"It"s you, Miss Earnshaw, I"m quite sure it"s you," she called out; "come in quick, you funny Miss Earnshaw. Come in."
But though the door slowly opened, no Miss Earnshaw appeared. Peggy began to think this was carrying fun too far.
"Why don"t you come in quick?" she said, her voice beginning to tremble a little.
The door opened a little farther.
"Missy," said a low voice, a childish hesitating voice, quite different from Miss Earnshaw"s quick bright way of speaking, "Missy, please, it"s me, Sarah, please, miss."
And the door opened more widely, and in came, slowly and timidly still, a small figure well known to Peggy. It was none other than Light Smiley.
Peggy could hardly speak. She was so very much astonished.
"Light Smiley--Sarah, I mean," she exclaimed, "how did you come? Did you see f.a.n.n.y? Did she tell you to come upstairs?"
Sarah shook her head.
"I don"t know who f.a.n.n.y is, missy. I just comed in of myself. The doors was both open, and I didn"t meet n.o.body. I didn"t like for to ring or knock. I thought mebbe your folk"d scold if I did--a gel like me. Mother knows I"ve comed; she said as how I"d better bring it myself."
And she held up what Peggy had not noticed that she was carrying--the big umbrella that had caused so much trouble two days before.
"The numbrella," cried Peggy. "Oh thank you, Sarah, for bringing it back. I never thought of it! How stupid it was of me."
"Mother told me for to bring it to the door and give it in," Sarah went on. "I didn"t mean to come upstairs, but, the door was open, you see, miss, and I knowed your nussery was at the top, and--I "ope it"s not a liberty."
"No, no," said Peggy, her hospitable feelings awaking to see that her little visitor was still standing timidly in the doorway, "I"m _very_ glad you"ve comed. You don"t know how glad I am. It"s so lonely all by myself--Miss Earnshaw hasn"t come this morning. Come in, Light Smiley, do come in. Oh how nice! I can show you the mountings and the little white cottage shining in the sun."
She drew Sarah forwards. But before the child looked out of the window, her eyes were caught by the tiny red slippers on the sill.
"Lor"," she said breathlessly, "what splendid shoes! Are they for--for your dolly, missy? They"re too small for a baby, bain"t they?"
"Oh yes," said Peggy, "they"re too small for our baby, a great deal. But then he"s very fat."
"They"d be too small for ours too, though she"s not a hextra fine child for her age. She were a very poor specimint for a good bit, mother says, but she"s pickin" up now she"s got some teeth through. My--but them shoes is neat, to be sure! They must be for a dolly."
"_I"ve_ no doll they"d do for," said Peggy, "but I like them just for theirselves. _I_ always put them to stand there on a fine day; they like to look out of the window."
Sarah stared at Peggy as if she thought she was rather out of her mind!--indeed the children at the back had hinted to each other that missy, for all she was a real little lady, was very funny-like sometimes. But Peggy was quite unconscious of it.
"Lor"," said Sarah at last, "how can shoes see, they"ve no eyes, missy?"
"But you can _fancy_ they have. Don"t you ever play in your mind at fancying?" asked Peggy. "I think it"s the nicest part of being alive, and mamma says it"s no harm if we keep remembering it"s not real. But never mind about that--do look at the hills, Sarah, and oh, _can_ you see the white speck shining in the sun? _That"s_ the cottage--I call it my cottage, but _p"raps_," rather unwillingly, "it"s the one your papa lived in when he was little."
"D"ye really think so?" said Sarah, eagerly. "It"s Brackenshire over there to be sure, and father"s "ome was up an "ill--deary me, to think as it might be the very place. See it--to be sure I do, as plain as plain. It do seem a good bit off, but father he says it"s no more"n a tidy walk. He"s almost promised he"ll take some on us there some fine day when he"s an "oliday. I axed "im all I could think of--missy--all about the c.o.c.ks and "ens and cows and pigses."
"Not pigs," interrupted Peggy. "I don"t like pigs, and I won"t have them in my cottage."
"I wasn"t a-talking of your cottage," said Sarah, humbly. ""Twas what father told us of all the things he seed in the country when he were a boy there. There"s lots of pigses in Brackenshire."
"Never mind. We won"t have any," persisted Peggy. "But oh, Light Smiley, do look how splendid the sky is--all blue and all so shiny. I never sawed such a lovely day. I would so like to go a walk."
"And why shouldn"t you?" asked Sarah.
"There"s no one to take me," sighed Peggy. "It"s Monday, and f.a.n.n.y"s very busy on Mondays, and I told you that tiresome Miss Earnshaw"s not comed."
Sarah considered a little.
"Tell you what, missy," she said, "why shouldn"t we--you and me--go a walk? I"m sure mother"d let me. I"ve got my "at, all "andy, and I did say to mother if so as missy seed me I might stop a bit, and she were quite agreeable. I"m a deal older nor you, and I can take care of you nicely. Mother"s training me for the nussery."
Peggy started up in delight. She had been half sitting on the window-sill, beside the shoes.
"Oh, Light Smiley," she said, "how lovely! Of course you could take care of me. We"d go up Fernley Road, straight up--that"s the way to Brackenshire, you know, and p"raps we might go far enough to see the white cottage plainer. If it"s not a very long way to get there, we"d be sure to see it much plainer if we walked a mile or two. A mile isn"t very far. Oh, do let"s go--quick! quick!"
But Sarah stopped her.
"You"d best tell your folks first, missy," she said. "They"ll let you go and be glad of it, I should say, if they"re so busy, and seein" as they let you come over to our "ouse, and your mar knowin" us and all."
"It was Miss Earnshaw that let me go," said Peggy, "and then she said she didn"t know I"d goned. And Thor said--oh no, he only said I shouldn"t have goned to the shop. But I"ll ask f.a.n.n.y--I"ll tell you what I"ll do. I"ll put on my boots and my hat and jacket--you shall help me, Sarah, and then we"ll go down and I"ll call to f.a.n.n.y from the top of the kitchen stairs and ask her if I may go out with you, Sarah, dear. I"m sure she"ll say I may."
So the two little maidens went into the night nursery, where Light Smiley was greatly interested in looking at her own dwelling-place from other people"s windows, and quite in her element too, seeing that she was being trained for the nursery, in getting out Peggy"s walking things, b.u.t.toning her boots, and all the rest of it.
CHAPTER XI
UP FERNLEY ROAD
"But the way is long and toilsome, And the road is drear and hard; Little heads and hearts are aching, Little feet with thorns are scarred."
_The Children"s Journey._
LIGHT SMILEY kept looking round the room with great satisfaction.
"It is nice in "ere and no mistake," she said at last. "Your "ats and coats and frocks all in a row, as neat as neat, and these little white beds a sight to be seen. I should love for Rebecca and Matilda-Jane to see it."
"They will," said Peggy, "when I avite you all to a tea-party, you know."
Sarah drew a deep breath. A tea-party in these beautiful nurseries seemed almost too good ever to come true.
"Is there a many nusseries as nice as this "un, do you think, missy? I do "ope as I"ll get into a nice one when I"m big enough. One "ud take a pride in keeping it clean and tidy."
"I don"t think this is at all a _grand_ one," Peggy replied. "Mamma"s was much grander when she was little, I know. But, of course, she"s very pertickler, and so"s nurse, about it being very tidy."
And then, Peggy being ready, the quaint pair of friends took each other"s hands and set off to the top of the kitchen stairs.
"Should we take the humberellar?" said Sarah, suddenly stopping at the foot of the first little flight of stairs. "I don"t think it looks any ways like rain, still one never knows, and I can carry it easy."