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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Explorers of the Dawn, by Mazo de la Roche
+
+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: Explorers of the Dawn
+
+Author: Mazo de la Roche
+
+Release Date: May 2, 2008 [EBook #25283]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EXPLORERS OF THE DAWN ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Charlene Taylor, Matt Whittaker and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This
+file was produced from images generously made available
+by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries)
+
+
+
+
+
+***Transcriber's Notes: The partial phrase--"Child, it shall not be
+done," consoled the--appears naturally in the original version on page 191
+(Chapter VII, section II), and in a printer's error, is inserted between
+two halves of a hyphenated word on page 204; the latter was omitted. The
+use of hyphens in words was made consistent throughout. Variant spelling
+and dialect was faithfully preserved.***
+
+
+
+
+Explorers of the Dawn
+
+
+
+
+_NEW BORZOI NOVELS SPRING, 1922_
+
+
+WANDERERS
+  _Knut Hamsun_
+
+MEN OF AFFAIRS
+  _Roland Pertwee_
+
+THE FAIR REWARDS
+  _Thomas Beer_
+
+I WALKED IN ARDEN
+  _Jack Crawford_
+
+GUEST THE ONE-EYED
+  _Gunnar Gunnarsson_
+
+THE GARDEN PARTY
+  _Katherine Mansfield_
+
+THE LONGEST JOURNEY
+  _E. M. Forster_
+
+THE SOUL OF A CHILD
+  _Edwin Björkman_
+
+CYTHEREA
+  _Joseph Hergesheimer_
+
+EXPLORERS OF THE DAWN
+  _Mazo de la Roche_
+
+THE WHITE KAMI
+  _Edward Alden Jewell_
+
+
+
+
+Explorers of the Dawn
+
+by Mazo de la Roche
+With a Foreword by
+Christopher Morley
+
+New York
+Alfred A Knopf
+1922
+
+
+_Published February, 1922_
+_Second Printing, March, 1922_
+_Third Printing, May, 1922_
+
+
+_Set up, electrotyped, and printed by the Vail-Ballou Co., Binghamton,
+N. Y. Paper supplied by W. F. Etherington & Co., New York, N. Y. Bound by
+the Plimpton Press, Norwood, Mass._
+
+MANUFACTURED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
+
+
+
+
+     _But a short while ago, A. de la R. laughed with me over the
+     adventures of these little fellows. To the memory of that happy
+     laughter I dedicate the book._
+
+     _M. de la R._
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+CHAPTER                                              PAGE
+
+     I   BURIED TREASURE                               15
+
+    II   THE JILT                                      52
+
+   III   EXPLORERS OF THE DAWN                         76
+
+    IV   A MERRY INTERLUDE                             99
+
+     V   FREEDOM                                      127
+
+    VI   D'YE KEN JOHN PEEL                           160
+
+   VII   GRANFA                                       187
+
+  VIII   NOBLESSE OBLIGE                              219
+
+    IX   THE COBBLER AND HIS WIFE                     250
+
+     X   THE NEW DAY                                  276
+
+
+
+
+_FOREWORD_
+
+_The publisher has asked me to write a note of introduction to this book.
+Surely it needs none; but it is a pleasant task to write prefaces for other
+people's books. When one writes a preface to a book of one's own, one
+naturally grovels, deprecates, and has no opportunity to call the friendly
+reader's attention to what the author considers the beauties and
+significances of the work. How agreeable, then, to be able to do this
+service for another._
+
+_Moreover, one hopes that such a service may not be wholly vain. Every book
+has its own special audience, for whom--very likely unconsciously--it was
+written: the group of people, far spread over the curve of earth, who will
+find in that particular book just the sort of magic and wisdom that they
+seek. And, as every one who has studied the book business knows, books very
+often tragically miss just the public that was waiting for them. It is such
+an obscure and nebulous problem, getting the book into the hands of the
+people to whom it will appeal. One knows that there are thousands of
+readers for whom that book (whatever it may be) will mean keen pleasure.
+But how is one to find them and bring the volume to their eyes?_
+
+_I owe to the "Atlantic Monthly" my own introduction to Miss de la Roche's
+writing. Several years ago, when I was acting as a modest periscope for a
+publishing house, I read in the "Atlantic" a fanciful little story by her
+which seemed to me so delicate and humorous in fancy, so refreshing and
+happy in expression, that I wrote to the author in the hope of some day
+luring her to offer a book to the house with which I was connected. We had
+some pleasant correspondence. Time passed: I fell from the placid ramparts
+of the publishing business, into the more noisy but not less happy bustle
+of the newspaper world. But still, though I am not a conscientious
+correspondent, I managed to keep occasionally in touch with Miss de la
+Roche. For a while I seemed highly unsuccessful as her ambassador into the
+high court of publishing. Then, one day, lunching with Mr. Alfred Knopf at
+a small tavern on Vesey Street (which was subsequently abolished by the New
+York City Health Department as being unfit to offer what one of the small
+boys in this book calls "nushment") I happened to tell him about Miss de la
+Roche's work. I saw his eye, an eye of special clarity and brilliance,
+widen and darken with that particular emotion exhibited by a publisher who
+feels what is vulgarly known as a "hunch." He said he would "look into" the
+matter; and this book is the result._
+
+_The phrase "look into" is perhaps appropriate as applied to this book. For
+it is one of those books where the eye of the attentive reader sees more
+than a mere sparkling flow of words on a running surface of narrative. Of
+course this is not one of those books that "everybody_ must _read." It is
+not likely to become fashionable. But it seems to me so truly charming, so
+felicitous in subtle touches of humour, so tenderly moved with an
+under-running current of wistfulness, that surely it will find its own
+lovers; who will be, perhaps, among those who utter the names of Barrie and
+Kenneth Grahame with a special sound of voice._
+
+_Perhaps, since I myself was one of a family of three boys, the story of
+Angel, Seraph and John, makes a prejudicial claim upon my affection. I must
+admit that it is evident the author of the book was never herself a small
+boy: sometimes their imperfections are a little too perfect, too femininely
+and romantically conceived, to make me feel one of them. They have not
+quite the rowdy actuality of Mr. Tarkington's urchins. But the, fact that
+the whole story is told with a poet's imagination, and viewed through a
+golden cloud of fancy, gives us countervailing beauties that a strictly
+naturalistic treatment would miss. Let us not forget that we are in a
+"Cathedral Town"; and next door is a Bishop. And certainly in the vigorous
+and great-hearted Mary Ellen we stand solidly on the good earth of human
+nature "as is."_
+
+_It is not the intention of the introducer to anticipate the reader's
+pleasure by selfishly pointing out some of the dainty touches of humour
+that will arouse the secret applause of the mind. One thing only occurs to
+be said. The scene of the tale is said to be in England. And yet, to the
+zealous observer, there will seem to be some flavours that are hardly
+English. The language of the excellent Mary Ellen, for instance, comes to
+me with a distinct cisatlantic sound. Nor can I, somehow, visualize a
+planked back garden in an English Cathedral Town. I am wondering about
+this, and I conclude that perhaps it is due to the fact that Miss de la
+Roche lives in Toronto, that delightful city where the virtues of both
+England and America are said to be subtly and consummately blended. Her
+story, as simple and refreshing as the tune of an old song, and yet so
+richly spiced with humour, perhaps presents a blend of qualities and
+imaginations that we would only find in Canada; for the Canadians, after
+all, are the true Anglo-Americans. Perhaps they do not like to be called
+so? But I mean it well: I mean that they combine the good qualities of both
+sides._
+
+_And so one wishes good fortune to this book in its task--which every book
+must face for itself--of discovering its destined friends. There will be
+some readers, I think, who will look through it as through an open window,
+into a land of clear gusty winds and March sunshine and volleying church
+bells on Sunday mornings, into a land of terrible contradictions, a land
+whose emigrés look back to it tenderly, yet without too poignant
+regret--the Almost Forgotten Land of childhood._
+
+CHRISTOPHER MORLEY.
+
+
+
+
+_Chapter I: Buried Treasure_
+
+
+I
+
+Probably our father would never have chosen Mrs. Handsomebody to be our
+governess and guardian during the almost two years he spent in South
+America, had it not seemed the natural thing to hand us over to the
+admirable woman who had been his own teacher in early boyhood.
+
+Had he not been bewildered by the sudden death of our young mother, he
+might have recalled scenes between himself and Mrs. Handsomebody that would
+have made him hesitate to leave three stirring boys under her entire
+control. Possibly he forgot that he had had his parents, and a doting aunt
+or two, to pad the angularities of Mrs. Handsomebody's rule, and to say
+whether or not her limber cane should seek his plumpest and most tender
+parts.
+
+Then, too, at that period, Mrs. Handsomebody was still unmarried. As Miss
+Wigmore she had not yet captured and quelled the manly spirit of Mr.
+Handsomebody. From being a blustering sort of man, he had become, Mary
+Ellen said, very mild and fearful.
+
+On his demise Mrs. Handsomebody was left in solitary possession of a tall,
+narrow house, in the shadow of the grey Cathedral in the rather grey and
+grim old town of Misthorpe. Here, Angel and The Seraph and I were set down
+one April morning, fresh from the country house, where we had been born;
+our mother's kisses still warm, one might say, on our round young cheeks.
+
+Unaccustomed to restraint, we were introduced into an atmosphere of
+drabness and restraint, best typified, perhaps, by the change from our
+tender, springy country turf, to the dry, blistered planks of Mrs.
+Handsomebody's back yard. Angel, fiery, candid, inconstant; the careless
+possessor of a beautiful boys' treble, which was to develop into the
+incomparable tenor of today--next, myself, a year younger, but equally tall
+and courageous, in a more dogged way--then, The Seraph, three years my
+junior, he was just five, following where we led with a blind loyalty,
+"Stubborn, strong and jolly as a pie."
+
+Truly when I think of us, as we were then, and when I remember how we came
+like a wild disturbing wind into that solemn house, I am inclined to pity
+Mrs. Handsomebody.
+
+Even when she sent us to bed in the colossal four-poster, in the middle of
+the afternoon, we were scarcely downcast, for it was not such a bad
+playground after all, and by drawing the curtains, we could shut ourselves
+completely away from the world dominated by petticoats.
+
+Then there was Mary Ellen, with her "followers," always our firm ally,
+brimming with boisterous good health. Looking back, I am convinced that
+Mrs. Handsomebody deserves our sympathy.
+
+
+II
+
+It was Saturday morning, and we three were in Mrs. Handsomebody's
+parlour--Angel, and The Seraph, and I.
+
+No sooner had the front door closed upon the tall angular figure of the
+lady, bearing her market basket, than we shut our books with a snap, ran on
+tiptoe to the top of the stairs, and, after a moment's breathless
+listening, cast our young forms on the smooth walnut bannister, and glided
+gloriously to the bottom.
+
+Regularly on a Saturday morning she went to market, and with equal
+regularity we cast off the yoke of her restraint, slid down the bannisters,
+and entered the forbidden precincts of the Parlour.
+
+On other week days the shutters of this grim apartment were kept closed,
+and an inquisitive eye, applied to the keyhole, could just faintly discern
+the portrait in crayon of the late Mr. Handsomebody, presiding, like some
+whiskered ghost, over the revels of the stuffed birds in the glass case
+below him.
+
+But on a Saturday morning Mary Ellen swept and dusted there. The shutters
+were thrown open, and the thin-legged piano and the haircloth furniture
+were furbished up for the morrow. Moreover Mary Ellen liked our company.
+She had a spooky feeling about the parlour. Mr. Handsomebody gave her the
+creeps, she said, and once when she had turned her back she had heard one
+of the stuffed birds twitter. It was a gruesome thought.
+
+When we bounded in on her, Mary Ellen was dragging the broom feebly across
+the gigantic green and red lilies of the carpet, her bare red arms moving
+like listless antennæ. She could, when she willed, work vigorously and
+well, but no one knew when a heavy mood might seize her, and render her as
+useless as was compatible with retaining her situation.
+
+"Och, byes!" she groaned, leaning on her broom. "This Spring weather do be
+makin' me as wake as a blind kitten! Sure, I feel this mornin' like as if
+I'd a stone settin' on my stomach, an' me head feels as light as
+thistledown. I wisht the missus'd fergit to come home an' I could take a
+day off--but there's no such luck for Mary Ellen!"
+
+She made a few more passes with her broom and then sighed.
+
+"I think I'll soon be lavin' this place," she said.
+
+A vision of the house without the cheering presence of Mary Ellen rose
+blackly before us. We crowded round her.
+
+"Now, see here," said Angel masterfully, putting his arms about her stout
+waist. "You know perfectly well that father's coming back from South
+America soon to make a home for us, and that you are to come and be our
+cook, and make apple-dumplings, and have all the followers you like."
+
+Now Angel knew whereof he spoke, for Mary Ellen's "followers" were a bone
+of contention between her and her mistress.
+
+"Aw, Master Angel," she expostulated, "What a tongue ye have in yer head to
+be sure! Followers, is it? Sure, they're the bane o' me life! Now git out
+av the way o' the dust, all of yez, or I'll put a tin ear on ye!" And she
+began to swing her broom vigorously.
+
+We ran to the window and looked out but no sooner had we looked out than we
+whistled with astonishment at what we saw.
+
+First you must know that on the west of Mrs. Handsomebody's house stood the
+broad, ivy-clad mansion of the Bishop, grey stone, like the Cathedral; on
+the east was a dingy white brick house, exactly like Mrs. Handsomebody's.
+In it lived Mr. and Mrs. Mortimer Pegg and their three servants.
+
+To us they seemed very elegant, if somewhat uninteresting people. Mrs.
+Mortimer Pegg frequently had carriage callers, and not seldom sallied forth
+herself in a sedate victoria from the livery stables. But beyond an
+occasional flutter of excitement when their horses stopped at our very
+gate, there was little in this prim couple to interest us. So neat and
+precise were they as they tripped down the street together, that we called
+them (out of Mrs. Handsomebody's hearing) Mr. and Mrs. "Cribbage" Pegg.
+
+Now, on this morning in mid-spring when we looked out of the window our
+eyes discovered an object of such compelling interest in the Pegg's front
+garden that we rubbed them again to make sure that we were broad awake.
+
+Striding up and down the small enclosure was a tall old man wearing a
+brilliant-hued, flowered dressing-gown, that hung open at the neck,
+disclosing his long brown throat and hairy chest, and flapping negligently
+about his heels as he strode.
+
+He had bushy iron-grey hair and moustache, and tufts of curly grey beard
+grew around his chin and ears. His nose was large and sun-burned; and every
+now and again he would stop in his caged-animal walk and sniff the air as
+though he enjoyed it.
+
+I liked the old gentleman from the start.
+
+"Oo-o! See the funny old man!" giggled The Seraph. "Coat like Jacob an' his
+bwethern!"
+
+Angel and I plied Mary Ellen with questions. Who was he? Did he live with
+the Peggs? Did she think he was a foreigner? Mary Ellen, supported by her
+broom, stared out of the window.
+
+"For th' love of Hiven!" she ejaculated. "If that ain't a sight now! Byes,
+it's Mr. Pegg's own father come home from somewheres in th' Indies. Their
+cook was tellin' me of the time they have wid him. He's a bit light-headed,
+y'see, an' has all his meals in his own room--th' quarest dishes iver--an'
+a starlin' for a pet, mind ye."
+
+At that moment the old gentleman perceived that he was watched, and
+saluting Mary Ellen gallantly, he called out:
+
+"Good-morning, madam!"
+
+Mary Ellen, covered with confusion, drew back behind the curtain. I was
+about to make a suitable reply when I saw Mrs. Mortimer Pegg, herself,
+emerge from her house with a very red face, and resolutely grasp her
+father-in-law's arm. She spoke to him in a rapid undertone, and, after a
+moment's hesitation, he followed her meekly into the house.
+
+How I sympathized with him! I knew only too well the humiliation
+experienced by the helpless male when over-bearing woman drags him
+ignominiously from his harmless recreation.
+
+A bond of understanding seemed to be established between us at once.
+
+The voice of Mary Ellen broke in on my reverie. She was teasing Angel to
+sing.
+
+"Aw give us a chune, Master Angel before th' missus gets back! There's a
+duck. I'll give ye a pocket full of raisins as sure's fate!"
+
+Angel, full of music as a bird, could strum some sort of accompaniment to
+any song on the piano. It was Mary Ellen's delight on a Saturday morning to
+pour forth her pent up feelings in one of the popular songs, with Angel to
+keep her on the tune and thump a chord or two.
+
+It was a risky business. But The Seraph mounted guard at the window while I
+pressed my nose against the glass case that held the stuffed birds and
+wondered if any of them had come from South America. "How jolly," I
+thought, "to be there with father."
+
+Tum-te-tum-te-tum, strummed Angel.
+
+  "Casey would waltz with the strawberry blonde,
+          And the--band--played--on."
+
+His sweet reedy tones thrilled the April air.
+
+And Mary Ellen's voice, robust as the whistle of a locomotive, bursting
+with health and spirits, shook the very cobwebs that she had not swept
+down.
+
+  "Casey would waltz with th' strawberry blonde,
+          And--the--band--play--don!"
+
+Generally we had a faithful subordinate in The Seraph. He had a rather
+sturdy sense of honour. On this spring morning however, I think that the
+singing of Mary Ellen must have dulled his sensibilities, for, instead of
+keeping a bright lookout up the street for the dreaded form of Mrs.
+Handsomebody, he lolled across the window-sill, dangling a piece of string,
+with the April sunshine warming his rounded back.
+
+And as he dangled the string, Mrs. Handsomebody drew nearer and nearer. She
+entered the gate--she entered the house--she was in the parlour!!
+
+Angel and Mary Ellen had just given their last triumphant shout, when Mrs.
+Handsomebody said in a voice of cold fury:
+
+"Mary Ellen, kindly cease that ribald screaming. David (David is Angel's
+proper name) get up instantly from that piano stool and face me! John,
+Alexander, face me!"
+
+We did so tremblingly.
+
+"Now," said Mrs. Handsomebody, "you three boys go up to your bedroom--not
+to the schoolroom, mind--and don't let me hear another sound from you
+today! You shall get no dinner. At four I will come and discuss your
+disgraceful conduct with you. Now march!"
+
+She held the door open for us while we filed sheepishly under her arm. Then
+the door closed behind us with a decisive bang, and poor Mary Ellen was
+left in the torture-chamber with Mrs. Handsomebody and the stuffed birds.
+
+
+III
+
+Angel and I scurried up the stairway. We could hear The Seraph panting as
+he laboured after us.
+
+Once in the haven of our little room we rolled in a confused heap on the
+bed, scuffling indiscriminately. It was a favourite punishment with Mrs.
+Handsomebody, and we had a suspicion that she relished the fact that so
+much food was saved when we went dinnerless. At any rate, we were not
+allowed to make up the deficiency at tea-time.
+
+We always passed the hours of our confinement on the bed, for the room was
+very small and the one window stared blankly at the window of an unused
+room in the Peggs' house, which blankly returned the stare.
+
+But these were not dull times for us. As Elizabethan actors, striding about
+their bare stage, conjured up brave pictures of gilded halls or leafy
+forest glades, so we little fellows made a castle stronghold of our bed; or
+better still, a gallant frigate that sailed beyond the barren walls into
+unknown seas of adventure, and anchored at last off some rocky island where
+treasure lay hid among the hills.
+
+What brave fights with pirates there were, when Angel as Captain, I as
+mate, with The Seraph for a cabin boy, fought the bloody pirate gangs on
+those surf-washed shores, and gained the fight, though far out-numbered!
+
+They were not dull times in that small back room, but gay-coloured lawless
+times, when our fancy was let free, and we fought on empty stomachs, and
+felt only the wind in our faces, and heard the creak of straining cordage.
+What if we were on half-rations!
+
+On this particular morning, however, there was something to be disposed of
+before we got to business. To wit, the rank insubordination of The Seraph.
+It was not to be dealt with too lightly. Angel sat up with a dishevelled
+head.
+
+"Get up!" he commanded The Seraph, who obeyed wonderingly.
+
+"Now, my man," continued Angel, with the scowl that had made him dreaded
+the South Seas over, "have you anything to say for yourself?"
+
+The Seraph hung his head.
+
+"I was on'y danglin' a bit o' stwing," he murmured.
+
+"String"--repeated Angel, the scowl deepening, "dangling a bit of string!
+You may be dangling yourself at the end of a rope before the sun sets, my
+hearty! Here we are without any dinner, all along of you. Now see here,
+you'll go right over into that corner by the window with your face to the
+wall and stand there all the time John and I play! An'--an' you won't know
+what we're doing nor where we're going nor _anything_--so there!"
+
+The Seraph went, weeping bitterly. He hid his face in the dusty lace window
+curtain. He looked very small. I could not help remembering how father had
+said we were to take care of him and not make him cry.
+
+Somehow that morning things went ill with the adventure. The savour had
+gone out of our play. Two were but a paltry company after all. Where was
+the cabin-boy with his trusty dirk, eager to bleed for the cause? Though we
+kept our backs rigorously turned to the window, and spoke only in whispers,
+neither of us could quite forget the presence of that dejected little
+figure in the faded holland smock.
+
+After a bit The Seraph's whimpering ceased, and what was our surprise to
+hear the chuckling laugh with which he was wont to signify his pleasure!
+
+We turned to look at him. His face was pressed to the window, and again he
+giggled rapturously.
+
+"What's up, kid?" we demanded.
+
+"Ole Joseph-an'-his-Bwethern," he sputtered, "winkin' an' wavin' hands wiv
+me!"
+
+We were at his side like a shot, and there in the hitherto blank window of
+the Peggs' house stood the old gentleman of the flowered dressing-gown
+laughing and nodding at The Seraph! When he saw us he made a sign to us to
+open our window, and at the same instant raised his own.
+
+It took the three of us to accomplish it, for the window moved unreadily,
+being seldom raised, as Mrs. Handsomebody regarded fresh air much as she
+regarded a small boy, as something to be kept in its place.
+
+At last the window rose, protesting and creaking, and the next moment we
+were face to face with our new acquaintance.
+
+"Hello!" he said, in a loud jovial voice.
+
+"Hello!" said we, and stared.
+
+He had a strong, weather-beaten face, and wide-open light eyes, blue and
+wild as the sea.
+
+"Hello, boy!" he repeated, looking at Angel, "What's your name?"
+
+Now Angel was shy with strangers, so I usually answered questions.
+
+"His name," I replied then, "is David Curzon but mother called him Angel,
+so we jus' keep on doing it."
+
+"Oh," said the old gentleman. Then he fixed The Seraph with his eye.
+"What's the bantling's name?"
+
+The Seraph, mightily confused at being called a bantling, giggled inanely,
+so I replied again.
+
+"His name is Alexander Curzon, but mother called him The Seraph, so we jus'
+keep on doing it too."
+
+"Um-hm," assented the old gentleman, "and you--what's your name?"
+
+"John," I replied.
+
+"Oh," he said, with an odd little smile, "and what do they keep on calling
+_you_?"
+
+"Just John," I answered firmly, "nothing else."
+
+"Who's your father?" came the next question.
+
+"He's David Curzon, senior," I said proudly, "and he's in South America
+building a railroad an' Mrs. Handsomebody used to be his governess when he
+was a little boy, so he left us with her, but some day, pretty soon, I
+think, he's coming back to make a really home for us with rabbits an'
+puppies an' pigeons an' things."
+
+Our new friend nodded sympathetically. Then, quite suddenly, he asked:
+
+"Where's your mother?"
+
+"She's in Heaven," I answered sadly, "she went there two months ago."
+
+"Yes," broke in The Seraph eagerly, "but she's comin' back some day to make
+a _weally_ home for us!"
+
+"Shut up!" said Angel gruffly, poking him with his elbow.
+
+"The Seraph's very little," I explained apologetically, "he doesn't
+understand."
+
+The old gentleman put his hand in the pocket of his dressing-gown.
+
+"Bantling," he said with his droll smile, "do you like peppermint
+bull's-eyes?"
+
+"Yes," said The Seraph, "I yike them--one for each of us."
+
+Whereupon this extraordinary man began throwing us peppermints as fast as
+we could catch them. It was surprising how we began to feel at home with
+him, as though we had known him for years.
+
+He had travelled all over the world it seemed, and he brought many curious
+things to the window to show us. One of these was a starling whose wicker
+cage he placed on the sill where the sunlight fell.
+
+He had got it, he said, from one of the crew of a trading vessel off the
+coast of Java. The sailor had brought it all the way from Devon for
+company, and, he added--"the brute had put out both its eyes so that it
+would learn to talk more readily, so now, you see, the poor little fellow
+is quite blind."
+
+"Blind--blind--blind!" echoed the starling briskly, "blind--blind--blind!"
+
+He took it from its cage on his finger. It hopped up his arm till it
+reached his cheek, where it began to peck at his whiskers, crying all the
+while in its shrill, lonely tones,--"Blind, blind, blind!"
+
+We three were entranced; and an idea that was swiftly forming in my mind
+struggled for expression.
+
+If this wonderful old man had, as he said, sailed the seas from Land's End
+to Ceylon, was it not possible that he had seen, even fought with, real
+pirates? Might he not have followed hot on the trail of hidden treasure? My
+cheeks burned as I tried to put the question.
+
+"Did you--" I began, "did you--"
+
+"Well?" he encouraged. "Did I what, John?"
+
+"Oh, did you," I burst out, "ever see a pirate ship, an' pirates--real
+ones?"
+
+His face lit up.
+
+"Surely," he replied casually, "many an one."
+
+"P'raps--" ventured Angel, with an excited laugh, "p'raps you're one
+yourself!"
+
+The old gentleman searched our eager faces with his wide-open, sea blue
+eyes, then he looked cautiously into the room behind him, and, apparently
+satisfied that no one could overhear, he put his hand to the side of his
+mouth, and said in a loud hoarse whisper--
+
+"That I am. Pirate as ever was!"
+
+I think you could have knocked me down with a feather. I know my knees
+shook and the room reeled. The Seraph was the first to recover, piping
+cheerfully--
+
+"I yike piwates!"
+
+"Yes," repeated the old gentleman, reflectively, "pirate as ever was. The
+things I've seen and done would fill the biggest book you ever saw, and
+it'd make your hair stand on end to read it--what with fights, and murders,
+and hangings, and storms, and shipwreck, and the hunt for gold! Many a
+sweet schooner or frigate I've sunk, or taken for myself; and there isn't a
+port on the South Seas where women don't hush their children crying with
+the fear of Captain Pegg."
+
+Then he added hastily, as though he feared he had gone too far:
+
+"But I'm a changed man, mark you--a reformed man. If things suit me pretty
+well here I don't think I shall break out again. It is just that you chaps
+seem so sympathetic makes me tell you all this; but you must swear never to
+breathe a word of it, for no one knows but you. My son and daughter-in-law
+think I'm an archæologist. It'd be an awful shock to them to find that I'm
+a pirate."
+
+We swore the blackest secrecy, and were about to ply him with a hundred
+questions, when we saw a maid carrying a large tray enter the room behind
+him.
+
+Captain Pegg, as I must now call him, gave us a gesture of warning and
+began to lower his window. A pleasant aroma of roast beef came across the
+alley. The next instant the flowered dressing-gown had disappeared and the
+window opposite stared blankly as before.
+
+Angel blew a deep breath. "Did you notice," he said, "how different he got
+once he had told us he was a pirate--wilder and rougher, and used more
+sailor words?"
+
+"However did you guess it first?" I asked admiringly.
+
+"I think I know a pirate when I see one," he returned loftily. "But, oh I
+say, wouldn't Mrs. Handsomebody be waxy if she knew?"
+
+"An' wouldn't Mary Ellen be scared stiff if _she_ knew?"
+
+"An' won't we have fun? Hurray!"
+
+We rolled in ecstasy on the much-enduring bed.
+
+We talked excitedly of the possibilities of such a wonderful and dangerous
+friendship. And as it turned out, none of our imaginings equalled what
+really happened.
+
+The afternoon passed quickly. As the hands of our alarm clock neared the
+hour of four we obliterated the traces of our sojourn on the bed as well as
+we could, and, when Mrs. Handsomebody entered, she found us sitting in a
+row on the three cane-bottomed chairs, on which we hung our clothes at
+night.
+
+The scolding she gave us was even longer and more humiliating to our
+manhood than usual. She shook her hard white finger near our faces and said
+that for very little she would write to our father and complain of our
+actions.
+
+"Now," she said, in conclusion, "give your faces and hands a thorough
+washing and comb your hair, which is disgraceful; then come quietly down to
+tea." The door closed behind her.
+
+"What beats me," said Angel, lathering his hands, "is why that wart on her
+chin wiggles so when she jaws us! I can't keep my eyes off it."
+
+"It wiggles," piped The Seraph, as he dragged a brush over his curls, "'cos
+it's nervous, an' I wiggle when she scolds too, 'cos _I'm_ nervous."
+
+"Don't you worry, old man," Angel responded, gaily, "we'll take care of
+you."
+
+We were in fine spirits despite our scolding. Indeed, we almost pitied Mrs.
+Handsomebody for her ignorance of the wonders amongst which she had her
+being.
+
+Here she was, fussing over some stuffed birds in a glass case, when a live
+starling, who could talk, had perched near her very window sill! She spent
+hours in conversation with her Unitarian minister, while a real pirate
+lived next door.
+
+It was pitiful, and yet it was very funny. We found it hard to go quietly
+down to tea with such thoughts in our minds, and after five hours in our
+bedroom.
+
+
+IV
+
+The next day was Sunday.
+
+As we sat at dinner with Mrs. Handsomebody after morning service, we were
+scarcely conscious of the large, white dumplings that bulged before us,
+with a delicious sticky sweet sauce, trickling down their dropsical sides.
+We plied our spoons with languid interest around their outer edges, as
+calves nibble around a straw stack. Our vagrant minds scoured the Spanish
+Main with Captain Pegg.
+
+Suddenly The Seraph spoke in that cock-sure way of his.
+
+"There's a piwate at Peggs."
+
+Mrs. Handsomebody looked at him sharply.
+
+"What's that?" she demanded. At the same instant Angel and I kicked him
+under cover of the table.
+
+"What did you say?" repeated Mrs. Handsomebody sternly.
+
+"Funny ole gennelman at the Cwibbage Peggs," replied The Seraph with his
+mouth full.
+
+Mrs. Handsomebody greatly respected Mr. and Mrs. Mortimer Pegg, and this
+play of words on the name incensed her.
+
+"Am I to understand Alexander," she gobbled, "that you are making _game_ of
+the Mortimer Peggs?"
+
+"Yes," giggled the wretched Seraph, "it's a cwibbage game. You play it wiv
+Peggs."
+
+"Leave the table instantly!" ordered Mrs. Handsomebody. "You are becoming
+unbearable."
+
+The Seraph cast one anguished look at his dumpling and burst into tears. We
+could hear his wails growing ever fainter as he plodded up the stairs.
+
+"Mary Ellen, remove that dumpling!" commanded Mrs. Handsomebody.
+
+Angel and I began to eat very fast. There was a short silence; then Mrs.
+Handsomebody said didactically:
+
+"The elder Mr. Pegg is a much travelled gentleman, and one of the most
+noted archæologists of the day. A trifle eccentric in his manner perhaps
+but a deep thinker. David, can you tell me what an archæologist is?"
+
+"Something you pretend you are," said Angel, "and you ain't."
+
+"Nonsense!" snapped Mrs. Handsomebody. "Look it up in your Johnson's when
+you go upstairs, and let me know the result. I will excuse you now."
+
+We found The Seraph lounging in a chair in the schoolroom.
+
+"Too bad about the dumpling, old boy," I said consolingly.
+
+"Oh, not too bad," he replied. "Mary Ellen fetched it up the backstairs to
+me. I'm vewy full."
+
+That afternoon we saw Captain Pegg go for a walk with his son and
+daughter-in-law. He looked quite altered in a long grey coat and tall hat.
+Mr. and Mrs. Mortimer Pegg seemed proud to walk with him.
+
+The following day was warm and sunny. When lessons were over we rushed to
+our bedroom window and to our joy we found that the window opposite was
+wide open, the wicker cage on the sill with the starling inside swelling up
+and preening himself in the sunshine, while just beyond sat Captain Pegg
+smoking a long pipe.
+
+He seemed delighted to see us.
+
+"Avast, my hearties!" he cried. "It's glorious sailing weather, but I've
+just been lying at anchor here, on the chance of sighting you. It does my
+heart good, y'see, to talk with some of my own kind, and leave off
+pretending to be an archæologist--to stretch my mental legs, as it were.
+Well--have you taken your bearings this morning?"
+
+"Captain Pegg," I broke out with my heart tripping against my blouse, "you
+said something the other day about buried treasure. Did you really find
+some? And would you mind telling us how you set about it?"
+
+"Yes," he replied meditatively, "many a sack of treasure trove I've
+unearthed--but the most curious find of all, I got without searching and
+without blood being spilt. I was lying quiet those days, about forty years
+ago, off the north of the Orkney islands. Well, one morning I took a fancy
+to explore some of the outlying rocks and little islands dotted here and
+there. So I started off in a yawl with four seamen to row me; and not
+seeing much but barren rocks and stunted shrubs about, I bent over the
+stern and stared into the sea. It was as clear as crystal.
+
+"As we were passing through a narrow channel between two rock islands, I
+bade the men rest on their oars, for something strange below had arrested
+my attention. I now could see plainly, in the green depths, a Spanish
+galleon, standing upright, held as in a vice, by the grip of the two great
+rocks. She must have gone down with all hands, when the greater part of the
+Spanish Armada was wrecked on the shores of Britain.
+
+"'Shiver my timbers, lads,' I cried. 'Here'll be treasure in earnest! Back
+to the ship for our diving suits--booty for everyone, and plum duff for
+dinner!'
+
+"Well, to make a long story short, I, and four of the trustiest of the
+crew, put on our diving suits, and soon we were walking the slippery decks
+once trodden by Spanish grandees and soldiers, and the scene of many a
+bloody fight I'll be bound. Their skeletons lay about the deck, wrapped in
+sea-tangle, and from every crevice of the galleon, tall, red, and green,
+and yellow, and purple weeds had sprung, that waved and shivered with the
+motion of the sea. Her decks were strewn with shells and sand, and in and
+out of her rotted ribs frightened fish darted at our approach. It was a
+gruesome sight.
+
+"Three weeks we worked, carrying the treasure to our own ship, and I began
+to feel as much at home under water as above it. At last we set sail
+without mishap, and every man on board had his share and some of them gave
+up pirating and settled down as inn-keepers and tradesmen."
+
+As the sound of his deep voice ceased, we three were silent also, gazing
+longingly into his eyes that were so like the sea.
+
+Then--"Captain Pegg," said Angel, in a still, small voice, "I
+don't--s'pose--you'd know of any hidden treasure hereabouts? We'd most
+awfully like to find some. It'd be a jolly thing to write and tell father!"
+
+A droll smile flickered over the bronzed features of Captain Pegg. He
+brought down his fist on the window-sill.
+
+"Well, if you aren't chaps after my own heart!" he cried. "Treasure about
+here? I was just coming to that--and a most curious happening it is! There
+was a cabin-boy--name of Jenks--a lad that I trusted and loved like my own
+son, who stole the greater part of my share of the treasure, and, though I
+scoured the globe for him--" the Captain's eyes rolled fiercely--"I found
+neither trace of him nor the treasure, till two years ago. It was in
+Madagascar that I received a message from a dying man, confessing that,
+shaken by remorse, he had brought what was left of the plunder and buried
+it in Mrs. Handsomebody's back yard!"
+
+"Mrs. Handsomebody's back yard!" We chanted the words in utter amazement.
+
+"Just that," affirmed Captain Pegg solemnly. "Jenks found out that I owned
+the house next door but he dared not bury the treasure there because the
+yard was smoothly sodded, and would show up any disturbance; while Mrs.
+Handsomebody's yard, being covered with planks, was just the thing. So he
+simply raised one of the planks, dug a hole, and deposited the sack
+containing the last of the treasure, and wrote me his confession. And there
+you are!"
+
+He smiled benignly on us. I longed to hug him.
+
+The March wind swooped and whistled down the alley, and the starling gave
+little sharp twittering noises and cocked his head.
+
+"When, oh when--" we burst out--"tonight? May we search for it tonight,
+Captain Pegg?"
+
+He reflected. "No-o. Not tonight. Jenks, you see, sent me a plan of the
+yard with a cross to mark where the treasure lies, and I'll have to hunt it
+up so as not to waste our time turning up the whole yard. But tomorrow
+night--yes, tomorrow at midnight we'll start the search!"
+
+
+V
+
+At dinner that day the rice pudding had the flavor of ambrosia. By
+nightfall preparations were already on foot.
+
+Firstly the shovel had been smuggled from the coal cellar and secreted in a
+corner of the yard behind the ash barrel together with an iron crowbar to
+use as a lever and an empty sack to aid in the removal of the treasure.
+
+I scarcely slept that night, and when I did my mind was filled with wild
+imaginings. The next morning we were heedless scholars indeed, and at
+dinner I ate so little that Mrs. Handsomebody was moved to remark jocularly
+that somebody not a thousand miles away was shaping for a bilious bout.
+
+At four o'clock Captain Pegg appeared at his window looking the picture of
+cheerful confidence. He said it warmed his heart to be at his old
+profession again, and indeed I never saw a merrier twinkle in any one's
+eyes. He had found the plan of the yard sent by Jenks and he had no doubt
+that we should soon be in possession of the Spanish treasure.
+
+"But there's one thing, my lads;" he said solemnly, "I make no claim
+whatever to any share in this booty. Let that be understood. Anything we
+find is to be yours entirely. If I were to take any such goods into my
+son's house, his wife would get suspicious, uncomfortable questions would
+be asked, and it'd be all up with this archæologist business."
+
+"Couldn't you hide it under your bed?" I suggested.
+
+"Oh, she'd be sure to find it," he replied sadly. "She's into everything.
+And even if they didn't locate it till I am dead, they'd feel disgraced to
+think their father had been a pirate. You'll have to take it."
+
+We agreed, therefore, to ease him of the responsibility of his strangely
+gotten gain. We then parted with the understanding that we were to meet him
+in the passage between the two houses promptly at midnight, and that in the
+meantime we were to preserve a calm and commonplace demeanour.
+
+With the addition of four crullers and a slab of cold bread pudding filched
+from the pantry, our preparations were now complete.
+
+We were well disciplined little animals; we always went to bed without a
+murmur, but on this night we literally flew there. The Seraph ended his
+prayers with--"and for this piwate tweasure make us twuly thankful. Amen."
+
+The next moment we had dived under the bed clothes and snuggled there in
+wild expectancy.
+
+From half past seven to twelve is a long stretch. The Seraph slept
+peacefully. Angel or I rose every little while and struck a match to look
+at the clock. At nine we were so hungry that we ate all four crullers. At
+eleven we ate the slab of cold bread pudding. After that we talked less,
+and I think Angel dozed, but I lay staring in the direction of the window,
+watching for the brightness which would signify that Captain Pegg was astir
+and had lighted his gas.
+
+At last it came--a pale and trembling messenger, that showed our little
+room to me in a new aspect--one of mystery and grotesque shadows.
+
+I was on my feet in an instant. I shook Angel's shoulder.
+
+"Up with you!" I whispered, hoarsely. "The hour has come!"
+
+I knew that drastic measures must be taken with The Seraph, so I just
+grasped him under the armpits and stood him on his feet without a word. He
+wobbled for a space, digging his knuckles in his eyes.
+
+The hands of the clock pointed to ten minutes to twelve.
+
+Angel and I hastily pulled on our trousers; and he, who liked to dress the
+part, stuck a knife in his belt, and twisted a scarlet silk handkerchief
+(borrowed from Mary Ellen) round his head. His dark eyes glistened under
+its folds.
+
+The Seraph and I went unadorned, save that he girt his trusty sword about
+his stout middle and I carried a toy bayonet.
+
+Down the inky-black stairs we crept, scarcely breathing. The lower hall
+seemed cavernous. I could smell the old carpets and the haircloth covering
+of the chairs. We sidled down the back hall among goloshes, umbrellas, and
+Turk's Head dusters. The back door had a key like that of a gaol.
+
+Angel tried it with both hands, but though it grated horribly, it stuck.
+Then I had a try, and could not resist a triumphant click of the tongue
+when it turned, for Angel was a vain fellow and took a rise out of being
+the elder.
+
+And when the moonlight shone upon us in the yard!--oh, the delicious
+freedom of it! We hopped for joy.
+
+In the passage we awaited our leader. Between the roofs we could see the
+low half-moon, hanging like a tilted bird's nest in the dark blue sky,
+while a group of stars fluttered near it like young birds. The Cathedral
+clock sounded the hour of midnight.
+
+Soon we heard the stealthy steps of Captain Pegg, and we gasped as we saw
+him, for in place of his flowered dressing-gown, he wore breeches and top
+boots, a loose shirt with a blue neckerchief knotted at the throat, and,
+gleaming at his side, a cutlass.
+
+He smiled broadly when he saw us.
+
+"Well, if you aren't armed--every man-jack of you--even to the bantling!"
+he cried. "Capital!"
+
+"My sword, she's _weal_," said The Seraph with dignity. "Sometimes I fight
+giants."
+
+Captain Pegg then shook hands with each of us in turn, and we thrilled at
+being treated as equals by such a man.
+
+"And now to work!" he said heartily. "Here is the plan of the yard as sent
+by Jenks."
+
+We could see it plainly by the moonlight, all neatly drawn out, even to the
+ash barrel and the clothes dryer, and there, on the fifth plank from the
+end was a cross in red ink, and beside it the magic word--Treasure!
+
+Captain Pegg inserted the crowbar in a wide crack between the fourth and
+fifth boards, then we all pressed our full weight upon it with a "Yo heave
+ho, my hearties!" from our chief.
+
+The board flew up and we flew down, sprawling on the ground. Somehow the
+Captain, versed in such matters, kept his feet, though he staggered a bit.
+
+Then, in an instant, we were pulling wildly at the plank to dislodge it.
+This we accomplished after much effort, and a dark, dank recess was
+disclosed.
+
+Captain Pegg dropped to his knees and with his hand explored cautiously
+under the planks. His face fell.
+
+"Shiver my timbers if I can find it!" he muttered.
+
+"Let me try!" I cried eagerly.
+
+Both Angel and I thrust our hands in also and fumbled among the moist lumps
+of earth. I felt an earth-worm writhe away.
+
+Captain Pegg now lighted a match and held it in the aperture. It cast a
+glow upon our tense faces.
+
+"Hold it closer!" implored Angel. "This way--right here--don't you see?"
+
+At the same moment we both had seen the heavy metal ring that projected,
+ever so little, above the surface of the earth. We grasped it
+simultaneously and pulled. Captain Pegg lighted another match. It was
+heavy--oh, so heavy!--but we got it out--a fair-sized leather bag bound
+with thongs. To one of these was attached the ring we had first caught
+sight of.
+
+Now, kneeling as we were, we stared up in Captain Pegg's face. His wide,
+blue eyes had somehow got a different look.
+
+"Little boys," he said gently, "open it!"
+
+There in the moonlight, we unloosed the fastenings of the bag and turned
+its contents out upon the bare boards. The treasure lay disclosed then, a
+glimmering heap, as though, out of the dank earth, we had digged a patch of
+moonshine.
+
+We squatted on the boards around it, our heads touching, our wondering eyes
+filled with the magic of it.
+
+"It is the treasure," murmured Angel, in an awe-struck voice, "real
+treasure-trove. Will you tell us, Captain Pegg, what all these things are?"
+
+Captain Pegg, squatting like the rest of us, ran his hands meditatively
+through the strange collection.
+
+"Why, strike me purple," he growled, "if that scamp Jenks hasn't kept most
+of the gold coins and left us only the silver! But here's three golden
+doubloons, all right, one apiece for ye! And here's ducats and silver
+florins, and pieces of eight--and some I can't name till I get the daylight
+on them. It's a pretty bit of treasure all told; and see here--" he held up
+two old Spanish watches, just the thing for gentlemen adventurers.
+
+We boys were now delving into the treasure on our own account, and brought
+to light a brace of antiquated pistols, an old silver flagon, a compass, a
+wonderful set of chess men carved from ivory, and some curious shells, that
+delighted The Seraph. And other quaint things there were that we handled
+reverently, and coins of different countries, square and round, and some
+with holes bored through.
+
+We were so intent upon our discovery that none of us heard the approaching
+footsteps till they were fair upon us. Then, with a start, we turned, and
+saw to our horror Mrs. Handsomebody and Mary Ellen, with her hair in
+curl-papers, and, close behind them, Mr. and Mrs. Mortimer Pegg, scantily
+attired, the gentleman carrying a revolver.
+
+"David! John! Alexander!" gobbled Mrs. Handsomebody.
+
+"Now what d'ye think of that!" came from Mary Ellen.
+
+"Father! Have you gone quite mad?" cried Mrs. Pegg.
+
+And--"Oh, I say Governor--" stammered the gentleman with the revolver.
+
+Captain Pegg rose to his feet with dignity.
+
+"These young gentlemen," he said, simply, "have with my help been able to
+locate some buried treasure, stolen from me years ago by a man named Jenks,
+and hidden here since two decades. I hereby renounce all claim to it in
+favour of my three brave friends!"
+
+Mr. Pegg was bent over the treasure.
+
+"Now, look here, sir," he said, rather sharply, "some of this seems to be
+quite valuable stuff--"
+
+"I know the value of it to a penny," replied his father, with equal
+asperity, "and I intend it shall belong solely and wholly to these boys."
+
+"Whatever are you rigged up like that for?" demanded his daughter-in-law.
+
+"As gentlemen of spirit," replied Captain Pegg, patiently, "we chose to
+dress the part. We do what we can to keep a little glamour and gaiety in
+the world. Some folk--" he looked at Mrs. Handsomebody--"would like to
+discipline it all away."
+
+"I think," said our governess, "that, considering it is _my_ back yard, I
+have some claim to--"
+
+"None at all, Madam--none at all!" interrupted Captain Pegg. "By all the
+rules of treasure-hunting, the finder keeps the treasure."
+
+Mrs. Handsomebody was silenced. She did not wish to quarrel with the Peggs.
+
+Mrs. Pegg moved closer to her.
+
+"Mrs. Handsomebody," she said, winking her white eyelashes very fast, "I
+really do not think that you should allow your pupils to accept
+this--er--treasure. My father-in-law has become very eccentric of late, and
+I am positive that he himself buried these things very recently. Only day
+before yesterday, I saw that set of ivory chessmen on his writing table."
+
+"Hold your tongue, Sophia!" shouted Captain Pegg loudly.
+
+Mr. Mortimer Pegg looked warningly at his wife.
+
+"All right, Governor! Don't you worry," he said taking his father's arm.
+"It shall be just as you say; but one thing is certain, you'll take your
+death of cold if you stay out in this night air." As he spoke, he turned up
+the collar of his coat.
+
+Captain Pegg shook hands grandly with Angel and me, then he lifted The
+Seraph in his arms and kissed him.
+
+"Good-night, bantling," he said, softly. "Sleep tight!"
+
+He turned then to his son. "Mort," said he, "I haven't kissed a little boy
+like that since you were just so high."
+
+Mr. Pegg laughed and shivered, and they went off quite amiably, arm in arm,
+Mrs. Pegg following, muttering to herself.
+
+Mrs. Handsomebody looked disparagingly at the treasure. "Mary Ellen," she
+ordered, "help the children to gather up that rubbish, and come in at once.
+Such an hour it is!"
+
+Mary Ellen, with many exclamations, assisted in the removal of the treasure
+to our bedroom. Mrs. Handsomebody, after seeing it deposited there, and us
+safely under the bed-clothes, herself extinguished the gas.
+
+"I shall write to your father," she said, severely, "and tell him the whole
+circumstance. _Then_ we shall see what is to be done with _you_, and with
+the _treasure_."
+
+With this veiled threat she left us. We snuggled our little bodies
+together. We were cold.
+
+"I'll write to father myself, tomorrow, an' 'splain everything," I
+announced.
+
+"D' you know," mused Angel, "I b'lieve I'll be a pirate, 'stead of a civil
+engineer like father. I b'lieve there's more in it."
+
+"I'll be an engineer just the same," said I.
+
+"I fink," murmured The Seraph, sleepily, "I fink I'll jus' be a bishop, an'
+go to bed at pwoper times an' have poached eggs for tea."
+
+
+
+
+_Chapter II: The Jilt_
+
+
+I
+
+The day after the finding of the Treasure, Mary Ellen told us that she had
+seen Captain Pegg drive away from his son's house in a closed cab, before
+we had emerged from the four-poster. There had been a quarrel, the servants
+had told her, and in spite of all his son and daughter-in-law could do, the
+peppery Captain had left them, refusing to divulge the name of his
+destination.
+
+"And they do say," Mary Ellen declared, "that he's no more fit to be
+wanderin' about the world alone than a babe unborn."
+
+We smiled at the ignorance of women-servants, and speculated much on the
+Captain's probable new adventure. We were confident that he would return
+one day, loaded with fresh booty, and full of tales of the sea.
+
+In the meantime, there was the Bishop. His house, as I have said stood
+between us and the Cathedral. It was a benign house, like a sleepy mastiff,
+and seemed to tolerate with lazy indifference the presence of its two
+narrow, high-backed neighbours, which with their cold, unblinking windows,
+looked like sinister, half-fed cats.
+
+We had not been long at Mrs. Handsomebody's before we made friends with
+Bishop Torrance. As he walked in his deep, green garden, one morning, we
+three watched him enviously over the brick wall, that separated us. We were
+balanced precariously on a board, laid across the ash barrel, and The
+Seraph, losing his balance, fell headlong into a bed of clove pinks, almost
+at the Bishop's feet.
+
+When his yells had subsided and explanations asked, and given, Angel and I
+were lifted over the wall, and shaken hands with, and given the freedom of
+the garden. We were introduced to the Bishop's niece, Margery, who was his
+sole companion, though we regarded, as one of the family, the Fountain Boy
+who blew cool jets of water through a shell, and turned his laughing face
+always upward toward the spires of the Cathedral.
+
+Thus a quaint friendship sprang up, and, though the Bishop had not the
+dash, and boldness of Captain Pegg, he was an understanding and
+high-hearted playfellow.
+
+I think The Seraph was his favourite. Even then, the dignified elegance of
+the Bishop's life appealed to that infant's love of the comfortable, and it
+tickled the Bishop immensely to have him pace solemnly up and down the
+garden, at his side, hands clasped behind his back, helping, as he
+believed, to "pwepare" the Bishop's sermon.
+
+All three of us were permitted by Mrs. Handsomebody to join the Cathedral
+choir.
+
+
+II
+
+Thus we had a feeling of proprietorship in the Bishop and his garden, and
+his niece, Margery, and the Fountain Boy. Hence what was our astonishment
+and chagrin to see one morning, from our schoolroom window, a chit of a
+girl, smaller than myself, strutting up and down the Bishop's garden,
+pushing a doll's perambulator. She had fluffy golden hair about her
+shoulders, and her skirts gave a rhythmic swing as she turned the corners.
+Now and then she would stop in her walk, remove the covering from the doll,
+do some idiotic thing to it, and replace the cover with elaborate care.
+
+We stared fascinated. Then Angel blew out his lips in disgust, and said--
+
+"Ain't girls the most sickenin' things?"
+
+"There she goes again, messing with the doll's quilt," I agreed.
+
+"Le's fwow somefing at her!" suggested The Seraph.
+
+"Yes, and get into a row with the Bishop," answered Angel. "But I don't see
+myself going over there to play again. She's spoiled everything."
+
+"I s'pose she's a spoiled child," said The Seraph, dreamily. "Wonder where
+her muvver is."
+
+"I say," said Angel, "let's rap on the pane, and then when she looks up,
+we'll all stick our tongues out at her. That'll scare her all right!"
+
+We did.
+
+When her wondering blue eyes were raised to our window, what they saw was
+three white disks pressed against the glass, with a flattened pink tongue
+protruding from each. We glared to see the effect of this outrage upon her.
+But the dauntless little creature never quailed. Worse than that, she put
+her fingers to her lips and blew three kisses at us--one apiece.
+
+We were staggered. We withdrew our reddened faces hastily and stared at
+each other. We were aghast. Almost we had been kissed by a girl!
+
+"Let's draw the blind!" said Angel. "She shan't see us! Then we can peek
+through the crack and watch her."
+
+But no sooner was the blind pulled down than we heard our governess coming
+and flew to our seats.
+
+"Boys!" she gobbled, stopping in the doorway, "what does this mean? The boy
+who pulled down that blind stand up!"
+
+Angel rose. "The light hurt my eyes," he lied feebly, "I aren't very well."
+
+"Ridiculous!" snapped Mrs. Handsomebody, running up the blind with
+precision, "this room at its brightest is dim. Your eyes are keen enough
+for mischief, sir. Now we shall proceed with our arithmetic."
+
+We floundered through the Tables, but my mind still wandered in the
+Bishop's garden. Resentment and curiosity struggled for mastery within me.
+In my mind's eye I saw her covering and uncovering the doll. Why did she do
+it? What did it feel like to push that "pram"? Would she drink tea from the
+Indian Tree cups and be allowed to strum on the piano? Oh, I wished she
+hadn't come! And yet--anyway, I was glad I was a boy.
+
+As Fate had it, Angel and The Seraph had to have their hair trimmed that
+afternoon. My own straight blond crop grew but slowly so I was free for an
+hour to follow my own devices. Those led me to climb to the roof of our
+scullery and from there mount the high brick wall.
+
+From this vantage point I scanned the surrounding country for signs of the
+interloper. There she was! There she was!
+
+Down on her knees at the fountain's brink, her curls almost touching the
+water, she was sailing boats made of hollyhock petals. The doll's
+perambulator stood near by.
+
+Noiselessly I crept along the wall till I reached the cherry tree that
+stood in the corner. Reaching its friendly branches, I let myself down,
+hand over hand, till, at last, I dropped lightly on the soft turf.
+
+I sauntered then to her side, and gazed at her moodily. If she saw me she
+gave no sign.
+
+In spite of myself I grew interested in the way she manipulated those boat
+petals. Evidently there was some system in her game but it was new to me.
+
+"That little black seed on this boat is Jason," she said at last, without
+looking up, "and these little white seeds are his comrades. They're
+searching for The Golden Fleece. My hair is the Fleece. Come and play!"
+
+Mutely I squatted beside her, and our two faces peered at each other in the
+mirror of the pool.
+
+She gave a funny eager little laugh.
+
+"Oh," she cried, "we match beautifully, don't we? Your hair is yellow and
+my hair is yellow, my eyes are blue and your eyes are blue."
+
+"My eyes are grey, like father's," I objected.
+
+"No, they're blue like mine. We match beautifully. Let's play something
+else." Before I could prevent her, she had swept Jason and his crew away,
+and, snatching the doll from the perambulator, had set it on the fountain's
+edge between us.
+
+"This is Dorothea," she announced, "isn't she sweet? I'm her mother. You
+should be the father, and Dorothea should want to paddle her toes in the
+fountain. Now you hold her--so."
+
+Before I was aware of it I was made to grasp the puppet by the waist, while
+her mistress began to rearrange the pillows in the "pram."
+
+I glanced fearfully at our schoolroom window, lest I should be discovered
+in so unmanly a posture. It seemed that we were quite alone and unobserved.
+
+A drowsy pleasure stole over my senses. The humming of the bees in the
+Canterbury Bells became a chant as of sirens. Dorothea's silly pink feet
+dangled in the pool. Surreptitiously I slipped my hand under water and felt
+them. They were getting spongy and seemed likely to come off. Truly there
+were compensations for such slavery.
+
+My companion returned and sat down with her slim body close to mine.
+
+"What is your name?" she cooed.
+
+"John."
+
+"Oh. Mine is Jane. You may call me Jenny. I'm visiting Aunt Margery. The
+Bishop is my great-uncle. What are your brothers' names?"
+
+"Angel and The Seraph. _They don't_ like girls." Instantly I wondered why I
+had said that. Did I like girls? _Not much._ But I didn't want Angel
+interfering in this. He had better keep away.
+
+"My father is a judge. He sends bad men to prison."
+
+"My father"--I was very proud of him--"is a civil engineer. He's in South
+America building a railroad, so that's why we live with Mrs. Handsomebody.
+But some day he's coming back to make a home for us. When I grow up I shall
+be an engineer too, and build bridges over canyons."
+
+"What's canyons? Hold Dorothea tighter."
+
+I explained canyons at length.
+
+"P'raps I'll take you with me," I added weakly.
+
+She clapped her hands rapturously.
+
+"Oh, what fun!" she gurgled. "I can keep house and hang my washing 'cross
+the canyon to dry!"
+
+Frankly I did not relish the thought of my canyon's being thus desecrated.
+I determined never to allow her to do any such thing, but, at the moment I
+was willing to indulge her fancy.
+
+"Yes," she prattled on, "I'll wheel Dorothea up and down the bridge and
+watch you work."
+
+Now there was some sense in that. What man does not enjoy being admired
+while he does things? In fact Jane had hit upon a great elemental truth
+when she suggested this. From that moment I was hers.
+
+Laying Dorothea, toes up, on the grass I proceeded to lead Jane into the
+most cherished realms of my fancy. Together we sailed those "perilous seas
+in faery lands forlorn," dabbling our hands in the fountain, while the
+golden August sunshine kissed our necks.
+
+I said not a word of this at tea. I munched my bread and butter in a sort
+of haze, scarcely conscious of the subdued conversation led by Mrs.
+Handsomebody, until I heard her say,
+
+"A little great-niece of Bishop Torrance is visiting next door. You are
+therefore invited to take tea with her tomorrow afternoon. I trust you will
+conduct yourselves with decency at table, and remember that a frail little
+girl is not to be played with as a headlong boy."
+
+I felt that she couldn't tell me anything about frail little girls, but I
+kept my knowledge to myself. The Seraph said--
+
+"Was you ever a fwail little gel, Mrs. Handsomebody?" Our governess fixed
+him with her eye.
+
+"I was a most decorous and obedient little girl, Alexander, and asked no
+impertinent questions of my elders."
+
+"Was Mary Ellen a fwail little gel?" persisted The Seraph.
+
+"No," snapped Mrs. Handsomebody, "judging from her characteristics as a
+servant, I should say that she was a very riotous, rude little girl. Now
+drink your milk."
+
+"I yike wiotous wude people," said The Seraph with his face in the tumbler;
+the milk trickled down his chin.
+
+"Leave the table, Alexander," commanded Mrs. Handsomebody, "your conduct is
+quite inexcusable." The Seraph departed, weeping.
+
+All that evening I thought about Jane. I had no heart for a pillow fight.
+At night I dreamed of her, and saw her weekly washing, suspended from a
+line, fluttering in the wind that raced along my canyon.
+
+I strained toward the hour when I should meet her at tea. I had never felt
+like this before. True, I had once conceived a violent fancy for a fat
+young woman in the pastry shop, but she had been replaced by a thin young
+woman who did not appeal to me, and the episode was forgotten.
+
+But, oh, this bitter-sweetness of my love for Jane! My despair when I found
+that she was to sit next Angel at tea, till I discovered that, seated
+opposite, I could stare at her, and admire how she nibbled her almond cake
+and sipped tea from an apple-green cup.
+
+After tea we played musical chairs, in the library, with Margery at the
+piano. First marched The Seraph with his brown curls bobbing; and after
+him, the stout Bishop in his gaiters; next Angel; then Jane on tiptoes; and
+lastly myself in squeaky new boots.
+
+Seraph and the Bishop were soon out of it. They were invariably beaten in
+our games, though afterward they always seemed to think they had won. So
+Angel, Jane, and I were left, prancing around two solemn carved chairs. The
+music ceased with a crash. Jane leaped to one chair while Angel and I fell
+simultaneously upon the other. We both clung to it desperately, but he
+dislodged me, inch by inch, and I, furious at being balked in my pursuit of
+Jane, struck him twice in the ribs, then ran into the dim hall and hid
+myself.
+
+There Jane found me, and there her tender lips kissed my hot cheek, and she
+squeezed me in her arms. For a moment we did not speak, then she
+whispered--
+
+"I wish _you_ had got the chair, John. I love you best of all."
+
+That night I hung about the kitchen while Mary Ellen was setting bread to
+rise. The time had come when I must speak to some fellow creature of this
+tremendous new element that had come into my life. I watched Mary Ellen's
+stout red arms as she manipulated the dough, in much perplexity. The
+kitchen was hot, the kettle sang, it seemed a moment for confidence, yet
+words were hard to find.
+
+At last I got out desperately:
+
+"Mary Ellen, what is love like?"
+
+"Love is it, Masther John? What do the likes o' me know about love thin?"
+She smiled broadly, as she dexterously shifted the puffy white mass.
+
+"Oh, _you_ know," I persisted, "'cos you've been in it, often. You've had
+lots of 'followers' now, Mary Ellen, haven't you?"
+
+"Well, thin, if ye must know, I'll tell ye point blunt to kape out av it.
+It's an awful thing whin it gits the best av ye."
+
+"But what's it _feel like_?" I probed.
+
+Mary Ellen wiped the flour off each red finger in turn, and gazed into the
+flame of the lamp.
+
+"It's like this," she said solemnly, "ye burns in yer insides till ye feel
+like ye had a furnace blazin' there. Thin whin it seems ye must bust wid
+the flarin' av it, ye suddintly turns cowld as ice, an' yer sowl do shrivil
+up wid fear. An' thin, at last, ye fergit all about it till the nixt wan
+happens along. Och--I haven't had a sphell fer months! This is an awful
+dull place. I think I'll be quittin' it soon."
+
+"Oh, no, no, Mary Ellen!" I cried, alarmed, "you mustn't leave us! When
+Jane and I get married you can come and live with us." I blushed furiously.
+
+"And who might Jane be?" demanded Mary Ellen, suspiciously.
+
+"She's the Bishop's great-niece," I explained proudly. "I love her
+terribly, Mary Ellen. It hurts in here." I pressed my hand on my stomach.
+
+"Well, well." She shook her head commiseratingly. "I'm sorry fer ye,
+Masther John--sthartin' off like this at your age. Here's the spoon I
+stirred the cake wid--have a lick o' that. It'll mebbe help ye."
+
+I licked pensively at the big wooden spoon, and felt strangely soothed. My
+admiration for Mary Ellen increased.
+
+As I slowly climbed the stairs for bed, visions of Jane hovered in the
+darkness above me--airy rainbows, with Jane's laughing face peering between
+the bars of pink and gold. I had never known a little girl before, and Jane
+embodied all things frail and exquisite.
+
+When I entered our room Angel was sitting on the side of the bed, pulling
+his shirt over his head. The Seraph already slept in his place next the
+wall.
+
+I stood before Angel with folded arms.
+
+"Hm," he muttered crossly, "you've been lickin' batter! It's on the end of
+your nose. Why didn't you get me something?"
+
+"There was nothing but dough," I explained, "and one batter spoon.
+And--and--I say, Angel--"
+
+"Well?" asked my elder tersely.
+
+"I--I'm in love something awful. It hurts. It's like this--" I hurried
+on--"You feel like you'd a furnace blazing in you, an' then you turn cold
+jus' as if you'd shrivel up, but you _never_, _never_, forget, an'--It's
+made a 'normous difference in my life, Angel--"
+
+I got no further. Angel had thrown himself backward on the bed and, kicking
+his bare legs in the air, broke into peals of delighted laughter.
+
+"It's that yellow-faced little Jenny!" he gurgled, "Oh, holy smoke!"
+
+His brutal mirth was short-lived. Mrs. Handsomebody appeared in the
+doorway, her face genuinely shocked at the sight that met her austere eyes.
+
+At this hour--such actions--was her house to be turned into Bedlam?--such
+indecent display of limbs--she was sick with shame for Angel--would discuss
+his conduct further, with him, tomorrow.
+
+She waited while I undressed and stood over us while we said our prayers at
+the side of the bed, at last extinguishing the light with a final
+admonition to be silent.
+
+I was bitterly disappointed in Angel. It was the first time he had failed
+me utterly. I put my arms around the sleeping Seraph and cried myself to
+sleep.
+
+
+III
+
+We were awakened by the sonorous music of the Cathedral chimes. It was
+Sunday. That meant stiff white Eton collars, and texts gabbled between
+mouthfuls of porridge; and, later, our three small bodies arrayed in short
+surplices, and the long service in the Cathedral. The Seraph was the very
+smallest boy in the choir. I think he was only tolerated there through
+Margery's intervention, because it would have broken his loyal little heart
+to be separated from Angel and me. He was highly ornamental too, as he
+collected the choir offertory in a little velvet bag, his tiny surplice
+jauntily bobbing, and the back of his neck, as an old lady once said, was
+more touching than the sermon.
+
+Angel had a voice like a flute.
+
+Beyond the tall choir stalls I could catch fleeting glimpses of Jane's
+little face beneath her daisied hat, looking on the same prayer-book with
+Margery. I swelled my chest beneath my surplice and chanted my very loudest
+in the hope that Jane might hear me. "O ye Showers and Dew, bless ye the
+Lord: praise him, and magnify him for ever."
+
+Her dreamy blue eyes peered over the edge of the book, the daisies on her
+hat nodded; she smiled; I smiled ecstatically back at her; and so two
+childish hearts stemmed the flood of praise that rose above the old grey
+pillars.
+
+At dinner, over his bread pudding, The Seraph murmured in a throaty
+voice--"When you is in love, first you burns yike a furnace, an' en you
+shwivel up wiv the cold. It's a vewy bad fing to be in love."
+
+I threw Angel a bitter look. This was his doing. So, contemptuously, had he
+treated my confidence, made as man to man. To tell the irresponsible Seraph
+of all people!
+
+"What's that, Alexander?" questioned Mrs. Handsomebody, sharply.
+
+"It's love," replied The Seraph, meekly, "you catch it off a girl. John's
+got it."
+
+Mrs. Handsomebody sank back in her chair with a groan.
+
+"Alexander," she said it solemnly, "I _tremble_ for your future. You are
+not the boy your father was. I tremble for you."
+
+"John," she continued, turning to me, "you will come into the parlour with
+me. I wish to have a talk with you. David and Alexander, you may amuse
+yourselves with one of my bound volumes of 'The Quiver.'"
+
+I followed her with burning cheeks into the stiff apartment where not only
+her eye was riveted upon me, but every glittering eye of every stuffed
+bird, to say nothing of the pale fixed gaze of Mr. Handsomebody.
+
+Needless to recall the lecture I received, the probing into my reluctant
+heart, the admonition which I could not heed for my fearful watching of
+that hard grey face.
+
+But, at last, it was over. I slipped into the hall, closing the door softly
+behind me, and listened. Silence abounded. On tiptoe I made my way to the
+kitchen. It was clean and empty. I noiselessly opened the back door. On the
+doorstep sat The Seraph busily engaged with a caterpillar.
+
+"Where's Angel?" I demanded curtly.
+
+"I fink," breathed The Seraph, stroking the caterpillar the wrong way, and
+then looking at his fingers, "I fink that he's witin' to father to tell on
+you. So there!"
+
+I waited to hear no more. Casting my care behind me I sped lightly along
+the passage between the houses, crossed the Bishop's lawn, and sought Jane
+in the garden.
+
+There I stood a moment, dazzled, by the golden August sunshine, the
+iridescent spray of the fountain, and the brilliant colours of the
+hollyhocks beside the wall.
+
+I saw Jane there, and my heart swelled with disappointment and rage--for
+she was not alone!
+
+Too late I repented my confidence to Angel; I might have known that he
+would never let the grass grow under his feet till he had tasted this new
+excitement. Well, he had not let the grass grow.
+
+Jane, I remember, had on a pale blue sash, and a fluffy white frock,
+beneath the frills of which, her slender black silk legs moved airily. By
+her side sauntered the traitorous Angel, his head bent toward her tenderly,
+and, most sickening of all, pushing before him, with an air of
+proprietorship, the perambulator containing the doll, Dorothea. Jane was
+simpering up at him in a way she had never looked at me.
+
+I saw at a glance that all was over, yet I was not to be cast aside thus
+lightly. I strode across the garden, and, pushing myself between them, I
+laid my hand masterfully on the handle of the "pram," beside Angel's.
+Neither of them uttered a word. So the three of us walked for a space in
+tense silence.
+
+Then, suddenly, Angel began to hammer my hand with his fist.
+
+"You let go of that!" he snarled. "Ge--tout of here!"
+
+"I won't!" I roared tragically. "She said I was the fa-ather of it!"
+
+"She did not!" yelled Angel. "I'm the father!"
+
+Jenny glanced fearfully at the windows of the Bishop's house. All was
+silent there. Then, with a scornful little kick at me, she said--"Go 'way,
+you nasty boy! _I_ don't want you. I only like Angel."
+
+There was nothing more to be said. I hung my head, and, with a sob in my
+throat, turned away. I could hear them whispering behind me.
+
+Before I reached our own yard Angel came running after me.
+
+"Tell you what I'll do, John," he said, as he came abreast, "tell you what
+I'll do--I'll fight you for her. Like knights of old, you know. We could go
+down to the coal cellar, and have a reg'lar tourney. It'd be bully fun. We
+could have pokers for lances. Say, will you?"
+
+I was not in a fighting mood, but I had never refused a challenge, and,
+somehow, the thought of bloodshed eased my pain a little. So,
+half-reluctantly, I followed him, as he eagerly led the way to the coal
+cellar.
+
+Even on this August day it was cold down there. Long cobwebs trailed,
+spectre-like from the beams, and a faint squeaking of young mice could be
+heard in the walls.
+
+We searched among the débris of years for suitable weapons. Finally,
+brandishing pokers, and with two rusty boiler lids for shields, we faced
+each other, uttering our respective battle cries in muffled tones. Angel
+had put a battered coal scuttle over his head for a helmet; and, through a
+break in it, I could see his dark eyes gleaming threateningly.
+
+With ring of shield we clashed together. I delivered--and
+received--stunning blows. Dust, long undisturbed, rose, and blinded us.
+
+How many a gallant fray has been broken up by a screaming woman! Now Mary
+Ellen, true to the perversity of her sex, rushed in to separate us.
+
+"Oh, losh! I never seen the beat o' ye!" she cried. "Ye've scairt me out av
+a year's growth! Sure the missus'll put a tin ear on ye, if she catches ye
+in the cellar in yer collars an' all!" Imperiously she disarmed us, and,
+without ceremony, we were hustled up the dark stairs to the kitchen sink.
+
+"It was a tournament, Mary Ellen, about a lady," I explained, with as much
+dignity as I could muster, "you shouldn't have interrupted."
+
+"There ain't a lady livin' that's worth messin' up yer clane clothes for,"
+said Mary Ellen, sternly. "Lord! To see the cinders in yer hair, an' the
+soot in yer ears--it does bate all--" As she talked, she scrubbed us
+vehemently with a washcloth.
+
+"Ouch!" moaned Angel, "oh, Mary El-len, you're _hurting_ me! That's my
+so-ore spot, eeeoow!"
+
+"Well, Master Angel," said Mary Ellen, "I don't want to hurt ye, but it do
+make me heart-sick to see ye bashin' aitch other wid pokers for the sake av
+a bit girl that's not worth a tinker's curse to ye! Now thin--here's a
+piece of cowld puddin' to each av ye--sit on the durestep where the missus
+won't see ye, an' git outside av it."
+
+In a chastened mood we sat outside the back door and ate our pudding. It
+was cold, clammy, very sweet, and deliciously satisfying.
+
+To our right the wall excluded any glimpse of the Bishop's garden, and
+beyond loomed the Cathedral, with two grey pigeons circling about its
+spire.
+
+I yearned to know what was going on beyond the wall. I could not help
+fancying that Jane, touched by remorse, was weeping by the fountain for me,
+and me only. Angel spoke.
+
+"I say--" he hunched his shoulders mischievously--"let's go 'round and see
+what she's doin' all alone, eh?"
+
+I leaped to the proposal. I had an insatiable desire to hear her speak once
+more, if it were only to taunt me.
+
+We made the passage stealthily; all the world seemed drowsing on that hazy
+Sunday afternoon. The blinds in the Bishop's study were drawn. Little did
+he guess the life his great-niece led!
+
+The grass was like moist velvet beneath our feet. A pair of sparrows were
+quarrelling over their bath at the fountain rim. We heard a low murmur of
+voices. A glint of Jane's white frock could be seen behind a guelder rose
+near the fountain. We crept up behind and peered through the foliage.
+
+There on a garden bench sat Jane, and there, clasped in her slim white arms
+was--The Seraph! The wretched Dorothea lay, face downward, on the grass at
+their feet.
+
+We strained our ears to hear what was being said. Jane spoke in that
+silvery voice of hers:
+
+"Say some more drefful things, Seraph. I jus' love to hear you."
+
+There was a moment's silence; then, The Seraph said in his blandest tone,
+the one word--
+
+"Blood!"
+
+Jane gave a tiny, ecstatic shriek.
+
+"Oh, go on!" she begged, "say more."
+
+"Blood," repeated The Seraph, firmly, "Hot blood--told blood--wed
+blood--thick blood--thin blood--bad blood."
+
+Again Jane squealed in fearful pleasure.
+
+"Go on," she urged. "Worser."
+
+Thus encouraged, The Seraph rapped out, without more ado, "Tiger
+blood--ephelant blood--caterpillar blood--ole witch blood"--then, after a
+pause, that the horror of it might sink deep in--"Baby blood!"
+
+Angel and I gave each other a look of enlightenment. It was gore then, that
+this delicately nurtured young person craved, good red gore, and plenty of
+it! Well--enough--we were free. Wait! What was she saying?
+
+"I _hate_ those other boys, Seraph, darling. Let's jus' you and me play
+together always. And you should be Dorothea's _father_, and Dorothea should
+want to paddle in the--"
+
+Away! Away! With sardonic laughter, we sped along the pebbled drive, nor
+stopped until we reached our own domain.
+
+Then in the planked back yard, we sat on our steps, with a volume of "The
+Quiver" on our knees, in case Mrs. Handsomebody should invade our privacy,
+and played a rollicking game of pirates. And when any of the fair sex fell
+into our hands we were none too gentle with them.
+
+"Chuck 'em overboard, lieutenant!" was Captain Angel's way of dealing with
+the case.
+
+Just as the Cathedral clock struck five, The Seraph swaggered up. He
+stopped before us, hands deep in pockets.
+
+"Well," said Angel, eyeing him resentfully, "you'll make a nice bishop, you
+will, usin' the language we heard a bit ago!"
+
+"Maybe I shan't have time to be a bishop, after all," replied The Seraph,
+condescendingly. "You see I'm goin' to mawy Jane. It'll keep me vewy busy."
+
+
+
+
+_Chapter III: Explorers of the Dawn_
+
+
+I
+
+Fast on the wingèd heels of Love came our discovery of the Dawn. Of course
+we had known all along that there was a sunrise--a mechanical sort of
+affair that started things going like clockwork. But Dawn was a bird of
+another feather.
+
+If we had had our parents with us they would have, in all likelihood,
+unfolded the mystery of it in some bedtime visit; but Mrs. Handsomebody, if
+she ever thought about the Dawn at all, probably looked on it with
+suspicion, and some disfavour, as a weak, feeble thing--a nebulous period
+fit neither for honest folk nor cutthroats.
+
+So it came about that we heard of it from our good friend the Bishop. Mrs.
+Handsomebody had given a grudging permission for us to take tea with him.
+In hot weather her voice and eyes always seemed frostier than usual. The
+closely shut windows and drawn blinds made the house a prison, and the
+glare of the planked back yard was even more intolerable. Therefore, when
+Rawlins, the Bishop's butler, told us that we were to have tea in the
+garden, it was hard for us to remember Mrs. Handsomebody's injunction to
+walk sedately and to bear in mind that our host was a bishop.
+
+But, as we crossed the cool lawn, our spirits, which had drooped all day,
+like flags at half-mast, rose, and fluttered in the summer breeze, and we
+could not resist a caper or two as we approached the tea-table.
+
+The Bishop did not even see us. His fine grave face was buried in a book he
+had on his knees, and his gaitered legs were bent so that he toed in.
+
+When we drew up before him, Angel and I in stiff Eton collars and The
+Seraph fresh as a daisy, in a clean white sailor blouse, he raised his eyes
+and gave us a vague smile, and a wave of the hand toward three low wicker
+chairs. We were not a bit abashed by this reception, for we knew the
+Bishop's ways, and it was joy enough that we were safe in his garden
+staring up at the blue sky through flickering leaves, and listening to the
+splash of the little fountain that lived in the middle of the cool grass
+plot.
+
+Surely, I thought, there never was such another garden--never another with
+such a rosy red brick wall, half-hidden by hollyhocks and larkspur--such
+springy, tender grass--such a great guardian Cathedral, that towered above
+and threw its deep beneficent shade! Here the timorous Cathedral pigeons
+strutted unafraid, and dipped their heads to drink of the fountain, raising
+them Heavenward, as they swallowed--thanking God, so the Bishop said, for
+its refreshment.
+
+It was hard to believe that next door, beyond the wall, lay Mrs.
+Handsomebody's planked back yard. Yet even at that moment I could see the
+tall, narrow house, and fancied that a blind moved as Mrs. Handsomebody
+peered down into the Bishop's garden to see how we behaved.
+
+Rawlins brought a tray and set it on the wicker table beside the Bishop's
+elbow. We discovered a silver muffin dish, a plate of cakes, and a glass
+pot of honey, to say nothing of the tea.
+
+Still the Bishop kept his gaze buried in his book, marking his progress
+with a blade of grass. Rawlins stole away without speaking and we three
+were left alone to stare in mute desire at the tea things. A bee was
+buzzing noisily about the honey jar. It was The Seraph who spoke at last,
+his hands clasped across his stomach.
+
+"Bishop," he said, politely, but firmly. "I would yike a little nushment."
+
+"Bless me!" cried the Bishop. "Wherever are my manners?" And he closed the
+book sharply on the grass blade, and dropped it under the table. "John,
+will you pour tea for us?"
+
+We finished the muffins and cake, all talking with our mouths full, in the
+most sociable and sensible way; and, after the honey pot was almost empty,
+we made the bee a prisoner in it, so that, like that Duke of Clarence, who
+was drowned in a butt of Malmsey, he got enough of what he liked at last.
+
+I think it was Angel who put the question that was to lead to so much that
+was exciting and mysterious.
+
+He said, leaning against the Bishop's shoulder: "What do you think is the
+most beautiful thing in the world, Bishop?"
+
+Our friend had The Seraph between his knees, and was gazing at the back of
+his head. "Well," he replied, "since you ask me seriously, I should say
+this little curl on The Seraph's nape."
+
+The Seraph felt for it.
+
+"I yike it," he said, "but I yike my wart better."
+
+"Good gracious," exclaimed the Bishop. "Don't tell me _you've_ a wart!"
+
+"Yes, a weal one," chuckled The Seraph. "It's little, but it's gwowing. I
+fink some day it'll be as big as the one on Mrs. Handsomebody's chin. _It
+can wiggle._"
+
+"You don't say so!" said the Bishop, rather hastily. "And where do you
+suppose you got it?"
+
+The Seraph smiled mischievously. "I fink I got it off a toad we had. He was
+an awful dear ole toad, but he died, 'cos we--"
+
+"Oh, I say, don't bother about the old toad, Seraph!" put in Angel hastily,
+feeling, as I did, that the manner of the toad's demise was best left to
+conjecture. "We want to hear about the most beautiful thing in the world.
+Please tell it, Bishop!"
+
+"Well--since you corner me," said the Bishop, his eyes on the larkspur, "I
+should say it is the wing of that pale blue butterfly, hovering above those
+deep blue flowers."
+
+Angel's face fell. "Oh, I didn't mean a little thing like that," he said.
+"I meant a 'normous, wonderful thing. Something that you couldn't _ever_
+forget."
+
+"Well--if you will have it," said the Bishop, "come close and I'll
+whisper." Instantly three heads hedged him in, and he said in a sonorous
+undertone--"_It's the Dawn._"
+
+"The Dawn!" We three repeated the magic words on the same note of secrecy.
+"But what is it like? How can we get to it? Is it like the sunset?"
+
+"I won't explain a bit of it," he replied. "You've got to seek it out for
+yourselves. It's a pity, though, you can't see it first in the country."
+
+"Must we get up in the dark?"
+
+"Yes. I think your tallest attic window faces the east. You must steal up
+there while it's still grey daylight. Have the windows open so that you can
+hear and smell, as well as see it. But I'm afraid the dear Seraph's too
+little."
+
+"Not me," asserted The Seraph, stoutly. "I'm stwong as two ephelants."
+
+"You mustn't be frightened when you hear its wings," said the Bishop, "nor
+be abashed at the splendour of it, for it was designed for just such little
+fellows as you. You will come and tell me then what happens, won't you? I
+shall probably never waken early enough to see it again."...
+
+
+II
+
+Though we played games after this, and the Bishop made a very satisfactory
+lion prowling about in a jungle of wicker chairs and table legs, we none of
+us quite lost sight of the adventure in store for us. Somewhere in the back
+of our heads lurked the thought of the Dawn with its suggestion of splendid
+mystery.
+
+We were no sooner at home again than we set about discussing ways and
+means.
+
+"The chief thing," said Angel, "is to waken about four. We have no alarm
+clock, so I s'pose we'll just have to take turns in keeping watch all
+night. The hall clock strikes, so we can watch hour about."
+
+"I'll take first watch!" put in The Seraph, eagerly.
+
+"You'll take just what's given to you, and no questions, young man," said
+Angel, out of the side of his mouth, and The Seraph subsided, crushed.
+
+Came bedtime at last, and the three of us in the big four-poster; the door
+shut upon the world of Mrs. Handsomebody, and the windows firmly barred
+against burglars and night air.
+
+Angel announced: "First watch for me! You go right to sleep, John, and I'll
+wake you when the clock strikes ten. Then you'll feel nice and fresh for
+your watch."
+
+But I wasn't at all sleepy and we lay in the dusk and talked till the
+familiar harsh voice of the hall clock rasped out nine o'clock.
+
+"You go to sleep, please John," whispered Angel in a drowsy voice, "and
+I'll watch till ten."
+
+I felt drowsy too, so I put my arm about the slumbering Seraph and soon
+fell fast asleep.
+
+It seemed to me but a moment when Angel roused me. I know I had barely
+settled down to an enjoyable dream in which I was the only customer in an
+ice-cream parlour, where there were seven waitresses, each one obsequiously
+proffering a different flavour.
+
+"Second watch on deck!" whispered Angel, hoarsely--"and look lively!"
+
+"But I'd only just put my spoon in the strawberry ice," I moaned. "Can't be
+ten minutes yet."
+
+"Oh, I say," complained Angel, "don't you s'pose I know when the old clock
+strikes ten? You've been sleepin' like a drunken pirate and no mistake.
+Must be near eleven by now."
+
+"I'll just see for myself," I declared. "I'll go and look at the schoolroom
+clock." And I began to scramble over him.
+
+"You will not then--" muttered Angel, clutching me. "I shan't let you!"
+
+"You won't, eh? If it's really ten you needn't care, need you!"
+
+"Course it's ten--It's nearer eleven, but you're going to do what I say."
+
+At that we came to grips and fought and floundered till the bed rocked, and
+the poor little Seraph clung to his pillow as a shipwrecked sailor to a
+raft in a stormy sea. Exhaustion alone made us stop for breath; still we
+clung desperately to each other, our small bodies pressed hotly together,
+Angel's nose flattened against my ear. The Seraph snuggled up to us. "Just
+you wait"--breathed Angel--his hands tightened on me, then relaxed--his
+legs twitched--"Strawberry or pineapple, sir?" came the dulcet tones of the
+waitress. I was in my ice-cream parlour again! Seven flavours were laid
+before me. I fell to, for I was hot and thirsty.
+
+I was disturbed by The Seraph, singing his morning song. It was a tuneless
+drone, yet not unmusical. Always the first to open his eyes in the morning,
+he began his day with a sort of Saga of his exploits of the day before,
+usually meaningless to us but fraught with colour from his own peculiar
+sphere. At last he laughed outright--a Jovian laugh--at some remembered
+prank--and I rubbed my eyes and came to full consciousness. The sun was
+slanting through the shutters. Where, oh where, was the Dawn?
+
+I turned to look at Angel. He was staring at the slanting beam and swearing
+softly, as he well knew how.
+
+"We'll simply have to try again"--I said. "But however are we going to put
+in today?"
+
+The problem solved itself as all problems will and the day passed,
+following the usual landmarks of porridge, arithmetic, spelling, scoldings,
+mutton, a walk with our governess, bread and butter, prayers, and the (for
+once, longed for!) _bed_.
