Late that evening there came a timid knock at my lady"s door, and in answer to her "come in," a pale and trembling girl appeared.
"Ruth!" exclaimed the old lady in surprise. "Is there anything wrong?"
"Oh no, my lady. Miss Flossie"s in bed and asleep, quite happy. It"s not about her. It"s--it"s--oh, my lady, it"s about me. I--I broke, at least I didn"t, but I thought I did, and that"s just as bad. I thought I broke the green casket, and--and--I couldn"t bear to tell--just as there"d been such trouble about the bowl, and--if I must go home, I"ll not complain, my lady. I"--but here she broke down into sobs.
Lady Melicent stared at her in concern.
"You broke or thought you broke the green casket," she said. "Why, Flossie has just been telling me, what indeed I knew already--that _she_ broke it," and she looked at Ruth as if she half feared that the girl was dreaming.
"That was how I came to tell myself," said Ruth. "Miss Flossie has been so unhappy about it that at last she could bear it no longer, and this afternoon in the garden she told me. And then I felt that ashamed to think that I, more than twice her age, and knowing how wrong it was, had been hiding what I thought I"d done. It was last week--I knew I shouldn"t touch the cabinet, but it looked so dusty one morning I felt somehow tempted to do it, and the green box, leastways the lid, slipped--of course I see now how it was. The hinges were loose, and it was broke already. But I _thought_ I"d done it, and I couldn"t bear to tell for fear your ladyship should think me really too bad, and just as Miss Flossie was coming and all. So I waited, and then I got so as I couldn"t tell. I wondered Naylor never noticed it. I wouldn"t have let another be blamed for it. But when she didn"t seem to have found it was broke, I thought I needn"t. And now I"m quite ready to go home; it"s only what I deserve."
"No, Ruth, I should be very sorry for you to go home. I am very glad you have told me now. You did not tell Miss Flossie?"
"No, my lady. I thought it best to tell you first."
"That was wise. I think there is no need for Miss Flossie to be told of it. She has had a lesson herself, and she respects you, Ruth. It may make you feel ashamed, but that you must bear. I should not like her to lose her feeling of looking up to you. And I am sure you will be even more anxious than before to teach her to be perfectly open and straightforward."
Ruth could scarcely speak; her tears, though they were tears of relief and grat.i.tude, nearly choked her.
"And," continued my lady, going on speaking partly for the sake of giving the girl time to recover her composure, "I do not think it will be necessary to tell Naylor, either."
"Oh, thank you, my lady," said Ruth fervently. And she could not help smiling a little, as she caught sight of Lady Melicent"s face.
"As for Mossop," added Lady Melicent, "I will leave it to you. I daresay you will like to tell her when you have an opportunity, as you are away from your mother."
"Yes, thank you, my lady," said Ruth again. "And indeed--I don"t think you will ever have reason to regret your kindness."
She could scarcely speak yet: the tears were still so near. But little Flossie was not the only person in the Tower House who fell asleep that night with a lightened heart and warm grat.i.tude to the dear old lady.
The rest of Flossie"s visit pa.s.sed most cheerily, and Lady Melicent had not reason to complain that she no longer heard her little visitor"s merry voice and laugh about the house. And a very unexpected event came to pa.s.s before the end of the summer, which greatly added to Ruth"s happiness at Tower House. Naylor got married! Her husband was the gardener at a neighbouring house; a very meek and mild little man who gave in to her in everything, so it is to be hoped her temper improved.
The new upper-housemaid was quite as good at "training" as Naylor, and by no means so great at scolding, which, I think, no one regretted. And Lady Melicent lived long enough for Ruth herself in time to be promoted to what had once been Naylor"s post, which she filled with honourable faithfulness till her dear mistress"s death.
In the old lady"s will she left "to her faithful servant Ruth Perry, a casket of green malachite." That was many years ago. The green casket has for long been the most valued ornament of the best room in Ruth"s comfortable farmhouse, and her children, and grandchildren too, have all heard its story.
[Ill.u.s.tration]
LEO"S POST-OFFICE.
"Oh dear!" said Leo"s mother, "there, I have run out of stamps again.
And I don"t like getting them from the servants. It is so apt to cause mistakes. It is really very stupid of me. Have you any, Marion?"
Marion was Leo"s big sister. She was fifteen.
"I have one or two--yes, three," Marion answered. "Will that do, mamma?"
"It must do; oh yes, I think there are only three letters that really matter. I can"t send for any so late. The servants are all busy; these letters can be put in the pillar-box just opposite. But I really must not let myself run out of stamps in this way."
"Some days you have so many more letters than others. It must be difficult to know how many stamps you need," said Marion, who thought mamma so perfect that she did not even like to hear her calling herself "stupid" for running short of stamps.
