CHAPTER II

"There, everything is ready, and when Mummy comes in there won't be a single thing for her to do but sit down and drink her tea, and get warm."

Jill spoke in a tone of satisfaction, and as she did so she glanced about the cosy little room, with an air of pardonable pride. It was a rather shabbily furnished little room, and everything in it was of the cheapest and plainest, but it was as neat as hands could make it, and the lamp burning on the table, and the tea-kettle humming on the stove, gave an air of comfort and cheerfulness to the humble surroundings, that Jill's home-loving little soul was quick to feel.

"I'm afraid she'll be dreadfully wet," said Lill, anxiously. "Just listen to the rain!"

"Yes, it's a horrid night, but it's nice and warm in here, and when Mummy gets her wet things off, and drinks her tea, I know she'll love it. Isn't it nice we've learned to make the tea and toast, so we can have them all ready when she comes in?"

"I should like to learn to cook," said Lill. "It would be such fun to cook the whole dinner some day, and have it waiting for Mummy. Wouldn't she be surprised?"

"It would be splendid if we could really do it well," agreed the more cautious Jill. "The trouble is, we might spoil things at first and that would be such a dreadful waste when everything costs so much. I shouldn't like to feel I had wasted food, should you?"

"No, but I don't believe we should if we got Signora to teach us. I know she would if we asked her. She likes cooking, and is so economical that I'm sure she would never let us waste anything."

"All right, let's ask her. We'll tell Mummy we want to stay at home some day, and get Signora to give us a cooking lesson."

At that moment there was a tap at the door, and in answer to Jill's bidding to enter, Signora Paloni herself appeared. She was a rosy-cheeked little woman, with very bright eyes, and a pleasant smile, and there was no one in the world, with the exception of their mother, whom the twins loved so much.

"_Buon giorno, Signora_, we were just talking about you," said Lill, in her pretty, fluent Italian. Signora Paloni spoke no English, but the twins talked Italian as well as their own language, if not better. "We want to know if you will teach us how to cook a real dinner, so we can surprise Mummy some day?"

"Of a certainty I will," said the landlady, beaming with pleasure. "It is a kind thought to wish to save the dear mother trouble. I came up to see if the tea was ready, for it is a terrible night, and the poor lady will be so wet."

"It's all ready," said Jill, proudly, "and the bread is cut, so Lill can make the toast the minute Mummy comes in. She is late to-night."

"She will come soon," said Signora Paloni, cheerfully, "and in the meantime I have news for you. Guess what good fortune has just befallen us."

"Oh, Signora, what is it? Please tell us," cried both twins at once.

"We have rented our first-floor apartment at last--the apartment that has been empty for so long."

"Who has taken it?" inquired Jill, with interest. Signora Paloni's first-floor apartment was, in the eyes of the twins at least, a very grand place indeed.

"A countryman of yours; a gentleman from America. He intends spending some time in Florence, he tells us, and he does not care for the hotels. My husband asked him how he had heard of us, and he said the house had been recommended to him. He speaks very little Italian, but he made us understand. I am to prepare his morning coffee, and for his other meals he will go to the restaurants. We are wondering what kind friend has done us this good turn."

"And will he give you your price?" inquired Jill, who seldom forgot business details.

"Yes, and what is more, he has paid us a month's rent in advance. He seemed to fear we might not trust him, as he is a stranger to us, but we should not have feared; he has a good face."

"When is he coming?" Lill wanted to know.

"He will take possession to-morrow, and as he is not quite satisfied with the furniture, he has asked if he may bring in a few extra things."

"But the furniture is beautiful!" cried Jill, indignantly. "How could any one want better?"

"Ah, my little one," said the landlady, smiling, "you have never visited the houses of the rich. My little apartment is neat and comfortable, and in it are many relics of our family, which are to my husband and me very precious, but to a rich American gentleman it must seem but a poor place."

"What is the gentleman's name?" asked Lill.

"Mr. George H. Brown," said Signora Paloni, pronouncing the name very slowly and distinctly, and making it sound as if it were "Misterre Georga Ash Broon."

"That's not a very pretty name," said Jill, and her interest in the stranger flagged. "Now, Signora, about those cooking lessons?"

Signora Paloni was quite ready to talk about the lessons, and entered heartily into the children's scheme. They were deep in the discussion of ways and means when Mummy arrived, cold, wet, but cheerful as usual. Then the landlady had to tell her news all over again, and Mummy listened and sympathized while she dried her skirts, and sipped the cup of hot tea the twins had prepared for her. But though always kind and sympathetic, the twins noticed that their mother did not seem quite as attentive as she usually was to Signora Paloni's long stories, and when the landlady was leaving the room at last, Mummy suddenly roused herself from a fit of abstraction to ask--

"May I have a little talk with you in your room this evening, Signora? I want to consult you about something."

It was Mummy's custom to teach the twins for an hour or two every evening, and, on the whole, they rather enjoyed the lessons. Mummy was a good teacher, and had a way of making history and geography interesting, although she was often very tired after her hard day's work, and would much have preferred going to bed to teaching little girls. She was a conscientious little woman, and seldom allowed inclination to interfere with duty, so it was a great surprise to the children on this particular evening, when the frugal supper had been eaten, and the dishes washed and cleared away, that Mummy, instead of getting out the lesson books as usual, drew the arm-chair close to the stove, and seated herself, as if for a comfortable chat.