+
+That night we decided to lie awake together; passing the time with stories,
+and speculation about the mystery so soon to be explored by us. I told the
+first story, a long-drawn adventure of shipwreck, mutiny and coral Caves,
+with a fair sprinkling of skeletons to keep us broad awake.
+
+"It was a first-rate tale," sighed Angel, contentedly, when I had done,
+"an' you told it awfully well, John. If you like you may just tell another
+'stead o' me. Or The Seraph can tell one. Go ahead, Seraph, and make up the
+best story you know how."
+
+The Seraph, important, but sleepy, climbed over me, so that he might be in
+the middle, and then began, in a husky little voice:
+
+"Once upon a time there was fwee bwothers, all vwey nice, but the youngest
+was the bwavest an' stwongest of the fwee. He was as stwong as two bulls,
+an' he'd kill a dwagon before bweakfast, an' never be cocky about it--"
+
+Angel and I groaned in unison. We could not tolerate this sort of
+self-adulation from our junior. "Don't be such a little beast"--we
+admonished, and covered his head with a pillow. The Seraph was wont to
+accept such discipline, at our hands, philosophically, with no unseemly
+outcries or struggles; as a matter of fact, when we uncovered his head, we
+could tell by his even, reposeful breathing that he was fast asleep. It was
+too dark to see his face, but I could imagine his complacent smile.
+
+The night sped quickly after that. There was some desultory talk; then
+Angel, too, slept; I resolved to keep the watch alone. I heard the sound of
+footsteps in the street below, echoing, with a lonely sound; the rattle of
+a loose shutter in a sudden gust of wind; then, dead silence, followed
+after an interval by the scampering, and angry squeak of mice in the
+wall....
+
+The mice disturbed me again. There was a shattering of loose plaster; and
+suddenly opening my eyes, I saw the ghost of grey daylight stealing
+underneath the blind. The time had come!
+
+
+III
+
+Silently the three of us stole up the uncarpeted attic stair. It was
+unknown territory to us, having been forbidden from the first by Mrs.
+Handsomebody, and all we had ever seen from the hall below was a cramped
+passage, guarded by three closed doors. Time and time again we had been
+tempted to explore it, but there was a sinister aloofness about it that had
+hitherto repelled us. Now, however, it had become but a pathway to the
+Dawn, and, as we clutched the bannisters, we imagined ourselves three
+pilgrims fearfully climbing toward light and beauty.
+
+Angel stood first at the top. Gently he tried two doors in succession,
+which were locked. The third gave, harshly--it seemed to me, grudgingly.
+
+The Seraph and I pressed close behind Angel, glad of the warm contact of
+each other's bodies.
+
+In the large attic room, the air was stifling, and the sloping roof, from
+which dim cobwebs were draped, seemed to press toward the dark shapes of
+discarded furniture as though to guard some fearful secret. It took all our
+courage to grope our way to the low casement, and it was a struggle to
+dislodge the rusty bolt, and press the window out on its unused hinges. It
+creaked so loudly that we held our breath for a moment, but we drew it
+again with a sharp sensation of relief, as thirsty young animals drink, for
+fresh night air, sweet, stinging to the nostrils, had surged in upon us,
+sweeping away fear, and loneliness, and the hot depression of the attic
+room.
+
+Mrs. Handsomebody's house was tall, and we could look down upon many roofs
+and chimneys. They huddled together in the soft grey light as though
+waiting for some great happening which they expected, but did not
+understand. They wore an air of expectancy and humility. Little low-roofed
+out-houses pressed close to high walls for shelter, and a frosty white
+skylight stared up-ward fearfully.
+
+"Is this the Dawn?" came from The Seraph, in a tiny voice.
+
+"Only the beginning of it," I whispered back. "There's two stars left over
+from the night--see! that big blue one in the east, and the little white
+one just above the cobbler's chimney."
+
+"Will they be afwaid of the Dawn, when it comes?"
+
+"Rather. I shouldn't be surprised if the big fellow bolted right across the
+sky, and the little one will p'raps fall down the cobbler's chimney into
+his work-room."
+
+The Seraph was enchanted. "Then the cobbler'll sew him wight up in the sole
+of a shoe, an' the boy who wears the shoe will twinkle when he wuns, won't
+he? Oh, it's coming now! I hear it. I'm afwaid."
+
+"That's not the Dawn," said Angel, "that's the night flying away."
+
+It was true that there came to us then a rushing sound, as of strong wings;
+our hair was lifted from our hot foreheads; and the casement rattled on its
+hinges.
+
+This wind, that came from the wings of night, was sharp with the fragrance
+of heather and the sea. One fancied how it would surge through the dim
+aisles of cathedral-like forests, ruffling the plumage of drowsy birds,
+stirring the surface of some dark pool, where the trout still slept, and
+making sibilant music among the drooping reeds.
+
+The sky had now become delicately luminous, and a streak of saffron showed
+above the farthest roofs; a flock of little clouds huddled together above
+this, like timorous sheep at graze. The white star hung just above the
+cobbler's chimney, dangerously near, it seemed to us, who watched.
+
+There were only two of us at the window now, for Angel had stolen away to
+explore every corner of the new environment, as was his custom. I could
+hear the soft opening and shutting of bureau drawers, and once, a grunting
+and straining, as of one engaged in severe manual labour.
+
+A low whistle drew me to his side.
+
+"What's up?" I demanded.
+
+"Got this little old trunk open at last," he muttered, "full of women's
+junk. Funny stuff. Look."
+
+Our heads touched as we bent curiously over the contents. It was a dingy
+and insignificant box on the outside, but it was lined with a gaily
+coloured paper, on which nosegays of spring flowers bent beneath the weight
+of silver butterflies, and sad-eyed cockatoos. The trays were full, as
+Angel had said, of women's things; delicate, ruffly frocks of pink and
+lilac; and undergarments edged with yellowing lace. A sweet scent rose from
+them, as of some gentle presence that strove to reach the light and air
+once more. A pair of little white kid slippers looked as though they longed
+to twinkle in and out beneath a soft silk skirt. Angel's mischievous brown
+hands dived among the light folds, discovering opera glasses,--(treasures
+to be secured if possible, against some future South Sea expedition), an
+inlaid box of old-fashioned trinkets, a coral necklace, gold-tasselled
+earrings, and a brooch of tortured locks of hair.
+
+Angel's eyes were dancing above a gauze fan held coquettishly against his
+mouth of an impudent boy, but I gave no heed to him; I was busy with a
+velvet work-box that promised a solution of the mystery--for hidden away
+with thimble and scissors as one would secrete a treasure, was a fat little
+book, "The Mysteries of Udolpho." Some one had drawn on the fly leaf, very
+beautifully, I thought, a ribbed sea-shell, and on it had printed the
+words, "Lucy from Charles;" and on a scroll beneath the shell, in
+microscopic characters--"Bide the Time!"
+
+My brother was looking over my shoulder now. We were filled with
+conjecture.
+
+"Lucy," said Angel, "owned all this stuff, and Charles was her lover, of
+course. But who was she? Mrs. Handsomebody never had a daughter, I know,
+and if she had she'd never have allowed her to wear these things. Look how
+she jaws when Mary Ellen spends her wage on finery. I'll bet Lucy was a
+beauty. And she's dead too, you can bet, and Charles was her lover, and
+likely he's dead too. 'Bide the time,' eh? You see they're waitin' around
+yet--_somewheres_. Isn't it queer?"
+
+The Seraph's voice came from the window in a sort of chant:
+
+"The little white star has fallen down the cobbler's chimney!
+
+"It has fallen down, and the cobbler is sewing it into a shoe!
+
+"A milkman is wunning down the stweet!
+
+"Tell you what," whispered Angel, "I'll show you what Lucy was like--just a
+little. I'll make a picture of her."
+
+The space between two tall chests of drawers formed a sort of alcove in
+which stood a pier glass, whose tarnished frame was draped in white net.
+Before it Angel drew (without much caution) a high-backed chair, and on it
+he began his picture.
+
+Over the seat and almost touching the floor, he draped a frilled petticoat,
+and against the back of the chair (with a foundation of formidable stays
+for support) he hung a garment, which, even then, he seemed to know for a
+camisole. Over all he laid a charming lilac silk gown, and under the hem in
+the most natural attitude peeped the little party slippers. A small lace
+and velvet bonnet with streamers was hung at the apex of the creation, and
+in her lap (for the time has come to use the feminine pronoun) he spread
+the gauzy fan. He hung over her tenderly, as an artist over his
+subject--each fold must be in place--the empty sleeves curved just so--one
+fancied a rounded chin beneath the velvet streamers, so artfully was it
+adjusted. Her reflection in the pier glass was superb!
+
+"It is here!" chanted The Seraph. "Evwy bit of evwy fing is shinin'! Oh,
+Angel an' John, _please_ look!"
+
+We flew to the window and leaned across the sill.
+
+It was a happy world that morning, glowing in the sweetest dawn that ever
+broke over roofs and chimney pots. The earth sang as she danced her dewy
+way among the paling stars. The little grey clouds blushed pink against the
+azure sky. Blossoming boughs of peach and apricot hung over the gates of
+heaven, and rosy spirals curled upward from two chimneys. Pink-footed
+pigeons strutted, rooketty-cooing along the roofs. They nodded their heads
+as though to affirm the consummation of a miracle. "It is so--" they seemed
+to say--"It is indeed so--" One of them hopped upon the cobbler's chimney,
+peering earnestly into its depths. "It sees the star!" shouted The Seraph.
+"It sees the star and nods to it. 'I am higher now than you'--it says!"
+
+Something--was it a breath? a sigh?--made me look back into the attic where
+Lucy's clothes clung to the high-backed chair, like flower petals blown
+against a wall. The pier-glass had caught all the glory of the morning and
+was releasing it in quivering spears of light that dazzled me for a moment;
+I rubbed my eyes, and stared, and shook a little, for in the midst of all
+this splendour I saw Lucy! No pallid, rigid ghost, but something warm,
+eager with life, spreading the folds of the lilac gown like a butterfly
+warming its new wings in the strength of the sun.
+
+Her bosom rose and fell quickly, her eyes were fixed on me with a
+beseeching look, it seemed. I drew nearer--near enough to smell the faint
+perfume of her, and I saw then that she was not looking at me, but at the
+fat little book of "The Mysteries of Udolpho" which I still held in my
+hands. The book that Charles had given her! "Bide the time!" he had
+written, but she could bide the time no longer.
+
+Proud as any knight before his lady, I strode forward, and pressed the book
+into her hands--saw her slender fingers curl around it--heard her little
+gasp of joy. I should not have been at all surprised had the door opened
+and Charles walked in.
+
+As a matter of fact, the door _did_ open and--Mrs. Handsomebody walked in.
+
+
+IV
+
+She gave a sort of gurgling cry, as though she were being strangled. Angel
+and The Seraph faced about to look at her in consternation, their hair wild
+in the wind, and the rising sun making an aureole about them. The four of
+us stared at each other in silence for a space, while the attic-room, with
+its cobwebs reeled--the sun rose, and sank, like a floundering ship, and
+Mrs. Handsomebody resembling, in my fancy, a hungry spider, in curl papers,
+considered which victim was ripest for slaughter.
+
+"You--and you--and you--" she gobbled. "Oh, to think of it! No place safe!
+What you need is a _strong_ man. _We_ shall see! The very windows--burst
+from their bolts!" She slammed the casement and secured it, Angel and The
+Seraph darting from her path.
+
+"Even a dead woman's clothes--to make a scarecrow of!" She pounced--I hid
+my face while she did it, but I heard a sinister rustling and the snap of a
+trunk lid. It was over. "Bide the time."
+
+Ignominiously she herded us down the stairs; The Seraph making only one
+step at a time, led the way. Far down the drab vista of the back stairs
+that ended in the scullery, Mary Ellen's red, round face was seen for a
+moment, like a second rising sun, but vanished as suddenly as it had
+appeared, at a shout from Mrs. Handsomebody.
+
+We were in the schoolroom now, placed before her in a row, as was her wont
+in times of retribution. Seated behind her desk she wore her purple
+dressing gown with magisterial dignity; the wart upon her chin quivered as
+she prepared to speak.
+
+"Now, David," she said, rapping Angel smartly on the head, "can you say
+anything in explanation of this outrage upon my property? Hold your head up
+and toe out, please."
+
+Angel looked at his hands. "Nuffin' to explain," he said sulkily. "Just
+went an' did it."
+
+"Oh I thought so," said our governess. "It was just one of these seemingly
+irresistible impulses that have so often proved disastrous for all
+concerned. If your father knew--" she bit off the words as though they had
+a pleasant, if acrid taste--"if your poor father knew of your criminal
+proclivities, he would be a _crushed_ man. A _crushed man_."
+
+The Seraph was staring at her chin.
+
+Then--"I have one too," he said gently.
+
+"One _what_?" Her tone should have warned him. "One wart," he went on, with
+easy modesty. "It's just a little one. It can't wiggle--like yours--but
+it's gwowing nicely. Would you care to see it?"
+
+Mrs. Handsomebody affected not to hear him. She stared sombrely at Angel
+and me, but I believe The Seraph sealed our fate, for, after a moment's
+deliberation, she said curtly; "I shall have to beat you for this."
+
+She gave us six apiece, and I could not help noticing that, though The
+Seraph was the youngest and tenderest, his six were the most stinging.
+
+When we had been sent to our bedroom to say our prayers, and change our
+pitifully inadequate night clothes for day things, I put the question that
+was burning in my mind.
+
+"Did either of you see _her_?"
+
+"Who?"
+
+"Lucy, sitting there in the chair."
+
+Angel's brown eyes were blank.
+
+"I saw her _clothes_. What sickens me is that the dragon took that
+spy-glass. You see if I don't get it yet." (Mrs. Handsomebody was "the
+dragon" in our vernacular.)
+
+"Did _you_ see her, Seraph?"
+
+The Seraph was sitting on the floor, his head on his knees. He raised a
+tear-flushed face.
+
+"I'm 'most too cwushed to wemember," he said, huskily. "But I _fink_ Lucy
+was fat. It's a vewy bad fing to be fat, 'cos the cane hurts worser."
+
+I turned from such infantile imbecility to the exhilarating reflection that
+I was the only one to whom Lucy had shown herself--her chosen knight!
+
+I was burning to do her service, yet the passage that led to the attic
+stronghold was well guarded. Two days had passed before I made the attempt.
+I had been sent upstairs from the tea-table to wash my hands--though they
+were only comfortably soiled--and after I had dipped them in a basin of
+water that had done service for both Angel and The Seraph, I gave them a
+good rub on my trouser legs, as I tip-toed to the foot of the attic stairs.
+Cautiously, with fast-beating heart, I mounted, and tried the door. It was
+locked fast. I pressed my eye against the keyhole, and made out in the
+gloom the dark shape of the trunk, sinister, forbidding, inaccessible. No
+rustle of lilac silk, no faintest perfume, no appealing sigh from the
+gentle Lucy greeted me. All was dark and quiet. "Bide the time!" Who knew
+but that some day I might set her free?
+
+Yet my throat ached as I slowly made my way back to the table, presented my
+hands for a rather sceptical inspection by Mrs. Handsomebody, and dropped
+languidly into my seat.
+
+The Seraph gave me a look of sympathy--even understanding--perhaps he had
+heard me mount the distant attic stairs; his hearing was wonderfully acute.
+He chewed in silence for a moment and then he made one of those seemingly
+irrelevant remarks of his that, somehow, always set our little world
+a-rocking.
+
+"One fing about Lucy," he said, "she was always sweet-tempud."
+
+"Who?" snapped Mrs. Handsomebody.
+
+"Lucy--" repeated The Seraph. "Such a sweet-tempud gell."
+
+Mrs. Handsomebody leaned over him, and gobbled and threatened. The Seraph
+preserved a remarkable calm, considering that he was the storm centre. He
+even raised his small forefinger before his face and looked at it
+thoughtfully. His speculative gaze travelled from it to Mrs. Handsomebody's
+chin. I perceived then that he was comparing warts!
+
+
+
+
+_Chapter IV: A Merry Interlude_
+
+
+I
+
+My brothers and I were hanging over the gate that barred our way to the
+outer world, and singing, as loudly as we could, considering the pressure
+of the top bar on our young stomachs. We sang to keep warm, for Mrs.
+Handsomebody had decreed that no reefers were to be worn till the first of
+December. So, though November was raw, she maintained her discipline and
+refused to mollycoddle us.
+
+It was the fifth, and Angel chanted in that flute-like treble of his, that
+made passersby turn and smile at him:
+
+  "Remember, remember the fifth of November,
+    Gunpowder, treason and plot--"
+
+Then The Seraph added his little pipe:
+
+  "I see no weason why gunpowder tweason
+    Should ever be forgot."
+
+Then we shouted it all together.
+
+Our neighbour, Mr. Mortimer Pegg, who had never forgiven us for our share
+in the treasure hunt, came out of his house at that moment, and drew up
+before us.
+
+"This noise, you know," he said, in his precise way, "is affecting my
+wife's health deleteriously. She has gone to bed with a migraine."
+
+"Why don't you put him out," suggested The Seraph.
+
+Mr. Pegg eyed him severely, yet I thought I perceived a twinkle in his eye.
+
+"It's Guy Fawkes day," I explained. "You see, it must never be forgot."
+
+"It is a mistake in these enlightened days to keep up such old
+animosities," replied our neighbour. "For all you know I might be his
+direct descendant. If you must celebrate his undoing, better take these
+three sixpences and make yourselves ill on lemon fizz, or pink
+marshmallows, or vile licorice cigars."
+
+He placed a coin in each outstretched hand, and, without waiting for
+thanks, strode briskly down the street. We gazed after him, knocked
+speechless by this great beaker of bounty that had rolled in upon the flat
+expanse of our afternoon. Mr. Pegg, in his shiny top hat and neat Prince
+Albert moved away in the ruddy November sunlight as in a halo of opulence.
+Never before had we appreciated the princely turn of his toes beneath their
+drab spats, the flash of his twirled walking-stick. We resolved to keep him
+in mind. He was a neighbour worth having. Angel even suggested certain
+time-honoured ditties of boyhood, which, shouted in chorus, would be almost
+certain to have a disastrous effect on a female addicted to migraine.
+
+A deputation, consisting of The Seraph, then waited on Mrs. Handsomebody,
+to explain that our neighbour, Mr. Pegg, having been charmed by our
+singing, had presented us each with a sixpence, with the earnest injunction
+that the coin be expended on currant buns at the grocer's. The Seraph came
+back triumphant with the necessary consent.
+
+"We can go," he said, "but we're not to take a bite till we're back home.
+It's suppwising she'd let us do it."
+
+"Not a bit," said Angel cynically, "she knows they'll spoil our appetite
+for tea."
+
+The grocer was a fierce, red-bearded man who kept his wife in a little
+wooden stall, where she took in the constant flow of wealth extorted from
+his customers.
+
+We had told The Seraph that she was thus confined by her gloomy spouse, in
+order that she might be fattened for slaughter, and his eyes were large
+with pity as he stood on tiptoe to hand our three sixpences through the
+little wicket. The grocer's wife leaned forward to look at him, her plump
+underlip, after two futile attempts to form a chin, subsiding into a large
+white neck.
+
+The Seraph's look of pity deepened to horror. "You must be almost weady,"
+he gasped.
+
+"Ready? Ready for what, my little love?"
+
+"Stickin'--oo, will it hurt vewy much?"
+
+"Bless the child. What _does_ he mean?"
+
+"He's not very well," I explained. "I think he's delirious."
+
+"That's why we brought him here to get a cool drink," added Angel,
+hurriedly, and between us we led the recreant to the little table in the
+rear of the shop where the grocer had set out three glasses of ginger beer
+and a plate of mixed cakes. Five minutes of unalloyed bliss followed and we
+were just draining off the last dregs and cleaning up the crumbs, when a
+bullet-headed boy stuck his head in at the door.
+
+"Dorg's 'ere again," he said, laconically. "Nosin' abaht in the gabbage
+'eap."
+
+"Tie a can on 'is tile," said the grocer.
+
+The boy disappeared, and the three of us pushed back our chairs and
+followed in his wake, scenting adventure in the littered yard behind the
+shop with its strange odours of bygone fruit and greens.
+
+The dog, a small, black, Scottish terrier, was dragging an end of Boulogna
+sausage from the garbage heap. The bullet-headed boy winked at us, selected
+an empty can from the heap, produced a piece of string from his pocket, and
+grasped the terrier by the collar. But only for a moment. With a rush of
+concentrated fury it flew at his legs, gave him a sharp snap, and darted
+back to its sausage, with a warning glean of its eyes in our direction.
+
+"Ow," yelled the boy, doubling up, "'e's bit me sumpfin' cruel! You see if
+I daon't brain 'im for that!"
+
+He snatched up an axe and brandished it. The terrier dropped its sausage
+and showed its little pointed teeth.
+
+We three, with one impulse, flung ourselves between it and the boy.
+
+"You dare touch that dog," shouted Angel.
+
+"Oo's goin' to stop me, Mister Nosey Parker?" sneered the boy, with a
+flourish of his axe.
+
+"I am," said Angel, "'cos it's _my_ dog, see?" He coolly turned his back on
+the boy and bent over the terrier, who came to him cautiously, sniffing his
+legs.
+
+"Your dorg!" scoffed the boy, "w'y daon't yer feed 'im then? 'E's arf
+starved, 'e is. Yer ought to be 'ad up fer perwention of cruelty to
+hanimals. It's a disgrice."
+
+"We've only owned him a little while," explained Angel, "and he strayed
+away. He'll be jolly glad to get home again--won't you, Rover? Give us that
+bit of string and I'll lead him."
+
+The boy, suddenly friendly, in one of those swiftly changing moods of
+boyhood, assisted in the tying of the string to the little dog's collar,
+though he cast a longing look at its stout fringed tail that was so
+admirably built to further the riotous bouncings of an empty tin can.
+
+We led him triumphantly through the shop into the street, and we trotted in
+silence for a space, staring in rapt admiration of the little black paws
+that padded along in such a business-like fashion beside us, the
+knowingly-pointed ears, and valiant tail carried at a jaunty angle above
+the sturdy hind-quarters.
+
+When we reached our own quiet street we stopped. The Seraph looked in the
+bag of buns.
+
+"May I give him mine?" he asked.
+
+"Good boy," said Angel, and The Seraph presented the little dog with the
+large currant bun. We were charmed indeed when he sat up for it in the most
+approved trained-animal posture, with short fore-legs crossed on his plump
+hairy breast. How often had we longed for the joyous companionship of our
+old four-footed friends, the comfort of a soft warm tongue on one's cheek,
+the sensitive muzzle pressed into one's palm, the look of loving confidence
+in the deep brown eyes.
+
+But our governess hated dogs, and we were expressly forbidden to so much as
+pat the head of any stray canine that thrust an inquiring nose between the
+bars of her gate. Therefore, it was with sad foreboding that we watched the
+bun disappear. The Scotty held it between his forepaws and bit off decent
+mouthfuls, without sign of greed or haste. By his bearing and by his
+shining silver collar we knew that he was, or had been some one's cherished
+pet.
+
+The bun had cheered him wonderfully, for, as we moved homeward, he leaped
+playfully at his leash, and catching it in his teeth, worried it in an
+abandon of glee.
+
+We made no plans. We had no hopes. We merely were drawn by habit and
+necessity to the place where, we knew, desperate trouble awaited us. At the
+gate we halted.
+
+"We might take him into the yard to play for a little while," I said.
+"P'raps we could carry him upstairs wrapped in my coat, and hide him under
+the bed. Maybe he'd get so awful good he'd live under the bed, and we could
+save our food for him, and get up nights to play with him."
+
+As if to show his appreciation of the plan, the Scotty raised himself on
+his hind quarters, paddling the air with his forepaws in excited appeal,
+and giving vent to sharp, staccato barks.
+
+The next instant the front door was thrown open, and Mary Ellen, her cap
+askew, dashed down the steps to meet us.
+
+"Wheriver have ye been so long?" she ejaculated. "An' have ye been tould
+the news? 'Tis hersilf has taken a tumble, an' put her knee out so the
+doctor says. I'd jist been clanin' up the panthry shelves, an' _she_ got up
+on a chair to see whether I'd maybe missed the top one, an' I must have
+left a knob of soap on the chair, for the next thing I knew she was
+stretched on the flure, an' I had to fetch the doctor, an' he says she'll
+have to kape to her room for a fortnight or more, an' the lord only knows
+how I'm to wait on her an' manage the three av ye, wid yer pranks an' all!"
+
+The Seraph turned a somersault; then I turned a somersault; then Angel
+turned two; then the Scotty sat up, paddled the air with his forepaws, and
+sneezed twice.
+
+Mary Ellen was genuinely shocked.
+
+"I do belave," she said, solemnly, "that you've stones in your breasts
+instid av hearts--but you're jist like all men folk--if they think there's
+a good time in sthore for them, the women can suffer all they like, more
+shame to them." She was so worked up that she did not notice that the
+little dog had followed us into the house, until he was sitting up in the
+kitchen, his forepaws paddling the air, his tail thudding on the floor.
+Then she said, brimming over with admiration, though she tried to look
+severe;
+
+"And if you think I'll have sthray dawgs in my kitchen you're very much
+mistook.... Aw, it's a darlin' wee thing, isn't it?" For the Scotty, seeing
+that she had seated herself, had jumped to her lap and now sat there, nose
+in air, looking superbly at home.
+
+We closed about her, telling, in chorus, the story of the bullet-headed
+boy, and the garbage heap, and enlarging dramatically on the episode of the
+tin can.
+
+"And may we please keep him?" we entreated, "just for a few days till we
+find the owner of it! Mrs. Handsomebody will never know, for he can live in
+the coal cellar 'cept when we take him little walks on a string!"
+
+"If you don't let me do this I'll never marry you, so there!" This from
+Angel.
+
+"Have it your own way, thin," moaned Mary Ellen, capitulating, as usual,
+under the fire of Angel's pleading, "but moind, if she iver finds us out,
+it's mesilf will be walkin' the streets widout a character."
+
+
+II
+
+So began a merry interlude in the drabness of the Handsomebody regime. Mrs.
+Handsomebody kept to her room for nearly three weeks, unable to put her
+foot to the floor. On the first evening, she called us to her bedside; and,
+while we stood in a row, bewildered before the phenomenon of seeing her
+prostrate, she lectured us solemnly on the duties and responsibilities of
+our position, and implored us not to make the period of her enforced
+retirement a nightmare, because of our pranks. We promised, marvelling that
+bed-clothes could be kept so tidy, and fervently wishing she would display
+the knee that had been so severely "put out." It was a commonplace for Mrs.
+Handsomebody's temper to be thus afflicted, but her knee, never.
+
+When we returned to the kitchen, we found Mary Ellen sitting in a pensive
+attitude. Her forefinger pressed against her knit brow, her stout ankles
+crossed.
+
+"The little dawg has been tellin' me a secret," she volunteered in
+explanation, "a deep, dark secret. She's been tellin' me in a way of
+spakin' that she's a lady-dawg, God help her."
+
+"But how did she tell you, Mary Ellen? Did she speak out loud?" We were
+breathless with excitement.
+
+"She did not. I ast her, for I had me suspicion, if she was a lady-dawg an'
+I sez--'If yez are wag yer tail three times,' an' the words was scarce off
+me tongue, whin she wagged her tail three times."
+
+It was a marvel. Oh, these were going to be great days!
+
+"If you're a lady-dog, wag your tail three times," I ordered, squatting to
+peer into the sagacious brown eyes.
+
+Three times the stocky tail thumped the floor.
+
+Then Angel put the question, and was answered with equal promptitude.
+
+It was The Seraph's turn. With an insinuating smile he said: "If you are a
+gennelman dog wag your tail fwee times."
+
+But before there was time for so much as one wag, Mary Ellen caught the
+too-eager tail in a restraining grasp.
+
+"Now have done wid your nonsinse," she commanded. "Ye'll have the pore
+crature that worried it'll set up barkin', an' if the misthress did know,
+there be's a dawg in the house, she'd likely just throw a fit an' die."
+
+"Is it a vewy barkable dog?" queried The Seraph.
+
+"All dogs is barkable," said Mary Ellen, "and what we'll have to do is to
+kape her as quate as possible and pray that her owner'll come along this
+way, for turn her out I will not. It's easy seein' she's a pet be the ways
+of her."
+
+"It says 'Giftie' on her collar," Angel announced, separating the short,
+shaggy coat to read. "That must be her name. Hello, Giftie! Sit up,
+Giftie!"
+
+So Giftie she was, and, for a long three weeks, our joy and our delight.
+
+Was ever little body so full of spirit and the pride of life? The kitchen
+became her own domain where the three of us fought for the position of her
+most abject slave. Even Mary Ellen could scarcely work for watching her
+antics with an old stocking, which she pretended was a rat. Once she caught
+a live mouse and set us all shouting. Mary Ellen, in her excitement, upset
+a gravy-boat of hot gravy, and The Seraph slipped and sat down in it, and
+Giftie gambolling, mouse in mouth, ran through it and tracked it over the
+freshly scrubbed boards. If she had been a tigress with her prey she could
+not have been more ferocious with the mouse. She snarled at it: she worried
+it: she threw it up in the air and caught it: she laid it on the scullery
+floor and rolled on it: and when, finally, it ceased to squirm beneath her,
+she lay quite still, gazing pensively up at us with liquid eyes, and only
+now and then twitching her hind-quarters to remind her victim that she was
+still on the job.
+
+One never-to-be-forgotten day she rollicked into the kitchen proudly
+carrying Mrs. Handsomebody's solemn black shoe, which had been standing
+with its mate beneath Mrs. Handsomebody's bed. Before our horrified eyes,
+she worried it till the shoe-laces cracked about her head; threw it up and
+caught it, as she had the mouse; then taking it to her own bed in the
+scullery, she laid it there and rolled on it.
+
+When Mary Ellen had wrested the shoe from Giftie, she crept upstairs, her
+heart in her mouth, and restored it to its place beneath the bed.
+
+"It was a marvel," she said afterwards, "how the scallywag did what she did
+widout wakenin' _her_, for there was the mistress sleepin' on the broad of
+her back, and her two shoes, and her bed-socks scattered over the flure,
+and the pot of cold crame knocked off the chair at the head of her bed, and
+the half of it et. It's mesilf will dance for joy whin that little tormint
+gets took away."
+
+Inquiries were made of all the errand boys, but not one had heard of a lost
+dog. We came to dread the sound of the door-bell lest it should herald some
+determined grown-up come to snatch our treasure from us. Mr. Watlin, the
+butcher's young man, and Mary Ellen's favoured "follower" of the moment,
+took a lively interest in the affair. He was of the opinion that if Mrs.
+Handsomebody once saw the dog nothing would induce her to send it away. And
+he brought offerings of raw meat in his pocket to make her plump and
+glossy. Giftie grew plumper and glossier every day.
+
+Then, when two weeks had passed, she achieved the crowning triumph of her
+stay with us. It was a heavy morning of dense November fog, and the gas was
+still burning in the dining-room when we came down to breakfast. Mary Ellen
+did not bring us our porridge, as usual, neither did Giftie run in to greet
+us; so, after a moment's impatient wriggling in our chairs, we went to the
+kitchen to investigate. Giftie was nowhere in sight. Mary Ellen sat in an
+attitude of complete abandon, by the dresser, her apron over her head, her
+arms hanging loosely at her sides. Was Giftie dead? Had her owner come to
+fetch her? What horror had overcast the sun? We deluged her with questions,
+pulling the apron off her head, and dragging her from the chair.
+
+"Och, it's a terror she is," Mary Ellen said, at last. "Come wid me to the
+scullery an' ye'll see what she's got in the bed wid her."
+
+There was not much light in the scullery so we could not at first
+distinguish what lay on the mat beside Giftie. It moved; it snuffled;
+no--_they_ moved; _they_ snuffled. There were three of them. All at once it
+burst upon us that they were puppies--her puppies--our puppies--one apiece!
+We flopped on the floor beside her. She darted from her bed--licked our
+hands--snapped at our ankles--ran back to them--and, finally tremulous with
+excitement, allowed us to take them in our arms (The Seraph wrapped his in
+the skirt of his fresh holland smock) and sit blissfully in a row.
+
+We stroked the soft licked fur of their glossy coats; we examined their
+tiny sharp black nails; their blindness only endeared them the more to us.
+
+There we were found by Mr. Watlin.
+
+"'Ere's a picnic," he said. "'Ere's a bloomin' picnic." He caught up the
+nearest puppy, and turned it over in an experienced hand. "Tiles must be
+cut," he added.
+
+"Tails cut! Oh, no," I expostulated, "Giftie's tail isn't cut. Please
+don't."
+
+"All terriers should 'ave their tiles cut," said Mr. Watlin, firmly. "If
+the mother dog's tile isn't cut, is that any reason w'y 'er hoffspring
+should be disfigured in a like manner? Now's the time."
+
+"But it'll hurt," pleaded The Seraph. Do you do it wif a knife?"
+
+"I _bites_ 'em orf," replied Mr. Watlin, laconically, "an' it don't 'urt a
+bit."
+
+"In this world," he went on, "a lot depends on the way you does a thing.
+F'rinstance, when I kill a lamb or a steer, do I kill 'im brutally? Not at
+all. I runs 'im up an' down the slaughter yard to get 'is circulation up--I
+strokes 'im on the neck, an' tells 'im wot a fine feller 'e is, till 'e's
+in such good spirits that 'e tikes the killin' as a joke. Just a part of
+the gime, as it were. Sime with these 'ere pups. They'd like 'aving their
+tiles bit orf by me."
+
+We looked at the puppies doubtfully. It was hard to believe that they would
+really like it, and we were relieved when Mary Ellen broke in--
+
+"They will not be cut, nor bit, nor interfered wid in anny way. If Giftie's
+owner likes a long tail on her, he'd want a long tail on her puppies
+wouldn't he? That stands to reason, Mr. Watlin, don't it? and the owner may
+walk in here anny day."
+
+How we hated that nebulous owner! And now another cloud loomed on our
+horizon. Mrs. Handsomebody was getting better. She had sat up on a chair by
+the bedside; she had, with Mary Ellen's help, walked across the room; she
+had, all alone, walked down the hallway; she had come to the head of the
+stairs. She was like the man in the ghost story, who, fresh from his grave,
+called to his wife--snugly sleeping above--"Mary, I'm at the foot of the
+stairs.... Mary, I'm half way up." We, too, shuddered in anticipation. And
+Mary Ellen was almost as nervous as we, for hers was the responsibility.
+
+The puppies were more entrancing every day. Tiny slips of dewy blue showed
+between their furry eyelids. They learned to walk, and roll over, and to
+right themselves after being turned over by their mother's playful paws. We
+were squatting on the floor very busy with them, when Mary Ellen entered,
+round-eyed with fear.
+
+"'Tis herself is in the dining-room," she gasped.
+
+"Not Mrs. Handsomebody?"
+
+"Sorra a thing else. Put them pups in their basket and come out and shut
+the dure. Ye'd better go into the yard and be at some quate game. Oh,
+Lord--" and she hurried back to her mistress.
+
+This time we were safe, but there was tomorrow ahead, with certain
+discovery.
+
+Mr. Watlin, propped in the open doorway, brought his ingenious mind to bear
+upon the problem.
+
+"Now if Mrs. 'Andsomebody could be put under an obligation to that little
+dog, she'd probably tike it right into 'er 'eart and 'ome. If that little
+dog, f'rinstance, should save Mrs. 'Andsomebody from drowning--does she
+ever go in bathing?"
+
+"_Likely_, at _her_ age, in _December_!" sneered Mary Ellen. "Try again."
+
+"We might hold her under water in the bath-tub till Giftie would fish her
+out," suggested Angel.
+
+It was a colourful spectacle to visualize, and we dallied with it a space
+before abandoning it as impracticable. It seemed too much to hope that Mrs.
+Handsomebody, the bath-tub and Giftie could all be assembled at the
+critical moment.
+
+But Mr. Watlin was not to be rebuffed. "Then there's burglars," he went on.
+"Suppose Mrs. 'Andsomebody's valuables was to be rescued from a burglar for
+'er. She wouldn't be able to do enough for a little dog that 'ad chased 'im
+out of this very scullery, f'rinstance."
+
+We were thrilled by hope. "But where is the burglar?"
+
+"Well, I could produce the burglar in a pinch. He's reformed but he'd
+undertake a little job like this if he know'd it was for partic'lar friends
+of mine, and not a bit of 'arm in it. Is it a go?"
+
+Mystery brooded over the house of Handsomebody all that afternoon and
+evening. We were allowed to have no finger in this portentous pie.
+
+Mr. Watlin, with some small assistance from Mary Ellen, engineered the
+thing himself. We were sent to bed at the usual hour, and played at
+burglars on, and under, the bed, to while away the intervening hours.
+
+
+III
+
+It must have been almost midnight when our hearts were made to beat in our
+throats by such an uproar in the scullery, as seemed to cleave the darkness
+like a thunderbolt. Giftie appeared to be choking in her effort to unloose,
+all at once, a torrent of ferocious barks. A window shook, glass broke, a
+shutter slammed. Then followed a moment of awful silence before she settled
+down to a methodical yapping. We heard Mary Ellen run down the back stairs.
+
+We clambered out of bed, and tumbled into the hall. Mrs. Handsomebody was
+there before us, a gigantic shadow of her thrown on the walls by a candle
+she held unsteadily in her hand.
+
+"Merciful Heaven!" she was saying under her breath. "What can have
+happened!" She motioned us to fall in behind her, and it was plain that,
+crippled as she was, she intended to interpose her body, in its flannel
+nightgown, between us and whatever danger lurked below. She made the
+descent clinging to the bannister, the three of us jostling each other in
+the rear, and, once, nearly precipitated on her back by a caper of Angel's
+on the edge of a step.
+
+Mary Ellen met us in the dining-room, her face pale with excitement.
+
+"It was a burglar in the scullery, ma'am," she burst out, never looking at
+us. "It's a mercy we wasn't all murthered in our beds this night--the
+windy's broke, an' the shutter's pried loose, and a bag full av all the
+things off the sideboard is settin' on the flure. Sure, I heard the steps
+av him runnin' full lick down the lane--"
+
+Mrs. Handsomebody looked at her bereft sideboard, and dropped into a chair
+with a gasp.
+
+"Are you _sure_ he's gone?"
+
+"Yes'm. I stuck me head out the windy and seen him."
+
+"You're a brave girl. Get me the bitters. Yes, and lock the door into the
+scullery--stay, what dog was it that barked?"
+
+Mary Ellen hung her head. "The dawg the little boys have been keepin' this
+bit while. It does no harm at all."
+
+Mrs. Handsomebody's face was a mask. She said composedly: "Well, get the
+bitters and then bring in the dog."
+
+Mary Ellen did as she was bid.
+
+Enter now Giftie, tail up, ears pricked, the picture of conscious
+well-doing. She went straight to Mrs. Handsomebody, sniffed her ankles;
+wagged her tail in appreciation of the odour of the liniment that emanated
+from the injured lady; and finally sat up before her with an ingratiating
+paddling of the forepaws.
+
+Mrs. Handsomebody regarded her sombrely. "May I ask how long you have
+harboured this stray?"
+
+"Just since the day ye fell, ma'am, and I was that upset that I was scarce
+in me right moind, and indade, it's hersilf has saved us from robbery and
+mebbe murther this night wid her barkin'."
+
+Giftie, tired of sitting up without reward or encouragement, had trotted
+quietly out of the room. She now came back waddling with importance, a pup
+in her mouth. She laid it at the feet of our governess as though to
+say--"There now, what do you make of that?"
+
+"Horrors!" cried Mrs. Handsomebody, drawing back, as though the puppy were
+a serpent.
+
+With a joyful kick of the heels, Giftie was off again. In breathless
+silence we waited. The second puppy, sleepy and squirming, was laid beside
+its brother.
+
+"I presume you have another?" said Mrs. Handsomebody in a controlled voice
+but gripping the arms of her chair.
+
+Giftie brought the other.
+
+"Oh, Mrs. Handsomebody!" I implored, "please, please, let us keep them!
+They're as good as gold, and they'd guard the house and everything--and
+maybe save you from drowning some time. Don't take them from us, pl-ease!"
+The Seraph, in sympathy, began to cry. Angel picked up his pup and held it
+against his breast.
+
+"Silence!" rapped out Mrs. Handsomebody. "Mary Ellen, fetch _The Times_.
+And just look in the scullery to see that all is quiet there. Fetch the bag
+left by the robber."
+
+Mrs. Handsomebody sipped her bitters while Mary Ellen did her behests. Each
+of us cuddled his own puppy, and Giftie began an energetic search for a
+flea.
+
+Had our hearts not been in the grip of apprehension we should have laughed
+at the figure cut by Mary Ellen, panting under the sack of plate. Mr.
+Watlin's burglar had done his job well, and Mrs. Handsomebody groaned when
+she saw her most cherished possessions tumbled in such a reckless fashion.
+But not a thing was missing, and when they had been replaced on the
+sideboard, she turned briskly to _The Times_. She ran a long white finger
+down the Lost column.
+
+"Ah, here we are--" she announced, complacently--"Pay attention, boys," and
+she read:
+
+     "_Reward_ for information leading to the recovery of Scottish terrier,
+     female, wearing silver collar engraved, Giftie, stolen or strayed from
+     5 Argyle Road, on November third. Anyone detaining after this notice
+     will be prosecuted."
+
+"You see," exclaimed Mrs. Handsomebody, triumphantly, "you have made
+yourselves liable to a heavy fine, or even imprisonment, by detaining what
+is, I presume, a very valuable beast. Argyle Road--a very good locality--is
+not too great a distance for you to walk. In the morning, we shall return
+that dog and her--er--young, and I see nothing amiss in your accepting a
+suitable reward. Not a word now! No insubordination, mind. I won't have it.
+David, John, Alexander, listen--I am in no mood to be trifled with. Put
+down those squirming creatures and march to your bed!"
+
+Giftie's hour had struck. It was no use rebelling. With bitter composure,
+we carried our beloved to the scullery, and laid them on the mat beside
+their mother. It was not until we were safe in bed that our pent up fury
+broke loose; and we pounded the pillows, and cursed the name of womankind.
+
+Women! Tyrants! Mischievous busybodies!
+
+"When I'm a man," said Angel, suddenly, "I'll marry a woman, and I'll beat
+her every day."
+
+"Me too!" cried The Seraph, stoutly, "I'll mawy two--fat ones--an' beat 'em
+bofe."
+
+For myself, I was inclined for an unhampered bachelorhood, but it soothed
+my wounded spirit to picture these three hapless females in the grip of
+Angel and The Seraph, and the music of their outcries lulled me fast
+asleep.
+
+
+IV
+
+We found next morning that Mrs. Handsomebody and Mary Ellen had never gone
+back to bed all night, but had kept watch in the dining-room till daylight,
+when Mary Ellen had been dispatched to find a policeman. He was in the
+kitchen now, a commanding figure, making notes in a little book; and
+seeming to derive great benefit from his conversation with Mary Ellen.
+
+A new arrival was a wheeled-chair to convey Mrs. Handsomebody to 5 Argyle
+Road. Therefore, about ten o'clock, after the most exhausting preparations,
+we set out, a singular party; Mrs. Handsomebody enthroned in the chair,
+mistress of herself (and every one else) her black-gloved hands crossed on
+her lap; Mary Ellen, hot, straining over the wheeled-chair, lest her
+mistress get an unseemly bump at the crossing; Angel and I, bearing between
+us a covered hamper containing the three pups; while Giftie and The Seraph
+in the abandon of youth and ignorance, sported on the outskirts of the
+group.
+
+The way was long, and our arms ached with the weight of the hamper, when we
+stopped before the gate of Number 5 Argyle Road. It was an imposing house
+in its own grounds; large clipped trees stood about; and a bent old
+gardener was doing something to one of those, while a tall grey-haired
+woman in mannish tweeds superintended the work. A Scottish terrier, fit
+mate for Giftie, was digging furiously at the root of the tree. He
+discovered our presence first, and, before we had time to introduce
+ourselves, he and Giftie, with bristling backs, were jumping about one
+another in a sort of friendly hostility, and filling the air with barks of
+greeting. Giftie, then, darted for the hamper, sniffed it, ran back to the
+other Scotty, and bit him so that he yelped. All was confusion.
+
+The tall lady came toward us smiling broadly. She exclaimed above the din:
+"How can I thank you? I see you have brought home our little
+wanderer--Giftie, how can you treat Colin so? Poor Colin--lift him up,
+Giles, she's going to bite him again--I suppose there are pups in the
+hamper. Let's see, boys."
+
+We uncovered the hamper proudly. The three puppies lay curled like little
+sea anemones. Giftie tried to get in the hamper with them, but her mistress
+restrained her gently, while she lifted them out, one by one, and examined
+each, critically, Mrs. Handsomebody watching her all the while with an
+expression of disapproval, that bordered on disgust.
+
+The tall lady, quite oblivious to all this, seated herself on the ground
+with the puppies on her lap, muttering ecstatically-"Perfect beauties--what
+luck! Giftie, you're a wonder!" Whereupon Giftie tried to kiss her on the
+ear. The bent old gardener, brought Colin to us and made him shake hands,
+and we thought him very long-faced and dour after roguish Giftie.
+
+Presently Mrs. Handsomebody spoke in her most decisive tones:
+
+"I fear I shall take a chill if I remain in this damp place. Come boys.
+Mary Ellen, kindly reverse the chair!"
+
+The tall lady rose to her feet.
+
+"Oh, please, come in and have something hot, and tell me all about it. And
+there's the reward."
+
+"I thank you," replied Mrs. Handsomebody, "I shall not venture to leave my
+chair. As for the dog, it came to us several weeks ago, when I was ill;
+hence the delay in returning it--and its young."
+
+"Your grandchildren?" questioned the tall lady abruptly.
+
+"My pupils, and, for the present, my wards," replied Mrs. Handsomebody
+frigidly.
+
+"Wish I could steal them," said the lady. "If I'd dogs and boys too, I'd be
+happy. These are darlings." She turned to us then. "Boys, do you like
+Giftie very much?"
+
+"Oh, we love her," we chorused.
+
+"Would you like one of her puppies for your very own to keep?"
+
+Would we? We couldn't speak for longing.
+
+Mrs. Handsomebody spoke for us.
+
+"I allow no pets, canine or otherwise."
+
+The tall lady scowled. "But these are valuable dogs."
+
+"All dogs are alike to me. Canines."
+
+The tall lady gave something between a snort and a sigh.
+
+"Would you allow them to accept a sovereign apiece then?"
+
+"That would be permissible."
+
+"I shall be back directly," and with astonishing speed she ran to the house
+with Colin and Giftie barking on either side of her. It was but a moment
+till she returned and pressed a golden sovereign into each languid hand.
+The sight of so much bullion all at once braced us for the moment, and we
+forgot to be miserable. She came with us to the gate, asking a dozen
+questions about ourselves, and our father, and Giftie's stay with us.
+Giftie had to be restrained from following us, and with sinking hearts we
+kissed her little black nose and said good-bye.
+
+"Good-bye!" called the tall lady, "come again any time! Come and spend the
+day with us!"
+
+Our governess called us peremptorily. She was half a block in advance.
+
+When we reached the chair, she said, in a conciliatory tone: "I shall
+arrange for you to have some unusual treat from your reward, some concerts
+and lantern lectures suited to your years, and maybe, as the Christmas
+Season approaches, even a pantomime. What do you say?"
+
+I looked at the woman. Was she mad to imagine that such paltry, sickly
+treats could make up for the loss of three pups whose eyes were beginning
+to open? My own eyes smarted with tears. I looked at Mary Ellen. Two bright
+drops hung on her cheeks as she laboured behind the chair. I looked at
+Angel. He was balancing himself on the curb with an air of desperate
+indifference. I could hear The Seraph weeping as he brought up the rear.
+
+I lingered behind to offer him a suck of a piece of licorice I had. Then I
+saw that he had stopped and was hunched above the grating of a sewer. I
+could but think that his spirits had reached such an ebb that nothing save
+the contemplation of the foulest depths might salve his misery. But I was
+mistaken! His hand moved above the grating. Something flashed. Then I
+swelled my chest with pride in him. Truly, The Seraph was a brother to be
+proud of--a fellow of sturdy passions, not to be trifled with!
+
+He had chucked his sovereign down the sewer!
+
+
+
+
+_Chapter V: Freedom_
+
+
+I
+
+Life became dull indeed after Giftie was taken from us. November drew on to
+December; beating rains kept us indoors for days at a time. Mrs.
+Handsomebody had a horror of wet feet. With faces pressed against streaming
+window panes, we watched for the blurred progress of the lamplighter down
+the street, as the one excitement of the day. Even our friend the Bishop
+deserted us and went for a long stay in the south of France. Angel
+developed a sore throat just before Christmas so we had no part in the
+Christmas music in the Cathedral. The toy pistols sent by our father did
+not arrive till a fortnight after Christmas, and when they did arrive, the
+joy of possessing them was short-lived, for after Angel had cracked a pane
+of glass with his, and I had hit Mary Ellen on the ear, so that it was
+swollen and red for days, Mrs. Handsomebody confiscated them all as
+dangerous weapons to be kept till we were beyond her control.
+
+She gave us each a new prayer book illustrated by pictures from the Gospel.
+I coloured the pictures in mine with crayons, and got my hands rulered for
+it; Angel traded his with one of the choir boys for a catapult which he
+successfully kept in concealment, with occasional forays on back alley
+cats. The Seraph was immensely pleased with his. He carried it about in his
+blouse, producing it, now and again, for reference, with pretended
+solemnity. His manner became unbearably clerical. I think he felt himself,
+at least, a Canon.
+
+The winter wore on, and we became pale and peevish from lack of air, when
+all our little world was quickened by the coming of the telegram.
+
+It had come while we were at lessons. Angel and I were standing before our
+governess with our hands behind our backs, when Mary Ellen burst in at the
+door. I had been stumbling over the names of the Channel Islands, and I
+stopped with my mouth open, relieved to see Mrs. Handsomebody's look of
+indignation raised from my face to that of Mary Ellen.
+
+"Is that the way I have instructed you to enter the room where I sit?"
+asked Mrs. Handsomebody sternly.
+
+"Lord, no, ma'am," gasped Mary Ellen, "but it's a telegram I've brung for
+ye, an' I thought as it was likely bad news, ye wouldn't want to be kept
+waitin' while I'd rap at the dure!" She presented the bit of paper between
+a wet thumb and forefinger.
+
+"You may take your seats," said Mrs. Handsomebody coldly, to us.
+
+Angel and I slipped into our places at the long book-littered table, on
+either side of The Seraph. We were thus placed, in order that his small
+plump person should prove an obstacle to familiar intercourse between Angel
+and myself during school hours; and, as our intercourse usually took the
+form of punches in the short ribs, or wet paper pellets aimed at an
+unoffending nose, The Seraph was frequently the recipient of such
+pleasantries. He bore them with good humour and stoicism.
+
+"I'll bet anything," whispered Angel, over The Seraph's curls, "that it's a
+telegram from father saying that he's coming to fetch us! Wouldn't that be
+jolly? And she's waxy about it too--see how white she's gone!"
+
+Mrs. Handsomebody rose.
+
+"Boys," she said, in her most frigid manner, "owing to news of a sudden
+bereavement, I shall not be able to continue your lessons today--nor
+tomorrow. You will, I hope, make the most of the time intervening. You were
+in a shocking state of unpreparedness both in History and Geography this
+morning. Keep your little brother out of mischief, and _remember_," raising
+her long forefinger, "you are not, under any consideration, to leave the
+premises during my absence. As I have a great responsibility on your
+account, I wish to be certain that you are not endangering yourselves in
+the street. When I return we shall undertake some long walks."
+
+Picking up the telegram from the floor where it had fallen, Mrs.
+Handsomebody slowly left the room, and closed the door behind her.
+
+"She's always jawing about her responsibility," muttered Angel resentfully.
+"Why don't she let us run about like other boys 'stead of mewing us up like
+a parcel of girls? I'll be shot if I stand it!"
+
+"What _are_ the Channel Islands anyhow?" I asked to change the subject.
+"I'd just got to Jersey, Guernsey, when I got stuck."
+
+"Jersey, Guernsey, Sweater, Sock and Darn," replied my elder, emphasizing
+the last named.
+
+"_Was_ the telegram from father?" interrupted The Seraph. "Is he comin'
+home?"
+
+"No, silly," replied Angel. "Some one belonging to Mrs. Handsomebody is
+dead. She's goin' to the funeral, I s'pose. Whoever can it be, John? Didn't
+know _she_ had any people."
+
+"A whole day away," I mused, "it has never happened before."
+
+I looked at Angel, and Angel looked at me--such looks as might be exchanged
+by lion cubs in captivity. We remembered our old home with its stretch of
+green lawn, the dogs, the stable with the sharp sweet smell of hay, and the
+pigeons, sliding and "rooketty-cooing" on the roof. Here, the windows of
+our schoolroom looked out on a planked back yard, and our daily walks with
+Mrs. Handsomebody were dreary outings indeed.
+
+Of a sudden Angel threw his Geography into the air. His brown eyes were
+sparkling.
+
+"We'll make a day of it, Lieutenant," he cried, slapping me on the
+shoulder. He always called me Lieutenant where mischief was a-foot. "Such a
+day as _never_ was! We'll do every blessed thing we're s'posed not to! Most
+of all--we'll _run the streets_!"
+
+At that instant, Mary Ellen opened the door and put her rosy face in.
+
+"She do be packin' her bag, byes," she whispered, "she's takin' the eliven
+o'clock train, an' she won't be back till tomorrow at noon. Now what d'ye
+think o' that? She's awful quate, but she's niver spilt a tear fer him that
+I could spot."
+
+"For who?"
+
+"Why, her brother to be sure. It's him that's dead. It's a attack of
+brownkitis that's carried him off so suddint. Her only brother an'--yes,
+ma'a'm, I'm comin'," her broad face disappeared, "I was on'y tellin' the
+young gintlemen to be nice an' quate while I git their dinner ready. Will
+they be havin' the cold mutten from yisterday ma'a'm?" Her voice trailed
+down the hall.
+
+Presently we heard the front door close. We raced to the top of the stairs.
+
+"Is she gone?" we whispered, peering over the bannister into the hall
+below. But, of course, she was gone, else Mary Ellen would never dare to
+stand thus in the open doorway, gaping up and down the street! We slid
+recklessly down the hand-rail. It was the first infringement of rules--the
+wig was on the green! We crowded about Mary Ellen in the doorway, sniffing
+the air.
+
+"Och, it's a bad lot ye are!" said she, taking The Seraph under the arms
+and swinging him out over the steps, "shure it's small wonder the missus is
+strict wid ye, else ye'd be ridin' rough-shod over her as ye do over me!
+It's jist man-nature, mind ye--ye can't help it!"
+
+"Well, it's not man-nature to be mewed up as she does us," said Angel,
+swaggering, "and, I don't know what you mean to do, Mary Ellen, but _we_
+mean to take a day off, so there!" He nodded his curly head defiantly at
+her.
+
+"Now, listen here, byes," said Mary Ellen, turning sober all of a sudden,
+and shutting the door, "you come right out to the kitchen wid me, an' we'll
+talk this thing over. I've got a word to say to ye."
+
+She led the way down the hall and through the dining-room with its
+atmosphere of haircloth, into the more friendly kitchen, where even the
+oppressions of Mrs. Handsomebody could not quite subdue the bounding
+spirits of Mary Ellen.
+
+Angel sallied to the cupboard. "Bother!" he said, discontentedly,
+investigating the cake-box, "that same old seedy-cake! Won't you _please_
+make us a treat today, Mary Ellen? Jam tarts or some sticky sort of cake
+like you see in the pastry shop window."
+
+"That's the very thing I was goin' to speak about, my dear," Mary Ellen
+replied, "if ye'll jist howld yer horses." Before proceeding, she cut us
+each, herself included, a slice of the seed cake, and, when we were all
+munching (save Angel, who was busy picking the seeds out of his cake) she
+went on--
+
+"Now, as well ye know, I've worked here manny a long month, and I've had
+followers a-plinty, yit there's noan o' thim I like the same as Mr. Watlin,
+the butcher's young man, an' it makes me blush wid shame, whin I think that
+after all the pippermints, an' gum drops, an' jawbone breakers he's give
+me, not to speak of minsthral shows an' rides on the tram-cars, an' I've
+niver given him so much as a cup o' tay in this kitchen. Not _wan_ cup o'
+tay, mind ye!"
+
+We shook our heads commiseratingly. Angel flicked his last caraway seed at
+her--
+
+"Well," he said, with a wink, "you gave him something better than tea--I
+saw you!"
+
+"Aw, well, my dear," replied Mary Ellen, without smiling, "a man that do be
+boardin' all the time likes a little attintion sometimes--an' a taste o'
+home cookin'. Now hark to my plan. I mane to have a little feast of oyster
+stew, an' cake, an' coffee, an' the like this very night, fer Mr. Watlin
+an' me, an' yersilves. You kin have yours in the dining-room like little
+gintlemen, an' him an' me'll ate in the kitchen here. Thin, after the
+supper, ye kin come out an' hear Mr. Watlin play on the fiddle. He plays
+somethin' grand, havin' larned off the best masters. It'll be a rale treat
+fer ye! The missus 'll niver be the wiser, an' we'll all git a taste o'
+_freedom_, d'ye see?"
+
+We were unanimous in our approval, The Seraph expressing his by a
+somersault.
+
+"But," said Angel, "there's just one thing, Mary Ellen; if there's going to
+be a party you and Mr. Watlin have got to have yours in the dining-room the
+same as us. It'll be ever so much jollier, and more like a real party."
+
+"Thrue fer ye, Master Angel!" cried Mary Ellen heartily, "sure, there's
+noan o' the stiff-neck about ye, an' ye'll git yer fill av oysters an' cake
+fer that, mark my words! As fer my Mr. Watlin, there ain't a claner,
+smarter feller to be found annywheres. But, oh, if the mistress was to find
+it out--" she turned pale with apprehension.
+
+"How could she?" we assured her. Every curtain would be drawn, and,
+besides, Mrs. Handsomebody was not intimate with her neighbours.
+
+Mary Ellen gave us our cold mutton and rice pudding that day in free and
+easy fashion. She did not place the dishes and cutlery with that
+mathematical precision demanded of her by Mrs. Handsomebody, but scattered
+them over the cloth in a promiscuous way that we found very exhilarating.
+And, instead of Mrs. Handsomebody's austere figure dominating our repast,
+there was Mary Ellen, resting her red knuckles on the table-cloth, and
+fairly bubbling over with plans for the prospective entertainment of her
+lover! Our hearts went out to the good girl and her Mr. Watlin. We began to
+think of him as a dear friend.
+
+"Now, my dears," said she, when the meal was over, "take yourselves off
+while I clane up and do my shoppin', but fer pity's sake, don't lave the
+front garden, fer if annything was to happen to ye--"
+
+Angel cut her short with--"None of that Mary Ellen! This is _our_ day too,
+and we shall do what we jolly well please!" He completed his protest by
+throwing himself bodily on the stout domestic, and The Seraph and I, though
+we had eaten to repletion, followed his example. Mary Ellen, howbeit, was a
+match for the three of us, and bundled us out of the side entrance into the
+laneway, triumphantly locking the door upon us.
+
+Without a look behind, we scampered to the street, and then stood still,
+staring at each other, dazzled by the vista that opened up before us--what
+to do with these glorious hours of freedom!
+
+
+II
+
+It was one of those late February days, when Nature, after months of frozen
+disregard for man, of a sudden smiles, and you see that her face has grown
+quite young, and that she is filled with gracious intent towards you. The
+bare limbs of the chestnut trees before the house looked shiny against the
+dim blue of the sky; they seemed to strain upward toward the light and
+warmth. A score of sparrows were busy on the roadway.
+
+After all, it was The Seraph who made the first dash, who took the bit in
+his milk-teeth, as it were; and, without a by-your-leave, strutted across
+the strip of sod to the road, and so set forth. He carried his head very
+high, and he would now and then shake it in that manner peculiar to the
+equine race. Angel and I followed closely with occasional caracoles, and
+cavortings, and scornful blowings through the nostrils. All three shied at
+a lamp-post. It needed no second glance to perceive that we were mettlesome
+steeds out for exercise, and feeling our oats.
+
+A very old gentleman with an umbrella and top hat saw us. He rushed to the
+curb waving his umbrella and crying, "Whoa, whoa," but we only arched our
+proud necks and broke into a gallop. How the pavement echoed under our
+flying hoofs! How warmly the sun glistened on our sleek coats! How pleasant
+the jingling sound of the harness and the smell of the harness oil!
+
+We left the decorous street we knew so well, and turned into narrow and
+untidy Henwood street. Shabby houses and shops were jumbled promiscuously
+together, and the pavement was full of holes. From the far end of it came
+the joyous tones of a hand-organ, vibrating on the early afternoon air. The
+eaves on the sunny side of the street were dripping. A fishmonger's shop
+sent forth its robust odour. The scarlet of a lobster caught our eyes as we
+flew past.
+
+Could it be possible that the player of the organ was our old friend Tony,
+to whose monkey we had often handed our coppers through the palings?
+
+We were horses no longer. Who had time for such pretence when Tony was
+grinding out "White Wings" with all his might? Angel and I took to the
+side-walk and ran with all speed, leaving the poor little Seraph pumping
+away in the rear, not quite certain whether he was horse or boy, but
+determined not to be outdistanced.
+
+It was indeed Tony, and his white teeth gleamed when he saw us coming, and
+his eyebrows went up to his hat brim at sight of us bareheaded and alone,
+who always handed our coppers through the palings. And Anita, the monkey,
+was there, looking rather pale and sickly after the long Winter, but full
+of pluck, grinning, as she doffed her gold-braided hat.
+
+Angel and The Seraph rarely had any money. The little allowance father gave
+us through Mrs. Handsomebody, burnt a hole in their pockets till it was
+expended on toffee or marshmallows. But I was made of different stuff, and
+by the end of the week, I was the financial strength of the trio. It was I,
+who now fished out a penny which Angel snatched from me. He craved the joy
+of the giver, and chuckled when Anita's small pink palm closed over the
+coin. But I was too happy to quarrel with him. Every one seemed in
+good-humour that day. Windows were pushed up and small change tossed out,
+or dropped in Anita's cup as she perched, chattering, on the sill. A stout
+grocer in his white apron gave her a little pink biscuit to nibble.
+Half-grown girls lolled on the handles of perambulators to listen, while
+their charges pulled faces of fear at the supple Anita.
+
+We three sat on the curb close to the organ, our small heads reeling with
+the melodies that thundered from it. When Tony moved on, we rose and
+followed him. At the next corner he rested his organ on its one leg and
+looked down at us.
+
+"You betta go home," he admonished, "your mamma not like."
+
+"We're going to run the streets today," I said, manfully, "Mrs.
+Handsomebody is away at a funeral."
+
+"A funer-al," repeated Tony, "she know--about dis?"
+
+"No--" I replied, "but Mary Ellen does."
+
+"She a beeg lady--dis Marie Ellen?"
+
+"Oh, yes. She's awfully big. Bigger than you, and strong--"
+
+"Oh, all right," said Tony, "but don' you get los'." We helped him to carry
+the organ. It was a new one he said, and very expensive to hire. We asked
+him endless questions we had always been wanting to ask--about Italy, and
+his parents, and sisters, and we told him about father in South America,
+and about the party that night for Mr. Watlin.
+
+From street to street we wandered till we were gloriously and irrevocably
+lost. Angel and I helped to grind the organ and The Seraph even presented
+himself at doors with Anita's little tin cup in his hand. And either
+because he was so little or his eyelashes were so long, he never came back
+empty-handed. Tony seemed well content with our company.
+
+So the afternoon sped on. Narrow alleys we played in, and wide streets, and
+once we passed through a crowded thoroughfare where we had to hug close to
+the organ, and once we met Tony's brother Salvator, who gave us each a long
+red banana.
+
+At last Tony, looking down at us with a smile, said:
+
+"Jus' one more tune here, then I tak' you home. See? De sun's gettin' low
+and dat little one's gettin' tired. I tak' you home in a minute."
+
+We, remembering the party, were nothing loath. Poor Mary Ellen would be in
+a state by now, and our legs had almost given out.
+
+This street was a quiet one. At the corner some untidy little girls danced
+on the pavement, while a group of boys stood by, loafing against the window
+of a small liquor shop, and occasionally scattering the girls by some
+threat of hair-pulling or kissing.
+
+The western sky was saffron. The eaves, that had been dripping all day, now
+wore silent rows of icicles. Possibly the little girls danced to keep warm.
+The Seraph began to whimper.
+
+"This air stwikes cold on my legs," he murmured.
+
+I sat down beside him on the curb, and we snuggled together for warmth.
+
+"Never mind, old sport," I whispered cheerily. "Just think of the goodies
+Mary Ellen's making for us! Pretty soon we'll be home."
+
+While I strove to revive The Seraph's flagging spirits, Angel had strolled
+along the street to watch the little girls. He had an eye for the gentle
+sex even when their fairness was disguised by dirty pinafores and stiff
+pigtails. I did not see what happened, but above the noise of the organ I
+heard first, shouts of derision and anger, and then my brother's voice
+crying out in pain.
+
+I pushed aside the clinging Seraph and ran to where I saw the two groups
+melted into one about a pair of combatants. The little girls parted to let
+me through. I saw then that the contending parties were Angel and a boy
+whose tousled head was fully six inches above my brother's. He had gripped
+Angel by the back of the neck with one hand, while with the other he struck
+blows that sounded horrible to me. Angel was hitting out wildly. When the
+boy saw me, he hooked his leg behind Angel's and threw him on his back with
+deadly ease, at the same time administering a kick in the stomach. He
+turned then to me with a leer.
+
+"Well, pretty," he simpered, "does yer want some too? I s'y fellers, 'ere's
+another Hangel comin' fer 'is dose. Put up yer little 'ooks then; an' I'll
+give yer two black 'osses an' a red driver! Aw, come on, sissy!"
+
+I tried to remember what father had said about fighting. "Don't clutch and
+don't paw. Strike out from the shoulder like a gentleman." So, while the
+boy was talking, I struck out from the shoulder right on the end of his
+nose with my shut fist.
+
+Whatever things I may achieve, never, ah, never shall I experience a thrill
+of triumph equal to that which made my blood dance when I saw a trickle--a
+goodly, rich red trickle!--of blood spurt from the bully's nose.
+
+"Ow! Ow! Wesley! Oo's got a red driver on 'is own?" shouted his comrades.
+"Plug aw'y little 'un!"
+
+He snarled horribly, showing his big front teeth. I could feel his breath
+hot on my face as he clutched me round the neck. I could see some boys
+holding Angel back, I could hear The Seraph's wail of "John! John!" Then,
+simultaneously there came a blow on my own nose, and a grasping of my
+collar, and a shaking that freed us of each other, for I was clutching him
+with fury equal to his own.
+
+A minute passed before I could regain possession of myself. The street
+reeled, the organ seemed to be grinding in my own head, and yet I found
+that it was not playing at all, for there was Tony with it on his back,
+looking anxiously into my face, and firing a volley of invective after the
+big boy, who was retreating with his mates.
+
+I looked up at the owner of the hand which still held my collar. He was a
+very thin young man with a pale face and quiet grey eyes.
+
+Tony began to offer incoherent explanations.
+
+"But who are they?" demanded the young man, "they don't seem to belong to
+this street."
+
+"No, no, no," reiterated Tony, "dey are little fr-riends of mine--dey come
+for a walk with me. Oh, I shall get into some trouble for dis, I tink! It
+was all dose damn boys dat bully heem, an' when I would run to help, dere
+was my Anita lef' on da organ, an' I mus' not lose her!"
+
+"It's all right," I explained to the young man, "we were just spending the
+afternoon with Tony, and it wasn't his fault we got to fighting, and--and
+did I do very badly please? Did you notice whether I pawed or not?"
+
+"By George!" said the young man, "you made the claret flow!"
+
+"It took two of them to hold me or I'd have got back at him," said Angel.
+
+"It took fwee o' them to hold _me_," piped The Seraph, "or I'd have punched
+evwybody!"
+
+"How did it start?" enquired the young man.
+
+"That biggest one asked me my name," replied Angel, "and before I thought
+I'd said, 'Angel,' and that started them. Of course my real name is David,
+but I forgot for the moment."
+
+"Pet names _are_ a nuisance sometimes," said the young man, smiling, "I had
+one once. It was John Peel. But no one calls me that now."
+
+"I will tak' dem home now," interrupted Tony. "Come," taking The Seraph's
+hand, "dere will be no more running da street for you little boys!"
+
+"I'll walk along, too," said the young man, "I've nothing else to do."
+
+I strode along at his side greatly elated. I was as hot as fire, and some
+of the gamin's blood was still on my hand. I cherished it secretly.
+
+Although the young man had quiet, even sad, eyes, it turned out that he was
+wonderfully interesting. He had travelled considerably, and had even
+visited South America, yet he could not have been an engineer like father,
+building railroads, for he looked very poor.
+
+I was sorry when we reached Mrs. Handsomebody's front door.
+
+"Good-bye," he said, holding out his hand.
+
+But a happy thought struck me. I told him about Mary Ellen's party. "And,"
+I hurried on, "there'll be oysters and coffee and all sorts of good things
+to eat, and we'd like most awfully to have you join us if you will. Mary
+Ellen would be proud to entertain a friend of ours. Wouldn't she Angel?"
+
+"Yes, and Tony can come too!" cried Angel. "We'll have a _regular_ party!"
+
+"Yes, yes, I will come to da party," said Tony, quickly, "I am vera hungry.
+You will egsplain to Mees Marie Ellen, yes?"
+
+"John can 'splain _anything_," put in The Seraph.
+
+"Oh, please come!" I pleaded, dragging the young man down the side passage.
+He suffered himself to be led as far as the back entrance, but, once there,
+he halted.
+
+"Tony and I shall wait here," he said, "and you'll go in and send your Mary
+Ellen out to inspect us. We shall see what she thinks of such a surprise
+party before we venture in, eh, Tony?" He gave a queer little laugh.
+
+"Yes, yes," said Tony, "I will leave da organ out sida, but Anita mus' come
+in. She is vera good monk in a party."
+
+
+III
+
+We three entered breathlessly. Who can describe the babble of our
+explanations and appeals to Mary Ellen's hospitality, and her reproaches
+for the fright we had given her? Howbeit, when the first clamour subsided,
+we perceived that Mary Ellen's Mr. Watlin was ensconced behind the stove,
+looking tremendously dressed up and embarrassed. He now came forward and
+shook each of us by the hand, quite enveloping our little paws in a great
+expanse of warm thick flesh, smelling of scented soap.
+
+The greetings over, Mary Ellen and he conferred for a moment in the corner,
+then Mr. Watlin creaked across the kitchen on tiptoe (I fancy he could not
+yet bring himself to believe in Mrs. Handsomebody's entire absence from the
+house) and disappeared through the outer door into the yard where the young
+man and Tony and Anita waited.
+
+"Now," said Mary Ellen, sternly, "ye've just got to abide by Mr. Watlin's
+decision. If he says they're passable, why, in they come, an' if he gives
+'em their walkin' ticket, well an' good, an' not a squeak out o' ye. I've
+had about enough o' yer actions for wan day!"
+
+"But he's a gentleman, Mary Ellen!" I insisted.
+
+"Ay, an' the monkey's a lady, no doubt! I know the kind!" I had never seen
+Mary Ellen so sour.
+
+But our fears for our friends were set at rest, for at that instant, the
+door opened and Mr. Watlin entered, followed by the young man and Tony,
+with Anita perching on his shoulder. Mary Ellen could not refrain from a
+broad smile at the spectacle. The kitchen was filled with delightful
+odours. The spirits of everyone seemed to rise at a bound.
+
+"Good-evening to ye, Tony," said Mary Ellen, and then she turned to our new
+friend.
+
+"I don't know how you call yourself, sir," she said, bluntly.
+
+"You may call me Harry, if you will," he replied, after a slight
+hesitation.
+
+Mary Ellen, with a keen look at him, said, "Won't you sit down, sir? The
+victuals will be on the table in the dining-room directly. Mr. Watlin,
+would ye mind givin' me a hand with them dish-covers?"
+
+Mr. Watlin assisted Mary Ellen deftly, and with an air of proprietorship.
+He was a stout young man with a blond pompadour, and a smooth-shaven ruddy
+face. As soon as an opportunity offered, I asked him whether he had brought
+his fiddle. He smiled enigmatically.
+
+"You shall see wot you shall see, and 'ear wot you shall 'ear," he replied.
+
+In time the great tureen (Mrs. Handsomebody's silver plated one) was on the
+table and the guests were bidden to "sit in." Mary Ellen, full of dignity,
+seated herself in Mrs. Handsomebody's place behind the coffee urn, while
+Mr. Watlin drew forward the heavy armchair, which since the demise of Mr.
+Handsomebody, had been occupied by no one save the Unitarian minister when
+he took tea with us. Angel and The Seraph and I were ranged on one side of
+the table, and Tony and Harry on the other. Anita sat on the chair behind
+Tony, and every now and again she would push her head under his arm and
+peer shyly over the table, or reach with a thin little claw toward a morsel
+of food he was raising to his mouth.
+
+It would be impossible to conceive of seven people with finer appetites, or
+of a hostess more determined that her guests should do themselves injury
+from over-eating. Although two of our company were unexpected, there was
+more than enough for every one. The oysters were followed by a Bedfordshire
+pudding, potatoes, cold ham, celery, several sorts of pastry, oranges and
+coffee. It was when we reached the lighter portion of the feast that
+tongues were unloosed, and conviviality bloomed like an exotic flower in
+Mrs. Handsomebody's dining-room.
+
+Mary Ellen placed a plateful of scraps on the floor before Anita.
+
+She said, "That ought to stand to her, pore thing! She do be awful ganted."
+
+"These 'ere fancies is wot tikes me," said Mr. Watlin, helping himself to
+his third lemon turnover. "Sub-stantial food is all right. I shouldn't care
+to do without meat and the like, but it's the fancies that seems to tickle
+all the w'y down. Sub-stantial foods is like hugs, but fancies might come
+under the 'ead of kisses--you don't know when you get enough on 'em, hey
+Tony? You lika da kiss?"
+
+Tony turned up his palms.
+
+"Oh, no, no, dey are not for a poor fella lak me!"
+
+"Watlin," said Harry, "did you say you were a Kent man?"
+
+"Ay, from Kent, the garden of England."
+
+"Are you related to Carrot Bill Watlin, then?"
+
+"Carrot Bill!" shouted Mr. Watlin, "Carrot Bill! Am I related to 'im? W'y
+'e's my uncle, 'e is! And do you know 'im then?"
+
+"I've seen him hundreds of times," said Harry.
+
+"There never was such a feller as Carrot Bill," said Mr. Watlin, turning to
+us, "there ain't nobody in Kent can bunch carrots like 'im. W'y, truck-men
+from all over the county brings their carrots to Bill to be bunched, afore
+they tikes 'em to Covent Garden Market! 'E trims 'em down just so, an' fits
+'em together till you'd think they'd growed in bunches. An' they look that
+'andsome that they bring a penny more a bunch. An' to fancy you know
+'im--well I never! Wot nime was it you said?"
+
+"Harry."
+
+"Ow, I meant your surnime."
+
+"Smith," said Harry, shortly.
+
+"Smith," meditated Mr. Watlin, "I know several Smiths in Kent. You're
+likely one on 'em. Well, I must shake 'ands with you for the sake of Carrot
+Bill." He reached across the table and grasped Harry's hand in a hearty
+shake. Thereupon we drank a health to Carrot Bill in bottled beer; and this
+was followed by a toast to Mrs. Handsomebody, which somehow subdued us a
+little.
+
+"'Er brother is dead you s'y," reflected Mr. Watlin, "and 'ow hold a man
+might 'e be?"
+
+"Blessed if I know," replied Mary Ellen, "but he was years an' years
+younger than her. She brought him up, and from what I can find out, he
+turned out pretty bad."
+
+"Tck, tck." Mr. Watlin was moved. "It was very sad for the lidy, but 'e's
+dead now, poor chap! We must speak no ill of the dead."
+
+"It's a vewy bad fing to be dead," interposed The Seraph, sententiously,
+"you can't eat, you can't dwink, an' you just fly 'wound an' 'wound,
+lookin' for somefing to light on!"
+
+"Right-o, young gentleman!" said Mr. Watlin, "and put as couldn't be
+better. And the moral is, mike the most of our time wot's left!"
+
+"Well, fer my part," sighed Mary Ellen, "I've et so hearty, I feel like as
+though I'd a horse settin' on my stomick! Sure I don't know how to move."
+
+"A little pinch of bi-carbonate of soder will hease that, my dear," said
+her lover.
+
+"Please, _did_ you bring your fiddle, Mr. Watlin?" pleaded Angel, "won't
+you play now?"
+
+"Ah, I lof da fiddle!" said Tony, caressing Anita's little head.
+
+Mr. Watlin, thus importuned, disappeared for a space into the back hall,
+whence he finally emerged in his shirt sleeves, carrying the violin under
+his arm. We drew our chairs together at one end of the room, and watched
+him as he tuned the instrument, frowning sternly the while.
+
+"Lydies and gentleman," said he, "I 'ope you'll pardon me appearing before
+you in my waistcoat. I must not be 'ampered you see, wen I manipulate the
+bow. I must 'ave freedom. It's a grand thing freedom! Ah!"
+
+"He's gone as far as he can go on the fiddle," explained Mary Ellen to the
+company. "Someday he'll give up the butchering business and take to music
+thorough."
+
+Mr. Watlin now, with the violin tucked under his chin, began to play in a
+very spirited manner. Our pulses beat time to lively polka and schottische
+while Mr. Watlin tapped on the carpet with his large foot as he played.
+Mary Ellen was wild for a dance, she said.
+
+"Get up and 'ave a gow, then," encouraged Mr. Watlin, "you and 'Arry
+there!" But she, for some reason, would not, and Harry was not urgent.
+
+"I can play da fiddle a little," said Tony, as our artist paused for a
+rest.
+
+Mr. Watlin clapped him good-humouredly on the shoulder. "Go to it then, my
+boy, give us your little tune! I'm out of form tonight, anyw'y." He pushed
+the violin patronizingly into Tony's brown hands.
+
+The Italian took it, oh, so lovingly, and, with an apologetic glance at Mr.
+Watlin, he tuned the strings to a different pitch. Anita climbed to the
+back of his neck.
+
+Then came music, flooding, trickling, laughing, from the bow of Tony! Italy
+you could see; and little, half-naked children, playing in the sleepy
+street! You could hear the tinkle of donkey bells, and the cooing of
+pigeons; you could see Tony's home as he was seeing it, and hear his
+sisters singing. It was Spring in Tuscany.
+
+The theme grew sad. It sang of loneliness. A lost child was wandering
+through the forest, who could not find his mother. It was very dark beneath
+the fir trees, and the wind made the boy shiver. His cry of--Mother!
+Mother! echoed in my heart and would not be hushed. I hid my face in the
+hollow of my arm and sobbed bitterly.
+
+The music ceased. Harry had me in his arms.
+
+"What's wrong, old fellow, was it something in Tony's music that hurt?"
+
+I nodded, clinging to him.
+
+"It's 'igh time 'e was in bed," said Mr. Watlin, taking the fiddle
+brusquely from the Italian's hands, "'e don't fancy doleful ditties, an' no
+more do I, hey Johnnie?"
+
+Tony only smiled at me. "I tink you like my music," he said.
+
+Harry now announced rather hurriedly that he must be going, and after he
+had said good-night to every one, and thanked Mary Ellen in a very manly
+way, he still kept my hand in his, and, together, we passed out of doors.
+
+It was frosty cold. The air came gratefully to my hot cheeks. Harry stared
+up at the stars in silence for a moment, then he said:
+
+"I want to tell you something, John, before I go. I don't know just how to
+make you understand. But I--I'm not the loafer you think I am--"
+
+"Oh, I don't--"
+
+"No one but a loafer or a sponge would do what I've done tonight," he
+persisted, "but I came here because I like you little chaps so
+well--and--because--I was so infernally hungry. I hadn't eaten since last
+night, you know, and when I heard about the oysters and coffee, I just
+couldn't refuse, and--I came."
+
+"Oh, I'm sorry," I said, "I'm sorry, Harry! I like you awfully!"
+
+I gave him my hand and, hearing the voices of Mr. Watlin and Tony, he
+hurried to the street.
+
+I stumbled sleepily into the kitchen.
+
+"Och, do go to bed, Masther John!" exclaimed Mary Ellen, "you're as white
+as a cloth! Well, if you're sick tomorrow, ye must jist grin an' bear it!
+An' sure we _have_ had a day of it, haven't we? Thim oysters was the clane
+thing!"
+
+
+IV
+
+She followed us to the foot of the stairs with a lamp. The shadows of the
+bannisters raced up the wall ahead of us, as she moved away. The Seraph
+gripped the back of my blouse. We stopped at the door of Mrs.
+Handsomebody's bedroom. Like Mrs. Handsomebody, it towered above us, pale
+and forbidding.
+
+"I dare you," said Angel, "to open it and stick your head in."
+
+I was too drowsy to be timid. I turned the handle and opened the door far
+enough to insert my round tow head.
+
+The room was unutterably still. A pale bluish light filtered through the
+long white curtains. The ghostly bed awaited its occupant. The door of a
+tall wardrobe stood open--did something stir inside? I withdrew my head and
+closed the door. Now I remembered that the room had smelled of black kid
+gloves. I shuddered.
+
+"You were afraid!" jeered Angel.
+
+"Not I. It was nothing to do."
+
+But when we were safe in bed and Mary Ellen had come and put out our light,
+I lay a-thinking of the empty room. Strange, when people went away and left
+you, how Something stayed behind! A shadowy, wistful something, that
+smelled of kid gloves!
+
+We slept till ten next morning. Mary Ellen superintended our baths. We were
+in a state to behold, she said, and she was apprehensive lest Mrs.
+Handsomebody should observe my swollen nose, for the big boy's fist had
+somewhat enlarged that unobtrusive feature.
+
+"Jist say ye've a bit of feverish cold if she remarks it," she cautioned,
+"people often swells up wid colds."
+
+We ate our bread and strawberry jam and milk from one end of the dining
+table. We heaped the bread with sugar, and stirred the jam into our milk.
+After breakfast, we played at knights and robbers in the schoolroom. It was
+a raw morning, and a Scotch mist dimmed the window pane.
+
+Angel and I were in the midst of a terrific fight over a princess whom he
+was bearing off to his robber cave (The Seraph, draped in a chenille
+table-cover, impersonating the princess) when we were interrupted by the
+tinkle of the dinner bell.
+
+How the morning had flown! Had she returned then? Was the funeral over? Had
+she heard our shouts? We descended the stairs with some misgivings and
+entered the dining-room in single file.
+
+Yes, she was there, standing by the table, her black dress looking blacker
+than ever! After a dry little kiss on each of our foreheads, she motioned
+us to seat ourselves, and took her own accustomed place behind the tea
+things. There was a solemn click of knives and forks. Mary Ellen waited on
+us primly. It was not to be thought that this was the same room in which we
+had feasted so uproariously on the night previous.
+
+Yet I stared at Mrs. Handsomebody and marvelled that she should suspect
+nothing. Did she get no whiff of the furry smell of Anita? Did no faint
+echo of Tony's music disturb her thoughts? What were her thoughts? Deep
+ones I was sure, for her brow was knit. Was she thinking of that brother on
+whom the Scotch mist was falling so remorselessly?
+
+The Seraph was speaking.
+
+"It's a vewy bad fing to be dead," he was saying reminiscently--, "you
+can't eat, you can't dwink, an' you jus' fly awound lookin' for somefing to
+light on!"
+
+I trembled for him, but Mrs. Handsomebody, lost in thought, gave no heed to
+him.
+
+At last she raised her eyes.
+
+"I hope you behaved yourselves well, and made profitable use of your time
+during my absence?"
+
+We made incoherent murmurs of assent.
+
+"Name the Channel Islands, John."
+
+"Guernsey, Jersey, Alderney, Sark, and Herm," I replied glibly. So much had
+I saved from the wreck of things ordained.
+
+"Correct. Are you through your dinners then? You may pass out. Ah, your
+nose, John; it looks quite red. What caused that?"
+
+I said that I believed I had an inward burning fever. I had embellished
+Mary Ellen's suggestion.
