by L. T. Meade
CHAPTER LI.
A LETTER.
A morning or two after this, when Daisy had greatly advanced towardsconvalescence, and was sitting up in Hannah's tiny little sitting-roomto partake of a very dainty little breakfast, Primrose received a longletter from Miss Egerton. This was what it contained:--
"MY DEAR PRIMROSE,
"You of course know that that wicked man Dove has received thesentence which he so richly deserves. Alas, we cannot get back all thestolen money, but we must manage without it, dear, and you are nevereven to talk of repaying me for the furnishing of dear little Daisy'sPalace Beautiful. It has been a joy to me to have you, dear, and Ihope you will be able to bring Daisy back with you, and to live herein peace and comfort next winter. Dear Primrose, it is more and moreevident to me that young girls should not venture to come to Londonalone. You showed much bravery in your undertaking; but, my deargirl, the pitfalls you exposed yourselves to were awful tocontemplate. I don't want to make you unhappy, dear, after all youhave suffered with regard to Daisy, but I must now tell you of alittle adventure which our poor dear Jasmine has had. You know howvery anxious she has been to see herself in print. Of course, I couldnot conscientiously encourage her, for although she may have talent(this I am not prepared to say), yet she is a great deal too young tohave anything printed. All books worth anything should teach, andsurely our dear little girl is only at the age to be taught herself.
"Well, Primrose, the little maid was fired with the strongestambition. She wrote her novel in secret, and one day, accompanied bythat good-natured Poppy Jenkins and sweet little Daisy, wentCitywards, and simply plunged--for I can use no other word--into theunknown and to me rather awful realm of publishers.
"Poor child, of course none of the good houses would even look at herimmature productions; but she was taken in by a man who professedhimself to be the editor of a monthly paper--_The Joy-bell_ was itssilly title. On an understanding that her story was to be printed inthe pages of _The Joy-bell_--of course I've never seen the paper, andshould not dream of reading anything so rubbishy--poor Jasmine wasinduced to subscribe two pounds five shillings, or, in other words, toundertake to buy one hundred copies of _The Joy-bell_. Of course sheimagined that her printed words would immediately bring her fame. Shepaid her money, and looked out for her story."
"Where did she get the money from?" thought the anxious reader.
"Primrose, how wrinkled up your brows are;" called out little Daisy.
Primrose sighed, and resumed her perusal of the closely-writtensheets.
"On the very evening our little Daisy ran away Jasmine received herfirst proofs. They were barbarously printed on wretched paper, but thepoor child was in such trouble then that she scarcely noticed them.Afterwards she did read them with care, and was surprised to find whata very small portion of her story had been printed.
"You know that I was unexpectedly detained in the country by theserious illness and death of my poor cousin. Jasmine was not doing aswell as we supposed by her profession of dressing dinner-tables. Thedear child was determined not to ask help from any one, not even fromyou, Primrose, and she made a valiant effort to support herself on hertiny earnings. Alas, her purse was all too soon emptied, and she hadalso upon her the awful load of debt, for Poppy Jenkins it seems, lenther the money to get that rubbishy story published. In her despair shethought of _The Joy-bell_, and went off to see the editor.
"She was met at the office (poor child, how she could venture therealone is a mystery to me) with the intelligence that _The Joy-bell_had ceased to exist, and the editor had decamped with poor Poppy'swages.
"Luckily I came home that evening, and found your poor little sisterin sad trouble. I am thankful to say I have been able to relieve herpresent necessities without the slightest inconvenience to myself.Jasmine has been greatly shaken, but she is better again now, and ismost anxious that you should not be troubled. I only tell you thismuch, dear Primrose, because I consider it my bounden duty that youshould know how matters really stand. Rest happy about Poppy; hermoney has been returned to her, and Jasmine has sufficient for herpresent necessities. On second thoughts, I had better perhaps let youinto my little secret. I have borrowed ten pounds for Jasmine on thatvaluable Spanish lace of her mother's. Do not imagine that the lace isgone; it will be returned to Jasmine whenever she can refund themoney. It was necessary, dear Primrose, to take it, and I acted as Iam sure you would think right in the matter. Poppy had to be paid herwages.
