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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, Dickory Dock, by L. T. Meade
+
+
+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: Dickory Dock
+
+
+Author: L. T. Meade
+
+
+
+Release Date: June 26, 2007  [eBook #21942]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DICKORY DOCK***
+
+
+
+
+Transcribed from the [1890] W. & R. Chambers edition, by David Price,
+email ccx074@pglaf.org
+
+{Book cover: cover.jpg}
+
+
+
+
+
+DICKORY DOCK
+
+
+BY
+L. T. MEADE
+
+AUTHOR OF
+'SCAMP AND I,' 'DADDY'S BOY,' 'A WORLD OF GIRLS,'
+'POOR MISS CAROLINA,' &C.
+
+W. & R. CHAMBERS, LIMITED
+LONDON AND EDINBURGH
+
+Edinburgh:
+Printed by W. & R. Chambers, Limited.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+
+Of course there was a baby in the case--a baby and mongrel dog, and a
+little boy and girl.  They baby was small, and not particularly fair, but
+it had round limbs and a dimple or two, and a soft, half-pathetic, half-
+doggy look in its blue eyes, and the usual knack, which most helpless
+little babies have, of twining itself round the hearts of those who took
+care of it.
+
+The caretakers of this baby were the two children and the dog.  Of course
+a woman, who went by the name of nurse, did duty somewhere in the
+background; she washed the baby and dressed it in the morning, and she
+undressed it at night, and she prepared food for it; but the caretakers
+who called up smiles to the little white face, who caused the baby to
+show that enticing little dimple which it had in one of its cheeks, who
+made that strange, sweet, half-pathetic, half-humorous look come into its
+eyes, were the children and the dog.  The baby had a sad history; it had
+entered the world with sorrow.  Its mother had died at its birth, and the
+little wee orphan creature had been brought away almost directly to an
+uncle's house.
+
+'We must do it, wife,' said Mr Franklin; 'there's poor John died two
+months back, and now there's his widow following him, poor creature, and
+no one to look after that wee mite of a babe.  We must have it here, it's
+our plain duty, and I don't suppose one extra mouth to feed can make much
+difference.'
+
+'That's all you men know,' replied Mrs Franklin, who was a very tall,
+thin, fretful-looking woman.  'No difference indeed!  A baby make no
+difference!  And who's to tend on the lodgers, and bring in the grist to
+the mill, if all my time, day and night, is taken up minding the baby!'
+
+'Well, well,' said Mr Franklin.  He was as peaceable as his wife was the
+reverse.  He did not want the baby, but neither did he wish to send poor
+John's child to the workhouse.
+
+'You must make the best of it, wife,' he said.  'Martha'll help you, and
+I daresay Peter and Flossy will take a turn in looking after the young
+'un.'
+
+Mrs Franklin said no more; she went up-stairs, and got a certain disused
+attic into some sort of order.  The attic was far away from the rest of
+the house; it was the top story of a wing, which had been added on to the
+tall, ramshackle old house.  In some of the rooms underneath, the
+Franklin family themselves slept; in others they lived, and in others
+they cooked.  The rest of the house, therefore, was free for the
+accommodation of lodgers.
+
+Mrs Franklin earned the family bread by taking in lodgers.  She was far
+more active than her husband, who had a very small clerkship in the city;
+without her aid the children, Peter and Flossy, could scarcely have
+lived, but by dint of toiling from morning to night, of saving every
+penny, of turning and re-turning worn-out clothes, and scrubbing and
+cooking and brushing and cleaning, Mrs Franklin contrived to make two
+ends meet.  Her lodgers said that the rooms they occupied were clean and
+neat, that their food was well cooked, and above all things that the
+house was quiet.  Therefore they stayed on; year after year the same
+people lived in the parlours, and occupied the genteel drawing-room
+floor; and hard as her lot was, Mrs Franklin considered herself a lucky
+woman, and her neighbours often envied her.
+
+The house where the Franklins lived was in one of those remote old-world
+half-forgotten squares which are to be found at the back of Bloomsbury.
+In their day these squares had seen fashion and life, but the gay world
+had long, long ago passed them by and forgotten them, and in consequence,
+although the houses were large and commodious, the rents were low.
+
+Things had gone fairly well with the Franklins since they took the old
+house--that is, things had gone fairly well until the arrival of the
+baby--but, as Mrs Franklin said to her husband, no baby could come into
+any house without making a sight of difference.  She had only two
+servants to help her in all her heavy work, and how could either she or
+they devote much time to nursing and tending a little new-born child?
+
+The baby, however, arrived.  It was sent up at once to the nursery which
+was hastily prepared for it.  Flossy, aged six, and Peter, who was
+between eight and nine, followed it up-stairs, and watched it with
+profound and breathless interest, while Martha, the most trustworthy of
+the servants, undressed it, and fed it, and put it to sleep.
+
+'It's a perfect duck,' said Flossy.  'Look at its wee little face, and
+isn't its skin soft!  Might we kiss it, Martha?  Would it break it, or
+anything, if we was to kiss it very soft and tender like?'
+
+'It ain't a doll, child,' said Martha.  'It won't break with you loving
+of it.  Kiss it, Flossy--babes is meant for kissing of.'
+
+The children bent down, and printed a tender salute on the wee baby's
+face, and that night they scarcely slept themselves for fear of
+disturbing it.
+
+'I hope we'll be allowed to take care of the wee baby,' whispered Flossy
+to her brother.  'I think we could do it werry nice; don't you, Peter?'
+
+'Yes,' replied Peter.  'It would be something to amuse us; it's rather
+dull, you know, always having to keep quiet on account of the lodgers.'
+
+Peter and Flossy soon found they were to have their wish.  Martha could
+only spare a very short time to attending to the baby's wants, and the
+poor little mite would have had a very unhappy and neglected life but for
+the children.
