diff options
29 files changed, 6474 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/18226-8.txt b/18226-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..634c95f --- /dev/null +++ b/18226-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2124 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of My Young Days, by Anonymous + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: My Young Days + +Author: Anonymous + +Illustrator: Paul Konewka + +Release Date: April 22, 2006 [EBook #18226] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MY YOUNG DAYS *** + + + + +Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + +[Illustration: TAKE MINE!] + + * * * * * + +MY YOUNG DAYS. + +BY THE +AUTHOR OF "EVENING AMUSEMENT," "LETTERS EVERYWHERE," ETC., ETC. + +_WITH TWENTY ILLUSTRATIONS BY PAUL KONEWKA._ + +NEW YORK: +E. P. DUTTON & CO., 713, BROADWAY. +LONDON: SEELEY, JACKSON, & HALLIDAY. +1872. + + * * * * * + +[Illustration: THE MITTENS.] + + * * * * * + +CONTENTS. + + PAGE + +I.--HOME SICKNESS 1 + +II.--UNCLE HUGH'S STORY 10 + +III.--THE LITTLE STOWAWAY 21 + +IV.--MY HOME, AND WHAT IT IS LIKE 33 + +V.--LITTLE COUSINS 46 + +VI.--WHAT ABOUT LESSONS 59 + +VII.--HURRAH FOR THE HOLIDAYS! 76 + +VIII.--THE COTTAGE ON THE CLIFF 90 + +IX.--SUSETTE AND HER TROUBLES 108 + +X.--AUTUMN DAYS 123 + +XI.--GOOD-BYE TO BEECHAM 137 + + * * * * * + +MY YOUNG DAYS. + + + + +I. + +_HOME SICKNESS._ + + +"I want to go home!" + +How many times in my life, I wonder, have these words come rushing up +from the very bottom of my heart, tumbling everything out of the way, +never listening to reason, never stopping for thought? How many times +since that dreary afternoon in the great, big drawing-room at +grandmamma's? And, oh dear me! what miserable heartache comes before +that fearful want! Oh, grown-up people, don't you know how sour +everything tastes, and how yellow everything looks, and how sick +everything makes one, when one wants to go home? + +So it was that one wretched day. How well I remember it all! The large, +large drawing-room so full of cushions, couches, easy-chairs, little +tables covered with funny knick-knacks, marble-slabs and more +knick-knacks, beautiful fire-screens, large mirrors, soft fur lying +about on the floor, and many-coloured antimacassars on the chairs. By +and by, all these wonders had happy memories pinned on to them, of +uproarious games with merry little play-fellows. Now, I was all alone, +and very lonely, in it all. True, there was grandmamma nodding in her +easy-chair, in the firelight, on one side, and there was Uncle Hugh +reading the "Times" by the same light on the other. But what were either +of them to the little tired stranger on the low stool between them? Once +grandmamma's eyes had opened just to look at me, and say, "Making pretty +pictures of the red coals, my dearie?" + +And Uncle Hugh had answered, "Yes, to be sure; dreaming of the King of +Salamanders!" + +And they went to sleep again or went on reading, and the little company +smile faded away from my face, and I went back to those very real dreams +of the nursery at home, and baby there, and little brother, and papa and +mamma, and the long time ago, hours and hours ago! when I said good-bye, +and Bobbie kissed his hand out of window, and the carriage took me +off--a happy little woman, really going in the puff-puff! Oh, how could +I ever have felt so happy then and be so miserable now? Had I ever +thought that I was coming away from them all, with nobody at all but +Jane, the new nursemaid, to take care of me? Had I ever thought how +_quite_ alone I should be, never able to find my way in this great, big +house, sure to get lost in some of the passages? And how could I ever go +to sleep without Bobbie close by, and wouldn't Bobbie cry for me at +home? And oh, nurse wouldn't be there to tuck me up, and perhaps +grandmamma wouldn't like the candle left! And who would give me my +good-night kiss like,--like,--oh, oh, like----But it would come, that +great big sob, it wasn't any use to choke it back! And, when it had +come, of course, it was all over with me, and there was nothing for it +but to cry out just as if I was not in that grand drawing-room-- + +"I want to go home! I want, oh, I do want mamma!" + +What a disturbance that cry of mine did make, to be sure! Grandmamma was +wide-awake in a moment, looking very much distressed, and laying her +hand on the bell. This troubled me very much; for hadn't Jane told me +when she brushed my hair and made me tidy, that I was to go down and be +a good girl, "and do things pretty" in the drawing-room, and would she +scold me if I was sent away for crying and making a noise? But Uncle +Hugh came to my rescue, threw away his paper, and cuddled me up in his +great strong arms almost like papa. And he showed me his watch, and made +it strike, and then began to show me all kinds of wonders about the +room: little tiny black men under a glass case, small china monkeys, +cats and frogs, and funny shells and fishes, and snakes' skins, and +lots of other things. And after that we came back to the easy-chair, and +he sang me sailors' songs, and told me all about "The House that Jack +built!" + +[Illustration: THE CAT THAT WANTED THE GOOSE.] + +"Little woman," he said at last, "did you ever hear of 'The Goose that +Jack killed?'" and then he sang in his funny way, "This is the goose +that Jack killed; and this is the cat that wanted the goose that Jack +killed; and this is the dog that chased the cat that wanted the goose +that Jack killed; and this is the thief that cheated the dog that chased +the cat that wanted the goose that Jack killed; and this is the dream +that haunted the thief that cheated the dog that chased the cat that +wanted the goose that Jack killed; and this"-- + +But "Good night, Uncle Hugh, there's Jane come to fetch Miss Sissy to +her tea, upstairs in the nursery." + + + + +II. + +_UNCLE HUGH'S STORY._ + + +Yes, tea alone in the nursery, that strange room that looked as if it +hadn't been a nursery for a great many years, and was as queer and +awkward as an old woman trying to look young again. No clatter of spoons +to make baby laugh, no chatter of childish voices, only little me, all +alone with Jane--little me, so puzzled and strange and bewildered in the +new place! Perhaps Jane thought me dull, for she talked away fast +enough, about that dear old lady, my grandmamma, and about the beautiful +place we were in, and what if Master Bobbie should grow up some day to +find it all his own, and be the lord of it all. I didn't care much if he +did; I only wanted him now, little boy as he was, to put his fat arms +round my neck, for I was "little sister" to nobody here; it was mere +mockery calling me "Miss Sissy" all the time. Perhaps Jane heard the +sigh, for she stopped afterwards in the middle of her long story about +the little cousins from over the sea, that were coming here in a day or +two. She had me on her lap, and she was just taking off my shoes and +socks, but she drew my head to her shoulder, and told me that I had +"Janie-panie" with me, who was always going to take care of me all the +time. I was very tired, and my eyes went shut on the pillow after that, +before they had time to cry home-sick tears. And next day there were so +many new things to see; two little puppies to make friends with, beside +the parrot and pussy. + +But I mustn't begin to tell you all the things that happened that day. +You see, I have made quite a long story of my first evening, so you must +try and fancy all about the walk in the park with Jane, and the drive +with Grandmamma to the town, and the toy-shop, and what we bought there. + +When we came home it was my tea-time; and after that Jane changed my +frock, and did my hair, and took me down to dessert, in the dining-room. +Ah, then the shy fit came on, and I bent my head very gravely to take +the sweet bits off Uncle Hugh's fork, I remember. But when he had +pushed back his chair, given his arm to grandmamma, and his hand to me, +and taken us into the drawing-room--then, while he made me nestle down +on his knee in the soft easy-chair, all my shyness went away at the look +of his merry eyes. + +"Now for the goose that Jack killed," he said; and then and there began +the funniest story you ever heard. Only I can't tell it in the funny +words and with the merry, twinkling glances he gave me. + +[Illustration: THE DOG THAT CHASED THE CAT.] + +It was when Uncle Hugh was a middy, and he had been sailing in a great +big ship ever so long, till at last they came to some foreign country, I +don't know where. Well, Uncle Hugh and his friend Jack Miller went +roaming about, very glad to get off the sea. They took possession of a +little empty hut on the beach, and spent some of the time there, and +some of the time roaming about on the hills. Now it chanced, one day, +that they saw a flock of wild geese flying over the shore. Jack had a +gun with him, and he instantly shot one of these geese. Uncle Hugh says +they had had so much salt meat at sea, that they smacked their lips to +think of a nice fat goose for dinner. So they carried it off to their +hut, and then they pulled off all the feathers one by one, and made it +quite ready to cook. What funny cooks they must have been! But it wasn't +quite time to roast it, so they tied it up by a string to the door and +went away, leaving the captain's dog, Neptune, to watch it. + +[Illustration: THE THIEF THAT STOLE THE GOOSE.] + +Now, Nep was a very funny dog--a nervous dog, Uncle Hugh called him--and +he was quite afraid something would happen. By and by, poor pussy came +to have a peep at the goosey-gander, and she climbed up the steps on +tip-toe just to look. Nep watched her, and didn't feel easy in his mind, +and when poor pussy just stretched forward her head (because she was a +little short-sighted, I dare say), Nep could bear it no longer. He gave +a great loud bark, and flew along the road after the wretched, flying +cat. Silly dog! while he was gone after puss, and just as he had his +fore-paws quite over her back, up comes a sly thief to the hut door, +quietly unhooks the bird, and runs off the other way, with its head +hanging over his shoulder. "And, so, you see, Sissy," said Uncle Hugh +in his funnily grave way, "poor Jack and I came back to find our dinner +all gone!" But they got scent of the thief, and they caught him and shut +him up in their little hut, and locked him in, and left him with nothing +but bread and water. "For there was no policeman there, Sissy; we had to +play policemen ourselves." + +[Illustration: THE DREAM THAT HAUNTED THE THIEF.] + +And there they left him all night. And the poor thief thought about his +little hungry children at home, till he fell asleep and dreamt (I wonder +how Uncle Hugh knew that?) that he saw the goose all smoking hot, gravy +and all, and a knife and fork all ready to cut it up. + +But they didn't mean to be cruel--I don't believe Uncle Hugh could be! +So they had a nice, hot supper themselves on board the big ship, and +plenty of fun, and lots of merry songs. And then they cut three big +slices and put them aside. + +And don't you think the thief-man must have been surprised when he saw +the nice breakfast that Jack brought him next morning? I think Uncle +Hugh said that he wrapped it all up and took it home to his children. +How queer he must have felt as he slunk off, the sailors standing round +and giving him three cheers and plenty of jokes! + + + + +III. + +_THE LITTLE STOWAWAY._ + + +One of my earliest friends at the Park was a little French boy, a kind +of page of my uncle's. Shall I tell you about him? You will think it +very funny that a servant-boy should be allowed to be my friend, so I +must explain. + +Little Gus, as my uncle called him--though his real name was +Gustave--was altogether a little foreigner. He couldn't talk English at +all properly; in fact, the greater part of our conversation was carried +on by signs. He was very much afraid of everybody in the house, except +Uncle Hugh. He thought there was nobody in all the world like the +Captain, as he called him. His bright eyes used to twinkle and his white +teeth shine whenever he could find a chance of running an errand, or +doing any little job for the Captain; and I think it was, perhaps, +because he took me for the Captain's little pet that he grew so fond of +me. + +He would follow me all about the garden, and watch me as I talked away +to Jane, and be ready to find my ball or fetch my hoop the minute I +wanted them. + +Now, after we had been a little while at the Park, I found that Jane had +got very fond of flowers, and was always anxious to go to the +glass-houses directly we came out into the garden. + +"Why, Miss Sissy," she would say, "there never was anything like the +ferns, and the orange-trees, and the cactuses in them houses; and Mr. +Owen so civil-like in showing them to us, too." + +So off we went to the hot-houses, and there Mr. Owen and Jane talked +and talked till I got tired of the hot air, and went to play outside; +and there just outside was Gus, always waiting to pick me the prettiest +flowers, and find me the first sweet violets. But I was shy, and his +words were so foreign that they frightened me; nor did I like at all +being called "Petite mademoiselle," which was not my name, and couldn't +mean anything that I could think of. At last I grew braver, and one day +I ventured to ask-- + +"Who is your papa?" + +"Me hab no papa, no mamma!" he said, looking very full at me. + +"Where do you live then?" I asked. "You're not a bit like Bobbie!" + +"Me live wid de Capitaine; me never will leaf de Capitaine--never, +never, never!" he answered eagerly. + +This made me feel very queer, and I think I looked half-frightened, for +his look changed quickly, and he said, smiling his own sunny smile-- + +"Me fetch petite mademoiselle somet'ing nice; me fetch de puss dat de +Capitaine just bring home!" + +A pussy! That sounded pleasant, and I waited eagerly for his return. I +waited a long time, as it seemed, and I had grown tired, and was looking +for daisies on the grass, when I heard his step and the tap of his +favourite holly-stick on the gravel. What a funny boy he was to call +that "something nice"! + +There he stood, his eyes and mouth all one smile, and held out at arm's +length by the ears a dead rabbit. My look and exclamation of horror made +him grave at once. + +[Illustration: POOR DEAD PUSSY!] + +"Oh, the poor little rabbit!" I cried. "Has Uncle Hugh killed him +quite dead?" + +"Yes, yes, he quite dead! De Capitaine's gun kill him quite, de small +dog pick him up. Petite mademoiselle not frighten, he quite dead!" + +Ah, that was just the reason of my fright! Away I ran to Jane, and hid +my face in her gown; and a very vigorous scolding did she give the +French boy when she found what he had done. + +Poor fellow! he was very much disconcerted, and did not know what to +say. Two hours after he came back, and finding me alone just going for +a drive, he said softly-- + +"Little puss all alive now, run away in de voods. Petite mademoiselle, +come see?" + +What did he mean? The rabbit could not be "quite dead" at one time, and +"all alive" afterwards. But grandmamma was coming downstairs, and I had +no time to answer him. By and by, when I was lying back on the soft +cushions stroking grandmamma's pretty white fur, I told her all my +puzzle. + +"Ah, my pet," she said, "poor Gus had a very cruel French father, and +doesn't know any better. He ran away from home when your uncle's ship +was touching at Marseilles, and hid himself in the hold. They found him +when they got out to sea--a little stowaway the sailors called him--and +your uncle liked his dark, pitiful eyes, and was very kind to him; but +he has not learnt much yet that's good. Don't have too much to say to +him, my darling!" + +Well, it wasn't very likely I should, for he and I found it not very +easy to understand each other; yet he liked to do anything he could for +me, and was always watching to see what I wanted. + +Nearly a year after that, I remember, it was very cold, and the little +southern boy felt it especially. He had grown ever so tall and thin, but +not strong, and he went about looking blue and shivery. How I came to be +still at the Park I will tell you in another place, but there I was, and +my friend Gus won my pity by his wretched looks. I used to look at his +blue hands, and wonder what could be done. At last I remembered a pair +of warm knitted gloves, that had been given me, which I never wore. +They had no fingers, only a thumb, and I doubted whether Gus would wear +them; but I made up my mind that he would be glad anyhow to keep his +chilblains from the wind. + +I don't think I shall ever forget his look when I presented them to him, +holding them by the pretty blue wool which fastened them together. That +his "petite mademoiselle" should think of him, and make him a present, +too! and then that that present should be one that he could not anyhow +use! It was fairly too much for him; he looked at them, he looked at me, +turned furiously red, stammered, stuttered, turned round, and literally +ran away! + +I never tried to make him a second present. + + + + +IV. + +_MY HOME, AND WHAT IT WAS LIKE._ + + +Now, do you know, I feel rather ashamed of myself that I have not all +this while told you in the least who I was, or where I came from. I +began in the middle by saying, "I want to go home," but never told you +in the least where my home was, nor what it was. + +Well, to tell you the truth, I did not know much about my family history +in those early days. I knew that my name was Mary Emily Marshall, +commonly called Sissy, and I knew that my papa was "the gentleman that +makes all the sick people well,"--"or tries to," Jane would add. I never +did. Of course, if my papa tried to do anything he did it. That was my +doctrine. We lived quite down in the country among the poor people, and +we were not rich ourselves. Mamma had been born in this beautiful park, +and I know now, though I did not then, that it was a great trouble at +the Park when she married the country doctor, who loved the poor people +so much that he would not leave them to grow rich and honoured as a +London physician. But there was no grandpapa left now to be angry; and +grandmamma, though we had never seen her, we had always loved for the +beautiful presents she sent us. + +There were only three of us at this time--my little self; Bobbie, a boy +of four years old, boasting of the fattest, rosiest cheeks in the world; +and wee Willie, the white-faced, fretful baby of six months. Oh, how +well I remember the old house, with its great lamp hanging out over the +lonely road, and shining among the trees, to show the villagers the way +up to their good, kind friend the doctor. Many were the blessings we +little ones used to get as we passed down the village street, and we +owed them all to our father's goodness. + +Happy times we had of it, Bobbie and I, in that old house at the top of +the hill. I don't think any little brothers and sisters were ever quite +such good friends. There were three years between us, but I was little +and he was big, so nobody guessed it, and we played together, and never +thought which was the elder. The great treat of the day was the game +with papa in the evening, but that couldn't be counted upon. Very often +he would have to leave the dinner-table suddenly, and when we heard his +peculiar slam of the hall-door before the bell rang to summon us down, +we knew that we had lost our game, and we comforted ourselves by telling +each other that papa had gone to see some little sick child like baby +Willie, and to make him quite well; and then we would make up our minds +to a good quiet game by ourselves. + +[Illustration: PAPA AND MAMMA.] + +We used to take turns, he playing at doll with me one time, and I +playing at horses with him next time. How well I remember my hairless, +eyeless doll, and all the pleasure she gave us! And good-natured old +nurse was quite willing, whenever Willie was a little better than usual, +to work wonders with dolly's toilet. One week she would be a fine, grand +lady, to whom Bobby would act footman and I lady's-maid. Next week, she +was a soldier fighting grand battles, and lying dead on the battle-field +at last, with a patch of red paint on the forehead, and we two singing +dirges and songs of victory; and then, all of a sudden, the soldier +was turned into a baby, with long white clothes and the prettiest of +caps. + +The day that grandmamma's letter came, asking for "one of the dear +children to stay with her," dolly was just learning to walk. We were +having our firelight play before tea. I had tied up my curls to look +like a grown woman's hair, and I had papa's umbrella to keep the rain +off dolly in her first walk. Bobbie had papa's hat and stick, and he +held Rosalinda's other hand. I was just telling him not to walk so fast, +because his long strides would tire our little girl, when I heard +papa's voice calling me. + +In a minute more I was standing between his knees, and mamma was +watching my face as I tried to take in the idea of this first visit. + +"Jane shall go with you, my darling--you will not be all alone," said +mamma; "indeed, you shall not go at all if you had rather not, but +grandmamma wants to have you." + +And then papa added a great deal about seeing the place where mamma +lived when she was my age, and told me that I should come back with such +rosy cheeks. And all the while I was thinking of the new doll's-house +that grandmamma would give me perhaps. The thought of this took me back +to Rosalinda, and I felt sure that Bobbie would let her fall if I didn't +be quick and go to him. So I said, "Yes, I will go," very much in a +hurry, and was ever so glad to get away and run upstairs again. + +"Queer little fish!" I heard papa say as I left the room. "She thinks a +great deal more about the doll and Bobbie, than of the visit to +Beecham." + +"Children never look far forward," was mamma's answer. + +But I did look forward by and by. When dear Rosalinda was safely tucked +up in her cradle, and Bobbie and I had "time to think," as we said, then +we talked it all over. And very wonderful plans we made. Such numbers of +injunctions did I lay upon Bobbie, as to the care of the dolls while I +was away, that the poor little fellow said with a sigh, "Yes, I'll try +and 'member, Sissy!" + +So I consoled him by the thought of all the presents grandmamma would +send him when I came back. In fact, I was to bring something for +everybody, so I thought. Two dear little rabbits for Bobbie, perhaps a +new black silk gown for nurse, a beautiful sash for the baby, and so on, +and so on. + +[Illustration: SO NICE!] + +The next afternoon Bobbie and I had our last feast. Do _you_ often have +feasts? I don't mean cake and fruit, and good things at the +dinner-table. Oh no, I mean a real tiny feast all to yourselves, with +the nursery-chair unscrewed to make table and chair, with square paper +plates twisted at the corners, paper dishes with sugar on one, currants +on another, rice or raisins on another, and little doll's-house cups +for the make-believe wine and the real milk. Ah, that nice sugared milk +taken in little sips out of the oldest nursery-spoons! How well I can +fancy myself now, giving Bobbie his spoonful, while pussy looked +enviously up at us? Then it was that the bright thought struck me that I +would bring home some real Beecham kittens to puss, that would do quite +well in the place of those dear little lost ones, that James had taken +away and forgotten ever to bring back? Well, you know, all the +preparations were made, my pretty new frock tried on, all my kisses +given, and all sorts of messages sent home from the station, and in the +highest of spirits my first start in life was accomplished. What my +feelings were when the day came to an end, you know, so I need not tell +you. + + + + +V. + +_LITTLE COUSINS._ + + +So now you know who I was, where I came from, and all about me. Let me, +then, go on telling you about this remarkable visit to grandmamma. You +have heard all about those first quiet days, when I was all alone, the +only little thing in all the place. It was very different afterwards, I +can tell you. + +You know Jane had told me all that was going to happen. Indeed, she +talked always very fast, and didn't mind filling my little head with her +opinions of my betters which was certainly a mistake. It was a shame, +she said, that my uncle, "the Reverend," should send all his children +here, while he and his wife went taking their travels and their pleasure +all about to those gay foreign places! + +Grandmamma talked about it in quite a different way. She told me how ill +my aunt had been, so ill that my uncle had been obliged to take her away +from England for the whole winter. And she said that now they had left +the place on the beautiful Swiss lake, and were going to try some +German baths. Only they could not take the children there, so they were +to come and stay at the Park for a month or too, the while. + +I thought this would be very nice, and I began to ask all sorts of +questions about Harry and Lottie, and Alick and Murray, and Bertie and +the baby. How funny it would seem when the nursery was so full! I +thought the day would never come. But it did. The carriage was sent off +to the station, and in due time it came back, quite full to overflowing +with children! + +There was a good deal of shyness at first, when we all stood in a row, +and looked at each other, answering grandmamma's questions seriously, +and feeling very odd. But that was only the first evening. Next day we +were quite happy and comfortable, had a very merry breakfast, and then a +delightful ramble about the gardens and orchards. Of course, I was only +one of the little ones, coming in between Alick and Murray, feeling very +small beside Lottie and Harry. Yet we were all very good friends, and +Lottie soon told me that she thought it would be very nice to have a +girl to talk to, and not only boys. This remark pleased me, though when +I thought of Bobbie, it sounded rather strange. Indeed, I am not sure +that I was not a little too fond of boys' play. + +I remember feeling rather disappointed one day when she said to me in +the garden-- + +"Sissy, let's come and have a nice quiet walk together, and leave the +boys to play by themselves." + +[Illustration: GOING TO THE WARS.] + +Now, three of the boys were just preparing for a military march, one +with a bright flag, another with a trumpet, and another with a +sword-stick, so-called; and there was a most refreshing prospect of +shouting, stamping, and huzzahs! Do you wonder that I turned away rather +unwillingly? + +However, Lottie's confidences soon made up for it all. Such beautiful +stories Lottie could tell! When she began to talk about the Alps, and +the blue lake and the mountain flowers, I thought it seemed almost as +good as my hymns and verses. I know I looked up at her with eyes full of +admiration, and when she put her arms round me, and gave me a loving +kiss, I thought I had never been so happy before. + +And then she listened to all I had to tell her about Bobbie, and baby +Willie, and Rosalinda, and gave me her advice about dressing Rosalinda +like the Queen. + +My letters, too, she read, and said they were very nice, which made me +love mamma for writing them all the more. And she showed me her own +letter that had just come across the sea, with its foreign stamps and +thin paper. Quite a nice talk it was altogether, and we were ever so +sorry when we were called in to dinner. + +My boy-cousins were very polite to me at first, and hardly seemed to +know what to make of me. Harry was a little too patronizing, called me +"a mite of a thing," and played tricks upon me in a gentle way. But then +he was not often with us. He had not been a night in the house before he +had quite determined to be a sailor like Uncle Hugh, so it followed, as +a matter of course, that he must be always with him. + +Force of habit, however, made him confide all his plans and thoughts to +Lottie, so that our private talks in the shrubbery were often +interrupted by his merry voice. Then he would throw himself down among +the grass and periwinkles, and tell us all about his future ship. This +usually ended in Lottie's being carried off to make sails or flags for +his new craft. Then, being left to myself, I soon ran off to my other +cousins, nothing loath to have a game of romps with them. + +Alick seemed likely to be my special friend. What a funny little fellow +he must have been, though I did not think so then! Jane called him a +little dandy, much to his displeasure; yet I am afraid his friendship +was likely to increase my childish vanity. He was so fond of decking me +with flowers, making wreaths for me, and then looking at me, and +sometimes comparing my hair or eyes with Lottie's; and his look of +vexation if my face was dirty or my pinafore torn, often comes back to +me even now when I feel untidy in any way. + +One afternoon, when Alick and I and one of the other boys were alone, it +suddenly came into our wise little heads that we would play at going to +a party. What vast preparations we made! What pains the boys took to tie +up my sleeves with some bright ribbon meant for Harry's flags! How +cleverly we succeeded in carrying off a hair-brush, and what a long time +it took to decide how the boys' hair and ties should be arranged! And +then came the flowers, my wreath, and the bouquet to be carried for me +by one of my gentlemen. + +We were all ready, I remember, and I was just taking Alick's arm, and we +had all put on our best airs and graces for a solemn entrance to the +supposed ball-room, when, all of a sudden, who should come round the +corner but Uncle Hugh and Harry! + +[Illustration: GOING TO A PARTY.] + +Oh, those bursts of laughter pealing out again and again! Oh, the +writhings and twistings of Uncle Hugh in his excessive mirth! Would they +_ever_ stop laughing? Even now my cheeks almost tingle with those +painful blushes, and my heart beats with that frightened shame! + +And yet it was for Alick that I was chiefly troubled, as I saw him fling +down the flowers and run, while Harry, shouting "conceited young +jackanapes," pursued him at full speed. I had never seen such rough play +or heard such mocking laughter, and I burst into tears, sobbing out my +trouble on my uncle's shoulder as he carried me off and laughingly +soothed me, pressing the prickly wreath all the while against my head. + +It was a long time before our adventure was forgotten. Harry's merry +jokes brought the colour over and over again to my face, and the angry +words to Alick's lips. But we were both cured, certainly, for the time, +of any love of display or dandyism! + + + + +VI. + +_WHAT ABOUT LESSONS?_ + + +And now, little reader, I know quite well what thought has been popping +in and out of your head all this time. You have been wanting to ask me +what had become of lessons all these weeks, and how a number of little +boys and girls could be allowed to run wild, doing just what they liked +all day long. + +[Illustration: BABY, DEAR!] + +Well, it does seem very shocking, and there is no denying that, for a +whole month, we did not often see the inside of a book. Yet, I had +learnt to read, and had been in the habit of learning to spell and to +count every day of my life at home. I don't quite know how it came about +that we were not all of us a very untamed set after a month's idleness +at the Park. Perhaps, it was a good thing for us that grandmamma was +what she was. The very perfection of tender kindness we all felt her, +and yet there was a certain dignity about her, that made it a simple +impossibility to be rough or rude before her. And on the whole we were a +great deal with her. When not with her, we were supposed to be picking +up a great deal of French from my cousin's Swiss nurse. And so, in our +way, we did, although I think Susette learned English a great deal +faster than we learned French. Yet, when we wished to coax her, the +French words came fast enough, such as they were. + +But I am afraid grandmamma did not think that we were learning quite +enough, for one day she called Lottie and me, and told us that she had +just seen such a nice young lady, and that she had promised to come and +be our governess. What an excitement this news caused us all! How we +talked it over all day long. We had many different ideas as to what she +was to be like; in fact, the elder boys made pictures of her, which, as +it turned out, were anything but good portraits. + +How we did look at her that first evening! She was very young, very fair +and in deep mourning. That is my earliest impression of her. We had a +kind of unconfessed idea that she did not take half pains enough to make +us like her. She did not seem to care whether we did or not--hardly, I +fancy, to think about the matter. It was just the very end of April, +almost the bright May-time, and grandmamma went round the garden with +her, Lottie and I making our remarks from a distance. I think we were a +little surprised to see our new governess so much at her ease, laughing +merrily and talking away to grandmamma, just as if there were no little +critics taking note of all. By and by, she came in and sat down in "the +schoolroom"--such a new word that seemed!