Amnesiacs -- Fiction; England -- Fiction; Mothers and daughters -- Fiction
For through the whole of Tishy's interesting tale that baby had been
dwelling on the shocking occurrence of her sister's doll as before
recorded. Her powers of narrative--giving a dramatic form to all
things, and stimulated by Sally's statements of what the beach said
to the sea, and the sea said back--had, it seemed, attracted shoals
of fish from the ocean depths to hear her recital of the tragedy.
"Suppose, now, you come and tell it us up here, Gwenny," says the
bride to the bridesmaid. And Sally adds: "Yes, delicious little
Miss Arkwright, come and tell us all about it too." Whereupon Miss
Arkwright's musical tones are suddenly silent, and her eyes, that are
so nearly the colour of the sea behind her, remain fixed on her two
petitioners, their owner not seeming quite sure whether she shall
acquiesce, or coquette, or possibly even burst into tears. She
decides, however, on compliance, coming suddenly up the beach on all
fours, and exclaiming, "Tate me!" flings herself bodily on Sally,
who welcomes her with, "You sweet little darling!" while Mrs. Julius
Bradshaw, anticipating requisition, looks in her bag for another
chocolate. They will spoil that child between them.
"Now tell us about the fisses and dolly," says Sally. But the
narrator, all the artist rising in her soul, will have everything
in order.
"I _told_ ze fisses," she says, reproach in her voice.
"I see, ducky. You told the fishes, and now you'll tell us all
about dolly."
"I seeps wiv dolly, because my bid sister Totey said 'Yes.' Dolly
seeps in her fings. I seep in my nightgown. Kean from the wass----"
"How nice you must be! Well, then, what next?" Sally may be said to
imbibe the narrator at intervals. Tishy calls her a selfish girl.
"You've got her all to yourself," she says. The story goes on:
"I seep vethy thound. Papa seeps vethy thound. Dolly got between
the theets and the blangticks, and came out. It was a dood dob. Dane
_said_ it _was_--a dood dob!"
"What did Jane say was a good job? Poor dolly coming out?" A long,
grave headshake denies this. The constructive difficulties of the tale
are beyond the young narrator's skill. She has to resort to ellipsis.
"Or I sood have been all over brang and sawduss. Dane _said_ so."
"Don't you see, Sally," says Tishy, "dolly was in another
compartment--the other side of the sheet." But Sally says, of course,
_she_ understands, perhaps even suspects Tishy of claiming more
acquaintance with children than herself because she has been married
three weeks. This isn't fair patronising.
"Dolly came out at ve stisses"--so the sad tale goes on--"and tyed,
dolly did. Dane put her head on to ty wiv my pocket-hanshtiff!"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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