by L. T. Meade
soothed. Ofcourse, you must understand that if you have been called Dumps all yourlife, and told to your face that you haven't one vestige of good looks,it must be a sort of pleasure to have a person suddenly inform you thatyou are--oh! better than good-looking--the very prettiest girl he hasseen in the whole of the country. I felt, therefore, a flush of triumphstealing to my cheeks, and then I said, "Please keep things as quiet asyou can. I must go to the kitchen to get some tea for father. Pleasedon't let them be noisy."
"I'll sit on them if they are," said Von Marlo.
But Alex called out, "Go along, Von, and help her; that'll be the bestway. Good gracious! she's in such a state of mind, because you arenoticing her and bolstering her up, that she will fall, as likely asnot, going down those slippery backstairs. Go along with her, old chap,and help her."
"Yes, come," I said, for I could not resist it.
So Von Marlo and I found ourselves in the big hall; then he took my handand we went along the passage, and then down another passage, and thenwe opened a door and I called to Hannah.
"Hannah, are you downstairs?"
We were looking into pitch-black darkness, but we heard a muffled voicesay, "Yes, Miss Rachel? Sakes alive! What's wanted now?"
Then Hannah appeared at the foot of the stairs, holding a lightedcandle.
"I'm coming down," I said, "and I'm bringing a gentleman with me."
Hannah very nearly fell in her amazement, but I went steadily down, VonMarlo following me.
"It is a very old house," I whispered, "and some people say it ishaunted. But you are not afraid of ghosts, are you?"
"I think they are the jolliest things in the world!" was his reply.
He said the word jolly in a very funny way, as though he was notaccustomed to the word, and it sounded quite sweet.
At last we got to the lower regions, and then, guided by Hannah'scandle--which was really only like a very little spark of light--wefound our way into the kitchen.
"Once this was a grand house and grand people lived here," I said."Father lives here now because it belongs to the college. The house isa great deal too big for us, but it is a glorious place forhide-and-seek. This is the kitchen--monstrous dinners used to be cookedhere."
"Now then, Miss Rachel, what do you want?" said Hannah. "And I thinkyoung gents as ought to be at school ought to keep out of theProfessor's kitchen. That's what I think."
"Oh, please, Hannah," I said, "this gentleman is from over the seas--hecomes from Holland, where the beautiful tulips are grown, and his nameis Mr Von Marlo."
"Catch me trying to say a mouthful of a name like that!" was Hannah'srejoinder.
"He is exceedingly kind," I continued, "and he is going to help us."
"Yes, I will help you if you will let me," said Von Marlo, speaking inhis slow and rather distinct way, and not gabbling his words as weEnglish do.
"I want tea and toast and an egg for father; he is waiting for them, andwe must hurry," I said. "Hannah, be as quick as you can."
"My word," said Hannah, "what a fuss!"
She was really a kind creature. She must have been good to live with usin that queer old house, for she was actually the only servant we kept.She must have been brave, too, to spend so much of her time in thatdesolate kitchen and in those black passages, for gas had never beenlaid on in the bottom portion of the old house, and it smelt very damp,and I am sure the rats had a good time there at night. But Hannah,forty-five years of age, with a freckled face and reddish hair, and highcheek-bones and square shoulders, had never known the meaning of theword fear.
"Ghosts?" she would cry. "Don't talk nonsense to me! Rats? Well, Iguess they're more afraid of me than I am of them. Loneliness? I'm asight too busy to be lonely. I does my work, and I eats my vittals, andwhen bedtime comes I sleeps like a top. I'm fond of the Professor, andproud of him, he's so cliver; and I'm fond of Miss Rachel, whom I'veknown since she was born, and of the boys, although they be handfuls."
This was Hannah's creed; she had no fear, and she was fond of us. Butshe had a rough tongue, and could be very rude at times, and could makethings unpleasant for us children unless we humoured her.
