by L. T. Meade
he said, giving her a nudge. "S'pose a bit, Flo. Whichfine lady'll yer be? Look at that 'ere little 'un, in blue and white, Iguess she's an hearl's wife. Come, Flo, choose to be her. I'll be thehearl, and you the hearl's wife, Flo."
"Be hearls the biggest swells?" asked Flo.
Dick opened his eyes.
"Bless us!" he said. "Why, Flo, I'm 'shamed o' yer hignorance. Whythere's markises, and dooks, and there's kings and queens--all them'sbigger than hearls, Flo."
"Is queens the biggest of all swells?" asked Flo.
"Sartinly, they be the biggest woman swells."
"Then, Dick, I'll s'pose to be the biggest swell, I'll s'pose to be aqueen. Find me hout a queen to take Pattern of, Dick."
"Oh! Flo, there ain't none yere, there be but one queen, Flo, and 'ersaway, locked hup at Bucknam Palace. You can't s'pose to be the queen,Flo, but I guess we'll be the hearl and the hearl's wife, and let uss'pose now as we is turnin' in fur our dinners, and the kivers is orfthe roast beef, and the taters is 'ot and mealy, and a whackin' bigpuddin' is to foller." At this juncture, when Dick's imagination wasrunning riot over his supposed dinner, and Flo's little face was raisedto his with a decided gesture of dissent, a hand was laid familiarly onhis shoulder, and turning quickly he discerned the smiling, mischievousface of his friend Jenks.
"Wot ails the young 'un?" said Jenks.
Dick was ashamed of his play beside his tall friend (Jenks wasfourteen), and answered hastily--
"Nothing."
But Flo replied innocently, and in an injured tone--
"I wants fur to be a queen, and there is no queens hout this arternoonfur me to take pattern of."
The black eyes of Jenks sparkled more mischievously than ever; but heliked Flo, and knew she was fond of supposing herself a great lady.
"Look at that 'ere 'oman," he said, pointing to a stout old lady inblack velvet and white lace shawl; "s'pose you is 'er, Flo. My heyes!wot a precious big swell you would look in that 'ere gownd."
Here Dick and Jenks both laughed uproariously, but the ambitious littleFlo still answered in a fretful tone--
"I'll not be that 'ere swell, I'll choose to be a queen."
"Then come along both o' yers," said Jenks, "and see the queen. She'ave got to pass hout of Bucknam Palace in arf an 'our, on 'er way toVictoria Station. Come, Flo, I'll 'old yer 'and. Come, Dick, old pal."The children, only too delighted to be seen anywhere in Jenks'scompany, followed eagerly, and led by their clever friend down severalby-ways, soon found themselves in the midst of the crowd which hadalready collected outside Buckingham Palace gates to see the queen.
Flo was excited and trembling. _Now_ she should behold with her owneyes the biggest swell in all the world, and for ever after in her darkSaint Giles's cellar she could suppose, and go over in her imagination,the whole scene. No vulgar "dook" or "markis" could satisfy Flo'sambition; when she soared she would soar high, and when she saw thequeen she would really know how to act the queen to perfection.
So excited was she that she never observed that she was really alone inthe crowd, that Jenks and Dick had left her side.
She was a timid child, not bold and brazen like many of her class, andhad she noticed this she would have been too frightened even to look outfor the greatest woman in the world. But before she had time to take inthis fact there was a cheer, a glittering pageant passed before Flo'seyes,--she had never seen the Life Guards before!--a carriage appearedamidst other carriages, a lady amidst other ladies, and some instincttold the child that this quietly-dressed, dignified woman was the queenof England. The eager crowd had pushed the little girl almost to thefront, and the queen, bowing graciously on all sides, looked for aninstant full at Flo.
She was probably unconscious of it, but the child was not. Her browneyes sparkled joyfully; she had seen the queen, and the _queen had seenher_.
They were to meet again.
CHAPTER TWO.
A HOT SUPPER.
When the royal carriage had passed by, the crowd immediately scattered,and then for the first time Flo perceived that she was deserted by hercompanions. She looked to right and left, before and behind her, butthe little rough and ragged figures she sought for were nowhere visible.
