"I"m glad she doesn"t make a fuss about it, as some people do," said Linda. "I was so angry last summer. A lady came one afternoon to see us, and brought a horrid little girl with her called Mona. Mother told me to take this child into the kitchen garden and give her some fruit, so I marched her off, and, just as we were leaving the drawing-room, her mother called out: "You may have eight strawberries and twelve gooseberries, darling, but no more." She was very stupid, and wouldn"t talk to me, so I kept picking the ripest and biggest strawberries and gooseberries I could find, and handing them to her. I never thought of counting them, but she suddenly went quite red, and said she wouldn"t have any more. She"d hardly look at the chickens or the rabbits or anything I tried to show her, and I was very glad indeed when it was time for her to go home. Her mother came to fetch her from the garden, and said: "Did you eat more than I told you, dear?" and Mona said: "No I didn"t. This little girl tried very hard to make me, but I wouldn"t take even one strawberry more. Wasn"t I good?"
"The lady looked at me as if she thought I deserved smacking, but I couldn"t explain, because she was just shaking hands with Mother and saying goodbye. I"ve felt cross about it ever since, and if she brings Mona again, I declare I"ll run away and hide, and not take her into the garden at all. Don"t you think it was too bad?"
"Much too bad!" said Dr. Severn. "I think Mona was what is called a prig. Please go on with the cocoanut biscuits. I a.s.sure you I"m not counting them!"
"I really couldn"t eat another," said Linda, "though they"re very delicious. Aren"t you going to show us any of your curiosities in the house? You promised you would, and Sylvia does so want to see them."
"A promise is a promise," replied Dr. Severn, rising from his basket chair. "But in the meantime I think I see Mr. Richards coming through the garden in search of us. I wonder if he"s had any tea."
Mr. Richards was the curate, and a great favourite with Oswald and Artie; he was an athletic young fellow, fresh from College, and always ready to go skating or boating, or to play a game of cricket with them, or carry them off with him to the golf links. He declared now that he had already had tea, but was longing for a little exercise on Dr. Severn"s horizontal bar, where he thought he could show the boys a feat or two which perhaps they had not yet learnt at school. Oswald and Artie rushed away with him at once, and, flinging off their coats, were soon vying with each other in swinging, circling, hanging by their legs or feet, and various other acrobatic performances that looked exceedingly warm work for a hot day, but which seemed to afford them the most immense satisfaction. Dr. Severn stood by and encouraged them to do their best, then, after watching for a short time, left them with Mr. Richards, and took Linda and Sylvia into the house.
"You"ll be getting tired of circus and would rather have museum for a change, I expect," he said. "I"ll show you all my curios, and then you shall each choose something for me to tell you about."
The study was a delightful little room, with a French window opening into the garden. One side was quite filled by a large j.a.panese cabinet with many sliding cupboards and drawers. Linda certainly had not exaggerated the number of wonderful things which it contained. There were treasures from Egypt, from Palestine, from India, from China, and from j.a.pan. Wherever the doctor had travelled he seemed to have picked up some object of interest, and to examine the various drawers was like taking a peep into far countries. He allowed Linda and Sylvia to dress themselves up in some of the gorgeous silk scarves and sashes, to slip on the j.a.panese kimonos, and put their feet into the Turkish slippers.
"I think I like the Indian things best; they smell the nicest," said Linda, snuffing at a sandalwood box, and trying the effect of some filagree ornaments on her own hair and Sylvia"s. "How grand the women must look in these! No, I shouldn"t like to wear the nose ring, thank you, nor the earrings, though I"d love the bangles. They must have tiny wrists. I can only just push these over my hands. Aren"t they meant for a child?"
"No," replied Dr. Severn, "they are really for a grown-up woman, but the people of all Eastern nations have very small hands compared with us Westerns. If you like the scent of sandalwood, what do you think of this? It comes from the vale of Kashmir." He drew the stopper from a bottle of attar of roses as he spoke.
The odour was so deliciously sweet and overpowering that it filled the whole room.
"It"s the true stuff," said the doctor, "not the wretched imitation which is often sold over here. Now if I put a drop on each of your pocket handkerchiefs it will scent all your clothes for a twelve-month. Where are they?"
"It"s lucky they"re clean ones," said Sylvia, rummaging in her pocket.
"I shall keep mine in my drawer after this, and not send it to the wash, ever. It"s lovelier even than lavender water or eau de Cologne."
"I believe it takes a thousand roses to make one drop of this," said Dr. Severn, "so you have a great deal of concentrated sweetness there.
This round box comes from Damascus, and I don"t think it"s quite empty yet. If you have smelled true attar you ought also to taste genuine Turkish delight. Open your mouths and shut your eyes, and you"ll find a surprise."
Dressed in the wonderful embroidered garments, with silver ornaments in their hair, scented with roses, and their mouths full of lumps of delight, the two little girls felt as if they had wandered into the land of the Arabian Nights, had been transformed into Eastern princesses, and had only to command a slave of the lamp to come forward and carry out their slightest desire.
