The Little Missis Part 2

"But I am very ambitious, and should like you to have a large business.

How could you possibly leave all your public work here? and I could never leave Hadley while my poor old sick father lives."

"We'll not worry about that," said Ralph, fearing he had gone too far.

"We need not discuss that for years. I am glad to hear you say you would like me to have a big business; but how, without more capital, am I going to manage it?"

"That certainly is a very difficult question."

There was silence for a minute, and then Ralph, evidently disappointed she had not said more, asked: "Can you not suggest anything?"

"No, I cannot; but if it is G.o.d's will He will show you how it can be done."

"G.o.d won't do for us what we can do for ourselves," he answered a little impatiently. "I hardly like mentioning it, but haven't you some money in the bank?"

"Yes."

"How much?"

"Three hundred pounds. It was my mother's money; and the interest has helped to buy my clothes, because father could not afford to give us much pocket-money."

"Couldn't I have that money? Of course, I shall give you pocket-money enough."

"You can have some of it, most certainly."

"Not all?"

"Wouldn't half do?"

Ralph got up from his chair, went to the window, and then said slowly, "Yes, that will do."

"We will go and draw it out next week," said Phebe, "if you like."

"Yes; and of course you had better change the name, had you not? And it will seem more businesslike if you draw the whole of it and then put the half of it back in my name. It will be yours all the same."

"I don't mind," said Phebe, "if that will please you."

"Please me! I'm not a child." Fortunately, just then he was called into the shop.

"Am I selfish?" questioned Phebe anxiously to herself. "Have I done wrong? Ought I to let him have the whole? But I am sure father would be cross if I did."

All that day there was suns.h.i.+ne without, but very little within. Phebe worked hard to make the house more homelike; some rugs were laid on the parlour floor, two arm-chairs established each side the table, ferns arranged in the grate, vases of flowers put on the chimney-piece, pictures hung up, curtains placed at the window--and yet it seemed dreary. But how can there be suns.h.i.+ne in a room when there's a shadow on the spirit?

After tea Ralph said: "I am going to Sunbury to a meeting this evening."

"Oh, I am glad; I shall enjoy that."

"But, dearest, I am sorry to disappoint you. I have promised to walk with old Mr. Cope, and it is too far for you. Besides, if you don't mind, I should like you to attend to the shop a little, just to check bills and take cash, for I am a young man short to-day. Will you?"

"Oh, yes," replied Phebe gaily, trying hard to let the feeling of pride that Ralph thought her capable of doing this conquer the feeling of disappointment. "I shall be delighted to do it for your sake." And after that sweet little speech Ralph kissed her.

The young man who was left in charge of the shop, being of a rather fiery disposition, and having resented somewhat Phebe's advent into the establishment, thought he would take this opportunity of having a little revenge.

"Do you like business, Mrs. Waring?" he asked, when they were alone.

"I hardly know, having had no experience."

"Well, I suppose it is with you as with me, it is all the same whether we like it or not--we have got to do it."

"I don't think the cases are quite parallel," she said, with a smile.

"Oh, I thought they were, for when the governor gave d.i.c.k Forbes notice--he left to-day, you know--he said he should not require his services any longer, for when you came you would see after the business when he was away. It must be nice to have a wife to look after things while you are away enjoying yourself."

"Your master is away doing G.o.d's business," she replied with dignity, and straightway walked into the parlour.

The dignity all vanished when she laid her head on her hands on the table and had a little cry to herself. Things were all so different from what she had expected, and such a loneliness seemed to have crept into her heart! When she lifted up her tearful face she saw the bunch of pansies quite close to her, and their faces seemed to look into hers and whisper, "Heart's ease!" "What a comfort!" she whispered to herself.

"'Heart's ease,' yes, I know where to get it from. I know I feel disappointed, but ought I not to ask: Is Ralph disappointed in me? and is Jesus disappointed in me?"

"What a mean hound I've been!" thought the young shopman, as he caught sight afterwards of her swollen eyes. "It would have served me right if she had boxed my ears. She'll have enough to put up with without me adding to it." And that same night he walked two miles to beg a bunch of roses for her, saying as he gave them to her: "Please forgive me for having been rude to you."

When a king had chosen the design for the gold work of his signet and selected the stone, carefully studying its hue and markings, then came the _making_ of the signet: the gold was put in the fire, and the gem under the lapidary's hammer.

CHAPTER III

A GARDEN LEVE

In a little over a year great alterations had been made in Ralph Waring's establishment. The shop next door had been duly taken, the part.i.tion wall broken down, and the grocery business started. The only part of Ralph's plan which had not come about was the throwing in of the back parlour into the business portion. "No," said Phebe firmly, "in this department I mean to come first. I am not going to vote for everything being sacrificed to the business; to have a dining-room upstairs means a great deal of extra work. I must also have the parlour of the other shop to convert into a decent kitchen. How can we expect Janie to be bright and happy with nothing better than a scullery to sit in? I mean my kitchen to be as bright and cheery as any room in the house."

"I wonder who's master here!" said Ralph, with a snap.

"We are partners--at least, that is what you have said, and you rule in one department and I in the other. I have no objection to you having one of the front rooms upstairs for a show-room." Ralph had never thought of that, and as it sounded rather "big," it pleased him, and so the dispute ended.

But if changes had been effected in the front premises, a greater change had come about in the back garden, which at first had only looked like a walled-in yard. Where the dandelions had grown was a trim little lawn, with a flower-stand in the centre nearly covered with pink ivy geraniums; there was no s.p.a.ce for any elaboration of design, so a narrow bed of flowers round the lawn touched the surrounding walls, which were already nearly covered with shoots of ivy, climbing roses, and that industrious plant, Virginia creeper. In one corner a little arbour had been erected, and, till the climbing plants had completed the covering, a gay red-striped awning had been fixed up, adding still more colour to the scene.

Here one sunny August day Neighbour Bessie found her friend, Mrs.

Waring, nursing her baby.

"Well, you do make a pretty picture! Talk of gold pictures in silver frames, you are a picture of love in a frame of flowers."

"Now, no more flattery, neighbour, for a week, or I'll send you to Coventry."

Bessie at once sat down on the gra.s.s at Phebe's feet. She was never so happy as when resting on "Nature's bottom shelf." Her mother said this was a sign of laziness; Bessie said it was a sign of economy, because she did not wear out the chair-cus.h.i.+ons, and also the sign of a cautious nature, because there was no fear of falling.

"You haven't kissed the baby."