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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: 'Me and Nobbles' + +Author: Amy Le Feuvre + +Release Date: August 10, 2007 [EBook #22290] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 'ME AND NOBBLES' *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + + +</pre> + + +<A NAME="img-front"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-front.jpg" ALT="NOBBLES WAS TIGHTLY GRASPED IN HIS HAND." BORDER="2" WIDTH="409" HEIGHT="630"> +<H3 CLASS="h3center" STYLE="width: 440px"> +NOBBLES WAS TIGHTLY GRASPED IN HIS HAND. +</H3> +</CENTER> + +<BR><BR> + +<H1 ALIGN="center"> +'Me and Nobbles' +</H1> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +By +</H3> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +AMY LE FEUVRE +</H2> + +<BR><BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +Author of 'Probable Sons,' 'Teddy's Button,' 'Jill's Red Bag,'<BR> +'Odd,' 'His Little Daughter,' etc.<BR> +</H4> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +London +<BR> +THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY +<BR> +4 Beuverie Street and 65 St. Paul's Churchyard, E.C. 4. +<BR> +1908 +</H4> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +CONTENTS +</H2> + +<BR> + +<CENTER> + +<TABLE WIDTH="80%"> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top">CHAPTER</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> </TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top"> </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap00a">PROLOGUE</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">I. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap01">'MASTER MORTIMER'</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">II. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap02">'HE MAY COME TO-MORROW!'</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">III. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap03">THE BEAUTIFUL PICTURE</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">IV. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap04">HIS NEW FRIEND</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">V. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap05">NOBBLES' MISFORTUNE</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VI. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap06">HIS FATHER</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap07">HIS NEW HOME</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VIII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap08">A LETTER FROM ABROAD</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">IX. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap09">'SHE HAS LEFT US!'</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">X. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap10">'WE'RE GOING TO FIND A GOVERNESS!</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XI. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap11">BOBBY'S VISITOR</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap12">'A DELIGHTFUL TIME</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIII. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap13">THE WEDDING</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XIV. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap14">'NEARLY DROWNED'</A></TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">XV. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap15">THE OLD HOUSE AGAIN</A></TD> +</TR> + +</TABLE> + +</CENTER> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap00a"></A> + +<H1 ALIGN="center"> +'ME AND NOBBLES.' +</H1> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +PROLOGUE. +</H3> + +<P CLASS="noindent" ALIGN="center"> +[<I>To be skipped by children if they like.</I>] +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +It was a very silent old house. +</P> + +<P> +Outside, the front windows stared gravely down upon the tidy drive with +its rhododendron shrubberies, the well-kept lawn with the triangular +beds, and the belt of gloomy fir trees edging the high brick wall that +ran along the public road. The windows were always draped and +curtained, and opened one foot at the top with monotonous regularity. +No one was ever seen leaning out of them, or even pushing back the +curtains to widen their view. There was a broad flight of steps, and a +ponderous door which, when opened, disclosed a long hall, at the end of +which was a gaily flowered conservatory. Instinct made people tread +gently upon the thick Turkey rugs that were laid upon the polished +floor; there was a stillness in the house that seemed to chill one. If +you peeped into the big dining-room, the portraits upon the wall eyed +you with disapproval; the table, which was always laid with snowy-white +cloth and shining silver, seemed severely austere and formal; the high +back chairs and the massive sideboards bade you respect their age. +</P> + +<P> +The drawing-room was quite as awe-inspiring, for the blinds were nearly +always down, and it had a musty unused scent telling you that its +grandeur was not for daily use. The library was gloomier still. Its +windows were of stained glass; books of the dingiest hue surrounded +you; they lined the walls; and the furniture and carpet matched them in +tone. Ghostly busts on pedestals, scientific machines, and a huge +geographical and astronomical globe added to its gloom. The sun had a +way of only hastily shining in when he could not help himself, and he +left it till the last moment just before he went to bed. He was not +fond of that room, and there was no one in the house that was. +</P> + +<P> +Then there was the morning room, and this was where old Mrs. Egerton +spent most of her day. She was a tall severe old lady with no sense of +humour and a very strong will. She spent an hour after breakfast with +her cook, for housekeeping was her hobby; then she sat at her table +writing letters and doing her accounts till luncheon, after which she +always went for a drive. In the evening after dinner she read the +paper or some solid book, knitted, and retired early to bed. Her +daughter, Miss Anna Egerton, was very like her, only she was seldom +seen indoors. She was full of good works, and was never idle, for she +had more business than she could possibly get through, and her days +were so crowded that meals seemed quite an effort. The man of the +house, Mrs. Egerton's son, was also always out, and when at home spent +his leisure moments in his smoking-room. London claimed most of his +time, for he was in a government office, and went to and fro by train, +thinking nothing of the hours spent twice a day in a railway carriage. +</P> + +<P> +'A very dull house indeed,' a lady visitor thought at the end of her +first day there; and yet, in spite of its quietness, there were just a +few indications of another element that puzzled her. +</P> + +<P> +Once she heard a patter of childish feet along the corridor past her +door, but that was very early in the morning before she was properly +awake, so she thought she must be dreaming. Then, in a secluded path +in the shrubberies, she came across a child's glove and a toy +watering-can, and as she was going downstairs to dinner, and was +passing a broad staircase window, she noticed upon its broad ledge a +little bunch of daisies. She looked at them and took them up in her +hand. She fancied, as she noted the droop of their stalks, that she +could see the impress still upon them of a hot, childish grasp, and as +she mused, she distinctly heard a childish chuckle of laughter not far +away. +</P> + +<P> +'Is your house haunted?' she asked Miss Egerton at dinner. +</P> + +<P> +'Indeed it is not. Why do you ask?' +</P> + +<P> +'There is no child in the house is there?' +</P> + +<P> +'Yes,' replied Miss Egerton, 'there is Vera's child.' +</P> + +<P> +The visitor could not suppress her astonishment, and Mrs. Egerton, +noting it, said with extra severity: 'I like children to be kept in +their proper place. He has a good nurse, who looks after him entirely. +And I am thankful to say that the nurseries are at the top of the +house, so we are not being continually reminded of his presence.' +</P> + +<P> +'He must be a very quiet child.' +</P> + +<P> +There was no response. When Miss Egerton was alone with her friend she +gave her a little more information. +</P> + +<P> +'When Vera went abroad with her husband her child was only a few months +old, and very delicate, so she was advised to leave him behind. She +sent him here at once, without first asking mother's permission to do +so, and mother did not like it. We do not care for children; but he is +no trouble. Mother visits the nurseries every morning and sees to his +comfort and health. When poor Vera died she determined to keep him for +good and all. His father never writes to us, or shows the slightest +interest in his child. We don't know in which quarter of the globe he +is. Of course a child in a house is rather a nuisance, but in another +year or two mother means to send him to a boarding-school. +</P> + +<P> +'A child in the house.' +</P> + +<P> +The words rang through the visitor's heart and brain. She began to +listen for the faint tokens of the little one's presence. She +meditated a raid upon the nursery, and a sally forth from it with the +child into the old garden below, where she and he would enjoy laughter +and play together. But a telegram called her suddenly away, and the +quiet of the house and garden remained undisturbed. +</P> + +<P> +The footsteps still pattered at intervals; the hushed little voice and +gurgles of innocent laughter still echoed from distant corners. For +the child in the house was not a ghost, and his life is the one of +which I am about to tell you. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap01"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Chapter I. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +'MASTER MORTIMER.' +</H3> + +<P> +He was known by the name of 'the Child' by his relations, but his nurse +called him Master Bobby. He would say if he were asked himself: +</P> + +<P> +'My name is Robert Stuart Allonby.' And he would raise a pair of +wonderful brown eyes as he spoke, in anxious doubt as to whether his +name would be liked. +</P> + +<P> +Bobby showed a good deal of anxiety about different things. His +favourite sentence was always, 'I wonder, Nurse ——' and very often, +noting the impatient frown on his nurse's face, he would stop there, +and turn away to his favourite corner in the window-seat, which he +shared with 'Nobbles,' the comfort of his life. +</P> + +<P> +Bobby was a very small boy, but a big thinker, and he would have liked +to be a big talker, but grown-up people were not interested in what he +had to say. So he talked in a rapid undertone to 'Nobbles,' who always +understood, and who smiled perpetually into the earnest little face of +his master. 'Nobbles' had been given to him a very long time ago by a +sailor-brother of Nurse's, who came to tea at certain periods, and who +related the most wonderful stories of foreign parts. Jane, the +housemaid, always took tea in the nursery upon these occasions, and she +and Bobby listened with awed admiration to the handsome traveller. +'Nobbles' was only a walking-stick, with a wonderful little ivory head. +It was the head of a goblin, Nurse declared, but Bobby loved it. +Nobbles had very round eyes and a smiling mouth, two very big ears, and +a little red cap on his head. Bobby took him to bed with him every +night; he went out walks with him; he always had him with him in his +window corner; and it was Nobbles who was treated to all the delicious +secrets and plans which only a very lonely little boy could have +concocted. +</P> + +<P> +Bobby's nursery was at the top of the house; he reached it by the back +stairs, and had to open a wooden gate at the top of them before he +could get to it. There were two rooms, one leading out of the other, +and both looked out at the back of the house. Bobby spent hours by the +window, and he knew every inch of the landscape outside. +</P> + +<P> +First there was a paved yard with a high wall on one side, with a green +door in it, through which you passed into a walled kitchen garden. +This door was kept locked in fruit time; the gardener, old Tom, kept +one key, and Bobby's grandmother the other. +</P> + +<P> +Old Tom was generally working in the kitchen garden, and Bobby watched +him from his window with keen interested eyes. Beyond this garden was +an orchard which ran down to the high-road. Bobby could not see this +road from his window, for a tall row of elms hid it from his view. In +the summer, when the windows were open, he could hear the hoot of the +motors as they tore along it. But he could see for miles beyond this +road. There was a stretch of green fields, two farms, and a range of +distant hills, behind which the sun always set. And when he got tired +of looking at all this, there was the sky; and the sky to him was a +never-ending joy. The clouds chasing each other across its infinite +blue, presented the most entrancing pictures to him. Monsters pursuing +their prey, ogres changing their shape as they flew, castles dissolving +into ocean waves, mermaids, angels, hunters, wolves, chariots and +horses. These, and hosts besides, all passed before him. +</P> + +<P> +When it was dark in winter-time he would clamber down from his +window-seat and content himself with his toys. The nursery was very +plainly furnished. It had a square table in the middle of the room; +there was one cupboard for Bobby's toys, another for the nursery +crockery; a wooden rocking-chair, a low oak bench, and two rush chairs. +The floor was covered with red cocoanut matting. The fire was guarded +by a high wire screen, and above the mantelpiece hung a coloured +illustration of the battle of Waterloo. Bobby knew every man and horse +in it by name. He had his own stories for every one of them, and was +found more than once dissolved in tears after looking at it. +</P> + +<P> +'That captain under his horse is so dreadfully hurt, his bones is +broken, and he was going home to his little boy!' he would say +pitifully, when Nurse would enquire the cause of his grief. +</P> + +<P> +Nurse was a tall thin woman with a severe voice and a soft heart. But +though she adored her little charge she never let him know it, and the +only time she kissed him was when she tucked him up in his small bed at +night. Bobby was quite aware that the grown-up people in the house did +not care for him. This did not trouble him; he took it for granted +that all grown-up people were the same. With one exception, however. +In the depths of his heart he felt that his unknown father loved him. +One night after saying his prayers, and repeating the Lord's Prayer +sentence by sentence after his nurse, he said: +</P> + +<P> +'Who's "Our Father?" Is it mine own, who's far away?' +</P> + +<P> +'Dear, no!' said the nurse, in a shocked tone. ''Tis God Almighty, up +in heaven.' +</P> + +<P> +'Then I shan't call him "Father," 'cause He isn't.' +</P> + +<P> +'For shame, you wicked boy! God is everybody's Father, He loves you, +and gives you everything you want.' +</P> + +<P> +'Does fathers always do that?' +</P> + +<P> +'Of course they do. Fathers always love their children, and work for +them, and care for them. And the great God is called Father because He +loves you.' +</P> + +<P> +Bobby thought over this. And he hugged the thought to his heart that +he had two fathers, both far away, but both loving him. He knew that +God was the nearest to him; he was told that He watched over him night +and day, and could always hear him when he spoke to Him. But his heart +went out to his earthly father in an unknown country. And he used to +be constantly picturing his return. +</P> + +<P> +On the whole, though he had very big thoughts, and fits of dreaming, +Bobby was a happy, merry little soul. Sometimes he strayed along the +big passage and peeped through the green baize door which led down the +front stairs. He had a way of asking Jane what 'the House' was doing, +'the House' being his grandmother, and uncle and aunt, and their +visitors. Occasionally he would make breathless little excursions of +his own into the rooms which seemed so strange and wonderful to him. +This was generally in the very early morning, or in the afternoon, when +everyone was out of doors. Nurse would soon pursue him and bring him +back to his proper sphere; but he would have a delightful time whilst +the chase lasted, and the very difficulties that beset his +investigations made them the more exciting. +</P> + +<P> +One bright spring afternoon he was turned into the kitchen garden to +play. Nurse had placed him under the charge of old Tom, for she was +busy with her machine, making some holland overalls for him, and she +was glad to have the nursery to herself. Bobby was in the seventh +heaven of delight. There was nothing he enjoyed so much as a talk with +Tom. +</P> + +<P> +'And what's the first thing nice to eat that's coming out of the +ground?' he asked, his hands in his pockets and his legs well astride, +as he watched Tom sowing some seed in long drills across the square of +freshly dug ground. +</P> + +<P> +Tom looked at him with a twinkle in his eye. +</P> + +<P> +'Spring cabbages,' he said. +</P> + +<P> +'But I mean fruit, not nasty vegtubbers! I sawed you taste a big white +ball, and then you frew it over the wall.' +</P> + +<P> +''Twas a turnip, likely.' +</P> + +<P> +'Let me taste a turnip.' +</P> + +<P> +But Tom shook his head. +</P> + +<P> +'Shall have your nurse at me a-sayin' I'm a-upsettin' your little +inside. Do you know who's a-comin' to-day?' +</P> + +<P> +'No. Do tell me. Someone to the house?' +</P> + +<P> +'It be Master Mortimer, the eldest son, who have been in furrin parts +so long, him what hangs up in the hall along with the master. You've +never seed him. He went off straight from school to India. He were a +favourit' of mine were Master Mortimer.' +</P> + +<P> +'And he's coming to-day? Oh, I do hope I shall see him.' +</P> + +<P> +Bobby capered at the thought. +</P> + +<P> +''Tis any time to-day may bring him. His ship comed in yester morn.' +</P> + +<P> +'I wonder if he's seen my father anywheres.' +</P> + +<P> +'Ah! Best ask of him. Master Mortimer be a merry young gen'leman, +sure enough. But I reckon that time have sobered him!' +</P> + +<P> +'Grown-up peoples aren't merry,' said the small boy, ''cept Sam Conway, +when he's drunk!' +</P> + +<P> +Sam Conway was the cobbler, who was the village drunkard. Tom shook +his head reproachfully at the thought of him. +</P> + +<P> +'And that there old soaker did marry my aunt's darter!' He continued a +grumbling discourse upon the evils of drink as he turned to his sowing, +and Bobby danced away down to the bottom of the garden, where he opened +the door into the orchard and found his way to his favourite corner. +This was an old apple-tree which grew close to the high wall that +separated the orchard from the public road. It was an easy tree to +climb, and from a comfortable perch upon the topmost bough he could +look out along the high-road. It was a broad, white, dusty road; on +market-days he was never absent from this seat; he loved watching the +farmers' carts, and the carriers, and the droves of sheep and cattle +that passed along to the town. There were other days when he watched +there, days when only motors whizzed by, or a few carriages and an +occasional cart rumbled along. But he never tired of his post, and his +face was always full of patient expectancy. He got up in the tree now, +and 'Nobbles' was tightly grasped in his hand. +</P> + +<P> +'It may be "Nobbles" that they'll come together. It's a ship he'll +come in same as Master Mortimer, and the ship comed in yesterday—Tom +said so.' +</P> + +<P> +His brown eyes scanned the horizon anxiously, and the hope that had +never died yet in his childish heart leaped up anew. Nobbles was stuck +into a crevice in the wall, and his smiling, ugly little head stared +out in the same direction as his master's. +</P> + +<P> +'It may be a station fly, and it may be our carriage, and it may be a +motor,' pursued Bobby dreamily, 'but he's bound to come, I'm certain +sure!' +</P> + +<P> +He was called into his dinner before a single carriage or cart had +passed him. But his little face was radiantly bright as he sat +opposite his nurse and ate his hot mutton and rice pudding at the +nursery table. +</P> + +<P> +'I 'specs the House is very busy to-day,' he remarked with a knowing +little nod of his head. 'Which is Master Mortimer's room, Nurse?' +</P> + +<P> +'Master Mortimer, indeed! Who's been talking to you of him I'd like to +know! You must be a good boy and stay quiet in the nursery. I've +never seen your grandmother so upset. She's proper excited, and won't +go out for her drive this afternoon, and I'm helping Jane get out all +the old bits of furniture that used to belong in his room before ever +he went abroad. 'Twas his only sending a telegram yesterday so sudden +like, and no letter nor nothing to prepare us, that has taken us so +aback. He's to have his old room, the one at end of the passage. It's +going to rain, so you'd best stay in the nursery this afternoon, and I +shall be busy.' +</P> + +<P> +Bobby promised to be good, but with the sounds of such an unusual +bustle in the house what small boy could resist peeping through the +green baize door occasionally to see what was going on? And at last, +thinking the coast quite clear, he made one of his rapid rushes along +the corridor and into the room that was being prepared for the guest. +Here he gazed round him with innocent admiration. The room was barely +furnished, but a fox's brush and some sporting-prints round the walls, +one of which depicted a cock fight, interested him greatly. He was +standing on tiptoe at the dressing-table opening some little china +pots, when approaching footsteps made him start. Then, as the door +handle turned, he scrambled under the bed and lay still, hardly daring +to breathe. It was his grandmother with Jane. She was speaking in +rather an agitated voice. +</P> + +<P> +'He slept in this room many years ago, Jane, and I wish things to be as +he left them. Yes, even this cricket bat that I have just found in the +attic. He used to have it in the corner by the fireplace, and I wish +you to place it there now.' +</P> + +<P> +She came up to the bed, smoothed the pillow with her hand, looked at +the pictures on the walls, sighed, then went away, and Jane followed +her. Bobby crept out of his hiding-place feeling very guilty. Then he +eyed the cricket bat, lifted it, but found it very heavy. +</P> + +<P> +'He won't be able to play with it if he hasn't a ball!' he said to +himself. 'Perhaps he'll come and ask me for mine!' +</P> + +<P> +Very reluctantly he left the room and returned to the nursery, quite +unconscious that he had left behind him on the floor a tell-tale +reminder of his presence there. +</P> + +<P> +Ail that day Bobby watched and waited for the expected arrival. He was +bitterly disappointed that bedtime came before there were any signs of +his uncle. Early the next morning he woke, wondering whether he had +come, and when Nurse told him that it was past ten o'clock before he +arrived, he eagerly enquired: +</P> + +<P> +'And did he come quite by himself?' +</P> + +<P> +'Of course, he did. I haven't seen him yet, but Jane says he's +wonderful good looking.' +</P> + +<P> +When Bobby was dressed and Nurse had gone downstairs to fetch something +from the servants' hall, he ran to the green baize door and crept along +the passage to his uncle's bedroom. He listened outside, hoping he +might hear a strange voice or cough, but there was silence. Then he +peered down into a shining pair of boots which had evidently just been +cleaned and placed outside the door upon the mat. +</P> + +<P> +He wondered how long it would take for his foot to grow big enough to +fill such a big boot. With a little chuckle of delight he slipped his +tiny feet into them and managed to walk one step forward without making +much noise. Finally, with another little snigger of laughter, he +thrust his chubby hand into the pocket of his overall and produced two +bright coloured marbles. He dropped one into each boot, murmuring as +he did so: +</P> + +<P> +'For Master Mortimer, with mine own dear love.' +</P> + +<P> +And then, rather aghast at his audacity, he fled along the passage to +his own territory, laughing softly as he went. After his nursery +breakfast he was turned into the kitchen garden again. He was never +supposed to play anywhere else, but he had a way of making little +excursions into the shrubberies. There were a good many hiding-places +in the old gardens. He considered it quite fairplay to haunt the shady +paths and even to make daring rushes out upon the lawn when no grown-up +was there. 'Children must keep out of sight,' had been dinned into his +ears by his careful nurse, and as long as he did that, he considered +that he played the game. He had no great desire to talk to any +grown-up person; he knew that he was voted a nuisance, and was quite +content to watch them from afar. But this unknown traveller interested +him greatly. He stole now into one of the shrubbery paths, and then +suddenly, coming towards him, he saw a tall dark man with bronzed skin, +a heavy moustache, and merry blue eyes. This much Bobby noted from the +depths of a laurel bush in which he had taken refuge. He thought +himself well hidden, and certainly his uncle was unaware of his close +presence. Suddenly, as he was passing him, close enough to touch had +he so wished, an impulse seized Bobby to speak. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Mortimer Egerton, sauntering lazily along in the morning sunshine +and smoking his beloved pipe, was startled when he heard a lisping +whisper: +</P> + +<P> +'Where's mine father? Did you see him?' +</P> + +<P> +It brought him to a standstill; there was a rustle in the bushes. He +probed them with his stick, but could see nothing. Then he gave chase, +and soon caught sight of a vanishing blue linen smock. +</P> + +<P> +'I spy!' he shouted, and renewed his chase with vigour. But Bobby was +an experienced hider. He was small, and the bushes were thick and +high. Keeping well under cover, he reached the kitchen garden, and +heard his baffled uncle take a wrong turn into the rose walk that +stretched across the front lawn. Breathless and excited, the child +reached Tom. +</P> + +<P> +'He's run after me. He was the hunter and I was a tiger in the jungle! +I seed him when he couldn't see me, and I likes him!' +</P> + +<P> +'Which of course you is bound to do,' was Tom's ready response. +'Master Mortimer allays twisted most folk round his little finger.' +</P> + +<P> +'I'll make him hunt me again,' said Bobby, a flush on his cheek and +fire in his eye. 'He couldn't catch me, Tom. I won't be catched by +him.' +</P> + +<P> +'Master Mortimer allays used to do what he'd a mind to,' said old Tom +again. +</P> + +<P> +Bobby looked at him thoughtfully. He was beginning to be afraid of +this uncle. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap02"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Chapter II. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +'HE MAY COME TO-MORROW!' +</H3> + +<P> +That very same day in the afternoon Bobby was up in his apple-tree, +when, to his consternation, he saw his uncle saunter into the orchard, +shake hands with Tom, who was cutting the grass there, and begin an +animated conversation with him. Bobby curled himself up well out of +sight, and presumed upon his position, for when Mr. Mortimer came down +to his corner and stopped for a moment under the tree, the little scamp +again said, in as gruff a voice as he could assume: +</P> + +<P> +'Have you seen mine father?' +</P> + +<P> +In one second Mr. Mortimer's great long arm had shot up through the +branches, and seized hold of one of Bobby's fat legs. +</P> + +<P> +'Now, my little man, we'll meet each other face to face!' +</P> + +<P> +Terror succeeded Bobby's audacity. He found himself on the ground, +but, alas! in his rough descent Nobbles had been dashed from his grasp +over the wall upon the high-road, and his anxiety over his darling's +fate overcame his terror. +</P> + +<P> +'Oh, save him! Oh, save mine Nobbles! Oh, he'll be hurt, he'll be run +away with! Oh, please get Nobbles, and I'll never run away from you +nevermore!' +</P> + +<P> +Tears were crowding into his eyes as he spoke. +</P> + +<P> +'Who's Nobbles?' asked the bewildered uncle. +</P> + +<P> +'He's always lived with me for years—everlasting years!' repeated the +troubled child. 'I couldn't live without him! Why, a big dog may eat +him up, or a motor run over him! Oh, save him quick!' +</P> + +<P> +It was Tom who understood and dashed through the gate at the far end of +the orchard. In five minutes Nobbles was given into his hand, and a +seraphic smile lit up his face as he hugged his treasure. His uncle +did not smile. He sat down on one of the lowest limbs of the +apple-tree and lit up his pipe. +</P> + +<P> +'Is Nobbles fond of going off upon expeditions on his own account?' he +asked gravely. +</P> + +<P> +'Well, I <I>hope</I> he doesn't,' rejoined Bobby mysteriously. 'But I have +my suspecs of him, acause I always make him sleep with his head on my +pillow close to me, and two mornings I've found him on the floor, and +once under the bed.' +</P> + +<P> +'Ah,' said his uncle, shaking his head at Nobbles, 'I would quite +believe it of him. You'll promise not to give him too hard a thrashing +if I tell you where he was last night. He came into my room and had a +fight with my old cricket bat. He got the worst of it, and went back +to your nursery to get some help. He brought along a ninepin, and they +fought two against one; the poor ninepin was nearly done for, and he +rolled away under the bed and fainted. Then Nobbles slunk off and left +him in the lurch. And this morning the young villain thinks he will +play me a trick, so he put two marbles in my boots. He must have done +that in the early hours before you were awake!' +</P> + +<P> +Bobby's face was a study. Delight, horror, and confusion was depicted +on it. He looked at Nobbles thoughtfully, then he announced: +</P> + +<P> +'I didn't reely fight the cricket bat, I only felt him!' +</P> + +<P> +'But I am talking of Nobbles.' +</P> + +<P> +'He is wicked sometimes,' said Bobby, eyeing him wistfully, 'but I +didded it all mine self to you.' +</P> + +<P> +Then his uncle gave a hearty laugh. +</P> + +<P> +'You and I are going to chum up,' he said, lifting him on the bough by +his side. 'Now tell me more. I want to know you and Nobbles.' +</P> + +<P> +Bobby's tongue was unloosed. For the first time in his short life he +had found a grown-up person who did not consider him a nuisance. He +poured out a strange medley into his astonished and amused uncle's +ears. Imagination was much mixed up with fact, but the one theme that +was the centre of the child's life was his absent father. +</P> + +<P> +'I know he will come for me one day and take me away with himself! I +finks every night when I'm in bed about it. He'll knock at my door +sudden, and I'll say, "Come in." And then I'll see him!' +</P> + +<P> +He gave a little wriggle of ecstasy as he spoke. +</P> + +<P> +'He'll take me straight away. P'raps a cab will be at the door, or a +motor, and we'll go off to the countries over the sea. Me and Nobbles +lie very quiet and listen for the knock when we're in bed. I finks I +hears it often, but it's been a mistake.' +</P> + +<P> +'But I think I should be frightened to go off with a strange man in the +middle of the night,' said his uncle, making a grimace. 'I would +rather have him arrive in the middle of the day.' +</P> + +<P> +'Well, sometimes I'd like him to. Just let me climb a little bit +higher. Would I knock you down if I took hold of your solder very +gently to help me? I want to show you the straight long road he'll +come along. There!' +</P> + +<P> +He had swung himself upon the bough above, his uncle having been equal +to bear his weight. +</P> + +<P> +And now, with eager face, he pointed out the white dusty high-road that +went like a streak of light between rows of flat green meadows, and +disappeared at the top of a hill on the horizon. +</P> + +<P> +'He'll come!' he whispered into his uncle's ear; 'and I shall say +good-bye to the House and go. I'm only waiting. He'll come along that +road. I come here to expec' him every day.' +</P> + +<P> +Not a vestige of doubt in the eager happy voice. His uncle looked at +him in wonder. +</P> + +<P> +'How do you know he hasn't forgotten you? You have never got a letter +from him, have you? And he mightn't want to be bothered with a small +boy.' +</P> + +<P> +But no shadow came across Bobby's earnest, trustful eyes. +</P> + +<P> +'He's my father. He likes me acause I belongs to him. He's the person +that likes me in the earth, and God is the other Person. He's up in +heaven, but I belongs to Him too. And God likes me very much!' +</P> + +<P> +There was supreme self-satisfaction in his tone. +</P> + +<P> +His uncle smiled. +</P> + +<P> +'Your theology doesn't sound right to me. I was always told that it +was only very good boys that were liked by God.' +</P> + +<P> +'Yes, that's what Nurse says; but God says diff'unt to Nobbles and me. +He talks to me sometimes when I'm in bed. He says He'll always like me +for ever and ever, amen!' +</P> + +<P> +There was no irreverence in his tone—only triumphant assurance; and +his uncle was silenced. +</P> + +<P> +'And so I'm just expecking,' went on the small boy; 'and he may come +to-morrow while you're here.' +</P> + +<P> +'That would be first-rate. Now, where shall I find you when I want a +game of hide and seek? Where's your nursery?' +</P> + +<P> +Bobby pointed to the window, which was plainly in sight from the +orchard. +</P> + +<P> +'But how do I get to it?' +</P> + +<P> +'Through the green door.' +</P> + +<P> +'Of course I do. Now I come to think of it, that is our old nursery. +We were shut away from the rest of the house by the baize door. Here's +your nurse looking for you. Good-bye for the present. I'm going out +with your grandmother.' +</P> + +<P> +He left Bobby looking after him with wistful eyes. +</P> + +<P> +'He's just my sort,' he announced to his nurse in his old-fashioned +way. 'Me and Nobbles and him will like each other very much.' +</P> + +<P> +'Who are you talking about?' asked Nurse. And Bobby answered, 'Master +Mortimer.' +</P> + +<P> +It was two or three days before he saw his uncle again, for he went up +to London on business. Then he entranced the child by taking him down +to the river to fish. That was a red-letter day to Bobby; his tongue +never stopped until he was told he would frighten the fish away, and +then he sat on a fence and gazed at his uncle with adoring eyes. As he +trotted home very tired, but very happy, insisting upon carrying two +good-sized trout, he said, 'I shall do this every day with father, and +we'll cook our brekfus ourselves.' +</P> + +<P> +'May he never disappoint you!' +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Mortimer murmured the words, and happily Bobby did not hear them. +That evening he and Nobbles were too excited to sleep. In rehearsing +his day to himself, Bobby began to think of many such blissful times in +the future; he pictured them to Nobbles, his father being the +centre-piece. And then he stopped talking and began to listen for the +knock that was to come. There was great silence in the nursery. Nurse +had gone downstairs to her supper, leaving the night-light as usual +upon the washing-stand in the corner of the room. Suddenly Bobby +sprang up, his cheeks flushed a deep crimson, his little heart +galloping wildly, There was no possible mistake this time. A sharp +rat-tat on his door. +</P> + +<P> +'Come in!' +</P> + +<P> +How often he had rehearsed his answer to the knock! Why was it that +his voice was so husky? Why were his knees trembling so? He was out +of his bed now, standing in the middle of the room, a pathetic little +figure with his pink bare feet and tumbled curls, and Nobbles clasped +in his arms. +</P> + +<P> +The door opened. Bobby drew a long, shivering sigh. A huge, +black-bearded man in a striped blanket came in. He carried a gun, and +an axe was fastened to his belt. He was very tall, and his voice was +very gruff. +</P> + +<P> +'Are you Robert Stuart Allonby? I have come to take him away.' +</P> + +<P> +In an instant, with outstretched arms, Bobby sprang forward, 'Father! +I'm ready!' +</P> + +<P> +That was all he said; but as the big man lifted him up Bobby buried his +face in the bushy black beard and clasped him round his neck, and a +quiver ran through his little body as he whispered in a fervour of joy, +'I'll come with you. Why have you been so long? Oh, father, darling, +take me quick, and never let me come back to this old house again.' +</P> + +<P> +'Are you ready to camp out amongst fierce Indians in the wild woods?' +</P> + +<P> +'I'll love to.' +</P> + +<P> +'Where the wolves prowl round at night?' +</P> + +<P> +'I'll be with you.' +</P> + +<P> +'You'll have to ride a wild pony; you will be out in the rain and cold. +You'll have to cut down trees and earn your bread. Sometimes you'll be +hungry and cold and tired; there'll be no one to look after you. +You'll have to rough it. So you want to come? Now? Right away?' +</P> + +<P> +'Right away!' repeated Bobby, squeezing tighter round the stranger's +neck. 'I'll be with you, father. You'll never leave me again!' +</P> + +<P> +There was such infinite trust and tenderness in the child's voice that +the big man wavered, put Bobby down on the floor, tore off his beard +and blanket, and revealed himself as Master Mortimer. 'Upon my word +you're a plucky little 'un!' +</P> + +<P> +Bobby stared up at him with horror-struck eyes. For the space of a +moment his uncle felt thoroughly ashamed of himself, much as if he were +meeting the gaze of a faithful dog he was ill-treating, for the look on +the child's face was a broken-hearted one. He stood there with a +quivering lip in perfect silence; then turned, crept into his bed +again, and lay down with his face to the wall. +</P> + +<P> +Nobbles was left upon the floor. +</P> + +<P> +His uncle took a quick step up to the bed. +</P> + +<P> +'Sorry, old fellow; it was a piece of fun. I didn't think you would +take it so hard. Did you really think it was your father? I hoped I +might put you off him.' +</P> + +<P> +Bobby did not raise his head; he was terribly ashamed of tears, but his +little chest was heaving with the bitterness of his disappointment, and +he had stuffed a corner of his pillow into his mouth to stifle his sobs. +</P> + +<P> +His self-restraint made his uncle feel more uncomfortable. He sat down +by his bed and lifted him out bodily upon his knees, and he tried to +soothe him as a woman might. +</P> + +<P> +'I declare, if you were a little older you and I would go off on a tour +round the world and search for this runaway father of yours.' +</P> + +<P> +This idea was a risky one to propose, but he felt desperate at the +sight of the child's grief. +</P> + +<P> +Bobby raised his eyes for the first time. The tears did not hide the +dawn of hope springing up in them. +</P> + +<P> +'I'm old enough,' he said, choking down a sob; 'please take me.' +</P> + +<P> +'It wouldn't do, and we might miss him; he might arrive after you had +gone.' +</P> + +<P> +'Me and Nobbles could go and look for him our own selves,' Bobby said +very thoughtfully. 'We would just ask and ask till they told us where +he was.' +</P> + +<P> +His uncle began to feel uneasy. 'No, that's quite the wrong way about. +He must come to you, not you go to him.' +</P> + +<P> +'But,' said Bobby pitifully, 'he never comes, and I'm tireder and +tireder of waiting.' +</P> + +<P> +'You go to sleep, and perhaps you'll dream where your father is. +Dreams are rummy things, and Nobbles is wanting his sleep, I know.' +</P> + +<P> +Bobby was deposited in bed with his beloved stick, and his eyelids +began to droop at once. In a minute or two, worn out with his +excitement and consequent depression, he was fast asleep. +</P> + +<P> +His uncle picked up his masquerading attire and left the room +muttering, 'I never will play the fool again; it doesn't pay.' +</P> + +<P> +A day or two after this his Uncle Mortimer departed. Bobby was very +unhappy at losing him, for uncle and nephew were close friends, and not +a day passed without their spending some of it together. The uncle +promised to look for Bobby's father and send him to him as quickly as +possible, and the child's hopes rose high, and he firmly believed that +his father's return home would be hastened. +</P> + +<P> +Upon the morning that his uncle left, Bobby's grandmother called him to +her when she came into the nursery for her usual visit. +</P> + +<P> +'I want to speak to you,' she said, putting on her gold spectacles and +sitting down in Nurse's easy chair. +</P> + +<P> +Bobby stood before her, his hands clasped behind his back. +</P> + +<P> +'Are you not happy with us?' was the question put to him next, a little +sharply. +</P> + +<P> +'Yes, gran'ma.' +</P> + +<P> +'Who has been talking to you about your father?' +</P> + +<P> +Bobby was silent. +</P> + +<P> +'Answer me, child.' +</P> + +<P> +'I dunno—Master Mortimer.' +</P> + +<P> +'Do you mean your Uncle Mortimer? He has only just come here. You +have some absurd fancy in your head about your father fetching you away +from us.' +</P> + +<P> +'Yes, gran'ma.' +</P> + +<P> +'It is quite ridiculous. Your father would not think of doing such a +thing. You have been given over to me entirely, and he doesn't trouble +about you in the least. I expect he forgets that he has a son. Do you +understand me?' +</P> + +<P> +'Yes, gran'ma.' +</P> + +<P> +'I am only telling you this for your good. The sooner you stop +thinking about such a foolish thing the better.' +</P> + +<P> +'Yes, gran'ma.' +</P> + +<P> +'You ought to be a very happy grateful little boy. You have a kind +nurse and a comfortable home, and everything to satisfy you. Soon you +will be going to school, and I hope you will try to grow up a credit to +us.' +</P> + +<P> +'Yes, gran'ma.' +</P> + +<P> +'Can't you say anything but "yes"?' +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Egerton's tone was a little impatient. +</P> + +<P> +'I don't know nothing but "yes" to speak,' faltered Bobby, hanging his +head. +</P> + +<P> +'You seem to have talked fast enough to your uncle.' +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Egerton regarded him closely for a minute. Bobby began to feel +more and more uncomfortable. Then his grandmother got up with a little +sigh. +</P> + +<P> +'You are not a bit like your mother; you are an Allonby all over. Now +don't let me hear any more of this nonsense! Your home is with me; we +never talk to you about your father, because we do not even know if he +is alive. He has never written or taken the slightest interest in you +after your poor mother sent you to us.' +</P> + +<P> +She got up and rustled out of the room. Bobby looked after her +perplexedly. +</P> + +<P> +Why didn't his grandmother want him to have a father, he wondered? And +what else could he say but 'yes' to her? If he had said 'no,' she +would have been angry. Grown-up people were very difficult to +understand. He turned to Nobbles to console him. He always smiled at +him, and loved him. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap03"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Chapter III. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE BEAUTIFUL PICTURE. +</H3> + +<P> +And so the house slipped back again to its gravity and silence, and the +child played about in the shrubberies and sat in the apple-tree gazing +wistfully up the dusty high-road. And deep down in his heart the hope +still lingered that his father would appear one day. Spring turned +into summer, and Bobby spent most of his days out of doors. One +afternoon his nurse took him to a farm. She was great friends with the +farmer's wife, and Bobby loved a visit there, for he was allowed to +wander about round the farm and watch the farm hands in their various +occupations. This afternoon he crossed a field to see a young colt. +He was laughing heartily as he watched its frisky antics, when from the +lane that was on one side of the field, a big black retriever appeared, +barking furiously. +</P> + +<P> +Bobby was not accustomed to dogs. 'The House' kept none, and with his +heart in his mouth he turned and fled. The retriever pursued him, +evidently showing by his gambols that he wanted to play. Somehow or +other Nobbles slipped from his grasp as he ran, and in an instant the +dog had seized hold of him and, bounding over the hedge, carried him +away in his mouth. +</P> + +<P> +This awful tragedy brought Bobby to his senses. He was panic-stricken +no more, but scrambled as fast as he could into the lane. He was the +pursuer now; the big black dog was trotting slowly up the road, and he +trotted as hard as he could go after him. +</P> + +<P> +It was of no use to call after the robber. Once Bobby did so, but the +dog only turned his head to look at him, and then began to trot faster +than ever. Bobby's short legs did not make rapid progress. Soon he +began to feel dreadfully tired. Up the lane, out on the highroad, up +another side road, and finally through some big iron gates towards an +old red-brick house that stood in the midst of bright flowerbeds and +green lawns. The big dog led his pursuer deliberately on, and Bobby, +heated and footsore, had no thought but to follow. +</P> + +<P> +There was a lady sitting at tea under some shady trees upon the lawn. +The retriever made his way straight to her, and dropped the stick at +her feet. Bobby came shyly forward, and the lady looked at him in +surprise. She was dressed in deep mourning, and had a very sad face, +and, though she looked young, her hair was as white as snow. +</P> + +<P> +'Who are you, little boy; and what do you want?' +</P> + +<P> +'I'm Bobby, and that dog took away Nobbles. I've runned after him +'bout twenty miles!' +</P> + +<P> +He picked up his beloved stick, kissed the ugly little smiling face, +then produced a very small handkerchief from his pocket and began +wiping Nobbles all over very carefully. +</P> + +<P> +The lady looked at him with a puzzled smile. +</P> + +<P> +'You look hot and tired,' she said; 'sit down, and I will give you some +strawberries and cream.' +</P> + +<P> +Bobby's eyes brightened. He sat down on the grass and looked up at the +lady. +</P> + +<P> +'Is that dog yours?' he asked. +</P> + +<P> +'Yes; his name is Lucky. That's a funny name, isn't it? It was very +naughty of him to run away with your stick. I must punish him by not +giving him any cake.' +</P> + +<P> +She shook her head at Lucky, who was sitting up on his haunches with +his tongue hanging out, watching his mistress with beseeching brown +eyes. +</P> + +<P> +Bobby looked at him severely. +</P> + +<P> +'He is a robber! Poor Nobbles must have thought he was being taken off +by a lion. I expec' he was dre'ffully frightened. You see, Nobbles +isn't just a stick at all.' +</P> + +<P> +'What is he? I see he has a wonderful head!' +</P> + +<P> +'Yes; he's Nobbles.' He paused, then added impressively: 'He's my +'ticylar friend; we always live together. He understands all I say, +but he can't speak.' +</P> + +<P> +'I see.' +</P> + +<P> +The lady smiled upon him very pleasantly, then she handed him a +delicious plate of strawberries, and Bobby set to work at once. He +thought he had never tasted anything so nice, and in the middle of it +he looked up a little anxiously. +</P> + +<P> +'Poor Nobbles can't eat at all. It's such a pity. He doesn't grumble, +but when I have anyfing <I>very</I> nice he looks in his eyes as if he could +cry; only he doesn't, for he never leaves off smiling.' +</P> + +<P> +'He's a splendid little friend to have,' the lady said cheerfully. 'I +wonder where you live?' +</P> + +<P> +'In the House, with nurse and grandmother.' He heaved a sigh. 'We +shall have to go back soon.' +</P> + +<P> +'I suppose you know the way; but you're a very little boy to be out +alone.' +</P> + +<P> +'I had to run after Lucky; Nurse was at Mrs. Tikes'.' +</P> + +<P> +'Tikes' Farm? That is some way from here.' +</P> + +<P> +'Is it twenty miles?' +</P> + +<P> +'No, but it is nearly two. I expect your nurse will wonder where you +are.' +</P> + +<P> +'I expec' she will; but I likes being here. Are you a proper grown-up +person?' +</P> + +<P> +'How do you mean?' +</P> + +<P> +Bobby frowned; he couldn't always put his thoughts into words. +</P> + +<P> +'You talk so nice to me; I can't talk to grown-up people, acept Master +Mortimer. At least I can say "Yes" and "No" to them. That's what +children should talk, grandmother says.' +</P> + +<P> +'I'm so glad you think I talk nice to you. I can't talk to grown-up +people either. I live alone here—so alone now—so alone!' +</P> + +<P> +She sighed, and fell into such deep thought that Bobby wondered if she +would ever speak to him again. At last he ventured: +</P> + +<P> +'I've got a father coming for me one day.' +</P> + +<P> +'Have you really? Tell me about him.' +</P> + +<P> +So Bobby told her of his never-fading hope, and she listened and +smiled, and then ordered her pony-trap round, and tucking Bobby in +beside her, drove him along the road by which he had come. They very +soon met Nurse toiling along, with a heated, anxious face, and Bobby +began to feel rather ashamed of himself. But the lady seemed to put +matters straight at once with her soft voice and pleasant smile. And +then she stooped and kissed the small boy by her side. +</P> + +<P> +'I should like you to come and see me very often,' she said. 'I used +to know your grandmother long ago, before I went out to India. Do you +think,' she added, turning to Nurse, 'that he would be allowed to come +to me?' +</P> + +<P> +'I'm sure,' said Nurse, hesitating, 'that if you were to invite him——' +</P> + +<P> +'Then I invite you, Bobby, at once to come to tea with me the day after +to-morrow. I will write a note to your grandmother.' +</P> + +<P> +Bobby's eyes shone with delight +</P> + +<P> +'Me and Nobbles never go to tea with anybody,' he said. 'Do you think +grandmother will say "yes"?' +</P> + +<P> +'I hope she will.' +</P> + +<P> +She nodded at him brightly, then drove off; and Nurse looked after her +with a curious interest upon her face. +</P> + +<P> +'That's the rich young widow, Lady Isobel, I've heard talk about. She +shuts herself up, and won't go out nowheres.' +</P> + +<P> +'Oh, no!' corrected Bobby. 'She wasn't shut up; I sawed her in the +garden.' +</P> + +<P> +'She's had a deal of trouble,' Nurse went on, more to herself than to +Bobby. 'Her husband and only child and favrit sister were all drowned +sudden in a boat out in them foreign rivers, and she come home, and +found her old father dyin'; and she haven't got a relation left, and it +have turned her head, and no wonder!' +</P> + +<P> +'When peoples die,' said Bobby thoughtfully, 'they go away and never +come back; don't they, Nurse? Jane says they're put under ground in +the churchyard, but you told me the angels take them up to God.' +</P> + +<P> +'Don't bother your little head about such things,' said Nurse hastily. +'And don't you be a naughty boy and run away from me again. I feel as +if I shall never get cool. I'm regular done up, and 'twas only a +chance I took the right road; but one of the farm hands saw you runnin' +along.' +</P> + +<P> +The next day was Sunday. Bobby never went to church in the morning, +but very often his nurse took him in the afternoon. And Sunday morning +was his opportunity to slip through the green baize door and wander +over the house, for his grandmother and uncle and aunt always went to +church, and the house was empty. Nurse did not mind his doing it, as +long as he did not get into mischief. This morning he wandered into +the dining-room; the family portraits on the walls always attracted +him. Jenkins, the butler, was arranging the table for lunch, and eyed +him morosely as he appeared. +</P> + +<P> +'Now then, this ain't your nursery, you know,' was his greeting. +</P> + +<P> +Bobby was so accustomed to this speech that he paid no attention to it. +He sauntered round the room with Nobbles in his hand, and his eyes were +riveted on the stern and gloomy faces looking out of their frames. +</P> + +<P> +'Mr. Jenkins,' he said very politely, 'will your picture be put up +there when you're dead?' +</P> + +<P> +'Law, no!' said Jenkins testily. 'What a silly child you be! Tis only +grandees can have their picters taken.' +</P> + +<P> +'Has my father had his picture taken?' +</P> + +<P> +'More'n I can say. He don't belong to this house. Your mother's +picter were taken, and the mistress keeps it locked up. She were +wonderful fond of Miss Vera.' +</P> + +<P> +Bobby was not half so interested in his dead mother as in his living +father. +</P> + +<P> +'I don't belong to the House,' he murmured to himself. 'Father has got +a big house somewheres where he'll take me when he comes home, and +everything in that house will belong to me and father—all mine own!' +</P> + +<P> +He reflected for a minute with shining complacency upon this idea. +Then he looked up at the pictures again. +</P> + +<P> +'I'm so glad they're all dead. I shouldn't like to see them going up +and down stairs. I'm sure they'd scold me!' +</P> + +<P> +'Don't you be abusin' your elders, Master Bobby; and liking them dead +be not a right state o' mind at all.' +</P> + +<P> +'But dead people are very happy in heaven. Nurse says so. Wouldn't +you like to be dead, Mr. Jenkins?' +</P> + +<P> +Jenkins put down the glass he was polishing, and pointed sternly to the +door. +</P> + +<P> +'Now you go off, Master Bobby, and don't you be asking imperent +questions.' +</P> + +<P> +Bobby trotted off. There was no love lost between him and Jenkins. He +peeped into the drawing-room, then found his way to the library, and +here he wandered about for some considerable time. The plaster busts +were always a puzzle to him. Why had they no eyes? Were they born +blind? Why had they no bodies? Had their heads been cut off? These +and many other questions he would ask Nobbles, who could only grin at +him by way of reply. +</P> + +<P> +Then he began to pull out some books in the bookcase. He could not +read very well himself, though he spent half an hour with Nurse every +morning over a reading-book. But he loved pictures, and he knew there +were books with pictures in them. Once he had found a wonderful book +here. It was bound in brown leather, and had filigree brass corners +and clasps studded with blue turquoises. He had opened it and found +pictures on every page, and the front page was illuminated in the most +brilliant colours. His Aunt Anna had come into the room and taken it +from him. +</P> + +<P> +'That is a most valuable old Italian Bible,' she said. 'You are too +little to be trusted with it. You must wait till you grow bigger.' +</P> + +<P> +Now as he caught sight of it he said to Nobbles very gravely: +</P> + +<P> +'I'm grown bigger now, Nobbles. We'll look at it. That was years ago +when Aunt Anna said that.' +</P> + +<P> +It was a heavy book to lift. He dragged a footstool close to the +bookcase, then placed the Bible very carefully upon it, and sat down on +the carpet in front of it prepared to enjoy himself. First he fingered +the little blue stones in true childish fashion, then he laid his cheek +on the soft leather binding, and told Nobbles it smelt just sweet. And +then with the greatest reverence he opened the clasps and began to look +at the pictures. They were wonderful! But some of them rather +frightened him. The angels with their big wings he loved, but there +was an awful picture of the ark floating over stormy waves through +torrents of rain, and drowning people holding up their arms to be taken +in; and there was one of a boy being tied to a heap of stones and his +old father, with knife uplifted, just going to kill him. +</P> + +<P> +Bobby did not like the look of that at all; and then noticing that, +scattered through the book, were a few very beautifully painted +pictures, he turned over the pages to find them first. At last he came +to one at the very end of the volume that arrested his attention and +held him spellbound. +</P> + +<P> +It was shining with gold and glory, and was the picture of two golden +gates guarded by white angels with glittering golden wings. Inside the +gates was a broad golden road lined with avenues of fruit-laden trees, +and crowds of white-robed people and children were walking along it, +some dancing and singing, some playing harps and blowing trumpets, some +resting under the trees, but nearly all making their way to a big tree +laden with golden fruit that stood on the edge of a flowing river. In +the distance was a beautiful golden city, which seemed to be sending +its rays of light right up to this tree and surrounding it. Every face +was smiling, every person seemed entrancingly happy, and all of them +were dressed in white, and nearly all wore golden crowns on their heads. +</P> + +<P> +Bobby drew a long breath. +</P> + +<P> +'It's Fairyland!' he whispered to Nobbles. 'Oh, I wish me and you +could walk straight in and be there! I would love to pick those golden +apples, and to blow those trumpets, and to play about with the children +by the water.' +</P> + +<P> +He gazed with wistful longing in his eyes; then from the inside of the +gates his glance tell upon a dark corner outside in the picture. And +this was the angel shutting out a little group of people who were +begging to be let in. They were dressed in filthy rags, their faces +were wretched, and several were weeping bitterly. No light from the +golden city seemed to fall upon them, and Bobby noticed, through the +darkness that seemed all round them, that their feet were close to the +edge of a precipice. +</P> + +<P> +As he looked at them the tears came into his eyes; and when he heard +Nurse's voice call to him he started violently. He could hardly +believe he was in the library, and was going up to his sunny nursery. +He had been in the picture for such a long time, and so very far away. +</P> + +<P> +Very carefully he put the Bible back in its place and ran out of the +room. +</P> + +<P> +'Nurse,' he said a little later, as he was eating his dinner in the +nursery, 'do you know a story in the Bible about some big lovely gates, +and angels, and a street all gold, and trees with gold apples, and +lovely flowers, and everybody smiling, and then, outside the gates, +some poor, unhappy crying people being shut out in the dark and rain? +It's rather near the end of the book.' +</P> + +<P> +'Oh, I expect it's a picture of heaven,' said Nurse, 'and the wicked +people being shut out.' +</P> + +<P> +'But,' said Bobby, with anxious eyes, 'are many bodies shut outside of +heaven? Can't they never get in?' +</P> + +<P> +'Now, eat your dinner and don't talk so much! There are no wicked +people in heaven. It is only good little boys who go there.' +</P> + +<P> +An awful fear clutched at Bobby's heart, but he could not put it into +words. He had taken it for granted that everybody who died went +straight to heaven. The picture of those weeping men and women outside +the gates, and the sad stern face of the angel who was shutting them +out, haunted him. He was very quiet indeed; and when Nurse took him +off to church a little later, he never spoke a word. They walked along +the high-road for a short distance, then turned up a lane with high +banks and hedges, and at last came to the little country church, with +some shady elms and beeches casting cool shadows across the sunny +churchyard. It was a children's service, and the Sunday-school +children were filing in before them. Bobby followed his nurse up to +his grandmother's pew. It was very near the pulpit, and when sitting +down Bobby could not see over the top of it. He was not very fond of +church. It was a long time to sit still, and Nurse would not let him +talk to Nobbles. In fact she had threatened more than once to leave +Nobbles behind when they went to church if he persisted in playing with +him. +</P> + +<P> +To-day Bobby was pleased by hearing one of his hymns sung that he knew +by heart, and when the clergyman began to talk in the pulpit of this +very hymn he could not help listening. +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +There's a Friend for little children<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">Above the bright blue sky,'</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +said the clergyman. 'Now I am going to talk to you about seven things +you have above the sky. Will you say them after me? A Friend, a rest, +a home, a crown, a song, a robe, and a harp with palms of victory.' +Bobby's attention was fixed for a time as the clergyman spoke of these +one by one. He described heaven with all its glories, and Bobby nodded +his head as he listened. +</P> + +<P> +'Me and you have seen it, Nobbles,' he whispered. 'We sawed it in the +picsher.' +</P> + +<P> +When the robe and harp were described Bobby drew a long breath of +delight. It seemed all so certain that he was going to be inside the +gates one day. He went into dreams after that, and then started in his +seat as he heard the very solemn closing words of the sermon: 'So +remember, dear children, you must have your white robe on <I>before</I> you +enter those golden gates, or they will close upon you, and you will be +left outside.' +</P> + +<P> +Poor Bobby thought and thought of these words as he trotted home with +Nurse; but he felt that if he asked for them to be explained Nurse +would only tell him to be quiet. +</P> + +<P> +When he was in bed that night he confided his fears to Nobbles. +</P> + +<P> +'Me and you may be shut outside, like those peoples, if we don't have +those white gowns. How can I get one, Nobbles, dear? I wonder if my +father would give me one! And I wonder if you can buy them, and wheres +they comes from!' +</P> + +<P> +Tired out with such conjectures, he fell asleep. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap04"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Chapter IV. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +HIS NEW FRIEND. +</H3> + +<P> +It was four o'clock, and Bobby was sitting out upon the lawn with his +new friend, Lady Isobel. His grandmother at first told Nurse that she +considered him too small to accept such an invitation; but Nurse for +once spoke up for him, and said she thought it would do him no harm. +It appeared she knew Lady Isobel's housekeeper, and was not sorry to +have an excuse for taking tea with her. So Bobby and Nobbles, with +smiling faces, presented themselves at the appointed time, and Lady +Isobel greeted the small boy most affectionately, Nurse went off to the +house, and then he lost all shyness, and was soon the greatest friends +with the sad-faced woman. It was not very long before he told her of +the beautiful picture he had seen. +</P> + +<P> +'I wish I could read about it,' he lamented, 'but it's in a far away +lang'age, Nurse says.' +</P> + +<P> +'But if it is the Bible your nurse could read it to you.' +</P> + +<P> +'No, it's a diffent Bible.' +</P> + +<P> +He described the cover to her and the pictures. Lady Isobel seemed +quite interested. +</P> + +<P> +'I should like to see it,' she said. 'It must be a very valuable one, +Bobby. I expect some old monks must have painted the pictures in it. +I had a prayer-book once illuminated by them. They had plenty of time +in those days to give to painting, and they did it beautifully.' +</P> + +<P> +'What's a monk?' asked Bobby. +</P> + +<P> +'A man with a bald head in a gown, who lives in a house away from the +world, and makes it his business to be good.' +</P> + +<P> +'In a gown?' repeated Bobby. 'A white one? Me and Nobbles want to +know about white gowns, acause you can't get inside the gates if you +haven't got one on, and'—his lips quivered—'I don't want to be shut +out, I reely don't!' +</P> + +<P> +'I'm sure you needn't be afraid of that,' said Lady Isobel, smiling, +though she sighed at the same time. 'I have always been told that it +is people's own fault if they are left outside.' +</P> + +<P> +'I want to be certain sure I'll get inside the gates,' repeated Bobby, +distress in his brown eyes. 'Me and Nobbles means to be there. I +finks my father will help me get in.' +</P> + +<P> +'I'm sure he will,' said Lady Isobel, cheerfully. 'Now would you like +to come round my garden with me? Shall we pick some flowers for your +nursery? Do you like flowers?' +</P> + +<P> +Bobby assented eagerly. +</P> + +<P> +'The House has a good many,' he said, 'but me and Nobbles never has +none 'cept the daisies, and Tom always cuts them off d'reckly they +comes up.' +</P> + +<P> +He trotted after her along a gravel path that was edged by thick +borders of flowers; roses climbed over arches across their heads. A +smile came over his face as he gazed at the flowers to the right and +left of him. +</P> + +<P> +'Nobbles is rather naughty, sometimes,' he said, looking up into Lady +Isobel's face with twinkling eyes. 'He does love to cut off flowers' +heads, and I can't stop him. He cutted off 'bout a hundred dandelions +one day in the orchard, he <I>would</I> do it, and when I looked at them +their necks were bleeding white milk, and I picked up all the heads, +and I made Nobbles dig and dig their graves, and we buried them all.' +</P> + +<P> +Lady Isobel tried to look shocked. +</P> + +<P> +Bobby had a bewitching smile, and twinkles of humour all over his face +when he was giving free play to his imagination. He continued with a +slow shake of his head as he looked down upon Nobbles meditatively. +</P> + +<P> +'I tells him he mustn't be so fond of cutting off people's heads. You +see he loves fighting. He's been a soger over the sea. He went into +battle and cut off twenty fousand en'mies one day!' +</P> + +<P> +Bobby stole a look up through his long lashes at Lady Isobel to see how +she took this. Then he gained courage, and proceeded: +</P> + +<P> +'Nobbles tells me I needn't never be 'fraid of lions or tigers or +village boys, for he'd whack them all round, and the cocks and hens all +rush away when they see me and Nobbles coming! Once in the land where +the Indians are, Nobbles walked out in the night by hisself—he always +walks when nobody sees him you know—and he met an army coming frough +the jungle. They was all black men, and they were coming to kill all +the white people and burn their houses; he just told them to get in one +'normous line, and he swished, and swished, and cut off their heads +just like the dandelions, and then he walked back to bed and next +morning, when everybodies knew what he'd done, they all called out +hurrah, and gave him a gold crown. Nobbles said it hurt him, so he +left it in a tree, and he likes his red cap best!' +</P> + +<P> +'He looks very brave,' said Lady Isobel. 