CHAPTER IX

THE GIPSIES' SUPPER

IT is so dreadful when in the bottom of your heart you want to be good, to find yourself wanting most frightfully to do what you know isn't good. All the delicious things seem to be wrong. And I think this gipsies' supper seemed the most delicious thing I had ever heard of. After tea, I walked round and round the path in the garden and thought about it. I knew perfectly well we shouldn't be allowed to go—certainly we girls should not. But we were always in the garden till bedtime, so it would be quite easy to slip away without being seen, and the walk there in the dusk would be jolly, and the supper, with the fire, and the gipsies all sitting round, would be simply entrancing, and then the walk back afterwards by moonlight would be so unusual. I simply ached and longed to do it.

And then I thought to myself that of course if I meant to be a faithful servant, I couldn't go to anything that my Master wouldn't like me to, and so I must ask Him about it first. And I hope it isn't priggish to write it down, but I went into the shrubbery close to the church, where no one could see me, and told Jesus Christ all about it, and asked Him to make me stop at home if it was wrong to go. And when I got up I felt quite, quite sure I mustn't go, and I knew I must try and prevent Lynette from going too. So then I went to find her. I'm afraid I felt very disappointed; particularly when I saw the boys stealing down the drive.

I ran after them.

"Are you going?" I said.

"Yes; you had better be quick if you're coming," said Denys.

"I'm not coming," I said; "where's Lynette?"

"Trying to be as good as yourself!" said Aylwin in a mocking voice.

The tears would come into my eyes.

"Oh, I wish, I wish I could come!" I said.

And then I ran into the house, for it just struck me I was like Balaam, who wanted to go when God didn't want him to. But I was glad the boys were going off by themselves without Lynette.

I went all over the house calling to her, but I couldn't find her anywhere. Then I thought she might have gone to wish Andy good-night, so I went down to the field, and all over the garden, and asked Baldwin and Emma and cook if they had seen her, but none of them had. And then Aunt Caroline told me it was bedtime, and asked me where Lynette was. I told her I could not find her, but she didn't seem to take it in. She told me not to wait, but to go to bed myself, and Lynette must follow. So I said good-night to father, who was in the study, and then I went upstairs, and I felt lonely and miserable, and began to wish again I had gone with the boys. And then I wondered if Lynette had gone with them after all. I remembered what she said, that she meant to go, however much she might be punished afterwards. I was in bed, rather worrying over it, when Aunt Caroline came in.

"Where is Lynette, Grisel? Emma says she can't be found, and the boys too—where are they?"

I was silent, for it isn't "good form" to tell tales. We never do.

Aunt Caroline would make me speak. She said she would fetch father up if I didn't, so then I said:

"I know where the boys are, Aunt Caroline, but I'd rather not say. And I don't know if Lynette is with them or not."

"But you must say where they have gone, Grisel; it is very naughty of them to go off like this."

"They won't come to any harm," I said, "but they'll be in rather late."

"I shall speak to your father about it at once."

Aunt Caroline knew we would never tell tales of each other, and I was sorry for her, because she looked so anxious.

No one came near me for some time, and then father did, and when I heard his step, I was tempted to hide my head under the clothes and pretend to be asleep. But I didn't, for he put his hand on my head. And when he does that, it's like a kiss, and I feel I can tell him anything.

"Well, little woman, has Lynette not turned up yet? What pickles you are! Your poor aunt is quite upset."

"I'm so sorry, father, but Lynette never told me she was going, and I never saw her go."

"You know where the boys are?"

"Yes, father."

He was silent a minute, then he said:

"I am afraid you must tell me. I can't have one of my little daughters out of the house at this time of the night without knowing where she is."

So then I told him—I had to; and he heaved a sigh.

"It's very wrong of them, and they must know it. I am disappointed in Denys!"

"Oh, father," I said, squeezing his hand, "if only you were a boy again, I'm sure you'd like to do it yourself. Fancy! They may be sitting round a camp fire, eating rabbit stew, and hearing gipsy songs being sung! Why is it wrong to do it? I wish it wasn't!"

Father smiled.

"Well, Grisel, it might not do the boys much harm, but gipsies are not fit company for my little girls, and Denys ought to have known better. Why, Lynette is a baby!"

