Part 21 (1/2)

She s.h.i.+fted the two delicacies dearest to her heart on to one dish, and handed it up to Jean, who stood poised uncertainly on the edge of the water-b.u.t.t.

'The jelly and the cranberry pie look rather nice,' said Angela, her own mouth watering for them, as she pa.s.sed them out to Jean.

'Can't you find something substantial?' urged Jean, when she had deposited the second load on the ground beside the water-b.u.t.t.

The two children in the larder looked round at the well-stocked shelves.

There was cold beef, to be sure, and a large tureen of mutton broth; but these did not strike them as being at all the sort of present that any one would like to have.

'Apple dumplings,' settled Angela, swiftly, as her eye fell on a large dish full of them; and they handed the apple dumplings after the other things, and then followed them by way of the water-b.u.t.t to the impatient Jean, who had already loaded herself with the jelly and the cranberry pie.

'Come along!' said Jean. 'If we're not quick, we shall be late for tea.

Besides, we must get back to see Finny, and explain to her what we've done. She might be cross if she found it out for herself.'

'Are you sure she won't be cross anyhow?' asked Barbara, as she staggered along in her wake, carrying the dish that contained the plum-pudding and the jam tart.

'Not if we explain exactly why we did it,' said Angela, gasping for breath just behind her companions. She found the apple dumplings decidedly weighty.

'n.o.body,' said Jean, emphatically, 'could mind anything we chose to do in a cause like this. Besides, there wasn't time to ask leave first, was there? When people haven't had anything to eat for weeks, you can't keep them waiting for food while you ask _leave_, can you?'

The shortest cut to the nine-acre field was across the lawn at the side of the house, and then through the little gate in the shrubbery. It was much less secluded than the longer way by which they had come, but detection had to be risked, now that the time was so short. And even if they were caught, as Jean pointed out in a whisper, it would be worth while to suffer in such a n.o.ble cause; and as for the Hearnes, Finny would be sure to send them on the things as soon as she heard how many weeks they had been without food.

'But how can we suffer, if Finny isn't going to be cross about it?'

argued Barbara, becoming heated in the effort to keep the plum-pudding from rolling into the jam tart and sticking to it. 'You said----'

Her sentence was never finished, for just as they left the shadow of the house and were going to strike across the lawn, they heard the click of the little gate opposite, and two figures emerged suddenly from the shrubbery. There was still light enough to disclose that they were the Canon and Barbara's disenchanted beast, the Doctor.

Even then, the triumvirate might have escaped detection by slipping round to the back of the house again before they were seen; and Jean had the presence of mind to sound a retreat in an agonised whisper, and turned sharply round herself. But Barbara's effort to follow her example was too much for the uncertain balance of the plum-pudding. It chose that very moment to tumble into the jam tart, and the two slid together from the dish and rolled to the feet of the astonished Canon.

'Upon my word,' exclaimed the old gentleman, starting violently, 'Elizabeth's establishment is full of surprises!'

The triumvirate kept very close together at the edge of the gra.s.s lawn, and waited for the two gentlemen to approach. Very little of their enthusiasm remained to keep up their spirits, for the erratic behaviour of the plum-pudding made even the pursuit of good works seem foolish and unnecessary.

'What are you children doing here?' asked the Canon, and his voice distinctly took a note of disapproval. He did not know very much about girls, though his niece a.s.sured him they were not unlike little boys; but he was quite sure that it was not the right thing for plum-puddings to be rolling across the lawn at that time of day, and disapproval seemed to be demanded by the circ.u.mstance.

The effect on the three children of his mild attempt at severity was immediate. Babs was struck dumb by it; anything so dreadful as the anger of a Canon had never occurred to her as a possible result of feeding the poor, and she had to think it all over before she could say anything.

Angela put down the apple dumplings, the weight of which had become intolerable, and began to cry softly. Jean pulled herself together with a frantic effort, and clutched the dish she was holding so fiercely that the jelly on the summit of the cranberry pie s.h.i.+vered and shook.

'It was my fault,' she blurted out, looking steadfastly over the edge of the dish at the well-blacked boots of the Canon. 'I made them go out of bounds, and visit the poor, and--and climb into the larder window to fetch things for the woman who looked so hungry. They wouldn't have gone, if it hadn't been for me. I made them--it was my fault.'

'No, it wasn't; it was all our faults,' wept Angela, in a confused mumble.

Babs stepped forward and tried hard not to break down and cry too. 'Please don't rag Jean for it,' she begged. 'The boy was crying, and we all thought it was the opportunity come at last----'

'What opportunity?' asked the Canon, looking extremely puzzled.

'To--to do what you said in your sermon,--good works, and feeding the poor, and all that,' faltered Barbara. Somehow, when she expressed it that way, it seemed like putting the blame on the Canon, and she was sure it could not be right for a little girl to blame a Canon. Added to this, she was possessed with the dread that they had only made themselves look ridiculous after all; and she expected that they would all three be very heartily laughed at, as soon as the old gentleman began to understand their story. She was determined in her own mind that if the Doctor should join in the laugh against them, a certain fairy prince should be turned once more into a beast and banished for ever from her kingdom. She was bound to admit, however, that the Doctor, so far, had not shown the least interest in them or their story.

'But--but I quite fail to understand,' said the Canon, rather testily.