Greenall'sscrupulously neat and clean, but very tiny, rooms. Spenser Terrace hadseemed small in comparison with their old home, but here it looked as ifthe whole house could have been fitted into their former nursery!
"There is one advantage in very close quarters," said Aunt Margaret, asshe busied herself in unpacking and arranging their belongings. "You_have_ to be neat. It is rather like being on board ship."
Leila sighed and Chrissie wriggled, but neither grumbled. How indeedcould they have done so? For besides the miserable consciousness whichthey were doing their best to stifle, was there not the "object lesson"of their aunt's utter self-forgetfulness and devotion--old woman as shealmost was--cheerfully accommodating herself to what, with the habits ofher life, _could_ not but be very trying, to say the least?
"What _would_ she think of us--worst, of course, of _me_--if she_knew_," thought Christabel, little suspecting that Aunt Margaret'sstill keen eyes were at that very moment noting the expression on herface.
"She is very unhappy," said Miss Fortescue to herself, "and so is Leila.Poor children! They have more feeling than sometimes has seemed thecase. And if--if their consciences are not at rest, this trouble,whatever it is that they are remorseful about--this trouble _may_ be aturning-point for them."
A day or two passed, quietly enough. Miss Greenall attended to thelittle girls' lessons as usual, in the afternoon their aunt went outwith them, and in the evening they read French with her. They wereobedient and subdued; never had their governess found them so easy tomanage, and she, naturally, put this state of matters altogether down totheir anxiety about little Jasper, and liked them the better for it.
But when they were alone together, things were less smooth. Leila waspeevish and inclined to "cast up" to Christabel the greater amount ofblame due to her, and Christabel was not of a character to bear thispatiently. With their careless habits, the small rooms and closequarters--fresh and bright as Mrs Greenall and her one smallmaidservant kept everything--were a great trial. Tidyings-up seemed tobe needed every hour of the day, and by degrees, as the first shock oftheir little brother's illness wore off, they grew more selfishly aliveto their own really very trifling discomfort.
"I'm sure we're punished enough," said Chrissie one morning when theywere arguing about first turn at the tiny toilet-table. "There's Japshaving quite a good time of it, after all--everybody fussing and pettinghim. And Roland treated like a grown-up man at Dr Wilkins's! Idaresay he goes in to late dinner."
"But they've done nothing to be punished for," said Leila, "and _I_,"--she changed her mind, and went on, "there's Mummy, and Aunt Margaret, aswell as us."
"Mummy adores Japs so--she loves nursing him, I'm sure," repliedChrissie; "and as for Auntie--well, I suppose she's a saint and angel,and I don't pretend to be."
"It wouldn't be much good if you did," remarked Leila drily. "You'dbetter hurry up or _you'll_ be the late one this morning."
Breakfast was all ready and Aunt Margaret at the table when they wentin. But almost at once the children became conscious of a change in herface and tone; it almost seemed as if she had been struggling to keepback her tears, and tears, to the old, seldom come lightly.
"Is--is anything wrong?" asked Leila tremblingly, and all in a momentsomething came over Christabel--she felt as if her heart had stoppedbeating.
"Yes," said Miss Fortescue. "Darlings, we must be brave and hopefulstill--and better than all, we must earnestly pray that he may be sparedto us--but--I cannot hide it from you. There is sad news this morning--little Jasper has had a bad turn of some kind in the night. He is very,_very_ ill."
"Who said so--who brought word of it?" said Chrissie with a strange sortof fierceness in her tone; "p'r'aps it's not true."
Miss Fortescue shook her head.
"Miss Greenall went herself, as she has done every morning," shereplied; "she has been so kind; and when she rang, your mother spoke toher out of the window. She has done so twice a day, you know, and tillnow she looked quite cheerful. But this morning--the poor girl scarcelyknew how to tell me. Edith was quite calm, but, oh dear, dear--she justsaid what I have told you. The darling is terribly ill--I don'tthink--" but here the poor old lady, brave as she was, turned away. Shecould say no more.
"Have they sent for Dr Wilkins?" asked Leila, and her voice soundedquite unlike itself.
"Oh yes," replied Aunt Margaret. "He has been there half the night, andis coming again this morning."
"Can't Miss Greenall go back now to ask if he's any better?" Leila wenton.
"It would be no use just yet," Miss Fortescue said sadly. "There cannotbe anything more to hear for some time. While you are at your lessons,I think perhaps I will go round myself--not to go in, of course, but tospeak to your mother through the window."
"Lessons," repeated Leila, "we can't do lessons. We can't be expectedto."
"My dears," said their aunt, "you must do something. No one knowsbetter than I do, how miserably trying such anxiety is, but it would beworse if you hung about doing nothing. One must face these things inlife, and try to be patient. Sickness and sorrow come to all."
Then for the first time Chrissie spoke.
"Yes," she said, "I suppose they do, but--oh, oh--if it was only that!"and so saying, she rushed out of the parlour and locked herself into thelittle bedroom that she shared with Leila.
"Poor Chrissie," said Miss Fortescue, and the knowledge of what hersister was feeling made Leila look up sharply. Did Aunt Margaretsuspect anything? She was moving away, when Miss Fortescue went onspeaking. "Leave her alone for a little. You can keep some breakfastfor her on the side-table. Finish your own, and then the things must becleared, and you can get out your books," and Leila, herself in aturmoil of misery, silently obeyed.
And somehow or other the morning passed. With swollen eyes and burningcheeks Chrissie came back after a while and drank some milk, and the twowent through a sort of pretence of lessons with kind Miss Greenall, whowas patience and gentleness personified. Then Aunt Margaret came in,but with no cheering report.
"Just the same," she said; and after dinner she made the children comeout with her for an hour or two, and in a dull stupor of wretchednessthey paced along beside her, feeling as if nothing in all the worldmattered in the least, if only Jasper were well again, or--cruellerstill--if only _they_ had not been the cause of this terrible illness!
For by this time, I think, Leila's misery and self-reproach were assevere as Chrissie's.
Later in the evening Miss Greenall, as had been arranged, went off againfor news. It was nearly the children's bedtime when she returned, andcatching sight of her face as she came into their sitting-room, MissFortescue turned quickly to them.
"It is quite time for you to go, dears," she said. "I will come in tosay good-night, and will tell you if there is anything different."
But they, too, had seen the girl's white face and tremulous lips.
"No, no," cried both together, "let her say it before us. AuntMargaret, we _must_ hear."
And then the dreaded word came.
"Worse," and with a burst of irrepressible tears, for she was only agirl herself, she went on confusedly, "they scarcely think--Dr Wilkinsis afraid--he may not live through the night."
Poor Miss Fortescue, who had risen from her chair, staggered back intoit. Miss Greenall had already rushed away. Leila stood by the table asif turned to stone, white as a sheet. Christabel, the tears pouringagain from her still swollen and aching eyes, flung herself on the floorbefore her aunt.
"I must tell, I must," she sobbed in wild despair.
"I can't bear it, Lelly, I _can't_, and you needn't be afraid. I wasthe worst. You meant to help me. I'll take all the blame--all, all--I'll--oh, what can I do? I'd be cut in pieces if it would do any good.Oh Japs, Japs, my own little Japs! Auntie, Auntie, listen--it was allme."
Miss Fortescue raised her without speaking and drew her on to her knee.
"I am listening, my child," she said.
"Can I ever be forgiven? Is it any use for _me_ to pray for Japs to getbetter? I haven't dared to before--oh Auntie, Auntie."
It was, under the circumstances, a terrible confession to hear, though,at the root of it all, was nothing worse than childish
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