--to write a letter. Lottie and +I pretended to be very busy with our dolls in one corner, but we were +keeping up our watch, and every now and then we met her eye with a merry +twinkle in it, looking greatly amused at us. + +"She looks so young, only a girl! she will never be able to manage us, +Jane says," Lottie remarked very softly to me; "but then, I daresay, she +can be cross enough when she likes, governesses always are!" + +All of a sudden, a merry laugh startled us both, and in another minute +Lottie found herself flat on the floor, being tickled and kissed and +laughed over all at once. I don't think she quite liked it, though she +couldn't help laughing, too, but her cheeks were very red, when Miss +Grant raised her own head. She kept Lottie flat on her back, and looked +down at her, the most thorough amusement all over her face. + +"Cross enough, do you think? Oh, yes, to be sure I can! Cross enough to +eat you up at one mouthful, and little Sissy after you!" + +How funny it sounded! Lottie laughed and so did I, only very nervously. +Then all at once Miss Grant grew very comically grave, and asked us +whether we thought we should soon make her cross? And then followed +such a funny talk, I think I shall never forget it. Miss Grant was half +lying on the sofa now, Lottie and I were bobbing up and down beside her, +sometimes looking right into her blue laughing eyes, sometimes hiding +our own rosy faces, that she mightn't see how queer she made us feel. + +"You don't much like the idea of having a governess, I see," she said; +"you fancy it will be lessons, lessons all day long now, a great deal of +crying, and punishments, very hard things to learn, and no fun any more. +If that's what it really is going to be, I shall get so unhappy that I +shall soon run away home again! And then you think I shall have to grow +cross and ill-tempered, too--that is the worst part of it all." + +She pretended to be ready to cry, and Lottie, who didn't quite like to +give up her own opinion, muttered something about "She thought they +always were!" + +"Are they?" asked Miss Grant, just as if she really wanted to know, and, +when we laughed and hid our faces, she went on: "I think I know how it +is. This is what you will do to me: You will begin by getting into all +the mischief you can think of, and that will give me a headache; and +then you will be cross and rude, and that will give me great, deep lines +in the forehead; and last of all, you will do vulgar things, that will +make my mouth get into the 'don't' shape, which is so ugly, you know; +and, by and by, when I look at myself in the glass, I shall find myself +turned into a grey-headed old woman, and I shall say, 'Sissy gave me +those wrinkles between my eyes, I always had to frown at her so;' and +then, 'Those ugly lines by my mouth came when Lottie vexed me so.' What +a funny thing it will be to have to remember you in that way when you +are grown-up people!" + +Of course, we did not like this way of taking it for granted that we +were rude, troublesome children, yet there was a funny look in Miss +Grant's eyes that seemed as if she didn't really mean what she said. And +the end of it all was that we made a compact, as she called it, that we +would be ever so good-tempered, and then she and we would have the +happiest time together that you can fancy. + +And I think it all came true. Thanks to our papas and mammas, we were +not quite the rude children we might have been. They had saved us ever +so much trouble, and ever so many tears, by teaching us that hardest +lesson "do as you are told," before we were old enough to understand its +difficulty. And Miss Grant was always so bright and happy that she +scarcely ever let us suspect, even in the naughtiest times, that we were +"making the lines come." Out of doors she was the merriest among us, and +grandmamma would often say to Lottie that she was ever so much older +than Miss Grant, because she would walk soberly about with a book, while +Miss Grant was having all sorts of fun with the boys. At last she, too, +caught the infection, and then we all had the merriest romps together! +How well I remember those early summer days, and the luxury of flowers +everywhere. Is there anything so happy-looking, so full of overflowing +delight, as the long grass, and the buttercups and daisies, hawthorn and +bluebells? We thought ourselves very wise about flowers then, and had +very decided opinions on the proper blending of colours. Miss Grant was +teaching us this, and even now, when I see any one making a nosegay of +wild-flowers, I fancy myself running up to her with a handful of bright +things, to watch in my eagerness how they were in a minute turned into +the beautiful bouquet that nobody could equal or copy. + +She had been with us some time, when one morning we had a visitor come +to spend the day at Beecham. This lady was not old, yet she had the most +wrinkled, aged face I ever saw. When she was gone, Harry, who never +minded what he said, asked grandmamma about her, and cried out in +surprise when he heard that she had been his own father's playfellow. + +"You think Mrs. Mowbray looks double as old as papa, do you?" said +grandmamma. "Ah, it is trouble that has aged her. You would not wonder +at all those lines and wrinkles if you knew all the sorrow and grief her +own poor boys have given her through their sin and wilfulness!" + +Lottie and I looked at each other, and then glanced slily at Miss Grant, +but I don't think she noticed us. When we were alone again, we resolved +that we would try ever so hard to be good. + +"Because, you know, Sissy, it wouldn't be nice if Miss Grant were to +get her face all puckered and creasy like that, just as if it wanted +ironing out, as Susette did with my frock when Murray scrunched it all +up under his pillow to hide it. But I suppose you couldn't iron out your +face!" + +Anyhow, I agreed with Lottie not to run any risks, and I do not think we +did. At least, all my memories of that happy year at Beecham are mingled +with the bright, merry, gentle friend who made easy all the lessons that +could be easy, and gave me courage for those that _had_ to be hard; and +against whose shoulder I loved to nestle, and listen to Bible-stories +with those little hints in them which always set me thinking of my own +faults and duties, and made me long to do right, and be the good little +Christian girl she wished me to be. + +Little reader, dear, are you making lines on anybody's forehead? + + + + +VII. + +_HURRAH FOR THE HOLIDAYS!_ + + +And yet, however pleasant lessons might be, there is no doubt that +holidays were pleasant things, too. Saturday afternoons were always +welcome, and all the weeks through we were planning what we would do +when they came. Of course these plans were sometimes upset by a rainy +day; but, even then, what with battledore and shuttlecock, painting and +spinning tops, we contrived to make out the time very happily. + +And before us all the while was the bright, pleasant prospect of the +long summer holidays. + +Every now and then during these happy months the thought of home came +across me, and sometimes one of mamma's letters would have in it so much +about Bobby and his play, and his prattle about Sissy's coming back, +that I grew a little home-sick and looked wistfully into grandmamma's +face as she read the letter. This would always make her say: "You don't +want to go home, little one? Aren't you very happy here with Lottie and +the boys? And you are getting on so nicely with your books, too; mamma +is so pleased to have you with so many little schoolfellows, and kind +Miss Grant to teach you! And we are going to have all kinds of pleasant +treats in the holidays. No, no, we must keep you another month or two! +Perhaps we will send you home when the cold weather comes!" So I ran +away again to make plans with Lottie about all the many things that must +be done the very first day of no lessons. + +Then came the last time of history, and the last dreadful sums, and the +last copy written, and the last hard French words learnt, and then, +happiest of all, the last putting away of books and cleaning of slates! +It almost makes me take that long breath for joy even now only to +remember that happy day. + +"And don't you think I'm the happiest of us all?" said Miss Grant; "I am +the only one really going home for the holidays!" + +Which remark was a great relief to my little mind, for I had been afraid +we must seem a great deal too glad that she was going. Now I could +venture on my very loudest "hurrah," which, after all, was but a feeble +imitation of the boys' loud cheers. + +You know, anticipation is the best part of every pleasure; in easier +words, everything looks brighter before it comes than when it _is_ come. +I think that was very nearly the happiest day of my whole year at +Beecham, when I sat on the floor watching the last things put into Miss +Grant's box, and chattering away about the happy days coming. You see, +for a long time I had got up every morning with the thought of how many +good marks I should get, and of how those hard letters and figures were +to be made, and though I had made many a brave fight and won many a +delightful victory over the books, yet it _was_ very nice to think that +to-morrow I should awake with the holiday feeling instead. + +And the next morning did really come, though we thought it never would, +and we made a very long meal of breakfast, being not quite sure what was +to come next. + +It was a funny day, that first day! Grandmamma and Uncle Hugh went away +early for a long drive, and all sorts of business at the end of it; and +we knew they would not be home till ever so late. It was very hot--oh, +so _very_ hot! We could not go into the sun at all, but Susette and Jane +sent us out of the nursery very soon, that we might not disturb baby's +midday sleep by our holiday fun. The school-room, of course, we avoided; +so, after a little hesitation, we went out into the shade to play. + +[Illustration: UP TO THE MOON!] + +And, first of all, we thought of the swing as the best thing to be done, +and for half an hour it _was_ most delightful! Don't you know the +pleasant feeling it is, just up at the very highest point, when you +are not _quite_ sure whether you are frightened or not? Don't you know? +And you laugh a little anxiously, and are very glad to find yourself +safely down again. Oh, it was very good fun for _a little while_! Only +Harry came to swing us, and he was so fond of seeing your feet up into +the branches, that you never could be quite sure that he would not send +you head-over-heels. Lottie was very brave, but I could not quite stand +it, so I stood by and watched; and when they asked me to have another +try, I said, "No, thank you." I think Alick saw that I was a little red +and uncomfortable, for he asked me to come and play on the lawn. We ran +away, taking a last look at the two elder ones. It was not such +boisterous play that we had, we two together, yet I think we enjoyed it +very much, half-talking, half-playing. We were very good friends, and +the morning went very quickly. When the dinner-bell rang, we agreed that +we would start off together as soon as we could for the apple-orchard at +the top of the hill, where we were not likely to be disturbed. + +That hot July afternoon, how well I remember it! All among the long +grass we lay, looking up at the little, young apples overhead, and now +and then setting our teeth in the sour middles of those that had fallen. +But we were a little afraid of the effects of these unripe, bullet +things, so we did no more than taste them. Then my eight-year-old cousin +began to say me long pages of poetry, and when he had exhausted his +stores, he astonished me by the funny, learned sound of his Latin +declensions. + +"You know, Sissy," he said, "I mean to be a very learned man some day, +and know twelve or fourteen languages, I think. I shall not be content +till I know more than anybody else. It will be nice to be wiser than +papa. He's ever so clever, you see; but then, of course, new things will +be found out every year, and sons must always get a-head of their +fathers, or else the world would stand still, you see." + +I didn't quite see, but I pretended to. Alick had been very confidential +lately, and I knew what a sore spot there was in his heart making him +talk like this. Hadn't he confided to me with a fierce, red heat on his +forehead how his father had told him he wasn't "half a boy," because he +had turned giddy climbing a high tree? "But papa always says when Harry +bangs his head about, that he doesn't believe there can be any brains +behind such a skull as his. I dare say that is the difference between +us." + +So said the young scholar with all the satisfaction possible, and I +believed in him with all my heart. + +[Illustration: HOLIDAY TIME.] + +However, even he grew tired of wise talk, and proposed a game with the +fallen apples. How we pelted each other, how we laughed, and, oh, how +hot we did get at last! Then off came hats and jackets, and were left +behind under the trees while we went to rest ourselves in a piece of +open shade, thrown by that large barn where, by and by, the apples would +be stored away; and this was the moment which I seized to get his advice +as to a new toy I had lately bought to send to Bobbie. It was one of +those wooden soldiers whose arms and legs are to go by means of a +string; but the string, you know, is always getting hitched. This was +the case now, and it tasked all Alick's wonderful brains to set it +right. How my back and arm did ache as I held it up for him, lying flat +on the grass, to twitch, and pull, and contrive, and, at last, to +conquer! That happy moment had just come when there was a sound of +wheels in the road near us. One minute more, and Uncle Hugh's voice was +heard calling us, and the carriage stopped to take us up. What grand, +glorious news we were told as we drove home, two hatless, jacketless, +sun-burnt children, I must not tell you this time. + + + + +VIII. + +_THE COTTAGE ON THE CLIFF._ + + +"Well, my dearie," said grandmamma, "uncle and I have just taken such a +pretty little cottage for you all, high up on the cliff, looking right +over the blue sea. And you are to go off and try if the fresh wind up +there will put a little more colour into those cheeks of yours!" + +My dear little friends, I had just nestled down snugly enough on +grandmamma's silk dress and black lace shawl, never having the least +idea of the dear, kind purpose of that long sixteen miles' drive, so you +won't be surprised to hear that the news gave me such a start that I +very nearly jumped out of the carriage. And Alick--well, I don't know +whether he was really half a boy or three quarters, but his shout +certainly made you fancy him quite a _whole_ boy at that minute! + +Oh, the bright, bright pictures that came tumbling one over another in +one's mind, at the idea of the cottage on the cliff, crabs and shrimps +and shells and sea-weed, and merry, merry waves in one happy muddle! And +do you know, nothing could induce the horses to trot fast enough up the +long drive; they never seemed to consider one bit how much we had to +tell, nor, indeed, how much we had _to do_, in preparation for +to-morrow. What if they had done a good thirty miles since breakfast, +they could stay at home next day and eat hay from morning to night and +leave it to Fairy and Whitefoot to do the hot work for us. + +I really cannot tell you how much sleep we got that night. I have a +distinct remembrance of kicking all the bed-clothes off ever so many +times, and of calling out to Lottie in the next room, without the +smallest respect to rules. And there was Jane as busy as could be, with +Susette, packing up little frocks, and pinafores, and nightgowns. Every +now and then she would stop to say, "Really, Miss Sissy, you _must_ be +quiet, and go to sleep!" But, you know, that was just one of those +remarks which it is of no use listening to. + +It's funny how sometimes sleep seems to run away and won't be caught +anyhow! Next night it was just the same. Only it was quite different, +too. You know what I mean. That funny bedroom, with its white curtains +covered with pink rose-buds, and the venetian blinds, and the moon +shining through, mixed up somehow with the sound of the waves; and to +have Lottie in the same large bed with me--oh, it was all so odd! And +the narrow passages with two stairs at every turn, and the rooms opening +right in each other's faces, so to say! It felt queer, too, to know that +we were alone in the house with only Susette and Jane to take care of +us, the woman of the house to do hard work, and Gus to run errands for +us. + +By some means or other we did go to sleep at last, and afterwards woke +up in the morning to wonder where we were. And then came all the wonders +of the new place to be discovered. Harry had persuaded grandmamma to +send over the steady old pony with us, and no sooner was breakfast over +than he appeared at the door led by Gus, for Master Harry to go, as he +called it, on a voyage of discovery. I am not sure that our nurses were +not rather glad to be rid of this "Turk of a boy," as they called him; +for Harry, good-natured as he was, could not lose a chance of teasing +the little ones, and sometimes, a little hurting their tempers. + +[Illustration: I'M COMING!] + +There was a great hollow place in the cliff close to our house, down +which was the way to the beach, which we took with the least possible +delay. Then came the first delights of bathing, and when that was over, +the digging in the sand and hunting for shells, while baby took his +morning sleep on Susette's lap. By and by we went home to dinner, and +after that, to hemming and sewing and reading with the nurses. And +when early tea was over, it was cool enough for a fresh walk over the +hills, or away to the rocks farther off. + +This was the way we spent four pleasant weeks, getting as rosy and +strong as any one could wish. Three or four times we were surprised in +our morning play on the beach by the welcome sight of Uncle Hugh. For, +every now and then, he would ride over to give grandmamma some news of +the children. This was a great delight, for it was sure to mean, first +of all, that there were letters from home for us all,--those foreign +sheets that Lottie loved to see, and the long crossed letters full of +mamma's love to me. And to us four elder ones, Harry and Lottie and +Alick and me, uncle's visit always meant a glorious afternoon in a boat +far out at sea. I hardly know whether Harry or Gus delighted most in the +prospect of these visits. The pleasure simply of holding the +"Capitaine's" horse was enough to make the French boy's eyes glisten and +his teeth shine with the broadest smile. And to Harry the delight of +handling an oar or managing a sail was beyond anything delicious. + +But the visit which we had all most cause to remember was the last which +Uncle Hugh paid us. He was going away to London on business--business +which would soon end in another long voyage, the news of which brought a +flush of pleasure to Gus's cheeks, soon changed to intense +disappointment at the news that he must this time be left in England. + +That afternoon we were longer than usual on the sea, only returning just +in time for a late tea and bed. Uncle Hugh started about seven o'clock, +and Harry as usual mounted his pony in great haste to go with him part +of the way. I remember that uncle was in a hurry, and did not wait for +him, for as I stood undressing near the window I saw Harry waving his +hat and calling after him, with the two dogs at his side. + +[Illustration: THROUGH THICK AND THIN.] + +The long summer evening faded away; from my pillow I saw the stars come +out one by one, and then kissing my hand to them, I let my sleepy eyes +go shut, and was soon in the midst of pleasant dreamland. I don't know +how long after this it was, that I was aroused by a sound of whispers at +the door, and then by a little timid question from Lottie, "Susette, +isn't Harry come home?" "But no, Miss Lottie," was the answer in a +troubled voice, and Jane broke in: "Hush, hush! you'll wake Miss Sissy! +Go to sleep, there's a darling. He'll be home directly now--no need to +be frightened!" + +"No need to be frightened!" said Susette, in her foreign accent. "But, +yes----" + +Jane had pulled her out of the room, and Lottie and I, now wide awake, +were left to wonder, and talk in low, frightened tones. Lottie had heard +the whining of one of the dogs under the window--both dogs had gone off +with Harry--and she had heard Susette call Jane gently, and then they +had whispered outside the door something about Gus and the dog; and +after that she had heard Gus run off under the window, the dog barking +joyfully and going, too. How we lay and trembled! By and by I got out of +bed, and peeped through the Venetians, in spite of Lottie's entreaties. + +"Oh, Sissy, please don't! Susette will be so angry! Please, Sissy, come +back!" + +I protested that Susette was not _my_ nurse, yet I knew she could scold +in such a bewildering torrent of French as did sometimes frighten me; +and as I could see nothing but the calm, beautiful starlit sky over the +sleeping sea, I dropped the blind, and sprang back into bed. It made a +noise as I dropped it, and for some time the fear of being heard, and +the anxiety to appear asleep if any one came, made us forget our alarm +about Harry. In fact, I think we were getting sleepy again--I was, at +least--but we started up at the sound of the hall-door softly opened, +and then men's footsteps on the stairs. There was a low moan as the +steps passed our door. Oh, how breathlessly we waited! Once, even, I had +the door ajar, and was peeping out, when a hurried hand outside suddenly +shut it again, making me start back. By and by there was a sound of +footsteps going downstairs, and in a moment Lottie and I were both in +the passage entreating Jane to tell us what had happened. + +"Master Harry has been tumbled over the pony's head, Miss Lottie," she +said, "and he's been lying in a ditch nobody knows how long; but the +dog's saved his life--him and Gus together--and the doctor hopes he +won't be very bad, no bones being broken, only bruises and knocks of the +head. He don't quite know himself, you see, yet, poor young gentleman! +and we have to keep him quiet, so you must go and be as still as mice. +The doctor'll be here in the morning, and the missis, too, may be!" + +All this while she was tucking us into bed again, and when she drew the +curtains and left us we were afraid to whisper even, for fear of being +heard in the next room and hurting Harry. + +At breakfast the next morning we were told that Gus was "nigh about at +Beecham by this time," and before evening the carriage had come just in +sight, and stopped, and grandmamma was walking up to the house. + +Then followed a very quiet week, during which we never spoke aloud +without getting a sharp "hush!" Indeed, we were not allowed to be in the +house a minute longer than necessary, being down on the beach whenever +we were not eating, drinking, or sleeping. By the end of the week, Harry +was to be seen at these rare intervals looking very pale, and quiet, and +unlike himself on the sofa. I distinctly remember feeling rather +pleased as I looked from him to Alick, and thought how much more of a +boy Alick looked with his brown, rosy face, than the pale, languid, +almost girlish elder brother, speaking in a weak, tired voice from his +pillow. It was about another ten days before the close carriage came +from Beecham, and with plenty of soft cushions, Harry was laid in it, +and driven away back to the Park. + +When we saw him there on our return, he was almost himself again, merry +and bright, but a little pale and easily tired. + + + + +IX. + +_SUSETTE AND HER TROUBLES._ + + +So we all came back to Beecham Park, and the holidays were over, and we +had to buckle to work again; work that had a pleasant mixture of play in +it, out-of-door fun, Saturday rambles and birthday treats. + +When first we returned from the sea-side there came a very earnest +letter from mamma, begging that Sissy might really be sent home now, +for surely grandmamma had had enough, and too much, of her. Indeed, a +message was added at the end to say that papa had made up his mind to +take a holiday and run down to fetch me. All seemed to be settled, and I +myself got into that doubtful state--glad to go home but, oh, so sorry +to leave this happy Beecham home! I began to wonder, too, whether I +should feel quite at home with papa when he came, and on the morning +fixed for his arrival, a very shy fit came over me, so that, at first, +it seemed rather a relief when Harry called out to me that a letter had +come from my home, and that I was to go up to grandmother at once. But +what a grave, sad face met me! My very heart stood still as she kissed +me. Then in gentle words she told me that Bobbie was ill, had caught the +scarlet fever, so papa could not come. + +And, to dear grandmamma, I think it was a very anxious time that +followed. My little head could not take in all it meant when news came +of danger, then of baby's illness, then of nurse's. I could see that +other people were sorry; once I found Jane crying, and was caught up on +to her lap and kissed and talked to, till a clear memory of the dear, +chubby little brother at home came back to me, and I had a long, +miserable fit of sobbing. But, you see, I had been away from them all +for nearly six months, and the little brothers and sisters around me had +somehow shut out the two little fellows at home, and my play and lessons +at Beecham seemed much more real than the sorrow all those miles away. +In a few weeks all the worst time was over, but, of course, there was no +idea now of my going home. + +I wonder if grandmamma ever thought, in the early spring, that for a +whole year she was to have her house full of children! For a long time +we fancied every week that we should hear of aunt and uncle coming home. +Every now and then Lottie and I would fret a little bit at the idea of +parting, but still it did not come. + +One morning brought a letter for Lottie, with a great deal of news in +it. She read it to me in the nursery, as we were having our hair brushed +for the evening in the drawing-room. It told us that her papa had just +made up his mind to take the work of a clergyman in a more +out-of-the-way part, somewhere between Switzerland and Germany, and that +it was just the place to suit her mamma, so they would probably stay +there till Christmas. Besides, there were some little German cousins of +Lottie's living close by with their aunt, so there was a great deal to +tell altogether. We were very eager talking about little Heinrich and +Carl--so eager that at first we never noticed that Susette had thrown +herself into a chair with clasped hands, and her black eyes full of +tears. When we came to question her, she said Monsieur and Madame had +gone to a place close to her native village, and would they--oh, would +they--see her poor, poor father, in the misery extreme, frightful! We +were quite used to Susette now, and not at all surprised at her +passionate manner; and if we did a little smile to each other at that +favourite word "affreuse," yet Lottie was eager and sincere enough in +her assurances that certainly papa would go and look for the poor +family. Out came the foreign paper at once, and if the summons to the +dining-room had not come at that moment, I believe the letter would +have been written there and then. As it was, it certainly went the next +day. It was our first piece of anything like charity, and we waited +eagerly for the answer from Lottie's papa, which, of course, did not +arrive directly it was wanted. + +At last the morning came, when the postman, met by three eager children +half-way down the drive, was greeted by the happy cry, "Oh, there it is! +I see it in his hand!" And the much-longed-for prize was snatched from +him, and triumphantly carried off to the nursery. + +"Oh, children, do keep off! You must let Susette hear!" cried Lottie, +and then she read this. But first let me say that this wonderful letter, +having been put away with other more important old papers, has become +very worn and yellow, and you must forgive me if I leave out a piece +here and there, where it is too torn to read. + +"'My dear Lottie and all the Chicks,--Your letter came very safely all +by itself the other day, just as well as if it had been in grandmamma's +as usual; and papa knew what an eager little woman his Lottie was, and +so he made his discoveries as soon as possible, and here they are! Poor +Susette, I don't wonder she was anxious to know all about her poor +father, and the rest of them. They have had a hard time of it since she +left them, but they are all so fond of her, and so glad to get news of +her. Such a good girl as she is to them all! Mind, children, you make +much of her, and don't add to all she has to worry about." + +[Illustration: SUSETTE'S SISTER.] + +At this point we all looked at Susette, and little Murray squeezed her +hand. Her black eyes were overflowing, and her rosy lips were pressed +tightly together; yet she was looking very happy and pleased. + +Then Lottie went on:-- + +"'Heinrich and I set off at once to ----' (reader, I _cannot_ read the +name of the village!), 'but some time before we got there we met a +pretty Swiss girl, with a bundle of corn on her head, whose eyes and +mouth reminded me very much of your kind nurse. So I put my hand on +Heinrich's shoulder to stop him, and then I asked her if her name was +Laurec, and she said, "Yes." So we had a long talk, and she told me all +about them at home, and of the fever in the village, and the want of +work, and all the rest. I fancy it has been little short of starvation +for them all this long time. Then I let her hurry on to tell them at +home who was coming. Such a sweet hill-side village as I cannot hope to +make my little English birds understand, with its pretty chalets lying +against the rock, and the bushy trees shooting out of the cliff above +and around them. I went up to the one pointed out to me, and there, +lying on a heap of rags, was Susette's little blind sister, that she has +often talked to you about. Dear little patient thing! turning her large, +dark, sightless eyes towards me with such a bright smile! As she spoke +of "le bon Dieu," I thought of the pretty French hymns you used to try +to learn, and it gave the soft French words a softer sound when they +were on such a happy theme. But we could not stay there; so making our +little present to the dear child, we set off up the mountain. We had not +gone far, when, among a flock of goats scattered over the hill, we found +a poor old man sitting on a rock, with very downcast look, and little +Pierre Laurec, who had come to show us the way, told us it was his +father. The poor old man was very much out of heart, and it was some +time before we could make him understand that we wanted to help him. At +Susette's name he looked mournfully in my face as I sat down by him, +murmuring that she was gone, gone, bonne fille! + +[Illustration: UNHAPPY.] + +"'Well, you know, I must not make my letter too long. Tell Susette that +things look brighter now in her old home; that Pierre has found some +work in our garden, and his sister comes now and then to your aunt's +house; and that we will look after them a little, and send you more news +soon. + +"'Mamma sends ever so much love, and many, many thanks to dear +grandmamma for offering to house her tiresome chicks for a few more +months. What a grand, happy Christmas we will have together! That is, if +only I can get mamma well enough to brave an English winter. Poor mamma +wants sadly to get a sight of her baby.--Ever your affectionate + + "'FATHER.'" + +That was the letter, reader. Don't you think it was well worth waiting +for? + + + + +X. + +_AUTUMN DAYS._ + + +"What an idea, papa talking about Christmas!" Alick said, when we came +to the end of the letter; and it did seem funny that hot autumn +afternoon, when all the leaves were in a glow, looking as if they had +been burnt up so long they couldn't and wouldn't bear it any longer! +Perhaps they meant to come down. But I suppose, now I come to think of +it, that months don't seem so never-ending to grown-up people as they do +to children; they are more prepared to see the time fly, you don't know +how, so they are not surprised when they find it gone. Besides, you see, +they don't get taller and taller as the months pass, so, of course, the +time must seem to run past very quickly, they standing still all the +while! How odd it must be! I heard a little boy remonstrating last +night-- + +"Well, but, uncle, if you keep your clothes till next year they'll be +ever so much too small for you!" + +Everybody laughed, and told him that uncle, being six feet high, didn't +expect to grow any more; and, of course, as I said before, if Alick's +papa stood still, the time _would_ seem to go very quickly. + +And so, I suppose, when the end of October came, he didn't cry out as we +did all of a sudden: "I do declare it is not quite two months to +Christmas!" + +It was one damp, misty afternoon, and Lottie, and Alick, and I were +learning our lessons all alone in the school-room. We were trying to get +the last glimmer of daylight at the window, but it was hardly enough to +see what six times nine might be, and that was my great difficulty. + +You know, don't you? how the things that "you do so want to say" will +come into your head just when you ought to be very silent and busy! It's +_very_ odd; but even now that I am old enough to know better, I never +want so much to talk as just when I ought to be quiet. I wonder how it +is? Anyhow, it seemed quite impossible to hold one's tongue that +afternoon. Alick was as busy and quiet as could be, working out a hard +sum on his slate, but even he looked up when Lottie started that +wonderful idea about Christmas; and then we all joined in wondering how +the time had gone, and what lots of fun Christmas would bring with it. I +had my own particular share of delight, for was there not a certain +prospect of papa and mamma coming to the Park to take me home? My little +cousins, too, were looking forward to home directly after Christmas; but +their mamma could not come and fetch them. She had been well enough to +travel, and would be in England very soon now; that is, in the little +island down in the south, you know, where the invalids go. She would +get a nice home ready for them there and then, as she said in her +letters, "have the delight of calling back all the chicks under her +wings again!" + +Well, it was just all these things that we were talking about over our +lesson-books at the school-room, when our attention was caught by two +figures coming up the drive in the mist. Such a foggy afternoon as it +was, all the dead leaves hanging yellow and dripping from the trees! It +was not till they got quite up to the house that we saw that the two men +were going to give us some music. One had some bagpipes and the other a +kind of horn, and, of course, all thought of lessons went out of our +heads when we heard them begin. What fun it was to listen, and to watch +their queer grimaces and antics, as they danced about to their own +music! + +But we had not been enjoying this long when a terrible thing happened. +Oh, little reader, it makes me shudder now! + +You must understand that our school-room was on the ground-floor, but +raised a good way from the ground; a separate room built out from the +house, the roof sloping out under the windows of the day-nursery. + +[Illustration: GIVE US A COPPER!] + +The first thing we thought of was calling the little ones to hear the +music; but when I proposed it, Alick said he was sure they knew all +about it, he could hear their voices. Lottie declared that that was +impossible; we never heard anything from the nursery unless the window +was open. Just then the men began to beg, and Alick ran off to get some +pence. Grandmamma said they were to have a cup of the servants' tea, and +Alick went to the kitchen to ask for it. When he came back, he told us +that Susette was down there getting baby's supper, and that Jane was +teazing her about her "brothers the players!" + +"Oh, Alick!" cried Lottie, "then that's it! Murray and Bertie have got +the window open to hear better, and in all this fog and wet!" + +Alick was just going to laugh at her for being such an "old fidget," +when we were startled by a loud cry, and the sound of something falling +down the roof. At the same moment we saw Harry rushing up to the +house--he was just home from his lessons at the curate's--throwing his +arms about in the most excited way. + +"Oh, it's Murray tumbled out of window?" cried Lottie. And away we all +rushed to the front door, feeling sick with fear. + +Now, up the side of the wall grew a very thick, bushy fig-tree, the stem +of which was very big of its kind. When we rushed out into the foggy +air, there was Harry clambering so cleverly up among the large, wet +leaves; and on the edge of the roof, caught by his clothes in some way +that we could not see, was poor little Murray! Susette covered her face +with her hands, and most of us turned away too frightened to look. I +remember hiding my face in Jane's gown, and feeling her stroking my +hair; and I never looked up till there was a cry that it was all right, +and Harry and Murray were both safe on the ground again. + +How glad we all were, and how we all talked at once, and said how we had +felt, and how Murray cried though he wasn't hurt, only frightened--all +this I mustn't stop to tell you. By and by it came to be one of those +things that are always nice to talk about with shudders, and sighs, and +laughter. Many and many a tea-time the same wonder and