Chapter XIV: One Sunday Evening

"THERE'S a letter for you, Fanny, on the kitchen table. When you have read it, I want you to go out again and fetch some cakes and biscuits for tea to-morrow. I have a friend coming in the afternoon, and she will stay to tea, of course."

It was Saturday afternoon, and Fanny had been out for some errands for her mistress, who met her at the lower street door as she was coming in.

"You must shut the cat outside when you go," said the lady. "Twice to-day she has fetched me down here with her scratching to get out."

"Yes, ma'am," answered Fanny; but she was thinking what a nuisance Sunday visitors were, and wondering what time she would be able to get out if this lady visitor was coming to tea. She wanted to go early, for she had promised to meet Miriam at six, to go and see about their new dresses, and she would go too, visitor or no visitor, if it was possible. She muttered this to herself, as she picked up her letter, which she saw at once came from her father.

She tore it open, and read the few lines that it contained, and then threw it on the table again.

"I might have known it was something like that!" she exclaimed in a tone of vexation. "Father says he is coming to meet me, to go to church to-morrow. Of course he will some about six, and how am I to be in three places at once?"

Fanny stood for a minute pondering the situation, and then went for the money for the cake, resolving to take what advantage she could of her father's letter.

She took it with her, and handed it to her mistress.

"You see, ma'am, father says he is coming to meet me, to go to church to-morrow evening. Shall I send and tell him not to come, as you are going to have company?"

"Oh dear, no! There is not time to do that, and I should not like to disappoint you both if there was. If my friend is here, punctually to her time, tea will be nearly over before you want to go out, and in any case I can manage it if you get everything ready before you go. If you leave here five minutes before the time, you will meet him at the corner of the road. I can leave the tea-things in the dining-room, for you to clear away when you come home."

"Thank you, ma'am," said Fanny; and she went off on her errand, glad to know that she would be able to go out in good time the next day, but wondering how she could avoid meeting her father on her way to Mrs. Scott's, for she had no intention of missing this appointment.

Almost at the same moment Miriam touched her on the shoulder.

"Just the girl I wanted to see!" she exclaimed. "I want you to come out a bit earlier to-morrow. Meet me at a quarter to six instead of six o'clock."

"I only wish I could," answered Fanny; "but the missus is going to have company to tea, and I may have a job to get away at six."

"What a bother, to be sure!" exclaimed Miriam. "Some of our folks are going out to tea, and so I can get away earlier. I do think it is a shame that poor servants can be muddled about as we are, we ought to be able to claim our own time and stick to it. Half-past five is your time, I know. That was why I said a quarter to six, for I thought you could walk round to my place in that time, and it would be nice to talk over things again before we go in to my cousin's."

Fanny shook her head. "I don't believe I can get away so early as that," she said. "I shall have a scramble to get away before six."

She did not say a word about meeting her father, for she did not want Miriam to see him. He looked just what he was, a respectable working-man; but Miriam's cousin and her husband were very genteel people, and would be sure to look down upon people like her father.

Fanny was very fond of him, she thought, and would guard him and herself from hearing disparaging remarks passed upon his manners and his clothes. But she did not consider the pain she would cause him by keeping him waiting, while she went about this other business.

She quite intended to see him after her visit to Mrs. Scott, but she could not afford to wait much longer for her new dress, because Miriam had noticed that her present one was shabby and short, and Miriam always looked so nice, that Fanny was almost ashamed to be seen out with her.

Miriam pressed again that she should insist upon coming out at her promised usual time, and Fanny gave a sort of half promise to do this, although she feared it would not be of much use. Still, the thought that she was being hardly dealt with easily found a lodgment in her present frame of mind, and she went home feeling she had a grievance against her mistress for having company to tea on Sunday.

The old-fashioned practice of Saturday cooking prevailed in Mrs. Lloyd's small household, so that Sunday was a very quiet day, and Fanny had very little to do beyond setting and clearing away meals; so on this particular Sunday Fanny had time to think over what Miriam had said about servants having a right to keep to their own time, until she had worked herself up to a state of surprising dissatisfaction, and Mrs. Lloyd, looking at her gloomy, sullen face, wondered what could have happened to upset her while she was at church in the morning.

"Did any one come while I was out this morning?" she said, at last.

"No," answered Fanny, in an insolent tone.

"I think you are forgetting who you are speaking to," said the lady, reprovingly.

"I ain't likely to forget that. Servants seem to have no rights in these days."

"Certainly not the right to be insolent!" said Mrs. Lloyd.

Fanny went out of the room, and shut the door with a bang.

