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diff --git a/23130.txt b/23130.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5542e52 --- /dev/null +++ b/23130.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5850 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Black, White and Gray, by Amy Walton + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Black, White and Gray + A Story of Three Homes + +Author: Amy Walton + +Illustrator: Robert Barnes + +Release Date: October 20, 2007 [EBook #23130] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BLACK, WHITE AND GRAY *** + + + + +Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England + + + + +Black, White and Grey; a Story of Three Homes, by Amy Walton. + +________________________________________________________________________ +Some young children, whose parents are working in India, are being +brought up by an aunt in a small English village called Fieldside. The +aunt lets them have a lot of freedom, but there are some "Rules of the +House" which must be obeyed. When the cat has some lovely kittens, one +black, one white, and one grey, they are not allowed to keep them, +because there would then be too many cats than the Rules allowed, but +they are given three weeks in which to find homes for them. + +How these homes are found, and what happens then to the kittens, is the +subject of this book. As always with Amy Walton's books, reading them +gives you a feeling for the happy days in our English countryside, now +long past, that existed at the end of the nineteenth century. + +________________________________________________________________________ + +BLACK, WHITE AND GREY; A STORY OF THREE HOMES, BY AMY WALTON. + + + +CHAPTER ONE. + +TWO GOOD HOMES. + +"It's as black as ink," said Dennis, lifting one of the kittens out of +its warm bed in the hay; "there's not a single white hair upon it." + +"Madam's never had a _quite_ black one before, has she?" said his sister +Maisie, who knelt beside him, before the cat and her family. + +It was a snug and cosy home Madam had chosen for her children, in a dark +corner of the hayloft, where she had hollowed out a sort of nest in the +side of a truss of hay. Here she might well have fancied herself quite +secure from discovery, for it was so dim and shadowy in the loft that it +needed sharp eyes to see anything but hay and straw. + +She had forgotten, however, that it was one of Dennis and Maisie's +favourite play-rooms when it was too wet to be out-of-doors, and it +turned out that in the midst of their games to-day, they had caught +sight of her white coat in her dusky retreat. Though she would rather +not have been found, Madam took the discovery calmly, and made no +difficulty, even when Dennis softly put in his hand and drew out the +black kitten. She knew the children well, and was quite sure they would +do no harm, so she lay lazily blinking her green eyes, and even purred +gently with pleasure to hear her kitten admired. + +It was such a very nice kitten. Not only because of its dense +blackness, but its coat was as glossy and thick as that of a little +mole, and its shape unusually stumpy and attractive. + +"Isn't it a _beauty_?" said Dennis, in a delighted whisper; "we must +keep it." + +"We haven't looked at the others yet," said Maisie cautiously; "don't +let's settle so soon." + +The black kitten was accordingly given back to Madam, who at once licked +it all over from top to toe, and the others brought out one by one. +There was a perfectly white one, much smaller than the first, and the +other was a commonplace striped grey. + +"I don't care about either," said Dennis; "they're just like lots and +lots of other kittens, and they grow up like lots and lots of other +cats. Now the black's uncommon." + +"I can't bear settling which is to be drowned," sighed Maisie. "I +suppose we may really only keep one." + +"You're a ninny," said Dennis shortly. + +In reality he did not like to doom the kittens any better than his +sister, but he would have thought it womanly to show his feelings. + +"I call it unfair," continued Maisie, stroking the white and grey +kittens with her little brown hand, "to drown them just because they're +not pretty. It's not as if they were bad." + +"But you _know_ we mustn't keep them all," said Dennis impatiently; "so +what's the good of going on like that? We _must_ choose, and the +black's the best, isn't it?" + +"Well, then," said Maisie reluctantly, "I think we ought to cast lots, +so as to give them each a chance." + +This appealed to Dennis's sense of justice, and was besides the usual +way of settling differences between his sister and himself. He pulled +out three pieces of hay of different lengths, and holding them tightly +shut in his hand, with the ends sticking out in an even row, said +shortly, "You choose." + +"Which is which?" asked Maisie, her face getting pink with excitement. + +"The longest's the black, the middling's the white, and the shortest's +the grey," said Dennis, with the calmness of fate. + +Maisie gazed at the little yellow ends of hay sticking out between her +brother's stout red fingers, almost with terror. The old cat, with one +paw thrown languidly over the black kitten, watched the proceedings +carelessly. + +"I'll have this one!" exclaimed Maisie desperately, tugging at the +middle piece. + +"Hurrah!" cried Dennis, as he opened his hand, and he threw up his cap +exultingly; for it was the black kitten that was to live. + +"I'm just as sorry as I was before about the others," said Maisie +wistfully; "but of course I _do_ like the black one best, and Madam +seems proud of it too. What shall we call it?" + +"Nigger," said Dennis. + +Maisie looked doubtful. + +"That's not a very nice name," she said slowly. "I should like to call +it Jonah, because, you see, the lot fell upon it." + +"Well, but, you silly thing," replied Dennis, "that just _wouldn't_ do, +because Jonah _was_ drowned when the lot fell upon him, and the black +kitten won't be." + +"He wasn't _drowned_," said Maisie, in a low impressive voice. + +"Well, worse. I'd rather have been drowned," said Dennis shortly; +"anyhow, I don't like the name of Jonah. It ought to have something to +do with its colour." + +"Do you think," said Maisie, looking with pity at the white and grey +kittens, "that we need tell Tom to drown them _quite_ directly. +Mightn't we leave them till to-morrow, and hear what Aunt Katharine +says?" + +"She won't say anything different," said Dennis, with a decided shake of +the head. "You know she made a rule. But we'll leave them if you +like." + +Before the children left the loft, half an hour later, they took a +tender leave of Madam and her family, and Maisie gave an extra caress to +the white and grey kittens, which she felt sure she should never see +again. Nevertheless, at the bottom of her heart, there was a tiny hope +that she might be able to save them, for sometimes, even when she had +made a rule, Aunt Katharine was unexpectedly yielding. + +Dennis and Maisie had lived with their aunt, Miss Katharine Chester, +since they had been babies. They had arrived one autumn day at +Fieldside, all the way from India, two little motherless, white-faced +things under the care of strangers, and from that time till now, when +Dennis was a square-shouldered boy of ten, and Maisie a sunburnt little +girl of eight, Aunt Katharine had been everything to them. Certainly +father was in India, and would come home some day, and meanwhile often +sent them letters and parcels, but he was such a complete stranger, that +he did not count for much in their little lives. On mail-days, when +they had to write to him, it was often very hard to think of something +to say, for they did not feel at all sure of his tastes, or what was +likely to interest him: it was like writing to a picture or a shadow, +and not a real person at all. + +Now Aunt Katharine was a very real person, though she was also a very +busy one, and if it was sometimes difficult to get hold of her during +the day, there was always the evening. Then she was quite ready to +listen to questions, to hear news, and to go thoroughly into any matters +of interest or difficulty which had been saved for that time. The hour +immediately after breakfast was devoted to lessons, but it was not easy +to talk to Aunt Katharine then, for she had so many things on her mind. +She never shortened the time, but the children knew that the moment ten +o'clock struck, books must be shut, and Aunt Katharine free to begin her +busy round from kitchen to dairy, from garden to poultry-yard and +stables. Every part of her pleasant little kingdom was daily visited by +this active lady, and it repaid her care within and without, for no one +had such good butter, such abundance of fresh eggs, such a well-kept +stable, such luxuriantly blooming flowers, and such fine vegetables. No +one had a pleasanter house, roomy and cheerful, and not too grandly +furnished for children and animals to run about in freely. + +And Miss Chester's cares were not confined to her own possessions alone, +for nothing that went on in the village of Fieldside, just outside her +gates, was unknown to her. She was ready to settle disputes, to nurse +sickness, and to relieve distress, and was never known to fail any one +who applied to her for help. Into this life, already so full of varied +business, Dennis and Maisie had brought added responsibilities, and Aunt +Katharine had undertaken them with her usual decision and energy. As +long as the children were babies, somewhat delicate and ailing, she had +bestowed all her thought and care upon them, and given up many outside +interests for their sake. + +But now they were babies no longer, but had grown up healthy and strong, +and by degrees she returned to her busy life, and left them a great deal +to themselves. Her married sister, Mrs Trevor, who lived not far off at +Haughton Park, considered her strangely neglectful of their education, +but Miss Chester had her own ideas on that subject, and would not listen +to objections. Nothing, she insisted, was so important to children of +Dennis and Maisie's age as plenty of liberty and fresh air. The time +would soon come when Dennis must go to school, and Maisie must have a +governess; until then, the daily hour in which they learned to read and +write and to do simple sums--for Aunt Katharine was not great at +figures--was quite education enough. + +This was decidedly the opinion of the children themselves, and perhaps +they were not the worse for the free life they lived at Fieldside, happy +in the companionship of all the pleasant outdoor things, and dependent +on no one but themselves for amusement. But it was not all freedom. +Aunt Katharine made rules, and the children knew that these must be +obeyed, and were never relaxed unless for some very good reason. One of +these rules applied to the number of pets, which had once threatened to +become overwhelming. Cats especially began to swarm in such multitudes +in the garden and house, that Aunt Katharine was obliged to take severe +measures to reduce them. That done, she made a rule. Madam, the +favourite old cat, was to be kept, but all her kittens, except one out +of each family, must for the future be drowned. It was a dreadful blow +to Maisie in particular, who, being a girl, was not obliged to smother +her feelings; and now, here was another of these miserable occasions-- +the white and grey kittens must be sent out of the world almost as soon +as they had entered it! + +All the while she was having her frock changed and her hair brushed +before tea, she turned the matter over in her mind. Could she possibly +prevail on Aunt Katharine to spare the kittens this once. It seemed odd +that Aunt Katharine, who was so kind to every one, could bear to let +such poor little helpless things be killed. Maisie supposed it must be +one of those many, many things she had been told she should understand +when she was older. Dennis always said it did not hurt them, but though +she looked up to him a good deal, she did not feel at all sure that he +was right in this case. At any rate, if it did not hurt the kittens, it +must be most painful for Madam to lose two of her children in such a +dreadful way. + +Full of those thoughts, she went down to the schoolroom, where Aunt +Katharine always joined the children at tea-time. She found her already +there, listening to Dennis, who was giving an excited account of the +discovery of Madam in the hayloft that afternoon. + +"It's _such_ a jolly little kitten we're going to keep, you can't think, +Aunt Katharine," he said; "as black as a coal all over." + +"And what does Maisie think?" said Aunt Katharine, turning to the little +girl, who had not joined in her brother's description. "Does she like +it best too?" + +Maisie's round face became very pink, and she nervously crumbled up her +cake, but said nothing. + +"Would you rather keep the white one or the grey one, dear?" asked her +aunt kindly. "I daresay Dennis would not mind. He shall choose next +time." + +"We didn't choose," put in Dennis quickly; "we cast lots, so it's quite +fair. It's only," he continued, lowering his voice confidentially, +"that she doesn't like the others to be drowned." + +"Is that it, Maisie?" asked Aunt Katharine. + +Maisie nodded. She had meant to say a good deal, but now that the +moment had come, her feelings were rather more than she could manage. +She gazed beseechingly at Aunt Katharine, who could save the kittens by +one word, and still crumbling up her cake with her little brown hands, +murmured, "Just this once." + +Aunt Katharine smiled. + +"And how about my rule?" she said. "If you keep the kittens `just this +once,' you will want to keep the next, and the next, and we shall soon +have as many cats as there were before. That would never do." + +"There were fifteen," said Dennis.--"Pass the cake, please, Maisie." + +Maisie gave a little gulp of disappointment. It did not seem to her +that fifteen cats were at all too many for comfort and pleasure, but +Aunt Katharine knew best. So she drew a small handkerchief out of her +pocket, wiped the crumbs from her fingers, and struggled for composure. +Both she and Dennis thought the matter quite ended, for their aunt began +to talk of other things, and after tea she read to them as usual, and +not another word was said about the kittens until bed-time. It was +surprising, therefore, to hear her say as she shut up the book: + +"Children, I have something to propose to you about the kittens. You +know I can't let you keep them, because it is against my rule, which I +should not have made unless it had been necessary; but, if you like to +find them two good homes, I will allow you to give them away this time." + +"Oh auntie!" exclaimed Maisie, clapping her hands, "how lovely!" + +"How long may we have to look out?" asked Dennis. + +"The kittens must be sent away from here this day three weeks," said +Aunt Katharine solemnly; "and remember, children, I said `two _good_ +homes,' so I trust you to take trouble to find them. It would be really +kinder to drown them at once, than to send them where they might be +starved or ill-treated." + +Two good homes! It was indeed a serious responsibility, and their aunt +had said the words so earnestly, that the children were both much +impressed by them. Maisie in particular, in the midst of her rejoicing +that the kittens were saved, felt quite sobered by the burden resting +upon her. + +"How ever shall we find two good homes?" she said to Dennis as they went +up-stairs. But Dennis never looked at the troublesome side of life, if +he could avoid it. + +"It'll be jolly to keep all three of them for three weeks, won't it?" he +said. "How pleased Madam would be if she knew!" + +"We must get up very early to-morrow, and go and tell her," said Maisie. + +"It matters most to tell Tom," said Dennis; "because if he finds them in +the loft, he'll drown them straight off in a bucket." + +The horror of this suggestion, and the future of the two kittens if they +escaped this danger, kept Maisie awake for a long while that night. + +She slept in a tiny room opening out of Aunt Katharine's, and she knew +how dreadfully late it must be, when she heard her aunt moving about, +and saw the light of her candle underneath the door. After that, +however, she soon went to sleep, with the kittens, their homes, and Tom +the stable-boy, all jumbled up together in her head. + + + +CHAPTER TWO. + +HAUGHTON PARK. + +Before the clock had finished striking six the next morning, Dennis and +Maisie were in the stable-yard. Tom was there, pumping water into a +pail, and Jacko the raven was there, stalking about with gravity, and +uttering a deep croak now and then. Jacko was not a nice character, and +more feared than liked by most people. He was a thief and a bully, and +so cunning that it was impossible to be up to all his tricks. In +mischief he delighted, and nothing pleased him more than to frighten and +tease helpless things, yet, with all these bad qualities, he had been +allowed to march about for many years, unreproved, in Aunt Katharine's +stable-yard. Maisie had been very much afraid of him in the days when +she wore socks, for he had a way of digging at her little bare legs with +his cruel beak whenever he could get near her. She was not frightened +of him now that she was older, especially when Dennis was with her, but +still she did not trust him, and took care this morning not to cross his +path on her way to speak to Tom. + +"If Jacko knew about the kittens," remarked Dennis as they passed, "he'd +go and peck out their eyes." + +"Oh!" shuddered Maisie; "but," she added in a whisper, for she always +fancied Jacko understood, "their eyes aren't open yet, and besides Madam +would claw and scratch at him." + +"He can claw and scratch too," said Dennis. "I expect he could kill +Madam and her kittens easily. And then he'd bury them, just as he does +his food, you know, and then." + +Fortunately for Maisie, who was listening with horror to this picture of +cruelty and crime, Dennis stopped at this point, for they were now close +to Tom, who with his back towards them was making a dreadful noise with +a creaking pump handle. + +"I say, Tom," he called out. Tom slowly turned his freckled face over +his shoulder, but did not leave off his work. "Madam's kittens are +_not_ to be drowned," shouted Dennis at the top of his voice. + +"They're _all_ to be saved," added Maisie in a shriller key.--"Oh +Dennis, I don't believe he has taken it in. Do tell him to leave off +pumping." + +But just then, Tom's pails being full, he left off of his own accord, +and proceeded to carry them into the stable. + +"You _do_ understand, Tom," said Maisie anxiously, for she had an idea +that Tom rather liked drowning kittens. "_Not_ to be drowned." + +Tom's voice having answered indistinctly from one of the stalls, she +turned to follow Dennis, who was already half-way up the steep ladder +which led to the loft. After all, Madam could not be told the good +news, for she had gone out for a stroll, leaving her family in a little +warm furry heap in their bed. + +"Just fancy how dreadful it would be for her if she came back and found +only one left," said Maisie, touching the little round heads softly with +her finger. "I _am_ so glad they're not to be drowned." + +"I'm tremendously glad we're going to keep the black one ourselves," +said Dennis. "What do you think of the name of Smut?" + +"I don't like it a bit," said Maisie. + +They had got no further towards a name by breakfast time. All those +which Maisie liked, Dennis thought silly, and those which Dennis +proposed, Maisie thought ugly, so it promised to be a difficult matter +to settle. As soon as they were seated at breakfast, however, Aunt +Katharine made a suggestion which put the black kitten out of their +heads for the present. + +"Children," she said, "I am going to drive over to Haughton Park to +lunch this morning. If you like, you may both go with me and see +Philippa." + +There was a moment's pause, and then Dennis asked seriously: + +"Shall you go anywhere besides, Aunt Katharine, or just straight there?" + +"I shall only stop at Mrs Broadbent's on my way," she replied, "to ask +about so some fowls." + +The children looked at each other, but made no answer. + +"Well," said their aunt, smiling, "I dare say you'd like to talk it over +together. I shall start at twelve o'clock, and if you decide to go, you +must be ready to the minute, for I shall not wait for you. Do just as +you like about it." + +To go or not to go to Haughton was always a matter which required +thought. There were things against it, and things for it. In Maisie's +opinion, there was a great deal to be liked in the visit. There was a +large, beautiful house, much larger than Fieldside, and a park with deer +in it: there were all sorts of dolls and toys and pretty things which +she enjoyed playing with, and--there was Philippa. Philippa was perhaps +a doubtful pleasure, for if she was in a cross mood she was not +agreeable, but there was always the chance that she would be pleasant, +and then she and Maisie got on very well together with their dolls. +Dennis was disposed to be rather scornful about going to Haughton, but +in his case there was the attraction of the drive, when Aunt Katharine +sometimes let him hold the reins, and there was the chance of her +stopping at somewhere interesting on the way. Mrs Broadbent's would be +better than nothing to-day, though it was not his favourite farmhouse. + +"I don't think I want to go _much_," he said, as soon as he and Maisie +had reached the play-room. "Aunt Trevor's sure to have a headache, and +then we shall have to be as quiet as mice." + +"P'raps she'll let us go out with Philippa," said Maisie. + +"Not without Miss Mervyn comes too," said Dennis. "I don't care about +that--it's no fun. She's always saying, `You mustn't do this, or you +mustn't do that.'" + +"Well," said Maisie, "should I go with Aunt Katharine then, and you stay +at home?" + +But this did not suit Dennis at all. It would never do for Maisie to +come back and describe all manner of enjoyments which he had not shared. +It would be better to go and grumble than to be left at home alone. + +"Oh, I'll go," he said, condescendingly. And so it came to pass that +when the ponies, Jack and Jill, came round, the children were both +waiting in the hall, fully prepared for the drive. As she drew on her +driving gloves, Aunt Katharine gave a glance at them to see that they +were warmly wrapped up, for it was a fresh day in early spring. + +"Jump in, children, and let Mary tuck you well up; it's rather cold," +she said.--"Give me the reins, Tom. All right." + +Then came a dash down the short avenue, with Tom running before to open +the gate, and then they were in the village street, where Jack and Jill +always thought it right to plunge and shy a little. From their seat at +the back Dennis and Maisie nodded at their various acquaintances as they +passed, for they knew nearly every one. There was Mrs Gill at the +post-office, standing at her open door; there was Mr Couples, who kept +the shop; and there was Dr Price just mounting his horse, with his two +terriers, Snip and Snap, eager to follow. Above this little cluster of +houses stood the church and the vicarage close together, on a gently +rising hill; and the rest of the village, including two or three large +farms, was scattered about here and there, with wide spaces between. + +"Why are you going to Mrs Broadbent's, Aunt Katharine?" asked Dennis, as +they turned sharply to the right. + +"Because I want to ask her to let me have a setting of Minorcas," +replied his aunt, "and no one else keeps them." + +"And we might ask her, you know," said Maisie, "whether she'd like one +of the kittens. I should _think_ that would be a good home, shouldn't +you?" + +"P'raps she doesn't like cats," said Dennis carelessly. "We've got +three weeks, so it really doesn't matter much yet." + +The Broadbents' square white house now came in sight. It had a trim +garden, a tennis ground, and a summer-house, and was completely screened +from the farm-buildings by a gloomy row of fir-trees. The children did +not as a rule care to pay visits to Mrs Broadbent, for there were no +animals or interesting things about; but to-day Maisie asked leave to go +in, for she had the kittens on her mind, and felt she must not lose a +chance. + +Mrs Broadbent was a thin little widow, who wore smart caps, and had a +general air of fashion about her person. She was sharp and clever, well +up to the business of managing her large farm, and familiar with every +detail of it. Unfortunately she considered this a thing to be ashamed +of, and, much to Miss Chester's annoyance, always pretended ignorance +which did not exist. What she was proud of, and thrust foremost in her +conversation, were the accomplishments of two highly-educated daughters, +who painted on china, and played the violin, and on this subject she +received no encouragement from Aunt Katharine. + +"I shouldn't have thought of disturbing you so early, Mrs Broadbent," +she said briskly, when they were seated in the smart little +drawing-room, "but I've come on business. I want to know if you've a +setting of Minorca fowls to dispose of. I've a fancy to rear some." + +Mrs Broadbent simpered a little and put her head on one side. + +"I've no doubt we can oblige you, Miss Chester," she said. "I'll speak +to my poultry-man about it, and let you know." + +"How many Minorcas have you?" asked Miss Chester. + +"Oh, I really couldn't tell you, Miss Chester," replied Mrs Broadbent +with a little laugh. "I never thought of inquiring." + +"Not know how many of each sort of fowls you have!" exclaimed Aunt +Katharine. "Why, if I had a farm, I'd know every one of them by sight, +and how many eggs they each laid. I suppose, though," she added, "you +leave that to your daughters. They must be a great help to you." + +Mrs Broadbent bridled: + +"Emmeline and Lilian are far too much engaged," she said, "with their +studies and their artistic work. Emmeline's quite devoted herself to +art. I've given her a large room at the top of the house for a studio." + +"Indeed," said Miss Chester coldly. "And what does she do in it?" + +"Just now she's painting some lovely plaques," said Mrs Broadbent, "and +Lilian's quite taken to the new poker-work." + +"What is that?" asked her visitor. + +"You haven't seen it, Miss Chester? Well, it _is_ quite new, and as I +was saying the other day, in these remote parts we don't see anything, +do we? But Lilian's been staying in London, and she learned it there. +She did that frame." + +It seemed that poker-work was intended to have the effect of carving, +which was produced by burning patterns on wood with a red-hot +instrument. + +"Well, if you ask my candid opinion," said Aunt Katharine, rising to +look at the frame, "I should like it much better plain; but it's a +harmless amusement, if wasting time is ever harmless.--Come Maisie, +Dennis will be quite tired of waiting.--You'll let me know about the +eggs, Mrs Broadbent, and their price. I shall be much obliged if you +can spare me a setting." + +In another moment Aunt Katharine would have swept out of the room, with +her usual activity, but after waiting so long for a pause in the +conversation, Maisie could not give up her purpose. + +"Do you want a cat, please?" she said, standing in front of Mrs +Broadbent--"that is, a nice little kitten. One of our cat Madam's." + +But Mrs Broadbent was quite certain that she did not want a cat, and +said so with some sharpness, for she was never pleased at Miss Chester's +outspoken opinions, though she was used to them. She had too many cats +about the place now. She supposed as long as there were mice there must +be cats, but to her mind there was not much to choose between them. + +"I don't really suppose it would have been a good home," said Maisie, +when she was tucked in again beside Dennis; "Mrs Broadbent doesn't like +cats, and she looked quite cross when I asked her, but I think that was +because Aunt Katharine didn't like Lilian's poker-work frame." + +Haughton Park, towards which Jack and Jill were now quickly making their +way, was about four miles from Fieldside, and just outside the little +town of Upwell. It was a large house, standing in a park of some +extent, and was built in what was called the Italian style, with +terraces in front of it, and stone balustrades, and urns and vases +wherever they could be put. Inside, the rooms were very large and +lofty, and there was a great hall with marble pillars, and a huge +staircase with statues in niches all the way up. Perhaps from some +association with the sound of the name, Maisie always thought it was a +proud cold house, which could not stoop to notice any one who came in +and out of its doors, and did not mind whether they went or stayed. +Yet, from its very unlikeness to Fieldside, it had a certain fascination +for her, and she could not help admiring it. + +Here, in lonely grandeur, lived Aunt Katharine's widowed sister, Mrs +Trevor, with her daughter Philippa, who was just ten years old. Mrs +Trevor had always wondered why her brother, Captain Chester, had not +sent Dennis and Maisie to Haughton to be educated with Philippa. Surely +nothing could have been more suitable or better for the children! + +But by some extraordinary blindness, he had passed over his elder sister +and all her possessions, and chosen Katharine as their guardian until +his return from India. When he did return, thought Mrs Trevor, he would +see what a mistake he had made; even now, if he knew what odd ideas +Katharine had, and how she allowed the children to run wild, and +associate with the villagers, he would regret his choice--but it was no +affair of hers. Nevertheless, it always gave her a sense of injury to +see Dennis and Maisie with their Aunt Katharine. It was not that she +envied her the charge of them, for she was, or fancied she was, somewhat +of an invalid, and would have disliked the trouble. But she felt she +had been slighted when the children were sent to Fieldside, and a slight +was a thing she could not forget. + +Mrs Trevor received her visitors this morning in her boudoir, and rose +to greet them languidly from her low chair--a tall elegant figure, in +soft clinging robes. The room was full of the heavy scent of hyacinths, +and warm with the spring sunshine and a bright fire. As Aunt Katharine +entered with her usual alert step, she seemed to bring a great deal of +cold air and life into it from the outside world. The children followed +her rather shyly. + +"Here we are, you see," she said, in her loud, cheerful voice. "How are +you, Helen? You look rather white." + +"I am suffering from my old enemy to-day," replied Mrs Trevor, with a +forced smile; "my head is very painful." + +"Ah," said Aunt Katharine, pulling off her gloves briskly, "a little +fresh air is the best cure for that. To be shut up in this warm room +with all those flowers is enough to poison you. Wouldn't you like a +window open?" + +"Pray, Katharine!" exclaimed Mrs Trevor, putting up her hand with a +shudder; "the very idea destroys me. It is an east wind. Warmth and +rest are the only cure." She put up her double eye-glasses, and looked +at Dennis and Maisie. "Did you drive over? How are the children?" + +"As jolly as possible," said Aunt Katharine. She stood on the +hearthrug, flapping her gloves against one hand. Maisie always thought +that her aunt wore shorter skirts, rougher tweed dresses, and stouter +boots when she came to Haughton, than at any other time. Also, she +seemed to speak louder, and to look rosier and broader altogether. +Perhaps this only seemed to be so, because Aunt Trevor's skin was so +fair, and her voice so gentle, and because she wore such graceful soft +gowns, and such tiny satin slippers. Maisie was very fond of Aunt +Katharine, but she admired Aunt Trevor's appearance immensely, and +always gazed at her as though she were a picture hanging on the wall. +Dennis did not share in this. He fidgeted about in his chair, fingered +the things in his pockets, hoped it would soon be time for luncheon, and +wondered whether he and Maisie would be allowed to go out first. + +"Ah, here is Philippa!" said Aunt Katharine. + +A little girl of about Maisie's age--but so much taller and slighter +that she looked a great deal older--came into the room. She had rather +long features, a pointed chin, and a very pure white complexion, with +hardly a tinge of colour; and, as she ran forward to kiss her little +brown-faced cousins, she was a great contrast to them in every way. Her +dress, which was prettily made and fanciful, and her gleaming bronze +shoes added to this; for Dennis and his sister seldom wore anything but +serge or holland, and their boots were of strong country make, which +made their feet look rather clumsy. + +"If the children _must_ wear such thick boots, Katharine," Mrs Trevor +often said, "you might at least have them made to fit. It gives them +the air of little clodhoppers." + +But Miss Chester went her own way, and Aunt Trevor's objections had no +effect on her arrangements. + +"Ask if we may go out!" said Dennis, in an urgent whisper to his cousin, +who at once ran up to her mother, and repeated the request in the midst +of her conversation with Aunt Katharine. Mrs Trevor cast an anxious +glance out the window. + +"Well, my darling, as you have a cold and the wind is in the east, I +think you had better play indoors. You can take your cousins into the +long gallery and have a nice game." + +Philippa frowned and pushed out her lower lip: + +"I want to go out," she murmured. + +"But your cough, my dearest," said her mother in a pleading tone.