Kitabı oku: «Girls of the True Blue», sayfa 11

CHAPTER XXII. – THE BROKEN LOCK

It was quite dusk when Augusta and Nancy found themselves once more back at Fairleigh. From the moment they left the cross-roads to the time they reached the house neither of the girls spoke.

Augusta was full of the delights of the past day, and was turning over in her mind what possible stratagems she might employ to enable her to see more of the Asprays.

Nancy was equally busy wondering if Uncle Peter had yet arrived; and when they turned the corner and saw Kitty and Nora each hanging on the arm of the Captain, she uttered a glad cry and ran forward.

“Ah! here you are. Good-evening, little niece Nancy. – And how are you, Augusta?”

“I am so sorry we were not here when you arrived, Uncle Peter!” said Augusta. “We were away at a picnic.”

“I told Uncle Peter you were having a gay time and I did not know when you would be back,” remarked Nora, “but we waited supper for you all the same. Shall we go in now? – for I am sure Uncle Peter must be very hungry.”

“Hungry is no word for it,” cried Captain Richmond. “I am starving. Don’t stay long tittivating, girls, but come down as soon as ever you can, for the patience of a hungry man has its limits.”

The four girls ran upstairs laughing merrily.

“Isn’t he nice?” thought Nancy to herself. “Doesn’t he make the whole house seem breezy and happy? I am glad that he has come. Gussie won’t dare to tell any more lies now. And I hope – oh! I do hope she won’t often expect me to go with her to see the Asprays. Oh, to think that I might have had to live with them! I should indeed have been a most miserable girl. I would not exchange such darlings as Nora and Kitty for Flora and Constance Aspray.”

“Are you ready?” cried Kitty at that moment, tapping at the door of the little girl’s room.

“Yes. Just come in, please, Kitty,” cried Nancy.

Kitty entered. She wore a white dress with a pale-blue sash, and she looked most sweet and charming.

“Oh, you darling!” said Nancy, running up to her. “I must kiss you – I must. Oh, how different you are! Oh, it is such a relief to get home again!”

“What queer, broken sentences, Nancy!” exclaimed Kitty. “Why is it such a relief to get home; and who am I different from?”

“The Asprays,” said Nancy.

“Then you had not a happy day?”

“Oh, never mind! I suppose I ought to have had.”

“You need not see any more of them; you may be sure of that, Nancy. Uncle Peter was rather surprised at your both going. I think Uncle Peter is what you call punctilious – yes, that is the word. I am sure he won’t let us have anything to say to them until mother returns. But now let us hurry down to supper. Do you know, Nancy, that he is nicer than ever, and he has got no end of lovely schemes. I can see that we are going to have a most heavenly time.”

“Did he – did he say anything,” said Nancy slowly “did he say anything about our battalion?”

“No; not a single word. I expected him to, and so did Nora; but I could see that it was in the back of his head all the time. I expect the grand prize-day, when the best girl receives the Royal Cross, will take place before we return to town. And, oh, Nancy darling! I have a shrewd suspicion that you will win.”

“I!” said Nancy. “Certainly not. I am not better than you or Nora.”

“In some ways you are better. You are more patient; and then, you have more to put up with. Uncle Peter is the sort of man to take all that into consideration. He is very just – very just indeed– and he is quite safe to give the cross to the person who has really earned it.”

“What are you two chattering about?” now came from Augusta. “We are all waiting downstairs. Do hurry up.”

The girls flew down, their arms encircling each other.

“Oh,” thought Nancy to herself, “how sweet, how delightful is Kitty! How happy she makes me!”

The dining-room table was prettily laid; the supper was good and abundant; Uncle Peter had a joke for every one. Never was there a more delightful meal. When the Captain assured the girls he felt quite like a paterfamilias with four grown-up daughters, they considered it the hugest fun in the world, and laughed with uncontrolled delight. But the gayest of meals come to an end, and once again the little party went out and paced up and down on the moonlit lawn.

It was now Nancy’s turn to clasp her hand inside Captain Richmond’s arm, and with Nora on the other side, to walk backwards and forwards in front of the old house. Meanwhile Kitty and Augusta fell behind the others.

