Part 54 (1/2)
”Easily,” Charlotte answered. ”He never comes up to my room.”
”Then you must come and ask mamma to let me spend the day and night with you to-morrow,” Beth said. ”I shall have business which will keep me away all day, but I shall return at dusk, and then you must smuggle me up to your room. We shall be obliged to sit up all night. I don't know what is going to happen. Are the servants safe? If I should be betrayed----”
”Safe not to tell you are there,” said Charlotte, ”and that is all they will know. They won't tell on me. I never tell on them.”
The next morning early, Charlotte arrived in Orchard Street with a face full of grave importance, and obtained Mrs. Caldwell's consent to take Beth back with her; but instead of having to go home to spend the day alone waiting for Beth, as she had expected, she was sent out some distance along the cliffs to a high hill, which she climbed by Beth's direction. She was to hide herself among the fir-trees at the top, and watch for a solitary rider on a big brown horse, who would pa.s.s on the road below between noon and sunset, if all went well, going towards the headland.
”_I_ shall be that rider,” Beth said solemnly. ”And the moment you see me, take this blue missive, and place it on the Flat Rock, with a stone on it to keep it from blowing away; then go home. If I do not appear before sunset, here is a red missive to place on the Flat Rock instead of the blue one, which must then be destroyed by fire. If I return, I return; if not, never breathe a word of these things to a living soul as you value your life.”
”I would rather die than divulge anything,” Charlotte protested solemnly, and her choice of the word divulge seemed to add considerably to the dignity of the proceedings.
They separated with a casual nod, that people might not suspect them of anything important, and each proceeded to act her part in a delightful state of excitement; but what was thrilling earnest to Charlotte, calling for courage and endurance, was merely an exhilarating play of the fancy put into practice to Beth.
By the time Charlotte arrived at the top of the hill, and had settled herself among the firs overlooking the road below, she was very tired.
Beth had given her a bag, one of Aunt Victoria's many reticules, with orders not to open it before her watch began. The bag had been a burden to carry, but Charlotte was repaid for the trouble, for she found it full of good things to eat, and a bottle of cold coffee and cream to drink, with lumps of sugar and all complete. Beth had really displayed the most thoughtful kindness in packing that bag. The contents she had procured on a sudden impulse from a pastry-cook in the town, by promising to pay the next time she pa.s.sed.
After having very much enjoyed a solid Melton Mowbray pie, a sausage in puff-pastry, a sponge-cake, a lemon cheesecake, and two crisp brandy snaps, and slowly sipped the coffee, Charlotte felt that this was the only life worth living, and formally vowed to dedicate herself for ever to the Secret Service of Humanity--Beth's name for these enterprises. She kept a careful eye on the road below all this time, and there ran through her head the while fragments of a ballad Beth had written, which added very much to the charm of the occasion.
”The fir-trees whisper overhead, Between the living and the dead, I watch the livelong day.
I watch upon the mountain-side For one of courage true and tried, Who should ride by this way,”
it began. When she first heard that Beth had written that ballad, Charlotte was astonished. It was the only a.s.sertion of Beth's she had ever doubted; but Beth a.s.sured her that any one could write verses, and convinced her by ”making some up” there and then on a subject which she got Charlotte to choose for her.
Many things pa.s.sed on the road below--teams of waggons, drawn by beautiful big cart-horses with glossy coats, well cared for, tossing their headland rattling the polished bra.s.ses of their harness proudly, signs of successful farming and affluence; smart carriages with what Beth called ”silly-fool ladies, good for nothing,” in them; a carrier's cart, pedestrians innumerable, and then--then, at last, a solitary big brown horse, ridden at a steady canter by a slender girl in a brown habit (worn by her mother in her youth, and borrowed from her wardrobe without permission for the occasion). The horse was a broken-down racer with some spirit left, which Beth had hired, as she had procured the provisions, on a promise to pay. In pa.s.sing, she waved a white handkerchief carelessly, as if she were flicking flies from the horse, but _without relenting her speed_. This was the signal agreed upon. Charlotte, glowing with excitement, and greatly relieved, watched the adventurous rider out of sight; then trudged off bravely to the Flat Rock, miles away behind the far pier, where she loyally deposited the blue missive. The red one she destroyed by fire according to orders.
Beth had warned her that she would be tired to death when she got in, and had better s.n.a.t.c.h some repose in preparation for the night.
”But if I oversleep myself and am not on the look-out for you when you come, what will you do?” Charlotte objected.
”Leave that to me,” said Beth.
And Charlotte did accordingly with perfect confidence.
When she awoke the room was dark, but there was a motionless figure sitting in the window, clearly silhouetted against the sky. Charlotte, who expected surprises, was pleasantly startled.
”Is all safe in the west, sister?” she said softly, raising herself on her elbow.
”Yes,” was the reply, ”but clouds are gathering in the north. Our hope is in the east. Let us pray for the sunrise. You left the letter?”
”Yes. As fast as I could fly I went.”
”Ah! then it will be gone by this time!” Beth e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed with conviction. The Flat Rock was only uncovered at low water, and now the tide was high. ”Can you get me some food, little one, for I am famished?” she proceeded. ”I have had nothing since the morning, and have ridden far, and have done much.”
”Oh dear! oh dear!” said Charlotte. ”And you got me such good things!”
”Ah! that was different,” Beth rejoined.
Charlotte stole downstairs. Her father had been out seeing his patients all day, and had not troubled about her.
She returned with chicken and ham, cold apple-tart and cream, and a little jug of cider.