bravant le monde et les sots et les sages,
sans avenir, riche de mon printemps,
l'este et joyeux je montais six étages,
dans un grenier qu'on est bien a vingt ans!
beranger.
the lorimers' tenacity of purpose, backed by mr. russel's support and countenance, at last succeeded in procuring them a respectful hearing from the few friends and relatives who had a right to be interested in their affairs.
aunt caroline, shifting her ground, ceased to talk of the scheme as beneath contempt, but denounced it as dangerous and unwomanly.
she spoke freely of loss of caste; damage[pg 48] to prospects—vague and delicate possession of the female sex—and of the complicated evils which must necessarily arise from an undertaking so completely devoid of chaperons.
uncle septimus said little, but managed to convey to his nieces quiet marks of support and sympathy; while the devonshires, after much preliminary opposition, had ended by throwing themselves, like the excellent people they were, heart and soul into the scheme.
to constance, indeed, the change in her friends' affairs may be said to have come, like the waverley pen, as a boon and a blessing. she was the somebody to whom their ill wind, though she knew it not, was blowing good.
like many girls of her class, she had good faculties, abundant vitality, and no interests but frivolous ones. and with the wealthy middle-classes, even the social business is apt to be less unintermittent, less absorbing, than with the better born seekers after pleasure.
her friendship with the lorimers, with gertrude especially, may be said to have represented the one serious element in[pg 49] constance devonshire's life. and now she threw herself with immense zeal and devotion into the absorbing business of house-hunting, on which, for the time being, all gertrude's thoughts were centred.
after the sale, and the winding up (mysterious process) of poor mr. lorimer's affairs, it was intimated to the girls that they were the joint possessors of ￡600; not a large sum, when regarded as almost the entire fortune of four people, but slightly in excess of that which they had been led to expect. i said almost, for it must not be forgotten that fanny had a modest income of ￡50 coming to her from her mother, of which the principal was tied up from her reach.
there was nothing now to do but to choose their quarters, settle down in them, and begin the enterprise on which they were bent.
for many weary days, gertrude and conny, sometimes accompanied by fred or mr. devonshire, paced the town from end to end, laden with sheaves of "orders to view" from innumerable house-agents.
phyllis was too delicate for such expeditions, and sat at home with mrs. [pg 50]devonshire, or drove out shopping; amiable but ironical; buoyant but never exuberant; the charming child that everybody conspired to spoil, that everybody instinctively screened from all unpleasantness.
one day, the two girls came back to queen's gate in a state of considerable excitement.
"it certainly is the most likely place we have seen," said gertrude, as she sipped her tea, and blinked at the fire with dazzled, short-sighted eyes.
"but such miles away from south kensington," grumbled conny, unfastening her rich cloak, and falling upon the cake with all the appetite born of honest labour.
"and the rent is a little high; but mr. russel says it would be bad economy to start in some cheap, obscure place."
"so we are to flaunt expensively," said phyllis, lightly; "but all this is very vague, is it not mrs. devonshire? please be more definite, gerty dear."
"we have been looking at some rooms in upper baker street," explained gertrude, addressing her hostess; "there are two floors to be let unfurnished, above a chemist's shop."
[pg 51]
"two floors, and what else?" cried conny; "you will never guess! actually a photographer's studio built out from the house."
mrs. devonshire disapproved secretly of their scheme, and had only been won over to countenance it after days of persuasion.
"some one has been failing in business there," she said, "or why should the studio stand empty?"
the girls felt this to be a little unreasonable, but gertrude only laughed, and said: "no, but somebody has been dying. our predecessor in business died last year."
"at least we should be provided with a ghost at once," said phyllis; "i suppose if we go there we shall be 'lorimer, late so-and-so?'"
"what ghouls you two are!" objected conny, with a shudder; then resumed the more practical part of the conversation. "the studio is in rather a dilapidated condition; but if it were not it would only count for more in the rent; it has to be paid for one way or another."
"there are a great many photographers in baker street already," demurred mrs. devonshire.
[pg 52]
she liked the lorimers, but feared them as companions for her daughter; there was no knowing on what wild freak they might lead constance to embark.
"but, mrs. devonshire," protested gertrude, with great eagerness, "i am told that it is the right thing for people of the same trade to congregate together; they combine, as it were, to make a centre, which comes to be regarded as the emporium of their particular wares."
gertrude laughed at her own phrases, and phyllis said:
"don't look so poetical over it all, gerty! your hat has found its way to the back of your head, and there is a general look of inspiration about you."
she straightened the hat as she spoke, and put back the straggling wisps of hair.
"there is no bath-room!" went on conny, sternly. she had a love of practical details and small opportunity for indulging it, except with regard to her own costume; and now she proceeded to plunge into elaborate statements on the subject of hot water, and the practicability of having it brought up in cans.
