The House in Town

"Well if people are not clean, that's their own fault," said Matilda. "But those people this morning hadn't perhaps any place to be in but their kitchen. They might not be able to help it, for want of another room and another fire."

Matilda was eager, but Norton was very much amused. He ordered some more ice cream and a charlotte. Matilda eat what he gave her, but silently carried on her thoughts; these she would have given to Maria, if she could; she was having more than enough.

Moralizing was at an end when she got to the gardener's shop. The consultations and discussions which went on then, drove everything else out of her head. The matter in hand was a winter garden, for their home in New York.

"I'll have some auriculas this year," said Norton. "You wouldn't know how to manage them, Pink. You must have tulips and snowdrops; O yes, and crocuses. You can get good crocuses here. And polyanthus narcissus you can have. You will like that."

"But what will you have, Norton?"

"Auriculas. That's one thing. And then, I think I'll have some Amaryllis roots – but I won't get those here. I'll get tulips and hyacinths, Pink."

"Shall we have room for so many?"

"Lots of room. There's my room has two south windows – that's the good of being on a corner; and I don't know exactly what your room will be, but I'll get grandmother to let us live on that side of the house anyhow. Nobody else in the family cares about a south window, only you and I. Put up a dozen Van Tols, and a dozen of the hyacinths, and three polyanthus narcissus, and a dozen crocuses; – and a half dozen snowdrops."

"Will you plant them while we are in Shadywalk?"

"Of course," said Norton; "or else they'll be blossoming too late, don't you see? Unless we go to town very soon; and in that case we'll wait and keep them."

The roots were paid for and ordered to be sent by express; and at last Norton and Matilda took their journey to the station house to wait for the train. It was all a world of delight to Matilda. She watched eagerly the gathering people, the busy porters and idle hack drivers; the expectant table and waiters in the station restaurant; every detail and almost every person she saw had the charm of novelty or an interest of some sort for her unwonted eyes. And then came the rumble of the train, the snort and the whistle; and she was seated beside Norton in the car, with a place by the window where she could still watch everything. The daylight was dying along the western shore before they reached the Shadywalk station; the hills and the river seemed to Matilda like a piece of a beautiful vision; and all the day had been like a dream.

CHAPTER V

It was near dark by the time they got home, and Matilda was tired. Tea and lights and rest were very pleasant; and after tea she sat down on a cushion by Mrs. Laval's side, while Norton told over the doings of the day.

"Which room will Matilda have, mamma, in New York?" Norton asked.

"I don't know. Why are you anxious?"

"We want south windows for our plants."

"She shall have a south window," said Mrs. Laval fondly. "And I have had a letter from your grandmother, Norton. I think I shall go to town next week."

"Before December!" cried Norton. "Hurra! That is splendid. After we get into December and I am going to school, the days and the weeks get into such a progress that they trip each other up, and I don't know where I am. And there's Christmas. Mamma, don't send Pink to school! Let me teach her."

"I don't think you know very well where you are now," said his mother smiling. "What will you do with your own lessons?"

"Plenty of time," said Norton. "Too much time, in fact. Mamma, I don't think Pink would enjoy going to school."

"We will see," Mrs. Laval said. "But there is something else Pink would enjoy, I think. You have not got your allowance yet, Matilda. Have you a purse, love? or a porte-monnaie, or anything?"

"O yes, ma'am! Don't you remember, ma'am, you gave me your pocket book? a beautiful red morocco one, with a sweet smell?"

"No," said Mrs. Laval laughing.

"It was before the sickness – O, long ago; you gave it to me, with money in it, for Lilac lane."

"Is the money all gone?"

"It is all gone," said Matilda; "for you remember, Mrs. Laval, Norton and I had a great many things to get for that poor woman and her house. It took all the money."

"You had enough?"

"O yes, ma'am; Norton helped."

"Well then you have a pocket book; that will serve to hold your future supplies. I shall give you the same as I give Norton, five dollars a month; that is fifteen dollars a quarter. Out of that you will provide yourself with boots and shoes and gloves; you may consult your own taste, only you must be always nice in those respects. Here is November's five dollars."

"Mamma, November is half out," said Norton.

"Matilda has everything to get; she has to begin without such a stock as you have on hand."

"Mamma, you will give her besides for her Christmas presents, won't you?"

"Certainly. As I do you."

"How much will you give her, mamma? For I foresee we shall have a great deal of work to attend to in New York stores before Christmas; and Matilda will naturally want to know how much she has to spend."

"She can think about it," said Mrs. Laval smiling. "You do not want your Christmas money yet."

"We shall get into great trouble," said Norton with a mock serious face. "I foresee I shall have so much advising to do – and to take – that it lies like a weight on me. I can't think how Pink will settle things in her mind. At present she is under the impression that she must not keep more than one pair of boots at a time."

"You want several, my darling," said Mrs. Laval, "for different uses and occasions. Don't you understand that?"

"Yes ma'am, I always did" —

Matilda would have explained, but Norton broke in. "She thinks two overcoats at once is extravagant, mamma; I ought to give one of them away."

Matilda wanted to say that Norton was laughing, and yet what he said was partly true. She held her peace.

"You do not really think that, my darling," said Mrs. Laval, putting her arm round Matilda, and bending down her face for a kiss. "You do not think that, do you?"

It was very difficult to tell Mrs. Laval what she really did think. Matilda hesitated.

"Don't you see," said the lady, laughing and kissing her again, "don't you see that Norton wants two overcoats just as much as he wants one? The one he wears every day to school would not be fit to go to church in. Hey?" said Mrs. Laval with a third kiss.

"Mamma, there are reasons against all that; you do not understand," said Norton.

"It's very hard to say," Matilda spoke at length, rousing herself; for her head had gone down on Mrs. Laval's lap. "May I say exactly what I do mean?"

"Certainly; and Norton shall not interrupt you."

"I don't want to interrupt her," said Norton. "It is as good as a book."

"What is it, my love?"

Matilda slipped off her cushion and kneeling on the rug, with her hands still on Mrs. Laval's lap, looked off into the fire.

"The Bible says" – she began and checked herself. The Bible was not such authority there. "I was only thinking – Ma'am, you know how many poor people there are in the world?"