"To be sure," she said in her most gracious tone. ""Tis the beautiful pipes I have. And "tis proud I am to say the purty young lady," and on she went with a long flattering speech about Peggy"s likeness to her "swate mother," and inquiries after the lady"s health, all the time she was reaching down from a high shelf an old broken cardboard box, containing her stock of clay pipes.
Peggy did not answer. In the first place, thanks to the old woman"s Irish accent and queer way of speaking she did not understand a quarter of what she said. Then her eyes were busy gazing all about, and her nose was even less pleasantly occupied, for there was a very strong smell in the room. It was a sort of mixed smell of everything--not like the curious "everything" smell that one knows so well in a village shop in the country, which for my part I think rather nice--a smell of tea, and coffee, and bacon, and nuts, and soap, and matting, and brown holland, and spices, and dried herbs, all mixed together, but with a clean feeling about it--no, the smell in Mrs. Whelan"s was much stuffier and snuffier. For joined to the odour of all the things I have named was that of herrings and tobacco smoke, and, I rather fear, of whisky. And besides all this, I am very much afraid that not only a spring cleaning but a summer or autumn or winter cleaning, were unknown events in the old woman"s room. No wonder that Peggy, fresh from the soft-soap-and-water smell of the Simpkins"s upstairs, sniffed uneasily and wished Mrs.
Whelan would be quick with the pipes; her head felt so queer and confused.
But looking round she caught sight of a very interesting object; this was Lizzie, rocking herself gently on her chair in a corner, and seeming quite at home. Peggy ran--no she couldn"t run--the room was so crowded, for a counter stood across one end, and in the other a big square old bedstead, and between the two were a table and one or two chairs, and an old tumble-down chest of drawers--made her way over to Lizzie.
"How do you do, Crip--Lizzie, I mean? I hope your pains aren"t very bad to-day?"
"Not so very, thank you, miss," said the poor girl. "It"s nice and quiet in here, and the quiet does me a deal o" good."
Peggy sighed.
"I don"t like being very quiet," she said. "I wish you could come over to the nursery; now that Hal and baby and nurse are away it"s dreffully quiet."
"But you wouldn"t care to change places with me, would you, missy?" said Lizzie. "I"m thinking you"d have noise enough if you were upstairs sometimes. My--it do go through one"s head, to be sure."
Peggy looked very sympathising.
"Aren"t you frightened of _her_?" she whispered, nodding gently towards Mrs. Whelan.
"Not a bit of it," said Lizzie, also lowering her voice; "she"s right down good to me, is the old body. She do scold now and then and no mistake, but bless you, she"d never lay a finger on me, and it"s no wonder she"s in a taking with the children when they kicks up a hextra row, so to say."
Peggy"s mouth had opened gradually during this speech, and now it remained so. She could not understand half Lizzie"s words, but she had no time to ask for an explanation, for just then Light Smiley called to her to come and look at the pipes which were by this time waiting for her on the counter.
They were the cleanest things in the room--the only clean things it seemed to Peggy as she lifted them up one by one to choose six very nice ones. And then she paid her pennies and ran back to shake hands with Lizzie and say good-bye to her--she wondered if she should shake hands with Mrs. Whelan too, but fortunately the old woman did not seem to expect it, and Peggy felt very thankful, for her brown wrinkled hands looked sadly dirty to the little girl, dirtier perhaps than they really were.
"I like your house much better than hers," said Peggy, when she and Light Smiley were down at the bottom of the stairs again; "it smells much nicer."
"Mother and Rebecca"s all for scrubbing, that"s certing," replied Sarah, with a smile of pleasure--of course all little girls like to hear their homes praised--"but she"s not bad to Lizzie, is old Whelan," as if that settled the whole question, and Peggy felt she must not say any more about the dirty room.
Light Smiley felt it her duty to see "missy" safe across the street.
Peggy"s hands were laden with the precious pipes, and Sarah carried the big umbrella over the two of them. They chattered as they picked their way through the mud and stood for a minute or two at the yard-door of Peggy"s house. Light Smiley peeped in.
"Lor"," she said, expressing her feelings in the same way as her sisters, "yours must be a fine house, missy. All that there back-yard for yerselves."