[pg 53]
the end of it was that an expedition to baker street was organised for the next day; when the whole party drove across the park to that pleasant, if unfashionable, region, for the purpose of inspecting the hopeful premises.
it was a chill, bright afternoon, and notwithstanding that it was the end of may, the girls wore their winter cloaks, and mrs. devonshire her furs.
"what number did you say, gertrude?" asked phyllis, as the carriage turned into new street, from gloucester place.
"twenty b."
as they came into baker street, a young man, slim, high-coloured, dark-haired, darted out, with some impetuosity, from the post-office at the corner, and raised his hat as his eye fell on the approaching carriage.
constance bowed, colouring slightly.
"who is your friend, conny?" said her mother.
"oh, a man i meet sometimes at dances. i believe his name is jermyn. he dances rather well."
conny spoke with somewhat exaggerated indifference, and the colour on her cheek deepened perceptibly.
[pg 54]
"here we are!" cried phyllis.
the carriage had drawn up before a small, but flourishing-looking shop, above which was painted in gold letters; maryon; pharmaceutical chemist.
"this is it."
gertrude spoke with curious intensity, and her heart beat fast as they dismounted and rang the bell.
mrs. maryon, the chemist's wife, a thin, thoughtful-looking woman of middle-age, with a face at once melancholy and benevolent, opened the door to them herself, and conducted them over the apartments.
they went up a short flight of stairs, then stopped before the opening of a narrow passage, adorned with virginia cork and coloured glass.
"we will look at the studio first, please," said gertrude, and they all trooped down the little, sloping passage.
"reminds one forcibly of a summer-house at a tea-garden, doesn't it?" said phyllis, turning her pretty head from side to side. they laughed, and the melancholy woman was seen to smile.
beyond the passage was a little room, designed, no doubt, for a waiting or [pg 55]dressing-room; and beyond this, divided by an aperture, evidently intended for curtains, came the studio itself, a fair-sized glass structure, in some need of repair.
"you will have to make this place as pretty as possible," said conny; "you will be nothing if not ?sthetic. and now for the rooms."
the floor immediately above the shop had been let to a dressmaker, and it was the two upper floors which stood vacant.
on the first of these was a fair-sized room with two windows, looking out on the street, divided by folding doors from a smaller room with a corner fire-place.
"this would make a capital sitting-room," said conny, marching up and down the larger apartment.
"and this," cried gertrude, from behind the folding-doors, which stood ajar, "could be fitted up beautifully as a kitchen."
"you will have to have a kitchen-range, my dears," remarked mrs. devonshire, who was becoming deeply interested, and whose spirits, moreover, were rising under the sense that here, at least, she could speak to the young people from the heights of knowledge and experience; "and water will have[pg 56] to be laid on; and you will certainly need a sink."
"this grey wall-paper," went on conny, "is not pretty, but at least it is inoffensive."
"and the possibilities for evil of wall-papers being practically infinite, i suppose we must be thankful for small mercies in that respect," answered gertrude, emerging from her projected kitchen, and beginning to examine the uninteresting decoration in her short-sighted fashion.
upstairs were three rooms, capable of accommodating four people as bed-rooms, and which bounded the little domain.
mr. and mrs. maryon and their servant inhabited the basement and the parlour behind the shop; and it was suggested by the chemist's wife that, for the present at least, the ladies might like to enter on some arrangement for sharing matilda's services; the duties of that maiden, as matters now stood, not being nearly enough to fill up her time.
"that would suit us admirably," answered gertrude; "for we intend to do a great deal of the work ourselves."
they drove away in hopeful mood; mrs.[pg 57] devonshire as much interested as any of them. it took, of course, some days before they were able to come to a final decision on the subject of the rooms. various persons had to be consulted, and various matters inquired into. mr. russel came flying down from the north directly gertrude's letter reached him. he surveyed the premises in his rapid, accurate fashion; entered into details with immense seriousness; pronounced in favour of taking the apartments; gave a glowing account of lucy; and rushed off to catch his train.
a few days afterwards the lorimers found themselves the holders of a lease, terminable at one, three, or seven years, for a studio and upper part of the house, known as 20b, upper baker street.
then followed a period of absorbing and unremitting toil. all through the sweet june month the girls laboured at setting things in order in the new home. expense being a matter of vital consequence, they endeavoured to do everything, within the limits of possibility, themselves. workmen were of course needed for repairing the studio and fitting the kitchen fire-place, but their services were dispensed[pg 58] with in almost every other case. the furniture stored at the pantechnicon proved more than enough for their present needs; gertrude and conny between them laid down the carpets and hung up the curtains; and fred, revealing an unsuspected talent for carpentering, occupied his leisure moments in providing the household with an unlimited quantity of shelves.
indeed, the spectacle of that gorgeous youth hammering away in his shirt sleeves on a pair of steps, his immaculate hat and coat laid by, his gardenia languishing in some forgotten nook, was one not easily to be overlooked or forgotten. it was necessary, of course, to buy some additional stock-in-trade, and this mr. russel undertook to procure for them at the lowest possible rates; adding, on his own behalf, a large burnishing machine. the girls had hitherto been accustomed to have their prints rolled for them by the stereoscopic company.
