it was quite true that mrs. hopkins could ill afford to lose so large a sum as nineteen-and-sixpence out of her small earnings. during her husband's lifetime the stationer's shop had gone well and provided a comfortable living for his wife, son, and daughter. but unfortunately, in an evil moment he had been induced to put his hand to a bill for a friend. the friend had, as usually is the case, become bankrupt. poor hopkins had to pay the money, and from that moment the affairs in the stationer's shop were the reverse of flourishing. in fact, the blow killed the poor man. he lingered for a time, broken-hearted and unable to rouse himself, and finally died about about three years before the date of this story. for a time mrs. hopkins was quite prostrate, but being a woman with a good deal of vigor and determination, she induced one of her relatives to lend her one hundred pounds, and determined to keep on with the shop. she could not, of course, stock it as fully as she would have liked; she could never extend her connection beyond mere stationery, sealing-wax, pens, and a very few books, and christmas cards in the winter. still, she managed to support herself and tom and susy; but it was a scraping along all the time. she had to count every penny, and, above all things, to avoid going in debt. she was only in debt for the one hundred pounds, which had been lent to her by an aunt of her husband's, an old woman of the name of church, who lived in a neighboring village about four miles away.
mrs. church was quite rich, according to the hopkinses' ideas of wealth. she lived alone and hoarded her money. she had not been at all willing to lend mrs. hopkins the hundred pounds; but as she had really been fond of mr. hopkins, and had at one time meant to make him her heir, she had listened to mrs. hopkins's lamentations, and desired her to send tom to her to inspect him, and had finally handed over the money, which was to be paid back by monthly installments within the space of three years.
mrs. hopkins was so relieved to get the money that she never thought at all of the terrible tax it would be to return it. still, by working hard morning, noon, and night—she added to her gains by doing fine needlework for several ladies, who said that no one could embroider like mrs. hopkins—she managed to make two ends just meet together, and she always continued to send mrs. church her two pounds fifteen shillings and sevenpence on the first of every month. tom was the one who generally ran across to the old lady's with the money; and so fond was she of him that she often gave him a piece of cake, and even on one or two rare occasions kept him to dinner. tom enjoyed his visits to mrs. church, and mrs. hopkins was sure to encourage him to go to her, as she hoped against hope that when the old lady died tom would be left some of her money.
it was on a wednesday that susy sat in the parlor and forgot all about the interests of the shop; it was on that very night that the tramp had come in and helped himself to a ten-shilling-piece and some silver out of the till; and it was on the following saturday that mrs. hopkins, for the first time since she had borrowed the hundred pounds from aunt church, as she called the old lady, found that she could not return even a portion of what had just fallen due. she called tom to her side.
"tom," she said, "you must go and see aunt church this afternoon as soon as ever you come in. you must go, and you must tell her."
"of course i'll go, mother," answered the boy. "i always like going to aunt church's; she is very kind to me. she said next time i came along she'd show me things in her microscope. she has got a beetle's wing, mother, mounted on glass, and when you gaze down at it it seems to be covered with beautiful feathers, as long as though they were on a big bird. and she has got a drop of water full of wriggly things all alive; and she says we drink it by the gallon, and it is no wonder we feel bad in our insides. i'll go, right enough. i suppose you have the money ready?"
"no, tom, that's just what i have not got. i told you how that night when i had the misfortune to go and see your aunt and look after her sick child, some one came into the shop and stole nineteen-and-sixpence out of the till. i am so short from the loss of that money that i can't pay aunt church for at least another week. ask her if she'll be kind enough to give me a week's grace, tom; that's a good boy. i can't think how the money was stolen."
"why don't you put it into the hands of the police?" said tom.
"why, tom," said his mother, looking at him with admiration, "you are a smart boy. do you know, i never thought of that. i will go round to the police-station this very afternoon and get police-constable macartney to take it up."
"but, mother, the thief, whoever he is, has left the place long before now. the money was stolen on wednesday, and this is saturday morning."
"well, tom, there's no saying. anyhow, i will go round to the police-station and lodge the information."
accordingly, while susy was again trying on her lovely pale-blue cashmere blouse behind locked doors upstairs, tom and his mother were plotting how best to cover the loss of the nineteen-and-sixpence. naughty susy, having made up her mind to deny herself a new frock and new boots, had given the matter no further consideration. she was accustomed to the fact that her mother was always in money difficulties. as long as she could remember, this was the state of things at home. she had come to the conclusion that grown-up persons were always in a frantic state about money, and she had no desire to join these anxious ones herself. as she could not mend matters, she did not see why she should worry about them.
tom had a scrap of dinner and then ran off to see aunt church. he found the old lady sitting at her parlor window looking out as usual for him. she was dressed in rusty black; she had a front of stiff curls on her forehead, a white widow's-cap over it, and a small black crape handkerchief crossed on her breast. mrs. church was a little woman; she had very tiny feet and hands, and was very proud of them. she never thought of buying any new clothes, and her black bombazine dress was more brown than black now; so was her shawl, and so was the handkerchief which she wore round her neck. her cap was tied with ribbons which had been washed so often that they were no longer white, but yellow.
she came to the door to greet tom when he arrived, and called him in.