+
+As it happened, however, the wee white baby had not a dull life of it at
+all; when its teeth were not troubling it, and when it was not very
+hungry, it had quite a merry time.  It was devoted to the children, and
+even when it was sending forth its wail for more food and some real
+mother's love, it would stop crying and give a clear hearty little laugh
+if Flossy shook her head of tangled red-brown hair in front of it, or if
+Snip-snap, the mongrel terrier, stood on his hind-legs and begged to it.
+
+Peter and Flossy had been rather troublesome children before the arrival
+of the baby.  Mrs Franklin's lodgers were fond of calling them 'little
+termagants,' and liked exceedingly to hint to the mother that if the
+termagants did not make themselves scarce they would be obliged to seek
+other quarters.  Poor Mrs Franklin was always extremely frightened when
+these things were said, for she knew the rent, and to a certain extent
+the daily bread of the children, depended on the lodgers.  When she
+learned that the baby must inevitably come to them, she laid one very
+solemn command upon her household.
+
+'On no account whatever let out to Mrs Sinclair, and Mrs Potts, and Mr
+Martin that there is a baby in the house.  If you do, go they will, and
+nothing that I can possibly say will keep them.  I'm terribly frightened
+to think how the baby's existence can be kept from them, but if they know
+it, most certainly go they will.'
+
+'Mother,' said Flossy, who was rather afraid of her mother, and did not
+often put a direct question to her, 'if the baby stays up in the old, old
+attic-nursery, and if Pete and me and Snip can play with it and it never
+cries, then Mrs Potts and Mr Martin needn't know nothing about it, need
+they, mother?'
+
+'If it never cries, Flossy, they need not know about it,' answered Mrs
+Franklin; 'but whoever yet heard of a baby not crying?  Of course it will
+cry all day and all night.  I know it will be the ruin of us, and I think
+it was very unkind of your father to allow it to be brought here.'
+
+'But suppose, mother, Pete and I play with the baby, and we make it so
+happy that it doesn't cry?' answered little Flossy.
+
+Mrs Franklin gave a short sniff, and said in decidedly an unbelieving
+voice, 'You may try your best, my dear, of course.'
+
+Then Flossy looked at Peter, and Peter looked back at her, and they
+called Snip-snap and went out of the room.
+
+This was the way in which the baby became the children's special care;
+she was immediately thrown upon their tender mercies, they considered
+themselves answerable for her good behaviour, and Flossy almost wore
+herself out in devising amusements for her.  She would toss all her hair
+over her face and dance wildly up and down, and contort that same little,
+funny, freckled face into all sorts of grimaces; and when the baby
+laughed and crowed, and made chirrupy sounds, she was abundantly
+satisfied.  Peter, too, was most ingenious in keeping off the fatal
+sounds of baby's wailing: he would blow into a paper bag, and then when
+the baby had screwed up her face, and was preparing to let out a whole
+volley of direful notes, he would clap his hands violently on the bag and
+cause it to explode, thereby absolutely frightening the poor little
+creature into smiles.
+
+Peter would sing all kinds of nursery rhymes for the baby, and walk up
+and down with it, and even run with it until his arms ached very badly
+indeed.  But after all, the one who suffered most in the cause of the
+baby was Snip-snap.  The patience with which he bore being dressed up in
+all kinds of costumes, being made to represent grannie with her
+spectacles, and lame John with his crutch, and a soldier in full-dress
+uniform, and a sailor with a broken arm, and everything in the world, in
+short, except a spirited little dog with four legs, was truly wonderful.
+He never did attempt to bite, and he was only once guilty of barking; but
+during the grandmother exhibition he could not help throwing up his head
+and giving a prolonged and unearthly howl.  But the naughty baby only
+laughed quite merrily over the howl, and the two children begged of Snip-
+snap to do it again.  He never did howl any more--that was his last
+despairing protest--in future he submitted to the baby's caprices, but
+with the air of a broken-hearted dog.
+
+Peter and Flossy had commenced their care of the baby without any special
+love for her, but of course they could not long hold her in their arms,
+and play with her, and think for her, and earnestly desire to win her
+smiles and banish her tears, without the usual thing happening.  The baby
+stole their little hearts into her own safe keeping.  Notwithstanding his
+sufferings she also stole Snip-snap's heart.  After that the baby was of
+course mistress of the situation.
+
+The children took care of her by day, and the lodgers knew nothing about
+her existence; but at night Martha, the old nurse, went into her nursery
+and slept with her, and attended to her wants.  Peter and Flossy having
+learned the mystery of amusing the small mite, were tolerably happy about
+her during the daytime, but at night they were obliged to be parted from
+her, and in consequence at night they were full of fears.  Martha meant
+to be kind, but she was tired, and she often slept soundly, and did not
+hear the baby when she awoke and demanded attention.
+
+Flossy became quite a light sleeper herself, and would sometimes steal
+into the nursery and try to quiet the baby; so that, on the whole, for
+some time, even at night, the lodgers heard no sound of the new little
+inmate.  But all happy and worthy things come to an end, and so, alas!
+did the baby's good behaviour.  There came a night, about three months
+after her arrival, and when she was about six months old, when baby was
+very restless, cross, and fidgety, with the cutting of her first tooth.
+The children had quite worn themselves out in her cause in the daytime,
+and Snip-snap had allowed himself to be arrayed in all his costumes for
+her benefit; but Martha had come to bed as tired and weary as the baby
+herself, and in consequence she fell fast asleep, and never heard the
+little creature's cries.
+
+Peter and Flossy heard them at the other side of the wall, and knowing
+that they were much louder and more piercing than usual, they both got up
+and, hand-in-hand, went to the nursery door.  Snip-snap also followed
+them, but unwillingly, and with his tail between his legs.  The door on
+this unfortunate night was locked, and the children could not get in.
