gave me the same."
"And me the same," said Charley.
"You'll have to pay us back your share of the grub to-morrow," saidAlex; "but we bought it beforehand."
"Well, we can't cook without cooking things," I said.
"Sakes!" replied Alex; "do you suppose that while you were wanderingabout London by yourself--highly improper for any young lady, I callit--that we were idle? Charley and Von Marlo and I went down into thekitchen and purloined a frying-pan, a saucepan, a kettle, cups andsaucers, glasses, knives and forks galore, and plates. Table-clothsdon't matter. Now then, to see the array of eatables."
Alex produced out of his bag first of all, in a dirty piece of paper, askinned rabbit, next a pound of sausages, next a parcel of onions.
"These will make a jolly good fry," said Alex, smacking his lips as hespoke.
From Charley's pockets came a great piece of butter, while Von Marlo ridhimself of a huge incubus in the shape of a loaf of very fresh bread.
"There are lots of things beside," said Charley: "potatoes--we're goingto fry them after the rabbit and sausages--and fruit and cakes. Wethought if we had a good, big, monstrous fry, and then satisfied therest of our appetites with cake and fruit, as much as ever we can eat,that we'd do."
"What about tea or coffee?" I said.
"Bother tea or coffee!" said Alex. "We'll have ginger-beer. We broughtin a whole dozen bottles. It was that that nearly killed us. If ithadn't been for Von Marlo we'd never have done it. Now then, Dumps,who'll cut up the rabbit, and who'll put it into the pan with thesausages? They ought to be done in a jiffy. We'll cut up the onionsand strew them over the rabbit and sausages. I want our fry to be realtasty."
I became quite interested. What girl would not? To have the whole ofthe great house to ourselves, to have three lively, hungry boys gloatinggreedily over the food, and to think that I alone knew how to cook it!
But, alas and alack! my pride was soon doomed to be humiliated; for VonMarlo, who had poached the egg so beautifully, now came forward and toldme that I was not cutting up the rabbit with any sense of its anatomicalproportions. He took a sharp clasp-knife out of his pocket, and in aminute or two the deed was done. He then objected to my mode ofpreparing the sausages, declaring that they ought to be pricked and theskins slightly opened. In the end he said it would be much better forhim to prepare the fry, and I left it to him.
"Yes, yes," I said; "and I'll put on the table-cloth. Oh, but thereisn't a table-cloth!"
"Who wants a table-cloth?" said Alex. "Let's have newspapers. Here's apile."
We then proceeded to spread them on the centre table, and placed theknives and forks and glasses upon them. The sausages popped andfrizzled, the rabbit shrank into tiny proportions, the onions filled theair with their odorous scent, and by-and-by the fry was considered done.When we had each been helped to a goodly portion, Von Marlo began tofry the potatoes, and these turned out to be more delicious than therabbit and sausages. What a meal it was! How we laughed and joked andmade merry!
"Three cheers for father's absence!" shouted Alex, holding his glasshigh, as he prepared to pour the foaming contents down his throat.
There came a knocking--a violent and furious knocking--in a part of thehouse which was not the front door.
"It's Hannah! Hannah!" I cried. "She wants to come out. Oh Alex, wemust let her out!"
"Nothing of the sort," exclaimed Charley. "Let her knock until she'stired of knocking."
The door was shaken violently. We heard a woman's voice calling andcalling.
"Charley, I must go," I said. "I cannot eat anything. Poor old Hannah!Oh, do let me open the door!"
"When the feast is over we'll cook a little supper for her, and bringher in and set her down in front of the fire, and make her eat it," saidVon Marlo. "Now, that will do, won't it? Sit down and eat your nice,hot supper," he continued, looking attentively at me with his honestbrown eyes.
I coloured and looked at him. It was so pleasant to have eyes glancingat you that did not disapprove of you all the time.
Von Marlo drew a chair close to the table for me, and placed anothernear it for himself, and we ate heartily--yes, heartily--to theaccompaniment of Hannah's knocks and shrieks and screams to us to lether out of her prison.