He walked towards the door, then he gave a little nod at me.

"Good child!" he said, and then he left the room.

I heard the hall door shut immediately after, so I knew that he had gone to meet them coming back. I tried to keep awake, but I couldn't, and I never woke till the next morning.

I looked over towards Lynette's bed, and found she was there right enough, and when she woke up she was very sleepy and cross.

"Do tell me all about it," I said. "Did you go with the boys?"

"Of course I did, you stupid! I told you I would go. I ran out before they did, in case you might try to stop me, and I waited on Mrs. Ribbon's doorstep till they came by, and then I joined them."

Lynette stopped, then she added mischievously:

"Denys wanted to send me back, so I told him I wasn't one of his Sunday scholars, and he didn't like that at all. He said he would punch my head for cheek, if I didn't look-out."

"Do tell me about the supper," I said eagerly.

"There was none," said Lynette crossly. "It was all for nothing, and my legs ached with tiredness. When we got there, it was all dark, and the van and the tent were gone, and there wasn't a single person there. But there was a piece of paper nailed to a tree, and in awful bad letters it was written:

"'THE GIPSIES' SUPPER First catch your hare, then cook it.'

"Denys said it was quite a clever joke for gipsies, but he and Aylwin were awfully angry, and so was I."

"It was just a sell, then!" I said.

And I tried not to feel glad. I'm not properly good at all. I wish I was. I felt much gladder now that I hadn't gone, for I didn't miss anything. And I ought to have been just as glad if they really had had a ripping good supper.

"It's too bad," grumbled Lynette; "we're all going to be punished for nothing at all, for we never had the supper."

The boys were very quiet at breakfast. I knew father must have given them a good scolding, and neither they nor Lynette were to go out into the garden after tea. They had to stay up in the schoolroom. Father doesn't often punish, and it's more the disgrace than the punishment itself that we mind. Though after tea is our favourite time in the day, because lessons are over, and we meant to ride the donkey in turns round and round the field to get him accustomed to us. Just before the boys went off to school, Denys said to me in the hall:

"I don't wonder grown-up people are always saying the world is getting worse, and everybody is quite different from what they used to be, I know jolly well the gipsies are!"

And that was all he ever said about the gipsies' supper-party.

For the next few days we were all very busy getting the donkey-cart ready. Father let the boys have some paint. Mrs. Ribbon got it for them; they chose the brightest green they could get. We wanted scarlet, but it seems red paint is the most expensive, and we had to have the cheapest. Denys and Aylwin are very good painters; they've done a lot of things before, and they don't make themselves in a mess. I do; and when they let me paint the shafts, I just covered my hands all over, and my dress too; the brushes got so full of paint, that the paint ran down the handle and covered me with it. I suppose I try to be too quick. However, Lynette and I cleaned the brass parts of the harness, and we got a brush and groomed Andy. We caught him and brought him into the stable. He seemed to like it, and I'm sure we did. And all the time Denys was trying to settle how we could buy a saddle.

"Of course we must have one," he said. "We can't always go about in the cart. I shall have to go on fishing for a bit, and you'll have to fish too, Aylwin, and Lynette can go on toffeeing."

"And I'll go on selling vegetables and flowers," I cried. "We can all go on doing it till we get enough."

"And Puff can go on praying," said Aylwin.

"You're not to be irreverent!" I said.

"I'm not," said Aylwin. "I really do think his prayers were answered, because granny must have been made to send the money. She never has done such a thing before."

"Cook is always saying, 'God helps those who help themselves,'" I said.

"Yes," said Denys, "and I'd rather earn the money than have it arrive in a letter."

So we set to work again, but we found time to have some rides on Andy, though we had to ride bareback.

The next thing that happened was our school-treat. We always love school-treats, but when we lived in a town we used to go out in wagonettes to the country. Here they're held in fields or gardens close by.

Lady Laura always has the children in her park, and they march from our village with flags, and the next village joins us, and so it is a very big thing indeed.

The day before the treat Denys came back from school with a black eye and a cut just above it. He told me at once he had been fighting "the Sausage." That's the boy with thick legs, who's so nasty.