It was Von Marlo, the Dutch boy, who humoured her now. He offered tocut the bread for toast, and he not only offered, but he went boldly tothe cupboard, found a loaf, and cut most delicate slices, and set towork toasting them before a clear little fire in a small new range atone end of the kitchen before Hannah had time to expostulate. Then hesuggested that father's egg should be poached, not boiled, and he founda saucepan and put it on the fire and prepared to poach the egg. Andwhen Hannah said, "My, what a fuss!" he found the egg, broke it into theboiling water, poached it beautifully, and put it on the toast. Really,he was a wonderful boy; even Hannah declared that never had she seen hislike.
The tea was made fragrant and strong, and we put it on a little traywith a white cloth, and Von Marlo carried it for me up the dark stairs.We reached the hall, and then we stood and faced each other.
"You are going up all those other stairs with that tray?" said VonMarlo. "Then I insist upon carrying it for you."
"But suppose father should come out? He sometimes does, you know," Iwhispered.
"And if he does, what matter?" said Von Marlo. "He won't eat us! Comealong, Miss Rachel."
I was very glad he did not call me Dumps. He must have heard Hannahcall me Miss Rachel, for, as far as the boys were concerned, I mighthave been christened Dumps, for they never addressed me as anythingelse.
We went up the stairs, I going first to lead the way, and Von Marlofollowing, bearing the little tray with its fragrant tea, hot toast, andpoached egg. All went well, and nothing would have happened except thepleasant memory of our little adventure if suddenly at the top of thestairs we had not encountered the stern face of father himself. Therewas gas in that part of the house, and it had been turned on; fatherlooked absolutely black with rage.
"What is the meaning of this?" he said. "Who are you? Von Marlo, Ideclare! And what, may I ask, are you doing in my house, and venturingup to my rooms, sir?--What is the meaning of this, Rachel? I shallpunish you severely.--Go downstairs, sir; go down at once, and leave thehouse."
If it had been Squibs, even had it been Alex or Charley, I think hewould have turned at once at the sight of that angry, very fierce face;but Von Marlo was like Hannah--he knew no fear. He said quietly, "Youare mistaken, sir; I have done nothing that I should be ashamed of.Your son, Mr Alex, invited me to come into the house, and he alsoinvited me to have tea downstairs. Your daughter went to the kitchen toprepare your tea, and I offered to assist her. It is a way we have inmy country, sir, to assist the ladies when they have more to do thanthey can well accomplish. It is the way we gentlemen act, Professor."
There was something so quaint in Von Marlo's utterance that even fatherwas appeased. He murmured, "I forgot you were a foreigner. Well then,thanks; but go away now, for goodness' sake.--Rachel, take the tea intomy bedroom.--Von Marlo, you must go; I cannot have any one in my housethis evening; my head is very bad."
"Good-bye, Mr Von Marlo," I said; "and thank you, thank you."
Von Marlo boldly took my hand in the presence of father, and then bolteddownstairs, I regret to say, with extreme noise; for, notwithstandinghis gentlemanly manners, his boots were thick and rough, and the stairswere destitute of carpets.
"Lay the tea on the table, Rachel," said my father.
He pushed his hands through his hair, which now seemed to stand up onhis head and gave him a wild appearance.
"What does this mean? Tell me at once. Speak, Rachel."
"I think Mr Von Marlo explained, father. I am awfully sorry. I didask Agnes and Rita Swan to tea this evening. You said--or at least younever said that I wasn't to ask them."
"I never gave you leave to ask any one. How dare you invite people tomy house without my permission?"
"I am lonely sometimes, father."
I said the words in a sad voice; I could
not help it; there was a lumpin my throat. Father gazed at me, and all of a sudden his manneraltered. He seated himself in a chair, and motioned to me to takeanother. He pulled the little tray with the nice tea towards him,poured out a cup, and drank it. Then he looked at the poached egg, puton his glasses, and gazed at it more fixedly.
"That's a queer sort of thing," he said; and then he ate it withconsiderable relish. "It's very good," he said when he had finished it."Who did it?"
"Mr Von Marlo."
"Rachel, you must be mad!"
"No, father; he isn't an English
