"Do you really mean, Miss Wickham, that you and your mother--your aristocratic mother--are seriously thinking of entering into partnership with me?"
"I don"t know about mother, but I know that I am leaning very much towards the idea," I said; "and I think I ought to apologise, both for my mother and myself, for the rude way in which we treated you yesterday."
"I expected it, love; I was not a bit surprised," said Jane Mullins.
"I thought it best to plump out the whole scheme and allow it to simmer in your minds. Of course, at first, you were not likely to be taken with it, but you were equally likely to come round. I stayed in this morning on purpose; I was almost sure you would visit me."
"You were right," I said. "I see that you are a very wise woman, and I am a silly girl."
"You are a very beautiful girl, Miss Wickham, and educated according to your station. Your station and mine are far apart, but having got capital and a certain amount of sense, it would be a very good partnership, if you really think we could venture upon it."
"I am willing," I said suddenly.
"Then, that is right; here"s my hand upon it; but don"t be more impulsive to-day, my dear, than you were yesterday. You must do things properly. Here are different references of mine." She walked across the room, took up a little packet, and opened it.
"This is a list of tradespeople," she said; "I should like you to write to them all; they will explain to a certain extent my financial position; they will a.s.sure you that I, Jane Mullins, have been dealing with them for the things that I require for the last seven years--a seven years" reference is long enough, is it not? But if it is not quite long enough, here is the address of the dear old Rector in Shropshire who confirmed me, and in whose Sunday-school I was trained, and who knew my father, one of the best farmers in the district.
"So much for my early life, but the most important reference of all is the reference of the friend, who does not choose his or her name to be mentioned, and who is helping me with capital; not helping you, Miss Wickham, mind--not you nor Mrs. Wickham--but me _myself_, with capital to the tune of seven thousand pounds. I could not do it but for that, and as the person who is lending me this money to make this great fortune happens to be a friend of Mr. Hardcastle"s, I think he, Mr.
Hardcastle, will let us have the house."
"Now this is all very startling and amazing," I said. "You ought to tell us your friend"s name and all about it; that is, if we are to go properly into partnership."
"It can"t be done, my dear. The friend is a very old friend and a very true one, and Mr. Hardcastle is the one to be satisfied. The friend knows that for years I have wanted to start a boarding-house, but the friend always thought there were difficulties in the way. I was too homely, and people are grand in these days, and want some society airs and manners, which you, my dear, possess. So if we put our fortunes into one bag everything will come right, and you must trust me, that"s all."
I was quite silent, thinking very hard.
"When I saw 17 Graham Square yesterday," continued Miss Mullins, "I said to myself, if there is a suitable house for our purpose in the whole W.C. district it is that house. What a splendid drawing-room there is, or rather two drawing-rooms; just the very rooms to entertain people in in the evening. Now if we put all our fortunes into one bag, you, my dear Miss Wickham, shall have the social part of the establishment under your wing. I will arrange all about the servants, and will see that the cooking is right, and will carve the joints at dinner; and your beautiful, graceful, aristocratic lady mother must take the head of the table. She won"t have a great deal to do, but her presence will work wonders."
"And do you think we shall make any money with this thing?" I said.
"It is my impression that we will; indeed I am almost sure of it, but the house must be furnished suitably."
"But what is your taste with regard to furniture, Miss Mullins?" I asked, and now I looked apprehensively round the little Berlin wool room.
"Well, I always did incline to the primitive colours. I will be frank with you, and say honestly that I never pa.s.s by that awful shop, Liberty"s in Regent Street, without shuddering. Their greens and their greys and their pinks are not my taste, love--no, and never will be; but I shall leave the furnishing to you, Miss Wickham, for I see by the tone of that dress you are now wearing that you adhere to Liberty, and like his style of decoration."
"Oh, I certainly do," I replied.
"Very well then, you shall furnish in Liberty style, or in any style you fancy; it does not matter to me. You know the tastes of your own set, and I hope we"ll have plenty of them at No. 17, my dear. As a matter of fact, all I care about in a room is that it should be absolutely clean, free from dust, tidily arranged, and not too much furniture in it. For the rest--well, I never notice pretty things when they are about, so you need not bother about that as far as I am concerned. The house is a very large one, and although you have some furniture to meet its requirements, and what I have in this little room will do for my own sitting-room, still I have not the slightest doubt we shall have to spend about a thousand pounds in putting the house into apple-pie order; not a penny less will do the job, of that I am convinced."
As I had no knowledge whatever on the subject I could neither gainsay Miss Mullins nor agree with her.
"The house must be the envy of all the neighbours," she said, and a twinkle came into her eyes and a look of satisfaction round her mouth.
"Oh, it shall be. How delightful you are!" I cried.
"What I propose is this," said Jane Mullins; "we--your mother, you and I--sign the lease, and we three are responsible. I take one third of the profits, you a third, and your mother a third."
"But surely that is not fair, for you are putting capital into it."
"Not at all, it is my friend"s capital, and that is the arrangement my friend would like. Come, I cannot work on any other terms. I take a third, you a third, and your mother a third. I, having experience, do the housekeeping. Having experience, I order the servants. You arrange the decorations for the table, you have the charge of the flowers and the drawing-room in the evenings. As funds permit and paying guests arrive you inaugurate amus.e.m.e.nts in the drawing-room, you make everything as sociable and as pleasant as possible. Your mother gives tone and distinction to the entire establishment."