"Now, dear Primrose, I want to talk with you very seriously on anothermatter. You must own, dear, that though you have tried bravely youhave not yet, any of you, succeeded in earning your living. It isalmost a year since you began to try, and you have made, I fear, butsmall headway. You, Primrose, have done best, and have made fewermistakes than your sisters, but even you would not care to spend allyour life in continual reading to Mrs. Mortlock. Jasmine can only earna precarious and uncertain living by dressing dinner-tables. Ofcourse, no one even expects dear little Daisy to contribute to thefamily purse at present, but at the same time she need not put us intoterrible frights, nor be in the power of wicked and designing people.My dear girls have had a trial of their own way; and now I think theyought to take the advice of those older and wiser than themselves.
"If, dear Primrose, you want to earn your living well--and nothingmakes a woman braver and better than being able to supportherself--you must be educated to take up some one profession in anefficient manner. Money must be spent for this purpose, and you mustnot be too proud to accept money from those who really love you. Ihave been to see Mrs. Ellsworthy, and she and I had a long, long talkabout you girls. She is full of kindness, and she really and trulyloves you. It would be worse than folly, it would be wicked, to throwsuch friendship away. Mrs. Ellsworthy tells me that she has beenconsulting your old friend Mr. Danesfield about you. Both he and Mrs.Ellsworthy are arranging plans which they trust you will all listen towith patience. These plans shall be fully disclosed to you on yourreturn to town, but I may as well mention here that it will beabsolutely necessary that you should give up your present lives, andshould enter seriously on the great work of education. Money must bespent for this object; but when you are able to earn well, bye-and-byeit will be in your power to repay the money to the kind friends whosehappiness it is now to lend it to you.
"Dear Primrose, "I am, yours affectionately, "AGNES EGERTON."
There was much in this letter to pain Primrose, and a year before shemight have torn it up and determined in no way to be guided by it; buta year had brought her some very strange and some very sadexperiences. She was troubled and shocked to think that Jasmine shouldhave taken poor Poppy's hard earnings. She was deeply distressed atowing herself so much to Miss Egerton, and now also so large a debt toArthur Noel. She had worked hard, and had done wonderfully wellconsidering, but nevertheless at the present moment, owing to adversecircumstances, she was plunged in debt in many directions, and sawlittle hope of repaying what she owed. Life seemed very difficult toPrimrose just then, and hot tears rose to her eyes.
Should she go still farther in debt, and give up the great struggle tobe independent? Oh, no, she could not--she could not. Her pride roseup in rebellion; her passionate longing to be free and her ownmistress, to be beholden to no one for the necessaries of life, wastoo strong to be easily crushed. Better the dullest life, better be a"continual reader" all her days than take the money of strangers. Thiswas her feeling, and it grew so strong moment by moment, that shemight have sat down to answer Miss Egerton's letter there and then butfor a rather innocent little remark made by Daisy.
"Dear Primrose, I forgot it in all the other great trouble, but I dowant to send fifteen shillings as soon as possible to dear good Poppy.She lent me fifteen shillings to buy a single third to come toRosebury, and I forgot all about it. Please, Primrose, try and spareme fifteen shillings to send to Poppy."
"So you too are in debt, Daisy," said Primrose. "Oh, dear, what shallI do? Daisy, dear,
forgive me, I ought not to mind anything now youare growing better, but my heart is heavy, and I feel almost crushed.Yes, Daisy, dear Poppy must have her money. I won't write to MissEgerton until to-morrow."
Here Primrose wiped some tears from her sweet brown eyes, but she tookgood care not to allow Daisy to see that she was crying.