The Palace Beautiful Part 26

When the two girls got out on the landing Jasmine thrust her rejected poem into Poppy's hand.

"Put it into your pocket, Poppy," she said, "and don't on any account let me see it--I must try to forget it, or my courage will go.

Evidently, Poppy, names go by contraries. I wrote some dismal papers on purpose for _The Downfall_; I will now offer them to a magazine which has a cheerful t.i.tle."

"Look there, Miss Jasmine," said Poppy, when they got into the street.

"Right there, facing us at the other side, is what I call a pleasant magazine--it has lots of pictures, for see, it's pressed up to the window wide open, and it's called _The Joy-bell_--I'm a great deal more taken with that sound than with the sound of _The Downfall_."

"So am I, too," said Jasmine, the April cloud quickly leaving her expressive face--"I'm so glad I have you with me, dear Poppy; I was feeling so low just now that I should never have noticed the office of _The Joy-bell_--it has a very nice, high-cla.s.s sound, and I should say was a more attractive magazine than even a s.h.i.+lling one. We'll go there at once, Poppy, and be sure you support me, and say 'Yes' when I look at you; and if I happen to frown in your direction, you'll know that I want you to help me not to accept too low a price. Now come, Poppy; I feel that destiny leads my steps to the office of _The Joy-bell_."

The editor of _The Joy-bell_ happened also to be disengaged, and after keeping the young aspirant for literary fame waiting for about a quarter of an hour, consented to see her and her companion.

Jasmine's interview with this editor caused her to come away in very high spirits, for he had not only promised most carefully to consider her poem, "The Flight of the Beautiful," but he had also said he was wanting a serial story to run through the pages of _The Joy-bell_, and if hers happened to suit him he would be happy to use it. Finally, she went away, leaving both her story and her poems in his hands, and with a large parcel of _Joy-bells_ under her arm.

"I will let you know my decision in a few days," said the editor, with a very suave smile. "Oh, yes, as to terms, we can talk them over when I discover if your story is likely to suit me."

Then Jasmine went away trembling with delight.

"Oh, Poppy!" she said, "how very, very happy I am."

CHAPTER x.x.xIV.

A PLAN.

Mrs. Ellsworthy had by no means forgotten the girls--they had all three taken her fancy, and, as she said to her husband, she could not get them out of her head. Arthur Noel, who was a sort of adopted son of the house, often now brought her information about her favorites, but the good little lady was impatient to see the girls herself, and felt much annoyed at not being able to induce Arthur to give her their address.

"I don't want them to succeed," she said, talking one day to the young man. "I have plenty of money, more than I really know what to do with, and I particularly want to spend some of it on these girls. If they succeed in what they are about they won't want my money, and of course that is the last thing I wish. If I cannot adopt all three, why at least can I not have Jasmine?--Jasmine is my favorite, although I love that little pet Daisy too. Arthur, you may talk to me from morning to night, but you will never persuade me but that Jasmine is the sort of girl who would s.h.i.+ne better in prosperity than in adversity."

"You cannot take her from her sisters," said Noel; "I do not believe you would get her to leave them--but if you were to try and were to succeed, you would certainly lower her character, and having done this, you could not say she would be a better girl in prosperity than in adversity."

"You are so particular, Arthur," half grumbled Mrs. Ellsworthy; "you must have forgotten your own very poor days, or you would not speak so warmly for adversity."

"I don't quite forget them," said Arthur, a cloud coming over his face, which was a particularly bright one. "I have a dim memory about them, and a very, very dim memory about a mother and an old nurse, who loved me very much. I can just recall crying night after night for my mother, and being beaten, and silenced, and half starved. Then I suppose I was ill, for I know there is a blank which I never can fill up; but I shall always remember that day when I stood in the snowy street, and cried so bitterly, and tried to ask for pennies, and how my hat blew off, and I ran to catch it, and then--"

"Oh, it was horrible!" said Mrs. Ellsworthy, covering her face with her hands. "I shudder at it even now--the coachman could not keep the horses in, and they went over you, and we thought you were killed. You were lifted into the carriage--such a ragged, thin little figure, with such a lovely face. You came to--you were not so badly hurt--it was nothing short of a miracle, for you ought to have been almost killed. My brother Arthur was with me, and when you opened your eyes you stretched out your arms to him. He just took you to his heart on the spot, and you were his son from that day forward. Well, Arthur, I don't think, prosperity has done you any harm."

"I had no choice," said Noel. "Prosperity came to me as G.o.d's gift. It so happens that I am now a rich man and I suppose even rich people can find their mission. The girls at present are poor; our cases are in no way parallel. Oh! how gladly I would help them, but believe me, I would help them to keep their independence."

Mrs. Ellsworthy frowned.

"If you are going to thwart me, Arthur, I am done," she said.

"Can you not help them without adopting them?" asked Arthur.

"Oh! my dear boy, what am I to do? I know lots of influential people, but I can't go to them and say, 'I know three charming girls; they are all as ignorant as possible; they don't know any of our manners and customs; they are not educated up to the required standard; they are fearfully independent. Will you, my dear friend, take the eldest into your family, and give her a governess's salary, although she cannot teach? and will you, my other beloved friend, speak to the editor of the magazine you most admire, and ask him to accept poems which do not scan, and stories which are the feeble productions of an ambitious child? And will you, my last friend, come to the rescue by employing a certain sweet little girl to look after your kittens?' Arthur, how can those girls be independent unless they are taught?"