+Martha slept on, and the baby screamed on, and presently poor Peter and
+Flossy heard Mr Martin get up and ring his bell violently.  Mrs Potts was
+also heard to open her room door and come out on the landing, and sniff
+in a very disagreeable way, and go back again.  Flossy's heart quite beat
+with terror, and Peter said:
+
+'It's all up, Flossy; they'll all know about our baby in the morning.'
+
+'What'll they do?' asked Flossy in an awe-struck voice.
+
+'I don't know,' answered Peter.  'I daren't think.  Something bad I
+'spect.'
+
+Then the two children crept back to their beds, and Flossy cried herself
+to sleep.
+
+{The Sleeping Baby: p20.jpg}
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+
+'You must answer me this question very decidedly, ma'am: am I to go, or
+the baby?  Is my night's sleep to be again disturbed by the peevish wails
+of a troublesome infant?  I must know at once, madam, what you intend to
+do?  Miss Jenkins, over the way, has offered me her front parlour with
+the bedroom behind, and her terms are lower than yours.  You have but to
+say the word, ma'am, and my bed will be well aired, and the room at Miss
+Jenkins's all comfortable for me to-night.  I don't want you to turn that
+infant away, oh dear me! no, but I must decide my own plans; stay in the
+house with a baby, and have my sleep broken, I will not!'
+
+The speaker was Mr Martin.  He had come into Mrs Franklin's little back
+parlour and expressed his mind very freely.  The poor woman was standing
+up and regarding her best lodger with a puzzled and almost despairing
+air.  She did not know that Flossy had crept into the room and was hiding
+herself behind her chair, and that Flossy's little face had grown even
+more white and despairing than her own.
+
+'Give me until to-night, sir,' she said.  'Mrs Potts has also been in and
+complaining about the poor child.  She's an orphan child, and my
+husband's niece, but we are in no way bound to support her.  I would not
+treat her badly, sir, but there are limits; and, of course, as you say,
+your night's sleep must not be broken.  Rather than that should happen,
+Mr Martin, I would send the child to the workhouse, for, of course, she
+has no legal claim on us.  If you will be so kind, sir, as to give me
+until to-morrow morning, I will then let you know what I have decided to
+do with the baby, and I faithfully promise that you are not to be
+disturbed to-night, sir.'
+
+'That is all right,' said Mr Martin, with a mollified air.  'Of course it
+is not to be expected that an old bachelor such as I am should be worried
+by an infant's screams.  The screams of a baby have to me an appalling
+sound.  Do what you think well with the child, ma'am, and let me know in
+the morning; only I may as well state that I think the workhouse an
+extreme measure.'
+
+Then Mr Martin left the house.  Mrs Franklin followed him out of the
+room, and Flossy crept slowly back to the nursery.
+
+Mrs Franklin did not notice her little daughter, and Flossy did not
+venture to address her mother.  She came into the room where Peter and
+Snip-snap were doing their utmost for the baby.  Peter had her in his
+arms, and was walking up and down with her, and Snip-snap was bounding
+after a ball and tossing it into the air for her benefit.
+
+'She's to go, Peter,' said Flossy.  'I guessed it--I guessed it quite
+well last night.  She's to go away to the workhouse--that's what mother
+said; I heard her telling Mr Martin so.'
+
+'She's not!' said Peter.  He turned very pale, and, still holding the
+child in his arms, sat down on the nearest chair.
+
+It is to be doubted whether this poor neglected baby had ever been
+christened.  The children had given her a name of their own; they had
+called her Dickory Dock.  The reason they had given her this distinctive
+title was because the first amusement which had brought a smile to her
+little face had been the old play of Dickory Dock and the mouse that ran
+up the clock.
+
+'She said it,' repeated Flossy, coming up close to her brother, and
+fixing her anxious eyes on the baby.  'She said that our Dickory was to
+go to the workhouse.'
+
+'Well then, she shan't!' said Peter.  'I know nothing about workhouses,
+but I expect they are very nasty places, and Dickory shan't go there!'
+
+Then he sat silent, his arm round the little child, who looked up at him
+and then back at Flossy, and then smiled in that wonderfully pathetic way
+she had.
+
+'Look here, Flossy,' said Peter, 'if you are quite certain sure that
+mother said the workhouse, that she didn't say nothing about Dickory Dock
+being put to sleep in another room, or maybe down in the kitchen--if you
+are quite positive about the workhouse, Flossy, why, I know what I'll
+do.'
+
+'She did say the workhouse,' answered Flossy; 'I heard her with my own
+ears, and Mr Martin said it was a stream measure.  I don't know what he
+meant by that, but I do know that mother said the workhouse, and that she
+has got till to-morrow morning to take baby away.'
+
+'No, she hasn't,' said Peter; 'we'll take her away first, you and me,
+Flossy--you and me and Snip-snap--we'll take our little baby away, and
+we'll hide her.  Dickory shall never go to no workhouse!'
+
+Here Dickory looked up again at Peter, who looked down at her and kissed
+her, and two tears splashed from his eyes on her little face.
+
+'Oh, what a dear baby she is!' said Flossy.  'Yes, Peter, we'll run away,
+and we'll take Dickory.  Where shall we take her to, Peter?'
+
+'Oh, I don't know,' said Peter.  'We'll get her out of this, that's the
+first thing.  How much money have you got, Flossy?'
+
+'A crooked halfpenny,' said Flossy, in a decided voice.
+
+Peter sighed.  He was older than Flossy, and he knew that a crooked
+halfpenny did not represent a large capital.