thankfulness were +repeated, always beginning with, "Don't you remember that dreadful day?" +and so on. + +Meanwhile Christmas was coming, and Christmas weather came sooner still. +Then the snow collected outside the nursery window, and the mornings +were very dark, and bed the only comfortable place; and Gus's hands got +blue, and his face thin and pinched, and he wished himself away with the +"Capitaine" in the warm South Seas. + +[Illustration: LOOK AT ME!] + +But there was fun, too, about that cold weather; fun with the snow-man +in the Park; fun in learning to skate on the frozen pond, shut in so +nicely with the fir-trees; and fun in the real Christmas treats, +Christmas-trees, and Christmas games. + +And so it was a very bright time that came to finish up those happy +Beecham days. The end of it all was saying "good-bye" to grandmamma and +cousins one fine, frosty morning, just the other side of New Year's Day, +and driving off between papa and mamma. + +When you think of my first evening in that drawing-room, perhaps you +will wonder at the doubtful look which I know there was on my face, and +which made papa look right into my eyes, questioning, as he said, + +"Whether I wanted to go home or not." + + + + +XI. + +_GOOD-BYE TO BEECHAM._ + + +Was I glad to go home or sorry? How could I tell? When it came to the +train, it was all such fun that I chattered away to mamma as fast as +possible about the stations we should pass, and the things we should +see, till I saw an old gentleman opposite exchanging smiles with mamma. +That made me feel shy, and shrink back into the corner silent enough; +and with the silence came a sigh, and five minutes later mamma's +question surprised me, in a fit of melancholy thought, about all that I +had left behind me. When would Lottie and I meet again? And how should +we know which was getting on best with the history? Ah, those nice +history lessons, with all those exciting stories and our favourite +heroes, who would read them with me now? I am not at all sure that I did +not have to choke down two or three tears before I could answer mamma. +Do you think she noticed it? + +We were getting near our own station now, and I grew very eager, looking +out for papa's brougham. How cold the air was, going out of the station, +and what a cosy remembrance of home feeling there was about the soft +corner, where I had often nestled when driving with papa! + +I don't remember much about Bobby's welcome; I know both little brothers +seemed a little strange to me till about the middle of tea-time. Bobby +was very hot and excited with his half-hour before the nursery fire, +making toast for Sissy's first tea at home. I could feel that he was +looking at me very hard, but I don't think we were either of us quite +comfortable till he had thrown his arms round my neck, repeating his old +cry, "Nursey, I'm so glad Sissy's come home!" After that it was all +right, and we chattered away nineteen to the dozen. Dear old nurse! she +was as pleased to see me again as possible. Indeed, I am not sure that +she did not keep me up half an hour later than mamma intended, just +talking to me and "blessing my little heart," in her own loving fashion. +When I went through the night nursery at last to my own little room, I +made her let me stop and look at the little ones; and what a hugging and +kissing she gave me when I declared that they were ever so much prettier +than the Beecham cousins. Dear little Bobby, with his sweet, rosy, +budding mouth, and baby Willie's round cheeks and bright, golden curls, +I can remember just how they looked! + +In a day or two we settled down together, and I was quite at home. The +only person who still seemed restless was Jane. For two or three weeks +she was always talking about the Park, and wishing herself back there. +Then, all of a sudden, she grew quite bright and happy, and talked away +to nurse in quite a different way. + +I didn't know what it all meant; and especially, I couldn't think why +she was always getting so red when nurse talked about flowers and +plants. At last I found out that Jane was going away altogether; and a +month or two after Christmas, nurse dressed Bobby and me one day, and +took us to church, and mamma took care of baby at home. And at church we +saw Jane with her father and mother, and I whispered to Bobby that the +strange man with them was Mr. Owen, grandmamma's head-gardener, and I +couldn't think how he came to be in our church! But when the service was +all over, nurse took us into the vestry, and told us to go and give Jane +a kiss, because she was Mrs. Owen now, and we must "say something +pretty." + +It doesn't seem to do to tell little folks that sort of thing. You +remember, when Jane herself gave me that charge ever so long ago, it +didn't answer, and now there was Bobby crying and sobbing out that "Mr. +Owen shouldn't take Janie away; he was a naughty man; he didn't like +him at all!" But nobody seemed to mind this, indeed they all looked +pleased; and Mr. Owen turned round, and asked me if he should take me +back to Beecham too? + +Ah, by this time, I was quite sure, and didn't hesitate at all when I +said, "No, thank you, I'd rather stay at home." + + * * * * * + +And now, little readers, I meant to have tumbled you off my knee, and +sent you up to bed, for I fancy my story has not kept you from getting +sleepy. But there is nursie making signs to me, as much as to say, "Go +on talking; amuse the little ones a bit longer, please, for the bath +isn't ready and the water isn't hot, and I can't have them yet." + +What shall I tell you about? Oh, I know! that second visit of mine to +Beecham. It was only a very short one, so five minutes' talk will tell +you all about it. + +I was a great tall girl then, and I had just left school, when +grandmamma's letter came, asking Bobby and me to come and spend a few +days at the Park with Lottie, and Harry, and Alick. I couldn't say, "No, +thank you," if I had wished to, for it was likely to be the last time +we five should meet for a long time. Harry, now a young lieutenant with +brass buttons and fair moustache, was bound on a long voyage, which +would have some fighting at the end; and Lottie was to be married in a +fortnight, and to go off to Australia; and Alick, too, was just starting +on a tour with his tutor, after which he was to go to a great college in +Germany. But there was another reason for our visit which I did not know +till I got there, though, I fancy, mamma did. Grandmamma met us with a +very tearful welcome, and it was natural for us all to feel sad as we +looked at her, so aged since we saw her last, and in her deep, deep +mourning. We couldn't help thinking of the blue sea far away, with the +soft spicy wind blowing from the beautiful coral islands over the quiet +waves, which had so cruelly sucked in dear Uncle Hugh's brave ship and +all on board. But the pleasure of meeting soon put away all sad +thoughts, and I think even grandmamma looked bright and contented as she +listened to our merry talk. + +It was in the middle of the long summer days, and we rambled about +through the gardens, and orchards, and shrubberies where we had played +as little children, and laughed over the remembrance of our childish +tricks and troubles. Then there was that long talk with grandmamma, and +afterwards with Bobby, in her room. When Lottie and I found ourselves +alone together just at bed-time, how much we had to say! It seemed to me +a little difficult to talk over all her affairs, though when, after some +time, she called upon me to admire my two tall cousins, I was quite +ready to do so. Yet my own rosy, round-faced, romping schoolboy brother +was much more in my thoughts now. + +I don't think I had ever known till now that my mother was grandmamma's +eldest child, so it had never struck me that, now that dear uncle was +gone, Bobby, and not Harry, would be master of Beecham Park! How strange +it did seem! I thought of the funny boy's blushing awkwardness when +grandmamma had told him, and then of his confession to me that "it was a +horrid bore, he had so meant to be a discoverer, and get lost in Africa +like Dr. Livingstone; and now, he supposed, he couldn't!" And just +before I went to sleep that night I thought of his last words about it a +few hours ago, as he threw his strong arm over my shoulder:-- + +"I say, Sis, it'll be ever so long first--that's one comfort!--but if +ever I do have to come and live here, you'll come too, won't you? Then +you can see after it all, you know, and then it won't be quite so bad!" + +Should I? Would Beecham ever be my real home? And Jane--Jane down at the +Lodge with her three rosy, tidy little daughters. Wasn't this just what +she said years ago when she first brought me to Beecham? "What if Master +Bobby should grow up some day to find it all his own, and he the lord of +it all!" + +So it had come to pass, and Beecham, dear beautiful Beecham, was to be +really _ours_! + +That was a dozen years ago, my small friends; how funny it seems now! + + + + THE END. + + + Simmons & Botten, Printers, 4A, Shoe Lane, E. C. + + * * * * * + + =BY MRS. MARSHALL.= + + +EDWARD'S WIFE: a Tale. In crown 8vo, Frontispiece, 5s., cloth. + + "This is a very charming story; fresh, natural, and + touching."--Christian Advocate. + +CHRISTABEL KINGSCOTE; or, The Patience of Hope. Crown 8vo. Frontispiece. +5s., cloth. + +VIOLET DOUGLAS; or, The Problems of Life. Crown 8vo. Frontispiece, +5s., cloth. + + "A pleasant, healthy story of English life, full of sound religious + teaching."--Standard. + +THE OLD GATEWAY; or, the Story of Agatha. Crown 8vo, Frontispiece, +5s., cloth. + + "It is pleasant and gracefully written, and Roland Bruce is a character + of no ordinary beauty."--Guardian. + +MILLICENT LEGH: A TALE. In crown 8vo, with a Frontispiece, 5s., cloth. + + "A sweet and pleasing story, told with a sustained and even + grace."--Guardian. + +BROOK SILVERTONE AND THE LOST LILIES: TWO TALES. With Fourteen +Engravings, 2s. 6d., cloth. + + "Two pleasant stories for little girls, by a writer of some merit, are + here presented in a tastefully embellished volume."--Athenæum. + +HELEN'S DIARY; or, Thirty Years Ago. Second Edition, with Frontispiece, +5s., cloth. + +BROTHERS AND SISTERS; or, True of Heart. Fourth Edition, with +Frontispiece, 5s., cloth. + +LESSONS OF LOVE; or, Aunt Bertha's Visit to the Elms. Third Edition, +with Frontispiece, 2s. 6d., cloth. + + "A pretty and useful description of the ways and doings of children at + home, enlivened by some very well-told stories."--Guardian. + + * * * * * + + =WORKS FOR THE YOUNG.= + + +DAME WYNTON'S HOME: A Tale. By Mrs. CAREY BROCK. In small 8vo, with +Eight Engravings, 3s. 6d., cloth. + +THE LITTLE DOORKEEPER. By the Author of "Waggle and Wattle." Large 16mo, +Four Engravings, 3s. 6d., cloth. + +LITTLE LILLA; or, The Way to be Happy. Large 16mo, Large Type, +Engravings, 3s. 6d. + +PETER LIPP; or, The Story of a Boy's Venture. Adapted from the French. +Crown 8vo, Twenty-six Engravings, 5s., cloth. + +THE CUMBERSTONE CONTEST: A Story for the Young. By the Author of "A +Battle worth Fighting." In crown 8vo, Frontispiece, 3s. 6d., cloth. + + "The history is conducted with great spirit; the boy and girl life is + most vivid and natural. High principle is delicately suggested, while + the whole is enlivened by a genuine appreciation of fun."--Guardian. + +THE WILD MAN OF THE WOODS: a Story of Sumatra. From the French of Elie +Berthet. In crown 8vo, with Forty-nine Engravings, 5s., cloth. + +MIGNONETTE: a Tale. By AGNES GIBERNE. Crown 8vo, Frontispiece, 5s., +cloth. + + "Another very pretty story. It is environed with a bright and sparkling + family life, which entitles it to the praise of being amusing + also."--Guardian. + +MABEL AND CORA: A TALE. By AGNES GIBERNE. Crown 8vo, Frontispiece, 3s. +6d., cloth. + + "A very pretty story, intended primarily for girls, but not too girlish + for boys, or too childish for grown-up people."--Athenæum. + +AMONG THE MOUNTAINS; or, The Harcourts at Montreux: a Narrative. By +AGNES GIBERNE. In crown 8vo, Frontispiece, 3s. 6d., cloth. + + "A capital story; good for boys and girls alike."--Athenæum. + + "A charming story very nicely told."--The Reader. + + * * * * * + + =WORKS FOR THE YOUNG.= + + +OLD BARNABY'S TREASURE. By Mrs. J. M. TANDY. In square 16mo, with Four +Illustrations, 2s. 6d., cloth. + +THE VENDALE LOST PROPERTY OFFICE. By the Author of "Copsley Annals," +etc. In square 16mo, Four Engravings, 2s. 6d., cloth. + +CHRISTIAN HATHERLEY'S CHILDHOOD. By the Author of "Work for All." In +16mo, with Four Illustrations, 2s. 6d., cloth. + +HOW DO I KNOW? Walks and Talks with Uncle Merton. By the Author of "What +makes me Grow?" With Twelve Illustrations by A. T. ELWES. In crown 8vo, +3s. 6d.,, cloth. + +WHAT MAKES ME GROW? or, Walks and Talks with Amy Dudley. With Twelve +Engravings after L. Frölich. In small 8vo, with Twelve Illustrations, +3s. 6d., cloth. + + "The whole book is pleasant in the extreme, whether it instructs or + amuses; and we recommend grown people to read it themselves, and + then to pass it on to their children."--Athenæum. + +LITTLE FRIENDS IN THE VILLAGE: A Story for Children. By the Author of +"Aunt Annie's Stories." In small 8vo, Twenty-three Illustrations, 3s. +6d., cloth. + + "A charming book for children; the illustrations are excellent. The + author thoroughly understands what will amuse and instruct + children."--John Bull. + +MRS. BLACKETT'S STORY: A Passage from the "Copsley Annals." In square +16mo, Frontispiece, 1s., cloth. + +"I MUST KEEP THE CHIMES GOING." Square 16mo, 2s. 6d., cloth. + + * * * * * + + =ILLUSTRATED BOOKS FOR CHILDREN.= + + Price Half-a-Crown each. + + "A series of books for little people which does credit to its + publishers."--Guardian. + + +EVENING AMUSEMENT. Twenty Illustrations by KONEWKA. + +THE CAT AND HER COUSINS. Twelve Illustrations. + +CURIOUS PACTS FOR LITTLE PEOPLE, ABOUT ANIMALS. Twelve Illustrations. + +BEARS, BOARS, AND BULLS, AND OTHER ANIMALS. Twelve Illustrations. + +THE WHALE'S STORY: Passages from the Life of a Leviathan. With Six +Engravings, cloth. + +HORSES AND DONKEYS: True Stories for Children. Large Type, Engravings, +cloth. + +MY FIRST BOOK: Simple Readings for Very Little People. Large Type. With +96 Illustrations, cloth. + +GOOD DOGS: True Stories of our Four-footed Friends. Large Type. Eight +Engravings, cloth. + +WINGED THINGS: True Stories about Birds. Large Type. Twelve Engravings, +cloth. + +GREAT THINGS DONE BY LITTLE PEOPLE. Large Type. Six Engravings, cloth. + +THE DOVE, AND OTHER STORIES OF OLD. Large Type. Eight Engravings by +Harrison Weir, cloth. + +THE LITTLE FOX: The Story of Captain M'Clintock's Arctic Expedition. +Large Type. Four Engravings, cloth. + +LITTLE ANIMALS DESCRIBED FOR LITTLE PEOPLE. Large Type. Eight Engravings +by Harrison Weir, cloth. + +LITTLE FACTS FOR LITTLE PEOPLE. By the Author of "Waggie and Wattie." +Large Type. Twelve Engravings, cloth. + +TRUE STORIES FOR LITTLE PEOPLE. Large Type. Ten Engravings, cloth. + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of My Young Days, by Anonymous + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MY YOUNG DAYS *** + +***** This file should be named 18226-8.txt or 18226-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/8/2/2/18226/ + +Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + +*** END: FULL LICENSE *** + diff --git a/18226-8.zip b/18226-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..0d9774e --- /dev/null +++ b/18226-8.zip diff --git a/18226-h.zip b/18226-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..8db8c37 --- /dev/null +++ b/18226-h.zip diff --git a/18226-h/18226-h.htm b/18226-h/18226-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f339fed --- /dev/null +++ b/18226-h/18226-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,2210 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" +"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> +<head> + <meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" /> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of My Young Days, by Anonymous</title> +<style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + body {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 {text-align: center; clear: both;} + p {margin-top: .75em; text-align: justify; margin-bottom: .75em;} + .figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + hr.full {width:100%; margin-top:2em; margin-bottom: 2em;} + hr.major {width:75%; margin-top:2em; margin-bottom: 2em;} + hr.minor {width:30%; margin-top:0.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em;} + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + .pagenum {position: absolute; left: 92%; font-size: x-small; text-align: right; } + .blockquot {margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 10%;} + .center {text-align: center;} + .caption {font-size: 80%; font-style: normal} + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + +</style> +</head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of My Young Days, by Anonymous + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: My Young Days + +Author: Anonymous + +Illustrator: Paul Konewka + +Release Date: April 22, 2006 [EBook #18226] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MY YOUNG DAYS *** + + + + +Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 232px; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em;"> +<img src="images/illus-take-mine.png" width="232" alt="TAKE MINE!" title="" /> +<span class="caption">TAKE MINE!</span> +</div> + +<hr class="major" /> + +<table width="500" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="Title Page" border="0"> + <col style="width:80%;" /> + <tr> + <td align="center"> + <br /> + <span style="font-size: 180%;">MY YOUNG DAYS.</span> + <br /><br /> + <span style="font-size: 70%">BY THE</span> + <br /> + <span style="font-size: 90%"> + AUTHOR OF "EVENING AMUSEMENT," "LETTERS EVERYWHERE,"<br />ETC., ETC. + </span> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + <span style="font-size: 90%"> + <i>WITH TWENTY ILLUSTRATIONS BY<br />PAUL KONEWKA.</i> + </span> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + <span style="text-align:center; font-size: 90%"> + NEW YORK:<br />E. P. DUTTON & CO., 713, BROADWAY.</span><br /> + <span style="text-align:center; font-size: 70%"> + LONDON: SEELEY, JACKSON, & HALLIDAY.<br />1872. + </span> + </td> + </tr> +</table> + +<hr class="major" /> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 250px; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em;"> +<img src="images/illus-the-mittens.png" width="250" alt="THE MITTENS." title="" /> +<span class="caption">THE MITTENS.</span> +</div> + +<hr class="major" /> + +<h2><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS"></a>Contents</h2> +<div class="smcap"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="Contents"> +<col style="width:10%;" /> +<col style="width:2%;" /> +<col style="width:45%;" /> +<col style="width:10%;" /> +<tr><td align="right">I</td><td> </td><td>HOME SICKNESS.</td><td align="right"><a href="#I">1</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">II</td><td> </td><td>UNCLE HUGH'S STORY.</td><td align="right"><a href="#II">10</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">III</td><td> </td><td>THE LITTLE STOWAWAY</td><td align="right"><a href="#III">21</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">IV</td><td> </td><td>MY HOME, AND WHAT IT WAS LIKE.</td><td align="right"><a href="#IV">33</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">V</td><td> </td><td>LITTLE COUSINS.</td><td align="right"><a href="#V">46</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">VI</td><td> </td><td>WHAT ABOUT LESSONS?</td><td align="right"><a href="#VI">59</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">VII</td><td> </td><td>HURRAH FOR THE HOLIDAYS!</td><td align="right"><a href="#VII">76</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">VIII</td><td> </td><td>THE COTTAGE ON THE CLIFF.</td><td align="right"><a href="#VIII">90</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">IX</td><td> </td><td>SUSETTE AND HER TROUBLES.</td><td align="right"><a href="#IX">108</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">X</td><td> </td><td>AUTUMN DAYS.</td><td align="right"><a href="#X">123</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right">XI</td><td> </td><td>GOOD-BYE TO BEECHAM.</td><td align="right"><a href="#XI">137</a></td></tr> +</table> +</div> + +<hr class="major" /> + +<div> +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span> +<h2>MY YOUNG DAYS.</h2> +</div> + +<h3><a name="I" id="I"></a>I</h3> +<h3>HOME SICKNESS.</h3> + +<p>"I want to go home!"</p> + +<p>How many times in my life, I wonder, have these words come rushing up +from the very bottom of my heart, tumbling everything out of the way, +never listening to reason, never stopping for thought? How many times +since that dreary afternoon in the great, big drawing-room at +grandmamma's? And,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span> oh dear me! what miserable heartache comes before +that fearful want! Oh, grown-up people, don't you know how sour +everything tastes, and how yellow everything looks, and how sick +everything makes one, when one wants to go home?</p> + +<p>So it was that one wretched day. How well I remember it all! The large, +large drawing-room so full of cushions, couches, easy-chairs, little +tables covered with funny knick-knacks, marble-slabs and more +knick-knacks, beautiful fire-screens, large mirrors, soft fur lying +about on the floor, and many-coloured antimacassars on the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span> chairs. By +and by, all these wonders had happy memories pinned on to them, of +uproarious games with merry little play-fellows. Now, I was all alone, +and very lonely, in it all. True, there was grandmamma nodding in her +easy-chair, in the firelight, on one side, and there was Uncle Hugh +reading the "Times" by the same light on the other. But what were either +of them to the little tired stranger on the low stool between them? Once +grandmamma's eyes had opened just to look at me, and say, "Making pretty +pictures of the red coals, my dearie?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span></p> + +<p>And Uncle Hugh had answered, "Yes, to be sure; dreaming of the King of +Salamanders!"</p> + +<p>And they went to sleep again or went on reading, and the little company +smile faded away from my face, and I went back to those very real dreams +of the nursery at home, and baby there, and little brother, and papa and +mamma, and the long time ago, hours and hours ago! when I said good-bye, +and Bobbie kissed his hand out of window, and the carriage took me +off—a happy little woman, really going in the puff-puff! Oh, how could +I ever have felt so happy<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span> then and be so miserable now? Had I ever +thought that I was coming away from them all, with nobody at all but +Jane, the new nursemaid, to take care of me? Had I ever thought how +<i>quite</i> alone I should be, never able to find my way in this great, big +house, sure to get lost in some of the passages? And how could I ever go +to sleep without Bobbie close by, and wouldn't Bobbie cry for me at +home? And oh, nurse wouldn't be there to tuck me up, and perhaps +grandmamma wouldn't like the candle left! And who would give me my +good-night kiss like,—like,—oh,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span> oh, like—— But it would come, that +great big sob, it wasn't any use to choke it back! And, when it had +come, of course, it was all over with me, and there was nothing for it +but to cry out just as if I was not in that grand drawing-room—</p> + +<p>"I want to go home! I want, oh, I do want mamma!"</p> + +<p>What a disturbance that cry of mine did make, to be sure! Grandmamma was +wide-awake in a moment, looking very much distressed, and laying her +hand on the bell. This troubled me very much; for hadn't Jane told me<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span> +when she brushed my hair and made me tidy, that I was to go down and be +a good girl, "and do things pretty" in the drawing-room, and would she +scold me if I was sent away for crying and making a noise? But Uncle +Hugh came to my rescue, threw away his paper, and cuddled me up in his +great strong arms almost like papa. And he showed me his watch, and made +it strike, and then began to show me all kinds of wonders about the +room: little tiny black men under a glass case, small china monkeys, +cats and frogs, and funny shells and fishes,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span> and snakes' skins, and +lots of other things. And after that we came back to the easy-chair, and +he sang me sailors' songs, and told me all about "The House that Jack +built!"</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 264px; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em;"> +<img src="images/illus-the-cat.png" width="264" alt="THE CAT THAT WANTED THE GOOSE." title="" /> +<span class="caption">THE CAT THAT WANTED THE GOOSE.</span> +</div> + +<p>"Little woman," he said at last, "did you ever hear of 'The Goose that +Jack killed?'" and then he sang in his funny way, "This is the goose +that Jack killed; and this is the cat that wanted the goose that Jack +killed; and this is the dog that chased the cat that wanted the goose +that Jack killed; and this is the thief that cheated the dog that chased +the cat that wanted the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span>goose that Jack killed; and this is the dream +that haunted the thief that cheated the dog that chased the cat that +wanted the goose that Jack killed; and this"—</p> + +<p>But "Good night, Uncle Hugh, there's Jane come to fetch Miss Sissy to +her tea, upstairs in the nursery."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span></p> + +<hr class="major" /> +<h3><a name="II" id="II"></a>II</h3> +<h3>UNCLE HUGH'S STORY.</h3> + +<p>Yes, tea alone in the nursery, that strange room that looked as if it +hadn't been a nursery for a great many years, and was as queer and +awkward as an old woman trying to look young again. No clatter of spoons +to make baby laugh, no chatter of childish voices, only little me, all +alone with Jane—little me, so puzzled and strange and bewildered in the +new place! Perhaps<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span> Jane thought me dull, for she talked away fast +enough, about that dear old lady, my grandmamma, and about the beautiful +place we were in, and what if Master Bobbie should grow up some day to +find it all his own, and be the lord of it all. I didn't care much if he +did; I only wanted him now, little boy as he was, to put his fat arms +round my neck, for I was "little sister" to nobody here; it was mere +mockery calling me "Miss Sissy" all the time. Perhaps Jane heard the +sigh, for she stopped afterwards in the middle of her long story about +the little cousins<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> from over the sea, that were coming here in a day or +two. She had me on her lap, and she was just taking off my shoes and +socks, but she drew my head to her shoulder, and told me that I had +"Janie-panie" with me, who was always going to take care of me all the +time. I was very tired, and my eyes went shut on the pillow after that, +before they had time to cry home-sick tears. And next day there were so +many new things to see; two little puppies to make friends with, beside +the parrot and pussy.</p> + +<p>But I mustn't begin to tell you<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span> all the things that happened that day. +You see, I have made quite a long story of my first evening, so you must +try and fancy all about the walk in the park with Jane, and the drive +with Grandmamma to the town, and the toy-shop, and what we bought there.</p> + +<p>When we came home it was my tea-time; and after that Jane changed my +frock, and did my hair, and took me down to dessert, in the dining-room. +Ah, then the shy fit came on, and I bent my head very gravely to take +the sweet bits off Uncle Hugh's fork, I remember. But when he had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span> +pushed back his chair, given his arm to grandmamma, and his hand to me, +and taken us into the drawing-room—then, while he made me nestle down +on his knee in the soft easy-chair, all my shyness went away at the look +of his merry eyes.</p> + +<p>"Now for the goose that Jack killed," he said; and then and there began +the funniest story you ever heard. Only I can't tell it in the funny +words and with the merry, twinkling glances he gave me.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 311px; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em;"> +<img src="images/illus-the-dog.png" width="311" alt="THE DOG THAT CHASED THE CAT." title="" /> +<span class="caption">THE DOG THAT CHASED THE CAT.</span> +</div> + +<p>It was when Uncle Hugh was a middy, and he had been sailing <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span>in a great +big ship ever so long, till at last they came to some foreign country, I +don't know where. Well, Uncle Hugh and his friend Jack Miller went +roaming about, very glad to get off the sea. They took possession of a +little empty hut on the beach, and spent some of the time there, and +some of the time roaming about on the hills. Now it chanced, one day, +that they saw a flock of wild geese flying over the shore. Jack had a +gun with him, and he instantly shot one of these geese. Uncle Hugh says +they had had so much salt meat at sea,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> that they smacked their lips to +think of a nice fat goose for dinner. So they carried it off to their +hut, and then they pulled off all the feathers one by one, and made it +quite ready to cook. What funny cooks they must have been! But it wasn't +quite time to roast it, so they tied it up by a string to the door and +went away, leaving the captain's dog, Neptune, to watch it.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 210px; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em;"> +<img src="images/illus-the-thief.png" width="210" alt="THE THIEF THAT STOLE THE GOOSE." title="" /> +<span class="caption">THE THIEF THAT STOLE THE GOOSE.</span> +</div> + +<p>Now, Nep was a very funny dog—a nervous dog, Uncle Hugh called him—and +he was quite afraid something would happen. By and by, poor pussy came +to have a peep at the goosey-gander, and she <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span>climbed up the steps on +tip-toe just to look. Nep watched her, and didn't feel easy in his mind, +and when poor pussy just stretched forward her head (because she was a +little short-sighted, I dare say), Nep could bear it no longer. He gave +a great loud bark, and flew along the road after the wretched, flying +cat. Silly dog! while he was gone after puss, and just as he had his +fore-paws quite over her back, up comes a sly thief to the hut door, +quietly unhooks the bird, and runs off the other way, with its head +hanging over his shoulder. "And, so, you see, Sissy," said<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> Uncle Hugh +in his funnily grave way, "poor Jack and I came back to find our dinner +all gone!" But they got scent of the thief, and they caught him and shut +him up in their little hut, and locked him in, and left him with nothing +but bread and water. "For there was no policeman there, Sissy; we had to +play policemen ourselves."</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 280px; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em;"> +<img src="images/illus-the-dream.png" width="280" alt="THE DREAM THAT HAUNTED THE THIEF." title="" /> +<span class="caption">THE DREAM THAT HAUNTED THE THIEF.</span> +</div> + +<p>And there they left him all night. And the poor thief thought about his +little hungry children at home, till he fell asleep and dreamt (I wonder +how Uncle Hugh knew that?) that he saw the goose all smoking hot, gravy +and all, and a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> knife and fork all ready to cut it up.</p> + +<p>But they didn't mean to be cruel—I don't believe Uncle Hugh could be! +So they had a nice, hot supper themselves on board the big ship, and +plenty of fun, and lots of merry songs. And then they cut three big +slices and put them aside.</p> + +<p>And don't you think the thief-man must have been surprised when he saw +the nice breakfast that Jack brought him next morning? I think Uncle +Hugh said that he wrapped it all up and took it home to his children. +How<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> queer he must have felt as he slunk off, the sailors standing round +and giving him three cheers and plenty of jokes!<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span></p> + +<hr class="major" /> +<h3><a name="III" id="III"></a>III.</h3> +<h3>THE LITTLE STOWAWAY</h3> + +<p>One of my earliest friends at the Park was a little French boy, a kind +of page of my uncle's. Shall I tell you about him? You will think it +very funny that a servant-boy should be allowed to be my friend, so I +must explain.</p> + +<p>Little Gus, as my uncle called him—though his real name was +Gustave—was altogether a little foreigner. He couldn't talk English<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> at +all properly; in fact, the greater part of our conversation was carried +on by signs. He was very much afraid of everybody in the house, except +Uncle Hugh. He thought there was nobody in all the world like the +Captain, as he called him. His bright eyes used to twinkle and his white +teeth shine whenever he could find a chance of running an errand, or +doing any little job for the Captain; and I think it was, perhaps, +because he took me for the Captain's little pet that he grew so fond of +me.</p> + +<p>He would follow me all about<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> the garden, and watch me as I talked away +to Jane, and be ready to find my ball or fetch my hoop the minute I +wanted them.</p> + +<p>Now, after we had been a little while at the Park, I found that Jane had +got very fond of flowers, and was always anxious to go to the +glass-houses directly we came out into the garden.</p> + +<p>"Why, Miss Sissy," she would say, "there never was anything like the +ferns, and the orange-trees, and the cactuses in them houses; and Mr. +Owen so civil-like in showing them to us, too."</p> + +<p>So off we went to the hot-houses,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span> and there Mr. Owen and Jane talked +and talked till I got tired of the hot air, and went to play outside; +and there just outside was Gus, always waiting to pick me the prettiest +flowers, and find me the first sweet violets. But I was shy, and his +words were so foreign that they frightened me; nor did I like at all +being called "Petite mademoiselle," which was not my name, and couldn't +mean anything that I could think of. At last I grew braver, and one day +I ventured to ask—</p> + +<p>"Who is your papa?"</p> + +<p>"Me hab no papa, no mamma!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> he said, looking very full at me.</p> + +<p>"Where do you live then?" I asked. "You're not a bit like Bobbie!"</p> + +<p>"Me live wid de Capitaine; me never will leaf de Capitaine—never, +never, never!" he answered eagerly.</p> + +<p>This made me feel very queer, and I think I looked half-frightened, for +his look changed quickly, and he said, smiling his own sunny smile—</p> + +<p>"Me fetch petite mademoiselle somet'ing nice; me fetch de puss dat de +Capitaine just bring home!