A Fluttered Dovecote Part 17

"For your sake, Achille?" I murmured to myself; and that made me bear it until I had picked up all I could, and held the sc.r.a.ps upon a piece of exercise paper, wondering what I had better do with them.

"You had better wipe the b.u.t.ter off that window with your handkerchief, Miss Bozerne," said Miss Furness, stiffly. "Oh! and it's of no use for you to make up those indignant grimaces, and look like that, Miss Bozerne," she continued, in her nasty, vinegary way. "If young ladies are so forgetful of decorum, and cannot be content with a fair share of food at the tea table, but must gluttonously stoop to steal pieces off the plate to devour at abnormal times, they must expect to be spoken to."

Just as if I had taken the horrid stuff to eat, when so great was my agitation that I could partake of nothing. So there I was, with my face and neck burning in a most "abnormal" way, as Miss Furness would have called it, wiping and smearing the b.u.t.ter about over the pane of gla.s.s, and hardly seeing what I was doing for the tears; when there was that Patty Smith staring at me with her great saucer eyes, and her mouth made round and open, as if it had been another eye, and Clara the whole time enjoying it all, and laughing at my discomfort. It was really much too bad, for it was all her fault: the wicked, mischievous, impish creature had seen me put the pieces of bread and b.u.t.ter into my pocket, and had actually set Patty to s.n.a.t.c.h the handkerchief out.

"The plan succeeded beyond my expectations, darling," she exclaimed afterwards, when we were alone; and I did not slap her--which, without boasting, must, I think, show how forgiving a spirit I possess.

But, to return to the scene in the room. When I had finished smearing the window with my pretty little cambric handkerchief, I threw open the sash, and was going to fling out the little pieces of bread-crumbs for the poor little birds--

"Miss Bozerne!" exclaimed Miss Furness, "what are you about?"

"Going to give the crumbs to the birds, ma'am," I said, humbly.

"Oh, dear me, no," exclaimed the old puss, seizing upon what she considered a good opportunity for making an example of me, and giving a lesson to the other girls--for that seemed one of the aims of her life: to make lessons out of everything she said or did, till she was a perfect nuisance. "Oh, dear me, no--such waste cannot be allowed. Go and put the fragments upon one of the plates, which James or the cook will give you, and ask her to save them for your breakfast."

I could have cried with vexation; but I did not, though it was very, very, very hard work to keep the tears back.

"Oh, Achille! Achille!" I murmured again, "c'est pour toi!"

I walked out, like a martyr, bearing the pieces, with bent-down eyes, and gave them to the cook, telling her she was to throw them to the chickens. For I would not have given Miss Furness's message if she had stood behind me.

Oh, yes, it was nice fun for the other girls, and dearly they used to enjoy seeing me humbled, because I always was rather distant, and would not make confidantes of ever so many; and when I went back, there they were upon the giggle, and Miss Furness not trying to check them one bit, as she would have done upon another occasion--which shows how partial and unjust she could be when she liked. But I soon forgot it all, engrossed as I was with the idea of what was coming that night. As to my next day's lessons, after sitting before them for an hour, I believe that I knew less about them than when I took out my books; for right up at the top of one of the panes in the b.u.t.tery window there was a spider spinning its net, and that set me thinking about poor Achille hanging in a web, and the four old lesson grinders being spiders to devour him.

For there was the nasty creepy thing hanging by one of its strings ever so far down, and that made me think about the coming night and the rope ladder, till I could, in my overwrought fancy, imagine I saw poor Achille bobbing and swinging about, and ready to go through one of the window-panes every moment. Sometimes the very thought of it made my face burn, and my hands turn hot and damp as could be inside, just as they felt when one had shaken hands with Miss Furness, whose palm, in feel, was for all the world like the tail of a cod-fish.

Sometimes during that evening I felt in misery, and, I believe, all owing to that spider, and thinking of the danger of the feat to perform which I had lured poor Achille. I would have given anything to have been able to beg of him not to attempt it.

"Poor fly," I thought--"poor, beautiful, fluttering, brightly painted fly; and have I been the means of weaving a net to lure thee to destruction? Oh, wretch that I am!"