'May I hold him in my hand?' +</P> + +<P> +'Just for one minute you may; but Nobbles doesn't like no one but +me—no one 'cept father. Nobbles reely loves him!' +</P> + +<P> +It was the same with all Bobby's stories; they invariably turned upon +his absent father. Lady Isobel walked by his side and wondered much if +the absent father knew what a wealth of love and devotion was awaiting +him in his little son's heart and hopes. +</P> + +<P> +Bobby enjoyed every minute of that visit of his. He talked without +stopping; and Lady Isobel's grave sadness began to melt away. When +Nurse at length came respectfully out of the house to take him home, +she found the young widow and the child engaged in a merry game of +'touch-wood.' +</P> + +<P> +'Oh, Nurse!' cried Bobby reproachfully, 'we're having such fun. I +never has anyone to play with me like this?' +</P> + +<P> +'You shall come another day,' said Lady Isobel stooping to kiss the +eager radiant face. 'I don't know who has enjoyed the time most, you +or I!' +</P> + +<P> +The anticipation of another such treat sent Bobby home in smiling +content, but it was some time before he saw Lady Isobel again, for a +few days afterwards he was laid up with a mild attack of measles. +</P> + +<P> +His grandmother and nurse were at first much concerned about him, then +when the little invalid began to recover they regained their usual +stolid composure. It was a very new experience to Bobby; at first he +could not understand it, and thought he was going to die; then he +declared that Nobbles felt much worse than he did, and the doctor must +see him. The doctor, a grey-haired old man, humoured him, assured him +that Nobbles must certainly lie in bed with him and be dosed, whereupon +Bobby's smile shone out and he murmured: +</P> + +<P> +'Nobbles and me is both very ill indeed.' +</P> + +<P> +'Nurse,' he said, 'if I die, shall I go to heaven? I can't if I +haven't a white robe. Do tell me how I can get it.' +</P> + +<P> +'You're not going to die, Master Bobby; you're getting well fast.' +</P> + +<P> +'I'm mis'rable and very ill,' said Bobby in an injured tone. 'Nobbles +and me both is, and I want to see my lady!' +</P> + +<P> +This cry was continually upon his lips, and at last one afternoon nurse +opened the door and ushered in Lady Isobel. +</P> + +<P> +'I am sure it is very good of you, my lady, to come to him; he is +getting a bit fretful now that he's better.' +</P> + +<P> +Bobby held out his arms with an eager cry to the first grown-up person +who had shown a liking for him. Certainly his Uncle Mortimer had been +interested in him, but he had never kissed him or petted him. +</P> + +<P> +'You aren't afraid you'll catch the measles?' he asked as Lady Isobel +kissed his little up-turned face. +</P> + +<P> +'Not a bit afraid,' she said cheerily; 'and I think the doctor would +say you were past the infectious stage now. Has the time seemed dull +and long?' +</P> + +<P> +'N-o-o,' replied Bobby slowly. 'I like my beef-tea and jelly, and so +does Nobbles; but I'm tired of looking at my picsher-books, and I want +to see those lovely picshers in the beautiful Bible downstairs. Could +you fetch it for me to look at?' +</P> + +<P> +Lady Isobel hesitated, and turned to Nurse. +</P> + +<P> +'He's been on so for those pictures,' she said, 'that I think I'll +venture to go and ask the mistress now.' +</P> + +<P> +Nurse left the room and soon returned with the treasured book. +</P> + +<P> +'His grandmother says he can look at it with you, and then I must put +it back again, as it's a valuable book.' +</P> + +<P> +Nurse deposited the Bible upon Bobby's bed, and left the room. +</P> + +<P> +Lady Isobel took it carefully up and looked at the title-page. +</P> + +<P> +'It is a treasure, Bobby. It is an old Italian Bible—Martini's +translation, of course. I know Italian, and used to spend a good deal +of my time in Italy when I was a girl. Now show me your wonderful +picture.' +</P> + +<P> +Bobby took hold of the Bible with flushed eager face, and turned to +almost the last page of it. Then he drew a long sigh of admiration as +he held it up to her. +</P> + +<P> +'Isn't it beautiful?' +</P> + +<P> +'Beautiful indeed,' said Lady Isobel, gazing upon the richly +illuminated page with enjoyment. I don't wonder you like it, Bobby; it +is a dream of glory.' +</P> + +<P> +'It isn't a dream, it's a true picsher,' corrected Bobby. 'Nurse says +everyfing's true in the Bible. Please read me what it says underneath.' +</P> + +<P> +'I will translate it for you; you would not understand the foreign +words: +</P> + +<P> +'"Blessed are they that wash their robes in the blood of the Lamb, that +they may have right to the tree of life, and enter in through the gates +into the City."' +</P> + +<P> +Bobby listened as if his life depended on the words. +</P> + +<P> +'Tell me what it means. Does it tell me how to get a lovely white +dress, like the people going up that beautiful road? What Lamb does it +mean?' His little finger was pointing to the white-robed group in the +picture. +</P> + +<P> +For a moment Lady Isobel paused. She read the verse again slowly. +</P> + +<P> +'I think it means this, Bobby, that no one has a right inside those +gates except those who have had their sins washed away by the Lamb of +God.' +</P> + +<P> +'Who's the Lamb of God?' asked Bobby in a hushed voice. 'Does God keep +sheep and lambs in heaven?' +</P> + +<P> +'It is one of the names of our Lord Jesus Christ, Bobby, dear. I don't +know how to explain it to you; but long ago people used to offer up +innocent little lambs to God as a sacrifice for sins.' +</P> + +<P> +'What's a sacrifice?' +</P> + +<P> +Lady Isobel was not accustomed to a child's questions. She hesitated. +</P> + +<P> +'It is an innocent thing suffering for a guilty, at least the Bible +sacrifices were. I suppose they were just to picture the great +sacrifice on Calvary. How can I put it simply? Sin made everyone +black and wicked, Bobby, and God had to shut up heaven's gates and keep +it outside. Nothing with sin upon it can be in heaven. These people +in the picture who are being turned away are looking black and dirty +and miserable, because their hearts are full of sin.' +</P> + +<P> +'They want white dresses,' said Bobby, 'then they could go in like the +others. The clergyman said in church—I 'members it quite well—that +we must have white dresses on first afore the angel would let us frough +the gates. And me and Nobbles wants to get frough!' +</P> + +<P> +'Yes,' said Lady Isobel softly, 'you are quite right, Bobby, that's +what the text says, we must be washed white first before we have a +right to go in.' +</P> + +<P> +'How?' +</P> + +<P> +'I am trying to tell you. God wanted us to come into heaven, so Jesus +said He would come down upon earth and be punished instead of us. You +will understand when you grow older what a big thing it was for Him to +do. But He died for us, Bobby; He gave His life-blood for us; and it +is by His death our sins can be washed away and our hearts made clean. +That is what it means by washing our robes in the blood of the Lamb. +Jesus was the Lamb, and our hearts must be washed white in His precious +blood.' +</P> + +<P> +'But it says robes,' said Bobby, with a puzzled frown. 'Does hearts +mean robes?' +</P> + +<P> +'I think it is like this, darling. Our hearts are black and soiled +with sin. When they are washed clean it is just like a white covering +over them, a white dress; and God looks down upon them, and says "that +person can come inside the gates, because I see a clean white robe over +him."' +</P> + +<P> +'I see!' said Bobby, with quick comprehension. 'My heart has to have a +white robe inside me, not outside; and the angel at the gate looks +right frough me and sees it.' +</P> + +<P> +'That is it, Bobby.' +</P> + +<P> +'And how can I get it white?' +</P> + +<P> +'You must just ask Jesus Christ to wash it in his blood.' +</P> + +<P> +'Will He do it to-day? I would like it done now.' +</P> + +<P> +He eyed the picture thoughtfully, then a pleased smile crept over his +face. +</P> + +<P> +'And then I shan't never, never be turned away. The angel will say, +"Come in Bobby; I'm very glad to see you." And I'll walk up the road +and be so happy!' +</P> + +<P> +Lady Isobel did not speak for a moment. In explaining the old Truths +to Bobby they seemed fresh to her own soul. +</P> + +<P> +Bobby had no difficulty in laying hold of them. +</P> + +<P> +Even now he was clasping his hands devoutly, shutting his eyes and +bowing his head. He looked up for one moment. +</P> + +<P> +'Nurse says I must say my prayers in bed. I've always said them to God +afore. I think I'll say this one to Jesus.' +</P> + +<P> +'Do, dear. It will be just the same.' +</P> + +<P> +So Bobby spoke aloud. He had not yet got to the stage of praying in +silence. +</P> + +<P> +'Please, Jesus, I want my heart washed white, <I>quite</I> white, please, so +that I shan't be outside the gate. And please will you do it now, for +I don't like waiting, and tell me when you've done it, so that I can +say thank you.' +</P> + +<P> +There was great silence in that room. The earnestness of the child +made the grown-up person very grave. +</P> + +<P> +She had never yet in her life come to this crisis. And then in a very +few minutes came an emphatic 'Thank you very much,' from Bobby's lips +as he wriggled down amongst his pillows with a sigh of satisfaction. +</P> + +<P> +'I feel Jesus has done it,' he said, with a nod of his curly head. 'He +just put His hand on my heart, and it all turned white.' +</P> + +<P> +'I'm so glad, darling.' +</P> + +<P> +Lady Isobel stooped to kiss him with tears in her eyes. +</P> + +<P> +'And now, Bobby, you must always try to be a good boy, and love Jesus +Christ, and do what He tells you to. Isn't there a little hymn: +</P> + +<P CLASS="poem"> +Oh, dearly, dearly has He loved,<BR> +And we must love Him too,<BR> +And trust in His redeeming blood,<BR> +And try His works to do.'<BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Bobby nodded again. +</P> + +<P> +'I says that to Nurse sometimes, but I never does understand it. And +now let's look at the other picshers; but first, please, say the text +to me again.' +</P> + +<P> +Lady Isobel repeated it, and Bobby repeated it after her with quiet +satisfaction: +</P> + +<P> +'"Blessed are they that wash their robes in the blood of the Lamb, that +they may have right to the tree of life, and enter in through the gates +into the City."' +</P> + +<P> +Then he wanted to know about the tree of life; and when at length Lady +Isobel left him she said to Nurse: +</P> + +<P> +'He is an extraordinary child, Nurse. I feel as if I had been teaching +in Sunday-school. I have never done such a thing before in my life!' +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap05"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Chapter V. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +NOBBLES' MISFORTUNE. +</H3> + +<P> +Bobby was soon up and about again, but he had a great disappointment +when one day his friend, Lady Isobel, came to him to wish him good-bye. +</P> + +<P> +'I am going back to India,' she told him; and though her face was grave +her eyes were glad. +</P> + +<P> +'Oh!' cried Bobby, clasping her round the neck. 'Take me with you, and +then I'll look for my father. Don't go away and leave me, you +understand so!' +</P> + +<P> +'If I had not met you I don't believe I should be going,' said Lady +Isobel with a smile and a sigh. 'We have helped each other, Bobby. I +have discovered that I was fast getting a very selfish woman, and so +I'm going to join an old friend of mine in India who has a school for +little black children and women, and I'm going to try to make them +happy by telling them about your picture of the beautiful golden gates. +Do you think I will be able to explain it properly?' +</P> + +<P> +'Yes,' said Bobby, interested at once; 'same as you did to Nobbles and +me. They've got black bodies as well as black hearts, haven't they? +Nurse's brother tells me about black peoples. But, oh! I don't want +you to go. Everybodies I like goes away; and my father is such a +'normous time coming!' +</P> + +<P> +'Poor little Bobby!' +</P> + +<P> +She caressed his curly head with her hand, and added: +</P> + +<P> +'I will keep a sharp look-out for this father of yours, and send him +home to you when I find him.' +</P> + +<P> +'That's what Master Mortimer said; but he's never sent him.' +</P> + +<P> +'Never mind! He'll come back one day,' and with that rather doubtful +consolation Lady Isobel kissed him and said good-bye. +</P> + +<P> +Bobby felt very unhappy for a few days after she left, then began to +make the best of it, and turned more than ever to his beloved +companion, Nobbles. One afternoon he sat up in his favourite +apple-tree watching the white high-road. Presently two boys came along +chasing a poor miserable-looking little dog whose tail was tied to an +old saucepan. The boys were pelting the saucepan with stones, and more +often than not the stones hit the dog, and a yelp of pain was the +result. +</P> + +<P> +Bobby's eyes blazed. He forgot his smallness; he only thought of the +tortured dog. +</P> + +<P> +Shaking Nobbles furiously at them, he leant over the wall and shouted: +</P> + +<P> +'Stop it, you cowards! I tells you to stop! If you don't, I'll come +and make you!' +</P> + +<P> +The boys looked up and laughed at the irate little figure. +</P> + +<P> +'Come on!' they cried. 'We're ready for you, little 'un!' +</P> + +<P> +The dog had fled into a ditch now, and cowered beneath some bramble +bushes. The boys began to pelt him with stones to make him come out, +and Bobby scrambled down from his tree. +</P> + +<P> +'Come on, Nobbles,' he said; 'we'll drive them off, me and you +together!' +</P> + +<P> +He ran to the orchard gate, clambered over it (for it was locked), and +was soon standing over the dog protectingly. +</P> + +<P> +'You shan't touch him. I'll hit you if you do!' +</P> + +<P> +The biggest of the boys laughed at him, and advanced to seize the +crouching dog. +</P> + +<P> +Bobby was so angry that he sprang forward and hit him sharply on the +shoulder. In an instant the boy, who was a bully by nature, had +wrenched his precious stick away from him, and began to belabour him so +unmercifully with it that in a moment poor Nobbles was snapped in two. +</P> + +<P> +And at this juncture Bobby's aunt came upon the scene. She was +returning from the village, and hastened to stop what she believed was +a village fight. Her astonishment was great when she saw her small +nephew. The village lads at once took to their heels. Bobby, in an +agony of fright and woe, stooped to pick up the two pieces of his stick +which had been flung upon the ground, and the wretched little dog crept +out of his hiding-place. +</P> + +<P> +'Bobby, what is the meaning of this? You fighting with boys on the +high-road! Where is your nurse?' +</P> + +<P> +Bobby was beside himself with passion and grief. He held out his +broken stick. +</P> + +<P> +They've killed mine Nobbles! I hate them! I wish I could kill them +dead! They was teasing the poor little dog, and me and Nobbles ran out +to make them stop, and he took Nobbles away, and he beat me with +Nobbles, and broked him dead! And I hate him!' +</P> + +<P> +Bobby literally was beside himself with grief. He flung himself down +on the grass by the roadside, clasping the remains of Nobbles in his +arms, and sobbed in the most bitter and heart-broken fashion. +</P> + +<P> +Miss Egerton occupied herself with releasing the dog from the saucepan. +It seemed to know who had befriended it, for it crept up to Bobby and +began to lick his curly head with a little whine of sympathy. Then +Miss Egerton spoke very sharply: +</P> + +<P> +'Get up at once, Bobby, and don't be such a baby! Come indoors with me +to Nurse. No, little dog, you are not to follow us; go home, and keep +out of the way of boys in future.' +</P> + +<P> +Bobby was too overwhelmed with the fate of Nobbles to think of the dog +he had rescued, so he followed his aunt through the orchard and garden, +and flung himself into the arms of his nurse, who, hearing his sobs, +came to meet him. +</P> + +<P> +'He's dead! He's broken in two! Oh, mine Nobbles! mine Nobbles!' +</P> + +<P> +'Here, Nurse, take him up to the nursery. He has been trying to act as +champion to an ill-used dog, and come off rather the worse in the +encounter. You must not let him stray into the road by himself. I +don't know what his grandmother would say if she had seen him just now.' +</P> + +<P> +Nurse picked up Bobby as if he were a baby and carried him upstairs. +</P> + +<P> +'Hush! now, Master Bobby. Tell me what you've been doing. Let me see +Nobbles; I expect he can be mended.' +</P> + +<P> +Hope leaped into Bobby's heart; he put the two pieces of stick upon the +table. Nurse, seeing his grief, pointed triumphantly to Nobble's +little smiling face, which was quite uninjured. +</P> + +<P> +'Nobbles is all right,' she said. 'We can have a new stick put into +him, and he will be better than ever. Look! he's smiling at you to +tell you not to cry. Boys of your age ought never to cry; you don't +want to be a baby.' +</P> + +<P> +Nurse got her work-basket out, and very cleverly tied Nobbles together +with a bit of tape. +</P> + +<P> +'There!' she said, laying him in Bobby's arms. 'Be gentle with him, +and he'll last like that till we get him mended; and now tell me all +about it.' +</P> + +<P> +The story was told; and Nurse was proud of her charge's pluck. When +she undressed him that evening and found marks across his back and +legs, which told of the beating he received, she declared she would +find out the names of the cowardly bullies who had done it, and get +them richly punished. But Bobby made light of his own hurt; he got +into bed and clasped Nobbles to him, and after a long whispered +conversation he suddenly called for Nurse. +</P> + +<P> +'How does a heart get broken, Nurse? Jane said her mother died of a +broken heart.' +</P> + +<P> +''Tis sorrow that does it generally,' replied Nurse. 'Now you go to +sleep, like a good boy.' +</P> + +<P> +But Bobby's brown eyes were very wide awake, and shining with a great +light behind them. +</P> + +<P> +'Nobbles isn't dead, Nurse; he's very, very hurt; but he's told me just +how it was. That wicked boy took hold of him and made him hit me, and +that just broked his heart in two. He couldn't bear to hurt me, so he +broke his heart and snapped in two, because he wanted to stop it. It +was sorrow that did it!' +</P> + +<P> +'Oh! I see,' said Nurse, smiling. 'Now don't talk any more, like a +good boy.' +</P> + +<P> +Bobby drew Nobbles' ugly smiling little head close to his. 'I loves +you, Nobbles, darling, I loves you; and we'll make you quite better +soon; it is only your body, you see. Oh, I loves you for breaking +yourself in two, so that you couldn't hurt me!' And then, tired and +exhausted by his emotions, Bobby fell asleep, and Nobbles lay and +smiled by his side. +</P> + +<P> +The next morning Nurse informed him that she was going to drive into +the neighbouring town to do some shopping for his grandmother, and he +was to go with her. +</P> + +<P> +This was a great treat to the small boy, and it only happened on very +rare occasions. +</P> + +<P> +'And if you bring your stick with you we'll see if we can get it +mended.' +</P> + +<P> +So Bobby climbed into the dogcart with his nurse in the greatest +delight, and John, the groom, drove them the five miles to the town. +</P> + +<P> +When they arrived there, Nurse good-naturedly took him first to a +little old man who mended umbrellas, and Nobbles was produced for his +inspection. Bobby stood by trembling for his verdict, and Nurse said +to the man, Jim Black by name, 'He's so terrible set upon his stick +that we thought perhaps you might mend it. 'Tis the head he values; +it's his favourite toy.' +</P> + +<P> +Jim Black turned Nobbles' little head round in his hand with a smile +upon his lips. +</P> + +<P> +'Be this here a Chinyman?' he asked Bobby. +</P> + +<P> +'Oh no,' said Bobby gravely, shaking his head. 'He came from over the +sea; but he understands my English. He's dreadfully hurt; and he +doesn't want to have a new body, it will feel so strange to him.' +</P> + +<P> +The old man winked at Nurse. 'Ah, well, we'll see whether we can mend +his old body first.' +</P> + +<P> +He was untying Nobbles' bandages, and when he came in two, he inspected +both pieces with great solemnity. +</P> + +<P> +'What be you going to do with him? Keep him in a glass case?' +</P> + +<P> +'Oh no; he always lives with me, and comes with me everywheres.' +</P> + +<P> +Bobby looked up at the umbrella-mender with serious alarm in his eyes. +</P> + +<P> +'Then this here broken body be of no manner of use. You leave him with +me and I'll give him a good stout stick, and he'll be better'n new.' +</P> + +<P> +'You won't hurt him doing it?' +</P> + +<P> +'Bless your heart, he be proper enjoyin' the thought of it. Look at +his smile! Ah, well! If so be that we could get new bodies so easy +when ours be smashed up it would be a foine thing—eh, Nurse?' +</P> + +<P> +Nurse assented with a smile; then telling the old man they would call +again, she took Bobby out into the street and began her shopping. And +the shops and the people were so full of interest to Bobby that after a +short time he dismissed Nobbles from his mind and began to enjoy +himself. His crowning treat was lunch at a confectioner's, and then +soon afterwards the groom appeared with the cart, and they called for +Nobbles on their way home. Bobby's hand shook with excitement as he +held it out for his treasure. And certainly Jim Black had been very +successful over his task. Nobbles' head was firmly fixed upon a very +stout brown cane, and he looked very pleased with himself. But it was +some time before Bobby could get accustomed to the change in him, and +more than once he asked his nurse doubtfully if she thought he was just +the same Nobbles as he used to be. +</P> + +<P> +'I does hope Nobbles isn't very uncomf'able. I was telling him last +night he must be very kind to his poor new body, for it must be a +little shy of him at first. And he said' (here the twinkle came into +Bobby's eyes as they stole a look at Nurse's impassive face), 'Nobbles +telled me he'd soon make him mind him; and the first thing he wants him +to do is to lick that big boy who hit me.' +</P> + +<P> +'Oh, you mustn't talk of fighting; it's only wicked boys who do that. +The Bible says, "Forgive your enemies."' +</P> + +<P> +Bobby looked thoughtful. +</P> + +<P> +'Shall I get my white robe dirty if I fight? My friend who read the +tex' to me said wicked things made white dresses dirty.' +</P> + +<P> +'Of course they do. Good boys never fight.' +</P> + +<P> +'I don't think I'm a good boy,' said Bobby, shaking his head. 'Me and +Nobbles would love to knock that boy down; but I don't want to dirty my +dress—I reely don't.' +</P> + +<P> +The very next day after this conversation, whilst he was sitting in his +apple-tree, Bobby saw the big bully coming down the road. He hastily +had a whispered consultation with Nobbles, and then, leaning over the +wall, shouted to him to stop. Feeling secure in his position, he shook +Nobbles threateningly at him. +</P> + +<P> +'Do you see my stick? We wants 'normously to come down and lick you, +but we aren't going to; but if you dare to touch me ever again I'll +tell my father when he comes home, and he'll punish you well.' +</P> + +<P> +'Yah, baby!' yelled the bully, taking up a stone to fling at him. +</P> + +<P> +Bobby hastily scrambled down from his perch and ran indoors. +</P> + +<P> +Somehow or other the mention of his father brought a forlorn longing to +his small heart He saw his grandmother go off for her daily drive, and +crept silently into the big hall. Sitting down at the foot of the +stairs he heaved a big sigh. +</P> + +<P> +'Oh, I wish he'd come! I can't do without him no longer! I'm sure, +certain sure, I could find him if I went to look for him.' +</P> + +<P> +For a long time this idea had been simmering in his head. This +afternoon it took shape and form. +</P> + +<P> +''Sposing, Nobbles, my father has forgotten the house? Why, one day he +may drive right past it; and if I was out there to stop him, how lovely +it would be!' +</P> + +<P> +Bobby leapt to his feet. The front door was open; down the drive he +sped to the big iron gate which led out to the high-road. And then the +impulse seized him to go up the road himself and ask anyone coming +along if they had seen his father drive by. +</P> + +<P> +'Just fink, Nobbles, we shall see him coming along in a grand carriage +with lots of horses; and he'll stop, and the horses will stop, and the +coachmens; and he'll open his arms, and me and you will run straight +into them; and we'll go right away, galloping on the road to a +beautiful big house, and every room—<I>every</I> one, Nobbles—me and you +will have for our own, and we'll never, never go back to the House +again, never till I'm a very old man with a white beard, and have to +lean very heavy on you, dear Nobbles; and then we'll come to make a +visit, and we'll come in the big front door, and sleep in the best +spare room, and I'll say, "This is where me and Nobbles lived when we +was waiting for father."' +</P> + +<P> +Talking rather breathlessly in this fashion, Bobby trotted along the +road, perfectly oblivious of the fact that he was not allowed to wander +out on the high-road alone. His little heart was bent upon bringing +his long waiting to an end. There was no reason to his childish mind +why his father should not appear any day. Every day he expected him, +and it seemed a delightful and natural thing for him to be running +along to meet him. From a trot he soon subsided into a walk. It was a +hot day, the road was dusty, and few vehicles passed him. At length he +paused to rest, and it was at this juncture that some drovers, taking +some refractory cattle to market, came along behind him. +</P> + +<P> +Bobby was in the act of picking a bracken fern from the hedge with +which to fan his face when he heard an alarmed shout. Turning his head +he saw that a young bull had broken loose from his captors and was +making a dash along the road towards him. +</P> + +<P> +For an instant he did not realise his danger, then another shout from +the men, 'Get out of his way!' made him step aside. The bull had +caught sight of him and lowered his head with an angry bellow. +</P> + +<P> +And then, to the horror and amazement of the drovers, they saw the +small child turn and walk into the middle of the road, where he stood +confronting the animal with upraised stick. +</P> + +<P> +At this identical moment the hoot of a horn and whiz of a motor was +heard coming down the road. It slackened speed behind Bobby; then the +little fellow never quite knew what happened, but it swerved past him +and literally charged into the enraged bull, driving him into the +hedge. For an instant the car seemed as if it was going to overturn, +then it righted itself, and came to a standstill. Bobby was soon +surrounded by a good many people, and for a moment he was a little +dazed. +</P> + +<P> +A gentleman was stooping over him, a tall man with very bright eyes, a +bronzed skin and short curly golden hair. He was the owner of the +motor; and the three cattle-drovers were all eagerly talking and +explaining. +</P> + +<P> +'Why didn't you run away, little chap?' the gentleman said; 'don't you +know that you were just on the point of being tossed by the horns of +that bull?' +</P> + +<P> +'Oh no,' Bobby said in a confident tone, recovering himself; 'I was +going to whack him 'cross the nose—least Nobbles was. Nobbles can +kill bulls if he likes!' +</P> + +<P> +He held out his stick with pride, then looked pityingly at the fallen +bull, whose master was surveying it with some dismay. +</P> + +<P> +'Is the poor cow quite dead? I was awful 'fraid when I saw you knock +him over.' +</P> + +<P> +The gentleman looked at Bobby very strangely, then turned back to his +car. +</P> + +<P> +'True!' he called, 'come and speak to this little boy. I've never seen +such pluck before. Tell him he needn't waste his pity on the bull, +which would have killed him had we not prevented it!' +</P> + +<P> +A little girl, with a mop of unruly brown hair escaping from a quaint +sun-bonnet, was still sitting in the car and regarding the scene with +big awestruck eyes. In a moment she jumped out and approached Bobby. +She was only half a head taller than he was, and now gazed at him with +soft, sweet grey eyes. +</P> + +<P> +'Poor little boy!' she said. 'What's your name?' +</P> + +<P> +'I'm not a poor boy,' said Bobby with head erect; 'me and Nobbles will +be walking on, for we're in a partic'lar hurry.' +</P> + +<P> +A sudden panic had seized him that this gentleman might take him home +again; he had a great dislike to be the centre of a crowd, and the +cattle-drovers were all surrounding him now, gesticulating and talking +loudly. And Bobby was rather shy of other children; he generally felt +strangely antagonistic towards them. This little girl's gentle pity, +and her desire to know his name, frightened and annoyed him. +</P> + +<P> +He turned his back upon her and hurried off, with very little idea of +the danger from which he had been saved. But he had not gone a hundred +yards before, to his consternation, he met John, the groom, driving +back from the town in the dogcart. He pulled up instantly. +</P> + +<P> +'Why, Master Bobby, you ain't by yourself all this way from home?' +</P> + +<P> +'Me and Nobbles are here,' said the small boy with dignity. +</P> + +<P> +It did not take John long to get out and lift the little runaway up to +the seat beside him, and Bobby was soon being driven home with a +crestfallen unhappy face. +</P> + +<P> +'Everybodies always stops me when I want to do fings!' he complained to +Nurse when she took him to task for being so naughty. +</P> + +<P> +And Nurse was so angry with him that she made him stand in the corner +till teatime. +</P> + +<P> +'For you're not a bit sorry, and will be sure to run away again +directly you get a chance,' she said. +</P> + +<P> +Bobby turned his face to the wall with heaving chest. +</P> + +<P> +'I wants to find my father,' he said. +</P> + +<P> +He little knew how very close he had been to the end of that search. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap06"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Chapter VI. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +HIS FATHER. +</H3> + +<P> +'Master Bobby is wanted in the drawing-room.' +</P> + +<P> +Jane brought this message up just as the nursery tea was being cleared +away. +</P> + +<P> +'Are there visitors?' enquired Nurse. +</P> + +<P> +'Yes; a gentleman.' +</P> + +<P> +It was only on rare occasions that the child was sent for. Nurse was +in a flutter at once, putting on his best brown velvet suit, with his +little cream-silk shirt, and brushing out his curls with great skill +and care. +</P> + +<P> +Bobby did not like the summons at all. He remembered the last time he +had been in the drawing-room. It was to see an old clergyman who had +patted him on the head and asked him if he knew his Catechism. He had +wriggled away from him, and upset a vase of flowers upon a table near, +and had been sent upstairs in disgrace, his grandmother declaring that +'children were always out of place in a drawing-room.' +</P> + +<P> +'It's another old gempleum, Nurse. I don't like them at all.' +</P> + +<P> +But when he opened the drawing-room door he saw his grandmother sitting +in her stiffest sternest attitude, and, seated opposite to her, the +tall man with the bright eyes and the curly hair who had rescued him +that afternoon from the bull. +</P> + +<P> +Bobby's heart sank into his boots at once. So he had come to tell +tales of him to his grandmother. He had had one scolding and a +punishment from Nurse, now he would get another! +</P> + +<P> +'Come here, Bobby,' said his grandmother coldly. 'Your father has come +to see you.' +</P> + +<P> +He could not believe his ears. For an instant he gazed wildly and +uncomprehendingly at the stranger, who turned and held out his hand. +</P> + +<P> +'Why, upon my word! You're the little chap who withstood the furious +bull! Come along. No wonder I felt as I did when I saw you!' +</P> + +<P> +How often had Bobby rehearsed this scene to himself! He had pictured +himself flinging himself with a glad cry into the arms of his father, +and that father gathering him to his breast and smothering him with +kisses. How different was reality to fancy! He was too dazed by the +suddenness of the discovery to do more than stare stupidly up at his +father, who drew him gently to him and kissed him on the forehead. +</P> + +<P> +Then he heard his father tell his grandmother about the bull, and Mrs. +Egerton said: +</P> + +<P> +'What possessed you to do such a naughty thing as to go out on the +high-road alone, Bobby? You might have been killed, and we should not +have known where you were. What made you do it?' +</P> + +<P> +Bobby looked up at his grandmother with big frightened eyes. +</P> + +<P> +'I went to meet my father,' he faltered. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Allonby gave a short laugh; his grandmother looked quite horrified. +</P> + +<P> +'You know that is an untruth,' she said. 'Your father must be quite +shocked to hear you.' +</P> + +<P> +Bobby did not attempt to defend himself. His under lip quivered, and +in his small heart was a passionate desire to prove himself innocent of +a lie. +</P> + +<P> +His eyes turned to his father, who was looking down upon him with a +strange gravity, but though he wanted to speak he could not. +</P> + +<P> +'Never mind,' his father said cheerfully, 'he did meet me, and I cannot +yet take in the strange coincidence of it. If I hadn't come by when I +did—— Well, it does not bear thinking about. Did you know you had a +father living, Bobby? For your grandmother seems to have thought I was +dead. I suppose my long silence has seemed inexcusable, but I am +positive that I wrote twice after your daughter's death, Mrs. Egerton, +and to neither letter received any reply. Then I went off with an +exploring party through South America, and have been out of touch with +civilisation for the past five years. Last summer I took up life again +in Canada, and only came home three months ago. I have been ill two +months of that time.' +</P> + +<P> +There was silence. Bobby felt uncomfortable; why, he did not know. +His father looked at him again and sighed. +</P> + +<P> +'Well, I see he is cared for, Mrs. Egerton, and had better fall in with +your wishes. My wife——' +</P> + +<P> +'Your present wife need not be brought into our discussion.' +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Allonby rose to his feet, for Mrs. Egerton's words were bitter and +proud. +</P> + +<P> +'I'll see the boy once again before I leave this part, and now I'll +wish you good afternoon.' +</P> + +<P> +'I'm coming with you, Father.' +</P> + +<P> +Bobby's voice rang out eagerly, expectantly. He had not a doubt but +that he would be taken away at once. +</P> + +<P> +His father looked at him astonished, then smiled and shook his head. +</P> + +<P> +'Oh no, my boy; you belong to your grandmother, not to me. I hear you +are going to school soon. I dare say you will find some boys there who +will be as hard to tackle as a run-away bull.' +</P> + +<P> +At this juncture Bobby's aunt entered the room, and the little boy +slipped away unnoticed to the hall. His small soul was full of +agonised dismay and bewilderment. Was this to be the end of all his +hopes and expectations? His father did not want him; he said he did +not belong to him. This last assertion was like a stab. Bobby stood +looking out of the front door, which was open, into the sunny garden +beyond, and there the sight of his father's small motor standing +puffing away upon the drive filled him suddenly with a desperate +resolve. +</P> + +<P> +'I won't be left behind. I will go with father. I don't belong to +this old House. I don't belong to grandmother. I belongs to him for +ever and ever. Amen!' +</P> + +<P> +He darted down the steps towards the motor. Then a fear smote him. +The little girl. Who was she? Where was she? But the motor was +empty, there was no sign of her. He climbed into the car, and in +another moment was safely tucked out of sight under the seat. He had +been accustomed to hide in out of the way corners in his grandmother's +part of the house. He had often, when making secret excursions on his +own account, been nearly surprised by the 'grown-ups.' Sometimes he +had lain almost breathless under a chintz-covered couch, or crouched +behind a curtain till the moment of danger was past. His whole soul +was in revolt against his father's decision. He pitifully thought that +if only he explained things to his father, if only he was granted a +fair hearing, without feeling the cold disapproving gaze of his +grandmother upon him, he might win his case. +</P> + +<P> +So he lay, grasping Nobbles tightly in agony lest he should be +discovered and dragged out of his hiding-place. It seemed hours to him +before he heard his father's voice and step, and his parting words to +his aunt, who had accompanied him to the hall door, were not reassuring. +</P> + +<P> +'I must see him once again before leaving this part; but I'm quite +satisfied that you can do better for him than I can.' +</P> + +<P> +Then he jumped into his car, and in a moment they were gliding down the +drive and out upon the high-road. A little exultant feeling came to +Bobby when they were once away and going at full speed. His heart +thumped loudly; he was extremely uncomfortable and dared not change his +position, but he could not help whispering to Nobbles in triumph: +</P> + +<P> +'We're on, Nobbles, and we never will go back to the House again.' +</P> + +<P> +It did not seem very long before the car stopped. Bobby heard men's +voices talking, but he did not move until his father had left the car. +Then he peeped out and saw him going into the principal hotel of the +market town. When he had disappeared through the door Bobby crept from +his hiding-place, and, strangely enough, though there were two or three +ostlers standing by, he escaped observation. He was very disappointed +to find they were no farther away, for he dreaded being taken back to +his grandmother again. Then his natural hopefulness came to his aid. +</P> + +<P> +'Father will keep me when I tells him how I want him; and if he tells +me to go home I'll come out and hide under the seat. Me and Nobbles +don't mean to leave him now we've found him.' +</P> + +<P> +He pushed the hotel door open, but there was no sign of his father. +Nothing disconcerted, Bobby opened every door he saw and peeped inside +the rooms, and when he did not find him downstairs, he climbed upstairs. +</P> + +<P> +And at last he was successful. In a comfortable sitting-room his +father was just in the act of drawing an easy-chair to the window, and +the little girl was by his side. +</P> + +<P> +'Did you see him, dad?' she was asking eagerly. 'Did you see your own +little boy? And what was he like? Do tell me.' +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Allonby dropped into his seat with a heavy sigh. +</P> + +<P> +'Not a bit like his mother, True. Very like what I was at his age, I'm +afraid.' +</P> + +<P> +'I belongs to you, father.' +</P> + +<P> +Bobby could keep silence no longer. Decision and some reproach was in +his tone. His father started from his chair as if he had been shot. +The little girl laughed and clapped her hands. +</P> + +<P> +'You brought him as a s'prise, dad. You brought him to play with me!' +</P> + +<P> +'On my honour I didn't, True. It's some magic, I think. Come here my +boy. How on earth did you get here?' +</P> + +<P> +Bobby marched up to his father. He wanted to show what a man he was, +but his lips quivered, and his hand grasping Nobbles quivered too. +</P> + +<P> +'I comed in your carriage under the seat. I didn't tell an untroof. I +did walk out on the road to meet you. I've been waiting years and +<I>years</I> for you to come for me.' +</P> + +<P> +Then his self-control gave way; he grasped hold of his father's coat +and burst into tears. +</P> + +<P> +In an instant his father had lifted him upon his knee, and that was +Bobby's happy moment. He tried to check his sobs. +</P> + +<P> +'I belongs to you; I don't want to go back to the House nevermore; me +and Nobbles have come to stay.' +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Allonby put his hand on the curly head that was now burrowing +itself into his waistcoat pocket. +</P> + +<P> +'This is quite a surprise to me, my sonny. Bobby you're called, are +you not? Aren't you happy with your grandmother?' +</P> + +<P> +'I belongs to you,' Bobby repeated pitifully. 'I knewed you would come +for me one day. <I>Every</I> day I've expecked you. I told Master Mortimer +you couldn't be lost. I knewed you couldn't.' +</P> + +<P> +He raised his face to his father's now, triumphantly, trustingly, and +that look decided his fate. 'You do belong to me, Bobby, and we'll +find a corner for you somewhere; but I mustn't kidnap you in this +fashion. I'll take you back to your grandmother, and talk to her about +it. She'll be alarmed about you.' +</P> + +<P> +Bobby began to cry again in an agitated fashion. +</P> + +<P> +'I can't go back! Me and Nobbles won't! If you take me back I'll be +punished. The House doesn't want me; and Nurse can come and live with +us, father; she'll understand. She know's how I've been looking for +you <I>every</I> day.' +</P> + +<P> +'But what made you look for me? Who put such an idea in your head?' +</P> + +<P> +Bobby stopped his tears to consider, and a slow smile spread over his +face. +</P> + +<P> +'I reely believe it was Nobbles,' he said, holding up his stick to his +father admiringly. 'It was ever so many years ago,' he added hastily. +'Me and Nobbles have always talked about you coming to fetch me away +one day. I fink it was Nobbles who told me first.' +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Allonby gazed at his little son with a comical look of dismay. +Then he put him down from his knees and took a few quick turns up and +down the room. At last he turned to the little girl, who was staring +at Bobby in silence. +</P> + +<P> +'I want your mother's advice, True; she says I am always making +blunders. I think I'll send a note back to Bobby's grandmother, and +instead of staying here the night we'll motor straight back to mother +and ask her what we had better do. We'll take Bobby with us. I don't +know whether that will be right though. I'm afraid you ought to go +back, little chap.' +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Allonby looked very much worried. Bobby shook his head +emphatically. +</P> + +<P> +'Me and Nobbles couldn't never go back. We belongs to you.' +</P> + +<P> +'Oh, bring him to mother, dad. She'll love him; he looks so lovely. +And isn't he very like that little boy who got nearly tossed with a +bull yesterday?' +</P> + +<P> +'He's the same; that's the extraordinary thing. Yes, I'll send the +note, and we'll take him along to mother. His grandmother can send for +him from there if she wants him.' +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Allonby walked to a writing-table and began to write a letter in +furious haste. +</P> + +<P> +True put out her little fingers and stroked Bobby's velvet sleeve. +</P> + +<P> +'What a nice coat you've got on!' +</P> + +<P> +Boy-like, Bobby did not think much of his clothes. +</P> + +<P> +'Who are you?' he asked curiously. +</P> + +<P> +'Dad's little girl.' +</P> + +<P> +'Father has no one but me,' said Bobby, with scarlet cheeks. 'I'm his +own proper boy.' +</P> + +<P> +'Yes,' said True meekly, 'I know you are. I don't think I'm quite a +proper child, because my own father is dead, but dad is my next one, +and mother's my <I>very</I> own. She doesn't belong to you at all, only to +<I>me</I>.' +</P> + +<P> +The relationship puzzled Bobby, and did not altogether please him. He +had been so accustomed to think of himself and his father quite alone, +that this little girl and her mother seemed quite unnecessary. +</P> + +<P> +Conversation languished between them until Mr. Allonby had finished his +note; then he left the room, found a messenger to take it at once, and +then for the next ten minutes all was bustle and confusion getting +ready for the return journey. +</P> + +<P> +'If we are quick we shall get home by nine o'clock, True,' Mr. Allonby +said as he wrapped a heavy rug round Bobby and tucked him in by his +side in the car. +</P> + +<P> +Five minutes afterwards they were going swiftly up the high-road. To +Bobby it all seemed a dream. He grasped Nobbles tightly, but no fear +assailed him. He had prepared himself too long for the possibility of +going off with an unknown father to be much disturbed now. +</P> + +<P> +And the strangeness of his journey fascinated him. True on one side of +him, his father on the other—both strangers to him a few hours ago. +They passed in the dusk the identical spot where he had stood +confronting the bull that same afternoon. It seemed to be a year ago. +True looked out as they passed, rather sleepily. +</P> + +<P> +'That's where dad charged the bull! Oh, it was horrid! I thought we +were going to be smashed up!' +</P> + +<P> +Bobby snuggled closer to his father's side, and Mr. Allonby said +shortly: +</P> + +<P> +'We won't think any more about that, True.' +</P> + +<P> +It grew darker as they flew along; trees by the roadside began to turn +black and grim. A belt of pinewood looked as if it contained a band of +robbers ready to spring out upon any unlucky passer-by. +</P> + +<P> +The light from their lamps seemed to cast strange shadows across the +road. They passed through two or three villages where the lights from +the cottage windows looked to Bobby like fallen stars. True soon went +to sleep, but the small boy sat looking out with wide awe-stricken +eyes. He had never been out at night before, and everything he saw was +absorbing. Mr. Allonby did not speak. He was very doubtful as to +whether he had acted wisely in taking Bobby off in such a fashion, and +was more than half inclined to turn back and hand him over to his +grandmother again. He looked down upon him with a mixture of affection +and anxiety. At last, meeting the steadfast gaze of two bright brown +eyes, he said: +</P> + +<P> +'Well, what do you think of your father, Bobby?' +</P> + +<P> +'You aren't the same as I finked about,' responded the child readily. +</P> + +<P> +'Tell me how I am different.' +</P> + +<P> +'I finked you would be a big man with a black beard, who would take me +to live in a cave in the mountains, or fight with the Red Ingines. +Nurse's brother said he expecked you would be like that.' +</P> + +<P> +'You want a life of adventure and travel!' +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Allonby's eyes sparkled, though he was staring in front of him and +making his car go beyond the limited speed at this juncture. +</P> + +<P> +'Then you're a proper son of mine, Bobby, and I won't let you go. +We'll do some travels together.' +</P> + +<P> +And we'll leave the little girl at home,' suggested Bobby. +</P> + +<P> +His father laughed aloud. +</P> + +<P> +'True? Bless her heart! Do you know where I first met her, Bobby? +Careering on a wild prairie; run away on a half-broken colt, and been +lost for two days; and when I took her back to her mother——' +</P> + +<P> +He stopped and smiled to himself in the darkness. +</P> + +<P> +'Ah, well! That was a good day in my life, and better ones followed. +No, you and True must be friends. Truant is her name by rights, for +her mother never could keep her indoors or at home. Now, Bobby, look +ahead! Do you see those lights? We go through the town; and just +outside is our home—a very tiny one at present, for we move about; but +we'll find a corner for you.' +</P> + +<P> +He slackened speed. Slowly they passed through the streets of an +old-fashioned cathedral town. Soon the houses became more scarce, and +at last they came to a standstill before an iron gate in a wall. True +woke up, and she and Bobby were bundled out. +</P> + +<P> +'Go up to the door; I'll take the car into the shed and join you.' +</P> + +<P> +True pulled Bobby after her up a narrow gravel path. It was dark, but +there was a sweet smell of mignonette and of roses. Bobby was dimly +conscious of two old-fashioned borders of flowers edging their path. A +light shone out of a casement window on the ground floor which was +open. True ran up to it and put her head in. +</P> + +<P> +'We're back, motherums, and we've brought dad's little boy with us.' +</P> + +<P> +Then she thumped impatiently upon the door till it was opened by an +oldish woman. +</P> + +<P> +'Now, Miss True, be quiet; and who's this without a hat?' +</P> + +<P> +'I'm going to take him to Mother, Margot. Let us pass.' +</P> + +<P> +The tiny hall seemed almost like a doll's house to Bobby. He hung +back; sudden shyness seized him. +</P> + +<P> +'I think I'll wait for my father,' he said. +</P> + +<P> +True released his hand, and dashed into the front room. Margot looked +down upon him in puzzled wonder, but a step outside made her smile. +</P> + +<P> +'Ah! Here's the master,' she murmured; and Mr. Allonby's hand was upon +Bobby's shoulder the next instant. +</P> + +<P> +'Now, little chap, come and see your new mother.' +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap07"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Chapter VII. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +HIS NEW HOME. +</H3> + +<P> +Bobby's eyes blinked nervously at his father's words. A 'new mother' +had never been in his calculations at all. A mother of any sort meant +very little to him; he had never come across one, and vaguely put them +in the same category as his grandmother and aunt. He clung hold of his +father's hand tightly, and then the door was opened, and Bobby's brain +received the first impression of cosy warmth and comfort, which never +faded from him in after-life. The room was small compared with his +grandmother's rooms, but, oh! so different. There was a tiny fire +blazing in the grate, a little black-and-white terrier lay basking on +the hearthrug, a lamp in a corner of the room, covered by a +rose-coloured shade, shed its light on a pretty pink and white chintz +couch underneath it, and upon this couch, leaning back amongst pink +cushions, was Bobby's stepmother. True was already sitting upon a +footstool, and her head was in her lap, her mother was stroking back +her hair gently and tenderly. Mrs. Allonby looked to most people a +mere laughing high-spirited girl, with wonderful black hair and +mischievous face and eyes, but that was generally the side she showed +to outsiders. To her husband and child there was deep, never-dying +love in her looks and tones; and Bobby caught a glimpse of this, small +boy as he was, when she turned her face towards her husband. +</P> + +<P> +'Come along, wanderer, and confess! Have you been guilty of stealing, +and where is your prize? Oh, what a little darling!' +</P> + +<P> +She opened her arms to Bobby, and True made way for him. Bobby found +himself smothered with kisses; he was shy no longer, for he felt the +atmosphere of love around him. +</P> + +<P> +Standing, with his hand in his stepmother's, he heard his father +telling his story, and all the time his eyes were roaming round the +room taking everything in with admiration and delight. There was a +canary in a cage, a globe of goldfish, bowls of pink and white roses, +pictures and books, comfortable easy-chairs, and in the corner a +delicious-looking table, spread with a white cloth and shining silver, +with a large dish of strawberries in the centre, a junket, and a +rich-looking plum-cake. Then his eyes came back to his stepmother. +She was clad in a white gown, but a crimson wrapper round her seemed to +match in colour the roses pinned to her breast, and her cheeks vied +with them in hue. +</P> + +<P> +'And so you have kidnapped your own little son! And he himself helped +you to do it! How can you leave your dear old granny, my boy? She has +loved you and cared for you all these years. Is it kind to run away +from her?' +</P> + +<P> +Bobby looked up wonderingly. +</P> + +<P> +'I couldn't never be kind to grandmother,' he said; 'she wouldn't like +it. And it's only fathers who love anybodies; Nurse told me they +always did.' +</P> + +<P> +'And not mothers? Ah! you poor little atom, I forgot that you have not +known your mother.' +</P> + +<P> +'How's the back?' asked Mr. Allonby, looking at his wife with a smile. +</P> + +<P> +'Oh! very good to-day; I've been following you in thought all the time. +You see, Bobby, I have to lie here on my back, and my truant and +wanderer go out to seek adventures, and come back and amuse me by +telling me all they have seen and heard. Then I mend them up, and send +them out again, and that's how we spend our life.' +</P> + +<P> +'Motherums hasn't always lived on her back,' put in True eagerly. 'She +used to gallop everywhere on a lov-elly black horse till she got her +fall. That was a dre'fful day!' +</P> + +<P> +'So "dre'fful" that we will never talk of it,' said Mrs. Allonby +quickly. 'Now, True, darling, take Bobby to Margot, and she will get a +comfy bed for him in dad's dressing-room. And when he is quite tucked +up in it he shall have a basin of bread and milk and go fast asleep +till to-morrow morning, for I'm sure it is long past his proper +bedtime.' +</P> + +<P> +Bobby looked longingly towards the table, and Mrs. Allonby noted it. +</P> + +<P> +'That is for father only; he is going to have some hot meat directly; +but I think he can spare you six strawberries. True, you can have six +too. Bring a plate over here and eat them together.' +</P> + +<P> +So the two children sat down on the rug together, and Bobby felt he +would like to stay there all night. But a little later, when he was +going upstairs to bed, he felt very sleepy, and his head had not been +upon his pillow for five minutes before he was fast asleep. +</P> + +<P> +He was wakened the next morning by True's voice. +</P> + +<P> +'Oh, do wake up! We've had breakfast already. And oh! you funny boy, +you've got your walking-stick in bed with you.' +</P> + +<P> +Bobby resented her tone. +</P> + +<P> +'It isn't a stick, it's Nobbles,' he said. 'Me and Nobbles always +sleep together.' +</P> + +<P> +He fingered Nobbles' red cap lovingly, then held him out for True's +inspection. +</P> + +<P> +'He comed from over the sea. He's really alive, though he never +speaks; but he finks a lot, and whispers to me, but nobody but me can +hear him.' +</P> + +<P> +True gazed at Nobbles' smiling face with fascination. +</P> + +<P> +'What does he tell you?' she asked. +</P> + +<P> +Bobby's slow smile came. +</P> + +<P> +'He told me last night he liked this house very much; and—he ran away +from me in the night—he very often does—he goes up the chimleys, and +the wind takes him journeys. He went to the House to see how Nurse was +getting on.' +</P> + +<P> +'Did he? To your grandmother's house? What did she say?' +</P> + +<P> +Bobby considered. +</P> + +<P> +'She said to Nurse, "I reely can't be troubled with the child, Nurse; +it's your place to look after him."' +</P> + +<P> +'And what did your nurse say?' +</P> + +<P> +'She wented down to the kitchen and ate some apple tart. And then +Nobbles said he came away "'cause nobody wanted me back," and I'm never +going to leave my father no more!' +</P> + +<P> +'Dad is going to see your grandmother now. Motherums told him he ought +to. Do get up and come and see my rabbits. Oh! Here is Margot!' +</P> + +<P> +Margot appeared with a breakfast tray, and Bobby lay still and ate an +egg and some bread and butter with relish. +</P> + +<P> +'The mistress said you was not to be called, for you were tired out,' +said Margot, by way of explanation. 'And when you've had your bath, +and dressed, you can go to her room and see her. Can you dress +yourself?' +</P> + +<P> +'I'm nearly sure I can,' said Bobby bravely. +</P> + +<P> +But he was forced to let Margot assist him more than once; and when +ready at last, paused before leaving the room, looking up into her face +with a little uncertainty and doubt. +</P> + +<P> +'Do you think they'll all like me here?' he said. +</P> + +<P> +'Bless the child, this be a real home to everyone, though it be small. +I've been with the mistress for twenty years. She were a wild slip of +a girl when I took service out in 'Merica. She lost her mother when +she were eight, and I mothered her after, for her father were a proper +ne'er-do-weel, and were always moving from one ranch to another. Miss +Helen took after her mother, and got everyone's love. And then her +father got her to marry a rich old settler, so that some of his debts +might be paid, and he died within a twelvemonth of the marriage, and +Miss Helen kept the property together and did for her father till he +broke his neck riding an unbroken horse, and Miss True was all the bit +of comfort she had left. She could have married over and over scores +of times; but not she; till Mr. Allonby found Miss True one day and +brought her home, and then I knew how things would end. And when she +would gallop off with him on her big horse, with her laugh and jest, I +little thought she'd ever live to lie on her back and never move again.' +</P> + +<P> +The old woman paused. Bobby had not been following her. He only +repeated the question, which was an all-important one to him: +</P> + +<P> +'Will they be sure to like me?' +</P> + +<P> +'The mistress has the biggest heart in the world, my dear, and the +master never says a cross word to nobody!' +</P> + +<P> +Bobby felt cheered by her tone, and his doubts utterly vanished when he +was held in the close clasp of his stepmother. +</P> + +<P> +'We are going to keep you, Bobby, and I must be prepared to see two +small children go off every day with my Wanderer. We are going to make +this summer a holiday, to build up and strengthen your father, who has +been very ill, and next winter, if we are spared, we must all set to +work in earnest. Lessons and school for the little ones, real hard +writing for your father and me. Now, darling, True is calling to you +from the garden. Run out to her, and the air and sunshine will bring +colour into those pale cheeks of yours.' +</P> + +<P> +'Me and Nobbles likes to be darlings,' Bobby informed True a short time +afterwards. 'We aren't darlings with Nurse or grandmother.' +</P> + +<P> +When his father returned, Bobby approached him, almost trembling to +hear his fate. +</P> + +<P> +'Well, little chap,' Mr. Allonby said, 'it has been rather a stormy +scene, but I've got you for good and all. And if I had known your +grandmother considered children such a trouble I never would have left +you with her all this time. Your nurse is going to drive over this +afternoon and wish you good-bye. She will bring your clothes. Do you +think you will get on with us without a nurse? We are very poor folk, +you know, until I write this big book of travels that is going to bring +us fame and money, and then—well, you ask True what will happen.' +</P> + +<P> +Bobby smiled contentedly. Things had not turned out quite according to +his expectations, but he was well pleased to have a little playfellow +in True, and though she adopted a slightly superior and motherly air +with him, she was a deferential listener to any of Nobbles' exploits. +She had no difficulty in believing that he was alive; in fact she was +quite ready to explain his existence in a manner quite new to Bobby. +</P> + +<P> +'You see,' she said, 'a wicked fairy must have turned him into a stick. +He really was a very brave good prince, but he set free a beautiful +princess, who had been a prisoner in the wicked fairy's house, and the +way he did it was dressing in her clothes and staying behind while she +put on his and rode away. Then the wicked fairy was so angry when she +found out the trick that she turned him into a stick and said he must +stay like it till someone broke the spell.' +</P> + +<P> +'What's a spell?' asked Bobby. +</P> + +<P> +'Oh, there are lots of spells. The sleeping beauty was in one, you +know. The spell was that she would sleep till a prince kissed her. +What we've got to do is to find out the spell for Nobbles, and when we +do the right thing to him he'll wake up, and come alive, and be a +prince again.' +</P> + +<P> +Bobby thought over this with a perplexed brow. +</P> + +<P> +'But then he might ride away from me to find the princess, and I should +be 'fraid of a grand prince. I like Nobbles best like he is!' +</P> + +<P> +'Oh, but wouldn't you like him to be able to run about and take off his +little red cap and bow? He wouldn't be any bigger you know; he comes +from a country where they are all very tiny, and perhaps he will have +forgotten all about the princess and will like to stay with you best.' +</P> + +<P> +'I'll ask him to-night when we're in bed all about it. He'll be sure +to tell me.' +</P> + +<P> +And Bobby's face brightened at the thought. After all, Nobbles +belonged to him, not to True, and if he didn't choose him to be a +prince he need not be one. +</P> + +<P> +Bobby's interview with Nurse was rather a trying one. He could hardly +understand why he should be blamed. +</P> + +<P> +'You knewed my father would come one day, Nurse. I had been expecking +him every day, and of course I belongs to him, and I had to go after +him. I was so 'fraid I might lose him again. And I can go all over +father's house and sit in every room, and I've got a new mother and a +little girl to play with, and they calls me "darling!"' +</P> + +<P> +Then Nurse astonished him by clasping him in her arms and bursting into +tears. +</P> + +<P> +'I never thought you'd have left me. I've been as fond of you as if +you'd been my own child. It's put me terrible about, losing you so +sudden. Why, I meant to stay with you till you went to school.' +</P> + +<P> +Bobby began to get tearful at once. He had a tender little heart, and +to see Nurse cry was a great calamity. He was honestly sorry to part +with her; but his father filled his heart, and, childlike, the new +scenes and life around him were entirely engrossing him. +</P> + +<P> +When Nurse had gone he was called to his father, who was sitting with +his stepmother. True was still playing in the garden. +</P> + +<P> +'I feel I must make acquaintance with my small son,' Mr. Allonby said, +perching him on his knee. +</P> + +<P> +'How is it you have thought such a lot about me?' +</P> + +<P> +'I always knewed you would be nice,' said Bobby, with a slow shake of +his head. 'I knewed fathers were.' +</P> + +<P> +'How many fathers have you known?' +</P> + +<P> +'Only God,' said Bobby, simply and reverently. 'He is my other Father, +isn't He? And He's always good and kind to me.' +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Allonby exchanged glances with his wife. +</P> + +<P> +'You are a little character, I see. Tell me more. Are you a very good +little boy?' +</P> + +<P> +'Nurse says no boys are ever good,' said Bobby, not seeing the twinkle +in his father's eye. 'I s'pose when I get to be a father I shall be.' +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Allonby began to laugh. His wife shook her head at him. +</P> + +<P> +Bobby knitted his brows, then turned questioner. +</P> + +<P> +'Did you fink I would be like what I am, father?' +</P> + +<P> +His tone was anxious. He added hurriedly: +</P> + +<P> +'I'm not a baby now, I can walk miles and miles, and I'm going to dress +myself all alone to-morrow.' +</P> + +<P> +'That's right. I want my son to be plucky and independent and +honourable. If you're that sort I shall be quite satisfied. What do +you say, Helen?' +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Allonby looked at Bobby rather tenderly. +</P> + +<P> +'I don't think he needs to be very independent yet,' she said. +</P> + +<P> +'What does it mean?' asked Bobby. 'And what does honourable mean? +It's plucky when you hurt yourself and don't cry, isn't it?' +</P> + +<P> +'Independent is doing things for yourself and standing alone. +Honourable is everything a gentleman ought to be—truthful, honest, and +straight, with right thoughts about everything. I think you're plucky. +You're not afraid of anything, I hope.' +</P> + +<P> +Bobby did not answer for a minute. He had heard enough to fill his +small brain with fresh thought. +</P> + +<P> +'I'm not afraid of anybody if I have Nobbles with me,' he said. +</P> + +<P> +His father laughed again, then put him off his knee. +</P> + +<P> +'I have letters to write. Run away now and play with True.' +</P> + +<P> +So Bobby went, revolving many things in his mind. And an hour later, +when he was getting tired of romping with True, he sat down on the +grass underneath an apple-tree. +</P> + +<P> +'I like Nobbles to be good,' he confided to True; 'but I'm 'fraid he +can't be ind'pendent. He's plucky, he's afraid of nobody, and loves to +give anyone a good beating; and he's quite, quite straight, so he's +hon'rable, but he can't stand alone, or do things for himself.' +</P> + +<P> +'Can't he? You give him to me. I'll make him stand up.' +</P> + +<P> +True had seized hold of Nobbles and stuck him triumphantly two inches +into the ground, where he stood smiling at them. +</P> + +<P> +Bobby did not approve of this treatment. +</P> + +<P> +'You're not to touch him. He doesn't belong to you.' +</P> + +<P> +'He's only a stick!' +</P> + +<P> +True's tone was scornful. For the first time Bobby began to feel angry +with her. +</P> + +<P> +'He's my Nobbles, and I like him much better than you.' +</P> + +<P> +He hugged his stick and walked off. True pursued him. +</P> + +<P> +'He's only a stick,' she repeated. 'I could break him in half if I +tried!' +</P> + +<P> +'You're a horrid girl, and I wish my father would send you away. You +don't belong to him and me at all!' +</P> + +<P> +'You don't belong to us!' cried True excitedly. 'Dad and me always +goes out together, and we'll leave you behind. We don't want you at +all. We was ever so happy before you came. You'd better go back to +that old House of yours. We don't want you!' +</P> + +<P> +It takes so little to make a quarrel. Fiery little True rushed into +her mother in a passion of tears, declaring that she hated Bobby and +would never play with him again; and Bobby was found some minutes later +by Margot lying face downwards in the garden crying as if his heart +would break. +</P> + +<P> +'I'll never be happy again. She says I don't belong here,' he sobbed. +</P> + +<P> +Peace was made at last, for Margot took him straight into Mrs. Allonby, +who talked to both children as only she could talk, lovingly, gently, +but very firmly. When girl and boy were both safely tucked away in bed +that night, she said to her husband: +</P> + +<P> +'Oh, Frank, shall we have a divided house?' +</P> + +<P> +'Never!' he said cheerfully. 