When Aunt Maria had been put into her train, mother and Molly went home.
As their cab stopped, Miss Simpshall rushed out between the two dusty laburnums by the gate.
"Don"t come in!" said Miss Simpshall wildly.
"My dear Miss Simpshall----" said mother.
The hair of the nursery-governess waved wildly in the evening breeze.
She shut the ornamental iron gate in mother"s face.
"Don"t come in!" said Miss Simpshall again. "You shan"t, you mustn"t----"
"Don"t talk nonsense," said mother, looking very white. "Have you gone mad?"
Miss Simpshall said she hadn"t.
"But what"s the matter?" said mother.
"Measles," said Miss Simpshall; "it"s all out on them--thick."
"Good gracious!" said mother.
"And I thought you"d perhaps just as soon Molly didn"t have it, Mrs.
Carruthers. And this is all the thanks I get, being told I"m insane."
"I"m sorry," said mother absently. "Yes, you were quite right. Keep the children warm. Has the doctor seen them?"
"Not yet; I"ve only just found it out. Oh, it"s terrible! Their hands and faces are all scarlet with purple spots."
"Oh dear, oh dear! I hope it"s nothing worse than measles! I"ll call in and send the doctor," said mother; "I shall be home by the last train.
It"s a blessing Molly"s clothes are all here in her box."
So Molly was whisked off in the cab.
"I must take you back to your aunt"s," said mother.
"But Aunt Eliza"s gone to stay at the Bishop"s Palace," said Molly.
"So she has; we must go to your Aunt Maria"s. Oh dear!"
"Never mind, mother," said Molly, slipping her hand into mother"s; "perhaps they won"t have it very badly. And I"ll be very good, and try not to have it at all."
This was very brave of Molly; she would much rather have had measles than have gone to stay at Aunt Maria"s.
Aunt Maria lived in a lovely old house down in Kent. It had beautiful furniture and beautiful gardens; in fact, as Bertie said, it was a place
"Where every prospect pleases, And only aunt is vile."
Molly and her mother arrived there just at supper-time. Aunt Maria was very surprised and displeased. Molly went to bed at once, and her supper was brought up on a tray by Clements, aunt"s own maid. It was cold lamb and mint-sauce, and jelly and custard.
"Your aunt said to bring you biscuits and milk," said Clements, "but I thought you"d like this better."
"You"re a darling!" said Molly; "I was so afraid you"d be gone for your holiday. It"s not nearly so beastly when you"re here."
Clements was flattered, and returned the compliment.
"And you aren"t so bad when you"re good, miss," she said. "Eat it up.
I"ll come back and bring you a night-light by-and-by."
One thing Molly liked about Aunt Maria"s was that there were no children"s bedrooms--no bare rooms with painted furniture and Dutch drugget. All the rooms were "best rooms", with soft carpets and splendid old furniture. The beds were all four-posters with carved pillars and silk damask curtains, and there were sure to be the loveliest things to make believe with in whatever room you happened to be put into. In this room there were cases of stuffed birds, and a stuffed pike that was just like life. There was a wonderful old cabinet, black and red and gold, very mysterious, and oak chests, and two fat white Indian idols sitting cross-legged on the mantelpiece. It was very delightful; but Molly liked it best in the daytime. And she was glad of the night-light.
She thought of Bertie, and Cicely, and Eva, and baby, and Vincent, and wondered whether measles hurt much.
Next day Aunt Maria was quite bearable. The worst thing she said was about people coming when they weren"t expected, and upsetting everything.
"I"ll try not to upset anything," said Molly, and went out and got the gardener to put up a swing for her.
Then she upset herself out of it, and got a b.u.mp on her forehead the size of a hen"s egg, and that, as Aunt Maria very properly said, kept her out of mischief for the rest of the day.
Next morning Molly had two letters. The first was from Bertie. It said:
"DEAR MOLLY,
"It is rough lines on you, but we did not mean to keep it up, and it is your fault for coming home the day before you ought to have.
We did it to kid old Simpshall, because she was so beastly about us making a real battlefield. We only painted all the parts of us that show with vermilion, and put spots--mixed crimson lake and Prussian blue--all over, and we pulled down the blinds and said our heads ached, and so they did with crying--I mean the girls cried. She was afraid to come near us; but she was sorry she had been such a beast. And when she had come to the door and said so through the keyhole we owned up, but you had gone by then. It was a rare lark, but we"ve got three days bedder for it. I shall lower this on the end of a fishingline to the baker"s boy, and he will post it.
It is like a dungeon. He is going to bring us tarts, like a faithful page.
"Your affectionate bro., "BERTRAND DE LISLE CARRUTHERS."
The other letter was from mother.
"MY DARLING MOLLY,
It was all a naughty hoax, intended to annoy poor Miss Simpshall.
Your brothers and sisters had painted their faces red and purple--they had not measles at all. But since you _are_ at Aunt Maria"s I think you may as well stay ..."
"How awful!" said Molly. "It _is_ too bad!"
"... stay and make it your annual visit. Be a good girl, dear, and do not forget to wear your pinafores in the morning.
"Your loving MOTHER."
Molly wrote a nice little letter to her mother. To her brother she said:
DEAR BERTIE,