CHAPTER SIXTEEN.
_September 23rd_.The next morning we went to a paperhanger's shop and asked to see thevery newest and most artistic designs in stock. There were lots oflovely things, but after great discussion we decided on a thick whitepaper, perfectly plain, except in each corner of the room, where therewas a sort of conventional rose tree, growing up about seven feet high,with outstanding branches laden with the most exquisite pink roses. Thewhite of the background was partly tinged with blue, with here and therea soft, irregular blue like a cloud. Looking up suddenly, you mightimagine you were in the open air in the midst of a rose garden, and thatwould be a very pleasant delusion in Onslow Square.
The salesman asked how many pieces he should send, and whether we wishedit hung at once. When I said we intended to hang it ourselves, hesaid--
"Oh, indeed, madam!" and looked unutterable things.
We were so quelled that we did not dare to ask him about the enamel andpaste as we intended, but bought those at a modest little shop furtheron, and went home rejoicing.
Mrs Forbes had laughed and shaken all over in the most jovial mannerwhen we told her of our plans, but she didn't approve of the white paperand paint, because, forsooth, it would get soiled. Of course it wouldget soiled! Things always do sooner or later. Old people are sodreadfully prudent that they get no pleasure out of life. When thispaper is shabby Lorna can get a new one, or she may be married, or dead,or half a dozen different things. It's absurd to plan years ahead. Icheered up poor Lorna, who is of a sensitive nature and easilydepressed, and when she recovered asked what she thought we ought to donext.
"The first thing to settle," she said decidedly, "is Midas! He can helpus in a dozen ways if he will, for he is really wonderfully handy for aboy of his age. He will do nothing unless we consult him formally, andmake a definite business arrangement, but it pleases him and won't hurtus, as it will be only a few coppers. He is saving up for a motor-carat the present moment, and Wallace says that by steady attention tobusiness he really believes he will get one by the time he is sixty."
We called Midas in and consulted him professionally. He is tall andlanky, and has pale blue eyes with long light eyelashes. You wouldthink to look at him that he was a gentle, unworldly creature, addictedto poetry, but he isn't! He sat astride the table and viewed thelandscape o'er.
"The first thing will be to take every stick of furniture out of theroom, and have the carpet up. I know what girls are when they do jobsof this kind. You will be up to your eyes in paste, and it won't besafe to leave anything within touching distance. The furniture must beremoved and stored. I'll store it for you in my room. Then you'll needa ladder, and some planks for the lengths of paper to lie on, while youpaste 'em. I'll hire you the old shutter from the drawing-room."
"The shutters are as much mine as yours," said Lorna. "I don't need tohire them; I can have them if I want!"
"That's where you show your ignorance, my dear. They are in mypossession, and I won't give them up without compensation. Then you'llneed a man to assist in the hanging!"
"Say a boy at once, and name your price, and be done with it. You are aregular Shylock!"
Midas grinned as if pleased with the compliment, drew a pocket-book anda stubby end of a pencil from his pocket, and began alternately strokinghis chin and jotting down words and figures. Lorna grimaced at mebehind his back, but kept a stern expression for his benefit. I supposeshe knew that if he saw her smile prices would go up. Presently he drewa line, tore the leaf out of the book and handed it across with a bow.
"My estimate, ladies! It is always more satisfactory to have anagreement beforehand."
I peeped over Lorna's shoulder and read--
Estimate For Proposed Renovations.
+==========================================+=+=+|To Removal of furniture |1|9|+------------------------------------------+-+-+|Storage of same at rate of 6 pence per day|1|6|+------------------------------------------+-+-+|Restoration of same |1|9|+------------------------------------------+-+-+|Impliments |1|0|+------------------------------------------+-+-+|Man's time |1|3|+------------------------------------------+-+-+|Sundrys | |6|+------------------------------------------+-+-+| |7|9|+==========================================+=+=+
It was quite a formidable total, but Lorna was evidently accustomed toextortionate demands, and began beating him down without delay.
"Well, of all the outrageous pieces of impudence! Seven and ninepence,indeed! You must have taken leave of your senses. If you think I amgoing to pay you four or five shillings for carrying a few odds and endsof furniture along the passage, you are mightily mistaken! And weshould have to help you, too, for you couldn't manage alone. If weasked Wallace he'd do it at once, without any pay at all."
"Drink to me only with thine eyes!" chanted the little wretch, foldinghis arms and gazing fixedly at me with a life-like assumption ofWallace's attitude and expression, which sent Lorna into fits oflaughter, and made me magenta with embarrassment. "If you like to waituntil Wallace has time to run your errands and see you through yourdifficulties, you will get your room finished by Christmas--with luck!I am sorry you think my charges high, but I'm afraid I don't see my wayto reduce 'em."
"Midas, don't be a goose! We will pay you twopence an hour for yourtime, and twopence a day for storage--that's the limit. That disposesof the first four items. As for the rest, we had better understand eachother before we go any further. Kindly distinguish between implementsand sundries."