+
+'I have got sixpence,' he said; 'that'll buy milk for her.  We'll manage
+quite well, Floss.  When mother goes out with her market-basket, we'll
+slip downstairs with Dickory, and well take her away, and we'll hide her
+somewhere.  She shan't go to no workhouse, the darling pet!'
+
+'No, that she shan't, the dear!' said Flossy.  'It's a lovely plan,
+Peter, and I'll just go and watch on the top of the stairs for mother to
+go out with the old market-basket.'
+
+'We'd better take a bag with us,' said Peter.  'The bag will come in very
+handy; it will hold baby's milk when we buy it, and some bread for you
+and me; for we may have to walk a long way before we find a nice hiding-
+place for Dickory.'
+
+Children seldom take long in carrying out their resolutions, and Mrs
+Franklin, puzzled and anxious, and with no real intention of sending the
+poor baby to the workhouse, had not long turned the corner of the street
+before the hall door of the rambling old house was eagerly and nervously
+opened, and a funny little quartette issued forth.  Dickory did not often
+get the air, and she enjoyed herself very much, sitting well up in
+Peter's arms, and wrapped up, head and all, in an old tartan shawl.
+Flossy, holding the bag, walked by her brother's side, and Snip-snap
+behaved in his usual erratic fashion, now running before, now lingering
+behind, now stopping to exchange a greeting with a fellow-dog, or to
+sniff with watering jaws and wistful eyes at a butcher's shop, but always
+returning faithfully to his charge, and always raising an inquiring face
+to see if Dickory was quite comfortable.  She was thoroughly so, and when
+she crowed, and laughed, and chuckled, Flossy wondered they had never
+thought of taking her out before.  The sun was shining and the day was
+bright and warm, with the promise of spring in it, and the two children
+were highly delighted with their scheme, and not a bit afraid of the
+result.  The only thing which had at all alarmed them was the fear that
+Mrs Franklin or Martha might find out their little plan before they had
+time to carry it into effect.
+
+Having succeeded in getting quite away with the baby, they considered
+their difficulties at an end.  Peter was old enough to know that a
+crooked halfpenny did not mean much, considered as a provision for three
+human beings and a dog; but he was still sufficiently young to have
+perfect confidence in the capabilities of sixpence for meeting the
+demands of the hour.  As they walked along, Flossy, Dickory, and Snip-
+snap were all very happy, and Peter too was happy, although his arms
+ached sadly.  But, alas! the paths of the poor little adventurers were
+not to be without thorns.
+
+The time was April, and an April shower first damped the ardour of the
+travellers--the poor baby's shawl was wet through, and she began to cry
+pitifully with hunger and want of sleep.
+
+'She must want her milk,' said Peter; 'there, Dickory, there's a darling,
+now go to sleep like the dear baby you are.'
+
+'You know, Peter, she won't go to sleep without her milk,' said Flossy.
+'I'll run across to that milk-shop and buy some.  How much milk shall I
+get, Peter?'
+
+'A ha'p'orth,' said Peter; 'you get a ha'p'orth, Flossy, and we'll sit
+down on the step of this empty house and feed the baby, and eat up our
+crusts ourselves.'
+
+A bottle to hold the milk was to be found in Flossy's bag, and
+accordingly in a short time Dickory had a meal; not quite what she was
+accustomed to, but sufficient to soothe her off into a slumber in which
+she forgot the discomfort of her damp clothes and all her other baby
+tribulations.
+
+'Flossy,' said Peter, 'we have gone a long way from home now, and baby is
+asleep and resting nicely on my knee; my arm won't ache a bit when she
+wakes, and I'll be able to carry her a splendid long way.  We'll have to
+think of making up our plans, Floss--we'll have to find some place where
+we can all sleep comfortably to-night.'
+
+'Well, we've got sixpence,' said Flossy, 'that's lots and lots of money;
+but the night is a long way off, Peter, and I'm so hungry.  I've eaten up
+all the crusts that you and Snip-snap left for me, but I'm still as
+hungry as possible.  Mightn't I spend a halfpenny or so of our sixpence
+in getting a good dinner for you and me and Snip-snap?'
+
+Peter put his hand to his brow, and began to reflect.
+
+'I don't think so, Floss,' he said, 'for I'm afraid you don't understand
+marketing--it's best for me to go, for I'm quite old, and I know the way
+mother talks to the baker's man and the milkman when they come to the
+door.  I must be sharp with them, Floss; that's what I must be, and I
+don't think you could be; so you had better hold the baby while I fetch
+our dinner.  Oh dear, what a good thing it is I have got sixpence!'
+
+The baby, being very sound asleep, was transferred to Flossy's arms
+without waking, Snip-snap was left in charge of the two, and Peter, who
+knew very little more of London and London life than his little sister,
+started off manfully to the eating-house round the corner.  He had gone
+away with a bright face, but he returned in a very short time with one
+singularly depressed.
+
+'Here's a bit of stale bread for each of us,' he said, 'and I had to give
+two halfpennies for that.  I did see such a nice piece of beef and of
+pudding, and I ordered some for you and me and Snip-snap, but the woman
+said all that much would cost three sixpences, so then I had to say I
+wouldn't have it; and I took the stale bread, and she was very cross.  O
+Floss, I hope I'm right about sixpence; I hope it will buy a bed for
+baby, and milk and food for us all, for I'm thinking we had much better
+none of us go back to-night.'
+
+'Of course, we won't go back,' said Flossie.  'The stale bread's
+'licious, and I'm so hungry.  O Peter, do look!  Dickory is stretching
+herself, and rubbing her little fat hands into her eyes; and I know she's
+going to wake, and I'm afraid she'll cry.'
+
+'Give her to me,' said Peter, with the air of a practised nurse.  'I'll
+hold her, and you can feed me while I'm doing so, Flossy.'
