"So do I," answered Miss Roberts. "I have not a minute to spare."
"Perhaps you won"t have time to take me to Aunt Selina"s!" exclaimed Jimmy.
"What do you suppose I am to do with you then?" she asked.
"I don"t know," he said; "only I don"t want to go there!"
"I am sure I don"t want to have to take you there," was the answer, as the cab pa.s.sed Hyde Park.
Jimmy had been the same way every holiday since he had gone to Miss Lawson"s school, so that he knew he was drawing near to Brook Street. As the cab turned the corner, he put his head out at the window and looked anxiously for his uncle"s house.
"Oh!" he cried, drawing it in again.
"What is the matter?" asked Miss Roberts.
"I believe the shutters are up," said Jimmy.
CHAPTER III
AT AUNT SELINA"S
Jimmy was quite right. Miss Roberts leaned forward to put her head out at the window on his side of the cab, and she saw that every shutter was shut, and that there was a sheet of newspaper in each window.
"What a nuisance!" she exclaimed, sitting down again as the horse stopped.
The cabman got down to open the door, and Jimmy jumped out, on to the pavement.
"I daresay they"ve gone to France," he said, as she followed him.
"Still there may be some one left in the house," answered Miss Roberts.
"I don"t suppose there is," said Jimmy, looking as if he were going to cry.
"At all events I will ring the bell," she answered, and Miss Roberts pulled the bell. Jimmy heard it ring quite distinctly, but n.o.body came to open the door.
"Do ring again," he said, and once more Miss Roberts pulled the bell.
Then a policeman came along the street, and she went to meet him.
"Do you know whether this house is empty?" she asked.
"Been empty the last fortnight," said the policeman.
"Thank you," said Miss Roberts. And then she turned to Jimmy: "Go back into the cab," she continued, and very unwillingly he took his seat again. "Gloucester Place, cabman," she said, with her hand on the door.
"What number?" asked the cabman.
"We--we don"t know the number," cried Jimmy, putting his head out.
"Stop at a shop on the way," said Miss Roberts as she entered the cab and sat down; "if I waste any more time I shall lose my train."
"But suppose Aunt Selina isn"t at home either?" exclaimed Jimmy, as the horse started once more.
"In that case I don"t know what is to become of you," said Miss Roberts.
"Because she may have gone to France with Uncle Henry!" Jimmy suggested.
"We will not imagine anything of the kind, if you please!"
"No," said Jimmy, "but suppose she has gone to France, you know."
As he spoke, the cab stopped before a large grocer"s shop, and without losing a moment Miss Roberts stepped out of the cab, followed by Jimmy.
"Will you kindly let me look at a Directory?" she asked; and the tall young man behind the counter said--
"Certainly, miss." He brought the thickest red book which Jimmy had ever seen, and Miss Roberts opened it at once.
"Miss Selina Morton--is that your aunt"s name?" she asked, looking round at Jimmy.
"Ye--es," he answered sorrowfully, for he guessed that she had found out the number.
"Come along then," said Miss Roberts, and Jimmy walked slowly towards the door. "Thank you, I am very much obliged," she continued, smiling at the shopman; but Jimmy did not feel in the least obliged to him. Miss Roberts told the cabman the number, and when the horse started again she turned cheerfully to the boy--
"We shall soon be there now!" she said.
"I wish we shouldn"t," answered Jimmy.
"Don"t you like your Aunt Selina?" asked Miss Roberts.
"Not at all," said Jimmy.
"Why don"t you like her?" asked Miss Roberts. "You ought to like an aunt, you know."
"I don"t know why, only I don"t," was the answer.
It did not take many minutes to drive to Gloucester Place, and although Jimmy did not know what would happen to him if Aunt Selina was out of town, still he almost hoped she had gone to France.
But the shutters were not shut at this house, although each of the blinds was drawn exactly a quarter of the way down. Jimmy saw a large tortoise-sh.e.l.l cat lying on one of the window sills, whilst a black cat watched it from inside the room.
"If they do not keep us long at the door," said Miss Roberts, as she rang the bell, "I can manage just to catch my train."
It was past two o"clock, and Jimmy thought he could smell something like hot meat. He supposed that if he stayed at Aunt Selina"s he should have some dinner, and that would be a good thing at any rate.
The door was opened by a tall, thin butler, who looked very solemn and important. He did not stand quite upright, and he had gray whiskers and a bald head. If he had not opened the door, so that Jimmy knew he was the butler, he might have been mistaken for a clergyman.
"Is Miss Morton at home?" asked Miss Roberts.