A Humble Enterprise - The Original Classic Edition. Ada Cambridge
with shame.
"I'm sorry to say it is, sir," he mumbled, cringing and quivering. "Quite against my wishes--I've had nothing to do with it. It's my sister--she would do it--she's a very odd girl----"
"It was your sister who insisted on returning our cheque, was it not? I remember she wrote the note that enclosed it."
"Yes, sir. She's the eldest. She's--she's very odd."
"She is odd," said the merchant, keenly smiling. "And I should like very much to have the honour of her acquaintance."
Joey stared, doubtful whether this was joke or earnest. And the clerk who now occupied his father's place coming in with papers, the chief bade him good-morning, and he retired, much puzzled as to how that potentate had really taken the news of his (Joey's) social downfall. And his mind resumed its effort to concoct suitable explanations for his office colleagues, when they should come and ask him whether that Mrs. Liddon was his mother--from which the summons of "the boss" had disturbed him.
Mr. Churchill's mind, bent, as it supposed, upon business, did not turn out Miss Liddon as easily as it had dismissed her brother. It was taken with the idea of a girl who would not receive money, and dared to risk her little conventional title to be a lady for the sake of making an honest living; his own business rectitude and high-mindedness qualified him to appreciate a woman of that sort--so different from the swarm of idle damsels with whom he was in daily contact, who lived for nothing but their own pleasures, and
on anybody who would keep them, with no sense whatever of any responsibility in life, whose frivolities he was always denouncing, more or less, in a good-natured way, though his own dear wife was one of them. So greatly was he interested in this exception to
the rule that he presently conceived the wish to go and see her, to see what she was like. He looked at the advertisement again; the place was quite close by. He looked at his watch; it was eleven o'clock. Tea and scones were about the last things he could desire at that hour, but he might try them. She had announced that they would be good, and he did not think she was the person to make a vain boast. And Mary would probably be there, to keep him in countenance. The invitation was addressed to "ladies shopping," but gentlemen were not prohibited; if there should be any difficulty on the ground of his sex he could say he had called for his daughter. No, he would tell Miss Liddon and her mother who he was, and give them the encouragement of his good wishes in their plucky enterprise. Taking down his smart brown hat, which matched his smart heather-brown suit, he stole across to Little Collins Street in search of the tea-room.
7
CHAPTER III AFLOAT
It was discovered over a basket-maker's shop at the top of a rather dark staircase; a deterring approach, as Mr. Churchill reflected, but he rightly supposed they had not had much choice of premises. On reaching the room, however, he was surprised to see how nice it looked, and how very unlike a restaurant. It had been used to warehouse the basket-maker's stock, and had a spacious floor, though a rather low ceiling, and, like the staircase, was ill lighted for its present purpose. But Jenny and her mother had papered it with a yellow paper, and draped yellow muslin around, not over, the dim windows; by which means they had put light and brightness
into it, as well as an air of elegance not to be expected in such a place. It was the day of art muslins, and this was very pretty art mus-lin, with a brownish pattern meandering through the yellow; and it had little frills at the edges, and brown bands to draw the curtains to the wall, which had a cultured look. And, although these decorations were comparatively perishable and soilable, they had cost little, and would last a considerable time, if not for ever. The floor was covered with plain brown linoleum, that looked like brown paint, and scattered in inviting groups about it were a number of low chairs and tables in brown wickerwork, supplied by the basket-maker downstairs, who had been glad to deal reasonably in this matter as in other arrangements, with a view to mutual benefits from the amalgamation of the new enterprise with his own struggling trade, hitherto crushed by the weight of central city rents. The chair bottoms were cushioned in various pretty chintzes of aesthetic hue, and each table-top furnished with a Japanese tray, containing
cups and saucers and a little glass sugar-basin and milk-jug, protected by a square of muslin from the wandering fly. Heavier chairs and more solid tables, furniture from the old home, were mixed with these, and a capacious family sideboard bore a multitude of brown earthen teapots of different sizes. The whole effect of these inexpensive arrangements was soothing to the cultivated eye and the instructed mind.
"I wish I had known," said Mr. Churchill to himself, as he calculated the rough cost in one comprehensive glance. "I would have sup-
plied them with all they wanted at first cost."
He looked for his daughter, but she was still detained by Mrs. Earl, a lady more rushed by clients than a fashionable doctor, and he found that he was the only customer of the tea-room, and the first. His heavy step stumbling on the staircase had announced his approach, and two of the proprietors received him with an anxious air. One of these, a bent-backed, immature girl with a sharp-fea- tured face, retired to a table in a corner, where she began to sew, watching him the while; the other came forward to play the hostess with a charming dignity of mien. He did not know her, but she knew him--Joey had pointed out "the boss" to her in a hundred crowds; Mrs. Liddon, peeping from behind the screen that masked the passage to her kitchen, nervous at the approach of a lone man, knew him also, and pardonably remained in ambush to learn what he had to say. She did hope he was not one of those gay old gentlemen who were worse than the young ones in their pursuit of defenceless girls.
Jenny was looking very sweet at that moment, with the flush of excitement in her small, bright face. She had clear, straight-browed eyes, and a slightly tilted nose, and an assertive chin, which somehow combined to make a whole that nobody said was beautiful and yet everybody was attracted by; it was piquant and spirited, finely finished and full of life. Her small figure was as refined as her face, and the plain black gown and bibbed holland apron that she wore became it perfectly. She was a picture of neatness and capability as she stepped forward to receive her unexpected guest, and his business-like soul warmed towards her. Though he was not the philan-derer so much dreaded by Mrs. Liddon, he admired her as a mere woman with that part of his soul which was not business-like. She looked so sincere and wholesome.
"Miss Liddon, I presume?"
"Yes, sir."
They bowed to each other.
"Hm--ha--I must introduce myself--Mr. Churchill, my dear--excuse my freedom--I am not exactly a stranger----" "Oh no, sir!"
She was violently crimson, thinking of the returned cheque; so was he, from the same cause.
"I--I--I was reading my paper this morning--I wasn't sure if it was the same--I thought it might be--and--and I owe much to your good father, my dear--his long and faithful services--a heavy loss to the firm--there, there! I beg your pardon for mention-ing it--all I meant to say was that we take a great interest in his family, and I thought--I fancied perhaps--in short, my dear, I have come to congratulate you on your courage and energy. I see it all--I understand--I am a business man myself--I should have done
8
the same in your place, though it grieved me to have it come back--it did, indeed; I was so anxious to do something. Anyway, I thought you wouldn't mind my coming to see how you were getting on--your father's old friend--and to offer you my good wishes, and whatever assistance you will honour me by accepting. Oh, not money--I know you won't have that--but advice as to buying goods, and so on--matters in which my experience might be of help to you. It would be a pleasure to me, my dear, I do assure you."
Jenny listened with heaving breast and drooping head, and tears began to well up, overflow, and fall; seeing which, the old man took
her little hand and paternally patted it. Whereupon Mrs. Liddon rushed out from behind her screen.
Jenny received her with emotion--a swift whisk of a handkerchief across her eyes and an impassioned smile.
"This, mother, is Mr. Churchill. He is so good as to take an interest in our experiment. He has come to wish us success."
"Madam," said the old gentleman, who was thoroughly enjoying himself, "I am