+
+"I hope you are not going to be ill," she sighed.
+
+It was not until Angel and I were back in the schoolroom, that we
+discovered the absence of The Seraph. We turned surprised looks on each
+other. Our junior seldom left our heels.
+
+"I remember now," reflected Angel, "that, as he passed her, she stopped
+him. I didn't think anything of it. What can she have found out? D'you
+s'pose she's pumping the kid?"
+
+We were left to our conjectures for fully a quarter of an hour. Then we
+heard him plodding leisurely up the stairs. We greeted him impatiently.
+
+"What's up? Did you blab? Whatever _did_ she say?" We hurled the questions
+at him.
+
+The Seraph maintained an air of calm superiority. He even hopped from one
+floral wreath on the carpet to another, with his hands behind his back, as
+was his custom when he wished to reflect undisturbed. He ignored our
+importunities.
+
+Angel, in exasperation, took him by the collar.
+
+"You tell us why she kept you down there so long!"
+
+Thus cornered, The Seraph raised his large eyes to our inquiring faces with
+great solemnity.
+
+"She kept me," he said, "to cuddle me, an' to give me this--" he showed a
+white peppermint lozenge between his little teeth.
+
+To _cuddle_ him. Was the world coming to an end?
+
+"Yes," he persisted, "she kept me to cuddle me, an' she was cwyin'--so
+there!"
+
+Mrs. Handsomebody crying!
+
+"It's about her dead brother, of course," said Angel. "That's why she
+cried."
+
+"No," said The Seraph, stoutly. "He was a _man_, an' she was cwyin' about a
+little _wee_ boy like me, she used to cuddle long ago!"
+
+
+
+
+_Chapter VI: D'ye Ken John Peel?_
+
+
+I
+
+Probably a little boy is never quite so happy as when he is worshipping and
+imitating a young man. From this time on my hero was Harry, about whom so
+fascinating an air of mystery hung that his lightest word was something to
+be treasured. I pictured him, hungry and alone, perhaps brooding over the
+Collect for next Sunday, or something of equal melancholy. I was always on
+the watch for his tall, slender figure, when we took our walks, but when we
+did meet again, it came as a surprise, and quite took me off my feet.
+
+A month had passed since Mary Ellen's party. It was a windy, sunny day in
+March, and great white clouds billowed in a clear sky--like clean clothes
+in a tub of blueing, Mary Ellen had said. I was sitting alone on the steps
+of the Cathedral. Angel was in the schoolroom writing his weekly letter to
+father, and The Seraph was suffering a bath at the hands of Mary Ellen,
+following an excursion into the remoter depths of the coal cellar.
+
+So I sat on the Cathedral steps alone. It was a fine morning for flights of
+the imagination. The soft thunder of the Cathedral organ became at my will
+the booming of the surf on a distant coral reef. The pigeons wheeling
+overhead became gulls, whimpering in the cordage. Little did the ancient
+caretaker reck, as he swept the stretch of flagging before the carved door,
+that he was washing off the deck of a frigate, whilst I, the rover of the
+seas, kept a stern eye on him. Louder boomed the surf--then soft again. The
+door behind me had opened and closed. The deck-washer touched his cap. Then
+the Bishop stood above me, smiling, the sun glinting in his blue eyes and
+on the buttons of his gaiters.
+
+"Hal-_lo_, John," he said. "What's the game this morning. Seafaring as
+usual?"
+
+I nodded, "She's as saucy a frigate," I answered happily, "as ever sailed
+the seas, and this here wild weather is just a frolic for her. But I don't
+like the look of yon black craft to the windward." And I pointed to a
+dustman's cart that had just hove into view.
+
+"I entirely agree with you," replied the Bishop. "She looks as though she
+were out on dirty business. I'd like nothing better than to stay and see
+you make short work of her, but here it is Friday morning, and not a
+blessed word of my sermon written, so I must be getting on." And with that
+he strode down the street to his own house. I was alone again watching the
+approaching vessel with suspicion. Then, above the thrashing of the spray,
+I heard my name spoken by a voice I knew, and turning looked straight up
+into Harry's face.
+
+"John!" he repeated. "What luck. I have been watching for you for days, you
+little hermit!"
+
+"Watching for me, Harry?"
+
+"Yes," he proceeded, "and the one time I saw you, that starched governess
+of yours had you gripped by the hand--"
+
+--"just like any old baby girl," I broke in.
+
+Harry laughed and shook my hand enthusiastically. I saw that he was even
+thinner than before. Was he, I wondered, "infernally hungry" at this very
+minute?
+
+"John," he said, looking into my eyes: "You can help me if you will. We're
+friends, aren't we?"
+
+I let him see that I was all on fire to help him, and it was then that he
+made his wonderful suggestion.
+
+"Would it be possible to evade your governess long enough to come and have
+a bite with me?"
+
+Dinner with Harry! In his own room! What an adventure to repeat to Angel
+and The Seraph! Without further parley I set off down Henwood street at a
+trot lest Mrs. Handsomebody should spy me from her bedroom window, in a
+fateful way she had. Harry hurried after me, catching my arm and drawing me
+close to him.
+
+"What a plucky little shaver you are, John," he said. "I know she's a
+corker, but I think you and I are a match for her, eh?"
+
+I strode beside him breathless. I felt taller, stronger, than ever before.
+By contrast with our masculinity Mrs. Handsomebody seemed a rather pitiful
+old woman.
+
+We spoke little, but hurried through many streets, till, at last, we came
+to the narrow dingy one where I had first seen Harry. We turned down an
+alley beside a green grocer's shop and entered a narrow doorway into the
+strangest passage I had ever seen.
+
+It was damp and chill. The floor was paved with dark red bricks and the
+walls were stone. On our left I glimpsed a dim closet where a woman with
+fat arms was dipping milk out of what looked like a zinc-covered box. On
+our right rose the steepest, most winding staircase imaginable; and close
+to the wall beside the stairs towered a giant grapevine whose stem was as
+thick as a man's arm. After an eccentric curve or two, this amazing vine
+disappeared through a convenient hole in the roof. I was lost in admiration
+and should have liked to stop and examine it, but Harry urged me up the
+stairs.
+
+"How is that for steep?" he demanded, at the top. "Winded, eh? Now these
+are my digs, John--" and he threw open a door with a flourish.
+
+It was a shabby little room with a threadbare carpet, yet it wore an air of
+adventure somehow. The lamp shade had a daring tilt to it; the blind had
+been run up askew; and the red table cover had been pushed back to make
+room for a mound of books. Harry's bed looked as though he had been having
+a pillow fight. Surely not with the fat lady downstairs.
+
+Harry was clearing the table by tossing the books into the middle of the
+bed. "We're going to have tea directly," he explained. "Can't you hear her
+puffing up the stairs? I expect a catastrophe every time she does it." He
+set two chairs at the table and gazed eagerly at the doorway.
+
+She appeared at last with heaving bosom carrying a large tray, and began to
+lay the table. I observed with great interest that she was placing a whole
+kidney for each of us, and that there were also potato chips and six jam
+puffs. Harry bade me sit down with the air of one who entertains a guest of
+importance; I swelled with pride as I attacked the kidney.
+
+Harry, sitting opposite, eating with a gusto equal to my own, seemed to me
+the most perfect and luckiest of mortals.
+
+"Harry!" I got it out through my mouth full of potato chips, "Harry, I say!
+Do you always have jolly things like these to eat?"
+
+He gave a short laugh.
+
+"Oh, no, my John! On the contrary there are many times when I do not eat at
+all. However, I paid a visit to an uncle of mine yesterday, who gave me so
+much money that I shall live well for some time to come, but--I shall never
+know the time o'day."
+
+"Oh, but that's fine--" I cried, "Not to know the time! I wish I didn't for
+it's always time to go to bed, or do lessons, or take a tiresome walk with
+Mrs. Handsomebody."
+
+Harry stared hard at me. "What do you suppose," he asked, "she'll do to
+you, for skipping dinner? Something pretty hot?"
+
+"I dunno," I returned. "It's a new sort of badness. P'raps I'll have to do
+without tea, or maybe she'll write to father--she's always threatening.
+Don't let's talk about it."
+
+"She appears to be a rather poisonous old party," commented Harry. "I see
+that it behooves me to get to business and tell you just why I brought you
+here." He pushed back his plate and took from his pocket a short thick pipe
+and lighted it.
+
+"Now John," he smiled, "just finish up those jam puffs. Don't leave one, or
+my landlady will eat it, and she has double chins enough. I want to talk to
+you as man to man."
+
+Man to man! How I wished that Angel could see me, being made the confidant
+of Harry! I helped myself to my third jam puff with an air of cool
+deliberation.
+
+"Now--" Harry leant across the table, his eyes on mine, "What sort of
+looking man would you expect my father to be, John?"
+
+I studied Harry and hazarded--"A brown face, and awfully thin, and greenish
+eyes, and crinkly brown hair."
+
+"Wrong!" cried Harry, smiting the table. "My father's got a full pink face,
+the bluest of eyes and a fine head of white hair, which, I am afraid I
+helped to whiten, worse luck!"
+
+"He sounds nice," I commented.
+
+"He is. Now what do you suppose my father _does_, John?"
+
+"Not a _pirate_!" but I said it hopefully.
+
+"Far from it. He's a bishop."
+
+"Hurray!" I cried. "Our best friend is a bishop. He lives right next door
+to us."
+
+"The very man," said Harry. "He's my father."
+
+I was incredulous.
+
+"But he's only got his niece, Margery, and his butler, and his cook! The
+cook's awfully good to him. Makes his favorite pudding any day he wants
+it."
+
+"Ay, but he's got me too," said Harry solemnly, "or, at least, he _should_
+have me. We're at the outs."
+
+"Well, then, all you have to do is to make friends, isn't it?"
+
+"Not so simple as it sounds," replied Harry gloomily.
+
+"I have been a bad son to him." He rose abruptly and began walking up and
+down the room. I got to my feet too, and strode beside him, hands deep in
+pockets. I longed for a short thick pipe.
+
+"I never did what he wanted me to," pursued Harry. "He wanted me to stick
+at college and make something of myself, but all I cared to do was to knock
+about with chaps who weren't good for me, and I simply wouldn't study. So
+we had words. Hot ones too. I left home with a little money my mother had
+left me. I was twenty-one then--five years ago." He looked down in my face
+with his sudden smile. "You're a rum little toad," he said. "I like to talk
+to you, John."
+
+I thought: "When I'm a man I'll have a pipe like that, and hold it in my
+teeth when I talk."
+
+Harry sat down on the side of his tumbled bed clasping an ankle.
+
+"For three years," he went on, "I knocked about from one country to another
+seeing the world, till at last all my money was gone. Then I came back to
+England but I wouldn't go to my father until I had done something that
+would justify myself--make him proud of me. It seemed to me that I could
+become a great actor if I had a chance. Very well. After a lot of waiting
+and disappointments I got an engagement with a third rate company that
+travelled mostly on one-night stands--you understand?
+
+"I have been at it ever since, playing all sorts of parts--companies
+breaking up without salaries being paid--then another just as bad--cheap
+lodgings--bad food--and long stretches of being out of a job altogether. I
+am that way now. I have only seen my father once in all this time. It was
+simply--well--" He gave his funny smile and shook his head ruefully.
+
+I leaned over the foot of the bed staring expectantly.
+
+"We had arrived one Sunday morning in a small town, and were trailing
+wearily down the street just as the people were going to morning service.
+Suddenly, as I was passing a large church, I saw my father alight from the
+carriage at the door. I found out afterwards that he had come to conduct a
+special service. He was so near that I could have touched him, but I just
+stood, rooted to the spot, so beastly ashamed you know, with my shabby
+travelling bag behind me, and my heart pounding away like Billy-ho!"
+
+"Oh, I wish he'd seen you!" I cried, "he'd have made it up like a shot."
+
+Harry blew a great cloud of smoke. "Well, I want to sneak back to him,
+John--but--here's the rub--_perhaps Margery does not want me_." He sucked
+gloomily at his pipe for a bit in silence, then taking it from his mouth he
+stabbed at me with the stem of it.
+
+"This is where you come in my friend. You'd like to help, wouldn't you?"
+
+I nodded emphatically.
+
+"This, then, is what I want you to do. Find Margery this afternoon and say
+to her: 'Margery, I've met your cousin Harry. Would you like to have him
+come home again?' Watch her face then--you're a shrewd little fellow--and
+if she looks happy and pleased about it you must let me know, but if she
+looks glum and as if her plans had been upset, you must tell me just the
+same. Never mind what she says, watch her face. Will you do it?"
+
+"Rather!" We shook hands on it.
+
+"But--" I asked, "when shall I see you? I daren't come here again, I'm
+afraid."
+
+"Tomorrow is Saturday," he replied thoughtfully. "The Bishop will keep to
+his study till noon--"
+
+"And Mrs. Handsomebody goes to market!" I chimed in.
+
+"Good. I'll be at the Cathedral corner at ten o'clock. Meet me there. Now
+you'd better cut home."
+
+He took my arm and led me down the strange winding stairway, through the
+cool damp passage where the grapevine grew, to the sunken doorstep.
+
+"Know your way home?" he demanded. "Right-o! I depend on you, John. And
+mind you watch her face, _like a cat_. Good-bye!" And he affectionately
+squeezed my arm.
+
+
+II
+
+I set off as fast as my legs could carry me; and the nearer home I drew,
+the greater became my fear of Mrs. Handsomebody. What would she say? Dinner
+would be over long ago I knew. My steps began to lag as I reached the
+Cathedral corner. The great grey pile usually so friendly now rose before
+me gloomily. Inside, the organ boomed like an accusing voice. My heart
+sank. Mrs. Handsomebody's house with the blinds drawn three-quarters of the
+way down the windows seemed to watch my approach with an air of cold
+cynicism.
+
+Softly I turned the door-knob and entered the dim hall. All was quiet, a
+quiet pervaded by the familiar smell of old fabrics, bygone meals, and
+umbrellas. The white door of the parlour towered like a ghost. I put my arm
+across my eyes and began to cry.
+
+At first I only snivelled, but surrendered myself after a few successful
+ventures, to a loud despairing roar.
+
+I could see the blurred image of Mrs. Handsomebody standing at the top of
+the stairs. I heard her sharp command to mount them instantly, and I began
+to grope my way up, hanging by the bannister.
+
+When I had gained the top, her angular hand grasped my shoulder and pushed
+me before her, into the schoolroom. The Seraph's eyes were large with
+sympathy, but Angel grinned maliciously. Our governess seated herself
+beside her desk and placed me in front of her.
+
+"Now," she said, in a voice of cold anger, "will _you_ be good enough to
+explain your strange conduct? Where have you been all this while?"
+
+"Sittin' on the Cathedral steps," I sobbed.
+
+"That is a falsehood, John. Twice I sent David to search for you there and
+both times he reported that you were nowhere in sight. _Where were you?_
+Answer truthfully or it will be the worse for you."
+
+"I h-hid when I saw him comin'," I stammered, "I was too s-sick to come
+home." Surely this would affect her!
+
+She stared incredulously. "Sick! Where are you sick?"
+
+"All o-ver."
+
+"Take your hand from your eyes. What made you sick?"
+
+"I f-fell."
+
+"Fell!" her tone was contemptuous. "Where did you fall?"
+
+"D-down."
+
+Mrs. Handsomebody became ironical.
+
+"How _extraordinary_! I have never heard of people falling up."
+
+"They can fall out," interrupted Angel.
+
+Mrs. Handsomebody rapped her ruler in his direction.
+
+"Silence!" she gobbled. "Not another word from you." Then, turning to
+me--"You say that you fell down, hurt yourself, and have since been in
+hiding. Now tell me _precisely_ what happened from the moment that you
+ventured beyond the bounds I have prescribed for you."
+
+There was no use in hedging. I saw that there was nothing for it but to
+drown this woman out; so I raised my voice and drowned her out.
+
+My next sensation was that of a scuffle, several sharp smacks with the
+ruler, and at last being sat down very hard on a chair in our bedroom. Mrs.
+Handsomebody was standing in the doorway. I had never seen her with so high
+a colour.
+
+"You will remain in that chair," she commanded, "until tea time. Do not
+loll on the bed. And you may rest assured that I shall leave no stone
+unturned till I have discovered every detail of this prank. It is at such
+times as these that I regret ever having undertaken the charge of three
+such unruly boys. It is only the high regard in which I hold your father
+that makes it tolerable. I hope you will take advantage of your solitude to
+review thoroughly your past."
+
+She closed the door with deliberate forebearance, then I heard the key
+click in the lock and her inexorable retreating footsteps.
+
+I found my wad of a handkerchief and rubbed my cheeks. I had stopped crying
+but my body still was shaken. For a long time I sat staring straight before
+me busy with plans for the afternoon. Then I fell asleep.
+
+A soft thumping on the panel of the door roused me at last. I felt stiff
+and rather desolate.
+
+"John!" It was The Seraph's voice. "I say, John! You should be a dwagon,
+an' when I kick on the door you should woar fwightfully."
+
+"Where's _she_?" 'Twas thus we designated our governess.
+
+"Gone away out. Will you be a dwagon, John?"
+
+Obligingly I dropped to my hands and knees and ambled to the door. The
+Seraph kicked it vigorously and I began to roar. I was pleased to find that
+so much crying had left my voice very husky so that I could indeed roar
+horribly. The louder The Seraph kicked the louder I roared. It was
+exhausting, and I had had about enough of it when I heard Mary Ellen
+pounding up the uncarpeted back stairs.
+
+"If you kick that dure onct more--" she panted--"ye little tormint--I'll
+put a tin ear on ye! As fer you, Masther John, 'tis yersilf has a voice
+like young thunder!"
+
+She unlocked the door and threw it wide open; Angel and The Seraph crowded
+in after her. Mary Ellen's sleeves were rolled above her elbows, her red
+face was covered with little beads of perspiration, and she wore large
+goloshes. A savour of soap suds, mops, and the corners of old pantries,
+emanated from her. She extended to me a moist palm on which lay a thick
+slice of bread spread with cold veal gravy.
+
+"This," said she, "is to stay ye till tea-time; an' now let me git back to
+me scrubbin' or the suds'll be all dried up on me."
+
+But I caught her apron and held her fast.
+
+"Oh, don't go, Mary Ellen!" I begged, "I've something awfully interesting
+to tell you. Do sit down!"
+
+"I will not thin. And you've nothin' to tell me that I haven't got be heart
+already."
+
+"But this is about Harry, who had supper with us and Mr. Watlin and Tony.
+It's a most surprising adventure. Just wait and hear." I dragged her to a
+chair.
+
+She settled back with a smile of relaxation. "Aw well," she remarked, "who
+would be foriver workin' fer small pay an' little thanks? Out wid your
+story my lambie." And she drew The Seraph on her ample lap.
+
+So while they clustered about me I told my whole adventure, ending with
+Harry's plea that I interview Margery on his behalf.
+
+"It's a 'normous responsibility," I sighed.
+
+"Don't you worry," said Mary Ellen, "she'll want him home fast enough, a
+fine young gintleman like him. Now I'm minded of it, their cook did tell me
+that the Bishop had a son that was a regular playboy.
+
+"He's not a playboy," I retorted. "He's splendid--and _please_ Mary Ellen,
+there's something I want you to do for me. You must let me go this minute
+to see Margery and find out if she wants him back again."
+
+"Oh, she'll have him, no fear." This with a broad smile.
+
+"But I've got to _ask_ her. I promised. It's a 'normous responsibility.
+Will you _please_ let me, Mary El-len?"
+
+"I will not," replied Mary Ellen, firmly. "It'ud be as much as my place is
+worth."
+
+I began to cry. Angel came to the rescue.
+
+"Be a sport, Mary Ellen. Let him go. I'll stand at the gate and if I see
+the Dragon coming, I'll pass the tip to John, and he can cut over the
+garden wall and be in the room before she gets to the front door."
+
+Mary Ellen threw up her hands. She never could resist Angel's coaxing. "God
+save Ireland," she groaned, and, dropping The Seraph, clattered back to the
+kitchen.
+
+The Seraph stood like a rumpled robin where she had deposited him. He had
+confided to me once that he rather liked being nursed by Mary Ellen, though
+the heaving of her bosom bothered him. He was far too polite to tell her
+this: but now that she was gone, he hunched his shoulders, stretched his
+neck and breathed--
+
+"What a welief!--"
+
+I found Margery alone in the drawing-room. People had just been, for
+teacups were standing about, and a single muffin lay in a silver muffin
+dish. Even in the stress of my mission its isolation appealed to me.
+
+Margery was doing something to a bowl of roses but she looked up, startled
+at my appearance.
+
+"Why, John!" she exclaimed, "what is the matter with you? Have you been
+crying? Your face is awfully smudgy."
+
+"Sorry," I replied, "I wasn't crying but I'm on very particular business
+and I hadn't time to wash." I went at it, hammer and tongs, then--"It's
+about Harry. He wants to know if you'll have him home again."
+
+Margery looked just puzzled.
+
+"Harry! Harry who?"
+
+"Your Harry," I replied, manfully. "The Bishop's Harry." And I poured out
+the whole story of my meeting with Harry and his passionate desire to come
+home. All the while, I anxiously watched Margery's face for signs of joy or
+disapproval. It was pale and still as the face of a white moth, but when
+she spoke her words fell on my budding hopes like cold rain. She put her
+hands on my shoulders and said earnestly:
+
+"You must tell him not to come, John. It would be such a great pity! The
+Bishop is quite, quite used to being without him now, and it would upset
+him dreadfully to try to forgive Harry. I don't believe he could. And he
+and I are so contented. Harry would be very disturbing--you see, he's such
+a restless young man, John; and he hasn't been at all kind to his father.
+He's done--things--"
+
+"But you don't know him!" I interrupted. "He's splendid!"
+
+"I don't _want_ to know him," Margery persisted. "He's a very--"
+
+I could let this thing go no further. Here was another woman who must be
+drowned out. I raised my voice, therefore, and almost shouted--
+
+"Well, you've got to know him! He's coming home tomorrow night. At seven.
+He wants his bed got ready. So there."
+
+Margery sat down. She got quite red.
+
+"Why didn't you tell me this before?" she demanded.
+
+"'Cos I was breaking it to you gently, like they do accidents," I answered
+calmly.
+
+Suddenly Margery began to laugh hysterically. She pressed her palms against
+her cheeks and laughed and laughed. Then she said:--
+
+"John, you're a most extraordinary boy."
+
+I thought so too, but I said, modestly--"Oh, well. Somebody had to do it."
+Then, in the flush of my triumph I remembered Mrs. Handsomebody. "But, oh,
+I say, I must be going! And--please--would it matter much if we were here
+to see him come home? We'd be very quiet."
+
+Margery looked relieved. "I believe it would help--" she said. "It will be
+rather difficult. Yes, do come. Ask your governess if you may spend an hour
+with Uncle and me between your tea and bedtime. And, oh, John, that muffin
+looks wretchedly lonely."
+
+Outside, I divided the spoils with Angel.
+
+"Well--" he demanded, his mouth full of muffin--"shewanimbagagen?"
+
+"Rather," I cried, joyously. "I managed the whole thing. And we're to be
+there at seven to see him come."
+
+We raced to the kitchen and told Mary Ellen, who was promptly impressed,
+but The Seraph after a close scrutiny of us, said bitterly--
+
+"There's cwumbs on your faces!"
+
+"Cwumbs on your own face, old sillybilly!" mocked Angel, "and what's more,
+they're sugar cwumbs!"
+
+
+III
+
+As fate would have it, Mrs. Handsomebody decreed that I should not leave
+the house on Saturday morning, and she, having a spell of sciatica did not
+go to market, as usual; so there I was, unable to meet Harry on the
+cathedral steps, as I had promised. It simply meant that Angel must
+undertake the mission, while I kicked my heels in the schoolroom.
+
+He undertook it with a careless alacrity that was very irritating to one
+who longed to finish, in his own fashion, an undertaking that had, so far,
+been carried on with masterly diplomacy.
+
+The Seraph went with Angel, and it seemed a long hour indeed till I heard
+the longed-for footsteps hurrying up the stairs. The door was thrown open,
+and they burst in rosy and wind-blown.
+
+"It's all right," announced Angel briskly. "He'll be there sharp at seven,
+and he's jolly glad that we're to be there too!"
+
+"And did you tell him?" I asked rather plaintively, "that I had done the
+whole thing?"
+
+"Course I did."
+
+"What did he say when you told him he was to come home?"
+
+"He slapped his leg--" Angel gave his own leg a vigorous slap in
+illustration--"and said--'once aboard the lugger, and the girl is mine!'"
+
+It was a fascinating and cryptic utterance. We all tried it on varying
+notes of exultation. It put zest into what otherwise would have been a
+dragging day. By tea-time our legs were sore with whacking.
+
+Came the hour at last. We set out holding each other by moist clean hands,
+an admonishing Mrs. Handsomebody on the doorsill.
+
+Our hearts were high with excitement when we were shown ceremoniously into
+the Bishop's library, where he and Margery were sitting in the dancing
+firelight. We loved the dark-panelled room where we were always made so
+happy. At Mrs. Handsomebody's we could never do anything right, mugs of
+milk had a spiteful way of tilting over on the table-cloth without ever
+having been touched, but we could handle the things in the Chinese cabinet
+here or play carpet ball on the rug in the most seemly fashion.
+
+No one could tell stories like the Bishop, and after we had played for a
+bit, and The Seraph had demonstrated, on the hearthrug, how he could turn a
+somersault, some one suggested a story.
+
+I often thought it a pity that those, who only heard the Bishop preach,
+should never know how his great talents were wasted in that rôle. It took
+the "Arabian Nights" to bring out the deep thrill of his sonorous voice,
+and his power of filling the human heart with delicious fear.
+
+Now we perched about him listening with rapt eyes to the tale of Ali Baba.
+We wished there were more women like the faithful Morgiana with her pot of
+boiling oil. The Seraph, especially, revelled in the thought of those poor
+devils of thieves, each simmering away in his own jar.
+
+There fell a silence when the story was finished, and I was just casting
+about in my mind for the next one I should beg, when, Angel, looking at the
+clock, suddenly asked:
+
+"Bishop, will you sing? Will you please sing us a nice old song 'stead of a
+story? Sing 'John Peel,' won't you?"
+
+"Please sing 'John Peel'!" echoed The Seraph.
+
+The Bishop seemed loath to sing "John Peel." It was years since he had sung
+it, he said; he had almost forgotten the words. But when Margery joined her
+persuasions to ours, he consented to sing just one verse and the chorus. So
+he sang (but rather softly);
+
+  "D'ye ken John Peel, with his coat so grey?
+    D'ye ken John Peel, at the break of day?
+  D'ye ken John Peel, when he's far, far away,
+    With his hounds and his horn in the morning?"
+
+Before he had time to begin the chorus, it was taken up by a mellow
+baritone voice in the hall. It began softly too, but when it reached the
+"View halloo," it rang boldly.
+
+  "For the sound of his horn brought me from my bed,
+    And the cry of his hounds, which he oft-times led,
+  Peel's 'View halloo!' would awaken the dead,
+    Or the fox from his lair in the morning."
+
+The Bishop never moved a muscle till the last note died away, then he shook
+us off him, took three strides to the door, and swept the curtains back.
+Harry stood in the doorway with a rather shame-faced smile.
+
+"Good God!" exclaimed the Bishop. "Harry!" Then he put his arms around him
+and kissed him.
+
+I threw a triumphant glance at Margery. It hadn't hurt the Bishop at all to
+forgive Harry.
+
+"It was all the doing of these kids," Harry was saying, "if they hadn't
+cleared the way, I'd never have dared. John engineered everything. As a
+diplomat he's a pocket marvel."
+
+He and Margery gave each other a very funny look. I should like to have
+heard their later conversation.
+
+"They're good boys," said the Bishop, with an arm still around Harry,
+"capital boys, and if their governess will let them come to dinner tomorrow
+we'll have a sort of party, and talk everything over. I think cook would
+make a blackberry pudding. Will you arrange it Margery? Just now I want--"
+He said no more, but he and Harry gripped hands.
+
+Margery herded us gently into the hall, and gave us each two chocolate
+bars.
+
+Going home under the first pale stars, we were three rollicking blades
+indeed. We no longer held hands, but we hooked arms, and swaggered and we
+did not ring the bell till the last vestige of chocolate was gone.
+
+As we waited for Mary Ellen, I said, suddenly to Angel:
+
+"Angel, what made you ask the Bishop to sing 'John Peel'? Did you know
+Harry was going to sing in the hall?"
+
+"Oh, Harry and I fixed that up this morning," replied my senior, airily. "I
+kept it to myself, 'cos I didn't want any interference, see?"
+
+Mary Ellen, opening the door at this moment, prevented a scuffle, though I
+was in too happy a mood to quarrel with any one.
+
+Mrs. Handsomebody was surprisingly civil about our visit. She showed great
+interest in the return of the Bishop's only son. Was he a nice young man?
+she asked. Was he nice-looking? Did the Bishop appear to be overjoyed to
+see him?
+
+We three were seated on three stiff-backed chairs, our backs to the wall.
+Angel and I told her as much as was good for her to know of the adventure.
+
+The Seraph felt that he was being ignored, so when a pause came, he
+remarked in that throaty little voice of his:
+
+"It's a vewy bad fing to be boiled in oil."
+
+"What's that?" snapped Mrs. Handsomebody. "Say that again!"
+
+"It's a vewy bad fing to be boiled in oil," reiterated The Seraph suavely,
+"thirty-nine of 'em there was--for the captain was stabbed alweady--boilin'
+away in oil. Their _ears was full of it_."
+
+Mrs. Handsomebody gripped the arms of her chair, and leaned towards him.
+
+"Alexander, I have never known a child of such tender years to possess so
+unquenchable a lust for frightfulness. It must be eradicated at all costs."
+
+The Seraph stood, then, balancing himself on the rung of his chair,
+
+"'Once aboard the lugger,'" he sang out, slapping his plump little thigh,
+"'and the gell is mine!'"
+
+Mrs. Handsomebody sank back in her chair. She said:
+
+"This is appalling. David--John--take your little brother to bed instantly!
+Take him out of my hearing."
+
+Angel and I each grasped an arm of the reluctant infant and dragged him
+from the room. He stamped up the stairway between us, with an air of
+stubborn jollity.
+
+When we had reached the top, he loosed himself from me and put his head
+over the handrail.
+
+"'John Peel's View Halloo! would waken the dead'--" he roared down into the
+hall.
+
+But he got no further. Between us we hustled him into the bedroom, and shut
+the door. Angel and I leaned against it, then, in helpless laughter.
+
+In a moment I felt my arm squeezed by Angel, who was pointing ecstatically
+toward the bed.
+
+There, by the bedside, his dimpled hands folded, his curly head meekly
+bent, knelt The Seraph.
+
+He was saying his prayers.
+
+
+
+
+_Chapter VII: Granfa_
+
+
+I
+
+At Mrs. Handsomebody's on a Sunday morning Angel and I had an egg divided
+between us, after our porridge. It was boiled rather hard so that it might
+not run, and we watched the cutting of it jealously. The Seraph's infant
+organs were supposed not to be strong enough to cope with even half an egg,
+so he must needs satisfy himself with the cap from Mrs. Handsomebody's; and
+he made the pleasure endure by the most minute nibbling, filling up the
+gaps with large mouthfuls of toast.
+
+It was at a Sunday morning breakfast that Mrs. Handsomebody broached the
+subject of fishing. Angel and I had just scraped the last vestige of
+rubbery white from our half shells, and, having reversed them in our
+egg-cups, were gazing wistfully at what appeared to be two unchipped eggs,
+when she spoke.
+
+"You have been invited by Bishop Torrance to go on a fishing excursion with
+him tomorrow, and I have consented; provided, of course, that your conduct
+today be most exemplary. What do you say? Thanks would not be amiss."
+
+Angel and I mumbled thanks, though we were well nigh speechless with
+astonishment and joy. The Seraph bolted his cherished bit of egg whole and
+said in his polite little voice:
+
+"He's a vewy nice man to take us fishin'. I wonder what made him do it."
+
+"I have never pretended," returned Mrs. Handsomebody, stiffly, "to account
+for the vagaries of the male. Yet I grant you it seems singular that a
+dignitary of the church should find pleasure in such a project, in company
+with three growing boys."
+
+"If it had been anyone but the Bishop," she went on, "I should have
+refused, for there are untold possibilities of danger in trout fishing. You
+must, for example, guard against imbedding the fish hook in the flesh,
+which is most painful, often leading to blood-poisoning. This is to say
+nothing of the risk in sitting on damp grass, or the stings of insects."
+
+"Did you ever sit on the sting of an insect, please?" questioned The Seraph
+eagerly.
+
+Mrs. Handsomebody looked at him sharply. "One more question of that
+character," she said, "and you will remain at home." Then, glancing around
+the table, she went on--"What! your eggs gone so soon? We shall give thanks
+then. Alexander"--to The Seraph--"It is your turn to say grace. Proceed."
+
+The Seraph, with folded hands and bent head, repeated glibly:
+
+"Accept our thanks, O Lord, for these Thy good cweatures given to our use,
+and by them fit us for Thy service. Amen."
+
+There was a scraping of chairs, and we got to our feet. The Seraph, holding
+his bit of egg shell in his warm little palm asked--"Is an egg a cweature,
+yet?"
+
+Mrs. Handsomebody gloomed down at him from her height. "I say it in all
+solemnity, Alexander, the natural bent of your mind is toward the ribald
+and cynical. I do what I can to curb it, but I fear for your future." And
+she swept from the room.
+
+Eagerly we took our places in the choir stalls that morning.
+
+The May sunshine had taken on the mellowness of summer, and it struck fire
+from the sacred vessels on the altar, and the brazen-winged eagle of the
+lectern. Strange-shaped patterns of wine-colour and violet were cast from
+the stained glass windows upon the walls and pillars, enriching the grey
+fabric of the church, like tropic flowers. The window nearest me was a
+favourite of ours. It was dedicated, so saith the bronze tablet beneath, to
+the memory of Cosmo John, fifth son of an Earl of Aberfalden. He had died
+at the age of fifteen, not a tender age to me, but the age toward which I
+was eagerly straining, the vigourous, untrammelled age of the big boy.
+
+I stared at the young knight in the red cloak who, to me, represented Cosmo
+John, and thought it a great pity that he should have gone off in such a
+hurry, just when life was opening up such happy vistas before him, vistas
+no longer patrolled by governesses and maid servants, nor hedged in by
+petty restrictions. Cosmo John had died one hundred years ago, in May--and,
+by the Rood! this was May! Had he ever been a-fishing. Had the sudden
+tremor of the rod made his young heart to leap? I heard the Bishop's rich
+voice roll on:
+
+"--Most heartily we beseech Thee with Thy favour to behold our most
+gracious Sovereign Lady, Queen Victoria; and so replenish her with the
+grace of Thy Holy Spirit that she may alway incline to Thy will"--the
+Bishop's voice became one with the murmur of the river, as it moved among
+the ridges; the mellow sunlight scarcely touched this sheltered pool, but
+one could see it in its full strength on the meadow beyond, where larks
+were nesting. I brought myself up with a start. The Bishop's voice came
+from a great distance--"beseech Thee to bless Albert Edward Prince of
+Wales"--Angel was joggling me with his elbow.
+
+"You duffer," he whispered, "you've been nodding. Get your hymn book."
+
+In the choir vestry the Bishop stopped for a moment beside us, his surplice
+billowing about him like the sails about a tall mast when the wind dies.
+"At seven," he said, "tomorrow morning at my house. And _wear old
+clothes_."
+
+The sails were filled, and he moved majestically away, towering above the
+small craft around him.
+
+
+II
+
+It was morning. It was ten o'clock. It was May. We were all stowed away in
+the Bishop's trap with his son, Harry, controlling the fat pony, whose
+small fore-hoof pawed impatiently on the asphalt. Angel and I had donned
+old jerseys and The Seraph a clean holland pinafore, against which he
+pressed an empty treacle tin where a solitary worm reared an anxious head
+against the encircling gloom.
+
+"I've got a worm," he gasped, gleefully, as the pony, released at last,
+jerked us almost off our seats. "He's nice an' fat, an' he's quite clean,
+for I've washed him fwee times. He's as tame as anyfing. He's wather a dear
+ole worm, an' it seems a shame to wun a hook frew him."
+
+"Child, it shall not be done," consoled the Bishop. "Keep your worm, and,
+when we get to the river-bank, we'll introduce him to the country worms,
+and maybe he'll like them so well he'll marry and settle down there for the
+rest of his days."
+
+"If he could see a lady-worm he'd like," stipulated The Seraph.
+
+"He'd have a wide choice," said the Bishop. "The country is full of worms,
+some of them charming, I daresay."
+
+"And, I say," chuckled Angel, "you could perform the ceremony--if only we
+knew their names."
+
+"This is Charles Augustus," said The Seraph with dignity.
+
+"She'd likely be Ernestine," I put in.
+
+"Very well," said the Bishop. "It should proceed thus: 'I, Charles
+Augustus, take thee, Ernestine, to have and to hold'--and I do wish, Harry,
+that you'd have a care and hold Merrylegs in. He's almost taking our breath
+away. Such a speed is undignified, and bad for the digestion."
+
+It was true that the fat pony was in amazing spirits that morning. Shops
+and houses were passed with exhilarating speed. To us little fellows, who
+always walked with our governess, when we went abroad, it was intoxicating.
+
+Soon the town was left behind and we were bowling along a country road past
+a field where boys were flying a kite, its long tail making sinuous curves
+against the turquoise sky. The air was sweet with the fresh May showers;
+and the swift roll of wheels was an inspiring accompaniment to our chatter.
+
+Further along lay a tranquil pond in a common, its surface stirred by a
+tiny boat with white sails. An old, white-bearded man in a smock frock was
+teaching his grandsons to sail the boat. It must be jolly, we thought, to
+have a nice old grandfather to play with one.
+
+At last we passed a vine-embowered inn, set among apple trees in bloom. It
+was "The Sleepy Angler" and the Bishop said that the river curved just
+beyond it.
+
+We gave a shout of joy as we caught the glint of it; a shout that might
+well have been a warning to any lurking trout. Angel and I scarcely waited
+for the pony to draw up beneath the trees before we tumbled out of the
+trap; and the Bishop, grasping the eager Seraph by the wrist, swung him to
+the ground after us.
+
+We felt very small and light, and almost fairy-like, as we ran here and
+thither over the lush grass, studded with spring flowers. Our sensitive
+nostrils were greeted by enticing new odors that seemed to be pressed from
+the springy sod of our scampering feet. The Seraph still clutched the
+treacle tin, and Charles Augustus must have had a bad quarter hour of it.
+
+The stream, which was a sharp, clear one, sped through flowery meadows,
+where geese were grazing as soberly as cows. An old orchard enfolded it, at
+last, scattering pink petals on its flowing cloud-flecked surface, and
+drawing new life from its freshness.
+
+Harry made the pony comfortable and lit his pipe, and the Bishop got ready
+his tackle, while the three of us clustered about him, filled with wonder
+and delight to see the book of many coloured flies, and all the intricacies
+of preparing the rod and bait. Angel and I were equipped with proper rods
+baited with greenish May-flies, and The Seraph got a willow wand and line
+at the end of which dangled an active grasshopper.
+
+"You know," said the Bishop, when we had cast our flies, "if I were a
+whole-hearted angler, I should not have brought three such restless spirits
+on this expedition but truly I am--
+
+  'No fisher,
+  But a well-wisher
+  To the game!'
+
+So, now that you are here, suppose I give you a lesson in manipulating your
+tackling. If you proceed as you have begun, there will very soon not be so
+much as a minnow within a mile of us. Easy now, Angel; just move your fly
+gently on top of the water so that his bright wings may attract the eye of
+the most wanton trout. Easy, John--by the lord, I've caught a Greyling! And
+come and sniff him, and you'll find he smells of water-thyme."
+
+How aptly we took to this sort of teaching, given in the fresh outdoors,
+the air pleasant with honeysuckle, and a lark carolling high above us! We
+could scarcely restrain our shouts when Angel's first trout was landed with
+the aid of a net, and lay golden and white as a daffodil on the grass. So
+absorbed were we that no one gave any heed to The Seraph, stationed farther
+down stream, till a roar of rage discovered him, dancing empty-handed on
+the bank, his rod sailing smartly down the stream, leaving only a wake of
+tiny ripples.
+
+"It was a 'normous lusty trout," he wailed, "as big as a whale, an' he
+swallowed my grasshopper, an' hook, an' gave me _such_ a look! And I'd
+pwomised him to Mary Ellen for her tea!"
+
+"We may as well give up for a while," said the Bishop, mildly, "and have
+some lunch. Bring The Seraph to me, boys, and I shall comfort him, whilst
+you unpack the hamper."
+
+What hearty, wholesome appetites we brought to the cold beef and radishes!
+And how much more satisfying such fare than the milky messes served to us
+by Mrs. Handsomebody! Harry had buried a bottle of ale under the cool sod,
+and we had tastes of that to wash our victuals down. Even Charles Augustus
+had a little of it poured into his cell to comfort him.
+
+When we were satisfied, the Bishop retired to the shade of a hedge with his
+pipe; The Seraph wandered off by himself to hunt for birds' nests; and
+Angel and I took fresh flies and tried our luck anew. But the sun was high;
+the south breeze was fallen; and the trout had sought their farthest
+chambers in the pool.
+
+Angel soon tired when sport flagged.
+
+"Let's go find the kid," he said, throwing down the rod, "he'll be getting
+himself drowned if we don't keep an eye on him. I'll race you to that
+nearest apple tree!"
+
+With nimble legs, and swiftly beating hearts, we scampered over the smooth
+turf, and I threw a triumphant look over my shoulder at him, as I hurled
+myself upon the mossy bole of the old tree. Then I saw that Angel had
+stopped stock still and was staring open-mouthed beyond me. I turned. Then,
+I, too, stared open-mouthed. Trust The Seraph for falling on his feet! What
+though his rod had been filched--here he was, without a moment's loss,
+plunged in a new adventure!
+
+
+III
+
+He was seated beneath an apple tree, on the bank of the stream in deep
+conversation with a most remarkable old man, who was fishing industriously
+with the very rod The Seraph so lately had bewailed. He was an
+astonishingly old man, with hair and beard as white as wool, wreathing a
+face as pink as the apple-blossoms that fell about him. Cautiously we drew
+near, quite unobserved by the two who seemed utterly absorbed in their
+occupation of watching the line as it dipped into the stream. Now we could
+see that the old man's clothes were ragged, and that he had taken off his
+boots to ease his tired feet, the toes of which protruded from his socks,
+even pinker than his face.
+
+He was speaking in a full soft voice with an accent which was new to us.
+
+"Yon trout," said he, "was in a terrible frizz wi' the hook gnawing his
+vitals, and he swum about among the reeds near the bank in a manner to
+harrer your feelings. The line got tangled in the growing stuff, and I, so
+quick as an otter, pounced on him, and had him on the bank afore 'ee could
+say 'scat,' and there he lies breathing his last, and blessing me no doubt
+for relieving him in his shameful state."
+
+"I fink he's weally my twout," said The Seraph. "I caught him first you
+see."
+
+"That pint might take a terr'ble understanding lawyer to unravel," replied
+the old man, "but sooner than quarrel in such an unsporting fashion, I'll
+give 'ee the trout, though I had had a notion of roasting him to my own
+breakfast."
+
+The Seraph stroked the glistening side of the recumbent trout admiringly;
+he poked his plump forefinger into it's quivering pink gill. The result was
+startling. The trout leaped into the air with a flourish of silvery tail;
+then fell floundering on The Seraph's bare knees. Our junior, seized with
+one of his unaccountable impulses, grasped him by the middle and hurled him
+into the stream. A second more and the trout was gone, leaving only a thin
+line of red to mark his passing. Angel and I ran forward to protect The
+Seraph if need be from the consequences of his hardy act; but the old man
+was smiling placidly.
+
+"That trout," he said, "is so gleeful to get away from his captivity as I
+be to escape from the work'us."
+
+"Oh, did you run away from the workhouse?" we cried, in chorus, gathering
+around him, "Have you run far?" And we looked at his broken boots.
+
+"I ban't a dareful man," he replied, "that would run down the road in
+daylight for the whole nation to see, and I be terr'ble weak in the legs,
+so I just crept out in the night, so quiet as a star-beam, and sheltered in
+the orchard yonder, till I seed the rod fairly put in my hand by the
+Almighty, that I mid strike manna out of the stream, like old Moses, so to
+speak."
+
+"You're a funny man," said Angel. "You've a rum way of talking."
+
+"I come from Devon by natur," he answered, "and my tongue still has the
+twist o't though I haven't seed the moors these sixty years."
+
+"You must be pretty old."
+
+"Old! I be so aged that I can remember my grandmother when she was but a
+rosy-cheeked slip of a gal."
+
+We stared in awe before such antiquity.
+
+The Seraph ventured: "Did your grandmother put you in the work'us?"
+
+"No, no. Not she. It was my two grandsons. Well-fixed men they be too, for
+Philip had a fine cow until the bailiff took her; and Zachary thinks naught
+on a Fair day o' buying meat pasties for hisself and his missus, and
+parading about before the nation wi' the gravy fair running down their
+wrists. Ay--but the work'us was good enough for old Granfa. 'Darn'ee,' says
+I to Philip, 'there's life in the old dog yet, and I'll escape from here in
+the fulness of time!' Which I did."
+
+We grouped ourselves about him in easy attitudes of attention. We felt
+strangely drawn to this ancient rebel against authority. We pictured the
+workhouse as a vast schoolroom where white-haired paupers laboured over
+impossible tasks, superintended by a matron, cold and angular, like Mrs.
+Handsomebody.
+
+"Are your own children all dead?" I put the question timidly, for I feared
+to recall more filial ingratitude.
+
+"Dead as door-nails," he replied, solemnly. "All of them."
+
+"Were there many?"
+
+"When I had been married but seven years, there were six; and after that I
+lost count. At that time I was moved to compose a little song about them,
+and I'd sing it to 'ee this moment if I had a bite o' victuals to stay me."
+
+"Look here, Seraph," I cried, "You cut back to the hamper and fetch some
+beef and bread, and anything else that's loose. Look sharp, now."
+
+The Seraph ran off obediently, and it was not long till he re-appeared with
+food and the dregs of the ale.
+
+It was a treat to see Granfa make way with these. He smacked his lips and
+wiped his beard on his sleeve with the relish born of prolonged abstinence.
+As he ate, the apple-blossoms fell about him, settling on the rim of his
+ragged hat, and even finding shelter among the white waves of his beard. We
+sat cross-legged on the grass before him eagerly awaiting the song.
+
+At last, in a voice rich with emotion, he sang to a strange lilting tune:
+
+  "I be in a terr'ble fix,
+  Wife have I and childer six.
+
+  "I'd got married just for fun,
+  When in popped Baby Number one--
+
+  "I'd got an easy job to do,
+  When in strolled Baby Number Two--
+
+  "I was fishin' in the sea,
+  When up swum Baby Number Three--
+
+  "My boat had scarcely touched the shore,
+  When in clumb Baby Number Four!
+
+  "I was the scaredest man alive,
+  When wife found Baby Number Five.
+
+  "The cradle was all broke to sticks
+  When in blew Baby Number Six--
+
+  "And now I'm praying hard that Heaven
+  Will keep a grip on Number Seven."
+
+"And did Heaven keep a gwip on it?" inquired The Seraph as soon as the last
+notes died away.
+
+"Not a bit of it," responded our friend. "They come along so fast that I
+was all in a mizmaze trying to keep track on 'em. And good childer they
+was, and would never have turned me out as their sons have had the stinkin'
+impidence to do. But now, souls, tell me all about yourselves, for I be a
+terr'ble perusin' man and I like to ponder on the doings of my
+fellow-creatures. Did you mention the name of a parson, over by yon
+honeysuckle hedge?"
+
+We thought the old man was excellent; and we found it an easy thing to make
+a confidant of him. So, while he puffed at a stubby clay pipe, we drew
+closer and told him all about the Bishop and about father and how lonely we
+were for him. Blue smoke from his clay pipe spun about us, seeming to bind
+us lightly in a fine web of friendship. Through it his blue eyes shone
+longingly, his pink face shone with sympathy, and his white beard with its
+clinging apple-blossom petals, rose and fell on his ragged breast.
+
+"It's a great pity," said Angel, "that father isn't here now, because I'm
+certain he'd be jolly glad to adopt you for a grandfather for us. He's a
+most reasonable man."
+
+Our new friend shook his head doubtfully.
+
+"It would be a noble calling," he said, "but I ban't wanted by nobody I'm
+afeard. I think I'll just bide here by this pleasant stream, till in the
+fulness of time I be food for worms."
+
+"Could Charles Augustus have a little of you?" asked The Seraph, sweetly.
+
+"Ess Fay, he may have his share." It appeared that the story of Charles had
+been told before Angel and I had arrived.
+
+"Well, you're not going to be deserted," said Angel, in his lordly way,
+"we'll just adopt you on our own. Mrs. Handsomebody won't let us have a
+dog, nor a guinea pig, nor rabbits, nor even a white rat, but, you bet,
+she's got to let us keep a grandfather, if we take him right home and say
+he's come for a visit, and, of course, father'll have to pay for his board.
+Let's do it, eh John?"
+
+When Angel's eyes sparkled with a conquering light, few could resist him.
+Certainly not I, his faithful adherent. Anyway I wanted Granfa myself
+badly, so I nodded solemnly. "Let's."
+
+"It'll be the greatest lark ever," he said, "and here comes the Bishop."
+
+"Hand me my shoon, quick," said Granfa, nervously.
+
+The Bishop was indeed coming slowly toward us, across the sun-lit meadow,
+carrying his rod in one hand, and in the other the tin containing Charles
+Augustus. By the time he had reached us Granfa had struggled into his boots
+and was standing, hat in hand, with an air of meek expectancy. Angel,
+always so fluent when we were by ourselves, balked at explaining things to
+grown-ups, and, though the Bishop usually saw things from our point of
+view, one could never be absolutely certain that even he would not prove
+obtuse on such a delicate issue as this.
+
+So I rose, and met his enquiring look with such explanation as suited his
+adult understanding.
+
+"Please, sir," I said, politely, "this nice old man has been turned out by
+his grandsons, and he's on his way to town, where he's got some kind
+grandsons--"
+
+--"Fwee of 'em," put in The Seraph.
+
+--"And we were wondering," I hurried on, "if you'd give him a lift that
+far."
+
+"I expect you're tired out," said the Bishop, kindly, turning to Granfa.
+
+"I be none too peart, but terrible wishful to get under the roof o' my
+grandsons, thank 'ee."
+
+"You shall have a seat beside Harry; I see you've had some lunch; and now,
+boys, I think we have time for an hour's fishing before we go, but first we
+must dispose of Charles Augustus. I don't like the way he looks. I don't
+know whether he's just foxy and pretending he's dead so we shan't use him
+for bait, or whether the ale was too much for him. At any rate, he's
+looking far from well." And the Bishop peered anxiously into the treacle
+tin.
+
+So the search began for the ideal mate for Charles Augustus. He was laid in
+state on a large burdock leaf, where he stretched himself warily enough in
+the fervent heat of the sun. The Seraph, quick as a robin, was the first to
+pounce upon a large, but active dew-worm, which, he announced, was
+Ernestine.
+
+We made an excited little group around the burdock, as The Seraph, flushed
+with pride, deposited her beside the lonely Charles. She glided toward him.
+She touched him. The effect was electrical. Charles Augustus, after one
+violent contortion, hurled himself from the burdock, and, before we could
+intercept him, disappeared into a bristling forest of grass blades.
+
+"He's gone! He's gone!" wailed The Seraph. "He's wun away fwom her!"
+
+But, even as he spoke, the agile Ernestine leapt lightly from the trembling
+leaf in hot pursuit. Green spears bent to open a way for her; dizzy gnats
+paused in their droning song, feeling in the ether the tremor of the chase;
+bees fell from the heart of honey-sweet flowers, and lay murmuring and
+booming in the grass.
+
+They were gone. An ant had mounted the burdock leaf, and, careless of the
+drama that had just been enacted, sought eagerly among the crevices for
+provender. The Bishop spoke first.
+
+"I think she'll get him," he said musingly. "She's got a sort of cave-woman
+look, and she has no petticoats to impede her."
+
+"Ess fay," assented Granfa, "her'll get him, and hold him fast too, I'll be
+bound. A terr'ble powerful worm."
+
+We stood in silence for a space, our eyes fixed on the ground picturing
+that chase through dim subterranean passages, smelling of spring showers;
+Charles Augustus, wasted, febrile, panting with agitation; Ernestine,
+lithe, ardent, awful in her purpose.
+
+We were still pensive when we retraced our steps across the meadow. The
+Bishop and Harry and The Seraph resumed their fishing, but Angel and I
+preferred to be on the grass beside Granfa, while he told us tales of old
+smuggling days in Devon and Cornwall, where his little cutter had slipped
+round about the delicate yet rugged coast, loaded with brandy and bales of
+silk from France, guided by strange red and blue lights from the shore; and
+where solemn cormorants kept darkly secret all they saw when they sailed
+aloft at dawn.
+
+
+IV
+
+We were delighted with Granfa. It seemed to us that the acquiring of him
+was the finest thing we had yet done. This elation of spirit remained with
+us during all the drive home. The grey old town was wrapped in a golden
+mist of romance; its windows reflected the fire of the sunset. It was not
+until we had separated from the Bishop and stood, a group of four, before
+Mrs. Handsomebody's house, that dread misgiving took the pith out of our
+legs. All of a sudden Granfa loomed bulky and solid; the problem of where
+he was to be stowed presented itself. He was not like Giftie to be hidden
+in the scullery. He was not even like a white rat that could be secreted
+under one's bed till its unfortunate odour resulted in painful research.
+No; Granfa must be accounted for, and that soon.
+
+"Better go round to the back," suggested Angel, "and tackle Mary Ellen
+first."
+
+So we traversed the chill passage between the tall houses, and softly
+lifted the latch of the kitchen door. Mary Ellen was alone, her work done,
+her nose buried in a novel of such fine print that it necessitated the
+lamp's being perilously near the fringe of frowsy hair that covered her
+forehead. We were inside the kitchen before she was recalled from the high
+life in which she revelled.
+
+"Is it yersilves?" she exclaimed, with a start. "Sure, you've give me a
+nice fright prowlin' about like thaves--and whoiver may be the ould man wid
+ye? The mistress'll stand no tramps or beggars about, as well you know."
+
+"He's no tramp or beggar," I retorted, stoutly, "he's Granfa."
+
+"Granfa! Granfa who? Noan o' your nonsense, now, byes. What's the truth
+now, spit it out!"
+
+"He's Granfa," I reiterated, desperately, "Our own nice grandfather that we
+haven't seen for years, and--he's just come for a nice little visit with
+us. Why, Mary Ellen, the Bishop knows him--"
+
+"Known him for years," put in Angel. "Went to Harrow together."
+
+"Ess fay," assented Granfa, eagerly. "Us were boon companions up to
+Harrer."
+
+"The Bishop brought him wight here in the pony twap," added The Seraph,
+"and we'd all yike a little nushment, please."
+
+Mary Ellen, in spite of herself, was half convinced. Granfa's blue eyes
+were so candid; there was an air of dignity about his snow-white locks and
+beard, that disarmed hostility.
+
+"Look here, now," said Mary Ellen, in an aside, to us, "he seems a nice
+ould gentlemin enough, but think av the throuble ye got us in over Giftie,
+sure I won't have yez experimentalling wid grandfathers."
+
+Granfa appeared to have overheard, for he spoke up.
+
+"I just want to bide here a little while, my dearie, till I hear from my
+son in South Americer. The other two put me out, you see, so I've only him
+to depend on, till I be called away."
+
+Mary Ellen flushed. "You'd be welcome to stay if it was my house, sir; but
+my misthress is to be reckoned wid. By God's mercy, she is off to a
+missionary meeting tonight, her bein' president av the society for makin'
+Unitarians out av the blacks. Sorra a thing will she hear of this till
+mornin', and I'll put you in my own bed, and slape on two cheers in the
+scullery, for it'd niver do for the boys' grandfather to be used like a
+beggar-man."
+
+We thought it a capital idea for Mary Ellen to sleep in the scullery--it
+would save her the fag of running downstairs in the morning to get
+breakfast, and Granfa would be conveniently placed for us, in case we
+wanted a story or game before breakfast.
+
+So, after partaking of a little nourishment, as The Seraph put it, we
+retired to Mary Ellen's room; she leading the way up the dark backstairs
+with a lighted candle; Granfa next bearing his little bundle; and we three
+in the rear, exceedingly tired, but in excellent spirits.
+
+Granfa looked very snug in Mary Ellen's bed, with his curly beard resting
+comfortably on the red and white quilt, and his blue eyes twinkling up at
+us.
+
+"Comfy, Granfa?" asked The Seraph.
+
+"I be just so cozy as an old toad," he replied. "I do believe I'm a-going
+to be terr'ble happy in my new home."
+
+Mary Ellen had gone downstairs to prepare her place in the scullery, so we
+climbed on the bed with him, making believe it was a smuggler's cutter, and
+had many hair-raising adventures that were brought to an end, at last, by
+the discovery that Granfa was fast asleep.
+
+We were at the windlass heaving up the anchor, at the time, and had just
+struck up a sailor's chanty, which made a good deal of noise, but nothing
+seemed to disturb Granfa. He slumbered peacefuly through all the rattle of
+chains, and shouting of commands, so, somewhat subdued, we decided there
+was nothing for it but to seek our berths.
+
+Snug beneath our covers, at last, we felt to the full, the new spirit of
+adventure that had spread its irridescent wings over the house. There was
+Granfa, snoring under Mary Ellen's patchwork quilt; there was the trusty
+Mary Ellen, herself, stowed away in the scullery; there was Mrs.
+Handsomebody, on missionary duty among the blacks; here were we--The Seraph
+expressed our feelings exactly just before we fell asleep. "We'm terr'ble
+lucky chaps," he said, in the Devon dialect, "ban't us?"
+
+
+V
+
+Our bedroom window was always tightly closed, and, at night, so were the
+shutters; yet a sunbeam, adventurous, like ourselves, found its way through
+a broken slat, and, cleaving the heavy air of the chamber, flew straight to
+The Seraph's nose, where it perched, lending a radiant prominence to that
+soft feature.
+
+The Seraph roused himself. He opened his eyes; the sunbeam found them two
+dark forest pools, and plunged therein. The Seraph opened his mouth and
+laughed, showing all his little white teeth, and the sunbeam dived
+straightway down his throat.
+
+"Hurrah!" cried The Seraph, "let's get up!" And scrambled out of bed.
+
+At the same instant came a loud tapping on the door of Mary Ellen's
+bedroom. We surmised, correctly, that Mrs. Handsomebody, listening in vain
+for the sound of her handmaiden's descent of the back stairs had risen
+wrathfully, and come to summon her in person. A chill of apprehension ran
+along my spine. I got up and stole to the door, followed by my brothers.
+Through a crack we peered fearfully in the direction of the rapping, our
+trembling bodies close together.
+
+Mrs. Handsomebody, in purple dressing-gown and red woollen slippers, stood
+in a listening attitude, her gaze bent on the door that hid Granfa.
+
+"Are you aware of the hour?" she demanded peremptorily. "Rise at once and
+open this door."
+
+There was a creaking of the mattress and sound of shuffling feet; the door
+was opened reluctantly, and Granfa, bare-legged, white of beard and
+red-shirted, stood in the aperture.
+
+Mrs. Handsomebody did not shriek; rather she made the inarticulate noises
+of one in a nightmare and put out her hands as if to keep Granfa off.
+"Merciful Heaven!" she whispered. "What has happened to you?"
+
+"I do feel far from peart," replied Granfa.
+
+"This is horrible. Did you feel it coming on?"
+
+"Off and on for a long time," said Granfa. "It's been a terr'ble
+experience, and I ban't likely to be ever the same again, I'm afeared."
+
+Mrs. Handsomebody looked ready to faint.
+
+At that moment, Mary Ellen, having heard the voice of her mistress,
+projected her face above the doorsill of the backstairs. It was always a
+rosy face, but now with excitement and shamefacedness, it was as red as a
+harvest moon, coming up from the darkness.
+
+The sight of her turned Mrs. Handsomebody's terror into rage.
+
+"Shameful, depraved girl," she gobbled, "who is this you have in your
+chamber? Ah, I've caught you! The ingratitude! You terrible old
+wretch!"--this to Granfa--"close that door instantly while I send for the
+police!"
+
+By this time we had ventured into the hall, and, Mrs. Handsomebody, seeing
+us groaned: "Under the roof with these innocent children--I thought that in
+my care their innocence was safe."
+
+"It was thim same innocents that brung him here," said Mary Ellen, stung
+into disclosing our part in the scandal, "and it's himsilf is their own
+grandfather."
+
+Mrs. Handsomebody's gaze was appalling as she turned it on us three.
+
+"You? Your grandfather? What fresh insanity is this?"
+
+"You see," I explained, keeping my fascinated eyes on the wart on her chin,
+"he's just come for a little visit, and he really is our Granfa, and we
+love him awfully."
+
+"Won't have him abused," spluttered The Seraph.
+
+"Be rights," added Mary Ellen, solemnly, "he should have the best spare
+room, the byes' own aged relation."
+
+"I shall sift this affair," said Mrs. Handsomebody, "to its most appalling
+dregs. You, Alexander"--to The Seraph--"are the smallest, look through that
+keyhole and inform me what he is doing."
+
+The Seraph obeyed, chuckling. "He's took to the bed again--all exceptin'
+one leg--"
+
+"We can dispense with detail," cut in our governess. "Is he at all
+violent?"
+
+"Bless you, no," replied Mary Ellen. "He's as mild mannered as can be and
+an old friend of the Bishop's, so they say. 'Twas him that brung him home
+in his pony trap."
+
+"The Bishop! I must see the Bishop instantly."
+
+As she spoke a stentorian shout of "Butcher!" came from the regions below.
+
+"There," she said, to Mary Ellen, "is young Watlin. Call him up instantly;
+and he shall guard the door while I dress. Explain the situation very
+briefly to him. It would be well to arm him with a poker, in case the old
+man becomes violent. David, go to Bishop Torrance and tell him that I hope
+he will call on me at once, if possible. Put on your clothes, but you may
+leave your hair in disorder, just as it is. It will serve to show the
+Bishop into what a state of panic this household has been thrown."
+
+She was obliged to retire hastily to her room because of the arrival of Mr.
+Watlin.
+
+It was some time before Mary Ellen, and The Seraph, and I could make him
+understand what had happened, though we all tried at once.
+
+"And you mean to tell me that he's in there?" he asked, at last, grinning
+broadly.
+
+"Sorra a place else," replied Mary Ellen, "and you're to guard the door
+till the police comes."
+
+"Guard nothink," said Mr. Watlin, belligerently, "I'll go right in and
+tackle him single-handed."
+
+With one accord The Seraph and I flung ourselves before the door.
+
+"You shan't hurt him," we cried, "he's our own Granfa! We'll fight you
+first."
+
+Mr. Watlin made some playful passes at our stomachs. "Let's all have a
+fight," he chaffed. Then he said--"Hullo, here's the old 'un himself, and
+quite a character to be sure. No wonder Mrs. 'Andsomebody is in a taking."
+
+The door had opened behind us; Granfa stood revealed, wearing his ragged
+coat and hat, and carrying his stick and little bundle, wrapped in a red
+handkerchief.
+
+"Don't 'ee get in a frizz, my dears, about me," he said with dignity. "I be
+leaving this instant moment. As for you--" addressing Mr. Watlin--"you be a
+gert beefy critter, but don't be too sure you could tackle me,
+single-handed. I be terr'ble full of power when I'm roused, and it takes a
+deal to calm me down again." And he trotted to the head of the stairs and
+began to descend.
+
+The Seraph and I kept close on either side of him, tightly holding his
+hands.
+
+"She's in the parlour," I whispered, "and the Bishop's with her. Shall you
+go in?"
+
+Granfa nodded solemnly.
+
+We stood in the doorway of the sacred apartment. Even there, the spirit of
+the May morning seemed to have penetrated, for in the glass case a stuffed
+oriole had cocked his eye with a longing look at a withered nest that hung
+before him.
+
+Mrs. Handsomebody had just finished her recital. "I thought I should have
+swooned," she said.
+
+"And no wonder," replied the Bishop, "I'm quite sure I should have." Then
+he turned to us with a look of mingled amusement and concern. "Now what do
+you suppose I'm going to do with you Granfa?"
+
+"Oh, parson, don't 'ee send me back to the work'us! If I bide there any
+longer, 'twill break my fine spirit."
+
+"I am going to propose something very different," said the Bishop, kindly.
+"We need another sweeper and duster about the Cathedral, and if you think
+you are strong enough to wield a broom, you may earn a decent living. I
+know a very kind charwoman, who would lodge and board you, and you would be
+near your little--"
+
+"Gwandsons," said The Seraph.
+
+"Silence!" ordered Mrs. Handsomebody.
+
+"You would be near us all," finished the Bishop, blandly.
+
+"Ess fay. I can wield a broom," said Granfa. "And 'twill be a noble end for
+me to pass my days in such a holy spot. 'Twill be but a short jump from
+there fair into Heaven itself, and I do thank 'ee, parson, with all my
+heart."
+
+So it was settled, and turned out excellently. Even Mary Ellen could have
+learned from Granfa new ways of handling a broom with the least exertion to
+the worker; aye, in his hands, the broom seemed used chiefly as a support;
+a staff, upon which he leant while telling us many a tale of those rare old
+smuggling days of his youth.
+
+Sometimes, in dim unused parts of the building, we would rig up a pirate's
+ship, and Granfa would fix the broom to the masthead to show that he, like
+Drake, had swept the seas.
+
+Sometimes, indeed, we found him fast asleep in a corner of some
+crimson-cushioned pew, looking so peaceful that, rough sea-going fellows
+though we were, we had not the heart to rouse him.
+
+Once, standing before the stained glass window in memory of young Cosmo
+John, Granfa said:
+
+"It beats all how thiccy lad does yearn toward me. His eyes follow me
+wherever I go."
+
+"And no wonder, Granfa," cried The Seraph, throwing his arms around him,
+"for everybody loves 'ee so!"
+
+
+
+
+_Chapter VIII: Noblesse Oblige_
+
+
+I
+
+Angel and I grew amazingly that summer. We grew in length of limb but with
+no corresponding gain in scholastic stature. We had made up our minds to
+retain as little as possible of Mrs. Handsomebody's teaching and we had
+succeeded so well in our purpose, that, at nine and ten we had about as
+much book-learning as would have befitted The Seraph, while he retained the
+serene ignorance of babyhood. But in affairs of the imagination we were no
+laggards. We eagerly drank in Granfa's tales of the sea, and Harry lent us
+many a hair-raising book of adventure.
+
+Yet we longed for the companionship of other boys of our own age, and
+strained towards the day when we should go to school. Our abounding energy
+chafed more and more under the rule of Mrs. Handsomebody.
+
+Now she had left the schoolroom to interview a plumber, and her black
+bombazine dress having sailed away like a cloud, we had utterly relaxed,
+and were basking in the sunshine of her absence.
+
+Slumped on my spine, I was watching a spider, just over my head, that was
+leisurely ascending his shining rope-ladder to the ceiling. I contemplated
+his powers of retreat with an almost bitter envy. Fancy being able, at a
+moment's notice, to bolt out of reach (even out of sight and hearing) of
+all that was obnoxious to a fellow! I pictured myself, when some
+particularly harassing question had been put by my governess, springing
+from my seat, snatching the ever-ready shining rope and making for some
+friendly cornice, where, with my six or eight legs wrapped round my head, I
+would settle down for a snug sleep, not to be disturbed by any female.
+
+Yet, I had to admit, that if any one in the schoolroom played the rôle of
+spider, it was Mrs. Handsomebody herself, whose desk was the centre of a
+web of books, pencils, rulers and a cane, in the meshes of which we three
+were caught like young flies, before our bright wings had been unfolded.
+
+I looked at The Seraph. After slavishly making pot hooks all the afternoon,
+he was now licking them off his slate with unaffected relish. I turned to
+Angel.
+
+With hands thrust deep in his pockets he was staring disconsolately at the
+unfinished sum before him. I, too, had given it up in despair.
+
+"It's mediocre," he muttered. "Absolutely mediocre, and I won't stand it."
+
+_Mediocre._ It was a new word to me, and I wondered where he had picked it
+up. It was like Angel to spring it on me this way.
+
+"Awfully mediocre," I assented. "And it can't be done."
+
+A flicker of annoyance crossed his face that his new word should be thus
+lightly bandied, but he went on--"Just listen here: an apple-woman who had
+four score of apples in her cart, sold three dozen at four pence,
+half-penny a dozen; two and a half dozen at five pence a dozen. At what
+price would she have to sell the remaining, in order to realize"--
+
+"And look here," I interrupted, wrathfully, "Why does she always give us
+sums about an apple-woman, or a muffin-man? It just makes a chap hungry.
+Why doesn't she make one up about a dentist for a change, or somethin' like
+that?"
+
+"Yes," assented Angel, catching at the idea. "Like this: if a dentist
+pulled five teeth out of one lady, and seven and a half out of another, at
+two shillings apiece how many must he pull in order to--"
+
+"Then there's undertakers," I broke in. "If a undertaker buried nine
+corpses one day, and six and a half the next--"
+
+I had to stop, for Angel was convulsed with laughter, and The Seraph was
+beginning to get noisy.
+
+Angel produced a small bottle of licorice water from his pocket and took a
+long mouthful. Then he handed it to me. It was soothing, delicious.
+
+"Me too!" cried The Seraph, and I held it to his eager little mouth.
+
+"Here," said Angel angrily, "he's swiggin' down the whole thing. Drop it,
+young'un!"
+
+At the same moment, the door opened quietly, and Mrs. Handsomebody entered.
+I tore the bottle from The Seraph's clinging lips, and stuffed it,
+corkless, into my pocket.
+
+Mrs. Handsomebody sat down and disposed her skirt about her knees. Her eyes
+travelled over us.
+
+"Alexander," she said to The Seraph, "stand up." He meekly rose.
+
+"What is that on your chin?"
+
+The Seraph explored his chin with his tongue.
+
+"It tastes sweet," he said.
+
+"I asked what is it?"
+
+The Seraph shot an imploring glance at Angel.
+
+"I fink," he hedged, "it's some of the gwavy fwom dinner left over."
+
+Mrs. Handsomebody turned to Angel and me.
+
+"Stand up," she commanded, sternly, "and we shall sift this matter to the
+root."
+
+"Yes," admitted Angel, nonchalantly. "It was licorice root made into a
+drink."
+
+"Licorice root," repeated our governess, in a tone of disgust. "It is by
+imbibing such vile concoctions that the taste for more ardent spirits is
+created. When I was your age, I had taken no beverage save milk and hot
+water, from which I graduated naturally to weak tea, and from thence to
+the--er--stronger brew. I am at present your guardian as well as your
+teacher and I shall do my utmost to eradicate--"
+
+It was impossible to follow her discourse because of the keen discomfort I
+was feeling as the remainder of the licorice water trickled down my right
+leg. I was brought up with a start by Mrs. Handsomebody almost shouting:
+
+"John! What is that puddle on the floor beneath you? Don't move! Stay where
+you are." She sprang to my side and grasped my shoulder.
+
+"I s'pose it's some more of the woot," giggled The Seraph.
+
+I put my hand in my pocket and produced the empty bottle. Mrs. Handsomebody
+took it between her thumb and forefinger. She gave me a sharp rap on the
+head with it.
+
+"Now," she gobbled, "go to your room and remain there till the exercises
+are over, then return to me for punishment. _And_ change your trousers."
+
+
+II
+
+My trousers had been changed. Afternoon school was over, and I had just
+finished the last weary line in the long imposition set by Mrs.
+Handsomebody. I stretched my cramped limbs, and wondered dully where my
+brothers were. My depression was increased by the fact that the
+freshly-donned trousers were brown tweed, while my jacket was of blue
+serge.
+
+I laid the imposition on Mrs. Handsomebody's desk, and listlessly set out
+to find the others. I could hear Mary Ellen in the kitchen thumping a mop
+against the legs of the furniture in a savage manner that bespoke no mood
+of airy persiflage. Therefore, I did not go down the back stairs, but
+throwing a leg over the hand-rail of the front stairs, I slowly slid to the
+bottom, and rested there a space on my stomach, an attitude peaceful, and
+conducive to clear thinking.
+
+I reviewed the situation dispassionately. Here was I, who had scarcely been
+at all to blame, humiliated, an outcast, so to speak, while Angel, who had
+made the beastly mess, went unscathed. As for The Seraph! I could scarcely
+bear to think of him with his tell-tale sticky little chin.
+
+Voices roused me. Buoyant with animation, they penetrated beyond the closed
+front door. A loud unknown voice, mingled with those of Angel and The
+Seraph.
+
+In an instant, I was on my feet, my nose pressed against one of the narrow
+windows of ruby-coloured glass that were on either side of the hall door. I
+could see three small red figures in animated conversation on the square
+grass plot before the house. The largest of the three began to execute a
+masterly hop, skip and jump on the crimson grass. Above arched the sanguine
+sky.
+
+I opened the door and closing it softly behind me, stood on the steps.
+
+The newcomer was a sturdy fellow about a year older than Angel. He had a
+devil-may-care air about him, and he wore, at a rakish angle, a cap,
+bearing the badge of a well-known school. He turned to me instantly.
+
+"Well," he said, "you're a rum-lookin' pup."
+
+I was rather abashed at such a greeting, but I held my ground. "My name is
+John," I replied simply.
+
+"Oh, Lord!" he groaned. "_John!_ Don't you know enough to give your
+surname? Eh? I wish we had you at my school for a term. We'd lick you into
+shape."
+
+"His surname is Curzon, too," put in Angel, "same as mine."
+
+"Very well, then," said the boy, "you're Curzon major, Curzon minor, and
+Curzon minimus. Hear that, Curzon minimus?" he shouted, tweaking The
+Seraph's ear.
+
+"I say," said Angel, "you let him alone!" And I ran down the steps. The boy
+stared.
+
+"Don't you keep him in order?" he asked.
+
+"Rather," replied Angel, "but I don't hurt him for nothing."
+
+"I have two young brothers," said the boy, "and I hurt them for next to
+nothing. Licks 'em into shape."
+
+He looked around him and then added, "There's no fun here. Let's hook it to
+my place, and I'll show you my rabbits. I've taken a fancy to you, and, if
+you like, I'll let you call me by my first name. It's Simon. And I'll call
+you by yours. That minor and minimus business is rather rotten when you're
+friends. Come along."
+
+Mrs. Handsomebody, we knew, was safe at a lecture on The Application of
+Science to Human Relationships; Mary Ellen was doing her Friday's cleaning;
+therefore, we set off with our new-found friend without fear of hindrance
+from the female section of our household.
+
+
+III
+
+As we trotted along, Simon told us that his family had taken a large old
+house that had stood vacant ever since we had come to live with Mrs.
+Handsomebody. How often we had timidly passed its dingy front, wondering
+what might be within its closed shutters and deep-set front door!
+
+Now, as we approached, we saw that the sign, To Let, had been taken down;
+the door and shutters were wide open; and, one of the shutters, hanging at
+a rakish angle, much as Simon wore his cap, gave a promise of jollity and
+lack of restraint within.
+
+"We shall just cut around to the back garden," announced Simon. "The kids
+are there, and need putting in order by the row they are making."
+
+We passed through a low door in the wall that separated the front garden
+from the back. The wall was overgrown with dusty untrimmed creepers, from
+which a flock of sparrows flew when the door was opened.
+
+For a moment, we could scarcely take in the scene before us; in our
+experience it was so unprecedented. But Simon did not seem in the least
+surprised.
+
+"Hi, kids!" he yelled, "just keep that water off us, will you! Put down
+that hose, Mops!"
+
+Mops was a girl a little younger than Simon. She stood in the middle of the
+garden, a hose in her hands, and she was absorbed in drenching two
+half-naked small boys and five fox terriers, who circled around her like
+performers in a circus ring. The noise of yelling boys and barking dogs was
+terrific.
+
+"What's she doing?" we gasped.
+
+"It's so dev'lish hot that the hose feels bully. Like to try it?"
+
+"I wish we had got our bathing suits," said Angel.
+
+"Never mind. I think there's a couple of pairs of trunks in the scullery,
+and the young 'un can have a pinafore of Mopsie's."
+
+He led the way down some littered steps into a basement room, where a
+dishevelled maid was blacking boots.
+
+"Here Playter," he ordered, "dig up some togs for a hosing, will you? And
+be sharp about it, there's a love."
+
+The girl obligingly dropped her boots, and turning out the contents of a
+cupboard, produced some faded blue bathing trunks.
+
+To us they seemed shamelessly inadequate, but Simon appeared satisfied. Now
+he hurried us to a summer-house occupied by a family of lop-eared rabbits,
+and here we changed into the trunks. The Seraph required some help, and
+when he was stripped, I could see his little heart pounding away at his
+ribs, for, between the exertion of keeping up to us, and not quite
+understanding why he was being undressed, he was very much wrought up.
+
+"It's just fun," I reassured him. "Don't get funky."
+
+"I'm not," he whispered, as I tied on his trunks, "but I fink it's a
+dangerous enterpwise."
+
+"Time's up," yelled Simon, "get into the game!"
+
+We leaped from the summer-house to the grass, and, refreshing it was to our
+bare soles. The first onslaught from the hose almost knocked my legs from
+under me, and, indeed, throughout the game, Mops seemed to single me out
+for special attention. We three had never in our lives given way to such an
+abandon of wildness. The Seraph yelled till he was hoarse, and, when at
+last Mops surrendered the hose to Simon, the orgy grew wilder still.
+
+In the midst of it, a French window at the back of the house opened, and a
+lady stood on the threshold.
+
+My senses had received only a delicate impression of pink satin, golden
+hair, and flashing rings, when Simon turned the hose, in full force, on the
+step just below her, sending a shower of drops all about her. With a scream
+she fled indoors, slamming the French window.
+
+"You got her that time, all right," said Mops, grinning roguishly.
+
+"Who is she?" I gasped.
+
+"Oh, just mummy," replied Simon, nonchalantly.
+
+The French window opened again. This time a young man in grey tweeds
+appeared. I quite expected to see him greeted with a shower also, but Simon
+respectfully lowered the hose.
+
+"Did you turn that hose on your mother, Simon?" asked the young man
+sternly.
+
+"Just a little," answered Simon.
+
+"Well, the next time you do it you'll get your jacket dusted, do you hear?"
+
+"Yes, father."
+
+The young man disappeared into the house, three of the wet dogs following
+him.
+
+"Isn't Lord Simon sweet?" asked Mops, with another roguish smile at me.
+
+"Awfully," I replied politely, "but is the lady really your mother?"
+
+"Let's feed," interrupted Simon, throwing down the hose, "I've a rare old
+twist on."
+
+I was sorry he had interrupted us, for I yearned towards Mops, and I felt
+that further conversation with me would be acceptable to her, but we were
+swept away in the stampede for food to the basement kitchens.
+
+They seemed immense to me, and full of the jolliest servants I had ever
+seen. Two men-servants in livery were playing a game of cribbage at one end
+of a long littered table, while several laughing maid-servants hung over
+their shoulders. The game was suspended at our entrance, and they all
+turned to ask us questions and chaff us about our appearance. One of the
+fox terriers jumped on the table and began nosing among the saucepans.
+Nobody stopped him. The fat, good-natured cook busied herself in spreading
+bread and butter with Sultana raisins for us; the maid-servants made a
+great fuss over The Seraph.
+
+In such a whirlwind did this family live that just as I was beginning to
+feel at ease in this extraordinary kitchen, I was rushed back to the garden
+to play, a somewhat solid feeling in my stomach telling me that the bread
+and Sultanas had arrived.
+
+"Hurrah for stilts," screamed Mops.
+
+"Just the thing," assented Simon. "Here young Bunny and Bill, fetch the
+stilts, and be sharp about it--hear?" and he gave them each a punch in the
+ribs.
+
+Thus encouraged, Bunny and Bill scampered across the grass, the
+fox-terriers yelping at their heels, and, from a convenient out-house all
+sizes of stilts were produced.
+
+These accomplished children could do all manner of amazing feats on the
+stilts; even little Bill laughed at our awkward attempts. But, after many
+falls, Angel and I could limp haltingly about the garden, and experienced
+the new joy of looking down at things instead of up.
+
+We noticed presently that Simon was propped against the high wall that
+divided this garden from the next. In a moment he called to us:
+
+"Toddle over here and see what the old girls are doing."
+
+"Who does he mean?" I asked Mops, as we moved stiffly, side by side.
+
+"It's the Unaquarium parson's garden," she said. "I expect they're having a
+tea-fight. They're always up to something fishy."
+
+Something ominous in the words should have warned me, but I was too elated
+to be heedful of signs or portents. I clutched the wall, and, with a grin
+of amusement, gazed down at the group of ladies, who, with two gentlemen in
+black, were drinking tea on the lawn.
+
+Bunny threw a green pear at the thin legs of the taller gentleman.
+
+The gentleman shied in a most spirited fashion, slopping his tea.
+
+Everybody turned to look in our direction.
+
+"Duck," hissed Mops.
+
+But it was too late to duck. Several ladies were already sweeping towards
+us.
+
+Then my soul fainted within me, for the voice of the being who ruled our
+little universe spoke as from a dark cloud.
+
+"David! John! Alexander!" gobbled the Voice, "are you gone mad? Come here
+instantly--but no--you appear to be nude--answer me--are you nude?"
+
+Mops answered for us; we were too afflicted for speech.
+
+"If you mean naket, we're not," she said, "but the dressed-up part of us is
+on this side."
+
+I was conscious of murmuring voices: What a terrible little girl; indeed
+the whole family; as for the mother--Yes--my pupils, and, for the present,
+my wards--Once they even threw a dead rat over!
+
+Then up spoke Mrs. Handsomebody. "Put on your clothes," she ordered, "and
+meet me at the corner. I shall be waiting."
+
+
+IV
+
+We had put on our clothes. We had met her but, good Heaven! what a
+Rendezvous! She, and Angel, and I were pallid with suppressed emotions,
+while The Seraph's face was flushed crimson. He was weeping loudly, as he
+followed in our wake, and walking with some difficulty, since Angel and I,
+in our agitation, had put his trousers on back to front.
+
+Mrs. Handsomebody placed us in a row, on three chairs in the dining-room,
+and seated herself opposite to us. After removing her bonnet, and giving it
+to Mary Ellen to carry upstairs to the wardrobe, she said:
+
+"If I believed that you realized the enormity of what you have done, I
+should write to South America to your father, and tell him that I would no
+longer undertake the responsibility of three boys so evilly inclined. What
+do you suppose my sensations were when, at the close of the lecture, the
+other ladies, the professor, our pastor, and myself adjourned to the garden
+for tea, to find you three perched, almost nude, on a wall, in such
+company?"
+
+"Do you know that those people are not respectable? The man, I am told, is
+a rake, who attends cockfights, and the mother of those children has been
+seen in the garden--_tight_!"
+
+"Was that the lady in pink satin?" asked Angel, showing interest for the
+first time.
+
+"I daresay. One would expect to find her in pink satin."
+
+The lecture went on, but I did not hear it; my mind dwelt insistently on
+thoughts of the lady in pink.
+
+"What did she do, please?" I interrupted, thoughtlessly, at last.
+
+"Who do?"
+
+"The lady. When she was tight."
+
+"So that is where your thoughts were," said Mrs. Handsomebody, angrily,
+"nice speculations indeed, for a little boy!"
+
+"I should yike a little nushment, please," interrupted The Seraph in his
+turn.
+
+"Not nourishment, but punishment is what you will get, young man," replied
+our governess, tartly. "What you three need is discipline at the hands of a
+strong man. We shall now go upstairs."
+
+
+V
+
+It was over. The gas was out, and we were in bed. Not snugly in bed, but
+smartingly; each trying to find a cool place on the sheets, and things very
+much bedewed by the tears of The Seraph.
+
+"I don't care," said Angel, rather huskily. "It was worth it, I'd do it
+again like a shot."
+
+"So would I," I assented. "Whatever do you s'pose they're up to now!"
+
+And, indeed, the thought of this spirited family coloured all my dreams. As
+in dancing rainbows they whirled about my bed: Mops with the hose; Bunny
+and Bill twinkling on stilts; Simon with all the dogs at his heels; and
+above all, the lady in pink, presiding like a golden-haired goddess, and
+very "tight."
