"What colour of necktie he wore--"
Betty tossed her head in scornful contempt of the burst of laughter evoked by Miles" words.
"And what he did with the screw, or whatever you call it, when you showed it to him, and what the other men said, and-- Oh, dozens of interesting things; but you can say nothing but "all right" to every single question. It _is_ dull!"
"You must allow for diversities of talent, Betty," said Mrs Trevor, laughing. "We do not all possess your powers of description. Miles is very modest over his success, and I, like you, want to hear more details. You must be sure to tell us how the trial works, Son; and if your improvement is permanently adopted, I shall be proud!"
"Nothing to be proud of!" muttered Miles into his plate.
If there was one thing he loathed more than another, it was to be praised and petted, and made the centre of attention. His roughened fingers clenched themselves tightly round the knife and fork, and he cut his beef into pieces with savage energy.
Why couldn"t they leave a fellow alone? All this fuss about a bit of a cog!
Betty divined his discomfiture, as she divined all that concerned her beloved brother, but she had not the tact to come to the rescue, and it was Jill who turned the conversation by a casual question which yet was of interest to all the family.
"Father, is there a father at the big house at the corner? We can"t decide what"s the matter with him. There must have been one, of course, because of the Pet. Jack says he"s dead, but she is not in mourning, and the mother doesn"t wear widow"s things. I say he"s gone a tour round the world, and is buying presents at every port so as to pamper her more than ever when he comes back."
Dr Trevor looked a trifle mystified, but he was accustomed to his children"s mental flights, and, after a moment"s consideration, he replied smilingly--
"If you mean Number 14, the tenant is a certain Major Alliot, who is at present, I believe, with his regiment in India. I don"t know anything about his household, or the ident.i.ty of the "Pet," as you are pleased to call her."
"I wish she"d fall downstairs, or have an accident of some sort suddenly, so that they"d have to fly across for you in a hurry," sighed Jill with frank brutality. "I wish all the people in that row would have accidents, so that you could tell us all about them. We are dying with curiosity!"
"Wouldn"t influenza do as well? There is no need to be quite so brutal, Jill," her father reminded her. "Besides, it is hardly my usual custom to tell you "all about" my cases, is it? I should be very glad to find new patients nearer here for my own sake; which reminds me, dear, that I have to go a long drive after dinner, and shan"t be home for the evening, as I hoped. It is unfortunate having so many late nights this week."
Mrs Trevor"s brow shadowed for a moment, but she recovered herself, and smiled bravely at her husband, while Betty cried emphatically--
"I shall never marry a doctor!"
"Lucky beggar! He"s had an escape anyway!" growled Miles beneath his breath, quite unable to resist paying Betty back for her attack on him a few moments before, and Betty laughed as merrily as the rest at the joke against herself.
"Well, I shall have an escape too! I don"t like ill people or having anything to do with them; it"s not my vocation!" she announced grandiloquently, and her face fell with dismay when her father said cheerily--
"Oh, come, you don"t do yourself justice, dear. I always find you a very acceptable little nurse. Mrs Ewen was asking for you only to-day.
I should be glad if you would make a point of going to see her some afternoon this week, and trying to amuse her for an hour or two. She has had a very sharp attack, poor soul."
"Yes, father," a.s.sented Betty meekly, but mentally she ground her teeth.
Mrs Ewen was an old patient, a tiresome patient from Betty"s point of view, who never grew better, but was frequently worse, who spent all her life in her bedroom and an upstairs sitting-room, her chief subject of conversation being the misdemeanours of her hardly-worked nurses. She had taken a fancy to the doctor"s young daughter, and liked to be visited by her as often as possible in convalescent periods; but Betty did not return the liking.
"She doesn"t understand girls," she grumbled to herself. "I don"t believe she ever was a girl herself. She must have been born about forty, with spectacles and a cap. I can"t think why she wants to see me. I do nothing but say "Yes" and "No" while she abuses other people, and yawn my head off in that stifling room. And I did so want to get on with my blouse. Seems as if I could never do as I like, somehow!"
She sat looking such an image of meekness and resignation, with her smoothly-braided locks and downcast lids, that her father"s lips twitched with amus.e.m.e.nt as he glanced at her, and quickly averted his eyes. He knew just as well as she did how distasteful his request had been, but he was none the less anxious to enforce it. Betty"s horizon was blocked with self at the present moment, and anything and everything was of gain which forced her to think of something besides that all- important personage Miss Elizabeth Trevor.
CHAPTER FOUR.
A PIECE OF LOOKING-GLa.s.s.
"Such a joke, Jill! The sun is shining, and the Pet is sitting reading, in the drawing-room window, and I"ve found a broken piece of looking- gla.s.s in the street.--There"s luck! Let"s hide behind the curtains and flash it in her eyes!"
Jill"s book fell down with a crash, and she leapt to her feet, abeam with antic.i.p.ation. It was Sat.u.r.day, and she had announced her intention of "stewing hard" all the afternoon, but the claims of examinations sank into the background before the thrilling prospect held out by her twin.