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span></p> + +<p>A pussy! That sounded pleasant, and I waited eagerly for his return. I +waited a long time, as it seemed, and I had grown tired, and was looking +for daisies on the grass, when I heard his step and the tap of his +favourite holly-stick on the gravel. What a funny boy he was to call +that "something nice"!</p> + +<p>There he stood, his eyes and mouth all one smile, and held out at arm's +length by the ears a dead rabbit. My look and exclamation of horror made +him grave at once.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 239px; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em;"> +<img src="images/illus-poor-dead.png" width="239" alt="POOR DEAD PUSSY!" title="" /> +<span class="caption">POOR DEAD PUSSY!</span> +</div> + +<p>"Oh, the poor little rabbit!" I <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span>cried. "Has Uncle Hugh killed him +quite dead?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes, he quite dead! De Capitaine's gun kill him quite, de small +dog pick him up. Petite mademoiselle not frighten, he quite dead!"</p> + +<p>Ah, that was just the reason of my fright! Away I ran to Jane, and hid +my face in her gown; and a very vigorous scolding did she give the +French boy when she found what he had done.</p> + +<p>Poor fellow! he was very much disconcerted, and did not know what to +say. Two hours after he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span> came back, and finding me alone just going for +a drive, he said softly—</p> + +<p>"Little puss all alive now, run away in de voods. Petite mademoiselle, +come see?"</p> + +<p>What did he mean? The rabbit could not be "quite dead" at one time, and +"all alive" afterwards. But grandmamma was coming downstairs, and I had +no time to answer him. By and by, when I was lying back on the soft +cushions stroking grandmamma's pretty white fur, I told her all my +puzzle.</p> + +<p>"Ah, my pet," she said, "poor<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span> Gus had a very cruel French father, and +doesn't know any better. He ran away from home when your uncle's ship +was touching at Marseilles, and hid himself in the hold. They found him +when they got out to sea—a little stowaway the sailors called him—and +your uncle liked his dark, pitiful eyes, and was very kind to him; but +he has not learnt much yet that's good. Don't have too much to say to +him, my darling!"</p> + +<p>Well, it wasn't very likely I should, for he and I found it not very +easy to understand each other; yet he liked to do anything he could<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span> for +me, and was always watching to see what I wanted.</p> + +<p>Nearly a year after that, I remember, it was very cold, and the little +southern boy felt it especially. He had grown ever so tall and thin, but +not strong, and he went about looking blue and shivery. How I came to be +still at the Park I will tell you in another place, but there I was, and +my friend Gus won my pity by his wretched looks. I used to look at his +blue hands, and wonder what could be done. At last I remembered a pair +of warm knitted gloves, that had been given me, which I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span> never wore. +They had no fingers, only a thumb, and I doubted whether Gus would wear +them; but I made up my mind that he would be glad anyhow to keep his +chilblains from the wind.</p> + +<p>I don't think I shall ever forget his look when I presented them to him, +holding them by the pretty blue wool which fastened them together. That +his "petite mademoiselle" should think of him, and make him a present, +too! and then that that present should be one that he could not anyhow +use! It was fairly too much for him; he looked at them, he looked at me, +turned<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> furiously red, stammered, stuttered, turned round, and literally +ran away!</p> + +<p>I never tried to make him a second present.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span></p> + +<hr class="major" /> +<h3><a name="IV" id="IV"></a>IV</h3> +<h3>MY HOME, AND WHAT IT WAS LIKE.</h3> + +<p>Now, do you know, I feel rather ashamed of myself that I have not all +this while told you in the least who I was, or where I came from. I +began in the middle by saying, "I want to go home," but never told you +in the least where my home was, nor what it was.</p> + +<p>Well, to tell you the truth, I did not know much about my family history +in those early days. I knew<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span> that my name was Mary Emily Marshall, +commonly called Sissy, and I knew that my papa was "the gentleman that +makes all the sick people well,"—"or tries to," Jane would add. I never +did. Of course, if my papa tried to do anything he did it. That was my +doctrine. We lived quite down in the country among the poor people, and +we were not rich ourselves. Mamma had been born in this beautiful park, +and I know now, though I did not then, that it was a great trouble at +the Park when she married the country doctor, who loved the poor people<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span> +so much that he would not leave them to grow rich and honoured as a +London physician. But there was no grandpapa left now to be angry; and +grandmamma, though we had never seen her, we had always loved for the +beautiful presents she sent us.</p> + +<p>There were only three of us at this time—my little self; Bobbie, a boy +of four years old, boasting of the fattest, rosiest cheeks in the world; +and wee Willie, the white-faced, fretful baby of six months. Oh, how +well I remember the old house, with its great lamp hanging out over the +lonely road, and shining<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span> among the trees, to show the villagers the way +up to their good, kind friend the doctor. Many were the blessings we +little ones used to get as we passed down the village street, and we +owed them all to our father's goodness.</p> + +<p>Happy times we had of it, Bobbie and I, in that old house at the top of +the hill. I don't think any little brothers and sisters were ever quite +such good friends. There were three years between us, but I was little +and he was big, so nobody guessed it, and we played together, and never +thought which was the elder. The great treat of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span> the day was the game +with papa in the evening, but that couldn't be counted upon. Very often +he would have to leave the dinner-table suddenly, and when we heard his +peculiar slam of the hall-door before the bell rang to summon us down, +we knew that we had lost our game, and we comforted ourselves by telling +each other that papa had gone to see some little sick child like baby +Willie, and to make him quite well; and then we would make up our minds +to a good quiet game by ourselves.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 256px; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em;"> +<img src="images/illus-pappa-and.png" width="256" alt="PAPA AND MAMMA." title="" /> +<span class="caption">PAPA AND MAMMA.</span> +</div> + +<p>We used to take turns, he playing at doll with me one time,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> and I +playing at horses with him next time. How well I remember my hairless, +eyeless doll, and all the pleasure she gave us! And good-natured old +nurse was quite willing, whenever Willie was a little better than usual, +to work wonders with dolly's toilet. One week she would be a fine, grand +lady, to whom Bobby would act footman and I lady's-maid. Next week, she +was a soldier fighting grand battles, and lying dead on the battle-field +at last, with a patch of red paint on the forehead, and we two singing +dirges and songs of victory; and then, all of a sudden, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span>the soldier +was turned into a baby, with long white clothes and the prettiest of +caps.</p> + +<p>The day that grandmamma's letter came, asking for "one of the dear +children to stay with her," dolly was just learning to walk. We were +having our firelight play before tea. I had tied up my curls to look +like a grown woman's hair, and I had papa's umbrella to keep the rain +off dolly in her first walk. Bobbie had papa's hat and stick, and he +held Rosalinda's other hand. I was just telling him not to walk so fast, +because his long strides would tire our little girl,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span> when I heard +papa's voice calling me.</p> + +<p>In a minute more I was standing between his knees, and mamma was +watching my face as I tried to take in the idea of this first visit.</p> + +<p>"Jane shall go with you, my darling—you will not be all alone," said +mamma; "indeed, you shall not go at all if you had rather not, but +grandmamma wants to have you."</p> + +<p>And then papa added a great deal about seeing the place where mamma +lived when she was my age, and told me that I should come back with such +rosy cheeks.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span> And all the while I was thinking of the new doll's-house +that grandmamma would give me perhaps. The thought of this took me back +to Rosalinda, and I felt sure that Bobbie would let her fall if I didn't +be quick and go to him. So I said, "Yes, I will go," very much in a +hurry, and was ever so glad to get away and run upstairs again.</p> + +<p>"Queer little fish!" I heard papa say as I left the room. "She thinks a +great deal more about the doll and Bobbie, than of the visit to +Beecham."</p> + +<p>"Children never look far forward," was mamma's answer.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span></p> + +<p>But I did look forward by and by. When dear Rosalinda was safely tucked +up in her cradle, and Bobbie and I had "time to think," as we said, then +we talked it all over. And very wonderful plans we made. Such numbers of +injunctions did I lay upon Bobbie, as to the care of the dolls while I +was away, that the poor little fellow said with a sigh, "Yes, I'll try +and 'member, Sissy!"</p> + +<p>So I consoled him by the thought of all the presents grandmamma would +send him when I came back. In fact, I was to bring something for +everybody, so<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span> I thought. Two dear little rabbits for Bobbie, perhaps a +new black silk gown for nurse, a beautiful sash for the baby, and so on, +and so on.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 234px; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em;"> +<img src="images/illus-so-nice.png" width="234" alt="SO NICE!" title="" /> +<span class="caption">SO NICE!</span> +</div> + +<p>The next afternoon Bobbie and I had our last feast. Do <i>you</i> often have +feasts? I don't mean cake and fruit, and good things at the +dinner-table. Oh no, I mean a real tiny feast all to yourselves, with +the nursery-chair unscrewed to make table and chair, with square paper +plates twisted at the corners, paper dishes with sugar on one, currants +on another, rice or raisins on another, and little doll's-house<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span> cups +for the make-believe wine and the real milk. Ah, that nice sugared milk +taken in little sips out of the oldest nursery-spoons! How well I can +fancy myself now, giving Bobbie his spoonful, while pussy looked +enviously up at us? Then it was that the bright thought struck me that I +would bring home some real Beecham kittens to puss, that would do quite +well in the place of those dear little lost ones, that James had taken +away and forgotten ever to bring back? Well, you know, all the +preparations were made, my pretty new frock tried <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span>on, all my kisses +given, and all sorts of messages sent home from the station, and in the +highest of spirits my first start in life was accomplished. What my +feelings were when the day came to an end, you know, so I need not tell +you.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span></p> + +<hr class="major" /> +<h3><a name="V" id="V"></a>V</h3> +<h3>LITTLE COUSINS.</h3> + +<p>So now you know who I was, where I came from, and all about me. Let me, +then, go on telling you about this remarkable visit to grandmamma. You +have heard all about those first quiet days, when I was all alone, the +only little thing in all the place. It was very different afterwards, I +can tell you.</p> + +<p>You know Jane had told me all that was going to happen.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span> Indeed, she +talked always very fast, and didn't mind filling my little head with her +opinions of my betters which was certainly a mistake. It was a shame, +she said, that my uncle, "the Reverend," should send all his children +here, while he and his wife went taking their travels and their pleasure +all about to those gay foreign places!</p> + +<p>Grandmamma talked about it in quite a different way. She told me how ill +my aunt had been, so ill that my uncle had been obliged to take her away +from England for the whole winter. And she said that now they had left +the place on<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span> the beautiful Swiss lake, and were going to try some +German baths. Only they could not take the children there, so they were +to come and stay at the Park for a month or too, the while.</p> + +<p>I thought this would be very nice, and I began to ask all sorts of +questions about Harry and Lottie, and Alick and Murray, and Bertie and +the baby. How funny it would seem when the nursery was so full! I +thought the day would never come. But it did. The carriage was sent off +to the station, and in due time it came back, quite full to overflowing +with children!<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span></p> + +<p>There was a good deal of shyness at first, when we all stood in a row, +and looked at each other, answering grandmamma's questions seriously, +and feeling very odd. But that was only the first evening. Next day we +were quite happy and comfortable, had a very merry breakfast, and then a +delightful ramble about the gardens and orchards. Of course, I was only +one of the little ones, coming in between Alick and Murray, feeling very +small beside Lottie and Harry. Yet we were all very good friends, and +Lottie soon told me that she thought it would be very<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span> nice to have a +girl to talk to, and not only boys. This remark pleased me, though when +I thought of Bobbie, it sounded rather strange. Indeed, I am not sure +that I was not a little too fond of boys' play.</p> + +<p>I remember feeling rather disappointed one day when she said to me in +the garden—</p> + +<p>"Sissy, let's come and have a nice quiet walk together, and leave the +boys to play by themselves."</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 338px; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em;"> +<img src="images/illus-going-to.png" width="338" alt="GOING TO THE WARS." title="" /> +<span class="caption">GOING TO THE WARS.</span> +</div> + +<p>Now, three of the boys were just preparing for a military march, one +with a bright flag, another with a trumpet, and another with a +sword-stick, so-called; and there was a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span>most refreshing prospect of +shouting, stamping, and huzzahs! Do you wonder that I turned away rather +unwillingly?</p> + +<p>However, Lottie's confidences soon made up for it all. Such beautiful +stories Lottie could tell! When she began to talk about the Alps, and +the blue lake and the mountain flowers, I thought it seemed almost as +good as my hymns and verses. I know I looked up at her with eyes full of +admiration, and when she put her arms round me, and gave me a loving +kiss, I thought I had never been so happy before.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span></p> + +<p>And then she listened to all I had to tell her about Bobbie, and baby +Willie, and Rosalinda, and gave me her advice about dressing Rosalinda +like the Queen.</p> + +<p>My letters, too, she read, and said they were very nice, which made me +love mamma for writing them all the more. And she showed me her own +letter that had just come across the sea, with its foreign stamps and +thin paper. Quite a nice talk it was altogether, and we were ever so +sorry when we were called in to dinner.</p> + +<p>My boy-cousins were very polite<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span> to me at first, and hardly seemed to +know what to make of me. Harry was a little too patronizing, called me +"a mite of a thing," and played tricks upon me in a gentle way. But then +he was not often with us. He had not been a night in the house before he +had quite determined to be a sailor like Uncle Hugh, so it followed, as +a matter of course, that he must be always with him.</p> + +<p>Force of habit, however, made him confide all his plans and thoughts to +Lottie, so that our private talks in the shrubbery were often +interrupted by his merry voice.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span> Then he would throw himself down among +the grass and periwinkles, and tell us all about his future ship. This +usually ended in Lottie's being carried off to make sails or flags for +his new craft. Then, being left to myself, I soon ran off to my other +cousins, nothing loath to have a game of romps with them.</p> + +<p>Alick seemed likely to be my special friend. What a funny little fellow +he must have been, though I did not think so then! Jane called him a +little dandy, much to his displeasure; yet I am afraid his friendship +was likely to increase my childish vanity. He was so fond<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span> of decking me +with flowers, making wreaths for me, and then looking at me, and +sometimes comparing my hair or eyes with Lottie's; and his look of +vexation if my face was dirty or my pinafore torn, often comes back to +me even now when I feel untidy in any way.</p> + +<p>One afternoon, when Alick and I and one of the other boys were alone, it +suddenly came into our wise little heads that we would play at going to +a party. What vast preparations we made! What pains the boys took to tie +up my sleeves with some bright ribbon meant for Harry's flags! How<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span> +cleverly we succeeded in carrying off a hair-brush, and what a long time +it took to decide how the boys' hair and ties should be arranged! And +then came the flowers, my wreath, and the bouquet to be carried for me +by one of my gentlemen.</p> + +<p>We were all ready, I remember, and I was just taking Alick's arm, and we +had all put on our best airs and graces for a solemn entrance to the +supposed ball-room, when, all of a sudden, who should come round the +corner but Uncle Hugh and Harry!</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 250px; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em;"> +<img src="images/illus-going-party.png" width="250" alt="GOING TO A PARTY." title="" /> +<span class="caption">GOING TO A PARTY.</span> +</div> + +<p>Oh, those bursts of laughter<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span> <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span>pealing out again and again! Oh, the +writhings and twistings of Uncle Hugh in his excessive mirth! Would they +<i>ever</i> stop laughing? Even now my cheeks almost tingle with those +painful blushes, and my heart beats with that frightened shame!</p> + +<p>And yet it was for Alick that I was chiefly troubled, as I saw him fling +down the flowers and run, while Harry, shouting "conceited young +jackanapes," pursued him at full speed. I had never seen such rough play +or heard such mocking laughter, and I burst into tears, sobbing out my +trouble on my<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span> uncle's shoulder as he carried me off and laughingly +soothed me, pressing the prickly wreath all the while against my head.</p> + +<p>It was a long time before our adventure was forgotten. Harry's merry +jokes brought the colour over and over again to my face, and the angry +words to Alick's lips. But we were both cured, certainly, for the time, +of any love of display or dandyism!<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span></p> + +<hr class="major" /> +<h3><a name="VI" id="VI"></a>VI</h3> +<h3>WHAT ABOUT LESSONS?</h3> + +<p>And now, little reader, I know quite well what thought has been popping +in and out of your head all this time. You have been wanting to ask me +what had become of lessons all these weeks, and how a number of little +boys and girls could be allowed to run wild, doing just what they liked +all day long.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 237px; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em;"> +<img src="images/illus-baby-dear.png" width="237" alt="BABY, DEAR!" title="" /> +<span class="caption">BABY, DEAR!</span> +</div> + +<p>Well, it does seem very shocking, and there is no denying that,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span> for a +whole month, we did not often see the inside of a book. Yet, I had +learnt to read, and had been in the habit of learning to spell and to +count every day of my life at home. I don't quite know how it came about +that we were not all of us a very untamed set after a month's idleness +at the Park. Perhaps, it was a good thing for us that grandmamma was +what she was. The very perfection of tender kindness we all felt her, +and yet there was a certain dignity about her, that made it a simple +impossibility to be rough or rude before her. And on the whole we were a +great deal with <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span>her. When not with her, we were supposed to be picking +up a great deal of French from my cousin's Swiss nurse. And so, in our +way, we did, although I think Susette learned English a great deal +faster than we learned French. Yet, when we wished to coax her, the +French words came fast enough, such as they were.</p> + +<p>But I am afraid grandmamma did not think that we were learning quite +enough, for one day she called Lottie and me, and told us that she had +just seen such a nice young lady, and that she had promised to come and +be our governess.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span> What an excitement this news caused us all! How we +talked it over all day long. We had many different ideas as to what she +was to be like; in fact, the elder boys made pictures of her, which, as +it turned out, were anything but good portraits.</p> + +<p>How we did look at her that first evening! She was very young, very fair +and in deep mourning. That is my earliest impression of her. We had a +kind of unconfessed idea that she did not take half pains enough to make +us like her. She did not seem to care whether we did or not—hardly, I +fancy, to think about<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span> the matter. It was just the very end of April, +almost the bright May-time, and grandmamma went round the garden with +her, Lottie and I making our remarks from a distance. I think we were a +little surprised to see our new governess so much at her ease, laughing +merrily and talking away to grandmamma, just as if there were no little +critics taking note of all. By and by, she came in and sat down in "the +schoolroom"—such a new word that seemed!—to write a letter. Lottie and +I pretended to be very busy with our dolls in one corner, but we were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span> +keeping up our watch, and every now and then we met her eye with a merry +twinkle in it, looking greatly amused at us.</p> + +<p>"She looks so young, only a girl! she will never be able to manage us, +Jane says," Lottie remarked very softly to me; "but then, I daresay, she +can be cross enough when she likes, governesses always are!"</p> + +<p>All of a sudden, a merry laugh startled us both, and in another minute +Lottie found herself flat on the floor, being tickled and kissed and +laughed over all at once. I don't think she quite liked it, though she +couldn't help laughing, too, but her cheeks were very red, when Miss +Grant raised her own head. She kept Lottie flat on her back, and looked +down at her, the most thorough amusement all over her face.</p> + +<p>"Cross enough, do you think? Oh, yes, to be sure I can! Cross enough to +eat you up at one mouthful, and little Sissy after you!"</p> + +<p>How funny it sounded! Lottie laughed and so did I, only very nervously. +Then all at once Miss Grant grew very comically grave, and asked us +whether we thought we should soon make her cross?<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span> And then followed +such a funny talk, I think I shall never forget it. Miss Grant was half +lying on the sofa now, Lottie and I were bobbing up and down beside her, +sometimes looking right into her blue laughing eyes, sometimes hiding +our own rosy faces, that she mightn't see how queer she made us feel.</p> + +<p>"You don't much like the idea of having a governess, I see," she said; +"you fancy it will be lessons, lessons all day long now, a great deal of +crying, and punishments, very hard things to learn, and no fun any more. +If that's what it really is going to be, I shall get<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span> so unhappy that I +shall soon run away home again! And then you think I shall have to grow +cross and ill-tempered, too—that is the worst part of it all."</p> + +<p>She pretended to be ready to cry, and Lottie, who didn't quite like to +give up her own opinion, muttered something about "She thought they +always were!"</p> + +<p>"Are they?" asked Miss Grant, just as if she really wanted to know, and, +when we laughed and hid our faces, she went on: "I think I know how it +is. This is what you will do to me: You will begin by getting into all +the mischief you<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span> can think of, and that will give me a headache; and +then you will be cross and rude, and that will give me great, deep lines +in the forehead; and last of all, you will do vulgar things, that will +make my mouth get into the 'don't' shape, which is so ugly, you know; +and, by and by, when I look at myself in the glass, I shall find myself +turned into a grey-headed old woman, and I shall say, 'Sissy gave me +those wrinkles between my eyes, I always had to frown at her so;' and +then, 'Those ugly lines by my mouth came when Lottie vexed me so.' What +a funny thing it will be to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span> have to remember you in that way when you +are grown-up people!"</p> + +<p>Of course, we did not like this way of taking it for granted that we +were rude, troublesome children, yet there was a funny look in Miss +Grant's eyes that seemed as if she didn't really mean what she said. And +the end of it all was that we made a compact, as she called it, that we +would be ever so good-tempered, and then she and we would have the +happiest time together that you can fancy.</p> + +<p>And I think it all came true. Thanks to our papas and mammas, we were +not quite the rude children<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span> we might have been. They had saved us ever +so much trouble, and ever so many tears, by teaching us that hardest +lesson "do as you are told," before we were old enough to understand its +difficulty. And Miss Grant was always so bright and happy that she +scarcely ever let us suspect, even in the naughtiest times, that we were +"making the lines come." Out of doors she was the merriest among us, and +grandmamma would often say to Lottie that she was ever so much older +than Miss Grant, because she would walk soberly about with a book, while +Miss Grant was having<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span> all sorts of fun with the boys. At last she, too, +caught the infection, and then we all had the merriest romps together! +How well I remember those early summer days, and the luxury of flowers +everywhere. Is there anything so happy-looking, so full of overflowing +delight, as the long grass, and the buttercups and daisies, hawthorn and +bluebells? We thought ourselves very wise about flowers then, and had +very decided opinions on the proper blending of colours. Miss Grant was +teaching us this, and even now, when I see any one making a nosegay of +wild-flowers,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span> I fancy myself running up to her with a handful of bright +things, to watch in my eagerness how they were in a minute turned into +the beautiful bouquet that nobody could equal or copy.</p> + +<p>She had been with us some time, when one morning we had a visitor come +to spend the day at Beecham. This lady was not old, yet she had the most +wrinkled, aged face I ever saw. When she was gone, Harry, who never +minded what he said, asked grandmamma about her, and cried out in +surprise when he heard that she had been his own father's playfellow.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span></p> + +<p>"You think Mrs. Mowbray looks double as old as papa, do you?" said +grandmamma. "Ah, it is trouble that has aged her. You would not wonder +at all those lines and wrinkles if you knew all the sorrow and grief her +own poor boys have given her through their sin and wilfulness!"</p> + +<p>Lottie and I looked at each other, and then glanced slily at Miss Grant, +but I don't think she noticed us. When we were alone again, we resolved +that we would try ever so hard to be good.</p> + +<p>"Because, you know, Sissy, it wouldn't be nice if Miss Grant<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span> were to +get her face all puckered and creasy like that, just as if it wanted +ironing out, as Susette did with my frock when Murray scrunched it all +up under his pillow to hide it. But I suppose you couldn't iron out your +face!"</p> + +<p>Anyhow, I agreed with Lottie not to run any risks, and I do not think we +did. At least, all my memories of that happy year at Beecham are mingled +with the bright, merry, gentle friend who made easy all the lessons that +could be easy, and gave me courage for those that <i>had</i> to be hard; and +against whose shoulder I loved to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span> nestle, and listen to Bible-stories +with those little hints in them which always set me thinking of my own +faults and duties, and made me long to do right, and be the good little +Christian girl she wished me to be.</p> + +<p>Little reader, dear, are you making lines on anybody's forehead?<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span></p> + +<hr class="major" /> +<h3><a name="VII" id="VII"></a>VII</h3> +<h3>HURRAH FOR THE HOLIDAYS!</h3> + +<p>And yet, however pleasant lessons might be, there is no doubt that +holidays were pleasant things, too. Saturday afternoons were always +welcome, and all the weeks through we were planning what we would do +when they came. Of course these plans were sometimes upset by a rainy +day; but, even then, what with battledore and shuttlecock, painting and +spinning tops, we<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span> contrived to make out the time very happily.</p> + +<p>And before us all the while was the bright, pleasant prospect of the +long summer holidays.</p> + +<p>Every now and then during these happy months the thought of home came +across me, and sometimes one of mamma's letters would have in it so much +about Bobby and his play, and his prattle about Sissy's coming back, +that I grew a little home-sick and looked wistfully into grandmamma's +face as she read the letter. This would always make her say: "You don't +want to go home, little one?<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span> Aren't you very happy here with Lottie and +the boys? And you are getting on so nicely with your books, too; mamma +is so pleased to have you with so many little schoolfellows, and kind +Miss Grant to teach you! And we are going to have all kinds of pleasant +treats in the holidays. No, no, we must keep you another month or two! +Perhaps we will send you home when the cold weather comes!" So I ran +away again to make plans with Lottie about all the many things that must +be done the very first day of no lessons.</p> + +<p>Then came the last time of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span> history, and the last dreadful sums, and the +last copy written, and the last hard French words learnt, and then, +happiest of all, the last putting away of books and cleaning of slates! +It almost makes me take that long breath for joy even now only to +remember that happy day.</p> + +<p>"And don't you think I'm the happiest of us all?" said Miss Grant; "I am +the only one really going home for the holidays!"</p> + +<p>Which remark was a great relief to my little mind, for I had been afraid +we must seem a great deal too glad that she was going.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span> Now I could +venture on my very loudest "hurrah," which, after all, was but a feeble +imitation of the boys' loud cheers.</p> + +<p>You know, anticipation is the best part of every pleasure; in easier +words, everything looks brighter before it comes than when it <i>is</i> come. +I think that was very nearly the happiest day of my whole year at +Beecham, when I sat on the floor watching the last things put into Miss +Grant's box, and chattering away about the happy days coming. You see, +for a long time I had got up every morning with the thought of how many<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span> +good marks I should get, and of how those hard letters and figures were +to be made, and though I had made many a brave fight and won many a +delightful victory over the books, yet it <i>was</i> very nice to think that +to-morrow I should awake with the holiday feeling instead.</p> + +<p>And the next morning did really come, though we thought it never would, +and we made a very long meal of breakfast, being not quite sure what was +to come next.</p> + +<p>It was a funny day, that first day! Grandmamma and Uncle Hugh went away +early for a long<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span> drive, and all sorts of business at the end of it; and +we knew they would not be home till ever so late. It was very hot—oh, +so <i>very</i> hot! We could not go into the sun at all, but Susette and Jane +sent us out of the nursery very soon, that we might not disturb baby's +midday sleep by our holiday fun. The school-room, of course, we avoided; +so, after a little hesitation, we went out into the shade to play.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 313px; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em;"> +<img src="images/illus-moon.png" width="313" alt="UP TO THE MOON!" title="" /> +<span class="caption">UP TO THE MOON!