“I hope you had a good time, Gussie,” said her cousin.

“You mean to-day,” said Augusta. “There is only one word for to-day – it was ripping. Yes; I can call it nothing else. Oh Kit, you will help me, won’t you?”

“In what way, Gussie?”

“I want to see some more of them – oh, so badly! You won’t put an obstacle in my way, will you?”

“I am not the one to do it,” answered Kitty; “but, of course, you can understand, Gussie, that we have all got to obey the Captain.”

“I wish he hadn’t come,” said Augusta suddenly.

“You wish that Uncle Peter —darling Uncle Peter – hadn’t come?”

“Yes; but you need not cry it out quite so loud. I don’t, of course, want him to hear. I am sorry he has come because he is sure to be very strict and proper, and perhaps he won’t like the Asprays.”

“I don’t believe he will have anything to do with them. Oh dear! there is ten o’clock striking, and we must go to bed.”

“Girls,” said the Captain as they re-entered the house, “this night has been pure pleasure; but, you know, business awaits us to-morrow, and before I retire for the night I should just like to run my eye over the orderly-book. Can you get it for me, Nora? Your mother must have left it where you could find it.”

Nora’s face turned white and then pink.

“I am so dreadfully sorry, Uncle Peter,” she exclaimed, “but we have lost the key of the drawer in mother’s chiffonier in which she keeps the orderly-book. It is altogether my fault and Kitty’s. Mother was going off in a great hurry, and she gave us the key, and we can’t find it high or low.”

“You had better have a good search for it to-morrow,” answered the Captain. “Never mind about it now. Good-night to you all. We will begin brisk and early to-morrow, soldiers of the True Blue.”

He gave the little party a military salute, and going to the drawing-room, he shut the door.

The girls went upstairs, Augusta thanking her stars that the key was lost.

“So much the better for my purposes,” she said to herself. “It will never occur to him to try that special drawer; if he did it would open fast enough. What a bit of luck that Kitty and Nora should have lost the key!”

The girls had now reached the broad landing which led by different corridors to their bedrooms. Here they said good-night, and Augusta quickly entered her own room. She felt excited and not at all disposed to sleep. The Asprays had fascinated her, and the thought of meeting that delightful American, Mr. David Archer, the man whom Flora had assured her would take a great fancy to her, very nearly turned the silly girl’s head.

“I wonder if I am really handsome,” she said to herself. “I wonder if there is something remarkable and fascinating about me. I should like so much to know! Perhaps if I met him he would tell me. I wonder if he would. It would be very nice to be pretty; pretty girls have such a jolly time. Now, Nancy is pretty. It is horribly unfair, but although she is nothing but a charity-child, she has far and away the most charming face of any of us. What would I not give for her complexion, and those beautiful wide dark eyes of hers, and that thick, thick ebony-black hair? But I dare say I am very passable myself. I observed Flora looking at me quite with approbation to-day. I shall light some candles and see how I look before I go to bed.”

Augusta accordingly lit two candles which stood in heavy oak stands on the mantelpiece. These she placed one on each side of her looking-glass, and then, drawing the glass forward, she sat down and stared into her face. But the glass was somewhat dim from age, and the light altogether inefficient.

“Why, I see nothing but a blur,” thought the girl; and then it occurred to her to go into her aunt’s room and fetch some more candles from there.

The thought had no sooner come than she acted on it, bringing in a heavy pair of candlesticks with tall wax candles in them. Just as she reached her own door her foot knocked against something metallic. She stooped and picked up a little key.

“The lost key,” she murmured under her breath; and then she slipped it into her pocket.

With the aid of the four candles Augusta got a good view of her features. Her face was well shaped, and her eyes of a nice colour. She was altogether, as she expressed it, “more than passable.”

“If only I grow tall, and have a good figure, and am dressed as I ought to be, I shall be a success,” she said to herself. “Those two years in Paris will do wonders for me. Parisian polish is so effective! Yes, I shall have a good time when I do go into society. But, dear, dear! why should I wait for two or three years to have a good time when I may have it now? What fun to talk to a man like David Archer! Flora will do her best for me if I introduce Uncle Peter to them. I suppose they think they will fascinate Uncle Peter, but they don’t know him. Yes, he is a charming man, only I do wish he were not quite so awfully good.”

