CHAPTER XIII

MISS BERTHA'S BONNET

"OF course you must take home presents for everybody. People always buy things when they come to London, and we'll begin with a present for Miss Bertha!"

It was Dawn who spoke. The three children were in Kensington Gardens. Blanche was with them, but she was now on a seat reading a book. They had been having a series of games, and, tired out, were consulting as to the next move.

"What can we buy her?" asked Christina. "It must be something very, very nice."

"The great thing," said Dawn wisely, "is to give people what they like, not what you like yourself. When I was a small kid I gave dad a penny trumpet on his birthday. He didn't pitch it out of the window, but he pretended he liked it. Of course I know better now, and I generally give him some tobacco."

"We've got to think what old ladies like," asserted Puggy. "My sister Ena gave the old women in the almshouses a pound of tea and a shawl."

"But Miss Bertha has lots of shawls, and very nice tea," said Christina. "I wish we knew an old lady who would tell us what she likes. I wonder if Mrs. Bolland could tell us. Father said I might go and see her again."

"You ask Blanche," suggested Dawn; so Christina went across to her.

"Blanche, if you were an old lady, what would you like as a present?"

Blanche looked up a little impatiently from her book.

"Oh, a bonnet or a gown," she said, and Christina went back to the boys and repeated her words.

"The very thing," said Dawn. "We'll get her the most lovely bonnet. How much money have we got?"

They consulted, and found that between them they could manage thirty shillings.

Miss Bertha was dear to their hearts. As Puggy said, the Christmas holidays were rich times, and they determined that Miss Bertha should have the very best bonnet that London could produce. The next question was, where should they buy it and when?

"We mustn't have any grown-up person bothering us. Dad lets me go alone to any shop, but Tina's father is so waxy about her that she'll have to be left behind. You and me must choose it, Puggy."

Christina nearly dissolved into tears. "You won't choose it without me," she pleaded. "I really must choose it with you."

There was a long talk about it. Finally, Blanche was taken into their confidence, and persuaded to come with them to the nearest milliner's on their way home. But she was made to wait outside, whilst they went in and made their purchase.

It was a very grand shop indeed. Christina wondered at the audacity of the boys. She grew nervous and shy at the low giggling of the young lady assistants, as they produced various bonnets for the boys' inspection. Puggy and Dawn were perfectly equal to the occasion. They made the young women put the bonnets on, they tried them on themselves, and insisted upon Christina doing so.

"It's for an old lady, and she's not at all gloomy," said Dawn, "so we won't have a black bonnet. It must be a blue or pink one."

"Or one with cherries in," suggested Puggy, pointing to a small toque trimmed entirely of that fruit. "Now that's a lovely one, it makes me want to eat it! Do just put that on your head, Dawn, and let me get behind you, because I do sit behind Miss Bertha in church, and if they smell like cherries, I shall snap at them, I know I shall."

Christina did not like the cherry toque, it was too small she thought. After a great deal of talk they settled on one at last. It was a wonderful erection of red roses and black plumes. An obliging assistant said she would take out the black feather and ribbon and put in red instead, and Christina gave the address of the hotel. When the bill was handed to them, they saw it came to four guineas. None of them had asked the price, and none of them liked to say that they thought it dear.

"Perhaps you would rather pay on delivery?" the children were asked.

"Oh, yes," said Puggy grandly. "Send it up to-night without fail."

They walked out of the shop, then gazed at each other with blank feelings of despair.

"I've just half a crown more," said Dawn, "that will clear me out for good and all. I did think my new half-sovereign would have been enough!"

"Blanche, how much does a bonnet generally cost?" asked Christina tearfully.

Blanche had been sauntering outside looking into other shop windows. She was in a very good humour to-day.

"It depends on the style, Miss Tina; a cheap one could be had for eighteen or nineteen shillings. I've seen some at twenty guineas. And I've seen them at five shillings and sixpence for the working classes."

Christina said no more; the children were very quiet till they reached their hotel, then Puggy said in the entrance hall as Dawn was wishing them good-bye:

"Look here! You shan't go home and leave us in this fix. It's share alike. We said so."

"Come into our sitting-room. Father and mother are out," suggested Christina, "and we can talk quietly without any one hearing us."

So to the sitting-room they went, and it was with very sober faces they anxiously consulted together. "Would they take it back and let us have a cheaper one?" Christina asked.

"Of course they wouldn't!" exclaimed Dawn. "There wasn't another nice one in the shop. Besides, we ought to be willing to sacerryfice anything for Miss Bertha. We must sell our clothes or something. There's lots of ways of getting money, you know; lots, and awfully nice ways too. I'll give my last half-crown. I was a cad to mind giving it for Miss Bertha, and mind you two clear your money bags clean out. Not one penny do you keep back!"

Christina hastily left the room, and soon returned with her money-box. Puggy went away and brought his last pennies. They put their money in a pile and counted it up. With Dawn's twelve shillings and sixpence they made out exactly two pounds one shilling and sevenpence halfpenny, and then, with pencil and paper, they came to the alarming conclusion that they must get together two pounds two shillings and fourpence halfpenny more.

