy Chwistmas' at once!
Take them down this minute, Jackson! I won't have them!”
The man touched his forehead, and began pulling out the nails in half-hearted fas.h.i.+on.
”Very well, miss, as you wish. Seems a pity, though, not to use 'em, for it took me all yesterday to put 'em together. It's a sin to throw 'em away.”
”I won't have them in the house, if they took you a week!” Rosalind replied sharply, and she turned on her heel and looked appealingly in Peggy's face. ”It's a howwid failure! The woom looks so stiff and stwaight--like a pink box with nothing in it! Mother won't like it a bit. What can we do to make it better?”
Peggy scowled, pursed up her lips, pressed her hand to her forehead, and strode up and down the room, rolling her eyes from side to side, and going through all the grimaces of one in search of inspiration.
Rosalind was right: unless some device were found by which the shape of the room could be disguised, the decorations must be p.r.o.nounced more or less a failure. She craned her head to the ceiling, and suddenly beamed in triumph.
”I have it! The very thing! We will fasten the garlands to that middle beam, and loop up the ends at intervals all round the walls. That will break the squareness, and make the room look like a tent, with a ceiling of flowers.”
”Ah-h!” cried Rosalind; and clasped her hands with a gesture of relief.
”Of course! The vewy thing! We ought to have thought of it at the beginning. Get the ladder at once, Jackson, and put in a hook or wing, or something to hold the ends; and be sure that it is strong enough.
What a good thing that the weaths are weady! You see, your work will not be wasted after all.”
She was quite gracious in her satisfaction, and for the next two hours she and Peggy were busily occupied superintending the hanging of the evergreen wreaths and in arranging bunches of flowers to be placed at each point where the wreaths were fastened to the wall. At the end of this time, Rosalind was summoned to welcome the distinguished visitors who had arrived by the afternoon train. She invited Peggy to accompany her to the drawing-room, but in a hesitating fas.h.i.+on, and with a glance round the disordered room, which said, as plainly as words could do, that she would be disappointed if the invitation were accepted; and Peggy, transformed in a moment into a poker of pride and dignity, declared that she would prefer to remain where she was until all was finished.
”Well, it weally would be better, wouldn't it? I will have a tway sent in to you here, and do, Mawiquita, see that evewything is swept up and made tidy at once, for I shall bring them in to look wound diwectly after tea, and we must have the wooms tidy!”
Rosalind tripped away, and Peggy was left to herself for a lonely and troublesome hour. The tea-tray was brought in, and she was just seating herself before an impromptu table, when up came a gardener to say that one of ”these 'ere wreaths seemed to hang uncommon near the gas-bracket.
It didn't seem safe like.” And off she went in a panic of consternation to see what could be done. There was nothing for it but to move the wreath some inches farther away, which involved moving the next also, and the next, and the next, so as to equalise the distances as much as possible; and by the time that they were settled to Peggy's satisfaction, lo, table and tray had been whisked out of sight by some busy pair of hands, and only a bare s.p.a.ce met her eyes. This was blow number one, for, after working hard all afternoon, tea and cake come as a refreshment which one would not readily miss. She cheered herself, however, by putting dainty finis.h.i.+ng touches here and there, seeing that the lamp was lighted in the ”harem” outside, and was busy placing fairy lamps among the shrubs which were to screen the band, when a babel of voices from outside warned her that the visitors were approaching.
Footsteps came nearer and nearer, and a chorus of exclamations greeted the sight of the ”harem.” The door stood open, Peggy waited for Rosalind's voice to call and bid her share the honours, but no summons came. She heard Lady Darcy's exclamation, and the quick, strong tones of the strange countess.
”Charming, charming; quite a stroke of genius! I never saw a more artistic little nook. What made you think of it, my dear?”
”Ha!” said Peggy to herself, and took a step forward, only to draw back in dismay, as a light laugh reached her ear, followed by Rosalind's careless--
”Oh, I don't know; I wanted to make it pwetty, don't you know; it was so dweadfully bare, and there seemed no other way.”
Then there was a rustle of silk skirts, and the two ladies entered the room, followed by their respective daughters, Rosalind beautiful and radiant, and the Ladies Berkhampton with their chins poked forward, and their elbows thrust out in ungainly fas.h.i.+on. They paused on the threshold, and every eye travelled up to the wreath-decked ceiling. A flush of pleasure came into Lady Darcy's pale cheeks, and she listened to the countess's compliments with sparkling eyes.
”It is all the work of this clever child,” she said, laying her hand fondly on Rosalind's shoulder. ”I have had practically nothing to do with the decorations. This is the first time I have been in the room to-day, and I had no idea that the garlands were to be used in this way.
I thought they were for the walls.”
”I congratulate you, Rosalind! You are certainly very happy in your arrangements,” said the countess cordially. Then she put up her eyegla.s.s and stared inquiringly at Peggy, who stood by with her hair fastened back in its usual pigtail, and a big white ap.r.o.n pinned over her dress.
”She thinks I am the kitchen-maid!” said Peggy savagely to herself; but there was little fear of such a mistake, and, the moment that Lady Darcy noticed the girl's presence, she introduced her kindly enough, if with somewhat of a condescending air.
”This is a little friend of Rosalind's who has come up to help. She is fond of this sort of work,” she said; then, before any of the strangers had time to acknowledge the introduction, she added hastily, ”And now I am sure you must all be tired after your journey, and will be glad to go to your rooms and rest. It is quite wicked of me to keep you standing.