Augusta put out her candles and got into bed. As she laid her head on the pillow she remembered that she had just found the missing key.

“I am in luck,” she said to herself – “in rare luck. The first thing to-morrow I shall lock the chiffonier, and then I can throw the key down – the well in the garden. That orderly-book won’t be found then until Aunt Jessie returns.”

But man proposes, God disposes. This trite proverb proved its right to existence just at the time when Augusta thought all things were moulding themselves in her favour. For while the four girls slept peacefully in their different rooms, Captain Richmond thought and pondered in the drawing-room. He paced up and down until he had finished his cigarette. He then went and stood by the window, which was open.

He was thinking of his girls, and wondering how his battalion had behaved. In particular his thoughts were occupied with Nancy. He had taken a great fancy to Nancy when he had met her in London. He was sorry for her, and he thought he understood her character. His own nieces had always been to him as an open book, but Nancy puzzled while she interested him. “As to Augusta – I cannot make her out. Quite down in the bottom of my heart I don’t like Augusta,” said the Captain to himself. “It is very uncharitable of me not to like her, for I know nothing whatever to her discredit. But one is not accountable for these sort of feelings. Why do I like Nancy so much? Why am I certain that she is straight and noble and sweet and generous? I do believe that it was mostly on account of Nancy I thought of my little scheme to enroll the girls in my battalion. Well, I suppose as that key is lost I had better go to bed. We shall have a good time to-morrow. Yes, I must make those children happy. Jessie has entrusted them to my care, and they sha’n’t see more of those objectionable Asprays than I can help.”

The Captain was about to leave the room, having first shut the window and fastened the shutters, when his attention was attracted by the chiffonier. He was fond of Sheraton furniture, and saw at once that this was a particularly fine specimen. During his last visit to Fairleigh this handsome piece of furniture had not been in the drawing-room. He went up to it now, put down his candle, and looked it over with great care.

“I wonder where Jessie picked it up,” he said to himself, “and what she paid for it. It is certainly genuine. And how particularly fine these brass mountings are.” The chiffonier contained many drawers, some shallow and some deep. Each drawer was opened by a small brass handle, the lock being just above the handle. Captain Richmond took hold of one of the handles and pulled the drawer, which immediately slid out, and there, staring him in the face, was the well-known orderly-book.

“What a piece of luck!” he cried. “I am not a bit sleepy. So Jessie never locked the drawer. As I have found the book I may as well run my eye over its contents to-night. I shall make a more careful examination to-morrow, but I am curious to know how my soldiers have got on.”

The Captain lit another pair of candles, and drawing a comfortable chair forward, seated himself and opened the book. His practised eyes ran quickly over the pages. Augusta’s entries were very much what he had expected; they were fairly good without being anything remarkable. His own two nieces were also creditable soldiers – neat, punctilious as to behaviour, early risers, well forward in their athletics, and each girl bore marks of excellent conduct.

“Now for Nancy,” thought the Captain.

Nancy’s pages came last, as she was the youngest girl of the four. As Captain Richmond read the entries, made first by Miss Roy and then by his sister-in-law, he smiled to himself.

“Well done, Nancy!” he said more than once. “Brave little soldier. I rather gather that you had a tussle with yourself on this day, and that you conquered again on this day. Strange that I should read between the lines! I was not mistaken in my estimate of your character, little Nancy. But, oh! what have we here?”

The Captain was now reading the brief entry made in Mrs. Richmond’s writing on 24th August. He read the few remarks, once in puzzled bewilderment, twice in incredulity, and a third time with the colour mounting to his face and apprehension in his eyes.

“It can’t be true,” he said to himself. “Nancy guilty of cruelty! Impossible.”

He shut the book as if he were thoroughly dissatisfied, and returning it to its drawer, he went up to bed.

CHAPTER XXIII. – “PRIZE-DAY COMES IN A MONTH.”

The next day at breakfast Kitty began to talk of the lost key.