--"What +do you say, Katharine? Would it not be more prudent for her to keep +indoors?" + +"I think it would be best for her to do as you wish," said Aunt +Katharine, with a half smile at Philippa's pouting lips. + +"I _must_ go out with Dennis and Maisie," said the little girl in a +whining voice. + +"Dennis and Maisie will be quite happy indoors," said Mrs Trevor +entreatingly; "you can show them your new violin, you know, and play +them a tune." + +"I don't want to," said Philippa, with a rising sob. + +Mrs Trevor looked alarmed. + +"My darling, don't excite yourself," she said; "we will see--we will ask +Miss Mervyn. Perhaps if you are very warmly wrapped up." + +Philippa's brow cleared at once. + +"Then we may go?" she said. + +"Ask Miss Mervyn to come and speak to me a moment," said her mother. +"Such a difficult, delicate temperament to deal with," she continued, as +the door closed on her daughter. "Not like a commonplace nature," with +a glance at Dennis and Maisie; "so excitable, that it makes her ill to +be thwarted in any way. Indeed the doctor forbids it." + +"How bad for her!" said Aunt Katharine bluntly. "Children are never +happy until they learn to obey." + +"That sort of system may answer with some children," said Mrs Trevor; +"but my poor delicate Philippa requires infinite tact." + +"What do you think, Miss Mervyn," as a thin, careworn-looking lady +entered, "of Philippa going out to-day? She wants to take her cousins +into the garden for a little while." + +Miss Mervyn looked anxiously from mother to daughter. + +"She _has_ been coughing this morning, and the wind _is_ cold," she +began, when she was interrupted by an angry burst of tears from +Philippa. + +"I _must_ go out," she cried between her sobs. "You're a cross thing to +say it's cold. I _will_ go out." + +"There, there, my darling," said Mrs Trevor; "do control yourself. You +shall go.--Pray, Miss Mervyn, take care that she is warmly dressed, and +has goloshes and a thick veil. You will, of course, go with the +children, and keep to the sheltered places, and on no account allow +Philippa to run on the grass or to get overheated." + +Philippa's tears and sobs ceased at once, and soon muffled up to the +eyes, she was ready to go out with her cousins, followed by the patient +Miss Mervyn, and Mrs Trevor was left at liberty to bestow some attention +on her guest. As soon as they were out of sight of the windows, +Philippa's first action was to tear off the white knitted shawl which +was wrapped round her neck and mouth. + +"If you don't keep that on, we must go in again," said Miss Mervyn. + +"I won't wear it, and I won't go in," said Philippa. "If you tease +about it, I shall scream, and then I shall be ill; and then it will be +your fault." + +Poor Miss Mervyn shook her head, but after a few mild persuasions gave +in, and Philip had her way as usual, not only in this, but in everything +that she wished to do throughout the walk. Dennis and Maisie were used +to seeing this whenever they came to Haughton, but it never ceased to +surprise them, because it was so very different from their unquestioning +obedience to rules at Fieldside. It certainly did not seem to make +Philippa happy or pleasant. Although she did what she liked, she never +appeared to like what she did, and was always wanting something +different, and complaining about everything. + +"Let's go back now," she said at last, dragging her feet slowly through +a puddle as she spoke; "my feet are wet." + +"I should think they were," sighed Miss Mervyn. "Come, let us make +haste home, so that you may have your boots and stockings changed." + +But the perverse Philippa would not hurry. She now lingered behind the +others, and even stood still now and then, causing Miss Mervyn great +misery. "She will certainly take cold," she murmured. "Cannot you +persuade her, my dears, to come on." + +"Let's have a race, Philippa, as far as the house," called out Dennis. + +Running fast had been forbidden, so it was perhaps on that account +attractive to Philippa, who at once consented to the proposal, and Miss +Mervyn, thinking it the less of two evils, made no objection. + +"Maisie must have a start because she's the smallest," said Dennis, +placing his sister a little in front; "now, one, two, three, off!" + +The little flying figures sped away towards the house, and Miss Mervyn +following, was pleased to see that Dennis allowed Philippa to win the +race; that would perhaps make her more good-tempered. + +"Ha, ha!" exclaimed Philippa, pointing a scornful finger at Maisie as +she came panting up last, with her round cheeks very red. "What a slow +coach! Maisie's too fat to run." + +"She's younger than we are," said Dennis, who did not allow any one but +himself to tease his sister. + +"There's not much difference," said Philippa, as the children walked up +to the house; "in three weeks it will be my birthday, and I shall be +nine." + +"Mine isn't for three more months," said Maisie. + +"Any one would think me quite twelve years old," said Philippa, with her +chin in the air, "because I'm tall and slight. Maisie has such a baby +look.--I'm going to have a party on my birthday." + +"Are you?" said Maisie with sudden interest. + +She gave Dennis's arm a squeeze, to make him understand she had just got +a good idea; but he only stared round at her, and said, "Don't pinch +so," and Philippa continued: + +"Yes, I shall have a party, and a birthday cake, and magnificent +presents." + +"Can you guess what they will be?" asked Maisie. + +"Mother says she won't tell me what hers is," said Philippa; "but I +shall make her." + +"How?" + +"Oh," said Philippa carelessly, "if I want to know very much, I shall +cry, and then I always get what I want." + +Philippa was not in a nice mood to-day, and did not improve at luncheon, +for her wants and whims seemed to engross every one's attention. If +Aunt Katharine tried to turn the conversation to something more +interesting, Philippa's whining voice broke in, and Mrs Trevor at once +ceased to listen to anything else. + +It was a relief to the whole party, when, early in the afternoon, Aunt +Katharine and her charges were settled once more in the pony-cart, and +on their way home to Fieldside. + +"Don't you know why I poked you just after the race?" said Maisie to her +brother, as they drove out of the lodge gates. + +"Because Philippa said such stupid things, I suppose," said Dennis. + +"It wasn't that at all," she replied earnestly; "it was because I'd just +thought of a good home for one of the kittens. Wouldn't it be splendid +to give it to Philippa for a birthday present? It will be just three +weeks old." + +"H'm," said Dennis doubtfully. He really thought it a capital idea, but +he never liked to encourage Maisie too much. + +She looked round at him, her brown eyes bright with excitement. + +"It would be a magnificent home," she continued, "_more_ than a good +one. It would have nice things to eat, and soft things to lie on, and a +collar round its neck, and all those beautiful rooms to run about in!" + +"I suppose they'd be kind to it," said Dennis. "I don't think _I_ +should like to live at Haughton Park." + +"Of course not, without Aunt Katharine agreed," said Maisie; "but +supposing Haughton Park was hers, wouldn't you like it better than +Fieldside?" + +"No," said Dennis promptly; "not half so well. At Fieldside you've only +to run down the avenue, and there you are in the middle of the village, +and only a short way off the Manor Farm. And at Haughton you have to go +through the Park, where no one lives, and through three gates, and then +you're only in the Upwell road. It's much duller." + +"There are the deer," said Maisie. + +"But you can't talk to the deer," replied Dennis; "and though they're +tame, they're rather stupid, I think." + +"Well," said Maisie, "_I_ like some things at Haughton very much, and I +daresay the kitten will. A cat's quite different from a boy, isn't it?" + +"Which shall we give?" asked Dennis, warming a little to the idea. + +"The white, _of course_," said Maisie at once. + +She spoke so decidedly, that Dennis felt she must have some good reason, +though he could not see why the white should be preferred to the grey. + +Maisie could not explain herself, however. She only repeated that _of +course_ the white kitten was the right one to go to Haughton, and though +she generally yielded to Dennis, she remained firm in this, and by the +time they reached home the matter was quite settled. The white kitten +was thus provided with a good home; and though, on thinking it over, +Maisie doubted whether Philippa would consider it a "magnificent +present," she had no misgivings as to its future happiness. + + + +CHAPTER THREE. + +OLD SALLY'S ELIZA. + +The time soon came when Madam was allowed to bring her kittens into the +play-room, where they lived in a basket near the French window, through +which she could go in and out at her pleasure. + +Dennis and Maisie were now able to make their close acquaintance, and to +observe that they were not at all alike either in appearance or +character. The black one continued to be the finest of the three. +There could be no question that his coat was sleeker, his tail more +bushy, his whole shape more substantial, and even at this early age he +showed signs of a bold and daring disposition. + +When his mother had disposed herself for a comfortable nap, with her +eyes shut and her paws tucked in, he would suddenly dart from some +ambush, his eyes gleaming with mischief and leap upon her back. Soundly +cuffed for this, he would meekly retreat until Madam had dropped off +again, when he would come dancing up sideways, on the tips of his toes, +with his back hunched, and every hair bristling, and tweak her by the +tail. After these pranks had been repeated many times, the old cat +would rise and wrestle with him, rolling over and over on the ground, +kicking and biting, until he was subdued for a little while. But he was +never good for long, and gave her more trouble than the other two put +together. + +The white kitten was of a very different nature. It was decidedly prim +in its ways, and very particular about its appearance, so that it +learned sooner than the others to wash its face, and attend to its +toilet. While the black kitten struggled violently when he was washed, +and had to be held firmly down all the while, the white one seemed to +enjoy licking its fur with its own rough little tongue, and to be quite +vexed if it found a dirty spot on its coat. "It's a good thing it's so +particular," said Maisie, "because it would look so very bad if it +wasn't quite clean." It had rather a meaningless face, a long thin +nose, and mincing, dainty ways of walking and taking its food. +Secretly, Maisie thought it rather like Philippa, for its temper was +somewhat peevish, and it often mewed in a dissatisfied manner for +nothing at all; but she kept this fancy to herself, for she knew that +Dennis would only call her silly if she mentioned it. + +As for the grey kitten, it was the smallest and weakest of the three, +the most easily imposed upon, and the most amiable. When the saucer of +milk was put down, the others would thrust their heads greedily into it, +and push the grey kitten aside, so that it could scarcely get any. +Maisie was obliged to keep a close watch at such times, to see that it +had its share, and to correct the conduct of the other two. It was the +same thing in their gambols with their mother, or with a cork at the end +of a string. The grey kitten seemed to be considered as a mere sport +and joke for the other two, who tossed and tumbled it about as if it +were nothing: even Madam did not take its part, and often boxed its ears +for nothing but awkwardness. + +All this, however, did not sour its temper in the least, and after the +worst slight or roughest usage it was quite ready to purr and be +pleased. Maisie thought this very nice of it, and she was sure it was +anxious to do well, if it only knew how. It would allow her, with very +few struggles, to dress it in a doll's nightgown and cap, and put it to +sleep in a cradle; which neither of the others would submit to for a +moment. By degrees she became very fond of it, and the more she took +its part and defended it from ill-treatment, the more her affection +increased. It was therefore distressing to remember, as the days went +on, that though the white kitten had a home to look forward to, there +was yet no such prospect for the grey one. + +"It's getting dreadfully near the time," she said one morning to Dennis, +who was trying to teach the black kitten to jump through his hands; +"only ten days more, and we haven't got a good home for the grey kitten +yet." + +"It's such a common, mean thing," said Dennis, casting a scornful glance +at it. "No one could want to have it." + +"It's very affectionate, though," said Maisie, "and it purrs more than +any of them. I believe it might grow pretty when it's older." + +"Not it," said Dennis. "Why, there are lots of cats like it in the +village now. Just long, lean, striped things. I don't believe you'd +know it apart from them when it's grown up.--Oh, look, Maisie, look! He +jumped, he really did." + +Maisie looked, but the black kitten turned sulky, and refused to do +anything but back away from Dennis's hands with its ears flattened. + +"It's quite in a temper," she said. "Now the grey kitten _always_ tries +to do what you tell it." + +"Only it's so stupid that it never knows what you want it to do," said +Dennis, as he gave up his efforts and let the kitten scamper back to its +mother. + +"Well, at any rate," said Maisie, returning to her subject, "we've got +to find it a home, and we haven't asked every one yet. Who is there +left? Let me see. There's the vicarage, and Dr Price, and, oh Dennis, +perhaps old Sally would like it!" + +Dennis shrugged his shoulders, but he was quite ready to agree that old +Sally should be asked, because he was always glad of any excuse to go +near the Manor Farm, which he thought the nicest place in the village or +out of it. It was not only pretty and interesting in itself with its +substantial grey stone outbuildings, and pigeonry and rick-yard, but Mr +and Mrs Andrew Solace lived there, and they were, the children thought, +such very agreeable people. There had always been a Solace at the Manor +Farm within the memory of old Sally, who was very old indeed, but they +felt sure none of them could have been so pleasant as the present one. +"Young Master Andrew," old Sally called him, though he was a stout, +middle-aged man with grizzled hair; but she gave him this name because +she had worked for his father and grandfather, and could "mind" him when +he was a little boy of Dennis's age. For the same reason, she never +could bring herself to think him equal to the management of such a very +large farm, "'undreds of acres," as she said. It was a great +undertaking for "young Master Andrew," and though every one round knew +that there were few better farmers, old Sally always shook her head over +it. + +Manor Farm was in every respect just the opposite of the "Green Farm," +where the Broadbents lived. There was nothing smart or trim or new +about it, and the house and farm-buildings were comfortably mixed up +together, so that the farmer seemed to live in the midst of his barns +and beasts. It was a very old house, with a square flagged hall and a +broad oak staircase. There were beams showing across the low ceilings, +and wide window-seats, which were always full of all sorts of things +flung there "to be handy." Some of the rooms were panelled, and all the +furniture in them was old-fashioned and dark with age. Dogs and cats +walked in and out at their pleasure, and though Mrs Solace sometimes +chased them all out for a few minutes, they soon returned again through +windows and doors, and made themselves quite at home. Mrs Solace was +too busy to trouble herself much about them, and also too good-natured, +so that the animals knew they could do pretty well as they liked. + +It was this complete freedom that made the Manor Farm so delightful to +Dennis and Maisie, who ran in and out very much as the cats and dogs +did, and always found something to interest and amuse them. If Mrs +Solace were too much occupied in dairy, laundry, or store-room to give +them her attention, they had only to go into the farm-yard to be +surrounded by friends and acquaintances. Some of these, it is true, +disappeared from time to time, but you had hardly missed them before +there was something new to take their place. The great brown +cart-horses, at any rate, were always to be found after their work, and +always ready to bow their huge heads and take apples or sugar gently +with their soft lips. And in summer it was pleasant to be there just at +milking time, and watch the cows saunter slowly home across the fields, +to stand in a long patient row in the shed, to be milked. + +Indeed it would be hard to say what time was not pleasant at the farm, +for in such a large family of creatures there was always something +happening of the very deepest interest to the children. In the spring +they were quite as anxious and eager about successful broods of early +ducklings, or the rearing of the turkeys as Mrs Solace was herself, and +she was secure of their heartfelt sympathy when the fox made away with +her poultry. + +For unlike Mrs Broadbent, Mrs Solace not only knew all about such +matters, but liked nothing so well as to talk of them. + +"When I'm a man," Dennis would say, "I mean to be a farmer." + +"So do I," Maisie would answer. + +"You couldn't be," Dennis would argue. "How could you go rook-shooting? +You know you scream when a gun goes off; and besides, you're afraid of +the turkey-cock." + +"Well, then," Maisie would conclude, deeply conscious that both these +facts were true, "I'll be a farmer's wife, and rear turkeys; that's +quite as hard as shooting rooks, and much usefuller." + +"That it is, dearie," Mrs Solace would agree, with her comfortable +laugh. "Puley pingling things they are, and want as much care as +children." + +But apart from the animals, there was to Dennis one corner at the Manor +Farm which had special attractions, and that was where the wheelwright +worked. It was a long narrow barn fitted up as a carpenter's shop, with +a bench and a lathe and all manner of tools: full of shavings and +sawdust, planks of wood and half-finished farm implements. Here the +wheelwright stood and worked all day. He made and mended carts, +wheelbarrows, ladders, hay-rakes, and all sorts of things used in the +farm, and had always as much as he could do. Dennis liked nothing +better than a little quiet time with Tuvvy, as he was called, and though +he did not talk much, he eyed all his movements with such earnest +attention that it may be supposed he learned something of carpentering. + +Tuvvy's movements were nimble and neat, for he was a clever workman, and +knew what he was about: now and then he would cast a swift glance round +at Dennis out of his bright black eyes, but he never paused in his work +to talk, and there was seldom any sound in the barn but that of the saw +and hammer, or the whirring of the lathe. His skin was so very dark, +and his hair so black and long, that people called him a gypsy, and +Dennis knew that he was a little wild sometimes, because old Sally shook +her head when she mentioned him. + +That meant that Tuvvy was not always quite sober, which was a great +pity, because he was so clever, that he could earn a great deal if he +kept steady. In the barn, however, he was as steady and hard-working as +a man could be, and what his conduct was out of it, did not at all +affect Dennis's attachment and admiration. Maisie always knew, if she +missed her brother during one of their visits to the farm, that she +should find him in the barn staring at Tuvvy at his work; and he had +done this so much, that he began to feel as though he had helped to make +Mr Solace's carts and barrows. + +All this made him quite ready to agree with Maisie's suggestion, for +although he was not very anxious about the grey kitten's welfare, he +thought there might be a chance of slipping round to see how Tuvvy was +getting on. + +"Where shall we go first?" said Maisie, as they started on their +expedition, with Peter, the little rough dog, barking round them. "The +vicarage comes first, and then Dr Price, and then old Sally." + +"All right," said Dennis; "that's the best last, and the worst first." + +The vicarage stood on a little hill close to the church, looking down on +the village street. + +"I don't much think Miss Hurst will want it," said Maisie, as they +turned up the steep lane; "because, you see, she's got such a very pet +cat. Else that would be a very good home." + +"She might like it for a kitchen cat," said Dennis, "to catch rats and +mice." + +"_Ye-es_," said Maisie. She did not much like the idea of the grey +kitten in such a position. Still, Miss Hurst was so very kind and +gentle, that it was likely even the kitchen cat would be well treated in +her house. + +The vicarage reached, however, and the old question put, it turned out +that Maisie had been right. Miss Hurst, who was a meek-faced little +lady with very smooth hair and a kind smile, was afraid she could not +have two cats. It might upset Mopsy. And Mopsy was such an old friend, +that it would not be fair to make him unhappy for the sake of a new one. +She was afraid she must say no. So the grey kitten was again refused, +and when the children set out on their farther journey, Maisie was quite +in low spirits. Nobody wanted the grey kitten. + +"We've got two chances left," said Dennis, trying to console her. "And +if _I_ were the kitten, I'd much rather live with Dr Price than at the +vicarage." + +"But you're not a kitten--you're a boy," said Maisie despairingly, "and +that makes a great deal of difference." + +"Dr Price is splendid, _I_ think," continued Dennis. "Just see how he +can ride, and how he cures people, and how kind he is to them about +their bills." + +"Why do you suppose Aunt Katharine has Dr Smith over from Upwell to see +us when we're ill," asked Maisie, "when Dr Price is quite close, and so +clever?" + +"Well," said Dennis gravely, "you mustn't say anything, but I +_believe_--that is, I've heard one or two of them say in the village-- +that he sometimes--is--like Tuvvy, you know." + +"Oh!" said Maisie, with her eyes very wide open. + +"And that, you see," went on Dennis instructively, "is very bad for a +doctor, because he may mix up the wrong things together and kill people. +But for all that, they say they'd rather have him, even when he's a +little `nervous,' than any one else, because he's so clever and so kind. +Why, he sat up all night with Widow Hutchins's son, who had sergestion +of the lungs, and then he wouldn't take a penny because she's so poor." + +"What a pity he's ever like Tuvvy," said Maisie. + +"And then, you see," continued Dennis, who loved to repeat the gossip he +picked up in the village, "he's so dreadfully fond of horses and +hunting, that whenever there's a meet near, he _can't help_ going, and +if he goes, he _has_ to follow, and then he can't leave off. So +sometimes, when there is an accident, or anything, and he's wanted here +very badly, he's quite the other side of the county!" + +Maisie nodded her head gravely as she heard of those little weaknesses; +and just then, reaching the foot of the hill which led down from the +vicarage, they came into the village again, and there was Dr Price +himself standing at his gate, facing them. + +He was a broad, strongly-built man of about five-and-forty, with a +clean-shaven square face, and very fair hair and eyebrows. These looked +curiously light on his red-brown skin, which was of an even tint all +over, as though used to encounter wind and rough weather. He was so +constantly on horseback, that it seemed strange to see him standing on +his own legs, and more so to see him walk, which, indeed, he did with an +odd movement of the knees, as though it were some difficult exercise. +He wore riding-boots and breeches, and had a short pipe in his mouth. +At his heels were his two white terriers, Snip and Snap. + +As Maisie's eye fell on the dogs, she stopped short, and caught hold of +Dennis by the arm. + +"Oh!" she exclaimed; "I forgot." + +"Forgot what?" he answered, with a pull forward. "Don't be stupid. +Come on." + +"Why, Snip and Snap," said Maisie eagerly, still holding back. "It +wouldn't be a good home. They'd chase it. Don't let's speak to Dr +Price about it. It wouldn't be any use." + +"We must speak to him now," said Dennis, going steadily on, and dragging +Maisie with him. "Perhaps he'll know of some one, if he can't have it +himself. _You_ ask," he added hurriedly, as they came close to the +doctor. + +Dr Price took off his hat, and smiled down very kindly at Maisie, as she +put her question. She spoke hesitatingly, for the sight of Snip and +Snap had reminded her of their habits. On most days their swift white +forms were to be seen scouring over the country in search of rabbits, or +other small defenceless creatures. Dr Price on horseback, and his +terriers on foot, were well known for many miles round Fieldside, and +Maisie could not help thinking them most unsuitable companions for the +grey kitten. + +This seemed to strike the doctor himself. + +"Well now, that's very kind of you, Miss Maisie," he said, looking +thoughtfully at the bowl of his pipe; "but the fact is I'm not much of a +hand at cats myself. And then--there are the dogs, you see--" + +"Would they chase it?" asked Maisie, glancing at them. + +"Why, they're thoroughbred, you know," said the doctor apologetically. + +"What a pity!" said Maisie, who thought it must be some very bad +quality. + +"Well," said the doctor, with a short laugh, "I like them all the better +for it myself; but I'm afraid the kitten wouldn't stand much chance, and +that's a fact." + +"Oh, I wouldn't let it come here for _anything_," said Maisie with a +shiver. "Why do you keep such cruel dogs?" + +"As to that, you know, Miss Maisie," said the doctor, "it isn't crueller +to hunt a cat than a fox." + +"But that's cruel too," said Maisie, "very cruel indeed." + +Here Dennis felt it time to interfere. + +"Don't be stupid, Maisie," he said; "you're only a girl. You don't +understand. Of course, people must hunt." + +So here was another failure, for not only was Dr Price's home out of the +question, but he could not think of any one who wanted a kitten. +Everybody had cats; they seemed to be all over the place. If it was a +puppy now. He cast an admiring glance at Snip and Snap, who stood in +sprightly attitudes, one on each side of the little rough dog Peter, +their eager bodies quivering, their short tails wagging, ready for the +first signs of warfare. But Peter knew better. He was old and he was +wise. He did not like Snip and Snap, but he was not going to be +provoked into a fight in which he was sure to be worsted. So he held +himself stiffly upright, uttered a low growl of contempt, and took no +further notice of them. + +"And now," said Maisie, when they had said good-bye to Dr Price, and +were on their way again, with Peter trotting in front, "there's really +only one more chance left." + +There were two ways to old Sally's cottage, and Maisie knew Dennis would +be sure to choose the one which led across the rick-yard of the Manor +Farm; indeed, she liked this best herself except for one reason, and +that was the risk of meeting the turkey-cock. It was useless for Dennis +to say, "He won't gobble if you're not frightened of him." She always +_was_ frightened, and he always _did_ gobble, and turned purple with +rage, and swelled out all his feathers, and shook a loose scarlet thing +which hung down from his neck. They met him to-day, marching at the +head of his ladylike wives, who followed him delicately, picking their +way and lifting their feet high. Their small heads and quietly elegant +toilets made them look rather like Aunt Trevor, Maisie thought. + +"Now, walk slowly," said Dennis, and she did try to control her fears; +but as usual, the moment the turkey-cock began to gobble, she began to +run, and did not stop until she was safe on the other side of the gate. +From this refuge she watched Dennis, admiring him greatly as he came +slowly on, shaking his stick in the turkey-cock's face, and was quite +ready to agree with him when he called her a coward. + +"Only I can't help it," she added. + +"But you ought to," was Dennis's reply. "It's silly, even for a girl, +to be afraid of a turkey-cock." + +Old Sally's thatched cottage was so near the farm-buildings that it +almost looked like one of them, but a narrow lane really ran between, +and it stood on its own little plot of ground. At its door there was an +immense horse-chestnut, which she could "mind," she said, helping to +plant when she was a girl. She had held it straight in the hole while +old Mr Solace, the grandfather of this young Master Andrew, had filled +in the earth. She was most sorry to think she had done it now, for this +ungrateful tree so shaded her window that it made her cottage dark, and +besides this, choked up her well, by dropping its great leaves into it +in the autumn. + +Old Sally could "mind" so many things on account of her age, that she +was a most amusing and instructive person to visit. She had worked for +the Solaces as child, girl, and woman, and now she was pensioned off, +and allowed to live in her cottage rent-free with her one remaining +unmarried daughter, Anne, of whom she always spoke as her "good child." +Anne was over seventy years old, and weakly with bad health and +rheumatism, so that there was nothing very youthful about her. Indeed, +when they sat side by side, both in sunbonnets which they wore indoors +and out, it was difficult to say which was the elder of the two old +women. + +Old Sally, in spite of a long life of hard work, was still straight and +wiry, and her brown old face, wrinkled as a withered nut, was lively and +shrewd. There was only one point in which Anne had the advantage, and +that was in hearing, for her mother was very deaf, and obliged to use a +trumpet. This she was always shy of producing, and to-day she allowed +Anne to scream into her ear what the children said for some time; but at +last, seeing a very earnest expression on Maisie's face, she took the +trumpet out with a bashful smile and presented the end to her. + +"Do you know any one who wants a kitten?" shouted Maisie. + +Old Sally laid down the trumpet and turned to Anne, who as usual sat at +her elbow in her lilac sun-bonnet and coarse apron. + +"Warn't our Eliza talking of cats last time she was over?" she asked. + +Anne nodded. + +"Who's Eliza?" inquired Dennis. + +"Why, sure you know our Eliza, Master Dennis," said old Sally. "Her as +married the tinsmith, and went to live in Upwell town. Eliza's my +youngest darter but two. Don't you mind her wedding?" + +"Lor, mother!" said Anne, "Master Dennis and Miss Maisie warn't living +at Fieldside then. It's a good twelve years ago.