Part 29 (1/2)
She listened for a moment, noticed that all was still in the big sitting-room (as likely as not her father had dropped asleep), and then, turning to her left, went quickly away in the direction of the kitchen.
When she entered the kitchen she locked the door. There was a clear and almost smokeless fire in the range, and drawn up close to it was a table covered with a white cloth; on the table were preparations for a meal.
”Well, Sylvia,” said Jasper, ”and how did he enjoy his chop? How much of it did he give to you, my dear?”
”Oh, none at all, Jasper. I pretended I was not hungry. It was such a pleasure to see him eat it!”
”And what about the fried potatoes, love?”
”He ate them too with such an appet.i.te-I just took a few to satisfy him.
Do you know, Jasper, he says that he thinks an abstemious life agrees with me. He says that I am looking very well, and that he is quite sure no one needs big fires and plenty of food in cold weather-it is simply and entirely a matter of habit.”
”Oh! don't talk to me of him any more,” said Jasper. ”He is the sort of man to give me the dismals. I cannot tell you how often I dream of him at night. You are a great deal too good to him, Sylvia, and that is the truth. But here-here is our dinner, you poor frozen lamb. Eat now and satisfy yourself.”
Sylvia sat down and ate with considerable appet.i.te the good and nouris.h.i.+ng food which Jasper had provided. As she did so her bright, clear, dark eyes grew brighter than ever, and her young cheeks became full of the lovely color of the damask rose. She pushed her hair from her forehead, and looked thoughtfully into the fire.
”You feel better, dear, don't you?” asked Jasper.
”Better!” said the young girl. ”I feel alive. I wonder, Jasper, how long it will last.”
”Why should it not go on for some time, dear? I have money-enough, that is, for the present.”
”But you are spending your money on me.”
”Not at all. You are keeping me and feeding me. I give you twenty s.h.i.+llings a week, and out of that you feed me as well as yourself.”
”Oh, that twenty s.h.i.+llings!” cried Sylvia. ”What riches it seems! The first week I got it I really felt that I should never, never be able to come to the end of it. I quite trembled when I was in father's presence.
I dreaded that he might see the money lying in my pocket. It seemed impossible that he, who loves money so much, would not notice it; but he did not, and now I am almost accustomed to it. Oh Jasper, you have saved my life!”
”It is well to have lived for some good purpose,” said Jasper in a guarded tone. She looked at the young girl, and a quick sigh came to her lips.
”Do you know,” she said abruptly, ”that I mean to do more than feed you and warm you?”
”But what more could you do?”
”Why, clothe you, love-clothe you.”
”No, Jasper; you must not.”
”But I must and will,” said Jasper. ”I have smuggled in all my belongings, and the dear old gentleman does not know a single bit about it. Bless you! notwithstanding that Pilot of his, and the way he himself sneaks about and watches-notwithstanding all these things, I, Amelia Jasper, am a match for him. Yes, my dear, my belongings are in this house, and one of the trunks contains little Evelyn's clothes-the clothes she is not allowed to wear. I mean to alter them, and add to them, and rearrange them, and make them fit for you, my bonny girl.”
”It is a temptation,” said Sylvia; ”but, Jasper dear, I dare not allow you to do it. If I were to appear in anything but the very plainest clothes father would discover there was something up; he would get into a state of terror, and my life would not be worth living. When mother was alive she sometimes tried to dress me as I ought to be dressed, and I remember now a terrible scene and mother's tears. There was an occasion when mother gave me a little crimson velvet frock, and I ran into the dining-room to father. I was quite small then, and the frock suited me, and mother was, oh, so proud! But half an hour later I was in my room, drowned in tears, and ordered to bed immediately, and the frock had been torn off my back by father himself.”
”The man is a maniac,” said Jasper. ”Don't let us talk of him. You can dress fine when you are with me. I mean to have a gay time; I don't mean to let the gra.s.s grow under my feet. What do you say to my smuggling in little Eve some day and letting her have a right jolly time with us two in this old kitchen?”
”But father will certainly, certainly discover it.”
”No; I can manage that. The kitchen is far away from the rest of the house, and with this new sort of coal there is scarcely any smoke. At night-at any rate on dark nights-he cannot see even if there is smoke; and in the daytime I burn this special coal. Oh, we are safe enough, my dear; you need have no fear.”
Sylvia talked a little longer with Jasper, and then she ran to her own room to put on her very threadbare garments preparatory to going out.