“It is most provoking,” she said. “What shall we do without having our orderly-book properly signed? I cannot find the key anywhere.”

“I have spoken to the servants,” interrupted Nora, “and they have searched mother’s room, and even taken up the rugs and shaken them. I know for a positive fact,” she added, “that neither Kitty nor I took the key from mother’s room.”

“What did I hear you say about the orderly-book?” asked Captain Richmond.

“Why, Uncle Peter, how funny of you, and what a peculiar expression your eyes have! The orderly-book is locked up in the Sheraton chiffonier; and we cannot get it from a locked drawer, can we?”

“No, unless we break the lock or find that the drawer is already open.”

“But it can’t be; mother always kept it locked, and when she gave us the key she spoke about its being locked.”

“She thought she locked it,” said Captain Richmond; “but as a matter of fact I found it open. I read the orderly-book last night.”

There was something very grave in his tone, and Kitty stopped talking and stared at him with knitted brows. Nora went calmly on pouring out tea. Augusta got very red, and as she helped herself to a piece of toast her hand trembled; while Nancy, with her wide-open, innocent dark eyes, looked full into the Captain’s face.

He did not return Nancy’s gaze.

“I hope we have all been good enough soldiers to satisfy you, Uncle Peter,” said Kitty. “You won’t tell us what you think, will you?”

“No,” he answered – “not now; prize-day comes in a month.”

“Oh, Uncle Pete, what shall we do on prize-day? We must have a gay time.”

“The prizes will be given in the evening. The greatest prize – the Royal Cross – will be presented with the others. But do not ask me to tell you any more; that would be giving myself away.”

He got up as he spoke and left the room. When he got to the hall he stood still for a moment, raised his hand, and pushed his short, crisp hair up on his head. He then turned in the direction of the drawing-room. There was a very wide and spacious hall to the Fairleigh house. The dining-rooms opened into one end, the great drawing-room, the library, and morning-room into the other. Captain Richmond strolled now through the big drawing-room. The French windows were wide open; the sunlit lawn blazed outside. The sun-blinds had been already drawn down, and the cool effect of the room itself compared to the heat on the lawn was most refreshing. Captain Richmond opened the drawer of the chiffonier and examined it carefully. His practised eye easily detected the marks of a tool which had forced the lock. He saw also that the lock itself was poor and of a very simple make. He pushed the drawer in and sat down by the window. Who could possibly have meddled with the lock? He took up the newspaper, opened it, and pretended to read it, but in reality his thoughts were far from the news of the day. He continued wondering over the open drawer, over the lost key, and most of all did his thoughts puzzle over the orderly-book itself.

Nancy, whom he had trusted, had failed him; she had been guilty of the sin of all others most terrible and grave in his eyes – the sin of cruelty. That gentle, kind, and loving child guilty of so grave a fault! He could scarcely believe it.

Just at this juncture in his thoughts the door opened and Augusta came in. Augusta was in reality very nervous and troubled, and she had come now, as she expressed it, to take the bull by the horns.

“Well, Uncle Peter,” she said; and she chose a seat opposite to that in which the Captain was sitting. “Oh, how hot it is outside,” she continued, “and how beautifully cool here! I have brought my knitting. I am making a tie for you, Uncle Peter. May I work here while you read the paper?”

“Of course, Augusta; just as you like,” answered Captain Richmond.

Augusta took her work from its bag and began slowly to knit. Presently she dropped a stitch, which caused her to utter an exclamation of annoyance.

“What is it?” said the Captain; and he flung down his newspaper and looked at her.

“I have dropped a stitch in my knitting. But it doesn’t matter; Nancy will find it for me by-and-by.”

“Has Nancy such good sight?”

“Yes. My eyes ache very often. And Nancy is very good-natured; she always does what I ask her.”

The Captain looked both pleased and relieved.

“You have found Nancy good-natured?” he asked.

“He is thinking of the report in the orderly-book,” Augusta thought to herself. “I won’t do poor little Nancy more harm than I can help.”

“Nan is certainly good-natured,” she said aloud.

“I am glad you like her,” continued the Captain; and he sighed a very little as he spoke.

