The Little School-Mothers

by L. T. Meade

movesacross the field."

  "Perhaps," said Ralph, trying to be very polite and not to show theleast scrap of fear, "perhaps, gipsy lady, it might be best for me notto wait just now for your pretty house to move. Perhaps I had best come'nother day, pretty lady, 'cause my school-mother will be coming back,and she'll be wanting me."

  "Where do you live?" asked Flavia.

  "In a big school with a lot of girls. I's the only boy, and I's stayingthere till Father comes back to fetch me."

  "He must mean Abbeyfield," said the toothless crone, raising her headfrom where she was lying on a bundle of old sacks.

  She had a pipe in her mouth, and as she spoke she puffed out a volume ofsmoke.

  "Now, to think of it," said Flavia. "Is that the house, the prettyhouse, you're in? We go past Abbeyfield: we'll put you out when we getthere; it'll save a lot of time."

  "But," said Ralph, very nearly crying, and very nearly losing hismanhood, "I's not to wait in that house; I's to wait in the house of adoctor--in a hot drawing-room. Oh, please, let me out!"

  "There," said Flavia, "we're off at last. Just once across the field,little master, and then back you'll go, basket and all."

  It was exciting; with whoops, and shouts, and cracking of several whips,the house on wheels began slowly to go forward. Gipsy men ran by it,and gipsy children shouted at each side of it, and the mongrel dogs allbarked in chorus; and one little boy sat very still inside with a sad,beating heart.

  What was going to happen? It was lovely to be in a house that moved,and Flavia was very pretty. But, somehow, he was very nearly losing hismanhood, and he did think that in another minute tears must rush to hiseyes.

  Book 1--CHAPTER ELEVEN.

  THE TERROR.

  The fair was delightful. The merry-go-rounds were much more enchantingthan anything Harriet had ever dreamed about. Pattie was very generous,too, with her shilling, and that shilling seemed to go a long way.

  Pattie had made a careful calculation. A penny each to be admitted tothe fair, a penny each for a turn on the merry-go-round; a penny eachfor a visit to the fat lady; a penny each for a peep at the man with twoheads. All this fun, this intoxicating delight, could be obtained foreightpence. There would still be fourpence over. Pattie explained toHarriet as they were approaching the fair how she meant to spend hermoney. Harriet nodded. Pattie's programme was carried out toperfection.

  How delightful it was! Oh, the fascination of that rush through the airon those prancing horses! And oh--the mystery of looking at the fatwoman, and the thrill which went through them when they gazed at the manwith two heads!

  But the delight was short, and quickly over. They had not been half anhour at the fair, but the whole of their programme had been carriedthrough, and eight pence out of Pattie's twelve had vanished. Still,there were four more to spend. They might have two more turns each onthe merry-go-round, or they might buy some gingerbread at thegingerbread stall. That stall was a most fascinating one, for thegingerbread was made into all kinds of funny shapes. There weregingerbread dogs, gingerbread cats, gingerbread birds; and there werealso horses of gingerbread, and elephants of gingerbread, and--what wasmore exciting than anything else--the wonderful and handsome lady whosold the gingerbread cakes could write anything to order on them. Shehad a sort of pencil which she dipped in liquid sugar, and behold,Pattie's name could appear on the cake, or Harriet's name, or any otherthing that the girls happened to ask for.

  Should they have a gingerbread each? Oh yes, they must. Harrietdecided that she would have written on her gingerbread cat, "Harriet--the Queen of Hearts." She could get all this for a penny. She borroweda penny from Pattie, and the deed was done. She would not eat hertreasure on any account--she would carry it home with her. By and by,she might show it to the children in the old house in the country, anddescribe to them how she of all others on that special morning had wonthe heart of a little boy. She was in ecstasies over her treasure.

  Pattie also secured a gingerbread cake with a suitable inscription. Butnow there were only two pennies left. They might have one more ride onthe merry-go-round, and then they would go home. Had they done this,that which happened would not have happened, for they would have foundlittle Ralph asleep on the sofa, and Harriet would have rushed back tothe school with him before Miss Ford had time to miss either of them.But, just as they were about to leave the fair, who should come up andspeak to Pattie, but her father's chemist, for Dr Pyke kept his owndispensary.

