“At all events, if we are to do it, we must look sharp about it,” said Jack. “We must buy the things this afternoon. All the shops will be shut to-morrow.”
Without further discussion Jack and I settled that the thing should be. Saunders and Howard held back, being rather afraid of the Doctor; but, as they were not to furnish the funds, their opinion was not regarded.
Our first step was to form ourselves into a committee of ways and means, of which Jack, who was one of those fellows that always take the lead in everything, elected himself president, secretary, and treasurer. Our joint funds were found to amount to about ten shillings, but as we didn’t care to spend all our money, Jack, Willy, and I, agreed to give two shillings a-piece, which we thought would be enough to furnish a sumptuous feast. Saunders contributed half of a cake, which somebody had sent him. Greedy fellow! he had already eaten up the other half, without saying a word to any of us. Howard gave nothing, but nobody grudged him his share in the matter, for we all knew that he would have been generous enough, if he had had anything to give.
Of course the great question was what to buy with our money. Willy was very anxious to have a turkey, but that was out of the question, so it was settled that a duck should be got instead, which Jack assured us could be bought for half-a-crown, and could be easily roasted at the school-room fire. Then sixpence was to be spent on potatoes, tenpence on apple tarts, two for each of us, the same sum on sweet biscuits, and the rest, it was unanimously voted, should be applied to the purchase of chocolate drops, by way of dessert. As soon as this bill of fare was decided upon, we sallied forth in a body to make our purchases, and succeeded in bringing back the articles, duck and all, without being observed, and locking them up in an empty desk in the school-room.
Next day, you may be sure, we were in a state of great excitement. I am sure no family in England could have been looking forward to their Christmas dinner with more pleasing anticipations than we five. As soon as church was done we hastened home, and sat down with no great relish to our ordinary school dinner. It seemed lucky for us that we had something better in view, for all that was on the table was a dish of potatoes and some scraps of cold mutton. Neither the Doctor nor Mrs. Lickemwell made their appearance; only one of the maids was in attendance, and to her Jack began to grumble, more for the sake of grumbling than because he cared particularly what he had for dinner on that day.
“I say, Sally,” said he, “this is a low shame. Is this all the grub we’re to get?”
I may here remark that, by time-honoured custom, all the maids at Upton House were called Sally by the boys, who further distinguished them, with a lofty disregard for the rules of gender, as Sally Primus, Sally Secundus, and so forth. They didn’t use to like it at first, but they soon got accustomed to it, I dare say.
“That’s all you are to get just now,” said Sally. “There’s a great deal of cooking going on to-day.”
“Mother L. might have given us a plum pudding, at least. We’ll all be starved,” said Jack, winking at us.