'Both these youngsters have had things +their own way. Now they will have to give and take, and it will do +them each a power of good.' +</P> + +<P> +She smiled, and her anxious look disappeared. +</P> + +<P> +'If we are of one mind it will be easy,' she said. +</P> + +<P> +And her husband replied: +</P> + +<P> +'Your mind and will rule this household, darling. I shall leave my +boy's training to you.' +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap08"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Chapter VIII +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +A LETTER FROM ABROAD. +</H3> + +<P> +'They look like the gates in the City.' +</P> + +<P> +Bobby and True were lying upon the grass under a shady group of trees. +They had been out motoring with their father all the morning, and had +stopped to have their lunch up a by-road. They had had a merry meal, +and then after it was over Mr. Allonby told them they had better stay +where they were whilst he took his motor back to the neighbouring +village to get some slight repairs done to it. +</P> + +<P> +'It is very warm, so stay here quietly, and don't wander far from this +place, or I shall not find you again.' +</P> + +<P> +He went. For a short time they amused themselves quietly by the +roadside. Then they thought they would like to see where the road took +them, and walked up it until suddenly they were stopped by some very +tall white iron gates. They peeped through the bars of them. There +was a small lodge inside, but there seemed no one about. A long, +broad, beautifully-kept drive went straight up to a white, turreted +house in the distance. It looked almost like a castle. They tried to +open the gates, but they were locked. Then they threw themselves down +upon the grass outside, and Bobby thoughtfully said, as he eyed the +gates in front of them: +</P> + +<P> +'They look like the gates in the City.' +</P> + +<P> +'What city?' asked True. +</P> + +<P> +'It's a Bible city. Do you know about the gates kept by angels? They +lead up to heaven, and the road is just like that in there, only there +are people walking up them in white dresses. We shall have to get +frough them some day. +</P> + +<P> +'It'll be very nice,' said True comfortably. +</P> + +<P> +Bobby looked at her, and his mouth pursed itself up gravely. +</P> + +<P> +'Everybodies don't get frough. Some are shut outside.' +</P> + +<P> +'Oh! Why?' +</P> + +<P> +'Because they haven't white dresses on. My grandmother has a beautiful +Bible with beautiful picshers in it, and the picsher of the lovely +gates says: "Blessed are they that wash their robes in the blood of the +Lamb, that they may have right to the tree of life, and enter in frough +the gates into the City." I learnt that tex'. Lady Isobel teached it +to me.' +</P> + +<P> +'What's the tree of life?' asked True. +</P> + +<P> +Bobby pointed inside the gate to a big beech-tree halfway up the drive. +</P> + +<P> +'It's like that, but it has lovely golden apples on it. And the angels +stand at the gate, and won't let nobody frough with a dirty dress.' +</P> + +<P> +True glanced at her brown holland frock, which was smeared with green. +</P> + +<P> +'My frocks never keep clean after half an hour,' she said with a little +sigh. +</P> + +<P> +'You have to get a nice white frock from Jesus,' went on Bobby, pleased +with his role as teacher. +</P> + +<P> +'He washes your dirty one in His blood. You know, when He died on the +cross, that's how He shed His blood. And it turns all dirty things +white and clean. Lady Is'bel teached me it did.' +</P> + +<P> +'I don't believe Jesus Christ really washes frocks,' said True. 'I've +never heard He does. It would be—be like a washerwoman.' +</P> + +<P> +Bobby leant across to her eagerly. +</P> + +<P> +'You don't un'stand prop'ly. It's a inside white frock over our +hearts. Nobody sees it but Jesus and the angels at the gate—and God. +Our hearts are quite dirty and black till we ask Jesus to wash them and +put the white dress on. Why, I had mine done long ago—d'reckly I +heard 'bout it. You ought to have yours. You'll never get inside the +gates if you don't, and it would be quite dre'fful to be shut out. +</P> + +<P> +'When is it?' asked True, deliberating. +</P> + +<P> +'When is what?' +</P> + +<P> +'The gates being opened.' +</P> + +<P> +'I think it's when you die, you want to get frough,' said Bobby. +</P> + +<P> +'Then I can wait till I die!' said True. +</P> + +<P> +'What a silly girl you are!' +</P> + +<P> +Bobby's tone was almost contemptuous. +</P> + +<P> +'I'm not silly.' +</P> + +<P> +'Yes you are. Fancy waiting when you can have it now. Why, you might +die in a hurry, and then Jesus might be doing something else, and +mightn't come to you in time. I'm all ready now. The tex' says I've a +<I>right</I> to go in at the gates <I>now</I>, if I wanted to.' +</P> + +<P> +He stopped talking, for up the lane came a carriage, and it stopped at +the gates. +</P> + +<P> +Both the children sprang to their feet. They saw a woman in a white +apron hurry out from the lodge and open the gate; they saw the carriage +pass through and the gates close again. Then Bobby spoke very solemnly: +</P> + +<P> +'Did you see who was in the carriage? A lady in a <I>white</I> dress, and +she had a <I>right</I> to pass frough.' +</P> + +<P> +'You are a funny boy,' said True with a little laugh. 'She belonged to +the house, and she's just going home.' +</P> + +<P> +'Well,' argued Bobby, 'I belong to the golden City, and I shall have a +right to go in—the tex' says so; and I shall be going home; because +you know, True, God is my other Father, and God lives at home in +heaven.' +</P> + +<P> +There was silence, then True said: +</P> + +<P> +'We had better go back to dad. I'll ask mother next Sunday about those +gates, and see if you've told me true. She always talks good to me on +Sunday afternoon.' +</P> + +<P> +Bobby turned away from the white gates with reluctance. +</P> + +<P> +'Would it be wicked to play at going in at those gates?' he asked. 'We +might come another day by ourselves and try to get in.' +</P> + +<P> +'So we will,' said True. 'It couldn't be wicked if we play what's in +the Bible, because everything is good there.' +</P> + +<P> +They returned to the spot where Mr. Allonby had arranged to meet them. +He was just appearing along the road, and when they were tucked safely +in the car again Bobby said: +</P> + +<P> +'Who lives inside the big white gates up that road, father?' +</P> + +<P> +'I don't know, my boy. I don't know this part of the country.' +</P> + +<P> +'How far are we from home?' asked True. +</P> + +<P> +'About twenty miles.' +</P> + +<P> +The children sighed simultaneously. Then True said: +</P> + +<P> +'We'll never get there, Bobby.' +</P> + +<P> +'P'raps we shall pass some other white gates nearer home,' he suggested. +</P> + +<P> +'Why do you want them?' asked their father. +</P> + +<P> +Bobby laid his hand on his coat sleeve impressively. +</P> + +<P> +'They're so like the gates into heaven, father.' +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Allonby looked startled. +</P> + +<P> +'Have you been there, sonny?' +</P> + +<P> +'No; but I've seen them in a picsher.' +</P> + +<P> +'Well?' +</P> + +<P> +'I was splaning to True about them.' +</P> + +<P> +Bobby was a wee bit shy of his father. He could not talk quite freely +to him yet. He was so terribly afraid of being laughed at, and Mr. +Allonby was not good at hiding his amusement at some of his son's +quaint speeches. +</P> + +<P> +'It's kind of Sunday talk,' put in True eagerly, 'about angels, and +white dresses, and washing.' +</P> + +<P> +'Ah!' said Mr. Allonby, 'then you must take your puzzles to the angel +of our house. She will tell you all you want to know.' +</P> + +<P> +'That's mother,' said True in a whisper to Bobby. 'She's father's +angel. He is awful 'fraid she will get some wings and fly away one +day.' +</P> + +<P> +Other topics engrossed their small minds; but upon the next Sunday +afternoon, when they were both sitting by Mrs. Allonby's sofa and she +was giving them a Bible lesson out of her big Bible, True brought up +the subject. +</P> + +<P> +'Will you read us about the gates of heaven, mother? Bobby says he'll +be let inside, and I shall be shut out.' +</P> + +<P> +'No, I didn't.' +</P> + +<P> +'Yes, you did.' +</P> + +<P> +'We won't have any quarrelling. What do you want to hear about?' +</P> + +<P> +'The gates,' said Bobby, 'the beautiful gates. It's the last page of +the Bible. I know it is. Will you read, True, the tex' about having a +right to enter? It begins, "Blessed——"' +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Allonby had no difficulty in finding it. She read very slowly. +</P> + +<P> +'Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have right to +the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the City.' +</P> + +<P> +'There!' said True, 'it doesn't say anything about washing, Bobby.' +</P> + +<P> +Bobby looked sorely perplexed. +</P> + +<P> +'Lady Is'bel teached it to me out of the Talian Bible. "Blessed are +they that wash their robes in the blood of the Lamb, that they may have +right to the tree of life, and may enter in frough the gates into the +City." That's my tex', I know it is.' +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Allonby smiled at his disconsolate face. +</P> + +<P> +'It is another version, Bobby.' +</P> + +<P> +'But isn't it true?' he questioned. 'You see it's so 'ticular to me, +'cause I've had my robe washed. I knows I have, and I thought I was +quite ready to go in.' +</P> + +<P> +'You're quite right, darling. Listen to this verse about the City. +"There shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth." No one +can be allowed in if they are stained with sin, no dirt, no impurity. +We must have had our hearts washed white before we can go in. Only +Jesus can do this; but we must not think that is all we have to do. +What makes our hearts dirty and black?' +</P> + +<P> +'Being naughty,' said True. +</P> + +<P> +'Yes. We must ask Jesus to help us do His commandments, so as to keep +our hearts clean. The two go together; and it is very important they +should. If Bobby says his heart is washed by Jesus, and then quarrels, +and loses his temper and wants his own way, I shall know something is +not right. Remember you must be washed, and you will want to be washed +every day again and again, but you must try to keep clean by doing His +commandments. Everyone you break leaves a stain upon your robe, and +grieves your Saviour.' +</P> + +<P> +'Oh dear, oh dear!' sighed Bobby, 'He'll get quite tired of me, I know +He will. I think I'm much wickeder here than I was at grandmother's.' +</P> + +<P> +'And I'm wickeder since you came to us,' said True, nodding her head at +him. 'You do make me so awful angry by things you say!' +</P> + +<P> +Bobby looked quite crushed. +</P> + +<P> +'Isn't it quite certain I'll be let inside?' he asked. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Allonby smiled. +</P> + +<P> +'Thank God you can be quite certain of that, Bobby. It doesn't depend +on what we do, but upon what Jesus did for us. Let me tell you a +little story. Two little girls were going to be taken out to tea one +afternoon with their mother. Their names were Nellie and Ada. They +were dressed in clean white frocks, and told they might walk up and +down the garden path till their mother joined them. "But don't go on +the grass," she said, "or you may soil your frocks. It has been +raining, and it is wet and muddy." For a short time they walked up and +down the path as good as gold. Then Ada saw a frog hop away over the +grass. She forgot her mother's command, and ran after it. The grass +was slippery; she fell, and her clean frock was all smeared and spoilt +by muddy streaks. Her mother came out and was very vexed. "Now, Ada, +you will have to stay at home. I can't take you in a dirty frock. It +will serve you right for being so disobedient." Ada cried and sobbed, +and said she was sorry, and begged to be taken. But her mother said +no. Then Nellie, who loved her sister, and was an unselfish little +girl, said: "Mother, dear, do take Ada, she is so sorry; let me stay at +home, and then she can wear my frock." At first the mother wouldn't +hear of this, but Nellie begged so hard that at last she consented. +Ada's dirty frock was taken off her and Nellie's clean one put on her. +She went to the party and Nellie stayed at home. Now don't you think, +as she walked along with her mother, that she would be very careful not +to dirty Nellie's clean frock? I think she would be more careful than +ever. Jesus Christ kept His robe pure and spotless. He never sinned +at all, so His robe is put over us, and we can enter the gates. But +oughtn't we to be very careful not to sin, just to show Him how we +value our robe, how we love Him for being so kind and good to us?' +Mrs. Allonby paused. Bobby nodded his head very solemnly at her. +</P> + +<P> +'Me and Nobbles will 'member that story. I'll tell him it in bed. You +know sometimes I make Nobbles do naughty things, but sometimes'—here +the twinkle came into the brown eyes—'sometimes Nobbles puts naughty +things in my head. He whispers them to me in bed.' +</P> + +<P> +'That isn't Nobbles,' said True, in her downright fashion, 'that's the +Devil, isn't it, motherums?' +</P> + +<P> +'No,' asserted Bobby, 'it's Nobbles, all by himself. P'raps Satan may +have whispered to him first. Shall I tell you what he wants me to do +to-morrer?' +</P> + +<P> +'Oh, do!' True's eagerness to hear Bobby's inventions got the better +of her. Mrs. Allonby said nothing. She liked the children to talk +freely before her, and she gained a good deal by being listener +sometimes. +</P> + +<P> +'You know those top pears on the wall what <I>won't</I> fall down? Nobbles +says if I get on a chair and reach up he'll hit them down, and then I +can pick them up. We was finking about doing it first thing before +breakfus' to-morrer!' +</P> + +<P> +'But it would be <I>you</I> that would do it; and dad said we weren't to +touch them unless they were on the ground.' +</P> + +<P> +'It wouldn't be me, it would be Nobbles,' insisted Bobby. 'I couldn't +reach up half so high.' +</P> + +<P> +'Then if Nobbles does it,' said Mrs. Allonby, very quietly, 'I shall +have to punish him. I shall shut him up in a cupboard for a whole day.' +</P> + +<P> +Bobby looked quite frightened. +</P> + +<P> +'Me and Nobbles have never been away from each other, never once!' +</P> + +<P> +'Then I should take care he does nothing naughty. After all, Bobby, +darling, he can't do anything unless you help him, can he?' +</P> + +<P> +'No,' said Bobby slowly; 'and if him and me knocked those pears down it +would make a black mark on my robe, wouldn't it!' +</P> + +<P> +'Indeed it would!' +</P> + +<P> +'Then we'll 'cidedly not do it,' said Bobby with emphasis. 'I'm going +to try hard to be always good—for evermore!' +</P> + +<P> +It needed hard trying, poor Bobby found, especially when he and True +both wanted their own way at the same time, and they could not make +those ways agree. But gradually they learnt lessons of forbearance and +patience, and mutually helped each other to be unselfish. +</P> + +<P> +One morning Bobby had a letter brought him by the postman. He turned +it over with the greatest pride and interest. It had been redirected +to him by his grandmother. +</P> + +<P> +'I've never had a letter from anybody,' he said. +</P> + +<P> +'Oh, be quick and open it,' urged True, dancing round him. 'All sorts +of things happen when you get letters. It might be from the King, or +from a fairy godmother, or a princess!' +</P> + +<P> +Bobby's fingers trembled as he opened the envelope. +</P> + +<P> +'P'raps,' continued True, who was never wanting for ideas, 'you've got +a fortune left you, and a lot of money will tumble out.' +</P> + +<P> +But it was only a letter, and though the writing was very clear and +plain, Bobby begged his father to read it to him. +</P> + +<P> +The children had breakfast with their father always. Mrs. Allonby did +not leave her room till later in the morning. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Allonby read the letter through, and Bobby leant forward in his +chair listening to it with open eyes and mouth. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +'MY DEAREST LITTLE BOBBY— +</P> + +<P> +'Have you forgotten the sad lady in her garden, I wonder? The one you +comforted by your sweet quaintness and loving-heartedness? I have +often thought of you in this hot country, and now I am feeling rather +sad again, I thought I would cheer myself up by writing to my little +friend. +</P> + +<P> +'I had such a happy time when I first came out, Bobby. Do you remember +the picture of the golden gates? I found the little black children and +women here were so interested in hearing about it that I set to work +and drew and painted a big picture after the fashion of that beautiful +one in your grandmother's Bible. I used to draw a good deal when I was +a girl, but my attempt is very poor when I think of the original. +Still the children here were so delighted with it that I wondered if +you would be too. So I set to work to paint another, and this one is +coming to you through the post. Perhaps Nurse will hang it up in your +nursery for you. How is Nobbles? Give him my love. I hope he doesn't +cut off the heads of the poor flowers now. He will be older and wiser +I expect. Are you still sitting up in bed at night and fancying you +hear your father's knock? Or do you sit in your apple-tree and think +you see him coming along the road? How I hope he will arrive home one +day and take you by surprise! I have not forgotten that I am to try to +find him for you, and curiously enough I heard his name mentioned the +other evening when I was dining with some old friends of mine. And who +do you think was talking about him, Bobby? Your Uncle Mortimer. Isn't +it funny that I should meet him out here? I knew him when I was a +little girl, but of course he did not remember me. There was a Major +Knatchbull, who had met your father in South America, but he had not +seen him for several years. I told your uncle that I wanted to find +your father, and then we discovered that we had both promised the same +small boy to do so. How I hope we shall succeed in our quest! Now I +must tell you why I am feeling sad. I have not been well since I came +out here, and the doctors tell me that I must not stay in India. So +that means I must give up my work, which I was beginning to love, and +come back to my empty house and home. Will you come and comfort me if +I do? It won't be just yet, for I shall stay out here till the rainy +season is over. Good-bye, my darling. If you can write me a little +letter I shall be so glad to get it. Your Uncle Mortimer has just +asked me to go for a ride with him, so I must stop. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Your very loving friend,<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 2em">ISOBEL GRANTHAM.'</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +'Well,' said Mr. Allonby, 'that letter comes from a nice woman, Bobby. +Who is she? And how many people have you set to work looking for your +missing father?' +</P> + +<P> +Bobby looked up gravely. +</P> + +<P> +'Only her and Master Mortimer. I likes them both 'normously. Isn't it +a long letter? And, oh dear! if she's home I shan't see her.' +</P> + +<P> +'Would you like me to take you back to your grandmother?' +</P> + +<P> +Bobby slipped down from his chair and caught hold of his father's hand +with imploring eyes. +</P> + +<P> +'Father, dear, you won't do it, will you? You'll never let me leave +you?' +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Allonby took him upon his knee and gave him one of his rare kisses. +</P> + +<P> +'I'm afraid I'm not good enough to be your father, sonny. You expect +such a lot from me, and I can only give so little. I shall be a +terrible disappointment to you all round.' +</P> + +<P> +But Bobby laid his curly head against his father's shoulder and clasped +him round the neck. +</P> + +<P> +'I belongs to you, and you belongs to me,' he said, with infinite +satisfaction in his tone, and Mr. Allonby answered, with a little +embarrassed laugh: +</P> + +<P> +'And finding's keeping, my little boy. We'll hold together for the +present, at any rate.' +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap09"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Chapter IX. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +'SHE HAS LEFT US!' +</H3> + +<P> +Of course Lady Isobel's letter had to be answered, and the wonderful +news told of Bobby's change of home. His letter took him a long time +to write, and True helped him a great deal. Mrs. Allonby sent it as it +was, with all the imperfections of spelling and many a blot and +erasure; but she added a little note herself, as Bobby's left much to +be explained. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +'MY DEAR LADY FREND— +</P> + +<P> +'Me and Nobbles is kite wel, so is True. Father came at last. He +tuked me in a motor home. I have a knew mother. She is very nice. We +saw sum reel wite gates, but they was loked. We mene to find sum more. +Me and Nobbles runned away and hid under the sete. We did not go back +no more. Plese come and see me in this house, and giv Master Mort'mer +my best luv. I warnt to see him agen. I went in the rode to mete my +father and he comed, but I did not no him. Thank you verry much for +the piksher. I shall like it wen it comes and so will True. She +spells my leter for me. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Your loving boy,<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 2em">BOBBY.'</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +And when the letter was sent, Bobby set himself to watch for his +picture. +</P> + +<P> +It came very soon, and to his eyes was a miracle of beauty. +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Allonby had it framed for him and hung up over his bed in the +dressing-room. He was never tired of looking at it, and what pleased +him most was a little boy about his own age just being let inside the +gates by a kind faced angel. +</P> + +<P> +'Look at his white dress; not one tiny spot, Nobbles,' he would +exclaim. 'That's me going in, and I shall walk right up the street to +God like that.' +</P> + +<P> +There was a dark corner in the picture, and two weeping people being +turned away. In fact it was as nearly like the original as it could +be, only it was much bigger, and the gates were lovely in their gold +and white paint. +</P> + +<P> +True admired it as much as he did, and would often come and stand and +look at it with delight and awe. +</P> + +<P> +'I wonder if I have a right to go inside,' she said. 'I love having a +right to do things, then no one can stop me.' +</P> + +<P> +'It's wearing a white robe gives you right,' said Bobby. +</P> + +<P> +'Yes, and doing the Commandments,' responded True quickly; 'that's the +differcult part. But I mean to be inside, not outside, I tell you +that!' +</P> + +<P> +Many delightful excursions did the children have with their father, but +the summer days began to shorten and the sun appeared less often, and +Mrs. Allonby kept them more at home. She herself did not get stronger. +Her appetite failed. Gradually she came downstairs less, and kept in +bed more. Mr. Allonby grew careworn and anxious, the doctor appeared +very often, and still Bobby and True played together gleefully, with +little idea of the black shadow that was going to fall upon their happy +home. +</P> + +<P> +Then one bright sunny morning True asked Mr. Allonby if he would give +them a ride in his car. +</P> + +<P> +He looked at her for an instant in silence, then said slowly: +</P> + +<P> +'No, we must do without motor drives now; I am going to sell it.' +</P> + +<P> +'Sell it! Oh, dad, you mustn't!' +</P> + +<P> +'I must,' he said; 'I want to give your mother all the comfort and ease +I can, and we are poor people. Besides, I shall have no heart for +anything now.' +</P> + +<P> +'Why?' questioned True. +</P> + +<P> +'Don't ask so many questions,' Mr. Allonby said sharply, and he was so +seldom vexed with them that the children looked at each other with +dismayed faces. +</P> + +<P> +Later that morning Mr. Allonby was wandering moodily up and down his +strip of garden smoking his pipe; his head was bent, his hands loosely +clasped behind him. Suddenly he felt a soft little hand take hold of +one of his. +</P> + +<P> +'Father, dear, do tell me about your sad finks. I know they're sad +from your face.' +</P> + +<P> +It was Bobby. His father looked down upon him for a minute, then +without a word led him into a field which ran up at the back of their +garden. He paced the whole length of the field with his little son +before he spoke again, and then, leaning against a five-barred gate, he +said heavily: +</P> + +<P> +'I can't hold up against it, sonny! I was a worthless creature till +she took me in hand, and now, when she is making something of me, when +we are going to peg away together at the book which is going to make +our fortune, she is going to leave me. I can't live without her! I +shall go to the dogs!' +</P> + +<P> +'Is it mother you mean? Oh, father, we won't let her leave us! Why +does she want to go?' +</P> + +<P> +'She doesn't; it is cruel fate. Bobby, my boy, life is an utter +failure. Oh! I don't know what I am saying, or why I am talking like +this. Your mother is dying fast, can't you see it? I hoped she was +getting stronger, but the doctor says it has only been her strong will +that has got her downstairs at all. Oh, Helen, you're too young, too +full of life and spirit to be taken! I will not believe it!' +</P> + +<P> +He folded his arms on the top bar of the gate and dropped his head upon +them with a groan. Bobby stood perfectly still; the news was so +astounding, so bewildering, that he could hardly take it in. +</P> + +<P> +'Is mother going through the golden gate now?' he asked. +</P> + +<P> +There was no answer. Then Bobby climbed up on the gate with a longing +desire to comfort his father. He had never seen a grown-up person in +trouble before, and it was with the greatest effort he prevented +himself from bursting into tears. +</P> + +<P> +'Father, dear, don't cry! It's a lovely thing when God calls people. +Mother tolded us herself last Sunday it was. And p'raps God will take +her for a visit, and then send her back again. Is she reely going into +heaven soon? Oh, wouldn't it be nice if we could all go with her! May +I run and tell True; and may we just ask mother about it a little?' +</P> + +<P> +'Leave me, child! Run away!' And when his pattering footsteps had +died away Bobby's father said in bitterness of spirit: 'Heartless +little scamp! He is enjoying the sensation of it!' +</P> + +<P> +But he misunderstood Bobby. The child had never seen death, and did +not understand it in the least; his vision was steadfastly fixed on the +life hereafter. What wonder that the glories of it eclipsed the +present shadow! +</P> + +<P> +True received his news first incredulously, then stamped and stormed in +helpless passion. +</P> + +<P> +'Mother shan't die! She shan't be put in the ground! Bobby, we'll +keep her from going. Oh, mother, mother! we couldn't live without you!' +</P> + +<P> +A burst of tears followed, in which Bobby joined her from very +sympathy. Then softly they stole up the steep narrow stairs to their +mother's room. They met Margot at the door. +</P> + +<P> +'Oh dear!' she sighed, as she saw their faces, 'I s'ppose your father +has been and told you. The missis is quite nicely this morning, and +wants to see you. Now if you go in, no tears, mind—nothing to make +her sad. You must make believe you're glad she's going, same as I do.' +</P> + +<P> +A husky sob broke in the faithful servant's voice. She signed to the +children to go in, and turned away abruptly herself. +</P> + +<P> +Hand in hand, on tiptoe, they stole to their mother's bedside. +</P> + +<P> +Surely she was better with such a pink colour in her cheeks! She +smiled brightly at them, but her voice was weak and low. +</P> + +<P> +'I haven't seen you for two days, darlings! Tell me what you've been +doing.' +</P> + +<P> +'I've been in the field with father,' said Bobby, taking one of Mrs. +Allonby's hands in his, and very gently raising it to his lips to kiss. +'We've comed to tell you that we are very glad you're going through the +gates, but we would like you to ask God to let you come back to us very +soon.' +</P> + +<P> +Sudden tears came to Mrs. Allonby's eyes. +</P> + +<P> +'I think you must come to me,' she said almost in a whisper. +</P> + +<P> +'We should like to do that very much, said Bobby bravely. 'True and me +are ready, we fink.' +</P> + +<P> +'But, darlings,' went on Mrs. Allonby, 'you must not feel impatient if +God does not send for you just yet. I want my little daughter to grow +up to be a comfort to her father, to keep the house tidy, do his +mending, have comfortable little meals for him, and let him always feel +he has a home and a little daughter waiting for him.' +</P> + +<P> +'And me?' questioned Bobby eagerly. 'What must I do for him? I +belongs to him besides True.' +</P> + +<P> +'You belong to him more than True does. I want you to be his little +companion. Go out with him, talk to him, tell him about your lovely +picture, let him feel he cannot get on without you. Oh, Bobby, dear, +you love your father with all your heart and soul! Show it to him by +your life. I want you two to be inseparable. I shall pray you may be.' +</P> + +<P> +A glorious light dawned in Bobby's eyes. He caught Mrs. Allonby's +meaning. +</P> + +<P> +'I'll die for him if I can,' he said fervently; and deep down in his +heart he meant what he said. +</P> + +<P> +True stood looking at her mother with sadly pathetic eyes. +</P> + +<P> +'When are you going, mother? Oh, I think God might do without you a +little longer. I won't pretend I want you to go; I won't.' +</P> + +<P> +'My little girl, I know you don't want me to leave you; and at first I +felt just like you do. But I have been lying here talking to God, and +He has been talking to me, and now I know that He makes no mistakes, +and is doing the very best for all of us by taking me now. I shall +look for you and father, and one day we shall be all together again, I +hope, in that beautiful country that now seems so far away.' +</P> + +<P> +There was a little silence in the room; then Mrs. Allonby turned to +Bobby. +</P> + +<P> +'Bobby, dear, will you say me that verse in that old Italian Bible of +your grandmother's? Somehow, now I am so near the gates, it seems to +bring me more comfort than our English version. I have so often broken +God's commandments. But the other—is so simple—so comforting!' +</P> + +<P> +Bobby repeated his favourite verse with glad assurance. +</P> + +<P> +'"Blessed are they that wash their robes in the blood of the Lamb, that +they may have right to the tree of life, and enter in through the gates +into the City."' +</P> + +<P> +'Yes,' said Mrs. Allonby when he had finished, 'when we come near the +gates, Bobby, and all our life rises before us with all our sins, it is +the thought of the Lamb's precious blood that brings us peace and +courage. I like the verse about doing His commandments for life; but +for death your verse is far and away the best.' +</P> + +<P> +The children could hardly follow this. True climbed upon the bed and +sat close to her mother. +</P> + +<P> +'Is it a very nice thing to die, mother?' she asked. +</P> + +<P> +'My darling, it is nice to feel that our dear Saviour is holding me +tight. "Lo, I am with you alway," He says to me. And so I am content.' +</P> + +<P> +'Oh,' said Bobby, 'I should like to see the gates open and let you in. +Will you walk up the street by those lovely trees? And will you come +to the gates to meet us when it's our time?' +</P> + +<P> +Mrs. Allonby smiled her answer, and Margot now crept softly in and told +the children they must go. +</P> + +<P> +'I must have a kiss from each of them,' Mrs. Allonby said feebly. 'I +don't think—I never know, Margot, whether I shall get through another +night.' +</P> + +<P> +So they kissed her, and reluctantly left the room. That was a strange, +long day to them. Mr. Allonby came in and spent the rest of the day in +his wife's room. The children had to go to bed without wishing him +good-night. Bobby unhung his picture and placed it on the +dressing-table opposite his bed, where he could look at it. In the +early morning he lay gazing at it with fascinated eyes. He followed in +thought his mother's arrival there, her entrance through the gates, and +her triumphal march up to the shining, golden throne in the distance. +He seemed to hear the blast of trumpets, the rapt singing of the angels +attending her, and he was completely lost in his vision when he was +suddenly roused by his father's entrance. He looked strangely untidy +and wretched, his little boy thought. Bobby was peculiarly susceptible +to outside appearances. His father was dressed in his ordinary tweed +suit, but his eyes were haggard, his hair rough, his white collar +crumpled, and his face heated and tear-stained. +</P> + +<P> +He came in impulsively and threw himself on his knees by his child's +bed. +</P> + +<P> +'Oh, Bobby, little chap, she has gone, she has left me, and I've +promised to meet her again! We must help each other. May God Himself +teach me, for I'm not fit to teach you. I don't know how I shall get +through life without her. I always felt that since her accident she +has been too good to live. She never made one murmur.' +</P> + +<P> +Bobby opened his mouth to speak, then stopped, and tears crowded into +his eyes. +</P> + +<P> +'Is she really gone, father? Oh, how could God take her so quick? I +did want to say a proper good-bye. Look, father, dear, at my picsher. +Is she inside by this time, do you think? How long does it take to go +to heaven?' +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Allonby took up his little son's picture and gazed at it with keen +interest, then he put it down with a heavy sigh. +</P> + +<P> +'Yes, she's there right enough, sonny. I don't doubt that. Shall we +say a little prayer together—you and I—for I feel quite unable for +what is before me.' +</P> + +<P> +So the grown-up man knelt by the small bed, and Bobby jumped up and +knelt by his side, and in very broken, faltering accents he prayed: +</P> + +<P> +'Merciful God, have pity on me and my children; be with us now she has +left us. Help me to do my duty; forgive my selfish life. I want to be +different; change me; set me right; make me what she wanted me to be. +Bless this boy here, make him a better man than his father. And the +little motherless girl—how can I take care of her? Have pity and help +us all for Christ's sake. Amen.' +</P> + +<P> +It was a prayer that Bobby never forgot all his life, and he never +spoke of it to anyone. Childlike, he kept it wrapped up in his heart. +He was puzzled at his father's distress; he thought no grown-up person +ever cried; but his whole being quivered afresh with loving devotion to +the father who now had only himself and True to comfort him. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap10"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Chapter X. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +'WE'RE GOING TO FIND A GOVERNESS!' +</H3> + +<P> +Those were strange sad days to Bobby and True. But one engrossing +thought helped them along, and that was how they could be a comfort to +their father. Margot ordered the household. Mr. Allonby came in and +out, speaking little to anyone. He took long walks by himself, and +would shut himself up for hours in his den writing, or trying to write, +the book that was going to bring him a fortune. +</P> + +<P> +Autumn crept on; the days grew short, and dark, and at last Margot +ventured to have a talk with her master. +</P> + +<P> +'It will be about the children's schooling,' she said hesitatingly. +'Miss True is getting a big girl—and Master Bobby——' +</P> + +<P> +'Oh!' groaned her master, 'how am I to send them away from me? But I +am thinking over plans, Margot. I want to get away from this tiny +house. I think of going to London, and perhaps going abroad again. +Let the children run wild a little longer, then when we move to London +I can settle something.' +</P> + +<P> +Margot withdrew. She had said her say, and dreaded any change herself. +</P> + +<P> +One evening after their tea was over, Mr. Allonby broached the subject +to the children himself. The little sitting-room was very cosy in the +firelight. True was sitting with an air of immense importance trying +to darn a worsted sock of her father's. Margot had been giving her +lessons, and with a very big needle, and a thread that was so long that +it continually got itself into knots, she worked away at an alarming +looking hole in the heel. +</P> + +<P> +Bobby and Nobbles were lying on the hearthrug; they had been looking at +a picture-book together; but directly Mr. Allonby spoke, the book was +shut and Bobby was all attention. +</P> + +<P> +'I'm afraid your idle time must soon come to an end,' he said. 'Margot +is reminding me what little dunces you are. Can either of you read a +book properly yet?' +</P> + +<P> +'I can,' said True. 'I read to Bobby often; but I'm rather tired of my +books. I know them all by heart.' +</P> + +<P> +'I can nearly read,' said Bobby. 'I reads to Nobbles often.' +</P> + +<P> +'Oh, that's only your make up!' said True, a little scornfully. 'You +can't read long words at all; you know you can't. But, dad, you won't +send us to school, will you—not away from you?' +</P> + +<P> +'I'm afraid I must.' +</P> + +<P> +Bobby's look of horror made his father smile. He lifted him upon his +knee. +</P> + +<P> +'Every boy goes to school, Bobby. You don't want to be a baby always, +do you?' +</P> + +<P> +'Mother said,' asserted Bobby gravely, 'that I was to be your little +kerpanion; she didn't want me never to leave you.' +</P> + +<P> +'You're a first-rate little companion, sonny. I shall miss you very +much; but I must think of your good first. There don't seem to be any +nice schools near here, nor do I know of anyone who would come and +teach you for an hour or two. And I can't afford to live on here. I +must go to London, I think, and set to work at something. I heard +to-day from an old friend of mine who wants me to join another +exploring party. Perhaps I may do this. In any case I fear our little +home will be broken up.' +</P> + +<P> +Bobby looked up into his father's face with a quivering under lip. +</P> + +<P> +'Are you going to send me back to grandmother? I've had such a tiny, +weeny time with you. I reely don't think I'll live away from you, +father, again. I couldn't expeck and expeck every day for you to come +back to me, and then have you never come. And I'll promise true and +faithful to be good if you'll take me with you.' +</P> + +<P> +'And I promised mother faithful I'd have a comf'able home for you +always, dad. She told me I was to. I don't think she'd like it at all +if we was sent away from you.' +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Allonby looked at the eager children's faces thoughtfully. +</P> + +<P> +'I shouldn't be going abroad till the spring. If I could find someone +to teach you we might be together for the winter. But I can't stay +here. I must be nearer town. We never meant to stay here after the +autumn. We came down because of my health. I am well now. Perhaps I +can get some cheap lodgings just out of town, where Margot would look +after you. We will see.' +</P> + +<P> +'That will be very nice,' said True, darning away with increased speed +and importance. 'I'm growing awfully fast, dad, and I'll be able to +look after the lodgings for you.' +</P> + +<P> +'And you won't never send me back to grandmother's?' said Bobby +anxiously. +</P> + +<P> +No, indeed, I won't. I heard to-day, by-the-bye, that your grandmother +was very ill.' +</P> + +<P> +Bobby did not speak for a minute. Then he said slowly: +</P> + +<P> +'I wonder if she'd like to see me afore she dies.' +</P> + +<P> +'Oh, we won't think she is as bad as that,' said his father cheerfully. +</P> + +<P> +He went up to London the next day, and stayed away three whole days. +True and Bobby felt very forlorn. They quarrelled a good deal, and +Margot at last lost patience with them. +</P> + +<P> +'Ain't you ashamed of yourselves? And the grass not green yet on your +mother's grave. What must she think if she's allowed to get a glimpse +of you?' +</P> + +<P> +'It's all Bobby; he's so mastering,' said True; 'and I'm the oldest; +and he ought to do what I tell him.' +</P> + +<P> +'And you angerise me,' said Bobby, determined to use as long words as +True did; 'and you make my white dress all dirty. I try to be ever so +good; but you go on and on, and I'm getting wickeder and wickeder!' +</P> + +<P> +A little sob came up in his throat. Bobby had the sincere desire to be +good, but he found it very hard to knock under to True, who was quite +determined in her own mind that she ought to be the ruler. +</P> + +<P> +They welcomed their father back joyfully. He seemed very tired, but +more cheerful than he had been for a long time. +</P> + +<P> +'I have found some rooms in West Kensington quite cheap, and I really +think we shall be very comfortable there. It will be cheaper than +living out of town. I can only manage three rooms; but Margot will +have one with you, True, and Bobby and I will have the other; and +there's quite a nice front sitting-room. You will be able to watch all +the traffic in the street from its window. +</P> + +<P> +'Are you very, very poor, dad?' asked True. +</P> + +<P> +'I have enough to keep you in food and clothes,' said Mr. Allonby, 'and +for schooling, I hope; but it will be a tight fit until I get my book +written.' +</P> + +<P> +Margot sighed when she heard they were to go to London, but True and +Bobby were delighted. They enjoyed the bustle of packing; and when, +one dull November day, they were whirled away in the train towards +their new home they were beside themselves with delight. It was dark +when they got out of the train. The drive across London in a cab +through the brilliantly lighted streets was enchanting to them; and +when they reached their lodgings, and were allowed to sit up to a late +supper with their father, consisting of mutton-chops and cheese and +pickles, Bobby informed his father that it was better than any birthday +treat. +</P> + +<P> +They went to bed very happy but very tired, and for the next few days +the novelty of their surroundings kept them quiet and good. Bobby had +a real thirst for information, and, when his father took him out, +proved a very interesting little companion. True was delighted to go +shopping with Margot, who was so disgusted with the landlady's cooking, +and so miserable at having so little housework to do, that she never +gave Mr. Allonby any rest till he arranged that she should have the use +of the kitchen stove for a part of the day. +</P> + +<P> +It was about the second week after their arrival that Bobby heard of +his grandmother's death. It awed him, but did not affect him much. +She had never shown any love for him, and was almost a stranger to him. +But he was surprised when he had a letter from his old nurse telling +him that his uncle and aunt were going to leave the house, and his +Uncle Mortimer coming home from India to take possession of it. +</P> + +<P> +'I should like to see Master Mortimer again,' Bobby said; 'me and +Nobbles was so very fond of him.' +</P> + +<P> +'I don't know what he will do with himself in that big house,' said Mr. +Allonby. 'He ought to get married if he settles down there.' +</P> + +<P> +'It is not a very nice house,' Bobby asserted gravely; 'it's so stiff +and partic'lar, and all the chairs and furnesher are so proper. I +always have to go on tiptoe. But Master Mortimer did used to play +hide-and-seek with me in the garden. But I don't want never to go back +again.' +</P> + +<P> +'It's time you were at school, sonny; your grammar doesn't improve. I +wish I could hear of someone who would teach you; but I'm afraid it +must be school.' +</P> + +<P> +Now True and Bobby had decided together that school was a horrible +place, and at all costs they must try to keep from going to it. They +had many an anxious talk about it, and at last, one morning after Mr. +Allonby had gone out for the day and left them to their own devices, +True announced her plan. +</P> + +<P> +'We'll find a nice kind of governess ourselves, Bobby. Come and look +out of the window. Why, there must be millions and billions of +governesses in London! We'll go out by ourselves and find one. Wait +till Margot has gone down to the kitchen, and then we won't say +anything to anyone, but will go out and get one.' +</P> + +<P> +Bobby clapped his hands. 'I should fink they would keep some in a +shop,' he said; but True did not feel at all sure about this. +</P> + +<P> +They accomplished their design most satisfactorily, and, wrapped up in +their warm coats, they slipped downstairs and down into the street +without being noticed. +</P> + +<P> +'Now where shall we find one?' enquired Bobby. +</P> + +<P> +'We'll go in a 'bus,' said True. 'I've brought some pennies, and the +'busman will tell us where to go.' +</P> + +<P> +'Let Nobbles call one,' said Bobby eagerly; 'that's what father always +does, holds up his stick, and they waits till we get in.' +</P> + +<P> +So Nobbles was waved frantically in the air when the first 'bus +appeared. +</P> + +<P> +And though it was not at the proper starting point, the driver saw the +two small children and good-naturedly pulled up for them. They were +helped in by the conductor. There were only three other people inside, +an old lady, a young girl, and a man. The shining, radiant faces of +True and Bobby attracted attention; still more their whispered +conversation. +</P> + +<P> +'She must be very cheap. Dad has <I>so</I> little money.' +</P> + +<P> +This from True, with great emphasis. +</P> + +<P> +'And she must be very smiling, and 'stremely fond of me and Nobbles.' +</P> + +<P> +This from Bobby, with a wise nod of his curly head. +</P> + +<P> +'We'll choose the one we like best,' said True. +</P> + +<P> +And then they were asked by the conductor for their money. +</P> + +<P> +'We'll have a white ticket please,' said True grandly. +</P> + +<P> +'Oh, I likes the pink ones best,' exclaimed Bobby eagerly. +</P> + +<P> +The conductor eyed them with some amusement. +</P> + +<P> +'Where do you want to go?' +</P> + +<P> +Bobby was silent, and so was True for a minute, then she said: +</P> + +<P> +'We want to go to the place where they keep governesses.' +</P> + +<P> +The three other passengers looked at the children in astonishment; the +conductor laughed. +</P> + +<P> +'Did your mother send you?' he asked. +</P> + +<P> +True looked down upon her black frock and then up at him. +</P> + +<P> +'Don't you know that mother is dead?' she said. 'That's what I wear my +black frock for.' +</P> + +<P> +'Do you know your way about London, little girl? You are very small to +be out alone.' +</P> + +<P> +It was the old lady who spoke. +</P> + +<P> +'The 'busmen and policemen always know,' said True cheerfully. 'Dad +told us so.' +</P> + +<P> +'Oh, you have a father——' +</P> + +<P> +'Come,' said the conductor, interrupting, 'give me your pennies; you'd +best get out at the next stop and go home again.' +</P> + +<P> +'We're going to find a gov'ness,' said Bobby, glaring at the conductor +rather angrily. +</P> + +<P> +The young girl looked at him over the book she was reading. +</P> + +<P> +'You want a registry,' she said. 'There's a good one in Kensington +High Street. I'll show it to you if you get out with me.' +</P> + +<P> +True looked relieved. +</P> + +<P> +'Is that the place where you find them?' she asked. +</P> + +<P> +'I never heard of such a thing as children looking for a governess!' +ejaculated the old lady. 'Poor little motherless things, their father +ought to be ashamed of himself sending them out on such an errand!' +</P> + +<P> +'Dad didn't send us,' said True, feeling she must defend her father at +all costs. 'We knew he wanted us to have one, so we came ourselves.' +</P> + +<P> +'And then we won't be sent to school,' put in Bobby. +</P> + +<P> +True gave him a sharp nudge with her elbow. +</P> + +<P> +'Don't talk so much,' she said. +</P> + +<P> +Bobby subsided meekly. He felt this strange experience was rather +bewildering, and wondered at True's calm composure. +</P> + +<P> +'I'll help you to find one,' said the young girl. 'I'm studying to be +one myself, so I know the sort you ought to have.' +</P> + +<P> +True looked at her with interest. She was in a shabby blue serge coat +and skirt, but she wore a bunch of violets in her buttonhole. Her hat +was dark blue, her gloves were white worsted ones, and her face was +bright and smiling. Her whole appearance was pleasant. When she got +up to go, she held out her hands to them. +</P> + +<P> +'Come on. I'll show you where governesses can be found, and perhaps +help you choose one. It will be great fun!' +</P> + +<P> +True and Bobby followed her delightedly. The old lady shook her head +after them with a sigh. +</P> + +<P> +'The irresponsibility of men! It's to be hoped that young person won't +decoy them away and rob them. I think we ought to have handed them +over to the police to see them safely home.' +</P> + +<P> +The man at the farther end of the 'bus spoke for the first time. As +the old lady addressed him he was obliged to do so. +</P> + +<P> +'The rising generation can soon dispense with their fathers,' he said. +'Those are small specimens of a type.' +</P> + +<P> +Meanwhile the girl in blue serge had walked True and Bobby up a side +street, and in at an office door. +</P> + +<P> +'This is one of the best registries in this part of the world,' she +said. 'Now we'll tell Mrs. Marsh what you want, and see if she knows +of one. When I get the certificates I am working for, I mean to come +to her to find me a situation.' +</P> + +<P> +An elderly woman behind a table looked up at them as they entered. The +girl spoke to her brightly. +</P> + +<P> +'Good morning, Mrs. Marsh. I have brought you two young people who +want a governess. I don't know whether they can pay your fees. But +perhaps you can make that right with their father.' +</P> + +<P> +'We want a very cheap governess,' said True, looking up anxiously into +Mrs. Marsh's face. 'Dad is very poor, but he'll pay her something.' +</P> + +<P> +'I think your father will have to write me some particulars,' said Mrs. +Marsh, looking at the small children with some amusement. +</P> + +<P> +Oh, we'll be able to choose her,' cried Bobby. 'She must be 'ticularly +kind and nice.' +</P> + +<P> +'And what will she have to do?' +</P> + +<P> +Bobby looked at True. +</P> + +<P> +'<I>You</I> say. She'll teach me to read, won't she?' +</P> + +<P> +True tried hard to put on a grown-up air. She did not like Mrs. +Marsh's amused smile at all. +</P> + +<P> +'Margot says we ought to have a governess to teach us in the morning, +and we shan't do any lessons in the afternoon; and she mustn't stay to +dinner, because Margot says she doesn't know how to cook for us; we +seem to eat more than we ought to. And she mustn't have a cross face, +and mustn't wear spectacles.' +</P> + +<P> +'And she must be 'normously fond of Nobbles,' said Bobby, thrusting +Nobbles' ugly little face up close to Mrs. Marsh's. +</P> + +<P> +'And we're to learn French and sums—and—dancing,' said True, suddenly +struck with a bright thought. +</P> + +<P> +'Yes,' exclaimed Bobby, with a beaming smile, 'dancing, o' course, +mostly dancing, me and Nobbles finks!' +</P> + +<P> +The young lady in a blue serge broke into a rippling laugh. +</P> + +<P> +'Oh, Mrs. Marsh, I wish I could teach them myself. Aren't they +delicious!' +</P> + +<P> +'Well, why shouldn't you?' said Mrs. Marsh, looking at the speaker with +good-natured interest. +</P> + +<P> +'But you were the one to advise me to stick to my studies,' said the +girl. 'You said I could never command any salary worth having till I +was thoroughly certificated.' +</P> + +<P> +'Yes, I did say so, Miss Robsart; but you could give these children a +couple of hours every morning and still pursue your studies.' +</P> + +<P> +The girl turned to the children. +</P> + +<P> +'Do you think I would do?' she said, a pink colour coming into her +cheeks and making her look very pretty. 'I could come to you from ten +o'clock to half-past twelve every day. We could get through a lot of +lessons in that time.' +</P> + +<P> +True looked up at her with rapturous eyes. +</P> + +<P> +'Me and Bobby would love you!' she said. 'Oh, please come straight +back with us, and tell dad you'll come.' +</P> + +<P> +Two other ladies entered the office at this juncture. Mrs. Marsh +dismissed the children hurriedly. +</P> + +<P> +'There, run along, my dears. There'll be no fees; and you couldn't +have a kinder lady than Miss Robsart to teach you; and tell your father +that her father was vicar of our church near here many years ago, and +she's the nicest young lady I know.' +</P> + +<P> +The children hurried out with their new friend. +</P> + +<P> +'There, Bobby!' True said, a little triumphantly. 'See how easy it is +to find a governess!' +</P> + +<P> +And Bobby took hold of Miss Robsart's hand confidingly. +</P> + +<P> +'Me and Nobbles likes you 'ticularly,' he said. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap11"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Chapter XI. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +BOBBY'S VISITOR. +</H3> + +<P> +Mr. Allonby had been considerably startled by many things that the +children had said and done, but he was never more so than when they +appeared before him in the sitting-room with a strange young lady. He +had not been in long, and thought they were with Margot. Miss Robsart +began to feel a little uncomfortable when she realised her position. +</P> + +<P> +'It's a guv'ness,' Bobby said eagerly; 'me and True went out and finded +her ourselves, and she'll come to teach us all the morning.' +</P> + +<P> +'We do so hope you'll like her, dad, because we do. We thought we'd +get her as a surprise for you.' +</P> + +<P> +'I really——' began Mr. Allonby, then his eyes met Miss Robsart's and +they both laughed aloud. +</P> + +<P> +'I must explain myself,' she said, checking her laugh and speaking +hastily and nervously 'I met your little boy and girl in a 'bus and +heard them say they had come out to look for a governess. Of course +they had not the smallest idea how to set about it, so I took them to a +very good registry. I fancied you must have been wanting to have one +from what they said, and then, as we were all talking about it, I +wondered if I could undertake the situation myself. I am very anxious +to earn something, as I have an invalid sister at home, and we are very +badly off. I can give you good references. My father was a clergyman. +I have been educated in the Kensington High School. +</P> + +<P> +She stopped. Mr. Allonby drew a chair forward for her, then turned to +the children. +</P> + +<P> +'I don't know what you two scamps have been doing,' he said; 'something +of which I had no conception, I know; but I should like to have a talk +with this lady, and you can both go off to Margot, who must be +wondering where you are.' +</P> + +<P> +True and Bobby obeyed instantly. They were extremely pleased with +themselves, and burst in upon Margot, who was in the bedroom tidying +herself to bring in dinner. +</P> + +<P> +'We've got ourselves a governess, Margot.' +</P> + +<P> +'We finded her in a 'bus.' +</P> + +<P> +'She has a smiling face and doesn't wear spectacles or grey hair.' +</P> + +<P> +'She'll teach us to dance round the room.' +</P> + +<P> +'She's talking to dad now; and I believe she will be cheap, because we +told her she must be.' +</P> + +<P> +'And me and Nobbles loves her already.' +</P> + +<P> +Margot put her hands up to her ears. +</P> + +<P> +'I think you're quite demented!' she said. 'You've never been out in +the streets alone?' +</P> + +<P> +'We went in a 'bus.' +</P> + +<P> +They told their tale. Margot was horrified at their daring. +</P> + +<P> +'You've picked up a strange young woman in the streets and brought her +here? She'll maybe belong to a band of burglars! Your poor father is +too easy-going. To think of his talking to her at all! Let me see the +young hussy, and I'll send her packing! To trade on your innocence in +such a fashion!' +</P> + +<P> +Margot grew quite vehement. +</P> + +<P> +True tried to soothe her. +</P> + +<P> +'You don't understand. You haven't seen her. Oh, come downstairs and +just look at her.' +</P> + +<P> +'I'm going this very minute. I have to lay the cloth for dinner. 'Tis +time she was off; and it's well you've got one person who's wide awake +to look after you all in this wicked London!' +</P> + +<P> +Margot stumped down the stairs, her cap quivering with excitement. The +children hung over the banisters watching her. They saw the +sitting-room door open, and Miss Robsart came out. +</P> + +<P> +'Then I will send you my references tomorrow morning. I shall prefer +to do so. Good morning.' +</P> + +<P> +'Margot, show this lady out.' +</P> + +<P> +It was their father who spoke, and Margot moved down the passage +slowly. She opened the hall door and eyed Miss Robsart up and down +with grim eyes and lips, then she suddenly followed her out on the +door-step and half closed the door behind her. +</P> + +<P> +'She's scolding her,' said True. +</P> + +<P> +They waited anxiously. Presently Margot came in and shut the door. +She shook her head doubtfully, then went into the sitting-room, and the +children heard a long conversation going on between her and their +father. When they came to the dinner-table with him, True asked him, +'Did Margot say nasty things about our governess?' +</P> + +<P> +'Our governess, indeed!' +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Allonby leant back in his chair and gave one of his hearty laughs. +</P> + +<P> +'Margot told her she was a wolf in sheep's clothing, I believe. I +don't know what she'll say when she knows. I have practically engaged +her on the strength of her frank honest face and gentle voice. Fortune +favoured you, young pickles, for you tumbled against the right sort. +She may not be very learned or experienced, but she knows enough to +teach you, and I am glad to have the thing settled.' +</P> + +<P> +The children clapped their hands. +</P> + +<P> +'She's coming, and we won't have to go to school.' +</P> + +<P> +'I'll keep you with me this winter, but I shall really have to take an +extra room for my writing; this one sitting-room will never hold us +all.' +</P> + +<P> +A few letters with references passed between Miss Robsart and Mr. +Allonby, and then, in spite of Margot's prejudice, she came every +morning and gave the children their lessons. +</P> + +<P> +The novelty kept them good. Miss Robsart was young and bright, and had +a real love for children, and a gift for imparting knowledge, so things +went smoothly. Mr. Allonby took himself and his writing into a small +back room, which was the delight of True's heart. She dusted it, and +tidied it, and cleaned everything she could lay her hands upon. Bobby +was jealous of the time she spent in there. +</P> + +<P> +'I ought to be there more than you,' he argued; 'it's a man's room.' +</P> + +<P> +'Mother told me I was to keep dad's rooms tidy, and I will, and dad +likes me to do it.' +</P> + +<P> +'I could clean his brass fender, I'm sure.' +</P> + +<P> +'No you couldn't; only girls can clean; boys can't, never!' +</P> + +<P> +'Boys clean shop windows and sweep floors, I've seen them.' +</P> + +<P> +'Well, anyhow you can't, you don't know how, and mother said I was to.' +</P> + +<P> +This unanswerable argument always crushed Bobby. +</P> + +<P> +Saturday afternoons were a great delight to the children, for Mr. +Allonby always gave himself up to them then, and took them out with him +sight-seeing. They visited the Zoo in this way, the Tower, Madame +Tussaud's, the British Museum, St. Paul's, and Westminster Abbey, and +many other places of interest and amusement. +</P> + +<P> +On Sunday morning their father always took them to church. In the +afternoon he would smoke in his little study; and they were allowed to +be with him, and have their tea there as a treat. Occasionally Mr. +Allonby would try to give them a Bible lesson; very often they would +tell him a Bible story. +</P> + +<P> +'I want to bring you up as your mother would have done,' he said to +True one day. +</P> + +<P> +'We'll bring ourselves along, dad,' she responded cheerfully; 'we're +trying hard to be good, and we pray to God to manage us when we can't +remember in time.' +</P> + +<P> +'Father,' said Bobby one Sunday afternoon, 'do you fink I could ever +save your life?' +</P> + +<P> +'I don't know, I'm sure, sonny. What makes you ask?' +</P> + +<P> +'In my reading lesson yesterday—it was about the mouse who saved a +lion—it was very difficult to think how he could; but he reely did it, +didn't he?' +</P> + +<P> +'Yes, and I suppose you think it applies to you. Well, now, let us +think. I must be put in prison somewhere, and you must come and let me +out.' +</P> + +<P> +'But you'd have to be wicked to be put in prison,' objected True. 'You +couldn't be wicked, dad.' +</P> + +<P> +'I hope I couldn't, but I don't know. I think I would rather not get +into such a scrape, Bobby.' +</P> + +<P> +'I should like to do somefing for you,' said Bobby with wistful eyes. +</P> + +<P> +'Why?' asked his father. +</P> + +<P> +Bobby coloured up. If he had followed his natural instinct he would +have flung himself into his father's arms and exclaimed, 'Because I +love you so.' +</P> + +<P> +But Mr. Allonby was not a demonstrative father, and Bobby was learning +to control and hide his feelings. +</P> + +<P> +'Well, I promise you, sonny, to call upon you when I do get into +trouble,' said Mr. Allonby, with a twinkle in his eye. +</P> + +<P> +And Bobby hugged this promise to his heart and waited in content. +</P> + +<P> +One afternoon True and he were looking out of the sitting-room window +very disconsolately. It was raining fast, and Mr. Allonby had that day +gone away to see a friend in the country. He was not coming back for +two or three days. Margot was in one of her cross moods. She had +taken the opportunity to have a thorough clean and turn out of the two +bedrooms, and had forbidden the children to leave the sitting-room for +the whole afternoon. +</P> + +<P> +'It's like a prison,' said True rebelliously. 'I hate being shut up in +one room. Mother never did. I could run in and out all day long. I +hate this old London. I should like to be in the country. I'll run +away one day if Margot keeps shutting me up.' +</P> + +<P> +'Where will you go?' asked Bobby, with interest. +</P> + +<P> +'I'll go to the railway station and get into a railway train and stay +in it till it gets quite to the end of the journey, and then I'd get +out.' +</P> + +<P> +'And where would that be?' +</P> + +<P> +True considered. +</P> + +<P> +'The very end of England, I s'pose—near the sea.' +</P> + +<P> +'I've never seen the sea,' said Bobby. +</P> + +<P> +'Fancy! Why we came right through it all the way from 'Merica. I'll +ask dad to take us to the seashore one day. He loves a day out, and so +do I. I wish he had his motor.' +</P> + +<P> +'Yes,' sighed Bobby, 'we never does nothing nice now, and if it hadn't +been for this horrid old rain we'd have gone to tea with Miss Robsart.' +</P> + +<P> +'Well, p'raps she'll ask us to-morrow. Look at that funny old woman, +Bobby, she's trying to hold up her umbrella and drag her dog with a +string and hold up her dress with the same hand. There! Now look, the +dog has got between her legs! Oh, there she goes! Oh, look! she's +tumbled right over, and there's a gentleman picking her up!' +</P> + +<P> +Bobby pressed his face against the glass to see the catastrophe. Then +he started. +</P> + +<P> +'It—it strikes me that's Master Mortimer.' +</P> + +<P> +'Oh, where? Isn't he your uncle?' +</P> + +<P> +'Yes, it's him! It's him! Oh, True, let's run out and bring him in!' +</P> + +<P> +'Is it the gentleman who picked the old lady up? He's looking across +at this house now. He's coming, Bobby, he's coming to see us!' +</P> + +<P> +Bobby rushed to the hall door. He was so excited that he hardly knew +if he was on his head or heels, and he literally tumbled down off the +doorsteps into his uncle's arms. +</P> + +<P> +'Well, well! This is a welcome! Hold on little man, you'll have me +over if you don't take care. Let's come inside and do the +affectionate, or we shall be collecting a crowd. Why, who is this?' +</P> + +<P> +'She's True, she's a kind of sister,' explained Bobby, pulling his +uncle breathlessly into the sitting-room and shutting the door. 'Oh, +we do want you to sit down and talk to us; me and Nobbles is 'normously +glad to see you!' +</P> + +<P> +'Ah! where is that young gentleman? I see he looks gayer than ever. +Now give an account of yourself and this wonderful father of yours.' +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Mortimer Egerton was taking off his great-coat as he spoke. He +stepped out into the narrow hall and hung it up deliberately on the +hall pegs there; then he returned to the sitting-room and sat down in +the one easy-chair that it possessed, and pulled Bobby in between his +knees. +</P> + +<P> +'Let us see what freedom and fatherly care has done for you,' he said. +'Now, then, tell your story. Did your father come to you in the good +old style? Is he here now?' +</P> + +<P> +Bobby began to tell his tale very rapidly and eagerly, with shining +eyes and burning cheeks. Occasionally True corrected or added to his +statements. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Egerton listened with laughter in his eyes; gravity settled there +when he heard of Mrs. Allonby's death; but when he heard of the find of +the governess he was enchanted. +</P> + +<P> +'And now,' he said, 'would you like to hear my news? Do you remember +Lady Isobel, Bobby?' +</P> + +<P> +'Of course I do. She sended me a beautiful picsher of the gates. +She's coming home from India very soon.' +</P> + +<P> +'Very soon, indeed! She arrived yesterday.' +</P> + +<P> +'Oh, Master Mortimer!' +</P> + +<P> +Bobby's rapt tone made his uncle laugh. +</P> + +<P> +'Why does Bobby always call you Master Mortimer? Aren't you his +uncle?' enquired True. +</P> + +<P> +'It's a way he has. We understand each other. Well, I'll go on with +my news. Lady Isobel thinks it would be very nice to live in the old +house, Bobby, where we saw each other first, so we've arranged to live +there together.' +</P> + +<P> +'In grandmother's house?' questioned Bobby, with perplexed eyes. 