+
+But notwithstanding all Peter's efforts, notwithstanding his singing, and
+even shouting, for the baby's benefit, notwithstanding the admiring
+cheers of a little street mob that collected round him, the baby cried,
+not a loud cry, but a weak, broken-hearted wail.  The fact was, the
+indifferent milk Flossy had fed her with had made her ill, and her little
+frame was already sadly chilled by the damp shawl which she wore about
+her.  Poor Dickory scarcely ever got any air or exercise, and in
+consequence was very susceptible to cold.
+
+'She is sneezing,' said Flossy.  'Oh the poor, poor darling!  Peter, I
+think we'd better see about our night's lodging soon; it doesn't agree
+with Dickory to keep her out so long.'
+
+'We'll go at once,' said Peter, rising to his feet.  'There's another
+black cloud coming up, and there'll be a shower again before long.  We'll
+get a nice room for us four, and then we'll be as happy as possible.'
+
+Accordingly the little party again moved forward, and whenever Peter or
+Flossy saw a card up in a window they stopped and rang the house-bell,
+and inquired for lodgings for themselves and their baby.  Of course, they
+were repulsed in all kinds of ways--some people merely laughing, and
+shutting the door in their faces; some scolding them, and calling them
+tiresome, impertinent little brats; and some even threatening to tell the
+police about them; but no one ever hinted at the possibility of taking
+them in.  Presently they left the more respectable streets, and wandered
+into very poor quarters.  Here, doubtless, they could have found
+accommodation were they able to pay for it, but everybody laughed at
+Peter's pennies, and no one dreamt of offering them a shelter.  Then the
+rain which had threatened came down, and baby was again wet through, and
+now she looked ill, as well as fretful, and refused some fresh milk which
+Flossy bought for her.  She was not the least like the bright little
+Dickory who used to laugh and show her dimples in the old attic-nursery
+at home.
+
+'Look here,' said Peter, 'what are we to do?  'T will be night soon, and
+we haven't found no hiding-place for Dickory, and no one will take us
+in.'
+
+'Baby is not at all well, either,' said Flossy; 'her head is quite hot,
+like fire, when I touch it.'
+
+'What are we to do?' asked Peter.  'We can't get home, but it seems to
+me, Floss, that this is worse for poor Dickory than the workhouse.'
+
+'I'll tell you what,' said Flossy suddenly, raising her bright
+half-humorous face to Peter's, 'let's take baby to the lady what cried.'
+
+'The lady who cried?' repeated Peter.  'I don't know nothing about her,
+Floss.'
+
+'O Peter, you do know; it was that day our Uncle David took us a long
+walk, and we went to the cemetery with him, you know, the place with the
+flowers and the trees, and where they put the pretty little children when
+they die--there was a little baby being put there, and there was a lady
+crying very, very bitter.  I never saw no one cry so dreadful bitter as
+that lady, and they said she was putting her baby in the ground.  I'm
+sure she must want another baby, and I think perhaps it would be right
+for us to give her Dickory.'
+
+Peter's face became very sad.  'I don't know,' he said; 'I don't want to
+give Dickory away.  I'm quite dreadfully fond of her; it seems to me she
+makes a lot of difference in the house, and you know, Floss, it used to
+be very dull before she came.'
+
+'Yes,' said Flossy, 'I love her more than anything; she's a dear baby,
+and I never find the days long when I'm playing with her and talking to
+her: but you see, Peter, she's not to be kept at home; she's to go to the
+workhouse to-morrow morning, unless we can find a nice hiding-place for
+her.  We can't find a hiding-place, Peter, for though you are a rich boy
+and have got a lot of pennies, yet you haven't enough for us to get a
+room for ourselves and Dickory, and the night air don't agree with
+her--oh, there, she's sneezing again--bless her, the pet!  Peter, I hope
+you always say "bless her!" when Dickory sneezes.  Martha says it isn't
+lucky if you don't.  O Peter, I do think if we must part with the baby it
+would be better to give her to the lady who cried than to send her to the
+workhouse.'
+
+'But we don't know where the lady lives,' said Peter.  'We might do it if
+we knew where the lady lived; but we can't, however much we wish to, if
+we don't.'
+
+'But I do know,' answered Flossy, 'I know quite well, 'cause last week I
+saw the lady.  I was out with mother, and mother went to the
+greengrocer's, and while she was there the lady comed in.  She was all in
+black, and I am sure she had been crying a lot, for she looked so sad;
+and I knew it was her.  Afterwards mother and I walked behind her as she
+went home, and she turned into a great big house in the square near us.
+You know the square, Peter, the square that begins with a big B; Bev---
+something, I can't say it all.'
+
+'Bevington Square,' said Peter, in a gloomy voice.
+
+'Yes, yes, that was it, and 10 was the number of the house.  I don't
+forget the number 'cause I asked mother, and she said it was 10.  O
+Peter, that's where our lady lives, and I do think it would be better to
+give her Dickory.  There, Peter, bless her! she's sneezing again.  I'm
+sure we had better take her to the lady.'
+
+'All right,' answered Peter, 'I'll be a termagant again when she's gone;
+see if I won't.  I'll get up an awful racking cough at night, and I'll
+worry that nasty Mr Martin much more than Dickory has worried him, see if
+I don't; and I'll sing on the stairs, and I'll whistle awful loud, and
+I'll buy a Jew's-harp with one of my pennies.  I'll turn into a horrid
+boy! but I suppose you are right about Dickory, Flossy.  Here, let's go
+back as fast as we can to that house you were so 'cute as to take the
+number of.  I'm mis'rible, and I mean to be mis'rible, so don't you
+expect nothing cheerful from me, Flossy.'
+
+'Very well, Peter,' said Flossy meekly.
+
+And then the little party, slowly and painfully, for Flossy was very,
+very tired, and poor Peter's arms ached fearfully, retraced their steps.