"I wish we had a post-office in the house," said Cynthia, the next sister. "I did so want a postcard to send to Fletcher"s to order my new piece of music, and when I was out I forgot to get any, though mamma said I might buy a whole packet. It"s cheaper--for you get twelve for eightpence, and if you buy one at a time it"s a penny each."
"Or two for three-halfpence," said Leo. "That would make ninepence for twelve, not eightpence."
"That"s just like Leo," said Cynthia; "he"s always counting about money and things like that. You"re a regular little merchant, Leo."
"Don"t laugh at him," said his mother. "He is very careful and exact, and being careful and exact doesn"t need to make anyone selfish or miserly. Leo has always money ready for birthdays and Christmas presents."
Leo looked pleased, but he did not say anything; he was always rather a silent little boy. But later that same evening, when he knew that his mother would be alone, he came up to her quietly.
"Mamma," he said, "I want to ask you something. Would you mind letting me have a little money out of my packet?"
"What for, dear?" she asked.
Leo grew rather red.
"It was what you were saying about running out of stamps that put it in my head," he said. "And what Cynthia said too about my being like a merchant--I would like to be a merchant, mamma, if that means selling things. I"d awfully like to have a shop, but of course I can"t--at least not a proper shop. But oh, mamma, I"ve been thinking if I might have a post-office," and Leo"s eyes gleamed with eagerness.
"A post-office, my dear boy!" said his mother, "how _could_ you have a post-office?"
"Oh, of course I don"t mean a regular post-office. I couldn"t have telegraphs, nor get people to post their letters in our letter-box. You wouldn"t like it, would you, mamma?" he said gravely. "But I just mean a post-office for selling stamps, and postcards, and perhaps newspaper wrappers. And wouldn"t it be nice for you, mamma, always to be able to get stamps in a minute, however late it was--you"d never have to say you"d run out of them, then?"
[Ill.u.s.tration: THE LARGE ORDER]
Mamma smiled.
"Yes, that would be very nice, certainly," she said. "But it wouldn"t be much good to _you_, Leo, if you gave your trouble and lent your money for nothing? You should make some profit, even if it were only a halfpenny on a dozen stamps."
"Or a penny on twelve postcards," said Leo consideringly. "I might buy a whole packet and sell them in ones or twos. That would be very nice. But even without that, I would so like to have a post-office, mamma. It would really be a help to you."
So it was settled. Mamma gave Leo five shillings out of his "packet,"
which was a private savings-bank she kept for him, and Leo, as happy as a king, set off to the chemist"s shop round the corner, which was the nearest post-office in the neighbourhood, and laid out the whole five shillings in penny stamps, halfpenny stamps, a packet of postcards, another of newspaper wrappers, a few twopence-halfpenny stamps, and two or three foreign postcards, just in case mamma were writing to France, or Germany, as she sometimes did. The chemist did look rather astonished at such extensive purchases, but he was very civil and obliging; and as he was a nice man, Leo felt glad he had gone to him instead of to the big post-office a quarter of a mile off.
"For he must gain something on as much as five shillings," thought Leo.
Then he came home and began to make his arrangements. He had to consult his sisters about them, but they were very kind and very much interested, and were quite pleased that the post-office should be in the schoolroom, which of course was as much their room as Leo"s.
There was a little old-fashioned cupboard or bookcase in the schoolroom, in which, above the enclosed part which had gla.s.s doors, were two little drawers not used for anything in particular. On these drawers Leo had set his heart. "They would be just the thing," he thought. And luckily Marion and Cynthia thought the same. So the drawers were cleared of such contents as they had, and Leo set to work.
In one drawer he arranged all his wares, as neatly as possible--using the lids of some old cardboard boxes as divisions. There were the penny stamps in one, the halfpenny ones in another, the wrappers and post-cards behind. And as of course Leo could not stand all day long at the post-office to wait for people coming to buy, he made the second drawer into his "till." In this he made divisions too, one for the money paid for stamps, another for that for postcards, and so on. Each division was marked accordingly, so that every morning or evening he could count up his sales, and see that all was right. Besides all this, he wrote out in his neatest, roundest writing a set of _rules_ for "Hertford Square Post-office," as he called it, and to the card on which these rules were written he fastened a pencil by a long string, as he had seen done in real post-offices for telegrams, and a number of tiny little papers on which everybody who bought stamps was to mark down the number they had had, and to drop the little paper into the drawer.
And then with great triumph he summoned mamma and his sisters, and Miss Nesbitt, and nurse, and the butler, and in short everybody he could get hold of, to come and admire.
"It is really very neat and nice," said mamma; and by way of "handsel"
or "good-luck" to the new post-office, she immediately bought six stamps, for which she gave a whole penny extra, though Leo explained that of course he did not expect that _usually_.