"My dear young lady," she said to Biddy, "you are rather too young to plan things of that kind till you have talked about them to your mamma.
Besides Celestina almost never goes anywhere."
"I went to tea at Miss Bankes"s once," said Celestina. "That"s where I used to go to school, but I didn"t like it much--they played such noisy games and they were all so smart. And once I went to Nelly Tasker"s, and that was nice, but they"ve left Seacove a long time ago."
Mrs. Fairchild looked at Celestina in some surprise. It was seldom the little girl was so communicative, especially to strangers. But then, as she said to her husband afterwards--
"Miss Vane is a very sweet girl, and the little one chatters as if she"d known you for years. They certainly have a very friendly way with them: I couldn"t exactly wonder at Celestina."
"I"ll ask mamma. You"ll see if I don"t," said Biddy, nodding her head with determination. "And please, Celestina, do let me see your doll-room, if that"s what you call it?"
"May I fetch it, mother?" asked the child. But at that moment Randolph put his head in at the door.
"We must be going," he said. "Come along, girls. I"ve got the parcel.
Thank you," he added to Mrs. Fairchild, "and good-morning."
Alie and Biddy turned to follow him. But first they shook hands with Celestina and her mother.
"I"m so sorry," said Biddy, "not to see the dolls" room. Wouldn"t Rough wait a minute, Alie?"
"No," the elder sister replied. "We"ve been out a good while and there"s no reason for waiting now the parcel"s ready."
"Well I"ll come again. You"ll let me, won"t you?" said Bride, and not content with shaking hands, she held up her round rosy mouth for a kiss.
"Bless you, love," kind Mrs. Fairchild could not resist saying, as she stooped to her.
"She is a very nice mamma, isn"t she, Alie?" said Biddy with satisfaction, when they found themselves out in the street again.
"Yes," said Rosalys. But she spoke rather absently. She was wondering what made Bridget so nice sometimes, and sometimes so very tiresome and heedless.
"I wonder if it would have been better for her if she was more like that little Celestina," she thought. "I"m sure they"re very strict with her, and yet I"m sure she"s very fond of her mother and very obedient. But it must be rather a dull life for a little girl, only she seems so womanly; as if she really felt she was useful."
It was almost dinner-time--their dinner-time, that is to say--when the children reached the Rectory, and there was something of a scramble to get hands washed, hair smoothed, and thick boots changed so as to be in time and not keep papa and mamma waiting. Randolph came into the dining-room, carrying the parcel of books.
"Papa," he said, "these are the books you told Redding to order for you--at least there are some of them, and if they are right, or if you"ll mark down which of them are not right, Fairchild the bookseller will order what you want at once."
"I"ll look at them immediately after luncheon," Mr. Vane replied. "But how did they come into your hands, my boy? Has Redding been here again?"
"No," Rough explained, "we met him," and then he went on to tell the history of the morning.
"And she "avited us--the little-girl-in-the-bazaar"s mother, I mean,"
Biddy hastened to add, "to step into the parlour. I never saw a parlour before; it"s not as nice as a droind-room, except for the dear little window up in the wall. Couldn"t we have a little window like that in our schoolroom, mamma? And I"m to go another day to see the room; it"s not a proper doll-house, she says; only a room, and I said I was sure I might ask her to come here, but she said I must ask my mamma first. I thought at first she was going to be rather a cross sort of a mamma, but I don"t think she is--do you, Alie?"
Biddy ran off this long story so fast that Mrs. Vane could only stare at her in amazement.
"My dear Biddy!" she said at last. "Alie, you were there? You don"t mean to say that you let Bride run into the toy-shop people"s house and make friends with their children, and--and----" Mrs. Vane stopped short, at a loss for words.
Mr. Vane looked up.
"My dear child," he said too, to Bridget, "you must be careful. And here--where everybody is sure to know who you are, and when you should set a good example of nice manners--you must not behave in this wild sort of way."
"I didn"t mean," began Biddy plaintively.
But this time she was not chidden for her doleful tone--both Alie and Rough came to the rescue.
"Please, mamma, oh please, papa, you don"t understand," began Rosalys.
"It wasn"t the bazaar people at all," said Rough, chiming in; "it was all right. Only, Biddy, you are really too stupid, the muddley way you tell things----"
"Yes," agreed Alie, with natural vexation, "you needn"t make it seem as if we had all gone out of our minds, really."
"I didn"t mean," started Biddy again, and still more lugubriously.
"Stop, Bride," said Mr. Vane authoritatively, laying down his knife and fork as he spoke. "Now, Rosalys, tell the whole story properly."
Alie did so, and as Randolph had already explained about meeting Mr.
Redding, it was not long before his father and mother understood the real facts clearly.
"We couldn"t have refused to go into the parlour when Mrs. Fairchild asked us like that--could we, mamma?" Rosalys wound up.
"And she asked us to step in so nicely. And there were no chairs in the shop, "cept only one. And I did so want to see a parlour," added Biddy, reviving under Alie"s support.
"No, you did quite right," said Mrs. Vane to the elder ones. "But Biddy must not begin making friends with every child she comes across and inviting them to come here. You are not a baby now; you should have more sense."
The tears collected in Bridget"s eyes; they were very obedient to her summons, it must be allowed. Rosalys felt sorry for her.
"Mamma," she said, "of course Biddy shouldn"t invite anybody without your leave first, but still this little Celestina isn"t _at all_ a common child. She"s so neat and quiet, and she speaks so nicely. And her mother is _nearly_ as pretty as you, not quite of course."
"She"s awfully jolly," put in Rough.
Mrs. Vane smiled.
"What an uncommon name," she said. ""Celestine," did you say? It is French."
"No, mamma, not "Celestine,"" said Alie, ""Celestina." I suppose it"s the English of the other."
"I never heard it in English before," said Mrs. Vane, "though I once had a dear old friend in France called "Celestine"--you remember Madame d"Ermont, Bernard? I"ve not heard from her for ever so long."
"Celestina was going to tell us about her name, but something interrupted her and then she forgot," said Alie. "Perhaps they"ve got some French relations, mamma."
"It isn"t likely," her mother replied. "But some day when I am in the village, or town--should we call it "town," Bernard?"
"It is a seaport, so it must be a town, I suppose," said Mr. Vane.
"I should like to see the little girl and her mother," Mrs. Vane continued.
"And oh, mamma," cried Biddy, jumping up and down in her chair as her spirits rose again, "when you do, _mayn"t_ I go with you, and then Celestina would show me her dolls" room?"
"We shall see, my dear," her mother replied.