England -- Social life and customs -- Fiction; Humorous stories; Schools -- Fiction; Teenage girls -- Fiction
Of course there was a terrible to do about the basin in the morning, but
it so happened, luckily, that the cat was not beneath our window, but
beyond the Fraulein's; so that in trying to reach it, Clara had thrown
the basin for some distance, and right past our neighbour's window. The
Fraulein declared that she had never opened hers; and, poor woman, she
opened her mouth into quite a round O when told that she must have
thrown it out. There was nothing to cast suspicion upon us, for it was
more likely to have been Celia Blang, on the other side of the Fraulein;
and so, at last, the matter dropped, and we heard no more of it then.
But I had such a delightful treat two days after; for while we were
going down the High Street, Miss Furness must turn faint, and have to be
helped into the first house at hand, to sit down and rest, and that was
Mrs Jackney's, the milliner's; and there we were, four or five of us at
once, in the little parlour--dear Achille's "apartment meublee," as he
called it. He was from home, giving lessons somewhere, no doubt; but
while they were bathing Miss Furness's face, and giving her sniffs of
salts, and glasses of water to drink, I had such a look round the place,
and saw his dear old boots in one corner--the pair, I was sure, he must
put on for ease and comfort of a night; and I was so glad to see them,
for, if, instead, I had caught sight of a nice, handsomely worked pair
of slippers, they would have given me quite a pang. Now I felt that the
task--no, the pleasure--was left for me.
Then there was a dear, duck of an old coat hanging behind the door; and
such nice, funny little holes in the elbows, where he had rested his
arms upon the table while he studied; and there was his pipe, and two
bits of cigars, and a few yellow paper-covered books, and one thing
which did, I must own, make me feel a little uncomfortable, a scarlet
and black smoking cap--at least, it had been scarlet once, and had
evidently been made by a lady, and, of course, one would have liked to
have known who was the maker.
At first, in remembrance of her bitter, teasing words, I thought that it
might have been Clara; but it did not look new enough; for the scarlet
was fast verging upon the black, and, no doubt, in a short time it would
have been impossible to make out the pattern. But I was glad to see it;
for it was a hint that Achille would soon require a new one, and I knew
who would make it. However, I did not much care; and taking advantage
of there being no one looking, I contrived to drop my handkerchief
inside it; but directly after I trembled, and wanted to have it back
again, for there was my name marked upon it in full, in ink, and I was
afraid that his landlady, Mrs Jackney, might see it.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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