+
+We were still in black disgrace at breakfast. Scarcely dared we raise our
+eyes to the cold face of Mrs. Handsomebody, lest she should read in them
+some yearning recollection of yesterday's misdeeds. Large spoonfuls of
+porridge and thin milk made unwonted gurgling noises as they hurried down
+our throats to our empty young stomachs.
+
+When we had done, and The Seraph had offered thanks to God for this good
+meal, Mrs. Handsomebody marched us, like conscripts to the schoolroom,
+where she assigned to each of us a task to keep him busy until her return
+from market.
+
+But the front door had barely closed upon her black bombazine dress, when
+we scampered to the head of the stairs, threw ourselves upon the hand-rail,
+and slid lightly to the bottom, and from there ran to find Mary Ellen in
+the parlour.
+
+She was sweeping out the sombre room with such listless movements of her
+plump, red arms, that the moist tea-leaves on the floor scarce moved
+beneath the broom.
+
+"Sure, I niver see sich a cairpet as this in all me born days," she was
+saying. "If I was to swape till I fell prostitute, I'd niver git it clane."
+
+"Oh, don't bother about the work, Mary Ellen!" we cried. "Just listen to
+the adventure we had yesterday!"
+
+"I listened to the hindermost part of it," she returned, "and it sounded
+purty lively."
+
+"Who cares?" said Angel. "It didn't hurt a bit."
+
+"Not a bit," assented The Seraph, cheerily. "She gets weaker evwy day, and
+I get stwonger."
+
+We rushed upon Mary Ellen then with the whole story of our new friends,
+dwelling, especially, upon our visit below stairs, and the rollicking men
+and maid-servants we found there.
+
+"They were drinking beer-and-gin," concluded Angel, "and the scullery-maid
+did a breakdown for us in a pair of hunting boots."
+
+"It beats all," said Mary Ellen, leaning on her broom, "what kapes me in a
+dull place like this, whin there do be sich wild goin's on just around the
+corner like. I'd give a month's wage to see thim folks."
+
+"Come around with me," suggested Angel, "and I'll introduce you."
+
+"Oh, no, Masther Angel. Misther Watlin, me young man, wouldn't want me to
+be goin' into mixed company widout him. An it do seem a pity, too, since I
+have me new blue dress, for if ever I look lovely, I look lovely in blue."
+And she attacked the tea-leaves with a lagging broom.
+
+Mrs. Handsomebody, when dinner was over, fixed us with her cold grey eye,
+and said:
+
+"Since you have proved yourselves utterly untrustworthy, you shall be
+locked in your bedroom, during my absence this afternoon. Mary Ellen, who
+will be engaged in cleaning the coal cellar, has been instructed to supply
+you with bread and milk at four o'clock. By exemplary behaviour today, you
+will ensure a return to your customary privileges tomorrow."
+
+
+VI
+
+The prison door was locked. The gaoler gone.
+
+Thus our Saturday half-holiday!
+
+Angel and I threw ourselves, face downward, on the bed. Not so The Seraph.
+Folding his arms, which were almost too short to fold, he stood before the
+single window, gazing through its grimy glass at the brick wall opposite,
+as though determined to find something cheerful in the outlook.
+
+Aeons passed.
+
+Familiar faces began to leer at me from the pattern in the wall-paper.
+Angel was despondently counting out his money on the counter-pane, and
+trying to make three half-pennys and a penny with a hole through it, look
+like affluence.
+
+Suddenly there came a rattling of hard particles on the pane. As we stared
+at each other in surprise, another volley followed. It was a signal, and no
+mistake! Already The Seraph was tapping the window in response. A moment of
+violent exertion passed before we could get it open. Then, thrusting out
+our heads we discovered Simon standing in the passage below, his upturned
+face wearing an anxious grin.
+
+"Thought I'd never get you," he whispered hoarsely. "I saw the Dragon go
+out, so I fired a handful of gravel at every window in turn. Come on out."
+
+"We can't. We're locked in!" we chorused dismally.
+
+"I'll try to catch you if you jump," he suggested. "I would break the fall,
+anyway."
+
+But the way looked long, and Simon very small.
+
+Then: "There's a ladder," cried The Seraph, gleefully, "better twy that."
+
+With his usual clear-sightedness, he had spied what had escaped his
+seniors. Our neighbour, Mr. Mortimer Pegg, had been having some paper hung,
+and, surely enough, the workmen had left a tall ladder propped against the
+wall of the house. Without a second's hesitation, Simon flung himself upon
+it, and with one splendid effort, hurled it from that support to the wall
+of Mrs. Handsomebody's house. Then, with the strength of a superman, he
+dragged it until it leaned just below our window, and stood gasping at its
+base.
+
+"Good fellow," said Angel, and began to climb out.
+
+"Now, you hand me The Seraph," he ordered, "and I'll attend to him."
+
+I had some misgivings as I passed his plump, clinging little person through
+the window, and watched him make the perilous descent, but, in time, he
+reached the ground, and then I, too, stood beside the others, and the four
+of us scampered lightly down the street with no misgivings, and no fears.
+
+Before the door of our own grocer, Simon made a halt.
+
+"Must have somethin' wet," he gasped. "Ladder nearly floored me."
+
+He took us in and treated us with princely unconcern to ginger beer and a
+jam puff apiece. As we sucked our beer through straws, I smiled to think of
+Mary Ellen, doubtless preparing bread and milk at home.
+
+Once more we entered the garden through the creeper-hung door. We visited
+the rabbits, and unchained one of the fox-terriers, which had been tied up,
+Simon told us, as a punishment for eating part of a lace curtain. Bill
+appeared then and said that his mother desired us to go to her in the
+drawing-room, and, as it was beginning to rain, Simon agreed that it wasn't
+a bad idea. We might even find something to eat in there.
+
+As we trooped past the basement window, I lingered behind the others, and
+peered for a space into the lawless region below. What met my gaze almost
+took my breath away: for there was our own Mary Ellen, who should have been
+at that moment cleaning the coal cellar, sitting at one end of the long
+table, in her new blue dress, and plumed hat, a gentleman in livery on
+either side of her, and on the table before her, a mug, which, without
+doubt, contained gin-and-beer!
+
+I waited to see no more. Enough to know that all the world was run amuck!
+With a glad whoop, I sped after the others, and only drew up when I stood
+on the threshold of the drawing-room.
+
+Like the servants' hall, it was a large apartment, and, like it, was
+bewildering in its colour and movement, to eyes accustomed to the grey
+decorum of Mrs. Handsomebody's establishment.
+
+Though it was summer, there was a fire on the hearth, which played with
+changeful constancy on the vivid chintzes, silver candle-sticks, and many
+mirrors of the room, but most of all, on the golden hair and satin tea-gown
+of the lady in pink.
+
+She was speaking in a loud, clear voice to Simon's father, who was leaning
+against the mantelpiece smoking.
+
+"Why the devil," she was saying, "should you smoke expensive cigars? Why
+don't you smoke cigarettes as I do?"
+
+She angrily puffed at one as she spoke, and threw herself back among the
+black and gold cushions of the divan, where she was sitting. Her fair brow
+cleared, however, as her glance rested on The Seraph.
+
+"Adorable little toad!" she cried, drawing him to her side. "What is your
+name?"
+
+"Alexander," replied our youngest, "but they call me The Seraph. I'm not a
+pampud pet."
+
+This sent the lady into a gale of laughter. She hugged him closer and
+turned to me.
+
+"And what is your name, Sobersides?" she demanded.
+
+"John," I replied, "and my father is David Curzon, and he is an engineer in
+South America, but he's coming back to England some day, and, I expect then
+we shall go to school. We just live with Mrs. Handsomebody."
+
+As I talked, her expression changed. She leaned forward, searching my face
+eagerly.
+
+"Is it possible?" she said, in a tragic voice. "Is it possible? David
+Curzon. His son. The very spit of him!" Abruptly she broke into gay
+laughter, which, somehow, I did not quite like: and turning to her husband,
+she said: "Do you remember Davy Curzon? He was such a silly old pet. Lor'!
+I'd quite forgot him!"
+
+"Lucky Davy," said the gentleman, smiling at me.
+
+"And he was so ridiculously poor," she went on, "I remember he ruined
+himself once to buy me a pair of cream-coloured ponies, and a lapis-lazuli
+necklace. And I daresay he's _fat_ now!"
+
+"He is not," I retorted stoutly. "He's thin. He's had the fever."
+
+"Again?" she cried. "He had it when I knew him--badly too. Who did he
+marry?"
+
+"A Miss Vicars," replied her husband. "Good family. A screaming beauty too.
+Other two boys look like her."
+
+But the lady had now, it seemed, no interest in the other two boys. The
+Seraph was deposed from his place on the divan to make room for me; and the
+lady begged me to give her a kiss, just for old times' sake. Yet, somehow,
+I did not quite like it, for I felt that she was making fun of my father,
+the hero of my dreams.
+
+Meanwhile, the other children, unchided, were making things lively in their
+own way. Mops and the boys were eating dates from a bowl and pelting each
+other with the stones, while a new member of the family, a seemingly
+sexless being in a blue sash and shoulder knots, called "Baby," galloped up
+and down the room with a battledore and shuttlecock.
+
+
+VII
+
+No servant announced her name. I felt no warning tremor of solid Earth
+beneath my feet. Yet there she was, in full equipment of bombazine dress,
+hard black bonnet, reticule, and umbrella, gripped like an avenging sword.
+Oh, that some merciful cloud might have swept us, like fair Iphigenia to
+the abode of the gods, and left three soft-eyed hinds in our stead!
+
+Yet, there we were, gazing at her, spellbound: and presently she enunciated
+with awful distinctness:
+
+"I am come to apologize for the intrusion of my wards upon your privacy,
+and to remove them instantly."
+
+"Oh, bless you," said the lady in pink, cheerily, "three or four more don't
+matter to us. Won't you sit down? And children--please let the lady's
+things be, d'you hear?" for these intrepid children had gathered around
+Mrs. Handsomebody as though she were a dancing bear; and "Baby" had even
+pulled her umbrella from her hand substituting for it the battledore which
+Mrs. Handsomebody unconsciously held, with an effect of ferocious
+playfulness.
+
+"I thank you," replied Mrs. Handsomebody. "I shall remain standing."
+
+"Let me make you acquainted with my husband," pursued the lady, "he's Lord
+Simon de Lacey, second son of the Duke of Aberfalden. Please excuse him
+smokin'!"
+
+The effect of these simple words on Mrs. Handsomebody was startling. She
+brandished the battledore as though to ward off the approaching Lord Simon,
+and repeated in a trembling voice:
+
+"Lord Simon de Lacey--Duke of Aberfalden. Surely there is some mistake."
+
+"I'm afraid not," said Lord Simon, shaking her hand. "In me you behold the
+traditional, impecunious younger son, and--"
+
+"But it will not always be so," interrupted Lady Simon, shouting to make
+herself heard, "for, you see, my husband's older brother is an invalid who
+will never marry, so we shall inherit the dukedom and estates one day. This
+child--" pointing to young Simon--"is a future duke."
+
+"He has a lovely brow," said Mrs. Handsomebody, beaming at him.
+
+Indeed, an astounding change had come over our governess. No longer was her
+manner frigid; her face, so grey and hard, had softened till it seemed to
+radiate benevolence. She beamed at Bill and Bunny playing at leap-frog
+before her chair; she beamed at "Baby," galloping astride of her umbrella;
+she beamed at Mops, trying to force a date into the mouth of a struggling
+fox-terrier; she even beamed at me when I caught her eye.
+
+"I trust that your father, the Duke, keeps well," she said to Lord Simon.
+
+"Great old boy," he replied. "Never misses a meet. Been in at the death of
+nearly four thousand foxes."
+
+"Ah, blood will tell," breathed Mrs. Handsomebody.
+
+"You see," interposed Lady Simon, "the Duke disinherited my husband when he
+married me. Didn't approve of the Profession. I was Miss Dulcie June,
+awfully well known. Photographs all over the place. Danced at the Gaiety,
+y'know."
+
+"I'm sure I have heard of you," said Mrs. Handsomebody.
+
+"Well, the Duke and I ran into each other at a dog show last week, and he
+was so struck with me, he asked to be introduced, and has asked us all to
+visit him at Falden Castle. It looks hopeful, don't it?"
+
+"Indeed, yes. But we shall be very sorry to lose you. It is so difficult
+for me to find suitable companions for my wards, and your children are
+so--spirited. Of course, blood will tell."
+
+"Just what I say," assented Lady Simon, "for I was a spirited girl, if ever
+there was one. What with late hours, and toe-dancin' and high-kickin', it's
+a wonder how I stood it. I think I was like that Sir Galahad chap whose
+'strength was as the strength of ten'--"
+
+"Doubtless because your art was pure, my love," put in Lord Simon, with a
+sly smile.
+
+"I used to know this boy's father in those days," went on Lady Simon. "He
+was a lamb."
+
+"He was also my pupil in his youth," said Mrs. Handsomebody, and the two
+talked on in the happiest fashion, till we took our leave, the whole family
+following us to the door, and "Baby" returning Mrs. Handsomebody's
+umbrella, and relieving her of the battledore without her having been aware
+of the negotiation.
+
+So we who had expected to be haled to retribution, as criminals of the
+deepest dye, floated homeward in the serene light of Mrs. Handsomebody's
+approval.
+
+No one spoke till the Cathedral came in view. Then Angel said:
+
+"There's a window in the Cathedral in memory of a son of some Duke of
+Aberfalden. He died about a hundred years ago."
+
+"The very same family," replied our governess, "and, I am sure, from now
+on, my dear boy, you will regard the window with a new reverence."
+
+"You must have noticed," she proceeded, "the geniality and dignity that
+emanated from each separate member of that noble family. This is admirably
+expressed by the French in the saying--'Noblesse oblige'--meaning that
+nobility has its obligations. Repeat the phrase after me, David, that you
+may acquire a perfect accent."
+
+"Knob-less obleedge," repeated Angel, submissively; and The Seraph also
+repeated it several times, as though storing it away for future use.
+
+When Mrs. Handsomebody rang the door-bell, I trembled for Mary Ellen,
+remembering where I had last seen her, but the admirable girl promptly
+opened the door to us, clad in the drabbest of her cellar-cleaning garb, a
+smudge of soot on her rosy cheek.
+
+Mrs. Handsomebody ordered sardines for tea, and had the silver tea-pot
+brought out. She also dressed for the occasion, adding a jet bracelet,
+seldom seen, to her toilet.
+
+All went well, till, at bedtime, The Seraph could not be found. Becoming
+alarmed, Mrs. Handsomebody, at last, opened the door of the forbidden
+parlour, Angel and I peering from behind her, hoping, yet fearing, to
+discover the recreant.
+
+Truly the gods had a mind to The Seraph. His was ever the cream of every
+adventure. There he was, lolling at ease, in a tasselled velvet chair, just
+beneath the portrait of Mr. Handsomebody. Lolling at ease, and smoking a
+gold-tipped cigarette, which, he afterwards confessed, he had got from
+Bill, in trade for a piece of India-rubber.
+
+Like an old-timer he handled it, watching the smoke-wreaths above his head
+with the tranquil gaze of an elderly club-man.
+
+"Merciful Heaven!" screamed Mrs. Handsomebody, clutching Angel and me for
+support. "Are you demented, Alexander? Do you realize what you are doing?"
+
+The Seraph drew a long puff, looking straight into her eyes, before he
+replied: then, in a tone of gentle seriousness, he said:
+
+"Knob-less obleedge."
+
+
+
+
+_Chapter IX: The Cobbler And His Wife_
+
+
+I
+
+Bootlaces had become of immense importance to us, since a lack of them
+always meant a visit to the cobbler to buy new ones. They were
+comparatively easy to break, or to tie in knots that even Mary Ellen's
+strong fingers could not undo. Then there were tongues. One could always
+dislocate a tongue. At any rate, the boots of one of the three were always
+needing attention.
+
+"Bless me!" our governess would exclaim, wrathfully, "Another heel off! One
+would think you did it purposely. And boots such a price! Just think of
+your poor father in South America, working day in and day out to provide
+you with boots, which you treat with no more consideration than if they
+were horseshoes--well, to the cobbler's then--and tell him to mind his
+charges. It should cost no more than sixpence."
+
+The cobbler lived in the tiniest of a group of tiny houses that huddled
+together, in a panicky fashion, in a narrow street behind Mrs.
+Handsomebody's house. From an upper window we could look down on their
+roofs, where the plump, Cathedral pigeons used to congregate to gossip and
+sun themselves.
+
+You went down three stone steps into the cobbler's shop. There he always
+sat at work by his bench, tapping away at the sole of a shoe, or stitching
+leather with his strange needle. His hands fascinated us by their coat of
+smooth oily dirt. Never cleaner, never dirtier, always the same useful,
+glove-like covering. Did he go to bed with them so? How jolly! we thought.
+His face, too, was of extraordinary interest. It was so thin that the sharp
+bones could be seen beneath the dusky skin, and he would twitch his
+nostrils at the breeze that came in his open window, for all the world like
+an eager brown hare. His hair curled so tightly over his head that one knew
+he could never pull a comb through it, and we were sure he was far too
+sensible to try.
+
+Mrs. Handsomebody said he was half gypsy, and not to be encouraged. Mary
+Ellen said, God help him with that wife of his.
+
+He bred canaries.
+
+All about the low window their wooden cages hung. Even from the darkest
+corners of the shop bursts of song leaped like little flames and yellow
+breasts bloomed like daffodils. When the cobbler tapped a shoe with his
+hammer, they sang loudest, making a wild and joyous din.
+
+Thus they were all busy together when we entered on this winter morning,
+carrying Angel's heelless boot, wrapped in a newspaper.
+
+"Good-morning, Mr. Martindale," said Angel, above the din, "you see I've
+got another heel off, so I'm wearing my Sunday boots, and Mrs. Handsomebody
+says it shouldn't be above sixpence, please."
+
+The cobbler ceased his tapping, and all the birds stopped to listen:
+
+"Good-morning, little masters," he said, in his soft voice. "What wild
+things your feet are to be sure. Try as I will, I cannot tame them. You
+might as well try to keep three wild ponies shod." He undid the parcel and
+turned the boot over in his hands. "Sixpence, did she say? Nay, tell her a
+shilling, for the sole needs stitching as well."
+
+"Oh, but you must keep that for another day," said Angel, "so we can come
+again."
+
+"How she tries to keep you down," said the cobbler. "How old are you now?"
+
+I replied to this. "Angel's ten, and I'm nine, and The Seraph's six."
+
+"Just the brave age for the woods. I wish I had my old van again, and could
+take you on the road with me. You'd learn something of forest ways in no
+time. Shall you wait for this?"
+
+Wait for it? Rather. We established ourselves about him; The Seraph climbed
+beside him on the bench; Angel took possession of his tools, handing them
+to him as required; while I busied myself in plentifully oiling a strip of
+leather. The birds chirped and pecked above our heads.
+
+Angel asked: "Did you do much cobbling in the van, Mr. Martindale?"
+
+"Ay, cobbling and tinkering too. The forest birds liked to hear me just the
+same as those canaries. Especially the tinkering. They'd crowd about and
+sing fit to burst their throats--wood-thrushes, finches, and all sorts.
+Then, I used to stop at village fairs and take in a nice bit of silver. For
+my missus could play the concertina, and I had a cage of lovebirds that
+could tell fortunes and do tricks."
+
+A strange voice spoke from the passage behind the shop.
+
+"Ay. Comical tricks lovebirds do. And cruel tricks, love. I've been tricked
+by 'em."
+
+"Better lie down, Ada," said Martindale. "Or make tea. That'll quiet ye."
+He rose and went to the door, closing it softly. But he had barely seated
+himself again, when there came a scream from the passage.
+
+"Look what you've did, you villain, you've shut me in the door! Oh! oh! I'm
+trapped in this comical passage! Loose me quick!"
+
+Martindale sprang to the door, where a strip of red petticoat showed that
+his wife was indeed caught, and went out into the passage, speaking in a
+soothing tone, and leading her away.
+
+"I fink I'll go," whispered The Seraph.
+
+"Don't be silly," I assured him, "the cobbler will take care she don't hurt
+us."
+
+"She's a character, isn't she?" said Angel, borrowing a phrase from Mary
+Ellen.
+
+Martindale returned then, sat down on his bench, and, smoothing his leather
+apron, resumed his work with composure.
+
+"I fink," said The Seraph, "I hear Mrs. Handsomebody calling. I better be
+off."
+
+"Bide a little while," said Martindale, "and I'll tell you a first rate
+story--about birds too. Then you'll forget your fright, little master, eh?"
+
+The Seraph moved closer to him, and the canaries burst into a fury of song.
+
+"It's wonderful what birds know," he began. "News flies as fast among 'em
+as wind on the heath, and if you do an injury to one, the others'll never
+forgive it. For though they may fight among themselves, they'll all join
+together against one wicked cruel man."
+
+The canaries ceased their singing, and fluttered against the bars.
+
+"Just look at Coppertoes," said the cobbler, pointing to a large ruffled
+bird, "he's heard this tale often afore, yet it always excites him. He'll
+peck at his perch; and beat his wings for hours after it. Won't you, my
+pet?"
+
+Coppertoes crouched on his perch, his beak open, making little hissing
+sounds.
+
+"Well, there was a man," went on the cobbler, "a student fellow he was, who
+was always making queer messes with chemicals, and fancying he was about to
+discover some wonderful new combination. He lived in a top room in a high,
+narrow house, well on towards three hundred years ago. And all those years,
+a family of song-sparrows, and their descendants, had nested under the
+eaves directly above his window. Hatched out their young; fed them; and
+taught them to fly. Very well. This student fellow was all in a fever one
+morning because he believed that, at last, his great discovery was all but
+perfect. Just a few hours more and he would have it in the hollow of his
+hand. But he could not rightly fasten his brain to work because of the
+constant cheeping of the young sparrows under the eaves. Every time the
+mother bird brought them a moth or worm they raised a chorus of yells; and
+when she flew away, they cheeped for her to come back again.
+
+"The student-fellow shut his window, but it did not keep out the noise.
+Then he flung open the window and waved his arms and shouted at them. But
+they only cheeped the louder. Now a dreadful rage took hold on him. With
+his heart full of murder, he fetched a basin in which he had put some
+poisonous drug. He set fire to this and set it on the window sill just
+below the nest. Then, with a triumphal smile, he shut the window fast,
+leaving the fledglings to perish in the fumes that rose, thick and deadly
+from the basin.
+
+"For hours he worked, and, at last, to his great joy, he figured out the
+amazing problem that was to be a gain to the whole world. He was so tired
+that he clean forgot the little birds, and flung himself, face down, on his
+bed to rest. He did not wake until the next morning at seven. It was so
+dark that he had to strike a light to see the face of his watch. Now he
+knew that it should not be dark at either seven in the morning or seven at
+night; and he felt very strange. The room was full of the unclean smells of
+his chemicals, and he groped his way to the window to get air. But the
+outdoor air was murky and he saw that a heavy cloud had settled just above
+the chimney pots. This cloud seemed to palpitate, as though made of a
+million beating wings. Down below he could hear the clatter of wooden clogs
+on the cobble stones, as people were running in a panic to the Town Hall.
+The big bell of it began to ring, but in a muffled way as though borne down
+by the cloud. The student guessed that a meeting was being called.
+
+"He remembered the sparrows then, and he craned his neck to see the nest.
+There was the little mother-bird sitting in the nest with her wings
+outstretched to protect the nestlings from the deadly fumes. Her beak was
+wide open and she was quite dead."
+
+The Seraph's breast heaved and his tears began to drop on the cobbler's
+leather apron. Coppertoes squatted beneath his swing, striking it angrily
+with his shoulders so that it swung violently. All the other birds were
+silent.
+
+Steadily working at the shoe the cobbler proceeded: "The terrible truth was
+borne to the student then, and he knew that the cock sparrow, on finding
+his mate and her young ones thus foully murdered, had flown swiftly to the
+king of all the birds, and told him of the deed. The king had summoned
+great battalions of birds, from fierce eagles and owls (these last rushing
+from their dark hiding places) down to fluttering little wrens and tomtits.
+'Twas of those that the great cloud was made, and it hung just over the
+town like a dark wave that would soon smother the townsfolk.
+
+"The student caught up the paper where he had writ the great discovery and
+made for the street, running along with the rest of the folk, and ready to
+drop with fear of the great press of wings above them. When he got to the
+Town Hall, he found the whole town huddled together there, even new mothers
+with their babes, like young birds; and, in a moment the beadle had swung
+the great doors shut. In there they could scarce see each other's fearful
+faces; but the student clumb up on the council table, and he told out
+bravely enough how it was all his doing, and since he had brought it to
+pass, he was prepared to go out and face the birds alone.
+
+"But first he handed over the paper to the Mayor, and charged him to guard
+it stoutly, for it was about the most precious thing on earth. Then he
+called--'Good-bye! friends,' and went, since there was no time to spare;
+for the birds were beginning to hammer like hail on the windows with their
+beaks, especially the cranes and flamingos.
+
+"When the door had clanged behind him the women mourned aloud, for they
+knew they would never see him again. A great tumult rose outside as of a
+hurricane, and it grew pitch dark. After a spell, the noise ceased, and the
+cloud lifted, and a shaft of sunlight slanted across the hall. The village
+tailor opened the door, for the mayor and the beadle were sore afeared.
+There was not a bird in sight, though the ground was inches deep in
+feathers they had dropped. As for the student, no one ever saw him again.
+Whether the birds had carried him off bodily to some secret place, or
+whether they had torn him piecemeal, no one knew."
+
+The Seraph sniffled. "It's nice and twagic," he said.
+
+"What became of his great discovery?" asked Angel.
+
+"Ay, you may well ask that. Why, the mayor said it was bewitched and held
+it in the flame of a candle till there was naught left of it but
+cinders.... Now, here is your boot, little master, good as new, and the
+cost but one shilling."
+
+
+II
+
+When we entered the house, we heard voices in the parlour, and found our
+governess there, superintending Mary Ellen at work. Mary Ellen was
+carefully brushing and dusting the plumage of the stuffed birds.
+
+I stared with a new interest at those feathered members of our household,
+who held themselves so coldly aloof from the rest of us; asking neither
+gift of chickweed nor of sugar, disdaining the very air we breathed. Who
+knew but that yonder sad-eyed hawk had helped to tear the student!
+"Piecemeal" the cobbler's word for it--one could picture him with some
+bloody fragment, shooting straight upward, his wide pinions spread.
+
+Mrs. Handsomebody was speaking in a complaining way to Angel.
+
+"A shilling! 'Tis ridiculous. For such a paltry piece of work. I shall go
+around that way when we take our walk and protest against such extortion. I
+said sixpence to you when you set out."
+
+"I know," replied Angel, "but he said it was worth a shilling."
+
+"You see, he has a wife to keep," put in The Seraph, "and live birds to
+feed."
+
+Mary Ellen withdrew her head from the interior of the glass case.
+
+"Oh'm," she said, very red in the face, "it's thrue that Misther Martindale
+needs every penny he can lay hands on, for his wife is no good to him at
+all, and he has to hire a charwoman to clane up for her."
+
+"Then," said Mrs. Handsomebody, "I shall seek a shoemaker who has no such
+encumbrance. Is the woman feeble-minded or a sloven?"
+
+"Faith, she's both 'm, and ivery day she's gettin' worse than she do be.
+I've heard her say sich things whin I've been in the shop that me very
+sowl-case shivered."
+
+"What sort of things?"
+
+"Well," said Mary Ellen, circling her duster on the glasses, so that she
+might still be said to be working as she talked, "the other day whin I
+called for me slippers wid the satin bows on--"
+
+"I disapprove of those bows."
+
+"--She was in the passage beyant, and just the voice of her came through
+the crack o' the dure. She says, says she: 'If a body was to fall--an'
+fall--an' fall--and there was naught to stop him, it's comical to think
+where he'd light on.'... Her voice was as solemn as the church organ, 'm.
+Another day she says: 'If I could only git the moon out of this passage,
+there'd be room for my head to whirl round and round!' 'Excuse me,' I says
+to the cobbler, 'I'll call for thim shoes later.'"
+
+"What appearance has she?" inquired Mrs. Handsomebody.
+
+"Noan at all. I've niver seed her. No one has ever seed her. She's more
+banshee than woman, I do belave."
+
+True to her threat, Mrs. Handsomebody stopped at the cobbler's that
+afternoon, at the outset of our accustomed promenade. The birds were in
+full chorus as we descended the steps into the shop.
+
+The cobbler got to his feet, and touched his forehead respectfully. This
+pleased Mrs. Handsomebody.
+
+"My good man," she said, "You have sadly overcharged me for putting a new
+heel on this child's boot. I said, when I sent it that it was worth
+sixpence--"
+
+The cobbler opened his mouth to speak.
+
+--"Now, don't interrupt," continued Mrs. Handsomebody. "I shall not ask you
+to refund the sixpence; but I have brought a prunella gaiter of my own
+which needs stitching, and I shall expect you to do it, without extra
+charge, if you wish to retain the patronage of my household."
+
+Here was a test of manhood! Would Martindale, a full-grown male, submit to
+being bullied by a creature who wore a bustle, and a black silk apron?
+Alas, for the whiskered sex! He took his medicine; just as we, hedged in
+some fateful corner, gulped down our castor oil. Turning the gaiter over in
+his dark hands, he meekly assented. Mrs. Handsomebody, appeased by her easy
+victory, inquired after his wife.
+
+"Oh, poorly as usual, thank you ma'am," he said.
+
+"I should think that country life would be much better for her."
+
+"She's even worse in the country."
+
+"There was a sheet of an excellent religious paper wrapped about that
+gaiter. You might give it to her to read."
+
+"Thank you, ma'am, I will, though she takes more comfort reading the
+dream-book than anything."
+
+"Burn the dream-book. It is probably at the root of the trouble."
+
+"No," replied the cobbler, slowly, "It all began when we lost our
+daughter."
+
+Mrs. Handsomebody was touched. "That is sad indeed. How old was the child?"
+
+"Just two days old, ma'am. We were camping in a forest when she was born,
+and I had laid her in a little hammock among the birds, and some gypsies
+must have stolen her, for when I came back she was gone. She'd be eighteen
+now." He stroked his leather apron with trembling hands, at the same time
+giving me a curious look of appeal. So when Mrs. Handsomebody, after a few
+words of sympathy made a movement to go, I developed a strange pain in the
+leg, that made walking an impossibility. She consented that I should rest a
+while at the cobbler's, and then return home carrying the gaiter.
+
+When Martindale and I were left alone, he cautiously opened the door into
+the passage, peered out, and then returned. He said softly:
+
+"Little Master, I've got to get rid of Coppertoes. She's turned against
+him. She says he comes out of his cage of nights, and flies about the
+house, pecking at the food, and trying to make a nest in her hair. She says
+he stole a golden sovereign of hers and hid it in an old shoe. Isn't it a
+shame, and he such a lovely bird?"
+
+"It's awful," I agreed. "What shall you do?"
+
+"I know a man who will buy him, but he is out of town till tomorrow. Could
+I depend on you, little master, to keep him for me till then? If he is left
+here the misses will do him an injury."
+
+"But Mrs. Handsomebody--" I faltered.
+
+"Just put him in some out o' the way corner with a cloth over his cage, and
+a lump of sugar. He'll be quiet as can be, and 'twill soon be dark--"
+
+
+III
+
+With a delicious sense of secrecy, I stole past the Cathedral. Pressed
+against my breast was the cage that held Coppertoes. He sat quietly on his
+perch, very long, and slender, and bright-eyed with amazement at this
+sudden excursion into a new world. I wondered what he thought of the
+towering Cathedral, shrouded in a film of hoar frost that lent its ancient
+stones a bloom as delicate as the petals of flowers.
+
+Three pigeons hopped daintily down the shallow stone steps, cocking their
+heads inquisitively at the bird in the cage. I shouted at them, and they
+rose slowly to the tower above.
+
+Silent indeed was the hall when I entered. Only the clock ticked
+ponderously. The house was cold, and Coppertoes seemed suddenly very
+fragile. How lonely he would be! I stared at the closed door of the
+parlour, thinking what a shame that the stuffed birds in there were not
+alive, so they might be company for him. Still--he was very young--and had
+not seen much of the world. Might he not be made to believe that they were
+a foreign breed that never chirped or left their perches? Anything was
+better than the dark and loneliness. And if he chose to sing I was sure he
+could not be heard through that heavy door.
+
+Like a ghost I went in and shut the door behind me.
+
+I held his wicker cage against the glass case. "Coppertoes," I whispered,
+"Other birds! Aren't they pretty? Want to get in an' play with them, old
+chap? See the pretty oriole? An' the owl, Coppertoes. Lovebirds, too. Want
+to get in, little fellow? Such a bully big cage you never saw."
+
+I opened the door of the glass case, and cautiously introduced the bird
+cage. I opened the door of the cage. Coppertoes paid no heed but busied
+himself in pecking sharply at his lump of sugar. I urged him with my finger
+but still he refused to see the door. Then I took away his sugar, and poked
+him. With a light and careless hop he was on the threshold. He cocked his
+head. He spied the oriole.
+
+An instant later he was at its throat. Feathers flew. He was back again on
+the roof of his cage spitting feathers out of his mouth. More feathers
+sailed slowly through the heavy air. Then he spied the lovebirds. With
+passionate fury he attacked them both at once, tearing their plumage
+impartially; his eye already selecting the next victim.
+
+Though my heart thumped with apprehension, my mouth was stretched in a
+broad grin. I felt that I should never tire of the spectacle before me. I
+realized that I had always hated the stuffed birds.
+
+Coppertoes was busy with the owl, when a piercing scream came from behind
+me. I turned and found Mrs. Handsomebody gazing with horrified fascination
+at the orgy under glass. She took three steps forward, her eyes starting
+with horror.
+
+"Come to life--" she gasped, in a strangled voice--"after all these
+years--and gone stark mad."
+
+She fell, at full length, across the green and red medallions of the
+carpet.
+
+Then, with a rush, Mary Ellen and the charwoman, Mrs. Coe, were upon us,
+and, after them, my brothers.
+
+"Lord preserve us!" cried Mary Ellen, bending above her prostrate mistress,
+"what has come over the poor lady to be took like this?"
+
+"Is she dead, do you fink?" asked The Seraph, on a hopeful note.
+
+"Well, if she is, faith! 'tis yersilves has kilt her."
+
+"She's just in a swoond," asserted Mrs. Coe, calmly. "Wot she needs is
+brandy. Yus, and terbaccer smoke blowed dahn 'er froat." Mrs. Handsomebody
+moaned.
+
+"Better get her out of here," suggested Angel, his eye on Coppertoes who,
+sated by bloodshed, lay with wings outstretched, panting on the floor of
+the case.
+
+"Thrue," agreed Mary Ellen. "And shut the dure afther ye, and make
+yersilves scarce till tea-time, like good childer, do."
+
+Mrs. Handsomebody was borne away by Mary Ellen and Mrs. Coe, the latter
+still muttering--"terbaccer smoke dahn 'er froat."
+
+We restored Coppertoes to his wicker cage, and wrapping it in an
+antimacassar, hid it beneath the piano.
+
+
+IV
+
+We three sat, "making ourselves scarce," on the topmost of the steps before
+the front door. It was only four by the Cathedral clock, which solemnly
+struck the hour, but it was almost dark. It was cold and we pressed closely
+together for warmth. The Seraph murmured a little song of which I caught
+the words:
+
+  "The birds! The birds!
+    He knocked the stuffing
+    Out of the stuffed birds!"
+
+We watched the slow progress of the lamplighter along the street. Like a
+god, he marched solemnly, leaving new stars in his wake.
+
+As he raised his wand and touched the lamp before our house, a new figure
+appeared beneath its rays, hurrying darkly towards us. It entered the gate
+and came in a stealthy way to where we sat. We recognized the cobbler.
+
+"Little masters," he whispered. "She's flitted."
+
+"Good widdance," said The Seraph, briskly. "She was too comical to be a
+nice wife."
+
+"Ah, no," replied the cobbler. "She's weak in her head and bound to come to
+something hurtful. I'll not seek my bed this night until I've found her. I
+thought mayhap you'd ha' seen her pass!"
+
+"No," replied Angel. "We didn't. But perhaps the lamplighter did."
+
+With one accord, we hurried after the retreating figure. Hearing our
+footsteps, he turned and faced us beneath a newly lit lamp. Its serene
+radiance fell on his solemn blue-eyed face, surrounded by red whiskers.
+
+"What's the turmoil?" he asked. "Did I forget a lamp?"
+
+"Have ye seen a strange-appearing woman?" asked Martindale. "With a shawl
+about her, and mayhap remarking something about the moon, or a evil-minded
+canary."
+
+The lamplighter ran his fingers through his red beard. "She warn't saying
+naught about canaries," he affirmed, "but she did say as how if she could
+once get the moon in Wumble Pool, she'd drown it."
+
+"Wumble Pool. That's where she's gone then. I can't seem to place it."
+
+"It's less nor a mile from here, and since my last lamp is lit, I'll not
+mind guiding you so far. Who be she, this woman?"
+
+"My wife. She's fey, and I'm fearing she'll drown herself."
+
+"It's a very bad fing to be drowned," put in The Seraph, as we all set off
+together. "'Cos a bath in a tub is wet enough."
+
+What a chill, dark night it was growing! The Cathedral clock struck a
+hollow warning note as we passed. We heard the beat of wings as the pigeons
+settled for the night.
+
+The Seraph grasped a hand each of the cobbler and the lamplighter, taking
+long manful strides to keep up with them. We seemed, indeed, a sinister
+company setting out on dark adventure.
+
+Hurriedly we traversed narrow, winding streets, where night had already
+fallen in the shadow of clammy walls. Strange and eerie was the path
+between wet trees, when we had left the town behind. The lamplighter with
+his tall wand alight seemed like some unearthly messenger come to conduct
+us to goblin realms.
+
+We spoke never a word till an open common lay before us; then the
+lamplighter pointing with his wand to a glimmering surface fringed by rank
+grass, said:
+
+"Yon's Wumble Pool."
+
+Wumble Pool! The very name struck a chill to our hearts.
+
+"Yes, and there's the moon," whispered the cobbler.
+
+It was true that the distorted image of the moon floated dimly in the Pool,
+as though it had indeed been caught by the mad-woman, and drowned.
+
+"How soft the ground is!" breathed Angel.
+
+"Ay, and the Pool has no bottom," said the lamplighter.
+
+"I can't think she'd have the heart to do it," said Martindale.
+
+The Seraph screamed.
+
+"There she is! I see her! Standing in the Pool!"
+
+We ran to the brink. A cold air struck our faces. Our feet sank ankle-deep
+in the mud. The cobbler did not stop, but ran on into the Pool, where the
+shawled figure of a woman stood, covered to the waist by the sullen, black
+water.
+
+"Ada! Ada!" cried the cobbler, throwing his arms about her.
+
+"Leave me go!" shrieked the woman. "I'm a-goin' to drownd myself!"
+
+The struggle in the water, shattered the reflection of the moon like pale
+amber glass. Once they both sank into the water; the lamplighter waving his
+wand, and shouting. Then, at last, the four of us bent over them as they
+lay, huddled, on the grass at the brink.
+
+"You'd ought to be ashamed of yourself to worrit your 'usband so," said the
+lamplighter, sternly.
+
+"'Usband!" cried the woman, shrilly. "I've got no 'usband!"
+
+The cobbler gave a cry of fear. He pulled the shawl from her head and felt
+the face and hair.
+
+"God's truth!" he muttered, "I've saved the wrong woman."
+
+"Better fwow her back again," suggested The Seraph.
+
+"Nay, nay, little man," said the lamplighter, holding his light close to
+her face. "That would never do. Besides, her be young and winsome."
+
+"I'd keep her," said Angel.
+
+"Whoever are you, lass?" asked Martindale, in a trembling voice, "and why
+did you plan to make way with yourself?"
+
+The moon shone wanly on the girl's face and wet hair.
+
+"I'm nobody," she wailed, "and I be tired of life."
+
+"Did you see aught of a strange woman?" asked Martindale. "One who was
+talking about the moon, and her head a-whirling?"
+
+"She came right down the road ahead of me," she answered, in a weak voice,
+"and ran straight into the pool. When she was in, she grabbed the floating
+image of the moon, and she said: 'I've got you, at last, you comical
+villain!' And she laughed, and seemed to struggle with it, and she went
+down."
+
+"That'd be her, all right," said the lamplighter.
+
+"Ada mine, Ada mine," mourned Martindale.
+
+Angel and The Seraph and I clutched hands, and looked shudderingly into
+Wumble Pool.
+
+"That seemed to scare me like," went on the girl, "and I couldn't jump
+right in, but I just crept, a step at a time, fearing I'd step on the
+body."
+
+"No danger," said The Seraph complacently, "there's no bottom."
+
+"One thing is certain," pronounced the lamplighter, "this young 'ooman
+should have some hot spirits in her inside, and be wrapped in a warm
+blanket, afore she's starved with the cold."
+
+First we walked all around Wumble Pool, and poked it with sticks, but there
+was no sign of the cobbler's wife. Then, slowly, we retraced our steps to
+the town, the two men supporting the dripping girl.
+
+A lamp burned with a ruddy glow in the room behind the shop, where all the
+birds were sleeping. Martindale put his charge in a chair by the hearth,
+and made gin-and-beer hot for everybody. The Seraph kissed the girl, and
+she said that she was glad after all that she was safe out of Wumble Pool.
+
+"What is your name, my dear?" questioned Martindale.
+
+"I don't know my name rightly, sir, for I was stole by gipsies when I was
+but two days old."
+
+The cobbler gave a cry and set down his glass. "Gipsies--two days' old--"
+he stammered. Then he pushed back the thick hair, about her ear. "Yes,
+yes!" pointing to a tiny slit in the lobe, "there is the very place,--where
+one of my jealous birds pecked her the day she was born!" He caught her in
+his arms and held her, mystified but happy--.
+
+The reunion was interrupted by a pounding at the door. It was a furious
+Mary Ellen, her night out completely spoiled by the search for us.
+
+Thus we were haled before Mrs. Handsomebody, questioned, upbraided, and
+given, at last, a bowl of hot gruel apiece.
+
+"You deserve," she said bitterly, "to go empty to bed, but my conscience
+forbids that I relax my vigilance over your health. Tomorrow, we shall see
+what can be done in the way of discipline."
+
+We sat on three high-backed haircloth chairs. The steaming gruel slipped
+thickly into our stomachs. The hot gin had gone to our heads. Mrs.
+Handsomebody's head looked abnormally large to me, and seemed to be
+whirling round and round. Surely she was not getting like the cobbler's
+wife! Mrs. Handsomebody was still scolding:
+
+"You began the day by introducing a canary of the lowest proclivities into
+my case of stuffed birds, where he perpetrated irreparable damage--"
+
+The Seraph interrupted, "Don't you yike live birds, Mrs. Handsomebody?"
+
+"I prefer stuffed birds to live ones, I confess."
+
+The Seraph said apologetically: "And I pwefer gin to gwuel--any day."
+
+"Gin! Where did you taste gin?"
+
+Without reply The Seraph hurried on, while Angel and I scraped our bowls:
+
+"There was once a student fellow and he didn't yike live birds, either. He
+poisoned one and it died. Then he undertook a walk (this was a favourite
+expression of Mrs. Handsomebody's) and all the other birds pounced on him
+and tore him piecemeal."
+
+Mrs. Handsomebody, with a ferocious gleam in her eye, leaned forward to
+catch the rest. The Seraph's voice was low and insinuating.
+
+"I was finking"--with a chuckle--"that you might poison one of the nicest
+of the stuffed birds. Then you might get in the glass case wiv the others.
+We could lock the door on the outside and watch through the glass."
+
+"And I expect you think they would tear _me_ piecemeal? Is that the idea?"
+
+"Oh, I don't know," chuckled The Seraph. "But suppose you twy it."
+
+
+
+
+_Chapter X: The New Day_
+
+
+I
+
+I think we must have felt that he was coming, for we awoke at dawn that
+morning. I could barely see the silvery bars between the slats of the
+shutters. The Seraph was stirring in his sleep, and in a moment he
+whispered: "I say, John, what's that long black thing behind the door?"
+
+"Just some clothes hung up," I whispered back.
+
+"I fought they moved," he said. "Do you fink the wardrobe door moved,
+John?"
+
+"Everything seems a little queer this morning," I replied. "I heard a
+whispering sort of noise at the shutters a bit ago."
+
+Angel began to talk in his sleep.
+
+"If three suns were to rise at six," he muttered, "how many stars would it
+take to make a moon?"
+
+The Seraph began to laugh delightedly. He kicked his legs and showed all
+his little white teeth. Angel opened his eyes and stared at us crossly.
+"What a beastly row," he said. "I want to sleep some more."
+
+The silver bars between the slats of the shutters took a golden tinge.
+Clearly it was to be a fine day, after a week of rain and sleet.
+
+The chimes of the Cathedral sounded. The notes came with penetrating
+sweetness as though the air were cold and clear. We heard the door of Mary
+Ellen's room open; she descended the back stairs noisily.
+
+The Seraph turned a somersault in the middle of the bed.
+
+"Cwistmas is coming," he said, trying to stand on his head, "and I want a
+pony."
+
+We threw ourselves into a general scuffle, and the old-four-poster creaked
+and the bolster fell to the floor.
+
+Then up the cavernous backstairs came the peal of the front door bell. We
+heard Mary Ellen drop the poker and run through the house. It was an
+unheard of hour for the front door bell to ring. We sat up in bed in
+stiffened attitudes of expectancy. Mary Ellen was mounting the front stair.
+She rapped loudly at Mrs. Handsomebody's bedroom door. There were whispers.
+Then Mrs. Handsomebody's voice came decidedly:
+
+"Go about your work with the utmost speed. Say nothing to the boys of this.
+I shall tell them when they have had their breakfast."
+
+In a moment she appeared at our door in her purple dressing-gown, an
+expression of repressed excitement on her face. A sunbeam slanting through
+the passage rested on the fringe of curl-papers about her head so that she
+looked like some elderly saint wearing a rather ragged halo.
+
+"I have received news," she announced, with more than usual firmness,
+"which will make it necessary for us to rise immediately. Dress as quickly
+as you can, and help your little brother. What a state you have got that
+bed into! You deserve to be punished." She stood for a moment, her eyes
+resting on us with a curious look, then, with a sigh, she turned away and
+went back to her room.
+
+At breakfast she still wore her dressing-gown, an unprecedented laxity.
+Beside her on the table-cloth lay a crumpled piece of buff paper. So it was
+by telegram that the news had come. Instantly I thought. The telegram is
+from father. He is coming home. Maybe he is on his way. In London even! The
+food would not go down my throat. Shudders of excitement shook me.
+
+I looked at Angel. Taking advantage of Mrs. Handsomebody's absorption he
+was spreading a second spoonful of sugar over his porridge. The Seraph was
+staring, spoon in hand, into Mrs. Handsomebody's set face. He said--
+
+"Mrs. Handsomebody, if I was to smile at you, would you smile back at me?"
+
+"Alexander," replied Mrs. Handsomebody, "I hope I have never been found
+wanting in courtesy. But, at present, I should prefer to see you eat your
+breakfast with as much speed as possible. John, eat your porridge."
+
+"I can't, please."
+
+"Eat it instantly, sir."
+
+"I can't," I repeated, beginning to blubber, "I want to see father!"
+
+"Eat your porridge and you shall see him. He will be here at ten o'clock.
+Silence, now, no uproar. My nerves are under quite enough strain." She
+poured herself fresh tea, and continued:
+
+"There will be no tasks today. After breakfast you will put on your best
+jackets and collars, and sit in the parlour until he arrives. I implore you
+to be as composed as possible."
+
+The questions that poured from us were hushed by a gesture of her
+inflexible, white hand. Dazed by the news, we were herded back to our
+bedroom, hurried into stiff white collars and hustled into shining Sunday
+shoes. There was the sound of cold water tinkling in the basin; of
+straining bootlaces; and of the creaking of a loose board in the floor
+every time Mary Ellen stepped on it. Scarcely a word was spoken. Now that
+what we had so long strained towards was at hand we stood breathless before
+the immensity of it. The long year and nine months at Mrs. Handsomebody's
+fell like a heavy curtain between us and the past. Our father's face had
+grown hazy to us. I think The Seraph only pretended to remember. His coming
+had been held over our heads so long, as a time of swift retribution, that
+a feeling of doubt, almost terror, mingled with our joy.
+
+At last we were ready. With shining faces, burning ears, and quickly
+tapping hearts, we went soberly down the stairs. The door of the parlour
+stood wide open. Mrs. Handsomebody, herself, was dusting the case of
+stuffed birds, whose plumage, sadly thinned by the attentions of
+Coppertoes, seemed to quiver with expectancy.
+
+We were instructed to wait inside the iron gate, at the front, until train
+time, when we were to be recalled to the parlour, and take our places on
+three chairs, already ranged in a row for us. Thus we were to be displayed
+by Mrs. Handsomebody, to our sire.
+
+We found Granfa polishing the brass on the front door, his white locks
+bobbing as he rubbed.
+
+"Oh, Granfa," we cried, "have you heard the news?"
+
+"Ess fay," he replied, straightening his back, "for thiccy Mary Ellen came
+a-galloping at top speed to ask me to shine the brasses for 'ee, knowing I
+have a wonderful art that way. The poor Zany was all in a mizmaze."
+
+"Are you glad father's coming?"
+
+"Glad! I be so joyful as a bulfinch in springtime. See how the very face of
+Natur' be lit up for the grand occasion."
+
+The sky had, indeed, become deeply blue, and a great pink cloud hung above
+the Cathedral like a welcoming banner. There had been frost in the night
+forming thin ice over the puddles in the road. All those reflected the
+serene pink of the cloud, a blue pigeon picked his way delicately among
+them. A sweet-smelling wind swayed the moist brown limbs of the elm trees.
+All the world seemed like a great organ attuned to joy.
+
+"Suppose," suggested Angel, "that we just race around to the cobbler's and
+tell him the news. The Dragon is too busy to miss us."
+
+The very thing! It would take only a few minutes and would be something to
+do to pass the time. Softly we slipped through the iron gate; lightly we
+hastened along the shining wet street; under the shadow of the Cathedral,
+whose spire seemed to taper to the sky; down narrow, winding Henwood Street
+till we reached the cobbler's shop.
+
+Martindale was standing in the open door his face raised as though he were
+drinking in the fragrance of the morning. A chorus of bird song came from
+inside.
+
+"Hallo, Mr. Martindale," Angel shouted.
+
+"What do you suppose? Father's coming home."
+
+"He'll be here In less than two hours," I panted.
+
+The cobbler put a dark hand on a shoulder of each. "That's grand news,
+little masters," he said. "But I hope he won't take you so far away that I
+shall never see you. The birds like you too. They never sing so loud as
+when you are in the shop."
+
+While he was speaking we heard footsteps coming quickly down Henwood street
+around the corner. They were quick, sharp footsteps that rang on the frosty
+air. "It's curious," said the cobbler, "how footsteps sound here. I think
+it's the Cathedral walls that give that ringing sound."
+
+We turned to watch for the approaching pedestrian. We wondered who he was
+that walked with such an eager, springing step. He turned the corner. He
+faced us. Then he laughed out loud and said, "Hello!"
+
+We were, for a second, simply staggered. We made incoherent noises like
+young animals. Then we were snatched by rough tweed arms, a small, stiff
+moustache rasped our cheeks, and--"Father!" we squealed, at last, in
+chorus.
+
+"I found I could catch an early train," he said, "so I just hopped on, for
+I was in a desperate hurry to see you. What are you doing here, at this
+hour?" He stared at the cobbler.
+
+"This is Mr. Martindale," I explained. "He mends our boots, and tells us
+stories, and he's got a bird named Coppertoes."
+
+"So you are a friend of my boys," said father. "Ay. And they're grand
+little lads, sir. I have a daughter of my own I'm very proud of, sir. She
+was lost for seventeen years, and your sons helped me to find her."
+
+His daughter came to the door then to call him to breakfast. She had a
+yellow braid over each shoulder, and Coppertoes was sitting on her wrist
+with a piece of chickweed in his bill. Father stopped to admire them both.
+
+"By George," he said, when we had left them, "if all your friends are as
+interesting as those, I should like to meet them."
+
+"They are that," I said, happily, "and here's another of them."
+
+It was Granfa, standing at the gate, his blue eyes staring with amazement.
+He raised his broom to his shoulder and stood at attention as we drew near.
+
+"What a sight for the nation!" he exclaimed. "Welcome home my dear
+son-in-law. I be terrible proud to hand my charges over to 'ee. Us have got
+along famous while you was over to South Ameriky."
+
+I trembled for fear father should say something to hurt Granfa's feelings,
+but he seemed to understand him at once, and shook him by the hand, and
+made him a present of some tobacco on the spot.
+
+
+II
+
+"Merciful Heaven!" screamed Mrs. Handsomebody. "Davy!" "Mr. Curzon!" She
+clutched her curl-papers in one hand and the front of her purple wrapper in
+the other. "We did not expect you for an hour yet."
+
+Father laughed. "Well, I've saved you some of the trouble of preparing by
+coming early. How very well you are looking. And how well-cared-for the
+children. I'm delighted. I think I shall take them over to the hotel where
+my luggage has been sent and have a talk with them and come back later.
+Will that suit you?"
+
+But Mrs. Handsomebody insisted that he have a proper breakfast, and
+installed us in the parlour while she retired to assume the decent armour
+of the day.
+
+Father sat facing the stuffed birds. He put The Seraph on his knee, and
+Angel and I hung on either side of him. We were suddenly shy of him, and it
+seemed enough to be near him, and to feel the all-surrounding power and
+protection of him. His cheeks were incredibly sun-browned, with a ruddy
+glow beneath; his moustache and the hair at his temples were almost golden.
+I liked the greenish grey of his tweed suit that seemed to match his clear,
+wide-open eyes.
+
+He made a wry face at the stuffed birds and then he whispered: "Old chaps,
+have you been happy here?"
+
+We nodded. The past was gone. What did it matter! "Oh, but, we want to be
+wiv you! Don't leave us," breathed The Seraph, burrowing his face into the
+rough tweed shoulder.
+
+Angel and I burrowed against him too. "Don't leave us again," we whispered.
+
+He began to kiss us, and to rumple our heads, and to bite The Seraph's
+cheek. The Seraph, drunk with joy, jumped down, and pulling open the door
+of the glass case tried to drag a lovebird from its perch to present to
+father. We were just able to stop him when our governess returned.
+
+She was dignified and smiling, in black satin and a gold chain. Mary Ellen
+had the breakfast laid in the dining-room and we sat about him, watching
+him eat. With what admiration we beheld his masterful attack on the bacon
+and eggs! It became awe when we saw the quantity of marmalade that he
+spread upon his toast.
+
+And Mrs. Handsomebody beamed fatuously at him!
+
+Between mouthfuls he talked. "Do you remember how I used to call you
+Wiggie? And the time I hid the white rat in your bonnet box?"
+
+Mrs. Handsomebody cackled. The Seraph kicked the table leg, unreproved. I
+drifted after Mary Ellen to the kitchen. "Isn't he fine?" I bragged.
+
+"Divil a finer," agreed she.
+
+"And 'tis yersilf, Masther John," she added, "is the very spit av him.
+Shure it's you should be the proud bye."
+
+"And, Mary Ellen, you are to come and live with us, you know, and have all
+the 'followers' you want."
+
+"Och," she laughed, "I'm done wid followers, me dear. To tell ye the truth,
+Mr. Watlin and I are plannin' to git hitched up, before the New Year. An
+uncle of his have died and left him enough to start him in the butcherin'
+business on his own account. So maybe you'll dance at me weddin' yet."
+
+"I'll give you a nice present, Mary Ellen, dear," I promised, putting my
+arm around her.
+
+"Yes," she went on, squeezing me, "and the cook next door was tellin' me
+last night, that the word is goin' about that Miss Margery an' Misther
+Harry is engaged too. So there's love in the air, Masther John. D'ye mind
+the time 'twas yersilf was in love wid little Miss Jane? Bless yer little
+heart."
+
+I fled back to the dining-room.
+
+Mary Ellen was now dispatched to blow her whistle for a hansom, and almost
+before we realized it we found ourselves rolling smoothly to the hotel
+where father was to stay.
+
+Next, we were in his very room, exploring, with adventurous fingers, all
+his admirable, tobacco-smelling belongings. When his back was turned, Angel
+even unsheathed his razor and flourished it, for one hair-lifting second.
+But father caught him and promised that he should become acquainted with
+the razor-strop also, if he grew too bold.
+
+We went out and bought chocolates and toys and brought them back to his
+room to play with. The morning passed in a delicious dream. Then luncheon
+downstairs with him, the eyes of many people on us.
+
+Among them I discovered, before long, the laughing blue eyes of Lady Simon.
+She was not looking at me, but very eagerly at father, as though she were
+trying to make him see her. In a moment she succeeded, and, without a word
+of explanation to us he jumped up and strode across to the table where she
+and Lord Simon sat. The Seraph ran after him and was gathered into her arms
+while she smiled and talked to father over his curls.
+
+"Wonder if she's askin' him for another lapis lazarus necklace," said
+Angel, his mouth full of charlotte russe, "she'd better not, 'cos we're all
+he can afford now."
+
+I did not like the idea either, so when father came back with The Seraph
+hanging to his coat tails, I remarked, with some asperity:
+
+"She said you nearly ruined yourself once to buy her a pair of
+cream-coloured ponies."
+
+"Yes, and a lapis lazarus necklace," added Angel, accusingly.
+
+"I want a cweam-culled pony!" shouted The Seraph.
+
+Father leaned over us with almost the expression of Mrs. Handsomebody in
+his eye.
+
+"You shall all have ponies," he said, "any old colour you like, cream, or
+pink, or blue, if you'll shut up and be good."
+
+Dazzled by the vision of a herd of rainbow-coloured ponies we suffered
+ourselves to be led in silence from the dining-room. Outside, father said,
+still with the look of Mrs. Handsomebody in his eye:
+
+"I have to make a call on a lady in Argyle Road, my godmother. Do you feel
+prepared to come, and be good boys, or shall I send you back to your
+governess?"
+
+"Argyle Road!" exclaimed Angel. "That's where Giftie lived."
+
+"Want to see Giftie!" came from The Seraph, "and Colin."
+
+"Are you going to be good?"
+
+"Rather," said Angel. "Please take us."
+
+Another hansom was called. We were quite prepared to see it stop before the
+large square house where Giftie lived. It stopped. There was a clamour of
+barks from three Scottish terriers as we entered the gate. In a second I
+had Giftie in my arms; her little, hard wriggling body pressed to my
+breast; her little red tongue showing between her pointed white teeth. She
+was wild with the joy of welcoming us, but Colin walked solemnly away, his
+tail very much in the air. The third dog I felt sure was one of Giftie's
+pups. "His name is Tam," shouted the tall grey-haired lady, having suddenly
+appeared, and I discovered then that we were in the drawing-room, and
+pulled off my cap, and smiled up at her.
+
+"I've been saving him for you," she went on, "hoping you would turn up. The
+other two are sold. But Tam is for you boys, and oh, Davy," turning to
+father, "you must let me have them for Christmas. We shall have an enormous
+Christmas Tree, and look! it's beginning to snow."
+
+It was true. Great white flakes were softly whirling past the windows,
+shutting us away from the outer world. The fire seemed to burn the brighter
+for them, the air seemed full of happiness and gay adventure. We bent over
+our new possession on the hearthrug in ecstasy. Tam, in ferocious
+playfulness, tried to show us all part of his body at once. But when we
+overcame him, and pinned him down, he lay limply, with his tongue out at
+one side, and the promise of many a future romp in his roguish brown eyes.
+Giftie brought a woollen bedroom slipper from upstairs to worry for our
+amusement. Even Colin grew friendly. The talk went on above our heads, the
+far-off talk of grown-ups. But stay--it was not so incomprehensible after
+all! What was it she was saying? A pantomime! A deserving Charity. Had
+tickets. Suppose we take the children. Would it bore Davy? Davy said it
+wouldn't.
+
+Was all our new life to be a whirl like this? Now we were back in the
+hansom cab bowling through the madly dancing snowflakes. Now we were back
+at Mrs. Handsomebody's having tea with a double portion of jam; being
+scrubbed and brushed, and warned of our behaviour, sliding on the slippery
+soles of new boots; sniffing the fresh linen of clean handkerchiefs;
+watching Mrs. Handsomebody tie her bonnet strings with trembling fingers.
+
+In a four-wheeler now, squeezed very closely together; the wheels moving
+heavily through the ever-deepening snow; lights flashing by the snowy
+windows, father's leg and boot pressing against me cruelly but giving a
+delicious sense of protection and good fellowship. Then the blazing light,
+and heat, and pressing crowd of the lobby; a sense of terror lest the
+pompous man who took tickets would refuse to accept those tendered by
+father; immense relief, as a thin, bounding individual led us down the
+sloping aisle. Father's guiding hand on our shoulders; we were in our
+seats.
+
+On my right sat father, and beyond him Angel. On my left The Seraph and
+Mrs. Handsomebody, her hands clasped tensely in her lap. But who was that
+in the golden light beyond Angel? Who indeed but our old friend Captain
+Pegg who had come, it appeared, with Giftie's mistress. Lucky Angel to be
+next him, laughing and whispering with him! Then, lucky me to be pushed
+between the seats to shake his hand.
+
+"Shiver my timbers, John," he whispered, "but I have great days to tell you
+of! Days of plunder and bloodshed, my hearty. I went back to the old life,
+for a while, you know. Look here!" He drew aside his coat and around his
+waist I saw that he wore a belt of alligator skin into which was thrust a
+curved and glittering bowie knife!
+
+The curtain was going up. I was pulled back into my seat. My pulses
+throbbed as scene by scene the pantomime was disclosed before my happy
+eyes. Here was I, John Curzon, part of quite as good a play as yon.
+Pirates, love, fluttering banners, swashbuckling clowns, life stretched
+before me, a jolly adventure with Angel and The Seraph always there to
+share the fun. Now the Seraph's head had dropped to Mrs. Handsomebody's
+lap. He was half asleep. Her black kid hand patted his back. She was gazing
+with a rapt smile at the stage.
+
+The pantomime was nearly over. The night of danger and dark alarm was past.
+Rosy morning broke upon the mountain side, and Columbine, reclining in a
+pearl-pink shell, opened her eyes and smiled upon a flowery world.
+
+I felt father's cheek against my head. His hand covered mine. He whispered:
+
+"Happy, John?"
+
+I nodded, clutching his fingers. And so we met the New Day together.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Explorers of the Dawn, by Mazo de la Roche
+
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+    "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
+<head>
+<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Explorers of the Dawn, by Mazo de la Roche.</title>
+<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" />
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+<pre>
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Explorers of the Dawn, by Mazo de la Roche
+
+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: Explorers of the Dawn
+
+Author: Mazo de la Roche
+
+Release Date: May 2, 2008 [EBook #25283]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EXPLORERS OF THE DAWN ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Charlene Taylor, Matt Whittaker and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This
+file was produced from images generously made available
+by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+<p>***Transcriber's Notes: The partial phrase&ndash;"Child, it shall not be
+done," consoled the&ndash;appears naturally in the original version on page 191
+(Chapter VII, section II), and in a printer's error, is inserted between
+two halves of a hyphenated word on page 204; the latter was omitted. The
+use of hyphens in words was made consistent throughout. Variant spelling
+and dialect was faithfully preserved.***</p>
+<hr />
+
+
+<h1>Explorers of the Dawn</h1>
+
+
+<br /><br />
+
+<p class="center"><strong><i>NEW BORZOI NOVELS
+SPRING, 1922</i></strong></p>
+
+<p class="center"><small><span class="sc">Wanderers</span><br />
+  <i>Knut Hamsun</i></small></p>
+
+<p class="center"><small><span class="sc">Men of Affairs</span><br />
+  <i>Roland Pertwee</i></small></p>
+
+<p class="center"><small><span class="sc">The Fair Rewards</span><br />
+  <i>Thomas Beer</i></small></p>
+
+<p class="center"><small><span class="sc">I Walked in Arden</span><br />
+  <i>Jack Crawford</i></small></p>
+
+<p class="center"><small><span class="sc">Guest the One-eyed</span><br />
+  <i>Gunnar Gunnarsson</i></small></p>
+
+<p class="center"><small><span class="sc">The Garden Party</span><br />
+  <i>Katherine Mansfield</i></small></p>
+
+<p class="center"><small><span class="sc">The Longest Journey</span><br />
+  <i>E. M. Forster</i></small></p>
+
+<p class="center"><small><span class="sc">The Soul of a Child</span><br />
+  <i>Edwin Bj&ouml;rkman</i></small></p>
+
+<p class="center"><small><span class="sc">Cytherea</span><br />
+  <i>Joseph Hergesheimer</i></small></p>
+
+<p class="center"><small><span class="sc">Explorers of the Dawn</span><br />
+  <i>Mazo de la Roche</i></small></p>
+
+<p class="center"><small><span class="sc">The White Kami</span><br />
+  <i>Edward Alden Jewell</i></small></p>
+
+<br /><br />
+
+
+<h1>Explorers of the Dawn</h1>
+
+<p class="center">by Mazo de la Roche<br />
+With a Foreword by<br />
+Christopher Morley</p>
+
+<p class="center">New York<br />
+Alfred A Knopf<br />
+1922</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+<p class="center"><i>Published February, 1922</i><br />
+<i>Second Printing, March, 1922</i><br />
+<i>Third Printing, May, 1922</i></p>
+<br /><br />
+
+<p class="center"><i>Set up, electrotyped, and printed by the Vail-Ballou Co., Binghamton, N. Y.<br />
+Paper supplied by W. F. Etherington &amp; Co., New York, N. Y.<br />
+Bound by the Plimpton Press, Norwood, Mass.</i></p>
+
+<p class="center">MANUFACTURED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA</p>
+
+<br /><br /><br />
+
+
+<blockquote><p><i>But a short while ago, A. de la R.
+laughed with me over the adventures
+of these little fellows. To the memory
+of that happy laughter I dedicate the
+book.</i></p>
+
+<p class='right'><i>M. de la R.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+
+
+
+<h2>CONTENTS</h2>
+
+<div class='center'>
+<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="Contents">
+<tr><td><small>CHAPTER</small> </td><td> </td><td><small>PAGE</small></td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>I</td><td><a href="#ch1"><span class="sc">Buried Treasure</span></a></td><td>15</td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>II</td><td><a href="#ch2"><span class="sc">The Jilt</span></a></td><td>52</td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>III</td><td><a href="#ch3"><span class="sc">Explorers of the Dawn</span></a></td><td>76</td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>IV</td><td><a href="#ch4"><span class="sc">A Merry Interlude</span></a></td><td>99</td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>V</td><td><a href="#ch5"><span class="sc">Freedom</span></a></td><td>127</td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>VI</td><td><a href="#ch6"><span class="sc">D'ye Ken John Peel</span></a></td><td>160</td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>VII</td><td><a href="#ch7"><span class="sc">Granfa</span></a></td><td>187</td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>VIII</td><td><a href="#ch8"><span class="sc">Noblesse Oblige</span></a></td><td>219</td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>IX</td><td><a href="#ch9"><span class="sc">The Cobbler and His Wife</span></a></td><td>250</td></tr>
+
+<tr><td>X</td><td><a href="#ch10"><span class="sc">The New Day</span></a></td><td>276</td></tr>
+</table></div>
+
+
+<h3><i>FOREWORD</i></h3>
+
+<p><i>The publisher has asked me to write a note of introduction to this book.
+Surely it needs none; but it is a pleasant task to write prefaces for other
+people's books. When one writes a preface to a book of one's own, one
+naturally grovels, deprecates, and has no opportunity to call the friendly
+reader's attention to what the author considers the beauties and
+significances of the work. How agreeable, then, to be able to do this
+service for another.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Moreover, one hopes that such a service may not be wholly vain. Every
+book has its own special audience, for whom&mdash;very likely unconsciously&mdash;it
+was written: the group of people, far spread over the curve of earth, who
+will find in that particular book just the sort of magic and wisdom that
+they seek. And, as every one who has studied the book business knows, books
+very often tragically miss just the public that was waiting for them. It is
+such an obscure and nebulous problem, getting the book into the hands of
+the people to whom it will appeal. One knows that there are thousands of
+readers for whom that book (whatever it may be) will mean keen pleasure.
+But how is one to find them and bring the volume to their eyes?</i></p>
+
+<p><i>I owe to the "Atlantic Monthly" my own introduction to Miss de la
+Roche's writing. Several years ago, when I was acting as a modest periscope
+for a publishing house, I read in the "Atlantic" a fanciful little story by
+her which seemed to me so delicate and humorous in fancy, so refreshing and
+happy in expression, that I wrote to the author in the hope of some day
+luring her to offer a book to the house with which I was connected. We had
+some pleasant correspondence. Time passed: I fell from the placid ramparts
+of the publishing business, into the more noisy but not less happy bustle
+of the newspaper world. But still, though I am not a conscientious
+correspondent, I managed to keep occasionally in touch with Miss de la
+Roche. For a while I seemed highly unsuccessful as her ambassador into the
+high court of publishing. Then, one day, lunching with Mr. Alfred Knopf at
+a small tavern on Vesey Street (which was subsequently abolished by the New
+York City Health Department as being unfit to offer what one of the small
+boys in this book calls "nushment") I happened to tell him about Miss de la
+Roche's work. I saw his eye, an eye of special clarity and brilliance,
+widen and darken with that particular emotion exhibited by a publisher who
+feels what is vulgarly known as a "hunch." He said he would "look into" the
+matter; and this book is the result.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>The phrase "look into" is perhaps appropriate as applied to this book.
+For it is one of those books where the eye of the attentive reader sees
+more than a mere sparkling flow of words on a running surface of narrative.
+Of course this is not one of those books that "everybody</i> must <i>read."
+It is not likely to become fashionable. But it seems to me so truly
+charming, so felicitous in subtle touches of humour, so tenderly moved with
+an under-running current of wistfulness, that surely it will find its own
+lovers; who will be, perhaps, among those who utter the names of Barrie and
+Kenneth Grahame with a special sound of voice.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>Perhaps, since I myself was one of a family of three boys, the story of
+Angel, Seraph and John, makes a prejudicial claim upon my affection. I must
+admit that it is evident the author of the book was never herself a small
+boy: sometimes their imperfections are a little too perfect, too femininely
+and romantically conceived, to make me feel one of them. They have not
+quite the rowdy actuality of Mr. Tarkington's urchins. But the, fact that
+the whole story is told with a poet's imagination, and viewed through a
+golden cloud of fancy, gives us countervailing beauties that a strictly
+naturalistic treatment would miss. Let us not forget that we are in a
+"Cathedral Town"; and next door is a Bishop. And certainly in the vigorous
+and great-hearted Mary Ellen we stand solidly on the good earth of human
+nature "as is."</i></p>
+
+<p><i>It is not the intention of the introducer to anticipate the reader's
+pleasure by selfishly pointing out some of the dainty touches of humour
+that will arouse the secret applause of the mind. One thing only occurs to
+be said. The scene of the tale is said to be in England. And yet, to the
+zealous observer, there will seem to be some flavours that are hardly
+English. The language of the excellent Mary Ellen, for instance, comes to
+me with a distinct cisatlantic sound. Nor can I, somehow, visualize a
+planked back garden in an English Cathedral Town. I am wondering about
+this, and I conclude that perhaps it is due to the fact that Miss de la
+Roche lives in Toronto, that delightful city where the virtues of both
+England and America are said to be subtly and consummately blended. Her
+story, as simple and refreshing as the tune of an old song, and yet so
+richly spiced with humour, perhaps presents a blend of qualities and
+imaginations that we would only find in Canada; for the Canadians, after
+all, are the true Anglo-Americans. Perhaps they do not like to be called
+so? But I mean it well: I mean that they combine the good qualities of both
+sides.</i></p>
+
+<p><i>And so one wishes good fortune to this book in its task&mdash;which every
+book must face for itself&mdash;of discovering its destined friends. There will
+be some readers, I think, who will look through it as through an open
+window, into a land of clear gusty winds and March sunshine and volleying
+church bells on Sunday mornings, into a land of terrible contradictions, a
+land whose emigr&eacute;s look back to it tenderly, yet without too poignant
+regret&mdash;the Almost Forgotten Land of childhood.</i></p>
+
+<p class="author"><span class="sc">Christopher Morley.</span></p>
+
+<br /><br />
+
+
+<h2><i><a name="ch1">Chapter I: Buried Treasure</a></i></h2>
+
+
+<h4>I</h4>
+
+<p>Probably our father would never have chosen Mrs. Handsomebody to be our
+governess and guardian during the almost two years he spent in South
+America, had it not seemed the natural thing to hand us over to the
+admirable woman who had been his own teacher in early boyhood.</p>
+
+<p>Had he not been bewildered by the sudden death of our young mother, he
+might have recalled scenes between himself and Mrs. Handsomebody that would
+have made him hesitate to leave three stirring boys under her entire
+control. Possibly he forgot that he had had his parents, and a doting aunt
+or two, to pad the angularities of Mrs. Handsomebody's rule, and to say
+whether or not her limber cane should seek his plumpest and most tender
+parts.</p>
+
+<p>Then, too, at that period, Mrs. Handsomebody was still unmarried. As Miss
+Wigmore she had not yet captured and quelled the manly spirit of Mr.
+Handsomebody. From being a blustering sort of man, he had become, Mary
+Ellen said, very mild and fearful.</p>
+
+<p>On his demise Mrs. Handsomebody was left in solitary possession of a tall,
+narrow house, in the shadow of the grey Cathedral in the rather grey and
+grim old town of Misthorpe. Here, Angel and The Seraph and I were set down
+one April morning, fresh from the country house, where we had been born;
+our mother's kisses still warm, one might say, on our round young cheeks.</p>
+
+<p>Unaccustomed to restraint, we were introduced into an atmosphere of
+drabness and restraint, best typified, perhaps, by the change from our
+tender, springy country turf, to the dry, blistered planks of Mrs.
+Handsomebody's back yard. Angel, fiery, candid, inconstant; the careless
+possessor of a beautiful boys' treble, which was to develop into the
+incomparable tenor of today&mdash;next, myself, a year younger, but equally tall
+and courageous, in a more dogged way&mdash;then, The Seraph, three years my
+junior, he was just five, following where we led with a blind loyalty,
+"Stubborn, strong and jolly as a pie."</p>
+
+<p>Truly when I think of us, as we were then, and when I remember how we came
+like a wild disturbing wind into that solemn house, I am inclined to pity
+Mrs. Handsomebody.</p>
+
+<p>Even when she sent us to bed in the colossal four-poster, in the middle of
+the afternoon, we were scarcely downcast, for it was not such a bad
+playground after all, and by drawing the curtains, we could shut ourselves
+completely away from the world dominated by petticoats.</p>
+
+<p>Then there was Mary Ellen, with her "followers," always our firm ally,
+brimming with boisterous good health. Looking back, I am convinced that
+Mrs. Handsomebody deserves our sympathy.</p>
+
+
+<h4>II</h4>
+
+<p>It was Saturday morning, and we three were in Mrs. Handsomebody's
+parlour&mdash;Angel, and The Seraph, and I.</p>
+
+<p>No sooner had the front door closed upon the tall angular figure of the
+lady, bearing her market basket, than we shut our books with a snap, ran on
+tiptoe to the top of the stairs, and, after a moment's breathless
+listening, cast our young forms on the smooth walnut bannister, and glided
+gloriously to the bottom.</p>
+
+<p>Regularly on a Saturday morning she went to market, and with equal
+regularity we cast off the yoke of her restraint, slid down the bannisters,
+and entered the forbidden precincts of the Parlour.</p>
+
+<p>On other week days the shutters of this grim apartment were kept closed,
+and an inquisitive eye, applied to the keyhole, could just faintly discern
+the portrait in crayon of the late Mr. Handsomebody, presiding, like some
+whiskered ghost, over the revels of the stuffed birds in the glass case
+below him.</p>
+
+<p>But on a Saturday morning Mary Ellen swept and dusted there. The shutters
+were thrown open, and the thin-legged piano and the haircloth furniture
+were furbished up for the morrow. Moreover Mary Ellen liked our company.
+She had a spooky feeling about the parlour. Mr. Handsomebody gave her the
+creeps, she said, and once when she had turned her back she had heard one
+of the stuffed birds twitter. It was a gruesome thought.</p>
+
+<p>When we bounded in on her, Mary Ellen was dragging the broom feebly across
+the gigantic green and red lilies of the carpet, her bare red arms moving
+like listless antenn&aelig;. She could, when she willed, work vigorously and
+well, but no one knew when a heavy mood might seize her, and render her as
+useless as was compatible with retaining her situation.</p>
+
+<p>"Och, byes!" she groaned, leaning on her broom. "This Spring weather do be
+makin' me as wake as a blind kitten! Sure, I feel this mornin' like as if
+I'd a stone settin' on my stomach, an' me head feels as light as
+thistledown. I wisht the missus'd fergit to come home an' I could take a
+day off&mdash;but there's no such luck for Mary Ellen!"</p>
+
+<p>She made a few more passes with her broom and then sighed.</p>
+
+<p>"I think I'll soon be lavin' this place," she said.</p>
+
+<p>A vision of the house without the cheering presence of Mary Ellen rose
+blackly before us. We crowded round her.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, see here," said Angel masterfully, putting his arms about her stout
+waist. "You know perfectly well that father's coming back from South
+America soon to make a home for us, and that you are to come and be our
+cook, and make apple-dumplings, and have all the followers you like."</p>
+
+<p>Now Angel knew whereof he spoke, for Mary Ellen's "followers" were a bone
+of contention between her and her mistress.</p>
+
+<p>"Aw, Master Angel," she expostulated, "What a tongue ye have in yer head to
+be sure! Followers, is it? Sure, they're the bane o' me life! Now git out
+av the way o' the dust, all of yez, or I'll put a tin ear on ye!" And she
+began to swing her broom vigorously.</p>
+
+<p>We ran to the window and looked out but no sooner had we looked out than we
+whistled with astonishment at what we saw.</p>
+
+<p>First you must know that on the west of Mrs. Handsomebody's house stood the
+broad, ivy-clad mansion of the Bishop, grey stone, like the Cathedral; on
+the east was a dingy white brick house, exactly like Mrs. Handsomebody's.
+In it lived Mr. and Mrs. Mortimer Pegg and their three servants.</p>
+
+<p>To us they seemed very elegant, if somewhat uninteresting people. Mrs.
+Mortimer Pegg frequently had carriage callers, and not seldom sallied forth
+herself in a sedate victoria from the livery stables. But beyond an
+occasional flutter of excitement when their horses stopped at our very
+gate, there was little in this prim couple to interest us. So neat and
+precise were they as they tripped down the street together, that we called
+them (out of Mrs. Handsomebody's hearing) Mr. and Mrs. "Cribbage" Pegg.</p>
+
+<p>Now, on this morning in mid-spring when we looked out of the window our
+eyes discovered an object of such compelling interest in the Pegg's front
+garden that we rubbed them again to make sure that we were broad awake.</p>
+
+<p>Striding up and down the small enclosure was a tall old man wearing a
+brilliant-hued, flowered dressing-gown, that hung open at the neck,
+disclosing his long brown throat and hairy chest, and flapping negligently
+about his heels as he strode.</p>
+
+<p>He had bushy iron-grey hair and moustache, and tufts of curly grey beard
+grew around his chin and ears. His nose was large and sun-burned; and every
+now and again he would stop in his caged-animal walk and sniff the air as
+though he enjoyed it.</p>
+
+<p>I liked the old gentleman from the start.</p>
+
+<p>"Oo-o! See the funny old man!" giggled The Seraph. "Coat like Jacob an' his
+bwethern!"</p>
+
+<p>Angel and I plied Mary Ellen with questions. Who was he? Did he live with
+the Peggs? Did she think he was a foreigner? Mary Ellen, supported by her
+broom, stared out of the window.</p>
+
+<p>"For th' love of Hiven!" she ejaculated. "If that ain't a sight now! Byes,
+it's Mr. Pegg's own father come home from somewheres in th' Indies. Their
+cook was tellin' me of the time they have wid him. He's a bit light-headed,
+y'see, an' has all his meals in his own room&mdash;th' quarest dishes iver&mdash;an'
+a starlin' for a pet, mind ye."</p>
+
+<p>At that moment the old gentleman perceived that he was watched, and
+saluting Mary Ellen gallantly, he called out:</p>
+
+<p>"Good-morning, madam!"</p>
+
+<p>Mary Ellen, covered with confusion, drew back behind the curtain. I was
+about to make a suitable reply when I saw Mrs. Mortimer Pegg, herself,
+emerge from her house with a very red face, and resolutely grasp her
+father-in-law's arm. She spoke to him in a rapid undertone, and, after a
+moment's hesitation, he followed her meekly into the house.</p>
+
+<p>How I sympathized with him! I knew only too well the humiliation
+experienced by the helpless male when over-bearing woman drags him
+ignominiously from his harmless recreation.</p>
+
+<p>A bond of understanding seemed to be established between us at once.</p>
+
+<p>The voice of Mary Ellen broke in on my reverie. She was teasing Angel to
+sing.</p>
+
+<p>"Aw give us a chune, Master Angel before th' missus gets back! There's a
+duck. I'll give ye a pocket full of raisins as sure's fate!"</p>
+
+<p>Angel, full of music as a bird, could strum some sort of accompaniment to
+any song on the piano. It was Mary Ellen's delight on a Saturday morning to
+pour forth her pent up feelings in one of the popular songs, with Angel to
+keep her on the tune and thump a chord or two.</p>
+
+<p>It was a risky business. But The Seraph mounted guard at the window while I
+pressed my nose against the glass case that held the stuffed birds and
+wondered if any of them had come from South America. "How jolly," I
+thought, "to be there with father."</p>
+
+<p>Tum-te-tum-te-tum, strummed Angel.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"> <div class="stanza">
+<p>"Casey would waltz with the strawberry blonde,</p>
+<p class="i8">And the&mdash;band&mdash;played&mdash;on."</p>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>His sweet reedy tones thrilled the April air.</p>
+
+<p>And Mary Ellen's voice, robust as the whistle of a locomotive, bursting
+with health and spirits, shook the very cobwebs that she had not swept
+down.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"> <div class="stanza">
+<p>"Casey would waltz with th' strawberry blonde,</p>
+<p class="i8">And&mdash;the&mdash;band&mdash;play&mdash;don!"</p>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Generally we had a faithful subordinate in The
+Seraph. He had a rather sturdy sense of
+honour. On this spring morning however, I
+think that the singing of Mary Ellen must have
+dulled his sensibilities, for, instead of keeping a
+bright lookout up the street for the dreaded form
+of Mrs. Handsomebody, he lolled across the window-sill,
+dangling a piece of string, with the April
+sunshine warming his rounded back.</p>
+
+<p>And as he dangled the string, Mrs. Handsomebody
+drew nearer and nearer. She entered
+the gate&mdash;she entered the house&mdash;she was in the
+parlour!!</p>
+
+<p>Angel and Mary Ellen had just given their
+last triumphant shout, when Mrs. Handsomebody
+said in a voice of cold fury:</p>
+
+<p>"Mary Ellen, kindly cease that ribald screaming. David (David is Angel's proper name)
+get up instantly from that piano stool and face
+me! John, Alexander, face me!"</p>
+
+<p>We did so tremblingly.</p>
+
+<p>"Now," said Mrs. Handsomebody, "you
+three boys go up to your bedroom&mdash;not to the
+schoolroom, mind&mdash;and don't let me hear another
+sound from you today! You shall get no
+dinner. At four I will come and discuss your
+disgraceful conduct with you. Now march!"</p>
+
+<p>She held the door open for us while we filed
+sheepishly under her arm. Then the door closed
+behind us with a decisive bang, and poor Mary
+Ellen was left in the torture-chamber with Mrs.
+Handsomebody and the stuffed birds.</p>
+
+
+<h4>III</h4>
+
+<p>Angel and I scurried up the stairway. We
+could hear The Seraph panting as he laboured
+after us.</p>
+
+<p>Once in the haven of our little room we rolled
+in a confused heap on the bed, scuffling indiscriminately.