And so I went on for some time, just as people do in books when they are very bad in their emotions; and that is one advantage in reading, only emotions are so much more eloquent than they would be, say, in an ignorant, unlettered person; and really, be it pleasure or pain, it is as well to be refined and make a grand display; for it is so much more satisfactory, even if the audience consists of self alone. At times, though, I was so elated that I could feel my eyes flash and sparkle with the thoughts that rushed through my brain; when, as if reading my heart, Clara would creep close, and nip my arm, and keep on whispering--

"I'll tell--I'll tell."

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN.

MEMORY THE SEVENTEENTH--IN DREADFUL DARING.

Bed-time at last, and me there, close shut up in our own room; but not before I had run to the end of the pa.s.sage and tried the end door to see if it was open; and it was--it was! Clara was, after all said and done, nearly as much excited as poor I; and once she sighed, and said that she could almost have wished for the poor Signor to have been there, but I did not tell her I was very glad that he would not be. Then Miss Patty must want to know what we were whispering about, and declare that she would tell Miss Furness, for we were making fun of her; and turn huffy and cross, till she got into bed, and then lie staring with wide-open eyes at the window, just because we wanted her to go to sleep.

"Ma's going to send me a cake on Toosday," she said at last, after I had kissed and told her we were not laughing at her; and I must do her the credit of saying that she always was a most good-tempered creature, and never out of humour for long together. "And when my cake comes," she continued, after five minutes' thought, "I'll spend fourpence in ginger beer, if you will each spend the same, and we'll have a supper."

"I do wish you would go to sleep, instead of keeping on bothering,"

cried Clara.

"I dare say you do, Miss Consequence," said Patty; "but I shall go to sleep when I like."

And then, if she did not lie awake until nearly twelve, though we pretended to be both fast asleep, and would not answer any of her foolish, chattering questions, when, as usual, she began to snore; and after waiting until I felt quite sure that she was asleep, I jumped out of bed, and began to dress myself as quickly and quietly as possible.

As soon as I had finished and then lain down once more, Clara got up too, and followed my example, even to the lying down again when she had finished; for it was too soon to go yet, and we both felt that it would be safer the nearer we were to the middle of the night; and of course one felt determined to do nothing this time to frustrate one's designs.

We had tried more than once dressing in bed under the clothes, and, of course, lying down; but that really is such terribly hard work, as any one will find upon testing it, that we both soon gave it up, and waited till we felt sure of Patty being sound asleep; and she really was the heaviest sleeper I ever knew. So we both dressed in the dark; and that is bad enough, I can a.s.sure you--dreadfully awkward, for one gets one's strings so crossed, and tied wrong, and in knots, and muddled about, till one is horribly uncomfortable, besides being twice as long as at any other time.

At last, I whispered to Clara that it was time to go, but there was no answer; and on getting off the bed and touching her, she quite started.

For she had been asleep, and when I reproached her--

"Well, of course," she said, peevishly; "it's sleeping time, is it not?"

But she roused up directly after, and stood by my side, as I went down upon my knees by the bottom drawer, and tried to pull it out very gently, without making any noise, so as to get at the cord. For the key was in it all right when I came up, and I thought that I would leave it there, though I was all in a fidget for fear any one had been in and looked and seen the cord, while Patty was so curious that I dare not look to see; though if any one had taken it away, what should I have done?

"Cree-ea-ea-ea-eak," went the drawer as soon as I pulled it, after the lock had shot back with a loud noise like a small pistol; and at this dreadful sound I stopped and turned cold all down my back; for I felt sure that the Fraulein would hear it. So there I knelt upon the floor, trembling like a leaf, and not daring to move; for Clara cried "Hus.h.!.+"

very loudly, and I'm sure I did not know what would come next. In fact, I almost expected to see the bedroom door open, and the Fraulein standing there.

"You should have put some soap upon it," whispered Clara.

"Yes, same as you did upon the basin," I said, viciously, and that silenced her; though I believe the mischievous thing was chuckling to herself all the while.

At last, after five minutes had pa.s.sed, which seemed like as many hours, everything was quite still, so I gave the drawer another pull.

"Craw-aw-aw-aw-awk," it went, louder than before, and as if on purpose to annoy me; but I was so desperate that I gave the thing a horrible s.n.a.t.c.h, and pulled it out far enough, when I pushed in my hand and drew out the cord, hardly expecting to find it; but there it was, all right, and holding it tightly, I still knelt there trembling.

"Er-tchisher--er-tchisher," came now, as loudly as possible, from Patty Smith's bed; and then we heard the tiresome thing turn on one side.

