A second batch of sightseers had arrived and were paying their entrance pennies, but the first batch refused to move. William, emboldened by success, opened the door and they crept out to the landing and listened with ears pressed to the magic door.
Henry now did the honours of showman. William stood, majestic in his glorious apparel, deep in thought. Then to his face came the faint smile that inspiration brings to her votaries. He ordered the audience back into the showroom and shut the door. Then he took off his shoes and softly and with bated breath opened Aunt Emily"s door and peeped within. It was rather a close afternoon, and she lay on her bed on the top of her eiderdown. She had slipped off her dress skirt so as not to crush it, and she lay in her immense stature in a blouse and striped petticoat, while from her open mouth issued the fascinating sounds. In sleep Aunt Emily was not beautiful.
William thoughtfully propped up a cushion in the doorway and stood considering the situation.
In a few minutes the showroom was filled with a silent, expectant crowd.
In a corner near the door was a new notice:
+----------------------+ | PLACE FOR TAKING | | OFF SHOES AND TAKING | | OTH OF SILENCE | +----------------------+
William, after administering the oath of silence to a select party in his most impressive manner led them shoeless and on tiptoe to the next room.
From Aunt Emily"s bed hung another notice:
+------------------+ | FAT WILD WOMAN | | TORKIN NATIF | | LANGWIDGE | +------------------+
They stood in a hushed, delighted group around her bed. The sounds never ceased, never abated. William only allowed them two minutes in the room.
They came out reluctantly, paid more money, joined the end of the queue and re-entered. More and more children came to see the show, but the show now consisted solely in Aunt Emily.
The China rat had licked off all its stripes; s.m.u.ts was fast asleep; Ginger was sitting down on the seat of a chair and Douglas on the back of it, and Ginger had insisted at last on air and sight and had put his head out where the two sheets joined; the Russian Bear had fallen on to the floor and no one had picked it up; Chips lay in a disconsolate heap, a victim of acute melancholia--and no one cared for any of these things.
New-comers pa.s.sed by them hurriedly and stood shoeless in the queue outside Aunt Emily"s room eagerly awaiting their turn. Those who came out simply went to the end again to wait another turn. Many returned home for more money, for Aunt Emily was 1d. extra and each visit after the first, d. The Sunday School bell pealed forth its summons, but no one left the show. The vicar was depressed that evening. The attendance at Sunday School had been the worst on record. And still Aunt Emily slept and snored with a rapt, silent crowd around her. But William could never rest content. He possessed ambition that would have put many of his elders to shame. He cleared the room and re-opened it after a few minutes, during which his clients waited in breathless suspense.
When they re-entered there was a fresh exhibit. William"s keen eye had been searching out each detail of the room. On the table by her bed now stood a gla.s.s containing teeth, that William had discovered on the washstand, and a switch of hair and a toothless comb, that William had discovered on the dressing-table. These all bore notices:
+----------+ +----------+ +----------+ | FAT WILD | | FAT WILD | | FAT WILD | | WOMAN"S | | WOMAN"S | | WOMAN"S | | TEETH | | HARE | | KOME | +----------+ +----------+ +----------+
Were it not that the slightest noise meant instant expulsion from the show (some of their number had already suffered that bitter fate) there would have been no restraining the audience. As it was, they crept in, silent, expectant, thrilled, to watch and listen for the blissful two minutes. And Aunt Emily never failed them. Still she slept and snored.
They borrowed money recklessly from each other. The poor sold their dearest treasures to the rich, and still they came again and again. And still Aunt Emily slept and snored. It would be interesting to know how long this would have gone on, had she not, on the top note of a peal that was a pure delight to her audience, awakened with a start and glanced around her. At first she thought that the cl.u.s.ter of small boys around her was a dream, especially as they turned and fled precipitately at once. Then she sat up and her eye fell upon the table by her bed, the notices, and finally upon the petrified horror-stricken showman. She sprang up and, seizing him by the shoulders, shook him till his teeth chattered, the tinsel crown fell down, encircling ears and nose, and one of his moustaches fell limply at his feet.
"You wicked boy!" she said as she shook him, "you _wicked_, _wicked_, _wicked_ boy!"
He escaped from her grasp and fled to the showroom, where, in sheer self-defence, he moved a table and three chairs across the door. The room was empty except for Henry, the blue dog, and the still sleeping s.m.u.ts. All that was left of the giant was the crumpled sheets. Douglas had, with an awe-stricken "By Jove!" s.n.a.t.c.hed up his rat as he fled. The last of their clients was seen scrambling along the top of the garden wall on all fours with all possible speed.
Mechanically William straightened his crown.
"She"s woke," he said. "She"s mad wild."
He listened apprehensively for angry footsteps descending the stairs and his father"s dread summons, but none came. Aunt Emily could be heard moving about in her room, but that was all. A wild hope came to him that, given a little time, she might forget the incident.
"Let"s count the money--" said Henry at last.
They counted.
"Four an" six!" screamed William. "Four an" six! Jolly good, I _should_ say! An" it would only have been about two shillings without Aunt Emily, an" I thought of her, didn"t I? I guess you can all be jolly grateful to me."
"All right," said Henry unkindly. "I"m not envying you, am I? You"re welcome to it when she tells your father."
And William"s proud spirits dropped.
Then came the opening of the fateful door and heavy steps descending the stairs.
William"s mother had returned from her weekly visit to her friend. She was placing her umbrella in the stand as Aunt Emily, hatted and coated and carrying a bag, descended. William"s father had just awakened from his peaceful Sunday afternoon slumber, and, hearing his wife, had come into the hall.
Aunt Emily fixed her eye upon him.
"Will you be good enough to procure a conveyance?" she said. "After the indignities to which I have been subjected in this house I refuse to remain in it a moment longer."
Quivering with indignation she gave details of the indignities to which she had been subjected. William"s mother pleaded, apologised, coaxed.
William"s father went quietly out to procure a conveyance. When he returned she was still talking in the hall.
"A crowd of vulgar little boys," she was saying, "and horrible indecent placards all over the room."
He carried her bag down to the cab.
"And me in my state of health," she said as she followed him. From the cab she gave her parting shot.
"And if this horrible thing hadn"t happened, I might have stayed with you all the winter and perhaps part of the spring."
William"s father wiped his brow with his handkerchief as the cab drove off.
"How dreadful!" said his wife, but she avoided meeting his eye.
"It"s--it"s _disgraceful_ of William," she went on with sudden spirit.
"You must speak to him."
"I will," said his father determinedly. "William!" he shouted sternly from the hall.
William"s heart sank.
"She"s told," he murmured, his last hope gone.
"You"d better go and get it over," advised Henry.
"William!" repeated the voice still more fiercely.
Henry moved nearer the window, prepared for instant flight if the voice"s owner should follow it up the stairs.
"Go on," he urged. "He"ll only come up for you."
William slowly removed the barricade and descended the stairs. He had remembered to take off the crown and dressing gown, but his one-sided moustache still hung limply over his mouth.
His father was standing in the hall.
"What"s that horrible thing on your face?" he began.
"Whiskers," answered William laconically.
His father accepted the explanation.