</span> +</div> + +<p>And, first of all, we thought of the swing as the best thing to be done, +and for half an hour it <i>was</i> most delightful! Don't you know the +pleasant feeling it is, just up at<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span> <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span>the very highest point, when you +are not <i>quite</i> sure whether you are frightened or not? Don't you know? +And you laugh a little anxiously, and are very glad to find yourself +safely down again. Oh, it was very good fun for <i>a little while</i>! Only +Harry came to swing us, and he was so fond of seeing your feet up into +the branches, that you never could be quite sure that he would not send +you head-over-heels. Lottie was very brave, but I could not quite stand +it, so I stood by and watched; and when they asked me to have another +try, I said, "No, thank you." I think<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span> Alick saw that I was a little red +and uncomfortable, for he asked me to come and play on the lawn. We ran +away, taking a last look at the two elder ones. It was not such +boisterous play that we had, we two together, yet I think we enjoyed it +very much, half-talking, half-playing. We were very good friends, and +the morning went very quickly. When the dinner-bell rang, we agreed that +we would start off together as soon as we could for the apple-orchard at +the top of the hill, where we were not likely to be disturbed.</p> + +<p>That hot July afternoon, how<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span> well I remember it! All among the long +grass we lay, looking up at the little, young apples overhead, and now +and then setting our teeth in the sour middles of those that had fallen. +But we were a little afraid of the effects of these unripe, bullet +things, so we did no more than taste them. Then my eight-year-old cousin +began to say me long pages of poetry, and when he had exhausted his +stores, he astonished me by the funny, learned sound of his Latin +declensions.</p> + +<p>"You know, Sissy," he said, "I mean to be a very learned man<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span> some day, +and know twelve or fourteen languages, I think. I shall not be content +till I know more than anybody else. It will be nice to be wiser than +papa. He's ever so clever, you see; but then, of course, new things will +be found out every year, and sons must always get a-head of their +fathers, or else the world would stand still, you see."</p> + +<p>I didn't quite see, but I pretended to. Alick had been very confidential +lately, and I knew what a sore spot there was in his heart making him +talk like this. Hadn't he confided to me with a fierce, red heat on his +forehead how his father had told him he wasn't "half a boy," because he +had turned giddy climbing a high tree? "But papa always says when Harry +bangs his head about, that he doesn't believe there can be any brains +behind such a skull as his. I dare say that is the difference between +us."</p> + +<p>So said the young scholar with all the satisfaction possible, and I +believed in him with all my heart.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 359px; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em;"> +<img src="images/illus-holiday.png" width="359" alt="HOLIDAY TIME." title="" /> +<span class="caption">HOLIDAY TIME.</span> +</div> + +<p>However, even he grew tired of wise talk, and proposed a game with the +fallen apples. How we pelted each other, how we laughed,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span> and, oh, how +hot we did get at last! Then off came hats and jackets, and were left +behind under the trees while we went to rest ourselves in a piece of +open shade, thrown by that large barn where, by and by, the apples would +be stored away; and this was the moment which I seized to get his advice +as to a new toy I had lately bought to send to Bobbie. It was one of +those wooden soldiers whose arms and legs are to go by means of a +string; but the string, you know, is always getting hitched. This was +the case now, and it tasked all Alick's wonderful brains<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span> <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span>to set it +right. How my back and arm did ache as I held it up for him, lying flat +on the grass, to twitch, and pull, and contrive, and, at last, to +conquer! That happy moment had just come when there was a sound of +wheels in the road near us. One minute more, and Uncle Hugh's voice was +heard calling us, and the carriage stopped to take us up. What grand, +glorious news we were told as we drove home, two hatless, jacketless, +sun-burnt children, I must not tell you this time.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span></p> + +<hr class="major" /> +<h3><a name="VIII" id="VIII"></a>VIII</h3> +<h3>THE COTTAGE ON THE CLIFF.</h3> + +<p>"Well, my dearie," said grandmamma, "uncle and I have just taken such a +pretty little cottage for you all, high up on the cliff, looking right +over the blue sea. And you are to go off and try if the fresh wind up +there will put a little more colour into those cheeks of yours!"</p> + +<p>My dear little friends, I had just nestled down snugly enough<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span> on +grandmamma's silk dress and black lace shawl, never having the least +idea of the dear, kind purpose of that long sixteen miles' drive, so you +won't be surprised to hear that the news gave me such a start that I +very nearly jumped out of the carriage. And Alick—well, I don't know +whether he was really half a boy or three quarters, but his shout +certainly made you fancy him quite a <i>whole</i> boy at that minute!</p> + +<p>Oh, the bright, bright pictures that came tumbling one over another in +one's mind, at the idea of the cottage on the cliff, crabs and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span> shrimps +and shells and sea-weed, and merry, merry waves in one happy muddle! And +do you know, nothing could induce the horses to trot fast enough up the +long drive; they never seemed to consider one bit how much we had to +tell, nor, indeed, how much we had <i>to do</i>, in preparation for +to-morrow. What if they had done a good thirty miles since breakfast, +they could stay at home next day and eat hay from morning to night and +leave it to Fairy and Whitefoot to do the hot work for us.</p> + +<p>I really cannot tell you how much sleep we got that night. I have a +distinct remembrance of kicking all the bed-clothes off ever so many +times, and of calling out to Lottie in the next room, without the +smallest respect to rules. And there was Jane as busy as could be, with +Susette, packing up little frocks, and pinafores, and nightgowns. Every +now and then she would stop to say, "Really, Miss Sissy, you <i>must</i> be +quiet, and go to sleep!" But, you know, that was just one of those +remarks which it is of no use listening to.</p> + +<p>It's funny how sometimes sleep seems to run away and won't be caught +anyhow! Next night it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span> was just the same. Only it was quite different, +too. You know what I mean. That funny bedroom, with its white curtains +covered with pink rose-buds, and the venetian blinds, and the moon +shining through, mixed up somehow with the sound of the waves; and to +have Lottie in the same large bed with me—oh, it was all so odd! And +the narrow passages with two stairs at every turn, and the rooms opening +right in each other's faces, so to say! It felt queer, too, to know that +we were alone in the house with only Susette and Jane to take care of +us, the woman of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span> house to do hard work, and Gus to run errands for +us.</p> + +<p>By some means or other we did go to sleep at last, and afterwards woke +up in the morning to wonder where we were. And then came all the wonders +of the new place to be discovered. Harry had persuaded grandmamma to +send over the steady old pony with us, and no sooner was breakfast over +than he appeared at the door led by Gus, for Master Harry to go, as he +called it, on a voyage of discovery. I am not sure that our nurses were +not rather glad to be rid of this "Turk of a boy," as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span> they called him; +for Harry, good-natured as he was, could not lose a chance of teasing +the little ones, and sometimes, a little hurting their tempers.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 380px; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em;"> +<img src="images/illus-im-coming.png" width="380" alt="I'M COMING!" title="" /> +<span class="caption">I'M COMING!</span> +</div> + +<p>There was a great hollow place in the cliff close to our house, down +which was the way to the beach, which we took with the least possible +delay. Then came the first delights of bathing, and when that was over, +the digging in the sand and hunting for shells, while baby took his +morning sleep on Susette's lap. By and by we went home to dinner, and +after that, to hemming and sewing and reading<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span> <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span>with the nurses. And +when early tea was over, it was cool enough for a fresh walk over the +hills, or away to the rocks farther off.</p> + +<p>This was the way we spent four pleasant weeks, getting as rosy and +strong as any one could wish. Three or four times we were surprised in +our morning play on the beach by the welcome sight of Uncle Hugh. For, +every now and then, he would ride over to give grandmamma some news of +the children. This was a great delight, for it was sure to mean, first +of all, that there were letters from home for us all,—those foreign<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span> +sheets that Lottie loved to see, and the long crossed letters full of +mamma's love to me. And to us four elder ones, Harry and Lottie and +Alick and me, uncle's visit always meant a glorious afternoon in a boat +far out at sea. I hardly know whether Harry or Gus delighted most in the +prospect of these visits. The pleasure simply of holding the +"Capitaine's" horse was enough to make the French boy's eyes glisten and +his teeth shine with the broadest smile. And to Harry the delight of +handling an oar or managing a sail was beyond anything delicious.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span></p> + +<p>But the visit which we had all most cause to remember was the last which +Uncle Hugh paid us. He was going away to London on business—business +which would soon end in another long voyage, the news of which brought a +flush of pleasure to Gus's cheeks, soon changed to intense +disappointment at the news that he must this time be left in England.</p> + +<p>That afternoon we were longer than usual on the sea, only returning just +in time for a late tea and bed. Uncle Hugh started about seven o'clock, +and Harry as usual mounted his pony in great haste<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span> to go with him part +of the way. I remember that uncle was in a hurry, and did not wait for +him, for as I stood undressing near the window I saw Harry waving his +hat and calling after him, with the two dogs at his side.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 332px; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em;"> +<img src="images/illus-through-thick.png" width="332" alt="THROUGH THICK AND THIN." title="" /> +<span class="caption">THROUGH THICK AND THIN.</span> +</div> + +<p>The long summer evening faded away; from my pillow I saw the stars come +out one by one, and then kissing my hand to them, I let my sleepy eyes +go shut, and was soon in the midst of pleasant dreamland. I don't know +how long after this it was, that I was aroused by a sound of whispers at +the door, and then by a little timid <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span>question from Lottie, "Susette, +isn't Harry come home?" "But no, Miss Lottie," was the answer in a +troubled voice, and Jane broke in: "Hush, hush! you'll wake Miss Sissy! +Go to sleep, there's a darling. He'll be home directly now—no need to +be frightened!"</p> + +<p>"No need to be frightened!" said Susette, in her foreign accent. "But, +yes——"</p> + +<p>Jane had pulled her out of the room, and Lottie and I, now wide awake, +were left to wonder, and talk in low, frightened tones. Lottie had heard +the whining of one of the dogs under the window—both<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span> dogs had gone off +with Harry—and she had heard Susette call Jane gently, and then they +had whispered outside the door something about Gus and the dog; and +after that she had heard Gus run off under the window, the dog barking +joyfully and going, too. How we lay and trembled! By and by I got out of +bed, and peeped through the Venetians, in spite of Lottie's entreaties.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Sissy, please don't! Susette will be so angry! Please, Sissy, come +back!"</p> + +<p>I protested that Susette was not <i>my</i> nurse, yet I knew she could<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span> scold +in such a bewildering torrent of French as did sometimes frighten me; +and as I could see nothing but the calm, beautiful starlit sky over the +sleeping sea, I dropped the blind, and sprang back into bed. It made a +noise as I dropped it, and for some time the fear of being heard, and +the anxiety to appear asleep if any one came, made us forget our alarm +about Harry. In fact, I think we were getting sleepy again—I was, at +least—but we started up at the sound of the hall-door softly opened, +and then men's footsteps on the stairs. There was a low moan as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span> the +steps passed our door. Oh, how breathlessly we waited! Once, even, I had +the door ajar, and was peeping out, when a hurried hand outside suddenly +shut it again, making me start back. By and by there was a sound of +footsteps going downstairs, and in a moment Lottie and I were both in +the passage entreating Jane to tell us what had happened.</p> + +<p>"Master Harry has been tumbled over the pony's head, Miss Lottie," she +said, "and he's been lying in a ditch nobody knows how long; but the +dog's saved his life—him and Gus together—and the doctor hopes he +won't be very bad, no bones being broken, only bruises and knocks of the +head. He don't quite know himself, you see, yet, poor young gentleman! +and we have to keep him quiet, so you must go and be as still as mice. +The doctor'll be here in the morning, and the missis, too, may be!"</p> + +<p>All this while she was tucking us into bed again, and when she drew the +curtains and left us we were afraid to whisper even, for fear of being +heard in the next room and hurting Harry.</p> + +<p>At breakfast the next morning we were told that Gus was "nigh<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span> about at +Beecham by this time," and before evening the carriage had come just in +sight, and stopped, and grandmamma was walking up to the house.</p> + +<p>Then followed a very quiet week, during which we never spoke aloud +without getting a sharp "hush!" Indeed, we were not allowed to be in the +house a minute longer than necessary, being down on the beach whenever +we were not eating, drinking, or sleeping. By the end of the week, Harry +was to be seen at these rare intervals looking very pale, and quiet, and +unlike himself on the sofa. I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span> distinctly remember feeling rather +pleased as I looked from him to Alick, and thought how much more of a +boy Alick looked with his brown, rosy face, than the pale, languid, +almost girlish elder brother, speaking in a weak, tired voice from his +pillow. It was about another ten days before the close carriage came +from Beecham, and with plenty of soft cushions, Harry was laid in it, +and driven away back to the Park.</p> + +<p>When we saw him there on our return, he was almost himself again, merry +and bright, but a little pale and easily tired.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span></p> + +<hr class="major" /> +<h3><a name="IX" id="IX"></a>IX</h3> +<h3>SUSETTE AND HER TROUBLES.</h3> + +<p>So we all came back to Beecham Park, and the holidays were over, and we +had to buckle to work again; work that had a pleasant mixture of play in +it, out-of-door fun, Saturday rambles and birthday treats.</p> + +<p>When first we returned from the sea-side there came a very earnest +letter from mamma, begging that Sissy might really be sent home<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span> now, +for surely grandmamma had had enough, and too much, of her. Indeed, a +message was added at the end to say that papa had made up his mind to +take a holiday and run down to fetch me. All seemed to be settled, and I +myself got into that doubtful state—glad to go home but, oh, so sorry +to leave this happy Beecham home! I began to wonder, too, whether I +should feel quite at home with papa when he came, and on the morning +fixed for his arrival, a very shy fit came over me, so that, at first, +it seemed rather a relief when Harry called out to me that a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span> letter had +come from my home, and that I was to go up to grandmother at once. But +what a grave, sad face met me! My very heart stood still as she kissed +me. Then in gentle words she told me that Bobbie was ill, had caught the +scarlet fever, so papa could not come.</p> + +<p>And, to dear grandmamma, I think it was a very anxious time that +followed. My little head could not take in all it meant when news came +of danger, then of baby's illness, then of nurse's. I could see that +other people were sorry; once I found Jane crying,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span> and was caught up on +to her lap and kissed and talked to, till a clear memory of the dear, +chubby little brother at home came back to me, and I had a long, +miserable fit of sobbing. But, you see, I had been away from them all +for nearly six months, and the little brothers and sisters around me had +somehow shut out the two little fellows at home, and my play and lessons +at Beecham seemed much more real than the sorrow all those miles away. +In a few weeks all the worst time was over, but, of course, there was no +idea now of my going home.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span></p> + +<p>I wonder if grandmamma ever thought, in the early spring, that for a +whole year she was to have her house full of children! For a long time +we fancied every week that we should hear of aunt and uncle coming home. +Every now and then Lottie and I would fret a little bit at the idea of +parting, but still it did not come.</p> + +<p>One morning brought a letter for Lottie, with a great deal of news in +it. She read it to me in the nursery, as we were having our hair brushed +for the evening in the drawing-room. It told us that her papa had just +made up his mind<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span> to take the work of a clergyman in a more +out-of-the-way part, somewhere between Switzerland and Germany, and that +it was just the place to suit her mamma, so they would probably stay +there till Christmas. Besides, there were some little German cousins of +Lottie's living close by with their aunt, so there was a great deal to +tell altogether. We were very eager talking about little Heinrich and +Carl—so eager that at first we never noticed that Susette had thrown +herself into a chair with clasped hands, and her black eyes full of +tears. When we came to question her,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span> she said Monsieur and Madame had +gone to a place close to her native village, and would they—oh, would +they—see her poor, poor father, in the misery extreme, frightful! We +were quite used to Susette now, and not at all surprised at her +passionate manner; and if we did a little smile to each other at that +favourite word "affreuse," yet Lottie was eager and sincere enough in +her assurances that certainly papa would go and look for the poor +family. Out came the foreign paper at once, and if the summons to the +dining-room had not come at that moment, I believe the letter would<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span> +have been written there and then. As it was, it certainly went the next +day. It was our first piece of anything like charity, and we waited +eagerly for the answer from Lottie's papa, which, of course, did not +arrive directly it was wanted.</p> + +<p>At last the morning came, when the postman, met by three eager children +half-way down the drive, was greeted by the happy cry, "Oh, there it is! +I see it in his hand!" And the much-longed-for prize was snatched from +him, and triumphantly carried off to the nursery.</p> + +<p>"Oh, children, do keep off!<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span> You must let Susette hear!" cried Lottie, +and then she read this. But first let me say that this wonderful letter, +having been put away with other more important old papers, has become +very worn and yellow, and you must forgive me if I leave out a piece +here and there, where it is too torn to read.</p> + +<p>"'My dear Lottie and all the Chicks,—Your letter came very safely all +by itself the other day, just as well as if it had been in grandmamma's +as usual; and papa knew what an eager little woman his Lottie was, and +so he made his discoveries as soon as possible,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span> and here they are! Poor +Susette, I don't wonder she was anxious to know all about her poor +father, and the rest of them. They have had a hard time of it since she +left them, but they are all so fond of her, and so glad to get news of +her. Such a good girl as she is to them all! Mind, children, you make +much of her, and don't add to all she has to worry about."</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 338px; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em;"> +<img src="images/illus-sister.png" width="338" alt="SUSETTE'S SISTER." title="" /> +<span class="caption">SUSETTE'S SISTER.</span> +</div> + +<p>At this point we all looked at Susette, and little Murray squeezed her +hand. Her black eyes were overflowing, and her rosy lips were pressed +tightly together; yet she was looking very happy and pleased.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span></p> + +<p>Then Lottie went on:—</p> + +<p>"'Heinrich and I set off at once to ——' (reader, I <i>cannot</i> read the +name of the village!), 'but some time before we got there we met a +pretty Swiss girl, with a bundle of corn on her head, whose eyes and +mouth reminded me very much of your kind nurse. So I put my hand on +Heinrich's shoulder to stop him, and then I asked her if her name was +Laurec, and she said, "Yes." So we had a long talk, and she told me all +about them at home, and of the fever in the village, and the want of +work, and all the rest. I fancy it has<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span> <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span>been little short of starvation +for them all this long time. Then I let her hurry on to tell them at +home who was coming. Such a sweet hill-side village as I cannot hope to +make my little English birds understand, with its pretty chalets lying +against the rock, and the bushy trees shooting out of the cliff above +and around them. I went up to the one pointed out to me, and there, +lying on a heap of rags, was Susette's little blind sister, that she has +often talked to you about. Dear little patient thing! turning her large, +dark, sightless eyes towards me with such a bright<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span> smile! As she spoke +of "le bon Dieu," I thought of the pretty French hymns you used to try +to learn, and it gave the soft French words a softer sound when they +were on such a happy theme. But we could not stay there; so making our +little present to the dear child, we set off up the mountain. We had not +gone far, when, among a flock of goats scattered over the hill, we found +a poor old man sitting on a rock, with very downcast look, and little +Pierre Laurec, who had come to show us the way, told us it was his +father. The poor old man was very much out<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span> <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span>of heart, and it was some +time before we could make him understand that we wanted to help him. At +Susette's name he looked mournfully in my face as I sat down by him, +murmuring that she was gone, gone, bonne fille!</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 322px; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em;"> +<img src="images/illus-unhappy.png" width="322" alt="UNHAPPY." title="" /> +<span class="caption">UNHAPPY.</span> +</div> + +<p>"'Well, you know, I must not make my letter too long. Tell Susette that +things look brighter now in her old home; that Pierre has found some +work in our garden, and his sister comes now and then to your aunt's +house; and that we will look after them a little, and send you more news +soon.</p> + +<p>"'Mamma sends ever so much love, and many, many thanks to dear +grandmamma for offering to house her tiresome chicks for a few more +months. What a grand, happy Christmas we will have together! That is, if +only I can get mamma well enough to brave an English winter. Poor mamma +wants sadly to get a sight of her baby.—Ever your affectionate</p> + +<p style='text-align: right'> +"<span class="smcap">'Father</span>.'"<br /> +</p> + +<p>That was the letter, reader. Don't you think it was well worth waiting +for?<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span></p> + +<hr class="major" /> +<h3><a name="X" id="X"></a>X</h3> +<h3>AUTUMN DAYS.</h3> + +<p>"What an idea, papa talking about Christmas!" Alick said, when we came +to the end of the letter; and it did seem funny that hot autumn +afternoon, when all the leaves were in a glow, looking as if they had +been burnt up so long they couldn't and wouldn't bear it any longer! +Perhaps they meant to come down. But I suppose, now I come to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span> think of +it, that months don't seem so never-ending to grown-up people as they do +to children; they are more prepared to see the time fly, you don't know +how, so they are not surprised when they find it gone. Besides, you see, +they don't get taller and taller as the months pass, so, of course, the +time must seem to run past very quickly, they standing still all the +while! How odd it must be! I heard a little boy remonstrating last +night—</p> + +<p>"Well, but, uncle, if you keep your clothes till next year they'll be +ever so much too small for you!"</p> + +<p>Everybody laughed, and told him that uncle, being six feet high, didn't +expect to grow any more; and, of course, as I said before, if Alick's +papa stood still, the time <i>would</i> seem to go very quickly.</p> + +<p>And so, I suppose, when the end of October came, he didn't cry out as we +did all of a sudden: "I do declare it is not quite two months to +Christmas!"</p> + +<p>It was one damp, misty afternoon, and Lottie, and Alick, and I were +learning our lessons all alone in the school-room. We were trying to get +the last glimmer of daylight at the window, but it was hardly enough to +see what six<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span> times nine might be, and that was my great difficulty.</p> + +<p>You know, don't you? how the things that "you do so want to say" will +come into your head just when you ought to be very silent and busy! It's +<i>very</i> odd; but even now that I am old enough to know better, I never +want so much to talk as just when I ought to be quiet. I wonder how it +is? Anyhow, it seemed quite impossible to hold one's tongue that +afternoon. Alick was as busy and quiet as could be, working out a hard +sum on his slate, but even he looked up when Lottie started that +wonderful<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span> idea about Christmas; and then we all joined in wondering how +the time had gone, and what lots of fun Christmas would bring with it. I +had my own particular share of delight, for was there not a certain +prospect of papa and mamma coming to the Park to take me home? My little +cousins, too, were looking forward to home directly after Christmas; but +their mamma could not come and fetch them. She had been well enough to +travel, and would be in England very soon now; that is, in the little +island down in the south, you know, where the invalids go. She would<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span> +get a nice home ready for them there and then, as she said in her +letters, "have the delight of calling back all the chicks under her +wings again!"</p> + +<p>Well, it was just all these things that we were talking about over our +lesson-books at the school-room, when our attention was caught by two +figures coming up the drive in the mist. Such a foggy afternoon as it +was, all the dead leaves hanging yellow and dripping from the trees! It +was not till they got quite up to the house that we saw that the two men +were going to give us some music. One had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span> some bagpipes and the other a +kind of horn, and, of course, all thought of lessons went out of our +heads when we heard them begin. What fun it was to listen, and to watch +their queer grimaces and antics, as they danced about to their own +music!</p> + +<p>But we had not been enjoying this long when a terrible thing happened. +Oh, little reader, it makes me shudder now!</p> + +<p>You must understand that our school-room was on the ground-floor, but +raised a good way from the ground; a separate room built out from the +house, the roof sloping<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span> out under the windows of the day-nursery.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 300px; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em;"> +<img src="images/illus-copper.png" width="300" alt="GIVE US A COPPER!" title="" /> +<span class="caption">GIVE US A COPPER!</span> +</div> + +<p>The first thing we thought of was calling the little ones to hear the +music; but when I proposed it, Alick said he was sure they knew all +about it, he could hear their voices. Lottie declared that that was +impossible; we never heard anything from the nursery unless the window +was open. Just then the men began to beg, and Alick ran off to get some +pence. Grandmamma said they were to have a cup of the servants' tea, and +Alick went to the kitchen to ask for it. When he came back, he <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span>told us +that Susette was down there getting baby's supper, and that Jane was +teazing her about her "brothers the players!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, Alick!" cried Lottie, "then that's it! Murray and Bertie have got +the window open to hear better, and in all this fog and wet!"</p> + +<p>Alick was just going to laugh at her for being such an "old fidget," +when we were startled by a loud cry, and the sound of something falling +down the roof. At the same moment we saw Harry rushing up to the +house—he was just home from his lessons at the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span> curate's—throwing his +arms about in the most excited way.</p> + +<p>"Oh, it's Murray tumbled out of window?" cried Lottie. And away we all +rushed to the front door, feeling sick with fear.</p> + +<p>Now, up the side of the wall grew a very thick, bushy fig-tree, the stem +of which was very big of its kind. When we rushed out into the foggy +air, there was Harry clambering so cleverly up among the large, wet +leaves; and on the edge of the roof, caught by his clothes in some way +that we could not see, was poor little Murray! Susette covered her<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span> face +with her hands, and most of us turned away too frightened to look. I +remember hiding my face in Jane's gown, and feeling her stroking my +hair; and I never looked up till there was a cry that it was all right, +and Harry and Murray were both safe on the ground again.</p> + +<p>How glad we all were, and how we all talked at once, and said how we had +felt, and how Murray cried though he wasn't hurt, only frightened—all +this I mustn't stop to tell you. By and by it came to be one of those +things that are always nice to talk about with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span> shudders, and sighs, and +laughter. Many and many a tea-time the same wonder and thankfulness were +repeated, always beginning with, "Don't you remember that dreadful day?" +and so on.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile Christmas was coming, and Christmas weather came sooner still. +Then the snow collected outside the nursery window, and the mornings +were very dark, and bed the only comfortable place; and Gus's hands got +blue, and his face thin and pinched, and he wished himself away with the +"Capitaine" in the warm South Seas.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 291px; padding-top: 1em; padding-bottom: 1em;"> +<img src="images/illus-look-me.png" width="291" alt="LOOK AT ME!" title="" /> +<span class="caption">LOOK AT ME!</span> +</div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span>But there was fun, too, about that cold weather; fun with the snow-man +in the Park; fun in learning to skate on the frozen pond, shut in so +nicely with the fir-trees; and fun in the real Christmas treats, +Christmas-trees, and Christmas games.</p> + +<p>And so it was a very bright time that came to finish up those happy +Beecham days. The end of it all was saying "good-bye" to grandmamma and +cousins one fine, frosty morning, just the other side of New Year's Day, +and driving off between papa and mamma.</p> + +<p>When you think of my first<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span> evening in that drawing-room, perhaps you +will wonder at the doubtful look which I know there was on my face, and +which made papa look right into my eyes, questioning, as he said,</p> + +<p>"Whether I wanted to go home or not."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span></p> + +<hr class="major" /> +<h3><a name="XI" id="XI"></a>XI</h3> +<h3>GOOD-BYE TO BEECHAM.</h3> + +<p>Was I glad to go home or sorry? How could I tell? When it came to the +train, it was all such fun that I chattered away to mamma as fast as +possible about the stations we should pass, and the things we should +see, till I saw an old gentleman opposite exchanging smiles with mamma. +That made me feel shy, and shrink back into the corner silent enough;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span> +and with the silence came a sigh, and five minutes later mamma's +question surprised me, in a fit of melancholy thought, about all that I +had left behind me. When would Lottie and I meet again? And how should +we know which was getting on best with the history? Ah, those nice +history lessons, with all those exciting stories and our favourite +heroes, who would read them with me now? I am not at all sure that I did +not have to choke down two or three tears before I could answer mamma. +Do you think she noticed it?<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span></p> + +<p>We were getting near our own station now, and I grew very eager, looking +out for papa's brougham. How cold the air was, going out of the station, +and what a cosy remembrance of home feeling there was about the soft +corner, where I had often nestled when driving with papa!