--Mother forgets things +like that," she added aside to the children, "though she's a wonderful +memory for ancient things." + +"Would it be a good home, do you think?" said Maisie to Dennis in a low +tone. + +"Is your daughter Eliza a kind woman?" shouted Dennis down the trumpet. + +Old Sally dropped her trumpet and raised both her withered hands on +high. + +"Kind! Master Dennis. Eliza's downright silly about dumb animals. She +always was from a gal." + +"We don't want her to be silly," said Dennis, "but we do want her to be +kind, because we've promised Aunt Katharine to find a good home." + +Both old Sally and Anne were full of assurances as to Eliza's kindness +and the comforts which would surround the grey kitten in her house. +Certainly it would have to catch mice, but that, they declared, was a +pleasure to a cat, and could not be called hard work. So after a little +consultation it was settled that the kitten should be brought to old +Sally's, and that Eliza should take it back to Upwell the very next time +she came over to see her mother. The grey kitten had a home at last. +This arrangement made, Dennis got up briskly, with a business-like air. + +"I'm going to see Tuvvy now," he said. "I'll come back for you +presently, Maisie;" and he was almost out of the door before he was +stopped by a call from Anne. + +"You'll not find him to-day, Master Dennis," she said. "He's not at +work." + +"Not at work!" repeated Dennis, turning round with a downcast face. +"Why isn't he at work? Is he ill?" + +Old Sally had been screwing up her lips and shaking her head solemnly +ever since Tuvvy's name had been mentioned. At Dennis's question her +face looked full of dark meaning. + +"Worse nor that," she said. "He's had a bout. He'll do it once too +often, and get sacked. He can't expect Master Andrew to put up with +it." + +"But he couldn't ever get such a good wheelwright as Tuvvy again, could +he?" said Dennis eagerly. "Tuvvy can do so many things, and he's so +clever and quick." + +"Oh, he's _clever_ enough, and he's _quick_ enough, is Tuvvy," agreed +old Sally: "'tain't that; but he can't keep steady--that's where it is. +He'll go on right enough for a bit, and then he'll have a reg'lar +break-out. It's cruel hard on his wife and children, so it is." + +"Why _does_ he do it?" said Dennis mournfully. + +Old Sally gave a sort of low chuckle. + +"Lor, Master Dennis, the men are made like that. They can't help it." + +Dennis usually took all old Sally said for granted, considering that her +knowledge of men and things must be very great, but he hesitated a +little at this sweeping remark. + +"They're not _all_ like that," he said; "there's Mr Hurst, and Mr +Solace, and a whole lot more. Do you think Mr Solace will turn Tuvvy +away this time?" + +But as to this, neither old Sally nor Anne could give any idea at all. +Mr Solace was a kind man for certain, but then again he was a just man +too, and a man of his word. Anne had heard him say with her own ears +that the next time Tuvvy broke out, he would get the sack. But there +was no telling. + +Dennis left the cottage with a weight on his mind which nothing could +lift. One of his greatest pleasures would be gone if there were no +Tuvvy in the barn for the future. A new wheelwright would most likely +be a complete stranger, and not the same thing at all. Why would he be +so silly as to break out? Could nothing be done to stop him? + +Maisie, too, was rather sober and silent on the way back, for though a +home for the grey kitten had now been found, she felt that she should +miss it very much, and could not bear the idea of parting with it. It +had such coaxing ways, and was so weak and helpless, that it seemed to +need her more than the others, and to want her help and affection. + +She went to pay a last visit to the kittens before she went to bed that +night, and found them all curled up in a soft little heap in their +basket. As usual, the grey kitten was lying underneath the others, who +were sprawling over it, quite regardless of its comfort. + +Maisie lifted it out, held it up to her face, and kissed it gently. + +"Dear little kitty," she whispered, "you've got a home at last. You're +to go and catch mice for old Sally's Eliza, and I do hope you'll be +happy." + + + +CHAPTER FOUR. + +PHILIPPA'S BIRTHDAY. + +The three kittens were just a month old on the last day of March, and +this was also Philippa Trevor's birthday. She would have liked her +birthday to be in the summer, because an out-of-doors party was so much +nicer than an indoors one, but even Philippa could not arrange +everything in the world as she wished. So she was obliged to put up +with a birthday which came in the spring, when there were very few +leaves on the trees, and the grass was generally too wet to walk on, and +the sky often cold and grey. Philippa had found that she could get most +things by crying for them, but still there remained some quite beyond +her reach, and unmoved by her tears, and it was just these that she most +wanted and wailed for when she was in a perverse mood. These were times +of discomfort throughout the house, and of great distress to her mother +and Miss Mervyn, for with the best will in the world they could not make +the rain stop nor the sun shine, nor time go quicker. Yet, if Philippa +cried herself ill, as she often did for some such unreasonable whim, it +was so very bad for her. + +"We must keep the child cheerful, my dear madam," Dr Smith had said to +Mrs Trevor. "The nerves are delicate. She must be amused without +excitement, and never allowed to work herself into a passion, or to be +violently distressed about anything. It will be well to yield to her, +if possible, rather than to thwart her." + +But though he said "we," the doctor went away, and it was those who +lived with Philippa who had to carry out this difficult task. The last +part of it was easy, only it did not seem to produce the desired result. +Philippa was yielded to in everything, but instead of being cheerful +and contented, she became more fretful and dissatisfied, had less +self-control than ever, and flew into passions about the very smallest +trifles. This was the case on the morning of her birthday, when there +were two things which seriously displeased her. One was the weather, +for, instead of being fine and sunshiny, it rained so hard that it +seemed doubtful whether her little friends would come to the party. The +other was, that the musical box which her mother had promised her, and +which was to play twelve tunes, did not arrive as early as she expected. + +"It's all as horrid as it can be," she said sulkily when Miss Mervyn +tried to comfort her. "I don't care a bit for the other presents if the +musical box doesn't come.--And it's raining harder than ever. +Everything's horrid." + +"It will clear up very likely by the afternoon," said Miss Mervyn. + +"But if it does," whined Philippa, "and if they all come, I shan't have +my musical box to show them." + +"Perhaps it will come before then," said Miss Mervyn patiently, and at +that minute a small covered hamper was brought into the room. + +"A parcel from Fieldside for Miss Philippa," said the servant. + +"Then it's _not_ the musical box," said Philippa, who had looked up with +renewed hope. + +"I wonder what it can be," said Miss Mervyn. "Something alive, I think. +Come, Philippa, let us open it." + +She cut the cord as she spoke, and Philippa advanced languidly to the +table to see what the hamper contained. When the lid was lifted, +however, her expression changed to one of interest and surprise, for +there, on a bed of straw, its fur beautifully clean, and a blue ribbon +round its neck, lay the white kitten. It yawned as the light fell on +it, and looking up at the strange faces, uttered a tiny mew. + +"What is that card on its neck?" said Miss Mervyn. + +"`From Maisie and Dennis, with love and good wishes,'" read Philippa, in +a pleased and excited voice. For the moment the musical box had quite +gone out of her head. + +"I like it best of all the presents I've had yet," she said, and just +then Mrs Trevor came into the room. + +"Look, mother!" she exclaimed. + +Seizing the kitten, she rushed forward and held it up to Mrs Trevor, +whose gown was trimmed with an elegant ruffle of lace down the front; in +this the kitten's sharp little claws at once entangled themselves. + +"Ah, my lace!" she cried. "Take care, my love; it will scratch you.-- +Miss Mervyn, pray remove the creature.--Yes, very pretty, my darling. +Who sent it to you?" + +"Dennis and Maisie," said Philippa, squeezing the kitten under her arm. +"May I have it to sleep on my bed?" + +"Ah no, dear," said Mrs Trevor absently, examining her torn lace with a +slight frown; "that's not the proper place for kittens. Dear me, what +sharp claws the little thing has, to be sure! I must let Briggs mend +this at once." + +She went out of the room, leaving the question to be further argued +between Miss Mervyn and Philippa. + +"I'm sure Dennis and Maisie don't have kittens to sleep with them," said +the former. + +"Then you're just wrong," said Philippa triumphantly, "because Dennis's +dog Peter always sleeps in his room, and that's just the same." + +The white kitten had now struggled out of her clutches, and was +wandering sadly round the room in search of its old friends and +relations. It seemed likely to make one more subject for dispute at +Haughton Park, where from the time Philippa got up till she went to bed, +there was already no end to the wrangling. Confused by finding itself +in a strange land where nothing familiar met its eye, it at last took +refuge under a book-case, and when Philippa looked round, it was nowhere +to be seen. + +"Oh, my darling little kitten is lost!" she exclaimed. + +Miss Mervyn, who did not like cats or any other animals, would not have +been sorry if this had been the case, but Philippa was preparing to shed +a torrent of tears, and this must be avoided at any cost. + +"Hush, my dear," she said, folding her gown closely round her; "we will +find it. It cannot have gone far." + +Cats, in Miss Mervyn's experience, were shy treacherous things which +always hid themselves, and jumped out from unexpected places. So she +now proceeded cautiously round the room, peeping into dark corners and +behind curtains, as if some dangerous animal were lurking there. There +was no place too small or too unlikely that she did not thoroughly +examine, but it was Philippa who at last caught sight of a pair of green +eyes gleaming in the darkness under the book-case. + +"There it is!" she cried, and casting herself flat on the floor, she +stretched out her arm and dragged it out by one leg. But she did not +hold it long, for the white kitten, frightened, and quite unused to such +rough treatment, put out its sharp little claws to defend itself. + +"Oh!" screamed Philippa at the top of her voice. She flung the kitten +from her, and stretched out her arm piteously; on it there was a long +scratch, just beginning to bleed a little. + +"The nasty, spiteful thing!" exclaimed Miss Mervyn. "My darling +Philippa! what will your mother say? Come, my love, we will bathe it, +and it will soon be better, and the savage little kitten shall be sent +away." + +But Philippa would not have her arm bathed, and the kitten should not be +sent away. She would show Dennis and Maisie what a bad scratch it was, +and what a cross kitten they had sent her for a present, and meantime +she would stand and sob. + +"We'll ask them to take it back to Fieldside, won't we?" said Miss +Mervyn soothingly; "we shall be glad to get rid of it." + +The more Miss Mervyn suggested this, the more determined Philippa was to +keep it. She even began to make excuses for it between her sobs. It +did not mean to scratch; it was a dear little kitten. She was very fond +of it. It should not be sent away. It should stay and sleep on her +bed. + +At last she submitted to have her arm bathed, and discovered that it was +not such a very bad scratch after all, and soon the arrival of the +musical box gave her something else to think of. For the time the white +kitten was forgotten, and it took the opportunity of crawling behind the +curtains, where it curled itself up and went to sleep. + +But though the musical box had come, the rain still continued to fall, +and as there was no possibility of going out, it was settled that +Philippa should play with her friends in the long gallery. + +The long gallery was a very delightful place to amuse one's self in on a +rainy day. It was the only old part of Haughton which remained, and it +was much prettier than the new. Six tall latticed windows stood in +recesses all down one side, and facing them were dark old portraits of +straight-nosed ladies with powdered hair, and gentlemen in wigs. These +had the gallery all to themselves, for there were no furniture or +ornaments in it, except some great china vases in the window-seats. At +either end there was a high stone mantelpiece, carved all over in quaint +patterns. The ceiling was oak, and so was the floor--this last very +slippery, so that it was as good as ice to slide upon. + +Dennis and Maisie were glad to hear that they were to go into the long +gallery when they arrived, and they found all Philippa's visitors +assembled there, with the musical box tinkling out its tunes in one of +the window-seats. Miss Mervyn, who felt the long gallery very cold and +draughty, was there too; she had brought in a chair from the play-room, +and sat shivering by the huge fireplace, where a fire had been lighted; +but the children, warmed with their games, looked merry and gay. + +"Let's have a dance!" exclaimed Philippa, as the musical box began a +lively waltz tune; "Dennis shall be my partner." + +All the little figures in their bright dresses went whirling down the +long shining floor, two and two, skirts fluttering and hair streaming +out with the rapid movement. At the end of the long gallery the musical +box was quite invisible, and its little thin voice could hardly be +heard. + +"It's like a fairy tune being played up in the air," said Maisie. + +The musical box finished its waltz, and almost immediately struck up a +solemn march. + +"Now we're soldiers," said Dennis, "marching to the funeral of one of +our comrades killed in battle. I'm captain." + +All the games suggested by the musical box were successful: even +Philippa was pleased and happy, and Miss Mervyn began to think that the +party might pass off without any quarrels or disturbance. But, +unfortunately, Philippa at last had an idea which led to the overthrow +of this pleasant state of things. This idea was that they should join +in with the musical box when it played the "Bluebells of Scotland," and +have a concert. She herself would conduct, and play the violin. One +child could sing the tune, another could whistle it, another could play +it on a comb, another was provided with a small drum. Every one thought +it a beautiful idea, and Philippa, very much excited, mounted on the +window-seat by the musical box, violin in hand, with her band disposed +round her. + +But alas! Instead of the sweet sounds she hoped to hear, the most +terrible discords arose at the first tinkling notes of the musical box. +It was wonderful that such a small band could produce such a great +noise, but perhaps this was because each child wanted to be heard above +the rest. The whistling, screaming, squeaking, and banging, all in +different keys and different time, quite overpowered the gentle +plaintive notes of the violin and the correct melody of the musical box. +Miss Mervyn at the end of the room covered her ears, and Philippa +dropped her bow, and exclaimed angrily: "Stop! it's a horrid noise." + +That was easily said, but no one paid any attention to it. The band +went on screaming, banging, tootling, and whistling harder than ever. + +"Stop, I say!" cried Philippa again, stamping her foot. "I'm the +conductor. I say stop!" + +But it had no result. She threw down her violin, and shook the musical +box angrily, but there was no way of stopping that either: it went +steadily on, regardless that she was beside herself with rage. In +another moment she would have dashed it on the floor; but, fortunately, +just at that instant Mrs Trevor appeared at the door. The sight of her +had more effect than all Philippa's rage. The band suddenly stopped, +the din ceased, peace was restored. Miss Mervyn took her hands from her +ears, and advanced from the other end of the room. Philippa flew to her +mother, and hid her face in her gown. + +"What is it, my darling?" said Mrs Trevor, looking fondly at her +daughter, and severely at Miss Mervyn. "Why have you been making this +dreadful noise?" + +Philippa poured forth her complaints. She had wanted to have a +concert--a proper concert--and they had done it all wrong, and they +wouldn't stop when she told them, and-- + +"Poor darling," said Mrs Trevor, stroking Philippa's hair caressingly, +"she has such a sensitive ear.--It was hardly wise, I think, Miss +Mervyn," turning to that lady, "to allow such a noise. Really, when I +opened the door, it was quite like a number of cats quarrelling. Quite +enough to give Philippa one of her bad headaches for the rest of the +day." + +Miss Mervyn looked as if that were likely to be her own case, but she +only murmured that she had thought Philippa was enjoying herself, and +that she had not liked to put a stop to the children's amusements. The +band meanwhile stood disconsolate. Philippa's face had its fretful +look, and everything was rather uncomfortable. Mrs Trevor glanced round +in despair, and it was at this moment that Maisie gave things a welcome +turn by stealing up to her cousin's side, and saying softly, "Where's +the white kitten?" + +The kitten had been on her mind ever since she arrived: she had not seen +it, and did not even know that it had been received, for in the +excitement of her party Philippa had quite forgotten to thank her +cousins for their present. + +"Ah!" said Mrs Trevor, in a tone of relief, "the kitten, to be sure.-- +Take Maisie to find the kitten, my darling, and have a quiet little game +together in the schoolroom. I daresay Dennis will like to stay here, +and play with the others until tea-time." + +For a wonder, Philippa was quite ready to do what was proposed, and the +two little girls went away together. + +"Did you like it?" asked Maisie anxiously. "It's pretty, isn't it? And +it keeps itself very white. It's the prettiest of all the kittens--next +to ours." + +"I like it very much," said Philippa graciously, "but it scratches. +Miss Mervyn says it's a savage kitten." + +"They all scratch, you know," said Maisie seriously, as they entered the +schoolroom; "when they're quite little, they don't know better. You'll +have to teach it to be good." + +"How?" asked Philippa, looking round the room for the kitten, which was +nowhere to be seen. + +"Entirely by kindness," said Maisie, using an expression she had seen in +one of her books. + +"It's hidden itself again," said Philippa discontentedly; "it's always +hiding itself." + +This time the kitten had found a good hiding-place, and the little girls +searched everywhere in vain for a long while. At last Maisie thought of +lifting the silk cover on the top of Miss Mervyn's work-basket, and +there, snugly coiled in the midst of wools, knitting, and fancy work, +lay the white kitten fast asleep! This was not the worst, for it had +evidently amused itself first by a game of play. All the skeins of wool +were twisted up in a tangle, and a quantity of silk was wound tightly +round its claws. + +"There!" said Philippa, "that's the third wrong thing it's done to-day! +It's torn mother's lace, and scratched my arm, and tangled up all Miss +Mervyn's wool. Now she'll want it to go away more than ever." + +Maisie looked at the white kitten with dismay. It did not seem to have +made a good beginning in its new home. + +"Will Miss Mervyn be _very_ angry?" she said. "Can't we try to put the +wool straight?" + +"Oh, _that_ doesn't matter," said Philippa coolly; "but it _is_ a +naughty kitten, isn't it?" + +Maisie lifted the kitten carefully out of its warm bed, and gently +disentangled its claws from the silk. + +"Well," she said, "I don't really believe it _meant_ to be naughty. +Kittens always like to play, and then, you see, it always slept in a +basket, so perhaps it thought this was its own. You must give it a ball +or a cork, and then it won't want to play with the wrong things." + +Philippa generally looked down upon Maisie and thought her babyish, but +she had such motherly ways with the kitten, and gave advice with so much +gravity, that she now listened with respect to what she said. + +"Now you take it and nurse it a little," she continued, putting the +kitten, still half asleep, into Philippa's arms, "and I'll try to get +the wool straight. What shall you call it? We call ours `Darkie,' +because he's all black, you see. Dennis wanted to call him `Nigger,' +but I didn't like that, and Aunt Katharine says Darkie means just the +same." + +Philippa thought of a good many names, but was not satisfied with any of +them, and still less with those suggested by Maisie. + +"_I_ know," she exclaimed at last; "I've got a beautiful name that just +suits it. I shall call it `Blanche.' That's French for white, you +know," she added for Maisie's instruction. Maisie did not know, for she +had not begun to learn French, but she quite agreed that Blanche was a +lovely name, and seemed made for the white kitten. + +After much patient effort she succeeded in untwisting Miss Mervyn's wool +from most of the knots and tangles, and putting the contents of the +basket into something like order. + +"There!" she said; "that's as straight as I can make it." + +"I don't see why you took so much trouble over it," said Philippa; "it +wasn't your fault--it was the kitten's." + +"Well, the kitten couldn't put it straight," replied Maisie. "It wasn't +half so mischievous as Darkie at home, but I expect it feels strange +here just at first. When it gets to know you, it won't be so naughty." + +She looked a little anxiously at the kitten, who was purring contentedly +in Philippa's arms. + +"I hope," she added, "it will be a nice, well-behaved cat when it grows +up." + +"It _ought_ to be the nicest of the three," said Philippa; "that's very +certain." + +"Why?" asked Maisie. + +"Well, you see," said Philippa, with her chin in the air, "it will have +such advantages here. It will sleep on my bed, and have cream for its +tea, and it will always wear a lovely ribbon on its neck, or perhaps a +collar with a bell. And it will have nothing to do but play, and never +be with common, low people." + +Maisie looked thoughtful. + +"The grey kitten's very nice and affectionate," she said, "though it +isn't pretty. It won't have advantages though, because it's got to go +and do hard work." + +"What hard work?" asked Philippa. + +"It's going to catch mice for old Sally's Eliza," replied Maisie, "so of +course it can't sleep in any one's bed--it will have to be up all night. +And I don't suppose it will have meals exactly except what it picks up. +And I'm _sure_ it won't wear a collar and a bell, because that would +frighten the mice away." + +"Blanche will be better off than that," said Philippa; "she'll be a +lady." + +"We shall be able to see, shan't we," said Maisie, "what sort of cats +they are when they grow up. And then we can settle which is the best-- +Darkie, or Blanche, or the grey one." + +"What do you mean by the best?" said Philippa. "Do you mean the +prettiest?" + +"Oh dear, no," said Maisie. She pondered the question for some minutes, +and then added seriously: "I mean the one that's the greatest comfort to +the person it belongs to." + + + +CHAPTER FIVE. + +THE ROUND ROBIN. + +And now that the white kitten was settled in its new home, the time was +come for the departure of the grey one, and the day fixed when it should +be taken to old Sally's cottage. Maisie felt the parting a good deal, +for it seemed to her that it was a very small weak thing to be sent out +into the world to earn its living. It would have a very different life +to Darkie and Blanche. They could dwell at ease, and need never catch +mice except for their own pleasure; but the grey kitten had really hard +work before it, and most likely would never be petted again after it +left Fieldside. Maisie wondered whether the old cat, Madam, to whom she +carefully explained everything, was at all worried and anxious about her +children; but if so, she hid her feelings very well. Certainly she +looked about a little after the white kitten had gone, and mewed once or +twice in an inquiring sort of way, but she did not refuse comfort. On +the contrary, when Maisie offered her some fish to distract her mind +from her loss, she gobbled it up rather greedily, and even Darkie could +not push his round head far into the dish. + +"I expect," said Maisie, "if Madam could choose, she'd much rather send +Darkie away and keep the grey one; Darkie bothers her so." + +It was just after lesson time, and the children were making preparations +to start with the kitten for old Sally's cottage. Dennis was tying down +the lid of a small hamper, and Maisie stood near, peeping through the +crevices to see whether the kitten was comfortable. + +"There," said Dennis, as he tied the last knot; "I'm glad it's we that +have got to choose, and not Madam, I wouldn't keep this mean-looking +kitten for anything. Now Darkie will be a splendid cat." + +"Let me carry it," said Maisie eagerly, and hugging the little basket +with both arms, she followed Dennis rather sorrowfully out of the door +which the kitten was not to enter again. + +"I _do_ hope," she said on the way, "that they'll be kind to it." + +"Oh, of course they will," said Dennis; "don't you remember old Sally +said Eliza was quite silly over animals. That meant kind--extra kind." + +Old Sally and her daughter Anne were busy when the children arrived, for +they had a job of work given to them by Mrs Solace, who wanted some old +cushions re-stuffed. On opening these, they had found that feathers +instead of down had been used, and they both had a great deal to say on +the subject. It was, however, almost impossible to talk without +coughing and choking, for their cottage was quite full of fluff and +feathers floating about in the air. The children stood in the doorway, +and explained their errand as well as they could. + +"They've brought the kitten, mother," screamed Anne. + +Old Sally had just re-filled a cushion, and was holding it before her at +arm's-length. + +"Is it fat enough?" she screamed back at her daughter. + +"It isn't fat at all," said Maisie, who with Dennis was untying the +hamper; "it's a thin little kitten, but it's very good." + +"Dear Miss Maisie," said Anne, with a chuckling laugh, "it's the cushion +mother means, not the cat." + +What with old Sally's deafness, and the increasing thickness of the air, +in which the two old figures were dimly seen as through a woolly veil, +conversation was really impossible. There were many questions Maisie +would have liked to ask about the kitten's future comfort, but she saw +that they would be useless; so she contented herself with quietly saying +good-bye to her favourite, and dropping a few secret tears over it. +Dennis, however, had made up his mind to know one thing, and he advanced +a little way into the cottage, and shouted: "Is Tuvvy at work to-day?" + +Anne was seen indistinctly to nod in answer to this. "He's got the +sack, though," she said. "He won't be there not after next week." + +The blow had fallen! Both the children left the cottage in low spirits, +and for some time walked along in silence; Maisie grieving for the +kitten, and Dennis with his mind full of Tuvvy's disgrace. He had so +hoped Mr Solace would not send him away. And now the worst had come, +and soon there would be no Tuvvy in the barn. + +They had reached the middle of the rick-yard, and Maisie was casting her +usual anxious glances round for the turkey-cock, when Dennis came to a +sudden stop, and exclaimed: + +"I know what I'll do!" + +"What?" said Maisie, looking at him inquiringly. She wished he would +not stand still just there, but he spoke in such a determined manner +that she knew it must be something important; so she stood still too, +and waited for him to speak. + +"I shall go and ask Mr Solace to let Tuvvy stop," he said. + +Maisie's look changed to one of admiration, and almost of awe. "Shall +you, really?" she said softly. "Do you think he will?" + +"I don't know," replied Dennis, beginning to walk on very quickly, "but +I shall try to make him." + +"But," said Maisie, after a minute's thought, "wouldn't it be best to +ask Tuvvy first to leave off having bouts?" + +Although she was a girl, and younger than himself, Dennis was quite +ready to acknowledge that Maisie had very sensible ideas sometimes. He +now stopped again, and stared at her. It would certainly be better to +get Tuvvy's promise first, but he felt he must carry out the interview +alone. + +"Well," he said slowly, "if I do, where will you wait? I couldn't do it +with you listening. Will you go back to old Sally's?" + +But that, Maisie, remembering the fluff, quite refused to do. She would +go and see Mrs Solace, she said, and this being settled, she went +towards the house, and Dennis turned to the barn where Tuvvy worked. + +As he entered, and saw the familiar thin figure bending over the +carpenter's bench, he felt excited and nervous. How should he begin? +As a rule, he did not talk much during these visits, and that made it +more difficult now. He took his usual seat on a chopping-block near, +and Tuvvy, after giving him one rapid sidelong glance, continued his +work without speaking. He was making a ladder, and just now was +arranging a heap of smoothly-turned rungs in neat rows. Dennis thought +he had a rather shamefaced air, like the dog Peter when he knew he had +done wrong. It was of no use to wait for him to make a remark, so he +said carelessly: + +"Is that going to be a long ladder?" + +"Pretty tol'rable, master," answered Tuvvy, his long lean fingers moving +nimbly amongst the pieces of wood. + +"Shall you finish it in a week?" was Dennis's next question. + +Tuvvy's dark eyes flashed round at him for a second, but he only +answered, "Pretty nigh." + +Dennis was silent for a little while. Then he gathered his courage for +a great effort, for he felt that it was of no use to beat about the bush +any longer. + +"Mr Tuvvy," he said, "I'm so sorry you're going away." + +"Thank ye, master," said Tuvvy; "so be I." + +"Why do you?" asked Dennis. + +"'Cause the gaffer sacked me," answered Tuvvy. + +"But," said Dennis, his courage rising, now that he had got into the +thick of it, "he wouldn't want you to go if he could help it. You're a +clever workman, aren't you?" + +"Folks say so," answered Tuvvy modestly. + +"Well," said Dennis, "I mean to ask him to let you stop. Only you must +promise me first not to have any more bouts." + +Tuvvy was so taken by surprise, that he stopped working and turned his +whole face round upon Dennis, who sat, an upright little figure, on the +chopping-block, with a flushed and eager face. + +"Thank ye kindly, master," he said, after a moment's survey; "you mean +well, but 'tain't no use." + +"Why not?" asked Dennis, in a resolute voice. + +"I couldn't keep that there promise," said Tuvvy, "not if I was to make +it. There's times when I can't get past the Cross Keys; I'm drawed into +it." + +"Why do you pass it, then?" asked Dennis. + +"I don't pass it, master, worse luck. I go in." + +"But I mean," said Dennis, getting still redder in the face with the +effort to explain himself, "why do you go by the Cross Keys at all?" + +"Well, I have to," said Tuvvy, "twice in the day. Once of a morning and +once of a evening. I live at Upwell, you see, master." + +Dennis had never known or cared where Tuvvy lived, and indeed it hardly +seemed natural to think of him in any other place than at work in the +barn. It was odd to think he had a home in Upwell. + +"Then," he said thoughtfully, "you have to walk more than two miles each +way." + +"All that," said Tuvvy--"more like three." + +He bent over his work, and Dennis sat silent and rather despondent, with +his eyes fixed on the ground. There was so little chance for Tuvvy, if +he really could not pass the Cross Keys without being "drawed in." +There seemed nothing more to say. Presently, however, Tuvvy himself +continued the conversation. + +"Night's the worst," he said, "and winter worse nor any. It's mortal +cold working here all day, and a man's spirit's pretty nigh freezed out +of him by the time work's done. And then there's the tramp home, and +long before I get to the village, I see the light behind the red blind +at the Cross Keys. It streams out into the road, and it says: `Tuvvy,' +it says, `it's warm in here, and you're cold. There's light in here, +and a bit of talk, and a newspaper; and outside it's all dark and +lonesome, and a good long stretch to Upwell. Come in, and have a drop +to cheer you up. You don't need to stop more'n five minutes.' And +then--" + +Tuvvy stopped, raised his black eyebrows, and shook his head. + +"Well?" said Dennis. + +"Well, master," repeated Tuvvy, "then I go in." + +"And do you come out in five minutes?" asked Dennis. + +Tuvvy shook his head again: "It's the red blind as draws me in," he +said, "and once I'm in, I stay there." + +"Mr Tuvvy," said Dennis, after a pause, with renewed hope in his voice, +"I've thought of something. Why don't you go home across the fields? +You wouldn't have to pass the Cross Keys then, you see, and wouldn't see +the red blind, and