Augusta fiddled with her knitting. After a time she looked up.

“As we are quite by ourselves, may I speak to you?” she said suddenly.

“Why, of course, Gussie. What is it?”

“Well, you know that father and mother are away?”

“So my sister-in-law has told me.”

“And I am their only child, and I feel being parted from my parents very much.”

“Of course you do,” said the Captain; and he looked with sudden interest at Augusta. Hitherto he had not admired her in any way. “When will your parents be back?” he asked.

“Next year; and when they come back they are going to send me to Paris.”

“To Paris! What for?”

“Oh, Uncle Peter, don’t you know? To be educated – to be finished – to get Parisian French and Parisian deportment and dancing, you know, and all the rest.”

“I am afraid I do not know, Augusta. I am unacquainted with any young ladies who have been educated in the French capital. I have no particular love for the French ways. You see, I am an Englishman to the backbone.”

“But I shall still be an English girl even if I have got a little bit of French polish. Besides, it will so please father and mother! If I go it will be because” – Here she dimpled and smiled and looked full at the Captain.

“Because of what?”

“Because of you, Uncle Peter.”

“Now I do fail to understand you. What on earth can I have to do with it?”

“You have a great deal more to do with it than you can guess. If my marks are very good – particularly my marks as regards conduct – I shall go. And, oh, I am so anxious to go! And if by any chance I could win the Royal Cross, then indeed I should be safe.”

“And suppose you did win it, would that be your object?”

“Oh! besides that there would be many others; but that too. Can you blame me, Uncle Peter? It would so please my parents!”

“No, I cannot blame you, Augusta; and, without giving myself away in any manner, I may as well say that you have at least as good a chance as the others.”

“Have I indeed? Have I truly? Oh, how very happy you have made me!”

“Continue to behave well, Augusta, and nobody knows what will happen.” He rose as he spoke.

“I am bound,” he thought, “after the excellence of Augusta’s marks, to give her that much encouragement, but surely never before was there man so disappointed. – I am going into the woods,” he said aloud. “Good-bye for the present.”

“Oh! one word, please, before you go. What do you say to our walking through the woods and having a gipsy tea there this afternoon?”

“If your cousins like it, Augusta, I am quite agreeable. Do you prefer the woods to the seashore?”

“Yes; it will be so very hot on the sands to-day,” said Augusta.

“I am, as I said, at your disposal.”

The Captain strolled away, and the moment he had gone Augusta flew to the chiffonier, pulled open the drawer, and looked at it.

“Any one can see that it has been tampered with,” she said to herself. “I am certain by his manner that he has discovered it. But one thing at least is clear – he has not the remotest suspicion of me. – Oh Nancy, what are you doing here?”

“I thought Uncle Pete was here,” said Nancy, who had entered the room and looked with disappointed eyes all over it; “Kitty said he was, and I wanted to talk to him. What are you doing by that drawer, Gussie? Is it not very strange that it should be open – that Aunt Jessie left it unlocked?”

“Solve the mystery if you can, Nancy,” said Augusta, quite vexed at being discovered. “But if you want your darling Captain, he has just strolled through the woods.”

“Of course I want him,” replied Nancy; “I love him so much.”

She ran out of the open window, and was soon seen flitting across the lawn in the direction of the cool and sheltered woods. Captain Richmond was not far off. Nancy called his name, and he whistled to her to come to him. She ran quickly to his side.

“It is so lovely to have you here!” she exclaimed. “And, oh, Uncle Pete, I have tried! It has been very hard, but I have tried.”

Her eyes were raised to his face. There were dimples in her cheeks and smiles round her lips.

“What a face!” thought the Captain. “Angelic is the only word for it. And yet, my eyes cannot deceive me – she is a hypocrite;” and in spite of himself he shook off the loving hand which touched his arm, and began to talk quickly of indifferent matters.

For a moment a cold, curious sensation visited Nancy’s heart, but it soon passed off! She was so sympathetic that she could throw herself with zest and interest into almost any conversation. Notwithstanding his grief and displeasure, the Captain could not help confiding in her, telling her some of his own worries, and laughing when she gave childish but practical advice.