"Still I believe the girls can be helped; and that it is the right and only thing to do," said Noel. "I propose to talk to Miss Egerton about them. I will ask her to go into figures with me, and to state what sum she thinks ought to be expended on their education. She probably knows something about what talents they have by this time. After she and I have talked our plans over together we will ask you whether you are inclined to advance the necessary money. If you say 'Yes,' Miss Egerton will speak to the girls, and tell them quite openly what you are doing, and appeal to their common sense not to reject their only real chance of obtaining an independence bye-and-bye. They can, if they think right, arrange to pay you back within a certain term of years. I believe you will do best for them by making such an arrangement."

Mrs. Ellsworthy both frowned and smiled, but finally agreed to allow Arthur Noel to have his own way.

That very afternoon the energetic young man went to see Miss Egerton.

They discussed the subject in an its bearings, and Miss Egerton arranged to speak to Primrose at the first opportunity.

CHAPTER x.x.xV.

THEIR QUARTER'S ALLOWANCE.

"Two letters," said Daisy, holding them up in her hand; "actually two letters; one for Primrose--oh, yes! of course that must be from Mr.

Danesfield; and one for Jasmine--oh! Jasmine's is such a funny-looking letter, quite thick and interesting, and with a darling little picture on the back. What can the picture be?--oh! some little bells, and _The Joy-bell_ written over them."

"Give it to me," said Jasmine, her face suddenly turning crimson. "Oh, Daisy! why do you examine my letters so curiously? This was meant to be quite private. Oh, oh, oh! how my fingers tremble."

"We are all alone, you know, Jasmine," said Daisy; "dear Primrose is not in. She went to her continual reading nearly an hour ago. Dear Primrose! she sometimes looks quite pale and tired. Perhaps the letter is about our secret, Jasmine; please do read it to me--please do."

But by this time Jasmine had torn the envelope open, and was oblivious to all Daisy's comments. Her eager eyes devoured the contents of an official-looking sheet of paper, then she danced up and down the room, then she tossed the paper up to the ceiling, and finally caught Daisy in her arms, and covered her little face with kisses.

"Oh, Daisy, it's too good!--I'm so happy, I could almost cry. Daisy, darling, he wants to see me about my story--he thinks it's very fine--he says there are masterly bits in it--I'm to go and see him as soon as possible."

"Him?" repeated Daisy; "but who is he, Jasmine?"

"He's the editor of one of the most powerful of all our magazines,"

said Jasmine; "the magazine is called _The Joy-bell_--hasn't it a delicious t.i.tle? Oh, Daisy! I must go at once to see him."

"Take me with you," said Daisy, coming up close to her sister--"take me with you, darling, dear Jasmine. I'm much better, I've nearly lost my cough, and the spring is coming; the air feels quite warm to-day--do take me, Jasmine, for it is our own secret, and then, after you've got your money--for I suppose you'll get a lot of money--we can both tell Primrose to-night."

Jasmine hesitated, but the sun was s.h.i.+ning warmly, and Daisy's little face was very pleading--Jasmine felt so happy at this moment that she greatly longed to give happiness.

"Yes," she said, suddenly, "I don't suppose Primrose will really mind, and you must wrap up well; only there's just one thing, Daisy, we'll have to call for Poppy. I would not on any account go to the publisher's without Poppy."

As Jasmine and Daisy were hurrying quickly down the street to catch the first omnibus which went in the direction of the Edgware Road, Daisy suddenly clutched her sister's hand, the color left her pretty face, and she began to hurry forward at a very rapid pace.

"What is the matter, Daisy?" said Jasmine: "you have quite hurt my hand; has anything frightened you? have you seen any one?"

"Oh, it's nothing--I mean I'm subject to starts," said poor little Daisy, in a sad voice. "I'll be better when I get into the omnibus with you, Jasmine; and please, Jasmine, may I sit very close to you?

and may I hold your hand?"

"You poor little darling!" said Jasmine, affectionately, "you are not a bit strong yet--you must have some more chemical food; I am told there is nothing so good for starts as chemical food."

Daisy gave another start and a very gentle sigh. She knew well in her little breast that no amount of chemical food would take away the terror which inspired her when she saw the face of Mr. Dove. She had seen him just now, although Jasmine had not--he was standing with several other men at the corner of the road, and his blood-shot eyes had seemed to look through her, and as she pa.s.sed by he had raised his hand, and shaken it at her in a truly menacing manner.

Dove had not forgotten Daisy, as Daisy had fondly hoped. Daisy Mainwaring meant to him a certain amount of money. Dove was not the sort of man to allow the chance of gaining money dishonestly to go by.

As to earning money, and coming by it as the sweet fruits of honest toil, that did not at all suit his idea. When he saw the child going out with her sister he recollected, with much pleasure, that quarter-day was about due. Feeling in his own pockets, he confessed they were unpleasantly light and empty, and then he wondered if he might find any agreeable little pickings in the girls' trunks. He had subjugated poor little Daisy so completely that he would have ventured to rob even in her presence, but of course he preferred doing his burglary work alone.