it couldn't draw you in." + +"There ain't no way out into the road," objected Tuvvy. + +"There _is_," said Dennis; "I've often been. You'd have to cross over +part of one of Aunt Katharine's fields, and then there's a stile into +the Upwell road. It's as straight as anything." + +"Happen Miss Chester mightn't like to see me tramping over her field," +said Tuvvy. + +"She won't mind a bit. Besides, I'll ask her to let you. So that's all +right," said Dennis jumping up, "and I shall go and speak to Mr Solace +at once." + +He was nearly out of the barn when Tuvvy's voice checked him. + +"Hold hard, master," it said; "I ain't given that there promise you was +talking on." + +"But you will," said Dennis, coming close up to the carpenter's bench, +and looking earnestly up into Tuvvy's dark face; "of course you will-- +won't you?" + +Tuvvy made no answer for a moment. He seemed puzzled to account for all +this interest on Dennis's part, but at length he held out a hand almost +black from hard work, and said: + +"Well master, here's my hand on it. I'll do my best." + +Dennis put his own into it seriously. + +"That's a bargain, Mr Tuvvy," he said. "People always shake hands on +bargains. And now it will be all right." + +Tuvvy raised his eyebrows doubtfully. + +"Whether it is or whether 'tain't," he said, "you meant it kind, and I +take it kind, master." + +Dennis himself had no doubts at all as he ran across the rick-yard to +the farmhouse. Mr Solace was so good-natured, he was always ready to do +what he was asked, and Dennis knew quite well that he and Maisie were +favourites. He felt still more anxious now that Tuvvy should not be +sent away, for since this talk with him, he seemed to have taken his +affairs under his protection. Tuvvy seemed to belong to him, and to +depend on him for help and advice, and Dennis was determined to do his +very best for him. So it was with a feeling of great importance that he +entered the housekeeper's room, where he was told that he should find +Mrs Solace and his sister. They were both there, and both very busy, +for Mrs Solace was making meat-pies, and Maisie, covered from head to +foot with a big white apron, was learning how to roll out paste. + +"Did you want to see Andrew _particularly_, my dear?" asked Mrs Solace. +"Fact is, he's in the office, over his accounts, and don't want to be +disturbed. If it's a message from Miss Chester, you could leave it with +me, couldn't you? and I'll be sure he has it." + +"It isn't a message from Aunt Katharine," said Dennis. "It's something +I _must_ say myself; something very important, indeed. Maisie knows it +is," he added, as Mrs Solace still hesitated. + +She looked at the children with some perplexity in her good-humoured +face. She did not want to disturb Andrew just now, whose temper was +seldom ruffled except when he was at his accounts. On the other hand, +Dennis and Maisie were both fixing such imploring eyes upon her that she +could not bear to say "No." + +"Well, then," she said, "you must just go and knock at the door and ask +if you may go in. But _don't_ ye stay long, my dear, else Andrew'll be +vexed, and it's I who'll bear the blame." + +The office, where Mr Solace had retired to struggle with his accounts, +was not a very business-like apartment. It was a small room with a door +opening into the stable-yard, full of a great variety of articles, such +as boots, whips, guns, walking-sticks, and pipes. In the window there +was a big writing-table, covered with account-books and papers, and it +was here that the farm men came to be paid on Saturday night. From his +seat Mr Solace could see all that went on in the stable-yard, and could +shout out orders to the men as they passed across it without leaving his +chair. That was in summer, but now the window was shut and the room was +quite full of the fumes of Mr Solace's pipe, from which he was puffing +angry clouds of tobacco, as he frowned over a great leather-bound book +in front of him. + +He was a man of about fifty, with iron-grey hair and very blue eyes +which looked keenly out under bushy brows. They were kindly eyes, but +they were eyes which could fix themselves commandingly on man or beast, +and seemed used to having their commands obeyed. They were set in a +face so bronzed and reddened by an outdoor life, that this colour was +all the more striking, except to old Sally, who spoke lightly of them +compared to others she "minded" in the family. "They weren't nothing at +all to what old Mr Solace's was," she said. "They _were_ blue, if you +like." + +Biting the top of his quill pen, and stamping his foot, when the figures +were too much for his patience, the farmer had just travelled nearly up +a long column, when a loud knock was heard at his door. + +At first he only grunted impatiently, for he knew that if he let go his +calculation for an instant, he was a lost man, and would have to add it +all up again. But almost immediately the knock was loudly repeated. + +"Come in," he shouted, flinging down his pen and turning angrily towards +the door. His gaze was directed to the height of a full-grown person, +and he lowered it hastily to the level of Dennis's small round head, and +said in a softer tone: "Oh, it's you, is it, my boy." + +Dennis marched straight in at once, and stood at the farmer's elbow. He +was not a bit afraid of Mr Solace, and had prepared just what he meant +to say, so he began without a pause. + +"I've come to ask you a favour, please." + +"And I wish you'd come at any other time," said Mr Solace +good-naturedly; "but as you're here, out with it." + +Dennis's favours were usually connected with jackdaws, or rabbits, or +puppies, and no doubt this would be something of the same kind. + +"It's a bigger one than ever I've asked before," continued Dennis, "and +I want it more than anything I've wanted before." + +"Fire away!" said the farmer; "only make haste about it, because I'm +busy." + +"I want you," said Dennis, speaking slowly and solemnly, as he drew up +closer, "to let Tuvvy stop." + +The farmer's face changed. He gave a long low whistle. + +"Did he send you to ask me that?" he said. + +"No indeed," replied Dennis indignantly; "I thought of it my very own +self. He's promised not to have any more bouts, if you'll keep him on." + +Mr Solace got up and stood with his elbow on the mantelpiece, looking +down at Dennis. + +"Well, my boy," he said, "that's a thing I must say `No' to. I'm forced +to, by Tuvvy himself. I don't want to send him away. I shan't get +another such a clever chap in his place." + +"Then why do you?" asked Dennis. + +"Because I can't put up with him any longer; I've been too soft-hearted +already. I've winked at his goings-on again and again, and I've let him +off times out of number. But now my mind's made up." + +"But he's _promised_," urged Dennis, "and he's going to walk home the +field-way, so as not to pass the Cross Keys. He says it's the red blind +that draws him in." + +"H'm," said the farmer, with a short laugh. "He don't want much +_drawing_, I fancy. And as for his promises--I've had enough of Tuvvy's +promises." + +Dennis looked crestfallen. He had not expected this. + +"Won't you try him just this _once_ more?" he pleaded. + +"Now, look here, Master Dennis," said the farmer; "you know most of my +men. They don't call me a hard master, do they?" + +"No," replied Dennis; "they say the gaffer's very kind." + +"Well, but there's another thing I've got to think of besides kindness, +and that's justice. It isn't fair, you see, to the other men to let +Tuvvy off. Why, if I did, I shouldn't have a steady workman about the +place soon, and serve me right. They'd say: `There's that chap Tuvvy +can do as he likes, and drink and leave his master in the lurch, and yet +he's no worse off. Why shouldn't we do the same? What's the good of +being sober and steady, and sticking to our work, if we don't get +anything by it?'" + +"But I'm sure," said Dennis eagerly, "they'd all like Tuvvy to stop." + +"That's the worst of it," said Mr Solace, with an annoyed jerk of his +head. "I should like him to stop too. He's such a clever rascal with +his head as well as his hands. A hint does for him, where another man +wants telling all the ins and outs of a thing, and doesn't get it right +in the end. Tuvvy's got a head on his shoulders, and turns out his work +just as it ought to be. It's a pleasure to see it. But then, perhaps +just at a busy time when we're wanting some job he's at, he'll break out +and have a regular fit of drinking for the best part of a week, and +leave us all in the lurch. It's no use. I can't and won't put up with +it, and I oughtn't to." + +The farmer spoke as though arguing with his own weakness rather than +with Dennis, who now ventured to ask: "If all the others wanted him to +stay, would you let him?" + +"I'll have nothing to do with asking them," said the farmer, spreading +out his hands. "I'll have nothing more to do with Tuvvy at all. I've +given him up. Now you run away, my boy, and let me get to my business." + +Dennis stood for a minute, half uncertain whether he should put some +more questions; but Mr Solace sat down to his desk, and grasped his pen +with such determination, that he did not dare to make another attempt, +and unwillingly left the office. + +He did not, however, entirely give up hope. Dennis was a stubborn +little boy, and when he had fixed his mind upon a thing, he did not soon +leave off trying to get it. Could Aunt Katharine help him, he wondered, +as he and Maisie ran home together. At any rate he would tell her all +about it, and ask for her advice. But when she had heard the story, +Aunt Katharine did not seem to have much advice to give. + +"I don't think you must worry Mr Solace any more, Dennis," she said. +"He knows best how to manage his own affairs and his own men. A little +boy like you can't understand such things. If the wheelwright behaves +badly, of course he must lose his place." + +"But," persisted Dennis, "Mr Solace really does want to keep him, I +know, only he says it isn't fair to the other men." + +"Well, you'd better get them to sign a Round Robin, then," said Miss +Chester, laughing; "_I_ can't interfere." + +She was hurrying away, as though there were no more to be said on the +subject, but Dennis followed her. + +"Oh Aunt Katharine," he said earnestly, taking hold of her dress, "_do_ +wait a minute, and tell me what you mean by a Round Robin." + +Aunt Katharine was always willing to make things clear to the children +if she could, and she now sat down patiently to explain to Dennis what a +Round Robin was. When he quite understood, he ran quickly in search of +Maisie that he might describe it to her before he forgot a word, and get +her to help him in preparing one. + + + +CHAPTER SIX. + +LOST! + +"There!" said Dennis triumphantly, "we've got it right at last." + +"There's only one tiny smudge on it," said Maisie, looking anxiously +over his shoulder at the Round Robin. + +It had cost them nearly two days of earnest effort and repeated failure, +for although Aunt Katharine had described exactly how it was to be done, +she had left them to carry it out entirely by themselves. It sounded so +easy to say: "Take a sheet of cardboard, and draw a large circle on it, +leaving room for all the signatures you want. Then write the petition +clearly in the middle, and that is a Round Robin." But it was not so +easy when you began to do it. First the circle was too large, and then +it was too small, then there were mistakes in the spelling, and then +there were too many blots; but at last, after wasting four sheets of +cardboard, the Round Robin approached perfection. Aunt Katharine came +in to see it, and smiled, and said she thought it would do. + +"But you've got a good deal before you yet, Dennis," she added. "Do you +think you shall be able to get all the men to sign?" + +"Every one of them," said Dennis decidedly. "I shall begin with the +bailiff, and end with the pig-man. He can't write his name, but he can +put a cross." + +"It won't matter which you begin or end with," said Maisie, "because +there isn't any first and last in the Round Robin." + +From this moment all Dennis's energy and interest were spent upon +getting the Round Robin signed. He could talk and think of nothing +else, but though Maisie was eager for its success too, it did not +entirely take her mind from other things. She often thought, for +instance, of the two kittens in their new homes, and wondered how they +were getting on, and whether Blanche was beginning to be a "comfort" to +Philippa. Darkie was certainly growing handsome and more amusing every +day, but perhaps he could not exactly be considered a "comfort." Madam, +his mother, at any rate did not find him one, and was often very vexed +with him, because he would not give up the pranks and follies of +childhood. She could no longer put up with it patiently, when he +pounced upon her tail if she happened to whisk it, or played leap-frog +over her back like a small black goblin. On such occasions she would +spit at him angrily, and box his ears with the whole strength of her +outstretched arm, but Darkie did not care a bit. He must play with some +one, and as Peter the dog would not notice him, there was no one left +but Madam. Dennis and Maisie were quite ready to have a game, but they +were not to be compared to cats for fun and frolic, and besides, they +began to have some tiresome ideas about training and education. Darkie +must be taught to beg like Peter. Every morning, before he was allowed +to taste his breakfast, he was made to go through certain exercises. + +"Beg, Darkie, beg," Maisie would say, holding the plate high above his +head; and then Dennis would place him forcibly down on his hind-legs, +and lift up his front paws. Darkie was a cunning cat, and he soon found +that begging was to his advantage, so he learned his lesson quickly, but +it was only one of many which followed, and he got very tired of them. + +"Darkie can beg," said Maisie, when she next saw Philippa. "How does +Blanche get on?" + +Philippa had driven over to Fieldside with her mother one bright +afternoon in April, and now she and Maisie were in the garden, Dennis as +usual being absent on business connected with the Round Robin. Maisie +had been very pleased to see Philippa when she first arrived, for she +wanted to hear about the white kitten, and she looked forward to a +pleasant talk with her. Before she had been there five minutes, +however, it was easy to see that she was not in a nice mood. That was +the worst of Philippa, Maisie always found. You could never take her up +just at the point you left her; she might be agreeable, and she might be +just the opposite. To-day she had her grown-up manner, and was full of +little affected airs and graces, and Maisie, glancing at her once or +twice, saw the reason of it. Philippa was wearing a new hat of the +latest fashion, covered with the most beautiful drooping feathers, and +she could not forget it for a moment. + +"If I can find Darkie," repeated Maisie, "you should see him beg. He +does it most beautifully." + +"Fancy!" said Philippa, with a slight drawl and a little laugh. "Well, +Blanche doesn't need to _beg_ for anything. She gets all she wants +without that.--Where's Dennis?" + +Maisie repeated the story of Tuvvy and the Round Robin, and Philippa +laughed again. + +"What odd things you do," she said. "Mother says you're not a bit like +other people." + +Maisie had been searching in vain for Darkie in all his usual haunts, +and calling him at intervals, but no kitten appeared; there was only old +Madam curled up in the sun, blinking in lazy comfort. + +"I'm afraid I shan't find him," she said, with a disappointed face. +"He's such a cunning cat. He knows we want to teach him things, so he +often hides. Very likely he's watching us now, somewhere quite near. +But I did so want you to see him beg." + +"Why do you teach him things?" asked Philippa, "It must be a great +trouble to you, and he doesn't like it either." + +"Oh, but it's good for him to learn," said Maisie. "It makes him +obedient and well-behaved.--Don't you teach Blanche anything?" + +"Oh dear, no," said Philippa. "She would scratch me if I tried, +directly." + +Maisie looked grave. "Do you think Blanche is growing a nice cat?" she +asked presently. + +Philippa tossed her head, and made all the feathers on her hat wave. + +"She ought to be," she said, "for she has all sorts of advantages. +She's got bells, and ribbons, and a clockwork mouse, but she hasn't a +very nice disposition. She often scratches. Miss Mervyn's quite afraid +of her, and mother would send her away at once if she wasn't mine." + +Maisie sighed. "I'm sorry," she said, but in her own mind she felt sure +that the white kitten was not properly managed. + +"I wonder," she added aloud, "how the grey kitten will turn out. Aunt +Katharine's going in to Upwell to-morrow, and she's promised to call at +the tinsmith's and ask after it." + +Philippa yawned, and did not seem to feel much interest in the grey +kitten. + +"How do you like my hat?" she asked, with a sudden liveliness in her +voice. Before Maisie could answer, Aunt Katharine called the children +from the drawing-room window. Mrs Trevor was going away, and just as +they were seated in the carriage Dennis appeared, rather hot, but +glowing with triumph. + +"Half of them have signed," he said, waving the Round Robin in the air +as he approached. Philippa leaned back languidly beside her mother, and +gave a little affected wave of the hand to her cousins as she drove +away. + +"What's the matter with Philippa?" asked Dennis. "She's got something +new on, I suppose." + +Without waiting for an answer, he proceeded to tell all he had done that +afternoon. No one had refused to sign, although some of the men had a +good deal to say before they did so, and others looked as though they +did not understand the Round Robin very clearly. + +"But I think it will be all right," finished Dennis; "and if I get them +all, Mr Solace can't refuse to let Tuvvy stop, can he?" + +Maisie agreed rather absently, for she was still thinking over her talk +with Philippa. The white kitten's home did not seem to have turned out +very well so far, and she had expected it to be the best. Perhaps the +grey kitten's humble abode would be happier, after all, than Haughton +Park. + +"Madam," she said, turning to the old cat, who had chosen a sunny spot +on the window ledge, and was taking a nap, "I've got some news for you. +Aunt Katharine's going to call at the tinsmith's--that's where old +Sally's Eliza lives, you know--and ask after your grey kitten." + +"_She_ doesn't care," said Dennis, laughing contemptuously, but Maisie +knew Madam was pleased, for she tucked her front paws under her and +purred. She would no doubt be anxious to hear about her kitten, and the +next afternoon, when the time came to expect Aunt Katharine back from +Upwell, Maisie stood waiting in the hall with the old cat tucked under +her arm. Madam should hear the news directly it came. It seemed a long +time in coming, and even when at last Aunt Katharine drove up to the +door, she had so many parcels to look after, and so much to say about +them, that Maisie could not ask any questions. She followed her aunt +into the sitting-room, with Madam still clutched tightly to her side. + +"What is it, Maisie dear?" said Miss Chester. "Oh, the kitten, to be +sure. I went to see it, but I'm sorry to tell you that they're afraid +it has run away." + +At this sad news Madam struggled so violently that Maisie was obliged to +let her slip down to the floor. Run away! That was the last thing +Maisie had thought of. + +"Oh Aunt Katharine," she cried, "how did it run away? Why did they let +it?" + +But there was not much to be told about this. It was supposed that the +kitten had run through the shop out into the street, and lost its way. +At any rate, it had disappeared, and the tinsmith's wife was very sorry. + +"Then," said Maisie, "it's lost! She might have taken more care of it. +I wish we hadn't given it to her!" + +Poor little grey kitten! Homeless and helpless in the wide world! It +was so sad to think of it, that Maisie could not help crying, in spite +of Aunt Katharine's attempts to comfort her. + +"After all," she sobbed out, "it hasn't got a home at all, and we did +take such trouble to find it one." + +"Well, darling," said her aunt, "we must hope it has got a good home +still. Very likely some kind person found it, and took care of it." + +"Do you really think so?" said Maisie, rubbing her eyes and looking up +with a gleam of hope; "but perhaps," she added sorrowfully, "an unkind +person met it." + +Aunt Katharine smiled and kissed her little niece. + +"Unfortunately, there are unkind people in the world, dear Maisie," she +said; "but I don't think there are many who would hurt a little harmless +kitten. So we must take all the comfort we can, and perhaps some day we +shall find it again." + +Maisie did her best to look on the bright side of the misfortune, but +she could not help thinking of all the dangers the grey kitten was +likely to meet. There were so many dogs in Upwell, dogs like Snip and +Snap who delighted in chasing cats. There were carts and carriages too, +and many things which the kitten was far too young to understand. Its +ignorance of the world would lead it into all sorts of perils, and there +was little chance that it would ever be heard of again. She tried to +break the bad news as gently as possible to Madam, who seemed to listen +with indifference, and presently fell off to sleep, as though there were +no such thing as lost kittens in the world. Dennis also did not show +very much concern; but he was just now so busy with other matters that +perhaps this was not surprising. + + + +CHAPTER SEVEN. + +FOUND! + +Meanwhile, what had become of the grey kitten? To learn this we must go +back to the time when it began its life in the tinsmith's house at +Upwell under the care of old Sally's Eliza. It was kept in the kitchen +at first, but by degrees, as it got used to the place, it was allowed to +run about where it liked, and its favourite room was the little back +parlour opening into the shop. Now the shop was forbidden ground, and +it was always chased back if it tried to enter: so perhaps it was for +this very reason that it seemed to have fixed its mind on doing it, and +one afternoon the chance came. Its mistress was busy behind the counter +serving some customers: the parlour door was open; no one noticed the +grey kitten, and it marched boldly in. + +Pleased to find itself in the midst of so many new and shining things, +it played about happily for some time, trying to catch the merry shadowy +figures which danced on all the bright surfaces around. It was great +fun at first, to make springs and dashes at them with its soft little +paws, but finding they were never to be caught, it got tired, and looked +about for fresh amusement. Unluckily its eye fell on the open door +leading into the busy street, and without a thought of fear it trotted +out, and cantered, tail on high, gaily down the pavement. + +Too young to understand that it was in the midst of dangers, it saw +nothing to alarm, and much that was amusing in all it passed. Now and +then it stopped on its way to play with a straw, or chase a fly, and by +degrees got a long distance from the tinsmith's shop. It was now late +in the afternoon, a drizzling rain had begun to fall, and it was so dull +and cold that it was almost like winter. The kitten began to feel wet +and miserable. It looked round for shelter and warmth, shook one little +damp paw, and gave a tiny mew. + +"Hulloa!" cried a rough loud voice, "what's this?" A rough hand grasped +it, and held it up high above the ground. + +A troop of boys was pouring out from a school-house near, shouting, +whistling, calling out to each other, and making the place echo with +their noise. The one who had seized the kitten was a big stout fellow +of about fourteen, with red hair and small greenish eyes. + +"Who wants a cat to make into pies?" he bawled at the top of his voice, +holding his prize above the crowd of boys who gathered round him. The +kitten, its little weak body dangling helplessly, turned its terrified +eyes downwards on all the eager faces. + +"Who'll buy?" cried the boy again. + +"Mi-auw," said the kitten piteously. + +"Give yer five marbles for it, Bill!" + +"Give yer tuppence." + +"Give yer a lump of hardbake." + +One after another the shrill voices sounded above the general noise and +clatter, but Bill shook his head. + +"Not near enough," he said; "and come to think of it, I shall keep it +myself, and have some sport with it. We'll have a cat-chase, sure's my +name's Bill." + +As he spoke, another boy joined the group. He was much smaller than +Bill, slight and thin, with a brown face and very twinkling dark eyes. +His clothes were poor, and there was more than one hole in the ragged +jacket buttoned tightly round him. + +"I'll give yer my knife for't, Bill," he said quickly. + +This was a good offer. Bill hesitated; but casting a glance at the +boy's dark eager face, he exclaimed: + +"Ah, it's you, is it, Dan Tuvvy; then don't you wish you may get it? +I'll just keep it myself." + +"'Tain't yourn," said Dan shrilly. + +"'Tain't yourn, anyhow," said Bill, with a glare in his green eyes. + +The small boy's features worked with excitement. "I'll fight yer for +it, then," he said, doubling his fists, and at this there was a loud +laugh from the others, for he was about half Bill's size. + +"Go it, Tuvvy," cried one, patting him on the back; "go in and win." + +"I ain't a-goin' to fight a little chap like you," said Bill, moving off +sullenly with the kitten under his arm. "So don't you think it." + +"You give me the cat, then," said Dan, following him. "'Ere's my knife, +with three blades, and on'y one broke." + +"Git out with yer," said Bill contemptuously. "I tell yer I'm a-goin' +to have a cat-chase with this 'ere kitten. So no more bother about it." + +"You're afraid," snarled Dan, running along by his side. "I wouldn't be +a big chap like you, and be afraid--that I wouldn't." + +"Take that, then," said Bill, turning suddenly, "if you _will_ have it;" +and he gave the small boy a blow which struck him to the ground. + +In a moment he was up again, quite undaunted. + +"Come on, then," he cried, doubling his fists and dancing round his +enemy, "if you _aren't_ afraid." + +"A fight! a fight!" sounded from all sides; and there seemed no doubt of +it, for Bill's temper was roused. + +"Ketch 'old for a minnit," he said, holding out the kitten, for which a +dozen grimy hands were outstretched; "'twon't take long--" + +So all the boys thought. It would be short but exciting, for the two +were old enemies, and likely to fight with spirit. They placed +themselves in a ring, with hoarse shouts of encouragement and approval, +and the fight began; the kitten adding its plaintive mew from time to +time to the general noise. + +At first it seemed that one blow from Bill's heavy hand would be enough +to finish the affair; but it was soon evident that Dan's lean figure and +nimble movements were greatly to his advantage. He sprang about in such +a swift and agile manner, that he seemed everywhere at once; and while +Bill was turning to deal a blow, or to catch hold of him, he had ducked +his small black head and escaped. Buttoned tightly in his narrow +jacket, which he had not taken off, his straight thin figure offered +nothing for the hand to grasp, so that it was like trying to lay hold of +a wriggling, slippery eel. It was certainly a much better fight than +could have been expected from the unequal size of the rivals, and Bill's +face grew a deep red, as much with rage as with his vain efforts to +close with Dan, who skipped round him breathless but full of spirit. +Suddenly, however, while the excitement was at its height, there came a +cry of alarm from the onlookers, "The bobby! the bobby!" + +A blue uniform turned the corner. The crowd split up, and vanished like +magic as the policeman came towards them. Bill turned away sulkily, and +Dan seizing the kitten, which had been dropped on the ground, ran off at +the top of his speed. + +Without turning his head, to see if his enemy was in pursuit, he sped +down the street past the school-house, clasping the kitten to his +breast. Soon he had left the shops and busy part of the town behind +him, and reached the outskirts, where the houses were poor and mean, and +there were ragged people standing about on the door-steps. He gave a +quick glance over his shoulder now, and seeing no sign of Bill or the +policeman, slackened his pace, loosened the tight pressure of his hand +on the kitten, and stroked it gently. + +"Poor little kit," he said, "nice little kit. How pleased Becky'll be +with it." + +It was hard to say whether Dan or the kitten was most exhausted by all +they had been through. His fight, his rapid run, and the excitement of +the whole affair had made him so breathless, that he was glad to lean +against a lamp-post and pant. As for the grey kitten, it lay almost +lifeless on his breast, its eyes closed, its little body quite limp, and +its heart beating so faintly that it could hardly be felt. The boy +looked down at it with pity. + +"Looks pretty bad," he murmured; "they've mauled it about so. P'r'aps a +drop of milk would set it up." + +Urged by this thought, he made an effort to go on again at a slower +pace, still panting a good deal, and presently reached a row of small +cottages, one of which he entered. A child's voice from a dark corner +of the poorly-furnished kitchen cried, as he opened the door, "Mother, +it ain't father; it's Dan;" and a woman, who was bending over a pot on +the fire, turned towards him. + +"Well," she said fretfully, "what makes _you_ so late? It's bad enough +to have your father coming in at all hours and wanting his supper." + +Dan made no answer, but hurried up to the corner from which the child's +voice had sounded. "See here, Becky," he said softly; "see what I've +brought you!" + +The child, a girl of about eight years old, raised herself eagerly on +the hard couch on which she was lying. She was very like Dan, with the +same brown skin and dark eyes, but the eyes had no merry twinkle in +them. Her face was thin and drawn, and had the appealing look which +comes of suffering borne with patience. + +"Is it a rabbit, Dan?" she asked, peering at the soft furry thing in her +brother's arms. + +"It's a little cat," said Dan, putting the kitten gently down by her +side, "as Bill was going to ill-treat." + +Becky touched the kitten with her thin fingers. "Its eyes is shut," she +said. "Oh Dan, I'm feared it's dead." + +The woman had now drawn near to look at the kitten too. She had a fair +skin and very pale blue eyes, which were always wide open, as though she +were surprised at something; when this expression changed, it became a +fretful one, which had also got into the tone of her voice. + +"Give us a drop o' milk, mother," said Dan; "that'll do it good." + +"Milk indeed!" said Mrs Tuvvy; "and what next? Where's the money to +come from to buy milk for cats, when goodness knows if we shall soon +have bit or drop to put into our own mouths?" + +Neither of the children took any notice of their mother's remarks, or +answered the questions which she continued to put. + +"How do you suppose we're going to live, now yer father's got turned +off? Who's a-goin' to pay the doctor's bill, I should like to know?" + +Dan rose and fetched from the table a small basin covered with a saucer. + +"That's yer supper," said Mrs Tuvvy mournfully. "You ain't never goin' +to give it to the cat! Well, you won't get no more." + +Dan knelt by the couch, and tried to put a little warm milk into the +kitten's mouth with the spoon, but its teeth were firmly shut. + +"You open its mouth, Dan, and I'll feed it," said Becky eagerly. +"There, it swallowed that--now some more. See; it's better already." + +For the kitten had opened its eyes, and given itself a little stretch. +Soon it was able to lap some milk out of the saucer, and to eat some +crumbled bread. + +"Ain't it a little dear?" said Becky, her thin face lighted up with +pleasure. "Oh Dan, it's purring! It must be quite well, mustn't it?" + +"I expect it'll want a good long sleep first," said Dan, looking gravely +at the kitten, which had curled itself up by Becky's side, and begun a +faint little song of thankfulness; "it's been through a deal." + +He took his neglected supper, and sat down to eat it at the foot of +Becky's couch, while Mrs Tuvvy returned to her cooking at the fire, +still grumbling half aloud. There was not much bread and milk, and Dan, +who always had a good appetite, was unusually hungry after his exertions +that afternoon. He had been through a deal, as well as