+It was a favourite punishment with
+Mrs. Handsomebody, and we had a suspicion
+that she relished the fact that so much food was
+saved when we went dinnerless. At any rate,
+we were not allowed to make up the deficiency
+at tea-time.</p>
+
+<p>We always passed the hours of our confinement
+on the bed, for the room was very small
+and the one window stared blankly at the window
+of an unused room in the Peggs' house, which
+blankly returned the stare.</p>
+
+<p>But these were not dull times for us. As
+Elizabethan actors, striding about their bare
+stage, conjured up brave pictures of gilded halls
+or leafy forest glades, so we little fellows made
+a castle stronghold of our bed; or better still, a
+gallant frigate that sailed beyond the barren walls
+into unknown seas of adventure, and anchored at
+last off some rocky island where treasure lay hid
+among the hills.</p>
+
+<p>What brave fights with pirates there were,
+when Angel as Captain, I as mate, with The
+Seraph for a cabin boy, fought the bloody pirate
+gangs on those surf-washed shores, and gained
+the fight, though far out-numbered!</p>
+
+<p>They were not dull times in that small back
+room, but gay-coloured lawless times, when our
+fancy was let free, and we fought on empty
+stomachs, and felt only the wind in our faces,
+and heard the creak of straining cordage. What
+if we were on half-rations!</p>
+
+<p>On this particular morning, however, there
+was something to be disposed of before we got
+to business. To wit, the rank insubordination
+of The Seraph. It was not to be dealt with
+too lightly. Angel sat up with a dishevelled
+head.</p>
+
+<p>"Get up!" he commanded The Seraph, who
+obeyed wonderingly.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, my man," continued Angel, with the
+scowl that had made him dreaded the South Seas
+over, "have you anything to say for yourself?"</p>
+
+<p>The Seraph hung his head.</p>
+
+<p>"I was on'y danglin' a bit o' stwing," he murmured.</p>
+
+<p>"String"&mdash;repeated Angel, the scowl deepening,
+"dangling a bit of string! You may be
+dangling yourself at the end of a rope before
+the sun sets, my hearty! Here we are without
+any dinner, all along of you. Now see here,
+you'll go right over into that corner by the
+window with your face to the wall and stand
+there all the time John and I play! An'&mdash;an'
+you won't know what we're doing nor where
+we're going nor <i>anything</i>&mdash;so there!"</p>
+
+<p>The Seraph went, weeping bitterly. He hid
+his face in the dusty lace window curtain. He
+looked very small. I could not help remembering
+how father had said we were to take care of
+him and not make him cry.</p>
+
+<p>Somehow that morning things went ill with
+the adventure. The savour had gone out of our
+play. Two were but a paltry company after all.
+Where was the cabin-boy with his trusty dirk,
+eager to bleed for the cause? Though we kept
+our backs rigorously turned to the window, and
+spoke only in whispers, neither of us could quite
+forget the presence of that dejected little figure in
+the faded holland smock.</p>
+
+<p>After a bit The Seraph's whimpering ceased,
+and what was our surprise to hear the chuckling
+laugh with which he was wont to signify his
+pleasure!</p>
+
+<p>We turned to look at him. His face was
+pressed to the window, and again he giggled
+rapturously.</p>
+
+<p>"What's up, kid?" we demanded.</p>
+
+<p>"Ole Joseph-an'-his-Bwethern," he sputtered,
+"winkin' an' wavin' hands wiv me!"</p>
+
+<p>We were at his side like a shot, and there in
+the hitherto blank window of the Peggs' house
+stood the old gentleman of the flowered dressing-gown
+laughing and nodding at The Seraph!
+When he saw us he made a sign to us to open our
+window, and at the same instant raised his own.</p>
+
+<p>It took the three of us to accomplish it, for
+the window moved unreadily, being seldom raised,
+as Mrs. Handsomebody regarded fresh air much
+as she regarded a small boy, as something to be
+kept in its place.</p>
+
+<p>At last the window rose, protesting and creaking,
+and the next moment we were face to face
+with our new acquaintance.</p>
+
+<p>"Hello!" he said, in a loud jovial voice.</p>
+
+<p>"Hello!" said we, and stared.</p>
+
+<p>He had a strong, weather-beaten face, and
+wide-open light eyes, blue and wild as the sea.</p>
+
+<p>"Hello, boy!" he repeated, looking at Angel,
+"What's your name?"</p>
+
+<p>Now Angel was shy with strangers, so I
+usually answered questions.</p>
+
+<p>"His name," I replied then, "is David Curzon
+but mother called him Angel, so we jus' keep on
+doing it."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh," said the old gentleman. Then he fixed
+The Seraph with his eye. "What's the bantling's
+name?"</p>
+
+<p>The Seraph, mightily confused at being called
+a bantling, giggled inanely, so I replied again.</p>
+
+<p>"His name is Alexander Curzon, but mother
+called him The Seraph, so we jus' keep on doing
+it too."</p>
+
+<p>"Um-hm," assented the old gentleman, "and
+you&mdash;what's your name?"</p>
+
+<p>"John," I replied.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh," he said, with an odd little smile, "and
+what do they keep on calling <i>you</i>?"</p>
+
+<p>"Just John," I answered firmly, "nothing else."</p>
+
+<p>"Who's your father?" came the next question.</p>
+
+<p>"He's David Curzon, senior," I said proudly,
+"and he's in South America building a railroad
+an' Mrs. Handsomebody used to be his governess
+when he was a little boy, so he left us with her,
+but some day, pretty soon, I think, he's coming
+back to make a really home for us with rabbits
+an' puppies an' pigeons an' things."</p>
+
+<p>Our new friend nodded sympathetically.
+Then, quite suddenly, he asked:</p>
+
+<p>"Where's your mother?"</p>
+
+<p>"She's in Heaven," I answered sadly, "she
+went there two months ago."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," broke in The Seraph eagerly, "but
+she's comin' back some day to make a <i>weally</i>
+home for us!"</p>
+
+<p>"Shut up!" said Angel gruffly, poking him with
+his elbow.</p>
+
+<p>"The Seraph's very little," I explained apologetically,
+"he doesn't understand."</p>
+
+<p>The old gentleman put his hand in the pocket
+of his dressing-gown.</p>
+
+<p>"Bantling," he said with his droll smile, "do
+you like peppermint bull's-eyes?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said The Seraph, "I yike them&mdash;one
+for each of us."</p>
+
+<p>Whereupon this extraordinary man began
+throwing us peppermints as fast as we could
+catch them. It was surprising how we began
+to feel at home with him, as though we had
+known him for years.</p>
+
+<p>He had travelled all over the world it seemed,
+and he brought many curious things to the window
+to show us. One of these was a starling whose
+wicker cage he placed on the sill where the sunlight
+fell.</p>
+
+<p>He had got it, he said, from one of the crew
+of a trading vessel off the coast of Java. The
+sailor had brought it all the way from Devon
+for company, and, he added&mdash;"the brute had put
+out both its eyes so that it would learn to talk
+more readily, so now, you see, the poor little
+fellow is quite blind."</p>
+
+<p>"Blind&mdash;blind&mdash;blind!" echoed the starling
+briskly, "blind&mdash;blind&mdash;blind!"</p>
+
+<p>He took it from its cage on his finger. It
+hopped up his arm till it reached his cheek, where
+it began to peck at his whiskers, crying all the
+while in its shrill, lonely tones,&mdash;"Blind, blind,
+blind!"</p>
+
+<p>We three were entranced; and an idea that
+was swiftly forming in my mind struggled for
+expression.</p>
+
+<p>If this wonderful old man had, as he said,
+sailed the seas from Land's End to Ceylon, was
+it not possible that he had seen, even fought
+with, real pirates? Might he not have followed
+hot on the trail of hidden treasure? My cheeks
+burned as I tried to put the question.</p>
+
+<p>"Did you&mdash;" I began, "did you&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Well?" he encouraged. "Did I what, John?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, did you," I burst out, "ever see a pirate
+ship, an' pirates&mdash;real ones?"</p>
+
+<p>His face lit up.</p>
+
+<p>"Surely," he replied casually, "many an one."</p>
+
+<p>"P'raps&mdash;" ventured Angel, with an excited
+laugh, "p'raps you're one yourself!"</p>
+
+<p>The old gentleman searched our eager faces
+with his wide-open, sea blue eyes, then he looked
+cautiously into the room behind him, and, apparently
+satisfied that no one could overhear,
+he put his hand to the side of his mouth, and said
+in a loud hoarse whisper&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"That I am. Pirate as ever was!"</p>
+
+<p>I think you could have knocked me down with
+a feather. I know my knees shook and the room
+reeled. The Seraph was the first to recover,
+piping cheerfully&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"I yike piwates!"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," repeated the old gentleman, reflectively,
+"pirate as ever was. The things I've seen and
+done would fill the biggest book you ever saw, and
+it'd make your hair stand on end to read it&mdash;what
+with fights, and murders, and hangings, and
+storms, and shipwreck, and the hunt for gold!
+Many a sweet schooner or frigate I've sunk, or
+taken for myself; and there isn't a port on the
+South Seas where women don't hush their children
+crying with the fear of Captain Pegg."</p>
+
+<p>Then he added hastily, as though he feared he
+had gone too far:</p>
+
+<p>"But I'm a changed man, mark you&mdash;a reformed
+man. If things suit me pretty well here
+I don't think I shall break out again. It is just
+that you chaps seem so sympathetic makes me tell
+you all this; but you must swear never to breathe
+a word of it, for no one knows but you. My son
+and daughter-in-law think I'm an arch&aelig;ologist.
+It'd be an awful shock to them to find that I'm a
+pirate."</p>
+
+<p>We swore the blackest secrecy, and were about
+to ply him with a hundred questions, when we saw
+a maid carrying a large tray enter the room behind
+him.</p>
+
+<p>Captain Pegg, as I must now call him, gave us
+a gesture of warning and began to lower his
+window. A pleasant aroma of roast beef came
+across the alley. The next instant the flowered
+dressing-gown had disappeared and the window
+opposite stared blankly as before.</p>
+
+<p>Angel blew a deep breath. "Did you notice,"
+he said, "how different he got once he had told
+us he was a pirate&mdash;wilder and rougher, and used
+more sailor words?"</p>
+
+<p>"However did you guess it first?" I asked
+admiringly.</p>
+
+<p>"I think I know a pirate when I see one," he
+returned loftily. "But, oh I say, wouldn't
+Mrs. Handsomebody be waxy if she knew?"</p>
+
+<p>"An' wouldn't Mary Ellen be scared stiff if
+<i>she</i> knew?"</p>
+
+<p>"An' won't we have fun? Hurray!"</p>
+
+<p>We rolled in ecstasy on the much-enduring bed.</p>
+
+<p>We talked excitedly of the possibilities of such
+a wonderful and dangerous friendship. And as
+it turned out, none of our imaginings equalled
+what really happened.</p>
+
+<p>The afternoon passed quickly. As the hands
+of our alarm clock neared the hour of four we
+obliterated the traces of our sojourn on the bed
+as well as we could, and, when Mrs. Handsomebody
+entered, she found us sitting in a row on the
+three cane-bottomed chairs, on which we hung our
+clothes at night.</p>
+
+<p>The scolding she gave us was even longer and
+more humiliating to our manhood than usual.
+She shook her hard white finger near our faces
+and said that for very little she would write to
+our father and complain of our actions.</p>
+
+<p>"Now," she said, in conclusion, "give your faces
+and hands a thorough washing and comb your
+hair, which is disgraceful; then come quietly down
+to tea." The door closed behind her.</p>
+
+<p>"What beats me," said Angel, lathering his
+hands, "is why that wart on her chin wiggles so
+when she jaws us! I can't keep my eyes off it."</p>
+
+<p>"It wiggles," piped The Seraph, as he dragged
+a brush over his curls, "'cos it's nervous, an' I
+wiggle when she scolds too, 'cos <i>I'm</i> nervous."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't you worry, old man," Angel responded,
+gaily, "we'll take care of you."</p>
+
+<p>We were in fine spirits despite our scolding.
+Indeed, we almost pitied Mrs. Handsomebody for
+her ignorance of the wonders amongst which she
+had her being.</p>
+
+<p>Here she was, fussing over some stuffed birds
+in a glass case, when a live starling, who could
+talk, had perched near her very window sill! She
+spent hours in conversation with her Unitarian
+minister, while a real pirate lived next door.</p>
+
+<p>It was pitiful, and yet it was very funny. We
+found it hard to go quietly down to tea with such
+thoughts in our minds, and after five hours in our
+bedroom.</p>
+
+
+<h4>IV</h4>
+
+<p>The next day was Sunday.</p>
+
+<p>As we sat at dinner with Mrs. Handsomebody
+after morning service, we were scarcely conscious
+of the large, white dumplings that bulged before
+us, with a delicious sticky sweet sauce, trickling
+down their dropsical sides. We plied our spoons
+with languid interest around their outer edges, as
+calves nibble around a straw stack. Our vagrant
+minds scoured the Spanish Main with Captain
+Pegg.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly The Seraph spoke in that cock-sure
+way of his.</p>
+
+<p>"There's a piwate at Peggs."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Handsomebody looked at him sharply.</p>
+
+<p>"What's that?" she demanded. At the same
+instant Angel and I kicked him under cover of
+the table.</p>
+
+<p>"What did you say?" repeated Mrs. Handsomebody
+sternly.</p>
+
+<p>"Funny ole gennelman at the Cwibbage Peggs,"
+replied The Seraph with his mouth full.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Handsomebody greatly respected Mr.
+and Mrs. Mortimer Pegg, and this play of words
+on the name incensed her.</p>
+
+<p>"Am I to understand Alexander," she gobbled,
+"that you are making <i>game</i> of the Mortimer
+Peggs?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," giggled the wretched Seraph, "it's a
+cwibbage game. You play it wiv Peggs."</p>
+
+<p>"Leave the table instantly!" ordered Mrs.
+Handsomebody. "You are becoming unbearable."</p>
+
+<p>The Seraph cast one anguished look at his
+dumpling and burst into tears. We could hear
+his wails growing ever fainter as he plodded up
+the stairs.</p>
+
+<p>"Mary Ellen, remove that dumpling!" commanded
+Mrs. Handsomebody.</p>
+
+<p>Angel and I began to eat very fast. There
+was a short silence; then Mrs. Handsomebody
+said didactically:</p>
+
+<p>"The elder Mr. Pegg is a much travelled gentleman,
+and one of the most noted arch&aelig;ologists
+of the day. A trifle eccentric in his manner perhaps
+but a deep thinker. David, can you tell
+me what an arch&aelig;ologist is?"</p>
+
+<p>"Something you pretend you are," said Angel,
+"and you ain't."</p>
+
+<p>"Nonsense!" snapped Mrs. Handsomebody.
+"Look it up in your Johnson's when you go upstairs,
+and let me know the result. I will excuse
+you now."</p>
+
+<p>We found The Seraph lounging in a chair in
+the schoolroom.</p>
+
+<p>"Too bad about the dumpling, old boy," I
+said consolingly.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, not too bad," he replied. "Mary Ellen
+fetched it up the backstairs to me. I'm vewy
+full."</p>
+
+<p>That afternoon we saw Captain Pegg go for
+a walk with his son and daughter-in-law. He
+looked quite altered in a long grey coat and tall
+hat. Mr. and Mrs. Mortimer Pegg seemed
+proud to walk with him.</p>
+
+<p>The following day was warm and sunny.
+When lessons were over we rushed to our bedroom
+window and to our joy we found that the
+window opposite was wide open, the wicker cage
+on the sill with the starling inside swelling up
+and preening himself in the sunshine, while just
+beyond sat Captain Pegg smoking a long pipe.</p>
+
+<p>He seemed delighted to see us.</p>
+
+<p>"Avast, my hearties!" he cried. "It's glorious
+sailing weather, but I've just been lying at anchor
+here, on the chance of sighting you. It does my
+heart good, y'see, to talk with some of my own
+kind, and leave off pretending to be an arch&aelig;ologist&mdash;to
+stretch my mental legs, as it were. Well&mdash;have
+you taken your bearings this morning?"</p>
+
+<p>"Captain Pegg," I broke out with my heart
+tripping against my blouse, "you said something
+the other day about buried treasure. Did you
+really find some? And would you mind telling
+us how you set about it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," he replied meditatively, "many a sack
+of treasure trove I've unearthed&mdash;but the most
+curious find of all, I got without searching and
+without blood being spilt. I was lying quiet
+those days, about forty years ago, off the north
+of the Orkney islands. Well, one morning I
+took a fancy to explore some of the outlying
+rocks and little islands dotted here and there.
+So I started off in a yawl with four seamen to
+row me; and not seeing much but barren rocks
+and stunted shrubs about, I bent over the stern
+and stared into the sea. It was as clear as crystal.</p>
+
+<p>"As we were passing through a narrow channel
+between two rock islands, I bade the men rest
+on their oars, for something strange below had
+arrested my attention. I now could see plainly,
+in the green depths, a Spanish galleon, standing
+upright, held as in a vice, by the grip of the two
+great rocks. She must have gone down with all
+hands, when the greater part of the Spanish
+Armada was wrecked on the shores of Britain.</p>
+
+<p>"'Shiver my timbers, lads,' I cried. 'Here'll
+be treasure in earnest! Back to the ship for
+our diving suits&mdash;booty for everyone, and plum
+duff for dinner!'</p>
+
+<p>"Well, to make a long story short, I, and four
+of the trustiest of the crew, put on our diving
+suits, and soon we were walking the slippery
+decks once trodden by Spanish grandees and
+soldiers, and the scene of many a bloody fight I'll
+be bound. Their skeletons lay about the deck,
+wrapped in sea-tangle, and from every crevice
+of the galleon, tall, red, and green, and yellow,
+and purple weeds had sprung, that waved and
+shivered with the motion of the sea. Her decks
+were strewn with shells and sand, and in and out
+of her rotted ribs frightened fish darted at our
+approach. It was a gruesome sight.</p>
+
+<p>"Three weeks we worked, carrying the treasure
+to our own ship, and I began to feel as much
+at home under water as above it. At last we
+set sail without mishap, and every man on board
+had his share and some of them gave up pirating
+and settled down as inn-keepers and tradesmen."</p>
+
+<p>As the sound of his deep voice ceased, we three
+were silent also, gazing longingly into his eyes
+that were so like the sea.</p>
+
+<p>Then&mdash;"Captain Pegg," said Angel, in a still,
+small voice, "I don't&mdash;s'pose&mdash;you'd know of
+any hidden treasure hereabouts? We'd most
+awfully like to find some. It'd be a jolly thing
+to write and tell father!"</p>
+
+<p>A droll smile flickered over the bronzed
+features of Captain Pegg. He brought down
+his fist on the window-sill.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, if you aren't chaps after my own
+heart!" he cried. "Treasure about here? I
+was just coming to that&mdash;and a most curious
+happening it is! There was a cabin-boy&mdash;name
+of Jenks&mdash;a lad that I trusted and loved like
+my own son, who stole the greater part of my
+share of the treasure, and, though I scoured the
+globe for him&mdash;" the Captain's eyes rolled
+fiercely&mdash;"I found neither trace of him nor the
+treasure, till two years ago. It was in Madagascar
+that I received a message from a dying
+man, confessing that, shaken by remorse, he had
+brought what was left of the plunder and buried
+it in Mrs. Handsomebody's back yard!"</p>
+
+<p>"Mrs. Handsomebody's back yard!" We
+chanted the words in utter amazement.</p>
+
+<p>"Just that," affirmed Captain Pegg solemnly.
+"Jenks found out that I owned the house next
+door but he dared not bury the treasure there
+because the yard was smoothly sodded, and would
+show up any disturbance; while Mrs. Handsomebody's
+yard, being covered with planks, was just
+the thing. So he simply raised one of the planks,
+dug a hole, and deposited the sack containing
+the last of the treasure, and wrote me his confession.
+And there you are!"</p>
+
+<p>He smiled benignly on us. I longed to hug
+him.</p>
+
+<p>The March wind swooped and whistled down
+the alley, and the starling gave little sharp twittering
+noises and cocked his head.</p>
+
+<p>"When, oh when&mdash;" we burst out&mdash;"tonight?
+May we search for it tonight, Captain Pegg?"</p>
+
+<p>He reflected. "No-o. Not tonight. Jenks,
+you see, sent me a plan of the yard with a cross
+to mark where the treasure lies, and I'll have to
+hunt it up so as not to waste our time turning
+up the whole yard. But tomorrow night&mdash;yes,
+tomorrow at midnight we'll start the search!"</p>
+
+
+<h4>V</h4>
+
+<p>At dinner that day the rice pudding had the
+flavor of ambrosia. By nightfall preparations
+were already on foot.</p>
+
+<p>Firstly the shovel had been smuggled from the
+coal cellar and secreted in a corner of the yard
+behind the ash barrel together with an iron crowbar
+to use as a lever and an empty sack to aid in
+the removal of the treasure.</p>
+
+<p>I scarcely slept that night, and when I did my
+mind was filled with wild imaginings. The next
+morning we were heedless scholars indeed, and at
+dinner I ate so little that Mrs. Handsomebody
+was moved to remark jocularly that somebody
+not a thousand miles away was shaping for a
+bilious bout.</p>
+
+<p>At four o'clock Captain Pegg appeared at his
+window looking the picture of cheerful confidence.
+He said it warmed his heart to be at his old
+profession again, and indeed I never saw a merrier
+twinkle in any one's eyes. He had found
+the plan of the yard sent by Jenks and he had
+no doubt that we should soon be in possession
+of the Spanish treasure.</p>
+
+<p>"But there's one thing, my lads;" he said
+solemnly, "I make no claim whatever to any share
+in this booty. Let that be understood. Anything
+we find is to be yours entirely. If I were
+to take any such goods into my son's house, his
+wife would get suspicious, uncomfortable questions would be asked, and it'd be all up with
+this arch&aelig;ologist business."</p>
+
+<p>"Couldn't you hide it under your bed?" I suggested.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, she'd be sure to find it," he replied sadly.
+"She's into everything. And even if they didn't
+locate it till I am dead, they'd feel disgraced to
+think their father had been a pirate. You'll
+have to take it."</p>
+
+<p>We agreed, therefore, to ease him of the responsibility
+of his strangely gotten gain. We
+then parted with the understanding that we were
+to meet him in the passage between the two houses
+promptly at midnight, and that in the meantime
+we were to preserve a calm and commonplace
+demeanour.</p>
+
+<p>With the addition of four crullers and a slab
+of cold bread pudding filched from the pantry,
+our preparations were now complete.</p>
+
+<p>We were well disciplined little animals; we
+always went to bed without a murmur, but on
+this night we literally flew there. The Seraph
+ended his prayers with&mdash;"and for this piwate
+tweasure make us twuly thankful. Amen."</p>
+
+<p>The next moment we had dived under the bed
+clothes and snuggled there in wild expectancy.</p>
+
+<p>From half past seven to twelve is a long
+stretch. The Seraph slept peacefully. Angel or
+I rose every little while and struck a match to
+look at the clock. At nine we were so hungry
+that we ate all four crullers. At eleven we ate
+the slab of cold bread pudding. After that
+we talked less, and I think Angel dozed, but I lay
+staring in the direction of the window, watching
+for the brightness which would signify that
+Captain Pegg was astir and had lighted his gas.</p>
+
+<p>At last it came&mdash;a pale and trembling messenger,
+that showed our little room to me in a new
+aspect&mdash;one of mystery and grotesque shadows.</p>
+
+<p>I was on my feet in an instant. I shook
+Angel's shoulder.</p>
+
+<p>"Up with you!" I whispered, hoarsely. "The
+hour has come!"</p>
+
+<p>I knew that drastic measures must be taken
+with The Seraph, so I just grasped him under
+the armpits and stood him on his feet without
+a word. He wobbled for a space, digging his
+knuckles in his eyes.</p>
+
+<p>The hands of the clock pointed to ten minutes
+to twelve.</p>
+
+<p>Angel and I hastily pulled on our trousers;
+and he, who liked to dress the part, stuck a knife
+in his belt, and twisted a scarlet silk handkerchief
+(borrowed from Mary Ellen) round his head.
+His dark eyes glistened under its folds.</p>
+
+<p>The Seraph and I went unadorned, save that
+he girt his trusty sword about his stout middle
+and I carried a toy bayonet.</p>
+
+<p>Down the inky-black stairs we crept, scarcely
+breathing. The lower hall seemed cavernous.
+I could smell the old carpets and the haircloth
+covering of the chairs. We sidled down the
+back hall among goloshes, umbrellas, and Turk's
+Head dusters. The back door had a key like
+that of a gaol.</p>
+
+<p>Angel tried it with both hands, but though it
+grated horribly, it stuck. Then I had a try,
+and could not resist a triumphant click of the
+tongue when it turned, for Angel was a vain
+fellow and took a rise out of being the elder.</p>
+
+<p>And when the moonlight shone upon us in the
+yard!&mdash;oh, the delicious freedom of it! We
+hopped for joy.</p>
+
+<p>In the passage we awaited our leader. Between
+the roofs we could see the low half-moon,
+hanging like a tilted bird's nest in the dark blue
+sky, while a group of stars fluttered near it like
+young birds. The Cathedral clock sounded the
+hour of midnight.</p>
+
+<p>Soon we heard the stealthy steps of Captain
+Pegg, and we gasped as we saw him, for in place
+of his flowered dressing-gown, he wore breeches
+and top boots, a loose shirt with a blue neckerchief
+knotted at the throat, and, gleaming at
+his side, a cutlass.</p>
+
+<p>He smiled broadly when he saw us.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, if you aren't armed&mdash;every man-jack
+of you&mdash;even to the bantling!" he cried.
+"Capital!"</p>
+
+<p>"My sword, she's <i>weal</i>," said The Seraph
+with dignity. "Sometimes I fight giants."</p>
+
+<p>Captain Pegg then shook hands with each of
+us in turn, and we thrilled at being treated as
+equals by such a man.</p>
+
+<p>"And now to work!" he said heartily. "Here
+is the plan of the yard as sent by Jenks."</p>
+
+<p>We could see it plainly by the moonlight, all
+neatly drawn out, even to the ash barrel and the
+clothes dryer, and there, on the fifth plank from
+the end was a cross in red ink, and beside it the
+magic word&mdash;Treasure!</p>
+
+<p>Captain Pegg inserted the crowbar in a wide
+crack between the fourth and fifth boards, then
+we all pressed our full weight upon it with a "Yo
+heave ho, my hearties!" from our chief.</p>
+
+<p>The board flew up and we flew down, sprawling
+on the ground. Somehow the Captain,
+versed in such matters, kept his feet, though he
+staggered a bit.</p>
+
+<p>Then, in an instant, we were pulling wildly at
+the plank to dislodge it. This we accomplished
+after much effort, and a dark, dank recess was
+disclosed.</p>
+
+<p>Captain Pegg dropped to his knees and with
+his hand explored cautiously under the planks.
+His face fell.</p>
+
+<p>"Shiver my timbers if I can find it!" he muttered.</p>
+
+<p>"Let me try!" I cried eagerly.</p>
+
+<p>Both Angel and I thrust our hands in also and
+fumbled among the moist lumps of earth. I felt
+an earth-worm writhe away.</p>
+
+<p>Captain Pegg now lighted a match and held it
+in the aperture. It cast a glow upon our tense
+faces.</p>
+
+<p>"Hold it closer!" implored Angel. "This
+way&mdash;right here&mdash;don't you see?"</p>
+
+<p>At the same moment we both had seen the
+heavy metal ring that projected, ever so little,
+above the surface of the earth. We grasped it
+simultaneously and pulled. Captain Pegg lighted
+another match. It was heavy&mdash;oh, so heavy!&mdash;but
+we got it out&mdash;a fair-sized leather bag
+bound with thongs. To one of these was attached
+the ring we had first caught sight of.</p>
+
+<p>Now, kneeling as we were, we stared up in
+Captain Pegg's face. His wide, blue eyes had
+somehow got a different look.</p>
+
+<p>"Little boys," he said gently, "open it!"</p>
+
+<p>There in the moonlight, we unloosed the
+fastenings of the bag and turned its contents
+out upon the bare boards. The treasure lay disclosed
+then, a glimmering heap, as though, out
+of the dank earth, we had digged a patch of
+moonshine.</p>
+
+<p>We squatted on the boards around it, our heads
+touching, our wondering eyes filled with the magic
+of it.</p>
+
+<p>"It is the treasure," murmured Angel, in an
+awe-struck voice, "real treasure-trove. Will
+you tell us, Captain Pegg, what all these things
+are?"</p>
+
+<p>Captain Pegg, squatting like the rest of us,
+ran his hands meditatively through the strange
+collection.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, strike me purple," he growled, "if that
+scamp Jenks hasn't kept most of the gold coins
+and left us only the silver! But here's three
+golden doubloons, all right, one apiece for ye!
+And here's ducats and silver florins, and pieces
+of eight&mdash;and some I can't name till I get the
+daylight on them. It's a pretty bit of treasure
+all told; and see here&mdash;" he held up two old
+Spanish watches, just the thing for gentlemen
+adventurers.</p>
+
+<p>We boys were now delving into the treasure
+on our own account, and brought to light a brace
+of antiquated pistols, an old silver flagon, a compass,
+a wonderful set of chess men carved from
+ivory, and some curious shells, that delighted
+The Seraph. And other quaint things there were
+that we handled reverently, and coins of different
+countries, square and round, and some with holes
+bored through.</p>
+
+<p>We were so intent upon our discovery that
+none of us heard the approaching footsteps till
+they were fair upon us. Then, with a start, we
+turned, and saw to our horror Mrs. Handsomebody
+and Mary Ellen, with her hair in curl-papers,
+and, close behind them, Mr. and Mrs.
+Mortimer Pegg, scantily attired, the gentleman
+carrying a revolver.</p>
+
+<p>"David! John! Alexander!" gobbled Mrs.
+Handsomebody.</p>
+
+<p>"Now what d'ye think of that!" came from
+Mary Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"Father! Have you gone quite mad?" cried
+Mrs. Pegg.</p>
+
+<p>And&mdash;"Oh, I say Governor&mdash;" stammered the
+gentleman with the revolver.</p>
+
+<p>Captain Pegg rose to his feet with dignity.</p>
+
+<p>"These young gentlemen," he said, simply,
+"have with my help been able to locate some
+buried treasure, stolen from me years ago by a
+man named Jenks, and hidden here since two
+decades. I hereby renounce all claim to it in
+favour of my three brave friends!"</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Pegg was bent over the treasure.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, look here, sir," he said, rather sharply,
+"some of this seems to be quite valuable stuff&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I know the value of it to a penny," replied
+his father, with equal asperity, "and I intend it
+shall belong solely and wholly to these boys."</p>
+
+<p>"Whatever are you rigged up like that for?"
+demanded his daughter-in-law.</p>
+
+<p>"As gentlemen of spirit," replied Captain
+Pegg, patiently, "we chose to dress the part.
+We do what we can to keep a little glamour and
+gaiety in the world. Some folk&mdash;" he looked
+at Mrs. Handsomebody&mdash;"would like to discipline
+it all away."</p>
+
+<p>"I think," said our governess, "that, considering
+it is <i>my</i> back yard, I have some claim to&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"None at all, Madam&mdash;none at all!" interrupted
+Captain Pegg. "By all the rules of treasure-hunting,
+the finder keeps the treasure."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Handsomebody was silenced. She did
+not wish to quarrel with the Peggs.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Pegg moved closer to her.</p>
+
+<p>"Mrs. Handsomebody," she said, winking her
+white eyelashes very fast, "I really do not think
+that you should allow your pupils to accept this&mdash;er&mdash;treasure.
+My father-in-law has become
+very eccentric of late, and I am positive that he
+himself buried these things very recently. Only
+day before yesterday, I saw that set of ivory
+chessmen on his writing table."</p>
+
+<p>"Hold your tongue, Sophia!" shouted Captain
+Pegg loudly.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Mortimer Pegg looked warningly at his
+wife.</p>
+
+<p>"All right, Governor! Don't you worry," he
+said taking his father's arm. "It shall be just
+as you say; but one thing is certain, you'll take
+your death of cold if you stay out in this night
+air." As he spoke, he turned up the collar of
+his coat.</p>
+
+<p>Captain Pegg shook hands grandly with Angel
+and me, then he lifted The Seraph in his arms and
+kissed him.</p>
+
+<p>"Good-night, bantling," he said, softly.
+"Sleep tight!"</p>
+
+<p>He turned then to his son. "Mort," said he,
+"I haven't kissed a little boy like that since you
+were just so high."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Pegg laughed and shivered, and they went
+off quite amiably, arm in arm, Mrs. Pegg following,
+muttering to herself.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Handsomebody looked disparagingly at
+the treasure. "Mary Ellen," she ordered, "help
+the children to gather up that rubbish, and come
+in at once. Such an hour it is!"</p>
+
+<p>Mary Ellen, with many exclamations, assisted
+in the removal of the treasure to our bedroom.
+Mrs. Handsomebody, after seeing it deposited
+there, and us safely under the bed-clothes, herself
+extinguished the gas.</p>
+
+<p>"I shall write to your father," she said, severely,
+"and tell him the whole circumstance. <i>Then</i> we
+shall see what is to be done with <i>you</i>, and with the
+<i>treasure</i>."</p>
+
+<p>With this veiled threat she left us. We snuggled
+our little bodies together. We were cold.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll write to father myself, tomorrow, an'
+'splain everything," I announced.</p>
+
+<p>"D' you know," mused Angel, "I b'lieve I'll
+be a pirate, 'stead of a civil engineer like father.
+I b'lieve there's more in it."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll be an engineer just the same," said I.</p>
+
+<p>"I fink," murmured The Seraph, sleepily, "I
+fink I'll jus' be a bishop, an' go to bed at pwoper
+times an' have poached eggs for tea."</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+
+
+<h2><i><a name="ch2">Chapter II: The Jilt</a></i></h2>
+
+
+<h4>I</h4>
+
+<p>The day after the finding of the Treasure,
+Mary Ellen told us that she had seen Captain
+Pegg drive away from his son's house in a closed
+cab, before we had emerged from the four-poster.
+There had been a quarrel, the servants had told
+her, and in spite of all his son and daughter-in-law
+could do, the peppery Captain had left them,
+refusing to divulge the name of his destination.</p>
+
+<p>"And they do say," Mary Ellen declared,
+"that he's no more fit to be wanderin' about the
+world alone than a babe unborn."</p>
+
+<p>We smiled at the ignorance of women-servants,
+and speculated much on the Captain's probable
+new adventure. We were confident that he
+would return one day, loaded with fresh booty,
+and full of tales of the sea.</p>
+
+<p>In the meantime, there was the Bishop. His
+house, as I have said stood between us and the
+Cathedral. It was a benign house, like a sleepy
+mastiff, and seemed to tolerate with lazy indifference the presence of its two narrow, high-backed
+neighbours, which with their cold, unblinking
+windows, looked like sinister, half-fed
+cats.</p>
+
+<p>We had not been long at Mrs. Handsomebody's
+before we made friends with Bishop Torrance.
+As he walked in his deep, green garden,
+one morning, we three watched him enviously
+over the brick wall, that separated us. We were
+balanced precariously on a board, laid across the
+ash barrel, and The Seraph, losing his balance,
+fell headlong into a bed of clove pinks, almost at
+the Bishop's feet.</p>
+
+<p>When his yells had subsided and explanations
+asked, and given, Angel and I were lifted over
+the wall, and shaken hands with, and given the
+freedom of the garden. We were introduced
+to the Bishop's niece, Margery, who was his
+sole companion, though we regarded, as one of
+the family, the Fountain Boy who blew cool jets
+of water through a shell, and turned his laughing
+face always upward toward the spires of the
+Cathedral.</p>
+
+<p>Thus a quaint friendship sprang up, and,
+though the Bishop had not the dash, and boldness
+of Captain Pegg, he was an understanding and
+high-hearted playfellow.</p>
+
+<p>I think The Seraph was his favourite. Even
+then, the dignified elegance of the Bishop's life
+appealed to that infant's love of the comfortable,
+and it tickled the Bishop immensely to have him
+pace solemnly up and down the garden, at his
+side, hands clasped behind his back, helping, as
+he believed, to "pwepare" the Bishop's sermon.</p>
+
+<p>All three of us were permitted by Mrs. Handsomebody
+to join the Cathedral choir.</p>
+
+
+<h4>II</h4>
+
+<p>Thus we had a feeling of proprietorship in
+the Bishop and his garden, and his niece, Margery,
+and the Fountain Boy. Hence what was our
+astonishment and chagrin to see one morning,
+from our schoolroom window, a chit of a girl,
+smaller than myself, strutting up and down the
+Bishop's garden, pushing a doll's perambulator.
+She had fluffy golden hair about her shoulders,
+and her skirts gave a rhythmic swing as she
+turned the corners. Now and then she would
+stop in her walk, remove the covering from the
+doll, do some idiotic thing to it, and replace the
+cover with elaborate care.</p>
+
+<p>We stared fascinated. Then Angel blew out
+his lips in disgust, and said&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Ain't girls the most sickenin' things?"</p>
+
+<p>"There she goes again, messing with the doll's
+quilt," I agreed.</p>
+
+<p>"Le's fwow somefing at her!" suggested The
+Seraph.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, and get into a row with the Bishop,"
+answered Angel. "But I don't see myself going
+over there to play again. She's spoiled everything."</p>
+
+<p>"I s'pose she's a spoiled child," said The
+Seraph, dreamily. "Wonder where her muvver
+is."</p>
+
+<p>"I say," said Angel, "let's rap on the pane,
+and then when she looks up, we'll all stick our
+tongues out at her. That'll scare her all right!"</p>
+
+<p>We did.</p>
+
+<p>When her wondering blue eyes were raised to
+our window, what they saw was three white disks
+pressed against the glass, with a flattened pink
+tongue protruding from each. We glared to see
+the effect of this outrage upon her. But the
+dauntless little creature never quailed. Worse
+than that, she put her fingers to her lips and blew
+three kisses at us&mdash;one apiece.</p>
+
+<p>We were staggered. We withdrew our reddened
+faces hastily and stared at each other.
+We were aghast. Almost we had been kissed by
+a girl!</p>
+
+<p>"Let's draw the blind!" said Angel. "She
+shan't see us! Then we can peek through the
+crack and watch her."</p>
+
+<p>But no sooner was the blind pulled down than
+we heard our governess coming and flew to our
+seats.</p>
+
+<p>"Boys!" she gobbled, stopping in the doorway,
+"what does this mean? The boy who
+pulled down that blind stand up!"</p>
+
+<p>Angel rose. "The light hurt my eyes," he
+lied feebly, "I aren't very well."</p>
+
+<p>"Ridiculous!" snapped Mrs. Handsomebody,
+running up the blind with precision, "this room
+at its brightest is dim. Your eyes are keen enough
+for mischief, sir. Now we shall proceed with
+our arithmetic."</p>
+
+<p>We floundered through the Tables, but my
+mind still wandered in the Bishop's garden. Resentment
+and curiosity struggled for mastery
+within me. In my mind's eye I saw her covering
+and uncovering the doll. Why did she do it?
+What did it feel like to push that "pram"?
+Would she drink tea from the Indian Tree cups
+and be allowed to strum on the piano? Oh, I
+wished she hadn't come! And yet&mdash;anyway, I
+was glad I was a boy.</p>
+
+<p>As Fate had it, Angel and The Seraph had to
+have their hair trimmed that afternoon. My own
+straight blond crop grew but slowly so I was free
+for an hour to follow my own devices. Those led
+me to climb to the roof of our scullery and from
+there mount the high brick wall.</p>
+
+<p>From this vantage point I scanned the surrounding
+country for signs of the interloper. There
+she was! There she was!</p>
+
+<p>Down on her knees at the fountain's brink, her
+curls almost touching the water, she was sailing
+boats made of hollyhock petals. The doll's
+perambulator stood near by.</p>
+
+<p>Noiselessly I crept along the wall till I reached
+the cherry tree that stood in the corner. Reaching
+its friendly branches, I let myself down, hand
+over hand, till, at last, I dropped lightly on the
+soft turf.</p>
+
+<p>I sauntered then to her side, and gazed at her
+moodily. If she saw me she gave no sign.</p>
+
+<p>In spite of myself I grew interested in the way
+she manipulated those boat petals. Evidently
+there was some system in her game but it was new
+to me.</p>
+
+<p>"That little black seed on this boat is Jason,"
+she said at last, without looking up, "and these
+little white seeds are his comrades. They're
+searching for The Golden Fleece. My hair is the
+Fleece. Come and play!"</p>
+
+<p>Mutely I squatted beside her, and our two faces
+peered at each other in the mirror of the pool.</p>
+
+<p>She gave a funny eager little laugh.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh," she cried, "we match beautifully, don't
+we? Your hair is yellow and my hair is yellow,
+my eyes are blue and your eyes are blue."</p>
+
+<p>"My eyes are grey, like father's," I objected.</p>
+
+<p>"No, they're blue like mine. We match beautifully.
+Let's play something else." Before I
+could prevent her, she had swept Jason and his
+crew away, and, snatching the doll from the
+perambulator, had set it on the fountain's edge
+between us.</p>
+
+<p>"This is Dorothea," she announced, "isn't she
+sweet? I'm her mother. You should be the
+father, and Dorothea should want to paddle her
+toes in the fountain. Now you hold her&mdash;so."</p>
+
+<p>Before I was aware of it I was made to grasp
+the puppet by the waist, while her mistress began
+to rearrange the pillows in the "pram."</p>
+
+<p>I glanced fearfully at our schoolroom window,
+lest I should be discovered in so unmanly a posture.
+It seemed that we were quite alone and unobserved.</p>
+
+<p>A drowsy pleasure stole over my senses. The
+humming of the bees in the Canterbury Bells became
+a chant as of sirens. Dorothea's silly pink
+feet dangled in the pool. Surreptitiously I slipped
+my hand under water and felt them. They were
+getting spongy and seemed likely to come off.
+Truly there were compensations for such slavery.</p>
+
+<p>My companion returned and sat down with her
+slim body close to mine.</p>
+
+<p>"What is your name?" she cooed.</p>
+
+<p>"John."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh. Mine is Jane. You may call me Jenny.
+I'm visiting Aunt Margery. The Bishop is my
+great-uncle. What are your brothers' names?"</p>
+
+<p>"Angel and The Seraph. <i>They don't</i> like
+girls." Instantly I wondered why I had said
+that. Did I like girls? <i>Not much.</i> But I
+didn't want Angel interfering in this. He had
+better keep away.</p>
+
+<p>"My father is a judge. He sends bad men to
+prison."</p>
+
+<p>"My father"&mdash;I was very proud of him&mdash;"is a
+civil engineer. He's in South America building
+a railroad, so that's why we live with Mrs.
+Handsomebody. But some day he's coming back
+to make a home for us. When I grow up I shall
+be an engineer too, and build bridges over
+canyons."</p>
+
+<p>"What's canyons? Hold Dorothea tighter."</p>
+
+<p>I explained canyons at length.</p>
+
+<p>"P'raps I'll take you with me," I added weakly.</p>
+
+<p>She clapped her hands rapturously.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, what fun!" she gurgled. "I can keep
+house and hang my washing 'cross the canyon
+to dry!"</p>
+
+<p>Frankly I did not relish the thought of my canyon's
+being thus desecrated. I determined never
+to allow her to do any such thing, but, at the
+moment I was willing to indulge her fancy.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," she prattled on, "I'll wheel Dorothea
+up and down the bridge and watch you work."</p>
+
+<p>Now there was some sense in that. What man
+does not enjoy being admired while he does
+things? In fact Jane had hit upon a great
+elemental truth when she suggested this. From
+that moment I was hers.</p>
+
+<p>Laying Dorothea, toes up, on the grass I proceeded
+to lead Jane into the most cherished realms
+of my fancy. Together we sailed those "perilous
+seas in faery lands forlorn," dabbling our hands
+in the fountain, while the golden August sunshine
+kissed our necks.</p>
+
+<p>I said not a word of this at tea. I munched
+my bread and butter in a sort of haze, scarcely
+conscious of the subdued conversation led by Mrs.
+Handsomebody, until I heard her say,</p>
+
+<p>"A little great-niece of Bishop Torrance is visiting
+next door. You are therefore invited to take
+tea with her tomorrow afternoon. I trust you
+will conduct yourselves with decency at table, and
+remember that a frail little girl is not to be played
+with as a headlong boy."</p>
+
+<p>I felt that she couldn't tell me anything about
+frail little girls, but I kept my knowledge to myself.
+The Seraph said&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Was you ever a fwail little gel, Mrs. Handsomebody?"
+Our governess fixed him with her eye.</p>
+
+<p>"I was a most decorous and obedient little girl,
+Alexander, and asked no impertinent questions of
+my elders."</p>
+
+<p>"Was Mary Ellen a fwail little gel?" persisted
+The Seraph.</p>
+
+<p>"No," snapped Mrs. Handsomebody, "judging
+from her characteristics as a servant, I should
+say that she was a very riotous, rude little girl.
+Now drink your milk."</p>
+
+<p>"I yike wiotous wude people," said The Seraph
+with his face in the tumbler; the milk trickled
+down his chin.</p>
+
+<p>"Leave the table, Alexander," commanded Mrs.
+Handsomebody, "your conduct is quite inexcusable."
+The Seraph departed, weeping.</p>
+
+<p>All that evening I thought about Jane. I had
+no heart for a pillow fight. At night I dreamed
+of her, and saw her weekly washing, suspended
+from a line, fluttering in the wind that raced along
+my canyon.</p>
+
+<p>I strained toward the hour when I should meet
+her at tea. I had never felt like this before.
+True, I had once conceived a violent fancy for
+a fat young woman in the pastry shop, but she
+had been replaced by a thin young woman who
+did not appeal to me, and the episode was forgotten.</p>
+
+<p>But, oh, this bitter-sweetness of my love for
+Jane! My despair when I found that she was to
+sit next Angel at tea, till I discovered that, seated
+opposite, I could stare at her, and admire how she
+nibbled her almond cake and sipped tea from an
+apple-green cup.</p>
+
+<p>After tea we played musical chairs, in the library, with Margery at the piano. First marched
+The Seraph with his brown curls bobbing; and
+after him, the stout Bishop in his gaiters; next
+Angel; then Jane on tiptoes; and lastly myself in
+squeaky new boots.</p>
+
+<p>Seraph and the Bishop were soon out of it.
+They were invariably beaten in our games, though
+afterward they always seemed to think they had
+won. So Angel, Jane, and I were left, prancing
+around two solemn carved chairs. The music
+ceased with a crash. Jane leaped to one chair
+while Angel and I fell simultaneously upon the
+other. We both clung to it desperately, but he
+dislodged me, inch by inch, and I, furious at being
+balked in my pursuit of Jane, struck him twice in
+the ribs, then ran into the dim hall and hid myself.</p>
+
+<p>There Jane found me, and there her tender lips
+kissed my hot cheek, and she squeezed me in her
+arms. For a moment we did not speak, then she
+whispered&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"I wish <i>you</i> had got the chair, John. I love
+you best of all."</p>
+
+<p>That night I hung about the kitchen while
+Mary Ellen was setting bread to rise. The time
+had come when I must speak to some fellow
+creature of this tremendous new element that had
+come into my life. I watched Mary Ellen's stout
+red arms as she manipulated the dough, in much
+perplexity. The kitchen was hot, the kettle sang,
+it seemed a moment for confidence, yet words
+were hard to find.</p>
+
+<p>At last I got out desperately:</p>
+
+<p>"Mary Ellen, what is love like?"</p>
+
+<p>"Love is it, Masther John? What do the likes
+o' me know about love thin?" She smiled
+broadly, as she dexterously shifted the puffy white
+mass.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, <i>you</i> know," I persisted, "'cos you've been
+in it, often. You've had lots of 'followers' now,
+Mary Ellen, haven't you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, thin, if ye must know, I'll tell ye point
+blunt to kape out av it. It's an awful thing whin
+it gits the best av ye."</p>
+
+<p>"But what's it <i>feel like</i>?" I probed.</p>
+
+<p>Mary Ellen wiped the flour off each red finger
+in turn, and gazed into the flame of the
+lamp.</p>
+
+<p>"It's like this," she said solemnly, "ye burns
+in yer insides till ye feel like ye had a furnace
+blazin' there. Thin whin it seems ye must bust
+wid the flarin' av it, ye suddintly turns cowld as
+ice, an' yer sowl do shrivil up wid fear. An'
+thin, at last, ye fergit all about it till the nixt
+wan happens along. Och&mdash;I haven't had a sphell
+fer months! This is an awful dull place. I
+think I'll be quittin' it soon."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, no, no, Mary Ellen!" I cried, alarmed,
+"you mustn't leave us! When Jane and I get
+married you can come and live with us." I
+blushed furiously.</p>
+
+<p>"And who might Jane be?" demanded Mary
+Ellen, suspiciously.</p>
+
+<p>"She's the Bishop's great-niece," I explained
+proudly. "I love her terribly, Mary Ellen. It
+hurts in here." I pressed my hand on my
+stomach.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, well." She shook her head commiseratingly.
+"I'm sorry fer ye, Masther John&mdash;sthartin'
+off like this at your age. Here's the
+spoon I stirred the cake wid&mdash;have a lick o' that.
+It'll mebbe help ye."</p>
+
+<p>I licked pensively at the big wooden spoon,
+and felt strangely soothed. My admiration for
+Mary Ellen increased.</p>
+
+<p>As I slowly climbed the stairs for bed, visions
+of Jane hovered in the darkness above me&mdash;airy
+rainbows, with Jane's laughing face peering between
+the bars of pink and gold. I had never
+known a little girl before, and Jane embodied
+all things frail and exquisite.</p>
+
+<p>When I entered our room Angel was sitting
+on the side of the bed, pulling his shirt over his
+head. The Seraph already slept in his place next
+the wall.</p>
+
+<p>I stood before Angel with folded arms.</p>
+
+<p>"Hm," he muttered crossly, "you've been lickin'
+batter! It's on the end of your nose. Why
+didn't you get me something?"</p>
+
+<p>"There was nothing but dough," I explained,
+"and one batter spoon. And&mdash;and&mdash;I say,
+Angel&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Well?" asked my elder tersely.</p>
+
+<p>"I&mdash;I'm in love something awful. It hurts.
+It's like this&mdash;" I hurried on&mdash;"You feel like
+you'd a furnace blazing in you, an' then you turn
+cold jus' as if you'd shrivel up, but you <i>never</i>,
+<i>never</i>, forget, an'&mdash;It's made a 'normous difference
+in my life, Angel&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>I got no further. Angel had thrown himself
+backward on the bed and, kicking his bare legs
+in the air, broke into peals of delighted laughter.</p>
+
+<p>"It's that yellow-faced little Jenny!" he gurgled,
+"Oh, holy smoke!"</p>
+
+<p>His brutal mirth was short-lived. Mrs. Handsomebody
+appeared in the doorway, her face genuinely
+shocked at the sight that met her austere
+eyes.</p>
+
+<p>At this hour&mdash;such actions&mdash;was her house to
+be turned into Bedlam?&mdash;such indecent display
+of limbs&mdash;she was sick with shame for Angel&mdash;would
+discuss his conduct further, with him, tomorrow.</p>
+
+<p>She waited while I undressed and stood over
+us while we said our prayers at the side of the
+bed, at last extinguishing the light with a final
+admonition to be silent.</p>
+
+<p>I was bitterly disappointed in Angel. It was
+the first time he had failed me utterly. I put
+my arms around the sleeping Seraph and cried
+myself to sleep.</p>
+
+
+<h4>III</h4>
+
+<p>We were awakened by the sonorous music of
+the Cathedral chimes. It was Sunday. That
+meant stiff white Eton collars, and texts gabbled
+between mouthfuls of porridge; and, later, our
+three small bodies arrayed in short surplices, and
+the long service in the Cathedral. The Seraph
+was the very smallest boy in the choir. I think
+he was only tolerated there through Margery's
+intervention, because it would have broken his
+loyal little heart to be separated from Angel and
+me. He was highly ornamental too, as he collected
+the choir offertory in a little velvet bag,
+his tiny surplice jauntily bobbing, and the back of
+his neck, as an old lady once said, was more touching
+than the sermon.</p>
+
+<p>Angel had a voice like a flute.</p>
+
+<p>Beyond the tall choir stalls I could catch fleeting
+glimpses of Jane's little face beneath her
+daisied hat, looking on the same prayer-book with
+Margery. I swelled my chest beneath my surplice
+and chanted my very loudest in the hope that
+Jane might hear me. "O ye Showers and Dew,
+bless ye the Lord: praise him, and magnify him
+for ever."</p>
+
+<p>Her dreamy blue eyes peered over the edge of
+the book, the daisies on her hat nodded; she
+smiled; I smiled ecstatically back at her; and so
+two childish hearts stemmed the flood of praise
+that rose above the old grey pillars.</p>
+
+<p>At dinner, over his bread pudding, The Seraph
+murmured in a throaty voice&mdash;"When you is in
+love, first you burns yike a furnace, an' en you
+shwivel up wiv the cold. It's a vewy bad fing to
+be in love."</p>
+
+<p>I threw Angel a bitter look. This was his
+doing. So, contemptuously, had he treated my
+confidence, made as man to man. To tell the irresponsible
+Seraph of all people!</p>
+
+<p>"What's that, Alexander?" questioned Mrs.
+Handsomebody, sharply.</p>
+
+<p>"It's love," replied The Seraph, meekly, "you
+catch it off a girl. John's got it."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Handsomebody sank back in her chair
+with a groan.</p>
+
+<p>"Alexander," she said it solemnly, "I <i>tremble</i>
+for your future. You are not the boy your father
+was. I tremble for you."</p>
+
+<p>"John," she continued, turning to me, "you will
+come into the parlour with me. I wish to have
+a talk with you. David and Alexander, you may
+amuse yourselves with one of my bound volumes
+of 'The Quiver.'"</p>
+
+<p>I followed her with burning cheeks into the
+stiff apartment where not only her eye was riveted
+upon me, but every glittering eye of every stuffed
+bird, to say nothing of the pale fixed gaze of Mr.
+Handsomebody.</p>
+
+<p>Needless to recall the lecture I received, the
+probing into my reluctant heart, the admonition
+which I could not heed for my fearful watching
+of that hard grey face.</p>
+
+<p>But, at last, it was over. I slipped into the
+hall, closing the door softly behind me, and
+listened. Silence abounded. On tiptoe I made
+my way to the kitchen. It was clean and empty.
+I noiselessly opened the back door. On the doorstep
+sat The Seraph busily engaged with a caterpillar.</p>
+
+<p>"Where's Angel?" I demanded curtly.</p>
+
+<p>"I fink," breathed The Seraph, stroking the
+caterpillar the wrong way, and then looking at
+his fingers, "I fink that he's witin' to father to
+tell on you. So there!"</p>
+
+<p>I waited to hear no more. Casting my care
+behind me I sped lightly along the passage between
+the houses, crossed the Bishop's lawn, and
+sought Jane in the garden.</p>
+
+<p>There I stood a moment, dazzled, by the
+golden August sunshine, the iridescent spray of
+the fountain, and the brilliant colours of the
+hollyhocks beside the wall.</p>
+
+<p>I saw Jane there, and my heart swelled with
+disappointment and rage&mdash;for she was not alone!</p>
+
+<p>Too late I repented my confidence to Angel;
+I might have known that he would never let
+the grass grow under his feet till he had tasted
+this new excitement. Well, he had not let the
+grass grow.</p>
+
+<p>Jane, I remember, had on a pale blue sash,
+and a fluffy white frock, beneath the frills of
+which, her slender black silk legs moved airily.
+By her side sauntered the traitorous Angel, his
+head bent toward her tenderly, and, most
+sickening of all, pushing before him, with an
+air of proprietorship, the perambulator containing
+the doll, Dorothea. Jane was simpering up
+at him in a way she had never looked at me.</p>
+
+<p>I saw at a glance that all was over, yet I was
+not to be cast aside thus lightly. I strode across
+the garden, and, pushing myself between them,
+I laid my hand masterfully on the handle of the
+"pram," beside Angel's. Neither of them uttered
+a word. So the three of us walked for
+a space in tense silence.</p>
+
+<p>Then, suddenly, Angel began to hammer my
+hand with his fist.</p>
+
+<p>"You let go of that!" he snarled. "Ge&mdash;tout
+of here!"</p>
+
+<p>"I won't!" I roared tragically. "She said I
+was the fa-ather of it!"</p>
+
+<p>"She did not!" yelled Angel. "I'm the
+father!"</p>
+
+<p>Jenny glanced fearfully at the windows of the
+Bishop's house. All was silent there. Then,
+with a scornful little kick at me, she said&mdash;"Go
+'way, you nasty boy! <i>I</i> don't want you. I only
+like Angel."</p>
+
+<p>There was nothing more to be said. I hung
+my head, and, with a sob in my throat, turned
+away. I could hear them whispering behind
+me.</p>
+
+<p>Before I reached our own yard Angel came
+running after me.</p>
+
+<p>"Tell you what I'll do, John," he said, as he
+came abreast, "tell you what I'll do&mdash;I'll fight you
+for her. Like knights of old, you know. We
+could go down to the coal cellar, and have a
+reg'lar tourney. It'd be bully fun. We could
+have pokers for lances. Say, will you?"</p>
+
+<p>I was not in a fighting mood, but I had never
+refused a challenge, and, somehow, the thought
+of bloodshed eased my pain a little. So, half-reluctantly,
+I followed him, as he eagerly led the
+way to the coal cellar.</p>
+
+<p>Even on this August day it was cold down
+there. Long cobwebs trailed, spectre-like from
+the beams, and a faint squeaking of young mice
+could be heard in the walls.</p>
+
+<p>We searched among the d&eacute;bris of years for
+suitable weapons. Finally, brandishing pokers,
+and with two rusty boiler lids for shields, we
+faced each other, uttering our respective battle
+cries in muffled tones. Angel had put a battered
+coal scuttle over his head for a helmet; and,
+through a break in it, I could see his dark eyes
+gleaming threateningly.</p>
+
+<p>With ring of shield we clashed together. I
+delivered&mdash;and received&mdash;stunning blows. Dust,
+long undisturbed, rose, and blinded us.</p>
+
+<p>How many a gallant fray has been broken up
+by a screaming woman! Now Mary Ellen, true
+to the perversity of her sex, rushed in to separate
+us.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, losh! I never seen the beat o' ye!" she
+cried. "Ye've scairt me out av a year's growth!
+Sure the missus'll put a tin ear on ye, if she catches
+ye in the cellar in yer collars an' all!" Imperiously
+she disarmed us, and, without ceremony, we
+were hustled up the dark stairs to the kitchen sink.</p>
+
+<p>"It was a tournament, Mary Ellen, about a
+lady," I explained, with as much dignity as I
+could muster, "you shouldn't have interrupted."</p>
+
+<p>"There ain't a lady livin' that's worth messin'
+up yer clane clothes for," said Mary Ellen,
+sternly. "Lord! To see the cinders in yer hair,
+an' the soot in yer ears&mdash;it does bate all&mdash;" As
+she talked, she scrubbed us vehemently with a
+washcloth.</p>
+
+<p>"Ouch!" moaned Angel, "oh, Mary El-len,
+you're <i>hurting</i> me! That's my so-ore spot,
+eeeoow!"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Master Angel," said Mary Ellen, "I
+don't want to hurt ye, but it do make me heart-sick
+to see ye bashin' aitch other wid pokers for
+the sake av a bit girl that's not worth a tinker's
+curse to ye! Now thin&mdash;here's a piece of cowld
+puddin' to each av ye&mdash;sit on the durestep where
+the missus won't see ye, an' git outside av it."</p>
+
+<p>In a chastened mood we sat outside the back
+door and ate our pudding. It was cold, clammy,
+very sweet, and deliciously satisfying.</p>
+
+<p>To our right the wall excluded any glimpse of
+the Bishop's garden, and beyond loomed the
+Cathedral, with two grey pigeons circling about
+its spire.</p>
+
+<p>I yearned to know what was going on beyond
+the wall. I could not help fancying that Jane,
+touched by remorse, was weeping by the fountain
+for me, and me only. Angel spoke.</p>
+
+<p>"I say&mdash;" he hunched his shoulders mischievously&mdash;"let's
+go 'round and see what she's
+doin' all alone, eh?"</p>
+
+<p>I leaped to the proposal. I had an insatiable desire to hear her speak once more, if it were
+only to taunt me.</p>
+
+<p>We made the passage stealthily; all the world
+seemed drowsing on that hazy Sunday afternoon.
+The blinds in the Bishop's study were drawn.
+Little did he guess the life his great-niece led!</p>
+
+<p>The grass was like moist velvet beneath our
+feet. A pair of sparrows were quarrelling over
+their bath at the fountain rim. We heard a low
+murmur of voices. A glint of Jane's white frock
+could be seen behind a guelder rose near the
+fountain. We crept up behind and peered
+through the foliage.</p>
+
+<p>There on a garden bench sat Jane, and there,
+clasped in her slim white arms was&mdash;The Seraph!
+The wretched Dorothea lay, face downward, on
+the grass at their feet.</p>
+
+<p>We strained our ears to hear what was being
+said. Jane spoke in that silvery voice of hers:</p>
+
+<p>"Say some more drefful things, Seraph. I jus'
+love to hear you."</p>
+
+<p>There was a moment's silence; then, The
+Seraph said in his blandest tone, the one word&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Blood!"</p>
+
+<p>Jane gave a tiny, ecstatic shriek.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, go on!" she begged, "say more."</p>
+
+<p>"Blood," repeated The Seraph, firmly, "Hot
+blood&mdash;told blood&mdash;wed blood&mdash;thick blood&mdash;thin
+blood&mdash;bad blood."</p>
+
+<p>Again Jane squealed in fearful pleasure.</p>
+
+<p>"Go on," she urged. "Worser."</p>
+
+<p>Thus encouraged, The Seraph rapped out, without
+more ado, "Tiger blood&mdash;ephelant blood&mdash;caterpillar
+blood&mdash;ole witch blood"&mdash;then, after
+a pause, that the horror of it might sink deep in&mdash;"Baby
+blood!"</p>
+
+<p>Angel and I gave each other a look of enlightenment.
+It was gore then, that this delicately
+nurtured young person craved, good red
+gore, and plenty of it! Well&mdash;enough&mdash;we were
+free. Wait! What was she saying?</p>
+
+<p>"I <i>hate</i> those other boys, Seraph, darling.
+Let's jus' you and me play together always. And
+you should be Dorothea's <i>father</i>, and Dorothea
+should want to paddle in the&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Away! Away! With sardonic laughter, we
+sped along the pebbled drive, nor stopped until
+we reached our own domain.</p>
+
+<p>Then in the planked back yard, we sat on our
+steps, with a volume of "The Quiver" on our
+knees, in case Mrs. Handsomebody should invade
+our privacy, and played a rollicking game of
+pirates. And when any of the fair sex fell into
+our hands we were none too gentle with them.</p>
+
+<p>"Chuck 'em overboard, lieutenant!" was Captain
+Angel's way of dealing with the case.</p>
+
+<p>Just as the Cathedral clock struck five, The
+Seraph swaggered up. He stopped before us,
+hands deep in pockets.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said Angel, eyeing him resentfully,
+"you'll make a nice bishop, you will, usin' the
+language we heard a bit ago!"</p>
+
+<p>"Maybe I shan't have time to be a bishop, after
+all," replied The Seraph, condescendingly.
+"You see I'm goin' to mawy Jane. It'll keep me
+vewy busy."</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+
+
+<h2><i><a name="ch3">Chapter III: Explorers of the
+Dawn</a></i></h2>
+
+
+<h4>I</h4>
+
+<p>Fast on the wing&egrave;d heels of Love came our discovery
+of the Dawn. Of course we had known
+all along that there was a sunrise&mdash;a mechanical
+sort of affair that started things going like clockwork.
+But Dawn was a bird of another feather.</p>
+
+<p>If we had had our parents with us they would
+have, in all likelihood, unfolded the mystery of
+it in some bedtime visit; but Mrs. Handsomebody,
+if she ever thought about the Dawn at all,
+probably looked on it with suspicion, and some
+disfavour, as a weak, feeble thing&mdash;a nebulous
+period fit neither for honest folk nor cutthroats.</p>
+
+<p>So it came about that we heard of it from our
+good friend the Bishop. Mrs. Handsomebody
+had given a grudging permission for us to take
+tea with him. In hot weather her voice and eyes
+always seemed frostier than usual. The closely
+shut windows and drawn blinds made the house
+a prison, and the glare of the planked back yard
+was even more intolerable. Therefore, when
+Rawlins, the Bishop's butler, told us that we were
+to have tea in the garden, it was hard for us to
+remember Mrs. Handsomebody's injunction to
+walk sedately and to bear in mind that our host
+was a bishop.</p>
+
+<p>But, as we crossed the cool lawn, our spirits,
+which had drooped all day, like flags at half-mast,
+rose, and fluttered in the summer breeze,
+and we could not resist a caper or two as we approached
+the tea-table.</p>
+
+<p>The Bishop did not even see us. His fine
+grave face was buried in a book he had on his
+knees, and his gaitered legs were bent so that he
+toed in.</p>
+
+<p>When we drew up before him, Angel and I in
+stiff Eton collars and The Seraph fresh as a daisy,
+in a clean white sailor blouse, he raised his eyes
+and gave us a vague smile, and a wave of the
+hand toward three low wicker chairs. We were
+not a bit abashed by this reception, for we knew
+the Bishop's ways, and it was joy enough that
+we were safe in his garden staring up at the blue
+sky through flickering leaves, and listening to the
+splash of the little fountain that lived in the middle
+of the cool grass plot.</p>
+
+<p>Surely, I thought, there never was such another
+garden&mdash;never another with such a rosy red
+brick wall, half-hidden by hollyhocks and larkspur&mdash;such springy, tender grass&mdash;such a great
+guardian Cathedral, that towered above and
+threw its deep beneficent shade! Here the timorous
+Cathedral pigeons strutted unafraid, and
+dipped their heads to drink of the fountain, raising
+them Heavenward, as they swallowed&mdash;thanking
+God, so the Bishop said, for its refreshment.</p>
+
+<p>It was hard to believe that next door, beyond
+the wall, lay Mrs. Handsomebody's planked back
+yard. Yet even at that moment I could see the
+tall, narrow house, and fancied that a blind
+moved as Mrs. Handsomebody peered down into
+the Bishop's garden to see how we behaved.</p>
+
+<p>Rawlins brought a tray and set it on the wicker
+table beside the Bishop's elbow. We discovered
+a silver muffin dish, a plate of cakes, and a glass
+pot of honey, to say nothing of the tea.</p>
+
+<p>Still the Bishop kept his gaze buried in his
+book, marking his progress with a blade of grass.
+Rawlins stole away without speaking and we three
+were left alone to stare in mute desire at the tea
+things. A bee was buzzing noisily about the
+honey jar. It was The Seraph who spoke at last,
+his hands clasped across his stomach.</p>
+
+<p>"Bishop," he said, politely, but firmly. "I
+would yike a little nushment."</p>
+
+<p>"Bless me!" cried the Bishop. "Wherever are
+my manners?" And he closed the book sharply
+on the grass blade, and dropped it under the table.
+"John, will you pour tea for us?"</p>
+
+<p>We finished the muffins and cake, all talking
+with our mouths full, in the most sociable and
+sensible way; and, after the honey pot was almost
+empty, we made the bee a prisoner in it, so that,
+like that Duke of Clarence, who was drowned in
+a butt of Malmsey, he got enough of what he
+liked at last.</p>
+
+<p>I think it was Angel who put the question that
+was to lead to so much that was exciting and
+mysterious.</p>
+
+<p>He said, leaning against the Bishop's shoulder:
+"What do you think is the most beautiful thing
+in the world, Bishop?"</p>
+
+<p>Our friend had The Seraph between his knees,
+and was gazing at the back of his head. "Well,"
+he replied, "since you ask me seriously, I should
+say this little curl on The Seraph's nape."</p>
+
+<p>The Seraph felt for it.</p>
+
+<p>"I yike it," he said, "but I yike my wart better."</p>
+
+<p>"Good gracious," exclaimed the Bishop.
+"Don't tell me <i>you've</i> a wart!"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, a weal one," chuckled The Seraph. "It's
+little, but it's gwowing. I fink some day it'll be
+as big as the one on Mrs. Handsomebody's chin.
+<i>It can wiggle.</i>"</p>
+
+<p>"You don't say so!" said the Bishop, rather
+hastily. "And where do you suppose you got
+it?"</p>
+
+<p>The Seraph smiled mischievously. "I fink I
+got it off a toad we had. He was an awful dear
+ole toad, but he died, 'cos we&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I say, don't bother about the old toad,
+Seraph!" put in Angel hastily, feeling, as I did,
+that the manner of the toad's demise was best
+left to conjecture. "We want to hear about the
+most beautiful thing in the world. Please tell
+it, Bishop!"</p>
+
+<p>"Well&mdash;since you corner me," said the Bishop,
+his eyes on the larkspur, "I should say it is the
+wing of that pale blue butterfly, hovering above
+those deep blue flowers."</p>
+
+<p>Angel's face fell. "Oh, I didn't mean a little
+thing like that," he said. "I meant a 'normous,
+wonderful thing. Something that you couldn't
+<i>ever</i> forget."</p>
+
+<p>"Well&mdash;if you will have it," said the Bishop,
+"come close and I'll whisper." Instantly three
+heads hedged him in, and he said in a sonorous
+undertone&mdash;"<i>It's the Dawn.</i>"</p>
+
+<p>"The Dawn!" We three repeated the magic
+words on the same note of secrecy. "But what is
+it like? How can we get to it? Is it like the
+sunset?"</p>
+
+<p>"I won't explain a bit of it," he replied.
+"You've got to seek it out for yourselves. It's
+a pity, though, you can't see it first in the country."</p>
+
+<p>"Must we get up in the dark?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. I think your tallest attic window faces
+the east. You must steal up there while it's still
+grey daylight. Have the windows open so that
+you can hear and smell, as well as see it. But
+I'm afraid the dear Seraph's too little."</p>
+
+<p>"Not me," asserted The Seraph, stoutly.
+"I'm stwong as two ephelants."</p>
+
+<p>"You mustn't be frightened when you hear its
+wings," said the Bishop, "nor be abashed at the
+splendour of it, for it was designed for just such
+little fellows as you. You will come and tell me
+then what happens, won't you? I shall probably
+never waken early enough to see it again."...</p>
+
+
+<h4>II</h4>
+
+<p>Though we played games after this, and the
+Bishop made a very satisfactory lion prowling
+about in a jungle of wicker chairs and table legs,
+we none of us quite lost sight of the adventure
+in store for us. Somewhere in the back of our
+heads lurked the thought of the Dawn with its
+suggestion of splendid mystery.</p>
+
+<p>We were no sooner at home again than we set
+about discussing ways and means.</p>
+
+<p>"The chief thing," said Angel, "is to waken
+about four. We have no alarm clock, so I s'pose
+we'll just have to take turns in keeping watch all
+night. The hall clock strikes, so we can watch
+hour about."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll take first watch!" put in The Seraph,
+eagerly.</p>
+
+<p>"You'll take just what's given to you, and no
+questions, young man," said Angel, out of the
+side of his mouth, and The Seraph subsided,
+crushed.</p>
+
+<p>Came bedtime at last, and the three of us in
+the big four-poster; the door shut upon the world
+of Mrs. Handsomebody, and the windows firmly
+barred against burglars and night air.</p>
+
+<p>Angel announced: "First watch for me!
+You go right to sleep, John, and I'll wake you
+when the clock strikes ten. Then you'll feel nice
+and fresh for your watch."</p>
+
+<p>But I wasn't at all sleepy and we lay in the
+dusk and talked till the familiar harsh voice of
+the hall clock rasped out nine o'clock.</p>
+
+<p>"You go to sleep, please John," whispered
+Angel in a drowsy voice, "and I'll watch till ten."</p>
+
+<p>I felt drowsy too, so I put my arm about the
+slumbering Seraph and soon fell fast asleep.</p>
+
+<p>It seemed to me but a moment when Angel
+roused me. I know I had barely settled down
+to an enjoyable dream in which I was the only
+customer in an ice-cream parlour, where there
+were seven waitresses, each one obsequiously
+proffering a different flavour.</p>
+
+<p>"Second watch on deck!" whispered Angel,
+hoarsely&mdash;"and look lively!"</p>
+
+<p>"But I'd only just put my spoon in the strawberry
+ice," I moaned. "Can't be ten minutes yet."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I say," complained Angel, "don't you
+s'pose I know when the old clock strikes ten?
+You've been sleepin' like a drunken pirate and
+no mistake. Must be near eleven by now."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll just see for myself," I declared. "I'll go
+and look at the schoolroom clock." And I began
+to scramble over him.</p>
+
+<p>"You will not then&mdash;" muttered Angel, clutching
+me. "I shan't let you!"</p>
+
+<p>"You won't, eh? If it's really ten you needn't
+care, need you!"</p>
+
+<p>"Course it's ten&mdash;It's nearer eleven, but you're
+going to do what I say."</p>
+
+<p>At that we came to grips and fought and
+floundered till the bed rocked, and the poor little
+Seraph clung to his pillow as a shipwrecked sailor
+to a raft in a stormy sea. Exhaustion alone
+made us stop for breath; still we clung desperately
+to each other, our small bodies pressed hotly
+together, Angel's nose flattened against my ear.
+The Seraph snuggled up to us. "Just you wait"&mdash;breathed
+Angel&mdash;his hands tightened on me,
+then relaxed&mdash;his legs twitched&mdash;"Strawberry or
+pineapple, sir?" came the dulcet tones of the waitress.
+I was in my ice-cream parlour again!
+Seven flavours were laid before me. I fell to,
+for I was hot and thirsty.</p>
+
+<p>I was disturbed by The Seraph, singing his
+morning song. It was a tuneless drone, yet not
+unmusical. Always the first to open his eyes in
+the morning, he began his day with a sort of
+Saga of his exploits of the day before, usually
+meaningless to us but fraught with colour from
+his own peculiar sphere. At last he laughed outright&mdash;a
+Jovian laugh&mdash;at some remembered
+prank&mdash;and I rubbed my eyes and came to full
+consciousness. The sun was slanting through
+the shutters. Where, oh where, was the Dawn?</p>
+
+<p>I turned to look at Angel. He was staring
+at the slanting beam and swearing softly, as he
+well knew how.</p>
+
+<p>"We'll simply have to try again"&mdash;I said.
+"But however are we going to put in today?"</p>
+
+<p>The problem solved itself as all problems will
+and the day passed, following the usual landmarks
+of porridge, arithmetic, spelling, scoldings,
+mutton, a walk with our governess, bread and
+butter, prayers, and the (for once, longed for!)
+<i>bed</i>.</p>
+
+<p>That night we decided to lie awake together;
+passing the time with stories, and speculation
+about the mystery so soon to be explored by us.
+I told the first story, a long-drawn adventure of
+shipwreck, mutiny and coral Caves, with a fair
+sprinkling of skeletons to keep us broad awake.</p>
+
+<p>"It was a first-rate tale," sighed Angel, contentedly,
+when I had done, "an' you told it
+awfully well, John. If you like you may just
+tell another 'stead o' me. Or The Seraph can
+tell one. Go ahead, Seraph, and make up the
+best story you know how."</p>
+
+<p>The Seraph, important, but sleepy, climbed
+over me, so that he might be in the middle, and
+then began, in a husky little voice:</p>
+
+<p>"Once upon a time there was fwee bwothers, all
+vwey nice, but the youngest was the bwavest an'
+stwongest of the fwee. He was as stwong as two
+bulls, an' he'd kill a dwagon before bweakfast, an'
+never be cocky about it&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Angel and I groaned in unison. We could not
+tolerate this sort of self-adulation from our junior.
+"Don't be such a little beast"&mdash;we admonished,
+and covered his head with a pillow. The Seraph
+was wont to accept such discipline, at our hands,
+philosophically, with no unseemly outcries or
+struggles; as a matter of fact, when we uncovered
+his head, we could tell by his even, reposeful
+breathing that he was fast asleep. It was too
+dark to see his face, but I could imagine his complacent
+smile.</p>
+
+<p>The night sped quickly after that. There was
+some desultory talk; then Angel, too, slept; I resolved
+to keep the watch alone. I heard the
+sound of footsteps in the street below, echoing,
+with a lonely sound; the rattle of a loose shutter
+in a sudden gust of wind; then, dead silence,
+followed after an interval by the scampering, and
+angry squeak of mice in the wall....</p>
+
+<p>The mice disturbed me again. There was a
+shattering of loose plaster; and suddenly opening
+my eyes, I saw the ghost of grey daylight stealing
+underneath the blind. The time had come!</p>
+
+
+<h4>III</h4>
+
+<p>Silently the three of us stole up the uncarpeted
+attic stair. It was unknown territory to us, having
+been forbidden from the first by Mrs. Handsomebody,
+and all we had ever seen from the hall
+below was a cramped passage, guarded by three
+closed doors. Time and time again we had been
+tempted to explore it, but there was a sinister
+aloofness about it that had hitherto repelled us.
+Now, however, it had become but a pathway to
+the Dawn, and, as we clutched the bannisters, we
+imagined ourselves three pilgrims fearfully climbing
+toward light and beauty.</p>
+
+<p>Angel stood first at the top. Gently he tried
+two doors in succession, which were locked. The
+third gave, harshly&mdash;it seemed to me, grudgingly.</p>
+
+<p>The Seraph and I pressed close behind Angel,
+glad of the warm contact of each other's bodies.</p>
+
+<p>In the large attic room, the air was stifling, and
+the sloping roof, from which dim cobwebs were
+draped, seemed to press toward the dark shapes
+of discarded furniture as though to guard some
+fearful secret. It took all our courage to grope
+our way to the low casement, and it was a struggle
+to dislodge the rusty bolt, and press the window
+out on its unused hinges. It creaked so loudly
+that we held our breath for a moment, but we
+drew it again with a sharp sensation of relief, as
+thirsty young animals drink, for fresh night air,
+sweet, stinging to the nostrils, had surged in upon
+us, sweeping away fear, and loneliness, and the
+hot depression of the attic room.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Handsomebody's house was tall, and we
+could look down upon many roofs and chimneys.
+They huddled together in the soft grey light as
+though waiting for some great happening which
+they expected, but did not understand. They
+wore an air of expectancy and humility. Little
+low-roofed out-houses pressed close to high walls
+for shelter, and a frosty white skylight stared up-ward
+fearfully.</p>
+
+<p>"Is this the Dawn?" came from The Seraph,
+in a tiny voice.</p>
+
+<p>"Only the beginning of it," I whispered back.
+"There's two stars left over from the night&mdash;see!
+that big blue one in the east, and the little white
+one just above the cobbler's chimney."</p>
+
+<p>"Will they be afwaid of the Dawn, when it
+comes?"</p>
+
+<p>"Rather. I shouldn't be surprised if the big
+fellow bolted right across the sky, and the little
+one will p'raps fall down the cobbler's chimney
+into his work-room."</p>
+
+<p>The Seraph was enchanted. "Then the
+cobbler'll sew him wight up in the sole of a shoe,
+an' the boy who wears the shoe will twinkle when
+he wuns, won't he? Oh, it's coming now! I
+hear it. I'm afwaid."</p>
+
+<p>"That's not the Dawn," said Angel, "that's the
+night flying away."</p>
+
+<p>It was true that there came to us then a rushing
+sound, as of strong wings; our hair was lifted from
+our hot foreheads; and the casement rattled on
+its hinges.</p>
+
+<p>This wind, that came from the wings of night,
+was sharp with the fragrance of heather and the
+sea. One fancied how it would surge through the
+dim aisles of cathedral-like forests, ruffling the
+plumage of drowsy birds, stirring the surface of
+some dark pool, where the trout still slept, and
+making sibilant music among the drooping reeds.</p>
+
+<p>The sky had now become delicately luminous,
+and a streak of saffron showed above the farthest
+roofs; a flock of little clouds huddled together
+above this, like timorous sheep at graze. The
+white star hung just above the cobbler's chimney,
+dangerously near, it seemed to us, who watched.</p>
+
+<p>There were only two of us at the window now,
+for Angel had stolen away to explore every corner
+of the new environment, as was his custom. I
+could hear the soft opening and shutting of bureau
+drawers, and once, a grunting and straining, as of
+one engaged in severe manual labour.</p>
+
+<p>A low whistle drew me to his side.</p>
+
+<p>"What's up?" I demanded.</p>
+
+<p>"Got this little old trunk open at last," he
+muttered, "full of women's junk. Funny stuff.
+Look."</p>
+
+<p>Our heads touched as we bent curiously over
+the contents. It was a dingy and insignificant box
+on the outside, but it was lined with a gaily
+coloured paper, on which nosegays of spring
+flowers bent beneath the weight of silver butterflies,
+and sad-eyed cockatoos. The trays were
+full, as Angel had said, of women's things;
+delicate, ruffly frocks of pink and lilac; and undergarments
+edged with yellowing lace. A sweet
+scent rose from them, as of some gentle presence
+that strove to reach the light and air once more.
+A pair of little white kid slippers looked as though
+they longed to twinkle in and out beneath a soft
+silk skirt. Angel's mischievous brown hands
+dived among the light folds, discovering opera
+glasses,&mdash;(treasures to be secured if possible,
+against some future South Sea expedition), an inlaid
+box of old-fashioned trinkets, a coral necklace,
+gold-tasselled earrings, and a brooch of
+tortured locks of hair.</p>
+
+<p>Angel's eyes were dancing above a gauze fan
+held coquettishly against his mouth of an impudent
+boy, but I gave no heed to him; I was busy with a
+velvet work-box that promised a solution of the
+mystery&mdash;for hidden away with thimble and
+scissors as one would secrete a treasure, was a fat
+little book, "The Mysteries of Udolpho."
+Some one had drawn on the fly leaf, very beautifully,
+I thought, a ribbed sea-shell, and on it had
+printed the words, "Lucy from Charles;" and on
+a scroll beneath the shell, in microscopic characters&mdash;"Bide
+the Time!"</p>
+
+<p>My brother was looking over my shoulder now.
+We were filled with conjecture.</p>
+
+<p>"Lucy," said Angel, "owned all this stuff, and
+Charles was her lover, of course. But who was
+she? Mrs. Handsomebody never had a daughter,
+I know, and if she had she'd never have allowed
+her to wear these things. Look how she jaws
+when Mary Ellen spends her wage on finery. I'll
+bet Lucy was a beauty. And she's dead too, you
+can bet, and Charles was her lover, and likely he's
+dead too. 'Bide the time,' eh? You see they're
+waitin' around yet&mdash;<i>somewheres</i>. Isn't it queer?"</p>
+
+<p>The Seraph's voice came from the window in
+a sort of chant:</p>
+
+<p>"The little white star has fallen down the
+cobbler's chimney!</p>
+
+<p>"It has fallen down, and the cobbler is sewing
+it into a shoe!</p>
+
+<p>"A milkman is wunning down the stweet!</p>
+
+<p>"Tell you what," whispered Angel, "I'll show
+you what Lucy was like&mdash;just a little. I'll make
+a picture of her."</p>
+
+<p>The space between two tall chests of drawers
+formed a sort of alcove in which stood a pier
+glass, whose tarnished frame was draped in
+white net. Before it Angel drew (without much
+caution) a high-backed chair, and on it he began
+his picture.</p>
+
+<p>Over the seat and almost touching the floor, he
+draped a frilled petticoat, and against the back
+of the chair (with a foundation of formidable
+stays for support) he hung a garment, which,
+even then, he seemed to know for a camisole.
+Over all he laid a charming lilac silk gown, and
+under the hem in the most natural attitude peeped
+the little party slippers. A small lace and velvet
+bonnet with streamers was hung at the apex of
+the creation, and in her lap (for the time has
+come to use the feminine pronoun) he spread
+the gauzy fan. He hung over her tenderly, as
+an artist over his subject&mdash;each fold must be in
+place&mdash;the empty sleeves curved just so&mdash;one
+fancied a rounded chin beneath the velvet
+streamers, so artfully was it adjusted. Her reflection
+in the pier glass was superb!</p>
+
+<p>"It is here!" chanted The Seraph. "Evwy bit
+of evwy fing is shinin'! Oh, Angel an' John,
+<i>please</i> look!"</p>
+
+<p>We flew to the window and leaned across the
+sill.</p>
+
+<p>It was a happy world that morning, glowing
+in the sweetest dawn that ever broke over roofs
+and chimney pots. The earth sang as she danced
+her dewy way among the paling stars. The little
+grey clouds blushed pink against the azure sky.