'I +don't fink it's a nice house enough for Lady Is'bel.' +</P> + +<P> +'Oh, we'll make it nice; we'll have boys and girls to stay with us to +play hide-and-seek with. We'll chase each other round every room.' +</P> + +<P> +'And knock over the big chairs,' cried Bobby, 'and slide the banisters, +and make as much noise as ever they likes? Oh, Master Mortimer, will +you ask me to spend a day?' +</P> + +<P> +'A good many days after we're settled in.' +</P> + +<P> +'And when will that be?' +</P> + +<P> +'Well, you see, we shall have to get married first, and that takes +time. I think you'll have to come to the wedding.' +</P> + +<P> +Bobby's face was a picture of shining joy. +</P> + +<P> +'I finks your news is lovely. Me and Nobbles have never been to a +wedding.' +</P> + +<P> +'Will you ask me, too?' asked True. +</P> + +<P> +'Yes, I will. I want to have it very soon, and here in London; but +Lady Isobel wants to wait a little. If you persuade her to let me have +my way, Bobby, I'll give you seven slices of our wedding cake—one to +be taken every day for a week!' +</P> + +<P> +'When shall I see her?' +</P> + +<P> +'I'll bring her to see you to-morrow.' +</P> + +<P> +'How did you find us out?' +</P> + +<P> +'I got your address from your aunt. Any more questions?' +</P> + +<P> +'Do you know Margot?' +</P> + +<P> +'I have not that pleasure.' +</P> + +<P> +Bobby looked at True apprehensively, and True said hastily: +</P> + +<P> +'He's afraid Margot will come in and find you here. She'll be coming +in with our tea soon, and she said Miss Robsart was a burglar. Margot +thinks everybody is a burglar in London!' +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Egerton got up from his chair, and pretended to be seized with a +fit of trembling. +</P> + +<P> +'Can you hide me anywhere? I'm so frightened of her. Tell me if you +hear her coming.' +</P> + +<P> +'Oh, let's hide him, True! It will be such fun. I hear her thumping +downstairs. Oh, where shall we put him?' +</P> + +<P> +True looked wildly round the room. +</P> + +<P> +'There are no big cupboards. Under the table, quick! Quick, or she'll +see you!' +</P> + +<P> +'I'm afraid I couldn't crumple up small enough,' said Mr. Egerton, +looking at his long legs and the small round table in front of him. +</P> + +<P> +'Behind the door!' cried Bobby. 'Oh, make haste; she's coming!' +</P> + +<P> +When Margot came into the room three minutes later she said: +</P> + +<P> +'What a noise you children have been making. I thought you must have +someone with you; it sounded like a man's voice.' +</P> + +<P> +Bobby's cheeks were scarlet. True began to laugh nervously. +</P> + +<P> +'Give us something very nice for tea, Margot, in case a visitor comes +to see us,' she said. +</P> + +<P> +'Why, who would come, you silly children, a wet day like this?' +</P> + +<P> +Margot was producing a white cloth from the chiffonier drawer, and +taking out cups and saucers from the cupboard below it. +</P> + +<P> +'And you'll have no visitors whilst your father is away, you may be +pretty sure,' Margot continued. 'Give me London for loneliness, I say.' +</P> + +<P> +She went out of the room and down to the kitchen. Bobby and True burst +into peals of happy childish laughter. +</P> + +<P> +'You are a good hider; she never saw you.' +</P> + +<P> +'No,' said Mr. Egerton, coming out from behind the door and sitting +down in the easy-chair; 'I know how to keep quiet when I'm hiding, but +I can't keep it up for long. She'll get you some cake for tea if she +sees me, so I won't hide any more.' +</P> + +<P> +Margot's face was a picture when she returned. +</P> + +<P> +'I haven't the pleasure of knowing you, sir!' she said sternly, after a +severe scrutiny. +</P> + +<P> +The children kept a breathless silence. They felt that 'Master +Mortimer' would be quite equal to Margot. His very coolness inspired +them with confidence. +</P> + +<P> +'I'm not a burglar,' he said smiling; 'I'm a genuine relation. Bobby +and I are old friends. I'm his mother's brother.' +</P> + +<P> +Margot dropped an old-fashioned curtsy, but she looked rather puzzled; +and then Bobby took courage and explained. +</P> + +<P> +'He's my uncle Mortimer, Margot; and he's comed to see me, and we sawed +him out of the window and opened the door to him, and then we was +afraid you wouldn't like him, so we put him to hide behind the door. +And he's come from India, and we're asked to the wedding, and Lady +Is'bel will be here to see us tomorrow. Isn't it all puffickly +splendid!' +</P> + +<P> +'And we thought you might give us cake for tea, please,' said Mr. +Egerton, with twinkling eyes. +</P> + +<P> +'Oh,' whispered True to Bobby, 'he's the most 'licious man I've ever +seen!' +</P> + +<P> +And Bobby nodded emphatically to such a statement. +</P> + +<P> +Margot lost her suspicious look when Mr. Egerton turned to her and +talked to her. She knew a gentleman when she saw him, and she produced +cakes and hot-buttered toast, and smiled as she waited upon the merry +little party. +</P> + +<P> +Bobby was in the seventh heaven of delight, and when he went to bed he +confided to Nobbles, 'I even feel, Nobbles dear, that I wouldn't mind +if me and you wented back to the House, for with Master Mortimer and +Lady Is'bel there, we shouldn't have to step on tiptoes any more.' +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap12"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Chapter XII. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +'A DELIGHTFUL TIME.' +</H3> + +<P> +When Miss Robsart came the next morning she found her pupils in a great +state of excitement, and she seemed quite as interested as they were in +their news. +</P> + +<P> +'I wish I could give you a holiday,' she said; 'and I should like one +myself, but it wouldn't be right, so we'll set to work and get lessons +done as quickly as possible, and then you'll be ready for your uncle if +he comes again.' +</P> + +<P> +'And,' suggested Bobby earnestly, 'you'll put down a nice short little +sum for me to do, mostly twos and fours; me and Nobbles does not like +the figures past six, they want such a lot of finking about.' +</P> + +<P> +Miss Robsart laughed, but promised she would do the best she could, and +lessons went very smoothly on the whole. When they were finished she +said a little wistfully: +</P> + +<P> +'I was hoping you would come to tea with me this afternoon, my sister +wants to see you; but now your uncle and this Lady Isobel has arrived, +you will be occupied with them.' +</P> + +<P> +'I expecks we shall have tea with them today,' said Bobby. +</P> + +<P> +'Will you ask us another day?' asked True. 'Isn't it funny? Yesterday +we were quite miserable because nothing nice was happening, and to-day +we're too full. But Bobby and I want to come to tea with you very +much, we reely do, and we'll ask if you may come to the wedding.' +</P> + +<P> +She jumped up from her chair and gave Miss Robsart a loving hug as she +spoke, and Bobby forthwith followed her example. Miss Robsart went +away from them with a cheerful face. +</P> + +<P> +Margot dressed them in their best clothes directly their dinner was +over. It was in honour of Lady Isobel's expected visit. +</P> + +<P> +'We haven't had a lady of title to the house since we've been in +England,' said Margot reflectively. I can't say I've run up much +against them, but I believe they're pretty much the same as other +folks; still a lady is a lady, and I wants her to see you looking like +your dear mother would have you, and you just sit still, now you're +clean, and don't dirty yourselves up with playing about.' +</P> + +<P> +'It's like the story mother told us of the two little girls with their +clean frocks,' said True. +</P> + +<P> +'Yes,' responded Bobby; 'I wonder how our inside frocks are to-day, +True.' +</P> + +<P> +True shook her head doubtfully. +</P> + +<P> +'I s'pose God has such <I>very</I> good eyes He always sees spots and +stains; but I don't think mine is very bad to-day. I can't remember +anything just now.' +</P> + +<P> +'Oh, I can. You stamped when the comb pulled your hair!' +</P> + +<P> +'A stamp wouldn't make a very black mark,' said True. 'You were +beating the sofa with Nobbles this morning, and Mrs. Dodds would be +awful angry if she knew.' +</P> + +<P> +'That was Nobbles.' +</P> + +<P> +'Ah, that's another spot on your dress; you're making 'scuses, and +blaming Nobbles when it was reely you.' +</P> + +<P> +Bobby hastily changed the conversation, and then there was a knock and +ring at the hall door, and in another moment Mr. Egerton and Lady +Isobel were in the room, and Bobby was in the arms of his friend. She +looked younger and prettier than when he saw her last. She was in a +long white coat and black hat. A big bunch of violets was in her +button-hole. +</P> + +<P> +'Oh, Bobby, you darling, how glad I am to see you again! I can hardly +believe I may one day be your aunt.' +</P> + +<P> +'That day will very soon be here,' said Mr. Egerton. +</P> + +<P> +She laughed, and a pink colour stole into her cheeks. +</P> + +<P> +Bobby's arms were tightly clasped round her neck. +</P> + +<P> +'I never did forget you,' he assured her, 'not before your letter came; +and my picsher is lovelly.' +</P> + +<P> +'And who is this little girl? Is she your little step-sister? How +delightful to have a playfellow. May I have a kiss, dear?' +</P> + +<P> +True willingly submitted to be embraced. +</P> + +<P> +This sweet looking lady won her heart at once. +</P> + +<P> +Then Nobbles was brought forward, and Lady Isobel kissed his little +ugly face. +</P> + +<P> +'Oh, how often have I thought of you and Nobbles when I was so far away +from you!' she said, sitting down and drawing Bobby to her. 'And do +you know, I think it was you who brought your uncle to me. He wanted +to hear about you——' +</P> + +<P> +'Oh, come,' interrupted Mr. Egerton, 'we were old friends; you stole my +best caterpillar when you were a girl. I remember to this day my wrath +when you made your confession.' +</P> + +<P> +'Yes,' said Lady Isobel laughing; 'and I remember why I did it. +Because you tied my best doll round the neck of our old gander, and he +drowned her in a pond.' +</P> + +<P> +The children were enchanted at these reminiscences, but a shadow almost +immediately fell on Lady Isobel's face. +</P> + +<P> +'Ah,' she said with a little sigh, 'that was many years ago. I have +been through a good deal since then.' +</P> + +<P> +'And are you reely going to live in grandmother's house?' questioned +Bobby. +</P> + +<P> +'Your uncle wants to,' said Lady Isobel softly, looking across at Mr. +Egerton as she spoke. 'It is his old home, Bobby; he played in your +nursery many years ago.' +</P> + +<P> +'Yes, I know,' said Bobby. 'Tom said "Master Mortimer be a merry young +gentleman."' +</P> + +<P> +'Ah,' said Mr. Egerton, knitting his brows fiercely, 'wait till I catch +Tom cutting some of my shrubs, he won't find me very merry then.' +</P> + +<P> +'Don't you think you will like to pay us a visit one day, Bobby?' +</P> + +<P> +'I mustn't leave father,' said Bobby promptly. 'May he come too?' +</P> + +<P> +'If he likes; we shall be delighted to see him,' said Mr. Egerton. +'How I wish he was here. Does he have a big beard, Bobby?' +</P> + +<P> +'No, not a little bit of one.' +</P> + +<P> +'But that is quite wrong. You always told me he would wear a beard and +carry an axe and pistol in his belt.' +</P> + +<P> +'Yes,' said Bobby; 'me and Nobbles finked quite wrong about him; only +he's nicer and better and gooder than anybody else. And we sometimes +finks'—he dropped his voice and spoke in a hushed whisper—'that he is +nearly as kind as my Father—God.' +</P> + +<P> +No one spoke for a moment. Lady Isobel bent down and kissed the curly +head. +</P> + +<P> +'My little Bobby,' she said; 'how happy your father must be to have you +with him!' +</P> + +<P> +They talked for some time, and then the children were told that they +were going to be driven round to the hotel where Lady Isobel was +staying, and have tea with her. +</P> + +<P> +'I want you to know my great friend who has come all the way from India +just to see me married,' she said to Bobby with a laugh and blush. We +have often talked about you, so you must not feel her a stranger.' +</P> + +<P> +It was a delightful afternoon, and True enjoyed it as much as Bobby. +Lady Isobel's friend was a sweet-faced grey-haired lady who was very +fond of children, and knew how to talk to them. They had tea in a +private sitting-room, and came home laden with chocolates and sweets. +</P> + +<P> +'Margot, just listen! Bobby and I are going to be bride's-maid and +bride's-groom, and we shall walk up the church after the bride.' +</P> + +<P> +'I'm sure Master Bobby won't be the bridegroom,' said Margot. +</P> + +<P> +'No, she said a page,' corrected Bobby. 'What's that, Margot? I +thought it was a leaf of a book.' +</P> + +<P> +'We shall be all in white,' said True. +</P> + +<P> +'Like angels,' said Bobby. +</P> + +<P> +And so they chattered on, the only regret being the absence of their +father. +</P> + +<P> +The next day they had another excitement. They went to tea with Miss +Robsart. +</P> + +<P> +For some time past they had looked forward to this, and truth to tell, +Miss Robsart was quite as eager as they were for the treat. +</P> + +<P> +She called for them at four o'clock, and they walked to the house in +which she and her sister lodged. It was a quiet little street leading +out of Kensington High Street. She took them upstairs to a very pretty +sitting-room with three large windows in it, one of which was filled +with flowers and plants. By the fireside in an invalid chair was Miss +Robsart's sister. The children felt shy of her at first, but she had +such a bright smile and voice that they soon became at ease with her. +</P> + +<P> +'I have heard so much about you from my little sister Daisy that I feel +I know you already. Do you wonder that I call her little? I am ten +years older than she is, and she always seems a little girl to me.' +</P> + +<P> +'Now Kathleen, respect my office, and don't be giving me away to my +pupils. Bobby, show my sister your wonderful Nobbles, and tell her +about him while I get tea ready.' +</P> + +<P> +True was looking with admiring eyes round the room. On the walls hung +numbers of beautiful water-colour sketches; there was a piano, two +little love birds in a cage, some old carved furniture, and numbers of +pretty foreign curiosities. +</P> + +<P> +'I wish we had a room like this,' she said admiringly. +</P> + +<P> +'Ah! but you see this is our own furniture, and that makes such a +difference,' said their Miss Robsart. 'We took two unfurnished rooms +and put our own furniture into them, so of course it looks homey. And +all those pretty pictures were painted by my sister. Before she met +with her accident she used to go down to the country and sketch. She +longs to do it now, but we cannot manage it. Now would you like to +help me get out some cakes and jam from that cupboard for tea?' +</P> + +<P> +True was only too delighted to do something. Whilst Bobby chatted with +the elder sister she helped the younger to lay the tea. +</P> + +<P> +And then Miss Robsart was wheeled in her chair to the table, and Bobby +and True began to enjoy the jam and cakes provided for them. They +talked a good deal about Mr. Egerton and Lady Isobel, and the eldest +Miss Robsart asked Bobby about his grandmother's house in the country. +</P> + +<P> +'What a happy little boy you must have been,' she said, 'to have +enjoyed a country life! I used to live in the country when I was a +little girl, and I have never forgotten it.' +</P> + +<P> +'Why don't you live in the country now?' asked True. +</P> + +<P> +'Ah!' said Daisy, 'we mean to one day, when our ship comes in. If only +that time would come soon! And then, Kathleen, you would be able to +make some sketches again, and get a sale for them!' +</P> + +<P> +Her sister laughed. +</P> + +<P> +'People would say I could sketch in London if I chose, and perhaps if I +were not such a cripple I could.' +</P> + +<P> +'I've seed a cripple do lovelly picshers on the path,' said Bobby +eagerly; 'he did them all in red and blue and yellow! How did you get +a cripple?' +</P> + +<P> +Daisy looked at her sister anxiously, but she smiled at her. +</P> + +<P> +'I was run over by an omnibus only four years ago, Bobby. It was a +frosty day, and I was crossing the road in a hurry and slipped under +the horses' feet. I don't think I could sit on the pavement and paint +pictures, so I must hope that some day I may be able to get to my +beloved hills and trees and water again. Those are what I paint best, +and I cannot get them in London.' +</P> + +<P> +'Lady Is'bel can paint picshers of gates and angels and heaven,' said +Bobby. +</P> + +<P> +And then he began to describe the golden gates, and Miss Robsart +listened with amused interest. After tea they had games of different +sorts, and then at seven o'clock they were taken home, having +thoroughly enjoyed themselves. +</P> + +<P> +When Mr. Allonby returned to them a few days later there was a great +deal to tell him. He took the children more than once to see Lady +Isobel at her hotel, and Mr. Egerton got into the way of coming round +in the evening to have a smoke with him. Bobby and True thought this +winter was a delightful time altogether, and when the wedding-day drew +near they could hardly contain themselves for excitement. +</P> + +<P> +It was to be a very quiet one, and the guests were few in number. Miss +Robsart was to be one of them. Lady Isobel had met her by this time +and took a great liking to her; she went to see her sister, not once +only, but a good many times, and when she came round to see Bobby and +True the day before the wedding, she said to them, 'Do you know I have +my head full of plans for you all? I will not tell you now, but +perhaps when the spring comes you shall hear.' +</P> + +<P> +'Father is going away from us in the spring,' said Bobby sorrowfully. +Then a twinkle came into his brown eyes: 'Me and Nobbles makes up plans +too in bed; we runned after father once, we hided from him in his +motor, and then he had to keep us.' +</P> + +<P> +'Yes, but you aren't going to do that again,' said True, looking at him +severely. 'Dad is going across the sea; you couldn't follow him there.' +</P> + +<P> +'I could follow him anywheres!' said Bobby earnestly. +</P> + +<P> +'Ah! but you wouldn't like to displease your father by doing so,' said +Lady Isobel. 'He wants you to stay at home and learn as fast as you +can, and grow as fast as you can. And then when you get quite big and +clever you will be able to go about with him.' +</P> + +<P> +'Mother said I was to be his kerpanion,' said Bobby. 'I don't want to +go to school.' +</P> + +<P> +'Ah! my plan is better than school,' said Lady Isobel. +</P> + +<P> +She would say no more, and Mr. Egerton, happening to come into the room +and hear her, turned the whole thing into a joke at once. +</P> + +<P> +'Yes, Bobby, I'll whisper some of her plans for you. She is going to +start a school on new principles. It's a school for grown-ups; you are +to be the schoolmaster and True the mistress. You will have to teach +the old men how to slide banisters and play hide-and-seek. There will +be a class for those who don't know how to make up stories in bed; they +must be taught how to do it. Another class will have to learn how to +see robbers and Indians when it's getting dusk. It only needs a little +explanation and then it is quite easy. True will have to teach the +fine ladies to make daisy-chains and drink tea out of thimbles. There +is a lot that grown-ups have learnt and forgotten, and a lot they have +never learnt at all. And of course Nobbles will give them a rap over +the knuckles for every mistake they make.' +</P> + +<P> +Bobby laughed delightedly. +</P> + +<P> +'Go on! Tell us more!' +</P> + +<P> +'I can't. My brain is so frightened at all it has to do to-morrow that +it has stopped working. I want to give it a rest to-day, poor thing. +It is never very bright. You ask Lady Isobel what she feels like.' +</P> + +<P> +'What do you feel like?' asked Bobby promptly, turning to her. +</P> + +<P> +'Very much inclined to shut myself in my room and not come to church at +all to-morrow,' she replied with sparkling eyes and flushed cheeks. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Egerton shook his head at her. +</P> + +<P> +'If you play me false,' he said, 'Bobby will have to fill his bath full +of water, and I will come and drown myself in it!' +</P> + +<P> +'Do!' cried True; 'and then we will take you out and hang you up to +dry!' +</P> + +<P> +'We won't be too silly,' said Lady Isobel. +</P> + +<P> +'And a wedding is a very solemn thing, isn't it?' said Bobby. 'Mrs. +Dodd telled Margot that she cried more at weddings than funerals.' +</P> + +<P> +'I shan't cry,' said True, 'because I would spoil my white frock.' +</P> + +<P> +She was delighted with her white costume, which Lady Isobel had +insisted upon providing. Margot at first shook her head over it. +</P> + +<P> +''Tis too soon after the dear mistress's death to put off her black,' +she said; but True had retorted instantly: +</P> + +<P> +'Mother wouldn't mind, I know. She's in a white dress herself now; she +doesn't wear black, so why should I?' And Margot was silenced. +</P> + +<P> +Bobby was to wear his best white sailor suit. He had coaxed Margot to +buy him a white piece of ribbon with which Nobbles was to be decorated, +and he and True spent quite half an hour in arranging it in the form of +a rosette. +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Allonby was the only one in the house who did not seem impressed by +the excitement and stir about the important event. His face was a +shade graver than usual when Bobby went to wish him good-night. +</P> + +<P> +'I am going to cut and run to-morrow, sonny. Your uncle understands. +I can't be with you. I shall be out of town.' +</P> + +<P> +Bobby's face fell tremendously. +</P> + +<P> +'Oh, father, I did think you'd come with us. Shall True and I have to +walk up the church all alone?' +</P> + +<P> +'There won't be many people there, my boy. And they will send a +carriage for you. You won't miss me. Don't look so doleful.' +</P> + +<P> +'Shall I stay with you, father? I would like to 'stremely.' +</P> + +<P> +'No, my boy; I'm going out of town for the day.' +</P> + +<P> +'Do take me with you. Are you going to picnic somewhere?' +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Allonby was silent for a minute, then he said: +</P> + +<P> +'I am going to see mother's grave, sonny. I want to put a stone over +it. Can you think of a text she would like written upon it?' +</P> + +<P> +Bobby's face was a picture of sweet seriousness. +</P> + +<P> +'She loved my tex', father. Would it be too long? She made me say it +to her before she went away.' +</P> + +<P> +'What was it?' +</P> + +<P> +'"Blessed are they that wash their robes in the blood of the Lamb, that +they may have right to the tree of life, and enter in through the gates +into the City."' +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Allonby's face lit up with a smile. +</P> + +<P> +'Thank you, sonny; that will do beautifully. I will have it put over +her grave.' +</P> + +<P> +Bobby stole up to bed in an exalted frame of mind. When Margot came to +wish him good night, he looked up at her with big eyes. +</P> + +<P> +'You go to sleep, Master Bobby, or you will never be ready to get up +to-morrow.' +</P> + +<P> +'It's a most wunnerful day coming,' said Bobby, 'but I wish I could cut +myself in halves. The wedding will be lovelly, but seeing my very own +tex' being written on mother's grave by father himself would be almost +lovelier still. He's going down to do it, Margot; he told me so.' +</P> + +<P> +Margot left him, muttering to herself: +</P> + +<P> +'Such a jumble children do make of things! Weddings and graves be all +the same to them; they speak of it in one breath, and would as soon be +at one as the other! And of all queer children, Master Bobby be the +queerest, though I love him with all my heart! That text of his be all +the world to him.' +</P> + +<P> +Downstairs a tired, sad man was gazing into the fire and repeating +softly to himself the text that was going to be as precious to him as +to his little son: +</P> + +<P> +'"Blessed are they that wash their robes in the blood of the Lamb, that +they may have right to the tree of life, and enter in through the gates +into the City."' +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap13"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Chapter XIII. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE WEDDING. +</H3> + +<P> +At ten o'clock the next morning two little white-clothed children were +standing at the sitting-room window waiting for the carriage that was +going to take them to the church. +</P> + +<P> +This was the most enjoyable part of it, for they were going to drive +alone, and, when it came for them, they went down the steps proudly +conscious that several errand boys, and a few heads out of the opposite +Windows in the street, were watching their departure. +</P> + +<P> +Margot did not drive with them, but she was going to walk to the church +and witness everything from a back seat. +</P> + +<P> +'Now,' said True as they drove off, 'what do you feel like, Bobby?' +</P> + +<P> +'Very kercited!' said Bobby, sitting back with red cheeks and shining +eyes. +</P> + +<P> +'I feel we're going to be married ourselves,' said True; 'or, better +still, we're a prince and princess going to a fairy ball.' +</P> + +<P> +'Or,' said Bobby gravely, 'we might be going into the Golden Gates, +True. We look quite fit to-day.' +</P> + +<P> +True stroked her white silk dress thoughtfully, then she lifted her +bouquet of flowers and smelt them. The bouquet was a lovely surprise +to her, as it had only arrived about an hour previously. +</P> + +<P> +'Yes,' she said, 'you always think of the best things, Bobby. 'It +would be very nice if it could come true, and we could go straight +through and see mother. Do you think she would come to meet us if we +did?' +</P> + +<P> +'I'm sure God will tell her to,' said Bobby confidently. 'You see He +always is so kind. He'd know we would like to see her.' +</P> + +<P> +They arrived at the church, and to Bobby's astonishment his Uncle James +came down the path and took them out of the cab. +</P> + +<P> +'You did not expect to see me here,' he said, 'but your Uncle Mortimer +is my brother, you know. Your aunt is abroad, or she would have been +here too. Now come along and I'll show you where you're to stand. +There aren't more than half a dozen people in the church.' +</P> + +<P> +True and Bobby stepped into the rather dreary-looking church with great +awe. A few children had congregated round the doors, but inside the +church looked almost empty. Then their faces brightened as they saw +Mr. Egerton come down the aisle towards them. +</P> + +<P> +'That's right, youngsters. Tell them where to wait, Jim, and look +after them. Oh, how I wish this affair was over!' +</P> + +<P> +He ejaculated this more to himself than them, and paced up the aisle +again. Bobby looked after him with perplexity. +</P> + +<P> +'He doesn't seem to like it,' he whispered to True. +</P> + +<P> +'No,' said True, who always liked to imbue Bobby with a sense of her +superior wisdom. 'Men always hate waiting for anybody, and Margot says +a bride always keeps them waiting, for if she didn't it would look as +if she were in a hurry to be married.' +</P> + +<P> +Bobby's Uncle James told them where to stand just inside the door, and +presently up drove the bride's carriage. She was very quietly dressed +in a grey cloth dress and hat, and was accompanied by an old gentleman, +a cousin of hers, a General Seaton. She looked very sweet, but very +pale, though she smiled faintly at the children. Then hand in hand +they walked up the aisle behind her, and the service began. Bobby +recognised Miss Robsart in one of the seats at the top of the church, +there was also Miss Denton, Lady Isobel's Indian friend; the rest of +the company were not known to the children. Much of the service was +unintelligible to Bobby, but he drew a sigh of relief when he saw his +Uncle Mortimer take Lady Isobel's hand in his. +</P> + +<P> +'She won't be frightened now he's holding her,' he whispered to True; +'but I seed her hands quite shake just now.' +</P> + +<P> +It was soon over, and the little party went into the vestry. Then it +was that Lady Isobel put her arms right round Bobby and kissed him +passionately, and when he looked up at her he saw that her eyes were +full of tears. +</P> + +<P> +'Aren't you happy?' he asked. +</P> + +<P> +She gave a little sob. +</P> + +<P> +'Oh yes, darling; but grown-up people always have sadness mixed with +their gladness,' she said. +</P> + +<P> +Bobby pondered over this. It all seemed bustle and confusion now. He +and True drove to the hotel with a strange lady and gentleman who +discussed the bride and bridegroom without taking any notice of the +children. +</P> + +<P> +'I'm thankful she has married again. She was not cut out for a +solitary woman.' +</P> + +<P> +'He's a very decent chap—known her all his life, hasn't he?' +</P> + +<P> +'Yes; I always did think they were attached years ago; but he had no +money, and her parents were ambitious and kept them apart. I was at +her first marriage, and she seemed almost afraid of her bridegroom, I +fancied. I believe affection came afterwards, but it certainly was a +match made up by her parents in the first instance.' +</P> + +<P> +'A wedding is a severe ordeal.' +</P> + +<P> +'I love a wedding,' announced Bobby, staring at the speaker solemnly. +'When I grows up I shall have as many as I can of my own.' +</P> + +<P> +The laughter that followed this statement offended him. He relapsed +into silence, even though he was pressed to say how many wives he was +intending to have. They reached the hotel, and went into lunch with +the other guests. +</P> + +<P> +'It is a real old-fashioned wedding breakfast,' said one lady. 'Why +have you had the ceremony so early, General Seaton?' +</P> + +<P> +'They want to catch the midday train for the Lakes,' he responded. +</P> + +<P> +Bobby and True were well looked after, and thoroughly enjoyed +themselves. +</P> + +<P> +Just before bride and bridegroom departed, Mr. Egerton called Bobby to +his side. He was standing by Lady Isobel, who was beginning to take +her farewell of her friends. +</P> + +<P> +'Do you think we have behaved ourselves well?' he asked him. +</P> + +<P> +'Oh, I think it's been lovelly!' exclaimed Bobby with rapt eyes. +'Haven't you enjoyed it 'normously? Me and Nobbles have.' +</P> + +<P> +'Let's see Master Nobbles! I really believe, Bobby, that he has had +something to do with this wedding. It was he who took you to see Lady +Isobel, remember, and she says it was the result of a certain text of +yours that took her out to India. If I hadn't met her—well, who +knows. Anyhow, I'm a lucky man to-day.' +</P> + +<P> +Bobby was enchanted to think that Nobbles had a share in the wedding. +When Lady Isobel bent over him to wish him good-bye, she said: +</P> + +<P> +'I shall look forward to see you soon again, Bobby darling. We're only +going to be away about three weeks, and then we're going straight to +your old home. I don't think I shall like to go into your empty +nursery and not find you there. God bless you, my sweet!' +</P> + +<P> +She had kissed him and was gone. Bobby felt inclined to cry for the +first time. Then rice was put into his hand to fling after the +carriage, and his spirits rose again. +</P> + +<P> +Miss Robsart took them home, and all the way she and they talked over +every detail of their enjoyable time. Even Margot acknowledged that, +for a quiet wedding, it was very well done, and that the bride did look +the sweetest lady that she had seen for a long time. It was natural +that after such excitement the next few days seemed dull and flat, but +gradually the children settled down to their lessons, and the weeks +went quietly by. +</P> + +<P> +One afternoon Margot took them for a walk in Kensington Gardens. This +was always a treat to them; they would pretend they were in the +country; and though the trees were bare and lifeless, and there were no +flowers in the neatly kept beds, the round pond and the grass and the +long walks, which were so good for races, were a great delight to them. +They soon found their way down to the pond; for though it was a cold +day it was a sunny one, and several men and boys were launching small +sailing-boats. Bobby stood looking on with great fascination. There +was one boat which took his fancy. She was painted scarlet, and had a +miniature Union Jack attached to her mast. A little boy, not much +older than himself, was the owner, and he, with a young maid-servant, +was watching her journey across the pond with some anxiety. +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly a gust of wind seized her, and she capsized, then she +entangled herself in some weed and lay helpless just out of reach. The +little boy turned to Bobby: +</P> + +<P> +'Lend me your stick, will you?' he said. 'Jane has run round to the +other side with mine. I thought my ship would go straight across to +her.' +</P> + +<P> +Bobby handed him Nobbles very reluctantly. The little fellow stretched +Nobbles out, but just failed to reach his boat, then he lost his +balance, tumbled into the water himself, and though he scrambled out +again the next moment, he left go of Nobbles, who floated out of reach +at once. Bobby was frantic with grief. He wailed out: +</P> + +<P> +Oh, Nobbles, Nobbles! Save him! Somebody save him!' +</P> + +<P> +Nobody knew who or what Nobbles was for some minutes, and when they did +know they began to laugh. Away he floated. Would he go across the +pond and land safely the other side? At one time Bobby thought he +might, and held his breath whilst he watched him. Alas! he began to +circle round and round and finally remained almost stationary in the +middle of the pond. And then it was that Bobby burst into tears. +</P> + +<P> +'He'll never come back no more! He'll be drownded; he'll go down to +the bottom, and I shall never see him again!' +</P> + +<P> +'It's only a stick!' said a ragged-looking urchin, looking at Bobby +curiously. 'You can easy get another.' +</P> + +<P> +'Oh, I can't! I can't! Do get him back for me! I love him so!' +</P> + +<P> +The boy laughed, then surprised everyone by throwing off his jacket, +splashing into the pond, and swimming like a fish towards Nobbles. +</P> + +<P> +Of course a policeman immediately appeared on the scene and was very +angry. +</P> + +<P> +But when the boy returned to shore and presented Nobbles to his little +master, Margot protested against the hard words that were hurled at the +rescuer. +</P> + +<P> +'It isn't many boys would get a wetting for a stick, so don't scold +him, poor boy! I'm sure Master Bobby is ever so grateful to him, for +he treasures that bit of stick like nothing else. What's your name, my +lad, and where do you live?' +</P> + +<P> +'"Curly," they calls me, lidy, otherwise John Hart, I lives on my wits +most of the diy.' +</P> + +<P> +'He's all wet,' said True, looking at the boy pitifully; 'how will he +get dry, Margot; he will catch cold.' +</P> + +<P> +Bobby was so occupied in drying Nobbles with his pocket-handkerchief +that he hardly thanked the boy; now he looked up, and was quite as +distressed as True. +</P> + +<P> +'He must be dried, Margot; let's take him home; it was so very good of +him.' +</P> + +<P> +Margot hurriedly produced her big purse and handed the boy one +shilling. He stuck his hands in his pockets and grinned at her. +</P> + +<P> +'I ain't goin' to take a bob for that!' he said. +</P> + +<P> +Margot put back her shilling, the policeman moved away. +</P> + +<P> +'Come along, Master Bobby, we had best go home; if that boy likes to +follow us he can, and I'll give him an old pair of trousers that your +father gave me to give away. If he's too high and mighty to take them +he can go his own way. Many of these London boys dress themselves in +rags on purpose to excite pity.' +</P> + +<P> +'Do come home with us,' said Bobby, turning to Curly appealingly. +</P> + +<P> +He grinned, made a dart in the opposite direction, and was soon lost to +view. The children walked home soberly, but their astonishment was +great when they were going up the flight of steps that led indoors to +turn and find Curly standing behind them. +</P> + +<P> +'You are a funny boy,' said Bobby; 'I finked you had gone home.' +</P> + +<P> +'I wish he had,' muttered Margot; 'there's no trusting these sort.' +</P> + +<P> +But she told him he might come in and sit in the hall, and told the +children to stay with him while she went to get what she had promised +him. True made her way to the landlady to get a piece of cake for him. +Bobby stayed by his side and talked, as only Bobby could talk. +</P> + +<P> +'Tell me where you reely lives. I am so very glad you saved Nobbles' +life; he's my dearest, bestest friend in the world!' +</P> + +<P> +'He's a rum 'un!' said Curly, regarding Nobbles' little head with some +interest. 'Well, when I lives at 'ome it's 7 Surrey Court. Now you +ain't no wiser, I bet!' +</P> + +<P> +'I could find it if I wanted to. I'd ask a policeman to take me,' said +Bobby confidently. 'Do you go to school, or are you too grown-up?' +</P> + +<P> +'Much too grown-up by long shakes!' said Curly with his broad grin; 'no +school for me if I know it.' +</P> + +<P> +'And what do you do all day long?' +</P> + +<P> +Curly winked his eye at him, then said grandly: 'My occypations are +warious. Tomorrer I sweeps my crossin' in the High Street.' +</P> + +<P> +'High Street Kensington?' questioned Bobby. 'Oh, I'll come and see +you, and walk across your crossing.' +</P> + +<P> +'The day hafter,' went on Curly, 'if it be fine I may be a hawkin' +horinges. I likes a change o' work, and another pal takes my crossin' +when I'm elsewhere. Day follerin' I may be out o' town.' +</P> + +<P> +'In the country? I wish you'd take me. How do you go?' +</P> + +<P> +'I rides mostly,' said the boy, with another wink. 'I ain't perticlar +as to my wehicle!' +</P> + +<P> +'And when you get into the country what happens?' +</P> + +<P> +Curly gazed up at the ceiling reflectively. 'I takes my holiday. On +occasions I brings up hivy, and berries, and 'olly, and hawks 'em round +nex' day 'stead of horinges.' +</P> + +<P> +'I'd like to be you,' said Bobby admiringly. 'Have you got a father?' +</P> + +<P> +'No, 'e was dead afore I were twelve months old.' +</P> + +<P> +'I've got two fathers,' said Bobby proudly, 'and I especks you have one +same as me. God is my Father. Isn't He yours?' +</P> + +<P> +Curly gave a kind of snort. +</P> + +<P> +'That's Sunday-school jaw!' +</P> + +<P> +'It isn't jaw,' said Bobby, gazing at him solemnly. 'It's quite true; +and God looks after everybodies who's in His family. And if a boy +hasn't any father, God is 'ticularly kind to him to make up for it. +Once my father was far away, and God was ever so kind to me. I used to +feel He was. He never goes away, so you can always have Him to talk +to.' +</P> + +<P> +Margot came downstairs at this juncture and put a parcel into Curly's +hand. +</P> + +<P> +'There, my lad, that's for helping Master Bobby. And now run off, for +I'm sure our landlady wouldn't like to see you here.' +</P> + +<P> +'Stop!' cried True, coming up the kitchen stairs; 'see what I've got +for him! It's scalding hot!' +</P> + +<P> +She was carrying very carefully, in both hands, a cup of cocoa, and +Curly's eyes lit up at the sight of it. +</P> + +<P> +'And a piece of cake,' she added, producing a slice from her pocket. +</P> + +<P> +Curly took the cup from her with a gruff 'thank 'ee.' He made short +work of both cocoa and cake, then took his parcel and made for the door. +</P> + +<P> +Bobby laid his hand on his coat-sleeve. +</P> + +<P> +'You've saved Nobbles' life,' he said, 'and I shan't never, never +forget it.' +</P> + +<P> +Curly grinned and departed. +</P> + +<P> +'They've no manners, those street boys,' said Margot; 'but it was a +kind thing to do for you, Master Bobby.' +</P> + +<P> +'He's going to be one of my friends,' said Bobby firmly; 'and I shall +go and see him to-morrow at his crossing.' +</P> + +<P> +He accomplished this, for he persuaded Miss Robsart to go with them. +She very often took them for a short walk if Margot was busy, and she +became interested in the boy at once. +</P> + +<P> +'I have a class of rather ragged boys on Sunday,' she said; 'and if he +doesn't go anywhere I will get him to come to me.' +</P> + +<P> +It was rather a muddy day, and Curly was hard at work with his broom +when they caught sight of him. He grinned when they came up, and first +pretended to be too busy to speak to them; but presently he paused for +breath, and stood resting on his broom. Bobby insisted on shaking +hands with him, and was ready with a heap of questions to which he +expected replies. Miss Robsart, in her bright, happy way, began to +talk to him too, and she soon found out that his mother worked at a +factory, that he had two little sisters at school, and that he was +wanting to get into steady work if he could, only no one would start +him. +</P> + +<P> +''Tis the charac'er they'll be on about,' he said, laughing and showing +an even set of white teeth; 'they looks at the clothes and shakes their +wise 'eads! "Must have a respec'able by," they says; but bless'd if I +don't mike more some dys than some blokes dos if they works a week on +hend!' +</P> + +<P> +Then Miss Robsart discovered that he had left off going to +Sunday-school, and after a good deal of persuasion he promised to come +to her class the following Sunday. +</P> + +<P> +As they walked home she said to Bobby: +</P> + +<P> +'I like his face so much; he looks honest; and I shall go and see his +home and his mother if I can get at her. We may be able to help him to +get a place, Bobby. I always feel so sorry for the boys who have no +one to start them in life.' +</P> + +<P> +'I fought God always started us from heaven,' said Bobby. +</P> + +<P> +Miss Robsart smiled. True remarked: +</P> + +<P> +'I don't believe he knows about the golden gates, Bobby. You might +show him your picture, one day; and p'raps he'd try to keep himself a +little cleaner.' +</P> + +<P> +True never could quite distinguish the difference between the outside +and inside cleansing. +</P> + +<P> +Bobby looked up thoughtfully. +</P> + +<P> +'I'll tell him 'bout it. He's going to be my friend, True; and me and +Nobbles means to see him very often.' +</P> + +<P> +And when Bobby said a thing he meant it. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap14"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Chapter XIV. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +'NEARLY DROWNED.' +</H3> + +<P> +The winter was nearly over when a sudden sharp frost set in. Bobby and +True were delighted to see the snow fall, and walk out when the +pavements and roads were slippery with ice; and, when their father took +them to the Serpentine to see the skating on the ice they were +enchanted. Then, as the frost continued, he got them each a pair of +skates, and gave them their first lessons in the art. He himself was a +beautiful skater, as he had done a great deal of such sport in America; +and then one Saturday he announced to them at breakfast that he should +take them by train to a large piece of water in the country, and they +should stay there the whole day. +</P> + +<P> +'We will have a winter picnic; Margot must pack us up some sandwiches, +and we shall not come back till dark.' +</P> + +<P> +It was the first time he had proposed a whole day out, and the children +were of course delighted. +</P> + +<P> +As they were starting Mr. Allonby looked at his little son, who had +skates in one hand, Nobbles in the other. +</P> + +<P> +'I think you had better leave Nobbles at home, my boy; he will be in +your way.' +</P> + +<P> +'Oh, please let me take him! He would be so 'normously disappointed if +I left him behind; he does love the country.' +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Allonby laughed. +</P> + +<P> +'Have your own way then.' +</P> + +<P> +They set off in high spirits. Every bit of the day was a keen pleasure +to them—the train journey, the walk from the station to the old +country house belonging to Mr. Allonby's friend, and then the +adjournment to the artificial lake in the park, where a large number of +skaters were assembled. There were other children there who at once +made friends with Bobby and True, and, when luncheon time came, they +were asked to come up to the house. This, however, Mr. Allonby +declined, and a few others besides themselves preferred to lunch on the +banks of the bit of water. +</P> + +<P> +'I like this much the best,' said Bobby, snuggling close to his father; +'it's as hot as fire, isn't it?' +</P> + +<P> +His father looked at his rosy cheeks with content. +</P> + +<P> +'I wish I could give you children an out-of-door country life,' he +said; 'that's what you ought to have.' +</P> + +<P> +'Yes,' said True; 'I don't like houses at all. I should like to be a +gipsy!' +</P> + +<P> +'When we grows up, father, we'll come over the sea with you, won't we? +And couldn't we go to the North Pole and skate? Miss Robsart was +telling us yesterday about the poor little fat Eskims—I forgets the +name of them—who're in the dark so much. I should like to see them +and the whales.' +</P> + +<P> +'I should like the hot places best,' said True, 'where you lie in the +sun, and monkeys and parrots swing in the trees above you, and you eat +cocoanuts and dates!' +</P> + +<P> +'Yes,' said Mr. Allonby; 'we'll do some travels together later if we're +spared. But the North Pole would be a big order, Bobby; it has never +been found yet.' +</P> + +<P> +'I espec's God has got hold of it in His hand, and twists the world +round with it,' said Bobby with knitted brows. +</P> + +<P> +His father laughed. +</P> + +<P> +'Finish your lunch, sonny, and we'll be moving; your theories are quite +beyond me.' +</P> + +<P> +So they took to the ice again, and Bobby flew here and there on his +skates, one of the jolliest little figures to be seen. +</P> + +<P> +Later in the afternoon a certain piece of the ice was roped off as +being unsafe. Mr. Allonby warned the children not to go near it; and +then, only a short time afterwards, a cry and a crash startled everyone +near. A daring schoolboy had ventured beyond the rope and crashed +through the ice into deep water. Mr. Allonby was close by with Bobby; +in an instant he had dashed forwards, and after a breathless minute or +two to Bobby, and before others had hardly taken in what was happening, +he had dragged the boy safely up again. But, to Bobby's horror, as his +father was coming back, the ice gave way in a fresh place under his +feet, and he disappeared. +</P> + +<P> +The child raised an agonising cry. +</P> + +<P> +'Father's drowing! Father's drowing!' +</P> + +<P> +Then ensued wild confusion. Ladies shrieked and rushed to the banks, +there were loud cries for a ladder or a rope, but, as is often the case +in private places, none were forthcoming in the spot in which they were +required. In an instant one little figure went to the rescue, strong +in his own willingness to save. He reached his father first. Holding +out Nobbles to him, he cried: +</P> + +<P> +'Catch hold, quick, quick, father! I'll pull you out! Oh, catch hold!' +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Allonby was struggling to raise himself, but the ice kept breaking +under his grip. +</P> + +<P> +'Go back!' he shouted to Bobby. 'Go back! +</P> + +<P> +But for once the child disobeyed. +</P> + +<P> +When he saw his father sink before his eyes he raised a most piercing +cry. In the distance they were bringing a ladder. Men were rushing +frantically back to get it. +</P> + +<P> +'Father! Father! Don't sink! Oh, do catch hold of Nobbles!' +</P> + +<P> +'Hi, you little chap, you'll be going in yourself! Come back! Give me +your stick! Here, Allonby, catch hold!' +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Allonby's head appeared above the surface again, and in an instant +the man behind Bobby had placed Nobbles across the hole in the ice. +Exhausted as he was, Mr. Allonby gripped it, keeping himself afloat +till a few men and boys formed a human ladder, and he was slowly drawn +out of his perilous position. Bobby meanwhile was struggling madly in +the grip of a youth. +</P> + +<P> +'You little fool, keep still! Do you want to drown yourself! You were +within an ace of it a minute ago! Your father will be all right in a +minute. See—that's—the way. Hurrah, Selwyn—he's got him. Now pull +together—hurrah! He's out, and none the worse, I bet!' +</P> + +<P> +Bobby was screaming frantically: 'I wants to save him. Me and Nobbles +can save him!' but when he saw his father rescued he stopped his +screams and struggled to get to him. His little face was white to the +lips. His father stooped to reassure him. +</P> + +<P> +'I'm all right, sonny. Here's your stick! Come along up to the house +with me! I'm too wet to stand about. They'll give me a change.' +</P> + +<P> +He took hold of Bobby's hand and led him to the bank whilst they took +off their skates together, and then they walked through the park, young +Alan Daubeney, the son of the house, accompanying them. +</P> + +<P> +'It was that little brute, Jim Carlton, he always disobey orders if he +can! I'm thankful you were on the spot, Allonby, though it would have +been a near case for you if we hadn't got at you when we did. Father +will be furious with the gardeners. They were told to have ladders as +a precaution, but it seems they left them at the other end.' +</P> + +<P> +'Well, no harm's done. I don't think much of a sousing. I dare say +you'll give me a change.' +</P> + +<P> +'Of course.' +</P> + +<P> +Then young Daubeney looked at Bobby. +</P> + +<P> +'Your stick proved useful, youngster; a good thing you were by.' +</P> + +<P> +'Yes,' said Mr. Allonby, with a little smile, 'it was all the support I +needed. I should have gone entirely under if I had not had it at that +identical minute.' +</P> + +<P> +Bobby did not answer, but he tried to smile. It had been more of a +shock to him than to his father, and it was not till he and True were +in the train coming home that he ventured to speak of it. +</P> + +<P> +'Father, you were nearly drownded!' +</P> + +<P> +'I suppose I was, sonny, or I might have been.' +</P> + +<P> +'Oh, what should I've done! what should I've done! That awful crackly +ice!' +</P> + +<P> +'I wish I'd seen it,' said True; 'a lady had such tight hold of my +hand, she wouldn't let me go, and I never knewed it was dad tumbled in. +I saw a boy come along dripping wet, and he looked awful frightened. +If I'd known it was dad I'd have screamed!' +</P> + +<P> +'Nobbles saved father,' said Bobby in an awestruck whisper. 'I believe +he reely did!' +</P> + +<P> +'I think he really did, my boy,' said Mr. Allonby, putting his arm +round Bobby and drawing him to him; 'he and you together. We little +thought this morning, when I told you to leave him at home, what he +would be the means of doing.' +</P> + +<P> +A slow smile spread over Bobby's face. The joy of this discovery quite +wiped out the horror of the scene from his mind. He laid his curly +head against his father's strong arm in infinite content. +</P> + +<P> +'Me and Nobbles is 'stremely happy,' he said. +</P> + +<P> +And then Mr. Allonby stooped and kissed him. +</P> + +<P> +'Oh, Bobby, what a pity it is that lessons must separate us.' +</P> + +<P> +But Bobby was too absorbed in his happiness to heed what his father +said. +</P> + +<P> +When they reached home Margot had to be told the whole story, and the +next morning it was poured into Miss Robsart's ears, and then an +expedition was made to Curly's crossing to tell him about it. +</P> + +<P> +'For acourse you ought to know,' said Bobby, 'for you saved Nobble's +life, and he saved father's, so it's got to do with you as well as me.' +</P> + +<P> +And then True suggested that Lady Isobel should be written and told +about it. +</P> + +<P> +'And we'll make it up like a story, Bobby, for it's quite fit for a +book, and I'll help you write it.' +</P> + +<P> +Three afternoon's hard work in the sitting-room produced the following +epistle, which went down to the country and greeted Lady Isobel one +morning at breakfast: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +'MY VERY DERE ANT ISBEL,— +</P> + +<P> +'Father says you are my ant now. A wunderfull day hapend. Father and +True and me and Nobbles went on our skats to skat in the cuntry. It +was a very big pond, and a lot of pepul, and we went in the trane. +Nobbles kam with us. The ice began to brake when a boy went on it +where he was told not, and he went thro. It was an orful moment. And +father and me saw him do it. Father gumped in the water and kort him +and lifted him up, and he krawled out, and Father kam out too, and +there was anuther crack, and Father went down and onley his head +remaned and sum fingers. Me and Nobbles nerely burst with terrerr, but +we went up very quik, and I held Nobbles out to dere father, and we was +going to pull him out, but it was orfull, and sum men came up, and +Nobbles was tuk and lade on his chest flat across the hole in the ice. +Father's head had gorn down twice for the ice crakkeled in his fingers, +but he tuk hold of Nobbles, and Nobbles smild and held him fast for hes +so strong, and then a man lade down on his chest flat and held out his +hand to Father and anuther man pulled hold of his legs, and anuther man +pulled him, and I was pushed away for I wanted to pull too, but I did +not cry but I was 'normusly fritend, and at larst Father was pulled out +safe, but they saide if Nobbles had not been there he wood have +drownded, so dont you think that me and Nobbles saved Father's life? +He saide we did, and I am so glad for I luv him the best in the wurld, +him and God in Heaven. It was an orful excedent, and Margot says we +were nerely orfans, and me and Nobbles dremes of it nerely every night, +so Nobbles is a herro, wich True says is anybuddy who saves life, and I +helped him to do it. Plese rite to me soon. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Your luving little<BR> +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 2em">BOBBY.'</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Lady Isobel handed this letter to her husband. +</P> + +<P> +'Oh, Mortimer! we must have him here. I simply ache to have him every +time I go up to his nursery.' +</P> + +<P> +'Patience, my lady!' said her husband, laughing as he read Bobby's +quaint production. +</P> + +<P> +'"All things come to him who waits," and a bride of two months' +standing ought not to ache for anyone but her husband!' +</P> + +<P> +Bobby got a long and loving letter back from his new aunt, and he +showed it to his father with great pride. +</P> + +<P> +Lady Isobel's last sentence in her letter was, 'Ask father to tell you +my plan that I talked to you about the day before I was married.' +</P> + +<P> +'What is it, father?' asked Bobby. +</P> + +<P> +I'll tell you this evening,' his father responded. 'True and you and I +will have a confab over it.' +</P> + +<P> +These confabs were a delight to the children. They had many of them on +the hearthrug in the firelight, their father leaning back in his chair +and smoking his pipe whilst he listened and talked. +</P> + +<P> +'A plan is sure to be nice,' said True, 'and Lady Isobel's will be much +better than the ones we make up, Bobby.' +</P> + +<P> +So all that day they puzzled their heads over what it could be. And +when at last the happy moment arrived they sat in rapt anticipation of +their father's disclosure. +</P> + +<P> +'I hope to sail away from England about the middle of May,' Mr. Allonby +said, looking at the children gravely. +</P> + +<P> +Bobby's lower lip began to quiver at once. +</P> + +<P> +'I knewed that drefful day would be coming,' he said; 'but me and +Nobbles tries to forget it.' +</P> + +<P> +'This plan has to do with that day,' his father said cheerfully. 'What +is going to become of you when I go off, do you think?' +</P> + +<P> +'Oh,' said True, 'we've plans for that. Miss Robsart is coming to live +with us, and she and Margot will look after us till you come back.' +</P> + +<P> +Mr. Allonby shook his head. +</P> + +<P> +'No, that won't work,' he said. +</P> + +<P> +'Shall we be sented to school?' asked Bobby in a trembling voice. +</P> + +<P> +'Now, listen! Your Uncle Mortimer and Aunt Isobel have said they will +take care of you and True whilst I am away. Your Aunt wants you back +in the old house, Bobby, and Miss Robsart is to go down there too, and +go on teaching you till you've mastered your Latin declensions, and are +ready for school.' +</P> + +<P> +True clapped her hands delightedly, and a smile broke over Bobby's +serious face. +</P> + +<P> +'And will Miss Robsart's sick sister come too? She always said if she +got into the country she could paint again.' +</P> + +<P> +'I believe the idea is that she should go too. Your uncle has a +cottage near that he is going to let them have. Margot will take +charge of you still in the nursery, and I shall feel that you are being +looked after well whilst I'm away. Do you think the plan will work?' +</P> + +<P> +'Yes,' the children cried simultaneously; for Bobby had outgrown his +dread of the silent house now, and the idea of going back there, and +showing True all his old haunts filled him with delight. +</P> + +<P> +'I wish,' said Bobby slowly, 'as we're all going there, that Curly +could come too. Do you think, father dear, we could make a confab +about him?' +</P> + +<P> +'Go ahead, then. From your account he is quite a reformed character; +but I don't see how he could form one of your party.' +</P> + +<P> +'He's so very clean now,' continued Bobby earnestly; 'and Miss Robsart +has got him into a shop. He dusts and sweeps and runs errands, but he +told me yesterday he wants a run into the country awful bad. He would +like to come with us.' +</P> + +<P> +'Yes, he might black our boots and work in the garden,' said True. +'Will Lady Is'bel ask him, do you think, father?' +</P> + +<P> +'No, I think she is doing quite enough if she takes charge of you two +young pickles.' +</P> + +<P> +'I shan't like leaving my friend behind,' said Bobby solemnly. 'You +see, he saved Nobbles' life. He deserves me to remember him, and not +go away and forget him.' +</P> + +<P> +'You send him one of your letters,' said his father smiling, 'or a +present. You needn't forget him because you're away from him. Is that +what you are going to do with me?' +</P> + +<P> +A look from Bobby was sufficient reply to this. Then, lapsing into his +worst grammar, in his excitement he said, 'I never forgetted you one +day since I was borned! It's like a bit of my puzzle map,' went on +Bobby after a pause. 'It's a plan with a piece left out, and it isn't +finished till it's putted in. Curly must be in our plan, father dear.' +</P> + +<P> +'He may be in yours, but not in Lady Isobel's, I think,' said Mr. +Allonby. +</P> + +<P> +'We'll make a confab with Lady Is'bel about him when we get to her +house,' suggested True. 'I believe she'll find a way to have him.' +</P> + +<P> +Bobby cheered up at once. +</P> + +<P> +'I believe she will. We'll ask her.' +</P> + +<P> +And then, dismissing the one flaw in the delightful plan, they talked +of Bobby's old home with enthusiasm till Margot came to take them to +bed. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap15"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +Chapter XV. +</H3> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THE OLD HOUSE AGAIN. +</H3> + +<P> +It was a typical spring day. The old house stood in the midst of its +rhododendrons and azaleas; the red brick wall round the kitchen garden +was almost hidden by the masses of pink and white bloom upon it; the +orchard was a picture of beauty, whilst the flower-beds in front were +masses of late bulbs and forget-me-nots. The house itself was the +same, and yet not the same. It seemed as if it were waking up from a +long sleep. Every-one of the windows was open; the hall was filled +with the scent of flowers, and, as the dock in it struck five, Lady +Isobel came to the door, and shading her eyes with her hands looked out +along the drive. The sun was getting low, but it sent its slanting +golden rays across her pretty blue gown. Her face had lost much of its +sadness, and her lips were parted in smiling expectancy now, for she +had caught the sound of wheels. In another moment a big dogcart swung +up to the house, and the cheery voice of her husband called to her. +</P> + +<P> +'Here they are safe and sound! And Margot is following with the +luggage cart.' +</P> + +<P> +The next minute two pairs of childish arms were embracing her. +</P> + +<P> +'Oh Aunt Is'bel, we're so glad to come!' +</P> + +<P> +'And Bobby hasn't cried a tear since dad went away, for we mean to be +so happy.' +</P> + +<P> +'That is splendid, my darling! Come along in and see some changes we +have made, and then Bobby shall take us to the nursery and tell us how +he likes it, and whether he thinks Margot will be happy in it.' +</P> + +<P> +Bobby looked about him with eager delighted eyes. There was no +question of his not noticing the changes. He remarked on every one. +</P> + +<P> +'You've got new stair carpets; the walls are papered quite different. +You've got flowers in the staircase window. Oh, what pretty pictures!' +</P> + +<P> +He was upstairs like lightning, none of the rooms appealed to him like +his nursery. The green baize door was there still, but when he came +into his old domain he drew a long breath. Pretty chintz curtains were +in the windows. There was a thick soft red carpet under foot, a +bookcase with delightful looking story-books, a stand of flowers, a +globe of goldfish, and several fresh pictures on the walls, which had +been papered with pink roses to match the chintz. +</P> + +<P> +'It's like a fairy book!' said the delighted Bobby. 'She waves her +wand—the fairy, you know—and all the old things come new, and the +ugly things come pretty!' +</P> + +<P> +'Lady Isobel is the fairy,' said True. She was looking about her with +great curiosity. +</P> + +<P> +'I never have lived in quite such a big house,' she said, as, after +having seen the nursery, she followed Lady Isobel downstairs again, and +they went in and out of all the rooms. +</P> + +<P> +Bobby was still exclaiming as he went about. +</P> + +<P> +'Look, True, those were the pictures which used to frown on me in the +dining-room when I went in. Me and Nobbles finked we heard them say, +"Run away; you've no business here." But they seem quite smiling now, +and what lovely flowers on the dinner-table! There never used to be +such pretty ones when I sawed them before. And the blinds are up, and +the sun is coming in, and, oh! do come to the libr'ry and see what it's +like now. There, look, True! those horrid blind heads are nearly all +gone; and it's got a new carpet and pretty curtains and flowers. Oh, +it's so 'normously diff'rent!' +</P> + +<P> +'We are not going to have any gloomy rooms here if we can help it,' +said Lady Isobel smiling; 'and now come into the drawing-room. You are +going to have tea with us there for a treat.' +</P> + +<P> +It looked quite a new room to Bobby. All the furniture had been +altered; magazines and books, work, and flowers gave the impression +that it was a room to be lived in. It seemed to reflect some of Lady +Isobel's sweet cheerfulness upon those who came inside it. +</P> + +<P> +Bobby wandered round it, noting all the changes, and touching with +reverent fingers many of Lady Isobel's pretty knick-knacks. +</P> + +<P> +'It looks like your pretty house that I sawed when I went to tea with +you long ago,' he said. +</P> + +<P> +Lady Isobel nodded. +</P> + +<P> +'I hoped you would like it, Bobby, darling. Your uncle and I want to +have a happy home, with plenty of sunshine in it.' +</P> + +<P> +'Will it be always summer?' asked True reflectively. +</P> + +<P> +'Always in our hearts, I hope,' answered Lady Isobel. +</P> + +<P> +Bobby sat down in a low, cushioned seat and put on his thinking cap. +Past and present presented many pictures. His uncle coming in noticed +a gravity about his small face that he wished to remove. He spoke to +him with a twinkle in his eye. +</P> + +<P> +'Will you promise me not to put marbles in my boots to-morrow morning?' +</P> + +<P> +Bobby started; then he chuckled. +</P> + +<P> +'You finked it was Nobbles. I needn't hide from peoples now. Me and +Nobbles can walk over the house, where we likes. Aunt Is'bel says so.' +</P> + +<P> +'Do you like coming back to the old house again, darling?' asked Lady +Isobel, for she had noted a certain wistfulness in Bobby's gaze. +</P> + +<P> +'Yes,' he said; 'but it's a new house to me. The old one has died with +grandmother; and Jenkins has gone, and Jane. Is Tom here?' +</P> + +<P> +'Yes, Tom is here still, and looking forward to see you so much.' +</P> + +<P> +'And the apple-tree is here,' said Mr. Egerton. +</P> + +<P> +Bobby's eyes shone. +</P> + +<P> +'I'll teach True how to sit on it and look over the wall,' he said. +</P> + +<P> +The children ran out to the garden directly their tea was finished. +Old Tom seized hold of Bobby by both hands. +</P> + +<P> +'Ay, the good old times are coming back to this house,' he said. +</P> + +<P> +'I think these are new times,' said Bobby. +</P> + +<P> +'No, no. I mind when the house were full of children's voices and +laughter before the old master died. There's a stir that does my heart +good, Master Bobby; and the master be right down hearty with all on us. +He be the proper man to be here, sure enough!' +</P> + +<P> +True's delight at exploring the gardens and climbing into the +apple-tree infected Bobby. +</P> + +<P> +'I never had no one to play with before,' he said. 