"It"s simply lovely," said Linda. "I never tasted anything so nice in my life before. I think you"re a magician, and can carry us off to Persia, or India, or anywhere with a wave of your wand. But please, you promised to tell us each a story about something, and you haven"t done so yet."
"Because you haven"t chosen a "something"," said Dr. Severn; "say what you"d like, and I"ll try to wave my magic wand."
"Then I"ll have this funny little ta.s.sel of blue beads."
"That"s a charm against the evil eye," said the doctor. "I got it in Cairo. The Mohammedan mothers believe many people, especially strangers, to be possessed of most uncanny powers, and think that if they look very hard at their babies they can bewitch them, and cause them to catch various diseases, and even to die. To avert the evil they put charms on the children, and you may see a tiny boy with his head shaved, all except a long lock which hangs over his eyes with one of these bead talismans dangling at the end. The charms are always blue, because that is considered the magical colour. The people are very dark themselves, so they are terrified at the sight of an Englishman with eyes of the dreaded shade; they are quite sure he must be a desperately bad character, and it is safer to keep out of his path. When I have been in the East, I have often seen mothers turn their babies away lest my glance should fall on them. It is considered very unlucky also to praise a child, and its parents, even though they may be extremely rich, will sometimes let it look dirty and neglected for fear anyone might happen to admire it."
"You can"t bewitch me!" cried Linda. "I"ve got the talisman safe in my hand!"
"I didn"t say I was admiring you, did I?" laughed the doctor. "Though these gorgeous robes are certainly very becoming."
"You"re a true magician. I shall be frightened of you now. Is that all you can tell me about my "something"?"
"I"m afraid I know no more."
"Then, Sylvia, it"s your turn."
"May I choose exactly what I want?" asked Sylvia.
"Certainly you may," replied Dr. Severn.
"Then I"d like to hear the story of that little carved ivory locket that"s hanging on your watch-chain. It looks like a charm too."
A spasm of pain crossed the doctor"s face at Sylvia"s words, but he recovered himself in a moment.
"That would not interest you, dear child," he said gravely. "It is not a curiosity such as the other things I have shown you."
"It"s a charm, though, isn"t it?" asked Sylvia. "I"ve been noticing it all the afternoon. It"s so exactly like another I"ve seen."
"That could hardly be," said Dr. Severn. "This carving has no duplicate."
"But I know one that"s its own twin," persisted Sylvia. "It"s the same size and shape, and has the same carving on it, these little three-cornered kind of leaves round the edge, and these marks like queer letters in the middle. I couldn"t possibly forget it."
"Where did you see it?" enquired Linda.
"It"s the Chinese charm that they found tied round Mercy"s neck when she was brought to the hospital. She showed it me one Sunday evening, and I held it in my hand and looked at it so carefully."
"Where did your friend get her charm?" asked Dr. Severn quickly.
"It was fastened round her neck when she was a baby. A Chinese woman crawled with her to the hospital, because she was so wounded she was dying. Not Mercy, I mean, but the poor woman. Mercy wasn"t hurt at all. They adopted her at the hospital, and then she was brought to England, and came to Miss Kaye"s, but n.o.body"s ever found out yet who she is. Isn"t it just like a storybook?" said Sylvia, who loved to bring forward the romantic side of her friend"s history.
"How long ago is it since this happened?" enquired Dr. Severn with a curious strained tone in his voice which neither of the children noticed.
"About sixteen years. Mercy is nearly seventeen."
"Is that her true name?"
"No. n.o.body knew her real name, so they called her Mercy Ingledew. She had on Chinese clothes, and the nurse thought the locket must be a Chinese charm too. She hadn"t a single English thing that anyone could tell her by. Wasn"t it a pity?"
"A great pity, if her friends are alive to claim her."
"We don"t know whether they are or not," said Sylvia. "I"m always trying to find them, but Miss Kaye says I"m not to talk to Mercy about it, because it"s no use to keep raising false hopes, and we must all be very kind to her, to make up for her not having a father and mother of her own. It"s funny her little charm should be just the same as yours, though, isn"t it? Did this one come from China too? I should have liked a story about it."
"Some other day, perhaps," said Dr. Severn, rising hastily and walking to the window. "Let us go out and find the boys. The sky looks so threatening, I"m afraid there"s a thunderstorm brewing, and I had better send you home before it begins."
"We must take off our wonderful clothes, then," said Linda, beginning to untwist the scarves and put away the Turkish slippers. "Goodbye, dear sandalwood box! How I love the smell of you!"
"Keep the box if you like," said Dr. Severn briefly, "and you, Sylvia, the bottle of attar. I don"t want either. Come, children, I"m sorry to hurry you, but I don"t want you to be caught in the rain. Get your hats, and Mr. Richards will see you home on his way to Craigwen."
CHAPTER XVII
The Sketching Cla.s.s