  The chemist was a young man of the name of Frost, very much addicted toeating gingerbreads and amusing himself at fairs. He was delighted tosee Pattie; and Pattie, with some pride, introduced Harriet to him.

  Mr Frost was a fat, podgy young man, and he felt quite pleased to walkwith the little girls. With one on his right hand and one on his lefthe perambulated round and round the fair with them now.

  "What have you seen?" he asked, and when they explained, he told themthat they had practically seen nothing at all, and that now it would behis pleasure to give them a good time. He described what he meant todo, and certainly his programme was delightful. He himself would go onthe merry-go-round with a little girl on each side of him, and theywould fly right round not once, but several times; and afterwards, theywould go into a little theatre and witness a wonderful piece of actingin which there was a giant and a pigmy, and some acting dogs, and anelephant and even a lion. The entertainment was of a jumble order, butit would be intensely exciting. It would take, Mr Frost said, no timeat all. They must not miss it, however, for it really was first-rate,of that he could assure them.

  Before Harriet could even reply, he had provided tickets for all three--tickets which cost sixpence each. He really was a most generous youngman.

  "But," said Harriet, turning to Pattie, "won't this make me dreadfullylate?"

  "Late?" cried Mr Frost, overhearing her. "Not a bit of it. I tell youit will be over in no time at all. Here, take a hand each, girls, andwe'll squeeze well to the front. We mustn't miss the beginning of thefun. The fat lady comes on first of all with the kangaroo; oh, it willbe screamingly funny!"

  The next minute, they were inside the tent where the great performancewas to take place.

  They were inside with a crush of people behind them, and Harriet forgoteverything else. The entertainment was of the breathless order; beforeyou had time to recover from one astounding surprise, another still moreastounding followed on its heels. The fat lady's performance wasnothing at all to that done by the man with two heads--he really managedthese double appendages with the greatest cleverness, nodding andwinking simultaneously with both, and causing the people to shriek,holding their sides with mirth.

  "He hasn't two heads at all, you know," said Mr Frost, "but it'swonderfully cleverly managed for all that."

  Harriet and Pattie were almost sorry. They would much rather havebelieved that the man was possessed of the double head.

  "Oh!" said Pattie, with a gasp. "I was thinking what a lot he could doif they were really two heads."

  Mr Frost roared with laughter.

  "It would be convenient, wouldn't it?" he said. "He could eat with oneof his mouths, you know, and talk with the other; and he could keep oneof his brains for amusement, and one for lessons. I say, though, let'slook at this! Here's the elephant with the dancing dogs on his back!"

  Oh, was there ever such a time? It flashed by in what seemed less thana minute, but in reality it took over an hour and a half. When Harrietand Pattie, two flushed and intensely happy little girls, left the smalltheatre Harriet knew at once by the changed light how long she must havebeen within.

  "Oh please," she said, turning to Mr Frost, "we have enjoyed ourselvestremendously; but what is the hour, please?--oh, I do hope it isn'tlate: I wanted to take Ralph back to school before five o'clock."

  "Five o'clock!" said Mr Frost with a roaring laugh. Really he wasrather a noisy young man. "Why, it's long past seven. You don'tsuppose we have had all that fun in no
time at all?"

  "Past seven!" said Harriet, in a tone of horror. "Oh, oh, don't keepme!"

  She rushed away. She never waited even to say good-bye; Pattie and MrFrost both thought her rather rude. In a minute she was out of the fairand running along the road. When she had gone to the fair thatafternoon with Pattie, the distance between the doctor's house and thebit of common where the fair was held seemed no way at all. But nowHarriet thought she had miles to travel.

  At last, panting and terrified, she reached the doctor's house. Thedoor, which had been standing open in the afternoon, was now shut. Sherang the bell furiously. Oh, why had they shut the door? Every minuteof delay was