'Me and Nobbles +used to make up plenty, but we wanted someone else to do it.' +</P> + +<P> +He showed her all his old haunts with the greatest pride, then, tired +out with their journey and excitement, they returned to the house and +willingly went to bed. Lady Isobel paid Bobby a visit the last thing +at night. +</P> + +<P> +'I hope you will be happy, darling, here.' +</P> + +<P> +Bobby clasped both arms round her neck. +</P> + +<P> +'Me and Nobbles have been talking about it. We did feel a little funny +when we comed in. I was so 'fraid in this house before, but it's all +quite, quite different!' +</P> + +<P> +'I hope it is. I don't want you to feel that you have to creep about +on tiptoe and keep out of sight. I shall like to hear your steps and +voices all over the house. Isn't it strange, Bobby, that you and I +should be here together? How little we thought it would come to pass!' +</P> + +<P> +'I was always looking out for father,' said Bobby slowly. 'I shan't be +able to do that now, acause I knows he won't be back for free years.' +</P> + +<P> +'No; but you can be learning lessons as fast as you can so as to be +getting ready for the time when you will be with him again. And then +you'll have to write him letters, Bobby, and he will write to you. +That you could never do before!' +</P> + +<P> +'No. That will be lovelly! And please Aunt Is'bel, may I ask you +about Curly? He was so dreadful sorry to say good-bye, for Miss +Robsart teached him on Sunday, and we talked to him always when he was +on his crossing. Me and Nobbles is 'ticularly fond of him, and True +says he could work in the garden here. You would like him; he has +curly hair, and he can whistle any tune you ask for, and—and—he's +very mis'able we've all gone away from him.' +</P> + +<P> +'How did you come to know him?' asked Lady Isobel with interest. So +Bobby plunged into the story of the rescue of Nobbles, and she listened +to it with smiling sympathy. +</P> + +<P> +'I must talk to Miss Robsart about him when she comes here. Now go to +sleep like a good boy, and to-morrow morning, if it is fine, you must +come with me and see the dear little cottage that Miss Robsart is going +to live in.' +</P> + +<P> +So Bobby gave her a hug and kiss, and, clasping Nobbles in his arms, +laid his head upon his pillow, murmuring: +</P> + +<P> +'Me and Nobbles is 'stremely glad to be in the house where we growed up +in, and it's much better than we ever especked!' +</P> + +<P> +The nursery breakfast the next morning was a very cheery one. Margot's +round smiling face was a picture. +</P> + +<P> +'Ah!' she said, 'there's a verse in the Bible about lines falling in +pleasant places, and that is just what I feel like now. I won't deny I +was getting a bit old for much housework, and as to that crowded dirty +London, I only hope I shan't ever set foot in it again! And I won't +deny that a house, where every penny has not to be thought of, is a +very pleasant place to live in!' +</P> + +<P> +We're going to see Miss Robsart's little cottage after breakfast,' said +True. 'Will you come too, Margot?' +</P> + +<P> +'Oh, no, I'm going to unpack you both, and settle your things in all +the nice drawers and cupboards we have. Dear heart! I begin to think +it was a good day that brought Master Bobby to us!' +</P> + +<P> +A short time afterwards both children were walking with Lady Isobel +down the road to see the cottage. Bobby eagerly pointed out to them +familiar landmarks. +</P> + +<P> +'That's where that horrid boy broke poor Nobbles! And that's our +milkman's house, and there's the chestnut tree where I pick up +chestnuts when they drop.' +</P> + +<P> +Then Lady Isobel turned up a lane out of the high-road. A little white +gate stood in the quickset hedge, which Lady Isobel opened, and there, +in a pretty rustic garden, was a white-washed cottage with a thatched +roof and old-fashioned casement windows. A jasmine and rose climbed +over its porch. The door was painted green, and everything looked +fresh and clean. Lady Isobel unlocked the door, and Bobby and True +stepped in with exclamations of delight. One sunny sitting-room on +either side of the door, a tiny kitchen behind, and three bedrooms +above, were all the rooms the cottage contained, but it had a sweet old +kitchen garden behind, and three apple-trees were brightening the +background with their snowy blossoms. It was on a hill, and the view +from the front looked over a lovely expanse of buttercup meadows, and +the river beyond. +</P> + +<P> +Bobby's little face looked solemn for his years as he turned and faced +his aunt. +</P> + +<P> +'It's a <I>beautiful</I> place. Miss Robsart's sister will be able to paint +her trees again. I fink, Aunt Is'bel, you'll be filling us too full of +happiness.' +</P> + +<P> +'There's just one person more who ought to be here,' said True. +</P> + +<P> +'Yes, I've tolded 'bout him; and when Miss Robsart comes it will be +talked about. Then we shall all be, like Margot says, a happy fam'ly.' +</P> + +<P> +'A country happy family,' said True. +</P> + +<P> +Lady Isobel laughed merrily. +</P> + +<P> +'Did you never see this cottage before, Bobby? I believe your +grandmother's coachman lived here?' +</P> + +<P> +'He was a cross man,' said Bobby promptly. 'I never comed near him. +He said he couldn't bear boys, and nurse wouldn't take me to any +cottages—grandmother said she wasn't to. I never comed up this lane +once.' +</P> + +<P> +Then they went back to the house, and Lady Isobel left them in the +garden to play. In the afternoon they drove into the town with her and +helped to choose a pretty invalid couch for the eldest Miss Robsart. +</P> + +<P> +'I shall have it put in the window ready for her,' Lady Isobel said. +'And she can lie on it and paint her pretty pictures, Bobby.' +</P> + +<P> +The days that followed were delicious ones to the children; and in due +time the Miss Robsarts came down with their pretty old furniture and +took possession of the cottage. The children were allowed to run +backwards and forwards, and help with the move. When they were +thoroughly settled in, lessons began. Lady Isobel had put aside a +special room for the schoolroom; and though at first Bobby and True +found it a little irksome to get into their regular hours of work +again, they soon became reconciled to it. +</P> + +<P> +Miss Robsart was as happy as the day was long, and as for her invalid +sister, she could not express her thankfulness. She broke down when +Lady Isobel went to see her. +</P> + +<P> +'I never expected such bliss in this life,' she said. 'I don't know +what we have done for you to do all this for us.' +</P> + +<P> +But the crowning joy to Bobby and True was when Lady Isobel told them +that she was going to have Curly down, and let him help old Tom in the +garden. +</P> + +<P> +'If he likes it, and works well, we will keep him. He is coming on a +month's trial, and he will live with Tom and his wife.' +</P> + +<P> +'I'm afraid we shall soon have the whole of London swooping down upon +us,' said Mr. Egerton when he heard the news. +</P> + +<P> +'How many more friends have you, Bobby? For I see your aunt is going +to grant you every desire of your heart.' +</P> + +<P> +'I haven't any more friends,' said Bobby gravely. 'You don't make many +in London, but Curly ought to come, because he saved Nobbles' life.' +</P> + +<P> +'I believe Nobbles is at the bottom of everything,' said his uncle; and +Bobby nodded, well pleased. +</P> + +<P> +'Yes, Nobbles is very erportant to me,' he said; 'and if Curly hadn't +saved him, my heart would have broke!' +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +It was Sunday afternoon. Lady Isobel was sitting in the drawing-room, +and the children were by her side. +</P> + +<P> +'It makes me think of mother,' said True, with a little choke in her +voice. 'She always used to give us Sunday lessons.' +</P> + +<P> +'I want to follow her teaching, darling. I am going to keep this hour +especially for you. Now, what shall we talk about this first Sunday? +Would you like to choose a Bible story?' +</P> + +<P> +True looked at Bobby. He thought deeply for a minute, then he said: +</P> + +<P> +'May we look at the lovely Talian Bible? +</P> + +<P> +'Yes. Go to the library and bring it here. True can help you to carry +it.' +</P> + +<P> +Away they ran, and soon returned with the precious Book, which they +placed upon a small table by her side. Then Bobby reverently and +carefully turned over its pages till he came to the picture of the +golden gates. He and True hung over it with admiring eyes. +</P> + +<P> +'Talk to us about heaven,' said Bobby, 'because mother is there, and we +love it.' +</P> + +<P> +Lady Isobel did so. She read them verses of its beauty, of the +white-robed throng who were singing the praises of the Lamb of God, of +the tears that would be wiped away, and the darkness that would be made +light, and of the happiness of all gathered there. +</P> + +<P> +'I would like Curly to hear about it,' said Bobby with a sigh. +</P> + +<P> +'You must tell him about it, darling.' +</P> + +<P> +'I will say my tex' to him, and make him learn it, and und'stand it.' +</P> + +<P> +'Does blessed mean happy?' asked True. +</P> + +<P> +'Yes.' +</P> + +<P> +'I didn't think I'd ever be happy again when mother went away, but I +feel a little better now. Will you take us one day to see her grave, +or is it too far?' +</P> + +<P> +'I think we must manage it one day, dear,' said Lady Isobel drawing the +little motherless girl near her. 'We might go by train a part of the +way.' +</P> + +<P> +'I would like to see her grave very much,' said Bobby, 'because father +went to put my tex' upon it. He liked my tex' very much.' +</P> + +<P> +'I think we all like it, Bobby.' +</P> + +<P> +'I wonder which is God's favourite text in the Bible,' said True. +</P> + +<P> +Lady Isobel was silent; the children sometimes puzzled her. +</P> + +<P> +'God never makes any faverits,' said Bobby. 'My old nurse telled me +that once. He loves ev'rybodies and all alike, doesn't he, Aunt +Is'bel?' +</P> + +<P> +Then without waiting for her to reply he proceeded: +</P> + +<P> +'I try to love ev'rybodies alike, but I love God first, and then my +father.' +</P> + +<P> +'And who next?' asked True curiously. +</P> + +<P> +'I finks,' said Bobby, hesitating, 'truthfully, I finks I loves Nobbles +next best.' +</P> + +<P> +'I'm sure you oughtn't to,' said True; 'he's just a stick.' +</P> + +<P> +Bobby shook his head. 'I loves you, Aunt Is'bel, and Master Mortimer, +and True, but Nobbles comed to me first, and I couldn't stop loving +him. He's a kind of part of me, you see, and ev'ryfing I does he does +too.' +</P> + +<P> +'He's only a stick,' repeated True. +</P> + +<P> +'Who saved father's life?' said Bobby with sudden warmth. +</P> + +<P> +'Well,' said True, slowly, 'it was you who put Nobbles on the ice.' +</P> + +<P> +'Yes,' said Bobby, 'it was what I'd been longing and wanting to do, and +I was always finking and finking how it could be done, and then all of +a sudden it comed, and who saved father's life? Why, me and Nobbles.' +</P> + +<P> +True was crushed. Lady Isobel said softly: +</P> + +<P> +'Shall we repeat the text together, children, in this old Bible, and +ask God to make us not only love it ourselves, but pass it on to those +who do not know how they can have a right to enter in through the gates +into the City?' +</P> + +<P> +'Are there many bodies that don't know that?' questioned Bobby. +</P> + +<P> +'A great, great many. Some who miss the happiness that God means them +to have in this world by not knowing it.' +</P> + +<P> +'We must try and tell them,' said Bobby earnestly. 'It's a pity if +they don't understand prop'ly.' +</P> + +<P> +Then slowly and softly the children repeated their text after Lady +Isobel: +</P> + +<P> +'Blessed are they that wash their robes in the blood of the Lamb, that +they may have right to the tree of life, and enter in through the gates +into the City.' +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="finis"> +FINIS. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR><BR> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of 'Me and Nobbles', by Amy Le Feuvre + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 'ME AND NOBBLES' *** + +***** This file should be named 22290-h.htm or 22290-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/2/2/9/22290/ + +Produced by Al Haines + +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. 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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: 'Me and Nobbles' + +Author: Amy Le Feuvre + +Release Date: August 10, 2007 [EBook #22290] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 'ME AND NOBBLES' *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + + + + + + + +[Frontispiece: NOBBLES WAS TIGHTLY GRASPED IN HIS HAND.] + + + + + + +'Me and Nobbles' + + +By + +AMY LE FEUVRE + + + +Author of 'Probable Sons,' 'Teddy's Button,' 'Jill's Red Bag,' + 'Odd,' 'His Little Daughter,' etc. + + + + +London + +THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY + +4 Beuverie Street and 65 St. Paul's Churchyard, E.C. 4. + +1908 + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER + +PROLOGUE + + I.--'MASTER MORTIMER' + II.--'HE MAY COME TO-MORROW!' + III.--THE BEAUTIFUL PICTURE + IV.--HIS NEW FRIEND + V.--NOBBLES' MISFORTUNE + VI.--HIS FATHER + VII.--HIS NEW HOME + VIII.--A LETTER FROM ABROAD + IX.--'SHE HAS LEFT US!' + X.--'WE'RE GOING TO FIND A GOVERNESS! + XI.--BOBBY'S VISITOR + XII.--'A DELIGHTFUL TIME + XIII.--THE WEDDING + XIV.--'NEARLY DROWNED' + XV.--THE OLD HOUSE AGAIN + + + + +'ME AND NOBBLES.' + + +PROLOGUE. + +[_To be skipped by children if they like._] + + +It was a very silent old house. + +Outside, the front windows stared gravely down upon the tidy drive with +its rhododendron shrubberies, the well-kept lawn with the triangular +beds, and the belt of gloomy fir trees edging the high brick wall that +ran along the public road. The windows were always draped and +curtained, and opened one foot at the top with monotonous regularity. +No one was ever seen leaning out of them, or even pushing back the +curtains to widen their view. There was a broad flight of steps, and a +ponderous door which, when opened, disclosed a long hall, at the end of +which was a gaily flowered conservatory. Instinct made people tread +gently upon the thick Turkey rugs that were laid upon the polished +floor; there was a stillness in the house that seemed to chill one. If +you peeped into the big dining-room, the portraits upon the wall eyed +you with disapproval; the table, which was always laid with snowy-white +cloth and shining silver, seemed severely austere and formal; the high +back chairs and the massive sideboards bade you respect their age. + +The drawing-room was quite as awe-inspiring, for the blinds were nearly +always down, and it had a musty unused scent telling you that its +grandeur was not for daily use. The library was gloomier still. Its +windows were of stained glass; books of the dingiest hue surrounded +you; they lined the walls; and the furniture and carpet matched them in +tone. Ghostly busts on pedestals, scientific machines, and a huge +geographical and astronomical globe added to its gloom. The sun had a +way of only hastily shining in when he could not help himself, and he +left it till the last moment just before he went to bed. He was not +fond of that room, and there was no one in the house that was. + +Then there was the morning room, and this was where old Mrs. Egerton +spent most of her day. She was a tall severe old lady with no sense of +humour and a very strong will. She spent an hour after breakfast with +her cook, for housekeeping was her hobby; then she sat at her table +writing letters and doing her accounts till luncheon, after which she +always went for a drive. In the evening after dinner she read the +paper or some solid book, knitted, and retired early to bed. Her +daughter, Miss Anna Egerton, was very like her, only she was seldom +seen indoors. She was full of good works, and was never idle, for she +had more business than she could possibly get through, and her days +were so crowded that meals seemed quite an effort. The man of the +house, Mrs. Egerton's son, was also always out, and when at home spent +his leisure moments in his smoking-room. London claimed most of his +time, for he was in a government office, and went to and fro by train, +thinking nothing of the hours spent twice a day in a railway carriage. + +'A very dull house indeed,' a lady visitor thought at the end of her +first day there; and yet, in spite of its quietness, there were just a +few indications of another element that puzzled her. + +Once she heard a patter of childish feet along the corridor past her +door, but that was very early in the morning before she was properly +awake, so she thought she must be dreaming. Then, in a secluded path +in the shrubberies, she came across a child's glove and a toy +watering-can, and as she was going downstairs to dinner, and was +passing a broad staircase window, she noticed upon its broad ledge a +little bunch of daisies. She looked at them and took them up in her +hand. She fancied, as she noted the droop of their stalks, that she +could see the impress still upon them of a hot, childish grasp, and as +she mused, she distinctly heard a childish chuckle of laughter not far +away. + +'Is your house haunted?' she asked Miss Egerton at dinner. + +'Indeed it is not. Why do you ask?' + +'There is no child in the house is there?' + +'Yes,' replied Miss Egerton, 'there is Vera's child.' + +The visitor could not suppress her astonishment, and Mrs. Egerton, +noting it, said with extra severity: 'I like children to be kept in +their proper place. He has a good nurse, who looks after him entirely. +And I am thankful to say that the nurseries are at the top of the +house, so we are not being continually reminded of his presence.' + +'He must be a very quiet child.' + +There was no response. When Miss Egerton was alone with her friend she +gave her a little more information. + +'When Vera went abroad with her husband her child was only a few months +old, and very delicate, so she was advised to leave him behind. She +sent him here at once, without first asking mother's permission to do +so, and mother did not like it. We do not care for children; but he is +no trouble. Mother visits the nurseries every morning and sees to his +comfort and health. When poor Vera died she determined to keep him for +good and all. His father never writes to us, or shows the slightest +interest in his child. We don't know in which quarter of the globe he +is. Of course a child in a house is rather a nuisance, but in another +year or two mother means to send him to a boarding-school. + +'A child in the house.' + +The words rang through the visitor's heart and brain. She began to +listen for the faint tokens of the little one's presence. She +meditated a raid upon the nursery, and a sally forth from it with the +child into the old garden below, where she and he would enjoy laughter +and play together. But a telegram called her suddenly away, and the +quiet of the house and garden remained undisturbed. + +The footsteps still pattered at intervals; the hushed little voice and +gurgles of innocent laughter still echoed from distant corners. For +the child in the house was not a ghost, and his life is the one of +which I am about to tell you. + + + + +Chapter I. + +'MASTER MORTIMER.' + +He was known by the name of 'the Child' by his relations, but his nurse +called him Master Bobby. He would say if he were asked himself: + +'My name is Robert Stuart Allonby.' And he would raise a pair of +wonderful brown eyes as he spoke, in anxious doubt as to whether his +name would be liked. + +Bobby showed a good deal of anxiety about different things. His +favourite sentence was always, 'I wonder, Nurse ----' and very often, +noting the impatient frown on his nurse's face, he would stop there, +and turn away to his favourite corner in the window-seat, which he +shared with 'Nobbles,' the comfort of his life. + +Bobby was a very small boy, but a big thinker, and he would have liked +to be a big talker, but grown-up people were not interested in what he +had to say. So he talked in a rapid undertone to 'Nobbles,' who always +understood, and who smiled perpetually into the earnest little face of +his master. 'Nobbles' had been given to him a very long time ago by a +sailor-brother of Nurse's, who came to tea at certain periods, and who +related the most wonderful stories of foreign parts. Jane, the +housemaid, always took tea in the nursery upon these occasions, and she +and Bobby listened with awed admiration to the handsome traveller. +'Nobbles' was only a walking-stick, with a wonderful little ivory head. +It was the head of a goblin, Nurse declared, but Bobby loved it. +Nobbles had very round eyes and a smiling mouth, two very big ears, and +a little red cap on his head. Bobby took him to bed with him every +night; he went out walks with him; he always had him with him in his +window corner; and it was Nobbles who was treated to all the delicious +secrets and plans which only a very lonely little boy could have +concocted. + +Bobby's nursery was at the top of the house; he reached it by the back +stairs, and had to open a wooden gate at the top of them before he +could get to it. There were two rooms, one leading out of the other, +and both looked out at the back of the house. Bobby spent hours by the +window, and he knew every inch of the landscape outside. + +First there was a paved yard with a high wall on one side, with a green +door in it, through which you passed into a walled kitchen garden. +This door was kept locked in fruit time; the gardener, old Tom, kept +one key, and Bobby's grandmother the other. + +Old Tom was generally working in the kitchen garden, and Bobby watched +him from his window with keen interested eyes. Beyond this garden was +an orchard which ran down to the high-road. Bobby could not see this +road from his window, for a tall row of elms hid it from his view. In +the summer, when the windows were open, he could hear the hoot of the +motors as they tore along it. But he could see for miles beyond this +road. There was a stretch of green fields, two farms, and a range of +distant hills, behind which the sun always set. And when he got tired +of looking at all this, there was the sky; and the sky to him was a +never-ending joy. The clouds chasing each other across its infinite +blue, presented the most entrancing pictures to him. Monsters pursuing +their prey, ogres changing their shape as they flew, castles dissolving +into ocean waves, mermaids, angels, hunters, wolves, chariots and +horses. These, and hosts besides, all passed before him. + +When it was dark in winter-time he would clamber down from his +window-seat and content himself with his toys. The nursery was very +plainly furnished. It had a square table in the middle of the room; +there was one cupboard for Bobby's toys, another for the nursery +crockery; a wooden rocking-chair, a low oak bench, and two rush chairs. +The floor was covered with red cocoanut matting. The fire was guarded +by a high wire screen, and above the mantelpiece hung a coloured +illustration of the battle of Waterloo. Bobby knew every man and horse +in it by name. He had his own stories for every one of them, and was +found more than once dissolved in tears after looking at it. + +'That captain under his horse is so dreadfully hurt, his bones is +broken, and he was going home to his little boy!' he would say +pitifully, when Nurse would enquire the cause of his grief. + +Nurse was a tall thin woman with a severe voice and a soft heart. But +though she adored her little charge she never let him know it, and the +only time she kissed him was when she tucked him up in his small bed at +night. Bobby was quite aware that the grown-up people in the house did +not care for him. This did not trouble him; he took it for granted +that all grown-up people were the same. With one exception, however. +In the depths of his heart he felt that his unknown father loved him. +One night after saying his prayers, and repeating the Lord's Prayer +sentence by sentence after his nurse, he said: + +'Who's "Our Father?" Is it mine own, who's far away?' + +'Dear, no!' said the nurse, in a shocked tone. ''Tis God Almighty, up +in heaven.' + +'Then I shan't call him "Father," 'cause He isn't.' + +'For shame, you wicked boy! God is everybody's Father, He loves you, +and gives you everything you want.' + +'Does fathers always do that?' + +'Of course they do. Fathers always love their children, and work for +them, and care for them. And the great God is called Father because He +loves you.' + +Bobby thought over this. And he hugged the thought to his heart that +he had two fathers, both far away, but both loving him. He knew that +God was the nearest to him; he was told that He watched over him night +and day, and could always hear him when he spoke to Him. But his heart +went out to his earthly father in an unknown country. And he used to +be constantly picturing his return. + +On the whole, though he had very big thoughts, and fits of dreaming, +Bobby was a happy, merry little soul. Sometimes he strayed along the +big passage and peeped through the green baize door which led down the +front stairs. He had a way of asking Jane what 'the House' was doing, +'the House' being his grandmother, and uncle and aunt, and their +visitors. Occasionally he would make breathless little excursions of +his own into the rooms which seemed so strange and wonderful to him. +This was generally in the very early morning, or in the afternoon, when +everyone was out of doors. Nurse would soon pursue him and bring him +back to his proper sphere; but he would have a delightful time whilst +the chase lasted, and the very difficulties that beset his +investigations made them the more exciting. + +One bright spring afternoon he was turned into the kitchen garden to +play. Nurse had placed him under the charge of old Tom, for she was +busy with her machine, making some holland overalls for him, and she +was glad to have the nursery to herself. Bobby was in the seventh +heaven of delight. There was nothing he enjoyed so much as a talk with +Tom. + +'And what's the first thing nice to eat that's coming out of the +ground?' he asked, his hands in his pockets and his legs well astride, +as he watched Tom sowing some seed in long drills across the square of +freshly dug ground. + +Tom looked at him with a twinkle in his eye. + +'Spring cabbages,' he said. + +'But I mean fruit, not nasty vegtubbers! I sawed you taste a big white +ball, and then you frew it over the wall.' + +''Twas a turnip, likely.' + +'Let me taste a turnip.' + +But Tom shook his head. + +'Shall have your nurse at me a-sayin' I'm a-upsettin' your little +inside. Do you know who's a-comin' to-day?' + +'No. Do tell me. Someone to the house?' + +'It be Master Mortimer, the eldest son, who have been in furrin parts +so long, him what hangs up in the hall along with the master. You've +never seed him. He went off straight from school to India. He were a +favourit' of mine were Master Mortimer.' + +'And he's coming to-day? Oh, I do hope I shall see him.' + +Bobby capered at the thought. + +''Tis any time to-day may bring him. His ship comed in yester morn.' + +'I wonder if he's seen my father anywheres.' + +'Ah! Best ask of him. Master Mortimer be a merry young gen'leman, +sure enough. But I reckon that time have sobered him!' + +'Grown-up peoples aren't merry,' said the small boy, ''cept Sam Conway, +when he's drunk!' + +Sam Conway was the cobbler, who was the village drunkard. Tom shook +his head reproachfully at the thought of him. + +'And that there old soaker did marry my aunt's darter!' He continued a +grumbling discourse upon the evils of drink as he turned to his sowing, +and Bobby danced away down to the bottom of the garden, where he opened +the door into the orchard and found his way to his favourite corner. +This was an old apple-tree which grew close to the high wall that +separated the orchard from the public road. It was an easy tree to +climb, and from a comfortable perch upon the topmost bough he could +look out along the high-road. It was a broad, white, dusty road; on +market-days he was never absent from this seat; he loved watching the +farmers' carts, and the carriers, and the droves of sheep and cattle +that passed along to the town. There were other days when he watched +there, days when only motors whizzed by, or a few carriages and an +occasional cart rumbled along. But he never tired of his post, and his +face was always full of patient expectancy. He got up in the tree now, +and 'Nobbles' was tightly grasped in his hand. + +'It may be "Nobbles" that they'll come together. It's a ship he'll +come in same as Master Mortimer, and the ship comed in yesterday--Tom +said so.' + +His brown eyes scanned the horizon anxiously, and the hope that had +never died yet in his childish heart leaped up anew. Nobbles was stuck +into a crevice in the wall, and his smiling, ugly little head stared +out in the same direction as his master's. + +'It may be a station fly, and it may be our carriage, and it may be a +motor,' pursued Bobby dreamily, 'but he's bound to come, I'm certain +sure!' + +He was called into his dinner before a single carriage or cart had +passed him. But his little face was radiantly bright as he sat +opposite his nurse and ate his hot mutton and rice pudding at the +nursery table. + +'I 'specs the House is very busy to-day,' he remarked with a knowing +little nod of his head. 'Which is Master Mortimer's room, Nurse?' + +'Master Mortimer, indeed! Who's been talking to you of him I'd like to +know! You must be a good boy and stay quiet in the nursery. I've +never seen your grandmother so upset. She's proper excited, and won't +go out for her drive this afternoon, and I'm helping Jane get out all +the old bits of furniture that used to belong in his room before ever +he went abroad. 'Twas his only sending a telegram yesterday so sudden +like, and no letter nor nothing to prepare us, that has taken us so +aback. He's to have his old room, the one at end of the passage. It's +going to rain, so you'd best stay in the nursery this afternoon, and I +shall be busy.' + +Bobby promised to be good, but with the sounds of such an unusual +bustle in the house what small boy could resist peeping through the +green baize door occasionally to see what was going on? And at last, +thinking the coast quite clear, he made one of his rapid rushes along +the corridor and into the room that was being prepared for the guest. +Here he gazed round him with innocent admiration. The room was barely +furnished, but a fox's brush and some sporting-prints round the walls, +one of which depicted a cock fight, interested him greatly. He was +standing on tiptoe at the dressing-table opening some little china +pots, when approaching footsteps made him start. Then, as the door +handle turned, he scrambled under the bed and lay still, hardly daring +to breathe. It was his grandmother with Jane. She was speaking in +rather an agitated voice. + +'He slept in this room many years ago, Jane, and I wish things to be as +he left them. Yes, even this cricket bat that I have just found in the +attic. He used to have it in the corner by the fireplace, and I wish +you to place it there now.' + +She came up to the bed, smoothed the pillow with her hand, looked at +the pictures on the walls, sighed, then went away, and Jane followed +her. Bobby crept out of his hiding-place feeling very guilty. Then he +eyed the cricket bat, lifted it, but found it very heavy. + +'He won't be able to play with it if he hasn't a ball!' he said to +himself. 'Perhaps he'll come and ask me for mine!' + +Very reluctantly he left the room and returned to the nursery, quite +unconscious that he had left behind him on the floor a tell-tale +reminder of his presence there. + +Ail that day Bobby watched and waited for the expected arrival. He was +bitterly disappointed that bedtime came before there were any signs of +his uncle. Early the next morning he woke, wondering whether he had +come, and when Nurse told him that it was past ten o'clock before he +arrived, he eagerly enquired: + +'And did he come quite by himself?' + +'Of course, he did. I haven't seen him yet, but Jane says he's +wonderful good looking.' + +When Bobby was dressed and Nurse had gone downstairs to fetch something +from the servants' hall, he ran to the green baize door and crept along +the passage to his uncle's bedroom. He listened outside, hoping he +might hear a strange voice or cough, but there was silence. Then he +peered down into a shining pair of boots which had evidently just been +cleaned and placed outside the door upon the mat. + +He wondered how long it would take for his foot to grow big enough to +fill such a big boot. With a little chuckle of delight he slipped his +tiny feet into them and managed to walk one step forward without making +much noise. Finally, with another little snigger of laughter, he +thrust his chubby hand into the pocket of his overall and produced two +bright coloured marbles. He dropped one into each boot, murmuring as +he did so: + +'For Master Mortimer, with mine own dear love.' + +And then, rather aghast at his audacity, he fled along the passage to +his own territory, laughing softly as he went. After his nursery +breakfast he was turned into the kitchen garden again. He was never +supposed to play anywhere else, but he had a way of making little +excursions into the shrubberies. There were a good many hiding-places +in the old gardens. He considered it quite fairplay to haunt the shady +paths and even to make daring rushes out upon the lawn when no grown-up +was there. 'Children must keep out of sight,' had been dinned into his +ears by his careful nurse, and as long as he did that, he considered +that he played the game. He had no great desire to talk to any +grown-up person; he knew that he was voted a nuisance, and was quite +content to watch them from afar. But this unknown traveller interested +him greatly. He stole now into one of the shrubbery paths, and then +suddenly, coming towards him, he saw a tall dark man with bronzed skin, +a heavy moustache, and merry blue eyes. This much Bobby noted from the +depths of a laurel bush in which he had taken refuge. He thought +himself well hidden, and certainly his uncle was unaware of his close +presence. Suddenly, as he was passing him, close enough to touch had +he so wished, an impulse seized Bobby to speak. + +Mr. Mortimer Egerton, sauntering lazily along in the morning sunshine +and smoking his beloved pipe, was startled when he heard a lisping +whisper: + +'Where's mine father? Did you see him?' + +It brought him to a standstill; there was a rustle in the bushes. He +probed them with his stick, but could see nothing. Then he gave chase, +and soon caught sight of a vanishing blue linen smock. + +'I spy!' he shouted, and renewed his chase with vigour. But Bobby was +an experienced hider. He was small, and the bushes were thick and +high. Keeping well under cover, he reached the kitchen garden, and +heard his baffled uncle take a wrong turn into the rose walk that +stretched across the front lawn. Breathless and excited, the child +reached Tom. + +'He's run after me. He was the hunter and I was a tiger in the jungle! +I seed him when he couldn't see me, and I likes him!' + +'Which of course you is bound to do,' was Tom's ready response. +'Master Mortimer allays twisted most folk round his little finger.' + +'I'll make him hunt me again,' said Bobby, a flush on his cheek and +fire in his eye. 'He couldn't catch me, Tom. I won't be catched by +him.' + +'Master Mortimer allays used to do what he'd a mind to,' said old Tom +again. + +Bobby looked at him thoughtfully. He was beginning to be afraid of +this uncle. + + + + +Chapter II. + +'HE MAY COME TO-MORROW!' + +That very same day in the afternoon Bobby was up in his apple-tree, +when, to his consternation, he saw his uncle saunter into the orchard, +shake hands with Tom, who was cutting the grass there, and begin an +animated conversation with him. Bobby curled himself up well out of +sight, and presumed upon his position, for when Mr. Mortimer came down +to his corner and stopped for a moment under the tree, the little scamp +again said, in as gruff a voice as he could assume: + +'Have you seen mine father?' + +In one second Mr. Mortimer's great long arm had shot up through the +branches, and seized hold of one of Bobby's fat legs. + +'Now, my little man, we'll meet each other face to face!' + +Terror succeeded Bobby's audacity. He found himself on the ground, +but, alas! in his rough descent Nobbles had been dashed from his grasp +over the wall upon the high-road, and his anxiety over his darling's +fate overcame his terror. + +'Oh, save him! Oh, save mine Nobbles! Oh, he'll be hurt, he'll be run +away with! Oh, please get Nobbles, and I'll never run away from you +nevermore!' + +Tears were crowding into his eyes as he spoke. + +'Who's Nobbles?' asked the bewildered uncle. + +'He's always lived with me for years--everlasting years!' repeated the +troubled child. 'I couldn't live without him! Why, a big dog may eat +him up, or a motor run over him! Oh, save him quick!' + +It was Tom who understood and dashed through the gate at the far end of +the orchard. In five minutes Nobbles was given into his hand, and a +seraphic smile lit up his face as he hugged his treasure. His uncle +did not smile. He sat down on one of the lowest limbs of the +apple-tree and lit up his pipe. + +'Is Nobbles fond of going off upon expeditions on his own account?' he +asked gravely. + +'Well, I _hope_ he doesn't,' rejoined Bobby mysteriously. 'But I have +my suspecs of him, acause I always make him sleep with his head on my +pillow close to me, and two mornings I've found him on the floor, and +once under the bed.' + +'Ah,' said his uncle, shaking his head at Nobbles, 'I would quite +believe it of him. You'll promise not to give him too hard a thrashing +if I tell you where he was last night. He came into my room and had a +fight with my old cricket bat. He got the worst of it, and went back +to your nursery to get some help. He brought along a ninepin, and they +fought two against one; the poor ninepin was nearly done for, and he +rolled away under the bed and fainted. Then Nobbles slunk off and left +him in the lurch. And this morning the young villain thinks he will +play me a trick, so he put two marbles in my boots. He must have done +that in the early hours before you were awake!' + +Bobby's face was a study. Delight, horror, and confusion was depicted +on it. He looked at Nobbles thoughtfully, then he announced: + +'I didn't reely fight the cricket bat, I only felt him!' + +'But I am talking of Nobbles.' + +'He is wicked sometimes,' said Bobby, eyeing him wistfully, 'but I +didded it all mine self to you.' + +Then his uncle gave a hearty laugh. + +'You and I are going to chum up,' he said, lifting him on the bough by +his side. 'Now tell me more. I want to know you and Nobbles.' + +Bobby's tongue was unloosed. For the first time in his short life he +had found a grown-up person who did not consider him a nuisance. He +poured out a strange medley into his astonished and amused uncle's +ears. Imagination was much mixed up with fact, but the one theme that +was the centre of the child's life was his absent father. + +'I know he will come for me one day and take me away with himself! I +finks every night when I'm in bed about it. He'll knock at my door +sudden, and I'll say, "Come in." And then I'll see him!' + +He gave a little wriggle of ecstasy as he spoke. + +'He'll take me straight away. P'raps a cab will be at the door, or a +motor, and we'll go off to the countries over the sea. Me and Nobbles +lie very quiet and listen for the knock when we're in bed. I finks I +hears it often, but it's been a mistake.' + +'But I think I should be frightened to go off with a strange man in the +middle of the night,' said his uncle, making a grimace. 'I would +rather have him arrive in the middle of the day.' + +'Well, sometimes I'd like him to. Just let me climb a little bit +higher. Would I knock you down if I took hold of your solder very +gently to help me? I want to show you the straight long road he'll +come along. There!' + +He had swung himself upon the bough above, his uncle having been equal +to bear his weight. + +And now, with eager face, he pointed out the white dusty high-road that +went like a streak of light between rows of flat green meadows, and +disappeared at the top of a hill on the horizon. + +'He'll come!' he whispered into his uncle's ear; 'and I shall say +good-bye to the House and go. I'm only waiting. He'll come along that +road. I come here to expec' him every day.' + +Not a vestige of doubt in the eager happy voice. His uncle looked at +him in wonder. + +'How do you know he hasn't forgotten you? You have never got a letter +from him, have you? And he mightn't want to be bothered with a small +boy.' + +But no shadow came across Bobby's earnest, trustful eyes. + +'He's my father. He likes me acause I belongs to him. He's the person +that likes me in the earth, and God is the other Person. He's up in +heaven, but I belongs to Him too. And God likes me very much!' + +There was supreme self-satisfaction in his tone. + +His uncle smiled. + +'Your theology doesn't sound right to me. I was always told that it +was only very good boys that were liked by God.' + +'Yes, that's what Nurse says; but God says diff'unt to Nobbles and me. +He talks to me sometimes when I'm in bed. He says He'll always like me +for ever and ever, amen!' + +There was no irreverence in his tone--only triumphant assurance; and +his uncle was silenced. + +'And so I'm just expecking,' went on the small boy; 'and he may come +to-morrow while you're here.' + +'That would be first-rate. Now, where shall I find you when I want a +game of hide and seek? Where's your nursery?' + +Bobby pointed to the window, which was plainly in sight from the +orchard. + +'But how do I get to it?' + +'Through the green door.' + +'Of course I do. Now I come to think of it, that is our old nursery. +We were shut away from the rest of the house by the baize door. Here's +your nurse looking for you. Good-bye for the present. I'm going out +with your grandmother.' + +He left Bobby looking after him with wistful eyes. + +'He's just my sort,' he announced to his nurse in his old-fashioned +way. 'Me and Nobbles and him will like each other very much.' + +'Who are you talking about?' asked Nurse. And Bobby answered, 'Master +Mortimer.' + +It was two or three days before he saw his uncle again, for he went up +to London on business. Then he entranced the child by taking him down +to the river to fish. That was a red-letter day to Bobby; his tongue +never stopped until he was told he would frighten the fish away, and +then he sat on a fence and gazed at his uncle with adoring eyes. As he +trotted home very tired, but very happy, insisting upon carrying two +good-sized trout, he said, 'I shall do this every day with father, and +we'll cook our brekfus ourselves.' + +'May he never disappoint you!' + +Mr. Mortimer murmured the words, and happily Bobby did not hear them. +That evening he and Nobbles were too excited to sleep. In rehearsing +his day to himself, Bobby began to think of many such blissful times in +the future; he pictured them to Nobbles, his father being the +centre-piece. And then he stopped talking and began to listen for the +knock that was to come. There was great silence in the nursery. Nurse +had gone downstairs to her supper, leaving the night-light as usual +upon the washing-stand in the corner of the room. Suddenly Bobby +sprang up, his cheeks flushed a deep crimson, his little heart +galloping wildly, There was no possible mistake this time. A sharp +rat-tat on his door. + +'Come in!' + +How often he had rehearsed his answer to the knock! Why was it that +his voice was so husky? Why were his knees trembling so? He was out +of his bed now, standing in the middle of the room, a pathetic little +figure with his pink bare feet and tumbled curls, and Nobbles clasped +in his arms. + +The door opened. Bobby drew a long, shivering sigh. A huge, +black-bearded man in a striped blanket came in. He carried a gun, and +an axe was fastened to his belt. He was very tall, and his voice was +very gruff. + +'Are you Robert Stuart Allonby? I have come to take him away.' + +In an instant, with outstretched arms, Bobby sprang forward, 'Father! +I'm ready!' + +That was all he said; but as the big man lifted him up Bobby buried his +face in the bushy black beard and clasped him round his neck, and a +quiver ran through his little body as he whispered in a fervour of joy, +'I'll come with you. Why have you been so long? Oh, father, darling, +take me quick, and never let me come back to this old house again.' + +'Are you ready to camp out amongst fierce Indians in the wild woods?' + +'I'll love to.' + +'Where the wolves prowl round at night?' + +'I'll be with you.' + +'You'll have to ride a wild pony; you will be out in the rain and cold. +You'll have to cut down trees and earn your bread. Sometimes you'll be +hungry and cold and tired; there'll be no one to look after you. +You'll have to rough it. So you want to come? Now? Right away?' + +'Right away!' repeated Bobby, squeezing tighter round the stranger's +neck. 'I'll be with you, father. You'll never leave me again!' + +There was such infinite trust and tenderness in the child's voice that +the big man wavered, put Bobby down on the floor, tore off his beard +and blanket, and revealed himself as Master Mortimer. 'Upon my word +you're a plucky little 'un!' + +Bobby stared up at him with horror-struck eyes. For the space of a +moment his uncle felt thoroughly ashamed of himself, much as if he were +meeting the gaze of a faithful dog he was ill-treating, for the look on +the child's face was a broken-hearted one. He stood there with a +quivering lip in perfect silence; then turned, crept into his bed +again, and lay down with his face to the wall. + +Nobbles was left upon the floor. + +His uncle took a quick step up to the bed. + +'Sorry, old fellow; it was a piece of fun. I didn't think you would +take it so hard. Did you really think it was your father? I hoped I +might put you off him.' + +Bobby did not raise his head; he was terribly ashamed of tears, but his +little chest was heaving with the bitterness of his disappointment, and +he had stuffed a corner of his pillow into his mouth to stifle his sobs. + +His self-restraint made his uncle feel more uncomfortable. He sat down +by his bed and lifted him out bodily upon his knees, and he tried to +soothe him as a woman might. + +'I declare, if you were a little older you and I would go off on a tour +round the world and search for this runaway father of yours.' + +This idea was a risky one to propose, but he felt desperate at the +sight of the child's grief. + +Bobby raised his eyes for the first time. The tears did not hide the +dawn of hope springing up in them. + +'I'm old enough,' he said, choking down a sob; 'please take me.' + +'It wouldn't do, and we might miss him; he might arrive after you had +gone.' + +'Me and Nobbles could go and look for him our own selves,' Bobby said +very thoughtfully. 'We would just ask and ask till they told us where +he was.' + +His uncle began to feel uneasy. 'No, that's quite the wrong way about. +He must come to you, not you go to him.' + +'But,' said Bobby pitifully, 'he never comes, and I'm tireder and +tireder of waiting.' + +'You go to sleep, and perhaps you'll dream where your father is. +Dreams are rummy things, and Nobbles is wanting his sleep, I know.' + +Bobby was deposited in bed with his beloved stick, and his eyelids +began to droop at once. In a minute or two, worn out with his +excitement and consequent depression, he was fast asleep. + +His uncle picked up his masquerading attire and left the room +muttering, 'I never will play the fool again; it doesn't pay.' + +A day or two after this his Uncle Mortimer departed. Bobby was very +unhappy at losing him, for uncle and nephew were close friends, and not +a day passed without their spending some of it together. The uncle +promised to look for Bobby's father and send him to him as quickly as +possible, and the child's hopes rose high, and he firmly believed that +his father's return home would be hastened. + +Upon the morning that his uncle left, Bobby's grandmother called him to +her when she came into the nursery for her usual visit. + +'I want to speak to you,' she said, putting on her gold spectacles and +sitting down in Nurse's easy chair. + +Bobby stood before her, his hands clasped behind his back. + +'Are you not happy with us?' was the question put to him next, a little +sharply. + +'Yes, gran'ma.' + +'Who has been talking to you about your father?' + +Bobby was silent. + +'Answer me, child.' + +'I dunno--Master Mortimer.' + +'Do you mean your Uncle Mortimer? He has only just come here. You +have some absurd fancy in your head about your father fetching you away +from us.' + +'Yes, gran'ma.' + +'It is quite ridiculous. Your father would not think of doing such a +thing. You have been given over to me entirely, and he doesn't trouble +about you in the least. I expect he forgets that he has a son. Do you +understand me?' + +'Yes, gran'ma.' + +'I am only telling you this for your good. The sooner you stop +thinking about such a foolish thing the better.' + +'Yes, gran'ma.' + +'You ought to be a very happy grateful little boy. You have a kind +nurse and a comfortable home, and everything to satisfy you. Soon you +will be going to school, and I hope you will try to grow up a credit to +us.' + +'Yes, gran'ma.' + +'Can't you say anything but "yes"?' + +Mrs. Egerton's tone was a little impatient. + +'I don't know nothing but "yes" to speak,' faltered Bobby, hanging his +head. + +'You seem to have talked fast enough to your uncle.' + +Mrs. Egerton regarded him closely for a minute. Bobby began to feel +more and more uncomfortable. Then his grandmother got up with a little +sigh. + +'You are not a bit like your mother; you are an Allonby all over. Now +don't let me hear any more of this nonsense! Your home is with me; we +never talk to you about your father, because we do not even know if he +is alive. He has never written or taken the slightest interest in you +after your poor mother sent you to us.' + +She got up and rustled out of the room. Bobby looked after her +perplexedly. + +Why didn't his grandmother want him to have a father, he wondered? And +what else could he say but 'yes' to her? If he had said 'no,' she +would have been angry. Grown-up people were very difficult to +understand. He turned to Nobbles to console him. He always smiled at +him, and loved him. + + + + +Chapter III. + +THE BEAUTIFUL PICTURE. + +And so the house slipped back again to its gravity and silence, and the +child played about in the shrubberies and sat in the apple-tree gazing +wistfully up the dusty high-road. And deep down in his heart the hope +still lingered that his father would appear one day. Spring turned +into summer, and Bobby spent most of his days out of doors. One +afternoon his nurse took him to a farm. She was great friends with the +farmer's wife, and Bobby loved a visit there, for he was allowed to +wander about round the farm and watch the farm hands in their various +occupations. This afternoon he crossed a field to see a young colt. +He was laughing heartily as he watched its frisky antics, when from the +lane that was on one side of the field, a big black retriever appeared, +barking furiously. + +Bobby was not accustomed to dogs. 'The House' kept none, and with his +heart in his mouth he turned and fled. The retriever pursued him, +evidently showing by his gambols that he wanted to play. Somehow or +other Nobbles slipped from his grasp as he ran, and in an instant the +dog had seized hold of him and, bounding over the hedge, carried him +away in his mouth. + +This awful tragedy brought Bobby to his senses. He was panic-stricken +no more, but scrambled as fast as he could into the lane. He was the +pursuer now; the big black dog was trotting slowly up the road, and he +trotted as hard as he could go after him. + +It was of no use to call after the robber. Once Bobby did so, but the +dog only turned his head to look at him, and then began to trot faster +than ever. Bobby's short legs did not make rapid progress. Soon he +began to feel dreadfully tired. Up the lane, out on the highroad, up +another side road, and finally through some big iron gates towards an +old red-brick house that stood in the midst of bright flowerbeds and +green lawns. The big dog led his pursuer deliberately on, and Bobby, +heated and footsore, had no thought but to follow. + +There was a lady sitting at tea under some shady trees upon the lawn. +The retriever made his way straight to her, and dropped the stick at +her feet. Bobby came shyly forward, and the lady looked at him in +surprise. She was dressed in deep mourning, and had a very sad face, +and, though she looked young, her hair was as white as snow. + +'Who are you, little boy; and what do you want?' + +'I'm Bobby, and that dog took away Nobbles. I've runned after him +'bout twenty miles!' + +He picked up his beloved stick, kissed the ugly little smiling face, +then produced a very small handkerchief from his pocket and began +wiping Nobbles all over very carefully. + +The lady looked at him with a puzzled smile. + +'You look hot and tired,' she said; 'sit down, and I will give you some +strawberries and cream.' + +Bobby's eyes brightened. He sat down on the grass and looked up at the +lady. + +'Is that dog yours?' he asked. + +'Yes; his name is Lucky. That's a funny name, isn't it? It was very +naughty of him to run away with your stick. I must punish him by not +giving him any cake.' + +She shook her head at Lucky, who was sitting up on his haunches with +his tongue hanging out, watching his mistress with beseeching brown +eyes. + +Bobby looked at him severely. + +'He is a robber! Poor Nobbles must have thought he was being taken off +by a lion. I expec' he was dre'ffully frightened. You see, Nobbles +isn't just a stick at all.' + +'What is he? I see he has a wonderful head!' + +'Yes; he's Nobbles.' He paused, then added impressively: 'He's my +'ticylar friend; we always live together. He understands all I say, +but he can't speak.' + +'I see.' + +The lady smiled upon him very pleasantly, then she handed him a +delicious plate of strawberries, and Bobby set to work at once. He +thought he had never tasted anything so nice, and in the middle of it +he looked up a little anxiously. + +'Poor Nobbles can't eat at all. It's such a pity. He doesn't grumble, +but when I have anyfing _very_ nice he looks in his eyes as if he could +cry; only he doesn't, for he never leaves off smiling.' + +'He's a splendid little friend to have,' the lady said cheerfully. 'I +wonder where you live?' + +'In the House, with nurse and grandmother.' He heaved a sigh. 'We +shall have to go back soon.' + +'I suppose you know the way; but you're a very little boy to be out +alone.' + +'I had to run after Lucky; Nurse was at Mrs. Tikes'.' + +'Tikes' Farm? That is some way from here.' + +'Is it twenty miles?' + +'No, but it is nearly two. I expect your nurse will wonder where you +are.' + +'I expec' she will; but I likes being here. Are you a proper grown-up +person?' + +'How do you mean?' + +Bobby frowned; he couldn't always put his thoughts into words. + +'You talk so nice to me; I can't talk to grown-up people, acept Master +Mortimer. At least I can say "Yes" and "No" to them. That's what +children should talk, grandmother says.' + +'I'm so glad you think I talk nice to you. I can't talk to grown-up +people either. I live alone here--so alone now--so alone!' + +She sighed, and fell into such deep thought that Bobby wondered if she +would ever speak to him again. At last he ventured: + +'I've got a father coming for me one day.' + +'Have you really? Tell me about him.' + +So Bobby told her of his never-fading hope, and she listened and +smiled, and then ordered her pony-trap round, and tucking Bobby in +beside her, drove him along the road by which he had come. They very +soon met Nurse toiling along, with a heated, anxious face, and Bobby +began to feel rather ashamed of himself. But the lady seemed to put +matters straight at once with her soft voice and pleasant smile. And +then she stooped and kissed the small boy by her side. + +'I should like you to come and see me very often,' she said. 'I used +to know your grandmother long ago, before I went out to India. Do you +think,' she added, turning to Nurse, 'that he would be allowed to come +to me?' + +'I'm sure,' said Nurse, hesitating, 'that if you were to invite him----' + +'Then I invite you, Bobby, at once to come to tea with me the day after +to-morrow. I will write a note to your grandmother.' + +Bobby's eyes shone with delight + +'Me and Nobbles never go to tea with anybody,' he said. 'Do you think +grandmother will say "yes"?' + +'I hope she will.' + +She nodded at him brightly, then drove off; and Nurse looked after her +with a curious interest upon her face. + +'That's the rich young widow, Lady Isobel, I've heard talk about. She +shuts herself up, and won't go out nowheres.' + +'Oh, no!' corrected Bobby. 'She wasn't shut up; I sawed her in the +garden.' + +'She's had a deal of trouble,' Nurse went on, more to herself than to +Bobby. 'Her husband and only child and favrit sister were all drowned +sudden in a boat out in them foreign rivers, and she come home, and +found her old father dyin'; and she haven't got a relation left, and it +have turned her head, and no wonder!' + +'When peoples die,' said Bobby thoughtfully, 'they go away and never +come back; don't they, Nurse? Jane says they're put under ground in +the churchyard, but you told me the angels take them up to God.' + +'Don't bother your little head about such things,' said Nurse hastily. +'And don't you be a naughty boy and run away from me again. I feel as +if I shall never get cool. I'm regular done up, and 'twas only a +chance I took the right road; but one of the farm hands saw you runnin' +along.' + +The next day was Sunday. Bobby never went to church in the morning, +but very often his nurse took him in the afternoon. And Sunday morning +was his opportunity to slip through the green baize door and wander +over the house, for his grandmother and uncle and aunt always went to +church, and the house was empty. Nurse did not mind his doing it, as +long as he did not get into mischief. This morning he wandered into +the dining-room; the family portraits on the walls always attracted +him. Jenkins, the butler, was arranging the table for lunch, and eyed +him morosely as he appeared. + +'Now then, this ain't your nursery, you know,' was his greeting. + +Bobby was so accustomed to this speech that he paid no attention to it. +He sauntered round the room with Nobbles in his hand, and his eyes were +riveted on the stern and gloomy faces looking out of their frames. + +'Mr. Jenkins,' he said very politely, 'will your picture be put up +there when you're dead?' + +'Law, no!' said Jenkins testily. 'What a silly child you be! Tis only +grandees can have their picters taken.' + +'Has my father had his picture taken?' + +'More'n I can say. He don't belong to this house. Your mother's +picter were taken, and the mistress keeps it locked up. She were +wonderful fond of Miss Vera.' + +Bobby was not half so interested in his dead mother as in his living +father. + +'I don't belong to the House,' he murmured to himself. 'Father has got +a big house somewheres where he'll take me when he comes home, and +everything in that house will belong to me and father--all mine own!' + +He reflected for a minute with shining complacency upon this idea. +Then he looked up at the pictures again. + +'I'm so glad they're all dead. I shouldn't like to see them going up +and down stairs. I'm sure they'd scold me!' + +'Don't you be abusin' your elders, Master Bobby; and liking them dead +be not a right state o' mind at all.' + +'But dead people are very happy in heaven. Nurse says so. Wouldn't +you like to be dead, Mr. Jenkins?' + +Jenkins put down the glass he was polishing, and pointed sternly to the +door. + +'Now you go off, Master Bobby, and don't you be asking imperent +questions.' + +Bobby trotted off. There was no love lost between him and Jenkins. He +peeped into the drawing-room, then found his way to the library, and +here he wandered about for some considerable time. The plaster busts +were always a puzzle to him. Why had they no eyes? Were they born +blind? Why had they no bodies? Had their heads been cut off? These +and many other questions he would ask Nobbles, who could only grin at +him by way of reply. + +Then he began to pull out some books in the bookcase. He could not +read very well himself, though he spent half an hour with Nurse every +morning over a reading-book. But he loved pictures, and he knew there +were books with pictures in them. Once he had found a wonderful book +here. It was bound in brown leather, and had filigree brass corners +and clasps studded with blue turquoises. He had opened it and found +pictures on every page, and the front page was illuminated in the most +brilliant colours. His Aunt Anna had come into the room and taken it +from him. + +'That is a most valuable old Italian Bible,' she said. 'You are too +little to be trusted with it. You must wait till you grow bigger.' + +Now as he caught sight of it he said to Nobbles very gravely: + +'I'm grown bigger now, Nobbles. We'll look at it. That was years ago +when Aunt Anna said that.' + +It was a heavy book to lift. He dragged a footstool close to the +bookcase, then placed the Bible very carefully upon it, and sat down on +the carpet in front of it prepared to enjoy himself. First he fingered +the little blue stones in true childish fashion, then he laid his cheek +on the soft leather binding, and told Nobbles it smelt just sweet. And +then with the greatest reverence he opened the clasps and began to look +at the pictures. They were wonderful! But some of them rather +frightened him. The angels with their big wings he loved, but there +was an awful picture of the ark floating over stormy waves through +torrents of rain, and drowning people holding up their arms to be taken +in; and there was one of a boy being tied to a heap of stones and his +old father, with knife uplifted, just going to kill him. + +Bobby did not like the look of that at all; and then noticing that, +scattered through the book, were a few very beautifully painted +pictures, he turned over the pages to find them first. At last he came +to one at the very end of the volume that arrested his attention and +held him spellbound. + +It was shining with gold and glory, and was the picture of two golden +gates guarded by white angels with glittering golden wings. Inside the +gates was a broad golden road lined with avenues of fruit-laden trees, +and crowds of white-robed people and children were walking along it, +some dancing and singing, some playing harps and blowing trumpets, some +resting under the trees, but nearly all making their way to a big tree +laden with golden fruit that stood on the edge of a flowing river. In +the distance was a beautiful golden city, which seemed to be sending +its rays of light right up to this tree and surrounding it. Every face +was smiling, every person seemed entrancingly happy, and all of them +were dressed in white, and nearly all wore golden crowns on their heads. + +Bobby drew a long breath. + +'It's Fairyland!' he whispered to Nobbles. 'Oh, I wish me and you +could walk straight in and be there! I would love to pick those golden +apples, and to blow those trumpets, and to play about with the children +by the water.' + +He gazed with wistful longing in his eyes; then from the inside of the +gates his glance tell upon a dark corner outside in the picture. And +this was the angel shutting out a little group of people who were +begging to be let in. They were dressed in filthy rags, their faces +were wretched, and several were weeping bitterly. No light from the +golden city seemed to fall upon them, and Bobby noticed, through the +darkness that seemed all round them, that their feet were close to the +edge of a precipice. + +As he looked at them the tears came into his eyes; and when he heard +Nurse's voice call to him he started violently. He could hardly +believe he was in the library, and was going up to his sunny nursery. +He had been in the picture for such a long time, and so very far away. + +Very carefully he put the Bible back in its place and ran out of the +room. + +'Nurse,' he said a little later, as he was eating his dinner in the +nursery, 'do you know a story in the Bible about some big lovely gates, +and angels, and a street all gold, and trees with gold apples, and +lovely flowers, and everybody smiling, and then, outside the gates, +some poor, unhappy crying people being shut out in the dark and rain? +It's rather near the end of the book.' + +'Oh, I expect it's a picture of heaven,' said Nurse, 'and the wicked +people being shut out.' + +'But,' said Bobby, with anxious eyes, 'are many bodies shut outside of +heaven? Can't they never get in?' + +'Now, eat your dinner and don't talk so much! There are no wicked +people in heaven. It is only good little boys who go there.' + +An awful fear clutched at Bobby's heart, but he could not put it into +words. He had taken it for granted that everybody who died went +straight to heaven. The picture of those weeping men and women outside +the gates, and the sad stern face of the angel who was shutting them +out, haunted him. He was very quiet indeed; and when Nurse took him +off to church a little later, he never spoke a word. They walked along +the high-road for a short distance, then turned up a lane with high +banks and hedges, and at last came to the little country church, with +some shady elms and beeches casting cool shadows across the sunny +churchyard. It was a children's service, and the Sunday-school +children were filing in before them. Bobby followed his nurse up to +his grandmother's pew. It was very near the pulpit, and when sitting +down Bobby could not see over the top of it. He was not very fond of +church. It was a long time to sit still, and Nurse would not let him +talk to Nobbles. In fact she had threatened more than once to leave +Nobbles behind when they went to church if he persisted in playing with +him. + +To-day Bobby was pleased by hearing one of his hymns sung that he knew +by heart, and when the clergyman began to talk in the pulpit of this +very hymn he could not help listening. + + There's a Friend for little children + Above the bright blue sky,' + +said the clergyman. 'Now I am going to talk to you about seven things +you have above the sky. Will you say them after me? A Friend, a rest, +a home, a crown, a song, a robe, and a harp with palms of victory.' +Bobby's attention was fixed for a time as the clergyman spoke of these +one by one. He described heaven with all its glories, and Bobby nodded +his head as he listened. + +'Me and you have seen it, Nobbles,' he whispered. 