As she sat over her dinner in the kitchen, she recalled something else her friend had told her. She was to have her wages raised in a few weeks' time, and it had been brought about by having given her mistress notice to leave, and it occurred to Fanny that she might do the same thing with a similar advantage. Mrs. Lloyd was evidently annoyed, "cross," Fanny called it, and she took care to do all that was possible to vex her through the afternoon, and when at last the lady said, in a tone of expostulation, "Fanny, you really must be more careful," she said, in reply, "Well, as I don't seem to please you lately, I'll go this day month."

"I cannot take your notice to-day, Fanny, and I hope by to-morrow you will have thought over what has happened, and be ready to beg my pardon for what has occurred."

"Beg your pardon!" repeated Fanny, in an angry tone. "That I never will, and so you need not think it."

"Leave the room at once, Fanny; you have said quite enough for to-day," said her mistress, in a firm tone, and Fanny went out, feeling somewhat ashamed of herself.

The visitor came a few minutes after five, and Fanny carried in tea and had her own before the clock struck the half-hour, and she was dressed and ready to go out by ten minutes to six.

She did not go where she was likely to meet her father, but in another direction to see her new friend, Miriam.

"You are late," grumbled Miriam; "I told you to meet me a quarter to six, and it will strike in a minute or two!"

"Well, I told you I wasn't sure that I could come," said Fanny, in a deprecating tone.

"And I told you to stand up for your rights and not be put upon."

The day had been a miserable one to Fanny, and this greeting from her friend did not make her more cheerful.

"I wish you knew my missus."

"I know my own, and they're all about alike, I expect," said Miriam.

"But now about our frocks. I want to have a word with you before we go to Lizzie's. I was there on Friday evening, and she showed me a lovely piece of stuff. It is not the colour I wanted; but it is such a lovely piece of stuff, and my cousin says it will wear so well, that I shall put up with the colour if you like it."

"I shall like it if it is cheap," said Fanny, trying to laugh; "but, as the people won't take back my watch, I shall have to be careful."

"I tell you what it is, you ought to have more money than you get. You do all the work of that house, and you ought to be paid well for it, and I should tell the missus so if I was you."

"I mean to, if I get the chance," said Fanny. "I must, if I am to have a new frock," she added.

"Well, now will be a good time," commented Miriam. "You have been there just over three months—haven't you?—and so you could easily say, 'I want you to raise my wages next month, and I shall give you notice if you don't.'"

"Is that what you said when you got yours raised?" asked Fanny.

"Something like it," answered Miriam. "Of course I am older, and do nearly all the cooking at my place, and that makes a difference. But still you ought to have nine pounds a year now, and I should tell the lady so, and that you can't stay unless she raises your wages to that."

By this time they had reached Mrs. Scott's, and were very soon looking over the patterns she had obtained for them.

"There, this is the one I like," said Miriam, drawing forward a piece of material, soft, and fine, with a small satin flower of the same colour—a rather dark cinnamon-brown.

"Oh, I do like that!" said Fanny, as soon as she saw it. "My mother would like it too, I am sure," she added.

"It is neat enough for any one to like it," said Mrs. Scott. "But the question you girls have to consider is whether you can afford it."

"You said the stuff was very cheap, Lizzie," said Miriam, quickly.

"So it is, very cheap indeed, considering how good it is; but I could not make either of you a dress for less than a pound, and I should want half the money when you had the dress, and the other half within two months."

Fanny looked at Miriam in blank dismay, it seemed an enormous sum to her.

"Suppose we wanted four months to pay it, what would you charge then?"

"Twenty-five shillings," answered Mrs. Scott, promptly. She did not attempt to persuade the girls to have dresses of that particular material, but showed them some cheaper, which she assured them would also be durable, and serve them for afternoon dresses when they had done with them for best. Fanny looked on silently, leaving Miriam and her cousin to discuss the merits of the various stuffs; but although she took no part, she was thinking and making up her mind about whether she should say she would have the brown dress, and give notice the next day that she would leave, unless her mistress would give her nine pounds a year.

When she was being served with the cake, the previous evening, she heard a lady ask if they knew of a servant who could do housework, and that she gave ten pounds a year. Ten pounds seemed an immense sum to Fanny just now, and she thought if she could only get that, she need not be so worried about the watch and other things, for with this she would have plenty of money for all she needed.

So, by the time Miriam had finished her discussion, Fanny had made up her mind to have that ten pounds a year if it was possible; and so, when Miriam turned to her, she said—

"I will have the brown dress, if you do, and I will pay five shillings a month, as I have not got much put away for it."

Mrs. Scott looked at her in some surprise. "You have thought it all out, I suppose?" she said.

"Yes; I have counted it all over, and I don't think I could do better than have the brown frock," said Fanny, decidedly.

"I am glad," said Miriam. "Of course, I can have one too; so we shall have frocks alike after all. Now, when can we have them, Lizzie?" she asked.

