by L. T. Meade
CHAPTER XLIX.
SPANISH LACE.
She walked quickly down the street, hoping every moment to overtakeJasmine. Miss Egerton had old-fashioned ideas about many things, andnothing could exceed her horror at the thought of this pretty andrefined-looking child finding her way alone to a pawnshop.
"Poor little girl!" she said to herself. "She must be really inabsolute want. What has she taken to pawn? Oh, dear! this anxiety isterrible--and yet, and yet, how glad I am to know those orphan girls."
Miss Egerton was very tired, had just returned from the death-bed ofher dearest friend, had certainly heaps of worries of her own; butthat did not prevent her whole heart from going out to Jasmine with anaffection which was almost motherly.
When at last she found the little girl just coming out of Spiller'spawnshop she laid a trembling hand on her arm.
"Jasmine, oh, my dear child, you have been in there! You have beenpawning something."
Jasmine was in such a depressed state of mind that even Miss Egerton'sunexpected return failed to astonish her. She said, raising two sadeyes to the good lady's face--
"It was only that old Spanish lace. I always knew it was not worthmuch. The man only laughed when I asked for Poppy's wages for it. Hehas given me ten shillings, and I am going off with it to Poppyto-night. Yes, Miss Egerton, I must, I really must."
"What have you tried to pawn, Jasmine?" asked Miss Egerton, when shecould find her voice. "Surely not that lovely, valuable Spanish lace.My dear child, come back with me into the shop this moment."
"But I must keep my ten shillings," exclaimed Jasmine "Oh! MissEgerton, don't, don't! You don't know what has happened to me!"
Miss Egerton took Jasmine's little hand in hers.
"My poor child, you shall tell me all. Jasmine, dear, that lace isworth pounds. I shall redeem it at once, for my sake, if not foryours. There, poor little girl, keep your ten shillings, if it makesyou happy."
The man who had lent Jasmine half a sovereign on the Spanish lace ofcourse knew little or nothing of its true value, and the good lady hadtherefore small difficulty in getting it back. She walked home holdingJasmine's hot little hand, took her into her own pretty drawing-room,feasted her on many good things, which she had brought from thecountry, and finally made her tell her all her sorrowful little story.
"You always said that my writing was not up to much," said Jasmine, inconclusion. "I did not like you to say it, and I was most anxious toprove you wrong, but now I know that you are right."
Miss Egerton looked quietly at the excited child.
"My dear," she said, in her gentle tones, "I do not know--no oneknows--whether in the future you will be able to write. Our writersought to be our teachers. Do you think you are fit to teach, Jasmine?"
"I do not know," said Jasmine, hanging her head.
Miss Egerton got up, and laid her hand tenderly on the pretty littlecurly head.
"This day has taught you a grand though painful lesson, dearest. Youwill be better able to write in the future for and because of thesuffering you have gone through to-day. Now, Jasmine, I will say nomore--you must go straight to bed and to sleep. In the morning you cantake your ten shillings to Poppy. Yes, dear, of course it is yours,and for the present the Spanish lace is mine."
Jasmine, notwithstanding all her troubles, slept soundly that night,but Miss Egerton lay awake.
"The time has come," she said to herself, "when energetic measuresmust be taken. The girls--dear, brave, sweet girls--have undoubtedlyto a certain extent failed. Poor little Jasmine! she might have had aworse experience than the loss of that silly manuscript. But whatterrible dangers sweet little Daisy ran! Yes, I shall go and have atalk with Mrs. Ellsworthy to-morrow--I know she is in town."
Accordingly, when Jasmine went off to see Poppy holding herhalf-sovereign firmly inside her glove, and dimly wondering if shewould have any money of her own left to buy some dinner withpresently, Miss Egerton stepped into an omnibus which presently puther down in the vicinity of Park Lane. She was fortunate in findingMrs. Ellsworthy at home, and also disengaged.