+Blossoming boughs of peach and apricot hung
+over the gates of heaven, and rosy spirals curled
+upward from two chimneys. Pink-footed
+pigeons strutted, rooketty-cooing along the roofs.
+They nodded their heads as though to affirm
+the consummation of a miracle. "It is so&mdash;"
+they seemed to say&mdash;"It is indeed so&mdash;" One
+of them hopped upon the cobbler's chimney, peering
+earnestly into its depths. "It sees the star!"
+shouted The Seraph. "It sees the star and nods
+to it. 'I am higher now than you'&mdash;it says!"</p>
+
+<p>Something&mdash;was it a breath? a sigh?&mdash;made
+me look back into the attic where Lucy's clothes
+clung to the high-backed chair, like flower petals
+blown against a wall. The pier-glass had
+caught all the glory of the morning and was releasing
+it in quivering spears of light that dazzled me for a moment; I rubbed my eyes, and
+stared, and shook a little, for in the midst of
+all this splendour I saw Lucy! No pallid, rigid
+ghost, but something warm, eager with life,
+spreading the folds of the lilac gown like a butterfly
+warming its new wings in the strength of
+the sun.</p>
+
+<p>Her bosom rose and fell quickly, her eyes were
+fixed on me with a beseeching look, it seemed. I
+drew nearer&mdash;near enough to smell the faint perfume
+of her, and I saw then that she was not
+looking at me, but at the fat little book of "The
+Mysteries of Udolpho" which I still held in my
+hands. The book that Charles had given her!
+"Bide the time!" he had written, but she could
+bide the time no longer.</p>
+
+<p>Proud as any knight before his lady, I strode
+forward, and pressed the book into her hands&mdash;saw
+her slender fingers curl around it&mdash;heard her
+little gasp of joy. I should not have been at all
+surprised had the door opened and Charles
+walked in.</p>
+
+<p>As a matter of fact, the door <i>did</i> open and&mdash;Mrs.
+Handsomebody walked in.</p>
+
+
+<h4>IV</h4>
+
+<p>She gave a sort of gurgling cry, as though she
+were being strangled. Angel and The Seraph
+faced about to look at her in consternation, their
+hair wild in the wind, and the rising sun making
+an aureole about them. The four of us stared
+at each other in silence for a space, while the
+attic-room, with its cobwebs reeled&mdash;the sun rose,
+and sank, like a floundering ship, and Mrs. Handsomebody
+resembling, in my fancy, a hungry
+spider, in curl papers, considered which victim
+was ripest for slaughter.</p>
+
+<p>"You&mdash;and you&mdash;and you&mdash;" she gobbled.
+"Oh, to think of it! No place safe! What you
+need is a <i>strong</i> man. <i>We</i> shall see! The very
+windows&mdash;burst from their bolts!" She
+slammed the casement and secured it, Angel and
+The Seraph darting from her path.</p>
+
+<p>"Even a dead woman's clothes&mdash;to make a
+scarecrow of!" She pounced&mdash;I hid my face
+while she did it, but I heard a sinister rustling
+and the snap of a trunk lid. It was over.
+"Bide the time."</p>
+
+<p>Ignominiously she herded us down the stairs;
+The Seraph making only one step at a time, led
+the way. Far down the drab vista of the back
+stairs that ended in the scullery, Mary Ellen's
+red, round face was seen for a moment, like a
+second rising sun, but vanished as suddenly as it
+had appeared, at a shout from Mrs. Handsomebody.</p>
+
+<p>We were in the schoolroom now, placed before
+her in a row, as was her wont in times of retribution.
+Seated behind her desk she wore her
+purple dressing gown with magisterial dignity;
+the wart upon her chin quivered as she prepared
+to speak.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, David," she said, rapping Angel
+smartly on the head, "can you say anything
+in explanation of this outrage upon my property?
+Hold your head up and toe out, please."</p>
+
+<p>Angel looked at his hands. "Nuffin' to explain,"
+he said sulkily. "Just went an' did it."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh I thought so," said our governess. "It
+was just one of these seemingly irresistible impulses
+that have so often proved disastrous for all
+concerned. If your father knew&mdash;" she bit off
+the words as though they had a pleasant, if acrid
+taste&mdash;"if your poor father knew of your criminal
+proclivities, he would be a <i>crushed</i> man. A
+<i>crushed man</i>."</p>
+
+<p>The Seraph was staring at her chin.</p>
+
+<p>Then&mdash;"I have one too," he said gently.</p>
+
+<p>"One <i>what</i>?" Her tone should have warned
+him. "One wart," he went on, with easy
+modesty. "It's just a little one. It can't wiggle&mdash;like
+yours&mdash;but it's gwowing nicely.
+Would you care to see it?"</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Handsomebody affected not to hear him.
+She stared sombrely at Angel and me, but I believe
+The Seraph sealed our fate, for, after a
+moment's deliberation, she said curtly; "I shall
+have to beat you for this."</p>
+
+<p>She gave us six apiece, and I could not help
+noticing that, though The Seraph was the youngest
+and tenderest, his six were the most stinging.</p>
+
+<p>When we had been sent to our bedroom to
+say our prayers, and change our pitifully inadequate
+night clothes for day things, I put the
+question that was burning in my mind.</p>
+
+<p>"Did either of you see <i>her</i>?"</p>
+
+<p>"Who?"</p>
+
+<p>"Lucy, sitting there in the chair."</p>
+
+<p>Angel's brown eyes were blank.</p>
+
+<p>"I saw her <i>clothes</i>. What sickens me is that
+the dragon took that spy-glass. You see if I
+don't get it yet." (Mrs. Handsomebody was
+"the dragon" in our vernacular.)</p>
+
+"Did <i>you</i> see her, Seraph?"
+
+<p>The Seraph was sitting on the floor, his head
+on his knees. He raised a tear-flushed face.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm 'most too cwushed to wemember," he
+said, huskily. "But I <i>fink</i> Lucy was fat. It's
+a vewy bad fing to be fat, 'cos the cane hurts
+worser."</p>
+
+<p>I turned from such infantile imbecility to the
+exhilarating reflection that I was the only one to
+whom Lucy had shown herself&mdash;her chosen
+knight!</p>
+
+<p>I was burning to do her service, yet the passage
+that led to the attic stronghold was well guarded.
+Two days had passed before I made the attempt.
+I had been sent upstairs from the tea-table to
+wash my hands&mdash;though they were only comfortably
+soiled&mdash;and after I had dipped them in
+a basin of water that had done service for both
+Angel and The Seraph, I gave them a good rub
+on my trouser legs, as I tip-toed to the foot of
+the attic stairs. Cautiously, with fast-beating
+heart, I mounted, and tried the door. It was
+locked fast. I pressed my eye against the keyhole,
+and made out in the gloom the dark shape
+of the trunk, sinister, forbidding, inaccessible.
+No rustle of lilac silk, no faintest perfume, no
+appealing sigh from the gentle Lucy greeted me.
+All was dark and quiet. "Bide the time!" Who
+knew but that some day I might set her free?</p>
+
+<p>Yet my throat ached as I slowly made my way
+back to the table, presented my hands for a rather
+sceptical inspection by Mrs. Handsomebody, and
+dropped languidly into my seat.</p>
+
+<p>The Seraph gave me a look of sympathy&mdash;even
+understanding&mdash;perhaps he had heard me
+mount the distant attic stairs; his hearing was
+wonderfully acute. He chewed in silence for a
+moment and then he made one of those seemingly
+irrelevant remarks of his that, somehow, always
+set our little world a-rocking.</p>
+
+<p>"One fing about Lucy," he said, "she was always
+sweet-tempud."</p>
+
+<p>"Who?" snapped Mrs. Handsomebody.</p>
+
+<p>"Lucy&mdash;" repeated The Seraph. "Such a
+sweet-tempud gell."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Handsomebody leaned over him, and gobbled
+and threatened. The Seraph preserved a
+remarkable calm, considering that he was the
+storm centre. He even raised his small forefinger
+before his face and looked at it thoughtfully.
+His speculative gaze travelled from it to
+Mrs. Handsomebody's chin. I perceived then
+that he was comparing warts!</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+
+
+<h2><i><a name="ch4">Chapter IV: A Merry
+Interlude</a></i></h2>
+
+
+<h4>I</h4>
+
+<p>My brothers and I were hanging over the gate
+that barred our way to the outer world, and singing,
+as loudly as we could, considering the pressure
+of the top bar on our young stomachs. We
+sang to keep warm, for Mrs. Handsomebody had
+decreed that no reefers were to be worn till the
+first of December. So, though November was
+raw, she maintained her discipline and refused
+to mollycoddle us.</p>
+
+<p>It was the fifth, and Angel chanted in that
+flute-like treble of his, that made passersby turn
+and smile at him:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"> <div class="stanza">
+<p>"Remember, remember the fifth of November,</p>
+<p class="i2">Gunpowder, treason and plot&mdash;"</p>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Then The Seraph added his little pipe:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"> <div class="stanza">
+<p>"I see no weason why gunpowder tweason</p>
+<p class="i2">Should ever be forgot."</p>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Then we shouted it all together.</p>
+
+<p>Our neighbour, Mr. Mortimer Pegg, who had
+never forgiven us for our share in the treasure
+hunt, came out of his house at that moment, and
+drew up before us.</p>
+
+<p>"This noise, you know," he said, in his precise
+way, "is affecting my wife's health deleteriously.
+She has gone to bed with a migraine."</p>
+
+<p>"Why don't you put him out," suggested The
+Seraph.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Pegg eyed him severely, yet I thought I
+perceived a twinkle in his eye.</p>
+
+<p>"It's Guy Fawkes day," I explained. "You
+see, it must never be forgot."</p>
+
+<p>"It is a mistake in these enlightened days to
+keep up such old animosities," replied our neighbour.
+"For all you know I might be his
+direct descendant. If you must celebrate his undoing,
+better take these three sixpences and make
+yourselves ill on lemon fizz, or pink marshmallows,
+or vile licorice cigars."</p>
+
+<p>He placed a coin in each outstretched hand,
+and, without waiting for thanks, strode briskly
+down the street. We gazed after him, knocked
+speechless by this great beaker of bounty that
+had rolled in upon the flat expanse of our afternoon.
+Mr. Pegg, in his shiny top hat and neat
+Prince Albert moved away in the ruddy November
+sunlight as in a halo of opulence. Never
+before had we appreciated the princely turn of his
+toes beneath their drab spats, the flash of his
+twirled walking-stick. We resolved to keep him
+in mind. He was a neighbour worth having.
+Angel even suggested certain time-honoured ditties
+of boyhood, which, shouted in chorus, would
+be almost certain to have a disastrous effect on
+a female addicted to migraine.</p>
+
+<p>A deputation, consisting of The Seraph, then
+waited on Mrs. Handsomebody, to explain that
+our neighbour, Mr. Pegg, having been charmed
+by our singing, had presented us each with a
+sixpence, with the earnest injunction that the coin
+be expended on currant buns at the grocer's. The
+Seraph came back triumphant with the necessary
+consent.</p>
+
+<p>"We can go," he said, "but we're not to take
+a bite till we're back home. It's suppwising
+she'd let us do it."</p>
+
+<p>"Not a bit," said Angel cynically, "she knows
+they'll spoil our appetite for tea."</p>
+
+<p>The grocer was a fierce, red-bearded man who
+kept his wife in a little wooden stall, where she
+took in the constant flow of wealth extorted from
+his customers.</p>
+
+<p>We had told The Seraph that she was thus
+confined by her gloomy spouse, in order that she
+might be fattened for slaughter, and his eyes
+were large with pity as he stood on tiptoe to hand
+our three sixpences through the little wicket.
+The grocer's wife leaned forward to look at him,
+her plump underlip, after two futile attempts to
+form a chin, subsiding into a large white neck.</p>
+
+<p>The Seraph's look of pity deepened to horror.
+"You must be almost weady," he gasped.</p>
+
+<p>"Ready? Ready for what, my little love?"</p>
+
+<p>"Stickin'&mdash;oo, will it hurt vewy much?"</p>
+
+<p>"Bless the child. What <i>does</i> he mean?"</p>
+
+<p>"He's not very well," I explained. "I think
+he's delirious."</p>
+
+<p>"That's why we brought him here to get a
+cool drink," added Angel, hurriedly, and between
+us we led the recreant to the little table in the
+rear of the shop where the grocer had set out
+three glasses of ginger beer and a plate of mixed
+cakes. Five minutes of unalloyed bliss followed
+and we were just draining off the last dregs and
+cleaning up the crumbs, when a bullet-headed boy
+stuck his head in at the door.</p>
+
+<p>"Dorg's 'ere again," he said, laconically.
+"Nosin' abaht in the gabbage 'eap."</p>
+
+<p>"Tie a can on 'is tile," said the grocer.</p>
+
+<p>The boy disappeared, and the three of us
+pushed back our chairs and followed in his wake,
+scenting adventure in the littered yard behind
+the shop with its strange odours of bygone fruit
+and greens.</p>
+
+<p>The dog, a small, black, Scottish terrier, was
+dragging an end of Boulogna sausage from the
+garbage heap. The bullet-headed boy winked
+at us, selected an empty can from the heap, produced a piece of string from his pocket, and
+grasped the terrier by the collar. But only for
+a moment. With a rush of concentrated fury
+it flew at his legs, gave him a sharp snap, and
+darted back to its sausage, with a warning glean
+of its eyes in our direction.</p>
+
+<p>"Ow," yelled the boy, doubling up, "'e's bit
+me sumpfin' cruel! You see if I daon't brain 'im
+for that!"</p>
+
+<p>He snatched up an axe and brandished it.
+The terrier dropped its sausage and showed its
+little pointed teeth.</p>
+
+<p>We three, with one impulse, flung ourselves
+between it and the boy.</p>
+
+<p>"You dare touch that dog," shouted Angel.</p>
+
+<p>"Oo's goin' to stop me, Mister Nosey Parker?"
+sneered the boy, with a flourish of his axe.</p>
+
+<p>"I am," said Angel, "'cos it's <i>my</i> dog, see?"
+He coolly turned his back on the boy and bent
+over the terrier, who came to him cautiously,
+sniffing his legs.</p>
+
+<p>"Your dorg!" scoffed the boy, "w'y daon't yer
+feed 'im then? 'E's arf starved, 'e is. Yer
+ought to be 'ad up fer perwention of cruelty to
+hanimals. It's a disgrice."</p>
+
+<p>"We've only owned him a little while," explained
+Angel, "and he strayed away. He'll be
+jolly glad to get home again&mdash;won't you, Rover?
+Give us that bit of string and I'll lead him."</p>
+
+<p>The boy, suddenly friendly, in one of those
+swiftly changing moods of boyhood, assisted in
+the tying of the string to the little dog's collar,
+though he cast a longing look at its stout fringed
+tail that was so admirably built to further the
+riotous bouncings of an empty tin can.</p>
+
+<p>We led him triumphantly through the shop
+into the street, and we trotted in silence for a
+space, staring in rapt admiration of the little
+black paws that padded along in such a business-like
+fashion beside us, the knowingly-pointed
+ears, and valiant tail carried at a jaunty angle
+above the sturdy hind-quarters.</p>
+
+<p>When we reached our own quiet street we
+stopped. The Seraph looked in the bag of buns.</p>
+
+<p>"May I give him mine?" he asked.</p>
+
+<p>"Good boy," said Angel, and The Seraph presented
+the little dog with the large currant bun.
+We were charmed indeed when he sat up for it
+in the most approved trained-animal posture, with
+short fore-legs crossed on his plump hairy breast.
+How often had we longed for the joyous companionship
+of our old four-footed friends, the
+comfort of a soft warm tongue on one's cheek,
+the sensitive muzzle pressed into one's palm, the
+look of loving confidence in the deep brown eyes.</p>
+
+<p>But our governess hated dogs, and we were
+expressly forbidden to so much as pat the head
+of any stray canine that thrust an inquiring nose
+between the bars of her gate. Therefore, it was
+with sad foreboding that we watched the bun
+disappear. The Scotty held it between his forepaws
+and bit off decent mouthfuls, without sign
+of greed or haste. By his bearing and by his
+shining silver collar we knew that he was, or had
+been some one's cherished pet.</p>
+
+<p>The bun had cheered him wonderfully, for,
+as we moved homeward, he leaped playfully at
+his leash, and catching it in his teeth, worried it
+in an abandon of glee.</p>
+
+<p>We made no plans. We had no hopes. We
+merely were drawn by habit and necessity to the
+place where, we knew, desperate trouble awaited
+us. At the gate we halted.</p>
+
+<p>"We might take him into the yard to play for
+a little while," I said. "P'raps we could carry
+him upstairs wrapped in my coat, and hide him
+under the bed. Maybe he'd get so awful good
+he'd live under the bed, and we could save our
+food for him, and get up nights to play with him."</p>
+
+<p>As if to show his appreciation of the plan, the
+Scotty raised himself on his hind quarters, paddling
+the air with his forepaws in excited appeal,
+and giving vent to sharp, staccato barks.</p>
+
+<p>The next instant the front door was thrown
+open, and Mary Ellen, her cap askew, dashed
+down the steps to meet us.</p>
+
+<p>"Wheriver have ye been so long?" she
+ejaculated. "An' have ye been tould the news?
+'Tis hersilf has taken a tumble, an' put her knee
+out so the doctor says. I'd jist been clanin' up
+the panthry shelves, an' <i>she</i> got up on a chair to
+see whether I'd maybe missed the top one, an'
+I must have left a knob of soap on the chair,
+for the next thing I knew she was stretched on
+the flure, an' I had to fetch the doctor, an' he
+says she'll have to kape to her room for a fortnight
+or more, an' the lord only knows how I'm
+to wait on her an' manage the three av ye, wid
+yer pranks an' all!"</p>
+
+<p>The Seraph turned a somersault; then I turned
+a somersault; then Angel turned two; then the
+Scotty sat up, paddled the air with his forepaws,
+and sneezed twice.</p>
+
+<p>Mary Ellen was genuinely shocked.</p>
+
+<p>"I do belave," she said, solemnly, "that you've
+stones in your breasts instid av hearts&mdash;but
+you're jist like all men folk&mdash;if they think there's
+a good time in sthore for them, the women can
+suffer all they like, more shame to them." She
+was so worked up that she did not notice that the
+little dog had followed us into the house, until
+he was sitting up in the kitchen, his forepaws
+paddling the air, his tail thudding on the floor.
+Then she said, brimming over with admiration,
+though she tried to look severe;</p>
+
+<p>"And if you think I'll have sthray dawgs in
+my kitchen you're very much mistook....
+Aw, it's a darlin' wee thing, isn't it?" For the
+Scotty, seeing that she had seated herself, had
+jumped to her lap and now sat there, nose in
+air, looking superbly at home.</p>
+
+<p>We closed about her, telling, in chorus, the
+story of the bullet-headed boy, and the garbage
+heap, and enlarging dramatically on the episode
+of the tin can.</p>
+
+<p>"And may we please keep him?" we entreated,
+"just for a few days till we find the owner of
+it! Mrs. Handsomebody will never know, for
+he can live in the coal cellar 'cept when we take
+him little walks on a string!"</p>
+
+<p>"If you don't let me do this I'll never marry
+you, so there!" This from Angel.</p>
+
+<p>"Have it your own way, thin," moaned Mary
+Ellen, capitulating, as usual, under the fire of
+Angel's pleading, "but moind, if she iver finds us
+out, it's mesilf will be walkin' the streets widout
+a character."</p>
+
+
+<h4>II</h4>
+
+<p>So began a merry interlude in the drabness of
+the Handsomebody regime. Mrs. Handsomebody
+kept to her room for nearly three weeks, unable
+to put her foot to the floor. On the first
+evening, she called us to her bedside; and, while
+we stood in a row, bewildered before the phenomenon of seeing her prostrate, she lectured us
+solemnly on the duties and responsibilities of our
+position, and implored us not to make the period
+of her enforced retirement a nightmare, because
+of our pranks. We promised, marvelling that
+bed-clothes could be kept so tidy, and fervently
+wishing she would display the knee that had been
+so severely "put out." It was a commonplace
+for Mrs. Handsomebody's temper to be thus
+afflicted, but her knee, never.</p>
+
+<p>When we returned to the kitchen, we found
+Mary Ellen sitting in a pensive attitude. Her
+forefinger pressed against her knit brow, her
+stout ankles crossed.</p>
+
+<p>"The little dawg has been tellin' me a secret,"
+she volunteered in explanation, "a deep, dark secret.
+She's been tellin' me in a way of spakin'
+that she's a lady-dawg, God help her."</p>
+
+<p>"But how did she tell you, Mary Ellen? Did
+she speak out loud?" We were breathless with
+excitement.</p>
+
+<p>"She did not. I ast her, for I had me suspicion,
+if she was a lady-dawg an' I sez&mdash;'If yez
+are wag yer tail three times,' an' the words was
+scarce off me tongue, whin she wagged her tail
+three times."</p>
+
+<p>It was a marvel. Oh, these were going to be
+great days!</p>
+
+<p>"If you're a lady-dog, wag your tail three
+times," I ordered, squatting to peer into the
+sagacious brown eyes.</p>
+
+<p>Three times the stocky tail thumped the floor.</p>
+
+<p>Then Angel put the question, and was answered
+with equal promptitude.</p>
+
+<p>It was The Seraph's turn. With an insinuating
+smile he said: "If you are a gennelman dog
+wag your tail fwee times."</p>
+
+<p>But before there was time for so much as one
+wag, Mary Ellen caught the too-eager tail in a
+restraining grasp.</p>
+
+<p>"Now have done wid your nonsinse," she commanded.
+"Ye'll have the pore crature that worried
+it'll set up barkin', an' if the misthress did
+know, there be's a dawg in the house, she'd likely
+just throw a fit an' die."</p>
+
+<p>"Is it a vewy barkable dog?" queried The
+Seraph.</p>
+
+<p>"All dogs is barkable," said Mary Ellen, "and
+what we'll have to do is to kape her as quate as
+possible and pray that her owner'll come along
+this way, for turn her out I will not. It's easy
+seein' she's a pet be the ways of her."</p>
+
+<p>"It says 'Giftie' on her collar," Angel announced,
+separating the short, shaggy coat to
+read. "That must be her name. Hello, Giftie!
+Sit up, Giftie!"</p>
+
+<p>So Giftie she was, and, for a long three weeks,
+our joy and our delight.</p>
+
+<p>Was ever little body so full of spirit and the
+pride of life? The kitchen became her own
+domain where the three of us fought for the
+position of her most abject slave. Even Mary
+Ellen could scarcely work for watching her antics
+with an old stocking, which she pretended was a
+rat. Once she caught a live mouse and set us
+all shouting. Mary Ellen, in her excitement, upset
+a gravy-boat of hot gravy, and The Seraph
+slipped and sat down in it, and Giftie gambolling,
+mouse in mouth, ran through it and tracked it
+over the freshly scrubbed boards. If she had
+been a tigress with her prey she could not have
+been more ferocious with the mouse. She
+snarled at it: she worried it: she threw it up in
+the air and caught it: she laid it on the scullery
+floor and rolled on it: and when, finally, it ceased
+to squirm beneath her, she lay quite still, gazing
+pensively up at us with liquid eyes, and only now
+and then twitching her hind-quarters to remind
+her victim that she was still on the job.</p>
+
+<p>One never-to-be-forgotten day she rollicked
+into the kitchen proudly carrying Mrs. Handsomebody's
+solemn black shoe, which had been
+standing with its mate beneath Mrs. Handsomebody's
+bed. Before our horrified eyes, she worried
+it till the shoe-laces cracked about her head;
+threw it up and caught it, as she had the mouse;
+then taking it to her own bed in the scullery, she
+laid it there and rolled on it.</p>
+
+<p>When Mary Ellen had wrested the shoe from
+Giftie, she crept upstairs, her heart in her mouth,
+and restored it to its place beneath the bed.</p>
+
+<p>"It was a marvel," she said afterwards, "how
+the scallywag did what she did widout wakenin'
+<i>her</i>, for there was the mistress sleepin' on the
+broad of her back, and her two shoes, and her
+bed-socks scattered over the flure, and the pot
+of cold crame knocked off the chair at the head
+of her bed, and the half of it et. It's mesilf
+will dance for joy whin that little tormint gets
+took away."</p>
+
+<p>Inquiries were made of all the errand boys,
+but not one had heard of a lost dog. We came
+to dread the sound of the door-bell lest it should
+herald some determined grown-up come to snatch
+our treasure from us. Mr. Watlin, the butcher's
+young man, and Mary Ellen's favoured "follower"
+of the moment, took a lively interest in
+the affair. He was of the opinion that if Mrs.
+Handsomebody once saw the dog nothing would
+induce her to send it away. And he brought
+offerings of raw meat in his pocket to make her
+plump and glossy. Giftie grew plumper and
+glossier every day.</p>
+
+<p>Then, when two weeks had passed, she
+achieved the crowning triumph of her stay with
+us. It was a heavy morning of dense November
+fog, and the gas was still burning in the dining-room
+when we came down to breakfast. Mary
+Ellen did not bring us our porridge, as usual,
+neither did Giftie run in to greet us; so, after a
+moment's impatient wriggling in our chairs, we
+went to the kitchen to investigate. Giftie was
+nowhere in sight. Mary Ellen sat in an attitude
+of complete abandon, by the dresser, her apron
+over her head, her arms hanging loosely at her
+sides. Was Giftie dead? Had her owner come
+to fetch her? What horror had overcast the
+sun? We deluged her with questions, pulling
+the apron off her head, and dragging her from
+the chair.</p>
+
+<p>"Och, it's a terror she is," Mary Ellen said, at
+last. "Come wid me to the scullery an' ye'll see
+what she's got in the bed wid her."</p>
+
+<p>There was not much light in the scullery so
+we could not at first distinguish what lay on the
+mat beside Giftie. It moved; it snuffled; no&mdash;<i>they</i>
+moved; <i>they</i> snuffled. There were three of
+them. All at once it burst upon us that they were
+puppies&mdash;her puppies&mdash;our puppies&mdash;one apiece!
+We flopped on the floor beside her. She darted
+from her bed&mdash;licked our hands&mdash;snapped at our
+ankles&mdash;ran back to them&mdash;and, finally tremulous
+with excitement, allowed us to take them in our
+arms (The Seraph wrapped his in the skirt of
+his fresh holland smock) and sit blissfully in
+a row.</p>
+
+<p>We stroked the soft licked fur of their glossy
+coats; we examined their tiny sharp black nails;
+their blindness only endeared them the more to
+us.</p>
+
+<p>There we were found by Mr. Watlin.</p>
+
+<p>"'Ere's a picnic," he said. "'Ere's a bloomin'
+picnic." He caught up the nearest puppy, and
+turned it over in an experienced hand. "Tiles
+must be cut," he added.</p>
+
+<p>"Tails cut! Oh, no," I expostulated, "Giftie's
+tail isn't cut. Please don't."</p>
+
+<p>"All terriers should 'ave their tiles cut," said
+Mr. Watlin, firmly. "If the mother dog's tile
+isn't cut, is that any reason w'y 'er hoffspring
+should be disfigured in a like manner? Now's
+the time."</p>
+
+<p>"But it'll hurt," pleaded The Seraph. Do
+you do it wif a knife?"</p>
+
+<p>"I <i>bites</i> 'em orf," replied Mr. Watlin, laconically,
+"an' it don't 'urt a bit."</p>
+
+<p>"In this world," he went on, "a lot depends on
+the way you does a thing. F'rinstance, when I
+kill a lamb or a steer, do I kill 'im brutally? Not
+at all. I runs 'im up an' down the slaughter yard
+to get 'is circulation up&mdash;I strokes 'im on the neck,
+an' tells 'im wot a fine feller 'e is, till 'e's in such
+good spirits that 'e tikes the killin' as a joke.
+Just a part of the gime, as it were. Sime with
+these 'ere pups. They'd like 'aving their tiles bit
+orf by me."</p>
+
+<p>We looked at the puppies doubtfully. It was
+hard to believe that they would really like it, and
+we were relieved when Mary Ellen broke in&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"They will not be cut, nor bit, nor interfered
+wid in anny way. If Giftie's owner likes a long
+tail on her, he'd want a long tail on her puppies
+wouldn't he? That stands to reason, Mr.
+Watlin, don't it? and the owner may walk in here
+anny day."</p>
+
+<p>How we hated that nebulous owner! And now
+another cloud loomed on our horizon. Mrs.
+Handsomebody was getting better. She had sat
+up on a chair by the bedside; she had, with Mary
+Ellen's help, walked across the room; she had, all
+alone, walked down the hallway; she had come to
+the head of the stairs. She was like the man in
+the ghost story, who, fresh from his grave, called
+to his wife&mdash;snugly sleeping above&mdash;"Mary, I'm
+at the foot of the stairs.... Mary, I'm half way
+up." We, too, shuddered in anticipation. And
+Mary Ellen was almost as nervous as we, for hers
+was the responsibility.</p>
+
+<p>The puppies were more entrancing every day.
+Tiny slips of dewy blue showed between their
+furry eyelids. They learned to walk, and roll
+over, and to right themselves after being turned
+over by their mother's playful paws. We were
+squatting on the floor very busy with them, when
+Mary Ellen entered, round-eyed with fear.</p>
+
+<p>"'Tis herself is in the dining-room," she
+gasped.</p>
+
+<p>"Not Mrs. Handsomebody?"</p>
+
+<p>"Sorra a thing else. Put them pups in their
+basket and come out and shut the dure. Ye'd
+better go into the yard and be at some quate game.
+Oh, Lord&mdash;" and she hurried back to her
+mistress.</p>
+
+<p>This time we were safe, but there was tomorrow
+ahead, with certain discovery.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Watlin, propped in the open doorway,
+brought his ingenious mind to bear upon the
+problem.</p>
+
+<p>"Now if Mrs. 'Andsomebody could be put under
+an obligation to that little dog, she'd probably
+tike it right into 'er 'eart and 'ome. If that little
+dog, f'rinstance, should save Mrs. 'Andsomebody
+from drowning&mdash;does she ever go in bathing?"</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Likely</i>, at <i>her</i> age, in <i>December</i>!" sneered
+Mary Ellen. "Try again."</p>
+
+<p>"We might hold her under water in the bath-tub
+till Giftie would fish her out," suggested
+Angel.</p>
+
+<p>It was a colourful spectacle to visualize, and we
+dallied with it a space before abandoning it as impracticable. It seemed too much to hope that
+Mrs. Handsomebody, the bath-tub and Giftie
+could all be assembled at the critical moment.</p>
+
+<p>But Mr. Watlin was not to be rebuffed. "Then
+there's burglars," he went on. "Suppose Mrs.
+'Andsomebody's valuables was to be rescued from
+a burglar for 'er. She wouldn't be able to do
+enough for a little dog that 'ad chased 'im out of
+this very scullery, f'rinstance."</p>
+
+<p>We were thrilled by hope. "But where is the
+burglar?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I could produce the burglar in a pinch.
+He's reformed but he'd undertake a little job like
+this if he know'd it was for partic'lar friends of
+mine, and not a bit of 'arm in it. Is it a go?"</p>
+
+<p>Mystery brooded over the house of Handsomebody
+all that afternoon and evening. We were
+allowed to have no finger in this portentous pie.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Watlin, with some small assistance from
+Mary Ellen, engineered the thing himself. We
+were sent to bed at the usual hour, and played at
+burglars on, and under, the bed, to while away
+the intervening hours.</p>
+
+
+<h4>III</h4>
+
+<p>It must have been almost midnight when our
+hearts were made to beat in our throats by such
+an uproar in the scullery, as seemed to cleave the
+darkness like a thunderbolt. Giftie appeared to
+be choking in her effort to unloose, all at once, a
+torrent of ferocious barks. A window shook,
+glass broke, a shutter slammed. Then followed a
+moment of awful silence before she settled down
+to a methodical yapping. We heard Mary Ellen
+run down the back stairs.</p>
+
+<p>We clambered out of bed, and tumbled into the
+hall. Mrs. Handsomebody was there before us,
+a gigantic shadow of her thrown on the walls by
+a candle she held unsteadily in her hand.</p>
+
+<p>"Merciful Heaven!" she was saying under her
+breath. "What can have happened!" She motioned
+us to fall in behind her, and it was plain
+that, crippled as she was, she intended to interpose
+her body, in its flannel nightgown, between
+us and whatever danger lurked below. She made
+the descent clinging to the bannister, the three
+of us jostling each other in the rear, and, once,
+nearly precipitated on her back by a caper of
+Angel's on the edge of a step.</p>
+
+<p>Mary Ellen met us in the dining-room, her face
+pale with excitement.</p>
+
+<p>"It was a burglar in the scullery, ma'am," she
+burst out, never looking at us. "It's a mercy we
+wasn't all murthered in our beds this night&mdash;the
+windy's broke, an' the shutter's pried loose, and
+a bag full av all the things off the sideboard is
+settin' on the flure. Sure, I heard the steps av
+him runnin' full lick down the lane&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Handsomebody looked at her bereft sideboard,
+and dropped into a chair with a gasp.</p>
+
+<p>"Are you <i>sure</i> he's gone?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes'm. I stuck me head out the windy and
+seen him."</p>
+
+<p>"You're a brave girl. Get me the bitters.
+Yes, and lock the door into the scullery&mdash;stay,
+what dog was it that barked?"</p>
+
+<p>Mary Ellen hung her head. "The dawg the
+little boys have been keepin' this bit while. It
+does no harm at all."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Handsomebody's face was a mask. She
+said composedly: "Well, get the bitters and
+then bring in the dog."</p>
+
+<p>Mary Ellen did as she was bid.</p>
+
+<p>Enter now Giftie, tail up, ears pricked, the
+picture of conscious well-doing. She went
+straight to Mrs. Handsomebody, sniffed her
+ankles; wagged her tail in appreciation of the
+odour of the liniment that emanated from the injured
+lady; and finally sat up before her with an
+ingratiating paddling of the forepaws.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Handsomebody regarded her sombrely.
+"May I ask how long you have harboured this
+stray?"</p>
+
+<p>"Just since the day ye fell, ma'am, and I was
+that upset that I was scarce in me right moind,
+and indade, it's hersilf has saved us from robbery
+and mebbe murther this night wid her barkin'."</p>
+
+<p>Giftie, tired of sitting up without reward or
+encouragement, had trotted quietly out of the
+room. She now came back waddling with importance,
+a pup in her mouth. She laid it
+at the feet of our governess as though to say&mdash;"There
+now, what do you make of that?"</p>
+
+<p>"Horrors!" cried Mrs. Handsomebody, drawing
+back, as though the puppy were a serpent.</p>
+
+<p>With a joyful kick of the heels, Giftie was off
+again. In breathless silence we waited. The
+second puppy, sleepy and squirming, was laid beside
+its brother.</p>
+
+<p>"I presume you have another?" said Mrs.
+Handsomebody in a controlled voice but gripping
+the arms of her chair.</p>
+
+<p>Giftie brought the other.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Mrs. Handsomebody!" I implored,
+"please, please, let us keep them! They're as
+good as gold, and they'd guard the house and
+everything&mdash;and maybe save you from drowning
+some time. Don't take them from us, pl-ease!"
+The Seraph, in sympathy, began to cry. Angel
+picked up his pup and held it against his breast.</p>
+
+<p>"Silence!" rapped out Mrs. Handsomebody.
+"Mary Ellen, fetch <i>The Times</i>. And just look
+in the scullery to see that all is quiet there.
+Fetch the bag left by the robber."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Handsomebody sipped her bitters while
+Mary Ellen did her behests. Each of us cuddled his own puppy, and Giftie began an energetic
+search for a flea.</p>
+
+<p>Had our hearts not been in the grip of apprehension
+we should have laughed at the figure
+cut by Mary Ellen, panting under the sack of
+plate. Mr. Watlin's burglar had done his job
+well, and Mrs. Handsomebody groaned when she
+saw her most cherished possessions tumbled in
+such a reckless fashion. But not a thing was
+missing, and when they had been replaced on the
+sideboard, she turned briskly to <i>The Times</i>. She
+ran a long white finger down the Lost column.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, here we are&mdash;" she announced, complacently&mdash;"Pay
+attention, boys," and she read:</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>"<i>Reward</i> for information leading to the recovery of
+Scottish terrier, female, wearing silver collar engraved,
+Giftie, stolen or strayed from 5 Argyle Road, on November
+third. Anyone detaining after this notice will be
+prosecuted."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>"You see," exclaimed Mrs. Handsomebody,
+triumphantly, "you have made yourselves liable
+to a heavy fine, or even imprisonment, by detaining
+what is, I presume, a very valuable beast.
+Argyle Road&mdash;a very good locality&mdash;is not too
+great a distance for you to walk. In the morning,
+we shall return that dog and her&mdash;er&mdash;young,
+and I see nothing amiss in your accepting
+a suitable reward. Not a word now! No insubordination,
+mind. I won't have it. David,
+John, Alexander, listen&mdash;I am in no mood to
+be trifled with. Put down those squirming
+creatures and march to your bed!"</p>
+
+<p>Giftie's hour had struck. It was no use rebelling.
+With bitter composure, we carried our
+beloved to the scullery, and laid them on the mat
+beside their mother. It was not until we were
+safe in bed that our pent up fury broke loose;
+and we pounded the pillows, and cursed the name
+of womankind.</p>
+
+<p>Women! Tyrants! Mischievous busybodies!</p>
+
+<p>"When I'm a man," said Angel, suddenly, "I'll
+marry a woman, and I'll beat her every day."</p>
+
+<p>"Me too!" cried The Seraph, stoutly, "I'll
+mawy two&mdash;fat ones&mdash;an' beat 'em bofe."</p>
+
+<p>For myself, I was inclined for an unhampered
+bachelorhood, but it soothed my wounded spirit
+to picture these three hapless females in the grip
+of Angel and The Seraph, and the music of their
+outcries lulled me fast asleep.</p>
+
+
+<h4>IV</h4>
+
+<p>We found next morning that Mrs. Handsomebody
+and Mary Ellen had never gone back to
+bed all night, but had kept watch in the dining-room
+till daylight, when Mary Ellen had been
+dispatched to find a policeman. He was in the
+kitchen now, a commanding figure, making notes
+in a little book; and seeming to derive great benefit
+from his conversation with Mary Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>A new arrival was a wheeled-chair to convey
+Mrs. Handsomebody to 5 Argyle Road. Therefore,
+about ten o'clock, after the most exhausting
+preparations, we set out, a singular party; Mrs.
+Handsomebody enthroned in the chair, mistress
+of herself (and every one else) her black-gloved
+hands crossed on her lap; Mary Ellen, hot, straining
+over the wheeled-chair, lest her mistress get an
+unseemly bump at the crossing; Angel and I, bearing
+between us a covered hamper containing the
+three pups; while Giftie and The Seraph in the
+abandon of youth and ignorance, sported on the
+outskirts of the group.</p>
+
+<p>The way was long, and our arms ached with
+the weight of the hamper, when we stopped before
+the gate of Number 5 Argyle Road. It
+was an imposing house in its own grounds; large
+clipped trees stood about; and a bent old gardener
+was doing something to one of those, while a tall
+grey-haired woman in mannish tweeds superintended
+the work. A Scottish terrier, fit mate
+for Giftie, was digging furiously at the root of
+the tree. He discovered our presence first, and,
+before we had time to introduce ourselves, he
+and Giftie, with bristling backs, were jumping
+about one another in a sort of friendly hostility,
+and filling the air with barks of greeting. Giftie,
+then, darted for the hamper, sniffed it, ran back
+to the other Scotty, and bit him so that he yelped.
+All was confusion.</p>
+
+<p>The tall lady came toward us smiling broadly.
+She exclaimed above the din: "How can I thank
+you? I see you have brought home our little
+wanderer&mdash;Giftie, how can you treat Colin so?
+Poor Colin&mdash;lift him up, Giles, she's going to
+bite him again&mdash;I suppose there are pups in the
+hamper. Let's see, boys."</p>
+
+<p>We uncovered the hamper proudly. The
+three puppies lay curled like little sea anemones.
+Giftie tried to get in the hamper with them, but
+her mistress restrained her gently, while she
+lifted them out, one by one, and examined each,
+critically, Mrs. Handsomebody watching her all
+the while with an expression of disapproval, that
+bordered on disgust.</p>
+
+<p>The tall lady, quite oblivious to all this, seated
+herself on the ground with the puppies on her
+lap, muttering ecstatically-"Perfect beauties&mdash;what
+luck! Giftie, you're a wonder!" Whereupon
+Giftie tried to kiss her on the ear. The
+bent old gardener, brought Colin to us and made
+him shake hands, and we thought him very long-faced
+and dour after roguish Giftie.</p>
+
+<p>Presently Mrs. Handsomebody spoke in her
+most decisive tones:</p>
+
+<p>"I fear I shall take a chill if I remain in this
+damp place. Come boys. Mary Ellen, kindly
+reverse the chair!"</p>
+
+<p>The tall lady rose to her feet.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, please, come in and have something hot,
+and tell me all about it. And there's the reward."</p>
+
+<p>"I thank you," replied Mrs. Handsomebody,
+"I shall not venture to leave my chair. As for
+the dog, it came to us several weeks ago, when
+I was ill; hence the delay in returning it&mdash;and
+its young."</p>
+
+<p>"Your grandchildren?" questioned the tall
+lady abruptly.</p>
+
+<p>"My pupils, and, for the present, my wards,"
+replied Mrs. Handsomebody frigidly.</p>
+
+<p>"Wish I could steal them," said the lady. "If
+I'd dogs and boys too, I'd be happy. These are
+darlings." She turned to us then. "Boys, do
+you like Giftie very much?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, we love her," we chorused.</p>
+
+<p>"Would you like one of her puppies for your
+very own to keep?"</p>
+
+<p>Would we? We couldn't speak for longing.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Handsomebody spoke for us.</p>
+
+<p>"I allow no pets, canine or otherwise."</p>
+
+<p>The tall lady scowled. "But these are valuable dogs."</p>
+
+<p>"All dogs are alike to me. Canines."</p>
+
+<p>The tall lady gave something between a snort
+and a sigh.</p>
+
+<p>"Would you allow them to accept a sovereign
+apiece then?"</p>
+
+<p>"That would be permissible."</p>
+
+<p>"I shall be back directly," and with astonishing
+speed she ran to the house with Colin and
+Giftie barking on either side of her. It was but
+a moment till she returned and pressed a golden
+sovereign into each languid hand. The sight of
+so much bullion all at once braced us for the
+moment, and we forgot to be miserable. She
+came with us to the gate, asking a dozen questions
+about ourselves, and our father, and Giftie's
+stay with us. Giftie had to be restrained from
+following us, and with sinking hearts we kissed
+her little black nose and said good-bye.</p>
+
+<p>"Good-bye!" called the tall lady, "come again
+any time! Come and spend the day with us!"</p>
+
+<p>Our governess called us peremptorily. She
+was half a block in advance.</p>
+
+<p>When we reached the chair, she said, in a conciliatory tone:
+"I shall arrange for you to have
+some unusual treat from your reward, some concerts
+and lantern lectures suited to your years,
+and maybe, as the Christmas Season approaches,
+even a pantomime. What do you say?"</p>
+
+<p>I looked at the woman. Was she mad to
+imagine that such paltry, sickly treats could make
+up for the loss of three pups whose eyes were
+beginning to open? My own eyes smarted with
+tears. I looked at Mary Ellen. Two bright
+drops hung on her cheeks as she laboured behind
+the chair. I looked at Angel. He was balancing
+himself on the curb with an air of desperate
+indifference. I could hear The Seraph weeping
+as he brought up the rear.</p>
+
+<p>I lingered behind to offer him a suck of a piece
+of licorice I had. Then I saw that he had
+stopped and was hunched above the grating of a
+sewer. I could but think that his spirits had
+reached such an ebb that nothing save the contemplation
+of the foulest depths might salve his
+misery. But I was mistaken! His hand moved
+above the grating. Something flashed. Then I
+swelled my chest with pride in him. Truly, The
+Seraph was a brother to be proud of&mdash;a fellow
+of sturdy passions, not to be trifled with!</p>
+
+<p>He had chucked his sovereign down the sewer!</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+
+
+<h2><i><a name="ch5">Chapter V: Freedom</a></i></h2>
+
+
+<h4>I</h4>
+
+<p>Life became dull indeed after Giftie was taken
+from us. November drew on to December;
+beating rains kept us indoors for days at a time.
+Mrs. Handsomebody had a horror of wet feet.
+With faces pressed against streaming window
+panes, we watched for the blurred progress of
+the lamplighter down the street, as the one excitement
+of the day. Even our friend the Bishop
+deserted us and went for a long stay in the south
+of France. Angel developed a sore throat just
+before Christmas so we had no part in the Christmas
+music in the Cathedral. The toy pistols
+sent by our father did not arrive till a fortnight
+after Christmas, and when they did arrive,
+the joy of possessing them was short-lived,
+for after Angel had cracked a pane of
+glass with his, and I had hit Mary Ellen on
+the ear, so that it was swollen and red for days,
+Mrs. Handsomebody confiscated them all as
+dangerous weapons to be kept till we were beyond
+her control.</p>
+
+<p>She gave us each a new prayer book illustrated
+by pictures from the Gospel. I coloured the
+pictures in mine with crayons, and got my hands
+rulered for it; Angel traded his with one of the
+choir boys for a catapult which he successfully
+kept in concealment, with occasional forays on
+back alley cats. The Seraph was immensely
+pleased with his. He carried it about in his
+blouse, producing it, now and again, for reference,
+with pretended solemnity. His manner
+became unbearably clerical. I think he felt himself,
+at least, a Canon.</p>
+
+<p>The winter wore on, and we became pale and
+peevish from lack of air, when all our little world
+was quickened by the coming of the telegram.</p>
+
+<p>It had come while we were at lessons. Angel
+and I were standing before our governess with
+our hands behind our backs, when Mary Ellen
+burst in at the door. I had been stumbling over
+the names of the Channel Islands, and I stopped
+with my mouth open, relieved to see Mrs. Handsomebody's
+look of indignation raised from my
+face to that of Mary Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>"Is that the way I have instructed you to
+enter the room where I sit?" asked Mrs. Handsomebody
+sternly.</p>
+
+<p>"Lord, no, ma'am," gasped Mary Ellen, "but
+it's a telegram I've brung for ye, an' I thought
+as it was likely bad news, ye wouldn't want to be
+kept waitin' while I'd rap at the dure!" She
+presented the bit of paper between a wet thumb
+and forefinger.</p>
+
+<p>"You may take your seats," said Mrs. Handsomebody
+coldly, to us.</p>
+
+<p>Angel and I slipped into our places at the
+long book-littered table, on either side of The
+Seraph. We were thus placed, in order that
+his small plump person should prove an obstacle
+to familiar intercourse between Angel and myself
+during school hours; and, as our intercourse
+usually took the form of punches in the short
+ribs, or wet paper pellets aimed at an unoffending
+nose, The Seraph was frequently the recipient
+of such pleasantries. He bore them with good
+humour and stoicism.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll bet anything," whispered Angel, over The
+Seraph's curls, "that it's a telegram from father
+saying that he's coming to fetch us! Wouldn't
+that be jolly? And she's waxy about it too&mdash;see
+how white she's gone!"</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Handsomebody rose.</p>
+
+<p>"Boys," she said, in her most frigid manner,
+"owing to news of a sudden bereavement, I shall
+not be able to continue your lessons today&mdash;nor
+tomorrow. You will, I hope, make the most
+of the time intervening. You were in a shocking
+state of unpreparedness both in History and
+Geography this morning. Keep your little
+brother out of mischief, and <i>remember</i>," raising
+her long forefinger, "you are not, under any consideration,
+to leave the premises during my absence.
+As I have a great responsibility on your
+account, I wish to be certain that you are not endangering
+yourselves in the street. When I return
+we shall undertake some long walks."</p>
+
+<p>Picking up the telegram from the floor where
+it had fallen, Mrs. Handsomebody slowly left
+the room, and closed the door behind her.</p>
+
+<p>"She's always jawing about her responsibility,"
+muttered Angel resentfully. "Why don't she let
+us run about like other boys 'stead of mewing us
+up like a parcel of girls? I'll be shot if I stand it!"</p>
+
+<p>"What <i>are</i> the Channel Islands anyhow?" I
+asked to change the subject. "I'd just got to
+Jersey, Guernsey, when I got stuck."</p>
+
+<p>"Jersey, Guernsey, Sweater, Sock and Darn,"
+replied my elder, emphasizing the last named.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Was</i> the telegram from father?" interrupted
+The Seraph. "Is he comin' home?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, silly," replied Angel. "Some one belonging
+to Mrs. Handsomebody is dead. She's goin'
+to the funeral, I s'pose. Whoever can it be,
+John? Didn't know <i>she</i> had any people."</p>
+
+<p>"A whole day away," I mused, "it has never
+happened before."</p>
+
+<p>I looked at Angel, and Angel looked at me&mdash;such
+looks as might be exchanged by lion cubs in
+captivity. We remembered our old home with
+its stretch of green lawn, the dogs, the stable
+with the sharp sweet smell of hay, and the
+pigeons, sliding and "rooketty-cooing" on the
+roof. Here, the windows of our schoolroom
+looked out on a planked back yard, and our
+daily walks with Mrs. Handsomebody were
+dreary outings indeed.</p>
+
+<p>Of a sudden Angel threw his Geography into
+the air. His brown eyes were sparkling.</p>
+
+<p>"We'll make a day of it, Lieutenant," he cried,
+slapping me on the shoulder. He always called
+me Lieutenant where mischief was a-foot. "Such
+a day as <i>never</i> was! We'll do every blessed
+thing we're s'posed not to! Most of all&mdash;we'll
+<i>run the streets</i>!"</p>
+
+<p>At that instant, Mary Ellen opened the door
+and put her rosy face in.</p>
+
+<p>"She do be packin' her bag, byes," she
+whispered, "she's takin' the eliven o'clock train,
+an' she won't be back till tomorrow at noon.
+Now what d'ye think o' that? She's awful
+quate, but she's niver spilt a tear fer him that I
+could spot."</p>
+
+<p>"For who?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, her brother to be sure. It's him that's
+dead. It's a attack of brownkitis that's carried
+him off so suddint. Her only brother an'&mdash;yes,
+ma'a'm, I'm comin'," her broad face disappeared,
+"I was on'y tellin' the young gintlemen to be
+nice an' quate while I git their dinner ready.
+Will they be havin' the cold mutten from yisterday
+ma'a'm?" Her voice trailed down the
+hall.</p>
+
+<p>Presently we heard the front door close. We
+raced to the top of the stairs.</p>
+
+<p>"Is she gone?" we whispered, peering over
+the bannister into the hall below. But, of course,
+she was gone, else Mary Ellen would never dare
+to stand thus in the open doorway, gaping up
+and down the street! We slid recklessly down
+the hand-rail. It was the first infringement of
+rules&mdash;the wig was on the green! We crowded
+about Mary Ellen in the doorway, sniffing the
+air.</p>
+
+<p>"Och, it's a bad lot ye are!" said she, taking
+The Seraph under the arms and swinging him out
+over the steps, "shure it's small wonder the missus
+is strict wid ye, else ye'd be ridin' rough-shod over
+her as ye do over me! It's jist man-nature, mind
+ye&mdash;ye can't help it!"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, it's not man-nature to be mewed up as
+she does us," said Angel, swaggering, "and, I
+don't know what you mean to do, Mary Ellen,
+but <i>we</i> mean to take a day off, so there!" He
+nodded his curly head defiantly at her.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, listen here, byes," said Mary Ellen,
+turning sober all of a sudden, and shutting the
+door, "you come right out to the kitchen wid me,
+an' we'll talk this thing over. I've got a word
+to say to ye."</p>
+
+<p>She led the way down the hall and through the
+dining-room with its atmosphere of haircloth, into
+the more friendly kitchen, where even the oppressions
+of Mrs. Handsomebody could not quite subdue
+the bounding spirits of Mary Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>Angel sallied to the cupboard. "Bother!" he
+said, discontentedly, investigating the cake-box,
+"that same old seedy-cake! Won't you <i>please</i>
+make us a treat today, Mary Ellen? Jam tarts
+or some sticky sort of cake like you see in the pastry
+shop window."</p>
+
+<p>"That's the very thing I was goin' to speak
+about, my dear," Mary Ellen replied, "if ye'll jist
+howld yer horses." Before proceeding, she cut
+us each, herself included, a slice of the seed cake,
+and, when we were all munching (save Angel, who
+was busy picking the seeds out of his cake) she
+went on&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Now, as well ye know, I've worked here
+manny a long month, and I've had followers
+a-plinty, yit there's noan o' thim I like the same
+as Mr. Watlin, the butcher's young man, an' it
+makes me blush wid shame, whin I think that
+after all the pippermints, an' gum drops, an' jawbone
+breakers he's give me, not to speak of
+minsthral shows an' rides on the tram-cars, an'
+I've niver given him so much as a cup o' tay in this
+kitchen. Not <i>wan</i> cup o' tay, mind ye!"</p>
+
+<p>We shook our heads commiseratingly. Angel
+flicked his last caraway seed at her&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Well," he said, with a wink, "you gave him
+something better than tea&mdash;I saw you!"</p>
+
+<p>"Aw, well, my dear," replied Mary Ellen, without
+smiling, "a man that do be boardin' all the
+time likes a little attintion sometimes&mdash;an' a taste
+o' home cookin'. Now hark to my plan. I mane
+to have a little feast of oyster stew, an' cake, an'
+coffee, an' the like this very night, fer Mr. Watlin
+an' me, an' yersilves. You kin have yours in the
+dining-room like little gintlemen, an' him an' me'll
+ate in the kitchen here. Thin, after the supper,
+ye kin come out an' hear Mr. Watlin play on the
+fiddle. He plays somethin' grand, havin' larned
+off the best masters. It'll be a rale treat fer ye!
+The missus 'll niver be the wiser, an' we'll all git
+a taste o' <i>freedom</i>, d'ye see?"</p>
+
+<p>We were unanimous in our approval, The Seraph
+expressing his by a somersault.</p>
+
+<p>"But," said Angel, "there's just one thing,
+Mary Ellen; if there's going to be a party you
+and Mr. Watlin have got to have yours in the
+dining-room the same as us. It'll be ever so much
+jollier, and more like a real party."</p>
+
+<p>"Thrue fer ye, Master Angel!" cried Mary
+Ellen heartily, "sure, there's noan o' the stiff-neck
+about ye, an' ye'll git yer fill av oysters an' cake
+fer that, mark my words! As fer my Mr.
+Watlin, there ain't a claner, smarter feller to be
+found annywheres. But, oh, if the mistress was
+to find it out&mdash;" she turned pale with apprehension.</p>
+
+<p>"How could she?" we assured her. Every curtain
+would be drawn, and, besides, Mrs. Handsomebody
+was not intimate with her neighbours.</p>
+
+<p>Mary Ellen gave us our cold mutton and rice
+pudding that day in free and easy fashion. She
+did not place the dishes and cutlery with that
+mathematical precision demanded of her by Mrs.
+Handsomebody, but scattered them over the cloth
+in a promiscuous way that we found very exhilarating.
+And, instead of Mrs. Handsomebody's
+austere figure dominating our repast, there was
+Mary Ellen, resting her red knuckles on the table-cloth,
+and fairly bubbling over with plans for the
+prospective entertainment of her lover! Our
+hearts went out to the good girl and her Mr. Watlin.
+We began to think of him as a dear friend.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, my dears," said she, when the meal was
+over, "take yourselves off while I clane up and do
+my shoppin', but fer pity's sake, don't lave the
+front garden, fer if annything was to happen to
+ye&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Angel cut her short with&mdash;"None of that Mary
+Ellen! This is <i>our</i> day too, and we shall do
+what we jolly well please!" He completed his
+protest by throwing himself bodily on the stout
+domestic, and The Seraph and I, though we had
+eaten to repletion, followed his example. Mary
+Ellen, howbeit, was a match for the three of us,
+and bundled us out of the side entrance into the
+laneway, triumphantly locking the door upon us.</p>
+
+<p>Without a look behind, we scampered to the
+street, and then stood still, staring at each other,
+dazzled by the vista that opened up before us&mdash;what
+to do with these glorious hours of freedom!</p>
+
+
+<h4>II</h4>
+
+<p>It was one of those late February days, when
+Nature, after months of frozen disregard for
+man, of a sudden smiles, and you see that her face
+has grown quite young, and that she is filled with
+gracious intent towards you. The bare limbs of
+the chestnut trees before the house looked shiny
+against the dim blue of the sky; they seemed to
+strain upward toward the light and warmth. A
+score of sparrows were busy on the roadway.</p>
+
+<p>After all, it was The Seraph who made the first
+dash, who took the bit in his milk-teeth, as it were;
+and, without a by-your-leave, strutted across the
+strip of sod to the road, and so set forth. He
+carried his head very high, and he would now and
+then shake it in that manner peculiar to the equine
+race. Angel and I followed closely with occasional caracoles, and cavortings, and scornful
+blowings through the nostrils. All three shied at
+a lamp-post. It needed no second glance to perceive
+that we were mettlesome steeds out for exercise,
+and feeling our oats.</p>
+
+<p>A very old gentleman with an umbrella and top
+hat saw us. He rushed to the curb waving his
+umbrella and crying, "Whoa, whoa," but we only
+arched our proud necks and broke into a gallop.
+How the pavement echoed under our flying hoofs!
+How warmly the sun glistened on our sleek coats!
+How pleasant the jingling sound of the harness
+and the smell of the harness oil!</p>
+
+<p>We left the decorous street we knew so
+well, and turned into narrow and untidy Henwood
+street. Shabby houses and shops were jumbled
+promiscuously together, and the pavement was
+full of holes. From the far end of it came the
+joyous tones of a hand-organ, vibrating on the
+early afternoon air. The eaves on the sunny
+side of the street were dripping. A fishmonger's
+shop sent forth its robust odour. The scarlet of
+a lobster caught our eyes as we flew past.</p>
+
+<p>Could it be possible that the player of the organ
+was our old friend Tony, to whose monkey
+we had often handed our coppers through the
+palings?</p>
+
+<p>We were horses no longer. Who had time for
+such pretence when Tony was grinding out "White
+Wings" with all his might? Angel and I took to
+the side-walk and ran with all speed, leaving the
+poor little Seraph pumping away in the rear, not
+quite certain whether he was horse or boy, but
+determined not to be outdistanced.</p>
+
+<p>It was indeed Tony, and his white teeth
+gleamed when he saw us coming, and his eyebrows
+went up to his hat brim at sight of us bareheaded
+and alone, who always handed our coppers
+through the palings. And Anita, the monkey,
+was there, looking rather pale and sickly after the
+long Winter, but full of pluck, grinning, as she
+doffed her gold-braided hat.</p>
+
+<p>Angel and The Seraph rarely had any money.
+The little allowance father gave us through Mrs.
+Handsomebody, burnt a hole in their pockets till
+it was expended on toffee or marshmallows. But
+I was made of different stuff, and by the end of
+the week, I was the financial strength of the trio.
+It was I, who now fished out a penny which Angel
+snatched from me. He craved the joy of the
+giver, and chuckled when Anita's small pink palm
+closed over the coin. But I was too happy to
+quarrel with him. Every one seemed in good-humour
+that day. Windows were pushed up and
+small change tossed out, or dropped in Anita's
+cup as she perched, chattering, on the sill. A
+stout grocer in his white apron gave her a little
+pink biscuit to nibble. Half-grown girls lolled
+on the handles of perambulators to listen, while
+their charges pulled faces of fear at the supple
+Anita.</p>
+
+<p>We three sat on the curb close to the organ,
+our small heads reeling with the melodies that
+thundered from it. When Tony moved on, we
+rose and followed him. At the next corner he
+rested his organ on its one leg and looked down
+at us.</p>
+
+<p>"You betta go home," he admonished, "your
+mamma not like."</p>
+
+<p>"We're going to run the streets today," I said,
+manfully, "Mrs. Handsomebody is away at a
+funeral."</p>
+
+<p>"A funer-al," repeated Tony, "she know&mdash;about
+dis?"</p>
+
+<p>"No&mdash;" I replied, "but Mary Ellen does."</p>
+
+<p>"She a beeg lady&mdash;dis Marie Ellen?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes. She's awfully big. Bigger than
+you, and strong&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, all right," said Tony, "but don' you get
+los'." We helped him to carry the organ. It
+was a new one he said, and very expensive to
+hire. We asked him endless questions we had
+always been wanting to ask&mdash;about Italy, and
+his parents, and sisters, and we told him about
+father in South America, and about the party
+that night for Mr. Watlin.</p>
+
+<p>From street to street we wandered till we were
+gloriously and irrevocably lost. Angel and I
+helped to grind the organ and The Seraph even
+presented himself at doors with Anita's little tin
+cup in his hand. And either because he was so
+little or his eyelashes were so long, he never
+came back empty-handed. Tony seemed well
+content with our company.</p>
+
+<p>So the afternoon sped on. Narrow alleys we
+played in, and wide streets, and once we passed
+through a crowded thoroughfare where we had
+to hug close to the organ, and once we met Tony's
+brother Salvator, who gave us each a long red
+banana.</p>
+
+<p>At last Tony, looking down at us with a smile,
+said:</p>
+
+<p>"Jus' one more tune here, then I tak' you
+home. See? De sun's gettin' low and dat little
+one's gettin' tired. I tak' you home in a minute."</p>
+
+<p>We, remembering the party, were nothing
+loath. Poor Mary Ellen would be in a state by
+now, and our legs had almost given out.</p>
+
+<p>This street was a quiet one. At the corner
+some untidy little girls danced on the pavement,
+while a group of boys stood by, loafing against
+the window of a small liquor shop, and occasionally
+scattering the girls by some threat of
+hair-pulling or kissing.</p>
+
+<p>The western sky was saffron. The eaves,
+that had been dripping all day, now wore silent
+rows of icicles. Possibly the little girls danced
+to keep warm. The Seraph began to whimper.</p>
+
+<p>"This air stwikes cold on my legs," he murmured.</p>
+
+<p>I sat down beside him on the curb, and we
+snuggled together for warmth.</p>
+
+<p>"Never mind, old sport," I whispered cheerily.
+"Just think of the goodies Mary Ellen's
+making for us! Pretty soon we'll be home."</p>
+
+<p>While I strove to revive The Seraph's flagging
+spirits, Angel had strolled along the street
+to watch the little girls. He had an eye for the
+gentle sex even when their fairness was disguised
+by dirty pinafores and stiff pigtails. I did not
+see what happened, but above the noise of the
+organ I heard first, shouts of derision and anger,
+and then my brother's voice crying out in pain.</p>
+
+<p>I pushed aside the clinging Seraph and ran to
+where I saw the two groups melted into one about
+a pair of combatants. The little girls parted
+to let me through. I saw then that the contending
+parties were Angel and a boy whose
+tousled head was fully six inches above my
+brother's. He had gripped Angel by the back
+of the neck with one hand, while with the other
+he struck blows that sounded horrible to me.
+Angel was hitting out wildly. When the boy
+saw me, he hooked his leg behind Angel's and
+threw him on his back with deadly ease, at the
+same time administering a kick in the stomach.
+He turned then to me with a leer.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, pretty," he simpered, "does yer want
+some too? I s'y fellers, 'ere's another Hangel
+comin' fer 'is dose. Put up yer little 'ooks then;
+an' I'll give yer two black 'osses an' a red driver!
+Aw, come on, sissy!"</p>
+
+<p>I tried to remember what father had said
+about fighting. "Don't clutch and don't paw.
+Strike out from the shoulder like a gentleman."
+So, while the boy was talking, I struck out from
+the shoulder right on the end of his nose with
+my shut fist.</p>
+
+<p>Whatever things I may achieve, never, ah,
+never shall I experience a thrill of triumph equal
+to that which made my blood dance when I saw
+a trickle&mdash;a goodly, rich red trickle!&mdash;of blood
+spurt from the bully's nose.</p>
+
+<p>"Ow! Ow! Wesley! Oo's got a red
+driver on 'is own?" shouted his comrades.
+"Plug aw'y little 'un!"</p>
+
+<p>He snarled horribly, showing his big front
+teeth. I could feel his breath hot on my face as
+he clutched me round the neck. I could see some
+boys holding Angel back, I could hear The
+Seraph's wail of "John! John!" Then, simultaneously
+there came a blow on my own nose, and
+a grasping of my collar, and a shaking that freed
+us of each other, for I was clutching him with
+fury equal to his own.</p>
+
+<p>A minute passed before I could regain possession
+of myself. The street reeled, the organ
+seemed to be grinding in my own head, and yet
+I found that it was not playing at all, for there
+was Tony with it on his back, looking anxiously
+into my face, and firing a volley of invective after
+the big boy, who was retreating with his mates.</p>
+
+<p>I looked up at the owner of the hand which
+still held my collar. He was a very thin young
+man with a pale face and quiet grey eyes.</p>
+
+<p>Tony began to offer incoherent explanations.</p>
+
+<p>"But who are they?" demanded the young
+man, "they don't seem to belong to this street."</p>
+
+<p>"No, no, no," reiterated Tony, "dey are little
+fr-riends of mine&mdash;dey come for a walk with
+me. Oh, I shall get into some trouble for dis,
+I tink! It was all dose damn boys dat bully
+heem, an' when I would run to help, dere was
+my Anita lef' on da organ, an' I mus' not lose
+her!"</p>
+
+<p>"It's all right," I explained to the young man,
+"we were just spending the afternoon with Tony,
+and it wasn't his fault we got to fighting, and&mdash;and
+did I do very badly please? Did you notice
+whether I pawed or not?"</p>
+
+<p>"By George!" said the young man, "you made
+the claret flow!"</p>
+
+<p>"It took two of them to hold me or I'd have
+got back at him," said Angel.</p>
+
+<p>"It took fwee o' them to hold <i>me</i>," piped
+The Seraph, "or I'd have punched evwybody!"</p>
+
+<p>"How did it start?" enquired the young man.</p>
+
+<p>"That biggest one asked me my name," replied
+Angel, "and before I thought I'd said,
+'Angel,' and that started them. Of course my
+real name is David, but I forgot for the moment."</p>
+
+<p>"Pet names <i>are</i> a nuisance sometimes," said
+the young man, smiling, "I had one once. It
+was John Peel. But no one calls me that now."</p>
+
+<p>"I will tak' dem home now," interrupted Tony.
+"Come," taking The Seraph's hand, "dere will
+be no more running da street for you little boys!"</p>
+
+<p>"I'll walk along, too," said the young man,
+"I've nothing else to do."</p>
+
+<p>I strode along at his side greatly elated. I
+was as hot as fire, and some of the gamin's
+blood was still on my hand. I cherished it
+secretly.</p>
+
+<p>Although the young man had quiet, even sad,
+eyes, it turned out that he was wonderfully interesting.
+He had travelled considerably, and
+had even visited South America, yet he could not
+have been an engineer like father, building railroads,
+for he looked very poor.</p>
+
+<p>I was sorry when we reached Mrs. Handsomebody's
+front door.</p>
+
+<p>"Good-bye," he said, holding out his hand.</p>
+
+<p>But a happy thought struck me. I told him
+about Mary Ellen's party. "And," I hurried
+on, "there'll be oysters and coffee and all sorts
+of good things to eat, and we'd like most awfully
+to have you join us if you will. Mary Ellen
+would be proud to entertain a friend of ours.
+Wouldn't she Angel?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, and Tony can come too!" cried Angel.
+"We'll have a <i>regular</i> party!"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, yes, I will come to da party," said Tony,
+quickly, "I am vera hungry. You will egsplain
+to Mees Marie Ellen, yes?"</p>
+
+<p>"John can 'splain <i>anything</i>," put in The
+Seraph.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, please come!" I pleaded, dragging the
+young man down the side passage. He suffered
+himself to be led as far as the back entrance,
+but, once there, he halted.</p>
+
+<p>"Tony and I shall wait here," he said, "and
+you'll go in and send your Mary Ellen out to
+inspect us. We shall see what she thinks of
+such a surprise party before we venture in, eh,
+Tony?" He gave a queer little laugh.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, yes," said Tony, "I will leave da organ
+out sida, but Anita mus' come in. She is vera
+good monk in a party."</p>
+
+
+<h4>III</h4>
+
+<p>We three entered breathlessly. Who can describe
+the babble of our explanations and appeals
+to Mary Ellen's hospitality, and her reproaches
+for the fright we had given her? Howbeit,
+when the first clamour subsided, we perceived
+that Mary Ellen's Mr. Watlin was ensconced
+behind the stove, looking tremendously dressed
+up and embarrassed. He now came forward
+and shook each of us by the hand, quite enveloping
+our little paws in a great expanse of warm thick
+flesh, smelling of scented soap.</p>
+
+<p>The greetings over, Mary Ellen and he conferred
+for a moment in the corner, then Mr.
+Watlin creaked across the kitchen on tiptoe (I
+fancy he could not yet bring himself to believe
+in Mrs. Handsomebody's entire absence from
+the house) and disappeared through the outer
+door into the yard where the young man and
+Tony and Anita waited.</p>
+
+<p>"Now," said Mary Ellen, sternly, "ye've just
+got to abide by Mr. Watlin's decision. If he
+says they're passable, why, in they come, an' if
+he gives 'em their walkin' ticket, well an' good,
+an' not a squeak out o' ye. I've had about
+enough o' yer actions for wan day!"</p>
+
+<p>"But he's a gentleman, Mary Ellen!" I insisted.</p>
+
+<p>"Ay, an' the monkey's a lady, no doubt! I
+know the kind!" I had never seen Mary Ellen
+so sour.</p>
+
+<p>But our fears for our friends were set at rest,
+for at that instant, the door opened and Mr.
+Watlin entered, followed by the young man and
+Tony, with Anita perching on his shoulder.
+Mary Ellen could not refrain from a broad
+smile at the spectacle. The kitchen was filled
+with delightful odours. The spirits of everyone
+seemed to rise at a bound.</p>
+
+<p>"Good-evening to ye, Tony," said Mary Ellen,
+and then she turned to our new friend.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know how you call yourself, sir," she
+said, bluntly.</p>
+
+<p>"You may call me Harry, if you will," he replied,
+after a slight hesitation.</p>
+
+<p>Mary Ellen, with a keen look at him, said,
+"Won't you sit down, sir? The victuals will be
+on the table in the dining-room directly. Mr.
+Watlin, would ye mind givin' me a hand with
+them dish-covers?"</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Watlin assisted Mary Ellen deftly, and
+with an air of proprietorship. He was a stout
+young man with a blond pompadour, and a
+smooth-shaven ruddy face. As soon as an opportunity
+offered, I asked him whether he had
+brought his fiddle. He smiled enigmatically.</p>
+
+<p>"You shall see wot you shall see, and 'ear wot
+you shall 'ear," he replied.</p>
+
+<p>In time the great tureen (Mrs. Handsomebody's
+silver plated one) was on the table and
+the guests were bidden to "sit in." Mary Ellen,
+full of dignity, seated herself in Mrs. Handsomebody's
+place behind the coffee urn, while Mr.
+Watlin drew forward the heavy armchair, which
+since the demise of Mr. Handsomebody, had
+been occupied by no one save the Unitarian minister
+when he took tea with us. Angel and The
+Seraph and I were ranged on one side of the table,
+and Tony and Harry on the other. Anita sat
+on the chair behind Tony, and every now and
+again she would push her head under his arm
+and peer shyly over the table, or reach with a
+thin little claw toward a morsel of food he was
+raising to his mouth.</p>
+
+<p>It would be impossible to conceive of seven
+people with finer appetites, or of a hostess more
+determined that her guests should do themselves
+injury from over-eating. Although two of our
+company were unexpected, there was more than
+enough for every one. The oysters were followed
+by a Bedfordshire pudding, potatoes, cold
+ham, celery, several sorts of pastry, oranges and
+coffee. It was when we reached the lighter portion
+of the feast that tongues were unloosed,
+and conviviality bloomed like an exotic flower in
+Mrs. Handsomebody's dining-room.</p>
+
+<p>Mary Ellen placed a plateful of scraps on the
+floor before Anita.</p>
+
+<p>She said, "That ought to stand to her, pore
+thing! She do be awful ganted."</p>
+
+<p>"These 'ere fancies is wot tikes me," said Mr.
+Watlin, helping himself to his third lemon turnover.
+"Sub-stantial food is all right. I
+shouldn't care to do without meat and the like,
+but it's the fancies that seems to tickle all the
+w'y down. Sub-stantial foods is like hugs, but
+fancies might come under the 'ead of kisses&mdash;you
+don't know when you get enough on 'em,
+hey Tony? You lika da kiss?"</p>
+
+<p>Tony turned up his palms.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, no, no, dey are not for a poor fella lak
+me!"</p>
+
+<p>"Watlin," said Harry, "did you say you were
+a Kent man?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ay, from Kent, the garden of England."</p>
+
+<p>"Are you related to Carrot Bill Watlin, then?"</p>
+
+<p>"Carrot Bill!" shouted Mr. Watlin, "Carrot
+Bill! Am I related to 'im? W'y 'e's my uncle,
+'e is! And do you know 'im then?"</p>
+
+<p>"I've seen him hundreds of times," said Harry.</p>
+
+<p>"There never was such a feller as Carrot Bill,"
+said Mr. Watlin, turning to us, "there ain't nobody
+in Kent can bunch carrots like 'im. W'y,
+truck-men from all over the county brings their
+carrots to Bill to be bunched, afore they tikes
+'em to Covent Garden Market! 'E trims 'em
+down just so, an' fits 'em together till you'd think
+they'd growed in bunches. An' they look that
+'andsome that they bring a penny more a bunch.
+An' to fancy you know 'im&mdash;well I never! Wot
+nime was it you said?"</p>
+
+<p>"Harry."</p>
+
+<p>"Ow, I meant your surnime."</p>
+
+<p>"Smith," said Harry, shortly.</p>
+
+<p>"Smith," meditated Mr. Watlin, "I know
+several Smiths in Kent. You're likely one on
+'em. Well, I must shake 'ands with you for the
+sake of Carrot Bill." He reached across the
+table and grasped Harry's hand in a hearty
+shake. Thereupon we drank a health to Carrot
+Bill in bottled beer; and this was followed by a
+toast to Mrs. Handsomebody, which somehow
+subdued us a little.</p>
+
+<p>"'Er brother is dead you s'y," reflected Mr.
+Watlin, "and 'ow hold a man might 'e be?"</p>
+
+<p>"Blessed if I know," replied Mary Ellen, "but
+he was years an' years younger than her. She
+brought him up, and from what I can find out,
+he turned out pretty bad."</p>
+
+<p>"Tck, tck." Mr. Watlin was moved. "It
+was very sad for the lidy, but 'e's dead now,
+poor chap! We must speak no ill of the dead."</p>
+
+<p>"It's a vewy bad fing to be dead," interposed
+The Seraph, sententiously, "you can't eat, you
+can't dwink, an' you just fly 'wound an' 'wound,
+lookin' for somefing to light on!"</p>
+
+<p>"Right-o, young gentleman!" said Mr. Watlin,
+"and put as couldn't be better. And the
+moral is, mike the most of our time wot's left!"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, fer my part," sighed Mary Ellen, "I've
+et so hearty, I feel like as though I'd a horse settin'
+on my stomick! Sure I don't know how to
+move."</p>
+
+<p>"A little pinch of bi-carbonate of soder will
+hease that, my dear," said her lover.</p>
+
+<p>"Please, <i>did</i> you bring your fiddle, Mr. Watlin?"
+pleaded Angel, "won't you play now?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, I lof da fiddle!" said Tony, caressing
+Anita's little head.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Watlin, thus importuned, disappeared for
+a space into the back hall, whence he finally
+emerged in his shirt sleeves, carrying the violin
+under his arm. We drew our chairs together
+at one end of the room, and watched him as he
+tuned the instrument, frowning sternly the while.</p>
+
+<p>"Lydies and gentleman," said he, "I 'ope
+you'll pardon me appearing before you in my
+waistcoat. I must not be 'ampered you see, wen
+I manipulate the bow. I must 'ave freedom.
+It's a grand thing freedom! Ah!"</p>
+
+<p>"He's gone as far as he can go on the fiddle,"
+explained Mary Ellen to the company. "Someday
+he'll give up the butchering business and take
+to music thorough."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Watlin now, with the violin tucked under
+his chin, began to play in a very spirited manner.
+Our pulses beat time to lively polka and schottische
+while Mr. Watlin tapped on the carpet
+with his large foot as he played. Mary Ellen
+was wild for a dance, she said.</p>
+
+<p>"Get up and 'ave a gow, then," encouraged
+Mr. Watlin, "you and 'Arry there!" But she,
+for some reason, would not, and Harry was not
+urgent.</p>
+
+<p>"I can play da fiddle a little," said Tony, as
+our artist paused for a rest.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Watlin clapped him good-humouredly on
+the shoulder. "Go to it then, my boy, give us
+your little tune! I'm out of form tonight, anyw'y."
+He pushed the violin patronizingly into
+Tony's brown hands.</p>
+
+<p>The Italian took it, oh, so lovingly, and, with
+an apologetic glance at Mr. Watlin, he tuned
+the strings to a different pitch. Anita climbed
+to the back of his neck.</p>
+
+<p>Then came music, flooding, trickling, laughing,
+from the bow of Tony! Italy you could see;
+and little, half-naked children, playing in the
+sleepy street! You could hear the tinkle of
+donkey bells, and the cooing of pigeons; you could
+see Tony's home as he was seeing it, and hear his
+sisters singing. It was Spring in Tuscany.</p>
+
+<p>The theme grew sad. It sang of loneliness.
+A lost child was wandering through the forest,
+who could not find his mother. It was very
+dark beneath the fir trees, and the wind made
+the boy shiver. His cry of&mdash;Mother!
+Mother! echoed in my heart and would not be
+hushed. I hid my face in the hollow of my arm
+and sobbed bitterly.</p>
+
+<p>The music ceased. Harry had me in his arms.</p>
+
+<p>"What's wrong, old fellow, was it something
+in Tony's music that hurt?"</p>
+
+<p>I nodded, clinging to him.</p>
+
+<p>"It's 'igh time 'e was in bed," said Mr. Watlin,
+taking the fiddle brusquely from the Italian's
+hands, "'e don't fancy doleful ditties, an' no more
+do I, hey Johnnie?"</p>
+
+<p>Tony only smiled at me. "I tink you like my
+music," he said.</p>
+
+<p>Harry now announced rather hurriedly that
+he must be going, and after he had said good-night
+to every one, and thanked Mary Ellen in a
+very manly way, he still kept my hand in his,
+and, together, we passed out of doors.</p>
+
+<p>It was frosty cold. The air came gratefully
+to my hot cheeks. Harry stared up at the stars
+in silence for a moment, then he said:</p>
+
+<p>"I want to tell you something, John, before
+I go. I don't know just how to make you understand.
+But I&mdash;I'm not the loafer you think I
+am&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I don't&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"No one but a loafer or a sponge would do
+what I've done tonight," he persisted, "but I
+came here because I like you little chaps so well&mdash;and&mdash;because&mdash;I
+was so infernally hungry.
+I hadn't eaten since last night, you know, and
+when I heard about the oysters and coffee, I just
+couldn't refuse, and&mdash;I came."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I'm sorry," I said, "I'm sorry, Harry!
+I like you awfully!"</p>
+
+<p>I gave him my hand and, hearing the voices
+of Mr. Watlin and Tony, he hurried to the street.</p>
+
+<p>I stumbled sleepily into the kitchen.</p>
+
+<p>"Och, do go to bed, Masther John!" exclaimed
+Mary Ellen, "you're as white as a cloth!
+Well, if you're sick tomorrow, ye must jist grin
+an' bear it! An' sure we <i>have</i> had a day of it,
+haven't we? Thim oysters was the clane thing!"</p>
+
+
+<h4>IV</h4>
+
+<p>She followed us to the foot of the stairs with
+a lamp. The shadows of the bannisters raced
+up the wall ahead of us, as she moved away.
+The Seraph gripped the back of my blouse. We
+stopped at the door of Mrs. Handsomebody's
+bedroom. Like Mrs. Handsomebody, it towered
+above us, pale and forbidding.</p>
+
+<p>"I dare you," said Angel, "to open it and stick
+your head in."</p>
+
+<p>I was too drowsy to be timid. I turned the
+handle and opened the door far enough to insert
+my round tow head.</p>
+
+<p>The room was unutterably still. A pale bluish
+light filtered through the long white curtains.
+The ghostly bed awaited its occupant. The door
+of a tall wardrobe stood open&mdash;did something
+stir inside? I withdrew my head and closed
+the door. Now I remembered that the room
+had smelled of black kid gloves. I shuddered.</p>
+
+<p>"You were afraid!" jeered Angel.</p>
+
+<p>"Not I. It was nothing to do."</p>
+
+<p>But when we were safe in bed and Mary Ellen
+had come and put out our light, I lay a-thinking
+of the empty room. Strange, when people went
+away and left you, how Something stayed behind!
+A shadowy, wistful something, that
+smelled of kid gloves!</p>
+
+<p>We slept till ten next morning. Mary Ellen
+superintended our baths. We were in a state
+to behold, she said, and she was apprehensive
+lest Mrs. Handsomebody should observe my
+swollen nose, for the big boy's fist had somewhat
+enlarged that unobtrusive feature.</p>
+
+<p>"Jist say ye've a bit of feverish cold if she
+remarks it," she cautioned, "people often swells
+up wid colds."</p>
+
+<p>We ate our bread and strawberry jam and milk
+from one end of the dining table. We heaped
+the bread with sugar, and stirred the jam into
+our milk. After breakfast, we played at knights
+and robbers in the schoolroom. It was a raw
+morning, and a Scotch mist dimmed the window
+pane.</p>
+
+<p>Angel and I were in the midst of a terrific fight
+over a princess whom he was bearing off to his robber
+cave (The Seraph, draped in a chenille table-cover,
+impersonating the princess) when we were
+interrupted by the tinkle of the dinner bell.</p>
+
+<p>How the morning had flown! Had she returned
+then? Was the funeral over? Had she
+heard our shouts? We descended the stairs with
+some misgivings and entered the dining-room in
+single file.</p>
+
+<p>Yes, she was there, standing by the table, her
+black dress looking blacker than ever! After
+a dry little kiss on each of our foreheads, she
+motioned us to seat ourselves, and took her own
+accustomed place behind the tea things. There
+was a solemn click of knives and forks. Mary
+Ellen waited on us primly. It was not to be
+thought that this was the same room in which
+we had feasted so uproariously on the night
+previous.</p>
+
+<p>Yet I stared at Mrs. Handsomebody and marvelled
+that she should suspect nothing. Did she
+get no whiff of the furry smell of Anita? Did
+no faint echo of Tony's music disturb her
+thoughts? What were her thoughts? Deep
+ones I was sure, for her brow was knit. Was
+she thinking of that brother on whom the Scotch
+mist was falling so remorselessly?</p>
+
+<p>The Seraph was speaking.</p>
+
+<p>"It's a vewy bad fing to be dead," he was saying
+reminiscently&mdash;, "you can't eat, you can't
+dwink, an' you jus' fly awound lookin' for somefing
+to light on!"</p>
+
+<p>I trembled for him, but Mrs. Handsomebody,
+lost in thought, gave no heed to him.</p>
+
+<p>At last she raised her eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"I hope you behaved yourselves well, and made
+profitable use of your time during my absence?"</p>
+
+<p>We made incoherent murmurs of assent.</p>
+
+<p>"Name the Channel Islands, John."</p>
+
+<p>"Guernsey, Jersey, Alderney, Sark, and
+Herm," I replied glibly. So much had I saved
+from the wreck of things ordained.</p>
+
+<p>"Correct. Are you through your dinners
+then? You may pass out. Ah, your nose, John;
+it looks quite red. What caused that?"</p>
+
+<p>I said that I believed I had an inward burning
+fever. I had embellished Mary Ellen's suggestion.</p>
+
+<p>"I hope you are not going to be ill," she
+sighed.</p>
+
+<p>It was not until Angel and I were back in the
+schoolroom, that we discovered the absence of The
+Seraph. We turned surprised looks on each
+other. Our junior seldom left our heels.</p>
+
+<p>"I remember now," reflected Angel, "that, as
+he passed her, she stopped him. I didn't think
+anything of it. What can she have found out?
+D'you s'pose she's pumping the kid?"</p>
+
+<p>We were left to our conjectures for fully a
+quarter of an hour. Then we heard him plodding
+leisurely up the stairs. We greeted him
+impatiently.</p>
+
+<p>"What's up? Did you blab? Whatever <i>did</i>
+she say?" We hurled the questions at him.</p>
+
+<p>The Seraph maintained an air of calm superiority.
