Me and Nobbles Part 21

The young girl looked at him over the book she was reading.

'You want a registry,' she said. 'There's a good one in Kensington High Street. I'll show it to you if you get out with me.'

True looked relieved.

'Is that the place where you find them?' she asked.

'I never heard of such a thing as children looking for a governess!'

e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed the old lady. 'Poor little motherless things, their father ought to be ashamed of himself sending them out on such an errand!'

'Dad didn't send us,' said True, feeling she must defend her father at all costs. 'We knew he wanted us to have one, so we came ourselves.'

'And then we won't be sent to school,' put in Bobby.

True gave him a sharp nudge with her elbow.

'Don't talk so much,' she said.

Bobby subsided meekly. He felt this strange experience was rather bewildering, and wondered at True's calm composure.

'I'll help you to find one,' said the young girl. 'I'm studying to be one myself, so I know the sort you ought to have.'

True looked at her with interest. She was in a shabby blue serge coat and skirt, but she wore a bunch of violets in her b.u.t.tonhole. Her hat was dark blue, her gloves were white worsted ones, and her face was bright and smiling. Her whole appearance was pleasant. When she got up to go, she held out her hands to them.

'Come on. I'll show you where governesses can be found, and perhaps help you choose one. It will be great fun!'

True and Bobby followed her delightedly. The old lady shook her head after them with a sigh.

'The irresponsibility of men! It's to be hoped that young person won't decoy them away and rob them. I think we ought to have handed them over to the police to see them safely home.'

The man at the farther end of the 'bus spoke for the first time. As the old lady addressed him he was obliged to do so.

'The rising generation can soon dispense with their fathers,' he said.

'Those are small specimens of a type.'

Meanwhile the girl in blue serge had walked True and Bobby up a side street, and in at an office door.

'This is one of the best registries in this part of the world,' she said. 'Now we'll tell Mrs. Marsh what you want, and see if she knows of one. When I get the certificates I am working for, I mean to come to her to find me a situation.'

An elderly woman behind a table looked up at them as they entered. The girl spoke to her brightly.

'Good morning, Mrs. Marsh. I have brought you two young people who want a governess. I don't know whether they can pay your fees. But perhaps you can make that right with their father.'

'We want a very cheap governess,' said True, looking up anxiously into Mrs. Marsh's face. 'Dad is very poor, but he'll pay her something.'

'I think your father will have to write me some particulars,' said Mrs.

Marsh, looking at the small children with some amus.e.m.e.nt.

Oh, we'll be able to choose her,' cried Bobby. 'She must be 'ticularly kind and nice.'

'And what will she have to do?'

Bobby looked at True.

'_You_ say. She'll teach me to read, won't she?'

True tried hard to put on a grown-up air. She did not like Mrs.

Marsh's amused smile at all.

'Margot says we ought to have a governess to teach us in the morning, and we shan't do any lessons in the afternoon; and she mustn't stay to dinner, because Margot says she doesn't know how to cook for us; we seem to eat more than we ought to. And she mustn't have a cross face, and mustn't wear spectacles.'

'And she must be 'normously fond of n.o.bbles,' said Bobby, thrusting n.o.bbles' ugly little face up close to Mrs. Marsh's.

'And we're to learn French and sums--and--dancing,' said True, suddenly struck with a bright thought.

'Yes,' exclaimed Bobby, with a beaming smile, 'dancing, o' course, mostly dancing, me and n.o.bbles finks!'

The young lady in a blue serge broke into a rippling laugh.

'Oh, Mrs. Marsh, I wish I could teach them myself. Aren't they delicious!'

'Well, why shouldn't you?' said Mrs. Marsh, looking at the speaker with good-natured interest.

'But you were the one to advise me to stick to my studies,' said the girl. 'You said I could never command any salary worth having till I was thoroughly certificated.'

'Yes, I did say so, Miss Robsart; but you could give these children a couple of hours every morning and still pursue your studies.'

The girl turned to the children.

'Do you think I would do?' she said, a pink colour coming into her cheeks and making her look very pretty. 'I could come to you from ten o'clock to half-past twelve every day. We could get through a lot of lessons in that time.'

True looked up at her with rapturous eyes.

'Me and Bobby would love you!' she said. 'Oh, please come straight back with us, and tell dad you'll come.'

Two other ladies entered the office at this juncture. Mrs. Marsh dismissed the children hurriedly.

'There, run along, my dears. There'll be no fees; and you couldn't have a kinder lady than Miss Robsart to teach you; and tell your father that her father was vicar of our church near here many years ago, and she's the nicest young lady I know.'

The children hurried out with their new friend.

'There, Bobby!' True said, a little triumphantly. 'See how easy it is to find a governess!'

And Bobby took hold of Miss Robsart's hand confidingly.

'Me and n.o.bbles likes you 'ticularly,' he said.