"We shall never do it. How can we pay it to-night?" Christina's face was very woe-begone.

"Oh, we must ask them to wait for their money for a few days," said Dawn airily. "We'll do it!"

"I know," said Puggy, with the air of a martyr, as he unbuttoned his waistcoat and took his silver watch and chain out and laid it on the table. "A chap in our school got into debt, and took his watch to the pawnshop. I'll do the same. It's true the chap was found out and nearly expelled, but that was because his debts were backing horses, it wasn't for pawning his watch. I'll go now. What have you got, Tina?"

Christina wildly suggested a great many of her treasures; but as they were chiefly books and toys the boys scoffed at her.

"It must be something silver or gold," they said. "I have my gold bangle that father gave me," said Christina humbly. "I hope he won't be angry if I sell it; but we couldn't be in debt, could we? That's much worse. Don't they put you into prison for debt?"

"No," said Puggy, "they send a seedy-looking chap to follow you wherever you go, and he gets inside your house and lives on the fat of the land, and you daren't turn him out, and then he takes any furniture or pictures or silver he likes, to pay for what you owe."

"Oh," said Christina with a little shiver, "will they send him here to-night?"

"You fetch me your bangle and I'll take my watch, and Dawn and I will go off to the pawnshop at once. And don't you say anything to any one till we come back."

"But if the bonnet comes while you are away?"

"Tell them to wait till we come."

The boys slipped out of the hotel, and Christina sat down to wait for their return in great unhappiness of mind. She was unhappy about her bangle; she felt she ought to have asked some one's leave before she parted with it; she was dreading the arrival of the bonnet, and felt she would not be equal to the occasion; and she did not know whether Puggy was right in going out with Dawn so late in the afternoon. This was quite enough to bring careworn wrinkles on her small brow.

She started violently when the door opened suddenly and the waiter said:

"A parcel for Miss Maclahan. Is it to come in here? Waiting for an answer."

"Oh!" cried Christina excitedly, getting down from her chair. "It must wait, please. At least, it must come in—it belongs to us—but they must wait."

"I'll tell the young person to bring it in," said the waiter; and the next moment poor Christina was face to face with a tall young woman, who held a bandbox in her hand. She was not one of the attendants whom Christina had already seen in the shop, and for a moment the child looked at her with an agonized face. How could she keep her till the boys came back she wondered!

The young woman looked at Christina, and spoke sharply.

"Waiting for payment!" she said. "Is there any one I can speak to?"

Then Christina rose to the occasion, as she generally did in an emergency.

"Please sit down; we are expecting you. They will be here presently. It's a very fine day."

The girl took a seat. If Christina's voice trembled with nervousness, she did not seem to notice it. She looked at her with a little smile.

"If it is a fine day it doesn't make any odds to me. I'm always tramping about all weathers."

There was a pause, then Christina said shyly:

"I should like to see the bonnet. Will you take it out for me?"

"What will your mamma say?"

"Oh, it isn't for her. It is a present the boys and I are going to give Miss Bertha. The bonnet belongs to us, you know."

"I didn't understand that. Then have you got the money for me?"

"The boys will be here very soon with it." Christina's cheeks flushed crimson as she spoke.

"Well, my time is precious," said the young woman, and her tone was sharp again.

She took out the bonnet, and Christina gazed at it admiringly. It certainly was a very striking structure; the red ribbons and plumes and flowers made you hot to look at it!

"The old lady will be seen a mile off when she wears it," said the young woman. "It'll act as a danger signal anywhere!"

Christina did not understand this. She looked at the clock. It was six o'clock. Would the boys ever be back? Then she tried to make more conversation.

"Do you like London?" she asked.

A short laugh was the only answer she got, and then to her infinite relief she heard a scuffle outside, and the door burst open.

"We've got it, we've got it!"

The boys paused abruptly when they saw that Christina was not alone. Dawn, seeing the bonnet on the table, made a dash at it, put it on his head, and danced round the table. Puggy, with a very business-like air, turned to the young woman.

"Hold out your hand, and I'll count the money into it, and mind you give me a proper receipt for it. I know all about bills. You can't take me in!"

Dawn paused in his antics to see the transaction, and Christina watched breathlessly whilst Puggy began to count out his gold and silver. He was inflated with pride and importance as he did so, but the young woman did not seem impressed; on the contrary, she laughed in his face as she wrote out the receipt and gave it to him.

"I hope the lady will like the bonnet," she said, as she took her leave; "it isn't often we send out such a specimen!"

"Now what did she mean by that?" demanded Dawn. "Something rude, I bet!"

Forgetting he still wore the bonnet, he dashed out of the room after her, and putting his head over the banister, he shouted out:

"It isn't often your shop mistress sends out such a specimen like you!"

A shout of laughter greeted him, and he saw three or four ladies and gentlemen in the entrance hall below looking up.

"Is it a monkey?" he heard some one say, and then remembering his headgear, he scampered back to the sitting-room.

Christina and Puggy were in anxious consultation.

"Shan't I ever get my gold bangle back again?"

