CHAPTER V
"WHAT A LOT OF MONEY!"
Bert and Nan sat up very straight on the chairs in Miss Pompret's diningroom, and looked first at her and then at the china closet with itsshiny, glass doors. Miss Pompret sat up very straight, too, in herchair, and she, also, looked first from Nan and Bert to the wonderfulchina, which seemed made partly of egg shells, so fine it was andpretty.
Miss Pompret's dining room was one in which it seemed every one had tosit up straight, and in which every chair had to be in just the rightplace, where the table legs must keep very straight, too, and where noteven a corner of a rug dared to be turned up. In fact it was a verystraight, old-fashioned but very beautiful dining room, and Miss Pompretherself was an old-fashioned but beautiful lady.
"Now if you will sit very still, and not move, I'll bring out somepieces of my china set and show them to you," said Miss Pompret. "Youwere so kind as to take the letter to the post-office for me when Icould not go myself, that I feel I ought to reward you to some way."
"The chocolate cake was enough," said Nan.
"Yes, it was awful good!" sighed Bert.
"Mother told you not to say 'awful,'" interposed Ben's sister.
"Oh, well, I mean it was terribly nice!" exclaimed the boy.
"I'm glad you liked it," went on Miss Pompret with a smile. "But I mustnot keep you too long, or your mother will be wondering what has becomeof you. But I thought you, Nan, would be interested in seeing beautifulchina. You'll have a home of your own, some day, and nothing is nicer ina nice home than beautiful dishes."
"I know that!" cried Nan. "My mamma has some very beautiful dishes, andonce in a great while she lets me look them over. Sometimes, too, wehave them on the table--when it's some special occasion like a birthdayor visitors."
"I don't much like to see the real nice dishes on a table," remarkedBert. "I'm always afraid that I'll break one of them, and then I know mymother would feel pretty bad over it."
"You must be careful, my boy. You can't handle nice china as you canyour baseball or your football," said Miss Pompret, with a smile.
"Well, I guess they couldn't treat dishes like baseballs and footballs!"cried Nan. "Just think of throwing a sugar bowl up into the air orhitting it with a bat, or kicking a teapot all around the lots!"
"That certainly wouldn't be very nice," said Miss Pompret.
She went over to the closet, unlocked the glass doors, and set some ofthe rare pieces out on the lace cover of the dining room table. Bert andNan saw that Miss Pompret handled each piece as though it might becrushed, even in her delicate hands, which were almost as white and thinas a piece of china.
"This is the wonderful Pompret tableware," went on the old lady. "It hasbeen in my family over a hundred years. My great-grandfather had it, andnow it has come to me. I have had it a number of years, and I think moreof it than anything else I have. Of course, if I had any little childrenI would care for them more than for these dishes," went on Miss Pompret."But I'm a lonely old lady, and you neighborhood children are the onlyones I have," and she smiled rather wistfully at Nan and Bert.
Carefully dish after dish was taken from the closet and set out for theBobbsey twins to look at. They did not venture to so much as touch one.The china seemed too easily broken for that.
"I should think you'd have to be very careful when you washed thosedishes," remarked Nan, as she saw how light glowed through the side ofone of the thin cups.
"Oh, I am," answered Miss Pompret. "No one ever washes this set but me.My maid is very careful, but I would not allow her to touch a singlepiece. I don't use it very often. Only when some old and dear friendscome to see me is the Pompret china used. And then I am sorry to say, Ican not use the whole set."
"Why not?" asked Bert. "Are you afraid they'll break it?"
"Oh no," and Miss Pompret smiled. "I'm not afraid of that. But you see Ihaven't the whole set, so I can't show it all. One of the sorrows of mylife is that part of my beautiful set of china is missing."
"There's a lot of it, though," added Bert, as he saw a number of shelvescovered with the rare plates, cups and saucers.
"Yes, but the sugar bowl and cream pitcher are missing," went on MissPompret, with a shake of her white head. "They were beautiful. But,alas! they are missing." And she sighed deeply.
"Where are they?" asked Nan.
"Ah, that's the mystery I am going to tell you about," said MissPompret. "It isn't a very big story, and I won't keep you long. It isn'toften I get a chance to tell it, so you must forgive an old lady forkeeping you from your play," and again she smiled, in rather a sadfashion, at Nan and Bert.
"Oh, we like it here!" exclaimed Nan quickly.
"It's lots of fun!" added Bert. "I like to hear about a mystery."
"Well," began Miss Pompret, "as I told you, this set of china has beenin our family over a hundred years. It was made in England, and eachpiece has the mark of the man who made it. See, this is what I mean."
She turned over one of the cups and showed the Bobbsey twins where, onthe bottom, there was the stamp, in blue, of some animal in a circle ofgold.
"That is the mark of the Waredon factory, where this china was made,"went on Miss Pompret. "Only china made by Mr. Waredon can have this markon it."
"It looks like our dog Snap," said Bert.
"Oh, no!" laughed Miss Pompret. "That is supposed to be the Britishlion. Mr. Waredon took that as a trade-mark, and at the top of thegolden circle, with the blue lion inside, you can see the letter 'J'while at the bottom is the letter 'W.' They stand for the name JonathanWaredon, in whose English factory the china was made. Each piece hasthis mark on it, and no other make of china in the world can berightfully marked like that.
"Well, now about the mystery. Some years ago, before you children wereborn, I lived in another city. I had the china set there with me, andthen it was complete. I had the cream pitcher and the sugar bowl. Oneday a ragged man came to the house. He was very ragged and poor. Isuppose you would call him a tramp.
"The cook I then had felt sorry for him, and let him come into thekitchen to have something to eat. As it happened, part of my rare chinaset was on a table in the same room. I was getting ready to wash itmyself, as I would let no one else touch it.
"Well, when I came out to wash my beautiful dishes the sugar bowl andcream pitcher of the set were gone. They had been on the table when thetramp was eating the lunch the cook gave him, but now they could not befound. The cook and I looked all over for them--we searched the house,in fact, but never found them."
"Who took them?" asked Bert, eagerly.
"Well, my dear boy, I have never found out. The cook always said thetramp put the sugar bowl and cream pitcher in his pocket when her backwas turned to get him a cup of coffee. At any rate, when he was gone thetwo pieces were gone also, and while I do not want to think badly of anyone, I have come to believe that the tramp took my rare dishes."
"Didn't you ever see him again?" asked Nan.
"No, my dear, never, as far as I know."
"And did you never find the dishes?" Bert wanted to know.
"Never. I advertised for them. I inquired if any boys in theneighborhood might have slipped in and taken them for a joke, but Inever found them. To this day," went on Miss Pompret, "I have neveragain set eyes on my cream pitcher and sugar bowl. They disappeared ascompletely and suddenly as though they had fallen down a hole in theearth. The tramp may have taken them; but what would he do with just twopieces? They were too frail for him to use. A man like that would wantheavy dishes. Perhaps he knew how valuable they were and perhaps heintended asking a reward for bringing them back. But I never heard fromhim.
"So that is why my rare set of Pompret china is not complete. The twopieces are missing and I would give a hundred dollars this minute if Icould get them back!"
"A--a hundred dollars!" exclaimed Bert.
"Yes, my boy. If some one would get me that sugar bowl and pitcher, withthe mark of the lion in a golden circle, and the initi
als 'J' at the topand 'W' at the bottom, I would willingly pay one hundred dollars," saidMiss Pompret.
"A--a whole hundred dollars!" gasped Bert. "What a lot of money!"