A Houseful of Girls | Page 7

Nan, is
painful to hear. I think I shall write down some of your sentences and
give them to you to parse. Then perhaps you may realise how they

sound! A sale for the Mission! That is an ambitious idea. How do you
propose to get together enough work to fill a single stall, much less
three or four?"
"There are five months before July, and we would work like niggers all
the time. Nan would carve, we would sew, all our friends would help,
and we would make money by tea and refreshments. Really and truly,
we could do very well, if you would only say `Yes'."
"And we should so enjoy it! It's horrid having nothing to look forward
to; and if there was this in prospect, we should be busy and occupied,
and the wet days wouldn't seem half so long!"
"Now, let us understand each other," said Mrs Rendell briskly. "Is this
scheme proposed for your own amusement, or for the good of the
Mission? One says one thing, one another, and I can't make up my
mind whether I am asked to consent to a charity or to a novel form of
garden- party. I should like to have that point settled before we go any
further. Are you thinking of yourselves or your neighbours?"
Silence. The sisters looked at one another askance. Elsie sighed and
shook her head, Agatha flushed to the roots of her hair, only Nan
retained her composure, and said daringly--
"Both, mother. We began by saying that we should like to give a
contribution, but we had so little money that it seemed hardly worth
while sending it; and then the sale was suggested. The first idea was to
help the Mission, but we did think that it would be good fun for
ourselves as well! There is no harm in that, is there? You have said lots
of times that you love cheerful givers, and it must be better to do a
thing willingly than grumbling all the time. Do people who get up
bazaars never think of the fun, and the dresses, and the meeting with
their friends, but only just of the charity for which they are working?
Oh, mother, I don't believe they do! I've heard you say yourself--"
"Nan, Nan, Nan! I object to be quoted! It is dreadful to have an
audience of six girls swallowing every word, and bringing them up in
judgment on the first convenient opportunity!" Mrs Rendell showed her

pretty teeth in a smile of amusement, and returned to the subject in
hand with suspicious haste. "Well, you are honest, at any rate, and so
long as you keep the idea of helping others to the fore, and don't allow
it to be crowded out by the thought of your own enjoyment, I don't see
anything to object to in your scheme. No; I don't give my consent yet!
You must think it over quietly for a week, and be quite sure of your
own minds. A sale would involve more work than you think; for you
will have to give up time and money and do the thing thoroughly, if
you once take it in hand. I will promise nothing to-night; for I wonder
how many times you have come to me brimming over with enthusiasm
about some new plan, and how often it has collapsed like a bubble in a
couple of days! You are such changeable children!"
"Oh, Mummy, come! Call things by their nice names," pleaded Nan.
"It's not fickleness--it's fertility of imagination; it's not a collapse--it's
only a fresh beginning! But we really mean it this time, and you mean
to say `Yes,' too. I know you do; so nothing now remains but to talk it
over with Kitty in the morning."
"Ah, yes! Until Kitty has been consulted nothing can be called certain,"
said Mrs Rendell, smiling again; and as she spoke she lifted her head in
a listening gesture, and pushed her stool from the fire. She had heard
the opening of a door, and knew that her husband had finished his
after-dinner cigar and was on his way to the drawing-room; and the
next moment he appeared on the threshold, looked round the group by
the fire, and threw himself in a chair by Nan's side.
"Well, Mops!" The big hand descended on the girl's head, and ruffled
the locks which had been so carefully put in order, while she turned up
her face with a beaming smile, for there was a special bond of union
between herself and her father, and they aided and abetted each other in
mischief like a couple of merry children. "Well, Mops, how goes it?
What pranks have you been up to to-day?"
"Oh, father, none at all.