"Well, you see, we couldn't find a proper pawnshop, so we went into the first jeweller's we came to. The man was a decent chap. He asked how much we wanted, and we told him the exact sum. He gave it to us. He said my watch was very old, and your bangle out of fashion, or he could have given us more."

"I thought you were never coming," said Christina. "Where shall we put the bonnet? She has taken the box away."

"Oh, you must keep it somewhere," said Puggy impatiently, "girls take care of bonnets, boys don't!"

"I wish I was coming back with you two," said Dawn gravely. "I should awfully like to see Miss Bertha's face when she sees her present. Now, mind you don't say a word to anybody, Tina. Let it be a proper surprise."

"But I think I ought to tell father about my bangle."

"Rubbish! Why should you? You'll spoil it all!"

Christina said no more, but she carried a heavy burden with her to bed that night, and the next morning took counsel with Puggy.

"I shall never be happy till father knows. I can't laugh or smile or talk or play while I remember it. Do let me tell him."

"Now, look here, don't make an ass of yourself! You had to do it! I'm sure the Squire would be awfully waxy if he knew you had debts you couldn't pay. You'll see what he says. I'll ask about it at breakfast."

Accordingly Puggy began, when he and Christina were seated at the breakfast table with Mr. and Mrs. Maclahan:

"Squire, isn't it a bad thing to run into debt?"

"Very bad. I hope you have not been doing it."

Puggy shook his head virtuously.

"No. I never mean to. But it's better to sell all the clothes off your back, isn't it, than to run up a bill you can't pay?"

His sister looked sharply at him.

"Not in your case," she said, "because your clothes aren't your own to sell."

Puggy shook his shoulders impatiently.

"I was only speaking in—a—a allegory fashion," he said. "I'm not going to sell my clothes; I was thinking of the world and all the people in it who have bills they can't pay. Why, if Christina and I—" here he kicked Christina under the table, for he was treading on delicate ground—"had a bill to pay and we hadn't the money, it would be quite right if we sold some of our own toys and things!"

"It would be quite wrong for you to have any bill that you could not pay," said his sister, looking at him suspiciously.

Puggy crammed his mouth with bread and jam; for an instant he looked up stolidly into his sister's face, then went on eating steadily.

Mrs. Maclahan glanced from him to Christina, who turned colour and looked scared at once.

"I am not naturally suspicious," said Mrs. Maclahan, "but I am sure you two children have been up to something. What is it?"

"We've been up to lots of things," said Puggy readily. "And we're up to be taken to the Zoo to-day. We haven't been there yet."

"You must wait till to-morrow. I'll take you there myself, and Dawn can come too. It is the only day you have, for we shall be returning home on Saturday!"

"Hurray! We'll send Dawn a telegram, shall we, so that he may know at once?"

Puggy had turned the conversation, as he had meant to do, but Christina did not feel any happier. When her father asked her if she would like to come out for a walk in the gardens with him she did not respond as cheerfully as usual. Puggy had a word with her before she went.

"Mind you don't split on us!" he said severely.

Then Christina turned at bay.

"I shall split on myself if I like," she said.

"You'll be a sneak if you do, and you can't separate yourself from me. England and Scotland are joined together, and they must stand or fall together. Remember that!"

Christina put her fingers in her ears and turned away from him. But she did not enjoy her time with her father, and he thought she must be out of spirits. She came home as miserable as when she went out, and was slowly toiling up the hotel stairs to her bedroom when she was met by Mrs. Maclahan.

"Ah, Tina, here you are! Now you can explain. Connie tells me she has found a huge red bonnet under your bed. It looks perfectly new. Is it a secret?"

"Yes," said Christina, with frightened eyes.

"So Puggy says. He told me you would explain. I hope to goodness it is not going to be a present to me?"

"Oh, no," said Christina eagerly. "It's—it's for Miss Bertha. We have bought it for her."

Mrs. Maclahan began to laugh, and she laughed so heartily that Christina looked at her in wonder.

"You ridiculous children! Oh, if Miss Bertha appears in it, I shall die! Where on earth did you get it?"

"At a shop."

Christina's tones were faltering.

"Did Puggy say I was to tell you?" she asked.

"He had better answer for himself. Come into the sitting-room; I left him there."

Christina followed her stepmother, and in a few minutes the whole story was told.

"The game is up!" Puggy exclaimed tragically; but he was relieved that the confession had to be made to his sister, and not to the Squire.

But even she looked very vexed when she heard about the watch and the bangle, and insisted upon telling her husband. And Mr. Maclahan spoke very sharply to the children about it.

"When you knew you had not the money to buy it, you ought to have had the pluck to say so. Now, Puggy, come with me to the jeweller's at once, and we will see if we cannot get these things back. If you had asked me for money, Christina, I would have given it to you gladly. I cannot bear this underhand behaviour."

Christina was by this time in tears, and her stepmother interceded for her.

"There, Herbert, not much harm is done! Miss Bertha must get that bonnet at all costs. I will go shares; or, if it is to be the children's present, I will give them each a tip which will bring them out of debt. You must get the bangle and watch back, of course."

This was done; but to teach them a lesson, the Squire locked up both bangle and watch in his dressing-case, and neither Puggy nor Christina had them again till three months had gone by.