"I'll tell you their names presently," she said. "My brother who died
brought them to me from South America."
There were three of these cases. There were also stuffed animals, a
hare, a fox, and a dog, perched above doors and at the top of the
bookcase. Where there were not these cases of stuffed creatures there
were books, so that you really could not see one scrap of the original
paper of the room.
"Is this the drawing-room?" I asked.
"Oh, I don't call it by that name," said Miss Donnithorne. "I sit here
because I have all my books and papers handy about the room. But come
to the fire and warm yourself."
Certainly the fire in that dear little grate looked very different from
the dismal fire which Miss Donnithorne had seen in our big, fog-begrimed
parlour. I came close to it, and I even so far forgot proprieties as to
drop on my knees and to hold out my hands to the blaze.
"Chilblains, I declare!" said Miss Donnithorne, taking one of my hands
between both her own. "The best cure for those is to bathe your hands
once or twice a day in a very strong solution of salt and hot water.
The water must be as hot as you can bear it. But the best cure of all
is a good circulation."
"What's that?" I asked.
"Bless you, child! Don't you know, and you go to school every day?"
I stood up; my hands were warm, and my feet were tingling with renewed
life. I had a curious sensation that my nose, which was by no means my
best feature, was very red, for it certainly felt hot. I turned round
and said, "I am quite warm now."
"Then you would like to go up to your room. Nancy will go with you.
She'll unpack your parcel for you."
"Oh no, thank you," I replied. Then I added, "Is Nancy one of your
servants?"
"I have only one servant in this tiny house, my dear, and Nancy is the
one. She is a very good-natured sort of girl, and quite pleased at the
idea of your coming to stay with me. I treat her as a sort of friend,
you see, as she and I are all alone in the house together."
I began to like Miss Donnithorne better and better each moment. She was
so jolly. Whenever she spoke her eyes sparkled as though they were
laughing, while the rest of her face was grave. All the same, I did not
want Nancy, and I said so.
"I can help myself," I argued. "We have only got Hannah in our big
house."
"Well, well, dear! if you can manage for yourself, I am the last one to
wish you to do otherwise," said Miss Donnithorne. "Here is your parcel;
you can take it upstairs."
"But how am I to find my way to my room?"
"You cannot lose it, my dear. Go up that little staircase, and when you
reach the landing you will see an open door. Go through that doorway
and you will be in your own bedroom. There's no other bedroom on that
landing, so you cannot miss it, can you?"
"No," I replied, laughing.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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