PRINCESS BOPEEP.
n.o.body came to wake the children the next morning. They slept later than usual, and when Gladys woke it was already as light as ever it was in the dull little room. But it was very cold--the weather had turned to frost in the night, which made the air clearer and brighter, and in their own warm rooms at Mrs. Lacy"s the children would have rejoiced at the change. Here it was very different.
Gladys lay waiting some time, wondering if no one was coming with their chocolate and bread, forgetting at first all that had happened the day before. By degrees it came back to her mind, and then she was no longer surprised at their being left alone.
"Anna has come back," she thought to herself, "and she won"t let them bring us our breakfast."
She got out of bed, glad to see that Roger was still sleeping, and crossed the room, the cold wooden floor striking chill to her bare feet.
She reached the door and opened it, peering down the narrow dark staircase.
"Francoise," she called softly, for the kitchen was nearer than the workroom, and she hoped perhaps Francoise would come to her without Anna knowing. But no one answered. She heard voices in the distance--in the kitchen they seemed to be--and soon she fancied that she distinguished the sharp tones of Mademoiselle Anna, ordering about the poor little cook. Gladys quickly but softly shut the door and crossed the room again on tiptoes. She stood for a moment or two hesitating what to do. It was so cold that she felt half inclined to curl herself up in bed again and try to go to sleep! But if Roger woke, as he was sure to do soon--no, the best thing was for her to get dressed as quickly as possible. She bravely sponged herself as well as she could with the cold water, which was now always left in the room in a little jug; "no chance of any _hot_ water to-day!" she thought to herself as she remembered how unhappy she had been that first morning at not having a bath, and then went on to dress, though not without a good deal of difficulty, as several of her little under-garments fastened behind. Not till the last b.u.t.ton was secured did Roger wake.
"Gladdie," he said in a sleepy tone, "are you dressed. We haven"t had our chocolate, Gladdie."
"Never mind, Roger dear," said Gladys. "They"re all very busy to-day, you know, so I"ve got up and dressed quickly, and now I"ll go down and bring up your breakfast. Unless you"d rather get up first?"
Roger considered. He was in rather a lazy mood, which was perhaps just as well.
"No," he decided. "I"ll have my breakfast first. And you can eat yours beside me, can"t you, Gladdie?"
"Yes," said Gladys, "that will be very nice."
She spoke with a cheerfulness she was far from feeling, for in her heart she felt by no means sure of getting any breakfast at all. But just as she was turning to go a slight knocking was heard at the door. It was more like a scratching indeed, as if the person were afraid of being heard outside as well as by those in the room.
"Mademoiselle," came in a loud whisper after the queer rapping had gone on for some time, "are you awake? Open--I have the hands full."
It was Francoise. Gladys opened. The little servant, her round red face rounder and redder than usual, for she had been all the morning at the kitchen fire, and had besides been pa.s.sing through unusual excitement, stumped into the room, a bowl, from which the steam of some hot liquid was rising, in one hand, and a plate with a large hunch of bread in the other.
She put them down on the little table and wiped her hot face with her ap.r.o.n.
"Ah, Mademoiselle," she said, "no one would believe it--the trouble I have had to get some breakfast for you! _She_ would not have it--lazy little creatures, she called you--you might come down and get it for yourselves--a piece of dry bread and some dripping soup--that was all she would have given you, and I know you are not used to that. So what did I do but wait till her back was turned--the cross cat--and then in with the milk and a tiny bit of chocolate--all I could find, and here it is! Hot, at any rate; but not very good, I fear."
Gladys did not, of course, understand a quarter of the words which Francoise rattled off in her queer Norman-French; but her wits were sharpened by anxiety, and she gathered quite enough of the sense of the little servant"s long speech to feel very grateful to her. In her hurry Francoise had poured all the chocolate--or hot milk rather, for there was very little chocolate in the composition--into one bowl; but the children were too hungry to be particular. They drank turn-about, and finished by crumbling up the remains of the bread in the remains of the milk and eating it with the spoon, turn-about also, Francoise standing by, watching them with satisfaction! Suddenly she started.
"I must run down," she said, "or she will be after me again. I wish I could stay to help you to dress Monsieur Roger, but I dare not," and gathering up the dishes in her ap.r.o.n so that they could not be seen, she turned to go.
"Dress him as quickly as you can," she said to Gladys, "and then she cannot say you have given any trouble. But stay--I will see if I cannot get you a little hot water for the poor bebe."
And off she set, to appear again in a minute with a tin jug of hot water which she poured out into the basin at once for fear the absence of the tin jug should be discovered.
"She has eyes on every side of her head," she whispered as she went off again.