“I am so excited about the prize!” she said as the two presently returned to the house. “I don’t believe I have any chance of getting the Royal Cross, but I have tried for it.”

“Have you indeed, Nancy?”

“Yes, Uncle Pete. Why do you look at me with such a sad face? Do you think I would not try?”

“I always thought you would try,” he answered. “But remember, it is a cross for valour. Do you know what that means?”

“Bravery,” said Nancy.

“I think it means rather more than ordinary bravery. It needs both a tender and gallant heart to really aspire to valour; it needs a rare unselfishness. I want you all to forget the prize in the joy of attaining to it. It is the attainment that really matters; the prize in itself is but a symbol.”

“Yes,” said Nancy gravely, “but the symbol testifies to the attainment.”

“What a serious subject for a little girl!” said the Captain.

Nancy’s eyes were full of tears.

“Sometimes it is rather hard for me,” she said, “but when you are here I can do almost anything.”

“Is it possible that that child can be cruel?” thought the Captain after she had left him. “It certainly seems inconceivable; and yet Jessie would not have put such a mark in the orderly-book for nothing. If there is a very capable, careful, and trustworthy person it is my sister-in-law. And she loves Nancy, too; she would not act so to her unless there were some very grave reason. Poor little girl, when did everything fail and the great crash come? She doesn’t look a bit like it.”

At early dinner the four girls and the Captain were, to all appearance, in the highest spirits; and soon afterwards they started on their expedition to the woods.

Augusta had now fully and absolutely made up her mind to obtain the Royal Cross, and for this reason she was determined to show to the utmost advantage in Captain Richmond’s eyes.

It was arranged they were to have their gipsy tea in a part of the pine-woods about two miles away from the house. This part was just above the seashore. The place of rendezvous was not only sheltered from the rays of the sun, but freshened by the sea-breezes.

The picnic basket was packed, and the kettle, spirit-lamp, &c. were put into another basket.

“Come,” said the Captain, seizing the heavy basket and striding forward; “you girls must take turns in carrying the edibles.”

“I will carry the basket first,” said Augusta.

She dragged it out of Nancy’s hands, who gave it up in some astonishment, for, as a rule, the office of carrying Augusta’s things devolved upon her. Having secured the basket, Augusta ran forward and joined Captain Richmond. The three other girls walked together behind.

Augusta’s heart beat hard, for not only had she to play the part of a good and unselfish girl for the Captain’s benefit, but she was looking forward to meeting her fascinating friends, the Asprays, and their delightful companion, Mr. Archer. What would happen when the meeting took place she must leave to circumstances.

But she was quite resolved that if it lay within the realm of possibility she would get the Captain to admire her friends and to let them join their picnic party. By-and-by Kitty ran up to her.

“Come, give me the basket now, Augusta,” she said; “you are looking very hot and red in the face. Nancy and I will carry it between us.”

“No, thank you,” said Augusta, “I don’t feel its weight at all, and you are so pale it would tire you to carry it. Leave it to me,” she added. “I really like it; I assure you I do.”

“Then leave her the basket by all means,” said the Captain. “It is such a pity to take from us what we like, particularly when we are doing a service to others.”

Augusta could not be quite sure whether Uncle Peter was laughing at her or not. But in another moment a sudden bend in the road effectually diverted her thoughts, for coming to meet them were the two Aspray girls, looking remarkably pretty in white embroidered dresses and big shady hats; and walking between the two girls was a tall young man of about two-and-twenty years of age. The moment Flora Aspray saw Augusta she gave a shout of welcome, and rushing to meet her, kissed her with great empressement.

“How very nice!” she said. “Oh, so you are all here! Now I do think this is a rare piece of luck. Let me introduce Mr. Archer.”

“Captain Richmond, this is my friend, Flora Aspray; and this is my other friend, Constance Aspray,” said Augusta.

The Captain talked to the two girls in a polite and pleasant fashion; Mr. Archer began to notice Augusta; and the three girls from behind came and joined the group. In a very short time, no one quite knew how, the Asprays and Mr. Archer found themselves invited to join the Richmond party. They now all turned in a mass and walked in the direction where the picnic was to take place.