'We sawed it in the +picsher.' + +When the robe and harp were described Bobby drew a long breath of +delight. It seemed all so certain that he was going to be inside the +gates one day. He went into dreams after that, and then started in his +seat as he heard the very solemn closing words of the sermon: 'So +remember, dear children, you must have your white robe on _before_ you +enter those golden gates, or they will close upon you, and you will be +left outside.' + +Poor Bobby thought and thought of these words as he trotted home with +Nurse; but he felt that if he asked for them to be explained Nurse +would only tell him to be quiet. + +When he was in bed that night he confided his fears to Nobbles. + +'Me and you may be shut outside, like those peoples, if we don't have +those white gowns. How can I get one, Nobbles, dear? I wonder if my +father would give me one! And I wonder if you can buy them, and wheres +they comes from!' + +Tired out with such conjectures, he fell asleep. + + + + +Chapter IV. + +HIS NEW FRIEND. + +It was four o'clock, and Bobby was sitting out upon the lawn with his +new friend, Lady Isobel. His grandmother at first told Nurse that she +considered him too small to accept such an invitation; but Nurse for +once spoke up for him, and said she thought it would do him no harm. +It appeared she knew Lady Isobel's housekeeper, and was not sorry to +have an excuse for taking tea with her. So Bobby and Nobbles, with +smiling faces, presented themselves at the appointed time, and Lady +Isobel greeted the small boy most affectionately, Nurse went off to the +house, and then he lost all shyness, and was soon the greatest friends +with the sad-faced woman. It was not very long before he told her of +the beautiful picture he had seen. + +'I wish I could read about it,' he lamented, 'but it's in a far away +lang'age, Nurse says.' + +'But if it is the Bible your nurse could read it to you.' + +'No, it's a diffent Bible.' + +He described the cover to her and the pictures. Lady Isobel seemed +quite interested. + +'I should like to see it,' she said. 'It must be a very valuable one, +Bobby. I expect some old monks must have painted the pictures in it. +I had a prayer-book once illuminated by them. They had plenty of time +in those days to give to painting, and they did it beautifully.' + +'What's a monk?' asked Bobby. + +'A man with a bald head in a gown, who lives in a house away from the +world, and makes it his business to be good.' + +'In a gown?' repeated Bobby. 'A white one? Me and Nobbles want to +know about white gowns, acause you can't get inside the gates if you +haven't got one on, and'--his lips quivered--'I don't want to be shut +out, I reely don't!' + +'I'm sure you needn't be afraid of that,' said Lady Isobel, smiling, +though she sighed at the same time. 'I have always been told that it +is people's own fault if they are left outside.' + +'I want to be certain sure I'll get inside the gates,' repeated Bobby, +distress in his brown eyes. 'Me and Nobbles means to be there. I +finks my father will help me get in.' + +'I'm sure he will,' said Lady Isobel, cheerfully. 'Now would you like +to come round my garden with me? Shall we pick some flowers for your +nursery? Do you like flowers?' + +Bobby assented eagerly. + +'The House has a good many,' he said, 'but me and Nobbles never has +none 'cept the daisies, and Tom always cuts them off d'reckly they +comes up.' + +He trotted after her along a gravel path that was edged by thick +borders of flowers; roses climbed over arches across their heads. A +smile came over his face as he gazed at the flowers to the right and +left of him. + +'Nobbles is rather naughty, sometimes,' he said, looking up into Lady +Isobel's face with twinkling eyes. 'He does love to cut off flowers' +heads, and I can't stop him. He cutted off 'bout a hundred dandelions +one day in the orchard, he _would_ do it, and when I looked at them +their necks were bleeding white milk, and I picked up all the heads, +and I made Nobbles dig and dig their graves, and we buried them all.' + +Lady Isobel tried to look shocked. + +Bobby had a bewitching smile, and twinkles of humour all over his face +when he was giving free play to his imagination. He continued with a +slow shake of his head as he looked down upon Nobbles meditatively. + +'I tells him he mustn't be so fond of cutting off people's heads. You +see he loves fighting. He's been a soger over the sea. He went into +battle and cut off twenty fousand en'mies one day!' + +Bobby stole a look up through his long lashes at Lady Isobel to see how +she took this. Then he gained courage, and proceeded: + +'Nobbles tells me I needn't never be 'fraid of lions or tigers or +village boys, for he'd whack them all round, and the cocks and hens all +rush away when they see me and Nobbles coming! Once in the land where +the Indians are, Nobbles walked out in the night by hisself--he always +walks when nobody sees him you know--and he met an army coming frough +the jungle. They was all black men, and they were coming to kill all +the white people and burn their houses; he just told them to get in one +'normous line, and he swished, and swished, and cut off their heads +just like the dandelions, and then he walked back to bed and next +morning, when everybodies knew what he'd done, they all called out +hurrah, and gave him a gold crown. Nobbles said it hurt him, so he +left it in a tree, and he likes his red cap best!' + +'He looks very brave,' said Lady Isobel. 'May I hold him in my hand?' + +'Just for one minute you may; but Nobbles doesn't like no one but +me--no one 'cept father. Nobbles reely loves him!' + +It was the same with all Bobby's stories; they invariably turned upon +his absent father. Lady Isobel walked by his side and wondered much if +the absent father knew what a wealth of love and devotion was awaiting +him in his little son's heart and hopes. + +Bobby enjoyed every minute of that visit of his. He talked without +stopping; and Lady Isobel's grave sadness began to melt away. When +Nurse at length came respectfully out of the house to take him home, +she found the young widow and the child engaged in a merry game of +'touch-wood.' + +'Oh, Nurse!' cried Bobby reproachfully, 'we're having such fun. I +never has anyone to play with me like this?' + +'You shall come another day,' said Lady Isobel stooping to kiss the +eager radiant face. 'I don't know who has enjoyed the time most, you +or I!' + +The anticipation of another such treat sent Bobby home in smiling +content, but it was some time before he saw Lady Isobel again, for a +few days afterwards he was laid up with a mild attack of measles. + +His grandmother and nurse were at first much concerned about him, then +when the little invalid began to recover they regained their usual +stolid composure. It was a very new experience to Bobby; at first he +could not understand it, and thought he was going to die; then he +declared that Nobbles felt much worse than he did, and the doctor must +see him. The doctor, a grey-haired old man, humoured him, assured him +that Nobbles must certainly lie in bed with him and be dosed, whereupon +Bobby's smile shone out and he murmured: + +'Nobbles and me is both very ill indeed.' + +'Nurse,' he said, 'if I die, shall I go to heaven? I can't if I +haven't a white robe. Do tell me how I can get it.' + +'You're not going to die, Master Bobby; you're getting well fast.' + +'I'm mis'rable and very ill,' said Bobby in an injured tone. 'Nobbles +and me both is, and I want to see my lady!' + +This cry was continually upon his lips, and at last one afternoon nurse +opened the door and ushered in Lady Isobel. + +'I am sure it is very good of you, my lady, to come to him; he is +getting a bit fretful now that he's better.' + +Bobby held out his arms with an eager cry to the first grown-up person +who had shown a liking for him. Certainly his Uncle Mortimer had been +interested in him, but he had never kissed him or petted him. + +'You aren't afraid you'll catch the measles?' he asked as Lady Isobel +kissed his little up-turned face. + +'Not a bit afraid,' she said cheerily; 'and I think the doctor would +say you were past the infectious stage now. Has the time seemed dull +and long?' + +'N-o-o,' replied Bobby slowly. 'I like my beef-tea and jelly, and so +does Nobbles; but I'm tired of looking at my picsher-books, and I want +to see those lovely picshers in the beautiful Bible downstairs. Could +you fetch it for me to look at?' + +Lady Isobel hesitated, and turned to Nurse. + +'He's been on so for those pictures,' she said, 'that I think I'll +venture to go and ask the mistress now.' + +Nurse left the room and soon returned with the treasured book. + +'His grandmother says he can look at it with you, and then I must put +it back again, as it's a valuable book.' + +Nurse deposited the Bible upon Bobby's bed, and left the room. + +Lady Isobel took it carefully up and looked at the title-page. + +'It is a treasure, Bobby. It is an old Italian Bible--Martini's +translation, of course. I know Italian, and used to spend a good deal +of my time in Italy when I was a girl. Now show me your wonderful +picture.' + +Bobby took hold of the Bible with flushed eager face, and turned to +almost the last page of it. Then he drew a long sigh of admiration as +he held it up to her. + +'Isn't it beautiful?' + +'Beautiful indeed,' said Lady Isobel, gazing upon the richly +illuminated page with enjoyment. I don't wonder you like it, Bobby; it +is a dream of glory.' + +'It isn't a dream, it's a true picsher,' corrected Bobby. 'Nurse says +everyfing's true in the Bible. Please read me what it says underneath.' + +'I will translate it for you; you would not understand the foreign +words: + +'"Blessed are they that wash their robes in the blood of the Lamb, that +they may have right to the tree of life, and enter in through the gates +into the City."' + +Bobby listened as if his life depended on the words. + +'Tell me what it means. Does it tell me how to get a lovely white +dress, like the people going up that beautiful road? What Lamb does it +mean?' His little finger was pointing to the white-robed group in the +picture. + +For a moment Lady Isobel paused. She read the verse again slowly. + +'I think it means this, Bobby, that no one has a right inside those +gates except those who have had their sins washed away by the Lamb of +God.' + +'Who's the Lamb of God?' asked Bobby in a hushed voice. 'Does God keep +sheep and lambs in heaven?' + +'It is one of the names of our Lord Jesus Christ, Bobby, dear. I don't +know how to explain it to you; but long ago people used to offer up +innocent little lambs to God as a sacrifice for sins.' + +'What's a sacrifice?' + +Lady Isobel was not accustomed to a child's questions. She hesitated. + +'It is an innocent thing suffering for a guilty, at least the Bible +sacrifices were. I suppose they were just to picture the great +sacrifice on Calvary. How can I put it simply? Sin made everyone +black and wicked, Bobby, and God had to shut up heaven's gates and keep +it outside. Nothing with sin upon it can be in heaven. These people +in the picture who are being turned away are looking black and dirty +and miserable, because their hearts are full of sin.' + +'They want white dresses,' said Bobby, 'then they could go in like the +others. The clergyman said in church--I 'members it quite well--that +we must have white dresses on first afore the angel would let us frough +the gates. And me and Nobbles wants to get frough!' + +'Yes,' said Lady Isobel softly, 'you are quite right, Bobby, that's +what the text says, we must be washed white first before we have a +right to go in.' + +'How?' + +'I am trying to tell you. God wanted us to come into heaven, so Jesus +said He would come down upon earth and be punished instead of us. You +will understand when you grow older what a big thing it was for Him to +do. But He died for us, Bobby; He gave His life-blood for us; and it +is by His death our sins can be washed away and our hearts made clean. +That is what it means by washing our robes in the blood of the Lamb. +Jesus was the Lamb, and our hearts must be washed white in His precious +blood.' + +'But it says robes,' said Bobby, with a puzzled frown. 'Does hearts +mean robes?' + +'I think it is like this, darling. Our hearts are black and soiled +with sin. When they are washed clean it is just like a white covering +over them, a white dress; and God looks down upon them, and says "that +person can come inside the gates, because I see a clean white robe over +him."' + +'I see!' said Bobby, with quick comprehension. 'My heart has to have a +white robe inside me, not outside; and the angel at the gate looks +right frough me and sees it.' + +'That is it, Bobby.' + +'And how can I get it white?' + +'You must just ask Jesus Christ to wash it in his blood.' + +'Will He do it to-day? I would like it done now.' + +He eyed the picture thoughtfully, then a pleased smile crept over his +face. + +'And then I shan't never, never be turned away. The angel will say, +"Come in Bobby; I'm very glad to see you." And I'll walk up the road +and be so happy!' + +Lady Isobel did not speak for a moment. In explaining the old Truths +to Bobby they seemed fresh to her own soul. + +Bobby had no difficulty in laying hold of them. + +Even now he was clasping his hands devoutly, shutting his eyes and +bowing his head. He looked up for one moment. + +'Nurse says I must say my prayers in bed. I've always said them to God +afore. I think I'll say this one to Jesus.' + +'Do, dear. It will be just the same.' + +So Bobby spoke aloud. He had not yet got to the stage of praying in +silence. + +'Please, Jesus, I want my heart washed white, _quite_ white, please, so +that I shan't be outside the gate. And please will you do it now, for +I don't like waiting, and tell me when you've done it, so that I can +say thank you.' + +There was great silence in that room. The earnestness of the child +made the grown-up person very grave. + +She had never yet in her life come to this crisis. And then in a very +few minutes came an emphatic 'Thank you very much,' from Bobby's lips +as he wriggled down amongst his pillows with a sigh of satisfaction. + +'I feel Jesus has done it,' he said, with a nod of his curly head. 'He +just put His hand on my heart, and it all turned white.' + +'I'm so glad, darling.' + +Lady Isobel stooped to kiss him with tears in her eyes. + +'And now, Bobby, you must always try to be a good boy, and love Jesus +Christ, and do what He tells you to. Isn't there a little hymn: + + Oh, dearly, dearly has He loved, + And we must love Him too, + And trust in His redeeming blood, + And try His works to do.' + + +Bobby nodded again. + +'I says that to Nurse sometimes, but I never does understand it. And +now let's look at the other picshers; but first, please, say the text +to me again.' + +Lady Isobel repeated it, and Bobby repeated it after her with quiet +satisfaction: + +'"Blessed are they that wash their robes in the blood of the Lamb, that +they may have right to the tree of life, and enter in through the gates +into the City."' + +Then he wanted to know about the tree of life; and when at length Lady +Isobel left him she said to Nurse: + +'He is an extraordinary child, Nurse. I feel as if I had been teaching +in Sunday-school. I have never done such a thing before in my life!' + + + + +Chapter V. + +NOBBLES' MISFORTUNE. + +Bobby was soon up and about again, but he had a great disappointment +when one day his friend, Lady Isobel, came to him to wish him good-bye. + +'I am going back to India,' she told him; and though her face was grave +her eyes were glad. + +'Oh!' cried Bobby, clasping her round the neck. 'Take me with you, and +then I'll look for my father. Don't go away and leave me, you +understand so!' + +'If I had not met you I don't believe I should be going,' said Lady +Isobel with a smile and a sigh. 'We have helped each other, Bobby. I +have discovered that I was fast getting a very selfish woman, and so +I'm going to join an old friend of mine in India who has a school for +little black children and women, and I'm going to try to make them +happy by telling them about your picture of the beautiful golden gates. +Do you think I will be able to explain it properly?' + +'Yes,' said Bobby, interested at once; 'same as you did to Nobbles and +me. They've got black bodies as well as black hearts, haven't they? +Nurse's brother tells me about black peoples. But, oh! I don't want +you to go. Everybodies I like goes away; and my father is such a +'normous time coming!' + +'Poor little Bobby!' + +She caressed his curly head with her hand, and added: + +'I will keep a sharp look-out for this father of yours, and send him +home to you when I find him.' + +'That's what Master Mortimer said; but he's never sent him.' + +'Never mind! He'll come back one day,' and with that rather doubtful +consolation Lady Isobel kissed him and said good-bye. + +Bobby felt very unhappy for a few days after she left, then began to +make the best of it, and turned more than ever to his beloved +companion, Nobbles. One afternoon he sat up in his favourite +apple-tree watching the white high-road. Presently two boys came along +chasing a poor miserable-looking little dog whose tail was tied to an +old saucepan. The boys were pelting the saucepan with stones, and more +often than not the stones hit the dog, and a yelp of pain was the +result. + +Bobby's eyes blazed. He forgot his smallness; he only thought of the +tortured dog. + +Shaking Nobbles furiously at them, he leant over the wall and shouted: + +'Stop it, you cowards! I tells you to stop! If you don't, I'll come +and make you!' + +The boys looked up and laughed at the irate little figure. + +'Come on!' they cried. 'We're ready for you, little 'un!' + +The dog had fled into a ditch now, and cowered beneath some bramble +bushes. The boys began to pelt him with stones to make him come out, +and Bobby scrambled down from his tree. + +'Come on, Nobbles,' he said; 'we'll drive them off, me and you +together!' + +He ran to the orchard gate, clambered over it (for it was locked), and +was soon standing over the dog protectingly. + +'You shan't touch him. I'll hit you if you do!' + +The biggest of the boys laughed at him, and advanced to seize the +crouching dog. + +Bobby was so angry that he sprang forward and hit him sharply on the +shoulder. In an instant the boy, who was a bully by nature, had +wrenched his precious stick away from him, and began to belabour him so +unmercifully with it that in a moment poor Nobbles was snapped in two. + +And at this juncture Bobby's aunt came upon the scene. She was +returning from the village, and hastened to stop what she believed was +a village fight. Her astonishment was great when she saw her small +nephew. The village lads at once took to their heels. Bobby, in an +agony of fright and woe, stooped to pick up the two pieces of his stick +which had been flung upon the ground, and the wretched little dog crept +out of his hiding-place. + +'Bobby, what is the meaning of this? You fighting with boys on the +high-road! Where is your nurse?' + +Bobby was beside himself with passion and grief. He held out his +broken stick. + +They've killed mine Nobbles! I hate them! I wish I could kill them +dead! They was teasing the poor little dog, and me and Nobbles ran out +to make them stop, and he took Nobbles away, and he beat me with +Nobbles, and broked him dead! And I hate him!' + +Bobby literally was beside himself with grief. He flung himself down +on the grass by the roadside, clasping the remains of Nobbles in his +arms, and sobbed in the most bitter and heart-broken fashion. + +Miss Egerton occupied herself with releasing the dog from the saucepan. +It seemed to know who had befriended it, for it crept up to Bobby and +began to lick his curly head with a little whine of sympathy. Then +Miss Egerton spoke very sharply: + +'Get up at once, Bobby, and don't be such a baby! Come indoors with me +to Nurse. No, little dog, you are not to follow us; go home, and keep +out of the way of boys in future.' + +Bobby was too overwhelmed with the fate of Nobbles to think of the dog +he had rescued, so he followed his aunt through the orchard and garden, +and flung himself into the arms of his nurse, who, hearing his sobs, +came to meet him. + +'He's dead! He's broken in two! Oh, mine Nobbles! mine Nobbles!' + +'Here, Nurse, take him up to the nursery. He has been trying to act as +champion to an ill-used dog, and come off rather the worse in the +encounter. You must not let him stray into the road by himself. I +don't know what his grandmother would say if she had seen him just now.' + +Nurse picked up Bobby as if he were a baby and carried him upstairs. + +'Hush! now, Master Bobby. Tell me what you've been doing. Let me see +Nobbles; I expect he can be mended.' + +Hope leaped into Bobby's heart; he put the two pieces of stick upon the +table. Nurse, seeing his grief, pointed triumphantly to Nobble's +little smiling face, which was quite uninjured. + +'Nobbles is all right,' she said. 'We can have a new stick put into +him, and he will be better than ever. Look! he's smiling at you to +tell you not to cry. Boys of your age ought never to cry; you don't +want to be a baby.' + +Nurse got her work-basket out, and very cleverly tied Nobbles together +with a bit of tape. + +'There!' she said, laying him in Bobby's arms. 'Be gentle with him, +and he'll last like that till we get him mended; and now tell me all +about it.' + +The story was told; and Nurse was proud of her charge's pluck. When +she undressed him that evening and found marks across his back and +legs, which told of the beating he received, she declared she would +find out the names of the cowardly bullies who had done it, and get +them richly punished. But Bobby made light of his own hurt; he got +into bed and clasped Nobbles to him, and after a long whispered +conversation he suddenly called for Nurse. + +'How does a heart get broken, Nurse? Jane said her mother died of a +broken heart.' + +''Tis sorrow that does it generally,' replied Nurse. 'Now you go to +sleep, like a good boy.' + +But Bobby's brown eyes were very wide awake, and shining with a great +light behind them. + +'Nobbles isn't dead, Nurse; he's very, very hurt; but he's told me just +how it was. That wicked boy took hold of him and made him hit me, and +that just broked his heart in two. He couldn't bear to hurt me, so he +broke his heart and snapped in two, because he wanted to stop it. It +was sorrow that did it!' + +'Oh! I see,' said Nurse, smiling. 'Now don't talk any more, like a +good boy.' + +Bobby drew Nobbles' ugly smiling little head close to his. 'I loves +you, Nobbles, darling, I loves you; and we'll make you quite better +soon; it is only your body, you see. Oh, I loves you for breaking +yourself in two, so that you couldn't hurt me!' And then, tired and +exhausted by his emotions, Bobby fell asleep, and Nobbles lay and +smiled by his side. + +The next morning Nurse informed him that she was going to drive into +the neighbouring town to do some shopping for his grandmother, and he +was to go with her. + +This was a great treat to the small boy, and it only happened on very +rare occasions. + +'And if you bring your stick with you we'll see if we can get it +mended.' + +So Bobby climbed into the dogcart with his nurse in the greatest +delight, and John, the groom, drove them the five miles to the town. + +When they arrived there, Nurse good-naturedly took him first to a +little old man who mended umbrellas, and Nobbles was produced for his +inspection. Bobby stood by trembling for his verdict, and Nurse said +to the man, Jim Black by name, 'He's so terrible set upon his stick +that we thought perhaps you might mend it. 'Tis the head he values; +it's his favourite toy.' + +Jim Black turned Nobbles' little head round in his hand with a smile +upon his lips. + +'Be this here a Chinyman?' he asked Bobby. + +'Oh no,' said Bobby gravely, shaking his head. 'He came from over the +sea; but he understands my English. He's dreadfully hurt; and he +doesn't want to have a new body, it will feel so strange to him.' + +The old man winked at Nurse. 'Ah, well, we'll see whether we can mend +his old body first.' + +He was untying Nobbles' bandages, and when he came in two, he inspected +both pieces with great solemnity. + +'What be you going to do with him? Keep him in a glass case?' + +'Oh no; he always lives with me, and comes with me everywheres.' + +Bobby looked up at the umbrella-mender with serious alarm in his eyes. + +'Then this here broken body be of no manner of use. You leave him with +me and I'll give him a good stout stick, and he'll be better'n new.' + +'You won't hurt him doing it?' + +'Bless your heart, he be proper enjoyin' the thought of it. Look at +his smile! Ah, well! If so be that we could get new bodies so easy +when ours be smashed up it would be a foine thing--eh, Nurse?' + +Nurse assented with a smile; then telling the old man they would call +again, she took Bobby out into the street and began her shopping. And +the shops and the people were so full of interest to Bobby that after a +short time he dismissed Nobbles from his mind and began to enjoy +himself. His crowning treat was lunch at a confectioner's, and then +soon afterwards the groom appeared with the cart, and they called for +Nobbles on their way home. Bobby's hand shook with excitement as he +held it out for his treasure. And certainly Jim Black had been very +successful over his task. Nobbles' head was firmly fixed upon a very +stout brown cane, and he looked very pleased with himself. But it was +some time before Bobby could get accustomed to the change in him, and +more than once he asked his nurse doubtfully if she thought he was just +the same Nobbles as he used to be. + +'I does hope Nobbles isn't very uncomf'able. I was telling him last +night he must be very kind to his poor new body, for it must be a +little shy of him at first. And he said' (here the twinkle came into +Bobby's eyes as they stole a look at Nurse's impassive face), 'Nobbles +telled me he'd soon make him mind him; and the first thing he wants him +to do is to lick that big boy who hit me.' + +'Oh, you mustn't talk of fighting; it's only wicked boys who do that. +The Bible says, "Forgive your enemies."' + +Bobby looked thoughtful. + +'Shall I get my white robe dirty if I fight? My friend who read the +tex' to me said wicked things made white dresses dirty.' + +'Of course they do. Good boys never fight.' + +'I don't think I'm a good boy,' said Bobby, shaking his head. 'Me and +Nobbles would love to knock that boy down; but I don't want to dirty my +dress--I reely don't.' + +The very next day after this conversation, whilst he was sitting in his +apple-tree, Bobby saw the big bully coming down the road. He hastily +had a whispered consultation with Nobbles, and then, leaning over the +wall, shouted to him to stop. Feeling secure in his position, he shook +Nobbles threateningly at him. + +'Do you see my stick? We wants 'normously to come down and lick you, +but we aren't going to; but if you dare to touch me ever again I'll +tell my father when he comes home, and he'll punish you well.' + +'Yah, baby!' yelled the bully, taking up a stone to fling at him. + +Bobby hastily scrambled down from his perch and ran indoors. + +Somehow or other the mention of his father brought a forlorn longing to +his small heart He saw his grandmother go off for her daily drive, and +crept silently into the big hall. Sitting down at the foot of the +stairs he heaved a big sigh. + +'Oh, I wish he'd come! I can't do without him no longer! I'm sure, +certain sure, I could find him if I went to look for him.' + +For a long time this idea had been simmering in his head. This +afternoon it took shape and form. + +''Sposing, Nobbles, my father has forgotten the house? Why, one day he +may drive right past it; and if I was out there to stop him, how lovely +it would be!' + +Bobby leapt to his feet. The front door was open; down the drive he +sped to the big iron gate which led out to the high-road. And then the +impulse seized him to go up the road himself and ask anyone coming +along if they had seen his father drive by. + +'Just fink, Nobbles, we shall see him coming along in a grand carriage +with lots of horses; and he'll stop, and the horses will stop, and the +coachmens; and he'll open his arms, and me and you will run straight +into them; and we'll go right away, galloping on the road to a +beautiful big house, and every room--_every_ one, Nobbles--me and you +will have for our own, and we'll never, never go back to the House +again, never till I'm a very old man with a white beard, and have to +lean very heavy on you, dear Nobbles; and then we'll come to make a +visit, and we'll come in the big front door, and sleep in the best +spare room, and I'll say, "This is where me and Nobbles lived when we +was waiting for father."' + +Talking rather breathlessly in this fashion, Bobby trotted along the +road, perfectly oblivious of the fact that he was not allowed to wander +out on the high-road alone. His little heart was bent upon bringing +his long waiting to an end. There was no reason to his childish mind +why his father should not appear any day. Every day he expected him, +and it seemed a delightful and natural thing for him to be running +along to meet him. From a trot he soon subsided into a walk. It was a +hot day, the road was dusty, and few vehicles passed him. At length he +paused to rest, and it was at this juncture that some drovers, taking +some refractory cattle to market, came along behind him. + +Bobby was in the act of picking a bracken fern from the hedge with +which to fan his face when he heard an alarmed shout. Turning his head +he saw that a young bull had broken loose from his captors and was +making a dash along the road towards him. + +For an instant he did not realise his danger, then another shout from +the men, 'Get out of his way!' made him step aside. The bull had +caught sight of him and lowered his head with an angry bellow. + +And then, to the horror and amazement of the drovers, they saw the +small child turn and walk into the middle of the road, where he stood +confronting the animal with upraised stick. + +At this identical moment the hoot of a horn and whiz of a motor was +heard coming down the road. It slackened speed behind Bobby; then the +little fellow never quite knew what happened, but it swerved past him +and literally charged into the enraged bull, driving him into the +hedge. For an instant the car seemed as if it was going to overturn, +then it righted itself, and came to a standstill. Bobby was soon +surrounded by a good many people, and for a moment he was a little +dazed. + +A gentleman was stooping over him, a tall man with very bright eyes, a +bronzed skin and short curly golden hair. He was the owner of the +motor; and the three cattle-drovers were all eagerly talking and +explaining. + +'Why didn't you run away, little chap?' the gentleman said; 'don't you +know that you were just on the point of being tossed by the horns of +that bull?' + +'Oh no,' Bobby said in a confident tone, recovering himself; 'I was +going to whack him 'cross the nose--least Nobbles was. Nobbles can +kill bulls if he likes!' + +He held out his stick with pride, then looked pityingly at the fallen +bull, whose master was surveying it with some dismay. + +'Is the poor cow quite dead? I was awful 'fraid when I saw you knock +him over.' + +The gentleman looked at Bobby very strangely, then turned back to his +car. + +'True!' he called, 'come and speak to this little boy. I've never seen +such pluck before. Tell him he needn't waste his pity on the bull, +which would have killed him had we not prevented it!' + +A little girl, with a mop of unruly brown hair escaping from a quaint +sun-bonnet, was still sitting in the car and regarding the scene with +big awestruck eyes. In a moment she jumped out and approached Bobby. +She was only half a head taller than he was, and now gazed at him with +soft, sweet grey eyes. + +'Poor little boy!' she said. 'What's your name?' + +'I'm not a poor boy,' said Bobby with head erect; 'me and Nobbles will +be walking on, for we're in a partic'lar hurry.' + +A sudden panic had seized him that this gentleman might take him home +again; he had a great dislike to be the centre of a crowd, and the +cattle-drovers were all surrounding him now, gesticulating and talking +loudly. And Bobby was rather shy of other children; he generally felt +strangely antagonistic towards them. This little girl's gentle pity, +and her desire to know his name, frightened and annoyed him. + +He turned his back upon her and hurried off, with very little idea of +the danger from which he had been saved. But he had not gone a hundred +yards before, to his consternation, he met John, the groom, driving +back from the town in the dogcart. He pulled up instantly. + +'Why, Master Bobby, you ain't by yourself all this way from home?' + +'Me and Nobbles are here,' said the small boy with dignity. + +It did not take John long to get out and lift the little runaway up to +the seat beside him, and Bobby was soon being driven home with a +crestfallen unhappy face. + +'Everybodies always stops me when I want to do fings!' he complained to +Nurse when she took him to task for being so naughty. + +And Nurse was so angry with him that she made him stand in the corner +till teatime. + +'For you're not a bit sorry, and will be sure to run away again +directly you get a chance,' she said. + +Bobby turned his face to the wall with heaving chest. + +'I wants to find my father,' he said. + +He little knew how very close he had been to the end of that search. + + + + +Chapter VI. + +HIS FATHER. + +'Master Bobby is wanted in the drawing-room.' + +Jane brought this message up just as the nursery tea was being cleared +away. + +'Are there visitors?' enquired Nurse. + +'Yes; a gentleman.' + +It was only on rare occasions that the child was sent for. Nurse was +in a flutter at once, putting on his best brown velvet suit, with his +little cream-silk shirt, and brushing out his curls with great skill +and care. + +Bobby did not like the summons at all. He remembered the last time he +had been in the drawing-room. It was to see an old clergyman who had +patted him on the head and asked him if he knew his Catechism. He had +wriggled away from him, and upset a vase of flowers upon a table near, +and had been sent upstairs in disgrace, his grandmother declaring that +'children were always out of place in a drawing-room.' + +'It's another old gempleum, Nurse. I don't like them at all.' + +But when he opened the drawing-room door he saw his grandmother sitting +in her stiffest sternest attitude, and, seated opposite to her, the +tall man with the bright eyes and the curly hair who had rescued him +that afternoon from the bull. + +Bobby's heart sank into his boots at once. So he had come to tell +tales of him to his grandmother. He had had one scolding and a +punishment from Nurse, now he would get another! + +'Come here, Bobby,' said his grandmother coldly. 'Your father has come +to see you.' + +He could not believe his ears. For an instant he gazed wildly and +uncomprehendingly at the stranger, who turned and held out his hand. + +'Why, upon my word! You're the little chap who withstood the furious +bull! Come along. No wonder I felt as I did when I saw you!' + +How often had Bobby rehearsed this scene to himself! He had pictured +himself flinging himself with a glad cry into the arms of his father, +and that father gathering him to his breast and smothering him with +kisses. How different was reality to fancy! He was too dazed by the +suddenness of the discovery to do more than stare stupidly up at his +father, who drew him gently to him and kissed him on the forehead. + +Then he heard his father tell his grandmother about the bull, and Mrs. +Egerton said: + +'What possessed you to do such a naughty thing as to go out on the +high-road alone, Bobby? You might have been killed, and we should not +have known where you were. What made you do it?' + +Bobby looked up at his grandmother with big frightened eyes. + +'I went to meet my father,' he faltered. + +Mr. Allonby gave a short laugh; his grandmother looked quite horrified. + +'You know that is an untruth,' she said. 'Your father must be quite +shocked to hear you.' + +Bobby did not attempt to defend himself. His under lip quivered, and +in his small heart was a passionate desire to prove himself innocent of +a lie. + +His eyes turned to his father, who was looking down upon him with a +strange gravity, but though he wanted to speak he could not. + +'Never mind,' his father said cheerfully, 'he did meet me, and I cannot +yet take in the strange coincidence of it. If I hadn't come by when I +did---- Well, it does not bear thinking about. Did you know you had a +father living, Bobby? For your grandmother seems to have thought I was +dead. I suppose my long silence has seemed inexcusable, but I am +positive that I wrote twice after your daughter's death, Mrs. Egerton, +and to neither letter received any reply. Then I went off with an +exploring party through South America, and have been out of touch with +civilisation for the past five years. Last summer I took up life again +in Canada, and only came home three months ago. I have been ill two +months of that time.' + +There was silence. Bobby felt uncomfortable; why, he did not know. +His father looked at him again and sighed. + +'Well, I see he is cared for, Mrs. Egerton, and had better fall in with +your wishes. My wife----' + +'Your present wife need not be brought into our discussion.' + +Mr. Allonby rose to his feet, for Mrs. Egerton's words were bitter and +proud. + +'I'll see the boy once again before I leave this part, and now I'll +wish you good afternoon.' + +'I'm coming with you, Father.' + +Bobby's voice rang out eagerly, expectantly. He had not a doubt but +that he would be taken away at once. + +His father looked at him astonished, then smiled and shook his head. + +'Oh no, my boy; you belong to your grandmother, not to me. I hear you +are going to school soon. I dare say you will find some boys there who +will be as hard to tackle as a run-away bull.' + +At this juncture Bobby's aunt entered the room, and the little boy +slipped away unnoticed to the hall. His small soul was full of +agonised dismay and bewilderment. Was this to be the end of all his +hopes and expectations? His father did not want him; he said he did +not belong to him. This last assertion was like a stab. Bobby stood +looking out of the front door, which was open, into the sunny garden +beyond, and there the sight of his father's small motor standing +puffing away upon the drive filled him suddenly with a desperate +resolve. + +'I won't be left behind. I will go with father. I don't belong to +this old House. I don't belong to grandmother. I belongs to him for +ever and ever. Amen!' + +He darted down the steps towards the motor. Then a fear smote him. +The little girl. Who was she? Where was she? But the motor was +empty, there was no sign of her. He climbed into the car, and in +another moment was safely tucked out of sight under the seat. He had +been accustomed to hide in out of the way corners in his grandmother's +part of the house. He had often, when making secret excursions on his +own account, been nearly surprised by the 'grown-ups.' Sometimes he +had lain almost breathless under a chintz-covered couch, or crouched +behind a curtain till the moment of danger was past. His whole soul +was in revolt against his father's decision. He pitifully thought that +if only he explained things to his father, if only he was granted a +fair hearing, without feeling the cold disapproving gaze of his +grandmother upon him, he might win his case. + +So he lay, grasping Nobbles tightly in agony lest he should be +discovered and dragged out of his hiding-place. It seemed hours to him +before he heard his father's voice and step, and his parting words to +his aunt, who had accompanied him to the hall door, were not reassuring. + +'I must see him once again before leaving this part; but I'm quite +satisfied that you can do better for him than I can.' + +Then he jumped into his car, and in a moment they were gliding down the +drive and out upon the high-road. A little exultant feeling came to +Bobby when they were once away and going at full speed. His heart +thumped loudly; he was extremely uncomfortable and dared not change his +position, but he could not help whispering to Nobbles in triumph: + +'We're on, Nobbles, and we never will go back to the House again.' + +It did not seem very long before the car stopped. Bobby heard men's +voices talking, but he did not move until his father had left the car. +Then he peeped out and saw him going into the principal hotel of the +market town. When he had disappeared through the door Bobby crept from +his hiding-place, and, strangely enough, though there were two or three +ostlers standing by, he escaped observation. He was very disappointed +to find they were no farther away, for he dreaded being taken back to +his grandmother again. Then his natural hopefulness came to his aid. + +'Father will keep me when I tells him how I want him; and if he tells +me to go home I'll come out and hide under the seat. Me and Nobbles +don't mean to leave him now we've found him.' + +He pushed the hotel door open, but there was no sign of his father. +Nothing disconcerted, Bobby opened every door he saw and peeped inside +the rooms, and when he did not find him downstairs, he climbed upstairs. + +And at last he was successful. In a comfortable sitting-room his +father was just in the act of drawing an easy-chair to the window, and +the little girl was by his side. + +'Did you see him, dad?' she was asking eagerly. 'Did you see your own +little boy? And what was he like? Do tell me.' + +Mr. Allonby dropped into his seat with a heavy sigh. + +'Not a bit like his mother, True. Very like what I was at his age, I'm +afraid.' + +'I belongs to you, father.' + +Bobby could keep silence no longer. Decision and some reproach was in +his tone. His father started from his chair as if he had been shot. +The little girl laughed and clapped her hands. + +'You brought him as a s'prise, dad. You brought him to play with me!' + +'On my honour I didn't, True. It's some magic, I think. Come here my +boy. How on earth did you get here?' + +Bobby marched up to his father. He wanted to show what a man he was, +but his lips quivered, and his hand grasping Nobbles quivered too. + +'I comed in your carriage under the seat. I didn't tell an untroof. I +did walk out on the road to meet you. I've been waiting years and +_years_ for you to come for me.' + +Then his self-control gave way; he grasped hold of his father's coat +and burst into tears. + +In an instant his father had lifted him upon his knee, and that was +Bobby's happy moment. He tried to check his sobs. + +'I belongs to you; I don't want to go back to the House nevermore; me +and Nobbles have come to stay.' + +Mr. Allonby put his hand on the curly head that was now burrowing +itself into his waistcoat pocket. + +'This is quite a surprise to me, my sonny. Bobby you're called, are +you not? Aren't you happy with your grandmother?' + +'I belongs to you,' Bobby repeated pitifully. 'I knewed you would come +for me one day. _Every_ day I've expecked you. I told Master Mortimer +you couldn't be lost. I knewed you couldn't.' + +He raised his face to his father's now, triumphantly, trustingly, and +that look decided his fate. 'You do belong to me, Bobby, and we'll +find a corner for you somewhere; but I mustn't kidnap you in this +fashion. I'll take you back to your grandmother, and talk to her about +it. She'll be alarmed about you.' + +Bobby began to cry again in an agitated fashion. + +'I can't go back! Me and Nobbles won't! If you take me back I'll be +punished. The House doesn't want me; and Nurse can come and live with +us, father; she'll understand. She know's how I've been looking for +you _every_ day.' + +'But what made you look for me? Who put such an idea in your head?' + +Bobby stopped his tears to consider, and a slow smile spread over his +face. + +'I reely believe it was Nobbles,' he said, holding up his stick to his +father admiringly. 'It was ever so many years ago,' he added hastily. +'Me and Nobbles have always talked about you coming to fetch me away +one day. I fink it was Nobbles who told me first.' + +Mr. Allonby gazed at his little son with a comical look of dismay. +Then he put him down from his knees and took a few quick turns up and +down the room. At last he turned to the little girl, who was staring +at Bobby in silence. + +'I want your mother's advice, True; she says I am always making +blunders. I think I'll send a note back to Bobby's grandmother, and +instead of staying here the night we'll motor straight back to mother +and ask her what we had better do. We'll take Bobby with us. I don't +know whether that will be right though. I'm afraid you ought to go +back, little chap.' + +Mr. Allonby looked very much worried. Bobby shook his head +emphatically. + +'Me and Nobbles couldn't never go back. We belongs to you.' + +'Oh, bring him to mother, dad. She'll love him; he looks so lovely. +And isn't he very like that little boy who got nearly tossed with a +bull yesterday?' + +'He's the same; that's the extraordinary thing. Yes, I'll send the +note, and we'll take him along to mother. His grandmother can send for +him from there if she wants him.' + +Mr. Allonby walked to a writing-table and began to write a letter in +furious haste. + +True put out her little fingers and stroked Bobby's velvet sleeve. + +'What a nice coat you've got on!' + +Boy-like, Bobby did not think much of his clothes. + +'Who are you?' he asked curiously. + +'Dad's little girl.' + +'Father has no one but me,' said Bobby, with scarlet cheeks. 'I'm his +own proper boy.' + +'Yes,' said True meekly, 'I know you are. I don't think I'm quite a +proper child, because my own father is dead, but dad is my next one, +and mother's my _very_ own. She doesn't belong to you at all, only to +_me_.' + +The relationship puzzled Bobby, and did not altogether please him. He +had been so accustomed to think of himself and his father quite alone, +that this little girl and her mother seemed quite unnecessary. + +Conversation languished between them until Mr. Allonby had finished his +note; then he left the room, found a messenger to take it at once, and +then for the next ten minutes all was bustle and confusion getting +ready for the return journey. + +'If we are quick we shall get home by nine o'clock, True,' Mr. Allonby +said as he wrapped a heavy rug round Bobby and tucked him in by his +side in the car. + +Five minutes afterwards they were going swiftly up the high-road. To +Bobby it all seemed a dream. He grasped Nobbles tightly, but no fear +assailed him. He had prepared himself too long for the possibility of +going off with an unknown father to be much disturbed now. + +And the strangeness of his journey fascinated him. True on one side of +him, his father on the other--both strangers to him a few hours ago. +They passed in the dusk the identical spot where he had stood +confronting the bull that same afternoon. It seemed to be a year ago. +True looked out as they passed, rather sleepily. + +'That's where dad charged the bull! Oh, it was horrid! I thought we +were going to be smashed up!' + +Bobby snuggled closer to his father's side, and Mr. Allonby said +shortly: + +'We won't think any more about that, True.' + +It grew darker as they flew along; trees by the roadside began to turn +black and grim. A belt of pinewood looked as if it contained a band of +robbers ready to spring out upon any unlucky passer-by. + +The light from their lamps seemed to cast strange shadows across the +road. They passed through two or three villages where the lights from +the cottage windows looked to Bobby like fallen stars. True soon went +to sleep, but the small boy sat looking out with wide awe-stricken +eyes. He had never been out at night before, and everything he saw was +absorbing. Mr. Allonby did not speak. He was very doubtful as to +whether he had acted wisely in taking Bobby off in such a fashion, and +was more than half inclined to turn back and hand him over to his +grandmother again. He looked down upon him with a mixture of affection +and anxiety. At last, meeting the steadfast gaze of two bright brown +eyes, he said: + +'Well, what do you think of your father, Bobby?' + +'You aren't the same as I finked about,' responded the child readily. + +'Tell me how I am different.' + +'I finked you would be a big man with a black beard, who would take me +to live in a cave in the mountains, or fight with the Red Ingines. +Nurse's brother said he expecked you would be like that.' + +'You want a life of adventure and travel!' + +Mr. Allonby's eyes sparkled, though he was staring in front of him and +making his car go beyond the limited speed at this juncture. + +'Then you're a proper son of mine, Bobby, and I won't let you go. +We'll do some travels together.' + +And we'll leave the little girl at home,' suggested Bobby. + +His father laughed aloud. + +'True? Bless her heart! Do you know where I first met her, Bobby? +Careering on a wild prairie; run away on a half-broken colt, and been +lost for two days; and when I took her back to her mother----' + +He stopped and smiled to himself in the darkness. + +'Ah, well! That was a good day in my life, and better ones followed. +No, you and True must be friends. Truant is her name by rights, for +her mother never could keep her indoors or at home. Now, Bobby, look +ahead! Do you see those lights? We go through the town; and just +outside is our home--a very tiny one at present, for we move about; but +we'll find a corner for you.' + +He slackened speed. Slowly they passed through the streets of an +old-fashioned cathedral town. Soon the houses became more scarce, and +at last they came to a standstill before an iron gate in a wall. True +woke up, and she and Bobby were bundled out. + +'Go up to the door; I'll take the car into the shed and join you.' + +True pulled Bobby after her up a narrow gravel path. It was dark, but +there was a sweet smell of mignonette and of roses. Bobby was dimly +conscious of two old-fashioned borders of flowers edging their path. A +light shone out of a casement window on the ground floor which was +open. True ran up to it and put her head in. + +'We're back, motherums, and we've brought dad's little boy with us.' + +Then she thumped impatiently upon the door till it was opened by an +oldish woman. + +'Now, Miss True, be quiet; and who's this without a hat?' + +'I'm going to take him to Mother, Margot. Let us pass.' + +The tiny hall seemed almost like a doll's house to Bobby. He hung +back; sudden shyness seized him. + +'I think I'll wait for my father,' he said. + +True released his hand, and dashed into the front room. Margot looked +down upon him in puzzled wonder, but a step outside made her smile. + +'Ah! Here's the master,' she murmured; and Mr. Allonby's hand was upon +Bobby's shoulder the next instant. + +'Now, little chap, come and see your new mother.' + + + + +Chapter VII. + +HIS NEW HOME. + +Bobby's eyes blinked nervously at his father's words. A 'new mother' +had never been in his calculations at all. A mother of any sort meant +very little to him; he had never come across one, and vaguely put them +in the same category as his grandmother and aunt. He clung hold of his +father's hand tightly, and then the door was opened, and Bobby's brain +received the first impression of cosy warmth and comfort, which never +faded from him in after-life. The room was small compared with his +grandmother's rooms, but, oh! so different. There was a tiny fire +blazing in the grate, a little black-and-white terrier lay basking on +the hearthrug, a lamp in a corner of the room, covered by a +rose-coloured shade, shed its light on a pretty pink and white chintz +couch underneath it, and upon this couch, leaning back amongst pink +cushions, was Bobby's stepmother. True was already sitting upon a +footstool, and her head was in her lap, her mother was stroking back +her hair gently and tenderly. Mrs. Allonby looked to most people a +mere laughing high-spirited girl, with wonderful black hair and +mischievous face and eyes, but that was generally the side she showed +to outsiders. To her husband and child there was deep, never-dying +love in her looks and tones; and Bobby caught a glimpse of this, small +boy as he was, when she turned her face towards her husband. + +'Come along, wanderer, and confess! Have you been guilty of stealing, +and where is your prize? Oh, what a little darling!' + +She opened her arms to Bobby, and True made way for him. Bobby found +himself smothered with kisses; he was shy no longer, for he felt the +atmosphere of love around him. + +Standing, with his hand in his stepmother's, he heard his father +telling his story, and all the time his eyes were roaming round the +room taking everything in with admiration and delight. There was a +canary in a cage, a globe of goldfish, bowls of pink and white roses, +pictures and books, comfortable easy-chairs, and in the corner a +delicious-looking table, spread with a white cloth and shining silver, +with a large dish of strawberries in the centre, a junket, and a +rich-looking plum-cake. Then his eyes came back to his stepmother. +She was clad in a white gown, but a crimson wrapper round her seemed to +match in colour the roses pinned to her breast, and her cheeks vied +with them in hue. + +'And so you have kidnapped your own little son! And he himself helped +you to do it! How can you leave your dear old granny, my boy? She has +loved you and cared for you all these years. Is it kind to run away +from her?' + +Bobby looked up wonderingly. + +'I couldn't never be kind to grandmother,' he said; 'she wouldn't like +it. And it's only fathers who love anybodies; Nurse told me they +always did.' + +'And not mothers? Ah! you poor little atom, I forgot that you have not +known your mother.' + +'How's the back?' asked Mr. Allonby, looking at his wife with a smile. + +'Oh! very good to-day; I've been following you in thought all the time. +You see, Bobby, I have to lie here on my back, and my truant and +wanderer go out to seek adventures, and come back and amuse me by +telling me all they have seen and heard. Then I mend them up, and send +them out again, and that's how we spend our life.' + +'Motherums hasn't always lived on her back,' put in True eagerly. 'She +used to gallop everywhere on a lov-elly black horse till she got her +fall. That was a dre'fful day!' + +'So "dre'fful" that we will never talk of it,' said Mrs. Allonby +quickly. 'Now, True, darling, take Bobby to Margot, and she will get a +comfy bed for him in dad's dressing-room. And when he is quite tucked +up in it he shall have a basin of bread and milk and go fast asleep +till to-morrow morning, for I'm sure it is long past his proper +bedtime.' + +Bobby looked longingly towards the table, and Mrs. Allonby noted it. + +'That is for father only; he is going to have some hot meat directly; +but I think he can spare you six strawberries. True, you can have six +too. Bring a plate over here and eat them together.' + +So the two children sat down on the rug together, and Bobby felt he +would like to stay there all night. But a little later, when he was +going upstairs to bed, he felt very sleepy, and his head had not been +upon his pillow for five minutes before he was fast asleep. + +He was wakened the next morning by True's voice. + +'Oh, do wake up! We've had breakfast already. And oh! you funny boy, +you've got your walking-stick in bed with you.' + +Bobby resented her tone. + +'It isn't a stick, it's Nobbles,' he said. 'Me and Nobbles always +sleep together.' + +He fingered Nobbles' red cap lovingly, then held him out for True's +inspection. + +'He comed from over the sea. He's really alive, though he never +speaks; but he finks a lot, and whispers to me, but nobody but me can +hear him.' + +True gazed at Nobbles' smiling face with fascination. + +'What does he tell you?' she asked. + +Bobby's slow smile came. + +'He told me last night he liked this house very much; and--he ran away +from me in the night--he very often does--he goes up the chimleys, and +the wind takes him journeys. He went to the House to see how Nurse was +getting on.' + +'Did he? To your grandmother's house? What did she say?' + +Bobby considered. + +'She said to Nurse, "I reely can't be troubled with the child, Nurse; +it's your place to look after him."' + +'And what did your nurse say?' + +'She wented down to the kitchen and ate some apple tart. And then +Nobbles said he came away "'cause nobody wanted me back," and I'm never +going to leave my father no more!' + +'Dad is going to see your grandmother now. Motherums told him he ought +to. Do get up and come and see my rabbits. Oh! Here is Margot!' + +Margot appeared with a breakfast tray, and Bobby lay still and ate an +egg and some bread and butter with relish. + +'The mistress said you was not to be called, for you were tired out,' +said Margot, by way of explanation. 'And when you've had your bath, +and dressed, you can go to her room and see her. Can you dress +yourself?' + +'I'm nearly sure I can,' said Bobby bravely. + +But he was forced to let Margot assist him more than once; and when +ready at last, paused before leaving the room, looking up into her face +with a little uncertainty and doubt. + +'Do you think they'll all like me here?' he said. + +'Bless the child, this be a real home to everyone, though it be small. +I've been with the mistress for twenty years. She were a wild slip of +a girl when I took service out in 'Merica. She lost her mother when +she were eight, and I mothered her after, for her father were a proper +ne'er-do-weel, and were always moving from one ranch to another. Miss +Helen took after her mother, and got everyone's love. And then her +father got her to marry a rich old settler, so that some of his debts +might be paid, and he died within a twelvemonth of the marriage, and +Miss Helen kept the property together and did for her father till he +broke his neck riding an unbroken horse, and Miss True was all the bit +of comfort she had left. She could have married over and over scores +of times; but not she; till Mr. Allonby found Miss True one day and +brought her home, and then I knew how things would end. And when she +would gallop off with him on her big horse, with her laugh and jest, I +little thought she'd ever live to lie on her back and never move again.' + +The old woman paused. Bobby had not been following her. He only +repeated the question, which was an all-important one to him: + +'Will they be sure to like me?' + +'The mistress has the biggest heart in the world, my dear, and the +master never says a cross word to nobody!' + +Bobby felt cheered by her tone, and his doubts utterly vanished when he +was held in the close clasp of his stepmother. + +'We are going to keep you, Bobby, and I must be prepared to see two +small children go off every day with my Wanderer. We are going to make +this summer a holiday, to build up and strengthen your father, who has +been very ill, and next winter, if we are spared, we must all set to +work in earnest. Lessons and school for the little ones, real hard +writing for your father and me. Now, darling, True is calling to you +from the garden. Run out to her, and the air and sunshine will bring +colour into those pale cheeks of yours.' + +'Me and Nobbles likes to be darlings,' Bobby informed True a short time +afterwards. 'We aren't darlings with Nurse or grandmother.' + +When his father returned, Bobby approached him, almost trembling to +hear his fate. + +'Well, little chap,' Mr. Allonby said, 'it has been rather a stormy +scene, but I've got you for good and all. And if I had known your +grandmother considered children such a trouble I never would have left +you with her all this time. Your nurse is going to drive over this +afternoon and wish you good-bye. She will bring your clothes. Do you +think you will get on with us without a nurse? We are very poor folk, +you know, until I write this big book of travels that is going to bring +us fame and money, and then--well, you ask True what will happen.' + +Bobby smiled contentedly. Things had not turned out quite according to +his expectations, but he was well pleased to have a little playfellow +in True, and though she adopted a slightly superior and motherly air +with him, she was a deferential listener to any of Nobbles' exploits. +She had no difficulty in believing that he was alive; in fact she was +quite ready to explain his existence in a manner quite new to Bobby. + +'You see,' she said, 'a wicked fairy must have turned him into a stick. +He really was a very brave good prince, but he set free a beautiful +princess, who had been a prisoner in the wicked fairy's house, and the +way he did it was dressing in her clothes and staying behind while she +put on his and rode away. Then the wicked fairy was so angry when she +found out the trick that she turned him into a stick and said he must +stay like it till someone broke the spell.' + +'What's a spell?' asked Bobby. + +'Oh, there are lots of spells. The sleeping beauty was in one, you +know. The spell was that she would sleep till a prince kissed her. +What we've got to do is to find out the spell for Nobbles, and when we +do the right thing to him he'll wake up, and come alive, and be a +prince again.' + +Bobby thought over this with a perplexed brow. + +'But then he might ride away from me to find the princess, and I should +be 'fraid of a grand prince. I like Nobbles best like he is!' + +'Oh, but wouldn't you like him to be able to run about and take off his +little red cap and bow? He wouldn't be any bigger you know; he comes +from a country where they are all very tiny, and perhaps he will have +forgotten all about the princess and will like to stay with you best.' + +'I'll ask him to-night when we're in bed all about it. He'll be sure +to tell me.' + +And Bobby's face brightened at the thought. After all, Nobbles +belonged to him, not to True, and if he didn't choose him to be a +prince he need not be one. + +Bobby's interview with Nurse was rather a trying one. He could hardly +understand why he should be blamed. + +'You knewed my father would come one day, Nurse. I had been expecking +him every day, and of course I belongs to him, and I had to go after +him. I was so 'fraid I might lose him again. And I can go all over +father's house and sit in every room, and I've got a new mother and a +little girl to play with, and they calls me "darling!"' + +Then Nurse astonished him by clasping him in her arms and bursting into +tears. + +'I never thought you'd have left me. I've been as fond of you as if +you'd been my own child. It's put me terrible about, losing you so +sudden. Why, I meant to stay with you till you went to school.' + +Bobby began to get tearful at once. He had a tender little heart, and +to see Nurse cry was a great calamity. He was honestly sorry to part +with her; but his father filled his heart, and, childlike, the new +scenes and life around him were entirely engrossing him. + +When Nurse had gone he was called to his father, who was sitting with +his stepmother. True was still playing in the garden. + +'I feel I must make acquaintance with my small son,' Mr. Allonby said, +perching him on his knee. + +'How is it you have thought such a lot about me?' + +'I always knewed you would be nice,' said Bobby, with a slow shake of +his head. 'I knewed fathers were.' + +'How many fathers have you known?' + +'Only God,' said Bobby, simply and reverently. 'He is my other Father, +isn't He? And He's always good and kind to me.' + +Mr. Allonby exchanged glances with his wife. + +'You are a little character, I see. Tell me more. Are you a very good +little boy?' + +'Nurse says no boys are ever good,' said Bobby, not seeing the twinkle +in his father's eye. 'I s'pose when I get to be a father I shall be.' + +Mr. Allonby began to laugh. His wife shook her head at him. + +Bobby knitted his brows, then turned questioner. + +'Did you fink I would be like what I am, father?' + +His tone was anxious. He added hurriedly: + +'I'm not a baby now, I can walk miles and miles, and I'm going to dress +myself all alone to-morrow.' + +'That's right. I want my son to be plucky and independent and +honourable. If you're that sort I shall be quite satisfied. What do +you say, Helen?' + +Mrs. Allonby looked at Bobby rather tenderly. + +'I don't think he needs to be very independent yet,' she said. + +'What does it mean?' asked Bobby. 'And what does honourable mean? +It's plucky when you hurt yourself and don't cry, isn't it?' + +'Independent is doing things for yourself and standing alone. +Honourable is everything a gentleman ought to be--truthful, honest, and +straight, with right thoughts about everything. I think you're plucky. +You're not afraid of anything, I hope.' + +Bobby did not answer for a minute. He had heard enough to fill his +small brain with fresh thought. + +'I'm not afraid of anybody if I have Nobbles with me,' he said. + +His father laughed again, then put him off his knee. + +'I have letters to write. Run away now and play with True.' + +So Bobby went, revolving many things in his mind. And an hour later, +when he was getting tired of romping with True, he sat down on the +grass underneath an apple-tree. + +'I like Nobbles to be good,' he confided to True; 'but I'm 'fraid he +can't be ind'pendent. He's plucky, he's afraid of nobody, and loves to +give anyone a good beating; and he's quite, quite straight, so he's +hon'rable, but he can't stand alone, or do things for himself.' + +'Can't he? You give him to me. I'll make him stand up.' + +True had seized hold of Nobbles and stuck him triumphantly two inches +into the ground, where he stood smiling at them. + +Bobby did not approve of this treatment. + +'You're not to touch him. He doesn't belong to you.' + +'He's only a stick!' + +True's tone was scornful. For the first time Bobby began to feel angry +with her. + +'He's my Nobbles, and I like him much better than you.' + +He hugged his stick and walked off. True pursued him. + +'He's only a stick,' she repeated. 'I could break him in half if I +tried!' + +'You're a horrid girl, and I wish my father would send you away. You +don't belong to him and me at all!' + +'You don't belong to us!' cried True excitedly. 