"You should see the droind-room, and mamma"s room; there"s a marble top to the washing-stand," said Peggy, with pride.
"Lor"," said Sarah again.
"Some day," Peggy went on, excited by Sarah"s admiration, "_some_ day when my mamma comes home, I"m going to ask her to let me have a tea-party of you _all_--in the nursery, you know. The nursery"s nice too, at least I daresay you"d like it."
"Is that the winder where you sees us from?" asked Sarah. "Matilda-Jane says as how we could see you too quite plain at it if you put your face quite close to the gla.s.s."
"I can"t," said Peggy. "There"s the toilet-table close to the window--at least, it"s really a chest of drawers, you know, but there"s a looking-gla.s.s on the top and a white cover, so it"s like a toilet-table for nurse, though it"s too high up for me. I have to stand on a chair if I want to see myself popperly."
"Dear!" said Sarah sympathisingly.
"And I can only see you by scrooging into the corner, and the curting"s there. No, you couldn"t ever see me well up at the window. But that"s not the nursery where we"d have tea. That"s only the night nursery. The other one"s to the front; that"s the window where you can see the hills far away."
"In the country, where father used to live. Oh yes, I know. I heerd Matilda-Jane a-asking "im about it," said Sarah.
"Oh, and did he tell you any more? Do ask him if it"s really not far to get there," said Peggy, eagerly.
Sarah nodded.
"I won"t forget," she said; "and then, missy, when you axes us to the tea-party, I"ll be able to tell you all about it."
She did not mean to be cunning, poor little girl, but she was rather afraid Peggy might forget about the tea-party, and she thought it was not a bad plan to say something which might help to make her remember it.
"Yes," Peggy replied, "that would be lovely. Do make him tell all you can, Light Smiley. Oh, I do wish mamma would come home now, and I"d ask her about the tea-party immediately. I"m sure she"d let me, for she likes us to be kind to poor people."
Sarah drew herself up a little at this.
"We"re not--not to say _poor_ folk," she said, with some dignity.
"There"s a many of us, and it"s hard enough work, but still----"
"Oh, don"t be vexed," said Peggy. "I know you"re not like--like beggars, you know. And I think _we"re_ rather poor too. Mamma often says papa has to work hard."
Sarah grew quite friendly again.
"I take it folks isn"t often rich when they"ve a lot of children," she began, but the sound of a window opening across the street made her start. "Bless me," she said, "I must run. There"s Rebecca a-going to scold me for standing talking. Good-bye, miss, I"ll not forget to ask father."
And Sarah darted away, carrying with her the umbrella, quite forgetting that it was Peggy"s. Peggy forgot it too, and it was not raining so fast now, so there was less to remind her. She shut the door and ran across the yard. The house door still stood open, and she made her way up to the nursery without meeting any one.
CHAPTER X
"SOAP-BUBBLING"
"And every colour see I there."
_The Rainbow_, CHARLES LAMB.
THERE was no one upstairs. Miss Earnshaw had gone down to the kitchen to iron the seams of her work, without giving special thought to Peggy. If any one had asked her where the child was she would have probably answered that she was counting over her money in the night nursery. So she was rather surprised when coming upstairs again in a few minutes she was met by Peggy flying to meet her with the pipes in her hand.
"I"ve got them, Miss Earnshaw; aren"t they beauties?" she cried. "And I don"t think my frock"s reely spoilt? It only just looks a _little_ funny where the mud was."
"Bless me!" exclaimed the young dressmaker, "wherever have you been, Miss Peggy? No, your frock"ll brush all right; but you don"t mean to say you"ve been out in the rain? You should have asked me, my dear."
She spoke rather reproachfully; she was a little vexed with herself for not having looked after the child better, but Peggy was one of those quiet "old-fashioned" children, who never seem to need looking after.
"I did ask you," said Peggy, opening wide her eyes, "and you said, "Very well, my dear.""
Miss Earnshaw couldn"t help smiling.
"I must have been thinking more of your new frock than of yourself," she said. "However, I hope it"s done you no harm. Your stockings aren"t wet?"