"Yes, missie, to be sure--for you, as I say."
Peggy took the parcel, and began slowly to undo it. Something red peeped out--Peggy"s eyes glistened--then her cheeks grew nearly as scarlet as the contents of the packet, and she seemed to gasp for breath, as she held out for Hal and nurse to see the little red shoes which five minutes before she had been admiring under the gla.s.s shade.
"Nursie, Hal," she exclaimed, "see, oh see! The sweet little shoes--for me--for my very own."
Nurse was only too ready to be pleased, but with the prudence of a "grown-up" person she hesitated a moment.
"Are you sure there"s no mistake, miss?" she said, anxiously. "Do you know the lady"s name? Is she a friend of Missis"s, I wonder?"
The girl shook her head.
"Can"t say, I"m sure," she replied. "She"s a stranger to us. She only just bought a pair of cork soles and these here. There"s no mistake, that, I"m sure of. She must have seen the young lady was admiring of them."
"Yes," said Peggy, "she asked me which was the prettiest, and I said the red ones."
"You see?" said Miss Field to nurse. "Well, missie, I hope as they"ll fit Miss Dolly, and then you"ll give us your custom when they"re worn out, won"t you?"
And with a good-natured laugh she turned back into the shop.
"It"s all right, nursie, isn"t it? Do say it is. I may keep them; they _is_ mine, isn"t they?" said Peggy, in very unusual excitement.
Nurse still looked undecided.
"I don"t quite know what to say, my dear," she replied. "We must ask your mamma. I shouldn"t think she"d object, seeing as it was so kindly meant. And we can"t give back the shoes now they"re bought and paid for.
It wouldn"t be fair to the lady to give them back to Field just to be sold again. It wasn"t _him_ she wanted to give a present to."
"No," said Peggy, trotting along beside the perambulator and clasping her little parcel as Hal was clasping his bigger one, "it was _me_ she wanted to please. She"s a _very_ kind lady, isn"t she, nursie? I"m sure they cost a great lot of money--p"raps a pound. Oh! I do so hope mamma will say I may keep them for my very own. Can"t we go home now this minute to ask her?"
"We shouldn"t find her in if we did," said nurse, "and we"ve had nothing of a walk so far. But don"t you worry, Miss Peggy. I"m sure your mamma will not mind."
Peggy"s anxious eager little face calmed down at this; a corner of the paper in which her treasures were wrapped up was torn. She saw the scarlet leather peeping out, and a gleam of delight danced out of her eyes; she bent her head down and kissed the speck of bright colour ecstatically, murmuring to herself as she did so, "Oh, how happy I am!"
Nurse overheard the words.
"Missis will never have the heart to take them from her, poor dear," she thought. "She"ll be only too pleased for Miss Peggy to have something to cheer her up when she has to be told about our going."
And Peggy, in blissful ignorance of any threatening cloud to spoil her pleasure, marched on, scarcely feeling the ground beneath her feet; as happy as if the tiny red shoes had been a pair of fairy ones to fit her own little feet.
Mamma was not at home when they got in, even though they made a pretty long round, coming back by Fernley Road, which, however, Peggy did not care about as much as when they set off by it. For coming back, of course she could not see the hills without turning round, nor could she have the feeling that every step was taking her nearer to them. The weather was clearing when they came in; from the nursery window the sky towards the west had a faint flush upon it, which looked as if the sunset were going to be a rosy one.
"Red at night," Peggy said to herself as she glanced out; "nursie, that means a fine day, doesn"t it?"
"So they say," nurse replied.
"Then it"ll be a fine day to-morrow, and I"ll see the cottage, and I"ll put the little shoes on the window-sill, so that they shall see it too--the _dear_ little sweets," chattered the child to herself.
Hal meanwhile was seated on the floor, engaged in a more practical way, namely, _trying_ to try on his new boots. But "new boots," as he said himself, "is stiff." Hal pulled and tugged till he grew very red in the face, but all in vain.
"Oh, Peggy!" he said, "do help me. I does so want to hear them squeak, and to "upprise the boys when they come in."
Down went kind Peggy on the floor, and thanks to her the boots were got on, though the b.u.t.toning of them was beyond her skill. Hal was quite happy, though.
"They do squeak, don"t they, Peggy?" he said; "and nurse"ll let me wear them a little for them to get used to my feet "afore we go to the country."
"You mean for your feet to get used to them, Hallie," said Peggy. "But there"s lots of time for that. Why, they"ll be half wored out before we go to the country if you begin them now."
""Tisn"t nonsense," said Hal, st.u.r.dily. "Nurse said so to that girl in the shop."
Peggy felt very puzzled.
"But, Hal," she was beginning, when a voice interrupted her. It was nurse. She had been downstairs, having heard the front door bell ring.
"Miss Peggy, your mamma wants you. She"s come in. You"ll find her in her own room."
"Nursie," she said, "Hal"s been saying----"
"You mustn"t keep your mamma waiting," said nurse. "I"ve told her about the little shoes."
"I"ll take them to show her--won"t she be pleased?" said Peggy, seizing the little parcel which she had put down while helping Hal.
And off she set.
She stopped at her mother"s door; it was only half shut, so she did not need to knock.
"Mamma dear, it"s me--Peggy," she said.
"Come in, darling," mamma"s voice replied.
"I"ve brought you the _sweet_ little red shoes to see," said Peggy, carefully unfolding the paper which held her treasures, and holding them out for mamma"s admiration.
"They are very pretty indeed--really lovely little shoes," she said, handling them with care, but so as to see them thoroughly. "It was _very_ kind of that lady. I wonder who she was? Of course in a general way I wouldn"t like you to take presents from strangers, but she must have done it in such a very nice way. Was she an old lady, Peggy?"
"Oh yes!" said Peggy, "quite old. She was neely as big as you, mamma dear. I daresay she"s _neely_ as old as you are."
Mamma began to laugh.
"You little goose," she said. But Peggy didn"t see anything to laugh at in what she had said, and her face remained quite sober.
"I don"t understand you, mamma dear," she said.
"Well, listen then; didn"t Hal buy a pair of new boots for himself to-day?" mamma began.
"No, mamma dear. Nurse buyed them _for_ he," Peggy replied.
"Or rather _I_ bought them, for it was my money nurse paid for them with, if you are so very precise, Miss Peggy. But never mind about that.
All I want you to understand is the difference between "big" and "old."
Hal"s boots are much bigger than these tiny things, but they are not on that account _older_."
Peggy began to laugh.