'Dad and me always +goes out together, and we'll leave you behind. We don't want you at +all. We was ever so happy before you came. You'd better go back to +that old House of yours. We don't want you!' + +It takes so little to make a quarrel. Fiery little True rushed into +her mother in a passion of tears, declaring that she hated Bobby and +would never play with him again; and Bobby was found some minutes later +by Margot lying face downwards in the garden crying as if his heart +would break. + +'I'll never be happy again. She says I don't belong here,' he sobbed. + +Peace was made at last, for Margot took him straight into Mrs. Allonby, +who talked to both children as only she could talk, lovingly, gently, +but very firmly. When girl and boy were both safely tucked away in bed +that night, she said to her husband: + +'Oh, Frank, shall we have a divided house?' + +'Never!' he said cheerfully. 'Both these youngsters have had things +their own way. Now they will have to give and take, and it will do +them each a power of good.' + +She smiled, and her anxious look disappeared. + +'If we are of one mind it will be easy,' she said. + +And her husband replied: + +'Your mind and will rule this household, darling. I shall leave my +boy's training to you.' + + + + +Chapter VIII + +A LETTER FROM ABROAD. + +'They look like the gates in the City.' + +Bobby and True were lying upon the grass under a shady group of trees. +They had been out motoring with their father all the morning, and had +stopped to have their lunch up a by-road. They had had a merry meal, +and then after it was over Mr. Allonby told them they had better stay +where they were whilst he took his motor back to the neighbouring +village to get some slight repairs done to it. + +'It is very warm, so stay here quietly, and don't wander far from this +place, or I shall not find you again.' + +He went. For a short time they amused themselves quietly by the +roadside. Then they thought they would like to see where the road took +them, and walked up it until suddenly they were stopped by some very +tall white iron gates. They peeped through the bars of them. There +was a small lodge inside, but there seemed no one about. A long, +broad, beautifully-kept drive went straight up to a white, turreted +house in the distance. It looked almost like a castle. They tried to +open the gates, but they were locked. Then they threw themselves down +upon the grass outside, and Bobby thoughtfully said, as he eyed the +gates in front of them: + +'They look like the gates in the City.' + +'What city?' asked True. + +'It's a Bible city. Do you know about the gates kept by angels? They +lead up to heaven, and the road is just like that in there, only there +are people walking up them in white dresses. We shall have to get +frough them some day. + +'It'll be very nice,' said True comfortably. + +Bobby looked at her, and his mouth pursed itself up gravely. + +'Everybodies don't get frough. Some are shut outside.' + +'Oh! Why?' + +'Because they haven't white dresses on. My grandmother has a beautiful +Bible with beautiful picshers in it, and the picsher of the lovely +gates says: "Blessed are they that wash their robes in the blood of the +Lamb, that they may have right to the tree of life, and enter in frough +the gates into the City." I learnt that tex'. Lady Isobel teached it +to me.' + +'What's the tree of life?' asked True. + +Bobby pointed inside the gate to a big beech-tree halfway up the drive. + +'It's like that, but it has lovely golden apples on it. And the angels +stand at the gate, and won't let nobody frough with a dirty dress.' + +True glanced at her brown holland frock, which was smeared with green. + +'My frocks never keep clean after half an hour,' she said with a little +sigh. + +'You have to get a nice white frock from Jesus,' went on Bobby, pleased +with his role as teacher. + +'He washes your dirty one in His blood. You know, when He died on the +cross, that's how He shed His blood. And it turns all dirty things +white and clean. Lady Is'bel teached me it did.' + +'I don't believe Jesus Christ really washes frocks,' said True. 'I've +never heard He does. It would be--be like a washerwoman.' + +Bobby leant across to her eagerly. + +'You don't un'stand prop'ly. It's a inside white frock over our +hearts. Nobody sees it but Jesus and the angels at the gate--and God. +Our hearts are quite dirty and black till we ask Jesus to wash them and +put the white dress on. Why, I had mine done long ago--d'reckly I +heard 'bout it. You ought to have yours. You'll never get inside the +gates if you don't, and it would be quite dre'fful to be shut out. + +'When is it?' asked True, deliberating. + +'When is what?' + +'The gates being opened.' + +'I think it's when you die, you want to get frough,' said Bobby. + +'Then I can wait till I die!' said True. + +'What a silly girl you are!' + +Bobby's tone was almost contemptuous. + +'I'm not silly.' + +'Yes you are. Fancy waiting when you can have it now. Why, you might +die in a hurry, and then Jesus might be doing something else, and +mightn't come to you in time. I'm all ready now. The tex' says I've a +_right_ to go in at the gates _now_, if I wanted to.' + +He stopped talking, for up the lane came a carriage, and it stopped at +the gates. + +Both the children sprang to their feet. They saw a woman in a white +apron hurry out from the lodge and open the gate; they saw the carriage +pass through and the gates close again. Then Bobby spoke very solemnly: + +'Did you see who was in the carriage? A lady in a _white_ dress, and +she had a _right_ to pass frough.' + +'You are a funny boy,' said True with a little laugh. 'She belonged to +the house, and she's just going home.' + +'Well,' argued Bobby, 'I belong to the golden City, and I shall have a +right to go in--the tex' says so; and I shall be going home; because +you know, True, God is my other Father, and God lives at home in +heaven.' + +There was silence, then True said: + +'We had better go back to dad. I'll ask mother next Sunday about those +gates, and see if you've told me true. She always talks good to me on +Sunday afternoon.' + +Bobby turned away from the white gates with reluctance. + +'Would it be wicked to play at going in at those gates?' he asked. 'We +might come another day by ourselves and try to get in.' + +'So we will,' said True. 'It couldn't be wicked if we play what's in +the Bible, because everything is good there.' + +They returned to the spot where Mr. Allonby had arranged to meet them. +He was just appearing along the road, and when they were tucked safely +in the car again Bobby said: + +'Who lives inside the big white gates up that road, father?' + +'I don't know, my boy. I don't know this part of the country.' + +'How far are we from home?' asked True. + +'About twenty miles.' + +The children sighed simultaneously. Then True said: + +'We'll never get there, Bobby.' + +'P'raps we shall pass some other white gates nearer home,' he suggested. + +'Why do you want them?' asked their father. + +Bobby laid his hand on his coat sleeve impressively. + +'They're so like the gates into heaven, father.' + +Mr. Allonby looked startled. + +'Have you been there, sonny?' + +'No; but I've seen them in a picsher.' + +'Well?' + +'I was splaning to True about them.' + +Bobby was a wee bit shy of his father. He could not talk quite freely +to him yet. He was so terribly afraid of being laughed at, and Mr. +Allonby was not good at hiding his amusement at some of his son's +quaint speeches. + +'It's kind of Sunday talk,' put in True eagerly, 'about angels, and +white dresses, and washing.' + +'Ah!' said Mr. Allonby, 'then you must take your puzzles to the angel +of our house. She will tell you all you want to know.' + +'That's mother,' said True in a whisper to Bobby. 'She's father's +angel. He is awful 'fraid she will get some wings and fly away one +day.' + +Other topics engrossed their small minds; but upon the next Sunday +afternoon, when they were both sitting by Mrs. Allonby's sofa and she +was giving them a Bible lesson out of her big Bible, True brought up +the subject. + +'Will you read us about the gates of heaven, mother? Bobby says he'll +be let inside, and I shall be shut out.' + +'No, I didn't.' + +'Yes, you did.' + +'We won't have any quarrelling. What do you want to hear about?' + +'The gates,' said Bobby, 'the beautiful gates. It's the last page of +the Bible. I know it is. Will you read, True, the tex' about having a +right to enter? It begins, "Blessed----"' + +Mrs. Allonby had no difficulty in finding it. She read very slowly. + +'Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have right to +the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the City.' + +'There!' said True, 'it doesn't say anything about washing, Bobby.' + +Bobby looked sorely perplexed. + +'Lady Is'bel teached it to me out of the Talian Bible. "Blessed are +they that wash their robes in the blood of the Lamb, that they may have +right to the tree of life, and may enter in frough the gates into the +City." That's my tex', I know it is.' + +Mrs. Allonby smiled at his disconsolate face. + +'It is another version, Bobby.' + +'But isn't it true?' he questioned. 'You see it's so 'ticular to me, +'cause I've had my robe washed. I knows I have, and I thought I was +quite ready to go in.' + +'You're quite right, darling. Listen to this verse about the City. +"There shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth." No one +can be allowed in if they are stained with sin, no dirt, no impurity. +We must have had our hearts washed white before we can go in. Only +Jesus can do this; but we must not think that is all we have to do. +What makes our hearts dirty and black?' + +'Being naughty,' said True. + +'Yes. We must ask Jesus to help us do His commandments, so as to keep +our hearts clean. The two go together; and it is very important they +should. If Bobby says his heart is washed by Jesus, and then quarrels, +and loses his temper and wants his own way, I shall know something is +not right. Remember you must be washed, and you will want to be washed +every day again and again, but you must try to keep clean by doing His +commandments. Everyone you break leaves a stain upon your robe, and +grieves your Saviour.' + +'Oh dear, oh dear!' sighed Bobby, 'He'll get quite tired of me, I know +He will. I think I'm much wickeder here than I was at grandmother's.' + +'And I'm wickeder since you came to us,' said True, nodding her head at +him. 'You do make me so awful angry by things you say!' + +Bobby looked quite crushed. + +'Isn't it quite certain I'll be let inside?' he asked. + +Mrs. Allonby smiled. + +'Thank God you can be quite certain of that, Bobby. It doesn't depend +on what we do, but upon what Jesus did for us. Let me tell you a +little story. Two little girls were going to be taken out to tea one +afternoon with their mother. Their names were Nellie and Ada. They +were dressed in clean white frocks, and told they might walk up and +down the garden path till their mother joined them. "But don't go on +the grass," she said, "or you may soil your frocks. It has been +raining, and it is wet and muddy." For a short time they walked up and +down the path as good as gold. Then Ada saw a frog hop away over the +grass. She forgot her mother's command, and ran after it. The grass +was slippery; she fell, and her clean frock was all smeared and spoilt +by muddy streaks. Her mother came out and was very vexed. "Now, Ada, +you will have to stay at home. I can't take you in a dirty frock. It +will serve you right for being so disobedient." Ada cried and sobbed, +and said she was sorry, and begged to be taken. But her mother said +no. Then Nellie, who loved her sister, and was an unselfish little +girl, said: "Mother, dear, do take Ada, she is so sorry; let me stay at +home, and then she can wear my frock." At first the mother wouldn't +hear of this, but Nellie begged so hard that at last she consented. +Ada's dirty frock was taken off her and Nellie's clean one put on her. +She went to the party and Nellie stayed at home. Now don't you think, +as she walked along with her mother, that she would be very careful not +to dirty Nellie's clean frock? I think she would be more careful than +ever. Jesus Christ kept His robe pure and spotless. He never sinned +at all, so His robe is put over us, and we can enter the gates. But +oughtn't we to be very careful not to sin, just to show Him how we +value our robe, how we love Him for being so kind and good to us?' +Mrs. Allonby paused. Bobby nodded his head very solemnly at her. + +'Me and Nobbles will 'member that story. I'll tell him it in bed. You +know sometimes I make Nobbles do naughty things, but sometimes'--here +the twinkle came into the brown eyes--'sometimes Nobbles puts naughty +things in my head. He whispers them to me in bed.' + +'That isn't Nobbles,' said True, in her downright fashion, 'that's the +Devil, isn't it, motherums?' + +'No,' asserted Bobby, 'it's Nobbles, all by himself. P'raps Satan may +have whispered to him first. Shall I tell you what he wants me to do +to-morrer?' + +'Oh, do!' True's eagerness to hear Bobby's inventions got the better +of her. Mrs. Allonby said nothing. She liked the children to talk +freely before her, and she gained a good deal by being listener +sometimes. + +'You know those top pears on the wall what _won't_ fall down? Nobbles +says if I get on a chair and reach up he'll hit them down, and then I +can pick them up. We was finking about doing it first thing before +breakfus' to-morrer!' + +'But it would be _you_ that would do it; and dad said we weren't to +touch them unless they were on the ground.' + +'It wouldn't be me, it would be Nobbles,' insisted Bobby. 'I couldn't +reach up half so high.' + +'Then if Nobbles does it,' said Mrs. Allonby, very quietly, 'I shall +have to punish him. I shall shut him up in a cupboard for a whole day.' + +Bobby looked quite frightened. + +'Me and Nobbles have never been away from each other, never once!' + +'Then I should take care he does nothing naughty. After all, Bobby, +darling, he can't do anything unless you help him, can he?' + +'No,' said Bobby slowly; 'and if him and me knocked those pears down it +would make a black mark on my robe, wouldn't it!' + +'Indeed it would!' + +'Then we'll 'cidedly not do it,' said Bobby with emphasis. 'I'm going +to try hard to be always good--for evermore!' + +It needed hard trying, poor Bobby found, especially when he and True +both wanted their own way at the same time, and they could not make +those ways agree. But gradually they learnt lessons of forbearance and +patience, and mutually helped each other to be unselfish. + +One morning Bobby had a letter brought him by the postman. He turned +it over with the greatest pride and interest. It had been redirected +to him by his grandmother. + +'I've never had a letter from anybody,' he said. + +'Oh, be quick and open it,' urged True, dancing round him. 'All sorts +of things happen when you get letters. It might be from the King, or +from a fairy godmother, or a princess!' + +Bobby's fingers trembled as he opened the envelope. + +'P'raps,' continued True, who was never wanting for ideas, 'you've got +a fortune left you, and a lot of money will tumble out.' + +But it was only a letter, and though the writing was very clear and +plain, Bobby begged his father to read it to him. + +The children had breakfast with their father always. Mrs. Allonby did +not leave her room till later in the morning. + +Mr. Allonby read the letter through, and Bobby leant forward in his +chair listening to it with open eyes and mouth. + + +'MY DEAREST LITTLE BOBBY-- + +'Have you forgotten the sad lady in her garden, I wonder? The one you +comforted by your sweet quaintness and loving-heartedness? I have +often thought of you in this hot country, and now I am feeling rather +sad again, I thought I would cheer myself up by writing to my little +friend. + +'I had such a happy time when I first came out, Bobby. Do you remember +the picture of the golden gates? I found the little black children and +women here were so interested in hearing about it that I set to work +and drew and painted a big picture after the fashion of that beautiful +one in your grandmother's Bible. I used to draw a good deal when I was +a girl, but my attempt is very poor when I think of the original. +Still the children here were so delighted with it that I wondered if +you would be too. So I set to work to paint another, and this one is +coming to you through the post. Perhaps Nurse will hang it up in your +nursery for you. How is Nobbles? Give him my love. I hope he doesn't +cut off the heads of the poor flowers now. He will be older and wiser +I expect. Are you still sitting up in bed at night and fancying you +hear your father's knock? Or do you sit in your apple-tree and think +you see him coming along the road? How I hope he will arrive home one +day and take you by surprise! I have not forgotten that I am to try to +find him for you, and curiously enough I heard his name mentioned the +other evening when I was dining with some old friends of mine. And who +do you think was talking about him, Bobby? Your Uncle Mortimer. Isn't +it funny that I should meet him out here? I knew him when I was a +little girl, but of course he did not remember me. There was a Major +Knatchbull, who had met your father in South America, but he had not +seen him for several years. I told your uncle that I wanted to find +your father, and then we discovered that we had both promised the same +small boy to do so. How I hope we shall succeed in our quest! Now I +must tell you why I am feeling sad. I have not been well since I came +out here, and the doctors tell me that I must not stay in India. So +that means I must give up my work, which I was beginning to love, and +come back to my empty house and home. Will you come and comfort me if +I do? It won't be just yet, for I shall stay out here till the rainy +season is over. Good-bye, my darling. If you can write me a little +letter I shall be so glad to get it. Your Uncle Mortimer has just +asked me to go for a ride with him, so I must stop. + +Your very loving friend, + ISOBEL GRANTHAM.' + + +'Well,' said Mr. Allonby, 'that letter comes from a nice woman, Bobby. +Who is she? And how many people have you set to work looking for your +missing father?' + +Bobby looked up gravely. + +'Only her and Master Mortimer. I likes them both 'normously. Isn't it +a long letter? And, oh dear! if she's home I shan't see her.' + +'Would you like me to take you back to your grandmother?' + +Bobby slipped down from his chair and caught hold of his father's hand +with imploring eyes. + +'Father, dear, you won't do it, will you? You'll never let me leave +you?' + +Mr. Allonby took him upon his knee and gave him one of his rare kisses. + +'I'm afraid I'm not good enough to be your father, sonny. You expect +such a lot from me, and I can only give so little. I shall be a +terrible disappointment to you all round.' + +But Bobby laid his curly head against his father's shoulder and clasped +him round the neck. + +'I belongs to you, and you belongs to me,' he said, with infinite +satisfaction in his tone, and Mr. Allonby answered, with a little +embarrassed laugh: + +'And finding's keeping, my little boy. We'll hold together for the +present, at any rate.' + + + + +Chapter IX. + +'SHE HAS LEFT US!' + +Of course Lady Isobel's letter had to be answered, and the wonderful +news told of Bobby's change of home. His letter took him a long time +to write, and True helped him a great deal. Mrs. Allonby sent it as it +was, with all the imperfections of spelling and many a blot and +erasure; but she added a little note herself, as Bobby's left much to +be explained. + + +'MY DEAR LADY FREND-- + +'Me and Nobbles is kite wel, so is True. Father came at last. He +tuked me in a motor home. I have a knew mother. She is very nice. We +saw sum reel wite gates, but they was loked. We mene to find sum more. +Me and Nobbles runned away and hid under the sete. We did not go back +no more. Plese come and see me in this house, and giv Master Mort'mer +my best luv. I warnt to see him agen. I went in the rode to mete my +father and he comed, but I did not no him. Thank you verry much for +the piksher. I shall like it wen it comes and so will True. She +spells my leter for me. + +Your loving boy, + BOBBY.' + + +And when the letter was sent, Bobby set himself to watch for his +picture. + +It came very soon, and to his eyes was a miracle of beauty. + +Mrs. Allonby had it framed for him and hung up over his bed in the +dressing-room. He was never tired of looking at it, and what pleased +him most was a little boy about his own age just being let inside the +gates by a kind faced angel. + +'Look at his white dress; not one tiny spot, Nobbles,' he would +exclaim. 'That's me going in, and I shall walk right up the street to +God like that.' + +There was a dark corner in the picture, and two weeping people being +turned away. In fact it was as nearly like the original as it could +be, only it was much bigger, and the gates were lovely in their gold +and white paint. + +True admired it as much as he did, and would often come and stand and +look at it with delight and awe. + +'I wonder if I have a right to go inside,' she said. 'I love having a +right to do things, then no one can stop me.' + +'It's wearing a white robe gives you right,' said Bobby. + +'Yes, and doing the Commandments,' responded True quickly; 'that's the +differcult part. But I mean to be inside, not outside, I tell you +that!' + +Many delightful excursions did the children have with their father, but +the summer days began to shorten and the sun appeared less often, and +Mrs. Allonby kept them more at home. She herself did not get stronger. +Her appetite failed. Gradually she came downstairs less, and kept in +bed more. Mr. Allonby grew careworn and anxious, the doctor appeared +very often, and still Bobby and True played together gleefully, with +little idea of the black shadow that was going to fall upon their happy +home. + +Then one bright sunny morning True asked Mr. Allonby if he would give +them a ride in his car. + +He looked at her for an instant in silence, then said slowly: + +'No, we must do without motor drives now; I am going to sell it.' + +'Sell it! Oh, dad, you mustn't!' + +'I must,' he said; 'I want to give your mother all the comfort and ease +I can, and we are poor people. Besides, I shall have no heart for +anything now.' + +'Why?' questioned True. + +'Don't ask so many questions,' Mr. Allonby said sharply, and he was so +seldom vexed with them that the children looked at each other with +dismayed faces. + +Later that morning Mr. Allonby was wandering moodily up and down his +strip of garden smoking his pipe; his head was bent, his hands loosely +clasped behind him. Suddenly he felt a soft little hand take hold of +one of his. + +'Father, dear, do tell me about your sad finks. I know they're sad +from your face.' + +It was Bobby. His father looked down upon him for a minute, then +without a word led him into a field which ran up at the back of their +garden. He paced the whole length of the field with his little son +before he spoke again, and then, leaning against a five-barred gate, he +said heavily: + +'I can't hold up against it, sonny! I was a worthless creature till +she took me in hand, and now, when she is making something of me, when +we are going to peg away together at the book which is going to make +our fortune, she is going to leave me. I can't live without her! I +shall go to the dogs!' + +'Is it mother you mean? Oh, father, we won't let her leave us! Why +does she want to go?' + +'She doesn't; it is cruel fate. Bobby, my boy, life is an utter +failure. Oh! I don't know what I am saying, or why I am talking like +this. Your mother is dying fast, can't you see it? I hoped she was +getting stronger, but the doctor says it has only been her strong will +that has got her downstairs at all. Oh, Helen, you're too young, too +full of life and spirit to be taken! I will not believe it!' + +He folded his arms on the top bar of the gate and dropped his head upon +them with a groan. Bobby stood perfectly still; the news was so +astounding, so bewildering, that he could hardly take it in. + +'Is mother going through the golden gate now?' he asked. + +There was no answer. Then Bobby climbed up on the gate with a longing +desire to comfort his father. He had never seen a grown-up person in +trouble before, and it was with the greatest effort he prevented +himself from bursting into tears. + +'Father, dear, don't cry! It's a lovely thing when God calls people. +Mother tolded us herself last Sunday it was. And p'raps God will take +her for a visit, and then send her back again. Is she reely going into +heaven soon? Oh, wouldn't it be nice if we could all go with her! May +I run and tell True; and may we just ask mother about it a little?' + +'Leave me, child! Run away!' And when his pattering footsteps had +died away Bobby's father said in bitterness of spirit: 'Heartless +little scamp! He is enjoying the sensation of it!' + +But he misunderstood Bobby. The child had never seen death, and did +not understand it in the least; his vision was steadfastly fixed on the +life hereafter. What wonder that the glories of it eclipsed the +present shadow! + +True received his news first incredulously, then stamped and stormed in +helpless passion. + +'Mother shan't die! She shan't be put in the ground! Bobby, we'll +keep her from going. Oh, mother, mother! we couldn't live without you!' + +A burst of tears followed, in which Bobby joined her from very +sympathy. Then softly they stole up the steep narrow stairs to their +mother's room. They met Margot at the door. + +'Oh dear!' she sighed, as she saw their faces, 'I s'ppose your father +has been and told you. The missis is quite nicely this morning, and +wants to see you. Now if you go in, no tears, mind--nothing to make +her sad. You must make believe you're glad she's going, same as I do.' + +A husky sob broke in the faithful servant's voice. She signed to the +children to go in, and turned away abruptly herself. + +Hand in hand, on tiptoe, they stole to their mother's bedside. + +Surely she was better with such a pink colour in her cheeks! She +smiled brightly at them, but her voice was weak and low. + +'I haven't seen you for two days, darlings! Tell me what you've been +doing.' + +'I've been in the field with father,' said Bobby, taking one of Mrs. +Allonby's hands in his, and very gently raising it to his lips to kiss. +'We've comed to tell you that we are very glad you're going through the +gates, but we would like you to ask God to let you come back to us very +soon.' + +Sudden tears came to Mrs. Allonby's eyes. + +'I think you must come to me,' she said almost in a whisper. + +'We should like to do that very much, said Bobby bravely. 'True and me +are ready, we fink.' + +'But, darlings,' went on Mrs. Allonby, 'you must not feel impatient if +God does not send for you just yet. I want my little daughter to grow +up to be a comfort to her father, to keep the house tidy, do his +mending, have comfortable little meals for him, and let him always feel +he has a home and a little daughter waiting for him.' + +'And me?' questioned Bobby eagerly. 'What must I do for him? I +belongs to him besides True.' + +'You belong to him more than True does. I want you to be his little +companion. Go out with him, talk to him, tell him about your lovely +picture, let him feel he cannot get on without you. Oh, Bobby, dear, +you love your father with all your heart and soul! Show it to him by +your life. I want you two to be inseparable. I shall pray you may be.' + +A glorious light dawned in Bobby's eyes. He caught Mrs. Allonby's +meaning. + +'I'll die for him if I can,' he said fervently; and deep down in his +heart he meant what he said. + +True stood looking at her mother with sadly pathetic eyes. + +'When are you going, mother? Oh, I think God might do without you a +little longer. I won't pretend I want you to go; I won't.' + +'My little girl, I know you don't want me to leave you; and at first I +felt just like you do. But I have been lying here talking to God, and +He has been talking to me, and now I know that He makes no mistakes, +and is doing the very best for all of us by taking me now. I shall +look for you and father, and one day we shall be all together again, I +hope, in that beautiful country that now seems so far away.' + +There was a little silence in the room; then Mrs. Allonby turned to +Bobby. + +'Bobby, dear, will you say me that verse in that old Italian Bible of +your grandmother's? Somehow, now I am so near the gates, it seems to +bring me more comfort than our English version. I have so often broken +God's commandments. But the other--is so simple--so comforting!' + +Bobby repeated his favourite verse with glad assurance. + +'"Blessed are they that wash their robes in the blood of the Lamb, that +they may have right to the tree of life, and enter in through the gates +into the City."' + +'Yes,' said Mrs. Allonby when he had finished, 'when we come near the +gates, Bobby, and all our life rises before us with all our sins, it is +the thought of the Lamb's precious blood that brings us peace and +courage. I like the verse about doing His commandments for life; but +for death your verse is far and away the best.' + +The children could hardly follow this. True climbed upon the bed and +sat close to her mother. + +'Is it a very nice thing to die, mother?' she asked. + +'My darling, it is nice to feel that our dear Saviour is holding me +tight. "Lo, I am with you alway," He says to me. And so I am content.' + +'Oh,' said Bobby, 'I should like to see the gates open and let you in. +Will you walk up the street by those lovely trees? And will you come +to the gates to meet us when it's our time?' + +Mrs. Allonby smiled her answer, and Margot now crept softly in and told +the children they must go. + +'I must have a kiss from each of them,' Mrs. Allonby said feebly. 'I +don't think--I never know, Margot, whether I shall get through another +night.' + +So they kissed her, and reluctantly left the room. That was a strange, +long day to them. Mr. Allonby came in and spent the rest of the day in +his wife's room. The children had to go to bed without wishing him +good-night. Bobby unhung his picture and placed it on the +dressing-table opposite his bed, where he could look at it. In the +early morning he lay gazing at it with fascinated eyes. He followed in +thought his mother's arrival there, her entrance through the gates, and +her triumphal march up to the shining, golden throne in the distance. +He seemed to hear the blast of trumpets, the rapt singing of the angels +attending her, and he was completely lost in his vision when he was +suddenly roused by his father's entrance. He looked strangely untidy +and wretched, his little boy thought. Bobby was peculiarly susceptible +to outside appearances. His father was dressed in his ordinary tweed +suit, but his eyes were haggard, his hair rough, his white collar +crumpled, and his face heated and tear-stained. + +He came in impulsively and threw himself on his knees by his child's +bed. + +'Oh, Bobby, little chap, she has gone, she has left me, and I've +promised to meet her again! We must help each other. May God Himself +teach me, for I'm not fit to teach you. I don't know how I shall get +through life without her. I always felt that since her accident she +has been too good to live. She never made one murmur.' + +Bobby opened his mouth to speak, then stopped, and tears crowded into +his eyes. + +'Is she really gone, father? Oh, how could God take her so quick? I +did want to say a proper good-bye. Look, father, dear, at my picsher. +Is she inside by this time, do you think? How long does it take to go +to heaven?' + +Mr. Allonby took up his little son's picture and gazed at it with keen +interest, then he put it down with a heavy sigh. + +'Yes, she's there right enough, sonny. I don't doubt that. Shall we +say a little prayer together--you and I--for I feel quite unable for +what is before me.' + +So the grown-up man knelt by the small bed, and Bobby jumped up and +knelt by his side, and in very broken, faltering accents he prayed: + +'Merciful God, have pity on me and my children; be with us now she has +left us. Help me to do my duty; forgive my selfish life. I want to be +different; change me; set me right; make me what she wanted me to be. +Bless this boy here, make him a better man than his father. And the +little motherless girl--how can I take care of her? Have pity and help +us all for Christ's sake. Amen.' + +It was a prayer that Bobby never forgot all his life, and he never +spoke of it to anyone. Childlike, he kept it wrapped up in his heart. +He was puzzled at his father's distress; he thought no grown-up person +ever cried; but his whole being quivered afresh with loving devotion to +the father who now had only himself and True to comfort him. + + + + +Chapter X. + +'WE'RE GOING TO FIND A GOVERNESS!' + +Those were strange sad days to Bobby and True. But one engrossing +thought helped them along, and that was how they could be a comfort to +their father. Margot ordered the household. Mr. Allonby came in and +out, speaking little to anyone. He took long walks by himself, and +would shut himself up for hours in his den writing, or trying to write, +the book that was going to bring him a fortune. + +Autumn crept on; the days grew short, and dark, and at last Margot +ventured to have a talk with her master. + +'It will be about the children's schooling,' she said hesitatingly. +'Miss True is getting a big girl--and Master Bobby----' + +'Oh!' groaned her master, 'how am I to send them away from me? But I +am thinking over plans, Margot. I want to get away from this tiny +house. I think of going to London, and perhaps going abroad again. +Let the children run wild a little longer, then when we move to London +I can settle something.' + +Margot withdrew. She had said her say, and dreaded any change herself. + +One evening after their tea was over, Mr. Allonby broached the subject +to the children himself. The little sitting-room was very cosy in the +firelight. True was sitting with an air of immense importance trying +to darn a worsted sock of her father's. Margot had been giving her +lessons, and with a very big needle, and a thread that was so long that +it continually got itself into knots, she worked away at an alarming +looking hole in the heel. + +Bobby and Nobbles were lying on the hearthrug; they had been looking at +a picture-book together; but directly Mr. Allonby spoke, the book was +shut and Bobby was all attention. + +'I'm afraid your idle time must soon come to an end,' he said. 'Margot +is reminding me what little dunces you are. Can either of you read a +book properly yet?' + +'I can,' said True. 'I read to Bobby often; but I'm rather tired of my +books. I know them all by heart.' + +'I can nearly read,' said Bobby. 'I reads to Nobbles often.' + +'Oh, that's only your make up!' said True, a little scornfully. 'You +can't read long words at all; you know you can't. But, dad, you won't +send us to school, will you--not away from you?' + +'I'm afraid I must.' + +Bobby's look of horror made his father smile. He lifted him upon his +knee. + +'Every boy goes to school, Bobby. You don't want to be a baby always, +do you?' + +'Mother said,' asserted Bobby gravely, 'that I was to be your little +kerpanion; she didn't want me never to leave you.' + +'You're a first-rate little companion, sonny. I shall miss you very +much; but I must think of your good first. There don't seem to be any +nice schools near here, nor do I know of anyone who would come and +teach you for an hour or two. And I can't afford to live on here. I +must go to London, I think, and set to work at something. I heard +to-day from an old friend of mine who wants me to join another +exploring party. Perhaps I may do this. In any case I fear our little +home will be broken up.' + +Bobby looked up into his father's face with a quivering under lip. + +'Are you going to send me back to grandmother? I've had such a tiny, +weeny time with you. I reely don't think I'll live away from you, +father, again. I couldn't expeck and expeck every day for you to come +back to me, and then have you never come. And I'll promise true and +faithful to be good if you'll take me with you.' + +'And I promised mother faithful I'd have a comf'able home for you +always, dad. She told me I was to. I don't think she'd like it at all +if we was sent away from you.' + +Mr. Allonby looked at the eager children's faces thoughtfully. + +'I shouldn't be going abroad till the spring. If I could find someone +to teach you we might be together for the winter. But I can't stay +here. I must be nearer town. We never meant to stay here after the +autumn. We came down because of my health. I am well now. Perhaps I +can get some cheap lodgings just out of town, where Margot would look +after you. We will see.' + +'That will be very nice,' said True, darning away with increased speed +and importance. 'I'm growing awfully fast, dad, and I'll be able to +look after the lodgings for you.' + +'And you won't never send me back to grandmother's?' said Bobby +anxiously. + +No, indeed, I won't. I heard to-day, by-the-bye, that your grandmother +was very ill.' + +Bobby did not speak for a minute. Then he said slowly: + +'I wonder if she'd like to see me afore she dies.' + +'Oh, we won't think she is as bad as that,' said his father cheerfully. + +He went up to London the next day, and stayed away three whole days. +True and Bobby felt very forlorn. They quarrelled a good deal, and +Margot at last lost patience with them. + +'Ain't you ashamed of yourselves? And the grass not green yet on your +mother's grave. What must she think if she's allowed to get a glimpse +of you?' + +'It's all Bobby; he's so mastering,' said True; 'and I'm the oldest; +and he ought to do what I tell him.' + +'And you angerise me,' said Bobby, determined to use as long words as +True did; 'and you make my white dress all dirty. I try to be ever so +good; but you go on and on, and I'm getting wickeder and wickeder!' + +A little sob came up in his throat. Bobby had the sincere desire to be +good, but he found it very hard to knock under to True, who was quite +determined in her own mind that she ought to be the ruler. + +They welcomed their father back joyfully. He seemed very tired, but +more cheerful than he had been for a long time. + +'I have found some rooms in West Kensington quite cheap, and I really +think we shall be very comfortable there. It will be cheaper than +living out of town. I can only manage three rooms; but Margot will +have one with you, True, and Bobby and I will have the other; and +there's quite a nice front sitting-room. You will be able to watch all +the traffic in the street from its window. + +'Are you very, very poor, dad?' asked True. + +'I have enough to keep you in food and clothes,' said Mr. Allonby, 'and +for schooling, I hope; but it will be a tight fit until I get my book +written.' + +Margot sighed when she heard they were to go to London, but True and +Bobby were delighted. They enjoyed the bustle of packing; and when, +one dull November day, they were whirled away in the train towards +their new home they were beside themselves with delight. It was dark +when they got out of the train. The drive across London in a cab +through the brilliantly lighted streets was enchanting to them; and +when they reached their lodgings, and were allowed to sit up to a late +supper with their father, consisting of mutton-chops and cheese and +pickles, Bobby informed his father that it was better than any birthday +treat. + +They went to bed very happy but very tired, and for the next few days +the novelty of their surroundings kept them quiet and good. Bobby had +a real thirst for information, and, when his father took him out, +proved a very interesting little companion. True was delighted to go +shopping with Margot, who was so disgusted with the landlady's cooking, +and so miserable at having so little housework to do, that she never +gave Mr. Allonby any rest till he arranged that she should have the use +of the kitchen stove for a part of the day. + +It was about the second week after their arrival that Bobby heard of +his grandmother's death. It awed him, but did not affect him much. +She had never shown any love for him, and was almost a stranger to him. +But he was surprised when he had a letter from his old nurse telling +him that his uncle and aunt were going to leave the house, and his +Uncle Mortimer coming home from India to take possession of it. + +'I should like to see Master Mortimer again,' Bobby said; 'me and +Nobbles was so very fond of him.' + +'I don't know what he will do with himself in that big house,' said Mr. +Allonby. 'He ought to get married if he settles down there.' + +'It is not a very nice house,' Bobby asserted gravely; 'it's so stiff +and partic'lar, and all the chairs and furnesher are so proper. I +always have to go on tiptoe. But Master Mortimer did used to play +hide-and-seek with me in the garden. But I don't want never to go back +again.' + +'It's time you were at school, sonny; your grammar doesn't improve. I +wish I could hear of someone who would teach you; but I'm afraid it +must be school.' + +Now True and Bobby had decided together that school was a horrible +place, and at all costs they must try to keep from going to it. They +had many an anxious talk about it, and at last, one morning after Mr. +Allonby had gone out for the day and left them to their own devices, +True announced her plan. + +'We'll find a nice kind of governess ourselves, Bobby. Come and look +out of the window. Why, there must be millions and billions of +governesses in London! We'll go out by ourselves and find one. Wait +till Margot has gone down to the kitchen, and then we won't say +anything to anyone, but will go out and get one.' + +Bobby clapped his hands. 'I should fink they would keep some in a +shop,' he said; but True did not feel at all sure about this. + +They accomplished their design most satisfactorily, and, wrapped up in +their warm coats, they slipped downstairs and down into the street +without being noticed. + +'Now where shall we find one?' enquired Bobby. + +'We'll go in a 'bus,' said True. 'I've brought some pennies, and the +'busman will tell us where to go.' + +'Let Nobbles call one,' said Bobby eagerly; 'that's what father always +does, holds up his stick, and they waits till we get in.' + +So Nobbles was waved frantically in the air when the first 'bus +appeared. + +And though it was not at the proper starting point, the driver saw the +two small children and good-naturedly pulled up for them. They were +helped in by the conductor. There were only three other people inside, +an old lady, a young girl, and a man. The shining, radiant faces of +True and Bobby attracted attention; still more their whispered +conversation. + +'She must be very cheap. Dad has _so_ little money.' + +This from True, with great emphasis. + +'And she must be very smiling, and 'stremely fond of me and Nobbles.' + +This from Bobby, with a wise nod of his curly head. + +'We'll choose the one we like best,' said True. + +And then they were asked by the conductor for their money. + +'We'll have a white ticket please,' said True grandly. + +'Oh, I likes the pink ones best,' exclaimed Bobby eagerly. + +The conductor eyed them with some amusement. + +'Where do you want to go?' + +Bobby was silent, and so was True for a minute, then she said: + +'We want to go to the place where they keep governesses.' + +The three other passengers looked at the children in astonishment; the +conductor laughed. + +'Did your mother send you?' he asked. + +True looked down upon her black frock and then up at him. + +'Don't you know that mother is dead?' she said. 'That's what I wear my +black frock for.' + +'Do you know your way about London, little girl? You are very small to +be out alone.' + +It was the old lady who spoke. + +'The 'busmen and policemen always know,' said True cheerfully. 'Dad +told us so.' + +'Oh, you have a father----' + +'Come,' said the conductor, interrupting, 'give me your pennies; you'd +best get out at the next stop and go home again.' + +'We're going to find a gov'ness,' said Bobby, glaring at the conductor +rather angrily. + +The young girl looked at him over the book she was reading. + +'You want a registry,' she said. 'There's a good one in Kensington +High Street. I'll show it to you if you get out with me.' + +True looked relieved. + +'Is that the place where you find them?' she asked. + +'I never heard of such a thing as children looking for a governess!' +ejaculated the old lady. 'Poor little motherless things, their father +ought to be ashamed of himself sending them out on such an errand!' + +'Dad didn't send us,' said True, feeling she must defend her father at +all costs. 'We knew he wanted us to have one, so we came ourselves.' + +'And then we won't be sent to school,' put in Bobby. + +True gave him a sharp nudge with her elbow. + +'Don't talk so much,' she said. + +Bobby subsided meekly. He felt this strange experience was rather +bewildering, and wondered at True's calm composure. + +'I'll help you to find one,' said the young girl. 'I'm studying to be +one myself, so I know the sort you ought to have.' + +True looked at her with interest. She was in a shabby blue serge coat +and skirt, but she wore a bunch of violets in her buttonhole. Her hat +was dark blue, her gloves were white worsted ones, and her face was +bright and smiling. Her whole appearance was pleasant. When she got +up to go, she held out her hands to them. + +'Come on. I'll show you where governesses can be found, and perhaps +help you choose one. It will be great fun!' + +True and Bobby followed her delightedly. The old lady shook her head +after them with a sigh. + +'The irresponsibility of men! It's to be hoped that young person won't +decoy them away and rob them. I think we ought to have handed them +over to the police to see them safely home.' + +The man at the farther end of the 'bus spoke for the first time. As +the old lady addressed him he was obliged to do so. + +'The rising generation can soon dispense with their fathers,' he said. +'Those are small specimens of a type.' + +Meanwhile the girl in blue serge had walked True and Bobby up a side +street, and in at an office door. + +'This is one of the best registries in this part of the world,' she +said. 'Now we'll tell Mrs. Marsh what you want, and see if she knows +of one. When I get the certificates I am working for, I mean to come +to her to find me a situation.' + +An elderly woman behind a table looked up at them as they entered. The +girl spoke to her brightly. + +'Good morning, Mrs. Marsh. I have brought you two young people who +want a governess. I don't know whether they can pay your fees. But +perhaps you can make that right with their father.' + +'We want a very cheap governess,' said True, looking up anxiously into +Mrs. Marsh's face. 'Dad is very poor, but he'll pay her something.' + +'I think your father will have to write me some particulars,' said Mrs. +Marsh, looking at the small children with some amusement. + +Oh, we'll be able to choose her,' cried Bobby. 'She must be 'ticularly +kind and nice.' + +'And what will she have to do?' + +Bobby looked at True. + +'_You_ say. She'll teach me to read, won't she?' + +True tried hard to put on a grown-up air. She did not like Mrs. +Marsh's amused smile at all. + +'Margot says we ought to have a governess to teach us in the morning, +and we shan't do any lessons in the afternoon; and she mustn't stay to +dinner, because Margot says she doesn't know how to cook for us; we +seem to eat more than we ought to. And she mustn't have a cross face, +and mustn't wear spectacles.' + +'And she must be 'normously fond of Nobbles,' said Bobby, thrusting +Nobbles' ugly little face up close to Mrs. Marsh's. + +'And we're to learn French and sums--and--dancing,' said True, suddenly +struck with a bright thought. + +'Yes,' exclaimed Bobby, with a beaming smile, 'dancing, o' course, +mostly dancing, me and Nobbles finks!' + +The young lady in a blue serge broke into a rippling laugh. + +'Oh, Mrs. Marsh, I wish I could teach them myself. Aren't they +delicious!' + +'Well, why shouldn't you?' said Mrs. Marsh, looking at the speaker with +good-natured interest. + +'But you were the one to advise me to stick to my studies,' said the +girl. 'You said I could never command any salary worth having till I +was thoroughly certificated.' + +'Yes, I did say so, Miss Robsart; but you could give these children a +couple of hours every morning and still pursue your studies.' + +The girl turned to the children. + +'Do you think I would do?' she said, a pink colour coming into her +cheeks and making her look very pretty. 'I could come to you from ten +o'clock to half-past twelve every day. We could get through a lot of +lessons in that time.' + +True looked up at her with rapturous eyes. + +'Me and Bobby would love you!' she said. 'Oh, please come straight +back with us, and tell dad you'll come.' + +Two other ladies entered the office at this juncture. Mrs. Marsh +dismissed the children hurriedly. + +'There, run along, my dears. There'll be no fees; and you couldn't +have a kinder lady than Miss Robsart to teach you; and tell your father +that her father was vicar of our church near here many years ago, and +she's the nicest young lady I know.' + +The children hurried out with their new friend. + +'There, Bobby!' True said, a little triumphantly. 'See how easy it is +to find a governess!' + +And Bobby took hold of Miss Robsart's hand confidingly. + +'Me and Nobbles likes you 'ticularly,' he said. + + + + +Chapter XI. + +BOBBY'S VISITOR. + +Mr. Allonby had been considerably startled by many things that the +children had said and done, but he was never more so than when they +appeared before him in the sitting-room with a strange young lady. He +had not been in long, and thought they were with Margot. Miss Robsart +began to feel a little uncomfortable when she realised her position. + +'It's a guv'ness,' Bobby said eagerly; 'me and True went out and finded +her ourselves, and she'll come to teach us all the morning.' + +'We do so hope you'll like her, dad, because we do. We thought we'd +get her as a surprise for you.' + +'I really----' began Mr. Allonby, then his eyes met Miss Robsart's and +they both laughed aloud. + +'I must explain myself,' she said, checking her laugh and speaking +hastily and nervously 'I met your little boy and girl in a 'bus and +heard them say they had come out to look for a governess. Of course +they had not the smallest idea how to set about it, so I took them to a +very good registry. I fancied you must have been wanting to have one +from what they said, and then, as we were all talking about it, I +wondered if I could undertake the situation myself. I am very anxious +to earn something, as I have an invalid sister at home, and we are very +badly off. I can give you good references. My father was a clergyman. +I have been educated in the Kensington High School. + +She stopped. Mr. Allonby drew a chair forward for her, then turned to +the children. + +'I don't know what you two scamps have been doing,' he said; 'something +of which I had no conception, I know; but I should like to have a talk +with this lady, and you can both go off to Margot, who must be +wondering where you are.' + +True and Bobby obeyed instantly. They were extremely pleased with +themselves, and burst in upon Margot, who was in the bedroom tidying +herself to bring in dinner. + +'We've got ourselves a governess, Margot.' + +'We finded her in a 'bus.' + +'She has a smiling face and doesn't wear spectacles or grey hair.' + +'She'll teach us to dance round the room.' + +'She's talking to dad now; and I believe she will be cheap, because we +told her she must be.' + +'And me and Nobbles loves her already.' + +Margot put her hands up to her ears. + +'I think you're quite demented!' she said. 'You've never been out in +the streets alone?' + +'We went in a 'bus.' + +They told their tale. Margot was horrified at their daring. + +'You've picked up a strange young woman in the streets and brought her +here? She'll maybe belong to a band of burglars! Your poor father is +too easy-going. To think of his talking to her at all! Let me see the +young hussy, and I'll send her packing! To trade on your innocence in +such a fashion!' + +Margot grew quite vehement. + +True tried to soothe her. + +'You don't understand. You haven't seen her. Oh, come downstairs and +just look at her.' + +'I'm going this very minute. I have to lay the cloth for dinner. 'Tis +time she was off; and it's well you've got one person who's wide awake +to look after you all in this wicked London!' + +Margot stumped down the stairs, her cap quivering with excitement. The +children hung over the banisters watching her. They saw the +sitting-room door open, and Miss Robsart came out. + +'Then I will send you my references tomorrow morning. I shall prefer +to do so. Good morning.' + +'Margot, show this lady out.' + +It was their father who spoke, and Margot moved down the passage +slowly. She opened the hall door and eyed Miss Robsart up and down +with grim eyes and lips, then she suddenly followed her out on the +door-step and half closed the door behind her. + +'She's scolding her,' said True. + +They waited anxiously. Presently Margot came in and shut the door. +She shook her head doubtfully, then went into the sitting-room, and the +children heard a long conversation going on between her and their +father. When they came to the dinner-table with him, True asked him, +'Did Margot say nasty things about our governess?' + +'Our governess, indeed!' + +Mr. Allonby leant back in his chair and gave one of his hearty laughs. + +'Margot told her she was a wolf in sheep's clothing, I believe. I +don't know what she'll say when she knows. I have practically engaged +her on the strength of her frank honest face and gentle voice. Fortune +favoured you, young pickles, for you tumbled against the right sort. +She may not be very learned or experienced, but she knows enough to +teach you, and I am glad to have the thing settled.' + +The children clapped their hands. + +'She's coming, and we won't have to go to school.' + +'I'll keep you with me this winter, but I shall really have to take an +extra room for my writing; this one sitting-room will never hold us +all.' + +A few letters with references passed between Miss Robsart and Mr. +Allonby, and then, in spite of Margot's prejudice, she came every +morning and gave the children their lessons. + +The novelty kept them good. Miss Robsart was young and bright, and had +a real love for children, and a gift for imparting knowledge, so things +went smoothly. Mr. Allonby took himself and his writing into a small +back room, which was the delight of True's heart. She dusted it, and +tidied it, and cleaned everything she could lay her hands upon. Bobby +was jealous of the time she spent in there. + +'I ought to be there more than you,' he argued; 'it's a man's room.' + +'Mother told me I was to keep dad's rooms tidy, and I will, and dad +likes me to do it.' + +'I could clean his brass fender, I'm sure.' + +'No you couldn't; only girls can clean; boys can't, never!' + +'Boys clean shop windows and sweep floors, I've seen them.' + +'Well, anyhow you can't, you don't know how, and mother said I was to.' + +This unanswerable argument always crushed Bobby. + +Saturday afternoons were a great delight to the children, for Mr. +Allonby always gave himself up to them then, and took them out with him +sight-seeing. They visited the Zoo in this way, the Tower, Madame +Tussaud's, the British Museum, St. Paul's, and Westminster Abbey, and +many other places of interest and amusement. + +On Sunday morning their father always took them to church. In the +afternoon he would smoke in his little study; and they were allowed to +be with him, and have their tea there as a treat. Occasionally Mr. +Allonby would try to give them a Bible lesson; very often they would +tell him a Bible story. + +'I want to bring you up as your mother would have done,' he said to +True one day. + +'We'll bring ourselves along, dad,' she responded cheerfully; 'we're +trying hard to be good, and we pray to God to manage us when we can't +remember in time.' + +'Father,' said Bobby one Sunday afternoon, 'do you fink I could ever +save your life?' + +'I don't know, I'm sure, sonny. What makes you ask?' + +'In my reading lesson yesterday--it was about the mouse who saved a +lion--it was very difficult to think how he could; but he reely did it, +didn't he?' + +'Yes, and I suppose you think it applies to you. Well, now, let us +think. I must be put in prison somewhere, and you must come and let me +out.' + +'But you'd have to be wicked to be put in prison,' objected True. 'You +couldn't be wicked, dad.' + +'I hope I couldn't, but I don't know. I think I would rather not get +into such a scrape, Bobby.' + +'I should like to do somefing for you,' said Bobby with wistful eyes. + +'Why?' asked his father. + +Bobby coloured up. If he had followed his natural instinct he would +have flung himself into his father's arms and exclaimed, 'Because I +love you so.' + +But Mr. Allonby was not a demonstrative father, and Bobby was learning +to control and hide his feelings. + +'Well, I promise you, sonny, to call upon you when I do get into +trouble,' said Mr. Allonby, with a twinkle in his eye. + +And Bobby hugged this promise to his heart and waited in content. + +One afternoon True and he were looking out of the sitting-room window +very disconsolately. It was raining fast, and Mr. Allonby had that day +gone away to see a friend in the country. He was not coming back for +two or three days. Margot was in one of her cross moods. She had +taken the opportunity to have a thorough clean and turn out of the two +bedrooms, and had forbidden the children to leave the sitting-room for +the whole afternoon. + +'It's like a prison,' said True rebelliously. 'I hate being shut up in +one room. Mother never did. I could run in and out all day long. I +hate this old London. I should like to be in the country. I'll run +away one day if Margot keeps shutting me up.' + +'Where will you go?' asked Bobby, with interest. + +'I'll go to the railway station and get into a railway train and stay +in it till it gets quite to the end of the journey, and then I'd get +out.' + +'And where would that be?' + +True considered. + +'The very end of England, I s'pose--near the sea.' + +'I've never seen the sea,' said Bobby. + +'Fancy! Why we came right through it all the way from 'Merica. I'll +ask dad to take us to the seashore one day. He loves a day out, and so +do I. I wish he had his motor.' + +'Yes,' sighed Bobby, 'we never does nothing nice now, and if it hadn't +been for this horrid old rain we'd have gone to tea with Miss Robsart.' + +'Well, p'raps she'll ask us to-morrow. Look at that funny old woman, +Bobby, she's trying to hold up her umbrella and drag her dog with a +string and hold up her dress with the same hand. There! Now look, the +dog has got between her legs! Oh, there she goes! Oh, look! she's +tumbled right over, and there's a gentleman picking her up!' + +Bobby pressed his face against the glass to see the catastrophe. Then +he started. + +'It--it strikes me that's Master Mortimer.' + +'Oh, where? Isn't he your uncle?' + +'Yes, it's him! It's him! Oh, True, let's run out and bring him in!' + +'Is it the gentleman who picked the old lady up? He's looking across +at this house now. He's coming, Bobby, he's coming to see us!' + +Bobby rushed to the hall door. He was so excited that he hardly knew +if he was on his head or heels, and he literally tumbled down off the +doorsteps into his uncle's arms. + +'Well, well! This is a welcome! Hold on little man, you'll have me +over if you don't take care. Let's come inside and do the +affectionate, or we shall be collecting a crowd. Why, who is this?' + +'She's True, she's a kind of sister,' explained Bobby, pulling his +uncle breathlessly into the sitting-room and shutting the door. 'Oh, +we do want you to sit down and talk to us; me and Nobbles is 'normously +glad to see you!' + +'Ah! where is that young gentleman? I see he looks gayer than ever. +Now give an account of yourself and this wonderful father of yours.' + +Mr. Mortimer Egerton was taking off his great-coat as he spoke. He +stepped out into the narrow hall and hung it up deliberately on the +hall pegs there; then he returned to the sitting-room and sat down in +the one easy-chair that it possessed, and pulled Bobby in between his +knees. + +'Let us see what freedom and fatherly care has done for you,' he said. +'Now, then, tell your story. Did your father come to you in the good +old style? Is he here now?' + +Bobby began to tell his tale very rapidly and eagerly, with shining +eyes and burning cheeks. Occasionally True corrected or added to his +statements. + +Mr. Egerton listened with laughter in his eyes; gravity settled there +when he heard of Mrs. Allonby's death; but when he heard of the find of +the governess he was enchanted. + +'And now,' he said, 'would you like to hear my news? Do you remember +Lady Isobel, Bobby?' + +'Of course I do. She sended me a beautiful picsher of the gates. +She's coming home from India very soon.' + +'Very soon, indeed! She arrived yesterday.' + +'Oh, Master Mortimer!' + +Bobby's rapt tone made his uncle laugh. + +'Why does Bobby always call you Master Mortimer? Aren't you his +uncle?' enquired True. + +'It's a way he has. We understand each other. Well, I'll go on with +my news. Lady Isobel thinks it would be very nice to live in the old +house, Bobby, where we saw each other first, so we've arranged to live +there together.' + +'In grandmother's house?' questioned Bobby, with perplexed eyes. 'I +don't fink it's a nice house enough for Lady Is'bel.' + +'Oh, we'll make it nice; we'll have boys and girls to stay with us to +play hide-and-seek with. We'll chase each other round every room.' + +'And knock over the big chairs,' cried Bobby, 'and slide the banisters, +and make as much noise as ever they likes? Oh, Master Mortimer, will +you ask me to spend a day?' + +'A good many days after we're settled in.' + +'And when will that be?' + +'Well, you see, we shall have to get married first, and that takes +time. I think you'll have to come to the wedding.' + +Bobby's face was a picture of shining joy. + +'I finks your news is lovely. Me and Nobbles have never been to a +wedding.' + +'Will you ask me, too?' asked True. + +'Yes, I will. I want to have it very soon, and here in London; but +Lady Isobel wants to wait a little. If you persuade her to let me have +my way, Bobby, I'll give you seven slices of our wedding cake--one to +be taken every day for a week!' + +'When shall I see her?' + +'I'll bring her to see you to-morrow.' + +'How did you find us out?' + +'I got your address from your aunt. Any more questions?' + +'Do you know Margot?' + +'I have not that pleasure.' + +Bobby looked at True apprehensively, and True said hastily: + +'He's afraid Margot will come in and find you here. She'll be coming +in with our tea soon, and she said Miss Robsart was a burglar. Margot +thinks everybody is a burglar in London!' + +Mr. Egerton got up from his chair, and pretended to be seized with a +fit of trembling. + +'Can you hide me anywhere? I'm so frightened of her. Tell me if you +hear her coming.' + +'Oh, let's hide him, True! It will be such fun. I hear her thumping +downstairs. Oh, where shall we put him?' + +True looked wildly round the room. + +'There are no big cupboards. Under the table, quick! Quick, or she'll +see you!' + +'I'm afraid I couldn't crumple up small enough,' said Mr. Egerton, +looking at his long legs and the small round table in front of him. + +'Behind the door!' cried Bobby. 'Oh, make haste; she's coming!' + +When Margot came into the room three minutes later she said: + +'What a noise you children have been making. I thought you must have +someone with you; it sounded like a man's voice.' + +Bobby's cheeks were scarlet. True began to laugh nervously. + +'Give us something very nice for tea, Margot, in case a visitor comes +to see us,' she said. + +'Why, who would come, you silly children, a wet day like this?' + +Margot was producing a white cloth from the chiffonier drawer, and +taking out cups and saucers from the cupboard below it. + +'And you'll have no visitors whilst your father is away, you may be +pretty sure,' Margot continued. 'Give me London for loneliness, I say.' + +She went out of the room and down to the kitchen. Bobby and True burst +into peals of happy childish laughter. + +'You are a good hider; she never saw you.' + +'No,' said Mr. Egerton, coming out from behind the door and sitting +down in the easy-chair; 'I know how to keep quiet when I'm hiding, but +I can't keep it up for long. She'll get you some cake for tea if she +sees me, so I won't hide any more.' + +Margot's face was a picture when she returned. + +'I haven't the pleasure of knowing you, sir!' she said sternly, after a +severe scrutiny. + +The children kept a breathless silence. They felt that 'Master +Mortimer' would be quite equal to Margot. His very coolness inspired +them with confidence. + +'I'm not a burglar,' he said smiling; 'I'm a genuine relation. Bobby +and I are old friends. I'm his mother's brother.' + +Margot dropped an old-fashioned curtsy, but she looked rather puzzled; +and then Bobby took courage and explained. + +'He's my uncle Mortimer, Margot; and he's comed to see me, and we sawed +him out of the window and opened the door to him, and then we was +afraid you wouldn't like him, so we put him to hide behind the door. +And he's come from India, and we're asked to the wedding, and Lady +Is'bel will be here to see us tomorrow. Isn't it all puffickly +splendid!' + +'And we thought you might give us cake for tea, please,' said Mr. +Egerton, with twinkling eyes. + +'Oh,' whispered True to Bobby, 'he's the most 'licious man I've ever +seen!' + +And Bobby nodded emphatically to such a statement. + +Margot lost her suspicious look when Mr. Egerton turned to her and +talked to her. She knew a gentleman when she saw him, and she produced +cakes and hot-buttered toast, and smiled as she waited upon the merry +little party. + +Bobby was in the seventh heaven of delight, and when he went to bed he +confided to Nobbles, 'I even feel, Nobbles dear, that I wouldn't mind +if me and you wented back to the House, for with Master Mortimer and +Lady Is'bel there, we shouldn't have to step on tiptoes any more.' + + + + +Chapter XII. + +'A DELIGHTFUL TIME.' + +When Miss Robsart came the next morning she found her pupils in a great +state of excitement, and she seemed quite as interested as they were in +their news. + +'I wish I could give you a holiday,' she said; 'and I should like one +myself, but it wouldn't be right, so we'll set to work and get lessons +done as quickly as possible, and then you'll be ready for your uncle if +he comes again.' + +'And,' suggested Bobby earnestly, 'you'll put down a nice short little +sum for me to do, mostly twos and fours; me and Nobbles does not like +the figures past six, they want such a lot of finking about.' + +Miss Robsart laughed, but promised she would do the best she could, and +lessons went very smoothly on the whole. When they were finished she +said a little wistfully: + +'I was hoping you would come to tea with me this afternoon, my sister +wants to see you; but now your uncle and this Lady Isobel has arrived, +you will be occupied with them.' + +'I expecks we shall have tea with them today,' said Bobby. + +'Will you ask us another day?' asked True. 