By-and-by the meal came to an end, and then it was Von Marlo himself whowent to the door. We three, we Grants, were sufficiently cowardly toremain in the parlour. By-and-by Von Marlo reappeared, leading Hannah.Hannah had been reduced to tears. He had her hand on his arm, and wasconducting her into the parlour with all the grace with which he wouldconduct a duchess or any other person of title.
"Here's your supper," he said. "Sit here; you must be very cold. Sitnear the fire and eat, eat."
She sat down, but she did not eat.
"Come, come," he said, and he placed an appetising plate of food closeto her. She went on sobbing, but her sobs were not quite so frequent.
"It smells good, doesn't it?" said Von Marlo; and now he put a tenderpiece of rabbit on the end of a fork and held it within an inch of hermouth.
"You will be much better after you have eaten," he said in a coaxingtone.
He had managed to place himself in such a position that when she didstop crying she could only see him; and after a time the smell of thedelicious stew, and something about the comfort of her present positionclose to the fire, caused her to open her eyes, and then she opened hermouth, and in was popped the piece of tender rabbit. She ate it, andthen Von Marlo fed her by popping piece after piece into her mouth; andhe gave her ginger-beer to drink; and when the supper was quite endedand the platter clean, he stepped back and said, "You must forgive theGrants; it was rather mischievous of them. But it was not Miss Rachel;it was Alex and Charley, and in especial it was Von Marlo's fault. Nowyou will forgive Von Marlo?"
He dropped on one knee, and put on the most comical face I had everseen; then he looked up at her, wiping one of his eyes, and winking andblinking with the other. Hannah absolutely laughed.
"Oh, you children, you children!" she exclaimed.
It was a most wonderful victory. We knew now she would not scold, andit had a marvellous effect upon us. I rushed to her and flung my armsround her neck and kissed and hugged her. Alex said, "Good old Hannah!"and Charley crouched down by her side and said, "Rub my hair the wrongway; you know how I like it, Hannah."
Then Von Marlo said, "I'm not going to be out of it," and he plantedhimself with his broad back firmly against her knees; and thus we allsat, with Hannah in the centre, making a sort of queen in the midst.She had ceased to weep, and was smiling.
"Dear, dear!" she said; "but I never was too hard on realmischievousness; it's naughtiness as angers me. Oh, my sakes! Charley,my lamb, I remember you when you were nothing more than a baby."
"But I was your pet, Hannah," I said. "Tell me that I was your pet."
"But you were nothing of the sort," said Hannah. "I will own that I wasalways took with looks. Now, Alex has looks."
"And I. I have looks too," said Charley. "I was gazing at my face inthe glass this morning, and I saw that I had beautiful, dark,greyey-blue eyes."
"It's very wrong to encourage vanity," said Hannah. "Well, Dumps willalways be spared that temptation. But sakes! I must take away thethings. What a mess you have made of the place! And whoever in thename of fortune fried up that rabbit? It was the most appetising morselI ever ate in the whole course of my life."
"I shall have much pleasure in writing out the recipe and giving it toyou," said Von Marlo, dropping again on one knee, and now placing hishand across his heart. "Fairest of women, beloved Hannah, queen of myheart, I shall write out that recipe and give it to you."
"Oh my!" said Hannah, "you are worse than the Dutch dolls; but you domake me laugh like anything."
PART ONE, CHAPTER ELEVEN.
MOTHER'S MINIATURE.
The supper was at an end. I was in my room.
Now was the time to look
at mother's picture. The hunger in my heartwas now to be satisfied. For many long years I had wanted to be thepossessor of that portrait, which I knew existed, but which I had neverseen. How easily I had got possession of it in the end! It was queer,for we had all been afraid to speak of mother to father. He had saidonce that he could not stand it, and after that we never mentioned hername. But she was my mother. I had envied girls who had mothers, andyet some girls did not appreciate them. There was Augusta, forinstance; how rude and insufferable she was to her mother! She calledher commonplace. Now, I