"Is this an Oxford local, or is it a conversation between a brother andsister?" Midas demanded, throwing back his head, and mutely appealingto an unseen arbiter in the corner of the ceiling. "If you can'tunderstand a simple thing like that, it doesn't say much for youreducation. It is easily seen _you_ were never a plumber! I thought wewere going to come to a friendly agreement, but you are so close andgrasping, there is no dealing with you. Look here, will you give mehalf-a-crown for the job?"
I gasped with surprise at this sudden and sweeping reduction of terms,but Lorna said calmly--
"Done! A halfpenny discount if paid within the hour!" and they shookhands with mutual satisfaction.
"Cheap at the price!" was Lorna's comment, as the contractor left theroom, and before the next few days were over I heartily agreed with thisopinion. Midas was an ideal workman, grudging neither time nor pains toaccomplish his task in a satisfactory manner. His long arms and strongwrists made light of what would have been heavy tasks for us, and thedirtier he grew the more he enjoyed it. It must be dreadful to live ina town! Lorna assured me plaintively that the room had been thoroughlyspring-cleaned at Easter, but I should have thought it had happenednearer the Flood. I swallowed pecks of dust, and my hands grew raw withwashing before we began to paint. I thought we should never havefinished enamelling that room. The first coat made hardly anyimpression on the background, and we had to go over it again and againbefore we got anything like a good effect. To a casual observer itlooked really very nice, but we knew where to look for shortcomings, andI grew hot whenever anyone looked at a certain panel in the door.
Then we set to work on the paper. First you cut it into lengths. Itseems quite easy, but it isn't, because you waste yards making thepatterns meet, and then you haven't enough, and you go into town to buymore, and they haven't it in stock, and it has to be ordered, and yousit and champ, and can't get any further.
Then you make the paste. It smells horrid, and do what you will, coveryourself as best you can, it gets up to the eyes! We wore two oldholland skirts of Lorna's, quite short and trig, and washing shirts, andhuge print wrappers; but before we had been working for an hour ourfingers were glued together; then we yawned or sneezed and put our handsto our faces, and _they_ were stickied. Then bits
of hair--"tendrils"as they call them in books--fell down, and we fastened them up, and ourhair got as bad. We were spectacles!
A kettle was kept on the hob, and we were continually bathing our handsin hot water, for, of course, we dared not touch the outside of thepaper unless they were quite clean, and the table wanted washing beforeeach fresh strip was laid down, as the paste had always oozed off theedges of the last piece. There is one thing sure and certain: I shallnever take up paper-hanging as a profession.
The hanging itself is really rather exciting. Midas climbed to the topof the ladder and held the top of the strip in position; Lorna crouchedbeneath, and guided it in the way it should go, so as to meet the edgeof the one before, and I stood on a chair and smoothed it down and downwith a clean white cloth. Doing it with great care like this, we got nowrinkles at all, and when the first side of the room was finished, itlooked so professional that we danced--literally danced--for joy.
By the end of the afternoon it was done, and so were we! Simply sotired we could hardly stand, but mentally we were full of triumph, forthat room was a picture to behold. We ran out into the passage andbrought in everyone we could find, servants and charwoman included.Then they made remarks, and we stood and listened.
The cook said, "My, Miss Lorna, wouldn't the pattern go round?" Thecharwoman said, "I like a bit of gilding meself. It looks 'andsome."The parlourmaid said, "How will the furniture look against it, miss?"which was really the nastiest hit of all; only the little Tweeny staredand flushed, and rolled her hands in her apron, and said, "All themroses on the wall! It would be like a Bank-'oliday to sit aside 'em!"
Tweeny has the soul of a poet. I bought her some flowers the very nexttime I went out. Wallace came in and twiddled his moustache, and said--
"By Jove, is it really done! Aren't you dead beat? I say, MissSackville, don't do any more to-day. It's too bad of Lorna to work youlike this. I shall interfere in my professional capacity."
He was far too much engrossed in Una Sackville to have any eyes for thepaper.
Mrs Forbes thought, like the cook, that it was a pity that the patterndidn't go round; and the dear old doctor tip-toed up and down, jingledthe money in his pockets, and said--
"Eh, what? Eh, what? Something quite novel, eh! Didn't go in forthings of this sort in my young days. Very smart indeed, my dear, verysmart! Now I suppose you will be wanting some new fixings," (his handcame slowly out of his waistcoat pocket, and my hopes ran mountainshigh). "Mustn't spoil the ship for a penn'orth of tar, you know.There, that will help to buy a few odds and ends."
He put something into Lorna's hand; she looked at it, flushed red withdelight, and hugged him rapturously round the neck. After he had goneshe showed it to me with an air of triumph, and it was--half-a-sovereign! I expected several pounds, and had hard work not to show mydisappointment, but I suppose ten shillings means as much to Lorna asten pounds to me. Well, I am not at all sure that you don't get morefun out of planning and contriving to make a little money go a long way,than in simply going to a shop and ordering what you want. Lorna'sworldly wealth amounted, with the half-sovereign, to seventeen and six-pence, and with this lordly sum for capital we set to work to transformthe room.