But a glance at her face showed me she was quite in earnest.
“No, indeed,” she said. “If people are poor they must work. Indeed, rich people often work hard too, though in a different way. What’s there to be ashamed of?”
“But a shop,” I said, with extreme disgust— “That’s not for ladies and gentlemen.”
“I don’t see why, if they’re poor and could get on that way. Of course, if the boys and we two were all together in it, you may be sure Mary and I would be given the nicest part of the work,” she said, smiling. “And if we could earn enough to make father and mother quite comfortable when they get old, really not to have any bother at all and not to need to think about money, why, what would we care what we did? We’d be—” here Evey stopped to find a sufficiently strong expression—“we’d be chimney-sweeps.”
This was rather a relief to my feelings. “She knows they couldn’t be chimney-sweeps,” I thought to myself, “so very likely she’s joking about a shop too.”
And I was still more satisfied when, a moment or two after, Yvonne added: “Of course, it’s all castles in the air. I daresay,” and she sighed, “we shall never be able to do anything much, any of us—not even for father and mother. They say the best thing we can all do for them is each to be good in his or her own way. But one can’t help sometimes wishing to do something big—oh, what heaps of nice things one could do for people if one were rich! We often plan them together—for father and mother first, you know.”
“Yes, I suppose it would be nice to be rich,” I replied; “but I’ve never thought much about it,”—“Still, I don’t think going to the Colonies or keeping a shop would be ‘something big,’” I was on the point of saying, when Evey interrupted me.
“No,” she said earnestly; “it’s not being rich, it’s the things one would do. There’s all the difference;” and perhaps it was as well I had not finished my sentence.
This conversation was not the part of the afternoon I enjoyed the most, nor did it take very long. I have told it because it helps to show Yvonne Whyte’s way of looking at things, and the difference between her and me. I enjoyed much more talking about Evey’s room, and how it was to be dressed up in pink and white, and also the making plans for meeting often, and discussing the lawn-tennis ground at the Yew Trees with Lancey. It was not a very good one and had been neglected, but Captain Whyte and Lancey had great ideas about it, and Captain Whyte thanked me very nicely, though he smiled a little, when I said rather pompously that I was sure they could have our garden-roller and the under-gardener to help, when the time came for attending to it.
Just before it was time to go, Lady Honor called us all in to sing a hymn. It was to please Mr Bickersteth, who was too feeble to go to church again. It was a long time since he had heard his young friends’ voices, he said, looking at Yvonne and her brother, and their hymn should be his vespers to-day. And when I heard them I was not surprised at his wanting them to sing. Their voices were so nice, and, to my surprise, Evey played the accompaniment on Mr Bickersteth’s chamber organ quite beautifully.