"I think we will take a holiday this evening," she said. "There is something I want to talk to you about."

"Oh, Mummy, how nice!" cried Lill, immediately perching herself on one arm of her mother's chair, while Jill took possession of the other. This had been one of their favorite positions ever since they had grown too heavy to sit on Mummy's lap.

"Is it something pleasant?" Jill asked, with a rather anxious glance into Mummy's face. "Are you going to have more pupils?"

"Not exactly, though it may lead to my having more pupils in the end," said Mummy, smiling. "It is about an offer I have received, and that I don't intend to accept until I have talked to my little girls about it."

Jill slipped an arm affectionately round Mummy's neck.

"Tell us all about it, Mummy dear," she said, softly.

"I am going to tell you; that is why we are not having lessons this evening. Miss Dexter--the English lady who is at the head of the school where I teach--sent word that she wished to see me this afternoon after the class. It seems, some of the older girls, who are not going home for the Christmas vacation, are very anxious to take a little trip into Sicily. Miss Dexter cannot very well go with them herself, and she is trying to find some one whom she can send as a chaperon."

"And she wants you to go--oh, Mummy, how delightful!" cried the twins, and Lill added rapturously--

"I know you'll love it. You have always said you wished you could see Sicily."

"I should like to go very much, and I consider it a great honor that Miss Dexter should consider me able to fill such an important position, but there are several drawbacks. The principal one is that I should have to be away at least two weeks, and that is a long time to leave my little girls."

The twins were silent. Never in their lives had their mother left them for more than a night at a time, and the thought of a two-weeks' separation was not pleasant. Jill was the first to speak; she had always been the more unselfish of the two.

"It would be hard to have you go, Mummy, but you would have such a good time, and Signora would take care of us."

"I know she would. Otherwise nothing would induce me to leave you. I know, too, that you would both be good children, and not give her any trouble, but there is something else. The girls want to start next Friday, and that means that they will be away over Christmas."

"Oh, Mummy, we can't be without you on Christmas!" cried Lill, in dismay. "It would be dreadful."

Jill gave her sister a warning glance.

"We might wait and keep Christmas when Mummy came back," she suggested. "Then she could tell us all about Sicily, and the interesting things she saw there. It wouldn't be quite the same thing, of course, but it would be better than not having any Christmas at all."

"But it would be so queer not to hang up our stockings, and have Mummy give us our presents the first thing Christmas morning," objected Lill. "We've always had such good times on Christmas."

"I know that," said Mummy, "and it was my chief reason for hesitating about accepting Miss Dexter's offer. I have always tried to make your Christmases as happy as possible, because I loved the day so much myself when I was a little girl. I have told Miss Dexter I will give her my answer to-morrow."

There was a pause, during which nobody spoke for fully three minutes. Both twins were looking very serious, and Lill's lip was trembling a little. Again it was Jill who was the first to speak.

"It will be very sad to have Christmas without you, Mummy," she said, "but you will have such a good change, and you haven't had a change in ever so long. If you are only away two weeks, you will be back in time for New Year's, and we can hang up our stockings and do all the nice things then, and pretend it's Christmas; can't we, Lill?"

"Yes," said Lill in a very low voice, and she swallowed hard to keep down the big lump in her throat.

Mummy bent and kissed both grave little faces.

"My own dear, brave little girlies," was all she said, but the twins felt as happy as if she had given them each a present.

The rest of that evening was rather forlorn. Mummy went downstairs, to talk things over with Signora Paloni, and as soon as she had left the room Lill broke down and indulged in a good, hearty cry. Jill also shed a few tears, but with characteristic cheerfulness, soon dried her eyes, and began to look on the bright side as usual.

"Oh, just think of all the interesting things Mummy will have to tell us when she comes home," she said. "It will be almost as good as going to Sicily ourselves. Have you noticed how tired her eyes have looked lately? She does work so hard, and the change will do her so much good."

"I know it will," sobbed Lill, "and I don't want to be selfish, but it's so dreadful to think of her being away on Christmas. We shall miss her so. I don't really see how we are going to live without her for two whole weeks."

"Two weeks isn't such a very long time," said Jill, with a little catch in her voice, "and Signora will be very good to us. Besides," she added, brightening, "it will be such a good time to learn to cook while Mummy's away."

Lill took out her handkerchief, and dried her eyes.

"We can do that, can't we?" she said, in a more hopeful tone, "and won't Mummy be surprised when she comes home. Oh, Jill, don't let me be selfish! I feel awfully like being, but I don't want to spoil Mummy's good time."

"We won't either of us be selfish," said Jill, slipping an arm lovingly about her sister's waist. "We'll just make the best of it, and try to let Mummy think we don't mind much."

And they did try to make the best of it, but I doubt very much if Mummy was deceived by appearances. She didn't say much, but when bedtime came, she took them both in her arms at once, and hugged them.

"You precious kiddies," she said. "You make Mummy's heart ache, but she's prouder of you than if you had won all the prizes at Miss Dexter's." And there were actually tears in her eyes, although she tried to laugh.