Miss Llewellyn rose and rang the bell as she spoke, and having given her orders to a very magnificent looking footman, at whose servility Hetty stared, she resumed the conversation.
‘Where are you two staying in town?’
‘We have some rooms in Oxford Street,’ replied her sister. ‘Do you remember Mrs Potter, Nell, who took Mrs Upjohn’s cottage when her husband died? Her sister lets lodgings, and when she heard we were coming to London for our honeymoon, she wrote to her sister to take us in, and we are very comfortable there, aren’t we, Will? And it’s such a grand situation, such lots of things to see; and Mrs Potter said, as it might be our last chance for many a day, we ought to see as much as we could whilst we are here.’
‘I think she is quite right,’ replied Miss Llewellyn, smiling; ‘and I should like to add to your pleasure if possible. Will you come out with me and have some dinner after your tea, and go to a theatre in the evening?’
‘Oh, Nell, we had our dinner at one o’clock—roast pork and French beans, and very good it was, I suppose, for London town, though nothing like our pork at Usk. And aren’t the strawberries and cherries dear here? Will gave sixpence this morning for a leaf of fruit that you’d throw over the hedge to a beggar child in Usk. I told the woman in the shop that she ought to come to Panty-cuckoo Farm if she wanted to see strawberries; but she said she had never heard of such a place.’
‘I think you’ll be quite ready for the dinner, Hetty, for you will find our London teas very different from country ones,’ said Miss Llewellyn, as the footman reappeared with a teapot and cups and saucers, and a plate of very thin bread and butter on a silver tray; ‘and the theatre will keep us up rather late. I suppose you have been nowhere yet?’
No, of course they had been nowhere, and Miss Llewellyn selected the Adelphi as the theatre most likely to give them pleasure.
‘Nell,’ whispered Hetty, in a tone of awe as they found themselves once more alone, ‘do you always have a silver tray to eat your tea off?’
Nell coloured. She found a little evasion would be necessary in order to circumvent the sharp eyes of her sister.
‘Not always, Hetty,’ she answered; ‘but as nobody else wants it just now, I suppose John thought we might as well have the advantage of it. When the cat’s away, you know, the mice will play. And we can’t wear it out by using it a little.’