She was still excited by the sight she had witnessed, and wasconsequently not much frightened though it did occur to her to wonderhow ever she should find her way home again. She turned a few steps,--Saint James's Park with the summer sunshine on it lay before her. Shesat down on the grass, and pulled a few blades and smelt them--they werewithered, trampled, and dry, but to Flo their yellow, sickly green wasbeautiful.
She gathered a few more blades and tucked them tenderly into the bosomof her frock--they would serve to remind her of the queen, they hadsprouted and grown up within sight of the queen's house, perhaps one daythe queen had looked at them, as to-day she had looked at Flo.
The child sat for half-an-hour unperceived, and therefore undisturbed,drinking in the soft summer air, when suddenly a familiar voice soundedin her ears, and the absent figures danced before her.
"I say, Flo, would yer like somethink _real_, not an ony s'pose?"
Flo raised her eyes and fixed them earnestly on Dick.
"No, Dick," she replied slowly, "there beant but one queen, and I'veseen the queen, and she's beautiful and good, and she looked at me,Dick, and I'm not a goin' to take 'er place, so I'll be the hearl's wifeplease, Dick dear."
The two boys laughed louder than ever, and then Jenks, coming forwardand bowing obsequiously, said in a mock serious tone--
"Will my Lady Countess, the hearl's wife, conderscend to a 'elpin' o'taters and beef along o' her 'umble servants, and will she conderscendto rise orf this 'ere grass, as hotherwise the perleece might feelobligated to give 'er in charge, it being contrary to the rules, thateven a hearl's wife should make this 'ere grass 'er cushion."
Considerably frightened, as Jenks intended she should be, Flo tumbled toher feet, and the three children walked away. Dick nudged his sisterand looked intensely mysterious, his bright eyes were dancing, his shockof rough hair was pushed like a hay-stack above his forehead, his dirtyfreckled face was flushed. Jenks preceded the brother and sister by afew steps, getting over the ground in a light and leisurely manner, mostrefreshing to the eyes of Dick.
"Ain't 'ee a mate worth 'avin'?" he whispered to Flo.
"But wot about the meat and taters?" asked Flo, who by this time wasvery hungry; "ain't it nothink but another `s'pose' arter all?"
"Wait and you'll see," replied Dick with a broad grin.
"Here we 'ere," said Jenks, drawing up at the door of an eating-house,not quite so high in the social scale as Verrey's, but a real andsubstantial eating-house nevertheless.
"Now, my Lady Countess, the hearl's wife, which shall it be? Smokin''ot roast beef and taters, or roast goose full hup to chokin' o' sageand onions? There, Flo," he added, suddenly changing his tone, andspeaking and looking like a different Jenks, "you 'as but to say one ort'other, so speak the word, little matey."
Seeing that there was a genuine eating-house, and that Jenks was inearnest, Flo dropped her assumed character, and confessed that she had_once_ tasted 'ot fat roast beef, long ago in mother's time, but hadnever so much as _seen_ roast goose; accordingly that delicacy wasdecided on, and Jenks having purchased a goodly portion, brought it intothe outer air in a fair-sized wooden bowl, which the owner of theeating-house had kindly presented to him for the large sum of fourpence. At sight of the tempting mess cooling rapidly in the breeze, allFlo's housewifely instincts were awakened.
"It won't be _'ot_ roast goose, and mother always did tell 'as it shouldbe heat up 'ot," she said pitifully. "'Ere, Dick, 'ere's my littleshawl, wrap it round it fur to keep it 'ot, do."
Flo's ragged scrap of a shawl was accordingly unfastened and tied roundthe savoury dish, and Dick, being appointed bowl-bearer, the childrentrudged off as rapidly as possible in the direction of Duncan Street.They were all three intensely merry, though it is q
uite possible that aclose observer might have remarked, that Dick's mirth was a littleforced. He laughed louder and oftener than either of the others, butfor all that, he was not quite the same Dick who had stared soimpudently about him an hour or two ago in Regent Street. He wasexcited and pleased, but he was no longer a fearless boy. An hour agohe could have stared the world in the face, now even at a distant sightof a