</p> + +<p>I don't remember much about Bobby's welcome; I know both little brothers +seemed a little strange to me till about the middle of tea-time. Bobby +was very hot and excited with his half-hour before the nursery fire, +making toast for Sissy's first tea at home. I could<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span> feel that he was +looking at me very hard, but I don't think we were either of us quite +comfortable till he had thrown his arms round my neck, repeating his old +cry, "Nursey, I'm so glad Sissy's come home!" After that it was all +right, and we chattered away nineteen to the dozen. Dear old nurse! she +was as pleased to see me again as possible. Indeed, I am not sure that +she did not keep me up half an hour later than mamma intended, just +talking to me and "blessing my little heart," in her own loving fashion. +When I went through the night nursery at last<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span> to my own little room, I +made her let me stop and look at the little ones; and what a hugging and +kissing she gave me when I declared that they were ever so much prettier +than the Beecham cousins. Dear little Bobby, with his sweet, rosy, +budding mouth, and baby Willie's round cheeks and bright, golden curls, +I can remember just how they looked!</p> + +<p>In a day or two we settled down together, and I was quite at home. The +only person who still seemed restless was Jane. For two or three weeks +she was always talking about the Park, and wishing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span> herself back there. +Then, all of a sudden, she grew quite bright and happy, and talked away +to nurse in quite a different way.</p> + +<p>I didn't know what it all meant; and especially, I couldn't think why +she was always getting so red when nurse talked about flowers and +plants. At last I found out that Jane was going away altogether; and a +month or two after Christmas, nurse dressed Bobby and me one day, and +took us to church, and mamma took care of baby at home. And at church we +saw Jane with her father and mother, and I whispered to Bobby that the +strange man with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span> them was Mr. Owen, grandmamma's head-gardener, and I +couldn't think how he came to be in our church! But when the service was +all over, nurse took us into the vestry, and told us to go and give Jane +a kiss, because she was Mrs. Owen now, and we must "say something +pretty."</p> + +<p>It doesn't seem to do to tell little folks that sort of thing. You +remember, when Jane herself gave me that charge ever so long ago, it +didn't answer, and now there was Bobby crying and sobbing out that "Mr. +Owen shouldn't take Janie away; he was a naughty<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span> man; he didn't like +him at all!" But nobody seemed to mind this, indeed they all looked +pleased; and Mr. Owen turned round, and asked me if he should take me +back to Beecham too?</p> + +<p>Ah, by this time, I was quite sure, and didn't hesitate at all when I +said, "No, thank you, I'd rather stay at home."</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>And now, little readers, I meant to have tumbled you off my knee, and +sent you up to bed, for I fancy my story has not kept you from getting +sleepy. But there is nursie making signs to me, as much as to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span> say, "Go +on talking; amuse the little ones a bit longer, please, for the bath +isn't ready and the water isn't hot, and I can't have them yet."</p> + +<p>What shall I tell you about? Oh, I know! that second visit of mine to +Beecham. It was only a very short one, so five minutes' talk will tell +you all about it.</p> + +<p>I was a great tall girl then, and I had just left school, when +grandmamma's letter came, asking Bobby and me to come and spend a few +days at the Park with Lottie, and Harry, and Alick. I couldn't say, "No, +thank you," if I had wished<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span> to, for it was likely to be the last time +we five should meet for a long time. Harry, now a young lieutenant with +brass buttons and fair moustache, was bound on a long voyage, which +would have some fighting at the end; and Lottie was to be married in a +fortnight, and to go off to Australia; and Alick, too, was just starting +on a tour with his tutor, after which he was to go to a great college in +Germany. But there was another reason for our visit which I did not know +till I got there, though, I fancy, mamma did. Grandmamma met us with a +very tearful welcome,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span> and it was natural for us all to feel sad as we +looked at her, so aged since we saw her last, and in her deep, deep +mourning. We couldn't help thinking of the blue sea far away, with the +soft spicy wind blowing from the beautiful coral islands over the quiet +waves, which had so cruelly sucked in dear Uncle Hugh's brave ship and +all on board. But the pleasure of meeting soon put away all sad +thoughts, and I think even grandmamma looked bright and contented as she +listened to our merry talk.</p> + +<p>It was in the middle of the long summer days, and we rambled<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span> about +through the gardens, and orchards, and shrubberies where we had played +as little children, and laughed over the remembrance of our childish +tricks and troubles. Then there was that long talk with grandmamma, and +afterwards with Bobby, in her room. When Lottie and I found ourselves +alone together just at bed-time, how much we had to say! It seemed to me +a little difficult to talk over all her affairs, though when, after some +time, she called upon me to admire my two tall cousins, I was quite +ready to do so. Yet my own rosy, round-faced, romping schoolboy<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span> brother +was much more in my thoughts now.</p> + +<p>I don't think I had ever known till now that my mother was grandmamma's +eldest child, so it had never struck me that, now that dear uncle was +gone, Bobby, and not Harry, would be master of Beecham Park! How strange +it did seem! I thought of the funny boy's blushing awkwardness when +grandmamma had told him, and then of his confession to me that "it was a +horrid bore, he had so meant to be a discoverer, and get lost in Africa +like Dr. Livingstone; and now, he supposed, he couldn't!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span> And just +before I went to sleep that night I thought of his last words about it a +few hours ago, as he threw his strong arm over my shoulder:—</p> + +<p>"I say, Sis, it'll be ever so long first—that's one comfort!—but if +ever I do have to come and live here, you'll come too, won't you? Then +you can see after it all, you know, and then it won't be quite so bad!"</p> + +<p>Should I? Would Beecham ever be my real home? And Jane—Jane down at the +Lodge with her three rosy, tidy little daughters. Wasn't this just what<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span> +she said years ago when she first brought me to Beecham? "What if Master +Bobby should grow up some day to find it all his own, and he the lord of +it all!"</p> + +<p>So it had come to pass, and Beecham, dear beautiful Beecham, was to be +really <i>ours</i>!</p> + +<p>That was a dozen years ago, my small friends; how funny it seems now!</p> + +<p style="text-align: center; margin-top: 3em; margin-bottom: 4em;">THE END.</p> + +<hr class="minor" /> +<p style="text-align: center; font-size:70%">Simmons & Botten, Printers, 4A, Shoe Lane, E. C.</p> + +<hr class="full" /> +<div style="font-size: 80%"> +<h3>BY MRS. MARSHALL</h3> +<hr class="minor" /> + +<p>EDWARD'S WIFE: a Tale. In crown 8vo, Frontispiece, 5<i>s.</i>, cloth.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"This is a very charming story; fresh, natural, and +touching."—<i>Christian Advocate</i>.</p></div> + +<p>CHRISTABEL KINGSCOTE; or, The Patience of Hope. Crown 8vo. Frontispiece. +5<i>s.</i>, cloth.</p> + +<p>VIOLET DOUGLAS; or, The Problems of Life. Crown 8vo. Frontispiece, +5<i>s.</i>, cloth.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"A pleasant, healthy story of English life, full of sound religious +teaching."—<i>Standard</i>.</p></div> + +<p>THE OLD GATEWAY; or, the Story of Agatha. Crown 8vo, Frontispiece, +5<i>s.</i>, cloth.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"It is pleasant and gracefully written, and Roland Bruce is a character +of no ordinary beauty."—<i>Guardian</i>.</p></div> + +<p>MILLICENT LEGH: A <span class="smcap">tale</span>. In crown 8vo, with a Frontispiece, 5<i>s.</i>, cloth.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"A sweet and pleasing story, told with a sustained and even +grace."—<i>Guardian</i>.</p></div> + +<p>BROOK SILVERTONE AND THE LOST LILIES: <span class="smcap">Two Tales</span>. With Fourteen +Engravings, 2<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i>, cloth.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Two pleasant stories for little girls, by a writer of some merit, are +here presented in a tastefully embellished volume."—<i>Athenæum</i>.</p></div> + +<p>HELEN'S DIARY; or, Thirty Years Ago. Second Edition, with Frontispiece, +5<i>s.</i>, cloth.</p> + +<p>BROTHERS AND SISTERS; or, True of Heart. Fourth Edition, with +Frontispiece, 5<i>s.</i>, cloth.</p> + +<p>LESSONS OF LOVE; or, Aunt Bertha's Visit to the Elms. Third Edition, +with Frontispiece, 2<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i>, cloth.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"A pretty and useful description of the ways and doings of children at +home, enlivened by some very well-told +stories."—<i>Guardian</i>.</p></div> +</div> + +<hr class="full" /> +<div style="font-size: 80%"> +<h3>WORKS FOR THE YOUNG</h3> +<hr class="minor" /> + +<p>DAME WYNTON'S HOME: A Tale. By Mrs. <span class="smcap">Carey Brock</span>. In small 8vo, with +Eight Engravings, 3<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i>, cloth.</p> + +<p>THE LITTLE DOORKEEPER. By the Author of "Waggle and Wattle." Large 16mo, +Four Engravings, 3<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i>, cloth.</p> + +<p>LITTLE LILLA; or, The Way to be Happy. Large 16mo, Large Type, +Engravings, 3<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i></p> + +<p>PETER LIPP; or, The Story of a Boy's Venture. Adapted from the French. +Crown 8vo, Twenty-six Engravings, 5<i>s.</i>, cloth.</p> + +<p>THE CUMBERSTONE CONTEST: A Story for the Young. By the Author of "A +Battle worth Fighting." In crown 8vo, Frontispiece, 3<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i>, cloth.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"The history is conducted with great spirit; the boy and girl life is +most vivid and natural. High principle is delicately suggested, while +the whole is enlivened by a genuine appreciation of fun."—<i>Guardian</i>.</p></div> + +<p>THE WILD MAN OF THE WOODS: a Story of Sumatra. From the French of Elie +Berthet. In crown 8vo, with Forty-nine Engravings, 5<i>s.</i>, cloth.</p> + +<p>MIGNONETTE: a Tale. By <span class="smcap">Agnes Giberne</span>. Crown 8vo, Frontispiece, 5<i>s.</i>, +cloth.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Another very pretty story. It is environed with a bright and sparkling +family life, which entitles it to the praise of being amusing +also."—<i>Guardian</i>.</p></div> + +<p>MABEL AND CORA: <span class="smcap">A Tale</span>. By <span class="smcap">Agnes Giberne</span>. Crown 8vo, Frontispiece, 3<i>s.</i> +6<i>d.</i>, cloth.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"A very pretty story, intended primarily for girls, but not too girlish +for boys, or too childish for grown-up people."—<i>Athenæum</i>.</p></div> + +<p>AMONG THE MOUNTAINS; or, The Harcourts at Montreux: a Narrative. By +<span class="smcap">Agnes Giberne</span>. In crown 8vo, Frontispiece, 3<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i>, cloth.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"A capital story; good for boys and girls alike."—<i>Athenæum</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"A charming story very nicely told."—The <i>Reader</i>.</p></div> + +</div> + +<hr class="full" /> +<div style="font-size: 80%"> +<h3>WORKS FOR THE YOUNG</h3> +<hr class="minor" /> + +<p>OLD BARNABY'S TREASURE. By Mrs. <span class="smcap">J. M. Tandy</span>. In square 16mo, with Four +Illustrations, 2<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i>, cloth.</p> + +<p>THE VENDALE LOST PROPERTY OFFICE. By the Author of "Copsley Annals," +etc. In square 16mo, Four Engravings, 2<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i>, cloth.</p> + +<p>CHRISTIAN HATHERLEY'S CHILDHOOD. By the Author of "Work for All." In +16mo, with Four Illustrations, 2<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i>, cloth.</p> + +<p>HOW DO I KNOW? Walks and Talks with Uncle Merton. By the Author of "What +makes me Grow?" With Twelve Illustrations by <span class="smcap">A. T. Elwes</span>. In crown 8vo, +3<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i>,, cloth.</p> + +<p>WHAT MAKES ME GROW? or, Walks and Talks with Amy Dudley. With Twelve +Engravings after L. Frölich. In small 8vo, with Twelve Illustrations, +3<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i>, cloth.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"The whole book is pleasant in the extreme, whether it instructs or +amuses; and we recommend grown people to read it themselves, and +then to pass it on to their children."—<i>Athenæum</i>.</p></div> + +<p>LITTLE FRIENDS IN THE VILLAGE: A Story for Children. By the Author of +"Aunt Annie's Stories." In small 8vo, Twenty-three Illustrations, 3<i>s.</i> +6<i>d.</i>, cloth.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"A charming book for children; the illustrations are excellent. The +author thoroughly understands what will amuse and instruct +children."—<i>John Bull</i>.</p></div> + +<p>MRS. BLACKETT'S STORY: A Passage from the "Copsley Annals." In square +16mo, Frontispiece, 1<i>s.</i>, cloth.</p> + +<p>"I MUST KEEP THE CHIMES GOING." Square 16mo, 2<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i>, cloth.</p> + +</div> + +<hr class="full" /> +<div style="font-size: 80%"> +<h3>ILLUSTRATED BOOKS FOR CHILDREN.</h3> + +<h4>Price Half-a-Crown each.</h4> + +<hr class="minor" /> + +<p class="center">"A series of books for little people which does credit to its +publishers."—<i>Guardian</i>.</p> + +<hr class="minor" /> + +<p>EVENING AMUSEMENT. Twenty Illustrations by <span class="smcap">Konewka</span>.</p> + +<p>THE CAT AND HER COUSINS. Twelve Illustrations.</p> + +<p>CURIOUS PACTS FOR LITTLE PEOPLE, ABOUT ANIMALS. Twelve Illustrations.</p> + +<p>BEARS, BOARS, AND BULLS, AND OTHER ANIMALS. Twelve Illustrations.</p> + +<p>THE WHALE'S STORY: Passages from the Life of a Leviathan. With Six +Engravings, cloth.</p> + +<p>HORSES AND DONKEYS: True Stories for Children. Large Type, Engravings, +cloth.</p> + +<p>MY FIRST BOOK: Simple Readings for Very Little People. Large Type. With +96 Illustrations, cloth.</p> + +<p>GOOD DOGS: True Stories of our Four-footed Friends. Large Type. Eight +Engravings, cloth.</p> + +<p>WINGED THINGS: True Stories about Birds. Large Type. Twelve Engravings, +cloth.</p> + +<p>GREAT THINGS DONE BY LITTLE PEOPLE. Large Type. Six Engravings, cloth.</p> + +<p>THE DOVE, AND OTHER STORIES OF OLD. Large Type. Eight Engravings by +Harrison Weir, cloth.</p> + +<p>THE LITTLE FOX: The Story of Captain M'Clintock's Arctic Expedition. +Large Type. Four Engravings, cloth.</p> + +<p>LITTLE ANIMALS DESCRIBED FOR LITTLE PEOPLE. Large Type. Eight Engravings +by Harrison Weir, cloth.</p> + +<p>LITTLE FACTS FOR LITTLE PEOPLE. By the Author of "Waggie and Wattie." +Large Type. Twelve Engravings, cloth.</p> + +<p>TRUE STORIES FOR LITTLE PEOPLE. Large Type. Ten Engravings, cloth.</p> +</div> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of My Young Days, by Anonymous + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MY YOUNG DAYS *** + +***** This file should be named 18226-h.htm or 18226-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/8/2/2/18226/ + +Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + +*** END: FULL LICENSE *** + + + +</pre> + +</body> +</html> + diff --git a/18226-h/images/illus-baby-dear.png b/18226-h/images/illus-baby-dear.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..1f7cce7 --- /dev/null +++ b/18226-h/images/illus-baby-dear.png diff --git a/18226-h/images/illus-copper.png b/18226-h/images/illus-copper.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..a46fd89 --- /dev/null +++ b/18226-h/images/illus-copper.png diff --git a/18226-h/images/illus-going-party.png b/18226-h/images/illus-going-party.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..e03f84c --- /dev/null +++ b/18226-h/images/illus-going-party.png diff --git a/18226-h/images/illus-going-to.png b/18226-h/images/illus-going-to.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..5a1180d --- /dev/null +++ b/18226-h/images/illus-going-to.png diff --git a/18226-h/images/illus-holiday.png b/18226-h/images/illus-holiday.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..2e8eb60 --- /dev/null +++ b/18226-h/images/illus-holiday.png diff --git a/18226-h/images/illus-im-coming.png b/18226-h/images/illus-im-coming.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..8e831f0 --- /dev/null +++ b/18226-h/images/illus-im-coming.png diff --git a/18226-h/images/illus-look-me.png b/18226-h/images/illus-look-me.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..1831f8d --- /dev/null +++ b/18226-h/images/illus-look-me.png diff --git a/18226-h/images/illus-moon.png b/18226-h/images/illus-moon.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..b7a81a6 --- /dev/null +++ b/18226-h/images/illus-moon.png diff --git a/18226-h/images/illus-pappa-and.png b/18226-h/images/illus-pappa-and.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..95be798 --- /dev/null +++ b/18226-h/images/illus-pappa-and.png diff --git a/18226-h/images/illus-poor-dead.png b/18226-h/images/illus-poor-dead.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..87e7fb4 --- /dev/null +++ b/18226-h/images/illus-poor-dead.png diff --git a/18226-h/images/illus-sister.png b/18226-h/images/illus-sister.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..5d088f4 --- /dev/null +++ b/18226-h/images/illus-sister.png diff --git a/18226-h/images/illus-so-nice.png b/18226-h/images/illus-so-nice.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..4f6fa28 --- /dev/null +++ b/18226-h/images/illus-so-nice.png diff --git a/18226-h/images/illus-take-mine.png b/18226-h/images/illus-take-mine.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c4fb4ea --- /dev/null +++ b/18226-h/images/illus-take-mine.png diff --git a/18226-h/images/illus-the-cat.png b/18226-h/images/illus-the-cat.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..30c4d68 --- /dev/null +++ b/18226-h/images/illus-the-cat.png diff --git a/18226-h/images/illus-the-dog.png b/18226-h/images/illus-the-dog.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..ea15cbf --- /dev/null +++ b/18226-h/images/illus-the-dog.png diff --git a/18226-h/images/illus-the-dream.png b/18226-h/images/illus-the-dream.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..672edb3 --- /dev/null +++ b/18226-h/images/illus-the-dream.png diff --git a/18226-h/images/illus-the-mittens.png b/18226-h/images/illus-the-mittens.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..04b32ea --- /dev/null +++ b/18226-h/images/illus-the-mittens.png diff --git a/18226-h/images/illus-the-thief.png b/18226-h/images/illus-the-thief.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d92eab9 --- /dev/null +++ b/18226-h/images/illus-the-thief.png diff --git a/18226-h/images/illus-through-thick.png b/18226-h/images/illus-through-thick.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d09f419 --- /dev/null +++ b/18226-h/images/illus-through-thick.png diff --git a/18226-h/images/illus-unhappy.png b/18226-h/images/illus-unhappy.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d88653a --- /dev/null +++ b/18226-h/images/illus-unhappy.png diff --git a/18226.txt b/18226.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f3c8594 --- /dev/null +++ b/18226.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2124 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of My Young Days, by Anonymous + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: My Young Days + +Author: Anonymous + +Illustrator: Paul Konewka + +Release Date: April 22, 2006 [EBook #18226] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MY YOUNG DAYS *** + + + + +Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + +[Illustration: TAKE MINE!] + + * * * * * + +MY YOUNG DAYS. + +BY THE +AUTHOR OF "EVENING AMUSEMENT," "LETTERS EVERYWHERE," ETC., ETC. + +_WITH TWENTY ILLUSTRATIONS BY PAUL KONEWKA._ + +NEW YORK: +E. P. DUTTON & CO., 713, BROADWAY. +LONDON: SEELEY, JACKSON, & HALLIDAY. +1872. + + * * * * * + +[Illustration: THE MITTENS.] + + * * * * * + +CONTENTS. + + PAGE + +I.--HOME SICKNESS 1 + +II.--UNCLE HUGH'S STORY 10 + +III.--THE LITTLE STOWAWAY 21 + +IV.--MY HOME, AND WHAT IT IS LIKE 33 + +V.--LITTLE COUSINS 46 + +VI.--WHAT ABOUT LESSONS 59 + +VII.--HURRAH FOR THE HOLIDAYS! 76 + +VIII.--THE COTTAGE ON THE CLIFF 90 + +IX.--SUSETTE AND HER TROUBLES 108 + +X.--AUTUMN DAYS 123 + +XI.--GOOD-BYE TO BEECHAM 137 + + * * * * * + +MY YOUNG DAYS. + + + + +I. + +_HOME SICKNESS._ + + +"I want to go home!" + +How many times in my life, I wonder, have these words come rushing up +from the very bottom of my heart, tumbling everything out of the way, +never listening to reason, never stopping for thought? How many times +since that dreary afternoon in the great, big drawing-room at +grandmamma's? And, oh dear me! what miserable heartache comes before +that fearful want! Oh, grown-up people, don't you know how sour +everything tastes, and how yellow everything looks, and how sick +everything makes one, when one wants to go home? + +So it was that one wretched day. How well I remember it all! The large, +large drawing-room so full of cushions, couches, easy-chairs, little +tables covered with funny knick-knacks, marble-slabs and more +knick-knacks, beautiful fire-screens, large mirrors, soft fur lying +about on the floor, and many-coloured antimacassars on the chairs. By +and by, all these wonders had happy memories pinned on to them, of +uproarious games with merry little play-fellows. Now, I was all alone, +and very lonely, in it all. True, there was grandmamma nodding in her +easy-chair, in the firelight, on one side, and there was Uncle Hugh +reading the "Times" by the same light on the other. But what were either +of them to the little tired stranger on the low stool between them? Once +grandmamma's eyes had opened just to look at me, and say, "Making pretty +pictures of the red coals, my dearie?" + +And Uncle Hugh had answered, "Yes, to be sure; dreaming of the King of +Salamanders!" + +And they went to sleep again or went on reading, and the little company +smile faded away from my face, and I went back to those very real dreams +of the nursery at home, and baby there, and little brother, and papa and +mamma, and the long time ago, hours and hours ago! when I said good-bye, +and Bobbie kissed his hand out of window, and the carriage took me +off--a happy little woman, really going in the puff-puff! Oh, how could +I ever have felt so happy then and be so miserable now? Had I ever +thought that I was coming away from them all, with nobody at all but +Jane, the new nursemaid, to take care of me? Had I ever thought how +_quite_ alone I should be, never able to find my way in this great, big +house, sure to get lost in some of the passages? And how could I ever go +to sleep without Bobbie close by, and wouldn't Bobbie cry for me at +home? And oh, nurse wouldn't be there to tuck me up, and perhaps +grandmamma wouldn't like the candle left! And who would give me my +good-night kiss like,--like,--oh, oh, like----But it would come, that +great big sob, it wasn't any use to choke it back! And, when it had +come, of course, it was all over with me, and there was nothing for it +but to cry out just as if I was not in that grand drawing-room-- + +"I want to go home! I want, oh, I do want mamma!" + +What a disturbance that cry of mine did make, to be sure! Grandmamma was +wide-awake in a moment, looking very much distressed, and laying her +hand on the bell. This troubled me very much; for hadn't Jane told me +when she brushed my hair and made me tidy, that I was to go down and be +a good girl, "and do things pretty" in the drawing-room, and would she +scold me if I was sent away for crying and making a noise? But Uncle +Hugh came to my rescue, threw away his paper, and cuddled me up in his +great strong arms almost like papa. And he showed me his watch, and made +it strike, and then began to show me all kinds of wonders about the +room: little tiny black men under a glass case, small china monkeys, +cats and frogs, and funny shells and fishes, and snakes' skins, and +lots of other things. And after that we came back to the easy-chair, and +he sang me sailors' songs, and told me all about "The House that Jack +built!" + +[Illustration: THE CAT THAT WANTED THE GOOSE.] + +"Little woman," he said at last, "did you ever hear of 'The Goose that +Jack killed?'" and then he sang in his funny way, "This is the goose +that Jack killed; and this is the cat that wanted the goose that Jack +killed; and this is the dog that chased the cat that wanted the goose +that Jack killed; and this is the thief that cheated the dog that chased +the cat that wanted the goose that Jack killed; and this is the dream +that haunted the thief that cheated the dog that chased the cat that +wanted the goose that Jack killed; and this"-- + +But "Good night, Uncle Hugh, there's Jane come to fetch Miss Sissy to +her tea, upstairs in the nursery." + + + + +II. + +_UNCLE HUGH'S STORY._ + + +Yes, tea alone in the nursery, that strange room that looked as if it +hadn't been a nursery for a great many years, and was as queer and +awkward as an old woman trying to look young again. No clatter of spoons +to make baby laugh, no chatter of childish voices, only little me, all +alone with Jane--little me, so puzzled and strange and bewildered in the +new place! Perhaps Jane thought me dull, for she talked away fast +enough, about that dear old lady, my grandmamma, and about the beautiful +place we were in, and what if Master Bobbie should grow up some day to +find it all his own, and be the lord of it all. I didn't care much if he +did; I only wanted him now, little boy as he was, to put his fat arms +round my neck, for I was "little sister" to nobody here; it was mere +mockery calling me "Miss Sissy" all the time. Perhaps Jane heard the +sigh, for she stopped afterwards in the middle of her long story about +the little cousins from over the sea, that were coming here in a day or +two. She had me on her lap, and she was just taking off my shoes and +socks, but she drew my head to her shoulder, and told me that I had +"Janie-panie" with me, who was always going to take care of me all the +time. I was very tired, and my eyes went shut on the pillow after that, +before they had time to cry home-sick tears. And next day there were so +many new things to see; two little puppies to make friends with, beside +the parrot and pussy. + +But I mustn't begin to tell you all the things that happened that day. +You see, I have made quite a long story of my first evening, so you must +try and fancy all about the walk in the park with Jane, and the drive +with Grandmamma to the town, and the toy-shop, and what we bought there. + +When we came home it was my tea-time; and after that Jane changed my +frock, and did my hair, and took me down to dessert, in the dining-room. +Ah, then the shy fit came on, and I bent my head very gravely to take +the sweet bits off Uncle Hugh's fork, I remember. But when he had +pushed back his chair, given his arm to grandmamma, and his hand to me, +and taken us into the drawing-room--then, while he made me nestle down +on his knee in the soft easy-chair, all my shyness went away at the look +of his merry eyes. + +"Now for the goose that Jack killed," he said; and then and there began +the funniest story you ever heard. Only I can't tell it in the funny +words and with the merry, twinkling glances he gave me. + +[Illustration: THE DOG THAT CHASED THE CAT.] + +It was when Uncle Hugh was a middy, and he had been sailing in a great +big ship ever so long, till at last they came to some foreign country, I +don't know where. Well, Uncle Hugh and his friend Jack Miller went +roaming about, very glad to get off the sea. They took possession of a +little empty hut on the beach, and spent some of the time there, and +some of the time roaming about on the hills. Now it chanced, one day, +that they saw a flock of wild geese flying over the shore. Jack had a +gun with him, and he instantly shot one of these geese. Uncle Hugh says +they had had so much salt meat at sea, that they smacked their lips to +think of a nice fat goose for dinner. So they carried it off to their +hut, and then they pulled off all the feathers one by one, and made it +quite ready to cook. What funny cooks they must have been! But it wasn't +quite time to roast it, so they tied it up by a string to the door and +went away, leaving the captain's dog, Neptune, to watch it. + +[Illustration: THE THIEF THAT STOLE THE GOOSE.] + +Now, Nep was a very funny dog--a nervous dog, Uncle Hugh called him--and +he was quite afraid something would happen. By and by, poor pussy came +to have a peep at the goosey-gander, and she climbed up the steps on +tip-toe just to look. Nep watched her, and didn't feel easy in his mind, +and when poor pussy just stretched forward her head (because she was a +little short-sighted, I dare say), Nep could bear it no longer. He gave +a great loud bark, and flew along the road after the wretched, flying +cat. Silly dog! while he was gone after puss, and just as he had his +fore-paws quite over her back, up comes a sly thief to the hut door, +quietly unhooks the bird, and runs off the other way, with its head +hanging over his shoulder. "And, so, you see, Sissy," said Uncle Hugh +in his funnily grave way, "poor Jack and I came back to find our dinner +all gone!" But they got scent of the thief, and they caught him and shut +him up in their little hut, and locked him in, and left him with nothing +but bread and water. "For there was no policeman there, Sissy; we had to +play policemen ourselves." + +[Illustration: THE DREAM THAT HAUNTED THE THIEF.] + +And there they left him all night. And the poor thief thought about his +little hungry children at home, till he fell asleep and dreamt (I wonder +how Uncle Hugh knew that?) that he saw the goose all smoking hot, gravy +and all, and a knife and fork all ready to cut it up. + +But they didn't mean to be cruel--I don't believe Uncle Hugh could be! +So they had a nice, hot supper themselves on board the big ship, and +plenty of fun, and lots of merry songs. And then they cut three big +slices and put them aside. + +And don't you think the thief-man must have been surprised when he saw +the nice breakfast that Jack brought him next morning? I think Uncle +Hugh said that he wrapped it all up and took it home to his children. +How queer he must have felt as he slunk off, the sailors standing round +and giving him three cheers and plenty of jokes! + + + + +III. + +_THE LITTLE STOWAWAY._ + + +One of my earliest friends at the Park was a little French boy, a kind +of page of my uncle's. Shall I tell you about him? You will think it +very funny that a servant-boy should be allowed to be my friend, so I +must explain. + +Little Gus, as my uncle called him--though his real name was +Gustave--was altogether a little foreigner. He couldn't talk English at +all properly; in fact, the greater part of our conversation was carried +on by signs. He was very much afraid of everybody in the house, except +Uncle Hugh. He thought there was nobody in all the world like the +Captain, as he called him. His bright eyes used to twinkle and his white +teeth shine whenever he could find a chance of running an errand, or +doing any little job for the Captain; and I think it was, perhaps, +because he took me for the Captain's little pet that he grew so fond of +me. + +He would follow me all about the garden, and watch me as I talked away +to Jane, and be ready to find my ball or fetch my hoop the minute I +wanted them. + +Now, after we had been a little while at the Park, I found that Jane had +got very fond of flowers, and was always anxious to go to the +glass-houses directly we came out into the garden. + +"Why, Miss Sissy," she would say, "there never was anything like the +ferns, and the orange-trees, and the cactuses in them houses; and Mr. +Owen so civil-like in showing them to us, too." + +So off we went to the hot-houses, and there Mr. Owen and Jane talked +and talked till I got tired of the hot air, and went to play outside; +and there just outside was Gus, always waiting to pick me the prettiest +flowers, and find me the first sweet violets. But I was shy, and his +words were so foreign that they frightened me; nor did I like at all +being called "Petite mademoiselle," which was not my name, and couldn't +mean anything that I could think of. At last I grew braver, and one day +I ventured to ask-- + +"Who is your papa?" + +"Me hab no papa, no mamma!" he said, looking very full at me. + +"Where do you live then?" I asked. "You're not a bit like Bobbie!" + +"Me live wid de Capitaine; me never will leaf de Capitaine--never, +never, never!" he answered eagerly. + +This made me feel very queer, and I think I looked half-frightened, for +his look changed quickly, and he said, smiling his own sunny smile-- + +"Me fetch petite mademoiselle somet'ing nice; me fetch de puss dat de +Capitaine just bring home!" + +A pussy! That sounded pleasant, and I waited eagerly for his return. I +waited a long time, as it seemed, and I had grown tired, and was looking +for daisies on the grass, when I heard his step and the tap of his +favourite holly-stick on the gravel. What a funny boy he was to call +that "something nice"! + +There he stood, his eyes and mouth all one smile, and held out at arm's +length by the ears a dead rabbit. My look and exclamation of horror made +him grave at once. + +[Illustration: POOR DEAD PUSSY!] + +"Oh, the poor little rabbit!" I cried. "Has Uncle Hugh killed him +quite dead?" + +"Yes, yes, he quite dead! De Capitaine's gun kill him quite, de small +dog pick him up. Petite mademoiselle not frighten, he quite dead!" + +Ah, that was just the reason of my fright! Away I ran to Jane, and hid +my face in her gown; and a very vigorous scolding did she give the +French boy when she found what he had done. + +Poor fellow! he was very much disconcerted, and did not know what to +say. Two hours after he came back, and finding me alone just going for +a drive, he said softly-- + +"Little puss all alive now, run away in de voods. Petite mademoiselle, +come see?" + +What did he mean? The rabbit could not be "quite dead" at one time, and +"all alive" afterwards. But grandmamma was coming downstairs, and I had +no time to answer him. By and by, when I was lying back on the soft +cushions stroking grandmamma's pretty white fur, I told her all my +puzzle. + +"Ah, my pet," she said, "poor Gus had a very cruel French father, and +doesn't know any better. He ran away from home when your uncle's ship +was touching at Marseilles, and hid himself in the hold. They found him +when they got out to sea--a little stowaway the sailors called him--and +your uncle liked his