“Not she!—come on, Max!” Away went the pair, arm in arm, with the mincing steps they intended as an imitation of their comrades’ sedate town manners.
Frances could bear a good deal, but her soul quailed when her eyes lighted on the figures of the two boys stealing up the shop in the wake of a frock-coated person, of whom they had just inquired where they should discover “the young ladies who were buying up the establishment’s entire stock of red flannel”.
“We have not yet finished our business,” remarked Austin, while he seated himself with easy grace on an offered chair; “but we could not resist peeping in as we passed to see how you girls were getting on.”
“We have not finished either,” said Frances, regarding her brother’s demure face uneasily. “We have bought our crimson serge and our calico, but we still want scarlet flannel and red knitting-wool. Also tapes, buttons, hooks, cottons, and needles.”
“I have bought a bradawl and a pound of French nails,” said Austin gravely. “I am yet in need of a yard-measure, a few miles of string, some boot-buttons, a shaving-strop, and a packet of tin-tacks.”
“For my part,” said Max, “I require a lawn-mower, a type-writer, a bottle of blacking, and a pork-pie.”
“With these few necessaries,” added Austin, “we hope to complete the persecuted Johnson’s start in housekeeping. And—Timbuctoo! I’d nearly forgotten his wife’s mangle!”
“A stool and a blanket to be thrown in promiscuous,” said Max; “and a few yards of crimson stuff for a table-cover would be received with thanks. Ah! and we have secured a very nice jam-pot for an ink-bottle. Further suggestions gratefully acknowledged.”
“When you boys try to be funny the result is sad,” said Frances, feeling her dignity compromised by the mirth on the cadaverous countenance of the shop-assistant, who had left off serving her in order to appreciate the young gentlemen’s sallies. “Come, Florry,” continued the ruffled damsel, “let’s try Mason’s for the flannel: Miss Carlyon said it was good there.”
The petrified assistant, seeing that the stern eyes of a superior hard-by were fixed on him, glanced appealingly at the boys, but Miss Morland kept sedately on her path to the door.