the kitten. But +by dint of talking to his sister between each spoonful, he managed to +eke out the meal, and make it seem much more. Becky listened with the +most eager interest, meanwhile, to all the details of the fight, the +policeman, and the escape of Dan with the kitten. When there was no +more to tell, and very little more to eat, she leaned back on her couch +and sighed. + +"He's a reg'lar bad un, that Bill!" she said presently. "Will he want +to fight again?" + +Dan shook his head. "I shan't come across him no more," he said; "not +now I'm going to a place." + +"I forgot," said Becky wearily. "Oh Dan, how long the days'll be when +you don't come home to dinner. Whatever shall I do?" + +"Why," said Dan soothingly, "you won't be alone now. You'll have the +kit." + +Becky gave a faint little smile. + +"I mean to get you a good long bit of string," went on Dan, "and tie a +cork to the end, and then, you see, you'll bounce it about for the kit +to play with, and carry on fine, without moving." + +"I suppose it'll get to know me after a bit, won't it?" said Becky, +evidently pleased with Dan's idea. + +"Just about," answered her brother decidedly. Becky looked down fondly +at the small grey form on her arm. + +"Dr Price's dogs came in with him to-day," she said, "but they mustn't +come in no more now. They'd worry it to death. Mother told him +to-day," she added in a lower tone, "as how she couldn't pay his bill, +because of father." + +"What did he say?" asked Dan. + +"He said, `That's a bad job, Mrs Tuvvy, but it can't be helped.'" + +"Did he say you were getting better?" asked Dan again, scraping his +basin carefully round with his spoon. + +"He said I wanted plenty of rest, and plenty of nourishing food," said +Becky. "What's nourishing food, Dan?" + +"Nice things," said Dan, balancing his spoon on the edge of his basin, +and smacking his hungry lips; "chickens, and jellies, and pies, and such +like." + +"Oh," said Becky, with a patient sigh. "Well, we shan't have no money +at all now, so we can't get any of 'em." + +"I shall get six shillings a week when I begin work," said Dan; "and +there's what mother gets charing. But then there's the rent, you see, +and father getting nothing--" + +He broke off, for the door opened, and Tuvvy himself appeared with his +basket of tools on his shoulder. The children looked at him silently as +he flung himself into a chair, but his wife began immediately in a tone +of mild reproachfulness. + +"Yer supper's been waiting this ever so long, and it wasn't much to +boast of to begin with, but there--I s'pose we may be thankful to get a +bit of dry bread now." + +She poured the contents of the saucepan into a dish, sighing and +lamenting over it as she did so. + +"'Tain't what I've been used to, as was always brought up respectable, +and have done my duty to the children. And there's the doctor's bill--I +s'pose he won't come to see Becky no more till that's paid--and there +she is on her back a cripple, as you may call it, for life p'r'aps. And +what is it you mean to turn to, now you've lost a good place?" + +As long as there was a mouthful of his supper left, Tuvvy preserved a +strict silence; but when his plate was empty, he pushed it away, and +said grimly, "Gaffer's goin' to let me stop on." + +"Stop on!" repeated Mrs Tuvvy. She stopped short in her progress across +the kitchen, and let the empty plate she was carrying fall helplessly at +her side. "Stop on!" she repeated. + +"Ain't I said so?" answered Tuvvy, pressing down the tobacco in his pipe +with his thumb. + +Mrs Tuvvy seemed incapable of further speech, and stood gazing at her +husband with her mouth partly open. It was Becky who exclaimed, with a +faint colour of excitement in her cheek, "Oh father, what made him?" + +"Do tell us, father," added Dan, touching him gently on the arm. + +Tuvvy looked round at the boy's earnest face, and then down at the +table, and began to draw figures on it with the stem of his pipe. Mrs +Tuvvy hovered a little nearer, and Becky sat upright on her couch, with +eagerness in her eyes as her father began to speak. + +"It was along of a little gentleman, Dennis Chester his name is, who +used to come and see me work. He asked the gaffer, and gaffer said +`No.' So then he says, `Will you let him stop,' says he, `if the others +are agreeable?' and to that the gaffer says neither yes nor no. But +this morning he sends for me, and `Tuvvy,' he says, `I've had a Round +Robin about you.' `And what sort of a bird is that, master?' says I. +`'Tain't a bird at all,' he says, `it's this,' and then he showed it +me." + +"What ever was it?" asked Dan, as his father paused. + +Tuvvy made a large circle in the air with the stem of his pipe. + +"'Twas a round drawed like that on a bit of card, and inside of it was +wrote as follers: `We which have signed our names, ask Mr Solace to keep +Mr Tuvvy in his service.' All the men's names was round the outside, +and the little gentleman's name as well." + +"What did Mr Solace say?" asked Dan. + +"He said, `You ain't deserved it, Tuvvy.'" + +"No more yer 'ave," said Mrs Tuvvy, regaining her speech. + +"But," continued her husband, "the gaffer went on to say that, along of +Master Chester, who'd taken such a lot of trouble, he'd give me another +chance. So that's all about it." + +"And in all my born days," broke out Mrs Tuvvy, "I never heard of +anything so singuller. Whatever made Master Chester take such a fancy +to _you_, I wonder?" + +"So I'm to stop on," continued Tuvvy, putting his pipe in his mouth, and +turning his back on his wife. + +"And I hope," said poor Mrs Tuvvy, beginning to cry a little from the +relief of the good news, "I _do_ hope, Benjamin, as it'll be a lesson as +you'll take to 'art, and keep away from the drink; and if ever a man had +reason to keep steady, you 'ave, with Dan growin' up, and Becky's +doctor's bill to pay, and--" Mrs Tuvvy did not speak angrily, or raise +her voice above a soft complaining drawl; but it seemed to have a +disturbing effect upon her husband, who, when she reached this point, +sprang up and flung himself towards the door. + +"Look, father," said Becky's childish voice from her corner. "See here +what Dan's brought me!" + +"Filling the house with cats and dogs and rubbish," mourned Mrs Tuvvy, +joining the remark to her interrupted sentence. + +"We ain't got no dogs, anyhow, mother," said Dan, as his father turned +from the door and went up to Becky's side; "a morsel of a kitten won't +eat much. She'll have a bit of my supper till she's older, and then +she'll catch mice and get her own living." + + + +CHAPTER EIGHT. + +BECKY. + +"It seems as if it had brought luck, don't it?" said Becky. + +She was lying on her hard little sofa, with her hands clasped behind her +head, and her eyes fixed on the grey kitten, who was playing all sorts +of pranks in a spot of sunlight it had found on the floor. There was a +smile on her thin face as she watched the little creature's merry +antics, and it was indeed wonderful to see how much amusement it was +able to find all by itself. First it chased its own tail round and +round so fast, that it made one giddy to look at it; then it pounced at +its own shadow, and darted back sideways in pretended fear; then it +rolled over on its back, and played with its own furry toes. It was a +week now since Dan had brought it home, forlorn and miserable, and it +had quite forgotten its troubles, and was happy all day long. Even when +there was not much for dinner--and that did happen sometimes, in spite +of Becky's care--it always purred its little song of thankfulness, and +was ready to be pleased, for it had a meek and grateful nature. + +Dan, who was sitting at the foot of Becky's couch, with his feet +stretched out in front of him, as though he were very tired, looked up +as his sister spoke. + +"What luck?" he asked sleepily. + +Becky turned her dark eyes upon him. + +"I'm sorry I waked you," she said. "I meant, because you brought the +kit home the same night father wasn't turned off." + +Dan nodded seriously. + +"It's all been better since," went on Becky. "Father brings his money +home, and mother don't worry, and we have dinner every day, and I do +think my back don't go all on aching so bad as it did." + +"If you was to get quite well, it'd be luckier still," said Dan. + +"P'r'aps I shall," said Becky wistfully. "I dreamed ever so beautiful +last night, that you and me was dancing to the organ in the street--the +one as plays `Pop goes the Weasel.' When I woke, I cried a bit, because +it wasn't true. Do you think as it'll ever come true?" + +"Just about," said Dan, rousing himself to speak with confidence. + +"If so be as it does," continued Becky, "it'll be along of what the +little gentleman at Fieldside did for father. If father hadn't kept his +place, I couldn't got well, because of paying the doctor and the +nourishing things." + +"I think of that a deal too," said Dan; "it's all owin' to him." + +"If there was ever anything we could do to please him," said Becky, +"wouldn't we be glad! He must be such a very kind little gentleman." + +Dan shook his head decidedly. + +"'Tain't likely," he said. "He belongs to rich folks, him and his +sister. They don't want nought from the like of us." + +"Well, I'm sorry," said Becky, with a sigh. "I think over it a deal +when I'm alone, and sort of make plans in my head; but, of course, they +ain't real." + +Poor Becky had plenty of opportunity for making plans in her head, for +since a year ago she had been alone nearly all day. Before that she had +been as gay and lively as the kitten itself, and as fond of play, but +one unlucky day she had fallen down some stone steps and hurt her back. +All her games were over now: she must lie quite still, Dr Price said, +and never run about at all, for a long time. That was a new thing for +Becky, who had scarcely known what it was to sit still in her life out +of school hours; but her back hurt her so much that she was obliged to +give up trying to do all the active things she had been used to, one by +one. Her father made her a little couch, and on this in her dark corner +she passed many weary hours alone, watching the hands travel round the +face of the Dutch clock, and longing for the time for Dan to come home +and talk to her. Dan was her chief friend, for though father was very +kind, he went early to work, and sometimes came back very late, so that +she saw little of him; and as for mother, poor mother went out charing, +and was so tired in the evening, that she generally dropped off to sleep +directly she had washed up the tea-things. + +So Becky's life was lonely, and often full of pain, which was the harder +to bear because she had no companion to cheer her and help her to forget +it. She even grew to look forward to Dr Price's visits, short as they +were, for the day did not seem quite so long when he had clattered in +with his dogs at his heels, and spoken to her in his loud kind voice. +He was a nice gentleman, she thought, though he did not cure the pain in +her back. Besides Dr Price there was only Dan, and when on leaving +school Dan got a place as gardener's boy, Becky felt sad as well as +pleased, for he would now be away all day. + +Just at this fortunate moment, when it was so much needed, the grey +kitten had arrived, to be her friend and playfellow, and to comfort her +with its coaxing ways. It was, as Dan had said, not nearly so dull now. +The kitten shared her meals, played all manner of games with her, +almost answered her when she talked to it, and when it was tired would +jump up to her shoulder and snuggle itself to sleep. The feeling of the +warm soft fur against her cheek was so soothing, that often at such +times she would take a nap too, and wake up to find that quite a long +while had passed without her knowing it. + +So, as she told Dan, it had all been better since the kitten came, and +somehow it seemed to make a part of all the fancies and thoughts that +passed through her mind, as she lay dreaming, yet awake, on her couch. +Becky had never made "plans in her head," as she called them, while she +was well and strong, and could run about all day. But now that her +limbs had to be idle, her mind began to grow busy, and though she could +not move out of the dusky kitchen, she took long journeys in fancy, and +saw many strange things with her eyes fast shut. Some of these she +would describe to Dan, and some she kept quite to herself; but now, +since hearing of Dennis Chester's Round Robin, they all took one form. +They were always connected with him or his sister, and what he had done +for her father, and curiously enough the grey kitten seemed to belong to +them, and she seldom thought of one without the other. If it could have +spoken, how many interesting facts it could have told her about its life +at Fieldside with Dennis and Maisie! Perhaps its little purring song +was full of such memories, as it lay pressed up so close to Becky's +cheek. At any rate it contrived in some way to get into most of her +dreams, whether asleep or awake. But though her life was on the whole +happier than it had been, there were still some very hard days for Becky +to bear, days when the kitten's merriest gambols were not enough to make +her forget her pain. + +They were generally days when Mrs Tuvvy had "run short," as she called +it, and left very little for dinner, so that; Becky grew faint and low +for want of food. For Mrs Tuvvy, even when her husband brought home his +wages regularly, was not a good manager. On Saturday night and Sunday +she would provide a sort of feast, and have everything of the best. +After that the supplies became less and less each day, until on Friday +or Saturday there was not much besides bread and cheese, or a red +herring, until Tuvvy brought home his wages again. On such uncertain +fare poor Becky did not thrive, and she always knew that towards the end +of the week she should have a "bad day" of pain and weariness. + +"There ain't much dinner for yer," said Mrs Tuvvy one morning as she +stood ready to go out charing. "I've put it on the shelf. Don't you go +giving any to that foolish kitten, and I'll see and bring summat home +for supper." + +The door banged, and Becky was alone. She and the kitten would be alone +now until five o'clock, and must pass the time as they could. The +morning went quickly enough, and when it was nearly one o'clock the +kitten, who knew it was dinner-time, began to mew and look up at the +shelf. + +Becky sighed a little as she took down the mug and plate. There +certainly was not "much," as Mrs Tuvvy had said, and, moreover, what +there was did not look tempting, for there was only a little watery milk +and a piece of hard bread and cheese. + +"I wish we had nourishing things for dinner, kitty," she said, as she +poured some milk into a saucer, and crumbled some bread into it. "You'd +like pies and chickens and such, shouldn't you? and so should I. I +don't seem to care about bread and cheese." + +The kitten ate up its portion eagerly and looked for more, with a little +inquiring mew. + +"No, no, Kitty," answered Becky, "there ain't no more to-day. To-day's +Friday, you know. We'll have to wait and see what mother brings back +for supper. P'r'aps it'll be fried fish or sausages--think of that! +You must wash your face now, and go to sleep, and the time'll soon +pass." + +The kitten soon took the last part of this advice, and curled itself +into a soft little ball beside its mistress, but somehow Becky could not +sleep this afternoon. The sofa seemed to be harder than usual, full of +strange knobs and lumps that were not generally there. Whichever way +she tried to lie was more uncomfortable than the last; the room felt hot +and stifling, the rain pattered with a dull sound against the window, +and her back began to ache badly. Presently she left off trying to go +to sleep, and a few tears dropped on to the kitten's furry back. It +would be such a long time before any one came home! + +Just then a horse's hoofs clattered down the street, and there was a +smart rap on the door. It was flung open, and on the threshold stood Dr +Price, booted and spurred, the eager white faces of Snip and Snap in the +background, with their tongues lolling out thirstily. Poor Becky +clutched her kitten to her breast in terror. + +"Oh," she cried, "the dogs! Don't let 'em come in. I've got a cat!" + +But it was too late. Snip and Snap were in already, running round the +kitchen in search of game, sniffing and poking their black noses +everywhere. In another minute Becky felt sure they would leap on the +sofa, and snatch the kitten from her. + +"Oh, _do_ send 'em out," she cried in an agony. "They'll kill it." + +"Not they," said the doctor soothingly. "Don't you be afraid. We'll +soon settle 'em.--Here, Snip, Snap, come out of that, you rascals." + +It was not, however, settled very soon. Becky lay trembling on her +couch, while Dr Price gave chase round the kitchen to the dogs, lashing +at them with his whip, stumbling over chairs, and giving loud and sudden +exclamations as they continually escaped his grasp. At last, however, +he caught them, and with one white body dangling from each hand, carried +them to the door, threw them out, and shut it. Then he straightened +himself, wiped his forehead with his handkerchief, and cast a glance at +his patient. + +"Little beggars!" he said half admiringly. But now that the danger was +over, Becky broke down entirely, and the doctor was dismayed to see that +she was sobbing violently, and could not say a word. He strode across +the room, and put his arm gently round her. + +"It's all right, you know, Becky," he said kindly; "the kitten's all +right. You mustn't cry so now. They frightened you, didn't they? But +they shan't come in again." + +Becky struggled with her tears, and after a while she was able to say +that 'twarn't only the dogs, but her back was a bit bad to-day, and she +didn't seem to be able to help crying. + +"H'm," said the doctor, pulling his hay-coloured moustache thoughtfully, +and glancing at the empty plate. "What time did you have dinner?" + +"About one," said Becky faintly; "but I didn't just seem to care about +it." + +"But I daresay you could fancy something now, couldn't you?" said Dr +Price, getting up. "Something very nice and hot. I'll be back in a +minute. Don't you mind the dogs; they can't get in." + +In a very short space of time he was out of the door and back again, +followed, not by the dogs, but by a boy from the cook-shop, carrying a +covered dish. + +"Now," he said, "you just set to work on this, and you'll feel ever so +much better." + +Becky's eyes brightened at the smell of the savoury food. Hot roast +mutton and potatoes seemed almost too good to be eaten all by herself; +but she did not hesitate long, and began her meal with evident +enjoyment. Dr Price sat near, whistling very softly to himself, and +sometimes leaving off to smile a little under his light moustache, as +Snip and Snap continued to hurl themselves with hoarse cries against the +door. + +"Well," he said, as Becky lingered over the last piece on her plate, +"how do you like my physic? Is it good?" + +"It's beautiful, sir," answered Becky, "and it's done me a deal of good; +but might I give this bit to the kitten? She didn't have much dinner +more than me to-day." + +"To be sure," said the doctor, and he watched with serious interest +while Becky prepared a little meal for her pet, and put the plate on the +floor. "So _you've_ got a cat, have you," he continued, bending down to +examine the grey kitten. "Little Miss Chester offered me a cat the +other day." + +"That's Master Dennis Chester's sister, ain't it?" asked Becky with +sudden interest. "Do you know him too?" + +The doctor nodded. "I see them about often," he said. "Nice little +girl, and nice little boy." + +Becky gave a solemn shake of the head. + +"He's more than nice," she said; "he's just splendid. Do you know what +he did for father?" + +Mr Price did not know; and Becky, strengthened and refreshed by her +dinner, sat up eagerly on her sofa and told him the whole story, to +which he listened very gravely. + +"Well, that's a very good job," he said, as she ended. "We must hope Mr +Tuvvy will be able to keep straight. But there's lots of public-houses +in Upwell, you know, as well as the Cross Keys at Fieldside, to tempt a +man." + +"They don't matter near so much," said Becky. "Father don't as a rule +want to go out again after he's once home. Not unless," she added, with +a little sigh, "it's washing day." + +Dr Price gave a slow smile, took out his watch, and jumped to his feet +with a suddenness that made Becky start. + +"I ought to be seven miles off by this," he said, striding to the door. +"Good-bye, Becky." + +He seemed to Becky to make one spring from the door to his horse's back, +and to gallop furiously up the street the next minute. There were one +or two sharp, shrill shrieks from Snip and Snap as they tore after him, +and then all was silent. + +Dr Price's visits often ended in this abrupt way, but Becky wished he +could have stayed a little longer this afternoon, for she was just going +to ask him to take a message for her to Master Dennis, and say how very +grateful she and Dan felt. However, as that could not be, she comforted +herself by making up her mind to ask him next time he came, and settled +cosily down to wait for Dan's arrival, when she could tell him all that +had passed. + + + +CHAPTER NINE. + +PHILIPPA'S VISIT. + +"There is no doubt," said Mrs Trevor, "that the air of Fieldside suits +dear Philippa; it seems to sooth her nerves." + +"I think it does," answered Miss Mervyn. + +"And there is no doubt," continued Mrs Trevor, "that the child needs +change. She is unusually uncertain in her temper, and Dr Smith advised +the sea-side at once. But it would be much easier to send her to my +sister's." + +"And she would have her cousins to play with," suggested Miss Mervyn. + +"I do so wish Katharine had not such odd notions," continued Mrs Trevor +discontentedly; "it quite makes me hesitate to let Philippa go there +much. Those children are allowed to mix with all sorts of people." + +"They are nice little children," Miss Mervyn ventured to say. + +"Nice enough at _present_," said Mrs Trevor, "but who knows how they +will grow up? If I were their father--However, you think it would be a +good plan to ask my sister to have Philippa for a few days?" + +"I certainly do," said Miss Mervyn, with earnest conviction. + +Every one at Haughton Park thought so too, for Philippa had been so +troublesome lately, that she had made the whole household uncomfortable +as well as herself. "The dear child must be ill," Mrs Trevor said, and +sent for Dr Smith. + +"The old story, my dear madam," he said; "sensitive nerves. I should +advise sending your daughter to the sea-side with some young companions. +It is important that the system should be braced, and the mind gently +amused." + +On consideration, Mrs Trevor did not see how she could manage to supply +Philippa with sea-air as well as young companions, but it occurred to +her that the air of Fieldside might do as well, and to this Miss Mervyn +had heartily agreed. So a letter was at once written to Miss Chester, +and the subject gently broken to Philippa, who, greatly to every one's +surprise and relief, made no difficulty whatever. + +"I shall take the kitten with me," she said, rather defiantly, and +nothing would have pleased Mrs Trevor better, for Philippa's kitten had +become a plague and a worry to every one from morning till night. There +were endless complaints about it. It was a thief, it had a bad temper, +it scratched the satin chairs in the drawing-room, it climbed up the +curtains, it was always in the way. It had broken a whole trayful of +wine-glasses. Scarcely a day passed without some fresh piece of +mischief. Perhaps the poor kitten could hardly be blamed for all this, +for it would have been difficult for a wiser thing than a kitten to +understand how to behave under such circumstances. Philippa would pet +and spoil it one day, and scold it the next, so that it never quite knew +when it was doing right or wrong. There was no doubt, however, that +since its arrival there was less peace and quietness than ever at +Haughton Park. + +Meanwhile at Fieldside the idea of Philippa's visit was received with +something like dismay. She had never stayed more than one day before, +and there was a good deal of doubt in the children's minds as to whether +she would make herself agreeable. Dennis in particular felt this +strongly. + +"Will Philippa stay two days or three days, Aunt Katharine?" he asked +when he heard the news. "When Aunt Trevor says two or three days, does +she count the one she comes and the one she goes, because that only +leaves one clear day?" + +"Oh, I daresay if you're happy together," answered Miss Chester, "her +mother will like her to stay longer than that." + +It was breakfast time, and she was reading a pile of letters which had +just arrived, so that she did not pay much attention to the children. +Dennis turned to Maisie and said softly: "I think one clear day's quite +long enough; don't you?" + +Maisie took some thoughtful spoonfuls of porridge before she answered. + +"I'm not quite sure. Sometimes the longer she stays the nicer she +gets." + +"But, anyhow," objected Dennis, "I don't like her while she's _getting_ +nice, so I think it's best for her to go away soon." + +Maisie was not quite so sure of this as her brother, though she too felt +grave doubts about Philippa's behaviour. If she were in a nice mood, +her visit might be pleasant, for there were plenty of things to show her +at Fieldside, and plenty to do, if she would only be interested in them, +and not have her "grown-up" manner. + +"I wonder what she'll say to Darkie," she said, as she sat thinking of +this after breakfast. + +"She'll say Blanche is much prettier," answered Dennis; "she always says +her things are nicer than ours." + +"She hasn't seen him beg yet," said Maisie. + +It was not long before Philippa had this opportunity, for when she was +sitting at tea with her cousins that evening, she happened to look down +at her side, and there was Darkie begging. He was the oddest little +black figure possible, bolt upright, his bushy tail spread out at the +back like a fan, and his paws neatly drooped in front. + +"Oh!" she exclaimed, laughing; "how lovely! What a clever cat!" + +"He always does it," said Dennis, with quiet pride. "We taught him." + +"I told you he begged," added Maisie. "Why don't you teach Blanche?" + +"I don't believe she could learn," said Philippa. "She's quite a +nuisance at meal times. She stands up and claws and mews until she is +fed. She doesn't give any peace." + +Maisie looked shocked. + +"That's not at all well-behaved," she said. "You oughtn't to let her do +that." + +"I can't help it," answered Philippa. "I often box her ears, but it's +no good. She's a greedy cat, I think. Not so nice as this one, and +after all, black is a better colour than white, and Darkie has a bushy +tail." + +Dennis looked triumphant, but Maisie was sorry to think that the white +kitten was not turning out well; and though she had never liked it as +much as the others, she felt it was not entirely its own fault. +Philippa evidently did not know how to manage cats. She was now on the +point of giving Darkie a large corner of buttered toast, when Dennis +interfered. + +"You mustn't do that, please," he said firmly. "Darkie's _never_ fed at +meals. He has his tea afterwards in his own dish." + +"Well!" said Philippa, looking very much surprised, "I _do_ call that +cruel. You don't mean to say you let him sit up like that for nothing! +Blanche wouldn't bear that. If we don't give her what she wants at +once, she cries so loud that we're obliged to." + +"She's learned that of you, I suppose, hasn't she?" said Dennis. + +He spoke without any intention of offending his cousin, and did not mean +to be rude; but Philippa drew herself up, and flushed a pale pink all +over her face. + +"You're a rude boy," she said. Then after a pause, she gave a little +nod at him, and added, "Mother says you've just the air of a little +Hodge the ploughboy. So there!" + +But this arrow did not hit the mark, though Philippa had aimed it as +straight as she could. Dennis did not mind being called a ploughboy a +bit. He had seen lots of them, and considered theirs an agreeable and +interesting occupation; so he only shrugged his shoulders, and left her +to recover her temper as she could. + +It never answered to be cross at Fieldside, and Philippa had found this +out before. There was nothing gained by it. Maisie only looked +surprised and sorry, Dennis took no notice at all, and Aunt Katharine +was much too busy to spend any time in settling disputes. This being +the case, it was surprising to see how soon Philippa got over her +passionate fits, and was ready to behave as though nothing had happened. + +It was so now, for though she was rather sulky with Dennis all the +evening, she got up in quite a good temper the next morning, and did not +seem to remember that he had been rude. The three children started off +for a walk together soon after breakfast, for Aunt Katharine wanted a +message taken to the Manor Farm. On the way, Dennis and Maisie had much +to tell about Mr and Mrs Solace, their house, and all their animals; and +Philippa listened with interest, though she thought it all rather "odd." +This word was indeed constantly on her lips, for her cousins seemed to +live in such a very different way from anything she was used to at home. +When they passed through the village, nodding and smiling to nearly +every one they met, and making little friendly remarks to the people at +their cottage doors, she could not help thinking of her stiff walk in +the park with Miss Mervyn, which always lasted a certain time if it was +fine, and from which she often came back feeling very cross. If the +walk at Fieldside were "odd," it was certainly amusing, and she began to +wish there were a village at Haughton. + +Presently the village ended, and now there was a long narrow lane to go +through before the Manor Farm was reached. + +"What a nice stick you've got," said Philippa to Dennis. + +"It _is_ a jolly stick, isn't it?" he said, holding it out for her to +see more closely. + +It had all manner of quaint knots on the stem, and the large knob at the +top was carved into a very excellent likeness of the little rough dog +Peter. Philippa looked at it with admiration. + +"I should like one like that," she said. "Where could I buy one?" + +"You couldn't buy one at all," said Dennis proudly; "it was made for me. +Tuvvy made it." + +"Who's Tuvvy?" inquired Philippa. + +"A friend of mine," said Dennis; "he's Mr Solace's wheelwright." + +"Oh yes, I remember," said Philippa; "Maisie told me about him. What +odd friends you have!" + +She looked curiously at Dennis as he marched along flourishing his +stick. It must be rather nice, she began to think, to do things for +people, and for them to be so grateful, and carve sticks on purpose for +you. + +Still, it was "odd," and there was a good deal in it that she did not +understand. + +Arrived at the farm, however, her thoughts were soon distracted; first +by the appearance of the turkey-cock, and the agreeable discovery that +she was not afraid of him. + +"What a baby you are, Maisie!" she exclaimed. + +"She isn't always," said Dennis; "there are lots of things worse than +the turkey-cock that she doesn't mind a bit. Things _you'd_ be afraid +of, perhaps.--There is Mrs Solace at the door." + +Mrs Solace beamed at the children in her usual kindly way; and, as was +her custom, would not think of their leaving the house without eating +something after their walk. At home Philippa would have despised bread +and honey and new milk, but here somehow it tasted very good, and she +was too hungry to stop to call it odd. + +"The little lady wants some of your roses, Miss Maisie," said Mrs +Solace, looking at the children as they sat side by side; "she's as +white as a sloe-blossom." + +"My complexion's naturally delicate, thank you," said Philippa, rather +offended; "I never get sunburnt like Maisie." + +"Oh, well, maybe you've outgrown your strength a bit, my dear," said the +farmer's wife, smiling comfortably.