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| 1 | 133 | 265 | 398 | 530 |
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CHAPTER XXXIX
All that day, though he waited for Mr Abel until evening, Kit kept clear
of his mother's house, determined not to anticipate the pleasures of
the morrow, but to let them come in their full rush of delight; for to-
morrow was the great and long looked-for epoch in his life - to-morrow
was the end of his first quarter - the day of receiving, for the first time,
one fourth part of his annual income of Six Pounds in one vast sum of
Thirty Shillings - to-morrow was to be a half-holiday devoted to a whirl
of entertainments, and little Jacob was to know what oysters meant,
and to see a play.
All manner of incidents combined in favour of the occasion: not only
had Mr and Mrs Garland forewarned him that they intended to make
no deduction for his outfit from the great amount, but to pay it him
unbroken in all its gigantic grandeur; not only had the unknown
gentleman increased the stock by the sum of five shillings, which was
a perfect god-send and in itself a fortune; not only had these things
come to pass which nobody could have calculated upon, or in their
wildest dreams have hoped; but it was Barbara's quarter too -
Barbara's quarter, that very day - and Barbara had a half-holiday as
well as Kit, and Barbara's mother was going to make one of the party,
and to take tea with Kit's mother, and cultivate her acquaintance.
To be sure Kit looked out of his window very early that morning to see
which way the clouds were flying, and to be sure Barbara would have
been at hers too, if she had not sat up so late over-night, starching
and ironing small pieces of muslin, and crimping them into frills, and
sewing them on to other pieces to form magnificent wholes for next
day's wear. But they were both up very early for all that, and had
small appetites for breakfast and less for dinner, and were in a state
of great excitement when Barbara's mother came in, with astonishing
accounts of the fineness of the weather out of doors (but with a very
large umbrella notwithstanding, for people like Barbara's mother
seldom make holiday without one), and when the bell rang for them to
go up stairs and receive their quarter's money in gold and silver.
Well, wasn't Mr Garland kind when he said 'Christopher, here's your
money, and you have earned it well;' and wasn't Mrs Garland kind
when she said 'Barbara, here's yours, and I'm much pleased with you;'
and didn't Kit sign his name bold to his receipt, and didn't Barbara
sign her name all a trembling to hers; and wasn't it beautiful to see
how Mrs Garland poured out Barbara's mother a glass of wine; and
didn't Barbara's mother speak up when she said 'Here's blessing you,
ma'am, as a good lady, and you, sir, as a good gentleman, and
Barbara, my love to you, and here's towards you, Mr Christopher;' and
wasn't she as long drinking it as if it had been a tumblerful; and
didn't she look genteel, standing there with her gloves on; and wasn't
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