The good little lady received her with delight, for Miss Egerton was aprime favorite with her.
"Arthur tells me that you know my girls," she said presently. "Hehints to me that you and he have a secret knowledge of the address ofmy naughty, troublesome girls."
"I do know where they are to be found," said Miss Egerton in hergravest tones; "but before I begin to talk about them I want totransact a little business with you. I know how kind you are, and howfond of helping people in distress. At the present moment a lady of myacquaintance is in great poverty; she has got some valuable Spanishlace. I should like to sell it for her."
"I adore Spanish lace," said Mrs. Ellsworthy, her eyes sparkling.
"I thought I once heard you say you did, so I have brought it with me.May I show it to you?"
"How good of you, dear Miss Egerton; let me see it at once. RealSpanish lace is of great value. Oh, and white, too! What lovelyflounces!"
"The lady to whom they belonged know nothing of their real value; shewas disposing of both shawl and flounces yesterday evening for tenshillings."
"Oh, Miss Egerton! oh, poor, poor thing! I will gladly give her fiftypounds for them."
Miss Egerton coughed, and colored slightly.
"The fact is," she said, "I do not think she ought to sell them; theyare mementoes, and belonged to her mother. Mrs. Ellsworthy, I won'tdeceive you any longer. This lace is now the property of JasmineMainwaring. She took it to a pawnshop last night, and but for me wouldhave absolutely given it away; I was just in time to redeem it. Nowthe fact is, I happen to know that Primrose does not wish this lace tobe sold; I offered, long ago, to find a purchaser for it, but shelooked terribly distressed at the idea. What I should like to do wouldbe this; in short, in short--I do not quite know how to put it--"
"I know, I know," said Mrs. Ellsworthy, clapping her hands, "you wantme to be a pawnbroker, and to lend money on it. I will, I will, withpleasure; oh, this is quite a fresh and delightful idea."
"Give me ten pounds to help the poor child over her presentdifficulties," said Miss Egerton, tears in her eyes. "Yes, ten poundsis quite enough. I will not take a penny more."
"Now, Mrs. Ellsworthy, as we have comfortably disposed of this littlematter, I want to talk to you most seriously about the girls."
Mrs. Ellsworthy bent her head to listen with rapt attention; and thetwo women were engaged for a couple of hours in most earnestconversation.
That afternoon, when Jasmine, very weary and very depressed, toiled upthe stairs to her Palace Beautiful, she found two letters awaitingher. One was from Primrose, containing very cheerful news about Daisy.Daisy was really getting better, and had even been out for a fewminutes. The other letter had not come by the post, and Jasminewondered who her correspondent could be. She opened it eagerly. Itcontained a folded sheet of paper, out of which dropped two crisp Bankof England notes for five pounds each. The sheet of paper itselfcontained the following words:--
"DEAR JASMINE:--I have found a pawnbroker who better understands thevalue of your old lace. I have borrowed ten pounds for you on it, withliberty for you to redeem the shawl and flounces at your convenience.You can pay me back the ten shillings I lent you last night when youget change; but there is no hurry. Come and have tea this evening atsix, dear. I have much to talk over with you.
"Your affectionate friend, "AGNES EGERTON."
Poor little Jasmine's delight can scarcely be conceived. She found itan easy matter to change one of the notes, and Poppy was in possessionof the balance of her money long before the evening. Her radiant faceseemed scarcely to belong to the same girl when she entered MissEgerton's room in time for that good lady's tea.
"Jasmine," said Miss Egerton, when the meal was over, and Jasmine hadexhausted her many expressions of rapture, and astonishment, andgratitude, "I have news to tell you. That dreadful man Dove hasreceived a long term of imprisonment. He won't trouble ou
r dear littleDaisy again."
"And Daisy is beginning to get better," said Jasmine. "I heard fromPrimrose to-day, and she wrote quite hopefully about her. Yes, Isuppose I am glad that Mr. Dove is locked up; it was so very wickedof him to frighten our little pet."