+The baby had ceased crying and was asleep, and after about two hours'
+patient walking and asking their way, the children found themselves in
+Bevington Square.
+
+'I'd better go up first to the door,' said Flossy, 'and ask her if she'd
+like a baby.  You might stand round there, Peter, and you might keep Snip-
+snap with you.'
+
+'You needn't press her about it,' said Peter; 'if she don't seem quite
+delighted we won't give up Dickory on no account; and kiss her before you
+go, Flossy, for of course the lady will take her; and in a few minutes
+she won't be our Dickory no more.'
+
+Peter unfastened a corner of the old tartan shawl, and Flossy imprinted a
+grave kiss on the baby's forehead.  Then, with great solemnity, and with
+the air of one engaged on an important mission, she went up the steps of
+the great house and rang the bell.  Flossy was an attractive little
+child, her hair was really beautiful, and she had a very wistful and
+taking manner.
+
+'Please,' she said now to the tall, powdered footman, 'I know the lady
+what cried is here; please can I see her?  I've brought her a little
+baby, and I want to see her about it.'
+
+Flossy did not look quite like a common child, and her face wore a very
+sweet expression when she spoke of the baby; nevertheless the footman
+only stared at her, and would have certainly shut the door in her face,
+had not the lady of the house at that moment come into the hall.  Flossy
+saw her, and quick as thought she darted past the servant and up to the
+lady.
+
+'Please, lady,' she said, 'I've often thought of you, and I'm so very
+sorry for you.  Please, I've brought you another little baby instead of
+the one you put into the ground in the pretty place where the flowers and
+trees are.  She's a dear little baby, and when you have her you won't cry
+no more.'
+
+Flossy's voice was very earnest, and her eyes looking up full into the
+lady's face were full of the most intense sympathy.  Those pretty eyes of
+hers were too much for the poor bereaved mother: she put her handkerchief
+to her own eyes, and there and then burst into fits of fresh weeping.
+
+'Come away, little girl, at once,' said the indignant footman; but the
+lady put out one of her hands and took Flossy's.
+
+'Leave the child with me,' she said to the man.  'I'll be better in a
+moment, little girl,' she continued, 'and then you shall tell me what you
+mean; but you have upset me talking about babies: it is not long since I
+buried my child, my only child.'
+
+'I saw you,' said Flossy, nodding her bright head.  'I was in the
+cemetery and I saw you.  Oh, didn't you cry bitter! but you needn't cry
+no more now, for God has sent you another little baby.'
+
+'No, my little girl,' said the lady, 'He has not.  I have asked Him, but
+it is not His will.'
+
+'I guessed you'd want another baby,' said Flossy.  'I knew quite well you
+would, and she's waiting for you round the corner with Peter and Snip-
+snap.  You put on your bonnet and come and look at her; she's a real
+beauty; she's got a dimple, and her name is Dickory.'
+
+'I'll come,' said the lady in an excited voice.  'It's the very strangest
+thing I ever heard.  A child coming to me like that.  We'll slip out,
+little girl.  James need not open the door for us.'
+
+Flossy wondered who James was.
+
+'Give me your hand, little girl,' continued the lady.  'And take me to
+the baby; I'll look at her anyhow.'
+
+Peter was standing in a very sulky attitude at the corner where the
+railings were.  In his heart of hearts he was extremely anxious that
+Flossy's mission should fail.  It seemed to him that every bit of the
+niceness, all the interest would go out of his life if he hadn't Dickory.
+In some ways he considered that Dickory was more to him than she was to
+Flossy.  He wondered how Flossy could even talk of parting with her.  He
+hoped sincerely she would fail in winning the lady's pity.
+
+But no, there they were both coming to meet him, the tall lady in deep
+black, and little eager wistful Flossy.
+
+'This is the lady what cried,' she said to Peter.  'She have come out to
+see our baby.  Show her our baby, Peter.'
+
+In solemn gloomy silence Peter unfolded a morsel of the tartan shawl
+which covered the baby's face.
+
+'Let me have her in my arms, please,' said the lady.
+
+She took the baby tenderly, peeped once again at its small wee face, felt
+a sudden glow coming back into empty arms and more empty heart, and then
+turned again to the children.
+
+{She took the baby tenderly: p47.jpg}
+
+'I must be mad to do such a thing,' she said.  'Two little waifs in the
+street come and offer me a baby, and I don't refuse it!  There, baby,'
+for Dickory began to cry again, 'there, baby--hush, sweet--hush, dear
+little baby, hush.'
+
+This lady's voice had quite a new tone for Dickory, a sweeter tone even
+than Peter's or Flossy's.  She stopped crying at once.
+
+'Our baby takes to you, ma'am,' said Flossy, in a voice of thrilling
+interest.
+
+Peter, very pale, and still silent, drew a step nearer.
+
+'Well, children,' said the lady, 'I have made up my mind.  I'll take this
+baby home for the night.  My husband will think me mad--anyone in their
+senses would think me mad, but I'm nearly wild with mother-hunger, and
+that little mite there,' pointing to Flossy, 'guessed it, and she brought
+me the baby, and I say God bless her for it, whether she's a ragamuffin
+or not.  Yes, I have made up my mind.  I shall take the baby home for to-
+night at least.  In the morning I shall make inquiries, but for to-night
+the baby is mine.'
+
+'Half milk, half water in her bottle,' said Peter in a very grave
+reproachful voice.  'Half milk, half water, and a little sugar, and a
+pinch of salt, and Dickory likes her feet kept werry warm.  Come home,
+Flossy.'
+
+'And we are not ragamuffins, please lady,' said Flossy.  'Our name is
+Franklin, and we live in 24 Montfiore Square.  We lets lodgings, please
+lady, and it was Mr Martin what turned so crusty about baby.'