"Well, if you come in one day this week to be measured, I dare say I can let you have them in a fortnight," said Mrs. Scott; and then she wished the girls good night, and they went away.

It struck seven as they went up the street. "I am going to St. Peter's to-night," said Miriam.

"I want to go to St. Mary's; that is close by; and we are late now," said Fanny. Her father was to meet her at the corner of St. Mary's Road, close to the church, and Fanny hoped he had waited for her. She was not sorry that Miriam was determined to go in the other direction, and she crossed the road and looked eagerly round, feeling sure her father was waiting for her somewhere near.

She went a little way up each road in turn, and then back to the corner of the churchyard, and waited; but her father was not to be seen. Fanny went to the church porch and looked into the church, hoping to see him on one of the benches near the door, and because he was not there Fanny grew anxious and disappointed, almost heart-sick, as she looked into strange faces, and her father was not among them.

She wished now that she had come here direct, instead of going first to meet her friend. She lingered near the church until the service was over, and then looked eagerly at the people as they came out, and among those she saw the lady who had asked about a servant at the confectioner's shop the day before. She walked up the street alone, and not seeing anything of her father, Fanny decided to speak to the lady, and ask if she still wanted a servant.

The lady looked a little surprised at being asked such a question at such a time and place, but replied—

"I am wanting a servant. But how did you hear of it?"

"I was at Carpenter's buying some cakes for my mistress yesterday, and heard you tell the young woman that served me that you were in want of a servant, and would give ten pounds a year."

"Yes, I will, to a suitable girl. But you had better come and see me to-morrow morning," added the lady; and then she gave Fanny her address and walked on, leaving the girl almost bewildered by the swiftness with which her good fortune had come to her.

She gave one last lingering look round the two streets to see if she could by any possibility have missed her father coming out of church, and then walked home.

"Why, Fanny, where have you been?" said her mistress, when she opened the door.

"To St. Mary's church, where I was to meet my father."

"And did you meet him, after all?" asked the lady.

"No; I could not see him anywhere," answered Fanny.

"You were not there by six o'clock, nor yet by half-past six; for your father came here about a quarter to seven to ask if you were going out, for he had not seen you anywhere."

"Father came here?" uttered Fanny, slowly.

"Yes, he did, and seemed a good deal put about that you were not at the place to meet him. If I could have left my friend, I should have asked him to come in, that I might have had a few words with him about you; but, as it was, I could only tell him that you went out about a quarter to six, as nearly as I could tell."

Fanny tossed her head. "I want to give you warning to-morrow, and so you need not trouble yourself about me if father does," she said.

Mrs. Lloyd took no notice of this rude speech, and Fanny went upstairs to take off her hat before setting the supper-tray.

The next morning, directly after breakfast, when Fanny went to clear the table, she said—

"If you please, ma'am, I should like to leave this day month, and can I have an hour this morning to see a lady about another place?"

Mrs. Lloyd looked at her in amazement.

"Another place!" she repeated. "Have you told your mother and father what you intend to do?"

"No, ma'am, not yet; but I dare say I shall before I leave."

"Do you think your mother will be pleased to hear that you have done this without asking her advice? When you were coming here, she wisely came to see me first and judge what sort of a home you were likely to have with me. I suppose you have been tempted by the offer of higher wages?" concluded Mrs. Lloyd.

"Yes, partly," answered Fanny. "Everybody wants as much money as they can get," added the girl.

"You will learn one day that money is not everything, Fanny, and a light, comfortable place such as you have here may be worth more than higher wages with little comfort."

Fanny muttered something about "being so particular;" but Mrs. Lloyd took no notice of this, but gave her permission to go out for an hour when some of the morning work was finished.

Fanny's coolness and assurance puzzled the lady, and she wondered who or what could have effected the change that had undoubtedly taken place in the girl.

Looking back to that time, Mrs. Lloyd recalled the Fanny that first came to her—a happy, lighthearted, hopeful girl, willing and eager to give satisfaction, and then, after a few weeks of this, a change gradually crept over the girl, and she grew anxious and dissatisfied and careless, as though her heart was no longer in her work, but as if she had some secret care upon her mind that was constantly troubling her. What could it be? What could have happened in the short time she had been with her?

But there was no answer to her anxious questioning. She knew nothing of Fanny's watch, or of the way in which she spent her money. She had to remind the girl once or twice that she must keep herself supplied with house-slippers, but beyond this she had never made any complaint about her dress. Indeed, she was much pleased with her neat, tidy appearance always, and the way in which her mother had provided for her first start in life gave her great satisfaction, so that she was unusually disturbed when the girl gave her notice to leave after she had been there little more than three months.