We waited a little, and then I rose, and stood close to the door, waiting for Clara to join me; when if the stupid thing did not forget all about my open drawer, which I dare not attempt to close, and went blundering over it, making such a dreadful noise, that I rushed into bed and covered myself up; and, from the scuffling noise, I knew that she had done the same, for it was too dark to see.

"Oh, my s.h.i.+ns!" said Clara, in a whisper.

Then I could hear her rubbing and laughing, not that I could see anything to laugh at; while if the Fraulein did not tap at the wall because we were so noisy, and with disappointment gnawing me, I knew that we must not stir for at least another half-hour, when it was quite late enough as it was.

"Oh, what a comfort it is that Patty is such a sleeper!" I thought to myself. And there I lay--wait, wait, wait, until I felt that we dared move, when I again cautiously slipped to the door, and, as I had taken the precaution of rubbing it well with pomatum, the lock went easy.

Clara joined me, and then, drawing the door after us, we glided along the pa.s.sage, hand in hand, listening at every step until we reached the end, where the empty room door was ajar, just as I had left it when we came up to bed. Then we slipped in so quietly that we hardly heard ourselves, and, pus.h.i.+ng-to the door, I tried to secure it, but it would not fasten without making a noise; so, as we were right away from the other rooms, I left it, and went across and tried the window.

The hasp went rather hard, but I soon had it gliding up; and then I stood looking out into the dark night, and listening, till I heard a little soft cough from below, which I answered; when my heart began to beat very fast, for I knew that, after all, we were not too late, and he was there.

But there was no time to lose, and, as fast as I could, I undid the nasty tangley cord, which would keep getting itself in knots, and rustling about upon the floor, like a great, long, coiling snake. But I managed at last to have it hanging down, and began fis.h.i.+ng about, like I used at Teddington, with papa, till I got a bite; for, after a bit, I felt it softly tugged at--just like the eels under the fis.h.i.+ng punt-- then it went jig, jig, two or three times, as it was shaken about, and then there was a long jerk, and a soft cough, as if for a signal; and I began to pull up something which grew heavier every moment.

It seemed very long, and I could have fancied that I had pulled all the cord in twice over; but more still kept coming, and I must have had it all close to the window, when Clara suddenly cried "Oh!" when, of course, I started and let go, and down it all went with a rush in amongst the carnations at the bottom.

"Oh, his poor head?" I thought, as I turned sharply round; when, what a task I did have to keep from shrieking!--for there, dimly seen in the open doorway, stood a figure in white, staring at us in the most dreadful way imaginable. There was something so still, and tall, and ghastly about the figure, seen there in the gloom, that I could not stir, neither could poor Clara, as we held tightly by one another while the thing glided softly into the room, closed the door, and stood there staring.

If I could only have sunk through the floor, I would not have cared.

One moment I thought of rus.h.i.+ng into one of the empty beds in the room; but I restrained myself, because there were no clothes upon them in which to bury oneself. The next moment I was for jumping out of the window to Achille; but it was too far; and we neither of us dared to go into hysterics and scream for help. So that we stood, frightened to death, till Clara sank down at my feet and buried her face in my lap, while I stood staring at the figure, which now came closer and closer as I walked away, Clara shuffling upon her knees to keep up to me.

For a moment I thought that it might have been a teacher _en deshabille_; but the horrible silence soon showed that it was not. And at last, when I felt that I could bear no more, but must scream, having been walked right up to the wall by the hideous thing, it spoke, and the words seemed to act upon us both like magic, sending the blood coursing through our veins, making our hearts throb, and a warm glow to return where a moment before all was frozen and chilling; for just as I was sinking--feeling myself gliding slowly down upon kneeling Clara--I started up, for it said, in a loud, thrilling whisper--

"What are you two a-doing of?"

Then it sneezed.

Of course it was Patty Smith, who had pretended to be asleep, and watched all the time, following us along the pa.s.sage, and thoroughly upsetting all one's plans again. She could see plainly enough that we had the window open, and knew pretty well what was taking place; so we had to make a virtue of necessity, and tell her, in as few words as possible, all about it. Not that I think she would have told tales, even if we had not enlightened her; but we knew she would watch us, and find out for herself; so upon the principle of its being better to make a friend than an enemy, she was told all.