+
+'Tell your mother I will come and see her to-morrow,' said the lady.  'You
+have a mother, I suppose?'
+
+'Yes, oh yes.  She wanted to send the baby to the workhouse.'
+
+'I don't think that will be necessary.  My name is Ross.  Tell your
+mother to expect me to-morrow.'
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+
+It is one thing to feel very angry about a baby, and another to wish that
+helpless little atom of humanity positive ill.  Mr Martin was an old
+bachelor, and even mothers could scarcely blame him for objecting to
+having his first sweet sleep disturbed by the wailings of a child who was
+cutting its teeth.  Mr Martin meant what he said when he proposed to
+change lodgings.
+
+'Some one else can have my present room,' he remarked.  'It would be
+preposterous to send that infant to the workhouse.  A less sensitive
+person than I am can occupy my present parlour and bedroom; comfortable
+rooms, too.'  He sighed as he went out.
+
+He was a man who disliked change, and he felt that he had been treated
+badly.  Mrs Franklin had no right to bring a wailing niece of a few weeks
+old into the house where he lived, and it was unfair and inconsiderate.
+Well, there was no help for it; the baby had come and could not be
+displaced, and now there was nothing for it but for him to engage the
+rooms opposite, which were certainly not nearly so nice, nor so much to
+his taste.  He had promised Mrs Franklin that he would give her a short
+time to consider, but in his heart of hearts he was quite certain that he
+must take the detested step.
+
+Mr Martin was a retired merchant.  He had plenty of money, and his
+working days were over.  He generally went to his club in the morning,
+and he always returned about one o'clock in the day to a comfortable mid-
+day repast.  Always sharp as the clock struck one, Martha placed upon Mr
+Martin's board a smoking steak done to perfection.  He had the same lunch
+every day--he drank a glass of ale with his steak.  He required this
+simple meal to be served with regularity.  He insisted that his steak
+should always be tender and properly cooked--that was all--he would not
+have stayed a week in any lodgings where the landlady could not provide
+him with his steak and glass of beer as he liked them, sharp at one
+o'clock.
+
+To-day he returned as usual, sighing a little as he entered the square.
+
+What a troublesome baby that was!  What a nuisance it would be to move!
+He doubted very much if the people opposite knew how to cook steak.  He
+let himself into the house with his latchkey, hung up his coat and hat in
+the hall--he was a most methodical old gentleman--and turned into his
+parlour.  He expected the usual scene to meet his eyes, the fire burning
+brightly, a snowy cloth on the table, and Martha in the act of placing an
+appetising covered dish on the board.  This homely and domestic scene,
+however, was not destined to meet him to-day.  The fire in the grate was
+out, there were no preparations for lunch on the table, and taking up the
+greater part of the light from one of the windows might have been seen
+the portly form of Mrs Potts.
+
+Mrs Potts was the drawing-room lodger, and Mr Martin both dreaded and
+detested her.  He shrank back a step or two.  What was she doing in his
+room?  The absence of lunch was bad enough, but this unexpected and
+undesired company was insult on injury.
+
+Mr Martin bowed, cleared his throat, and prepared to make an elaborate
+speech.  Mrs Potts interrupted him fiercely.
+
+'My good sir, this is no time for ceremony--the wailing infant up-stairs
+and the two children of the house have been stolen since the morning.  Mrs
+Franklin is almost out of her mind with grief, and suspicion points to
+you.'
+
+'Good gracious, madam, what _do_ you mean?' said poor Mr Martin in a limp
+voice.  He sank down on the nearest chair, spreading out his hands on his
+knees.  'What do you mean?' he continued.  'The children stolen!  Who
+stole them?'
+
+'Perhaps _you_ can answer that question.  Who was it made such an
+indecent fuss this morning because a poor fatherless and motherless babe
+cried?  Who threatened to leave if that same poor babe wasn't sent to the
+workhouse?  Answer me that, Mr Martin, and then tell me if you know
+nothing of the fate of the hapless innocents.'
+
+Mr Martin looked cautiously round at the door, which was slightly ajar.
+He got up softly and shut it.  Then he advanced gently across the room
+and came up close to Mrs Potts.
+
+'Answer _me_ this,' he said.  'Did you like it, yourself?'
+
+'Did I like what?  Good gracious, the man frightens me.'
+
+'Did you like the wailing sounds of the fatherless and motherless baby?
+You were nearer to it than I was.  If you heard it last night, and felt
+all the pity you now express, you had a good opportunity of putting it to
+the test by going up-stairs and lulling the unfortunate babe to rest.  A
+woman's mission, too, I have always understood.'
+
+Mrs Potts turned scarlet.
+
+'I!  I do what you describe!' she said.  'You forget yourself, Mr
+Martin.'
+
+'I fail to see that I do, Mrs Potts.  It strikes me that it is rather the
+other way.  Perhaps you will do me the kindness to let me have my room in
+peace.'
+
+Mrs Potts made a sweeping curtsey and vanished, and Mr Martin stood for
+some time in his deserted parlour feeling far more uncomfortable than he
+liked to confess.  He was methodical and fussy, but he was by no means an
+ill-natured man.  He thought Mrs Potts most impertinent, but her news
+distressed him.  After reflecting for a few moments, he went across to
+the fireplace, and pulled his bell sharply.  After a short pause the
+kitchen slavey answered his summons: her eyes were red with weeping, and
+her nose very smutty.  Mr Martin hated dirty servants.  He turned his
+back to her as he spoke.
+
+'Jane, is your mistress in?'
+
+'Yes, sir.  Please sir, we're all distraught with grief.  You have heard
+of the--the--'
+
+'I have heard of the calamity, through Mrs Potts.  Can I speak to your
+mistress?'