dark, pitiful eyes, and was very kind to him; but +he has not learnt much yet that's good. Don't have too much to say to +him, my darling!" + +Well, it wasn't very likely I should, for he and I found it not very +easy to understand each other; yet he liked to do anything he could for +me, and was always watching to see what I wanted. + +Nearly a year after that, I remember, it was very cold, and the little +southern boy felt it especially. He had grown ever so tall and thin, but +not strong, and he went about looking blue and shivery. How I came to be +still at the Park I will tell you in another place, but there I was, and +my friend Gus won my pity by his wretched looks. I used to look at his +blue hands, and wonder what could be done. At last I remembered a pair +of warm knitted gloves, that had been given me, which I never wore. +They had no fingers, only a thumb, and I doubted whether Gus would wear +them; but I made up my mind that he would be glad anyhow to keep his +chilblains from the wind. + +I don't think I shall ever forget his look when I presented them to him, +holding them by the pretty blue wool which fastened them together. That +his "petite mademoiselle" should think of him, and make him a present, +too! and then that that present should be one that he could not anyhow +use! It was fairly too much for him; he looked at them, he looked at me, +turned furiously red, stammered, stuttered, turned round, and literally +ran away! + +I never tried to make him a second present. + + + + +IV. + +_MY HOME, AND WHAT IT WAS LIKE._ + + +Now, do you know, I feel rather ashamed of myself that I have not all +this while told you in the least who I was, or where I came from. I +began in the middle by saying, "I want to go home," but never told you +in the least where my home was, nor what it was. + +Well, to tell you the truth, I did not know much about my family history +in those early days. I knew that my name was Mary Emily Marshall, +commonly called Sissy, and I knew that my papa was "the gentleman that +makes all the sick people well,"--"or tries to," Jane would add. I never +did. Of course, if my papa tried to do anything he did it. That was my +doctrine. We lived quite down in the country among the poor people, and +we were not rich ourselves. Mamma had been born in this beautiful park, +and I know now, though I did not then, that it was a great trouble at +the Park when she married the country doctor, who loved the poor people +so much that he would not leave them to grow rich and honoured as a +London physician. But there was no grandpapa left now to be angry; and +grandmamma, though we had never seen her, we had always loved for the +beautiful presents she sent us. + +There were only three of us at this time--my little self; Bobbie, a boy +of four years old, boasting of the fattest, rosiest cheeks in the world; +and wee Willie, the white-faced, fretful baby of six months. Oh, how +well I remember the old house, with its great lamp hanging out over the +lonely road, and shining among the trees, to show the villagers the way +up to their good, kind friend the doctor. Many were the blessings we +little ones used to get as we passed down the village street, and we +owed them all to our father's goodness. + +Happy times we had of it, Bobbie and I, in that old house at the top of +the hill. I don't think any little brothers and sisters were ever quite +such good friends. There were three years between us, but I was little +and he was big, so nobody guessed it, and we played together, and never +thought which was the elder. The great treat of the day was the game +with papa in the evening, but that couldn't be counted upon. Very often +he would have to leave the dinner-table suddenly, and when we heard his +peculiar slam of the hall-door before the bell rang to summon us down, +we knew that we had lost our game, and we comforted ourselves by telling +each other that papa had gone to see some little sick child like baby +Willie, and to make him quite well; and then we would make up our minds +to a good quiet game by ourselves. + +[Illustration: PAPA AND MAMMA.] + +We used to take turns, he playing at doll with me one time, and I +playing at horses with him next time. How well I remember my hairless, +eyeless doll, and all the pleasure she gave us! And good-natured old +nurse was quite willing, whenever Willie was a little better than usual, +to work wonders with dolly's toilet. One week she would be a fine, grand +lady, to whom Bobby would act footman and I lady's-maid. Next week, she +was a soldier fighting grand battles, and lying dead on the battle-field +at last, with a patch of red paint on the forehead, and we two singing +dirges and songs of victory; and then, all of a sudden, the soldier +was turned into a baby, with long white clothes and the prettiest of +caps. + +The day that grandmamma's letter came, asking for "one of the dear +children to stay with her," dolly was just learning to walk. We were +having our firelight play before tea. I had tied up my curls to look +like a grown woman's hair, and I had papa's umbrella to keep the rain +off dolly in her first walk. Bobbie had papa's hat and stick, and he +held Rosalinda's other hand. I was just telling him not to walk so fast, +because his long strides would tire our little girl, when I heard +papa's voice calling me. + +In a minute more I was standing between his knees, and mamma was +watching my face as I tried to take in the idea of this first visit. + +"Jane shall go with you, my darling--you will not be all alone," said +mamma; "indeed, you shall not go at all if you had rather not, but +grandmamma wants to have you." + +And then papa added a great deal about seeing the place where mamma +lived when she was my age, and told me that I should come back with such +rosy cheeks. And all the while I was thinking of the new doll's-house +that grandmamma would give me perhaps. The thought of this took me back +to Rosalinda, and I felt sure that Bobbie would let her fall if I didn't +be quick and go to him. So I said, "Yes, I will go," very much in a +hurry, and was ever so glad to get away and run upstairs again. + +"Queer little fish!" I heard papa say as I left the room. "She thinks a +great deal more about the doll and Bobbie, than of the visit to +Beecham." + +"Children never look far forward," was mamma's answer. + +But I did look forward by and by. When dear Rosalinda was safely tucked +up in her cradle, and Bobbie and I had "time to think," as we said, then +we talked it all over. And very wonderful plans we made. Such numbers of +injunctions did I lay upon Bobbie, as to the care of the dolls while I +was away, that the poor little fellow said with a sigh, "Yes, I'll try +and 'member, Sissy!" + +So I consoled him by the thought of all the presents grandmamma would +send him when I came back. In fact, I was to bring something for +everybody, so I thought. Two dear little rabbits for Bobbie, perhaps a +new black silk gown for nurse, a beautiful sash for the baby, and so on, +and so on. + +[Illustration: SO NICE!] + +The next afternoon Bobbie and I had our last feast. Do _you_ often have +feasts? I don't mean cake and fruit, and good things at the +dinner-table. Oh no, I mean a real tiny feast all to yourselves, with +the nursery-chair unscrewed to make table and chair, with square paper +plates twisted at the corners, paper dishes with sugar on one, currants +on another, rice or raisins on another, and little doll's-house cups +for the make-believe wine and the real milk. Ah, that nice sugared milk +taken in little sips out of the oldest nursery-spoons! How well I can +fancy myself now, giving Bobbie his spoonful, while pussy looked +enviously up at us? Then it was that the bright thought struck me that I +would bring home some real Beecham kittens to puss, that would do quite +well in the place of those dear little lost ones, that James had taken +away and forgotten ever to bring back? Well, you know, all the +preparations were made, my pretty new frock tried on, all my kisses +given, and all sorts of messages sent home from the station, and in the +highest of spirits my first start in life was accomplished. What my +feelings were when the day came to an end, you know, so I need not tell +you. + + + + +V. + +_LITTLE COUSINS._ + + +So now you know who I was, where I came from, and all about me. Let me, +then, go on telling you about this remarkable visit to grandmamma. You +have heard all about those first quiet days, when I was all alone, the +only little thing in all the place. It was very different afterwards, I +can tell you. + +You know Jane had told me all that was going to happen. Indeed, she +talked always very fast, and didn't mind filling my little head with her +opinions of my betters which was certainly a mistake. It was a shame, +she said, that my uncle, "the Reverend," should send all his children +here, while he and his wife went taking their travels and their pleasure +all about to those gay foreign places! + +Grandmamma talked about it in quite a different way. She told me how ill +my aunt had been, so ill that my uncle had been obliged to take her away +from England for the whole winter. And she said that now they had left +the place on the beautiful Swiss lake, and were going to try some +German baths. Only they could not take the children there, so they were +to come and stay at the Park for a month or too, the while. + +I thought this would be very nice, and I began to ask all sorts of +questions about Harry and Lottie, and Alick and Murray, and Bertie and +the baby. How funny it would seem when the nursery was so full! I +thought the day would never come. But it did. The carriage was sent off +to the station, and in due time it came back, quite full to overflowing +with children! + +There was a good deal of shyness at first, when we all stood in a row, +and looked at each other, answering grandmamma's questions seriously, +and feeling very odd. But that was only the first evening. Next day we +were quite happy and comfortable, had a very merry breakfast, and then a +delightful ramble about the gardens and orchards. Of course, I was only +one of the little ones, coming in between Alick and Murray, feeling very +small beside Lottie and Harry. Yet we were all very good friends, and +Lottie soon told me that she thought it would be very nice to have a +girl to talk to, and not only boys. This remark pleased me, though when +I thought of Bobbie, it sounded rather strange. Indeed, I am not sure +that I was not a little too fond of boys' play. + +I remember feeling rather disappointed one day when she said to me in +the garden-- + +"Sissy, let's come and have a nice quiet walk together, and leave the +boys to play by themselves." + +[Illustration: GOING TO THE WARS.] + +Now, three of the boys were just preparing for a military march, one +with a bright flag, another with a trumpet, and another with a +sword-stick, so-called; and there was a most refreshing prospect of +shouting, stamping, and huzzahs! Do you wonder that I turned away rather +unwillingly? + +However, Lottie's confidences soon made up for it all. Such beautiful +stories Lottie could tell! When she began to talk about the Alps, and +the blue lake and the mountain flowers, I thought it seemed almost as +good as my hymns and verses. I know I looked up at her with eyes full of +admiration, and when she put her arms round me, and gave me a loving +kiss, I thought I had never been so happy before. + +And then she listened to all I had to tell her about Bobbie, and baby +Willie, and Rosalinda, and gave me her advice about dressing Rosalinda +like the Queen. + +My letters, too, she read, and said they were very nice, which made me +love mamma for writing them all the more. And she showed me her own +letter that had just come across the sea, with its foreign stamps and +thin paper. Quite a nice talk it was altogether, and we were ever so +sorry when we were called in to dinner. + +My boy-cousins were very polite to me at first, and hardly seemed to +know what to make of me. Harry was a little too patronizing, called me +"a mite of a thing," and played tricks upon me in a gentle way. But then +he was not often with us. He had not been a night in the house before he +had quite determined to be a sailor like Uncle Hugh, so it followed, as +a matter of course, that he must be always with him. + +Force of habit, however, made him confide all his plans and thoughts to +Lottie, so that our private talks in the shrubbery were often +interrupted by his merry voice. Then he would throw himself down among +the grass and periwinkles, and tell us all about his future ship. This +usually ended in Lottie's being carried off to make sails or flags for +his new craft. Then, being left to myself, I soon ran off to my other +cousins, nothing loath to have a game of romps with them. + +Alick seemed likely to be my special friend. What a funny little fellow +he must have been, though I did not think so then! Jane called him a +little dandy, much to his displeasure; yet I am afraid his friendship +was likely to increase my childish vanity. He was so fond of decking me +with flowers, making wreaths for me, and then looking at me, and +sometimes comparing my hair or eyes with Lottie's; and his look of +vexation if my face was dirty or my pinafore torn, often comes back to +me even now when I feel untidy in any way. + +One afternoon, when Alick and I and one of the other boys were alone, it +suddenly came into our wise little heads that we would play at going to +a party. What vast preparations we made! What pains the boys took to tie +up my sleeves with some bright ribbon meant for Harry's flags! How +cleverly we succeeded in carrying off a hair-brush, and what a long time +it took to decide how the boys' hair and ties should be arranged! And +then came the flowers, my wreath, and the bouquet to be carried for me +by one of my gentlemen. + +We were all ready, I remember, and I was just taking Alick's arm, and we +had all put on our best airs and graces for a solemn entrance to the +supposed ball-room, when, all of a sudden, who should come round the +corner but Uncle Hugh and Harry! + +[Illustration: GOING TO A PARTY.] + +Oh, those bursts of laughter pealing out again and again! Oh, the +writhings and twistings of Uncle Hugh in his excessive mirth! Would they +_ever_ stop laughing? Even now my cheeks almost tingle with those +painful blushes, and my heart beats with that frightened shame! + +And yet it was for Alick that I was chiefly troubled, as I saw him fling +down the flowers and run, while Harry, shouting "conceited young +jackanapes," pursued him at full speed. I had never seen such rough play +or heard such mocking laughter, and I burst into tears, sobbing out my +trouble on my uncle's shoulder as he carried me off and laughingly +soothed me, pressing the prickly wreath all the while against my head. + +It was a long time before our adventure was forgotten. Harry's merry +jokes brought the colour over and over again to my face, and the angry +words to Alick's lips. But we were both cured, certainly, for the time, +of any love of display or dandyism! + + + + +VI. + +_WHAT ABOUT LESSONS?_ + + +And now, little reader, I know quite well what thought has been popping +in and out of your head all this time. You have been wanting to ask me +what had become of lessons all these weeks, and how a number of little +boys and girls could be allowed to run wild, doing just what they liked +all day long. + +[Illustration: BABY, DEAR!] + +Well, it does seem very shocking, and there is no denying that, for a +whole month, we did not often see the inside of a book. Yet, I had +learnt to read, and had been in the habit of learning to spell and to +count every day of my life at home. I don't quite know how it came about +that we were not all of us a very untamed set after a month's idleness +at the Park. Perhaps, it was a good thing for us that grandmamma was +what she was. The very perfection of tender kindness we all felt her, +and yet there was a certain dignity about her, that made it a simple +impossibility to be rough or rude before her. And on the whole we were a +great deal with her. When not with her, we were supposed to be picking +up a great deal of French from my cousin's Swiss nurse. And so, in our +way, we did, although I think Susette learned English a great deal +faster than we learned French. Yet, when we wished to coax her, the +French words came fast enough, such as they were. + +But I am afraid grandmamma did not think that we were learning quite +enough, for one day she called Lottie and me, and told us that she had +just seen such a nice young lady, and that she had promised to come and +be our governess. What an excitement this news caused us all! How we +talked it over all day long. We had many different ideas as to what she +was to be like; in fact, the elder boys made pictures of her, which, as +it turned out, were anything but good portraits. + +How we did look at her that first evening! She was very young, very fair +and in deep mourning. That is my earliest impression of her. We had a +kind of unconfessed idea that she did not take half pains enough to make +us like her. She did not seem to care whether we did or not--hardly, I +fancy, to think about the matter. It was just the very end of April, +almost the bright May-time, and grandmamma went round the garden with +her, Lottie and I making our remarks from a distance. I think we were a +little surprised to see our new governess so much at her ease, laughing +merrily and talking away to grandmamma, just as if there were no little +critics taking note of all. By and by, she came in and sat down in "the +schoolroom"--such a new word that seemed!--to write a letter. Lottie and +I pretended to be very busy with our dolls in one corner, but we were +keeping up our watch, and every now and then we met her eye with a merry +twinkle in it, looking greatly amused at us. + +"She looks so young, only a girl! she will never be able to manage us, +Jane says," Lottie remarked very softly to me; "but then, I daresay, she +can be cross enough when she likes, governesses always are!" + +All of a sudden, a merry laugh startled us both, and in another minute +Lottie found herself flat on the floor, being tickled and kissed and +laughed over all at once. I don't think she quite liked it, though she +couldn't help laughing, too, but her cheeks were very red, when Miss +Grant raised her own head. She kept Lottie flat on her back, and looked +down at her, the most thorough amusement all over her face. + +"Cross enough, do you think? Oh, yes, to be sure I can! Cross enough to +eat you up at one mouthful, and little Sissy after you!" + +How funny it sounded! Lottie laughed and so did I, only very nervously. +Then all at once Miss Grant grew very comically grave, and asked us +whether we thought we should soon make her cross? And then followed +such a funny talk, I think I shall never forget it. Miss Grant was half +lying on the sofa now, Lottie and I were bobbing up and down beside her, +sometimes looking right into her blue laughing eyes, sometimes hiding +our own rosy faces, that she mightn't see how queer she made us feel. + +"You don't much like the idea of having a governess, I see," she said; +"you fancy it will be lessons, lessons all day long now, a great deal of +crying, and punishments, very hard things to learn, and no fun any more. +If that's what it really is going to be, I shall get so unhappy that I +shall soon run away home again! And then you think I shall have to grow +cross and ill-tempered, too--that is the worst part of it all." + +She pretended to be ready to cry, and Lottie, who didn't quite like to +give up her own opinion, muttered something about "She thought they +always were!" + +"Are they?" asked Miss Grant, just as if she really wanted to know, and, +when we laughed and hid our faces, she went on: "I think I know how it +is. This is what you will do to me: You will begin by getting into all +the mischief you can think of, and that will give me a headache; and +then you will be cross and rude, and that will give me great, deep lines +in the forehead; and last of all, you will do vulgar things, that will +make my mouth get into the 'don't' shape, which is so ugly, you know; +and, by and by, when I look at myself in the glass, I shall find myself +turned into a grey-headed old woman, and I shall say, 'Sissy gave me +those wrinkles between my eyes, I always had to frown at her so;' and +then, 'Those ugly lines by my mouth came when Lottie vexed me so.' What +a funny thing it will be to have to remember you in that way when you +are grown-up people!" + +Of course, we did not like this way of taking it for granted that we +were rude, troublesome children, yet there was a funny look in Miss +Grant's eyes that seemed as if she didn't really mean what she said. And +the end of it all was that we made a compact, as she called it, that we +would be ever so good-tempered, and then she and we would have the +happiest time together that you can fancy. + +And I think it all came true. Thanks to our papas and mammas, we were +not quite the rude children we might have been. They had saved us ever +so much trouble, and ever so many tears, by teaching us that hardest +lesson "do as you are told," before we were old enough to understand its +difficulty. And Miss Grant was always so bright and happy that she +scarcely ever let us suspect, even in the naughtiest times, that we were +"making the lines come." Out of doors she was the merriest among us, and +grandmamma would often say to Lottie that she was ever so much older +than Miss Grant, because she would walk soberly about with a book, while +Miss Grant was having all sorts of fun with the boys. At last she, too, +caught the infection, and then we all had the merriest romps together! +How well I remember those early summer days, and the luxury of flowers +everywhere. Is there anything so happy-looking, so full of overflowing +delight, as the long grass, and the buttercups and daisies, hawthorn and +bluebells? We thought ourselves very wise about flowers then, and had +very decided opinions on the proper blending of colours. Miss Grant was +teaching us this, and even now, when I see any one making a nosegay of +wild-flowers, I fancy myself running up to her with a handful of bright +things, to watch in my eagerness how they were in a minute turned into +the beautiful bouquet that nobody could equal or copy. + +She had been with us some time, when one morning we had a visitor come +to spend the day at Beecham. This lady was not old, yet she had the most +wrinkled, aged face I ever saw. When she was gone, Harry, who never +minded what he said, asked grandmamma about her, and cried out in +surprise when he heard that she had been his own father's playfellow. + +"You think Mrs. Mowbray looks double as old as papa, do you?" said +grandmamma. "Ah, it is trouble that has aged her. You would not wonder +at all those lines and wrinkles if you knew all the sorrow and grief her +own poor boys have given her through their sin and wilfulness!" + +Lottie and I looked at each other, and then glanced slily at Miss Grant, +but I don't think she noticed us. When we were alone again, we resolved +that we would try ever so hard to be good. + +"Because, you know, Sissy, it wouldn't be nice if Miss Grant were to +get her face all puckered and creasy like that, just as if it wanted +ironing out, as Susette did with my frock when Murray scrunched it all +up under his pillow to hide it. But I suppose you couldn't iron out your +face!" + +Anyhow, I agreed with Lottie not to run any risks, and I do not think we +did. At least, all my memories of that happy year at Beecham are mingled +with the bright, merry, gentle friend who made easy all the lessons that +could be easy, and gave me courage for those that _had_ to be hard; and +against whose shoulder I loved to nestle, and listen to Bible-stories +with those little hints in them which always set me thinking of my own +faults and duties, and made me long to do right, and be the good little +Christian girl she wished me to be. + +Little reader, dear, are you making lines on anybody's forehead? + + + + +VII. + +_HURRAH FOR THE HOLIDAYS!_ + + +And yet, however pleasant lessons might be, there is no doubt that +holidays were pleasant things, too. Saturday afternoons were always +welcome, and all the weeks through we were planning what we would do +when they came. Of course these plans were sometimes upset by a rainy +day; but, even then, what with battledore and shuttlecock, painting and +spinning tops, we contrived to make out the time very happily. + +And before us all the while was the bright, pleasant prospect of the +long summer holidays. + +Every now and then during these happy months the thought of home came +across me, and sometimes one of mamma's letters would have in it so much +about Bobby and his play, and his prattle about Sissy's coming back, +that I grew a little home-sick and looked wistfully into grandmamma's +face as she read the letter. This would always make her say: "You don't +want to go home, little one? Aren't you very happy here with Lottie and +the boys? And you are getting on so nicely with your books, too; mamma +is so pleased to have you with so many little schoolfellows, and kind +Miss Grant to teach you! And we are going to have all kinds of pleasant +treats in the holidays. No, no, we must keep you another month or two! +Perhaps we will send you home when the cold weather comes!" So I ran +away again to make plans with Lottie about all the many things that must +be done the very first day of no lessons. + +Then came the last time of history, and the last dreadful sums, and the +last copy written, and the last hard French words learnt, and then, +happiest of all, the last putting away of books and cleaning of slates! +It almost makes me take that long breath for joy even now only to +remember that happy day. + +"And don't you think I'm the happiest of us all?" said Miss Grant; "I am +the only one really going home for the holidays!" + +Which remark was a great relief to my little mind, for I had been afraid +we must seem a great deal too glad that she was going. Now I could +venture on my very loudest "hurrah," which, after all, was but a feeble +imitation of the boys' loud cheers. + +You know, anticipation is the best part of every pleasure; in easier +words, everything looks brighter before it comes than when it _is_ come. +I think that was very nearly the happiest day of my whole year at +Beecham, when I sat on the floor watching the last things put into Miss +Grant's box, and chattering away about the happy days coming. You see, +for a long time I had got up every morning with the thought of how many +good marks I should get, and of how those hard letters and figures were +to be made, and though I had made many a brave fight and won many a +delightful victory over the books, yet it _was_ very nice to think that +to-morrow I should awake with the holiday feeling instead. + +And the next morning did really come, though we thought it never would, +and we made a very long meal of breakfast, being not quite sure what was +to come next. + +It was a funny day, that first day! Grandmamma and Uncle Hugh went away +early for a long drive, and all sorts of business at the end of it; and +we knew they would not be home till ever so late. It was very hot--oh, +so _very_ hot! We could not go into the sun at all, but Susette and Jane +sent us out of the nursery very soon, that we might not disturb baby's +midday sleep by our holiday fun. The school-room, of course, we avoided; +so, after a little hesitation, we went out into the shade to play. + +[Illustration: UP TO THE MOON!] + +And, first of all, we thought of the swing as the best thing to be done, +and for half an hour it _was_ most delightful! Don't you know the +pleasant feeling it is, just up at the very highest point, when you +are not _quite_ sure whether you are frightened or not? Don't you know? +And you laugh a little anxiously, and are very glad to find yourself +safely down again. Oh, it was very good fun for _a little while_! Only +Harry came to swing us, and he was so fond of seeing your feet up into +the branches, that you never could be quite sure that he would not send +you head-over-heels. Lottie was very brave, but I could not quite stand +it, so I stood by and watched; and when they asked me to have another +try, I said, "No, thank you." I think Alick saw that I was a little red +and uncomfortable, for he asked me to come and play on the lawn. We ran +away, taking a last look at the two elder ones. It was not such +boisterous play that we had, we two together, yet I think we enjoyed it +very much, half-talking, half-playing. We were very good friends, and +the morning went very quickly. When the dinner-bell rang, we agreed that +we would start off together as soon as we could for the apple-orchard at +the top of the hill, where we were not likely to be disturbed. + +That hot July afternoon, how well I remember it! All among the long +grass we lay, looking up at the little, young apples overhead, and now +and then setting our teeth in the sour middles of those that had fallen. +But we were a little afraid of the effects of these unripe, bullet +things, so we did no more than taste them. Then my eight-year-old cousin +began to say me long pages of poetry, and when he had exhausted his +stores, he astonished me by the funny, learned sound of his Latin +declensions. + +"You know, Sissy," he said, "I mean to be a very learned man some day, +and know twelve or fourteen languages, I think. I shall not be content +till I know more than anybody else. It will be nice to be wiser than +papa. He's ever so clever, you see; but then, of course, new things will +be found out every year, and sons must always get a-head of their +fathers, or else the world would stand still, you see." + +I didn't quite see, but I pretended to. Alick had been very confidential +lately, and I knew what a sore spot there was in his heart making him +talk like this. Hadn't he confided to me with a fierce, red heat on his +forehead how his father had told him he wasn't "half a boy," because he +had turned giddy climbing a high tree? "But papa always says when Harry +bangs his head about, that he doesn't believe there can be any brains +behind such a skull as his. I dare say that is the difference between +us." + +So said the young scholar with all the satisfaction possible, and I +believed in him with all my heart. + +[Illustration: HOLIDAY TIME.] + +However, even he grew tired of wise talk, and proposed a game with the +fallen apples. How we pelted each other, how we laughed, and, oh, how +hot we did get at last! Then off came hats and jackets, and were left +behind under the trees while we went to rest ourselves in a piece of +open shade, thrown by that large barn where, by and by, the apples would +be stored away; and this was the moment which I seized to get his advice +as to a new toy I had lately bought to send to Bobbie. It was one of +those wooden soldiers whose arms and legs are to go by means of a +string; but the string, you know, is always getting hitched. This was +the case now, and it tasked all Alick's wonderful brains to set it +right. How my back and arm did ache as I held it up for him, lying flat +on the grass, to twitch, and pull, and contrive, and, at last, to +conquer! That happy moment had just come when there was a sound of +wheels in the road near us. One minute more, and Uncle Hugh's voice was +heard calling us, and the carriage stopped to take us up. What grand, +glorious news we were told as we drove home, two hatless, jacketless, +sun-burnt children, I must not tell you this time. + + + + +VIII. + +_THE COTTAGE ON THE CLIFF._ + + +"Well, my dearie," said grandmamma, "uncle and I have just taken such a +pretty little cottage for you all, high up on the cliff, looking right +over the blue sea. And you are to go off and try if the fresh wind up +there will put a little more colour into those cheeks of yours!" + +My dear little friends, I had just nestled down snugly enough on +grandmamma's silk dress and black lace shawl, never having the least +idea of the dear, kind purpose of that long sixteen miles' drive, so you +won't be surprised to hear that the news gave me such a start that I +very nearly jumped out of the carriage. And Alick--well, I don't know +whether he was really half a boy or three quarters, but his shout +certainly made you fancy him quite a _whole_ boy at that minute! + +Oh, the bright, bright pictures that came tumbling one over another in +one's mind, at the idea of the cottage on the cliff, crabs and shrimps +and shells and sea-weed, and merry, merry waves in one happy muddle! And +do you know, nothing could induce the horses to trot fast enough up the +long drive; they never seemed to consider one bit how much we had to +tell, nor, indeed, how much we had _to do_, in preparation for +to-morrow. What if they had done a good thirty miles since breakfast, +they could stay at home next day and eat hay from morning to night and +leave it to Fairy and Whitefoot to do the hot work for us. + +I really cannot tell you how much sleep we got that night. I have a +distinct remembrance of kicking all the bed-clothes off ever so many +times, and of calling out to Lottie in the next room, without the +smallest respect to rules. And there was Jane as busy as could be, with +Susette, packing up little frocks, and pinafores, and nightgowns. Every +now and then she would stop to say, "Really, Miss Sissy, you _must_ be +quiet, and go to sleep!" But, you know, that was just one of those +remarks which it is of no use listening to. + +It's funny how sometimes sleep seems to run away and won't be caught +anyhow! Next night it was just the same. Only it was quite different, +too. You know what I mean. That funny bedroom, with its white curtains +covered with pink rose-buds, and the venetian blinds, and the moon +shining through, mixed up somehow with the sound of the waves; and to +have Lottie in the same large bed with me--oh, it was all so odd! And +the narrow passages with two stairs at every turn, and the rooms opening +right in each other's faces, so to say! It felt queer, too, to know that +we were alone in the house with only Susette and Jane to take care of +us, the woman of the house to do hard work, and Gus to run errands for +us. + +By some means or other we did go to sleep at last, and afterwards woke +up in the morning to wonder where we were. And then came all the wonders +of the new place to be discovered. Harry had persuaded grandmamma to +send over the steady old pony with us, and no sooner was breakfast over +than he appeared at the door led by Gus, for Master Harry to go, as he +called it, on a voyage of discovery. I am not sure that our nurses were +not rather glad to be rid of this "Turk of a boy," as they called him; +for Harry, good-natured as he was, could not lose a chance of teasing +the little ones, and sometimes, a little hurting their tempers. + +[Illustration: I'M COMING!] + +There was a great hollow place in the cliff close to our house, down +which was the way to the beach, which we took with the least possible +delay. Then came the first delights of bathing, and when that was over, +the digging in the sand and hunting for shells, while baby took his +morning sleep on Susette's lap. By and by we went home to dinner, and +after that, to hemming and sewing and reading with the nurses. And +when early tea was over, it was cool enough for a fresh walk over the +hills, or away to the rocks farther off. + +This was the way we spent four