As the cart man turned to go out after he had brought in the boxes, there was a rustling, scampering sound that seemed to come from inside the walls of the house.
Oh, whats that? cried the girls.
Its only the rats, said the cart man. And he went away and shut the door, and the sudden draught of it blew out the candle.
Oh, dear, said Phyllis, I wish we hadnt come! and she knocked a chair over.
ONLY the rats! said Peter, in the dark.
Chapter II. Peters coal-mine
What fun! said Mother, in the dark, feeling for the matches on the table. How frightened the poor mice wereI dont believe they were rats at all.
She struck a match and relighted the candle and everyone looked at each other by its winky, blinky light.
Well, she said, youve often wanted something to happen and now it has. This is quite an adventure, isnt it? I told Mrs. Viney to get us some bread and butter, and meat and things, and to have supper ready. I suppose shes laid it in the dining-room. So lets go and see.
The dining-room opened out of the kitchen. It looked much darker than the kitchen when they went in with the one candle. Because the kitchen was whitewashed, but the dining-room was dark wood from floor to ceiling, and across the ceiling there were heavy black beams. There was a muddled maze of dusty furniturethe breakfast-room furniture from the old home where they had lived all their lives. It seemed a very long time ago, and a very long way off.
There was the table certainly, and there were chairs, but there was no supper.
Lets look in the other rooms, said Mother; and they looked. And in each room was the same kind of blundering half-arrangement of furniture, and fire-irons and crockery, and all sorts of odd things on the floor, but there was nothing to eat; even in the pantry there were only a rusty cake-tin and a broken plate with whitening mixed in it.
What a horrid old woman! said Mother; shes just walked off with the money and not got us anything to eat at all.
Then shant we have any supper at all? asked Phyllis, dismayed, stepping back on to a soap-dish that cracked responsively.
Oh, yes, said Mother, only itll mean unpacking one of those big cases that we put in the cellar. Phil, do mind where youre walking to, theres a dear. Peter, hold the light.
The cellar door opened out of the kitchen. There were five wooden steps leading down. It wasnt a proper cellar at all, the children thought, because its ceiling went up as high as the kitchens. A bacon-rack hung under its ceiling. There was wood in it, and coal. Also the big cases.
Peter held the candle, all on one side, while Mother tried to open the great packing-case. It was very securely nailed down.
Wheres the hammer? asked Peter.
Thats just it, said Mother. Im afraid its inside the box. But theres a coal-shoveland theres the kitchen poker.
And with these she tried to get the case open.
Let me do it, said Peter, thinking he could do it better himself. Everyone thinks this when he sees another person stirring a fire, or opening a box, or untying a knot in a bit of string.
Youll hurt your hands, Mammy, said Roberta; let me.
I wish Father was here, said Phyllis; hed get it open in two shakes. What are you kicking me for, Bobbie?
I wasnt, said Roberta.
Just then the first of the long nails in the packing-case began to come out with a scrunch. Then a lath was raised and then another, till all four stood up with the long nails in them shining fiercely like iron teeth in the candle-light.
Hooray! said Mother; here are some candlesthe very first thing! You girls go and light them. Youll find some saucers and things. Just drop a little candle-grease in the saucer and stick the candle upright in it.
How many shall we light?
As many as ever you like, said Mother, gaily. The great thing is to be cheerful. Nobody can be cheerful in the dark except owls and dormice.
So the girls lighted candles. The head of the first match flew off and stuck to Phylliss finger; but, as Roberta said, it was only a little burn, and she might have had to be a Roman martyr and be burned whole if she had happened to live in the days when those things were fashionable.
Then, when the dining-room was lighted by fourteen candles, Roberta fetched coal and wood and lighted a fire.
Its very cold for May, she said, feeling what a grown-up thing it was to say.
The fire-light and the candle-light made the dining-room look very different, for now you could see that the dark walls were of wood, carved here and there into little wreaths and loops.
The girls hastily tidied the room, which meant putting the chairs against the wall, and piling all the odds and ends into a corner and partly hiding them with the big leather arm-chair that Father used to sit in after dinner.
Bravo! cried Mother, coming in with a tray full of things. This is something like! Ill just get a tablecloth and then
The tablecloth was in a box with a proper lock that was opened with a key and not with a shovel, and when the cloth was spread on the table, a real feast was laid out on it.
Everyone was very, very tired, but everyone cheered up at the sight of the funny and delightful supper. There were biscuits, the Marie and the plain kind, sardines, preserved ginger, cooking raisins, and candied peel and marmalade.
What a good thing Aunt Emma packed up all the odds and ends out of the Store cupboard, said Mother. Now, Phil, DONT put the marmalade spoon in among the sardines.
No, I wont, Mother, said Phyllis, and put it down among the Marie biscuits.
Lets drink Aunt Emmas health, said Roberta, suddenly; what should we have done if she hadnt packed up these things? Heres to Aunt Emma!
And the toast was drunk in ginger wine and water, out of willow-patterned tea-cups, because the glasses couldnt be found.
They all felt that they had been a little hard on Aunt Emma. She wasnt a nice cuddly person like Mother, but after all it was she who had thought of packing up the odds and ends of things to eat.
It was Aunt Emma, too, who had aired all the sheets ready; and the men who had moved the furniture had put the bedsteads together, so the beds were soon made.
Good night, chickies, said Mother. Im sure there arent any rats. But Ill leave my door open, and then if a mouse comes, you need only scream, and Ill come and tell it exactly what I think of it.
Then she went to her own room. Roberta woke to hear the little travelling clock chime two. It sounded like a church clock ever so far away, she always thought. And she heard, too, Mother still moving about in her room.
Next morning Roberta woke Phyllis by pulling her hair gently, but quite enough for her purpose.
Wassermarrer? asked Phyllis, still almost wholly asleep.
Wake up! wake up! said Roberta. Were in the new housedont you remember? No servants or anything. Lets get up and begin to be useful. Well just creep down mouse-quietly, and have everything beautiful before Mother gets up. Ive woke Peter. Hell be dressed as soon as we are.
So they dressed quietly and quickly. Of course, there was no water in their room, so when they got down they washed as much as they thought was necessary under the spout of the pump in the yard. One pumped and the other washed. It was splashy but interesting.
Its much more fun than basin washing, said Roberta. How sparkly the weeds are between the stones, and the moss on the roofoh, and the flowers!