Elsie's scholarship

by Emma Leslie

And after looking at it, she returned the key to the grocer, and then learned that he owned the cottage, and was not merely the agent as she supposed, and she found that he was willing to put the house into thorough repair, when he learned that Mrs. Winn wanted it for herself. The rent he asked was so much less than what she had ever paid before, that she could only wonder that it had stood empty a month instead of nearly a year.

The landlord agreed to have everything ready for them to come in by the end of March, and promised to have the garden dug and got ready for Tom to put in some vegetables.

So Mrs. Winn returned home with renewed hope, and a glowing account of the pretty cottage she had taken; and described the garden with its apple tree and currant bushes, until Tom and Elsie were almost wild with delight at the anticipation of living in the country.

Fortunately for Mrs. Winn, houses were in demand just now in this London suburb, and so the card bearing the announcement, "This house to let—" had not been in the window many hours before someone called to see the house. And in less than a week, the business was settled, and she was free to make arrangements for moving.

To the children, the whole business was a pleasure and novelty. And although Tom soon grew too tired to be of much service in the actual work, Jack Bond came to do his share, and was so strong and willing that nothing came amiss to him. He took up carpets and beat them; took down curtains and blinds and pictures, and helped to pack them. In fact he was so handy in getting the furniture ready for the railway men to fetch, that Mrs. Winn was spared a good many small expenses she must otherwise have incurred, and the whole business was a sort of indoor picnic to the young folks, who had never before known the bustle and excitement of a move.

Of course, to Mrs. Winn, who had spent a good many happy years in this house, there was pain as well as pleasure in the removal, but there was so much to done, and so little time to do it in, that there was no leisure for fretting, even if she had had the disposition to indulge in it.

To friends and neighbours, it seemed that the move was very sudden, and they wondered why Mrs. Winn should be in such a hurry to get away from the neighbourhood, for they thought she might have sent Tom to the seaside to recruit his health, and waited a little longer for work to come in. But the fact was, as one or two of her more intimate friends guessed, she had spent nearly all the little stock of money she had when her husband died, and if she had waited longer, she might not have had the means to move at all.

Everybody felt sorry for the Winns, and their hasty move gave rise to all sorts of surmises; and some even whispered that they might have got into debt during Tom's long illness, and it was because she could not pay her creditors that Mrs. Winn was going away.

Fortunately for her peace of mind, the widow knew nothing of these surmises, and she and her family went away in blissful ignorance that anyone supposed they had done a strange thing in going.

The cottage looked very charming the bright spring day when Tom and Elsie first saw it. They went into raptures over the woodbine-covered porch, and there never was such a garden and apple tree as the one they possessed now. Then there was all the delight of unpacking and arranging the furniture in the quaint old rooms, where they all agreed it looked much nicer than in their old house.