Chapter 8
Daisy and Bets arrived at the common and placed their shoes into Daisy's basket.
"Over there, Bets!" said Daisy, pointing to a muddy puddle. "We'll stamp our feet in that puddle and blacken them!"
Soon the two girls were splashing gaily about in the puddle.
"I wish I could do this every day!" said Bets happily.
Daisy laughed. "I'm sure our mothers would have something to say about that!" Soon, their feet were suitably dirty and they set off amongst the common.
"Oh, Daisy, look!" said Bets, pointing to a stall selling fresh cakes. "I'm ever so hungry. Could we get a cake, perhaps, to eat while we look for the boys? I have tuppence."
"Rather!" said Daisy and they made their way over to the table where a delicious array of cakes were laid out. Before they could even choose one, the lady running the stall shooed them away.
"Go on with you!" she said. "Pesky children!"
"But we want a cake!" said Bets in surprise.
"I'm sure you do. You'll have to pinch one from somewhere else," said the lady unkindly. "Little thieves! Hang around and take what you want when my back's turned, I'll be bound!"
"Come on, Bets," said Daisy in a low voice, seeing the younger girl's chin trembling. The lady watched them sharply until they were well away from her stall with the precious cakes.
"Daisy! How could she think we were going to steal a cake! That would be terribly wrong!" said Bets. "And we had plenty of money!"
"I know," replied Daisy. "I suppose we look ever so much like gypsies and everyone thinks gypsies steal things so they think we'll steal as well."
"But what about the gypsy children who don't steal?" asked Bets. "I think that's terribly unfair."
Daisy agreed. What a horrible woman!
"There's another stall," she said to Bets. "This time we'll hold our money out in our hand so they can see it and know we can pay."
"Jolly good idea, Daisy," said Bets. They marched up to the next table with coins in their outstretched hands.
"Go on!" said the woman running the stall, flapping her hands as they approached. "We don't want your sort hanging around here!"
"But we have money!" cried Daisy, holding up her coins.
"Picked from some poor child's pocket, I shouldn't wonder," sniffed the woman. "You just run along! Go back to your caravan if you're hungry!"
"How can people be so horrid?" sobbed Bets when they were away from the stall. "Poor gypsies! I'll never be so mean!"
"Look, Bets, there's another stall," said Daisy, pointing.
"They'll just tell us to go away again," wept Bets in dispair. "Daisy, I don't like this. Do let's go home and put on clean clothes."
"Come on, Bets. Buck up," said Daisy. "I know the lady who is running this stall. She's our cook's sister."
Bets dried her eyes and followed Daisy reluctantly to the stall.
"On with you!" she said firmly, as they approached. "Dirty little creatures!"
"Hello, Mrs Morris," said Daisy, removing her knitted cap. "It's Daisy Daykin."
"Why, so it is," replied Mrs Morris. "Child, you are filthy! What are you playing at?"
"We've been helping in the garden," piped up Bets, also removing her cap. Mrs Morris peered at her.
"Why, it's little Elizabeth Hilton, isn't it! Bless me, if you two don't look quite the urchins. What can I get for you?"
"We'll have a cherry cake, please," said Daisy. "Here's the money."
"Oh, don't you worry about that," said Mrs Morris hastily. It wouldn't do to have her sister's employer hearing about this. "I've got a nice one here you can have and enjoy."
"Thank you," said Daisy and Bets with dignity. They took their hard-earned cake to a grassy area and began eating hungrily. Presently, Bets' glance fell on a bench further along the common. On the bench were a young girl, a young boy and an enormous stuffed toy dog.
"I say, Daisy," she said. "Look at the people sitting on the bench there."
Daisy looked to where she was pointing. "What about them?"
"Do you think it could be Larry and Pip?" she asked.
"But one of them is a girl!" laughed Daisy. "I can see her long brown hair from here!"
"Fatty has dressed up as a woman before," reminded Bets.
"But why on earth would they have that toy dog with them?" Daisy asked.
"Fatty says sometimes when you're disguised, the more you stand out, the more you blend in," said Bets. "Daisy, I'm sure it's them!"
The younger girl sounded so convinced, Daisy started to believe it herself. They were soon to find out they were Very Wrong Indeed!