in their own rooms everything was of the simplest, but a more ambitious style of decoration was attempted in the studio.
the objectionable virginia cork and coloured glass of the little passage were disguised by various ?sthetic devices; lanterns[pg 59] swung from the roof, and a framed photograph or two from dürer and botticelli, watts and burne-jones, was mingled artfully with the specimens of their own work which adorned it as a matter of course.
a little cheap japanese china, and a few red-legged tables and chairs converted the waiting-room, as phyllis said, into a perfect bower of art and culture; while fred contributed so many rustic windows, stiles and canvas backgrounds to the studio, that his bankruptcy was declared on all sides to be imminent.
over the street-door was fixed a large black board, on which was painted in gold letters:
g. & l. lorimer: the photographic studio
and in the doorway was displayed a showcase, whose most conspicuous feature was a cabinet portrait of fred devonshire, looking, with an air of mingled archness and shamefacedness, through one of his own elaborate lattices in virginia cork.
the maryons surveyed these preparations from afar with a certain amused compassion, an incredulous kindliness, which were rather exasperating.
[pg 60]
like most people of their class, they had seen too much of the ups and downs of life to be astonished at anything; and the sight of these ladies playing at photographers and house decorators, was only one more scene in the varied and curious drama of life which it was their lot to witness.
"i wish," said gertrude, one day, "that mrs. maryon were not such a pessimist."
"she is rather like gilbert's patent hag who comes out and prophesies disaster," answered phyllis. "she always thinks it is going to rain, and nothing surprises her so much as when a parcel arrives in time."
"and she is so very kind with it all."
the sisters had been alone in baker street that morning; constance being engaged in having a ball-dress tried on at russell and allen's; and now gertrude was about to set out for the british museum, where she was going through a course of photographic reading, under the direction of mr. russel.
"look," cried phyllis, as they emerged from the house; "there goes conny's impetuous friend. i have found out that he lodges just opposite us, over the auctioneer's."
[pg 61]
"what busybodies you long-sighted people always are, phyllis!"
at baker street station they parted; phyllis disappearing to the underground railway; gertrude mounting boldly to the top of an atlas omnibus.
"because one cannot afford a carriage or even a hansom cab," she argued to herself, "is one to be shut up away from the sunlight and the streets?"
indeed, for gertrude, the humours of the town had always possessed a curious fascination. she contemplated the familiar london pageant with an interest that had something of passion in it; and, for her part, was never inclined to quarrel with the fate which had transported her from the comparative tameness of campden hill to regions where the pulses of the great city could be felt distinctly as they beat and throbbed.
by the end of june the premises in upper baker street were quite ready for occupation; but gertrude and phyllis decided to avail themselves of some of their numerous invitations, and strengthen themselves for the coming tussle with fortune with three or four weeks of country air.
[pg 62]
at last there came a memorable evening, late in july, when the four sisters met for the first time under the roof which they hoped was to shelter them for many years to come.
gertrude and phyllis arrived early in the day from scarborough, where they had been staying with the devonshires, and at about six o'clock fanny appeared in a four-wheel cab; she had been borne off to tunbridge wells by the pratts, some six weeks before.
when she had given vent to her delight at rejoining her sisters, and had inspected the new home, phyllis led her upstairs to the bedroom, gertrude remaining below in the sitting-room, which she paced with a curious excitement, an irrepressible restlessness.
"poor old fan!" said phyllis, re-appearing; "i don't think she was ever so pleased at seeing any one before."
"fancy, all these months with aunt caroline!"
"she says little," went on phyllis; "but from the few remarks dropped, i should say that her sufferings had been pretty severe."
"yes," answered gertrude, absently. the last remark had fallen on unheeding ears;[pg 63] her attention was entirely absorbed by a cab which had stopped before the door. one moment, and she was on the stairs; the next, she and lucy were in one another's arms.
"oh, gerty, is it a hundred years?"
"thousands, lucy. how well you look, and i believe you have grown."
up and down, hand in hand, went the sisters, into every nook and corner of the small domain, exclaiming, explaining, asking and answering a hundred questions.
"oh, lucy," cried gertrude, in a burst of enthusiasm, as they stood together in the studio, "this is work, this is life. i think we have never worked or lived before."
fan and phyllis came rustling between the curtains to join them.
"here we all are," went on gertrude. "i hope nobody is afraid, but that every one understands that this is no bed of roses we have prepared for ourselves."
"we shall have to work like niggers, and not have very much to eat. i think we all realise that," said lucy, with an encouraging smile.
"plain living and high thinking," ventured fanny; then grew overwhelmed with[pg 64] confusion at her own unwonted brilliancy.
"at least," said phyllis, "we can all of us manage the plain living. and as a beginning, i vote we go upstairs to supper."