Father asked Denys at once about it, and Denys said:

"I kept my hands off him too long, father. He got to think he could say anything. He said the convicts in prison were nearly all parsons' sons, because their fathers were all snivelling hypocrites. I told him to take it back, and he looked me full in the face and said:

"'Your snivelling dad may lay down the law in the pulpit, but his bounder of a boy won't dictate to me, I can jolly well tell you!'"

"And then I went for him, and he actually ran away, and picked up a stone and flung it at me. I wouldn't have minded having a fist in my eye—but a stone! We all howled and yelled at him, and he tried to take refuge in old Gray's study, but we had him out of that, and we made him stand up, and I gave him a jolly good licking. And it was a good thing I did it and not some of the others, for I knew when to stop, and if young Gray had got at him I believe he would have half killed him!"

"Yes," Aylwin chimed in, "and he went blabbing to old Gray, and he told him he jolly well deserved what he had got."

Father did not say much. He seems to understand boys, but just before we went to bed, Denys came to me, when no one was near, and he said:

"Look here, Grizzy, I'll hand you over the infants' class to teach. I can't keep it up. I can't tell them not to fight when I do it myself. I separated two boys in the village yesterday. It was a mistake my trying to do it, but I wanted to carry out the 'go' we heard about. And then there was that scrape, taking Lynette out at night. I can't keep it up, it's no good."

"All right," I said, "but I'm afraid I won't be much better. Must you never do one wrong thing if you teach a class?"

"I won't be a hypocrite," Denys said, and then he ran off.

When father heard of the class being handed over to me, he shook his head at Denys. "My boy, do you know why you failed?" he said. "You put the cart before the horse: you began to 'go' before you had 'come.'"

Denys got very red and didn't say anything for a minute, and then he said:

"How do you mean?"

"You were like a civilian insisting upon marching out to battle with soldiers, and considering himself a soldier, when he had never enlisted and couldn't draw soldier's rations, or uniform, or arms."

Denys said no more, but I saw he was thinking hard. And I began to think over it too, and I think I see what father meant. He often tells us that though he gave us to God in our baptism to be His soldiers and servants, the time must come when we must do it ourselves. And he says we need not wait till our confirmation to do it. And I am wondering if I have got my uniform and arms to fight. After all, if I have given myself to be Christ's soldier and servant, He will look after me, and give me all I want.

Denys didn't much like the idea of going to the school-treat with his black eye, and father told him he must please himself about it.

"If you stay at home," he said, "you might like to drive your donkey over to Morton Relton. It's five miles from here, and I want a message taken to a farmer there."

So Denys quite cheered up, and said he would do it. The school-treat was on Saturday, so of course we all had a holiday.

All of us except Denys started with the school-children at two o'clock. Even Puff trudged along, though it was a long walk for him. We joined the other school-children at Cross Glen village, and then we all walked up through the big gates to the Hall.

Clarice and Beatrice were waiting on the steps. They were awfully excited when they saw us. Beatrice was much better, and was able to limp about on crutches. We stayed with them a little whilst the school-children went on. There were all kinds of games in the park, and races, and a Punch and Judy, and then came tea. One thing surprised us at tea—all the plum cake was buttered; the children won't eat any cake unless it is buttered. I think it is only a custom in our part of the country. It seemed very funny to us, and I thought everybody must be very rich in Lincolnshire; we could never afford to have it, I know. I wish we could. Aunt Caroline told me to see that Puff didn't eat too much of it, because he is rather greedy.

We told Beatrice and Clarice all about our donkey and cart and how we got it, and then we planned that they should come over to our village in their pony-carriage. It's the one thing they are allowed to do alone. And then we'll bring out our donkey-cart, and we'll have a race with them. I believe Andy will go quite as fast as their pony, though Lynette said the pony tore like the wind when it ran away with her.

There were a lot of grown-up people at the school-treat. We kept away from them as much as we could, because it's very dull when you have to talk to them; they are never very interesting, and they always think if they know father, they ought to know us. But presently a lady came up to me when I was playing at "nuts and may," and I saw she was Mrs. Rogers.

