Part 8 (1/2)
”Three half-crowns!” exclaimed Miss Wilson, angered at such extravagance.
”Bless her innocence, she don't know what is proper to give to a low sort like me! But I will not rob the young lady. 'Arf-a-crown is no more nor is fair for the job, and arf-a-crown will I keep, if agreeable to your n.o.ble ladys.h.i.+p. But I give you back the five bob in trust for her.
Have you ever noticed her expressive hi?”
”Nonsense, sir. You had better keep the money now that you have got it.”
”Wot! Sell for five bob the high opinion your ladys.h.i.+p has of me! No, dear lady; not likely. My father's very last words to me was--”
”You said just now that you were a foundling,” said Fairholme. ”What are we to believe? Eh?”
”So I were, sir; but by mother's side alone. Her ladys.h.i.+p will please to take back the money, for keep it I will not. I am of the lower orders, and therefore not a man of my word; but when I do stick to it, I stick like wax.”
”Take it,” said Fairholme to Miss Wilson. ”Take it, of course. Seven and sixpence is a ridiculous sum to give him for what he has done. It would only set him drinking.”
”His reverence says true, lady. The one 'arfcrown will keep me comfortably tight until Sunday morning; and more I do not desire.”
”Just a little less of your tongue, my man,” said Fairholme, taking the two coins from him and handing them to Miss Wilson, who bade the clergymen good afternoon, and went to the coach under the umbrella.
”If your ladys.h.i.+p should want a handy man to do an odd job up at the college I hope you will remember me,” Smilash said as they went down the slope.
”Oh, you know who I am, do you?” said Miss Wilson drily.
”All the country knows you, Miss, and wors.h.i.+ps you. I have few equals as a coiner, and if you should require a medal struck to give away for good behavior or the like, I think I could strike one to your satisfaction.
And if your ladys.h.i.+p should want a trifle of smuggled lace--”
”You had better be careful or you will get into trouble, I think,” said Miss Wilson sternly. ”Tell him to drive on.”
The vehicles started, and Smilash took the liberty of waving his hat after them. Then he returned to the chalet, left the umbrella within, came out again, locked the door, put the key in his pocket, and walked off through the rain across the hill without taking the least notice of the astonished parsons.
In the meantime Miss Wilson, unable to contain her annoyance at Agatha's extravagance, spoke of it to the girls who shared the coach with her.
But Jane declared that Agatha only possessed threepence in the world, and therefore could not possibly have given the man thirty times that sum. When they reached the college, Agatha, confronted with Miss Wilson, opened her eyes in wonder, and exclaimed, laughing: ”I only gave him threepence. He has sent me a present of four and ninepence!”
CHAPTER IV
Sat.u.r.day at Alton College, nominally a half holiday, was really a whole one. Cla.s.ses in gymnastics, dancing, elocution, and drawing were held in the morning. The afternoon was spent at lawn tennis, to which lady guests resident in the neighborhood were allowed to bring their husbands, brothers, and fathers--Miss Wilson being anxious to send her pupils forth into the world free from the uncouth stiffness of schoolgirls unaccustomed to society.
Late in October came a Sat.u.r.day which proved anything but a holiday for Miss Wilson. At half-past one, luncheon being over, she went out of doors to a lawn that lay between the southern side of the college and a shrubbery. Here she found a group of girls watching Agatha and Jane, who were dragging a roller over the gra.s.s. One of them, tossing a ball about with her racket, happened to drive it into the shrubbery, whence, to the surprise of the company, Smilash presently emerged, carrying the ball, blinking, and proclaiming that, though a common man, he had his feelings like another, and that his eye was neither a stick nor a stone. He was dressed as before, but his garments, soiled with clay and lime, no longer looked new.
”What brings you here, pray?” demanded Miss Wilson.
”I was led into the belief that you sent for me, lady,” he replied.
”The baker's lad told me so as he pa.s.sed my 'umble cot this morning. I thought he were incapable of deceit.”
”That is quite right; I did send for you. But why did you not go round to the servants' hall?”
”I am at present in search of it, lady. I were looking for it when this ball cotch me here” (touching his eye). ”A cruel blow on the hi'
nat'rally spires its vision and expression and makes a honest man look like a thief.”