Part 15 (1/2)
”Sakes alive! What for? I'm not used to the air without my breakfast.”
”I'll get up and get you your breakfast. I'll boil the kettle here, and make your tea and toast your bread. You must go to Nortonbury, and you must be back between ten and eleven o'clock.”
”And when I go what am I to do there, my dear? Oh, dear, dear, the ways of the young of the present day are masterful beyond belief. You make me all of a quiver, Miss Annie.”
”I knew you'd rise to it,” said Annie. ”I felt if there were a soul in this world who would pull me out of the horrid sc.r.a.pe I have got myself into, it would be you, nursey.”
”Well, my love, you have got a blarneying tongue, and no mistake; but now, when I do get to Nortonbury, what am I to do?”
Annie pulled the morocco case out of her pocket. She opened it, and slipped the ring on Mrs. Martin's little finger.
”You are to sell that,” she said; ”or, rather--no, you are not to sell it for the world--but you are to borrow thirty s.h.i.+llings on it.”
”My word! Is it to the p.a.w.n-shop you expect me to go, Miss Forest?”
”How nasty of you to say Miss Forest. I'm Annie Forest, in great trouble, and looking to you as my last comfort. You are to borrow thirty s.h.i.+llings on that beautiful diamond ring. I don't mind where you get it; and then you are to buy me seven yards of pink cambric, and seven yards of white cambric, and seven yards of blue cambric. These shades, do you see? And I want embroidery to match. I have put the number of yards on this slip of paper, and a list of b.u.t.tons and hooks and waistbands and linings. Oh, and, of course, cottons to match. Now, will you or won't you? Will you be an angel or won't you? That's the plain question I have got to ask.”
[Ill.u.s.tration: ”'YOU ARE TO BORROW THIRTY s.h.i.+LLINGS ON THAT BEAUTIFUL DIAMOND RING'” (_p._ 96).]
”It's the p.a.w.n-shop that gets over me, Miss Annie.”
”Oh, _please_ don't let it get over you. What can the p.a.w.nbroker do to you? Most people call him uncle, so I expect he's awfully good-natured.”
”Uncle, indeed,” exclaimed Mrs. Martin, tossing her head; ”it's a word you shouldn't know, Miss Annie Forest.”
”But why shouldn't I? I never heard that uncles were wicked, except the one who killed the babes in the wood. Now you will go; you will be an angel! I know this special uncle who is to lend money on my ring will be delightful!”
CHAPTER XII.
THE LAND OF PERHAPS.
There are some people who always get their way in life. They are by no means the best people, nor the most amiable, nor the most thoughtful.
Sometimes, and not a very rare sometimes either, the poor, thoughtful people go to the wall, when the thoughtless and impulsive and careless come triumphantly out of their difficulties.
There never was a girl who got into a greater number of sc.r.a.pes than Annie Forest; but neither was there ever a girl who managed to right herself more quickly. She knew the art of twisting other people round her little finger. Having performed this feat to perfection on Mrs.
Martin, alias Patty, alias nursey, she went happily to bed, knowing that all would be right for the present, and never giving a thought to the evil but still distant hour when she must return her mother's ring to Mrs. Willis.
Annie rose in good time in the morning, and took upon herself the preparing of Mrs. Martin's breakfast. She lit a fire in the old lady's sitting-room, and toasted her bread with her own fair hands, and made the tea for her to drink.
Mrs. Martin started on her journey to Nortonbury with many fervent blessings from Annie, who then returned in a high state of content to her own room.
The parcel of cambric arrived in due time, and Annie cut out the first of the three frocks that morning.
In order to keep their secret quite to themselves, Nora and Annie decided to keep the door of the library locked while they were at work.
This arrangement was delightful to Nora, but it irritated Molly not a little. When she came to see her sister, to be greeted by a locked door--and to hear Annie's clear voice singing out from within, ”Oh, we're so busy, you darling of a Molly asth.o.r.e. Don't disturb us for the present, there's a love,” and when this remark was followed by silvery laughter from Nora--poor Molly felt herself decidedly out in the cold.
Jealousy was for the first time fiercely stirred in her gentle breast and she shed some tears in secret over the change in Nora, who had hitherto clung to her and loved her better than anyone else in the world.