THE LAST
It was quite late when Jimmy opened his eyes the next morning, and a few minutes afterwards he was sitting up in bed, wondering how much he had dreamed and how much was real.
Had he actually got into the wrong train, and run away from a policeman, and travelled in the van, and put on the little clown's clothes, and then run away again? Had he really done all these strange things or had he only dreamed them? But if he had dreamed them, where was he? And if they were real, where had the clown's dress gone to?
As Jimmy sat up in bed, rubbing his eyes, he hoped that he had not been dreaming; because if it had been only a dream, why, then, he had only dreamed of the lady also, and he felt that he very much wished her to be real.
Why, she was real! For there she stood smiling at the open door, with a tray covered with a white cloth in her hand, and on it a large cup of hot bread and milk, and two eggs.
'I am glad!' said Jimmy.
'What are you glad about?' she asked, as she placed the tray on his bed.
'That you're quite real,' he answered.
'Well,' she said, 'your breakfast is real too, and the best thing you can do is to eat it.'
Jimmy began at once. He began with the bread and milk, and the lady sat at the foot of the bed watching him.
'Where am I going after breakfast?' he asked.
'Into a nice hot bath,' she said.
'But after that?'
'How should you like to go to see your father?' she asked.
'Do you know him?' asked Jimmy, laying down his spoon in his astonishment.
'Very well indeed.'
'And my mother too?'
'Yes, and Winnie too.'
'Is she like Aunt Selina?' asked Jimmy, as the lady began to take the top off his egg.
'Do you mean Winnie?' she said.
'No, my mother. Because Aunt Selina said they were like each other, but I hope they're not.'
'Well, no,' answered the lady, 'I really don't think your mother is very much like Aunt Selina.'
'Do you think she'll be very cross?' he asked.
'I don't think so. Why should she be cross?' As she spoke she took away the empty cup and gave Jimmy the egg. She cut a slice of bread and butter into fingers, and he dipped them into the egg and ate it that way.
'This is a nice egg,' said Jimmy. 'But,' he continued, 'I thought perhaps she'd be cross because I got into the wrong train.'
'Why did you run away from the policeman?' asked the lady.
'Because he said he should lock me up.'
'But he was only joking, you know.'
'Was he?' asked Jimmy, opening his eyes very widely.
'That's all,' was the answer, and Jimmy looked thoughtful for a few minutes.
'I don't think I like policemen who joke,' he said solemnly.
'Then,' asked the lady, 'why did you run away from the circus? You seem to be very fond of running away.'
'I shan't run away from you,' said Jimmy. 'Only I heard the policeman's voice outside the van and I thought I'd better.'
'Well,' she answered, 'if you had not run away you would have found your mother much sooner.'
'I do hope she isn't like Aunt Selina,' he said wistfully.
'What should you wish her to be like?' asked the lady.
'Why, like you, of course,' he cried, and then he was very much surprised to see the lady lean forward and throw her arms about him and to feel her kissing him again and again. And when she left off her eyes were wet.
'Why did you do that?' asked Jimmy.
'She is like me, you darling!' said the lady.
'My mother?' cried Jimmy.
'You dear, foolish boy, I am your mother,' she said.
'Oh,' said Jimmy, and it was quite a long time before he was able to say anything else.
A few moments later Mrs. Wilmot rang the bell, and a servant carried a large bath into the room, then she went away and came back with a can of very hot water, and then she went away again to fetch a brown-paper parcel. Mrs. Wilmot opened the parcel at once, and Jimmy sat up in bed and looked on. He saw her take out a suit of brown clothes, a shirt, and all sorts of things, so that he should have everything new.
Then he got out of bed, and had such a washing and scrubbing as he had never had before. He was washed from head to foot, and dressed in the new clothes, and when he looked in the glass he saw himself just as he had been before he left Miss Lawson's school at Ramsgate.
'Now,' said Mrs. Wilmot, 'I think you may as well come to see your father and Winnie.'
'Are they here?' he asked.
'Oh yes,' she explained, 'I sent to tell them last night, and they arrived early this morning. Not both together, because we left Winnie with Aunt Ellen at Chesterham, whilst father went to look for you one way and I went another.'
'Then you were really looking for me?' cried Jimmy.
'Why, of course we were,' she answered. 'We knew you were walking about the country dressed as a little clown. But come,' she said, 'because your father is anxious to see you.'
'I should like to see him too,' said Jimmy. 'I hope he's as nice as you are,' he cried as they left the bedroom.
'He is ever so much nicer,' was the quiet answer.
'I don't think he could be,' said Jimmy, as his mother turned the handle. Then he remembered what the boys had said at school.
'Winnie isn't really black, is she?' he asked.
'Black!' cried his mother; 'she is just the dearest little girl in the world.'
'I'm glad of that,' said Jimmy, and then he entered the room and saw a tall man with a fair moustache standing in front of the fire, and, seated on his shoulder, was one of the prettiest little girls Jimmy had ever seen.
'There he is!' she cried. 'There's my brother. Put me down, please.'
'Good-morning,' said Jimmy, as his father put Winnie on to the floor.
But the next moment Mr. Wilmot put his hands under Jimmy's arms and lifted him up to kiss him, but the odd thing was that when he was standing on the floor again he could not think of anything to say to Winnie.
'I've got a dollie!' she said presently, while their father and mother stood watching them, 'and I'm going to have a governess.'
Then they all began to talk quite freely, and Jimmy soon felt as if he had lived with them always. Presently they went out for a walk to buy Jimmy some more clothes, and when they came back the children's dinner was ready.
'I do like being here,' said Jimmy during the meal.
'I am glad you got found,' cried Winnie.
'So am I,' he answered. 'But suppose,' he suggested, 'that I hadn't been found before you went away again.'
Then Winnie solemnly laid aside her fork—she was not old enough to use a knife.
'Why,' she said, 'you do say funny things. We're not going away again, ever.'
'Aren't you?' asked Jimmy, looking up at his father and mother.
'No,' answered Mrs. Wilmot, 'we're going to stay at home with you.'
'Are you really—really?' asked Jimmy, for he could scarcely believe it.
'Yes, really,' said Mr. Wilmot.
'It will be nice,' said Jimmy thoughtfully, and then he went on with his dinner.
THE END