Part 18 (1/2)

”Please tell her-please tell her!” interrupted Evelyn in a voice tremulous with pa.s.sion.

”We are going to have charades to-night, mother, and Evelyn's part is somewhat important; we are all to rehea.r.s.e in the schoolroom at three o'clock.”

”And my part is very important,” interrupted Evelyn again.

”I am sorry,” said Lady Frances, ”but Evelyn must come with me. Is there no one else to take the part, Audrey?”

”Yes, mother; Sophie could do it. She has a very small part, and she is a good actress, and Evelyn could easily do Sophie's part; but, all the same, it will disappoint Eve.”

”I am sorry for that,” said Lady Frances; ”but I cannot alter my plans.

Give Sophie the part that Evelyn would have taken; Evelyn can take her part.-You will have plenty of time, Evelyn, when you return to coach for the small part.”

”Yes, you will, Evelyn; but I am sorry, all the same,” said Audrey, and she turned away.

Evelyn's lips trembled. She stood motionless; then she slowly revolved round, intending to fire some very angry words into Lady Frances's face; but, lo and behold! there was no Lady Frances there. She had gone up-stairs while Evelyn was lost in thought.

Very quietly the little girl went up to her own room. Jasper, her eyes almost swollen out of her head with crying, was there to wait on her.

”I have been packing up, Miss Evelyn,” she said. ”I am to go this afternoon. Her ladys.h.i.+p has made all arrangements, and a cab is to come from the 'Green Man' in the village to fetch me and my luggage at half-past three. It is almost past belief, Miss Eve, that you and me should be parted like this.”

”You look horrid, Jasper, when you cry so hard!” said Evelyn. ”Oh, of course I am awfully sorry; I do not know how I shall live without you.”

”You will miss me a good bit,” said the woman. ”I am surprised, though, that you should take it as you do. If you raised your voice and started the whole place in an uproar you would be bound to have your own way.

But as it is, you are mum as you please; never a word out of you either of sorrow or anything else, but off you go larking with those children and forgetting the one who has made you, mended you, and done everything on earth for you since long before your mother died.”

”Don't remind me of mothery now,” said the girl, and her lips trembled; then she added in a changed voice: ”I cannot help it, Jasper. I have been fighting ever since I came here, and I want to fight-oh, most badly, most desperately!-but somehow the courage has gone out of me. I am ever so sorry for you, Jasper, but I cannot help myself; I really cannot.”

Jasper was silent. After a time she said slowly:

”And your mother wrote a letter on her deathbed asking Lady Frances to let me stay with you whatever happened.”

”I know,” said Evelyn. ”It is awful of her; it really is.”

”And do you think,” continued the woman, ”I am going to submit?”

”Why, you must, Jasper. You cannot stay if they do not wish for you. And you have got all your wages, have you not?”

”I have, my dear; I have. Yes,” continued the woman; ”she thinks, of course, that I am satisfied, and that I am going as mum as a mouse and as quiet as the grave, but she is fine and mistook; I ain't doing nothing of the sort. Go I must, but not far. I have a plan in my head.

It may come to nothing; but if it does come to something, as I hope to goodness it will, then you will hear of me again, my pet, and I won't be far off to protect you if the time should come that you need me. And now, what do you want of me, my little lamb, for your face is piteous to see?”

”I am a miserable girl,” said Evelyn. ”I could cry for hours, but there is no time. Dress me, then, for the last time, Jasper. Oh, Jasper darling, I am fond of you!”

Evelyn's stoical, hard sort of nature seemed to give way at this juncture; she flung her arms round her maid's neck and kissed her many times pa.s.sionately. The woman kissed her, too, in a hungry sort of way.

”You are really not going far away, Jasper?” said Evelyn when, dressed in her coat and hat, she was ready to start.

”My plans are laid but not made yet,” said the woman. ”You will hear from me likely to-morrow, my love. And now, good-by. I have packed all your things in the trunks they came in, and the wardrobe is empty. Oh, my pet, my pet, good-by! Who will look after you to-night, and who will sleep in the little white bed alongside of you? Oh, my darling, the spirit of your Jasper is broke, that it is!”

”Evelyn!” called her aunt, who was pa.s.sing her room at that moment, ”the carriage is at the door. Come at once.”