+
+'I'll inquire, please sir.  Missus is having her fourth hysteric fit just
+now.'
+
+'Then I beg'--Mr Martin's face grew quite white--'I beg you won't disturb
+her until she is equal to seeing me.'  ('How awful if the fifth comes on
+in this room,' he mentally thought.  'I've a good mind to tell her not to
+disturb herself.')
+
+But Jane had vanished.
+
+In about a quarter of an hour Mrs Franklin appeared.  She was pale, but
+her grief was temperate.
+
+'Yes,' she said, 'I am in very great distress.  The children, Peter and
+Flossy, have evidently run away with that poor baby.  Flossy was in the
+room when you spoke to me this morning, Mr Martin, and she must have
+taken fright at your words.  The children took the opportunity to leave
+the house when I was out marketing.  Your steak is being cooked, Mr
+Martin.  I must apologise for the delay.'
+
+'Madam, I beg you won't mention it.  I am deeply grieved that this should
+have happened, and that I am the cause.  I am more grieved than I can
+possibly express.  I would rather lie awake all night listening to those
+yells of that miserable infant than that this--this--should have
+happened.  The alarm, the upsetting of the household routine, the inroad
+into my sanctum of that awful female--h'm--of your drawing-room
+lodger--and last but not least, the danger to three innocent human
+creatures.  I am overpowered with remorse at the sorry part I have played
+myself.'
+
+'Don't mention it, Mr Martin.  I always said there'd be trouble when the
+baby was brought.  It can't be helped now.  Of course we must keep it,
+but I'm sorry to lose a valuable and considerate lodger like yourself,
+sir.'
+
+'H'm!  Are any steps being taken to recover the children?'
+
+'My husband has gone to the nearest police-station, sir.  Poor mites, and
+Flossy's not so strong in her chest.  They're safe to be back by
+to-night, Mr Martin.  And perhaps you'd like some one to help you with
+your packing, sir?'
+
+'H'm!  I'll consider it,' said Mr Martin.  'I'm--I'm not such a young man
+as I was, Mrs Franklin.'
+
+'Oh, I'm sure, sir.  Well, we're none of us that, are we?  I should take
+you, sir, begging your pardon, to be but a very little way on the wrong
+side of forty.'
+
+Mr Martin chuckled, and then grew grave.
+
+'On the wrong side of sixty,' he said.  'Now, now, no humbugging, I beg.'
+
+'Well, sir, about the packing.  My head is all in a muddle, it is true,
+but any help that I can give'--
+
+'What do you say to a baize door?' replied Mr Martin, rather
+irrelevantly.
+
+'I--I beg your pardon, sir?'
+
+'And a very thick curtain inside my room door?  It is true I have heard
+it remarked that the wails of an infant when teething will penetrate
+through any obstacles.  Still, a baize door inside your nursery door, and
+thick curtains inside mine would soften the disturbance--yes, would
+soften it.  I was going to say that I would provide them.'
+
+'Then you will stay after all, sir?'
+
+'Well, well, do you agree with me? do you think my plan will make matters
+easier?'
+
+'Oh, won't they just!' said Mrs Franklin, tears now brimming over in her
+eyes.  'You're a good man, Mr Martin, and God will bless you, sir.'
+
+* * * * *
+
+'Mother,' said Flossy, when at last she got home, 'it's all right about
+Dickory.  We took her to the lady what cried.'
+
+Mrs Franklin had Flossy in her arms when she made this remark.  Now she
+pressed her close with one arm, and with the other drew Peter to her
+side.
+
+'Tell me the whole story, my darlings,' she said.
+
+Which they did, Mr Martin himself coming into the kitchen and listening
+to them.
+
+'Why, I know Mrs Ross,' he said suddenly.  'It's a splendid chance for
+the infant, a splendid chance.  Miles better than a baize door and thick
+curtains.  Only you won't forget that I made you the offer, Mrs
+Franklin?'
+
+'No, sir.  I'm never likely to forget that.'
+
+'It's a splendid chance,' repeated Mr Martin.  'The Rosses are wealthy,
+and she's just that eccentric, generous, impulsive creature who would be
+sure to take to a child brought to her so.  I consider you a very clever
+little girl, Flossy Franklin.'
+
+But Peter put his head down upon the table, and began to cry, for his
+heart was very sore for Dickory.
+
+* * * * *
+
+However, in the end even Peter was comforted.  When next the children saw
+Dickory she was beautifully dressed, she had a grand nurse all to
+herself, and two splendid nurseries entirely at her own disposal.  The
+grand nurse said that she was a most refined baby, that she must have
+very good blood in her veins, for she had such a 'haristocratic way.'
+
+The grand nurse felt rather inclined to look down upon Peter and Flossy
+Franklin, but not so Dickory herself.  Out went her baby arms, dimples
+came into her baby face, and with a crow of rapture she nestled up into
+Peter's embrace.
+
+'Eh, but she's a 'cute young 'un,' he said with his slow smile.
+
+And somehow after that he was comforted.  He felt that it would have been
+wrong of him to stand in the way of such a brilliant lot for his darling.
+
+Flossy and he went back to the attic, which was no longer at all a
+cheerful apartment.  They did not, however, spend so much of their time
+there as formerly, for Mr Martin had taken a fancy to the children, and
+they often now spent their evenings with him.
+
+On these occasions he was often seen to regard them both with a puzzled
+look on his somewhat testy but still kind-hearted face.
+
+'_The_ cleverest little girl in the world,' he would say, signifying
+Flossy by a motion of his hand.  'For it is my private belief that even
+curtains and a baize door would not have softened the piercing sound.
+Yes, Flossy got me out of my dilemma in a wonderful way.'
+
+THE END.
+
+Edinburgh:
+Printed by W. & R. Chambers, Limited.
+
+
+
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