"ah, tom!" she said, "i have got a piece of plumcake waiting for you; and if you are a really good boy, and will shoo the fowls into my backyard and shut the gate on them, you may look into my microscope."
"thank you, aunt church," said tom. "shall i go at once and shoo the fowls?"
"you had best give me my money first. here is the box; you drop it in: two pounds in gold—i hope to goodness your mother has sent the money in gold—two pounds in gold and the rest in silver. now then, here is the box. drop it in like a good child, and then you shall shoo the fowls, and have your plumcake, and look in the microscope."
"but, aunt church—" said tom. he planted himself right in front of the old lady. he was a tall boy, well set up, with a sandy head, and a face covered with freckles. he had rather shallow blue eyes and a wide mouth, but his whole expression was honest and full of fun. "i am desperately sorry, and so is mother."
"eh! what?" said the old lady. she put her hand to her ear. "i am a bit hard of hearing, my dear; come close to me."
"mother's awfully sorry, but she can't pay you to-day."
"oh!" said mrs. church; "can't pay me to-day! but it's the first of the month, and she was never behindhand—i will say that—in her payments before."
"she's fretting past bearing," said tom. "she'd give all the world to be able to pay you up, but she ain't got the money, and that's a fact. we have had a robbery in the shop, aunt church, and mother has took on dreadful."
"a burglary?" said mrs. church. "now tell me all about it. stand here and pour your words into my ear. i am very much interested about burglaries. was there attempted murder? speak up, boy—speak up."
tom quite longed to say that there was. had he been able to assure mrs. church that burglars with masks on their faces had burst into the shop at dead of night and penetrated to his mother's bedroom, and had held pistols to her throat and susy's throat, and a great bare, glittering knife to his; and had he been further able to tell her that he himself, unaided, had grappled with the enemy, had wrested the knife from the hand of one, and knocked the loaded pistols from the hands of the others—then, indeed, he would have felt himself a hero, and the mere fact of not being able to return the money on the appointed day would not have signified.
but tom was truthful, and he had but a lame story to tell. nineteen-and-sixpence had been abstracted from the till. nobody knew how it had been done, and nobody had the least idea who was the thief. mrs. church, who would have given her niece unlimited time to return the money had there been a real, proper, bloodthirsty burglary, was not at all inclined to show mercy when the affair dwindled down into an unknown thief taking a small sum of money out of the till.
"why didn't you get it back?" she said. "why didn't you send for the police? my word, this is a nice state of things! and me to be out of my money that i counted upon. why, tom, boy, i spend that money on my food, rent, and the little expenses i have to go to. i made up my mind when i drew that hundred pounds from my dear husband's hard-earned savings that, whatever happened, i'd make that sum last me for all expenses for three years. and i have done it, tom—i have done it. i am in low water, tom. i want the money; i want it just as much as your poor mother does."
"but you have money in the bank, haven't you?"
"that is no affair of yours, tom hopkins. don't talk in that silly way to me. no, i don't want you to shoo the fowls into the yard, and i don't mean to give you any plumcake. i shall have to eat it myself, for i have no money to buy anything else. and i won't show you the beautiful wings of the beetle in the microscope. you can go home to your mother and tell her i am very much annoyed indeed."
"but, aunt church," said tom, "if you were to see poor mother you wouldn't blame her. she looks, oh, so thin and so tired! she's terribly unhappy, and she will be certain sure to pay you next week. it was silly of her, i will own, not to think of the police sooner; but she's gone to them to-day, ordered by me to do that same."
"that was thoughtful enough of you, tom, and i don't object to giving you a morsel of the stalest cake. i always keep three cakes in three tin boxes, and you can have a morsel of the stalest; it is more than two months old, but you won't mind that."
"not me," said tom, "i like stale cakes best," he added, determined to show his aunt that he was ready to be pleased with everything. he was a very knowing boy, and spoke up so well, and was so evidently sorry himself, and so positive that as soon as ever the police were told they would simply lay their hands on the thief and the thief would disgorge his spoils, that aunt church was fain to believe him.
in the end she and he made a compact.