'Isn't it funny? Yesterday +we were quite miserable because nothing nice was happening, and to-day +we're too full. But Bobby and I want to come to tea with you very +much, we reely do, and we'll ask if you may come to the wedding.' + +She jumped up from her chair and gave Miss Robsart a loving hug as she +spoke, and Bobby forthwith followed her example. Miss Robsart went +away from them with a cheerful face. + +Margot dressed them in their best clothes directly their dinner was +over. It was in honour of Lady Isobel's expected visit. + +'We haven't had a lady of title to the house since we've been in +England,' said Margot reflectively. I can't say I've run up much +against them, but I believe they're pretty much the same as other +folks; still a lady is a lady, and I wants her to see you looking like +your dear mother would have you, and you just sit still, now you're +clean, and don't dirty yourselves up with playing about.' + +'It's like the story mother told us of the two little girls with their +clean frocks,' said True. + +'Yes,' responded Bobby; 'I wonder how our inside frocks are to-day, +True.' + +True shook her head doubtfully. + +'I s'pose God has such _very_ good eyes He always sees spots and +stains; but I don't think mine is very bad to-day. I can't remember +anything just now.' + +'Oh, I can. You stamped when the comb pulled your hair!' + +'A stamp wouldn't make a very black mark,' said True. 'You were +beating the sofa with Nobbles this morning, and Mrs. Dodds would be +awful angry if she knew.' + +'That was Nobbles.' + +'Ah, that's another spot on your dress; you're making 'scuses, and +blaming Nobbles when it was reely you.' + +Bobby hastily changed the conversation, and then there was a knock and +ring at the hall door, and in another moment Mr. Egerton and Lady +Isobel were in the room, and Bobby was in the arms of his friend. She +looked younger and prettier than when he saw her last. She was in a +long white coat and black hat. A big bunch of violets was in her +button-hole. + +'Oh, Bobby, you darling, how glad I am to see you again! I can hardly +believe I may one day be your aunt.' + +'That day will very soon be here,' said Mr. Egerton. + +She laughed, and a pink colour stole into her cheeks. + +Bobby's arms were tightly clasped round her neck. + +'I never did forget you,' he assured her, 'not before your letter came; +and my picsher is lovelly.' + +'And who is this little girl? Is she your little step-sister? How +delightful to have a playfellow. May I have a kiss, dear?' + +True willingly submitted to be embraced. + +This sweet looking lady won her heart at once. + +Then Nobbles was brought forward, and Lady Isobel kissed his little +ugly face. + +'Oh, how often have I thought of you and Nobbles when I was so far away +from you!' she said, sitting down and drawing Bobby to her. 'And do +you know, I think it was you who brought your uncle to me. He wanted +to hear about you----' + +'Oh, come,' interrupted Mr. Egerton, 'we were old friends; you stole my +best caterpillar when you were a girl. I remember to this day my wrath +when you made your confession.' + +'Yes,' said Lady Isobel laughing; 'and I remember why I did it. +Because you tied my best doll round the neck of our old gander, and he +drowned her in a pond.' + +The children were enchanted at these reminiscences, but a shadow almost +immediately fell on Lady Isobel's face. + +'Ah,' she said with a little sigh, 'that was many years ago. I have +been through a good deal since then.' + +'And are you reely going to live in grandmother's house?' questioned +Bobby. + +'Your uncle wants to,' said Lady Isobel softly, looking across at Mr. +Egerton as she spoke. 'It is his old home, Bobby; he played in your +nursery many years ago.' + +'Yes, I know,' said Bobby. 'Tom said "Master Mortimer be a merry young +gentleman."' + +'Ah,' said Mr. Egerton, knitting his brows fiercely, 'wait till I catch +Tom cutting some of my shrubs, he won't find me very merry then.' + +'Don't you think you will like to pay us a visit one day, Bobby?' + +'I mustn't leave father,' said Bobby promptly. 'May he come too?' + +'If he likes; we shall be delighted to see him,' said Mr. Egerton. +'How I wish he was here. Does he have a big beard, Bobby?' + +'No, not a little bit of one.' + +'But that is quite wrong. You always told me he would wear a beard and +carry an axe and pistol in his belt.' + +'Yes,' said Bobby; 'me and Nobbles finked quite wrong about him; only +he's nicer and better and gooder than anybody else. And we sometimes +finks'--he dropped his voice and spoke in a hushed whisper--'that he is +nearly as kind as my Father--God.' + +No one spoke for a moment. Lady Isobel bent down and kissed the curly +head. + +'My little Bobby,' she said; 'how happy your father must be to have you +with him!' + +They talked for some time, and then the children were told that they +were going to be driven round to the hotel where Lady Isobel was +staying, and have tea with her. + +'I want you to know my great friend who has come all the way from India +just to see me married,' she said to Bobby with a laugh and blush. We +have often talked about you, so you must not feel her a stranger.' + +It was a delightful afternoon, and True enjoyed it as much as Bobby. +Lady Isobel's friend was a sweet-faced grey-haired lady who was very +fond of children, and knew how to talk to them. They had tea in a +private sitting-room, and came home laden with chocolates and sweets. + +'Margot, just listen! Bobby and I are going to be bride's-maid and +bride's-groom, and we shall walk up the church after the bride.' + +'I'm sure Master Bobby won't be the bridegroom,' said Margot. + +'No, she said a page,' corrected Bobby. 'What's that, Margot? I +thought it was a leaf of a book.' + +'We shall be all in white,' said True. + +'Like angels,' said Bobby. + +And so they chattered on, the only regret being the absence of their +father. + +The next day they had another excitement. They went to tea with Miss +Robsart. + +For some time past they had looked forward to this, and truth to tell, +Miss Robsart was quite as eager as they were for the treat. + +She called for them at four o'clock, and they walked to the house in +which she and her sister lodged. It was a quiet little street leading +out of Kensington High Street. She took them upstairs to a very pretty +sitting-room with three large windows in it, one of which was filled +with flowers and plants. By the fireside in an invalid chair was Miss +Robsart's sister. The children felt shy of her at first, but she had +such a bright smile and voice that they soon became at ease with her. + +'I have heard so much about you from my little sister Daisy that I feel +I know you already. Do you wonder that I call her little? I am ten +years older than she is, and she always seems a little girl to me.' + +'Now Kathleen, respect my office, and don't be giving me away to my +pupils. Bobby, show my sister your wonderful Nobbles, and tell her +about him while I get tea ready.' + +True was looking with admiring eyes round the room. On the walls hung +numbers of beautiful water-colour sketches; there was a piano, two +little love birds in a cage, some old carved furniture, and numbers of +pretty foreign curiosities. + +'I wish we had a room like this,' she said admiringly. + +'Ah! but you see this is our own furniture, and that makes such a +difference,' said their Miss Robsart. 'We took two unfurnished rooms +and put our own furniture into them, so of course it looks homey. And +all those pretty pictures were painted by my sister. Before she met +with her accident she used to go down to the country and sketch. She +longs to do it now, but we cannot manage it. Now would you like to +help me get out some cakes and jam from that cupboard for tea?' + +True was only too delighted to do something. Whilst Bobby chatted with +the elder sister she helped the younger to lay the tea. + +And then Miss Robsart was wheeled in her chair to the table, and Bobby +and True began to enjoy the jam and cakes provided for them. They +talked a good deal about Mr. Egerton and Lady Isobel, and the eldest +Miss Robsart asked Bobby about his grandmother's house in the country. + +'What a happy little boy you must have been,' she said, 'to have +enjoyed a country life! I used to live in the country when I was a +little girl, and I have never forgotten it.' + +'Why don't you live in the country now?' asked True. + +'Ah!' said Daisy, 'we mean to one day, when our ship comes in. If only +that time would come soon! And then, Kathleen, you would be able to +make some sketches again, and get a sale for them!' + +Her sister laughed. + +'People would say I could sketch in London if I chose, and perhaps if I +were not such a cripple I could.' + +'I've seed a cripple do lovelly picshers on the path,' said Bobby +eagerly; 'he did them all in red and blue and yellow! How did you get +a cripple?' + +Daisy looked at her sister anxiously, but she smiled at her. + +'I was run over by an omnibus only four years ago, Bobby. It was a +frosty day, and I was crossing the road in a hurry and slipped under +the horses' feet. I don't think I could sit on the pavement and paint +pictures, so I must hope that some day I may be able to get to my +beloved hills and trees and water again. Those are what I paint best, +and I cannot get them in London.' + +'Lady Is'bel can paint picshers of gates and angels and heaven,' said +Bobby. + +And then he began to describe the golden gates, and Miss Robsart +listened with amused interest. After tea they had games of different +sorts, and then at seven o'clock they were taken home, having +thoroughly enjoyed themselves. + +When Mr. Allonby returned to them a few days later there was a great +deal to tell him. He took the children more than once to see Lady +Isobel at her hotel, and Mr. Egerton got into the way of coming round +in the evening to have a smoke with him. Bobby and True thought this +winter was a delightful time altogether, and when the wedding-day drew +near they could hardly contain themselves for excitement. + +It was to be a very quiet one, and the guests were few in number. Miss +Robsart was to be one of them. Lady Isobel had met her by this time +and took a great liking to her; she went to see her sister, not once +only, but a good many times, and when she came round to see Bobby and +True the day before the wedding, she said to them, 'Do you know I have +my head full of plans for you all? I will not tell you now, but +perhaps when the spring comes you shall hear.' + +'Father is going away from us in the spring,' said Bobby sorrowfully. +Then a twinkle came into his brown eyes: 'Me and Nobbles makes up plans +too in bed; we runned after father once, we hided from him in his +motor, and then he had to keep us.' + +'Yes, but you aren't going to do that again,' said True, looking at him +severely. 'Dad is going across the sea; you couldn't follow him there.' + +'I could follow him anywheres!' said Bobby earnestly. + +'Ah! but you wouldn't like to displease your father by doing so,' said +Lady Isobel. 'He wants you to stay at home and learn as fast as you +can, and grow as fast as you can. And then when you get quite big and +clever you will be able to go about with him.' + +'Mother said I was to be his kerpanion,' said Bobby. 'I don't want to +go to school.' + +'Ah! my plan is better than school,' said Lady Isobel. + +She would say no more, and Mr. Egerton, happening to come into the room +and hear her, turned the whole thing into a joke at once. + +'Yes, Bobby, I'll whisper some of her plans for you. She is going to +start a school on new principles. It's a school for grown-ups; you are +to be the schoolmaster and True the mistress. You will have to teach +the old men how to slide banisters and play hide-and-seek. There will +be a class for those who don't know how to make up stories in bed; they +must be taught how to do it. Another class will have to learn how to +see robbers and Indians when it's getting dusk. It only needs a little +explanation and then it is quite easy. True will have to teach the +fine ladies to make daisy-chains and drink tea out of thimbles. There +is a lot that grown-ups have learnt and forgotten, and a lot they have +never learnt at all. And of course Nobbles will give them a rap over +the knuckles for every mistake they make.' + +Bobby laughed delightedly. + +'Go on! Tell us more!' + +'I can't. My brain is so frightened at all it has to do to-morrow that +it has stopped working. I want to give it a rest to-day, poor thing. +It is never very bright. You ask Lady Isobel what she feels like.' + +'What do you feel like?' asked Bobby promptly, turning to her. + +'Very much inclined to shut myself in my room and not come to church at +all to-morrow,' she replied with sparkling eyes and flushed cheeks. + +Mr. Egerton shook his head at her. + +'If you play me false,' he said, 'Bobby will have to fill his bath full +of water, and I will come and drown myself in it!' + +'Do!' cried True; 'and then we will take you out and hang you up to +dry!' + +'We won't be too silly,' said Lady Isobel. + +'And a wedding is a very solemn thing, isn't it?' said Bobby. 'Mrs. +Dodd telled Margot that she cried more at weddings than funerals.' + +'I shan't cry,' said True, 'because I would spoil my white frock.' + +She was delighted with her white costume, which Lady Isobel had +insisted upon providing. Margot at first shook her head over it. + +''Tis too soon after the dear mistress's death to put off her black,' +she said; but True had retorted instantly: + +'Mother wouldn't mind, I know. She's in a white dress herself now; she +doesn't wear black, so why should I?' And Margot was silenced. + +Bobby was to wear his best white sailor suit. He had coaxed Margot to +buy him a white piece of ribbon with which Nobbles was to be decorated, +and he and True spent quite half an hour in arranging it in the form of +a rosette. + +Mr. Allonby was the only one in the house who did not seem impressed by +the excitement and stir about the important event. His face was a +shade graver than usual when Bobby went to wish him good-night. + +'I am going to cut and run to-morrow, sonny. Your uncle understands. +I can't be with you. I shall be out of town.' + +Bobby's face fell tremendously. + +'Oh, father, I did think you'd come with us. Shall True and I have to +walk up the church all alone?' + +'There won't be many people there, my boy. And they will send a +carriage for you. You won't miss me. Don't look so doleful.' + +'Shall I stay with you, father? I would like to 'stremely.' + +'No, my boy; I'm going out of town for the day.' + +'Do take me with you. Are you going to picnic somewhere?' + +Mr. Allonby was silent for a minute, then he said: + +'I am going to see mother's grave, sonny. I want to put a stone over +it. Can you think of a text she would like written upon it?' + +Bobby's face was a picture of sweet seriousness. + +'She loved my tex', father. Would it be too long? She made me say it +to her before she went away.' + +'What was it?' + +'"Blessed are they that wash their robes in the blood of the Lamb, that +they may have right to the tree of life, and enter in through the gates +into the City."' + +Mr. Allonby's face lit up with a smile. + +'Thank you, sonny; that will do beautifully. I will have it put over +her grave.' + +Bobby stole up to bed in an exalted frame of mind. When Margot came to +wish him good night, he looked up at her with big eyes. + +'You go to sleep, Master Bobby, or you will never be ready to get up +to-morrow.' + +'It's a most wunnerful day coming,' said Bobby, 'but I wish I could cut +myself in halves. The wedding will be lovelly, but seeing my very own +tex' being written on mother's grave by father himself would be almost +lovelier still. He's going down to do it, Margot; he told me so.' + +Margot left him, muttering to herself: + +'Such a jumble children do make of things! Weddings and graves be all +the same to them; they speak of it in one breath, and would as soon be +at one as the other! And of all queer children, Master Bobby be the +queerest, though I love him with all my heart! That text of his be all +the world to him.' + +Downstairs a tired, sad man was gazing into the fire and repeating +softly to himself the text that was going to be as precious to him as +to his little son: + +'"Blessed are they that wash their robes in the blood of the Lamb, that +they may have right to the tree of life, and enter in through the gates +into the City."' + + + + +Chapter XIII. + +THE WEDDING. + +At ten o'clock the next morning two little white-clothed children were +standing at the sitting-room window waiting for the carriage that was +going to take them to the church. + +This was the most enjoyable part of it, for they were going to drive +alone, and, when it came for them, they went down the steps proudly +conscious that several errand boys, and a few heads out of the opposite +Windows in the street, were watching their departure. + +Margot did not drive with them, but she was going to walk to the church +and witness everything from a back seat. + +'Now,' said True as they drove off, 'what do you feel like, Bobby?' + +'Very kercited!' said Bobby, sitting back with red cheeks and shining +eyes. + +'I feel we're going to be married ourselves,' said True; 'or, better +still, we're a prince and princess going to a fairy ball.' + +'Or,' said Bobby gravely, 'we might be going into the Golden Gates, +True. We look quite fit to-day.' + +True stroked her white silk dress thoughtfully, then she lifted her +bouquet of flowers and smelt them. The bouquet was a lovely surprise +to her, as it had only arrived about an hour previously. + +'Yes,' she said, 'you always think of the best things, Bobby. 'It +would be very nice if it could come true, and we could go straight +through and see mother. Do you think she would come to meet us if we +did?' + +'I'm sure God will tell her to,' said Bobby confidently. 'You see He +always is so kind. He'd know we would like to see her.' + +They arrived at the church, and to Bobby's astonishment his Uncle James +came down the path and took them out of the cab. + +'You did not expect to see me here,' he said, 'but your Uncle Mortimer +is my brother, you know. Your aunt is abroad, or she would have been +here too. Now come along and I'll show you where you're to stand. +There aren't more than half a dozen people in the church.' + +True and Bobby stepped into the rather dreary-looking church with great +awe. A few children had congregated round the doors, but inside the +church looked almost empty. Then their faces brightened as they saw +Mr. Egerton come down the aisle towards them. + +'That's right, youngsters. Tell them where to wait, Jim, and look +after them. Oh, how I wish this affair was over!' + +He ejaculated this more to himself than them, and paced up the aisle +again. Bobby looked after him with perplexity. + +'He doesn't seem to like it,' he whispered to True. + +'No,' said True, who always liked to imbue Bobby with a sense of her +superior wisdom. 'Men always hate waiting for anybody, and Margot says +a bride always keeps them waiting, for if she didn't it would look as +if she were in a hurry to be married.' + +Bobby's Uncle James told them where to stand just inside the door, and +presently up drove the bride's carriage. She was very quietly dressed +in a grey cloth dress and hat, and was accompanied by an old gentleman, +a cousin of hers, a General Seaton. She looked very sweet, but very +pale, though she smiled faintly at the children. Then hand in hand +they walked up the aisle behind her, and the service began. Bobby +recognised Miss Robsart in one of the seats at the top of the church, +there was also Miss Denton, Lady Isobel's Indian friend; the rest of +the company were not known to the children. Much of the service was +unintelligible to Bobby, but he drew a sigh of relief when he saw his +Uncle Mortimer take Lady Isobel's hand in his. + +'She won't be frightened now he's holding her,' he whispered to True; +'but I seed her hands quite shake just now.' + +It was soon over, and the little party went into the vestry. Then it +was that Lady Isobel put her arms right round Bobby and kissed him +passionately, and when he looked up at her he saw that her eyes were +full of tears. + +'Aren't you happy?' he asked. + +She gave a little sob. + +'Oh yes, darling; but grown-up people always have sadness mixed with +their gladness,' she said. + +Bobby pondered over this. It all seemed bustle and confusion now. He +and True drove to the hotel with a strange lady and gentleman who +discussed the bride and bridegroom without taking any notice of the +children. + +'I'm thankful she has married again. She was not cut out for a +solitary woman.' + +'He's a very decent chap--known her all his life, hasn't he?' + +'Yes; I always did think they were attached years ago; but he had no +money, and her parents were ambitious and kept them apart. I was at +her first marriage, and she seemed almost afraid of her bridegroom, I +fancied. I believe affection came afterwards, but it certainly was a +match made up by her parents in the first instance.' + +'A wedding is a severe ordeal.' + +'I love a wedding,' announced Bobby, staring at the speaker solemnly. +'When I grows up I shall have as many as I can of my own.' + +The laughter that followed this statement offended him. He relapsed +into silence, even though he was pressed to say how many wives he was +intending to have. They reached the hotel, and went into lunch with +the other guests. + +'It is a real old-fashioned wedding breakfast,' said one lady. 'Why +have you had the ceremony so early, General Seaton?' + +'They want to catch the midday train for the Lakes,' he responded. + +Bobby and True were well looked after, and thoroughly enjoyed +themselves. + +Just before bride and bridegroom departed, Mr. Egerton called Bobby to +his side. He was standing by Lady Isobel, who was beginning to take +her farewell of her friends. + +'Do you think we have behaved ourselves well?' he asked him. + +'Oh, I think it's been lovelly!' exclaimed Bobby with rapt eyes. +'Haven't you enjoyed it 'normously? Me and Nobbles have.' + +'Let's see Master Nobbles! I really believe, Bobby, that he has had +something to do with this wedding. It was he who took you to see Lady +Isobel, remember, and she says it was the result of a certain text of +yours that took her out to India. If I hadn't met her--well, who +knows. Anyhow, I'm a lucky man to-day.' + +Bobby was enchanted to think that Nobbles had a share in the wedding. +When Lady Isobel bent over him to wish him good-bye, she said: + +'I shall look forward to see you soon again, Bobby darling. We're only +going to be away about three weeks, and then we're going straight to +your old home. I don't think I shall like to go into your empty +nursery and not find you there. God bless you, my sweet!' + +She had kissed him and was gone. Bobby felt inclined to cry for the +first time. Then rice was put into his hand to fling after the +carriage, and his spirits rose again. + +Miss Robsart took them home, and all the way she and they talked over +every detail of their enjoyable time. Even Margot acknowledged that, +for a quiet wedding, it was very well done, and that the bride did look +the sweetest lady that she had seen for a long time. It was natural +that after such excitement the next few days seemed dull and flat, but +gradually the children settled down to their lessons, and the weeks +went quietly by. + +One afternoon Margot took them for a walk in Kensington Gardens. This +was always a treat to them; they would pretend they were in the +country; and though the trees were bare and lifeless, and there were no +flowers in the neatly kept beds, the round pond and the grass and the +long walks, which were so good for races, were a great delight to them. +They soon found their way down to the pond; for though it was a cold +day it was a sunny one, and several men and boys were launching small +sailing-boats. Bobby stood looking on with great fascination. There +was one boat which took his fancy. She was painted scarlet, and had a +miniature Union Jack attached to her mast. A little boy, not much +older than himself, was the owner, and he, with a young maid-servant, +was watching her journey across the pond with some anxiety. + +Suddenly a gust of wind seized her, and she capsized, then she +entangled herself in some weed and lay helpless just out of reach. The +little boy turned to Bobby: + +'Lend me your stick, will you?' he said. 'Jane has run round to the +other side with mine. I thought my ship would go straight across to +her.' + +Bobby handed him Nobbles very reluctantly. The little fellow stretched +Nobbles out, but just failed to reach his boat, then he lost his +balance, tumbled into the water himself, and though he scrambled out +again the next moment, he left go of Nobbles, who floated out of reach +at once. Bobby was frantic with grief. He wailed out: + +Oh, Nobbles, Nobbles! Save him! Somebody save him!' + +Nobody knew who or what Nobbles was for some minutes, and when they did +know they began to laugh. Away he floated. Would he go across the +pond and land safely the other side? At one time Bobby thought he +might, and held his breath whilst he watched him. Alas! he began to +circle round and round and finally remained almost stationary in the +middle of the pond. And then it was that Bobby burst into tears. + +'He'll never come back no more! He'll be drownded; he'll go down to +the bottom, and I shall never see him again!' + +'It's only a stick!' said a ragged-looking urchin, looking at Bobby +curiously. 'You can easy get another.' + +'Oh, I can't! I can't! Do get him back for me! I love him so!' + +The boy laughed, then surprised everyone by throwing off his jacket, +splashing into the pond, and swimming like a fish towards Nobbles. + +Of course a policeman immediately appeared on the scene and was very +angry. + +But when the boy returned to shore and presented Nobbles to his little +master, Margot protested against the hard words that were hurled at the +rescuer. + +'It isn't many boys would get a wetting for a stick, so don't scold +him, poor boy! I'm sure Master Bobby is ever so grateful to him, for +he treasures that bit of stick like nothing else. What's your name, my +lad, and where do you live?' + +'"Curly," they calls me, lidy, otherwise John Hart, I lives on my wits +most of the diy.' + +'He's all wet,' said True, looking at the boy pitifully; 'how will he +get dry, Margot; he will catch cold.' + +Bobby was so occupied in drying Nobbles with his pocket-handkerchief +that he hardly thanked the boy; now he looked up, and was quite as +distressed as True. + +'He must be dried, Margot; let's take him home; it was so very good of +him.' + +Margot hurriedly produced her big purse and handed the boy one +shilling. He stuck his hands in his pockets and grinned at her. + +'I ain't goin' to take a bob for that!' he said. + +Margot put back her shilling, the policeman moved away. + +'Come along, Master Bobby, we had best go home; if that boy likes to +follow us he can, and I'll give him an old pair of trousers that your +father gave me to give away. If he's too high and mighty to take them +he can go his own way. Many of these London boys dress themselves in +rags on purpose to excite pity.' + +'Do come home with us,' said Bobby, turning to Curly appealingly. + +He grinned, made a dart in the opposite direction, and was soon lost to +view. The children walked home soberly, but their astonishment was +great when they were going up the flight of steps that led indoors to +turn and find Curly standing behind them. + +'You are a funny boy,' said Bobby; 'I finked you had gone home.' + +'I wish he had,' muttered Margot; 'there's no trusting these sort.' + +But she told him he might come in and sit in the hall, and told the +children to stay with him while she went to get what she had promised +him. True made her way to the landlady to get a piece of cake for him. +Bobby stayed by his side and talked, as only Bobby could talk. + +'Tell me where you reely lives. I am so very glad you saved Nobbles' +life; he's my dearest, bestest friend in the world!' + +'He's a rum 'un!' said Curly, regarding Nobbles' little head with some +interest. 'Well, when I lives at 'ome it's 7 Surrey Court. Now you +ain't no wiser, I bet!' + +'I could find it if I wanted to. I'd ask a policeman to take me,' said +Bobby confidently. 'Do you go to school, or are you too grown-up?' + +'Much too grown-up by long shakes!' said Curly with his broad grin; 'no +school for me if I know it.' + +'And what do you do all day long?' + +Curly winked his eye at him, then said grandly: 'My occypations are +warious. Tomorrer I sweeps my crossin' in the High Street.' + +'High Street Kensington?' questioned Bobby. 'Oh, I'll come and see +you, and walk across your crossing.' + +'The day hafter,' went on Curly, 'if it be fine I may be a hawkin' +horinges. I likes a change o' work, and another pal takes my crossin' +when I'm elsewhere. Day follerin' I may be out o' town.' + +'In the country? I wish you'd take me. How do you go?' + +'I rides mostly,' said the boy, with another wink. 'I ain't perticlar +as to my wehicle!' + +'And when you get into the country what happens?' + +Curly gazed up at the ceiling reflectively. 'I takes my holiday. On +occasions I brings up hivy, and berries, and 'olly, and hawks 'em round +nex' day 'stead of horinges.' + +'I'd like to be you,' said Bobby admiringly. 'Have you got a father?' + +'No, 'e was dead afore I were twelve months old.' + +'I've got two fathers,' said Bobby proudly, 'and I especks you have one +same as me. God is my Father. Isn't He yours?' + +Curly gave a kind of snort. + +'That's Sunday-school jaw!' + +'It isn't jaw,' said Bobby, gazing at him solemnly. 'It's quite true; +and God looks after everybodies who's in His family. And if a boy +hasn't any father, God is 'ticularly kind to him to make up for it. +Once my father was far away, and God was ever so kind to me. I used to +feel He was. He never goes away, so you can always have Him to talk +to.' + +Margot came downstairs at this juncture and put a parcel into Curly's +hand. + +'There, my lad, that's for helping Master Bobby. And now run off, for +I'm sure our landlady wouldn't like to see you here.' + +'Stop!' cried True, coming up the kitchen stairs; 'see what I've got +for him! It's scalding hot!' + +She was carrying very carefully, in both hands, a cup of cocoa, and +Curly's eyes lit up at the sight of it. + +'And a piece of cake,' she added, producing a slice from her pocket. + +Curly took the cup from her with a gruff 'thank 'ee.' He made short +work of both cocoa and cake, then took his parcel and made for the door. + +Bobby laid his hand on his coat-sleeve. + +'You've saved Nobbles' life,' he said, 'and I shan't never, never +forget it.' + +Curly grinned and departed. + +'They've no manners, those street boys,' said Margot; 'but it was a +kind thing to do for you, Master Bobby.' + +'He's going to be one of my friends,' said Bobby firmly; 'and I shall +go and see him to-morrow at his crossing.' + +He accomplished this, for he persuaded Miss Robsart to go with them. +She very often took them for a short walk if Margot was busy, and she +became interested in the boy at once. + +'I have a class of rather ragged boys on Sunday,' she said; 'and if he +doesn't go anywhere I will get him to come to me.' + +It was rather a muddy day, and Curly was hard at work with his broom +when they caught sight of him. He grinned when they came up, and first +pretended to be too busy to speak to them; but presently he paused for +breath, and stood resting on his broom. Bobby insisted on shaking +hands with him, and was ready with a heap of questions to which he +expected replies. Miss Robsart, in her bright, happy way, began to +talk to him too, and she soon found out that his mother worked at a +factory, that he had two little sisters at school, and that he was +wanting to get into steady work if he could, only no one would start +him. + +''Tis the charac'er they'll be on about,' he said, laughing and showing +an even set of white teeth; 'they looks at the clothes and shakes their +wise 'eads! "Must have a respec'able by," they says; but bless'd if I +don't mike more some dys than some blokes dos if they works a week on +hend!' + +Then Miss Robsart discovered that he had left off going to +Sunday-school, and after a good deal of persuasion he promised to come +to her class the following Sunday. + +As they walked home she said to Bobby: + +'I like his face so much; he looks honest; and I shall go and see his +home and his mother if I can get at her. We may be able to help him to +get a place, Bobby. I always feel so sorry for the boys who have no +one to start them in life.' + +'I fought God always started us from heaven,' said Bobby. + +Miss Robsart smiled. True remarked: + +'I don't believe he knows about the golden gates, Bobby. You might +show him your picture, one day; and p'raps he'd try to keep himself a +little cleaner.' + +True never could quite distinguish the difference between the outside +and inside cleansing. + +Bobby looked up thoughtfully. + +'I'll tell him 'bout it. He's going to be my friend, True; and me and +Nobbles means to see him very often.' + +And when Bobby said a thing he meant it. + + + + +Chapter XIV. + +'NEARLY DROWNED.' + +The winter was nearly over when a sudden sharp frost set in. Bobby and +True were delighted to see the snow fall, and walk out when the +pavements and roads were slippery with ice; and, when their father took +them to the Serpentine to see the skating on the ice they were +enchanted. Then, as the frost continued, he got them each a pair of +skates, and gave them their first lessons in the art. He himself was a +beautiful skater, as he had done a great deal of such sport in America; +and then one Saturday he announced to them at breakfast that he should +take them by train to a large piece of water in the country, and they +should stay there the whole day. + +'We will have a winter picnic; Margot must pack us up some sandwiches, +and we shall not come back till dark.' + +It was the first time he had proposed a whole day out, and the children +were of course delighted. + +As they were starting Mr. Allonby looked at his little son, who had +skates in one hand, Nobbles in the other. + +'I think you had better leave Nobbles at home, my boy; he will be in +your way.' + +'Oh, please let me take him! He would be so 'normously disappointed if +I left him behind; he does love the country.' + +Mr. Allonby laughed. + +'Have your own way then.' + +They set off in high spirits. Every bit of the day was a keen pleasure +to them--the train journey, the walk from the station to the old +country house belonging to Mr. Allonby's friend, and then the +adjournment to the artificial lake in the park, where a large number of +skaters were assembled. There were other children there who at once +made friends with Bobby and True, and, when luncheon time came, they +were asked to come up to the house. This, however, Mr. Allonby +declined, and a few others besides themselves preferred to lunch on the +banks of the bit of water. + +'I like this much the best,' said Bobby, snuggling close to his father; +'it's as hot as fire, isn't it?' + +His father looked at his rosy cheeks with content. + +'I wish I could give you children an out-of-door country life,' he +said; 'that's what you ought to have.' + +'Yes,' said True; 'I don't like houses at all. I should like to be a +gipsy!' + +'When we grows up, father, we'll come over the sea with you, won't we? +And couldn't we go to the North Pole and skate? Miss Robsart was +telling us yesterday about the poor little fat Eskims--I forgets the +name of them--who're in the dark so much. I should like to see them +and the whales.' + +'I should like the hot places best,' said True, 'where you lie in the +sun, and monkeys and parrots swing in the trees above you, and you eat +cocoanuts and dates!' + +'Yes,' said Mr. Allonby; 'we'll do some travels together later if we're +spared. But the North Pole would be a big order, Bobby; it has never +been found yet.' + +'I espec's God has got hold of it in His hand, and twists the world +round with it,' said Bobby with knitted brows. + +His father laughed. + +'Finish your lunch, sonny, and we'll be moving; your theories are quite +beyond me.' + +So they took to the ice again, and Bobby flew here and there on his +skates, one of the jolliest little figures to be seen. + +Later in the afternoon a certain piece of the ice was roped off as +being unsafe. Mr. Allonby warned the children not to go near it; and +then, only a short time afterwards, a cry and a crash startled everyone +near. A daring schoolboy had ventured beyond the rope and crashed +through the ice into deep water. Mr. Allonby was close by with Bobby; +in an instant he had dashed forwards, and after a breathless minute or +two to Bobby, and before others had hardly taken in what was happening, +he had dragged the boy safely up again. But, to Bobby's horror, as his +father was coming back, the ice gave way in a fresh place under his +feet, and he disappeared. + +The child raised an agonising cry. + +'Father's drowing! Father's drowing!' + +Then ensued wild confusion. Ladies shrieked and rushed to the banks, +there were loud cries for a ladder or a rope, but, as is often the case +in private places, none were forthcoming in the spot in which they were +required. In an instant one little figure went to the rescue, strong +in his own willingness to save. He reached his father first. Holding +out Nobbles to him, he cried: + +'Catch hold, quick, quick, father! I'll pull you out! Oh, catch hold!' + +Mr. Allonby was struggling to raise himself, but the ice kept breaking +under his grip. + +'Go back!' he shouted to Bobby. 'Go back! + +But for once the child disobeyed. + +When he saw his father sink before his eyes he raised a most piercing +cry. In the distance they were bringing a ladder. Men were rushing +frantically back to get it. + +'Father! Father! Don't sink! Oh, do catch hold of Nobbles!' + +'Hi, you little chap, you'll be going in yourself! Come back! Give me +your stick! Here, Allonby, catch hold!' + +Mr. Allonby's head appeared above the surface again, and in an instant +the man behind Bobby had placed Nobbles across the hole in the ice. +Exhausted as he was, Mr. Allonby gripped it, keeping himself afloat +till a few men and boys formed a human ladder, and he was slowly drawn +out of his perilous position. Bobby meanwhile was struggling madly in +the grip of a youth. + +'You little fool, keep still! Do you want to drown yourself! You were +within an ace of it a minute ago! Your father will be all right in a +minute. See--that's--the way. Hurrah, Selwyn--he's got him. Now pull +together--hurrah! He's out, and none the worse, I bet!' + +Bobby was screaming frantically: 'I wants to save him. Me and Nobbles +can save him!' but when he saw his father rescued he stopped his +screams and struggled to get to him. His little face was white to the +lips. His father stooped to reassure him. + +'I'm all right, sonny. Here's your stick! Come along up to the house +with me! I'm too wet to stand about. They'll give me a change.' + +He took hold of Bobby's hand and led him to the bank whilst they took +off their skates together, and then they walked through the park, young +Alan Daubeney, the son of the house, accompanying them. + +'It was that little brute, Jim Carlton, he always disobey orders if he +can! I'm thankful you were on the spot, Allonby, though it would have +been a near case for you if we hadn't got at you when we did. Father +will be furious with the gardeners. They were told to have ladders as +a precaution, but it seems they left them at the other end.' + +'Well, no harm's done. I don't think much of a sousing. I dare say +you'll give me a change.' + +'Of course.' + +Then young Daubeney looked at Bobby. + +'Your stick proved useful, youngster; a good thing you were by.' + +'Yes,' said Mr. Allonby, with a little smile, 'it was all the support I +needed. I should have gone entirely under if I had not had it at that +identical minute.' + +Bobby did not answer, but he tried to smile. It had been more of a +shock to him than to his father, and it was not till he and True were +in the train coming home that he ventured to speak of it. + +'Father, you were nearly drownded!' + +'I suppose I was, sonny, or I might have been.' + +'Oh, what should I've done! what should I've done! That awful crackly +ice!' + +'I wish I'd seen it,' said True; 'a lady had such tight hold of my +hand, she wouldn't let me go, and I never knewed it was dad tumbled in. +I saw a boy come along dripping wet, and he looked awful frightened. +If I'd known it was dad I'd have screamed!' + +'Nobbles saved father,' said Bobby in an awestruck whisper. 'I believe +he reely did!' + +'I think he really did, my boy,' said Mr. Allonby, putting his arm +round Bobby and drawing him to him; 'he and you together. We little +thought this morning, when I told you to leave him at home, what he +would be the means of doing.' + +A slow smile spread over Bobby's face. The joy of this discovery quite +wiped out the horror of the scene from his mind. He laid his curly +head against his father's strong arm in infinite content. + +'Me and Nobbles is 'stremely happy,' he said. + +And then Mr. Allonby stooped and kissed him. + +'Oh, Bobby, what a pity it is that lessons must separate us.' + +But Bobby was too absorbed in his happiness to heed what his father +said. + +When they reached home Margot had to be told the whole story, and the +next morning it was poured into Miss Robsart's ears, and then an +expedition was made to Curly's crossing to tell him about it. + +'For acourse you ought to know,' said Bobby, 'for you saved Nobble's +life, and he saved father's, so it's got to do with you as well as me.' + +And then True suggested that Lady Isobel should be written and told +about it. + +'And we'll make it up like a story, Bobby, for it's quite fit for a +book, and I'll help you write it.' + +Three afternoon's hard work in the sitting-room produced the following +epistle, which went down to the country and greeted Lady Isobel one +morning at breakfast: + + +'MY VERY DERE ANT ISBEL,-- + +'Father says you are my ant now. A wunderfull day hapend. Father and +True and me and Nobbles went on our skats to skat in the cuntry. It +was a very big pond, and a lot of pepul, and we went in the trane. +Nobbles kam with us. The ice began to brake when a boy went on it +where he was told not, and he went thro. It was an orful moment. And +father and me saw him do it. Father gumped in the water and kort him +and lifted him up, and he krawled out, and Father kam out too, and +there was anuther crack, and Father went down and onley his head +remaned and sum fingers. Me and Nobbles nerely burst with terrerr, but +we went up very quik, and I held Nobbles out to dere father, and we was +going to pull him out, but it was orfull, and sum men came up, and +Nobbles was tuk and lade on his chest flat across the hole in the ice. +Father's head had gorn down twice for the ice crakkeled in his fingers, +but he tuk hold of Nobbles, and Nobbles smild and held him fast for hes +so strong, and then a man lade down on his chest flat and held out his +hand to Father and anuther man pulled hold of his legs, and anuther man +pulled him, and I was pushed away for I wanted to pull too, but I did +not cry but I was 'normusly fritend, and at larst Father was pulled out +safe, but they saide if Nobbles had not been there he wood have +drownded, so dont you think that me and Nobbles saved Father's life? +He saide we did, and I am so glad for I luv him the best in the wurld, +him and God in Heaven. It was an orful excedent, and Margot says we +were nerely orfans, and me and Nobbles dremes of it nerely every night, +so Nobbles is a herro, wich True says is anybuddy who saves life, and I +helped him to do it. Plese rite to me soon. + +Your luving little + BOBBY.' + + +Lady Isobel handed this letter to her husband. + +'Oh, Mortimer! we must have him here. I simply ache to have him every +time I go up to his nursery.' + +'Patience, my lady!' said her husband, laughing as he read Bobby's +quaint production. + +'"All things come to him who waits," and a bride of two months' +standing ought not to ache for anyone but her husband!' + +Bobby got a long and loving letter back from his new aunt, and he +showed it to his father with great pride. + +Lady Isobel's last sentence in her letter was, 'Ask father to tell you +my plan that I talked to you about the day before I was married.' + +'What is it, father?' asked Bobby. + +I'll tell you this evening,' his father responded. 'True and you and I +will have a confab over it.' + +These confabs were a delight to the children. They had many of them on +the hearthrug in the firelight, their father leaning back in his chair +and smoking his pipe whilst he listened and talked. + +'A plan is sure to be nice,' said True, 'and Lady Isobel's will be much +better than the ones we make up, Bobby.' + +So all that day they puzzled their heads over what it could be. And +when at last the happy moment arrived they sat in rapt anticipation of +their father's disclosure. + +'I hope to sail away from England about the middle of May,' Mr. Allonby +said, looking at the children gravely. + +Bobby's lower lip began to quiver at once. + +'I knewed that drefful day would be coming,' he said; 'but me and +Nobbles tries to forget it.' + +'This plan has to do with that day,' his father said cheerfully. 'What +is going to become of you when I go off, do you think?' + +'Oh,' said True, 'we've plans for that. Miss Robsart is coming to live +with us, and she and Margot will look after us till you come back.' + +Mr. Allonby shook his head. + +'No, that won't work,' he said. + +'Shall we be sented to school?' asked Bobby in a trembling voice. + +'Now, listen! Your Uncle Mortimer and Aunt Isobel have said they will +take care of you and True whilst I am away. Your Aunt wants you back +in the old house, Bobby, and Miss Robsart is to go down there too, and +go on teaching you till you've mastered your Latin declensions, and are +ready for school.' + +True clapped her hands delightedly, and a smile broke over Bobby's +serious face. + +'And will Miss Robsart's sick sister come too? She always said if she +got into the country she could paint again.' + +'I believe the idea is that she should go too. Your uncle has a +cottage near that he is going to let them have. Margot will take +charge of you still in the nursery, and I shall feel that you are being +looked after well whilst I'm away. Do you think the plan will work?' + +'Yes,' the children cried simultaneously; for Bobby had outgrown his +dread of the silent house now, and the idea of going back there, and +showing True all his old haunts filled him with delight. + +'I wish,' said Bobby slowly, 'as we're all going there, that Curly +could come too. Do you think, father dear, we could make a confab +about him?' + +'Go ahead, then. From your account he is quite a reformed character; +but I don't see how he could form one of your party.' + +'He's so very clean now,' continued Bobby earnestly; 'and Miss Robsart +has got him into a shop. He dusts and sweeps and runs errands, but he +told me yesterday he wants a run into the country awful bad. He would +like to come with us.' + +'Yes, he might black our boots and work in the garden,' said True. +'Will Lady Is'bel ask him, do you think, father?' + +'No, I think she is doing quite enough if she takes charge of you two +young pickles.' + +'I shan't like leaving my friend behind,' said Bobby solemnly. 'You +see, he saved Nobbles' life. He deserves me to remember him, and not +go away and forget him.' + +'You send him one of your letters,' said his father smiling, 'or a +present. You needn't forget him because you're away from him. Is that +what you are going to do with me?' + +A look from Bobby was sufficient reply to this. Then, lapsing into his +worst grammar, in his excitement he said, 'I never forgetted you one +day since I was borned! It's like a bit of my puzzle map,' went on +Bobby after a pause. 'It's a plan with a piece left out, and it isn't +finished till it's putted in. Curly must be in our plan, father dear.' + +'He may be in yours, but not in Lady Isobel's, I think,' said Mr. +Allonby. + +'We'll make a confab with Lady Is'bel about him when we get to her +house,' suggested True. 'I believe she'll find a way to have him.' + +Bobby cheered up at once. + +'I believe she will. We'll ask her.' + +And then, dismissing the one flaw in the delightful plan, they talked +of Bobby's old home with enthusiasm till Margot came to take them to +bed. + + + + +Chapter XV. + +THE OLD HOUSE AGAIN. + +It was a typical spring day. The old house stood in the midst of its +rhododendrons and azaleas; the red brick wall round the kitchen garden +was almost hidden by the masses of pink and white bloom upon it; the +orchard was a picture of beauty, whilst the flower-beds in front were +masses of late bulbs and forget-me-nots. The house itself was the +same, and yet not the same. It seemed as if it were waking up from a +long sleep. Every-one of the windows was open; the hall was filled +with the scent of flowers, and, as the dock in it struck five, Lady +Isobel came to the door, and shading her eyes with her hands looked out +along the drive. The sun was getting low, but it sent its slanting +golden rays across her pretty blue gown. Her face had lost much of its +sadness, and her lips were parted in smiling expectancy now, for she +had caught the sound of wheels. In another moment a big dogcart swung +up to the house, and the cheery voice of her husband called to her. + +'Here they are safe and sound! And Margot is following with the +luggage cart.' + +The next minute two pairs of childish arms were embracing her. + +'Oh Aunt Is'bel, we're so glad to come!' + +'And Bobby hasn't cried a tear since dad went away, for we mean to be +so happy.' + +'That is splendid, my darling! Come along in and see some changes we +have made, and then Bobby shall take us to the nursery and tell us how +he likes it, and whether he thinks Margot will be happy in it.' + +Bobby looked about him with eager delighted eyes. There was no +question of his not noticing the changes. He remarked on every one. + +'You've got new stair carpets; the walls are papered quite different. +You've got flowers in the staircase window. Oh, what pretty pictures!' + +He was upstairs like lightning, none of the rooms appealed to him like +his nursery. The green baize door was there still, but when he came +into his old domain he drew a long breath. Pretty chintz curtains were +in the windows. There was a thick soft red carpet under foot, a +bookcase with delightful looking story-books, a stand of flowers, a +globe of goldfish, and several fresh pictures on the walls, which had +been papered with pink roses to match the chintz. + +'It's like a fairy book!' said the delighted Bobby. 'She waves her +wand--the fairy, you know--and all the old things come new, and the +ugly things come pretty!' + +'Lady Isobel is the fairy,' said True. She was looking about her with +great curiosity. + +'I never have lived in quite such a big house,' she said, as, after +having seen the nursery, she followed Lady Isobel downstairs again, and +they went in and out of all the rooms. + +Bobby was still exclaiming as he went about. + +'Look, True, those were the pictures which used to frown on me in the +dining-room when I went in. Me and Nobbles finked we heard them say, +"Run away; you've no business here." But they seem quite smiling now, +and what lovely flowers on the dinner-table! There never used to be +such pretty ones when I sawed them before. And the blinds are up, and +the sun is coming in, and, oh! do come to the libr'ry and see what it's +like now. There, look, True! those horrid blind heads are nearly all +gone; and it's got a new carpet and pretty curtains and flowers. Oh, +it's so 'normously diff'rent!' + +'We are not going to have any gloomy rooms here if we can help it,' +said Lady Isobel smiling; 'and now come into the drawing-room. You are +going to have tea with us there for a treat.' + +It looked quite a new room to Bobby. All the furniture had been +altered; magazines and books, work, and flowers gave the impression +that it was a room to be lived in. It seemed to reflect some of Lady +Isobel's sweet cheerfulness upon those who came inside it. + +Bobby wandered round it, noting all the changes, and touching with +reverent fingers many of Lady Isobel's pretty knick-knacks. + +'It looks like your pretty house that I sawed when I went to tea with +you long ago,' he said. + +Lady Isobel nodded. + +'I hoped you would like it, Bobby, darling. Your uncle and I want to +have a happy home, with plenty of sunshine in it.' + +'Will it be always summer?' asked True reflectively. + +'Always in our hearts, I hope,' answered Lady Isobel. + +Bobby sat down in a low, cushioned seat and put on his thinking cap. +Past and present presented many pictures. His uncle coming in noticed +a gravity about his small face that he wished to remove. He spoke to +him with a twinkle in his eye. + +'Will you promise me not to put marbles in my boots to-morrow morning?' + +Bobby started; then he chuckled. + +'You finked it was Nobbles. I needn't hide from peoples now. Me and +Nobbles can walk over the house, where we likes. Aunt Is'bel says so.' + +'Do you like coming back to the old house again, darling?' asked Lady +Isobel, for she had noted a certain wistfulness in Bobby's gaze. + +'Yes,' he said; 'but it's a new house to me. The old one has died with +grandmother; and Jenkins has gone, and Jane. Is Tom here?' + +'Yes, Tom is here still, and looking forward to see you so much.' + +'And the apple-tree is here,' said Mr. Egerton. + +Bobby's eyes shone. + +'I'll teach True how to sit on it and look over the wall,' he said. + +The children ran out to the garden directly their tea was finished. +Old Tom seized hold of Bobby by both hands. + +'Ay, the good old times are coming back to this house,' he said. + +'I think these are new times,' said Bobby. + +'No, no. I mind when the house were full of children's voices and +laughter before the old master died. There's a stir that does my heart +good, Master Bobby; and the master be right down hearty with all on us. +He be the proper man to be here, sure enough!' + +True's delight at exploring the gardens and climbing into the +apple-tree infected Bobby. + +'I never had no one to play with before,' he said. 'Me and Nobbles +used to make up plenty, but we wanted someone else to do it.' + +He showed her all his old haunts with the greatest pride, then, tired +out with their journey and excitement, they returned to the house and +willingly went to bed. Lady Isobel paid Bobby a visit the last thing +at night. + +'I hope you will be happy, darling, here.' + +Bobby clasped both arms round her neck. + +'Me and Nobbles have been talking about it. We did feel a little funny +when we comed in. I was so 'fraid in this house before, but it's all +quite, quite different!' + +'I hope it is. I don't want you to feel that you have to creep about +on tiptoe and keep out of sight. I shall like to hear your steps and +voices all over the house. Isn't it strange, Bobby, that you and I +should be here together? How little we thought it would come to pass!' + +'I was always looking out for father,' said Bobby slowly. 'I shan't be +able to do that now, acause I knows he won't be back for free years.' + +'No; but you can be learning lessons as fast as you can so as to be +getting ready for the time when you will be with him again. And then +you'll have to write him letters, Bobby, and he will write to you. +That you could never do before!' + +'No. That will be lovelly! And please Aunt Is'bel, may I ask you +about Curly? He was so dreadful sorry to say good-bye, for Miss +Robsart teached him on Sunday, and we talked to him always when he was +on his crossing. Me and Nobbles is 'ticularly fond of him, and True +says he could work in the garden here. You would like him; he has +curly hair, and he can whistle any tune you ask for, and--and--he's +very mis'able we've all gone away from him.' + +'How did you come to know him?' asked Lady Isobel with interest. So +Bobby plunged into the story of the rescue of Nobbles, and she listened +to it with smiling sympathy. + +'I must talk to Miss Robsart about him when she comes here. Now go to +sleep like a good boy, and to-morrow morning, if it is fine, you must +come with me and see the dear little cottage that Miss Robsart is going +to live in.' + +So Bobby gave her a hug and kiss, and, clasping Nobbles in his arms, +laid his head upon his pillow, murmuring: + +'Me and Nobbles is 'stremely glad to be in the house where we growed up +in, and it's much better than we ever especked!' + +The nursery breakfast the next morning was a very cheery one. Margot's +round smiling face was a picture. + +'Ah!' she said, 'there's a verse in the Bible about lines falling in +pleasant places, and that is just what I feel like now. I won't deny I +was getting a bit old for much housework, and as to that crowded dirty +London, I only hope I shan't ever set foot in it again! And I won't +deny that a house, where every penny has not to be thought of, is a +very pleasant place to live in!' + +We're going to see Miss Robsart's little cottage after breakfast,' said +True. 'Will you come too, Margot?' + +'Oh, no, I'm going to unpack you both, and settle your things in all +the nice drawers and cupboards we have. Dear heart! I begin to think +it was a good day that brought Master Bobby to us!' + +A short time afterwards both children were walking with Lady Isobel +down the road to see the cottage. Bobby eagerly pointed out to them +familiar landmarks. + +'That's where that horrid boy broke poor Nobbles! And that's our +milkman's house, and there's the chestnut tree where I pick up +chestnuts when they drop.' + +Then Lady Isobel turned up a lane out of the high-road. A little white +gate stood in the quickset hedge, which Lady Isobel opened, and there, +in a pretty rustic garden, was a white-washed cottage with a thatched +roof and old-fashioned casement windows. A jasmine and rose climbed +over its porch. The door was painted green, and everything looked +fresh and clean. Lady Isobel unlocked the door, and Bobby and True +stepped in with exclamations of delight. One sunny sitting-room on +either side of the door, a tiny kitchen behind, and three bedrooms +above, were all the rooms the cottage contained, but it had a sweet old +kitchen garden behind, and three apple-trees were brightening the +background with their snowy blossoms. It was on a hill, and the view +from the front looked over a lovely expanse of buttercup meadows, and +the river beyond. + +Bobby's little face looked solemn for his years as he turned and faced +his aunt. + +'It's a _beautiful_ place. Miss Robsart's sister will be able to paint +her trees again. I fink, Aunt Is'bel, you'll be filling us too full of +happiness.' + +'There's just one person more who ought to be here,' said True. + +'Yes, I've tolded 'bout him; and when Miss Robsart comes it will be +talked about. Then we shall all be, like Margot says, a happy fam'ly.' + +'A country happy family,' said True. + +Lady Isobel laughed merrily. + +'Did you never see this cottage before, Bobby? I believe your +grandmother's coachman lived here?' + +'He was a cross man,' said Bobby promptly. 'I never comed near him. +He said he couldn't bear boys, and nurse wouldn't take me to any +cottages--grandmother said she wasn't to. I never comed up this lane +once.' + +Then they went back to the house, and Lady Isobel left them in the +garden to play. In the afternoon they drove into the town with her and +helped to choose a pretty invalid couch for the eldest Miss Robsart. + +'I shall have it put in the window ready for her,' Lady Isobel said. +'And she can lie on it and paint her pretty pictures, Bobby.' + +The days that followed were delicious ones to the children; and in due +time the Miss Robsarts came down with their pretty old furniture and +took possession of the cottage. The children were allowed to run +backwards and forwards, and help with the move. When they were +thoroughly settled in, lessons began. Lady Isobel had put aside a +special room for the schoolroom; and though at first Bobby and True +found it a little irksome to get into their regular hours of work +again, they soon became reconciled to it. + +Miss Robsart was as happy as the day was long, and as for her invalid +sister, she could not express her thankfulness. She broke down when +Lady Isobel went to see her. + +'I never expected such bliss in this life,' she said. 'I don't know +what we have done for you to do all this for us.' + +But the crowning joy to Bobby and True was when Lady Isobel told them +that she was going to have Curly down, and let him help old Tom in the +garden. + +'If he likes it, and works well, we will keep him. He is coming on a +month's trial, and he will live with Tom and his wife.' + +'I'm afraid we shall soon have the whole of London swooping down upon +us,' said Mr. Egerton when he heard the news. + +'How many more friends have you, Bobby? For I see your aunt is going +to grant you every desire of your heart.' + +'I haven't any more friends,' said Bobby gravely. 'You don't make many +in London, but Curly ought to come, because he saved Nobbles' life.' + +'I believe Nobbles is at the bottom of everything,' said his uncle; and +Bobby nodded, well pleased. + +'Yes, Nobbles is very erportant to me,' he said; 'and if Curly hadn't +saved him, my heart would have broke!' + + +It was Sunday afternoon. Lady Isobel was sitting in the drawing-room, +and the children were by her side. + +'It makes me think of mother,' said True, with a little choke in her +voice. 'She always used to give us Sunday lessons.' + +'I want to follow her teaching, darling. I am going to keep this hour +especially for you. Now, what shall we talk about this first Sunday? +Would you like to choose a Bible story?' + +True looked at Bobby. He thought deeply for a minute, then he said: + +'May we look at the lovely Talian Bible? + +'Yes. Go to the library and bring it here. True can help you to carry +it.' + +Away they ran, and soon returned with the precious Book, which they +placed upon a small table by her side. Then Bobby reverently and +carefully turned over its pages till he came to the picture of the +golden gates. He and True hung over it with admiring eyes. + +'Talk to us about heaven,' said Bobby, 'because mother is there, and we +love it.' + +Lady Isobel did so. She read them verses of its beauty, of the +white-robed throng who were singing the praises of the Lamb of God, of +the tears that would be wiped away, and the darkness that would be made +light, and of the happiness of all gathered there. + +'I would like Curly to hear about it,' said Bobby with a sigh. + +'You must tell him about it, darling.' + +'I will say my tex' to him, and make him learn it, and und'stand it.' + +'Does blessed mean happy?' asked True. + +'Yes.' + +'I didn't think I'd ever be happy again when mother went away, but I +feel a little better now. Will you take us one day to see her grave, +or is it too far?' + +'I think we must manage it one day, dear,' said Lady Isobel drawing the +little motherless girl near her. 'We might go by train a part of the +way.' + +'I would like to see her grave very much,' said Bobby, 'because father +went to put my tex' upon it. He liked my tex' very much.' + +'I think we all like it, Bobby.' + +'I wonder which is God's favourite text in the Bible,' said True. + +Lady Isobel was silent; the children sometimes puzzled her. + +'God never makes any faverits,' said Bobby. 'My old nurse telled me +that once. He loves ev'rybodies and all alike, doesn't he, Aunt +Is'bel?' + +Then without waiting for her to reply he proceeded: + +'I try to love ev'rybodies alike, but I love God first, and then my +father.' + +'And who next?' asked True curiously. + +'I finks,' said Bobby, hesitating, 'truthfully, I finks I loves Nobbles +next best.' + +'I'm sure you oughtn't to,' said True; 'he's just a stick.' + +Bobby shook his head. 'I loves you, Aunt Is'bel, and Master Mortimer, +and True, but Nobbles comed to me first, and I couldn't stop loving +him. He's a kind of part of me, you see, and ev'ryfing I does he does +too.' + +'He's only a stick,' repeated True. + +'Who saved father's life?' said Bobby with sudden warmth. + +'Well,' said True, slowly, 'it was you who put Nobbles on the ice.' + +'Yes,' said Bobby, 'it was what I'd been longing and wanting to do, and +I was always finking and finking how it could be done, and then all of +a sudden it comed, and who saved father's life? Why, me and Nobbles.' + +True was crushed. Lady Isobel said softly: + +'Shall we repeat the text together, children, in this old Bible, and +ask God to make us not only love it ourselves, but pass it on to those +who do not know how they can have a right to enter in through the gates +into the City?' + +'Are there many bodies that don't know that?' questioned Bobby. + +'A great, great many. Some who miss the happiness that God means them +to have in this world by not knowing it.' + +'We must try and tell them,' said Bobby earnestly. 'It's a pity if +they don't understand prop'ly.' + +Then slowly and softly the children repeated their text after Lady +Isobel: + +'Blessed are they that wash their robes in the blood of the Lamb, that +they may have right to the tree of life, and enter in through the gates +into the City.' + + + +FINIS. + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of 'Me and Nobbles', by Amy Le Feuvre + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 'ME AND NOBBLES' *** + +***** This file should be named 22290.txt or 22290.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/2/2/9/22290/ + +Produced by Al Haines + +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. 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