Roger"s toilet was accomplished more luxuriously than poor Gladys"s own, and he was quite bright and happy with no fear of Mademoiselle Anna or any one else, chirping like a little bird, as his sister took him down the narrow staircase to the room behind the shop where they spent the mornings.
"Hush, Roger dear, we must be very quiet because poor Mrs. Nest is ill, you know," she said, when his shrill little voice rose higher and higher, for he had had an exceedingly good night and felt in excellent spirits.
"She can"t hear us down here," replied Roger. But Gladys still repeated her "hush," for, in reality, it was Anna who she feared might overhear Roger"s chatter. She looked about for something to keep him quiet, but could see nothing. It was warm in the sitting-room--though if Anna could have done so, she would have ordered Francoise not to light the fire for the little plagues, as she called them--but except for that they would have been happier up in their bedroom, where Gladys had discovered a few of Roger"s toys in a corner of the big trunk, which, however, Madame Nest had not allowed them to bring down.
"When the Papa comes, I wish him to find all your things in good order,"
she had said. "The toys might get broken, so while you are here I will find you things to amuse you."
But this morning the bundle of cretonne and cut-out birds and flowers was not to be seen!
"I must tell Roger stories all the morning, I suppose," thought Gladys, and she was just going to propose doing so, when Roger, who had been standing peeping through the gla.s.s door which led into the shop, suddenly gave a cry of pleasure.
"Oh, Gladdie," he said, "see what a pretty carriage and two prancey horses at the door!"
Gladys ran to look--the shop door was wide open, for one of the apprentice boys was sweeping it out, and they could see right into the street. The carriage had stopped, as Roger said, and out of it stepped one of two people seated in it. It was the younger of the two ladies that the children had seen that first day in the Rue Verte when they were hidden behind the blue sofa in the corner.
She came forward into the shop.
"Is there no one here?" she said in French.
The apprentice, very dusty and looking rather ashamed, came out of a corner. It was not often that ladies in grand carriages came themselves to the little shop, for though the Nestors had some very good customers, Monsieur Adolphe usually went himself to their houses for orders.
"I will call some one," said the boy, "if Mademoiselle will have the goodness to wait a moment," and he disappeared through a little door in the corner of the shop which led into the workroom another way.
The young lady shivered a little--it was very cold--and then walked about, glancing at the furniture now and then. She seemed to think it too cold to sit down. There was certainly no dearth of chairs!
"I wonder if we should ask her to come in here," said Gladys. But before she had time to decide, the door by which the boy had gone out opened again and Mademoiselle Anna appeared. She came forward with the most gracious manner and sweetest smiles imaginable. Gladys, who had never seen her like that, felt quite amazed.
The young lady received Anna"s civilities very calmly. She had never seen her before, and thought her rather a vulgar young woman. But when Anna begged her to come for a moment into the sitting-room while she went to fetch the patterns the young lady had come for she did not refuse.
"It is certainly bitterly cold this morning," she said.
"And we are all so upset--by the sad accident to our poor dear Madame--Mademoiselle must excuse us," said Anna, leading the way to the sitting-room as she spoke.
Rosamond stopped short.
"An accident to that good Madame Nestor. I am very sorry," she exclaimed.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Anna opened the door sharply, as she did everything, and in so doing overthrew the small person of Roger.]
"Ah, yes," Anna went on in her honeyed tones, "it is really too sad. It was--but will not Mademoiselle come out of the cold, and I will tell her about it," she went on, backing towards the gla.s.s door. It opened inwards; the children, very much interested in watching the little scene in the shop, and not quite understanding Anna"s intention, had not thought of getting out of the way. Anna opened the door sharply, as she did everything, and in so doing overthrew the small person of Roger, whose short fat legs were less agile than the longer and thinner ones of his sister. Gladys sprang away like a kitten, but only to spring back again the next moment, as a doleful cry rose from poor Roger.
"You"re not hurt, darling, are you?" she said, as she knelt down to pick him up.
Roger went on crying softly. He preferred to take his time about deciding that he wasn"t hurt. And in the meantime the stranger young lady had come into the room and was looking round her in some surprise.
"Has the little boy fallen down?" she asked in French. "Poor little fellow! Are they Madame Nestor"s grandchildren?"
"Oh dear, no," replied Anna, casting a contemptuous glance at Gladys and Roger, who, crouching on the floor in a corner of the always dusky little room, could not be very clearly distinguished. "Get up,"
continued she, turning to them, "get up at once and go to your own room."
Frightened by her tone and by Roger"s continued sobbing, Gladys dragged him up from the floor as well as she could, and escaped with him by the door leading upstairs, near to which they happened to be. Something in the sudden change of Anna"s tone roused the young lady"s suspicions.
"Who are they, then?" she asked again. "And are you sure the little boy is not hurt?"