"I also had a letter from Primrose," said Miss Egerton. "She isunhappy because she thinks that I am at personal inconvenience for themoney which I lent her instead of that which Dove stole. I am notinconvenienced for it--I can never regret making matters a littlesmooth for you poor children. I am going to write to Primroseto-night; but before I do so I should like to have a little talk withyou, Jasmine."
"Oh, yes," said Jasmine, "I feel very humble to-night, and verythankful. I am in the kind of humor to-night when I could listen toany amount of good advice."
"Notwithstanding, Jasmine," said Miss Egerton, with a slight smile,"that advisers are never considered the most agreeable people.Jasmine, dear, I have seen Mrs. Ellsworthy to-day."
"Our darling Mrs. Ellsworthy," said Jasmine, flushing brightly; "andhow was she? Does she know that I still care for her?"
"I think she does, Jasmine, and undoubtedly she cares for you. Sheagain offers to help you, and, Jasmine, dear, I think the time hascome when you must accept her help."
Jasmine smiled, and flushed brightly.
"I do not mind," she said; "I mean I do not mind as Primrose minds,but I know, I fear that it will go very hard with Primrose."
"It is often very hard to do right, Jasmine," said Miss Egerton, "andI can quite believe that Primrose will find it difficult to accede toour plan. At the same time I feel convinced that although she willhave a great struggle, in the end she will yield to it. This is likethe 'Hill Difficulty' to Primrose, but she is not the sort of girl toturn away from it without conquering its steepness and its toils.Jasmine, dear, you three have tried bravely to help yourselves, andyou have--yes, I must say it, dear--you have failed. Primrose cannotspend her life as continual reader to Mrs. Mortlock; you see now, mydear little girl, that you are much too young to earn anything by yourpen, and little Daisy--ah! Jasmine, how thankful we ought to be thatwe have our little Daisy still with us--but Daisy must never againhave her peace of mind so seriously imperilled. Jasmine, you threegirls want two things--you want education, and you want protection.You want to be thoroughly educated, first of all, in those generalmatters which all cultivated women ought to know about; and secondly,in the special matter which each of you has a taste for. That specialtaste or talent ought to be developed to the very uttermost, so thatbye-and-bye each of you girls can take up a profession and earn herliving usefully to others, and with ease and comfort to herself. IfPrimrose feels that she can after a time paint very exquisitely andvery beautifully on porcelain, she ought to be apprenticed to one ofthe best houses, and there properly learn her trade; and you, Jasmine,whether you eventually earn your bread by writing beautiful stories,or lovely poems, or whether the artist within you develops into a lovefor making painted pictures instead of word pictures, you must formany years to come be taught to think and have your little mind andvivid imagination fed on the wise and great thoughts of others.Daisy's future we none of us can talk about, but I have no doubt shealso has her special gift.
"Now, Jasmine, what a long, long lecture I am giving you, only the sumand substance of it all is, dear, that I want to protect you, and Mrs.Ellsworthy is willing and anxious to advance a sufficient sum of moneyto have you all properly educated. When you go to bed to-night I amgoing to write very fully to Primrose on the subject."
"I wonder if she will refuse," said Jasmine, speaking in a verythoughtful tone; "she is very, very determined. You think she willregard it as a 'Hill Difficulty' which she ought to climb. I think shewill regard it as a fearful, dreadful temptation which she ought toput away."
Miss Egerton smiled, for Jasmine's sunny little face looked so graveand anxious, and there was such a disturbed frown between her brows.
"At any rate, dear," continued the governess, "you will not oppose myscheme. You will see, dear, that the greatest strength sometimes showsitself in yielding. Jasmine, dear, are you not quite tired of havingyour own way?"
"A little," answered Jasmine. "I mean," she added, "that I never againwill offer my stories to papers recommended by people like Mr. andMrs. Dove."