--"And now, Master Dennis, I mustn't +forget that Andrew's got a couple of young jackdaws for you: would you +like to take them back now, or let 'em bide here a little?" + +There was some consultation between Dennis and his sister, before it was +finally settled that the jackdaws should not be taken then and there to +Fieldside, but should first have a home prepared for them. + +"And I know just where to build it," he said, as the three children +started on their return after saying good-bye to Mrs Solace. "Just in +that corner, you know, between the fowl-house and the cow-shed." + +"Do you know how to build it?" asked Philippa. + +"Well, perhaps not just quite exactly," said Dennis with candour; "but +Tuvvy will tell me and help with the difficult parts. He passes through +our field every night, you know." + +"And shall you work at it just like a carpenter?" asked Philippa with +surprise. + +"As like as I can," said Dennis modestly; "you see, I do know a little +carpentering because I've watched Tuvvy so much." + +"You're a _very_ odd boy," said Philippa. Every day that she passed at +Fieldside she became more and more certain that her cousins did strange +things, and liked strange things; but, at the same time, there was +something pleasant about the life they led, and she did not feel cross +nearly as often as she did at home. She even began to share their +interest in the affairs of the village. + +"I wish there were people at Haughton I could go and see like this," she +said one day. + +"But there isn't any village at Haughton," said Dennis. "There's only +the Upwell Road outside the gates." + +"There are lots of poor people in Upwell, though," said Philippa. + +"That's quite different," said Dennis; "Upwell's a town. I don't +suppose Aunt Katharine would let Maisie and me go about alone there as +we do here." + +For the rest of Philippa's visit she and Maisie were left a good deal to +each other's society, for Dennis was now entirely occupied with the +building of the jackdaws' house under Tuvvy's advice and direction. One +afternoon the two little girls were sitting together in the play-room, +threading beads on horsehair to make a collar for Darkie. + +"What made Dennis want to help Tuvvy?" asked Philippa suddenly. "Was it +after he had carved that stick for him?" + +"Why, no; of course not," said Maisie. "Tuvvy did that because he was +so much obliged to Dennis." + +"Well, then," repeated Philippa, "why _did_ Dennis take all that trouble +for him?" + +"He liked him," said Maisie; "and when you like people, you want to +please them, I suppose." + +"I don't think I do," said Philippa slowly; "I want them to please me." + +"But that isn't fair," said Maisie. "You ought to please them if they +please you; even Darkie knows that. Aunt Katharine says," she added, +"that you ought to try to help people and be kind to them, whether +they're kind to you or not." + +Philippa shrugged her shoulders and seemed to have had enough of that +subject, but although she was silent she thought it over in her mind. +Maisie, meanwhile, was occupied with a very usual matter--the grey +kitten's fate. She was never tired of wondering where it was, who had +found it, or whether it was alive at all, and as she had no news of it, +the subject was likely to last a long time. + +"We shall never be able to see now which of the three is the greatest +comfort," she said aloud, "because I don't suppose we shall ever see the +grey kitten again." + +"Darkie's the best," said Philippa; "he's so clever, and so handsome +too." + +"Don't you like Blanche?" asked Maisie, dropping her work and looking +earnestly at her cousin. + +"Sometimes," said Philippa airily, "but she isn't a comfort. Miss +Mervyn says she's a plague, and mother would send her away directly if +she wasn't mine. If she was as nice and well-behaved as Darkie, we +should all love her." + +"But," said Maisie, "Darkie is naughty by nature. He really is. We've +had a great deal of trouble to make him obedient and good. He was a +much worse little kitten than Blanche ever was." + +"Well," said Philippa, "I'm quite sure no one could have had more +advantages than Blanche. She's had everything she wants, and been +allowed to do just as she likes." + +"Then," said Maisie solemnly, "I expect you've spoilt her, and that's +why she's so troublesome and naughty." + +"Perhaps I have and perhaps I haven't," said Philippa recklessly; "I'm +tired of threading beads. Let's go out and see how Dennis is getting +on." + +On the whole, in spite of some sulky moods and one or two fits of +temper, Philippa's visit passed off extremely well, and Maisie was quite +sorry when the time came to say good-bye. She and Dennis watched the +carriage drive away, and waved their hands to her as long as it was in +sight. + +"She's been quite nice nearly all the while," said Maisie; "I wish she +had stopped longer." + +She spoke sincerely, for just now Dennis was so absorbed in his +jackdaws' house that she felt she should miss Philippa and be rather +dull. + +"Can't I help you?" she asked, as she followed him to the corner where +the jackdaws' house was being put up. It was not much to look at yet, +but there were some upright posts, and a roll of wire netting, and some +thin lathes of wood and a good deal of sawdust about, so that it had a +business air. + +"Well, you see," said Dennis, "girls always hurt their fingers with +tools, but perhaps you shall try to-morrow. It's too late now. Doesn't +it seem a waste, when you're doing something you like, to go to bed and +sleep all night?" + +"But if you didn't," said Maisie, "you couldn't go on with it, because +it's all dark." + +"I don't know that," said Dennis; "Tuvvy says it's light all night part +of the summer.--There's the tea-bell; we must go in." + +"I shouldn't like to be out in the night," said Maisie, with a little +shiver, as the children ran towards the house, "when everything's in +bed, and it's all so quiet and still." + +"Everything isn't in bed," said Dennis. "There's owls, and glow-worms, +and bats, and--" + +"But they're none of them very _nice_ things to be with," said Maisie +hesitatingly; "and then there are bad people out at night, who get into +houses and steal things, as they did at Upwell, don't you remember?" + +"Oh, you mean thieves," said Dennis; "but as far as they go, it's better +to be out of doors than in the house. The policemen are out all night +as well as the thieves, so it wouldn't matter a bit." + +"Well, you won't forget," said Maisie, quitting the subject of thieves, +which was an unpleasant one to her, "that to-morrow morning I'm to help +you with the jackdaws' house." + +Dennis did not forget, and the following day Maisie was supplied with a +hammer, and began her work with great zeal, but alas! two minutes had +not passed before the heavy hammer came crashing down on her chubby +fingers instead of on the nail she was holding. It was a dreadful +moment, not only because of the pain, which was severe, but because she +felt that it stamped her inferiority as a girl for ever. She looked +piteously up at Dennis with her fingers in her mouth, and her eyes full +of tears. + +"There!" he began tauntingly, but seeing Maisie's round face quiver with +pain, he stopped, threw down his tools, and knelt beside her on the +grass. + +"Does it hurt much?" he said. "Come in to Aunt Katharine." + +Maisie suffered him to lead her into the house without saying a word, +for she wanted all her strength to keep from sobbing. The poor fingers +were bathed and bound up, and after she had been kissed and comforted, +Aunt Katharine said that on the whole she thought Maisie had better not +use hammer and nails again. Maisie thought so too just then, but +presently, when the pain went off, she began to feel sorry that she was +not to help with the jackdaws' house any more. Certainly, as Aunt +Katharine pointed out, she could watch Dennis at his work and give +advice; but as he never by any chance took any one's advice but Tuvvy's, +that would not be very amusing. + +"You can hand me the nails, you know," said Dennis, as she sat with a +sorrowful face on Aunt Katharine's knee, "and after the jackdaws are in, +you can always help to feed them." And with this she was obliged to +console herself. + + + +CHAPTER TEN. + +ONE WHITE PAW. + +The jackdaws' house got on slowly, and this was not surprising, as +Dennis had a way of pulling his work to pieces and doing it all over +again. Maisie grew impatient sometimes, for at this rate she thought +the jackdaws would not be settled in their home until summer was over. + +"Hadn't you better let Tuvvy finish it off?" she said one day, when +Dennis had spent a full hour in trying to fix a perch to his +satisfaction; "it wouldn't take a real carpenter more than half an +hour." + +Dennis made no answer at first to this taunt. Maisie was only a girl, +who did not understand, so it did not matter what she said. Whistling +softly, he tried all manner of different positions for the perch, but +none pleased him. After all, it would certainly be necessary to have +Tuvvy's advice, but that was quite another matter to letting him do the +work. + +"I shall have to go and see Tuvvy," he said, carelessly throwing down +the piece of wood he held; "perhaps Aunt Katharine will let you go too. +You could stop at old Sally's, if you didn't want to go into the barn." + +As it happened, Aunt Katharine wanted to send a pudding to old Sally, +who had been ill, and she gladly gave Maisie leave to go with Dennis, so +Peter in attendance, and the pudding in a basket, the children set out +the next morning directly after their lessons. + +Maisie was pleased to make this visit, and it was such a very bright +fresh June morning, that everything out of doors seemed to be as happy +as herself as she danced along, with Peter jumping and barking at her +side. The sky was as bright blue as the speedwell in the hedges; the +leaves on the trees, not old enough yet to be dark and heavy, fluttered +gaily in the wind, and made a light green shimmer everywhere. The +fields were still dressed in yellow and white, for none of the farmers +had cut their grass, and in the woods the deep purple hyacinths still +lingered, though these were nearly over. It looked a very happy, +bright, flowery world, with everything in it fresh and new, and nothing +old or sad to think about. + +Maisie had not much to trouble her either that morning, but there was +one little sad thought which would come creeping out of a corner in her +mind sometimes, and that was the fate of the grey kitten. She wondered +now, as she checked her pace to a walk, and rebuked Peter for snuffing +at the pudding, whether old Sally might have heard something about it +from Eliza. There was always a faint hope of this, but it grew fainter +with each visit, and Dennis thought it quite silly to put the question +at all. Nevertheless Maisie made up her mind, with a quiet little nod +to herself, that she would not forget to ask to-day. + +Sally and Anne were talking so very loud inside the cottage, that it was +a long while before the children could make themselves heard, and it was +not until Dennis had battered on the door with his stick that it was +slowly opened. + +"Lawk, mother!" cried Anne, "it's the young lady and gentleman from +Fieldside.--Come in, dearies, and sit ye down." + +Old Sally was sitting in the chimney corner wrapped in a shawl, her +brown old face looking a shade paler than usual. Anne set chairs for +the visitors next to her, and drew closely up herself on the other side +of them, prepared to join in the conversation as much as allowed by her +mother, who was a great talker, and always took the lead. The two old +lilac sun-bonnets nodded one on each side of the children, as old Sally +began plaintively: + +"Yes, I've lost my appetite. I don't seem as if I could fancy nothing +just lately. I'm tired of the food--it's taters, taters, taters, till +I'm fair sick on 'em. Seems as if I could have a bit of summat green, +it'd go down better. There was a gal brought me a mite of turnip tops +t'other day. 'Twarn't on'y a morsel, so as I could hardly find it in +the pot when it was biled, but it give a relish, like." + +"Aunt Katharine's sent you a pudding," shouted Maisie, taking it out of +the basket. + +"And sech a cough as _I've_ had," put in Anne, seizing the opportunity +to speak, while her mother warmed the end of her trumpet at the fire; "I +expect it's a sharp touch of influenzy." + +"I seem to get weaker every day," resumed old Sally, presenting her +trumpet for Maisie's use. "I crawled down to the gate, and couldn't +hardly get back this morning." + +"Why don't you have the doctor?" asked Maisie. + +Sally shook her head. + +"I've never taken no doctor's stuff in all my days," she said. "Anne +there, she's had a deal, poor child; but 'twouldn't do _me_ no good." + +Dennis was beginning to make impatient signs, and Maisie knew he would +not stay much longer, so in spite of Anne, who was preparing to speak, +she shouted hastily down the trumpet, "Has your daughter Eliza found the +kitten?" + +It was answered as she expected, by solemn shakes of the head, both from +Sally and Anne, in the midst of which the children took their leave. + +"Please the Lord to send the rain and make the greens grow," were old +Sally's last words. But there did not seem much chance of rain yet, for +the sun was still shining splendidly, and as the children entered the +shadowy barn, Tuvvy's dark figure was lighted up by a ray which came +straight through the little window. Maisie seated herself modestly in +the background on a chopping-block, while Dennis asked his questions, +for she was rather in awe of Tuvvy, though she liked the barn very much, +and found plenty to interest her. High up among the rough rafters over +her head there were so many cobwebs hanging about, that it puzzled her +to think where all the spiders were who had spun them. There were no +spiders now, but there were masses of cobwebs in every nook and corner, +some of them waving in the dimness like flimsy grey veils, others spread +about in such strange shapes that they almost seemed alive. No doubt +bats lived up there, Maisie thought, and she even fancied she could see +them clinging to the wall, dusky and shadowy as the cobwebs themselves. +She turned her eyes with a little shudder, for she did not like bats, to +the floor of the barn, and this was much more cheerful to look at, for +it was covered with pretty light yellow shavings all in curls and +twists. More continually floated down to join them from Tuvvy's bench, +where he was planing a piece of wood for Dennis; they were exactly like +the flaxen hair of Maisie's favourite doll. Her serious gaze wandered +on to the end of the barn, which was almost filled up by a great machine +something like a gigantic grasshopper. It looked terribly strong with +its iron limbs, although it was at rest, and she felt half afraid of it, +though she had often seen it before. What was it, and why was it there? + +She could easily have put this question to Tuvvy, but Maisie seldom +asked questions. She had a habit of turning things over in her own +little mind, and wrapping fancies round them, until she had quite a +collection of strange objects in her small world. She would have missed +these very much, if they had been exposed to daylight and turned into +facts, and in this she was quite different from Dennis; he always wanted +to know the reason why, and to have the meaning of things made quite +clear to him. + +She was not left long, however, to wonder about the big machine, for +Tuvvy, giving a sudden wag of his head towards it, said: "The elevator's +my next job, soon as hay harvest's over. Wants a lick o' paint." + +"How jolly!" exclaimed Dennis, turning towards it with admiration and +envy. "I say, won't it just take a lot of paint! What a jolly job!" + +"I wish you had it then, master," said Tuvvy grimly. "'Tain't the sort +as pleases _me_. It don't give you no credit when it's done, and the +paint splashes you awful. It's what I call a reg'lar comical sort of a +job." + +"I should _like_ it," said Dennis with deep conviction, still staring at +the elevator. "What colour shall you paint it?" + +"Gaffer said 'twas to be a sort of a yaller," said Tuvvy; "but it don't +make much odds. There, master," he continued, as he finished his +planing, "that's what you want, and I'll stop to-morrow as I pass, and +give a look at the perches." + +Dennis would gladly have stayed much longer to go fully into the +painting of the elevator, and other like subjects; but he had been +warned not to take up much of Tuvvy's time, so he unwillingly started +home with Maisie, clutching his piece of wood under his arm. Until they +reached the village, he was so lost in thought that he did not utter a +word, but then, coming to a sudden standstill, he exclaimed: "Why +shouldn't we paint the jackdaws' house!" + +Maisie was struck by the brilliancy of the idea. She stopped too, and +gazed at Dennis with admiration. + +"It would be splendid," she said. "Do you think Aunt Katharine would +let me help?" + +"Why, of course," said Dennis; "it's _quite_ a different thing from +using tools. _Any one_ can paint!" + +"Only the splashes," said Maisie a little doubtfully. "Tuvvy said you +got splashed all over. Aunt Katharine mightn't like me to spoil my +frocks." + +"As to that," said Dennis, "you could wear a big apron. Painters always +do. Hulloa! it's raining!" + +So it was. The bright sunshine had vanished, and the sky was downcast +and grey. First it rained gently, then faster, then it made up its mind +in good earnest, and a regular downpour of drops pattered on the hedges, +and fell softly on the dusty roads. + +"How pleased old Sally will be," said Maisie, "because of the greens!" + +"P'r'aps we'd better go in somewhere," said Dennis, looking at his +sister's frock; "you're getting awfully wet, and we haven't got an +umbrella." + +They were just passing Dr Price's lodgings. Snip and Snap, who stood at +the gate snuffing up the moist fresh air with their black noses, wagged +their stumpy tails in a friendly manner to the children, and growled at +Peter at the same time. + +"You go in," continued Dennis, hurrying his sister up to the door, "and +I'll run home and fetch umbrellas and cloaks for you. Aunt Katharine +always says you're not to get wet." + +Maisie would much rather have gone on with Dennis, and did not mind the +rain a bit; but it was quite true that Aunt Katharine did not like her +to get wet. So she yielded, and stood waiting in the little porch for +the door to be opened, while Dennis sped up the road, and was soon out +of sight. + +"Come in, dearie, and welcome," said Mrs Budget, the doctor's landlady, +when Maisie had asked for shelter, "and I'll just get a clean cloth and +take off the worst of the damp." + +She led the way to a very clean kitchen, talking all the while, and +flapped vigorously at Maisie's skirt with a towel. + +"The doctor's just in, and I says to him, `Now I do hope, sir, you'll +get your meal in comfort to-day, for it's as tidy a little bit of +griskin as any one need wish to see, and done to a turn.' Owin' to his +profession, he don't give his vittles no chance, the doctor don't. Most +times he eats 'em standing, and then up in saddle and off again. It's a +hard life, that it is, and he don't even get his nights reg'lar. Snug +and warm in bed, and ring goes that bothering night-bell. If it was me, +I should turn a deaf ear sometimes, pertickler in the winter.--Is your +boots wet, my dear? No; then come in and see the doctor. He'll be +pleased." + +Maisie would have liked to stay in the kitchen with Mrs Budget, but she +was too polite to refuse this invitation, and soon found herself at the +door of the doctor's sitting-room. + +"Little Miss Chester, sir," said Mrs Budget, "come to shelter from the +rain;" and thereupon vanished to dish up the dinner. + +Maisie looked curiously round the room. It was small, and smelt +strongly of tobacco smoke; chairs, mantelpiece, and floor were untidily +littered with old newspapers, books, pipes, and bills scattered about in +confusion; a pair of boxing-gloves, which looked to her like the +enormous hands of some dead giant, hung on the wall, and on each side of +them a bright silver tankard on a bracket. + +The doctor himself looming unnaturally large, sat sideways at the table +on which a cloth was laid, reading a newspaper. He had his hat on, +slightly tilted over one eye, and his booted legs were stretched out +before him with an air of relief after fatigue. He jumped up when he +saw the shy little figure on the threshold, and took off his hat. + +"Come in, come in, Miss Maisie," he said. "Why, this _is_ an honour. +Where's your brother?" + +"Dennis ran home for umbrellas," said Maisie, placing herself with some +difficulty on the high horsehair-chair which he cleared with a sweep of +his large hand; "it's raining fast." + +"Why, so it is," said her host, glancing out of the window, "and ten +minutes ago there was no sign of it. That's a good sight for the +farmers. And where have you been? Far?" + +"We've been to see Tuvvy," replied Maisie gravely; "he's helping Dennis, +you know, with the jackdaws' house." + +"Ah, to be sure," said Dr Price readily, though this was the first time +he had heard of such a thing. "Tuvvy's a clever fellow, isn't he? And +so he's going to stay on at the farm, after all?" + +"Dennis did that, you know," said Maisie, forgetting her shyness a +little. "Dennis made a Round Robin, and all the men put their names, +and so Mr Solace let Tuvvy stop." + +The doctor nodded, with a little smile. He seemed to know all about it, +and this did not surprise Maisie, who thought it quite natural that such +a great event should be widely spread. + +"And since then," she went on, encouraged the attentive expression on +her listener's face, "he's been as steady as steady! He doesn't have to +pass the Cross Keys now, you know, because he goes home over our field, +and he thinks it's partly that. It was the red blind drew him in, you +see, and then he couldn't come out again." + +Dr Price nodded again, and his smile widened in spite of evident efforts +to conceal it, as Maisie turned her serious gaze full upon him. + +"Just so," he said. + +At that very minute it struck Maisie that she had made a dreadful +mistake. She ought not to have mentioned red blinds to Dr Price. +Dennis had told her he was sometimes "like Tuvvy." She hung her head, +and her round cheeks flushed scarlet. + +"I heard all about it the other day, Miss Maisie," said the doctor in a +very kind voice, "and who do you think told me? Tuvvy's little girl. +She's got a brother about the age of yours, and they both think a lot of +what you did for their father." + +Maisie began to forget her confusion in the interest of Tuvvy's little +girl. She stole a glance at the doctor, who did not look a bit vexed at +her unlucky speech, but went on as good-naturedly as ever. + +"She's a nice little maid, and it's hard lines for her just now. She +has to lie quite still all day because she's hurt her back. But she's +very good and patient." + +"Can't you make her well?" asked Maisie, remembering the firm faith of +the village people in Dr Price. + +"Oh, I hope so," he replied cheerfully. "But it takes time, and it's +dull and lonely for her, you see, while her people are out at work all +day." + +"Is she _all_ alone?" asked Maisie. "Hasn't she got _any one_ to be +with her?" + +"Well, she's got a kitten," answered Dr Price, "and that seems a comfort +to her, but that's about all. By the way, Miss Maisie," he added, "how +are all your cats? What became of the kitten you offered me some time +back?" + +"Oh," said Maisie sorrowfully, "didn't you hear about it? We gave it to +old Sally's Eliza at Upwell, and it ran out through the front shop and +got lost in the streets. Aunt Katharine doesn't think we shall hear of +it again now. It _was_ such a dear little kitten; not pretty like +Darkie, but very good and sweet, and purred more than any of them." + +"That _was_ a bad job," said the doctor sympathetically. + +"Is Tuvvy's little girl's kitten a pretty one?" asked Maisie. + +"Well, as to that," he replied slowly, "it looked to me about like other +cats, but then I didn't notice it much, you see, because I'm not so fond +of 'em as you are. If it had been a dog now, I could have told you all +its points at once. The little girl--Becky her name is--was very fond +of it, that's quite certain." + +Deeply interested, Maisie secretly wondered what the "points" of a dog +were, and concluded that they must mean its paws and the tip of its +tail. After a minute's silence she put another question, rather +sternly. + +"What colour was it? You _must_ have seen that." + +Dr Price looked quite cast down by this severe examination. + +"I'm afraid I didn't," he said humbly; "you see they always look alike +to me." + +"There's _quite_ as much difference in them as there is in dogs," said +Maisie in an instructive voice; "Madam's three last kittens were not a +bit alike. One was black--we kept that; one was quite white--we gave +that to Philippa; and one was stripey grey, and that was the one that +went to Upwell and got lost." + +"It would be odd, wouldn't it?" suggested the doctor, "if it was the one +I saw at Tuvvy's." + +Maisie sat very upright, with a sparkle of excitement in her eyes. + +"Could it be?" she exclaimed. "How did the little girl get it?" + +Dr Price shook his head with a guilty air. "Didn't ask," he said. + +His conduct with regard to the kitten had been thoroughly +unsatisfactory, but he looked so sorry, that Maisie could not be hard +upon him. + +"Never mind," she said graciously; "I daresay, if you don't like cats-- +It had one white paw," she added quickly, with renewed hope, "but I +daresay you didn't even notice that." + +Dr Price was so anxious to please, that it is possible he might have +gone the length of remembering the one white paw, but he was saved from +this rashness by the entrance of Mrs Budget, bearing a covered dish from +which came a very savoury smell. + +"There's Miss Pringle stepping down with cloak and umbrella for Miss +Chester," she said, "so I thought I'd just bring the dinner straight in. +It's done to a turn, and smells like a nosegay," she added, lifting the +cover with a triumphant flourish. + +Pringle was Aunt Katharine's maid. It was most tiresome of her to come +just now, for Maisie felt she might really be on the track of the lost +kitten at last. She knew, however, that she must not stay any longer, +and keep the doctor from the enjoyment of his dinner, so with a little +sigh she slid off her chair, and held out her band to say good-bye. + +"And if I were you, Miss Maisie," were the doctor's parting words, as he +followed her out to the door, and folded the big cloak carefully round +her, "I should just go over to Upwell, and have a look at that kitten +one day. You'd leave it with Becky, wouldn't you, if it does turn out +to be yours?" + +Maisie's eyes were bright, and her cheeks flushed with excitement. + +"Of course we should," she said; "that is, if old Sally's Eliza doesn't +mind, and it's a really good home." + +The doctor lingered so long in the porch looking after his little guest +as she hurried up the wet road by Pringle's side, that Mrs Budget +replaced the cover with a hasty crash. + +"There's no credit in cooking for him, none at all," she muttered. + +As for Maisie, she would have liked wings to fly back to Fieldside with +this wonderful news, but she had to restrain her impatience and keep +pace with Pringle, who held the umbrella and took mincing steps through +the mud. + +The way seemed endless, and when she did arrive, it was disappointing to +find that Aunt Katharine would not be home till late in the evening. +There was therefore only Dennis to whom she could pour out the story of +Tuvvy's little daughter, and her hopes and fears about the grey kitten. +He was interested and impressed at first, but very soon ready to dismiss +the subject and return to the one which really filled his mind--the +painting of the jackdaws' house. + +"Only fancy," said Maisie, breaking out again for the twentieth time, as +the children sat at dinner, "if it should be our dear little grey kitten +who we thought was dead. Wouldn't it be lovely?" + +"Yes," said Dennis absently. Then, after a moment's pause: "What colour +had we better paint it?" + +"Paint it!" repeated Maisie vaguely; but meeting a look of scorn from +Dennis, she hastily added: "Oh, you mean the jackdaws' house; but you +_are_ pleased about the kitten, aren't you?" + +"Of course I am," answered Dennis rather impatiently, "but that's only a +chance, you see. If it is the kitten, it is; and if it isn't, it isn't. +But the jackdaws' house is a real thing, and we _must_ settle about the +colour. How do you think," he went on seriously, "it would do to have +it the same colour that Tuvvy's going to do the elevator? He might let +us have some of his paint, you see." + +"I shouldn't like it at all," said Maisie promptly; "he said it was to +be a sort of a yaller, and I thought it sounded very ugly." + +"Well, then," said Dennis, "you say a colour." + +Maisie thought it over, her eyes fixed on the meadows and the +fast-falling rain outside. + +"I should paint it green," she said suddenly. + +"Why?" asked Dennis. + +"Because it's a pretty colour," she replied, "and the jackdaws would +like it. It's like the leaves and grass, and they might think they were +in a tree." + +Dennis received the idea with a short laugh of contempt. + +"Jackdaws are not such ninnies as that," he said. "They're sharp birds; +they're not likely to mistake a cage for a tree. If we don't have it +yellow, let's have it bright red, like Mr Solace's new wagon." + +Maisie had known from the first that her opinion was merely asked as a +matter of form, Dennis would have the colour he wished and no other; so +she made no further objection, and it was settled, subject to Aunt +Katharine's approval, that the jackdaws' house should be painted the +brightest red possible to get. This done, Maisie retired into a corner +of the play-room with Madam, and related to her attentive ear the +discovery of that morning.--She was a better listener than Dennis, for +at any rate she was not eager to talk on other matters, but Maisie +longed to tell some one who really cared as much as she did herself. +Aunt Katharine would be home soon, which was a comfort, and perhaps +Philippa too would like to know. She had never seen the grey kitten, +but she had heard about it so very often. Maisie made up her mind to +write to her. She would have been surprised if she had known that +Philippa also had made a discovery, and bad news to tell her of Madam's +lost child. To hear what this discovery was, we must go back to the day +when Philippa went home after her visit to Fieldside. + + + +CHAPTER ELEVEN. + +PHILIPPA MAKES A DISCOVERY. + +When Philippa, looking back from her seat in the carriage by Mrs +Trevor's side, could no longer see Dennis and Maisie making signs of +farewell, she leaned back with a pout of discontent. Her visit to +Fieldside was over, and she had been so happy, that it seemed flat and +dull to be going home with only Miss Mervyn to see when she got there. +As they drove quickly through the village, she looked quite longingly at +all the familiar places they passed. At the post-office, where her +cousins had taken her to fetch the afternoon letters and buy +bull's-eyes; at the cottage, where the old woman lived who had the +immense yellow cat; at the blacksmith's, who was shoeing Dr Price's grey +horse; and at the school-house, where the chubby-faced boys and girls +were just pouring out into the road. + +Farther on, she could see in the distance the gables and outbuildings of +the Manor Farm, and the deep thatched roof of old Sally's cottage, from +which a thin thread of smoke was rising. She was sorry to leave all +these friendly things, and there seemed nothing to look forward to at +Haughton Park, except perhaps the white kitten. She began to wonder how +it was, and whether it had missed her, and remembering Maisie's advice, +she determined that she would try to improve its behaviour, and make it +into a really good cat. Her first question, therefore, when she arrived +was, "Where's Blanche?" and she looked impatiently at her mother for the +answer, for Mrs Trevor hesitated. + +"The kitten, my darling?" she said rather nervously; "the kitten's in +the stable, I think. I told Thomas to take great care of it." + +Philippa, who was on her way up-stairs, turned round and faced her +mother defiantly. + +"Why is it in the stable?" she asked. "Who sent it there? It must come +back directly." + +"My sweet Philippa," said Mrs Trevor in a soothing voice, "do listen to +me a moment; the kitten is a naughty little mischievous thing, and I +cannot put up with it in the house any longer. I will just tell you +why. You know my new velvet mantle which has just come down from +London? The other day Briggs found the kitten lying in the very middle +of it on my bed! Its paws were muddy, its hairs came off and stuck to +the velvet, and I doubt if the mantle will ever be the same. Now, my +darling, _don't_ agitate yourself. It will be quite happy in the +stable, and we shall be much more comfortable without it indoors. If +anything's broken or goes wrong, I'm always told it is `Miss Philippa's +kitten,' and I'm tired to death of it." + +Mrs Trevor paused and looked appealingly at her daughter, who only +stamped her foot angrily in reply. + +"I'll give you what you like for a pet instead of it. Love-birds, now, +or a cockatoo? A cockatoo is no trouble at all, and quite an ornament +to the house, and worth a great deal more than a silly white kitten.