"You seem to be leaving very little for mother and me to do," I said.
"Your mother cannot have much to do, for I do not think she is strong," said Miss Mullins. "She is older than I am too, and has seen a great deal of sorrow; but what she does, remember no one else can do, she gives _the tone_. It"s a fact, Miss Wickham, that you may try all your life, but unless Providence has bestowed tone upon you, you cannot acquire it. Now I have no tone, and will only obtrude myself into the social circle to carve the joints at dinner; otherwise I shall be busy, extremely busy in my own domain."
"Well, as far as I am concerned, I am abundantly willing to enter into this partnership," I said. "I like you very much, and I am sure you are honest and true. I will tell mother what you have said to me, and we will let you know immediately."
"All I ask is that you prove me, my dear," said the little woman, and then she took my hand and gave it a firm grip.
CHAPTER VII
THE PAYING GUESTS
Everything went smoothly after my interview with Jane Mullins. In an incredibly short s.p.a.ce of time the contract for the house was signed.
It was signed by mother, by me, and by Jane Mullins. Then we had exciting and extraordinary days hunting for that furniture which Jane considered suitable, and consulting about the servants, and the thousand and one small minutiae of the establishment. But finally Jane took the reins into her own hands, whisking my mother and me off to the country, and telling us that we could come and take possession on the 29th of September.
"There won"t be any visitors in the house then," she said, "but all the same, the house will be full, from attic to cellar, before the week is out, and you had best be there beforehand. Until then enjoy yourselves."
Well, I did enjoy myself very much. It was quite terrible of me, for now and then I saw such a look of sorrow on mother"s face; but I really did get a wonderful heartening and cheering up by Jane, and when the weeks flew by, and the long desired day came at last, I found myself in excellent spirits, but mother looked very pale and depressed.
"You will get accustomed to it," I said, "and I think in time you will learn to like it. It is a brave thing to do. I have been thinking of father so much lately, and I am quite certain that he would approve."
"Do you really believe that, West?" asked my mother; "if I thought so, nothing would really matter. West, dearest, you are so brave and masculine in some things, you ought to have been a man."
"I am very glad I am a woman," was my reply, "for I want to prove that women can do just as strong things as men, and just as brave things if occasion requires."
So we arrived at the boarding-house, and Jane Mullins met us on the steps, and took us all over it. It was a curious house, and at the same time a very beautiful one. There was a certain mixture of tastes which gave some of the rooms an odd effect. Jane"s common-sense and barbarous ideas with regard to colour, rather clashed with our aesthetic instincts and our more luxurious ideas. But the drawing-room at least was almost perfect. It was a drawing-room after mother"s own heart. In reality it was a very much larger and handsomer room than the one we had left in Sumner Place, but it had a home-like look, and the colouring was in one harmonious scheme, which took away from any undue effect of size, and at the same time gave a delicious sense of s.p.a.ce. The old pictures, too, stood on the walls, and the old lovely curtains adorned the windows; and the little easy chairs that mother loved, stood about here and there, and all the nicknacks and articles of vertu were to be found in their accustomed places; and there were flowers and large palms, and we both looked around us with a queer sense of wonder.
"Why, mother," I said, "this is like coming home."
"So it is," said mother, "it is extraordinary."
"But Miss Mullins," I continued, "you told me you had no taste. How is it possible that you were able to decorate a room like this, and, you dear old thing, the carpet on the floor has quite a Liberty tone, and what a lovely carpet, too!"
Jane absolutely blushed. When she blushed it was always the tip of her nose that blushed--it blushed a fiery red now. She looked down, and then she looked up, and said after a pause--
"I guessed that, just what I would not like you would adore, so I did the furnishing of this room on that principle. I am glad you are pleased. I don"t hold myself with cut flowers, nor nicknacks, nor rubbish of that sort, but you do; and when people hold with them, and believe in them, the more they have of them round, the better pleased they are. Oh, and there"s a big box of Fuller"s sweetmeats on that little table. I thought you would eat those if you had no appet.i.te for anything else."
"But I have an excellent appet.i.te," I answered; "all the same, I am delighted to see my favourite sweets. Come, mother, we will have a feast, both of us; you shall enjoy your favourite bon-bon this minute."
Mother got quite merry over the box, and Jane disappeared, and in five minutes or so, a stylishly dressed parlour-maid came in with a _recherche_ tea, which we both enjoyed.
Mother"s bedroom was on the first floor, a small room, but a very dainty one; and this had been papered with a lovely shade of very pale gold, and the hangings and curtains were of the same colour. There was a little balcony outside the window where she could sit, and where she could keep her favourite plants, and there in its cage was her old Bully, who could pipe "Robin Adair," "Home, sweet Home," and "Charlie is my Darling." The moment he saw mother he perked himself up, and bent his little head to one side, and began piping "Charlie is my Darling" in as lively a tone as ever bullfinch possessed.
I had insisted beforehand on having my room at the top of the house not far from Jane"s, for of course the best bedrooms were reserved for the boarders, the boarders who had not yet come.