"Break it in two! Fair does, Jack! Give me a bit, and let us flash in turns!" she cried eagerly; but Jack would not consent to anything so rash.
"How can I divide it, silly?" he replied. "I haven"t a diamond _to cut it_, and if I crunch it with my foot it may all go to smithereens, and there will be nothing left. I"ll lend it to you for a bit now and then, but you won"t aim straight. Girls never do!"
"I do! I do!" Jill maintained loudly. "I will! I will! Come along, be quick! She might move away, and it would be such a sell. I"ll kneel down here and keep the curtains round me. I wonder what she"s reading.
Something awfully dry and proper, I expect! What heaps of hair! It hangs over her face, so that we shan"t be able to dazzle her a bit."
"Yes, we will," contradicted Jack. "She"ll see the light dancing about on the page, and look up to see what"s the matter! You watch, but mind you don"t bob up your head and let her see you!"
"Mind you don"t let her see your hand! It"s sticking right out. You ought to put on a dark glove, which she wouldn"t notice against the pane."
Jack was pleased to approve of the glove proposition, and an adjournment was made to the doctor"s dressing-room, where a pair of "funeral gloves"
were discovered which seemed exactly what was desired. Jack drew one on his right hand, Jill drew the other on her left, and thus equipped they crept back to their hiding-place behind the shabby red curtains, and proceeded to work.
It was rather difficult to move the gla.s.s so as to throw the reflection on one exact spot, as the conspirators could only peep out for a moment at a time. The little white circle of light danced all over the big grey house before it found the window above the porch, and, moving slowly up and down, eventually alighted on the page of the open book.
Jill giggled, Jack snored loudly, as was his habit when excited; the Pet gave a little hitch round in her chair, and read on stolidly.
"My turn! My turn!" cried Jill excitedly. "You"ve had your innings, now give me mine. Hand it over!" and the two black gloved hands met in the middle of the window.
"You moved it away too quickly! You must follow her about, and bob it g-ently up and down. Wait till I get it right. There it is! I"ve got it better than you, Jack, ever so much better!"
"That"s because the sun"s so much brighter. Be careful now. That"s enough! If you go on too long at a time, she"ll move away into the room and it will be all up. Let her settle down again, and imagine she"s all right, then we"ll give her another treat!"
It was wonderful how expert one grew with practice! The light now danced direct to its destination, and move her book as she would, the Pet could not escape. At last she grew impatient, tossed back her mane of hair and turned to stare curiously out of the window. This was the longed-for opportunity, and Jack snored louder than ever with relief that it had come about when it was his turn to hold the treasured gla.s.s.
Quick as thought he waved it to and fro, and the Pet threw up her hands, unable to withstand the glare. Safe in the seclusion of their distant room, the twins shrieked with exultation, and had much ado to keep their position behind the curtains. Jill kept endeavouring to s.n.a.t.c.h the gla.s.s from her brother, but Jack was too intent on his work to take any notice of her efforts.
The Pet lifted one hand from her eyes and cautiously peeped out. The sun was shining with unusual brilliancy for an October morning, but there was not the slightest difficulty in viewing the landscape as fully as she liked. She turned her head from side to side in a curious inquiring fashion, and Jack, with an artist"s appreciation of the right moment, waited until she had abandoned the search, and was about to settle down again, when another blinding flash of light fell full on her face, and she shrank back into the shade with a startled gesture.
Seated in this last position, she exactly faced the schoolroom, and the twins had a moment"s horrified fear that she had caught a glimpse of their peeping faces, but her next movement put an end to suspicion, for she took up her book and settled down again to her reading exactly as if she had never been interrupted.
And then an extraordinary thing happened! The mane of golden hair was tossed back, leaving the face fully exposed, yet though the twins flashed the light on both eyes and book, the Pet read on stolidly, turning over the pages with leisurely enjoyment, apparently no whit disturbed.
"What"s the matter with her all of a sudden? Is she blind?" Jill queried impatiently.
Jack grunted, and flashed more vigorously than ever, but the Pet might have been a hundred miles away for all the effect produced. It was most mysterious and perplexing, not to say exasperating to the last degree.
After ten minutes" fruitless effort, Jack went off in search of fresh victims, and Jill sorrowfully returned to her lessons.
How interested they would have been if they could have overheard a conversation which was even then taking place across the road!
"Dear child!" cried a lady lying on a sofa at the far end of a beautifully-furnished drawing-room. "Dear child, what are you doing?
For the last five minutes I have been watching you pretending to read with your eyes shut. It"s not a lesson book, and Miss Mason is not here, so what can you be thinking about, dear wee goose?"
The fair head turned round, and the book dropped to the floor.
"I"m thinking," said a very sweet, sad little voice, "I"m thinking that I wish I were a large family, mother. I"m so tired of being only one!"