“Heard! My dear, he has ears; how could he help it? If you will air your ideas as to your future husband on the landing of public buildings, what can you expect? Never mind. Perhaps it’s just as well that you should understand each other from the first.”
“Don’t be vulgar, Madge. That kind of joke is in the worst possible taste.”
“’Pologise! My vulgar nature, I suppose. Didn’t he stare? He looks shockingly ill. I should say his nerves were overstrained, and he wouldn’t be too pleasant a companion. I hope he won’t call.”
“People never call in London, child, unless they have some sort of introduction or a mutual friend. Besides, the porter told me that the Hermit is quite a celebrity. Why should he call upon us? He writes articles for the reviews, and long, learned books which no one can understand. I will never try to, for one. I hope I may never, never see his face again!” cried Philippa, in a sudden outburst of passion, for it was really most trying to discover a strange man playing the part of audience on the one occasion on which she had “let herself go.”
Stephen called upon Mr Loftus as suggested, was taken to interview the eccentric Mr Spence, and eventually decided to accept the offered opening for Barney. It was not exactly the position which he would have chosen, but beggars cannot be choosers, and his uncle’s influence, backed by a personal introduction to the manager, seemed to hold out a reasonable chance of promotion. At the worst, the experience would give the boy some knowledge of office life, and prevent his running wild over London, getting into fresh mischief with every hour, as his custom was.
The half-term arrived, and with it Mr Barnard himself. The lad drove up in a hansom, and smiled patronisingly upon the sisters assembled to welcome him in the bare entrance-hall. He was nearly as tall as Philippa herself, and very like her in appearance, though his sparkling face lacked as yet her characteristic strength and earnestness of expression. So far, indeed, life had appeared one huge joke to Barney, and his radiant spirits had suffered no eclipse. He allowed himself to be kissed and hugged by one sister after another, and was then escorted up the stone staircase with all the honours of a returned hero, the while his bright eyes roved from side to side in search of adventure. He tested the banister, calculated its length from top to bottom, and offered to race Madge down with a handicap of half a minute. He pointed to the bottles of fire-extinguishers ranged on each landing, and cried genially, “We’ll start an alarm of fire one night, and watch the Johnnies rush out and smash ’em!” Then seeing the words, “Do not knock unless absolutely necessary,” printed on a card nailed to the “Hermit’s” door, he lingered behind to give such a resounding rat-tat-tat to the knocker as woke the echoes to life. The girls scuttled upstairs like so many frightened mice; but what was the good of that? They could not hide the noise of their footsteps, and once in the precincts of their own flat they one and all fell upon Barney, covering him with reproaches. How could he? How dared he? It was rude, ungentlemanly, unfair to his sisters. He must never—no, never—do such a thing again!
“Well, scarcely ever!” cried the beaming culprit. “So this is the rabbit-warren, is it! What a rummy little show! When will the feed be ready? I’m dying of hunger. Hope you’ve slain a jolly big calf while you were about it.”
When the “calf” appeared, and the reunited family seated themselves round the dining-room table, Barney wished to bet some one “a tanner” that without leaving his chair he could ring the bell, poke the fire, pull up the blind, and put a plate on the sideboard; and proceeding to give practical illustration of his words, overbalanced himself, grazed his head against a corner of the bookcase, and made an ugly stain upon the wall-paper with the contents of his overturned plate.
“Really, Barney—really! That’s not at all amusing. I don’t feel in the least inclined to laugh,” protested Philippa severely; but she belied the truth of her words by smiling lovingly on the culprit throughout the meal. It was easy to see who was going to be master of that flat!