+He even hopped from one floral wreath
+on the carpet to another, with his hands behind
+his back, as was his custom when he wished to
+reflect undisturbed. He ignored our importunities.</p>
+
+<p>Angel, in exasperation, took him by the collar.</p>
+
+<p>"You tell us why she kept you down there so
+long!"</p>
+
+<p>Thus cornered, The Seraph raised his large eyes
+to our inquiring faces with great solemnity.</p>
+
+<p>"She kept me," he said, "to cuddle me, an'
+to give me this&mdash;" he showed a white peppermint
+lozenge between his little teeth.</p>
+
+<p>To <i>cuddle</i> him. Was the world coming to an
+end?</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," he persisted, "she kept me to cuddle
+me, an' she was cwyin'&mdash;so there!"</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Handsomebody crying!</p>
+
+<p>"It's about her dead brother, of course,"
+said Angel. "That's why she cried."</p>
+
+<p>"No," said The Seraph, stoutly. "He was a
+<i>man</i>, an' she was cwyin' about a little <i>wee</i> boy
+like me, she used to cuddle long ago!"</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+
+
+<h2><i><a name="ch6">Chapter VI: D'ye Ken John
+Peel?</a></i></h2>
+
+
+<h4>I</h4>
+
+<p>Probably a little boy is never quite so happy
+as when he is worshipping and imitating a young
+man. From this time on my hero was Harry,
+about whom so fascinating an air of mystery
+hung that his lightest word was something to be
+treasured. I pictured him, hungry and alone,
+perhaps brooding over the Collect for next Sunday,
+or something of equal melancholy. I was
+always on the watch for his tall, slender figure,
+when we took our walks, but when we did meet
+again, it came as a surprise, and quite took me
+off my feet.</p>
+
+<p>A month had passed since Mary Ellen's party.
+It was a windy, sunny day in March, and great
+white clouds billowed in a clear sky&mdash;like clean
+clothes in a tub of blueing, Mary Ellen had said.
+I was sitting alone on the steps of the Cathedral.
+Angel was in the schoolroom writing his weekly
+letter to father, and The Seraph was suffering
+a bath at the hands of Mary Ellen, following an
+excursion into the remoter depths of the coal
+cellar.</p>
+
+<p>So I sat on the Cathedral steps alone. It was
+a fine morning for flights of the imagination.
+The soft thunder of the Cathedral organ became
+at my will the booming of the surf on a distant
+coral reef. The pigeons wheeling overhead became
+gulls, whimpering in the cordage. Little
+did the ancient caretaker reck, as he swept the
+stretch of flagging before the carved door, that he
+was washing off the deck of a frigate, whilst I, the
+rover of the seas, kept a stern eye on him.
+Louder boomed the surf&mdash;then soft again. The
+door behind me had opened and closed. The
+deck-washer touched his cap. Then the Bishop
+stood above me, smiling, the sun glinting in his
+blue eyes and on the buttons of his gaiters.</p>
+
+<p>"Hal-<i>lo</i>, John," he said. "What's the game
+this morning. Seafaring as usual?"</p>
+
+<p>I nodded, "She's as saucy a frigate," I answered
+happily, "as ever sailed the seas, and this
+here wild weather is just a frolic for her. But
+I don't like the look of yon black craft to the
+windward." And I pointed to a dustman's cart
+that had just hove into view.</p>
+
+<p>"I entirely agree with you," replied the Bishop.
+"She looks as though she were out on dirty business.
+I'd like nothing better than to stay and see
+you make short work of her, but here it is Friday morning, and not a blessed word of my sermon
+written, so I must be getting on." And with
+that he strode down the street to his own house.
+I was alone again watching the approaching vessel
+with suspicion. Then, above the thrashing of
+the spray, I heard my name spoken by a voice
+I knew, and turning looked straight up into
+Harry's face.</p>
+
+<p>"John!" he repeated. "What luck. I have
+been watching for you for days, you little hermit!"</p>
+
+<p>"Watching for me, Harry?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," he proceeded, "and the one time I saw
+you, that starched governess of yours had you
+gripped by the hand&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>&mdash;"just like any old baby girl," I broke in.</p>
+
+<p>Harry laughed and shook my hand enthusiastically.
+I saw that he was even thinner than
+before. Was he, I wondered, "infernally hungry"
+at this very minute?</p>
+
+<p>"John," he said, looking into my eyes: "You
+can help me if you will. We're friends, aren't
+we?"</p>
+
+<p>I let him see that I was all on fire to help him,
+and it was then that he made his wonderful suggestion.</p>
+
+<p>"Would it be possible to evade your governess
+long enough to come and have a bite with
+me?"</p>
+
+<p>Dinner with Harry! In his own room! What
+an adventure to repeat to Angel and The Seraph!
+Without further parley I set off down Henwood
+street at a trot lest Mrs. Handsomebody should
+spy me from her bedroom window, in a fateful
+way she had. Harry hurried after me, catching
+my arm and drawing me close to him.</p>
+
+<p>"What a plucky little shaver you are, John,"
+he said. "I know she's a corker, but I think you
+and I are a match for her, eh?"</p>
+
+<p>I strode beside him breathless. I felt taller,
+stronger, than ever before. By contrast with our
+masculinity Mrs. Handsomebody seemed a rather
+pitiful old woman.</p>
+
+<p>We spoke little, but hurried through many
+streets, till, at last, we came to the narrow dingy
+one where I had first seen Harry. We turned
+down an alley beside a green grocer's shop and
+entered a narrow doorway into the strangest
+passage I had ever seen.</p>
+
+<p>It was damp and chill. The floor was paved
+with dark red bricks and the walls were stone.
+On our left I glimpsed a dim closet where a
+woman with fat arms was dipping milk out of
+what looked like a zinc-covered box. On our
+right rose the steepest, most winding staircase imaginable;
+and close to the wall beside the stairs
+towered a giant grapevine whose stem was as
+thick as a man's arm. After an eccentric curve
+or two, this amazing vine disappeared through a
+convenient hole in the roof. I was lost in admiration
+and should have liked to stop and examine
+it, but Harry urged me up the stairs.</p>
+
+<p>"How is that for steep?" he demanded, at the
+top. "Winded, eh? Now these are my digs,
+John&mdash;" and he threw open a door with a flourish.</p>
+
+<p>It was a shabby little room with a threadbare
+carpet, yet it wore an air of adventure somehow.
+The lamp shade had a daring tilt to it; the blind
+had been run up askew; and the red table cover
+had been pushed back to make room for a mound
+of books. Harry's bed looked as though he had
+been having a pillow fight. Surely not with the
+fat lady downstairs.</p>
+
+<p>Harry was clearing the table by tossing the
+books into the middle of the bed. "We're going
+to have tea directly," he explained. "Can't you
+hear her puffing up the stairs? I expect a catastrophe
+every time she does it." He set two chairs
+at the table and gazed eagerly at the doorway.</p>
+
+<p>She appeared at last with heaving bosom carrying
+a large tray, and began to lay the table. I
+observed with great interest that she was placing
+a whole kidney for each of us, and that there were
+also potato chips and six jam puffs. Harry bade
+me sit down with the air of one who entertains a
+guest of importance; I swelled with pride as I attacked
+the kidney.</p>
+
+<p>Harry, sitting opposite, eating with a gusto
+equal to my own, seemed to me the most perfect
+and luckiest of mortals.</p>
+
+<p>"Harry!" I got it out through my mouth full
+of potato chips, "Harry, I say! Do you always
+have jolly things like these to eat?"</p>
+
+<p>He gave a short laugh.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, no, my John! On the contrary there are
+many times when I do not eat at all. However,
+I paid a visit to an uncle of mine yesterday, who
+gave me so much money that I shall live well for
+some time to come, but&mdash;I shall never know the
+time o'day."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, but that's fine&mdash;" I cried, "Not to know
+the time! I wish I didn't for it's always time to
+go to bed, or do lessons, or take a tiresome walk
+with Mrs. Handsomebody."</p>
+
+<p>Harry stared hard at me. "What do you suppose,"
+he asked, "she'll do to you, for skipping
+dinner? Something pretty hot?"</p>
+
+<p>"I dunno," I returned. "It's a new sort of
+badness. P'raps I'll have to do without tea, or
+maybe she'll write to father&mdash;she's always threatening.
+Don't let's talk about it."</p>
+
+<p>"She appears to be a rather poisonous old
+party," commented Harry. "I see that it behooves
+me to get to business and tell you just why
+I brought you here." He pushed back his plate
+and took from his pocket a short thick pipe and
+lighted it.</p>
+
+<p>"Now John," he smiled, "just finish up those
+jam puffs. Don't leave one, or my landlady will
+eat it, and she has double chins enough. I want
+to talk to you as man to man."</p>
+
+<p>Man to man! How I wished that Angel could
+see me, being made the confidant of Harry! I
+helped myself to my third jam puff with an air of
+cool deliberation.</p>
+
+<p>"Now&mdash;" Harry leant across the table, his
+eyes on mine, "What sort of looking man would
+you expect my father to be, John?"</p>
+
+<p>I studied Harry and hazarded&mdash;"A brown
+face, and awfully thin, and greenish eyes, and
+crinkly brown hair."</p>
+
+<p>"Wrong!" cried Harry, smiting the table.
+"My father's got a full pink face, the bluest of
+eyes and a fine head of white hair, which, I am
+afraid I helped to whiten, worse luck!"</p>
+
+<p>"He sounds nice," I commented.</p>
+
+<p>"He is. Now what do you suppose my father
+<i>does</i>, John?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not a <i>pirate</i>!" but I said it hopefully.</p>
+
+<p>"Far from it. He's a bishop."</p>
+
+<p>"Hurray!" I cried. "Our best friend is a
+bishop. He lives right next door to us."</p>
+
+<p>"The very man," said Harry. "He's my
+father."</p>
+
+<p>I was incredulous.</p>
+
+<p>"But he's only got his niece, Margery, and his
+butler, and his cook! The cook's awfully good
+to him. Makes his favorite pudding any day he
+wants it."</p>
+
+<p>"Ay, but he's got me too," said Harry solemnly,
+"or, at least, he <i>should</i> have me. We're
+at the outs."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, then, all you have to do is to make
+friends, isn't it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not so simple as it sounds," replied Harry
+gloomily.</p>
+
+<p>"I have been a bad son to him." He rose abruptly
+and began walking up and down the room.
+I got to my feet too, and strode beside him,
+hands deep in pockets. I longed for a short
+thick pipe.</p>
+
+<p>"I never did what he wanted me to," pursued
+Harry. "He wanted me to stick at college and
+make something of myself, but all I cared to do
+was to knock about with chaps who weren't good
+for me, and I simply wouldn't study. So we had
+words. Hot ones too. I left home with a little
+money my mother had left me. I was twenty-one
+then&mdash;five years ago." He looked down in my
+face with his sudden smile. "You're a rum little
+toad," he said. "I like to talk to you, John."</p>
+
+<p>I thought: "When I'm a man I'll have a pipe
+like that, and hold it in my teeth when I talk."</p>
+
+<p>Harry sat down on the side of his tumbled bed
+clasping an ankle.</p>
+
+<p>"For three years," he went on, "I knocked
+about from one country to another seeing the
+world, till at last all my money was gone. Then
+I came back to England but I wouldn't go to my
+father until I had done something that would
+justify myself&mdash;make him proud of me. It
+seemed to me that I could become a great actor
+if I had a chance. Very well. After a lot of
+waiting and disappointments I got an engagement
+with a third rate company that travelled
+mostly on one-night stands&mdash;you understand?</p>
+
+<p>"I have been at it ever since, playing all sorts
+of parts&mdash;companies breaking up without salaries
+being paid&mdash;then another just as bad&mdash;cheap
+lodgings&mdash;bad food&mdash;and long stretches of being
+out of a job altogether. I am that way now.
+I have only seen my father once in all this time.
+It was simply&mdash;well&mdash;" He gave his funny
+smile and shook his head ruefully.</p>
+
+<p>I leaned over the foot of the bed staring
+expectantly.</p>
+
+<p>"We had arrived one Sunday morning in a
+small town, and were trailing wearily down the
+street just as the people were going to morning
+service. Suddenly, as I was passing a large
+church, I saw my father alight from the carriage
+at the door. I found out afterwards that he
+had come to conduct a special service. He was
+so near that I could have touched him, but I just
+stood, rooted to the spot, so beastly ashamed
+you know, with my shabby travelling bag behind
+me, and my heart pounding away like Billy-ho!"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I wish he'd seen you!" I cried, "he'd
+have made it up like a shot."</p>
+
+<p>Harry blew a great cloud of smoke. "Well,
+I want to sneak back to him, John&mdash;but&mdash;here's
+the rub&mdash;<i>perhaps Margery does not want me</i>."
+He sucked gloomily at his pipe for a bit in silence,
+then taking it from his mouth he stabbed at me
+with the stem of it.</p>
+
+<p>"This is where you come in my friend. You'd
+like to help, wouldn't you?"</p>
+
+<p>I nodded emphatically.</p>
+
+<p>"This, then, is what I want you to do. Find
+Margery this afternoon and say to her: 'Margery,
+I've met your cousin Harry. Would you
+like to have him come home again?' Watch her
+face then&mdash;you're a shrewd little fellow&mdash;and if
+she looks happy and pleased about it you must
+let me know, but if she looks glum and as if her
+plans had been upset, you must tell me just the
+same. Never mind what she says, watch her
+face. Will you do it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Rather!" We shook hands on it.</p>
+
+<p>"But&mdash;" I asked, "when shall I see you? I
+daren't come here again, I'm afraid."</p>
+
+<p>"Tomorrow is Saturday," he replied thoughtfully.
+"The Bishop will keep to his study till
+noon&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"And Mrs. Handsomebody goes to market!"
+I chimed in.</p>
+
+<p>"Good. I'll be at the Cathedral corner at ten
+o'clock. Meet me there. Now you'd better cut
+home."</p>
+
+<p>He took my arm and led me down the strange
+winding stairway, through the cool damp passage
+where the grapevine grew, to the sunken doorstep.</p>
+
+<p>"Know your way home?" he demanded.
+"Right-o! I depend on you, John. And mind
+you watch her face, <i>like a cat</i>. Good-bye!"
+And he affectionately squeezed my arm.</p>
+
+
+<h4>II</h4>
+
+<p>I set off as fast as my legs could carry me;
+and the nearer home I drew, the greater became
+my fear of Mrs. Handsomebody. What would
+she say? Dinner would be over long ago I knew.
+My steps began to lag as I reached the Cathedral
+corner. The great grey pile usually so friendly
+now rose before me gloomily. Inside, the organ
+boomed like an accusing voice. My heart sank.
+Mrs. Handsomebody's house with the blinds
+drawn three-quarters of the way down the windows
+seemed to watch my approach with an air
+of cold cynicism.</p>
+
+<p>Softly I turned the door-knob and entered the
+dim hall. All was quiet, a quiet pervaded by
+the familiar smell of old fabrics, bygone meals,
+and umbrellas. The white door of the parlour
+towered like a ghost. I put my arm across my
+eyes and began to cry.</p>
+
+<p>At first I only snivelled, but surrendered myself
+after a few successful ventures, to a loud despairing
+roar.</p>
+
+<p>I could see the blurred image of Mrs. Handsomebody
+standing at the top of the stairs. I
+heard her sharp command to mount them instantly,
+and I began to grope my way up, hanging
+by the bannister.</p>
+
+<p>When I had gained the top, her angular hand
+grasped my shoulder and pushed me before her,
+into the schoolroom. The Seraph's eyes were
+large with sympathy, but Angel grinned maliciously.
+Our governess seated herself beside her
+desk and placed me in front of her.</p>
+
+<p>"Now," she said, in a voice of cold anger,
+"will <i>you</i> be good enough to explain your strange
+conduct? Where have you been all this while?"</p>
+
+<p>"Sittin' on the Cathedral steps," I sobbed.</p>
+
+<p>"That is a falsehood, John. Twice I sent
+David to search for you there and both
+times he reported that you were nowhere
+in sight. <i>Where were you?</i> Answer truthfully
+or it will be the worse for you."</p>
+
+<p>"I h-hid when I saw him comin'," I stammered,
+"I was too s-sick to come home." Surely
+this would affect her!</p>
+
+<p>She stared incredulously. "Sick! Where are
+you sick?"</p>
+
+<p>"All o-ver."</p>
+
+<p>"Take your hand from your eyes. What
+made you sick?"</p>
+
+<p>"I f-fell."</p>
+
+<p>"Fell!" her tone was contemptuous. "Where
+did you fall?"</p>
+
+<p>"D-down."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Handsomebody became ironical.</p>
+
+<p>"How <i>extraordinary</i>! I have never heard of
+people falling up."</p>
+
+<p>"They can fall out," interrupted Angel.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Handsomebody rapped her ruler in his
+direction.</p>
+
+<p>"Silence!" she gobbled. "Not another word
+from you." Then, turning to me&mdash;"You say
+that you fell down, hurt yourself, and have since
+been in hiding. Now tell me <i>precisely</i> what happened
+from the moment that you ventured beyond
+the bounds I have prescribed for you."</p>
+
+<p>There was no use in hedging. I saw that there
+was nothing for it but to drown this woman out;
+so I raised my voice and drowned her out.</p>
+
+<p>My next sensation was that of a scuffle, several
+sharp smacks with the ruler, and at last being
+sat down very hard on a chair in our bedroom.
+Mrs. Handsomebody was standing in the doorway.
+I had never seen her with so high a colour.</p>
+
+<p>"You will remain in that chair," she commanded,
+"until tea time. Do not loll on the
+bed. And you may rest assured that I shall
+leave no stone unturned till I have discovered
+every detail of this prank. It is at such times
+as these that I regret ever having undertaken
+the charge of three such unruly boys. It is only
+the high regard in which I hold your father that
+makes it tolerable. I hope you will take advantage
+of your solitude to review thoroughly
+your past."</p>
+
+<p>She closed the door with deliberate forebearance,
+then I heard the key click in the lock
+and her inexorable retreating footsteps.</p>
+
+<p>I found my wad of a handkerchief and rubbed
+my cheeks. I had stopped crying but my
+body still was shaken. For a long time I sat
+staring straight before me busy with plans for
+the afternoon. Then I fell asleep.</p>
+
+<p>A soft thumping on the panel of the door
+roused me at last. I felt stiff and rather desolate.</p>
+
+<p>"John!" It was The Seraph's voice. "I say,
+John! You should be a dwagon, an' when I
+kick on the door you should woar fwightfully."</p>
+
+<p>"Where's <i>she</i>?" 'Twas thus we designated
+our governess.</p>
+
+<p>"Gone away out. Will you be a dwagon,
+John?"</p>
+
+<p>Obligingly I dropped to my hands and knees
+and ambled to the door. The Seraph kicked it
+vigorously and I began to roar. I was pleased
+to find that so much crying had left my voice
+very husky so that I could indeed roar horribly.
+The louder The Seraph kicked the louder I
+roared. It was exhausting, and I had had about
+enough of it when I heard Mary Ellen pounding
+up the uncarpeted back stairs.</p>
+
+<p>"If you kick that dure onct more&mdash;" she panted&mdash;"ye
+little tormint&mdash;I'll put a tin ear on ye!
+As fer you, Masther John, 'tis yersilf has a voice
+like young thunder!"</p>
+
+<p>She unlocked the door and threw it wide open;
+Angel and The Seraph crowded in after her.
+Mary Ellen's sleeves were rolled above her
+elbows, her red face was covered with little beads
+of perspiration, and she wore large goloshes. A
+savour of soap suds, mops, and the corners of old
+pantries, emanated from her. She extended to
+me a moist palm on which lay a thick slice of
+bread spread with cold veal gravy.</p>
+
+<p>"This," said she, "is to stay ye till tea-time;
+an' now let me git back to me scrubbin' or the
+suds'll be all dried up on me."</p>
+
+<p>But I caught her apron and held her fast.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, don't go, Mary Ellen!" I begged, "I've
+something awfully interesting to tell you. Do
+sit down!"</p>
+
+<p>"I will not thin. And you've nothin' to tell
+me that I haven't got be heart already."</p>
+
+<p>"But this is about Harry, who had supper with
+us and Mr. Watlin and Tony. It's a most surprising
+adventure. Just wait and hear." I
+dragged her to a chair.</p>
+
+<p>She settled back with a smile of relaxation.
+"Aw well," she remarked, "who would be foriver
+workin' fer small pay an' little thanks? Out
+wid your story my lambie." And she drew The
+Seraph on her ample lap.</p>
+
+<p>So while they clustered about me I told my
+whole adventure, ending with Harry's plea that
+I interview Margery on his behalf.</p>
+
+<p>"It's a 'normous responsibility," I sighed.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't you worry," said Mary Ellen, "she'll
+want him home fast enough, a fine young gintleman
+like him. Now I'm minded of it, their cook
+did tell me that the Bishop had a son that was a
+regular playboy.</p>
+
+<p>"He's not a playboy," I retorted. "He's
+splendid&mdash;and <i>please</i> Mary Ellen, there's something
+I want you to do for me. You must let
+me go this minute to see Margery and find out
+if she wants him back again."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, she'll have him, no fear." This with a
+broad smile.</p>
+
+<p>"But I've got to <i>ask</i> her. I promised. It's
+a 'normous responsibility. Will you <i>please</i> let
+me, Mary El-len?"</p>
+
+<p>"I will not," replied Mary Ellen, firmly.
+"It'ud be as much as my place is worth."</p>
+
+<p>I began to cry. Angel came to the rescue.</p>
+
+<p>"Be a sport, Mary Ellen. Let him go. I'll
+stand at the gate and if I see the Dragon coming,
+I'll pass the tip to John, and he can cut over
+the garden wall and be in the room before she
+gets to the front door."</p>
+
+<p>Mary Ellen threw up her hands. She never
+could resist Angel's coaxing. "God save Ireland,"
+she groaned, and, dropping The Seraph,
+clattered back to the kitchen.</p>
+
+<p>The Seraph stood like a rumpled robin where
+she had deposited him. He had confided to me
+once that he rather liked being nursed by Mary
+Ellen, though the heaving of her bosom bothered
+him. He was far too polite to tell her this: but
+now that she was gone, he hunched his shoulders,
+stretched his neck and breathed&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"What a welief!&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>I found Margery alone in the drawing-room.
+People had just been, for teacups were standing
+about, and a single muffin lay in a silver muffin
+dish. Even in the stress of my mission its isolation
+appealed to me.</p>
+
+<p>Margery was doing something to a bowl of
+roses but she looked up, startled at my appearance.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, John!" she exclaimed, "what is the matter
+with you? Have you been crying? Your
+face is awfully smudgy."</p>
+
+<p>"Sorry," I replied, "I wasn't crying but I'm
+on very particular business and I hadn't time to
+wash." I went at it, hammer and tongs, then&mdash;"It's
+about Harry. He wants to know if you'll
+have him home again."</p>
+
+<p>Margery looked just puzzled.</p>
+
+<p>"Harry! Harry who?"</p>
+
+<p>"Your Harry," I replied, manfully. "The
+Bishop's Harry." And I poured out the whole
+story of my meeting with Harry and his passionate
+desire to come home. All the while, I
+anxiously watched Margery's face for signs of
+joy or disapproval. It was pale and still as the
+face of a white moth, but when she spoke her
+words fell on my budding hopes like cold rain.
+She put her hands on my shoulders and said
+earnestly:</p>
+
+<p>"You must tell him not to come, John. It
+would be such a great pity! The Bishop is quite,
+quite used to being without him now, and it would
+upset him dreadfully to try to forgive Harry.
+I don't believe he could. And he and I are so
+contented. Harry would be very disturbing&mdash;you
+see, he's such a restless young man, John;
+and he hasn't been at all kind to his father. He's
+done&mdash;things&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"But you don't know him!" I interrupted.
+"He's splendid!"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't <i>want</i> to know him," Margery persisted.
+"He's a very&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>I could let this thing go no further. Here
+was another woman who must be drowned out.
+I raised my voice, therefore, and almost
+shouted&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you've got to know him! He's coming
+home tomorrow night. At seven. He
+wants his bed got ready. So there."</p>
+
+<p>Margery sat down. She got quite red.</p>
+
+<p>"Why didn't you tell me this before?" she demanded.</p>
+
+<p>"'Cos I was breaking it to you gently, like
+they do accidents," I answered calmly.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly Margery began to laugh hysterically.
+She pressed her palms against her cheeks and
+laughed and laughed. Then she said:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"John, you're a most extraordinary boy."</p>
+
+<p>I thought so too, but I said, modestly&mdash;"Oh,
+well. Somebody had to do it." Then, in the
+flush of my triumph I remembered Mrs. Handsomebody.
+"But, oh, I say, I must be going!
+And&mdash;please&mdash;would it matter much if we were
+here to see him come home? We'd be very
+quiet."</p>
+
+<p>Margery looked relieved. "I believe it would
+help&mdash;" she said. "It will be rather difficult.
+Yes, do come. Ask your governess if you may
+spend an hour with Uncle and me between your
+tea and bedtime. And, oh, John, that muffin
+looks wretchedly lonely."</p>
+
+<p>Outside, I divided the spoils with Angel.</p>
+
+<p>"Well&mdash;" he demanded, his mouth full of
+muffin&mdash;"shewanimbagagen?"</p>
+
+<p>"Rather," I cried, joyously. "I managed the
+whole thing. And we're to be there at seven to
+see him come."</p>
+
+<p>We raced to the kitchen and told Mary Ellen,
+who was promptly impressed, but The Seraph
+after a close scrutiny of us, said bitterly&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"There's cwumbs on your faces!"</p>
+
+<p>"Cwumbs on your own face, old sillybilly!"
+mocked Angel, "and what's more, they're sugar
+cwumbs!"</p>
+
+
+<h4>III</h4>
+
+<p>As fate would have it, Mrs. Handsomebody
+decreed that I should not leave the house on
+Saturday morning, and she, having a spell of
+sciatica did not go to market, as usual; so there
+I was, unable to meet Harry on the cathedral
+steps, as I had promised. It simply meant that
+Angel must undertake the mission, while I kicked
+my heels in the schoolroom.</p>
+
+<p>He undertook it with a careless alacrity that
+was very irritating to one who longed to finish,
+in his own fashion, an undertaking that had, so
+far, been carried on with masterly diplomacy.</p>
+
+<p>The Seraph went with Angel, and it seemed
+a long hour indeed till I heard the longed-for
+footsteps hurrying up the stairs. The door was
+thrown open, and they burst in rosy and wind-blown.</p>
+
+<p>"It's all right," announced Angel briskly.
+"He'll be there sharp at seven, and he's jolly
+glad that we're to be there too!"</p>
+
+<p>"And did you tell him?" I asked rather plaintively,
+"that I had done the whole thing?"</p>
+
+<p>"Course I did."</p>
+
+<p>"What did he say when you told him he was
+to come home?"</p>
+
+<p>"He slapped his leg&mdash;" Angel gave his own
+leg a vigorous slap in illustration&mdash;"and said&mdash;'once
+aboard the lugger, and the girl is mine!'"</p>
+
+<p>It was a fascinating and cryptic utterance. We
+all tried it on varying notes of exultation. It
+put zest into what otherwise would have been a
+dragging day. By tea-time our legs were sore
+with whacking.</p>
+
+<p>Came the hour at last. We set out holding
+each other by moist clean hands, an admonishing
+Mrs. Handsomebody on the doorsill.</p>
+
+<p>Our hearts were high with excitement when
+we were shown ceremoniously into the Bishop's
+library, where he and Margery were sitting in
+the dancing firelight. We loved the dark-panelled
+room where we were always made so
+happy. At Mrs. Handsomebody's we could
+never do anything right, mugs of milk had a spiteful
+way of tilting over on the table-cloth without
+ever having been touched, but we could handle
+the things in the Chinese cabinet here or play
+carpet ball on the rug in the most seemly fashion.</p>
+
+<p>No one could tell stories like the Bishop, and
+after we had played for a bit, and The Seraph
+had demonstrated, on the hearthrug, how he
+could turn a somersault, some one suggested a
+story.</p>
+
+<p>I often thought it a pity that those, who only
+heard the Bishop preach, should never know how
+his great talents were wasted in that r&ocirc;le. It
+took the "Arabian Nights" to bring out the deep
+thrill of his sonorous voice, and his power of filling
+the human heart with delicious fear.</p>
+
+<p>Now we perched about him listening with rapt
+eyes to the tale of Ali Baba. We wished there
+were more women like the faithful Morgiana with
+her pot of boiling oil. The Seraph, especially,
+revelled in the thought of those poor devils of
+thieves, each simmering away in his own jar.</p>
+
+<p>There fell a silence when the story was
+finished, and I was just casting about in my mind
+for the next one I should beg, when, Angel, looking
+at the clock, suddenly asked:</p>
+
+<p>"Bishop, will you sing? Will you please sing
+us a nice old song 'stead of a story? Sing 'John
+Peel,' won't you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Please sing 'John Peel'!" echoed The Seraph.</p>
+
+<p>The Bishop seemed loath to sing "John Peel."
+It was years since he had sung it, he said; he had
+almost forgotten the words. But when Margery
+joined her persuasions to ours, he consented
+to sing just one verse and the chorus. So
+he sang (but rather softly);</p>
+
+<div class="poem"> <div class="stanza">
+<p>"D'ye ken John Peel, with his coat so grey?</p>
+<p class="i2">D'ye ken John Peel, at the break of day?</p>
+<p>D'ye ken John Peel, when he's far, far away,</p>
+<p class="i2">With his hounds and his horn in the morning?"</p>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Before he had time to begin the chorus, it was
+taken up by a mellow baritone voice in the hall.
+It began softly too, but when it reached the
+"View halloo," it rang boldly.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"> <div class="stanza">
+<p>"For the sound of his horn brought me from my bed,</p>
+<p class="i2">And the cry of his hounds, which he oft-times led,</p>
+<p>Peel's 'View halloo!' would awaken the dead,</p>
+<p class="i2">Or the fox from his lair in the morning."</p>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>The Bishop never moved a muscle till the last
+note died away, then he shook us off him, took
+three strides to the door, and swept the curtains
+back. Harry stood in the doorway with a rather
+shame-faced smile.</p>
+
+<p>"Good God!" exclaimed the Bishop.
+"Harry!" Then he put his arms around him
+and kissed him.</p>
+
+<p>I threw a triumphant glance at Margery. It
+hadn't hurt the Bishop at all to forgive Harry.</p>
+
+<p>"It was all the doing of these kids," Harry
+was saying, "if they hadn't cleared the way, I'd
+never have dared. John engineered everything.
+As a diplomat he's a pocket marvel."</p>
+
+<p>He and Margery gave each other a very funny
+look. I should like to have heard their later
+conversation.</p>
+
+<p>"They're good boys," said the Bishop, with
+an arm still around Harry, "capital boys, and
+if their governess will let them come to dinner
+tomorrow we'll have a sort of party, and talk
+everything over. I think cook would make a
+blackberry pudding. Will you arrange it Margery?
+Just now I want&mdash;" He said no more,
+but he and Harry gripped hands.</p>
+
+<p>Margery herded us gently into the hall, and
+gave us each two chocolate bars.</p>
+
+<p>Going home under the first pale stars, we were
+three rollicking blades indeed. We no longer
+held hands, but we hooked arms, and swaggered
+and we did not ring the bell till the last vestige of
+chocolate was gone.</p>
+
+<p>As we waited for Mary Ellen, I said, suddenly
+to Angel:</p>
+
+<p>"Angel, what made you ask the Bishop to sing
+'John Peel'? Did you know Harry was going
+to sing in the hall?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Harry and I fixed that up this morning,"
+replied my senior, airily. "I kept it to myself,
+'cos I didn't want any interference, see?"</p>
+
+<p>Mary Ellen, opening the door at this moment,
+prevented a scuffle, though I was in too happy a
+mood to quarrel with any one.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Handsomebody was surprisingly civil
+about our visit. She showed great interest in
+the return of the Bishop's only son. Was he a
+nice young man? she asked. Was he nice-looking?
+Did the Bishop appear to be overjoyed to
+see him?</p>
+
+<p>We three were seated on three stiff-backed
+chairs, our backs to the wall. Angel and I told
+her as much as was good for her to know of the
+adventure.</p>
+
+<p>The Seraph felt that he was being ignored,
+so when a pause came, he remarked in that
+throaty little voice of his:</p>
+
+<p>"It's a vewy bad fing to be boiled in oil."</p>
+
+<p>"What's that?" snapped Mrs. Handsomebody.
+"Say that again!"</p>
+
+<p>"It's a vewy bad fing to be boiled in oil," reiterated
+The Seraph suavely, "thirty-nine of 'em
+there was&mdash;for the captain was stabbed alweady&mdash;boilin'
+away in oil. Their <i>ears was full of it</i>."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Handsomebody gripped the arms of her
+chair, and leaned towards him.</p>
+
+<p>"Alexander, I have never known a child of
+such tender years to possess so unquenchable a lust
+for frightfulness. It must be eradicated at all
+costs."</p>
+
+<p>The Seraph stood, then, balancing himself on
+the rung of his chair,</p>
+
+<p>"'Once aboard the lugger,'" he sang out, slapping
+his plump little thigh, "'and the gell is
+mine!'"</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Handsomebody sank back in her chair.
+She said:</p>
+
+<p>"This is appalling. David&mdash;John&mdash;take your
+little brother to bed instantly! Take him out
+of my hearing."</p>
+
+<p>Angel and I each grasped an arm of the reluctant
+infant and dragged him from the room. He
+stamped up the stairway between us, with an air
+of stubborn jollity.</p>
+
+<p>When we had reached the top, he loosed himself
+from me and put his head over the handrail.</p>
+
+<p>"'John Peel's View Halloo! would waken the
+dead'&mdash;" he roared down into the hall.</p>
+
+<p>But he got no further. Between us we hustled
+him into the bedroom, and shut the door. Angel
+and I leaned against it, then, in helpless laughter.</p>
+
+<p>In a moment I felt my arm squeezed by Angel,
+who was pointing ecstatically toward the bed.</p>
+
+<p>There, by the bedside, his dimpled hands
+folded, his curly head meekly bent, knelt The
+Seraph.</p>
+
+<p>He was saying his prayers.</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+
+
+<h2><i><a name="ch7">Chapter VII: Granfa</a></i></h2>
+
+
+<h4>I</h4>
+
+<p>At Mrs. Handsomebody's on a Sunday morning
+Angel and I had an egg divided between us,
+after our porridge. It was boiled rather hard
+so that it might not run, and we watched the
+cutting of it jealously. The Seraph's infant organs
+were supposed not to be strong enough to
+cope with even half an egg, so he must needs
+satisfy himself with the cap from Mrs. Handsomebody's;
+and he made the pleasure endure
+by the most minute nibbling, filling up the gaps
+with large mouthfuls of toast.</p>
+
+<p>It was at a Sunday morning breakfast that
+Mrs. Handsomebody broached the subject of fishing.
+Angel and I had just scraped the last
+vestige of rubbery white from our half shells,
+and, having reversed them in our egg-cups, were
+gazing wistfully at what appeared to be two unchipped
+eggs, when she spoke.</p>
+
+<p>"You have been invited by Bishop Torrance
+to go on a fishing excursion with him tomorrow,
+and I have consented; provided, of course, that
+your conduct today be most exemplary. What
+do you say? Thanks would not be amiss."</p>
+
+<p>Angel and I mumbled thanks, though we were
+well nigh speechless with astonishment and joy.
+The Seraph bolted his cherished bit of egg whole
+and said in his polite little voice:</p>
+
+<p>"He's a vewy nice man to take us fishin'. I
+wonder what made him do it."</p>
+
+<p>"I have never pretended," returned Mrs.
+Handsomebody, stiffly, "to account for the
+vagaries of the male. Yet I grant you it seems
+singular that a dignitary of the church should
+find pleasure in such a project, in company with
+three growing boys."</p>
+
+<p>"If it had been anyone but the Bishop," she
+went on, "I should have refused, for there are
+untold possibilities of danger in trout fishing.
+You must, for example, guard against imbedding
+the fish hook in the flesh, which is most painful,
+often leading to blood-poisoning. This is
+to say nothing of the risk in sitting on damp
+grass, or the stings of insects."</p>
+
+<p>"Did you ever sit on the sting of an insect,
+please?" questioned The Seraph eagerly.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Handsomebody looked at him sharply.
+"One more question of that character," she said,
+"and you will remain at home." Then, glancing
+around the table, she went on&mdash;"What!
+your eggs gone so soon? We shall give thanks
+then. Alexander"&mdash;to The Seraph&mdash;"It is your
+turn to say grace. Proceed."</p>
+
+<p>The Seraph, with folded hands and bent head,
+repeated glibly:</p>
+
+<p>"Accept our thanks, O Lord, for these Thy
+good cweatures given to our use, and by them
+fit us for Thy service. Amen."</p>
+
+<p>There was a scraping of chairs, and we got to
+our feet. The Seraph, holding his bit of egg
+shell in his warm little palm asked&mdash;"Is an egg a
+cweature, yet?"</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Handsomebody gloomed down at him
+from her height. "I say it in all solemnity,
+Alexander, the natural bent of your mind is toward
+the ribald and cynical. I do what I can
+to curb it, but I fear for your future." And
+she swept from the room.</p>
+
+<p>Eagerly we took our places in the choir stalls
+that morning.</p>
+
+<p>The May sunshine had taken on the mellowness
+of summer, and it struck fire from the sacred
+vessels on the altar, and the brazen-winged eagle
+of the lectern. Strange-shaped patterns of wine-colour
+and violet were cast from the stained glass
+windows upon the walls and pillars, enriching the
+grey fabric of the church, like tropic flowers.
+The window nearest me was a favourite of ours.
+It was dedicated, so saith the bronze tablet beneath,
+to the memory of Cosmo John, fifth son
+of an Earl of Aberfalden. He had died at the
+age of fifteen, not a tender age to me, but the age
+toward which I was eagerly straining, the vigourous,
+untrammelled age of the big boy.</p>
+
+<p>I stared at the young knight in the red cloak
+who, to me, represented Cosmo John, and thought
+it a great pity that he should have gone off in
+such a hurry, just when life was opening up such
+happy vistas before him, vistas no longer patrolled
+by governesses and maid servants, nor
+hedged in by petty restrictions. Cosmo John had
+died one hundred years ago, in May&mdash;and, by the
+Rood! this was May! Had he ever been
+a-fishing. Had the sudden tremor of the rod
+made his young heart to leap? I heard the
+Bishop's rich voice roll on:</p>
+
+<p>"&mdash;Most heartily we beseech Thee with Thy
+favour to behold our most gracious Sovereign
+Lady, Queen Victoria; and so replenish her with
+the grace of Thy Holy Spirit that she may alway
+incline to Thy will"&mdash;the Bishop's voice became
+one with the murmur of the river, as it moved
+among the ridges; the mellow sunlight scarcely
+touched this sheltered pool, but one could see it
+in its full strength on the meadow beyond, where
+larks were nesting. I brought myself up with a
+start. The Bishop's voice came from a great distance&mdash;"beseech
+Thee to bless Albert Edward
+Prince of Wales"&mdash;Angel was joggling me with
+his elbow.</p>
+
+<p>"You duffer," he whispered, "you've been nodding.
+Get your hymn book."</p>
+
+<p>In the choir vestry the Bishop stopped for a
+moment beside us, his surplice billowing about him
+like the sails about a tall mast when the wind dies.
+"At seven," he said, "tomorrow morning at my
+house. And <i>wear old clothes</i>."</p>
+
+<p>The sails were filled, and he moved majestically
+away, towering above the small craft around him.</p>
+
+
+<h4>II</h4>
+
+<p>It was morning. It was ten o'clock. It was
+May. We were all stowed away in the Bishop's
+trap with his son, Harry, controlling the fat pony,
+whose small fore-hoof pawed impatiently on the
+asphalt. Angel and I had donned old jerseys and
+The Seraph a clean holland pinafore, against
+which he pressed an empty treacle tin where a
+solitary worm reared an anxious head against the
+encircling gloom.</p>
+
+<p>"I've got a worm," he gasped, gleefully, as the
+pony, released at last, jerked us almost off our
+seats. "He's nice an' fat, an' he's quite clean,
+for I've washed him fwee times. He's as tame
+as anyfing. He's wather a dear ole worm, an' it
+seems a shame to wun a hook frew him."</p>
+
+<p>"Child, it shall not be done," consoled the
+Bishop. "Keep your worm, and, when we get to
+the river-bank, we'll introduce him to the country
+worms, and maybe he'll like them so well he'll
+marry and settle down there for the rest of his
+days."</p>
+
+<p>"If he could see a lady-worm he'd like," stipulated
+The Seraph.</p>
+
+<p>"He'd have a wide choice," said the Bishop.
+"The country is full of worms, some of them
+charming, I daresay."</p>
+
+<p>"And, I say," chuckled Angel, "you could perform
+the ceremony&mdash;if only we knew their
+names."</p>
+
+<p>"This is Charles Augustus," said The Seraph
+with dignity.</p>
+
+<p>"She'd likely be Ernestine," I put in.</p>
+
+<p>"Very well," said the Bishop. "It should proceed
+thus: 'I, Charles Augustus, take thee,
+Ernestine, to have and to hold'&mdash;and I do wish,
+Harry, that you'd have a care and hold Merrylegs
+in. He's almost taking our breath away.
+Such a speed is undignified, and bad for the digestion."</p>
+
+<p>It was true that the fat pony was in amazing
+spirits that morning. Shops and houses were
+passed with exhilarating speed. To us little
+fellows, who always walked with our governess,
+when we went abroad, it was intoxicating.</p>
+
+<p>Soon the town was left behind and we were
+bowling along a country road past a field where
+boys were flying a kite, its long tail making sinuous
+curves against the turquoise sky. The air was
+sweet with the fresh May showers; and the swift
+roll of wheels was an inspiring accompaniment to
+our chatter.</p>
+
+<p>Further along lay a tranquil pond in a common,
+its surface stirred by a tiny boat with white sails.
+An old, white-bearded man in a smock frock was
+teaching his grandsons to sail the boat. It must
+be jolly, we thought, to have a nice old grandfather
+to play with one.</p>
+
+<p>At last we passed a vine-embowered inn, set
+among apple trees in bloom. It was "The Sleepy
+Angler" and the Bishop said that the river curved
+just beyond it.</p>
+
+<p>We gave a shout of joy as we caught the glint
+of it; a shout that might well have been a warning
+to any lurking trout. Angel and I scarcely waited
+for the pony to draw up beneath the trees before
+we tumbled out of the trap; and the Bishop,
+grasping the eager Seraph by the wrist, swung him
+to the ground after us.</p>
+
+<p>We felt very small and light, and almost fairy-like,
+as we ran here and thither over the lush
+grass, studded with spring flowers. Our sensitive
+nostrils were greeted by enticing new odors that
+seemed to be pressed from the springy sod of our
+scampering feet. The Seraph still clutched the
+treacle tin, and Charles Augustus must have had
+a bad quarter hour of it.</p>
+
+<p>The stream, which was a sharp, clear one, sped
+through flowery meadows, where geese were grazing
+as soberly as cows. An old orchard enfolded
+it, at last, scattering pink petals on its flowing
+cloud-flecked surface, and drawing new life from
+its freshness.</p>
+
+<p>Harry made the pony comfortable and lit his
+pipe, and the Bishop got ready his tackle, while
+the three of us clustered about him, filled with
+wonder and delight to see the book of many
+coloured flies, and all the intricacies of preparing
+the rod and bait. Angel and I were equipped
+with proper rods baited with greenish May-flies,
+and The Seraph got a willow wand and line at
+the end of which dangled an active grasshopper.</p>
+
+<p>"You know," said the Bishop, when we had
+cast our flies, "if I were a whole-hearted angler,
+I should not have brought three such restless
+spirits on this expedition but truly I am&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"> <div class="stanza">
+<p>'No fisher,</p>
+<p>But a well-wisher</p>
+<p>To the game!'</p>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>So, now that you are here, suppose I give you a
+lesson in manipulating your tackling. If you proceed
+as you have begun, there will very soon not
+be so much as a minnow within a mile of us.
+Easy now, Angel; just move your fly gently on top
+of the water so that his bright wings may attract
+the eye of the most wanton trout. Easy, John&mdash;by
+the lord, I've caught a Greyling! And come
+and sniff him, and you'll find he smells of water-thyme."</p>
+
+<p>How aptly we took to this sort of teaching,
+given in the fresh outdoors, the air pleasant with
+honeysuckle, and a lark carolling high above us!
+We could scarcely restrain our shouts when
+Angel's first trout was landed with the aid of a
+net, and lay golden and white as a daffodil on the
+grass. So absorbed were we that no one gave
+any heed to The Seraph, stationed farther down
+stream, till a roar of rage discovered him, dancing
+empty-handed on the bank, his rod sailing smartly
+down the stream, leaving only a wake of tiny
+ripples.</p>
+
+<p>"It was a 'normous lusty trout," he wailed, "as
+big as a whale, an' he swallowed my grasshopper,
+an' hook, an' gave me <i>such</i> a look! And I'd
+pwomised him to Mary Ellen for her tea!"</p>
+
+<p>"We may as well give up for a while," said
+the Bishop, mildly, "and have some lunch. Bring
+The Seraph to me, boys, and I shall comfort him,
+whilst you unpack the hamper."</p>
+
+<p>What hearty, wholesome appetites we brought
+to the cold beef and radishes! And how much
+more satisfying such fare than the milky messes
+served to us by Mrs. Handsomebody! Harry
+had buried a bottle of ale under the cool sod, and
+we had tastes of that to wash our victuals down.
+Even Charles Augustus had a little of it poured
+into his cell to comfort him.</p>
+
+<p>When we were satisfied, the Bishop retired to
+the shade of a hedge with his pipe; The Seraph
+wandered off by himself to hunt for birds' nests;
+and Angel and I took fresh flies and tried our
+luck anew. But the sun was high; the south
+breeze was fallen; and the trout had sought their
+farthest chambers in the pool.</p>
+
+<p>Angel soon tired when sport flagged.</p>
+
+<p>"Let's go find the kid," he said, throwing down
+the rod, "he'll be getting himself drowned if we
+don't keep an eye on him. I'll race you to that
+nearest apple tree!"</p>
+
+<p>With nimble legs, and swiftly beating hearts,
+we scampered over the smooth turf, and I threw
+a triumphant look over my shoulder at him, as I
+hurled myself upon the mossy bole of the old tree.
+Then I saw that Angel had stopped stock still and
+was staring open-mouthed beyond me. I turned.
+Then, I, too, stared open-mouthed. Trust The
+Seraph for falling on his feet! What though his
+rod had been filched&mdash;here he was, without a
+moment's loss, plunged in a new adventure!</p>
+
+
+<h4>III</h4>
+
+<p>He was seated beneath an apple tree, on the
+bank of the stream in deep conversation with a
+most remarkable old man, who was fishing industriously
+with the very rod The Seraph so lately
+had bewailed. He was an astonishingly old man,
+with hair and beard as white as wool, wreathing
+a face as pink as the apple-blossoms that fell about
+him. Cautiously we drew near, quite unobserved
+by the two who seemed utterly absorbed in their
+occupation of watching the line as it dipped into
+the stream. Now we could see that the old man's
+clothes were ragged, and that he had taken off
+his boots to ease his tired feet, the toes of which
+protruded from his socks, even pinker than his
+face.</p>
+
+<p>He was speaking in a full soft voice with an accent
+which was new to us.</p>
+
+<p>"Yon trout," said he, "was in a terrible frizz
+wi' the hook gnawing his vitals, and he swum
+about among the reeds near the bank in a manner
+to harrer your feelings. The line got tangled in
+the growing stuff, and I, so quick as an otter,
+pounced on him, and had him on the bank afore
+'ee could say 'scat,' and there he lies breathing his
+last, and blessing me no doubt for relieving him
+in his shameful state."</p>
+
+<p>"I fink he's weally my twout," said The Seraph.
+"I caught him first you see."</p>
+
+<p>"That pint might take a terr'ble understanding
+lawyer to unravel," replied the old man, "but
+sooner than quarrel in such an unsporting fashion,
+I'll give 'ee the trout, though I had had a notion
+of roasting him to my own breakfast."</p>
+
+<p>The Seraph stroked the glistening side of the
+recumbent trout admiringly; he poked his plump
+forefinger into it's quivering pink gill. The result
+was startling. The trout leaped into the air
+with a flourish of silvery tail; then fell floundering
+on The Seraph's bare knees. Our junior, seized
+with one of his unaccountable impulses, grasped
+him by the middle and hurled him into the stream.
+A second more and the trout was gone, leaving
+only a thin line of red to mark his passing. Angel
+and I ran forward to protect The Seraph if need
+be from the consequences of his hardy act; but the
+old man was smiling placidly.</p>
+
+<p>"That trout," he said, "is so gleeful to get away
+from his captivity as I be to escape from the
+work'us."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, did you run away from the workhouse?"
+we cried, in chorus, gathering around him,
+"Have you run far?" And we looked at his
+broken boots.</p>
+
+<p>"I ban't a dareful man," he replied, "that
+would run down the road in daylight for the whole
+nation to see, and I be terr'ble weak in the legs,
+so I just crept out in the night, so quiet as a star-beam,
+and sheltered in the orchard yonder, till I
+seed the rod fairly put in my hand by the
+Almighty, that I mid strike manna out of the
+stream, like old Moses, so to speak."</p>
+
+<p>"You're a funny man," said Angel. "You've
+a rum way of talking."</p>
+
+<p>"I come from Devon by natur," he answered,
+"and my tongue still has the twist o't though I
+haven't seed the moors these sixty years."</p>
+
+<p>"You must be pretty old."</p>
+
+<p>"Old! I be so aged that I can remember my
+grandmother when she was but a rosy-cheeked
+slip of a gal."</p>
+
+<p>We stared in awe before such antiquity.</p>
+
+<p>The Seraph ventured: "Did your grandmother
+put you in the work'us?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, no. Not she. It was my two grandsons.
+Well-fixed men they be too, for Philip had a fine
+cow until the bailiff took her; and Zachary thinks
+naught on a Fair day o' buying meat pasties for
+hisself and his missus, and parading about before
+the nation wi' the gravy fair running down their
+wrists. Ay&mdash;but the work'us was good enough
+for old Granfa. 'Darn'ee,' says I to Philip,
+'there's life in the old dog yet, and I'll escape
+from here in the fulness of time!' Which I did."</p>
+
+<p>We grouped ourselves about him in easy attitudes of attention. We felt strangely drawn to
+this ancient rebel against authority. We pictured
+the workhouse as a vast schoolroom where white-haired
+paupers laboured over impossible tasks,
+superintended by a matron, cold and angular, like
+Mrs. Handsomebody.</p>
+
+<p>"Are your own children all dead?" I put the
+question timidly, for I feared to recall more filial
+ingratitude.</p>
+
+<p>"Dead as door-nails," he replied, solemnly.
+"All of them."</p>
+
+<p>"Were there many?"</p>
+
+<p>"When I had been married but seven years,
+there were six; and after that I lost count. At
+that time I was moved to compose a little song
+about them, and I'd sing it to 'ee this moment if
+I had a bite o' victuals to stay me."</p>
+
+<p>"Look here, Seraph," I cried, "You cut back
+to the hamper and fetch some beef and bread,
+and anything else that's loose. Look sharp,
+now."</p>
+
+<p>The Seraph ran off obediently, and it was not
+long till he re-appeared with food and the dregs
+of the ale.</p>
+
+<p>It was a treat to see Granfa make way with
+these. He smacked his lips and wiped his beard
+on his sleeve with the relish born of prolonged
+abstinence. As he ate, the apple-blossoms fell
+about him, settling on the rim of his ragged hat,
+and even finding shelter among the white waves
+of his beard. We sat cross-legged on the grass
+before him eagerly awaiting the song.</p>
+
+<p>At last, in a voice rich with emotion, he sang
+to a strange lilting tune:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"> <div class="stanza">
+<p>"I be in a terr'ble fix,</p>
+<p>Wife have I and childer six.</p>
+</div> <div class="stanza">
+<p>"I'd got married just for fun,</p>
+<p>When in popped Baby Number one&mdash;</p>
+</div> <div class="stanza">
+<p>"I'd got an easy job to do,</p>
+<p>When in strolled Baby Number Two&mdash;</p>
+</div> <div class="stanza">
+<p>"I was fishin' in the sea,</p>
+<p>When up swum Baby Number Three&mdash;</p>
+</div> <div class="stanza">
+<p>"My boat had scarcely touched the shore,</p>
+<p>When in clumb Baby Number Four!</p>
+</div> <div class="stanza">
+<p>"I was the scaredest man alive,</p>
+<p>When wife found Baby Number Five.</p>
+</div> <div class="stanza">
+<p>"The cradle was all broke to sticks</p>
+<p>When in blew Baby Number Six&mdash;</p>
+</div> <div class="stanza">
+<p>"And now I'm praying hard that Heaven</p>
+<p>Will keep a grip on Number Seven."</p>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>"And did Heaven keep a gwip on it?" inquired
+The Seraph as soon as the last notes died
+away.</p>
+
+<p>"Not a bit of it," responded our friend.
+"They come along so fast that I was all in a mizmaze
+trying to keep track on 'em. And good
+childer they was, and would never have turned
+me out as their sons have had the stinkin' impidence
+to do. But now, souls, tell me all about
+yourselves, for I be a terr'ble perusin' man and
+I like to ponder on the doings of my fellow-creatures.
+Did you mention the name of a parson,
+over by yon honeysuckle hedge?"</p>
+
+<p>We thought the old man was excellent; and we
+found it an easy thing to make a confidant of him.
+So, while he puffed at a stubby clay pipe, we drew
+closer and told him all about the Bishop and
+about father and how lonely we were for him.
+Blue smoke from his clay pipe spun about us, seeming
+to bind us lightly in a fine web of friendship.
+Through it his blue eyes shone longingly, his
+pink face shone with sympathy, and his white
+beard with its clinging apple-blossom petals, rose
+and fell on his ragged breast.</p>
+
+<p>"It's a great pity," said Angel, "that father
+isn't here now, because I'm certain he'd be jolly
+glad to adopt you for a grandfather for us. He's
+a most reasonable man."</p>
+
+<p>Our new friend shook his head doubtfully.</p>
+
+<p>"It would be a noble calling," he said, "but I
+ban't wanted by nobody I'm afeard. I think I'll
+just bide here by this pleasant stream, till in the
+fulness of time I be food for worms."</p>
+
+<p>"Could Charles Augustus have a little of you?"
+asked The Seraph, sweetly.</p>
+
+<p>"Ess Fay, he may have his share." It appeared
+that the story of Charles had been told
+before Angel and I had arrived.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you're not going to be deserted," said
+Angel, in his lordly way, "we'll just adopt you on
+our own. Mrs. Handsomebody won't let us have
+a dog, nor a guinea pig, nor rabbits, nor even a
+white rat, but, you bet, she's got to let us keep
+a grandfather, if we take him right home and
+say he's come for a visit, and, of course, father'll
+have to pay for his board. Let's do it, eh John?"</p>
+
+<p>When Angel's eyes sparkled with a conquering
+light, few could resist him. Certainly not
+I, his faithful adherent. Anyway I wanted
+Granfa myself badly, so I nodded solemnly.
+"Let's."</p>
+
+<p>"It'll be the greatest lark ever," he said, "and
+here comes the Bishop."</p>
+
+<p>"Hand me my shoon, quick," said Granfa, nervously.</p>
+
+<p>The Bishop was indeed coming slowly toward
+us, across the sun-lit meadow, carrying his rod
+in one hand, and in the other the tin containing
+Charles Augustus. By the time he had reached
+us Granfa had struggled into his boots and was
+standing, hat in hand, with an air of meek expectancy. Angel, always so fluent when we were
+by ourselves, balked at explaining things to grown-ups,
+and, though the Bishop usually saw things
+from our point of view, one could never be absolutely
+certain that even he would not prove
+obtuse on such a delicate issue as this.</p>
+
+<p>So I rose, and met his enquiring look with such
+explanation as suited his adult understanding.</p>
+
+<p>"Please, sir," I said, politely, "this nice old
+man has been turned out by his grandsons, and
+he's on his way to town, where he's got some
+kind grandsons&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>&mdash;"Fwee of 'em," put in The Seraph.</p>
+
+<p>&mdash;"And we were wondering," I hurried on, "if
+you'd give him a lift that far."</p>
+
+<p>"I expect you're tired out," said the Bishop,
+kindly, turning to Granfa.</p>
+
+<p>"I be none too peart, but terrible wishful to get
+under the roof o' my grandsons, thank 'ee."</p>
+
+<p>"You shall have a seat beside Harry; I see
+you've had some lunch; and now, boys, I think
+we have time for an hour's fishing before we go,
+but first we must dispose of Charles Augustus.
+I don't like the way he looks. I don't know
+whether he's just foxy and pretending he's dead
+so we shan't use him for bait, or whether the ale
+was too much for him. At any rate, he's looking
+far from well." And the Bishop peered anxiously
+into the treacle tin.</p>
+
+<p>So the search began for the ideal mate for
+Charles Augustus. He was laid in state on a
+large burdock leaf, where he stretched himself
+warily enough in the fervent heat of the sun.
+The Seraph, quick as a robin, was the first to
+pounce upon a large, but active dew-worm, which,
+he announced, was Ernestine.</p>
+
+<p>We made an excited little group around the
+burdock, as The Seraph, flushed with pride, deposited
+her beside the lonely Charles. She
+glided toward him. She touched him. The
+effect was electrical. Charles Augustus, after
+one violent contortion, hurled himself from the
+burdock, and, before we could intercept him, disappeared
+into a bristling forest of grass blades.</p>
+
+<p>"He's gone! He's gone!" wailed The Seraph.
+"He's wun away fwom her!"</p>
+
+<p>But, even as he spoke, the agile Ernestine
+leapt lightly from the trembling leaf in hot pursuit.
+Green spears bent to open a way for her;
+dizzy gnats paused in their droning song, feeling
+in the ether the tremor of the chase; bees fell
+from the heart of honey-sweet flowers, and lay
+murmuring and booming in the grass.</p>
+
+<p>They were gone. An ant had mounted the
+burdock leaf, and, careless of the drama that had
+just been enacted, sought eagerly among the
+crevices for provender. The Bishop spoke first.</p>
+
+<p>"I think she'll get him," he said musingly.
+"She's got a sort of cave-woman look, and she
+has no petticoats to impede her."</p>
+
+<p>"Ess fay," assented Granfa, "her'll get him,
+and hold him fast too, I'll be bound. A terr'ble
+powerful worm."</p>
+
+<p>We stood in silence for a space, our eyes fixed
+on the ground picturing that chase through dim
+subterranean passages, smelling of spring showers;
+Charles Augustus, wasted, febrile, panting
+with agitation; Ernestine, lithe, ardent, awful in
+her purpose.</p>
+
+<p>We were still pensive when we retraced our
+steps across the meadow. The Bishop and
+Harry and The Seraph resumed their fishing,
+but Angel and I preferred to be on the grass beside
+Granfa, while he told us tales of old smuggling
+days in Devon and Cornwall, where his little cutter
+had slipped round about the delicate yet rugged
+coast, loaded with brandy and bales of silk
+from France, guided by strange red and blue
+lights from the shore; and where solemn cormorants
+kept darkly secret all they saw when they
+sailed aloft at dawn.</p>
+
+
+<h4>IV</h4>
+
+<p>We were delighted with Granfa. It seemed
+to us that the acquiring of him was the finest
+thing we had yet done. This elation of
+spirit remained with us during all the drive home.
+The grey old town was wrapped in a golden mist
+of romance; its windows reflected the fire of the
+sunset. It was not until we had separated from
+the Bishop and stood, a group of four, before
+Mrs. Handsomebody's house, that dread misgiving
+took the pith out of our legs. All of a sudden
+Granfa loomed bulky and solid; the problem of
+where he was to be stowed presented itself. He
+was not like Giftie to be hidden in the scullery.
+He was not even like a white rat that could
+be secreted under one's bed till its unfortunate
+odour resulted in painful research. No; Granfa
+must be accounted for, and that soon.</p>
+
+<p>"Better go round to the back," suggested
+Angel, "and tackle Mary Ellen first."</p>
+
+<p>So we traversed the chill passage between the
+tall houses, and softly lifted the latch of the
+kitchen door. Mary Ellen was alone, her work
+done, her nose buried in a novel of such fine print
+that it necessitated the lamp's being perilously
+near the fringe of frowsy hair that covered her
+forehead. We were inside the kitchen before she
+was recalled from the high life in which she
+revelled.</p>
+
+<p>"Is it yersilves?" she exclaimed, with a start.
+"Sure, you've give me a nice fright prowlin' about
+like thaves&mdash;and whoiver may be the ould man
+wid ye? The mistress'll stand no tramps or
+beggars about, as well you know."</p>
+
+<p>"He's no tramp or beggar," I retorted, stoutly,
+"he's Granfa."</p>
+
+<p>"Granfa! Granfa who? Noan o' your nonsense,
+now, byes. What's the truth now, spit it
+out!"</p>
+
+<p>"He's Granfa," I reiterated, desperately, "Our
+own nice grandfather that we haven't seen for
+years, and&mdash;he's just come for a nice little visit
+with us. Why, Mary Ellen, the Bishop knows
+him&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Known him for years," put in Angel. "Went
+to Harrow together."</p>
+
+<p>"Ess fay," assented Granfa, eagerly. "Us
+were boon companions up to Harrer."</p>
+
+<p>"The Bishop brought him wight here in the
+pony twap," added The Seraph, "and we'd all yike
+a little nushment, please."</p>
+
+<p>Mary Ellen, in spite of herself, was half convinced.
+Granfa's blue eyes were so candid; there
+was an air of dignity about his snow-white locks
+and beard, that disarmed hostility.</p>
+
+<p>"Look here, now," said Mary Ellen, in an
+aside, to us, "he seems a nice ould gentlemin
+enough, but think av the throuble ye got us in over
+Giftie, sure I won't have yez experimentalling wid
+grandfathers."</p>
+
+<p>Granfa appeared to have overheard, for he
+spoke up.</p>
+
+<p>"I just want to bide here a little while, my
+dearie, till I hear from my son in South Americer.
+The other two put me out, you see, so I've only
+him to depend on, till I be called away."</p>
+
+<p>Mary Ellen flushed. "You'd be welcome to
+stay if it was my house, sir; but my misthress is
+to be reckoned wid. By God's mercy, she is off
+to a missionary meeting tonight, her bein' president
+av the society for makin' Unitarians out av
+the blacks. Sorra a thing will she hear of this
+till mornin', and I'll put you in my own bed, and
+slape on two cheers in the scullery, for it'd niver
+do for the boys' grandfather to be used like a
+beggar-man."</p>
+
+<p>We thought it a capital idea for Mary Ellen to
+sleep in the scullery&mdash;it would save her the fag of
+running downstairs in the morning to get breakfast,
+and Granfa would be conveniently placed for
+us, in case we wanted a story or game before
+breakfast.</p>
+
+<p>So, after partaking of a little nourishment, as
+The Seraph put it, we retired to Mary Ellen's
+room; she leading the way up the dark backstairs
+with a lighted candle; Granfa next bearing his
+little bundle; and we three in the rear, exceedingly
+tired, but in excellent spirits.</p>
+
+<p>Granfa looked very snug in Mary Ellen's bed,
+with his curly beard resting comfortably on the
+red and white quilt, and his blue eyes twinkling
+up at us.</p>
+
+<p>"Comfy, Granfa?" asked The Seraph.</p>
+
+<p>"I be just so cozy as an old toad," he replied.
+"I do believe I'm a-going to be terr'ble happy in
+my new home."</p>
+
+<p>Mary Ellen had gone downstairs to prepare her
+place in the scullery, so we climbed on the bed
+with him, making believe it was a smuggler's cutter,
+and had many hair-raising adventures that
+were brought to an end, at last, by the discovery
+that Granfa was fast asleep.</p>
+
+<p>We were at the windlass heaving up the anchor,
+at the time, and had just struck up a sailor's
+chanty, which made a good deal of noise, but
+nothing seemed to disturb Granfa. He slumbered
+peacefuly through all the rattle of chains,
+and shouting of commands, so, somewhat subdued,
+we decided there was nothing for it but to seek
+our berths.</p>
+
+<p>Snug beneath our covers, at last, we felt to the
+full, the new spirit of adventure that had spread
+its irridescent wings over the house. There was
+Granfa, snoring under Mary Ellen's patchwork
+quilt; there was the trusty Mary Ellen, herself,
+stowed away in the scullery; there was Mrs.
+Handsomebody, on missionary duty among the
+blacks; here were we&mdash;The Seraph expressed our
+feelings exactly just before we fell asleep.
+"We'm terr'ble lucky chaps," he said, in the
+Devon dialect, "ban't us?"</p>
+
+
+<h4>V</h4>
+
+<p>Our bedroom window was always tightly
+closed, and, at night, so were the shutters; yet
+a sunbeam, adventurous, like ourselves, found its
+way through a broken slat, and, cleaving the
+heavy air of the chamber, flew straight to The
+Seraph's nose, where it perched, lending a radiant
+prominence to that soft feature.</p>
+
+<p>The Seraph roused himself. He opened his
+eyes; the sunbeam found them two dark forest
+pools, and plunged therein. The Seraph opened
+his mouth and laughed, showing all his little white
+teeth, and the sunbeam dived straightway down
+his throat.</p>
+
+<p>"Hurrah!" cried The Seraph, "let's get up!"
+And scrambled out of bed.</p>
+
+<p>At the same instant came a loud tapping on the
+door of Mary Ellen's bedroom. We surmised,
+correctly, that Mrs. Handsomebody, listening in
+vain for the sound of her handmaiden's descent
+of the back stairs had risen wrathfully, and
+come to summon her in person. A chill of apprehension
+ran along my spine. I got up and
+stole to the door, followed by my brothers.
+Through a crack we peered fearfully in the
+direction of the rapping, our trembling bodies
+close together.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Handsomebody, in purple dressing-gown
+and red woollen slippers, stood in a listening
+attitude, her gaze bent on the door that hid
+Granfa.</p>
+
+<p>"Are you aware of the hour?" she demanded
+peremptorily. "Rise at once and open this
+door."</p>
+
+<p>There was a creaking of the mattress and
+sound of shuffling feet; the door was opened reluctantly,
+and Granfa, bare-legged, white of
+beard and red-shirted, stood in the aperture.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Handsomebody did not shriek; rather
+she made the inarticulate noises of one in a nightmare
+and put out her hands as if to keep Granfa
+off. "Merciful Heaven!" she whispered.
+"What has happened to you?"</p>
+
+<p>"I do feel far from peart," replied Granfa.</p>
+
+<p>"This is horrible. Did you feel it coming on?"</p>
+
+<p>"Off and on for a long time," said Granfa.
+"It's been a terr'ble experience, and I ban't likely
+to be ever the same again, I'm afeared."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Handsomebody looked ready to faint.</p>
+
+<p>At that moment, Mary Ellen, having heard
+the voice of her mistress, projected her face
+above the doorsill of the backstairs. It was always
+a rosy face, but now with excitement and
+shamefacedness, it was as red as a harvest moon,
+coming up from the darkness.</p>
+
+<p>The sight of her turned Mrs. Handsomebody's
+terror into rage.</p>
+
+<p>"Shameful, depraved girl," she gobbled, "who
+is this you have in your chamber? Ah, I've
+caught you! The ingratitude! You terrible
+old wretch!"&mdash;this to Granfa&mdash;"close that door
+instantly while I send for the police!"</p>
+
+<p>By this time we had ventured into the hall,
+and, Mrs. Handsomebody, seeing us groaned:
+"Under the roof with these innocent children&mdash;I
+thought that in my care their innocence was
+safe."</p>
+
+<p>"It was thim same innocents that brung him
+here," said Mary Ellen, stung into disclosing our
+part in the scandal, "and it's himsilf is their own
+grandfather."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Handsomebody's gaze was appalling as
+she turned it on us three.</p>
+
+<p>"You? Your grandfather? What fresh insanity
+is this?"</p>
+
+<p>"You see," I explained, keeping my fascinated
+eyes on the wart on her chin, "he's just
+come for a little visit, and he really is our Granfa,
+and we love him awfully."</p>
+
+<p>"Won't have him abused," spluttered The
+Seraph.</p>
+
+<p>"Be rights," added Mary Ellen, solemnly, "he
+should have the best spare room, the byes' own
+aged relation."</p>
+
+<p>"I shall sift this affair," said Mrs. Handsomebody,
+"to its most appalling dregs. You, Alexander"&mdash;to The Seraph&mdash;"are the smallest, look
+through that keyhole and inform me what he is
+doing."</p>
+
+<p>The Seraph obeyed, chuckling. "He's took to
+the bed again&mdash;all exceptin' one leg&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"We can dispense with detail," cut in our
+governess. "Is he at all violent?"</p>
+
+<p>"Bless you, no," replied Mary Ellen. "He's
+as mild mannered as can be and an old friend
+of the Bishop's, so they say. 'Twas him that
+brung him home in his pony trap."</p>
+
+<p>"The Bishop! I must see the Bishop instantly."</p>
+
+<p>As she spoke a stentorian shout of "Butcher!"
+came from the regions below.</p>
+
+<p>"There," she said, to Mary Ellen, "is young
+Watlin. Call him up instantly; and he shall
+guard the door while I dress. Explain the situation
+very briefly to him. It would be well to
+arm him with a poker, in case the old man becomes
+violent. David, go to Bishop Torrance
+and tell him that I hope he will call on me at
+once, if possible. Put on your clothes, but you
+may leave your hair in disorder, just as it is. It
+will serve to show the Bishop into what a state of
+panic this household has been thrown."</p>
+
+<p>She was obliged to retire hastily to her room
+because of the arrival of Mr. Watlin.</p>
+
+<p>It was some time before Mary Ellen, and The
+Seraph, and I could make him understand what
+had happened, though we all tried at once.</p>
+
+<p>"And you mean to tell me that he's in there?"
+he asked, at last, grinning broadly.</p>
+
+<p>"Sorra a place else," replied Mary Ellen, "and
+you're to guard the door till the police comes."</p>
+
+<p>"Guard nothink," said Mr. Watlin, belligerently,
+"I'll go right in and tackle him single-handed."</p>
+
+<p>With one accord The Seraph and I flung ourselves
+before the door.</p>
+
+<p>"You shan't hurt him," we cried, "he's our
+own Granfa! We'll fight you first."</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Watlin made some playful passes at our
+stomachs. "Let's all have a fight," he chaffed.
+Then he said&mdash;"Hullo, here's the old 'un himself,
+and quite a character to be sure. No wonder
+Mrs. 'Andsomebody is in a taking."</p>
+
+<p>The door had opened behind us; Granfa stood
+revealed, wearing his ragged coat and hat, and
+carrying his stick and little bundle, wrapped in a
+red handkerchief.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't 'ee get in a frizz, my dears, about me,"
+he said with dignity. "I be leaving this instant
+moment. As for you&mdash;" addressing Mr. Watlin&mdash;"you
+be a gert beefy critter, but don't be
+too sure you could tackle me, single-handed. I
+be terr'ble full of power when I'm roused, and
+it takes a deal to calm me down again." And
+he trotted to the head of the stairs and began to
+descend.</p>
+
+<p>The Seraph and I kept close on either side of
+him, tightly holding his hands.</p>
+
+<p>"She's in the parlour," I whispered, "and the
+Bishop's with her. Shall you go in?"</p>
+
+<p>Granfa nodded solemnly.</p>
+
+<p>We stood in the doorway of the sacred apartment.
+Even there, the spirit of the May morning
+seemed to have penetrated, for in the glass
+case a stuffed oriole had cocked his eye with a
+longing look at a withered nest that hung before
+him.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Handsomebody had just finished her recital.
+"I thought I should have swooned," she
+said.</p>
+
+<p>"And no wonder," replied the Bishop, "I'm
+quite sure I should have." Then he turned to us
+with a look of mingled amusement and concern.
+"Now what do you suppose I'm going to do with
+you Granfa?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, parson, don't 'ee send me back to the
+work'us! If I bide there any longer, 'twill break
+my fine spirit."</p>
+
+<p>"I am going to propose something very different,"
+said the Bishop, kindly. "We need another
+sweeper and duster about the Cathedral,
+and if you think you are strong enough to wield
+a broom, you may earn a decent living. I know
+a very kind charwoman, who would lodge and
+board you, and you would be near your little&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Gwandsons," said The Seraph.</p>
+
+<p>"Silence!" ordered Mrs. Handsomebody.</p>
+
+<p>"You would be near us all," finished the Bishop,
+blandly.</p>
+
+<p>"Ess fay. I can wield a broom," said Granfa.
+"And 'twill be a noble end for me to pass my
+days in such a holy spot. 'Twill be but a short
+jump from there fair into Heaven itself, and I
+do thank 'ee, parson, with all my heart."</p>
+
+<p>So it was settled, and turned out excellently.
+Even Mary Ellen could have learned from Granfa
+new ways of handling a broom with the least exertion
+to the worker; aye, in his hands, the broom
+seemed used chiefly as a support; a staff, upon
+which he leant while telling us many a tale of
+those rare old smuggling days of his youth.</p>
+
+<p>Sometimes, in dim unused parts of the building,
+we would rig up a pirate's ship, and Granfa
+would fix the broom to the masthead to show
+that he, like Drake, had swept the seas.</p>
+
+<p>Sometimes, indeed, we found him fast asleep
+in a corner of some crimson-cushioned pew, looking
+so peaceful that, rough sea-going fellows
+though we were, we had not the heart to rouse
+him.</p>
+
+<p>Once, standing before the stained glass window
+in memory of young Cosmo John, Granfa said:</p>
+
+<p>"It beats all how thiccy lad does yearn toward
+me. His eyes follow me wherever I go."</p>
+
+<p>"And no wonder, Granfa," cried The Seraph,
+throwing his arms around him, "for everybody
+loves 'ee so!"</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+
+
+<h2><i><a name="ch8">Chapter VIII: Noblesse
+Oblige</a></i></h2>
+
+
+<h4>I</h4>
+
+<p>Angel and I grew amazingly that summer.
+We grew in length of limb but with no corresponding
+gain in scholastic stature. We had
+made up our minds to retain as little as possible
+of Mrs. Handsomebody's teaching and we had
+succeeded so well in our purpose, that, at nine
+and ten we had about as much book-learning as
+would have befitted The Seraph, while he retained
+the serene ignorance of babyhood. But
+in affairs of the imagination we were no laggards.
+We eagerly drank in Granfa's tales of the sea,
+and Harry lent us many a hair-raising book of
+adventure.</p>
+
+<p>Yet we longed for the companionship of other
+boys of our own age, and strained towards the
+day when we should go to school. Our abounding
+energy chafed more and more under the rule
+of Mrs. Handsomebody.</p>
+
+<p>Now she had left the schoolroom to interview
+a plumber, and her black bombazine dress
+having sailed away like a cloud, we had utterly
+relaxed, and were basking in the sunshine of her
+absence.</p>
+
+<p>Slumped on my spine, I was watching a spider,
+just over my head, that was leisurely ascending
+his shining rope-ladder to the ceiling. I contemplated
+his powers of retreat with an almost
+bitter envy. Fancy being able, at a moment's
+notice, to bolt out of reach (even out of sight
+and hearing) of all that was obnoxious to a
+fellow! I pictured myself, when some particularly
+harassing question had been put by my
+governess, springing from my seat, snatching the
+ever-ready shining rope and making for some
+friendly cornice, where, with my six or eight legs
+wrapped round my head, I would settle down for
+a snug sleep, not to be disturbed by any female.</p>
+
+<p>Yet, I had to admit, that if any one in the
+schoolroom played the r&ocirc;le of spider, it was
+Mrs. Handsomebody herself, whose desk was the
+centre of a web of books, pencils, rulers and a
+cane, in the meshes of which we three were caught
+like young flies, before our bright wings had been
+unfolded.</p>
+
+<p>I looked at The Seraph. After slavishly making
+pot hooks all the afternoon, he was now licking
+them off his slate with unaffected relish. I
+turned to Angel.</p>
+
+<p>With hands thrust deep in his pockets he was
+staring disconsolately at the unfinished sum before
+him. I, too, had given it up in despair.</p>
+
+<p>"It's mediocre," he muttered. "Absolutely
+mediocre, and I won't stand it."</p>
+
+<p><i>Mediocre.</i> It was a new word to me, and I
+wondered where he had picked it up. It was
+like Angel to spring it on me this way.</p>
+
+<p>"Awfully mediocre," I assented. "And it
+can't be done."</p>
+
+<p>A flicker of annoyance crossed his face that
+his new word should be thus lightly bandied, but
+he went on&mdash;"Just listen here: an apple-woman
+who had four score of apples in her cart, sold
+three dozen at four pence, half-penny a dozen;
+two and a half dozen at five pence a dozen. At
+what price would she have to sell the remaining,
+in order to realize"&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"And look here," I interrupted, wrathfully,
+"Why does she always give us sums about an
+apple-woman, or a muffin-man? It just makes
+a chap hungry. Why doesn't she make one up
+about a dentist for a change, or somethin' like
+that?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," assented Angel, catching at the idea.
+"Like this: if a dentist pulled five teeth out of one
+lady, and seven and a half out of another, at
+two shillings apiece how many must he pull in
+order to&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Then there's undertakers," I broke in. "If
+a undertaker buried nine corpses one day, and
+six and a half the next&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>I had to stop, for Angel was convulsed with
+laughter, and The Seraph was beginning to get
+noisy.</p>
+
+<p>Angel produced a small bottle of licorice water
+from his pocket and took a long mouthful. Then
+he handed it to me. It was soothing, delicious.</p>
+
+<p>"Me too!" cried The Seraph, and I held it to
+his eager little mouth.</p>
+
+<p>"Here," said Angel angrily, "he's swiggin'
+down the whole thing. Drop it, young'un!"</p>
+
+<p>At the same moment, the door opened quietly,
+and Mrs. Handsomebody entered. I tore the bottle
+from The Seraph's clinging lips, and stuffed
+it, corkless, into my pocket.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Handsomebody sat down and disposed
+her skirt about her knees. Her eyes travelled
+over us.</p>
+
+<p>"Alexander," she said to The Seraph, "stand
+up." He meekly rose.</p>
+
+<p>"What is that on your chin?"</p>
+
+<p>The Seraph explored his chin with his tongue.</p>
+
+<p>"It tastes sweet," he said.</p>
+
+<p>"I asked what is it?"</p>
+
+<p>The Seraph shot an imploring glance at Angel.</p>
+
+<p>"I fink," he hedged, "it's some of the gwavy
+fwom dinner left over."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Handsomebody turned to Angel and me.</p>
+
+<p>"Stand up," she commanded, sternly, "and we
+shall sift this matter to the root."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," admitted Angel, nonchalantly. "It
+was licorice root made into a drink."</p>
+
+<p>"Licorice root," repeated our governess, in a
+tone of disgust. "It is by imbibing such vile
+concoctions that the taste for more ardent spirits
+is created. When I was your age, I had taken
+no beverage save milk and hot water, from which
+I graduated naturally to weak tea, and from
+thence to the&mdash;er&mdash;stronger brew. I am at present
+your guardian as well as your teacher and I
+shall do my utmost to eradicate&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>It was impossible to follow her discourse because
+of the keen discomfort I was feeling as the
+remainder of the licorice water trickled down my
+right leg. I was brought up with a start by Mrs.
+Handsomebody almost shouting:</p>
+
+<p>"John! What is that puddle on the floor beneath
+you? Don't move! Stay where you
+are." She sprang to my side and grasped my
+shoulder.</p>
+
+<p>"I s'pose it's some more of the woot," giggled
+The Seraph.</p>
+
+<p>I put my hand in my pocket and produced the
+empty bottle. Mrs. Handsomebody took it between
+her thumb and forefinger. She gave me
+a sharp rap on the head with it.</p>
+
+<p>"Now," she gobbled, "go to your room and
+remain there till the exercises are over, then return
+to me for punishment. <i>And</i> change your
+trousers."</p>
+
+
+<h4>II</h4>
+
+<p>My trousers had been changed. Afternoon
+school was over, and I had just finished the last
+weary line in the long imposition set by Mrs.
+Handsomebody. I stretched my cramped limbs,
+and wondered dully where my brothers were.
+My depression was increased by the fact that the
+freshly-donned trousers were brown tweed, while
+my jacket was of blue serge.</p>
+
+<p>I laid the imposition on Mrs. Handsomebody's
+desk, and listlessly set out to find the others. I
+could hear Mary Ellen in the kitchen thumping
+a mop against the legs of the furniture in a savage
+manner that bespoke no mood of airy persiflage.
+Therefore, I did not go down the back stairs,
+but throwing a leg over the hand-rail of the
+front stairs, I slowly slid to the bottom, and
+rested there a space on my stomach, an attitude
+peaceful, and conducive to clear thinking.</p>
+
+<p>I reviewed the situation dispassionately. Here
+was I, who had scarcely been at all to blame,
+humiliated, an outcast, so to speak, while Angel,
+who had made the beastly mess, went unscathed.
+As for The Seraph! I could scarcely bear to
+think of him with his tell-tale sticky little chin.</p>
+
+<p>Voices roused me. Buoyant with animation,
+they penetrated beyond the closed front door. A
+loud unknown voice, mingled with those of Angel
+and The Seraph.</p>
+
+<p>In an instant, I was on my feet, my nose pressed
+against one of the narrow windows of ruby-coloured
+glass that were on either side of the hall
+door. I could see three small red figures in animated
+conversation on the square grass plot
+before the house. The largest of the three began
+to execute a masterly hop, skip and jump on
+the crimson grass. Above arched the sanguine
+sky.</p>
+
+<p>I opened the door and closing it softly behind
+me, stood on the steps.</p>
+
+<p>The newcomer was a sturdy fellow about a year
+older than Angel. He had a devil-may-care air
+about him, and he wore, at a rakish angle, a cap,
+bearing the badge of a well-known school. He
+turned to me instantly.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," he said, "you're a rum-lookin' pup."</p>
+
+<p>I was rather abashed at such a greeting, but
+I held my ground. "My name is John," I replied
+simply.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Lord!" he groaned. "<i>John!</i> Don't
+you know enough to give your surname? Eh?
+I wish we had you at my school for a term.
+We'd lick you into shape."</p>
+
+<p>"His surname is Curzon, too," put in Angel,
+"same as mine."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well, then," said the boy, "you're Curzon
+major, Curzon minor, and Curzon minimus.
+Hear that, Curzon minimus?" he shouted, tweaking
+The Seraph's ear.</p>
+
+<p>"I say," said Angel, "you let him alone!"
+And I ran down the steps. The boy stared.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't you keep him in order?" he asked.</p>
+
+<p>"Rather," replied Angel, "but I don't hurt him
+for nothing."</p>
+
+<p>"I have two young brothers," said the boy,
+"and I hurt them for next to nothing. Licks
+'em into shape."</p>
+
+<p>He looked around him and then added,
+"There's no fun here. Let's hook it to my place,
+and I'll show you my rabbits. I've taken a
+fancy to you, and, if you like, I'll let you call me
+by my first name. It's Simon. And I'll call you
+by yours. That minor and minimus business is
+rather rotten when you're friends. Come along."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Handsomebody, we knew, was safe at a
+lecture on The Application of Science to Human
+Relationships; Mary Ellen was doing her Friday's
+cleaning; therefore, we set off with our
+new-found friend without fear of hindrance from
+the female section of our household.</p>
+
+
+<h4>III</h4>
+
+<p>As we trotted along, Simon told us that his
+family had taken a large old house that had stood
+vacant ever since we had come to live with Mrs.
+Handsomebody. How often we had timidly
+passed its dingy front, wondering what might be
+within its closed shutters and deep-set front door!</p>
+
+<p>Now, as we approached, we saw that the sign,
+To Let, had been taken down; the door and shutters
+were wide open; and, one of the shutters,
+hanging at a rakish angle, much as Simon wore
+his cap, gave a promise of jollity and lack of
+restraint within.</p>
+
+<p>"We shall just cut around to the back garden,"
+announced Simon. "The kids are there, and
+need putting in order by the row they are making."</p>
+
+<p>We passed through a low door in the wall that
+separated the front garden from the back. The
+wall was overgrown with dusty untrimmed
+creepers, from which a flock of sparrows flew
+when the door was opened.</p>
+
+<p>For a moment, we could scarcely take in the
+scene before us; in our experience it was so unprecedented.