"i tell you what it is," he said. "you haven't been to see mother for a long time, and if you ain't got any money to buy a dinner for yourself, it is but fair you should have a slice off our sunday joint."
"sunday joint, indeed!" snapped mrs. church.
"you couldn't expect us not to have a bit of meat on sunday," said tom. "why, we'd get so weak that mother couldn't earn the money she sends you every month."
"and you couldn't do your lessons and be the fine big boy that i am proud of," said mrs. church. "now, to tell the truth, i can't bear that sister of yours—susy, you call her—but i have a liking for you, tom hopkins. what is it you want me to do?"
"if you will let me come here to-morrow, i'll push you all the way to merrifield in time for our dinner. wouldn't you like that? and i'd bring you back again in the evening. there's your own old bath-chair that uncle church used to be moved about in before he died."
"to be sure, there is," said mrs. church, her eyes brightening. "but the lining has got moth-eaten."
"who minds that?" said tom. "i'll go and clean it after you have given me that bit of cake you promised me."
everything ended quite satisfactorily as far as tom was concerned, for mrs. church forgot her anger in the interest that the boy's visit gave her. she consulted him about her fowls, and gave him a new-laid egg to slip into his pocket for his own supper. later on she allowed him to munch some very poor and very stale plumcake. finally she gave him his heart's delight, for he was allowed to peer into the old microscope and revel in the sight of the beetle's wings with thin, sweeping plumes, as he afterwards described them.
it was rather late when tom returned home. he burst into the parlor where his mother and susy were sitting.
"mother," he said, "i have done everything splendidly; and she's coming to dine with us to-morrow."
"she's what?" said mrs. hopkins.
"aunt church is coming to dine with us. she was mad about the money, and nobody could have been nastier than she might have turned out but for me. but it's all right now. we must have a nice dinner for her. she is very fond of good things, and as she never gives them to herself, she will enjoy ours all the more."
"she'll think that i am rich, when i am as poor as a church mouse," said mrs. hopkins. "but i suppose you have done everything for the best, tom, and i must go around to the butcher's for a little addition to the dinner."
mrs. hopkins left the house, and tom sank into a chair by his sister.
"it's golloptious for me," he said. "she's taking no end of a fancy to me. see this egg? she gave it to me for my supper. mother shall have it. mother is looking very white about the gills; a new-laid egg that she hasn't to pay for will nourish her up like anything."
"so it will," said susy. "we'll boil it and say nothing about it, and just pop it on her plate when she's having her supper. all the same, tom, i wish you hadn't asked old aunt church here. she is such a queer old body; and the neighbors sometimes drop in on sundays. and i have asked miss kathleen o'hara to come in to-morrow, and she has promised to."
"what?" said tom. "that grand beauty of a young lady, the pride of the school? why, everybody is talking about her. at the boys' school they've caught sight of her, and there isn't a boy that hasn't fallen in love with her. they all slink behind the wall, and bob up as she comes by. you don't mean that she's coming here?"
"yes; why not? she's very fond of me."
"but she's no end of a howler. they say she's worth her weight in gold, and that her father is a sort of king in ireland. why should she take up with a little girl like you?"
"well, tom, some people like me, although you think but little of your sister. kathleen is very fond of me. i invited her to have tea with us to-morrow, and she is coming."
"my word!" said tom. "to think that i shall be sitting at the same table with her! i'll be able to make my own terms now with john short and harry reid and the rest of the chaps. why, susy, you must be a genius, and i thought you weren't much of a sort."
"i am better than you think; and she is fond of me."
"and you really and truly call her by her christian name?"
"of course i do."
susy longed to tell tom about the wonderful society; but its strictest rule was that it was never to be spoken about to outsiders. susy, as a member of the cabinet, must certainly be one of the last to break the rules.
mrs. hopkins came back at that moment. she had added a pound of sausage and a little piece of pork to their usual sunday fare. she had also brought sixpennyworth of apples with her.
"these are to make a pudding," she said. "i think we shall do now very well."
susy and tom quite agreed with their mother. susy rose and prepared supper, and at the crucial moment the new-laid egg was laid on mrs. hopkins's plate. it takes, perhaps, a great deal of poverty to truly appreciate a new-laid egg. mrs. hopkins was delighted with hers; she thought tom the noblest boy in the world for having denied himself in order to give it to her. tears filled her tired eyes as she thanked god for her good children.
susy and tom watched her as she ate the egg, and thought how delicious it must taste, but were glad she had it.
the following day dawned bright and clear, with a suspicion of frost in the air. it was, as tom expressed it, a perfect day. susy went to church with her mother in the morning, the dinner being all prepared and left to cook itself in the oven. tom started at about eleven o'clock on his walk to the tiny village where mrs. church lived.
as soon as susy returned from her place of worship she helped her mother to get the little parlor ready. she put some autumn leaves in a jug on the center of the table. her mother brought out the best china, which had not been used since her husband's death. the best china was very pretty, and susy thought that no table could look more elegant than theirs. the best china was accompanied by some quite good knives and forks. the forks were real silver; mrs. hopkins regarded them with pride.
