"How?" replied Sylvia.
"Just as if you were bursting to tell me something."
"I am-I am," answered Sylvia. "Oh Jasper, you must help me!"
"Of course I will, dear."
"I have resolved to accept your most kind offer. I will pay you somehow, in some fashion, but if you could make just one of Evelyn"s frocks fit for me to wear!"
"Ah!" replied Jasper. "Now, I am as pleased about this as I could be about anything. We will have more than one, my pretty young miss. But what do you want it for?"
"I am going to do a great, big, dangerous thing," replied Sylvia. "If father discovers, things will be very bad, I am sure; but perhaps he will not discover. Anyhow, I am not proof against temptation. I met Lady Frances Wynford."
"And how does her ladyship look?" asked Jasper-"as proud as ever?"
"She was not proud to me, Jasper; she was quite nice. She asked me to take a drive with her."
"You took a drive with her ladyship!"
"I did indeed; you must treat me with great respect after this."
Jasper put her arms akimbo and burst into a loud laugh.
"I guess," she said after a pause, "you looked just as fine and aristocratic as her ladyship"s own self."
"I drove in a luxurious carriage, and had a lovely fur cloak wrapped round me," replied the girl; "and Lady Frances was very, very kind, and she has asked me to spend Sat.u.r.day at the Castle."
"Sat.u.r.day! Why, that is to-morrow."
"Yes, I know it is."
"You are going?"
"Yes, I am going."
"You will see my little Eve to-morrow?"
"Yes, Jasper."
Jasper"s black eyes grew suspiciously bright; she raised her hand to dash away something which seemed to dim them for a second, then she said in a brisk tone:
"We have our work cut out for us, for you shall not go shabby, my pretty, pretty maid. I will soon have the dinner in order, and--"
"But what have you got for father"s dinner?"
"A little soup. You can tell him that you boiled his chop in it. It is really good, and I am putting in lots of pearl barley and rice and potatoes. He will be ever so pleased, for he will think it cost next to nothing; but there is a good piece of solid meat boiled down in that soup, nevertheless."
"Oh, thank you, Jasper; you are a comfort to me."
"Well," replied Jasper, "I always like to do my best for those who are brave and young and put upon. You are a very silly girl in some ways, Miss Sylvia; but you have been good to me, and I mean to be good to you.
Now then, dinner is well forward, and we will go and search out the dress."
The rest of the day pa.s.sed quickly, and with intense enjoyment as far as Sylvia was concerned. She had sufficiently good taste to choose the least remarkable of Evelyn"s many costumes. There was a rich dark-brown costume, trimmed with velvet of the same shade, which could be lengthened in the skirt and let out in the bodice, and which the young girl would look very nice in. A brown velvet hat accompanied the costume, with a little tuft of ostrich feathers placed on one side, and a pearl buckle to keep all in place. There were m.u.f.fs and furs in quant.i.ties to choose from. Sylvia would for once in her life be richly appareled. Jasper exerted herself to the utmost, and the pretty dress was all in order by the time night came.
It was quite late evening when Sylvia sought the room where her father lived. A very plain but at the same time nourishing supper had been provided for Mr. Leeson. Sylvia"s own supper she would take as usual with Jasper. Sylvia dashed into her father"s room, her eyes bright and her cheeks glowing. She was surprised and distressed to see the room empty. She wondered if her father had gone to his bedroom. Quickly she rushed up-stairs and knocked at the door; there was no response. She opened the door softly and went in. All was cold and icy desolation within the large, badly furnished room. Sylvia shivered slightly, and rushed down-stairs again. She peeped out of the window. The snow was falling heavily in great big flakes.
"Oh, I hope it will not snow too much to-night!" thought the young girl.
"But no matter; however deep it is, I shall find my way to Castle Wynford to-morrow."
She wondered if her father would miss her, if he would grow restless and anxious; but nevertheless she was determined to enjoy her pleasure.
Still, where was he now? She glanced at the fire in the big grate; she ventured to put on some more coals and to tidy up the hearth; then she drew down the blinds of the windows, pulled her father"s armchair in front of the fire, sat down herself by the hearth, and waited. She waited for over half an hour. During that time the warmth of the fire made her drowsy. She found herself nodding. Suddenly she sat up wide awake. A queer sense of uneasiness stole over her; she must go and seek her father. Where could he be? How she longed to call Jasper to her aid!
But that, she knew, would be impossible. She wrapped a threadbare cloak, which hung on a peg in the hall, round her shoulders, slipped her feet into goloshes, and set out into the wintry night. She had not gone a dozen yards before she saw the object of her search. Mr. Leeson was lying full length on the snow; he was not moving. Sylvia had a wild horror that he was dead; she bent over him.
"Father! father!" she cried.
There was no answer. She touched his face with her lips; it was icy cold. Oh, was he dead? Oh, terror! oh, horror! All her accustomed prudence flew to the winds. Get succor for him at once she must. She dashed into the kitchen. Jasper was standing by the fire.
"Come at once, Jasper!" she said. "Bring brandy, and come at once."
"What has happened, my darling?"
"Come at once and you will see. Bring brandy-brandy."
Jasper in an emergency was all that was admirable. She followed Sylvia out into the snow, and between them they dragged Mr. Leeson back to the house.
"Now, dear," said Jasper, "I will give him the brandy, and I"ll stand behind him. When he comes to I will slip out of the room. Oh, the poor gentleman! He is as cold as ice. Hold that blanket and warm it, will you, Sylvia? We must put it round him. Oh, bless you, child! heap some coals on the fire. What matter the expense? There! you cannot lift that great hod; I"ll do it."
Jasper piled coals on the grate; the fire crackled and blazed merrily.
Mr. Leeson lay like one dead.
"He is dead-he is dead!" gasped Sylvia.
"No, love, not a bit of it; but he slipped in the cold and the fall stunned him a bit, and the cold is so strong he could not come to himself again. He will soon be all right; we must get this brandy between his lips."
That they managed to do, and a minute or two later the poor man opened his eyes. Just for a second it seemed to him that he saw a strange woman, stout and large and determined-looking, bending over him; but the next instant, his consciousness more wholly returning, he saw Sylvia.
Sylvia"s little face, white with fear, her eyes, large with love and anxiety, were close to his. He smiled into the sweet little face, and holding out his thin hand, allowed her to clasp it. There was a rustle as though somebody was going away, and Sylvia and her father were alone.
A moment later the young girl raised her eyes and saw Jasper in the background making mysterious signs to her. She got up. Jasper was holding a cup of very strong soup in her hand. Sylvia took it with thankfulness, and brought it to her father.
"Do you know," she said, trying to speak as cheerfully as she could, "that you have behaved very badly? You went out into the snow when you should have been in your warm room, and you fell down and you fainted or something. Anyhow, I found you in time; and now you are to drink this."
"I won"t; hot water will do-not that expensive stuff," said Mr. Leeson, true to the tragedy of his life even at this crucial moment.
"Drink this and nothing else," said Sylvia, speaking as hardly and firmly as she dared.
Mr. Leeson was too weak to withstand her. She fed him by spoonfuls, and presently he was well enough to sit up again.
"Child, what a fire!" he said.
"Yes, father; and if it means our very last sixpence, or our very last penny even, it is going to be a big fire to-night: and you are going to be nursed and petted and comforted. Oh, father, father, you gave me such a fright!"