-- +Where are you going, my love?"--for Philippa had suddenly rushed back +through the hall and out of the front door. In a short time she +reappeared with the kitten hugged up to her breast, passed her mother +without a word, went straight into the schoolroom and shut the door very +loud. Mrs Trevor looked after her with a sigh of despair, but as usual +made no further attempt to oppose her, and Philippa was left to amuse +herself with her kitten as she liked. + +But it was not nearly so easy, she said to herself, to find amusement at +Haughton as it had been at Fieldside. There she had never known what it +was to be dull and cross; here she felt both, as she looked round the +empty schoolroom with the white kitten tucked under one arm. The room +had a prim, precise air, with all the books and toys carefully arranged +on the shelves, the musical box in its shining case on its own +particular table, and nothing left lying about. Philippa pursed up her +lips discontentedly. How different it was to the pleasant noise and +bustle, and all the little daily excitements of Fieldside! How dull it +was! How sorry she was to come back to it! She let the kitten drop +listlessly, and stood regarding her playthings and treasures with gloomy +dislike. Not one of them pleased her, not even her last new possession, +the musical box. The kitten seemed to share her mood, for she walked +restlessly about the room, sniffed in a disdainful way at the furniture, +and gave a tiny peevish mew. + +"Here, Blanche, come and play," cried Philippa. + +She threw an india-rubber ball across the floor, but the kitten hardly +deigned to turn her head towards it. + +"How stupid you are!" exclaimed her mistress angrily, as she thought of +Darkie's frolics and gambols. "You have heaps of things to play with, +and yet you won't play, and I don't believe you're a bit glad to see me +either." + +Blanche continued to stroll uneasily round the room as though in search +of something, and took no notice of the ball, even when it was rolled +right under her nose. + +"Well, I suppose what you want is your clockwork mouse," said Philippa, +"and that's your very best toy. But I shan't let you have it long, +because I'm not going to spoil you ever any more." + +She wound up the little mouse, and let it run nimbly round and round +close to the kitten. Formerly it had been a never-failing excitement, +but now, to Philippa's surprise and vexation, Blanche sat perfectly +unmoved before it, and did not lift a paw. Perhaps during her short +visit to the stable she had become acquainted with real mice, for after +giving one slight sniff at the imitation one, she rose and walked away +with a high and scornful step. + +"Well, I'm sure!" exclaimed Philippa. She stood gazing at the kitten as +though she could hardly believe what she had seen, then turned and flung +herself moodily into the window-seat. Everything at Haughton, even the +kitten, was tiresome, and disagreeable, and dreadfully dull. + +"You're not a bit of comfort," she said to Blanche, who was now mewing +at the door to be let out, "and if they send you to the stable again, I +shan't fetch you back. I believe you're just fit for a low, mean +stable-cat. So there!" + +It was some relief to hurl this insult, but it hurt Philippa a great +deal more than the cat, and her eyes filled with tears as she turned her +head and looked out into the garden. Here again the contrast to +Fieldside struck her. Broad gravelled terraces, flights of stone steps, +masses of brilliant flower-beds; and beyond, the wide green spaces of +the park, with its groups of trees all standing in exactly the right +places, well ordered, stately, correct, as though the very shrubs and +plants had been trained to hold themselves with propriety. + +At Fieldside you could not look for a minute out of the schoolroom +window without seeing something alive. Cows strolling across the +meadow; Aunt Katharine's chickens venturing into the garden, and driven +out by Peter, cackling and shrieking; companies of busy starlings +working away on the lawn; it was all lively and cheerful, though Mrs +Trevor always said it was "buried in the country." Haughton Park was +considered a "beautiful place," and Philippa was used to hearing it +spoken of as such, but just now she decided in her own mind that it was +not to be compared to Fieldside. As she sat gloomily gazing out of the +window, her eye was caught by something which she had not noticed +before, and which she began to observe with some interest. It was +nothing more remarkable than the figure of a boy in a ragged jacket, who +knelt on the garden path below, weeding. Philippa studied him +attentively. + +He was small and thin, just about Dennis's age, and he was certainly +poor, for his clothes were old and shabby. Who was he? If he were a +boy in the garden at Fieldside, she went on to reflect, Dennis and +Maisie would know his name, and where he lived, and how many brothers +and sisters he had, and what his father earned a week, and how long he +had left school. Why should she not make these inquiries, and +afterwards, perhaps, she could give him some new clothes, and some money +to buy sweets. Then he would be grateful, as Tuvvy was to Dennis, and +be willing to do all sorts of things for her. Suddenly, fired by this +resolve, she jumped off the window-seat, intent on running down into the +garden, when Miss Mervyn came into the room. + +"Well, my dear Philippa," she said kindly, "have you enjoyed your +visit?" + +"Very much," answered Philippa ungraciously. "I hate coming home. +There's nothing to do." + +"Oh, come," said Miss Mervyn, with an air of forced cheerfulness, "you +mustn't say that, with all these things to amuse you. Have you wound up +the musical box?" + +"I don't care for it," said Philippa, with as much disdain as the kitten +had shown for the clockwork mouse. + +Miss Mervyn's glance fell upon Blanche, who was washing her face +delicately with the tip of one paw. + +"How pleased the kitten must have been to see you again!" she remarked. + +"You're just as wrong as you can be about that," said Philippa +decidedly. "She wasn't a bit pleased, and I believe she'd rather go +back to the stable." + +"Well, to be sure, it _is_ the proper place for her, isn't it?" agreed +Miss Mervyn, with a look of relief; "and I daresay she's really happier +there." + +"But, all the same, I don't mean to let her go," added Philippa; "I +shall keep her with me more than ever, and teach her to be very fond of +me." + +"Where are you going, my dear? it is just tea-time," asked Miss Mervyn, +as Philippa left the room hurriedly after this remark. + +"Into the garden," Philippa called back. "You needn't come," and she +ran down-stairs as fast as she could. Her mind was so set upon doing +good to the poor boy in the garden, that it did not once strike her that +there was some one nearer home to whom she ought to be kind. Poor Miss +Mervyn! How often Philippa worried her with her whims and naughtiness, +and yet how patient and good she was! But that seemed natural to +Philippa. It would have been quite as strange for Miss Mervyn to be +cross and selfish, as for Blanche the kitten to be meek and +well-behaved. + +When Philippa reached the spot where the boy knelt, hard at work, she +came to a standstill, and hardly knew how to begin the conversation. It +would have been easier if he had looked up, or seemed aware of her +presence; but his whole attention was so fixed on getting out the weeds +with his knife, that he evidently had not heard her approach. + +"Good afternoon, little boy," she began condescendingly at last. + +The boy raised a hot face, and touched his ragged cap. He was much +taller and bigger than Philippa herself but it seemed right to her to +call him "little boy." + +"Who are you?" was her first question. "I've never seen you before." + +"I'm the new gardener's boy, miss," he answered; "I ain't been here +long." + +Philippa looked down at him, wondering what she should say next. + +"Are you," she began hesitatingly, after a moment's pause--"are you very +poor?" + +The boy seemed a little puzzled. He sat back on his heels, and scraped +the gravel thoughtfully from the blade of his knife. + +"We ain't near so bad off as some in Upwell," he said at last; "but we +could do with a little more sometimes, now that Becky's so bad." + +"Oh, you live at Upwell, do you?" said Philippa; "and who is Becky, and +why is she bad?" + +"She's my sister, miss," answered the boy, "and she's had a fall and +hurted her back. She can't run about, and hasn't not for ever so long. +It's very hard on Becky. She was always one to like running about." + +"Won't she ever get well?" asked Philippa, drawing a little nearer, and +speaking with real interest. + +"The doctor says she will, if so be she keeps quiet a bit longer, and +has lots of nourishing things," replied the boy. + +"Why doesn't she have them, then?" asked Philippa. + +The boy cast down his eyes. "Well, you see, miss, up to now things has +been a bit orkerd. Father didn't always bring home much, and I was at +school. But that'll be different now, and I expect we'll get along +fine." + +At this moment Miss Mervyn appeared from the house. She carried +Philippa's broad hat, a parasol, and a small knitted shawl, and came +hastening up rather breathless. + +"My dear child," she exclaimed, "no hat, nothing to shield you from the +sun, and nothing over your shoulders! You will most certainly be ill!" +She put the hat on Philippa's head, and the shawl round her neck, as she +spoke. "Your tea is ready," she continued, with a puzzled glance at the +boy, who had fallen busily to work again. + +Philippa made no other answer than a sharp backward drive with her +elbow, which nearly hit Miss Mervyn in the face as she stooped anxiously +over her. Then she continued hurriedly to the boy: + +"What's your name, and where do you live in Upwell? I mean to go and +see your sister, and take her some nourishing things." + +"Thank you, miss," murmured the boy shyly; "my name's Dan Tuvvy, and we +live at Number 10 Market Street." + +"Then," said Philippa, "it's your father, I suppose, that works for Mr +Solace?" + +Dan nodded. + +"And it was my cousin Dennis," continued Philippa, with a superior air, +"who was so very good to him, you know, and took so much trouble to +persuade Mr Solace not to turn him away. You ought to be very grateful, +you know, to my cousin Dennis." + +Dan, who had not once looked up since Miss Mervyn's appearance, now +seemed suddenly startled out of his shyness. He raised a face so +glowing with pleasure and affection at the mention of Dennis's name, +that he was almost like another boy. + +"Well, we are, miss," he said earnestly, "just about--Becky, and me, and +mother too," he added, as an after-thought. "We'd do anything for +Master Dennis. And I'm pleased to hear, miss, as how you're his cousin, +because p'r'aps you'll tell him so." + +His dark eyes brightened as he spoke, and his cheeks flushed. Philippa, +surprised at the sudden change, stood looking at him silently for a +minute. How fond every one is of Dennis! she thought. + +"I'll tell him what you say when I see him again," she said; "and you +must remember to tell your sister that I'm coming to see her, and bring +her some nourishing things." + +"Thank you, miss," said Dan, dropping into his old shy manner again, as +he touched his cap and bent over his weeding. He did not seem overcome +with pleasure at the idea of Philippa's visit, and she felt a little +disappointed, but she had been interested in his talk; and as she went +back to the house with Miss Mervyn, her mind was so full of it, that she +felt obliged to tell her all about Tuvvy and Dennis, and her own plans +for Becky's benefit. Miss Mervyn listened attentively, and though she +was not equal to Maisie and Dennis as a companion, Philippa was +surprised to find how well she entered into the matter, and what good +suggestions she could make. During tea-time, which passed much more +pleasantly than usual, she found a great many questions to ask. + +"Why do you suppose Dan looked so very pleased when I talked about +Dennis?" she inquired. + +"I suppose because he is a grateful little boy," answered Miss Mervyn. + +"Do people aways look like that when they are grateful?" said Philippa. +"Will his sister look like that when I take her the nourishing things?" + +"Perhaps she will," said Miss Mervyn; "but, my dear Philippa, it is not +only giving people things that makes them grateful." + +"What does, then?" asked Philippa, with a stare of surprise. + +"Well, I think kindness and love make people more grateful than rich +gifts. Your cousin Dennis liked Tuvvy, and took a great deal of trouble +for him. That was better than giving him a great deal of money." + +Philippa thought this over a little. + +"But," she said at length, "I can't possibly like Dan's sister Becky +yet, you know, because I've never seen her." + +"Meanwhile, then," said Miss Mervyn, "you can try to be grateful to all +the people you have seen and love, and who do so much for you every day. +Perhaps if you see Becky, you will like her too, and then you will be +so glad to make her happy, that you will not stop to think whether she +is grateful or not." + +"What should you think," pursued Philippa, "are the most nourishing +things of all?" + +Miss Mervyn bent her mind anxiously on the subject, and finally decided +in favour of milk, eggs, and beef-tea. + +"But," objected Philippa, "they're all nasty, except eggs. Can't she +have something nice? Jelly and tarts, and roast chickens?" + +"Suppose," said Miss Mervyn, "we write out a list of things, and then +you can show it to your mother this evening, and hear what she thinks." + +That seemed a good plan to Philippa, and she was soon so absorbed in +writing down desirable delicacies, that she would hardly consent to be +dressed when the hour came for her to go to Mrs Trevor. Ready at last, +she flew down-stairs in high spirits with the list in her hand, and at +once burst into the story, jumbling up Becky, Dennis, Dan, and Tuvvy the +wheelwright in such a manner that her mother gazed at her distractedly. +Philippa was too excited to make things very clear, but at last Mrs +Trevor gathered that for some reason or other she wished to go and see +the sister of the boy who worked in the garden. + +"And I want to take her these," added Philippa, thrusting a long +scrawled list before her mother's eyes. + +Mrs Trevor raised her eye-glasses and looked at it in despair. + +"Why, my darling?" she inquired feebly. + +"She's ill," answered Philippa. "May Mrs Bunce pack them in a basket?" + +"Certainly, you may send them to the little girl if you wish, my dear, +and it's very sweet of you to think of it. But I couldn't let you go +into a dirty cottage and see sick people, you know. You might catch all +sorts of complaints." + +And to this, in spite of Philippa's angry arguments, Mrs Trevor remained +firm. It did not matter, she said, what Dennis and Maisie were allowed +to do at Fieldside, or how many poor people they went to see there. She +did not choose Philippa to have anything to do with sick people in +Upwell, and she could not listen to any more on the subject. + +Philippa flew out of the room with her eyes full of tears, and her list +crumpled up in her hand, cast herself upon Miss Mervyn's neck, and told +her all this as well as she could for her sobs. + +Miss Mervyn listened with sympathy. + +"Did your mother say why she did not wish you to go?" she asked +presently. + +"Because," said Philippa with difficulty, "she says I should catch +complaints. Dennis and Maisie don't catch complaints." + +"Would you like me to go and hear what Mrs Trevor says?" suggested Miss +Mervyn kindly. "Perhaps I could explain things to her better; but you +must promise to be good and patient if your mother does not alter her +mind." + +"I promise, I promise," said Philippa eagerly. "And if you will +persuade her, I will never, never be naughty again, and I will love you +always." + +Miss Mervyn shook her head rather sadly. "Don't promise too much," she +said, as she left the room. + +She had a difficult task before her, but she was so sincerely anxious to +help Philippa, that she was at last able to put the matter before Mrs +Trevor in a way which overcame her objections. + +To begin with, it was a really good thing for Philippa to take an +interest in something outside herself. Already, since she had this plan +in her mind, she was more cheerful and contented. Then the little girl +she wished to see was not ill of any complaint which Philippa could +possibly catch, but had only strained her back. Then it would be quite +possible to ascertain whether the Tuvvys were decent people, and their +cottage fit for Philippa to enter. Miss Mervyn herself would go first +and observe everything carefully. And finally, the child had so set her +heart on making this visit, that it would be unwise to oppose it unless +absolutely necessary. At length, therefore, she returned to the +schoolroom, where she found Philippa curled up disconsolately in the +depths of an armchair. + +"Well," she exclaimed, springing up, "may I go?" Then as she saw Miss +Mervyn smile, she flung her arms suddenly round her neck. "You're +tremendously kind," she said; "and now you'll see how good I'll be +always, and always, and always." + +Miss Mervyn smiled still more. "That's a very long time, my dear +Philippa," she said; "but at any rate you know now what it is to feel +grateful, don't you? But you haven't thanked your mother yet. Run +down-stairs and tell her how pleased you are." + +Philippa's first impulse was, as usual, to refuse to do what she was +told, but this evening she felt quite a new wish to please Miss Mervyn, +and obeyed silently. + + + +CHAPTER TWELVE. + +THE GREATEST COMFORT. + +"This _is_ a dull room!" exclaimed Philippa. + +She had just finished unpacking the basket of good things she had +brought for Becky, and still knelt beside it, with various parcels +spread out round her on the floor. Miss Mervyn had left her at the +Tuvvys' cottage for a quarter of an hour, while she went to do some +shopping in the town, and would call for her again in the pony-carriage, +so that the two children were alone. They had been very silent +hitherto, Philippa occupied with her unpacking, and Becky gazing at her +meanwhile with shy admiration. It was like looking at a pretty picture, +she thought--only better, because it was real; and her dark eyes +examined her visitor's face and dress narrowly, while the kitten, +alarmed at the entrance of a stranger, peeped out from the safe shelter +of her arms. Neither she nor her mistress was accustomed to see such +fine drooping feathers as those in Philippa's hat, nor such a soft white +dress with lace frills. They seemed to make everything round them look +dingier and more shabby. Philippa herself however, was much too busy to +notice anything but the contents of her basket for some time. She +continued to pull out package after package, naming each as she laid it +on the floor, "Arrowroot, eggs, sponge-cakes," in a business-like +manner, until she reached the last. Then tossing back her long hair, +she sat back on her heels, gave a searching look round the room, and +without a moment's hesitation exclaimed: "This _is_ a dull room!" + +Becky did not answer. Now that Philippa was there, it did look darker +and more dismal than usual somehow, and the ceiling blacker with smoke. + +"Do you lie here alone all day?" asked Philippa. "Don't you hate it?" + +"'Tain't so bad as it used to be," said Becky. + +"_I_ couldn't bear it," remarked Philippa, after gazing at Becky for a +minute with her mouth wide open. + +"Folks has _got_ to bear things," said Becky. + +"_I_ don't bear things," returned Philippa quickly; "I cry, and then +mother or some one gets me what I want." + +"If I was to cry ever so, mother wouldn't hear me," said Becky, "because +she's out charing all day. Anyhow, she couldn't make my back well. Dr +Price says as how nought but patience will do that, an' plenty to eat." + +"Well, you'll have some nourishing things now, won't you?" said +Philippa, with a glance at the parcels, "and I hope they'll make you +well. And when you've eaten them all, I'm going to bring you some +more." + +"Thank you kindly, miss," said Becky, but she did not look so very +pleased as Philippa had hoped, and she began to think she was not +perhaps a grateful little girl. What should she say next, she wondered, +and just then her eye fell on the kitten, which had jumped down to +examine the parcels, and was patting them softly. + +"Oh, you've got a cat!" she exclaimed. "Not a very pretty one, is it?" + +An affectionate light came into Becky's eyes as she looked at her +kitten. + +"_I_ call it pretty," she said; "but then I'm ever so fond of it, and +it's fond of me too." + +"I've got a cat at home," said Philippa, "a pretty white one called +Blanche, but I don't think she's fond of me, though I give her all sorts +of things. How did you make yours fond of you?" + +"I don't know," said Becky. "I don't give her much, so 'tain't that. +Sometimes she don't get much to eat for ever so long. I expect, though, +she knows what a lot I think of her, and that's where it is!" + +Philippa looked thoughtfully from the kitten to its mistress. + +"I don't believe," she said, "that if I were to be ever so fond of +Blanche, she would care much for me. Everybody's cats seem nicer than +mine." + +"I can't think how I ever got on without this one," said Becky. "She's +a loving little thing, and that funny in her ways! Often and often +she'll make me laugh with her tricks, even when my back's bad. She's a +real comfort, like Dan said she would be--the greatest comfort I've +got." + +The greatest comfort! The words made Philippa think of Maisie and her +grey kitten's loss. + +"Where did you get it?" she asked quickly. "Who gave it to you?" + +"Dan found her stray in the streets," said Becky. "A boy was going to +behave cruel to her, and Dan fought him, and brought her home to me." + +Philippa sprang to her feet. + +"Then I do believe," she exclaimed, "that it's Maisie's grey kitten!" + +Maisie's grey kitten! Becky clutched her pet closely, and looked up +with eyes full of terror. How could it be any one's kitten but hers? + +"You know," continued Philippa, much too excited by the discovery to +think of Becky's feelings, "Maisie Chester's my cousin, sister to Dennis +who was so kind to your father." + +Becky nodded. + +"Well, their cat had three kittens--a black one, a white one, and a grey +one. They kept the black one, and gave the white one to me on my +birthday, but the grey one got lost. It was sent to the tinsmith's in +Upwell, and it ran away, so, of course," ended Philippa, pointing +triumphantly at the small form in Becky's arms, "that's it. Won't +Maisie be glad! She always liked it the best, and she's always talking +about it now." + +Before Becky could say a word, and, indeed, before she had got the +dreadful fact into her mind that the kitten belonged to some one else, +Miss Mervyn's entrance put a stop to any further explanation. She was +anxious for Philippa to come away at once, and Philippa herself, full of +her great discovery, was equally anxious to go, for she wanted to tell +Dennis and Maisie the news without delay. They had tried to find the +kitten for such a long while, and now she had been clever enough to do +it, all by herself! + +Might they drive straight to Fieldside, she asked, instead of going +home; and in her eagerness, and the bustle of departure, she almost +forgot to say good-bye to Becky at all. Then the big empty basket was +carried out to the pony-carriage, Philippa's slim, white figure floated +after it, there _was_ a clatter of wheels, the scramble of the pony's +feet, and Becky was alone. + +Had it been a dream? Had Philippa really been there? What dreadful +thing had she said? Maisie's grey kitten! Could it, oh, could it +really be true? Perhaps it was a bad dream, after all. Becky glanced +down on the floor where Philippa had unpacked the basket. There, just +as she had left them, were all the nice things she had brought. Eggs, +cakes, jelly in a basin, neat packets of arrowroot--it was no dream. +She had really been, and brought them all with her, but what were they +compared to what she would take away? What were all the good things in +the world, if the grey kitten were to be Becky's friend and playfellow +no longer? How could she do without her? + +Poor Becky threw herself back on her couch, and covered her face with +her hands in despair. The kitten seeing this, thought her mistress was +going to take a nap, and at once settled herself in her usual place, +with her paws planted on Becky's chest, and her green eyes lazily +blinking into her face. They had passed many an hour together in this +position, but to-day the kitten noticed something strange, for presently +one shining tear and then another crept slowly between her mistress's +closed fingers. This was some new game or joke, and she at once began +to join in it, by patting at them softly, taking care not to put out her +claws, and purring to show her satisfaction. What was her surprise when +Becky suddenly caught her tightly to her breast, and bursting into +heart-broken tears, exclaimed: + +"Oh Kitty, Kitty, my own Kitty! Whatever shall I do?" + +This was certainly most puzzling, and so unlike anything in the kitten's +experience, that she could not make out what part her mistress wished +her to play. She got out of the difficulty at last by going snugly to +sleep, and presently, worn out by grief and crying, Becky was quiet too, +and began to take comfort in the thought that she should soon be able to +tell Dan all about it. He had often helped her out of troubles before, +and perhaps he would think of some way now. + +She lay with her eyes fixed patiently on the door, waiting for him to +appear; but she knew before that happened the door would open twice, +once for Mrs Tuvvy, and once for her father, who both got home earlier. +Becky had seen the same things so often from her dim corner, that she +could have described them with her eyes shut, and it was all just the +same this afternoon. A heavy, flat-footed step, and Mrs Tuvvy entered +with a tired, ill-used look on her face, cast off her shawl, untied the +strings of her bonnet, and tipped it forward on her head. Becky would +hardly have known her mother without her bonnet, for she wore it indoors +and out. Then, talking all the time in a high, drawling voice, she +proceeded to get the evening meal ready. If it were early in the week, +there would be something savoury to cook, which she had brought home +with her; or, perhaps, only a small piece of cold pork for Tuvvy's +special benefit. To-night there were some slices of ham to broil, and +the room was soon full of the sound and smell of her preparations. + +The door opened again, and Tuvvy himself swung in, with a nod and a +smile, and "How's yourself, Becky?" In times not long gone by Tuvvy had +been used to enter in a very different manner, but he always came in +steadily now, and sat down hungrily to his meals, however scanty they +might be. Last of all, Dan, rosy-faced and cheerful, burst into the +room; and then supper began, with a great clatter of knives and forks. +Becky could not eat to-night, for she had far too much on her mind, but +she knew it would be quite impossible to say anything until the meal was +over. It seemed to last a long, long time, but at length Tuvvy gave his +chair a little push back from the table, took his pipe and an old +newspaper from his pocket, and settled himself to read. Mrs Tuvvy +pulled herself out of her seat with a weary sigh, and began to journey +backward and forwards with the empty dishes to the back kitchen. Now +was the time. + +"Dan," said Becky, "come here; I've got summat to tell yer." + +Dan left off unlacing his boots, and at once went to his sister's side, +but poor Becky's heart was so big with her sad story, that it was some +time before she could make it plain to him. When he did understand it, +he sat silent for a long while, with his lips pursed up, as though he +were whistling. + +"Say summat, Dan," cried Becky, in an agony at last. + +"If so be," began Dan slowly, "as how it's Miss Maisie's kitten, 'tain't +ours." + +The kitten had finished its supper, and stretched itself out to sleep, +just under Becky's chin. She gazed at her brother over its back, as +though he were Fate itself, but said nothing. + +"And we allers said," he went on, "as how we was very grateful to Master +Dennis alonger of what he did for father." + +Becky nodded. She knew that. It had made part of her day-dreams for +months past. + +"But there didn't seem any way to show it, because they're so rich and +we're poor." Becky trembled at what was coming, as Dan went on in an +even voice, very low, so as not to disturb his father. "And now we've +got a thing to give. Course if I hadn't fought for it, and you hadn't +took care on it, 'twouldn't a been alive now at all. So we'll give it +to 'em cheerful, and be glad to do it." + +This was poor comfort. + +"Oh, I don't want to give it up," cried Becky. "I ain't glad to let it +go. I'm that fond of it." + +"Miss Maisie, she was fond of it too, wasn't she?" said Dan. + +Becky nodded. "She loved it best of the three, Miss Trevor said. But +she's got another cat, and I've got ne'er a one but this." + +"Maybe," said Dan doubtfully, "I could get yer another you'd like as +well in time." + +Becky's only answer was to kiss the kitten fervently and shake her head. + +Dan took hold of his head with both hands, and thought hard for a +minute. Then he looked up and said, "There's two things, but you +mustn't build on 'em." Becky's eyes showed a faint gleam of hope. +"First," said Dan, holding up one finger, "it may not be it. There's +more nor one grey kitten lost in Upwell. And second," holding up two, +"if it is hers, she may let you keep it. You see she had given it away +once." + +How wise Dan was! Becky began to feel a little better. + +"You mustn't build on 'em," said Dan, as he bent down to unlace his +boots; "and if you have to give it up, you must think how pleased +they'll be to have it, and do it cheerful." + +There are few things easier than to tell others what is right to do, and +few things harder than to do right one's self in some cases. Perhaps +Dan did not understand all that the loss of the kitten would mean to +Becky, when he spoke of giving it up "cheerful." He was fond of his +sister, and sorry for her; but he had many things to enjoy in his active +hard-working life, and it was natural he should sometimes forget how +hard it must be to lie all day long in one dull room, to be often in +pain, and to have nothing but a grey kitten to cheer and comfort one. +It did not seem such a mighty matter to him to give it up, but to Becky +it would be a sacrifice of her one joy and pleasure. If it must go, it +must; but as to giving it up "cheerful," that she could never, never do. +She loved it far too well. All that evening, and before she went to +sleep at night, she could not hinder her mind from dwelling on the two +chances Dan had mentioned. Oh, if one of them should turn out to be +true! In the middle of the night, she woke with a start from a dream in +which the kitten had been taken from her. She put out her hand to feel +for it, and when her fingers touched the soft furry form curled up +outside her bed, she could not help crying half with relief and half to +think that the time might come when she should feel for it, and it would +not be there. + +Now all this sad trouble might have been spared, if Philippa had been a +little more thoughtful. She was not an unkind little girl, but she was +so entirely unused to considering other people's feelings, that it did +not occur to her to imagine the effect of her words on Becky, or to say, +"Of course Maisie will let you keep the kitten." That would have +altered everything; but as it was, she was so full of her own cleverness +at the discovery, that she talked of nothing else all the way to +Fieldside, and seemed for the moment to have forgotten Becky and all she +had meant to do for her. + +It was a long way to drive round by Fieldside, and Miss Mervyn was not +very willing to go, for it was getting late. "You must promise me, my +dear Philippa," she said, "not to stay more than