“I’m not a thief,” said William, “I’m a Nanshunt——”
But the old man made a dash at him and William dodged and fled out of the doorway. Ginger was already half-way downstairs. The old man was delayed, first by the door, which William banged in his face, and secondly by the fact that he slipped on the top stair and rolled down to the bottom.
There he sat up, looked for his spectacles, found them, adjusted them and gazed round the hall, still seated on the hall mat. The two boys were nowhere to be seen. Muttering “Dear! Dear!” and “Bless my soul! Let me see, what was it I wanted?—Ah, a handkerchief!” the old man began to ascend the stairs.
*****
But William and Ginger had not gone out of the front door. A group of Ginger’s mother’s friends could be plainly seen passing the little gateway, and in panic William and Ginger had dashed out of the back door into the little garden, and into the corrugated iron building. A lady, dressed in an artist’s smock, a paint brush in her hand, looked up from an easel.
THE OLD GENTLEMAN LANDED ON TOP OF THE CANVAS
AND SAT THERE MURMURING, “OH, DEAR! OH, DEAR!”
“Please don’t come in quite so roughly,” she said disapprovingly. “I don’t like rough little boys.” She looked William up and down, and her disapproval seemed to deepen. “Well,” she said stiffly, “it doesn’t seem to me quite the costume. I should have thought the Vicar—— However, you’d better stay now you’ve come. Is the other little boy your friend? He must sit down quite quietly and not disturb us. You may just look at the picture first for a treat.” Bewildered, but ready to oblige her, William wandered round and looked at it. It seemed to consist of a chaos of snow and polar bears.
“It’s to be called The Frozen North,” she said proudly. “Now you must stand in the attitude of one drawing a sleigh—so—no, the expression more gentle, please. I must say I do not care for the costume, but the Vicar must know——”
“I’m a Nanshunt——” began William, then decided to take the line of least resistance and be the Frozen North. The lady painted in silence for some time, occasionally looking at William’s rather mangy skin, and saying disapprovingly: “No, I must say—I do not—but, of course, the Vicar——”