"if the worst—the very worst—comes," she said to susy, "we can sell them; but i cling to them as a piece of respectability that i never want to part from. your dear father gave them to me on our wedding-day—a whole dozen of beautiful silver forks with the hall-mark on them, and his initials on the handle of each. i want them to be tom's some day. silver should always be handed on to the eldest son."
susy felt that she was almost worthy of kathleen's friendship as she regarded the silver forks.
"you must never part with them, mother," she said—until tom is married. then, of course, they will belong to him."
"you are a good little girl, susy," said her mother. "of course, there never was a boy like tom. it was sweet of him to give up his egg to me last night."
having seen that the table was in perfect order, and that the dinner was cooking as well as dinner could in the oven, mrs. hopkins went upstairs to put on a lace collar and a neat black silk apron.
meanwhile susy had locked herself into her own room. the crowning moment of her life had arrived. she had made up her mind that she would wear her new blouse at dinner that day. susy's stockings were coarse, and showed darns here and there; susy's shoes were rough, and could not altogether hide the disfiguring patches on the toes of each; susy's skirt was dark-blue serge, fairly neat in its way. altogether susy from her waist down was a very ordinary little girl—the little daughter of poor people; but from her waist up she was resplendent.
"oh! if i could only show my sweet, sweet little badge," she thought, "it would make me perfect. but i daren't. the queen commands that it should be hidden, and the queen's commands must be obeyed."
susy slipped into her blouse. she fastened it; she put a belt round her waist. she curtsied before her little glass. she bobbed here; she bobbed there. she looked at herself front view, then over her shoulder, then, with a morsel of glass, at her back; she surveyed herself, as far as the limited accommodation of her room afforded, from every point of view. finally, with flushed cheeks and a very proud expression on her face, she tripped downstairs. the pale-blue cashmere blouse, with its real lace and embroidered trimmings, might have been worn by any girl, even in the highest station of life.
mrs. hopkins was busy in the kitchen. she called to susy:
"come and hold the vegetable dish, child. i hear tom pushing aunt church in at the gate; i know he is doing it by the creak of the bath-chair. there never was a bath-chair that creaked like that. hold this while i—why, sakes alive, susy! wherever did you get—"
"oh, it's my new blouse, mother."
"your new what?"
"what you see, mother—my new blouse. don't you admire it?"
mrs. hopkins was so stunned that she could not speak for a moment. her face, which had been quite florid, turned pale. she suddenly put up her hand and caught susy by the arm.
"oh, mother, don't!" said the little girl. "your hand isn't clean. oh, you have made a stain! oh, mother, how could you?"
"run upstairs at once, child, and take it off. for the life of you don't let her see it; she'd never forgive me. it isn't fit for you, susy; it really isn't. wherever did you get it from? where did you buy it?"
now susy had really no intention of making a secret with regard to the blouse. she meant to tell her mother frankly that it was a present from miss kathleen o'hara, but mrs. hopkins's manner and words put the little girl into a passion, and she was determined now not to say a word.
"it is my secret," she said. "i won't tell you how i got it, nor who gave it to me. and i won't take it off."
just then there were voices, and aunt church called out:
"where are you, mary hopkins? why don't you show yourself? fussing over fine living, i suppose. oh, there is your daughter. my word! fine feathers make fine birds.—come over and speak to me, my dear, and help me out of this chair. now then, give me your hand. be quick!"
susy put out her hand and helped mrs. church as well as she could out of the bath-chair. tom winked when he saw the splendid apparition; then he stuck his tongue into his cheek, and coming close to his sister, he whispered:
"wherever did you get that toggery?"
"that's nothing to you," said susy.
mrs. church glanced over her shoulder and looked solemnly at susy.
"it's my opinion," she said, speaking in a slow, emphatic, rather awful voice, "that you are a very, very bad little girl. you will come to no good. mark my words. i prophesy a bad end for you, and trouble for your unfortunate mother. you will remember my words when the prophecy comes true. help me now into the parlor. i cannot stay long, but i will have a morsel of your grand dinner before i leave."