And in a few minutes she took me off to see her husband, who was sitting under a tree with several other grown-up people. We had been so busy that Lynette had quite forgotten to write the letter she promised, and Captain Rogers wanted to hear if we had got a donkey.

"We heard old Nell had misbehaved herself, but I didn't wonder at that," said Captain Rogers.

So I told him everything, and how our cart was painted and the harness done up, and we were still trying to earn enough money to buy a saddle. Then he asked how we were doing it, and when he heard of the boys' fishing, he told me to tell them that he was awfully fond of fresh-water fish and would like some for breakfast every morning if they could bring some. So then I went and fetched Aylwin and told him I had got him a customer. Aylwin didn't like coming at first, but when he knew Captain Rogers was a man, he didn't mind. And in a minute he was talking as hard as ever he could to him. Captain Rogers is such an easy man to talk to. He told us he had got his steed and was going to crawl about the lanes in a bath-chair, but he said it as if he liked it, and Aylwin told him he could have great fun if he was game for it.

"A bath-chair and fun don't seem to fit," said Captain Rogers gravely.

"You could race in it," suggested Aylwin.

"Yes," I put in, "we're going to have a chariot race next week. I'm going to get Denys to mark out the course. Beatrice and Clarice are coming in their carriage, and if you could come in your bath-chair there will be three of us."

"It sounds ripping, only must we drive three abreast? For the lanes aren't over wide."

"I had thought of a big field," I said; "round and round, you know, like the Romans used to drive in the ampi—something."

"Have you got any laurel crowns?"

"Yes," I said excitedly, "we have lots of laurel in the shrubbery, and we'll make them."

"Oh, Charlie, what nonsense you talk!" said Mrs. Rogers, with a laugh, but her eyes looked quite sad.

My face fell, for I thought it might be all chaff. So I begged her to help us have the race.

She said to me, "The doctors won't let my husband go out of a foot's pace, dear; he must not be shaken."

"Never mind," said Captain Rogers cheerfully; "I'll be umpire, and give the crowns away."

"And we could have a tortoise race," said Aylwin, "and that could be an easy crawl; last in, best man."

"I think you'll all have to come over to our big field close to the farm. Mr. Donnyball has cut his hay and isn't ploughing it up for a bit."

"That will be lovely," I said. "If you could fix a day, I would tell Beatrice and Clarice about it. Saturday is our best day, because it is a holiday."

"Next Saturday then, sharp at two o'clock, and we'll have tea down by the river, which runs at the bottom of the field."

"There's the choir practice," whispered Aylwin to me; "we're always missing it. I do wish Aunt Caroline would change the day. It's our only holiday."

I felt rather impatient that he had reminded me of it. Father had been talking to us about it. He said children nowadays thought of nothing but amusement, and exercised no self-denial. And if they took up a thing, they never stuck to it if it interfered with their pleasure. I knew he meant the choir practice, as we had been rather irregular lately, but I was simply longing to have the race, and it seemed such a pity to put it off.

"When do your summer holidays begin?" asked Captain Rogers, seeing our hesitation.

"The last of this month," I said; "at least the boys' do. I believe Aunt Caroline is going to keep Lynette and me at lessons longer. She says we have lost such a lot of our time because of our move."

"Well, let us put off the race till the 1st of August," suggested Captain Rogers. "That will be a Thursday, and you can be practising for it beforehand."

"Yes," I said, cheering up, "we will. Andy must beat Clarice's pony; we'll make him."

"And where's the lady of the hair?" asked Captain Rogers.

I knew he meant Lynette, so I called her, and then I went back to the games, and Lynette stayed and talked.

I found out Clarice and Beatrice, and told them about it, and they were awfully delighted. They said their mother had known Mrs. Rogers when she was a little girl, and had recommended her to bring her husband to the farm, so she would be sure to let them come.

Soon after, we came home, and we told Denys about it. He said he must be charioteer, for girls couldn't drive, but I said Clarice was going to drive their pony, so I should drive Andy. We almost got into a quarrel over it, until Aylwin said that he should offer to be their charioteer, and then it would make us quits.

And then Lynette and I suddenly thought we would cover our cart with flowers and make it lovely. So we were all friends again, and longed for the 1st of August to be here.