pleasant weeks, getting as rosy and +strong as any one could wish. Three or four times we were surprised in +our morning play on the beach by the welcome sight of Uncle Hugh. For, +every now and then, he would ride over to give grandmamma some news of +the children. This was a great delight, for it was sure to mean, first +of all, that there were letters from home for us all,--those foreign +sheets that Lottie loved to see, and the long crossed letters full of +mamma's love to me. And to us four elder ones, Harry and Lottie and +Alick and me, uncle's visit always meant a glorious afternoon in a boat +far out at sea. I hardly know whether Harry or Gus delighted most in the +prospect of these visits. The pleasure simply of holding the +"Capitaine's" horse was enough to make the French boy's eyes glisten and +his teeth shine with the broadest smile. And to Harry the delight of +handling an oar or managing a sail was beyond anything delicious. + +But the visit which we had all most cause to remember was the last which +Uncle Hugh paid us. He was going away to London on business--business +which would soon end in another long voyage, the news of which brought a +flush of pleasure to Gus's cheeks, soon changed to intense +disappointment at the news that he must this time be left in England. + +That afternoon we were longer than usual on the sea, only returning just +in time for a late tea and bed. Uncle Hugh started about seven o'clock, +and Harry as usual mounted his pony in great haste to go with him part +of the way. I remember that uncle was in a hurry, and did not wait for +him, for as I stood undressing near the window I saw Harry waving his +hat and calling after him, with the two dogs at his side. + +[Illustration: THROUGH THICK AND THIN.] + +The long summer evening faded away; from my pillow I saw the stars come +out one by one, and then kissing my hand to them, I let my sleepy eyes +go shut, and was soon in the midst of pleasant dreamland. I don't know +how long after this it was, that I was aroused by a sound of whispers at +the door, and then by a little timid question from Lottie, "Susette, +isn't Harry come home?" "But no, Miss Lottie," was the answer in a +troubled voice, and Jane broke in: "Hush, hush! you'll wake Miss Sissy! +Go to sleep, there's a darling. He'll be home directly now--no need to +be frightened!" + +"No need to be frightened!" said Susette, in her foreign accent. "But, +yes----" + +Jane had pulled her out of the room, and Lottie and I, now wide awake, +were left to wonder, and talk in low, frightened tones. Lottie had heard +the whining of one of the dogs under the window--both dogs had gone off +with Harry--and she had heard Susette call Jane gently, and then they +had whispered outside the door something about Gus and the dog; and +after that she had heard Gus run off under the window, the dog barking +joyfully and going, too. How we lay and trembled! By and by I got out of +bed, and peeped through the Venetians, in spite of Lottie's entreaties. + +"Oh, Sissy, please don't! Susette will be so angry! Please, Sissy, come +back!" + +I protested that Susette was not _my_ nurse, yet I knew she could scold +in such a bewildering torrent of French as did sometimes frighten me; +and as I could see nothing but the calm, beautiful starlit sky over the +sleeping sea, I dropped the blind, and sprang back into bed. It made a +noise as I dropped it, and for some time the fear of being heard, and +the anxiety to appear asleep if any one came, made us forget our alarm +about Harry. In fact, I think we were getting sleepy again--I was, at +least--but we started up at the sound of the hall-door softly opened, +and then men's footsteps on the stairs. There was a low moan as the +steps passed our door. Oh, how breathlessly we waited! Once, even, I had +the door ajar, and was peeping out, when a hurried hand outside suddenly +shut it again, making me start back. By and by there was a sound of +footsteps going downstairs, and in a moment Lottie and I were both in +the passage entreating Jane to tell us what had happened. + +"Master Harry has been tumbled over the pony's head, Miss Lottie," she +said, "and he's been lying in a ditch nobody knows how long; but the +dog's saved his life--him and Gus together--and the doctor hopes he +won't be very bad, no bones being broken, only bruises and knocks of the +head. He don't quite know himself, you see, yet, poor young gentleman! +and we have to keep him quiet, so you must go and be as still as mice. +The doctor'll be here in the morning, and the missis, too, may be!" + +All this while she was tucking us into bed again, and when she drew the +curtains and left us we were afraid to whisper even, for fear of being +heard in the next room and hurting Harry. + +At breakfast the next morning we were told that Gus was "nigh about at +Beecham by this time," and before evening the carriage had come just in +sight, and stopped, and grandmamma was walking up to the house. + +Then followed a very quiet week, during which we never spoke aloud +without getting a sharp "hush!" Indeed, we were not allowed to be in the +house a minute longer than necessary, being down on the beach whenever +we were not eating, drinking, or sleeping. By the end of the week, Harry +was to be seen at these rare intervals looking very pale, and quiet, and +unlike himself on the sofa. I distinctly remember feeling rather +pleased as I looked from him to Alick, and thought how much more of a +boy Alick looked with his brown, rosy face, than the pale, languid, +almost girlish elder brother, speaking in a weak, tired voice from his +pillow. It was about another ten days before the close carriage came +from Beecham, and with plenty of soft cushions, Harry was laid in it, +and driven away back to the Park. + +When we saw him there on our return, he was almost himself again, merry +and bright, but a little pale and easily tired. + + + + +IX. + +_SUSETTE AND HER TROUBLES._ + + +So we all came back to Beecham Park, and the holidays were over, and we +had to buckle to work again; work that had a pleasant mixture of play in +it, out-of-door fun, Saturday rambles and birthday treats. + +When first we returned from the sea-side there came a very earnest +letter from mamma, begging that Sissy might really be sent home now, +for surely grandmamma had had enough, and too much, of her. Indeed, a +message was added at the end to say that papa had made up his mind to +take a holiday and run down to fetch me. All seemed to be settled, and I +myself got into that doubtful state--glad to go home but, oh, so sorry +to leave this happy Beecham home! I began to wonder, too, whether I +should feel quite at home with papa when he came, and on the morning +fixed for his arrival, a very shy fit came over me, so that, at first, +it seemed rather a relief when Harry called out to me that a letter had +come from my home, and that I was to go up to grandmother at once. But +what a grave, sad face met me! My very heart stood still as she kissed +me. Then in gentle words she told me that Bobbie was ill, had caught the +scarlet fever, so papa could not come. + +And, to dear grandmamma, I think it was a very anxious time that +followed. My little head could not take in all it meant when news came +of danger, then of baby's illness, then of nurse's. I could see that +other people were sorry; once I found Jane crying, and was caught up on +to her lap and kissed and talked to, till a clear memory of the dear, +chubby little brother at home came back to me, and I had a long, +miserable fit of sobbing. But, you see, I had been away from them all +for nearly six months, and the little brothers and sisters around me had +somehow shut out the two little fellows at home, and my play and lessons +at Beecham seemed much more real than the sorrow all those miles away. +In a few weeks all the worst time was over, but, of course, there was no +idea now of my going home. + +I wonder if grandmamma ever thought, in the early spring, that for a +whole year she was to have her house full of children! For a long time +we fancied every week that we should hear of aunt and uncle coming home. +Every now and then Lottie and I would fret a little bit at the idea of +parting, but still it did not come. + +One morning brought a letter for Lottie, with a great deal of news in +it. She read it to me in the nursery, as we were having our hair brushed +for the evening in the drawing-room. It told us that her papa had just +made up his mind to take the work of a clergyman in a more +out-of-the-way part, somewhere between Switzerland and Germany, and that +it was just the place to suit her mamma, so they would probably stay +there till Christmas. Besides, there were some little German cousins of +Lottie's living close by with their aunt, so there was a great deal to +tell altogether. We were very eager talking about little Heinrich and +Carl--so eager that at first we never noticed that Susette had thrown +herself into a chair with clasped hands, and her black eyes full of +tears. When we came to question her, she said Monsieur and Madame had +gone to a place close to her native village, and would they--oh, would +they--see her poor, poor father, in the misery extreme, frightful! We +were quite used to Susette now, and not at all surprised at her +passionate manner; and if we did a little smile to each other at that +favourite word "affreuse," yet Lottie was eager and sincere enough in +her assurances that certainly papa would go and look for the poor +family. Out came the foreign paper at once, and if the summons to the +dining-room had not come at that moment, I believe the letter would +have been written there and then. As it was, it certainly went the next +day. It was our first piece of anything like charity, and we waited +eagerly for the answer from Lottie's papa, which, of course, did not +arrive directly it was wanted. + +At last the morning came, when the postman, met by three eager children +half-way down the drive, was greeted by the happy cry, "Oh, there it is! +I see it in his hand!" And the much-longed-for prize was snatched from +him, and triumphantly carried off to the nursery. + +"Oh, children, do keep off! You must let Susette hear!" cried Lottie, +and then she read this. But first let me say that this wonderful letter, +having been put away with other more important old papers, has become +very worn and yellow, and you must forgive me if I leave out a piece +here and there, where it is too torn to read. + +"'My dear Lottie and all the Chicks,--Your letter came very safely all +by itself the other day, just as well as if it had been in grandmamma's +as usual; and papa knew what an eager little woman his Lottie was, and +so he made his discoveries as soon as possible, and here they are! Poor +Susette, I don't wonder she was anxious to know all about her poor +father, and the rest of them. They have had a hard time of it since she +left them, but they are all so fond of her, and so glad to get news of +her. Such a good girl as she is to them all! Mind, children, you make +much of her, and don't add to all she has to worry about." + +[Illustration: SUSETTE'S SISTER.] + +At this point we all looked at Susette, and little Murray squeezed her +hand. Her black eyes were overflowing, and her rosy lips were pressed +tightly together; yet she was looking very happy and pleased. + +Then Lottie went on:-- + +"'Heinrich and I set off at once to ----' (reader, I _cannot_ read the +name of the village!), 'but some time before we got there we met a +pretty Swiss girl, with a bundle of corn on her head, whose eyes and +mouth reminded me very much of your kind nurse. So I put my hand on +Heinrich's shoulder to stop him, and then I asked her if her name was +Laurec, and she said, "Yes." So we had a long talk, and she told me all +about them at home, and of the fever in the village, and the want of +work, and all the rest. I fancy it has been little short of starvation +for them all this long time. Then I let her hurry on to tell them at +home who was coming. Such a sweet hill-side village as I cannot hope to +make my little English birds understand, with its pretty chalets lying +against the rock, and the bushy trees shooting out of the cliff above +and around them. I went up to the one pointed out to me, and there, +lying on a heap of rags, was Susette's little blind sister, that she has +often talked to you about. Dear little patient thing! turning her large, +dark, sightless eyes towards me with such a bright smile! As she spoke +of "le bon Dieu," I thought of the pretty French hymns you used to try +to learn, and it gave the soft French words a softer sound when they +were on such a happy theme. But we could not stay there; so making our +little present to the dear child, we set off up the mountain. We had not +gone far, when, among a flock of goats scattered over the hill, we found +a poor old man sitting on a rock, with very downcast look, and little +Pierre Laurec, who had come to show us the way, told us it was his +father. The poor old man was very much out of heart, and it was some +time before we could make him understand that we wanted to help him. At +Susette's name he looked mournfully in my face as I sat down by him, +murmuring that she was gone, gone, bonne fille! + +[Illustration: UNHAPPY.] + +"'Well, you know, I must not make my letter too long. Tell Susette that +things look brighter now in her old home; that Pierre has found some +work in our garden, and his sister comes now and then to your aunt's +house; and that we will look after them a little, and send you more news +soon. + +"'Mamma sends ever so much love, and many, many thanks to dear +grandmamma for offering to house her tiresome chicks for a few more +months. What a grand, happy Christmas we will have together! That is, if +only I can get mamma well enough to brave an English winter. Poor mamma +wants sadly to get a sight of her baby.--Ever your affectionate + + "'FATHER.'" + +That was the letter, reader. Don't you think it was well worth waiting +for? + + + + +X. + +_AUTUMN DAYS._ + + +"What an idea, papa talking about Christmas!" Alick said, when we came +to the end of the letter; and it did seem funny that hot autumn +afternoon, when all the leaves were in a glow, looking as if they had +been burnt up so long they couldn't and wouldn't bear it any longer! +Perhaps they meant to come down. But I suppose, now I come to think of +it, that months don't seem so never-ending to grown-up people as they do +to children; they are more prepared to see the time fly, you don't know +how, so they are not surprised when they find it gone. Besides, you see, +they don't get taller and taller as the months pass, so, of course, the +time must seem to run past very quickly, they standing still all the +while! How odd it must be! I heard a little boy remonstrating last +night-- + +"Well, but, uncle, if you keep your clothes till next year they'll be +ever so much too small for you!" + +Everybody laughed, and told him that uncle, being six feet high, didn't +expect to grow any more; and, of course, as I said before, if Alick's +papa stood still, the time _would_ seem to go very quickly. + +And so, I suppose, when the end of October came, he didn't cry out as we +did all of a sudden: "I do declare it is not quite two months to +Christmas!" + +It was one damp, misty afternoon, and Lottie, and Alick, and I were +learning our lessons all alone in the school-room. We were trying to get +the last glimmer of daylight at the window, but it was hardly enough to +see what six times nine might be, and that was my great difficulty. + +You know, don't you? how the things that "you do so want to say" will +come into your head just when you ought to be very silent and busy! It's +_very_ odd; but even now that I am old enough to know better, I never +want so much to talk as just when I ought to be quiet. I wonder how it +is? Anyhow, it seemed quite impossible to hold one's tongue that +afternoon. Alick was as busy and quiet as could be, working out a hard +sum on his slate, but even he looked up when Lottie started that +wonderful idea about Christmas; and then we all joined in wondering how +the time had gone, and what lots of fun Christmas would bring with it. I +had my own particular share of delight, for was there not a certain +prospect of papa and mamma coming to the Park to take me home? My little +cousins, too, were looking forward to home directly after Christmas; but +their mamma could not come and fetch them. She had been well enough to +travel, and would be in England very soon now; that is, in the little +island down in the south, you know, where the invalids go. She would +get a nice home ready for them there and then, as she said in her +letters, "have the delight of calling back all the chicks under her +wings again!" + +Well, it was just all these things that we were talking about over our +lesson-books at the school-room, when our attention was caught by two +figures coming up the drive in the mist. Such a foggy afternoon as it +was, all the dead leaves hanging yellow and dripping from the trees! It +was not till they got quite up to the house that we saw that the two men +were going to give us some music. One had some bagpipes and the other a +kind of horn, and, of course, all thought of lessons went out of our +heads when we heard them begin. What fun it was to listen, and to watch +their queer grimaces and antics, as they danced about to their own +music! + +But we had not been enjoying this long when a terrible thing happened. +Oh, little reader, it makes me shudder now! + +You must understand that our school-room was on the ground-floor, but +raised a good way from the ground; a separate room built out from the +house, the roof sloping out under the windows of the day-nursery. + +[Illustration: GIVE US A COPPER!] + +The first thing we thought of was calling the little ones to hear the +music; but when I proposed it, Alick said he was sure they knew all +about it, he could hear their voices. Lottie declared that that was +impossible; we never heard anything from the nursery unless the window +was open. Just then the men began to beg, and Alick ran off to get some +pence. Grandmamma said they were to have a cup of the servants' tea, and +Alick went to the kitchen to ask for it. When he came back, he told us +that Susette was down there getting baby's supper, and that Jane was +teazing her about her "brothers the players!" + +"Oh, Alick!" cried Lottie, "then that's it! Murray and Bertie have got +the window open to hear better, and in all this fog and wet!" + +Alick was just going to laugh at her for being such an "old fidget," +when we were startled by a loud cry, and the sound of something falling +down the roof. At the same moment we saw Harry rushing up to the +house--he was just home from his lessons at the curate's--throwing his +arms about in the most excited way. + +"Oh, it's Murray tumbled out of window?" cried Lottie. And away we all +rushed to the front door, feeling sick with fear. + +Now, up the side of the wall grew a very thick, bushy fig-tree, the stem +of which was very big of its kind. When we rushed out into the foggy +air, there was Harry clambering so cleverly up among the large, wet +leaves; and on the edge of the roof, caught by his clothes in some way +that we could not see, was poor little Murray! Susette covered her face +with her hands, and most of us turned away too frightened to look. I +remember hiding my face in Jane's gown, and feeling her stroking my +hair; and I never looked up till there was a cry that it was all right, +and Harry and Murray were both safe on the ground again. + +How glad we all were, and how we all talked at once, and said how we had +felt, and how Murray cried though he wasn't hurt, only frightened--all +this I mustn't stop to tell you. By and by it came to be one of those +things that are always nice to talk about with shudders, and sighs, and +laughter. Many and many a tea-time the same wonder and thankfulness were +repeated, always beginning with, "Don't you remember that dreadful day?" +and so on. + +Meanwhile Christmas was coming, and Christmas weather came sooner still. +Then the snow collected outside the nursery window, and the mornings +were very dark, and bed the only comfortable place; and Gus's hands got +blue, and his face thin and pinched, and he wished himself away with the +"Capitaine" in the warm South Seas. + +[Illustration: LOOK AT ME!] + +But there was fun, too, about that cold weather; fun with the snow-man +in the Park; fun in learning to skate on the frozen pond, shut in so +nicely with the fir-trees; and fun in the real Christmas treats, +Christmas-trees, and Christmas games. + +And so it was a very bright time that came to finish up those happy +Beecham days. The end of it all was saying "good-bye" to grandmamma and +cousins one fine, frosty morning, just the other side of New Year's Day, +and driving off between papa and mamma. + +When you think of my first evening in that drawing-room, perhaps you +will wonder at the doubtful look which I know there was on my face, and +which made papa look right into my eyes, questioning, as he said, + +"Whether I wanted to go home or not." + + + + +XI. + +_GOOD-BYE TO BEECHAM._ + + +Was I glad to go home or sorry? How could I tell? When it came to the +train, it was all such fun that I chattered away to mamma as fast as +possible about the stations we should pass, and the things we should +see, till I saw an old gentleman opposite exchanging smiles with mamma. +That made me feel shy, and shrink back into the corner silent enough; +and with the silence came a sigh, and five minutes later mamma's +question surprised me, in a fit of melancholy thought, about all that I +had left behind me. When would Lottie and I meet again? And how should +we know which was getting on best with the history? Ah, those nice +history lessons, with all those exciting stories and our favourite +heroes, who would read them with me now? I am not at all sure that I did +not have to choke down two or three tears before I could answer mamma. +Do you think she noticed it? + +We were getting near our own station now, and I grew very eager, looking +out for papa's brougham. How cold the air was, going out of the station, +and what a cosy remembrance of home feeling there was about the soft +corner, where I had often nestled when driving with papa! + +I don't remember much about Bobby's welcome; I know both little brothers +seemed a little strange to me till about the middle of tea-time. Bobby +was very hot and excited with his half-hour before the nursery fire, +making toast for Sissy's first tea at home. I could feel that he was +looking at me very hard, but I don't think we were either of us quite +comfortable till he had thrown his arms round my neck, repeating his old +cry, "Nursey, I'm so glad Sissy's come home!" After that it was all +right, and we chattered away nineteen to the dozen. Dear old nurse! she +was as pleased to see me again as possible. Indeed, I am not sure that +she did not keep me up half an hour later than mamma intended, just +talking to me and "blessing my little heart," in her own loving fashion. +When I went through the night nursery at last to my own little room, I +made her let me stop and look at the little ones; and what a hugging and +kissing she gave me when I declared that they were ever so much prettier +than the Beecham cousins. Dear little Bobby, with his sweet, rosy, +budding mouth, and baby Willie's round cheeks and bright, golden curls, +I can remember just how they looked! + +In a day or two we settled down together, and I was quite at home. The +only person who still seemed restless was Jane. For two or three weeks +she was always talking about the Park, and wishing herself back there. +Then, all of a sudden, she grew quite bright and happy, and talked away +to nurse in quite a different way. + +I didn't know what it all meant; and especially, I couldn't think why +she was always getting so red when nurse talked about flowers and +plants. At last I found out that Jane was going away altogether; and a +month or two after Christmas, nurse dressed Bobby and me one day, and +took us to church, and mamma took care of baby at home. And at church we +saw Jane with her father and mother, and I whispered to Bobby that the +strange man with them was Mr. Owen, grandmamma's head-gardener, and I +couldn't think how he came to be in our church! But when the service was +all over, nurse took us into the vestry, and told us to go and give Jane +a kiss, because she was Mrs. Owen now, and we must "say something +pretty." + +It doesn't seem to do to tell little folks that sort of thing. You +remember, when Jane herself gave me that charge ever so long ago, it +didn't answer, and now there was Bobby crying and sobbing out that "Mr. +Owen shouldn't take Janie away; he was a naughty man; he didn't like +him at all!" But nobody seemed to mind this, indeed they all looked +pleased; and Mr. Owen turned round, and asked me if he should take me +back to Beecham too? + +Ah, by this time, I was quite sure, and didn't hesitate at all when I +said, "No, thank you, I'd rather stay at home." + + * * * * * + +And now, little readers, I meant to have tumbled you off my knee, and +sent you up to bed, for I fancy my story has not kept you from getting +sleepy. But there is nursie making signs to me, as much as to say, "Go +on talking; amuse the little ones a bit longer, please, for the bath +isn't ready and the water isn't hot, and I can't have them yet." + +What shall I tell you about? Oh, I know! that second visit of mine to +Beecham. It was only a very short one, so five minutes' talk will tell +you all about it. + +I was a great tall girl then, and I had just left school, when +grandmamma's letter came, asking Bobby and me to come and spend a few +days at the Park with Lottie, and Harry, and Alick. I couldn't say, "No, +thank you," if I had wished to, for it was likely to be the last time +we five should meet for a long time. Harry, now a young lieutenant with +brass buttons and fair moustache, was bound on a long voyage, which +would have some fighting at the end; and Lottie was to be married in a +fortnight, and to go off to Australia; and Alick, too, was just starting +on a tour with his tutor, after which he was to go to a great college in +Germany. But there was another reason for our visit which I did not know +till I got there, though, I fancy, mamma did. Grandmamma met us with a +very tearful welcome, and it was natural for us all to feel sad as we +looked at her, so aged since we saw her last, and in her deep, deep +mourning. We couldn't help thinking of the blue sea far away, with the +soft spicy wind blowing from the beautiful coral islands over the quiet +waves, which had so cruelly sucked in dear Uncle Hugh's brave ship and +all on board. But the pleasure of meeting soon put away all sad +thoughts, and I think even grandmamma looked bright and contented as she +listened to our merry talk. + +It was in the middle of the long summer days, and we rambled about +through the gardens, and orchards, and shrubberies where we had played +as little children, and laughed over the remembrance of our childish +tricks and troubles. Then there was that long talk with grandmamma, and +afterwards with Bobby, in her room. When Lottie and I found ourselves +alone together just at bed-time, how much we had to say! It seemed to me +a little difficult to talk over all her affairs, though when, after some +time, she called upon me to admire my two tall cousins, I was quite +ready to do so. Yet my own rosy, round-faced, romping schoolboy brother +was much more in my thoughts now. + +I don't think I had ever known till now that my mother was grandmamma's +eldest child, so it had never struck me that, now that dear uncle was +gone, Bobby, and not Harry, would be master of Beecham Park! How strange +it did seem! I thought of the funny boy's blushing awkwardness when +grandmamma had told him, and then of his confession to me that "it was a +horrid bore, he had so meant to be a discoverer, and get lost in Africa +like Dr. Livingstone; and now, he supposed, he couldn't!" And just +before I went to sleep that night I thought of his last words about it a +few hours ago, as he threw his strong arm over my shoulder:-- + +"I say, Sis, it'll be ever so long first--that's one comfort!--but if +ever I do have to come and live here, you'll come too, won't you? Then +you can see after it all, you know, and then it won't be quite so bad!" + +Should I? Would Beecham ever be my real home? And Jane--Jane down at the +Lodge with her three rosy, tidy little daughters. Wasn't this just what +she said years ago when she first brought me to Beecham? "What if Master +Bobby should grow up some day to find it all his own, and he the lord of +it all!" + +So it had come to pass, and Beecham, dear beautiful Beecham, was to be +really _ours_! + +That was a dozen years ago, my small friends; how funny it seems now! + + + + THE END. + + + Simmons & Botten, Printers, 4A, Shoe Lane, E. C. + + * * * * * + + =BY MRS. MARSHALL.= + + +EDWARD'S WIFE: a Tale. In crown 8vo, Frontispiece, 5s., cloth. + + "This is a very charming story; fresh, natural, and + touching."--Christian Advocate. + +CHRISTABEL KINGSCOTE; or, The Patience of Hope. Crown 8vo. Frontispiece. +5s., cloth. + +VIOLET DOUGLAS; or, The Problems of Life. Crown 8vo. Frontispiece, +5s., cloth. + + "A pleasant, healthy story of English life, full of sound religious + teaching."--Standard. + +THE OLD GATEWAY; or, the Story of Agatha. Crown 8vo, Frontispiece, +5s., cloth. + + "It is pleasant and gracefully written, and Roland Bruce is a character + of no ordinary beauty."--Guardian. + +MILLICENT LEGH: A TALE. In crown 8vo, with a Frontispiece, 5s., cloth. + + "A sweet and pleasing story, told with a sustained and even + grace."--Guardian. + +BROOK SILVERTONE AND THE LOST LILIES: TWO TALES. With Fourteen +Engravings, 2s. 6d., cloth. + + "Two pleasant stories for little girls, by a writer of some merit, are + here presented in a tastefully embellished volume."--Athenaeum. + +HELEN'S DIARY; or, Thirty Years Ago. Second Edition, with Frontispiece, +5s., cloth. + +BROTHERS AND SISTERS; or, True of Heart. Fourth Edition, with +Frontispiece, 5s., cloth. + +LESSONS OF LOVE; or, Aunt Bertha's Visit to the Elms. Third Edition, +with Frontispiece, 2s. 6d., cloth. + + "A pretty and useful description of the ways and doings of children at + home, enlivened by some very well-told stories."--Guardian. + + * * * * * + + =WORKS FOR THE YOUNG.= + + +DAME WYNTON'S HOME: A Tale. By Mrs. CAREY BROCK. In small 8vo, with +Eight Engravings, 3s. 6d., cloth. + +THE LITTLE DOORKEEPER. By the Author of "Waggle and Wattle." Large 16mo, +Four Engravings, 3s. 6d., cloth. + +LITTLE LILLA; or, The Way to be Happy. Large 16mo, Large Type, +Engravings, 3s. 6d. + +PETER LIPP; or, The Story of a Boy's Venture. Adapted from the French. +Crown 8vo, Twenty-six Engravings, 5s., cloth. + +THE CUMBERSTONE CONTEST: A Story for the Young. By the Author of "A +Battle worth Fighting." In crown 8vo, Frontispiece, 3s. 6d., cloth. + + "The history is conducted with great spirit; the boy and girl life is + most vivid and natural. High principle is delicately suggested, while + the whole is enlivened by a genuine appreciation of fun."--Guardian. + +THE WILD MAN OF THE WOODS: a Story of Sumatra. From the French of Elie +Berthet. In crown 8vo, with Forty-nine Engravings, 5s., cloth. + +MIGNONETTE: a Tale. By AGNES GIBERNE. Crown 8vo, Frontispiece, 5s., +cloth. + + "Another very pretty story. It is environed with a bright and sparkling + family life, which entitles it to the praise of being amusing + also."--Guardian. + +MABEL AND CORA: A TALE. By AGNES GIBERNE. Crown 8vo, Frontispiece, 3s. +6d., cloth. + + "A very pretty story, intended primarily for girls, but not too girlish + for boys, or too childish for grown-up people."--Athenaeum. + +AMONG THE MOUNTAINS; or, The Harcourts at Montreux: a Narrative. By +AGNES GIBERNE. In crown 8vo, Frontispiece, 3s. 6d., cloth. + + "A capital story; good for boys and girls alike."--Athenaeum. + + "A charming story very nicely told."--The Reader. + + * * * * * + + =WORKS FOR THE YOUNG.= + + +OLD BARNABY'S TREASURE. By Mrs. J. M. TANDY. In square 16mo, with Four +Illustrations, 2s. 6d., cloth. + +THE VENDALE LOST PROPERTY OFFICE. By the Author of "Copsley Annals," +etc. In square 16mo, Four Engravings, 2s. 6d., cloth. + +CHRISTIAN HATHERLEY'S CHILDHOOD. By the Author of "Work for All." In +16mo, with Four Illustrations, 2s. 6d., cloth. + +HOW DO I KNOW? Walks and Talks with Uncle Merton. By the Author of "What +makes me Grow?" With Twelve Illustrations by A. T. ELWES. In crown 8vo, +3s. 6d.,, cloth. + +WHAT MAKES ME GROW? or, Walks and Talks with Amy Dudley. With Twelve +Engravings after L. Froelich. In small 8vo, with Twelve Illustrations, +3s. 6d., cloth. + + "The whole book is pleasant in the extreme, whether it instructs or + amuses; and we recommend grown people to read it themselves, and + then to pass it on to their children."--Athenaeum. + +LITTLE FRIENDS IN THE VILLAGE: A Story for Children. By the Author of +"Aunt Annie's Stories." In small 8vo, Twenty-three Illustrations, 3s. +6d., cloth. + + "A charming book for children; the illustrations are excellent. The + author thoroughly understands what will amuse and instruct + children."--John Bull. + +MRS. BLACKETT'S STORY: A Passage from the "Copsley Annals." In square +16mo, Frontispiece, 1s., cloth. + +"I MUST KEEP THE CHIMES GOING." Square 16mo, 2s. 6d., cloth. + + * * * * * + + =ILLUSTRATED BOOKS FOR CHILDREN.= + + Price Half-a-Crown each. + + "A series of books for little people which does credit to its + publishers."--Guardian. + + +EVENING AMUSEMENT. Twenty Illustrations by KONEWKA. + +THE CAT AND HER COUSINS. Twelve Illustrations. + +CURIOUS PACTS FOR LITTLE PEOPLE, ABOUT ANIMALS. Twelve Illustrations. + +BEARS, BOARS, AND BULLS, AND OTHER ANIMALS. Twelve Illustrations. + +THE WHALE'S STORY: Passages from the Life of a Leviathan. With Six +Engravings, cloth. + +HORSES AND DONKEYS: True Stories for Children. Large Type, Engravings, +cloth. + +MY FIRST BOOK: Simple Readings for Very Little People. Large Type. With +96 Illustrations, cloth. + +GOOD DOGS: True Stories of our Four-footed Friends. Large Type. Eight +Engravings, cloth. + +WINGED THINGS: True Stories about Birds. Large Type. Twelve Engravings, +cloth. + +GREAT THINGS DONE BY LITTLE PEOPLE. Large Type. Six Engravings, cloth. + +THE DOVE, AND OTHER STORIES OF OLD. Large Type. Eight Engravings by +Harrison Weir, cloth. + +THE LITTLE FOX: The Story of Captain M'Clintock's Arctic Expedition. +Large Type. Four Engravings, cloth. + +LITTLE ANIMALS DESCRIBED FOR LITTLE PEOPLE. Large Type. Eight Engravings +by Harrison Weir, cloth. + +LITTLE FACTS FOR LITTLE PEOPLE. By the Author of "Waggie and Wattie." +Large Type. Twelve Engravings, cloth. + +TRUE STORIES FOR LITTLE PEOPLE. Large Type. Ten Engravings, cloth. + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of My Young Days, by Anonymous + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MY YOUNG DAYS *** + +***** This file should be named 18226.txt or 18226.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/8/2/2/18226/ + +Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + +*** END: FULL LICENSE *** + diff --git a/18226.zip b/18226.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..73210e7 --- /dev/null +++ b/18226.zip diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8fa8e41 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #18226 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/18226) |