a few minutes if I +allow you to go in, and I will wait for you in the pony-carriage." + +Philippa promised readily, and arrived at the house, lost no time in +making her way to the field, where she was told she should find Dennis +and Maisie. At first she could see nothing of them; but presently, up +in the corner where the cowhouse, haystack, and poultry-yard stood, she +made out two busy figures in white aprons, deeply engaged with +paint-brushes and pots of scarlet paint. + +"Whatever are they doing?" she said to herself. + +They were painting the jackdaws' house, and were that moment as +perfectly happy as two children could be. Aunt Katharine had given full +permission, two immense white aprons, and a liberal supply of paint, +which last they were using freely, not only on the jackdaws' house, but +on their own persons. Maisie in particular, who _would_ take too much +on her brush at a time, had splashed and sprinkled herself all over, +even to the tip of her small round nose; so that she looked like a funny +little clown squatting on the grass. Even the dog Peter, hunting rats +under the haystack near, his agitated hind-legs only just visible, bore +a scarlet patch of paint on one toe. + +"Well!" exclaimed Philippa, when she had got close to them without being +seen, "you are making a mess!" + +"Why, it's Philippa!" exclaimed Maisie, throwing down her brush, and +scrambling up from the ground; "but we mustn't go near you," she added, +stopping short, "or you'll get all over paint." + +"Isn't it jolly?" said Dennis. "Come round here and look at the bit I'm +doing." + +"No, thank you," said Philippa primly; "I haven't come to stay. Miss +Mervyn's waiting in the pony-carriage. I've only come to say," with a +pause, "that I've found your grey kitten." + +"So have we," said Dennis coolly; "at least we think we know where it +is." + +Philippa's face fell. "Where?" she asked. + +"We don't _really_ know," said Maisie hastily, "only Dr Price saw a grey +kitten at Tuvvy's house in Upwell, and Aunt Katharine says I may go +to-morrow and see if it's ours." + +"And I don't believe you'll know whether it is or not," said Dennis. + +Philippa turned away sulkily. She was thoroughly disappointed to have +her news received in this way. + +"Oh well, then," she said, "you don't want to hear what I know about it, +and I am sorry I came round all this way to tell you. Good-bye." + +"Oh, stop! stop!" cried Maisie. "Wait for me. I want to hear very +much; I'll go with you to the gate. Do stop a minute." + +She struggled frantically as she spoke with the string of her apron, +which was tied securely round her neck, and her voice was so pleading, +that Philippa was softened. She was still cross with Dennis, who +painted away, and did not care a bit; but it was difficult to be angry +with Maisie, and when the apron was at last torn off, the two little +girls ran across the field together towards the house. + +Philippa's story turned out to be so very satisfactory and interesting. +It seemed to clear away all doubt as to the whereabouts of the grey +kitten. Maisie's eager questions and exclamations of pleasure were more +than enough to satisfy her and make her feel quite good-tempered again. + +"Did it seem happy?" inquired Maisie, as they drew near the gate. "Do +you think it's got a good home?" + +"Becky said," replied Philippa, "that it did not get much to eat +sometimes, and it's a very ugly little house they live in; but she's +very fond of it, and it's fond of her too." + +"Then I expect it's all right," said Maisie; "it was always a dear +little contented thing." + +"She said it was her greatest comfort," added Philippa. "Wasn't it odd +she should say that? It made me think of you and wonder if it was +yours, and so I came straight off to tell you after I heard it was a +stray kitten." + +"Won't you come with me to-morrow?" asked Maisie. "You see you know +Becky now, and I've never seen her." + +Philippa quite approved of this. She would ask Miss Mervyn to bring her +half-way to meet Maisie, and they would make the visit together. + +"And I daresay Dennis will come too, if he's done painting," said +Maisie. + +"That doesn't matter at all," said Philippa, as she drove away with Miss +Mervyn. + +The next morning Maisie at Fieldside and Becky at Upwell woke up +thinking of the same thing--the grey kitten--but with very different +feelings. Maisie was delighted at the idea of meeting it again, and +Becky was full of sorrow to think that she might have to say good-bye to +it for ever. After her parents and Dan had all started out to their +work, and left her alone with the kitten as usual, she thought it all +seriously over, and made one firm resolve--she would not cry. If to +give it up cheerful was impossible, she would at least prevent her grief +from being seen. It might be hard, but it must be done, because, as Dan +had said, Dennis and Maisie had been so good to them. "I'll shut my +teeth tight," determined Becky, "and they shan't ever know I want to +cry. Then, after they're gone, I can cry as much as I like." + +With a sigh she proceeded to get the kitten ready for the visit, by +brushing its coat carefully and smoothing it down with a duster. It had +not very thick fur, but it was glossy and well-kept, and it was so used +to kind treatment that it bore itself with confidence, like a cat with a +good home. If there were nothing striking or handsome in its +appearance, there was at least nothing slinking or miserable about it, +and to Becky, who looked at it with the eyes of affection, it had every +attraction a cat could possess. + +"And now you're as ready as you can be," she said wistfully; "a collar +or a bit o' ribbon would finish yer off, but I ain't got ne'er a one. +Miss Maisie she'll have lots o' ribbons, and nicer things a deal for you +to eat than I can give you, but she can't love you better. Maybe you'd +be happier, but oh Kitty, Kitty, I hope you ain't her cat. I want to +keep you, I _do_." + +There was a knock at the door. "Come in," said Becky in a trembling +voice, and both she and the kitten turned their eyes towards it in a +frightened manner as it opened. + +Philippa appeared first, stepping daintily forward with a swing of her +elegant skirts, and for a moment Becky thought she was alone. But no, +there was another little girl behind her, with rosy cheeks and very +bright brown eyes. She came in shyly, and yet she looked very eager, +and her gaze was fastened immediately on the kitten in Becky's arms. + +"It's Miss Maisie," thought Becky, her grasp unconsciously tightening on +its back. + +"This," said Philippa, waving her hand grandly, "is my cousin, Miss +Maisie Chester, and--" turning to Maisie--"this is Becky, and that's the +kitten." + +"How do you do?" said Maisie holding out her hand; "I hope you're +better." + +It was such a very kind little round face that approached that Becky +could not feel afraid. She put out her hand and whispered, "Yes, thank +you." + +"Philippa says," continued Maisie, still with her eyes fixed on the +kitten, "that you've found a stray kitten. And we lost a kitten--a grey +one--in Upwell, and Aunt Katharine said I might come and see if this is +it." + +Face to face with the kitten at last, Maisie began to lose confidence in +her memory. After all, it was a long time since she had seen it, and +there were a great many grey cats in the world, and Dennis had always +declared that it would be impossible to know it again. Her serious gaze +rested on the kitten, Becky's on her face, and Philippa waited +impatiently in the background for the decision. + +"Well," she said at last; "is it it, or isn't it?" + +"The thing is," began Maisie, "has it one white paw?" + +Alas for Becky! She knew it had, only too well. Lifting it a little +away from her, there was the fatal white paw plainly visible to Maisie's +searching glance. + +"And then," she continued, having observed this with a grave nod, "has +it very nice little coaxing affectionate ways?" + +Becky nodded with a full heart. She could not trust herself to speak. + +"Does it purr much?" pursued Maisie. "_More_ than other cats?" + +Again Becky nodded. She had clenched her teeth long ago, but she began +to be afraid that nothing would prevent her crying. + +"May I have it in my arms?" asked Maisie. + +She took it gently on to her knee, but the kitten had quite forgotten +its babyhood, and thinking her an utter stranger, soon wriggled back to +its mistress. + +"It doesn't remember me," said Maisie rather sadly, "and yet I nursed it +so very often." + +"It _is_ yours, then?" said Philippa. + +"Yes," said Maisie. "I really and truly do believe it is, and I'm very +glad." + +She glanced at Becky as she spoke, and to her surprise saw that her eyes +were full of tears. + +"What's the matter?" she asked; "does your back hurt you?" + +Becky shook her head. "'Tain't that," she managed to whisper. "I meant +not to cry, but I don't seem able to keep it back." + +She stopped and struggled with her tears, tore away the kitten, which +clung to her with its little claws, and almost threw it into Maisie's +lap. + +"You're welcome to it," she sobbed out, "and you'll treat it kind." + +At this rough usage the kitten gave a tiny mew of complaint, and Maisie +herself was quite as much disturbed. She looked round at Philippa for +help, stroked the kitten nervously, and stammered: "But it isn't mine +any longer--I gave it away; didn't you know?" + +"I told her all about it," said Philippa. "I told her it was given to +the tinsmith's wife." + +"And, of course, you said we shouldn't take it away?" said Maisie. + +"Well, no," said Philippa, looking a little ashamed, as she remembered +her hasty departure; "I didn't tell her that. I thought she would know +it." + +Maisie put the kitten gently back into Becky's arms. + +"Don't be unhappy," she said. "Of course I'd much rather it stayed with +you than with old Sally's Eliza; and I am sure she won't mind, because, +you see, she hardly knew it before it ran away. And we couldn't have it +at Fieldside, because we mustn't keep more than two cats, and we've got +Madam and Darkie. And I don't want it either, because now I know it's +happy and comfortable, I don't mind any longer." + +Becky found it almost as hard not to cry now as it had been before, the +relief was so great; but she managed to whisper some earnest thanks, as +she clasped her pet closely to her. + +"I hope it will always be a comfort to you," said Maisie, as the +children said good-bye. "I always said it would grow up a nice little +comforting cat, though it was never so pretty as the others. And now," +she remarked to Philippa as they drove home, "the kittens are settled. +They've each got a good home, and we know which has grown up the +greatest comfort." + + + +CHAPTER THIRTEEN. + +STRAWBERRIES AND CREAM. + +Summer, which had seemed very long in coming to Dennis and Maisie, had +at last made up its mind, and was really here, bringing all its best +pleasures and most beautiful things to look at and enjoy. It was really +hot weather, so that it was possible almost to live out of doors, and to +have tea in the garden as a matter of course. Hot enough always to wear +cotton frocks and holland suits, and sun-bonnets and broad straw hats, +to do very few lessons, and to be out quite late in the evening. The +roses were in bloom, the fields smelt sweet with new-mown hay, the +strawberries were ripe: it was glorious June weather. + +But at Upwell, though it was quite as hot, it was not by any means so +beautiful. There the narrow dusty streets were stifling; the sun's +fierce rays beat down on the houses all day, and when night came, it +brought no coolness or relief, and there seemed no air to breathe. It +was not so bad for the people who could get away from the town when +their work was done, into the fields and lanes for a while; but there +were some who were old or sick and could not move, and amongst these was +poor Becky. She got thinner and whiter and weaker as the hot days +followed each other, and though she was very patient, and always ready +to say, "Better, thank you," with a smile, when her visitors asked how +she was, she did not really feel better at all. + +But though this was the case, she was not unhappy, and the days were +seldom long and weary as they used to be, for she now had three friends +who paid her constant visits--Philippa, Maisie, and Dennis. To expect +their coming, to think of all they had said, and how they had looked, +were such new pleasures that Becky was now more than contented with her +lot. Some day she was going to get well, and run about again, and +perhaps dance to the organ in the street; meanwhile she had her kitten, +and she had her friends; it was all much better than it used to be. +Amongst the three, she perhaps looked forward the least to seeing +Philippa, who never came without an offering of some kind--a +picture-book, or something nice to eat. Philippa tried hard to please, +but there was always a little condescension in her manner, from which +her cousins were quite free. + +Maisie and Dennis seldom brought any present but a bunch of flowers, or +a few strawberries, yet they seemed to leave behind them many other +pleasant things to think of, which lasted until they came again. So +Becky, in spite of aches and pains, thought herself very lucky just now, +and would indeed have been surprised to know that there were still +luckier days waiting for her not very far off. + +For, meeting Dr Price in Upwell one day, Aunt Katharine stopped to speak +to him, and asked what he thought of Becky, and whether she would soon +get stronger. Dr Price shook his head. + +"I can't do much more for her," he said, "all the while she has to stop +in that stuffy room and get no fresh air. She ought to be out all day +this weather. A month in the country would give her a chance." + +A month in the country! Aunt Katharine drove home full of thought, and +instead of stopping at Fieldside, went straight on to the Manor Farm. +Could Mrs Solace tell her, she asked, after describing Becky's condition +in a moving manner, of any suitable place in the village where the child +could be lodged for a while? Now, if Mrs Solace had a weakness, it was +to nurse and pet up anything ailing or delicate, and restore it to +health. She did wonders with weakly chickens, invalid cows, and other +creatures on the farm requiring care and comfort. + +"Why shouldn't the child come here, Miss Chester?" she asked at once. + +"Well, of course," replied Aunt Katharine, inwardly rejoiced at her +success, "if you don't mind the trouble--" + +No trouble at all, Mrs Solace declared, with her large beaming smile. +There would be new milk for her, and fresh air, and the garden to sit +in, and the beasts to amuse her; and she'd be better off than anywhere +in the village. As to Andrew--certainly there had been a time when +Andrew wouldn't have wished to encourage the Tuvvys, but that was over +and done with. Tuvvy was as steady as you please now, and a valuable +workman, and they'd be pleased to do anything for his child. Before +Aunt Katharine left, the very hour and day of Becky's arrival were +fixed. She was to come back in one of Mr Solace's wagons, which had to +carry a load to Upwell station. + +"She'll travel easiest so," said Mrs Solace, "because she can lie flat; +and there's a tilt to the cart, so she'll be well shaded from the sun." + +In this way, a few days later, Becky performed the journey between +Upwell and Fieldside, not without a little fear and trembling at going +so far into the wide world. When the moment came, it was hard to leave +the dim room, the uneasy couch, the things she knew so well; and the +look of the bright sunshine outside dazzled her unaccustomed eyes and +made her blink. She had, however, two great comforts. Dan had begged a +day's holiday that he might see her safely to the Manor Farm, and Mrs +Solace had invited the grey kitten to come also. With these two friends +to support her, Becky felt some courage, and after all, although she did +not know Mr or Mrs Solace, there would be father at work quite near, and +visits from the children at Fieldside. + +Mr Solace's big wagon seemed to fill Market Street. The four iron-grey +horses tossed all their gleaming brass medals with a jingling sound, as +they stamped impatiently at the flies and gnats. + +"We'll not have a heavy load home along, anyway," said George the +carter, as he lifted Becky and her little bundle carefully on to the +mattress in the wagon, "and you'll ride like a queen." + +When she was comfortably settled, with Dan by her side holding the +kitten in a hamper, the journey began. Not a hurried or discomposing +one, for the grey horses, knowing that there was plenty of time before +them, never changed their pace from a stately walk the whole way. So +the wagon rolled majestically along through the noisy streets, out into +the quiet open country, and carried Becky towards new scenes and fresh +faces. The children at Fieldside had entreated permission to go and +receive her on her arrival, but this Aunt Katharine would not allow. + +"She will be tired, and perhaps rather shy at coming amongst strangers," +she said; "the fewer people she sees at first the better. Leave her to +Mrs Solace." + +So Dennis and Maisie had to content themselves with seeing the wagon +pass through the village, and knowing that Becky was in it. The next +day Tuvvy stopped on his way home to say that she was not much tired, +and doing finely, and Mrs Solace would be glad if Miss Maisie and Master +Dennis would call in to see her. It was most provoking after this, that +quite suddenly, following weeks of fine bright weather, the rain began, +and would not leave off. Day after day one steady downpour: streaming +window-panes, great puddles in the garden paths, grey sky, and wet green +leaves. + +"_Isn't_ it unlucky for Becky?" said Maisie, looking out of the +play-room window at the dreary dripping scene. "She won't be able to go +out at all." + +"It's unlucky for every one," answered Dennis. "Mr Solace doesn't want +rain with nearly all his hay down." + +Maisie's eyes were fixed on the grass-plot beneath the window, where a +company of starlings were busily engaged digging for worms and grubs. + +"It isn't unlucky for quite every one," she remarked; "the birds like +it." + +"But the worms don't," added Dennis quickly. + +Maisie was silent. She had a tender heart, but she disliked worms very +much, and was always filled with disgust and fear when she dug them up +in her little garden. She could not feel quite so sorry for them as she +did for other things in trouble. + +"There's one good thing," resumed Dennis, after a little silence, "it +_can't_ go on raining much longer, because of Mrs Solace's strawberry +party. It's certain to clear up in time for that." + +Maisie agreed. "But," she added with a sigh, "that's a whole week off, +and I do so want to see how Becky and the kitten are getting on." + +Mrs Solace's strawberry party was a yearly entertainment which she +always gave in June, just when the strawberries were ripe, and the +children considered it the very best party in the summer. Others might +be grander: at the vicarage, for instance, there was always a band, and +at the Broadbents' there were glee-singers and ices; but when all +attractions had been counted up, the Manor Farm still remained the place +which pleased them most. Every one went to Mrs Solace's party, and came +away with a feeling that they had spent a pleasant time. The vicar and +his sister never missed it; Aunt Katharine and the children, the +Broadbents, and others owning farms near Fieldside--even Dr Price, who +was shy of gatherings in general--all met and talked to each other with +smiling faces in the pretty old garden at the Manor Farm. Tea, with +heaped-up dishes of strawberries, and a plentiful supply of cream, stood +ready on little tables under the veranda, so that people could help +themselves when and how they liked. Nothing could be more simple than +Mrs Solace's preparations, and yet her party was always successful. She +asked every one, paying no attention at all to family quarrels or the +niceties of social position amongst the neighbouring farmers, and yet +there were no haughty looks. Even the Broadbents, who were always +prepared to be a little superior to every one, laid aside their elegant +exclusiveness, and descended to the common ground of unaffected +good-nature and enjoyment. + +Perhaps one of the great reasons that made the party so pleasant was, +that you might, as Dennis had said, always count on having a fine day. +However wet or dull or cold it had been, the weather was sure to clear, +and the sun to shine, for Mrs Solace, just on that special occasion, so +that the children had grown to expect it as a matter of course. And yet +another reason lay in the simple kindliness and good-will of Mrs Solace +herself. The genial warmth of her welcome spread itself abroad and +influenced her guests, much as the bountiful rays of the sun turned all +the flowers and fruit to colour and sweetness in her garden. Sour +looks, stiff manners, and peevish remarks seemed out of place, and as +impossible on that day as cold winds, a cloudy sky, or unripe +strawberries. + +Mrs Solace had her usual luck this year: by the time the day of the +party came, the rain was over and gone, and the sun was shining so +brightly, that clouds and greyness were quite forgotten. + +Philippa had come over from Haughton to go with her cousins; and the +children, who always thought Aunt Katharine started much too late, +begged that they might walk over earlier alone. + +"We want to have a good long time with Becky, you see," said Maisie; +"and we shan't be in any one's way." + +When they arrived, therefore, at the door in the long grey wall which +skirted the Manor Farm garden, they felt sure they were the very first +guests, and walked slowly towards the house, expecting to meet Becky at +every turn; for after a whole week at the farm, she surely ought to be +running about as if there were nothing the matter with her! + +But there was no Becky, nor any one else to be seen in the garden. The +flowers and the bees had it all to themselves, and were blooming and +buzzing away as happily as possible, with no one to notice them. After +the rain, all the blossoms looked as bright and fresh as though they had +just put on new clothes to do honour to Mrs Solace's party; and, indeed, +they always seemed to enjoy their lives, and to bloom more abundantly +here than anywhere else. + +Aunt Katharine was proud of her garden, and took a great deal of pains +to make her flowers do well; but with all her best efforts, they did not +flourish like these, and yet there was so little trouble taken about +them. They grew very much how they would and where they would. When +they got too thick, they were weeded out; and when one sort died, it was +renewed in exactly the same place year after year. Some which were left +entirely to their own way, like the snapdragons, seemed to thrive best +of all. These thrust themselves into the crevices of the old wall, +waved in triumph along the top of it, and had sown themselves +industriously at the sides of the garden paths, reaching out their +velvety, glowing mouths from the most unexpected places, for the +dusty-legged humble bees to dive into. + +Certainly the bees had a fine time of it in the Manor garden, and plenty +of sweetness to choose from, amongst the herbs, roses, and pinks which +were mixed up together with the vegetables. These were separated by a +wall from the lawn and flower-garden, and when the farmhouse came in +view, the children saw that they were not the first visitors after all, +for there were figures moving about under the deep veranda, and soon +they were able to make out Becky sitting in a big wicker-chair with a +cushion at her back. + +"And she's got on my pink sun-bonnet that Aunt Katharine sent her," said +Maisie. + +All the way along they had been talking of Becky, and felt that they had +a great deal to ask her about her journey, and what she thought of the +Manor Farm; but now that they were here, and had shaken hands with her, +a sudden silence fell on them all. Somehow Becky in her new +surroundings struck them as a sort of stranger, and they stood round +her, looking shyly at each other, without finding anything to say. This +did not suit Philippa. + +"Come and show me where the strawberry beds are," she said to Dennis, +and when they had run away together, Maisie drew up a chair and sat down +by Becky's side. + +"How do you like being here?" she asked. + +Becky had a faint tinge of colour in her face now, like a China rose +washed in the rain; her dark eyes looked brighter, and when she smiled, +something that would soon be a dimple showed in her cheek. + +"Very well, thank you," she answered. "I can walk a bit now. This +morning I walked as far as yonder rose-bush, and to-morrow I'm goin' to +try and get up to the big tree." + +"Very well" might have sounded faint praise for the Manor Farm to +unaccustomed ears; but Maisie knew that the country-people used the term +to express the very highest satisfaction, so she was quite content. + +From their snug corner under the shady veranda, the children watched the +arrival of the guests, as they came out of the house in twos and threes, +and moved into the bright sunshine on the lawn. + +"It's like looking at a peep-show or a magic-lantern," said Maisie; +"we're in the shadow and they're in the light. Now I'll tell you who +they are. Here's Mrs Broadbent and Emmeline and Lilian." + +Mrs Broadbent and her two daughters stopped on their way to make many +excuses for the absence of Mr Broadbent. + +"He's such a one, Mr Solace, for sticking to his work; isn't he, girls? +I said this morning, `Now do take a little rest, papa, this afternoon, +and leave things to your bailiff for once.' But no. `The master's +eye,' he says, `does more work than both his hands.'" + +"Well, he's in the right there," said Mr Solace good-humouredly. + +"That's little Miss Chester, isn't it?" she went on, her sharp eye +catching sight of the children, "and her cousin, Miss Trevor? How +delicate she looks, poor child!" She nodded and smiled graciously. + +"No, that's not Miss Trevor," replied Mr Solace; "that's my +wheelwright's little girl. She's been ill, and she's stopping here for +change of air. My wife's going to nurse her up a bit." + +"So _odd_!" remarked Mrs Broadbent, as she and her daughters moved on +into the garden. "I really do think Mrs Solace might draw the line +_somewhere_." + +"There's Mr Hurst," continued Maisie; "he's our vicar, you know; and the +little lady with white hair and a big hat is his sister, who lives with +him. And he's talking to your doctor, Dr Price. I wish he was our +doctor, but we're never ill, so it doesn't matter much. I like Dr +Price, ever since he told me about the kitten, only I wish he wouldn't +keep such cruel dogs. Where _is_ the kitten? Didn't you bring her?" + +There was a little lump on Becky's knees covered up by her pinafore. +She lifted a corner of it, and showed the grey kitten snugly asleep, +curled up like a ball. + +"I was afraid so many strange folk would scare her," she said. + +The garden was soon full of the sound of voices and laughter, and alive +with many-coloured figures. Preparations for tea began to appear in the +veranda, and presently Dennis and Philippa came slowly back with heated +faces, each bearing a cabbage-leaf full of strawberries. + +"Philippa will say that they have bigger ones at Haughton," said Dennis; +"so I was determined to find the very biggest I could. Now just look +here, Philippa!" He spread out his cabbage-leaf exultingly. "The Manor +Farm's _famous_ for its strawberries; there's nothing like them for +miles round. Yours at Haughton are all very well, but the very largest +would be squinny beside these." + +Philippa had plenty to say on the subject as usual, and she carried on a +lively dispute with Dennis as to the merits of the strawberries, until +the children's tea was brought out, and placed on a little table all to +themselves. + +During their meal, they could watch the other guests, who came in and +out from the garden to rest from the glare of the sun, or to taste the +strawberries and cream and other good things provided for them. They +all talked and laughed a great deal, and their talk was almost entirely +about strawberries and cream. One preferred strawberries alone; another +considered cream such a great improvement; a third found the mixture +unwholesome, but the fruit alone, beneficial. Lilian Broadbent +sauntered in, very much overcome with the heat, and threw herself +languidly into the wicker-chair which an attentive young farmer hastened +to bring. + +"That is the one they want her to marry," whispered Dennis, who knew +every one's affairs. + +Would she have some strawberries? With or without cream? Did she take +sugar? Would she have them prepared for her? After a careless assent +had been given to all these questions, Miss Broadbent thought that on +the whole strawberries tasted better picked for one's self, only the +very thought of stooping in the sun made her head ache. While her +admirer suggested ways of overcoming this difficulty, Aunt Katharine and +Mr Solace came in, and talked gravely of crops, and then the portly +figures of Mrs Solace and Dr Price approached, and stopped to look at +the little party of children. + +"Your patient does you credit, Mrs Solace," said the doctor. "She looks +better already. She'll soon be out of my hands, if she goes on at this +rate." + +Mrs Solace smiled at Becky with the same sort of comfortable pride as +when she looked at a remarkably fine brood of turkeys. + +"She's picking up a bit," she said; "but it's early days yet. We'll see +how she looks after she's been here a month. I shouldn't wonder if she +gets as hearty as Miss Maisie yonder.--Have you told Miss Maisie, Becky, +what we're going to make of you, when you get quite strong and well?" + +Becky looked shyly down at her plate. It was impossible to answer with +so many people waiting to hear. + +"Well, well, she'll tell you presently, I daresay," said Mrs Solace, as +she moved away with Dr Price's huge figure plunging along beside her. + +"What did Mrs Solace mean?" asked Maisie eagerly, when they were out of +hearing. + +"It's about the chickens," said Becky. "I like 'em ever so much, and +Mrs Solace said this morning that some day she'd ask mother to let me +come and bide here and look after 'em; but I've got to get strong, and +grow a bit first." + +"Well!" exclaimed Dennis enviously, "you _are_ in luck!" + +"I should earn wages, like Dan," said Becky. + +"I only wish I had the chance of working on the farm," said Dennis; "but +Aunt Katharine says I must go to school, and all sorts of things, +first." + +"What would you like to be, if you could?" asked Philippa. + +Dennis mashed up his strawberries thoughtfully. + +"Wheelwright _best_," he answered; "only that wouldn't have anything to +do with the animals. I should like to be the pig-man very well; but +it's no use saying what I should like, because I shan't have the +chance." + +"How nice it will be," said Maisie to Becky, as she set a saucer of +cream carefully on the ground for the kitten, "when you and the grey +kitten are settled here. Isn't it odd that she should have the very +best home of the three, after all? We never thought it would turn out +so." + +"And she was the meanest and smallest of all the kittens," said Dennis. + +"But," added Maisie, "Philippa and I have quite settled that she's the +nicest of them, because she's been the greatest comfort." + +And now, while the sun shines, and there are happy voices and smiles all +around, it is a good moment for us to say farewell to Dennis and Maisie, +Philippa and Becky, and to wish them prosperity. We have seen a little +part of their lives, and can only guess what shall befall them further; +but we know that life cannot be all sunshine and strawberry parties, and +that grey skies and dull moments will come to each as time goes on. The +best thing we can wish for them, therefore, is that they may be happy +whether the sun shines or the rain falls in their way through the world: +and this they can surely be, if their hearts are warm and their hands +are willing to love and serve others, both in sadness and joy. + +THE END. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Black, White and Gray, by Amy Walton + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BLACK, WHITE AND GRAY *** + +***** This file should be named 23130.txt or 23130.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/3/1/3/23130/ + +Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England + +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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