+But Simon did not seem in the
+least surprised.</p>
+
+<p>"Hi, kids!" he yelled, "just keep that water
+off us, will you! Put down that hose, Mops!"</p>
+
+<p>Mops was a girl a little younger than Simon.
+She stood in the middle of the garden, a hose in
+her hands, and she was absorbed in drenching two
+half-naked small boys and five fox terriers, who
+circled around her like performers in a circus
+ring. The noise of yelling boys and barking dogs
+was terrific.</p>
+
+<p>"What's she doing?" we gasped.</p>
+
+<p>"It's so dev'lish hot that the hose feels bully.
+Like to try it?"</p>
+
+<p>"I wish we had got our bathing suits," said
+Angel.</p>
+
+<p>"Never mind. I think there's a couple of
+pairs of trunks in the scullery, and the young
+'un can have a pinafore of Mopsie's."</p>
+
+<p>He led the way down some littered steps into a
+basement room, where a dishevelled maid was
+blacking boots.</p>
+
+<p>"Here Playter," he ordered, "dig up some togs
+for a hosing, will you? And be sharp about it,
+there's a love."</p>
+
+<p>The girl obligingly dropped her boots, and
+turning out the contents of a cupboard, produced
+some faded blue bathing trunks.</p>
+
+<p>To us they seemed shamelessly inadequate, but
+Simon appeared satisfied. Now he hurried us to
+a summer-house occupied by a family of lop-eared
+rabbits, and here we changed into the trunks.
+The Seraph required some help, and when he was
+stripped, I could see his little heart pounding
+away at his ribs, for, between the exertion of
+keeping up to us, and not quite understanding why
+he was being undressed, he was very much
+wrought up.</p>
+
+<p>"It's just fun," I reassured him. "Don't get
+funky."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm not," he whispered, as I tied on his trunks,
+"but I fink it's a dangerous enterpwise."</p>
+
+<p>"Time's up," yelled Simon, "get into the
+game!"</p>
+
+<p>We leaped from the summer-house to the
+grass, and, refreshing it was to our bare soles.
+The first onslaught from the hose almost knocked
+my legs from under me, and, indeed, throughout
+the game, Mops seemed to single me out for
+special attention. We three had never in our
+lives given way to such an abandon of wildness.
+The Seraph yelled till he was hoarse, and, when
+at last Mops surrendered the hose to Simon, the
+orgy grew wilder still.</p>
+
+<p>In the midst of it, a French window at the back
+of the house opened, and a lady stood on the
+threshold.</p>
+
+<p>My senses had received only a delicate impression
+of pink satin, golden hair, and flashing rings,
+when Simon turned the hose, in full force, on the
+step just below her, sending a shower of drops all
+about her. With a scream she fled indoors,
+slamming the French window.</p>
+
+<p>"You got her that time, all right," said Mops,
+grinning roguishly.</p>
+
+<p>"Who is she?" I gasped.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, just mummy," replied Simon, nonchalantly.</p>
+
+<p>The French window opened again. This time
+a young man in grey tweeds appeared. I quite
+expected to see him greeted with a shower also,
+but Simon respectfully lowered the hose.</p>
+
+<p>"Did you turn that hose on your mother,
+Simon?" asked the young man sternly.</p>
+
+<p>"Just a little," answered Simon.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, the next time you do it you'll get your
+jacket dusted, do you hear?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, father."</p>
+
+<p>The young man disappeared into the house,
+three of the wet dogs following him.</p>
+
+<p>"Isn't Lord Simon sweet?" asked Mops, with
+another roguish smile at me.</p>
+
+<p>"Awfully," I replied politely, "but is the lady
+really your mother?"</p>
+
+<p>"Let's feed," interrupted Simon, throwing
+down the hose, "I've a rare old twist on."</p>
+
+<p>I was sorry he had interrupted us, for I yearned
+towards Mops, and I felt that further conversation
+with me would be acceptable to her, but we
+were swept away in the stampede for food to the
+basement kitchens.</p>
+
+<p>They seemed immense to me, and full of the
+jolliest servants I had ever seen. Two men-servants
+in livery were playing a game of cribbage
+at one end of a long littered table, while several
+laughing maid-servants hung over their shoulders.
+The game was suspended at our entrance, and
+they all turned to ask us questions and chaff us
+about our appearance. One of the fox terriers
+jumped on the table and began nosing among the
+saucepans. Nobody stopped him. The fat,
+good-natured cook busied herself in spreading
+bread and butter with Sultana raisins for us; the
+maid-servants made a great fuss over The Seraph.</p>
+
+<p>In such a whirlwind did this family live that
+just as I was beginning to feel at ease in this extraordinary
+kitchen, I was rushed back to the garden
+to play, a somewhat solid feeling in my
+stomach telling me that the bread and Sultanas
+had arrived.</p>
+
+<p>"Hurrah for stilts," screamed Mops.</p>
+
+<p>"Just the thing," assented Simon. "Here
+young Bunny and Bill, fetch the stilts, and be
+sharp about it&mdash;hear?" and he gave them each a
+punch in the ribs.</p>
+
+<p>Thus encouraged, Bunny and Bill scampered
+across the grass, the fox-terriers yelping at their
+heels, and, from a convenient out-house all sizes
+of stilts were produced.</p>
+
+<p>These accomplished children could do all manner
+of amazing feats on the stilts; even little Bill
+laughed at our awkward attempts. But, after
+many falls, Angel and I could limp haltingly
+about the garden, and experienced the new joy of
+looking down at things instead of up.</p>
+
+<p>We noticed presently that Simon was propped
+against the high wall that divided this garden
+from the next. In a moment he called to us:</p>
+
+<p>"Toddle over here and see what the old girls
+are doing."</p>
+
+<p>"Who does he mean?" I asked Mops, as we
+moved stiffly, side by side.</p>
+
+<p>"It's the Unaquarium parson's garden," she
+said. "I expect they're having a tea-fight.
+They're always up to something fishy."</p>
+
+<p>Something ominous in the words should have
+warned me, but I was too elated to be heedful of
+signs or portents. I clutched the wall, and, with
+a grin of amusement, gazed down at the group of
+ladies, who, with two gentlemen in black, were
+drinking tea on the lawn.</p>
+
+<p>Bunny threw a green pear at the thin legs of the
+taller gentleman.</p>
+
+<p>The gentleman shied in a most spirited fashion,
+slopping his tea.</p>
+
+<p>Everybody turned to look in our direction.</p>
+
+<p>"Duck," hissed Mops.</p>
+
+<p>But it was too late to duck. Several ladies
+were already sweeping towards us.</p>
+
+<p>Then my soul fainted within me, for the voice
+of the being who ruled our little universe spoke
+as from a dark cloud.</p>
+
+<p>"David! John! Alexander!" gobbled the Voice,
+"are you gone mad? Come here instantly&mdash;but
+no&mdash;you appear to be nude&mdash;answer me&mdash;are you
+nude?"</p>
+
+<p>Mops answered for us; we were too afflicted
+for speech.</p>
+
+<p>"If you mean naket, we're not," she said, "but
+the dressed-up part of us is on this side."</p>
+
+<p>I was conscious of murmuring voices: What
+a terrible little girl; indeed the whole family; as
+for the mother&mdash;Yes&mdash;my pupils, and, for the
+present, my wards&mdash;Once they even threw a
+dead rat over!</p>
+
+<p>Then up spoke Mrs. Handsomebody. "Put
+on your clothes," she ordered, "and meet me at
+the corner. I shall be waiting."</p>
+
+
+<h4>IV</h4>
+
+<p>We had put on our clothes. We had met her
+but, good Heaven! what a Rendezvous! She,
+and Angel, and I were pallid with suppressed emotions,
+while The Seraph's face was flushed crimson.
+He was weeping loudly, as he followed in
+our wake, and walking with some difficulty, since
+Angel and I, in our agitation, had put his trousers
+on back to front.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Handsomebody placed us in a row, on
+three chairs in the dining-room, and seated herself
+opposite to us. After removing her bonnet,
+and giving it to Mary Ellen to carry upstairs to
+the wardrobe, she said:</p>
+
+<p>"If I believed that you realized the enormity
+of what you have done, I should write to South
+America to your father, and tell him that I would
+no longer undertake the responsibility of three
+boys so evilly inclined. What do you suppose my
+sensations were when, at the close of the lecture,
+the other ladies, the professor, our pastor, and
+myself adjourned to the garden for tea, to find
+you three perched, almost nude, on a wall, in such
+company?"</p>
+
+<p>"Do you know that those people are not respectable?
+The man, I am told, is a rake, who attends
+cockfights, and the mother of those children
+has been seen in the garden&mdash;<i>tight</i>!"</p>
+
+<p>"Was that the lady in pink satin?" asked
+Angel, showing interest for the first time.</p>
+
+<p>"I daresay. One would expect to find her in
+pink satin."</p>
+
+<p>The lecture went on, but I did not hear it; my
+mind dwelt insistently on thoughts of the lady in
+pink.</p>
+
+<p>"What did she do, please?" I interrupted,
+thoughtlessly, at last.</p>
+
+<p>"Who do?"</p>
+
+<p>"The lady. When she was tight."</p>
+
+<p>"So that is where your thoughts were," said
+Mrs. Handsomebody, angrily, "nice speculations
+indeed, for a little boy!"</p>
+
+<p>"I should yike a little nushment, please," interrupted
+The Seraph in his turn.</p>
+
+<p>"Not nourishment, but punishment is what you
+will get, young man," replied our governess,
+tartly. "What you three need is discipline at
+the hands of a strong man. We shall now go
+upstairs."</p>
+
+
+<h4>V</h4>
+
+<p>It was over. The gas was out, and we were
+in bed. Not snugly in bed, but smartingly; each
+trying to find a cool place on the sheets, and
+things very much bedewed by the tears of The
+Seraph.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't care," said Angel, rather huskily. "It
+was worth it, I'd do it again like a shot."</p>
+
+<p>"So would I," I assented. "Whatever do you
+s'pose they're up to now!"</p>
+
+<p>And, indeed, the thought of this spirited
+family coloured all my dreams. As in dancing
+rainbows they whirled about my bed: Mops with
+the hose; Bunny and Bill twinkling on stilts;
+Simon with all the dogs at his heels; and above
+all, the lady in pink, presiding like a golden-haired goddess, and very "tight."</p>
+
+<p>We were still in black disgrace at breakfast.
+Scarcely dared we raise our eyes to the cold face
+of Mrs. Handsomebody, lest she should read in
+them some yearning recollection of yesterday's
+misdeeds. Large spoonfuls of porridge and thin
+milk made unwonted gurgling noises as they hurried
+down our throats to our empty young
+stomachs.</p>
+
+<p>When we had done, and The Seraph had offered
+thanks to God for this good meal, Mrs.
+Handsomebody marched us, like conscripts to
+the schoolroom, where she assigned to each of us
+a task to keep him busy until her return from
+market.</p>
+
+<p>But the front door had barely closed upon her
+black bombazine dress, when we scampered to the
+head of the stairs, threw ourselves upon the
+hand-rail, and slid lightly to the bottom, and
+from there ran to find Mary Ellen in the parlour.</p>
+
+<p>She was sweeping out the sombre room
+with such listless movements of her plump, red
+arms, that the moist tea-leaves on the floor
+scarce moved beneath the broom.</p>
+
+<p>"Sure, I niver see sich a cairpet as this in all
+me born days," she was saying. "If I was to
+swape till I fell prostitute, I'd niver git it clane."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, don't bother about the work, Mary
+Ellen!" we cried. "Just listen to the adventure
+we had yesterday!"</p>
+
+<p>"I listened to the hindermost part of it," she
+returned, "and it sounded purty lively."</p>
+
+<p>"Who cares?" said Angel. "It didn't hurt a
+bit."</p>
+
+<p>"Not a bit," assented The Seraph, cheerily.
+"She gets weaker evwy day, and I get stwonger."</p>
+
+<p>We rushed upon Mary Ellen then with the
+whole story of our new friends, dwelling,
+especially, upon our visit below stairs, and the
+rollicking men and maid-servants we found there.</p>
+
+<p>"They were drinking beer-and-gin," concluded
+Angel, "and the scullery-maid did a breakdown
+for us in a pair of hunting boots."</p>
+
+<p>"It beats all," said Mary Ellen, leaning on her
+broom, "what kapes me in a dull place like this,
+whin there do be sich wild goin's on just around
+the corner like. I'd give a month's wage to see
+thim folks."</p>
+
+<p>"Come around with me," suggested Angel,
+"and I'll introduce you."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, no, Masther Angel. Misther Watlin,
+me young man, wouldn't want me to be goin' into
+mixed company widout him. An it do seem a
+pity, too, since I have me new blue dress, for
+if ever I look lovely, I look lovely in blue." And
+she attacked the tea-leaves with a lagging broom.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Handsomebody, when dinner was over,
+fixed us with her cold grey eye, and said:</p>
+
+<p>"Since you have proved yourselves utterly untrustworthy,
+you shall be locked in your bedroom,
+during my absence this afternoon. Mary
+Ellen, who will be engaged in cleaning the coal
+cellar, has been instructed to supply you with
+bread and milk at four o'clock. By exemplary
+behaviour today, you will ensure a return to your
+customary privileges tomorrow."</p>
+
+
+<h4>VI</h4>
+
+<p>The prison door was locked. The gaoler
+gone.</p>
+
+<p>Thus our Saturday half-holiday!</p>
+
+<p>Angel and I threw ourselves, face downward,
+on the bed. Not so The Seraph. Folding his
+arms, which were almost too short to fold, he
+stood before the single window, gazing through
+its grimy glass at the brick wall opposite, as
+though determined to find something cheerful in
+the outlook.</p>
+
+<p>Aeons passed.</p>
+
+<p>Familiar faces began to leer at me from the
+pattern in the wall-paper. Angel was despondently
+counting out his money on the counter-pane,
+and trying to make three half-pennys and
+a penny with a hole through it, look like affluence.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly there came a rattling of hard particles on the pane. As we stared at each other
+in surprise, another volley followed. It was a
+signal, and no mistake! Already The Seraph
+was tapping the window in response. A moment
+of violent exertion passed before we could get it
+open. Then, thrusting out our heads we discovered
+Simon standing in the passage below,
+his upturned face wearing an anxious grin.</p>
+
+<p>"Thought I'd never get you," he whispered
+hoarsely. "I saw the Dragon go out, so I fired
+a handful of gravel at every window in turn.
+Come on out."</p>
+
+<p>"We can't. We're locked in!" we chorused
+dismally.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll try to catch you if you jump," he suggested.
+"I would break the fall, anyway."</p>
+
+<p>But the way looked long, and Simon very small.</p>
+
+<p>Then: "There's a ladder," cried The Seraph,
+gleefully, "better twy that."</p>
+
+<p>With his usual clear-sightedness, he had spied
+what had escaped his seniors. Our neighbour,
+Mr. Mortimer Pegg, had been having some
+paper hung, and, surely enough, the workmen
+had left a tall ladder propped against the wall of
+the house. Without a second's hesitation, Simon
+flung himself upon it, and with one splendid
+effort, hurled it from that support to the wall of
+Mrs. Handsomebody's house. Then, with the
+strength of a superman, he dragged it until it
+leaned just below our window, and stood gasping
+at its base.</p>
+
+<p>"Good fellow," said Angel, and began to climb
+out.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, you hand me The Seraph," he ordered,
+"and I'll attend to him."</p>
+
+<p>I had some misgivings as I passed his plump,
+clinging little person through the window, and
+watched him make the perilous descent, but, in
+time, he reached the ground, and then I, too,
+stood beside the others, and the four of us
+scampered lightly down the street with no misgivings,
+and no fears.</p>
+
+<p>Before the door of our own grocer, Simon
+made a halt.</p>
+
+<p>"Must have somethin' wet," he gasped.
+"Ladder nearly floored me."</p>
+
+<p>He took us in and treated us with princely unconcern
+to ginger beer and a jam puff apiece.
+As we sucked our beer through straws, I smiled
+to think of Mary Ellen, doubtless preparing
+bread and milk at home.</p>
+
+<p>Once more we entered the garden through the
+creeper-hung door. We visited the rabbits, and
+unchained one of the fox-terriers, which had been
+tied up, Simon told us, as a punishment for eating
+part of a lace curtain. Bill appeared then and
+said that his mother desired us to go to her in the
+drawing-room, and, as it was beginning to rain,
+Simon agreed that it wasn't a bad idea.
+We might even find something to eat in there.</p>
+
+<p>As we trooped past the basement window, I
+lingered behind the others, and peered for a
+space into the lawless region below. What met
+my gaze almost took my breath away: for there
+was our own Mary Ellen, who should have been
+at that moment cleaning the coal cellar, sitting
+at one end of the long table, in her new blue dress,
+and plumed hat, a gentleman in livery on either
+side of her, and on the table before her, a mug,
+which, without doubt, contained gin-and-beer!</p>
+
+<p>I waited to see no more. Enough to know
+that all the world was run amuck! With a glad
+whoop, I sped after the others, and only drew
+up when I stood on the threshold of the drawing-room.</p>
+
+<p>Like the servants' hall, it was a large apartment,
+and, like it, was bewildering in its colour
+and movement, to eyes accustomed to the grey
+decorum of Mrs. Handsomebody's establishment.</p>
+
+<p>Though it was summer, there was a fire on
+the hearth, which played with changeful constancy
+on the vivid chintzes, silver candle-sticks,
+and many mirrors of the room, but most of all,
+on the golden hair and satin tea-gown of the
+lady in pink.</p>
+
+<p>She was speaking in a loud, clear voice to
+Simon's father, who was leaning against the
+mantelpiece smoking.</p>
+
+<p>"Why the devil," she was saying, "should you
+smoke expensive cigars? Why don't you smoke
+cigarettes as I do?"</p>
+
+<p>She angrily puffed at one as she spoke, and
+threw herself back among the black and gold
+cushions of the divan, where she was sitting.
+Her fair brow cleared, however, as her glance
+rested on The Seraph.</p>
+
+<p>"Adorable little toad!" she cried, drawing him
+to her side. "What is your name?"</p>
+
+<p>"Alexander," replied our youngest, "but they
+call me The Seraph. I'm not a pampud pet."</p>
+
+<p>This sent the lady into a gale of laughter. She
+hugged him closer and turned to me.</p>
+
+<p>"And what is your name, Sobersides?" she
+demanded.</p>
+
+<p>"John," I replied, "and my father is David
+Curzon, and he is an engineer in South America,
+but he's coming back to England some day, and, I
+expect then we shall go to school. We just live
+with Mrs. Handsomebody."</p>
+
+<p>As I talked, her expression changed. She
+leaned forward, searching my face eagerly.</p>
+
+<p>"Is it possible?" she said, in a tragic voice.
+"Is it possible? David Curzon. His son.
+The very spit of him!" Abruptly she broke
+into gay laughter, which, somehow, I did not
+quite like: and turning to her husband, she said:
+"Do you remember Davy Curzon? He was
+such a silly old pet. Lor'! I'd quite forgot
+him!"</p>
+
+<p>"Lucky Davy," said the gentleman, smiling at
+me.</p>
+
+<p>"And he was so ridiculously poor," she went
+on, "I remember he ruined himself once to buy
+me a pair of cream-coloured ponies, and a lapis-lazuli
+necklace. And I daresay he's <i>fat</i> now!"</p>
+
+<p>"He is not," I retorted stoutly. "He's thin.
+He's had the fever."</p>
+
+<p>"Again?" she cried. "He had it when I knew
+him&mdash;badly too. Who did he marry?"</p>
+
+<p>"A Miss Vicars," replied her husband.
+"Good family. A screaming beauty too. Other
+two boys look like her."</p>
+
+<p>But the lady had now, it seemed, no interest
+in the other two boys. The Seraph was deposed
+from his place on the divan to make room for
+me; and the lady begged me to give her a kiss,
+just for old times' sake. Yet, somehow, I did
+not quite like it, for I felt that she was making
+fun of my father, the hero of my dreams.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile, the other children, unchided, were
+making things lively in their own way. Mops
+and the boys were eating dates from a bowl and
+pelting each other with the stones, while a new
+member of the family, a seemingly sexless being
+in a blue sash and shoulder knots, called "Baby,"
+galloped up and down the room with a battledore
+and shuttlecock.</p>
+
+
+<h4>VII</h4>
+
+<p>No servant announced her name. I felt no
+warning tremor of solid Earth beneath my feet.
+Yet there she was, in full equipment of bombazine
+dress, hard black bonnet, reticule, and umbrella,
+gripped like an avenging sword. Oh,
+that some merciful cloud might have swept us,
+like fair Iphigenia to the abode of the gods, and
+left three soft-eyed hinds in our stead!</p>
+
+<p>Yet, there we were, gazing at her, spellbound:
+and presently she enunciated with awful distinctness:</p>
+
+<p>"I am come to apologize for the intrusion of
+my wards upon your privacy, and to remove them
+instantly."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, bless you," said the lady in pink, cheerily,
+"three or four more don't matter to us. Won't
+you sit down? And children&mdash;please let the
+lady's things be, d'you hear?" for these intrepid
+children had gathered around Mrs. Handsomebody
+as though she were a dancing bear; and
+"Baby" had even pulled her umbrella from her
+hand substituting for it the battledore which
+Mrs. Handsomebody unconsciously held, with an
+effect of ferocious playfulness.</p>
+
+<p>"I thank you," replied Mrs. Handsomebody.
+"I shall remain standing."</p>
+
+<p>"Let me make you acquainted with my husband,"
+pursued the lady, "he's Lord Simon de
+Lacey, second son of the Duke of Aberfalden.
+Please excuse him smokin'!"</p>
+
+<p>The effect of these simple words on Mrs. Handsomebody
+was startling. She brandished the
+battledore as though to ward off the approaching
+Lord Simon, and repeated in a trembling
+voice:</p>
+
+<p>"Lord Simon de Lacey&mdash;Duke of Aberfalden.
+Surely there is some mistake."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm afraid not," said Lord Simon, shaking
+her hand. "In me you behold the traditional,
+impecunious younger son, and&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"But it will not always be so," interrupted
+Lady Simon, shouting to make herself heard,
+"for, you see, my husband's older brother is an
+invalid who will never marry, so we shall inherit
+the dukedom and estates one day. This child&mdash;"
+pointing to young Simon&mdash;"is a future duke."</p>
+
+<p>"He has a lovely brow," said Mrs. Handsomebody,
+beaming at him.</p>
+
+<p>Indeed, an astounding change had come over
+our governess. No longer was her manner
+frigid; her face, so grey and hard, had softened
+till it seemed to radiate benevolence. She
+beamed at Bill and Bunny playing at leap-frog
+before her chair; she beamed at "Baby," galloping
+astride of her umbrella; she beamed at Mops,
+trying to force a date into the mouth of a struggling
+fox-terrier; she even beamed at me when I
+caught her eye.</p>
+
+<p>"I trust that your father, the Duke, keeps
+well," she said to Lord Simon.</p>
+
+<p>"Great old boy," he replied. "Never misses
+a meet. Been in at the death of nearly four
+thousand foxes."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, blood will tell," breathed Mrs. Handsomebody.</p>
+
+<p>"You see," interposed Lady Simon, "the Duke
+disinherited my husband when he married me.
+Didn't approve of the Profession. I was Miss
+Dulcie June, awfully well known. Photographs
+all over the place. Danced at the Gaiety,
+y'know."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm sure I have heard of you," said Mrs.
+Handsomebody.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, the Duke and I ran into each other at a
+dog show last week, and he was so struck with
+me, he asked to be introduced, and has asked us
+all to visit him at Falden Castle. It looks hopeful,
+don't it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed, yes. But we shall be very sorry to
+lose you. It is so difficult for me to find suitable
+companions for my wards, and your children are
+so&mdash;spirited. Of course, blood will tell."</p>
+
+<p>"Just what I say," assented Lady Simon, "for
+I was a spirited girl, if ever there was one.
+What with late hours, and toe-dancin' and high-kickin',
+it's a wonder how I stood it. I think I
+was like that Sir Galahad chap whose 'strength
+was as the strength of ten'&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Doubtless because your art was pure, my
+love," put in Lord Simon, with a sly smile.</p>
+
+<p>"I used to know this boy's father in those
+days," went on Lady Simon. "He was a lamb."</p>
+
+<p>"He was also my pupil in his youth," said Mrs.
+Handsomebody, and the two talked on in the
+happiest fashion, till we took our leave, the whole
+family following us to the door, and "Baby" returning
+Mrs. Handsomebody's umbrella, and relieving
+her of the battledore without her having
+been aware of the negotiation.</p>
+
+<p>So we who had expected to be haled to retribution,
+as criminals of the deepest dye, floated
+homeward in the serene light of Mrs. Handsomebody's
+approval.</p>
+
+<p>No one spoke till the Cathedral came in view.
+Then Angel said:</p>
+
+<p>"There's a window in the Cathedral in memory
+of a son of some Duke of Aberfalden. He died
+about a hundred years ago."</p>
+
+<p>"The very same family," replied our governess,
+"and, I am sure, from now on, my dear boy, you
+will regard the window with a new reverence."</p>
+
+<p>"You must have noticed," she proceeded, "the
+geniality and dignity that emanated from each
+separate member of that noble family. This is
+admirably expressed by the French in the saying&mdash;'Noblesse
+oblige'&mdash;meaning that nobility has
+its obligations. Repeat the phrase after me,
+David, that you may acquire a perfect accent."</p>
+
+<p>"Knob-less obleedge," repeated Angel, submissively;
+and The Seraph also repeated it several
+times, as though storing it away for future use.</p>
+
+<p>When Mrs. Handsomebody rang the door-bell,
+I trembled for Mary Ellen, remembering where
+I had last seen her, but the admirable girl
+promptly opened the door to us, clad in the drabbest
+of her cellar-cleaning garb, a smudge of soot
+on her rosy cheek.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Handsomebody ordered sardines for tea,
+and had the silver tea-pot brought out. She also
+dressed for the occasion, adding a jet bracelet,
+seldom seen, to her toilet.</p>
+
+<p>All went well, till, at bedtime, The Seraph
+could not be found. Becoming alarmed, Mrs.
+Handsomebody, at last, opened the door of the
+forbidden parlour, Angel and I peering from behind
+her, hoping, yet fearing, to discover the
+recreant.</p>
+
+<p>Truly the gods had a mind to The Seraph.
+His was ever the cream of every adventure.
+There he was, lolling at ease, in a tasselled velvet
+chair, just beneath the portrait of Mr. Handsomebody.
+Lolling at ease, and smoking a
+gold-tipped cigarette, which, he afterwards confessed,
+he had got from Bill, in trade for a piece
+of India-rubber.</p>
+
+<p>Like an old-timer he handled it, watching the
+smoke-wreaths above his head with the tranquil
+gaze of an elderly club-man.</p>
+
+<p>"Merciful Heaven!" screamed Mrs. Handsomebody,
+clutching Angel and me for support.
+"Are you demented, Alexander? Do you realize
+what you are doing?"</p>
+
+<p>The Seraph drew a long puff, looking straight
+into her eyes, before he replied: then, in a tone
+of gentle seriousness, he said:</p>
+
+<p>"Knob-less obleedge."</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+
+
+<h2><i><a name="ch9">Chapter IX: The Cobbler And
+His Wife</a></i></h2>
+
+
+<h4>I</h4>
+
+<p>Bootlaces had become of immense importance
+to us, since a lack of them always meant a visit to
+the cobbler to buy new ones. They were comparatively
+easy to break, or to tie in knots that even
+Mary Ellen's strong fingers could not undo.
+Then there were tongues. One could always dislocate
+a tongue. At any rate, the boots of one of
+the three were always needing attention.</p>
+
+<p>"Bless me!" our governess would exclaim,
+wrathfully, "Another heel off! One would think
+you did it purposely. And boots such a price!
+Just think of your poor father in South America,
+working day in and day out to provide you with
+boots, which you treat with no more consideration
+than if they were horseshoes&mdash;well, to the cobbler's
+then&mdash;and tell him to mind his charges. It
+should cost no more than sixpence."</p>
+
+<p>The cobbler lived in the tiniest of a group of
+tiny houses that huddled together, in a panicky
+fashion, in a narrow street behind Mrs. Handsomebody's
+house. From an upper window we
+could look down on their roofs, where the plump,
+Cathedral pigeons used to congregate to gossip
+and sun themselves.</p>
+
+<p>You went down three stone steps into the cobbler's
+shop. There he always sat at work by his
+bench, tapping away at the sole of a shoe, or
+stitching leather with his strange needle. His
+hands fascinated us by their coat of smooth oily
+dirt. Never cleaner, never dirtier, always the
+same useful, glove-like covering. Did he go to
+bed with them so? How jolly! we thought. His
+face, too, was of extraordinary interest. It was
+so thin that the sharp bones could be seen beneath
+the dusky skin, and he would twitch his nostrils
+at the breeze that came in his open window, for
+all the world like an eager brown hare. His hair
+curled so tightly over his head that one knew he
+could never pull a comb through it, and we were
+sure he was far too sensible to try.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Handsomebody said he was half gypsy,
+and not to be encouraged. Mary Ellen said,
+God help him with that wife of his.</p>
+
+<p>He bred canaries.</p>
+
+<p>All about the low window their wooden cages
+hung. Even from the darkest corners of the
+shop bursts of song leaped like little flames and
+yellow breasts bloomed like daffodils. When
+the cobbler tapped a shoe with his hammer, they
+sang loudest, making a wild and joyous din.</p>
+
+<p>Thus they were all busy together when we entered
+on this winter morning, carrying Angel's
+heelless boot, wrapped in a newspaper.</p>
+
+<p>"Good-morning, Mr. Martindale," said Angel,
+above the din, "you see I've got another heel off,
+so I'm wearing my Sunday boots, and Mrs. Handsomebody
+says it shouldn't be above sixpence,
+please."</p>
+
+<p>The cobbler ceased his tapping, and all the
+birds stopped to listen:</p>
+
+<p>"Good-morning, little masters," he said, in
+his soft voice. "What wild things your feet are
+to be sure. Try as I will, I cannot tame them.
+You might as well try to keep three wild ponies
+shod." He undid the parcel and turned the boot
+over in his hands. "Sixpence, did she say?
+Nay, tell her a shilling, for the sole needs stitching
+as well."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, but you must keep that for another day,"
+said Angel, "so we can come again."</p>
+
+<p>"How she tries to keep you down," said the
+cobbler. "How old are you now?"</p>
+
+<p>I replied to this. "Angel's ten, and I'm nine,
+and The Seraph's six."</p>
+
+<p>"Just the brave age for the woods. I wish I
+had my old van again, and could take you on the
+road with me. You'd learn something of forest
+ways in no time. Shall you wait for this?"</p>
+
+<p>Wait for it? Rather. We established ourselves about him; The Seraph climbed beside him
+on the bench; Angel took possession of his tools,
+handing them to him as required; while I busied
+myself in plentifully oiling a strip of leather.
+The birds chirped and pecked above our heads.</p>
+
+<p>Angel asked: "Did you do much cobbling in
+the van, Mr. Martindale?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ay, cobbling and tinkering too. The forest
+birds liked to hear me just the same as those
+canaries. Especially the tinkering. They'd
+crowd about and sing fit to burst their throats&mdash;wood-thrushes,
+finches, and all sorts. Then, I
+used to stop at village fairs and take in a nice bit
+of silver. For my missus could play the concertina,
+and I had a cage of lovebirds that could tell
+fortunes and do tricks."</p>
+
+<p>A strange voice spoke from the passage behind
+the shop.</p>
+
+<p>"Ay. Comical tricks lovebirds do. And
+cruel tricks, love. I've been tricked by 'em."</p>
+
+<p>"Better lie down, Ada," said Martindale.
+"Or make tea. That'll quiet ye." He rose and
+went to the door, closing it softly. But he had
+barely seated himself again, when there came a
+scream from the passage.</p>
+
+<p>"Look what you've did, you villain, you've shut
+me in the door! Oh! oh! I'm trapped in this
+comical passage! Loose me quick!"</p>
+
+<p>Martindale sprang to the door, where a strip of
+red petticoat showed that his wife was indeed
+caught, and went out into the passage, speaking
+in a soothing tone, and leading her away.</p>
+
+<p>"I fink I'll go," whispered The Seraph.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't be silly," I assured him, "the cobbler
+will take care she don't hurt us."</p>
+
+<p>"She's a character, isn't she?" said Angel, borrowing
+a phrase from Mary Ellen.</p>
+
+<p>Martindale returned then, sat down on his
+bench, and, smoothing his leather apron, resumed
+his work with composure.</p>
+
+<p>"I fink," said The Seraph, "I hear Mrs. Handsomebody
+calling. I better be off."</p>
+
+<p>"Bide a little while," said Martindale, "and
+I'll tell you a first rate story&mdash;about birds too.
+Then you'll forget your fright, little master, eh?"</p>
+
+<p>The Seraph moved closer to him, and the
+canaries burst into a fury of song.</p>
+
+<p>"It's wonderful what birds know," he began.
+"News flies as fast among 'em as wind on the
+heath, and if you do an injury to one, the others'll
+never forgive it. For though they may fight
+among themselves, they'll all join together against
+one wicked cruel man."</p>
+
+<p>The canaries ceased their singing, and fluttered
+against the bars.</p>
+
+<p>"Just look at Coppertoes," said the cobbler,
+pointing to a large ruffled bird, "he's heard this
+tale often afore, yet it always excites him. He'll
+peck at his perch; and beat his wings for hours
+after it. Won't you, my pet?"</p>
+
+<p>Coppertoes crouched on his perch, his beak
+open, making little hissing sounds.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, there was a man," went on the cobbler,
+"a student fellow he was, who was always making
+queer messes with chemicals, and fancying he was
+about to discover some wonderful new combination.
+He lived in a top room in a high, narrow
+house, well on towards three hundred years ago.
+And all those years, a family of song-sparrows,
+and their descendants, had nested under the eaves
+directly above his window. Hatched out their
+young; fed them; and taught them to fly. Very
+well. This student fellow was all in a fever one
+morning because he believed that, at last, his
+great discovery was all but perfect. Just a few
+hours more and he would have it in the hollow of
+his hand. But he could not rightly fasten his
+brain to work because of the constant cheeping
+of the young sparrows under the eaves. Every
+time the mother bird brought them a moth or
+worm they raised a chorus of yells; and when
+she flew away, they cheeped for her to come back
+again.</p>
+
+<p>"The student-fellow shut his window, but it did
+not keep out the noise. Then he flung open the
+window and waved his arms and shouted at them.
+But they only cheeped the louder. Now a dreadful rage took hold on him. With his heart full
+of murder, he fetched a basin in which he had
+put some poisonous drug. He set fire to this and
+set it on the window sill just below the nest.
+Then, with a triumphal smile, he shut the window
+fast, leaving the fledglings to perish in the fumes
+that rose, thick and deadly from the basin.</p>
+
+<p>"For hours he worked, and, at last, to his
+great joy, he figured out the amazing problem
+that was to be a gain to the whole world. He
+was so tired that he clean forgot the little birds,
+and flung himself, face down, on his bed to rest.
+He did not wake until the next morning at seven.
+It was so dark that he had to strike a light to
+see the face of his watch. Now he knew that it
+should not be dark at either seven in the morning
+or seven at night; and he felt very strange. The
+room was full of the unclean smells of his chemicals,
+and he groped his way to the window to get
+air. But the outdoor air was murky and he saw
+that a heavy cloud had settled just above the
+chimney pots. This cloud seemed to palpitate,
+as though made of a million beating wings.
+Down below he could hear the clatter of wooden
+clogs on the cobble stones, as people were running
+in a panic to the Town Hall. The big bell of it
+began to ring, but in a muffled way as though
+borne down by the cloud. The student guessed
+that a meeting was being called.</p>
+
+<p>"He remembered the sparrows then, and he
+craned his neck to see the nest. There was the
+little mother-bird sitting in the nest with her
+wings outstretched to protect the nestlings from
+the deadly fumes. Her beak was wide open and
+she was quite dead."</p>
+
+<p>The Seraph's breast heaved and his tears began
+to drop on the cobbler's leather apron.
+Coppertoes squatted beneath his swing, striking
+it angrily with his shoulders so that it swung
+violently. All the other birds were silent.</p>
+
+<p>Steadily working at the shoe the cobbler proceeded:
+"The terrible truth was borne to the
+student then, and he knew that the cock sparrow,
+on finding his mate and her young ones thus foully
+murdered, had flown swiftly to the king of all
+the birds, and told him of the deed. The king
+had summoned great battalions of birds, from
+fierce eagles and owls (these last rushing from
+their dark hiding places) down to fluttering little
+wrens and tomtits. 'Twas of those that the
+great cloud was made, and it hung just over the
+town like a dark wave that would soon smother
+the townsfolk.</p>
+
+<p>"The student caught up the paper where he
+had writ the great discovery and made for the
+street, running along with the rest of the folk,
+and ready to drop with fear of the great press of
+wings above them. When he got to the Town
+Hall, he found the whole town huddled together
+there, even new mothers with their babes, like
+young birds; and, in a moment the beadle had
+swung the great doors shut. In there they could
+scarce see each other's fearful faces; but the
+student clumb up on the council table, and he told
+out bravely enough how it was all his doing, and
+since he had brought it to pass, he was prepared
+to go out and face the birds alone.</p>
+
+<p>"But first he handed over the paper to the
+Mayor, and charged him to guard it stoutly, for
+it was about the most precious thing on earth.
+Then he called&mdash;'Good-bye! friends,' and went,
+since there was no time to spare; for the birds
+were beginning to hammer like hail on the windows
+with their beaks, especially the cranes and
+flamingos.</p>
+
+<p>"When the door had clanged behind him the
+women mourned aloud, for they knew they would
+never see him again. A great tumult rose outside
+as of a hurricane, and it grew pitch dark.
+After a spell, the noise ceased, and the cloud
+lifted, and a shaft of sunlight slanted across the
+hall. The village tailor opened the door, for
+the mayor and the beadle were sore afeared.
+There was not a bird in sight, though the ground
+was inches deep in feathers they had dropped.
+As for the student, no one ever saw him again.
+Whether the birds had carried him off bodily to
+some secret place, or whether they had torn him
+piecemeal, no one knew."</p>
+
+<p>The Seraph sniffled. "It's nice and twagic,"
+he said.</p>
+
+<p>"What became of his great discovery?" asked
+Angel.</p>
+
+<p>"Ay, you may well ask that. Why, the mayor
+said it was bewitched and held it in the flame of
+a candle till there was naught left of it but cinders....
+Now, here is your boot, little master,
+good as new, and the cost but one shilling."</p>
+
+
+<h4>II</h4>
+
+<p>When we entered the house, we heard voices
+in the parlour, and found our governess there,
+superintending Mary Ellen at work. Mary Ellen
+was carefully brushing and dusting the plumage
+of the stuffed birds.</p>
+
+<p>I stared with a new interest at those feathered
+members of our household, who held themselves
+so coldly aloof from the rest of us; asking neither
+gift of chickweed nor of sugar, disdaining the
+very air we breathed. Who knew but that yonder
+sad-eyed hawk had helped to tear the student!
+"Piecemeal" the cobbler's word for it&mdash;one could
+picture him with some bloody fragment, shooting
+straight upward, his wide pinions spread.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Handsomebody was speaking in a complaining
+way to Angel.</p>
+
+<p>"A shilling! 'Tis ridiculous. For such a
+paltry piece of work. I shall go around that
+way when we take our walk and protest against
+such extortion. I said sixpence to you when you
+set out."</p>
+
+<p>"I know," replied Angel, "but he said it was
+worth a shilling."</p>
+
+<p>"You see, he has a wife to keep," put in The
+Seraph, "and live birds to feed."</p>
+
+<p>Mary Ellen withdrew her head from the interior
+of the glass case.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh'm," she said, very red in the face, "it's
+thrue that Misther Martindale needs every penny
+he can lay hands on, for his wife is no good to
+him at all, and he has to hire a charwoman to
+clane up for her."</p>
+
+<p>"Then," said Mrs. Handsomebody, "I shall
+seek a shoemaker who has no such encumbrance.
+Is the woman feeble-minded or a sloven?"</p>
+
+<p>"Faith, she's both 'm, and ivery day she's gettin'
+worse than she do be. I've heard her say
+sich things whin I've been in the shop that me
+very sowl-case shivered."</p>
+
+<p>"What sort of things?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said Mary Ellen, circling her duster
+on the glasses, so that she might still be said to
+be working as she talked, "the other day whin I
+called for me slippers wid the satin bows on&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I disapprove of those bows."</p>
+
+<p>"&mdash;She was in the passage beyant, and just
+the voice of her came through the crack o' the
+dure. She says, says she: 'If a body was to fall&mdash;an'
+fall&mdash;an' fall&mdash;and there was naught to
+stop him, it's comical to think where he'd light
+on.'... Her voice was as solemn as the church
+organ, 'm. Another day she says: 'If I could
+only git the moon out of this passage, there'd be
+room for my head to whirl round and round!'
+'Excuse me,' I says to the cobbler, 'I'll call for
+thim shoes later.'"</p>
+
+<p>"What appearance has she?" inquired Mrs.
+Handsomebody.</p>
+
+<p>"Noan at all. I've niver seed her. No one
+has ever seed her. She's more banshee than
+woman, I do belave."</p>
+
+<p>True to her threat, Mrs. Handsomebody
+stopped at the cobbler's that afternoon, at the
+outset of our accustomed promenade. The birds
+were in full chorus as we descended the steps into
+the shop.</p>
+
+<p>The cobbler got to his feet, and touched his
+forehead respectfully. This pleased Mrs. Handsomebody.</p>
+
+<p>"My good man," she said, "You have sadly
+overcharged me for putting a new heel on this
+child's boot. I said, when I sent it that it was
+worth sixpence&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>The cobbler opened his mouth to speak.</p>
+
+<p>&mdash;"Now, don't interrupt," continued Mrs.
+Handsomebody. "I shall not ask you to refund
+the sixpence; but I have brought a prunella gaiter
+of my own which needs stitching, and I shall expect
+you to do it, without extra charge, if you
+wish to retain the patronage of my household."</p>
+
+<p>Here was a test of manhood! Would Martindale,
+a full-grown male, submit to being bullied
+by a creature who wore a bustle, and a black silk
+apron? Alas, for the whiskered sex! He took
+his medicine; just as we, hedged in some fateful
+corner, gulped down our castor oil. Turning
+the gaiter over in his dark hands, he meekly assented.
+Mrs. Handsomebody, appeased by her
+easy victory, inquired after his wife.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, poorly as usual, thank you ma'am," he
+said.</p>
+
+<p>"I should think that country life would be much
+better for her."</p>
+
+<p>"She's even worse in the country."</p>
+
+<p>"There was a sheet of an excellent religious
+paper wrapped about that gaiter. You might
+give it to her to read."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you, ma'am, I will, though she takes
+more comfort reading the dream-book than anything."</p>
+
+<p>"Burn the dream-book. It is probably at the
+root of the trouble."</p>
+
+<p>"No," replied the cobbler, slowly, "It all began
+when we lost our daughter."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Handsomebody was touched. "That is
+sad indeed. How old was the child?"</p>
+
+<p>"Just two days old, ma'am. We were camping
+in a forest when she was born, and I had
+laid her in a little hammock among the birds, and
+some gypsies must have stolen her, for when I
+came back she was gone. She'd be eighteen
+now." He stroked his leather apron with trembling
+hands, at the same time giving me a curious
+look of appeal. So when Mrs. Handsomebody,
+after a few words of sympathy made a movement
+to go, I developed a strange pain in the leg, that
+made walking an impossibility. She consented
+that I should rest a while at the cobbler's, and
+then return home carrying the gaiter.</p>
+
+<p>When Martindale and I were left alone, he
+cautiously opened the door into the passage,
+peered out, and then returned. He said softly:</p>
+
+<p>"Little Master, I've got to get rid of Coppertoes.
+She's turned against him. She says he
+comes out of his cage of nights, and flies about
+the house, pecking at the food, and trying to
+make a nest in her hair. She says he stole a
+golden sovereign of hers and hid it in an old
+shoe. Isn't it a shame, and he such a lovely
+bird?"</p>
+
+<p>"It's awful," I agreed. "What shall you do?"</p>
+
+<p>"I know a man who will buy him, but he is out
+of town till tomorrow. Could I depend on you,
+little master, to keep him for me till then? If
+he is left here the misses will do him an injury."</p>
+
+<p>"But Mrs. Handsomebody&mdash;" I faltered.</p>
+
+<p>"Just put him in some out o' the way corner
+with a cloth over his cage, and a lump of sugar.
+He'll be quiet as can be, and 'twill soon be
+dark&mdash;"</p>
+
+
+<h4>III</h4>
+
+<p>With a delicious sense of secrecy, I stole past
+the Cathedral. Pressed against my breast was
+the cage that held Coppertoes. He sat quietly
+on his perch, very long, and slender, and bright-eyed
+with amazement at this sudden excursion
+into a new world. I wondered what he thought
+of the towering Cathedral, shrouded in a film of
+hoar frost that lent its ancient stones a bloom
+as delicate as the petals of flowers.</p>
+
+<p>Three pigeons hopped daintily down the
+shallow stone steps, cocking their heads inquisitively
+at the bird in the cage. I shouted at them,
+and they rose slowly to the tower above.</p>
+
+<p>Silent indeed was the hall when I entered.
+Only the clock ticked ponderously. The house
+was cold, and Coppertoes seemed suddenly very
+fragile. How lonely he would be! I stared at
+the closed door of the parlour, thinking what a
+shame that the stuffed birds in there were not
+alive, so they might be company for him. Still&mdash;he
+was very young&mdash;and had not seen much
+of the world. Might he not be made to believe
+that they were a foreign breed that never chirped
+or left their perches? Anything was better than
+the dark and loneliness. And if he chose to sing
+I was sure he could not be heard through that
+heavy door.</p>
+
+<p>Like a ghost I went in and shut the door behind
+me.</p>
+
+<p>I held his wicker cage against the glass case.
+"Coppertoes," I whispered, "Other birds!
+Aren't they pretty? Want to get in an' play
+with them, old chap? See the pretty oriole?
+An' the owl, Coppertoes. Lovebirds, too. Want
+to get in, little fellow? Such a bully big cage you
+never saw."</p>
+
+<p>I opened the door of the glass case, and cautiously
+introduced the bird cage. I opened the
+door of the cage. Coppertoes paid no heed but
+busied himself in pecking sharply at his lump of
+sugar. I urged him with my finger but still he
+refused to see the door. Then I took away his
+sugar, and poked him. With a light and careless
+hop he was on the threshold. He cocked
+his head. He spied the oriole.</p>
+
+<p>An instant later he was at its throat. Feathers
+flew. He was back again on the roof of his
+cage spitting feathers out of his mouth. More
+feathers sailed slowly through the heavy air.
+Then he spied the lovebirds. With passionate
+fury he attacked them both at once, tearing their
+plumage impartially; his eye already selecting the
+next victim.</p>
+
+<p>Though my heart thumped with apprehension,
+my mouth was stretched in a broad grin. I felt
+that I should never tire of the spectacle before
+me. I realized that I had always hated the
+stuffed birds.</p>
+
+<p>Coppertoes was busy with the owl, when a
+piercing scream came from behind me. I turned
+and found Mrs. Handsomebody gazing with horrified
+fascination at the orgy under glass. She
+took three steps forward, her eyes starting with
+horror.</p>
+
+<p>"Come to life&mdash;" she gasped, in a strangled
+voice&mdash;"after all these years&mdash;and gone stark
+mad."</p>
+
+<p>She fell, at full length, across the green and
+red medallions of the carpet.</p>
+
+<p>Then, with a rush, Mary Ellen and the charwoman,
+Mrs. Coe, were upon us, and, after them,
+my brothers.</p>
+
+<p>"Lord preserve us!" cried Mary Ellen, bending
+above her prostrate mistress, "what has come
+over the poor lady to be took like this?"</p>
+
+<p>"Is she dead, do you fink?" asked The Seraph,
+on a hopeful note.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, if she is, faith! 'tis yersilves has kilt
+her."</p>
+
+<p>"She's just in a swoond," asserted Mrs. Coe,
+calmly. "Wot she needs is brandy. Yus, and
+terbaccer smoke blowed dahn 'er froat." Mrs.
+Handsomebody moaned.</p>
+
+<p>"Better get her out of here," suggested Angel,
+his eye on Coppertoes who, sated by bloodshed,
+lay with wings outstretched, panting on the floor
+of the case.</p>
+
+<p>"Thrue," agreed Mary Ellen. "And shut the
+dure afther ye, and make yersilves scarce till tea-time,
+like good childer, do."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Handsomebody was borne away by Mary
+Ellen and Mrs. Coe, the latter still muttering&mdash;"terbaccer
+smoke dahn 'er froat."</p>
+
+<p>We restored Coppertoes to his wicker cage, and
+wrapping it in an antimacassar, hid it beneath
+the piano.</p>
+
+
+<h4>IV</h4>
+
+<p>We three sat, "making ourselves scarce," on
+the topmost of the steps before the front door.
+It was only four by the Cathedral clock, which
+solemnly struck the hour, but it was almost dark.
+It was cold and we pressed closely together for
+warmth. The Seraph murmured a little song of
+which I caught the words:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"> <div class="stanza">
+<p>"The birds! The birds!</p>
+<p class="i2">He knocked the stuffing</p>
+<p class="i2">Out of the stuffed birds!"</p>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>We watched the slow progress of the lamplighter
+along the street. Like a god, he marched
+solemnly, leaving new stars in his wake.</p>
+
+<p>As he raised his wand and touched the lamp
+before our house, a new figure appeared beneath
+its rays, hurrying darkly towards us. It entered
+the gate and came in a stealthy way to where we
+sat. We recognized the cobbler.</p>
+
+<p>"Little masters," he whispered. "She's
+flitted."</p>
+
+<p>"Good widdance," said The Seraph, briskly.
+"She was too comical to be a nice wife."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, no," replied the cobbler. "She's weak
+in her head and bound to come to something
+hurtful. I'll not seek my bed this night until
+I've found her. I thought mayhap you'd ha' seen
+her pass!"</p>
+
+<p>"No," replied Angel. "We didn't. But perhaps
+the lamplighter did."</p>
+
+<p>With one accord, we hurried after the retreating
+figure. Hearing our footsteps, he turned and
+faced us beneath a newly lit lamp. Its serene
+radiance fell on his solemn blue-eyed face, surrounded
+by red whiskers.</p>
+
+<p>"What's the turmoil?" he asked. "Did I forget
+a lamp?"</p>
+
+<p>"Have ye seen a strange-appearing woman?"
+asked Martindale. "With a shawl about her,
+and mayhap remarking something about the moon,
+or a evil-minded canary."</p>
+
+<p>The lamplighter ran his fingers through his
+red beard. "She warn't saying naught about
+canaries," he affirmed, "but she did say as how
+if she could once get the moon in Wumble Pool,
+she'd drown it."</p>
+
+<p>"Wumble Pool. That's where she's gone
+then. I can't seem to place it."</p>
+
+<p>"It's less nor a mile from here, and since my
+last lamp is lit, I'll not mind guiding you so far.
+Who be she, this woman?"</p>
+
+<p>"My wife. She's fey, and I'm fearing she'll
+drown herself."</p>
+
+<p>"It's a very bad fing to be drowned," put in
+The Seraph, as we all set off together. "'Cos a
+bath in a tub is wet enough."</p>
+
+<p>What a chill, dark night it was growing! The
+Cathedral clock struck a hollow warning note as
+we passed. We heard the beat of wings as the
+pigeons settled for the night.</p>
+
+<p>The Seraph grasped a hand each of the cobbler
+and the lamplighter, taking long manful strides
+to keep up with them. We seemed, indeed, a
+sinister company setting out on dark adventure.</p>
+
+<p>Hurriedly we traversed narrow, winding
+streets, where night had already fallen in the
+shadow of clammy walls. Strange and eerie was
+the path between wet trees, when we had left the
+town behind. The lamplighter with his tall
+wand alight seemed like some unearthly messenger
+come to conduct us to goblin realms.</p>
+
+<p>We spoke never a word till an open common
+lay before us; then the lamplighter pointing with
+his wand to a glimmering surface fringed by rank
+grass, said:</p>
+
+<p>"Yon's Wumble Pool."</p>
+
+<p>Wumble Pool! The very name struck a chill
+to our hearts.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, and there's the moon," whispered the
+cobbler.</p>
+
+<p>It was true that the distorted image of the
+moon floated dimly in the Pool, as though it had
+indeed been caught by the mad-woman, and
+drowned.</p>
+
+<p>"How soft the ground is!" breathed Angel.</p>
+
+<p>"Ay, and the Pool has no bottom," said the
+lamplighter.</p>
+
+<p>"I can't think she'd have the heart to do it,"
+said Martindale.</p>
+
+<p>The Seraph screamed.</p>
+
+<p>"There she is! I see her! Standing in the
+Pool!"</p>
+
+<p>We ran to the brink. A cold air struck our
+faces. Our feet sank ankle-deep in the mud.
+The cobbler did not stop, but ran on into the
+Pool, where the shawled figure of a woman stood,
+covered to the waist by the sullen, black water.</p>
+
+<p>"Ada! Ada!" cried the cobbler, throwing his
+arms about her.</p>
+
+<p>"Leave me go!" shrieked the woman. "I'm
+a-goin' to drownd myself!"</p>
+
+<p>The struggle in the water, shattered the reflection
+of the moon like pale amber glass. Once
+they both sank into the water; the lamplighter
+waving his wand, and shouting. Then, at last,
+the four of us bent over them as they lay, huddled,
+on the grass at the brink.</p>
+
+<p>"You'd ought to be ashamed of yourself to
+worrit your 'usband so," said the lamplighter,
+sternly.</p>
+
+<p>"'Usband!" cried the woman, shrilly. "I've
+got no 'usband!"</p>
+
+<p>The cobbler gave a cry of fear. He pulled
+the shawl from her head and felt the face and
+hair.</p>
+
+"God's truth!" he muttered, "I've saved the
+wrong woman."
+
+<p>"Better fwow her back again," suggested The
+Seraph.</p>
+
+<p>"Nay, nay, little man," said the lamplighter,
+holding his light close to her face. "That would
+never do. Besides, her be young and winsome."</p>
+
+<p>"I'd keep her," said Angel.</p>
+
+<p>"Whoever are you, lass?" asked Martindale,
+in a trembling voice, "and why did you plan to
+make way with yourself?"</p>
+
+<p>The moon shone wanly on the girl's face and
+wet hair.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm nobody," she wailed, "and I be tired of
+life."</p>
+
+<p>"Did you see aught of a strange woman?"
+asked Martindale. "One who was talking about
+the moon, and her head a-whirling?"</p>
+
+<p>"She came right down the road ahead of me,"
+she answered, in a weak voice, "and ran straight
+into the pool. When she was in, she grabbed
+the floating image of the moon, and she said:
+'I've got you, at last, you comical villain!' And
+she laughed, and seemed to struggle with it, and
+she went down."</p>
+
+<p>"That'd be her, all right," said the lamplighter.</p>
+
+<p>"Ada mine, Ada mine," mourned Martindale.</p>
+
+<p>Angel and The Seraph and I clutched hands,
+and looked shudderingly into Wumble Pool.</p>
+
+<p>"That seemed to scare me like," went on the
+girl, "and I couldn't jump right in, but I just
+crept, a step at a time, fearing I'd step on the
+body."</p>
+
+<p>"No danger," said The Seraph complacently,
+"there's no bottom."</p>
+
+<p>"One thing is certain," pronounced the lamplighter,
+"this young 'ooman should have some
+hot spirits in her inside, and be wrapped in a
+warm blanket, afore she's starved with the cold."</p>
+
+<p>First we walked all around Wumble Pool, and
+poked it with sticks, but there was no sign of the
+cobbler's wife. Then, slowly, we retraced our
+steps to the town, the two men supporting the
+dripping girl.</p>
+
+<p>A lamp burned with a ruddy glow in the room
+behind the shop, where all the birds were sleeping.
+Martindale put his charge in a chair by the
+hearth, and made gin-and-beer hot for everybody.
+The Seraph kissed the girl, and she said that she
+was glad after all that she was safe out of Wumble
+Pool.</p>
+
+<p>"What is your name, my dear?" questioned
+Martindale.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know my name rightly, sir, for I was
+stole by gipsies when I was but two days old."</p>
+
+<p>The cobbler gave a cry and set down his glass.
+"Gipsies&mdash;two days' old&mdash;" he stammered.
+Then he pushed back the thick hair, about her
+ear. "Yes, yes!" pointing to a tiny slit in the
+lobe, "there is the very place,&mdash;where one of my
+jealous birds pecked her the day she was born!"
+He caught her in his arms and held her, mystified
+but happy&mdash;.</p>
+
+<p>The reunion was interrupted by a pounding at
+the door. It was a furious Mary Ellen, her
+night out completely spoiled by the search for us.</p>
+
+<p>Thus we were haled before Mrs. Handsomebody,
+questioned, upbraided, and given, at last,
+a bowl of hot gruel apiece.</p>
+
+<p>"You deserve," she said bitterly, "to go empty
+to bed, but my conscience forbids that I relax my
+vigilance over your health. Tomorrow, we
+shall see what can be done in the way of discipline."</p>
+
+<p>We sat on three high-backed haircloth chairs.
+The steaming gruel slipped thickly into our stomachs.
+The hot gin had gone to our heads. Mrs.
+Handsomebody's head looked abnormally large
+to me, and seemed to be whirling round and
+round. Surely she was not getting like the cobbler's
+wife! Mrs. Handsomebody was still
+scolding:</p>
+
+<p>"You began the day by introducing a canary
+of the lowest proclivities into my case of stuffed
+birds, where he perpetrated irreparable damage&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>The Seraph interrupted, "Don't you yike live
+birds, Mrs. Handsomebody?"</p>
+
+<p>"I prefer stuffed birds to live ones, I confess."</p>
+
+<p>The Seraph said apologetically: "And I pwefer
+gin to gwuel&mdash;any day."</p>
+
+<p>"Gin! Where did you taste gin?"</p>
+
+<p>Without reply The Seraph hurried on, while
+Angel and I scraped our bowls:</p>
+
+<p>"There was once a student fellow and he didn't
+yike live birds, either. He poisoned one and it
+died. Then he undertook a walk (this was a
+favourite expression of Mrs. Handsomebody's)
+and all the other birds pounced on him and tore
+him piecemeal."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Handsomebody, with a ferocious gleam
+in her eye, leaned forward to catch the rest.
+The Seraph's voice was low and insinuating.</p>
+
+<p>"I was finking"&mdash;with a chuckle&mdash;"that you
+might poison one of the nicest of the stuffed birds.
+Then you might get in the glass case wiv the
+others. We could lock the door on the outside
+and watch through the glass."</p>
+
+<p>"And I expect you think they would tear <i>me</i>
+piecemeal? Is that the idea?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I don't know," chuckled The Seraph.
+"But suppose you twy it."</p>
+
+<br /><br />
+
+
+<h2><i><a name="ch10">Chapter X: The New Day</a></i></h2>
+
+
+<h4>I</h4>
+
+<p>I think we must have felt that he was coming,
+for we awoke at dawn that morning. I could
+barely see the silvery bars between the slats of
+the shutters. The Seraph was stirring in his
+sleep, and in a moment he whispered: "I say,
+John, what's that long black thing behind the
+door?"</p>
+
+<p>"Just some clothes hung up," I whispered back.</p>
+
+<p>"I fought they moved," he said. "Do you
+fink the wardrobe door moved, John?"</p>
+
+<p>"Everything seems a little queer this morning,"
+I replied. "I heard a whispering sort of noise
+at the shutters a bit ago."</p>
+
+<p>Angel began to talk in his sleep.</p>
+
+<p>"If three suns were to rise at six," he muttered,
+"how many stars would it take to make a
+moon?"</p>
+
+<p>The Seraph began to laugh delightedly. He
+kicked his legs and showed all his little white
+teeth. Angel opened his eyes and stared at us
+crossly. "What a beastly row," he said. "I
+want to sleep some more."</p>
+
+<p>The silver bars between the slats of the shutters
+took a golden tinge. Clearly it was to be
+a fine day, after a week of rain and sleet.</p>
+
+<p>The chimes of the Cathedral sounded. The
+notes came with penetrating sweetness as though
+the air were cold and clear. We heard the door
+of Mary Ellen's room open; she descended the
+back stairs noisily.</p>
+
+<p>The Seraph turned a somersault in the middle
+of the bed.</p>
+
+<p>"Cwistmas is coming," he said, trying to stand
+on his head, "and I want a pony."</p>
+
+<p>We threw ourselves into a general scuffle, and
+the old-four-poster creaked and the bolster fell
+to the floor.</p>
+
+<p>Then up the cavernous backstairs came the
+peal of the front door bell. We heard Mary
+Ellen drop the poker and run through the house.
+It was an unheard of hour for the front door
+bell to ring. We sat up in bed in stiffened attitudes
+of expectancy. Mary Ellen was mounting
+the front stair. She rapped loudly at Mrs.
+Handsomebody's bedroom door. There were
+whispers. Then Mrs. Handsomebody's voice
+came decidedly:</p>
+
+<p>"Go about your work with the utmost speed.
+Say nothing to the boys of this. I shall tell
+them when they have had their breakfast."</p>
+
+<p>In a moment she appeared at our door in her
+purple dressing-gown, an expression of repressed
+excitement on her face. A sunbeam slanting
+through the passage rested on the fringe of curl-papers
+about her head so that she looked like
+some elderly saint wearing a rather ragged halo.</p>
+
+<p>"I have received news," she announced, with
+more than usual firmness, "which will make it
+necessary for us to rise immediately. Dress as
+quickly as you can, and help your little brother.
+What a state you have got that bed into! You
+deserve to be punished." She stood for a
+moment, her eyes resting on us with a curious
+look, then, with a sigh, she turned away and went
+back to her room.</p>
+
+<p>At breakfast she still wore her dressing-gown,
+an unprecedented laxity. Beside her on the table-cloth
+lay a crumpled piece of buff paper. So it
+was by telegram that the news had come. Instantly
+I thought. The telegram is from father.
+He is coming home. Maybe he is on his way.
+In London even! The food would not go down
+my throat. Shudders of excitement shook me.</p>
+
+<p>I looked at Angel. Taking advantage of Mrs.
+Handsomebody's absorption he was spreading a
+second spoonful of sugar over his porridge.
+The Seraph was staring, spoon in hand, into Mrs.
+Handsomebody's set face. He said&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Mrs. Handsomebody, if I was to smile at you,
+would you smile back at me?"</p>
+
+<p>"Alexander," replied Mrs. Handsomebody,
+"I hope I have never been found wanting in courtesy.
+But, at present, I should prefer to see you
+eat your breakfast with as much speed as possible.
+John, eat your porridge."</p>
+
+<p>"I can't, please."</p>
+
+<p>"Eat it instantly, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"I can't," I repeated, beginning to blubber, "I
+want to see father!"</p>
+
+<p>"Eat your porridge and you shall see him.
+He will be here at ten o'clock. Silence, now, no
+uproar. My nerves are under quite enough
+strain." She poured herself fresh tea, and continued:</p>
+
+<p>"There will be no tasks today. After breakfast
+you will put on your best jackets and collars,
+and sit in the parlour until he arrives. I implore
+you to be as composed as possible."</p>
+
+<p>The questions that poured from us were
+hushed by a gesture of her inflexible, white hand.
+Dazed by the news, we were herded back to our
+bedroom, hurried into stiff white collars and
+hustled into shining Sunday shoes. There was
+the sound of cold water tinkling in the basin; of
+straining bootlaces; and of the creaking of a
+loose board in the floor every time Mary Ellen
+stepped on it. Scarcely a word was spoken.
+Now that what we had so long strained towards
+was at hand we stood breathless before the immensity of it. The long year and nine months
+at Mrs. Handsomebody's fell like a heavy curtain
+between us and the past. Our father's face had
+grown hazy to us. I think The Seraph only pretended
+to remember. His coming had been held
+over our heads so long, as a time of swift retribution,
+that a feeling of doubt, almost terror,
+mingled with our joy.</p>
+
+<p>At last we were ready. With shining faces,
+burning ears, and quickly tapping hearts, we went
+soberly down the stairs. The door of the parlour
+stood wide open. Mrs. Handsomebody,
+herself, was dusting the case of stuffed birds,
+whose plumage, sadly thinned by the attentions
+of Coppertoes, seemed to quiver with expectancy.</p>
+
+<p>We were instructed to wait inside the iron
+gate, at the front, until train time, when we were
+to be recalled to the parlour, and take our places
+on three chairs, already ranged in a row for us.
+Thus we were to be displayed by Mrs. Handsomebody,
+to our sire.</p>
+
+<p>We found Granfa polishing the brass on the
+front door, his white locks bobbing as he rubbed.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Granfa," we cried, "have you heard the
+news?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ess fay," he replied, straightening his back,
+"for thiccy Mary Ellen came a-galloping at top
+speed to ask me to shine the brasses for 'ee, knowing I have a wonderful art that way. The poor
+Zany was all in a mizmaze."</p>
+
+<p>"Are you glad father's coming?"</p>
+
+<p>"Glad! I be so joyful as a bulfinch in springtime.
+See how the very face of Natur' be lit up
+for the grand occasion."</p>
+
+<p>The sky had, indeed, become deeply blue, and
+a great pink cloud hung above the Cathedral like
+a welcoming banner. There had been frost in
+the night forming thin ice over the puddles in the
+road. All those reflected the serene pink of the
+cloud, a blue pigeon picked his way delicately
+among them. A sweet-smelling wind swayed the
+moist brown limbs of the elm trees. All the
+world seemed like a great organ attuned to joy.</p>
+
+<p>"Suppose," suggested Angel, "that we just race
+around to the cobbler's and tell him the news.
+The Dragon is too busy to miss us."</p>
+
+<p>The very thing! It would take only a few
+minutes and would be something to do to pass
+the time. Softly we slipped through the iron
+gate; lightly we hastened along the shining wet
+street; under the shadow of the Cathedral, whose
+spire seemed to taper to the sky; down narrow,
+winding Henwood Street till we reached the cobbler's
+shop.</p>
+
+<p>Martindale was standing in the open door his
+face raised as though he were drinking in the
+fragrance of the morning. A chorus of bird
+song came from inside.</p>
+
+<p>"Hallo, Mr. Martindale," Angel shouted.</p>
+
+<p>"What do you suppose? Father's coming
+home."</p>
+
+<p>"He'll be here In less than two hours," I
+panted.</p>
+
+<p>The cobbler put a dark hand on a shoulder of
+each. "That's grand news, little masters," he
+said. "But I hope he won't take you so far away
+that I shall never see you. The birds like you
+too. They never sing so loud as when you are
+in the shop."</p>
+
+<p>While he was speaking we heard footsteps coming
+quickly down Henwood street around the corner.
+They were quick, sharp footsteps that rang
+on the frosty air. "It's curious," said the cobbler,
+"how footsteps sound here. I think it's the
+Cathedral walls that give that ringing sound."</p>
+
+<p>We turned to watch for the approaching pedestrian.
+We wondered who he was that walked
+with such an eager, springing step. He turned
+the corner. He faced us. Then he laughed out
+loud and said, "Hello!"</p>
+
+<p>We were, for a second, simply staggered. We
+made incoherent noises like young animals.
+Then we were snatched by rough tweed arms, a
+small, stiff moustache rasped our cheeks,
+and&mdash;"Father!" we squealed, at last, in chorus.</p>
+
+<p>"I found I could catch an early train," he said,
+"so I just hopped on, for I was in a desperate
+hurry to see you. What are you doing here, at
+this hour?" He stared at the cobbler.</p>
+
+<p>"This is Mr. Martindale," I explained. "He
+mends our boots, and tells us stories, and he's got
+a bird named Coppertoes."</p>
+
+<p>"So you are a friend of my boys," said father.
+"Ay. And they're grand little lads, sir. I
+have a daughter of my own I'm very proud of,
+sir. She was lost for seventeen years, and your
+sons helped me to find her."</p>
+
+<p>His daughter came to the door then to call him
+to breakfast. She had a yellow braid over each
+shoulder, and Coppertoes was sitting on her wrist
+with a piece of chickweed in his bill. Father
+stopped to admire them both.</p>
+
+<p>"By George," he said, when we had left them,
+"if all your friends are as interesting as those, I
+should like to meet them."</p>
+
+<p>"They are that," I said, happily, "and here's
+another of them."</p>
+
+<p>It was Granfa, standing at the gate, his blue
+eyes staring with amazement. He raised his
+broom to his shoulder and stood at attention as
+we drew near.</p>
+
+<p>"What a sight for the nation!" he exclaimed.
+"Welcome home my dear son-in-law. I be terrible
+proud to hand my charges over to 'ee. Us
+have got along famous while you was over to
+South Ameriky."</p>
+
+<p>I trembled for fear father should say something
+to hurt Granfa's feelings, but he seemed to
+understand him at once, and shook him by the
+hand, and made him a present of some tobacco
+on the spot.</p>
+
+
+<h4>II</h4>
+
+<p>"Merciful Heaven!" screamed Mrs. Handsomebody.
+"Davy!" "Mr. Curzon!" She
+clutched her curl-papers in one hand and the
+front of her purple wrapper in the other. "We
+did not expect you for an hour yet."</p>
+
+<p>Father laughed. "Well, I've saved you some
+of the trouble of preparing by coming early.
+How very well you are looking. And how well-cared-for
+the children. I'm delighted. I think
+I shall take them over to the hotel where my
+luggage has been sent and have a talk with them
+and come back later. Will that suit you?"</p>
+
+<p>But Mrs. Handsomebody insisted that he have
+a proper breakfast, and installed us in the parlour
+while she retired to assume the decent
+armour of the day.</p>
+
+<p>Father sat facing the stuffed birds. He put
+The Seraph on his knee, and Angel and I hung
+on either side of him. We were suddenly shy of
+him, and it seemed enough to be near him, and to
+feel the all-surrounding power and protection of
+him. His cheeks were incredibly sun-browned,
+with a ruddy glow beneath; his moustache and
+the hair at his temples were almost golden. I
+liked the greenish grey of his tweed suit that
+seemed to match his clear, wide-open eyes.</p>
+
+<p>He made a wry face at the stuffed birds and
+then he whispered: "Old chaps, have you been
+happy here?"</p>
+
+<p>We nodded. The past was gone. What did
+it matter! "Oh, but, we want to be wiv you!
+Don't leave us," breathed The Seraph, burrowing
+his face into the rough tweed shoulder.</p>
+
+<p>Angel and I burrowed against him too. "Don't
+leave us again," we whispered.</p>
+
+<p>He began to kiss us, and to rumple our heads,
+and to bite The Seraph's cheek. The Seraph,
+drunk with joy, jumped down, and pulling open
+the door of the glass case tried to drag a lovebird
+from its perch to present to father. We
+were just able to stop him when our governess
+returned.</p>
+
+<p>She was dignified and smiling, in black satin
+and a gold chain. Mary Ellen had the breakfast
+laid in the dining-room and we sat about him,
+watching him eat. With what admiration we beheld
+his masterful attack on the bacon and eggs!
+It became awe when we saw the quantity of marmalade
+that he spread upon his toast.</p>
+
+<p>And Mrs. Handsomebody beamed fatuously
+at him!</p>
+
+<p>Between mouthfuls he talked. "Do you remember
+how I used to call you Wiggie? And
+the time I hid the white rat in your bonnet box?"</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Handsomebody cackled. The Seraph
+kicked the table leg, unreproved. I drifted after
+Mary Ellen to the kitchen. "Isn't he fine?" I
+bragged.</p>
+
+<p>"Divil a finer," agreed she.</p>
+
+<p>"And 'tis yersilf, Masther John," she added,
+"is the very spit av him. Shure it's you should
+be the proud bye."</p>
+
+<p>"And, Mary Ellen, you are to come and live
+with us, you know, and have all the 'followers'
+you want."</p>
+
+<p>"Och," she laughed, "I'm done wid followers,
+me dear. To tell ye the truth, Mr. Watlin and
+I are plannin' to git hitched up, before the New
+Year. An uncle of his have died and left him
+enough to start him in the butcherin' business on
+his own account. So maybe you'll dance at me
+weddin' yet."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll give you a nice present, Mary Ellen,
+dear," I promised, putting my arm around her.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," she went on, squeezing me, "and the
+cook next door was tellin' me last night, that the
+word is goin' about that Miss Margery an'
+Misther Harry is engaged too. So there's love
+in the air, Masther John. D'ye mind the time
+'twas yersilf was in love wid little Miss Jane?
+Bless yer little heart."</p>
+
+<p>I fled back to the dining-room.</p>
+
+<p>Mary Ellen was now dispatched to blow her
+whistle for a hansom, and almost before we realized
+it we found ourselves rolling smoothly to the
+hotel where father was to stay.</p>
+
+<p>Next, we were in his very room, exploring,
+with adventurous fingers, all his admirable,
+tobacco-smelling belongings. When his back was
+turned, Angel even unsheathed his razor and
+flourished it, for one hair-lifting second. But
+father caught him and promised that he should
+become acquainted with the razor-strop also, if
+he grew too bold.</p>
+
+<p>We went out and bought chocolates and toys
+and brought them back to his room to play with.
+The morning passed in a delicious dream. Then
+luncheon downstairs with him, the eyes of many
+people on us.</p>
+
+<p>Among them I discovered, before long, the
+laughing blue eyes of Lady Simon. She was not
+looking at me, but very eagerly at father, as
+though she were trying to make him see her. In
+a moment she succeeded, and, without a word of
+explanation to us he jumped up and strode across
+to the table where she and Lord Simon sat.
+The Seraph ran after him and was gathered into
+her arms while she smiled and talked to father
+over his curls.</p>
+
+<p>"Wonder if she's askin' him for another lapis
+lazarus necklace," said Angel, his mouth full of
+charlotte russe, "she'd better not, 'cos we're all he
+can afford now."</p>
+
+<p>I did not like the idea either, so when father
+came back with The Seraph hanging to his coat
+tails, I remarked, with some asperity:</p>
+
+<p>"She said you nearly ruined yourself once to
+buy her a pair of cream-coloured ponies."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, and a lapis lazarus necklace," added Angel,
+accusingly.</p>
+
+<p>"I want a cweam-culled pony!" shouted The
+Seraph.</p>
+
+<p>Father leaned over us with almost the expression
+of Mrs. Handsomebody in his eye.</p>
+
+<p>"You shall all have ponies," he said, "any old
+colour you like, cream, or pink, or blue, if you'll
+shut up and be good."</p>
+
+<p>Dazzled by the vision of a herd of rainbow-coloured
+ponies we suffered ourselves to be led
+in silence from the dining-room. Outside, father
+said, still with the look of Mrs. Handsomebody
+in his eye:</p>
+
+<p>"I have to make a call on a lady in Argyle
+Road, my godmother. Do you feel prepared to
+come, and be good boys, or shall I send you back
+to your governess?"</p>
+
+<p>"Argyle Road!" exclaimed Angel. "That's
+where Giftie lived."</p>
+
+<p>"Want to see Giftie!" came from The Seraph,
+"and Colin."</p>
+
+<p>"Are you going to be good?"</p>
+
+<p>"Rather," said Angel. "Please take us."</p>
+
+<p>Another hansom was called. We were quite
+prepared to see it stop before the large square
+house where Giftie lived. It stopped. There
+was a clamour of barks from three Scottish terriers
+as we entered the gate. In a second I had
+Giftie in my arms; her little, hard wriggling body
+pressed to my breast; her little red tongue showing
+between her pointed white teeth. She was
+wild with the joy of welcoming us, but Colin
+walked solemnly away, his tail very much in the
+air. The third dog I felt sure was one of Giftie's
+pups. "His name is Tam," shouted the tall grey-haired
+lady, having suddenly appeared, and I
+discovered then that we were in the drawing-room,
+and pulled off my cap, and smiled up at her.</p>
+
+<p>"I've been saving him for you," she went on,
+"hoping you would turn up. The other two are
+sold. But Tam is for you boys, and oh, Davy,"
+turning to father, "you must let me have them
+for Christmas. We shall have an enormous
+Christmas Tree, and look! it's beginning to
+snow."</p>
+
+<p>It was true. Great white flakes were softly
+whirling past the windows, shutting us away from
+the outer world. The fire seemed to burn the
+brighter for them, the air seemed full of happiness
+and gay adventure. We bent over our new possession
+on the hearthrug in ecstasy. Tam, in ferocious
+playfulness, tried to show us all part of his
+body at once. But when we overcame him, and
+pinned him down, he lay limply, with his tongue
+out at one side, and the promise of many a future
+romp in his roguish brown eyes. Giftie brought
+a woollen bedroom slipper from upstairs to worry
+for our amusement. Even Colin grew friendly.
+The talk went on above our heads, the far-off
+talk of grown-ups. But stay&mdash;it was not so incomprehensible
+after all! What was it she was
+saying? A pantomime! A deserving Charity.
+Had tickets. Suppose we take the children.
+Would it bore Davy? Davy said it wouldn't.</p>
+
+<p>Was all our new life to be a whirl like this?
+Now we were back in the hansom cab bowling
+through the madly dancing snowflakes. Now we
+were back at Mrs. Handsomebody's having tea
+with a double portion of jam; being scrubbed and
+brushed, and warned of our behaviour, sliding
+on the slippery soles of new boots; sniffing the
+fresh linen of clean handkerchiefs; watching Mrs.
+Handsomebody tie her bonnet strings with trembling
+fingers.</p>
+
+<p>In a four-wheeler now, squeezed very closely
+together; the wheels moving heavily through the
+ever-deepening snow; lights flashing by the snowy
+windows, father's leg and boot pressing against
+me cruelly but giving a delicious sense of protection
+and good fellowship. Then the blazing
+light, and heat, and pressing crowd of the lobby;
+a sense of terror lest the pompous man who took
+tickets would refuse to accept those tendered by
+father; immense relief, as a thin, bounding individual
+led us down the sloping aisle. Father's
+guiding hand on our shoulders; we were in our
+seats.</p>
+
+<p>On my right sat father, and beyond him Angel.
+On my left The Seraph and Mrs. Handsomebody,
+her hands clasped tensely in her lap. But who
+was that in the golden light beyond Angel? Who
+indeed but our old friend Captain Pegg who had
+come, it appeared, with Giftie's mistress. Lucky
+Angel to be next him, laughing and whispering
+with him! Then, lucky me to be pushed between
+the seats to shake his hand.</p>
+
+<p>"Shiver my timbers, John," he whispered, "but
+I have great days to tell you of! Days of
+plunder and bloodshed, my hearty. I went back
+to the old life, for a while, you know. Look
+here!" He drew aside his coat and around his
+waist I saw that he wore a belt of alligator skin
+into which was thrust a curved and glittering
+bowie knife!</p>
+
+<p>The curtain was going up. I was pulled back
+into my seat. My pulses throbbed as scene by
+scene the pantomime was disclosed before my
+happy eyes. Here was I, John Curzon, part of
+quite as good a play as yon. Pirates, love, fluttering
+banners, swashbuckling clowns, life
+stretched before me, a jolly adventure with Angel
+and The Seraph always there to share the fun.
+Now the Seraph's head had dropped to Mrs.
+Handsomebody's lap. He was half asleep. Her
+black kid hand patted his back. She was gazing
+with a rapt smile at the stage.</p>
+
+<p>The pantomime was nearly over. The night
+of danger and dark alarm was past. Rosy morning
+broke upon the mountain side, and Columbine,
+reclining in a pearl-pink shell, opened her eyes and
+smiled upon a flowery world.</p>
+
+<p>I felt father's cheek against my head. His
+hand covered mine. He whispered:</p>
+
+<p>"Happy, John?"</p>
+
+<p>I nodded, clutching his fingers. And so we
+met the New Day together.</p>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Explorers of the Dawn, by Mazo de la Roche
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Explorers of the Dawn, by Mazo de la Roche
+
+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: Explorers of the Dawn
+
+Author: Mazo de la Roche
+
+Release Date: May 2, 2008 [EBook #25283]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EXPLORERS OF THE DAWN ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Charlene Taylor, Matt Whittaker and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This
+file was produced from images generously made available
+by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries)
+
+
+
+
+
+***Transcriber's Notes: The partial phrase--"Child, it shall not be
+done," consoled the--appears naturally in the original version on page 191
+(Chapter VII, section II), and in a printer's error, is inserted between
+two halves of a hyphenated word on page 204; the latter was omitted. The
+use of hyphens in words was made consistent throughout. Variant spelling
+and dialect was faithfully preserved.***
+
+
+
+
+Explorers of the Dawn
+
+
+
+
+_NEW BORZOI NOVELS SPRING, 1922_
+
+
+WANDERERS
+  _Knut Hamsun_
+
+MEN OF AFFAIRS
+  _Roland Pertwee_
+
+THE FAIR REWARDS
+  _Thomas Beer_
+
+I WALKED IN ARDEN
+  _Jack Crawford_
+
+GUEST THE ONE-EYED
+  _Gunnar Gunnarsson_
+
+THE GARDEN PARTY
+  _Katherine Mansfield_
+
+THE LONGEST JOURNEY
+  _E. M. Forster_
+
+THE SOUL OF A CHILD
+  _Edwin Bjoerkman_
+
+CYTHEREA
+  _Joseph Hergesheimer_
+
+EXPLORERS OF THE DAWN
+  _Mazo de la Roche_
+
+THE WHITE KAMI
+  _Edward Alden Jewell_
+
+
+
+
+Explorers of the Dawn
+
+by Mazo de la Roche
+With a Foreword by
+Christopher Morley
+
+New York
+Alfred A Knopf
+1922
+
+
+_Published February, 1922_
+_Second Printing, March, 1922_
+_Third Printing, May, 1922_
+
+
+_Set up, electrotyped, and printed by the Vail-Ballou Co., Binghamton,
+N. Y. Paper supplied by W. F. Etherington & Co., New York, N. Y. Bound by
+the Plimpton Press, Norwood, Mass._
+
+MANUFACTURED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
+
+
+
+
+     _But a short while ago, A. de la R. laughed with me over the
+     adventures of these little fellows. To the memory of that happy
+     laughter I dedicate the book._
+
+     _M. de la R._
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+CHAPTER                                              PAGE
+
+     I   BURIED TREASURE                               15
+
+    II   THE JILT                                      52
+
+   III   EXPLORERS OF THE DAWN                         76
+
+    IV   A MERRY INTERLUDE                             99
+
+     V   FREEDOM                                      127
+
+    VI   D'YE KEN JOHN PEEL                           160
+
+   VII   GRANFA                                       187
+
+  VIII   NOBLESSE OBLIGE                              219
+
+    IX   THE COBBLER AND HIS WIFE                     250
+
+     X   THE NEW DAY                                  276
+
+
+
+
+_FOREWORD_
+
+_The publisher has asked me to write a note of introduction to this book.
+Surely it needs none; but it is a pleasant task to write prefaces for other
+people's books. When one writes a preface to a book of one's own, one
+naturally grovels, deprecates, and has no opportunity to call the friendly
+reader's attention to what the author considers the beauties and
+significances of the work. How agreeable, then, to be able to do this
+service for another._
+
+_Moreover, one hopes that such a service may not be wholly vain. Every book
+has its own special audience, for whom--very likely unconsciously--it was
+written: the group of people, far spread over the curve of earth, who will
+find in that particular book just the sort of magic and wisdom that they
+seek. And, as every one who has studied the book business knows, books very
+often tragically miss just the public that was waiting for them. It is such
+an obscure and nebulous problem, getting the book into the hands of the
+people to whom it will appeal. One knows that there are thousands of
+readers for whom that book (whatever it may be) will mean keen pleasure.
+But how is one to find them and bring the volume to their eyes?_
+
+_I owe to the "Atlantic Monthly" my own introduction to Miss de la Roche's
+writing. Several years ago, when I was acting as a modest periscope for a
+publishing house, I read in the "Atlantic" a fanciful little story by her
+which seemed to me so delicate and humorous in fancy, so refreshing and
+happy in expression, that I wrote to the author in the hope of some day
+luring her to offer a book to the house with which I was connected. We had
+some pleasant correspondence. Time passed: I fell from the placid ramparts
+of the publishing business, into the more noisy but not less happy bustle
+of the newspaper world. But still, though I am not a conscientious
+correspondent, I managed to keep occasionally in touch with Miss de la
+Roche. For a while I seemed highly unsuccessful as her ambassador into the
+high court of publishing. Then, one day, lunching with Mr. Alfred Knopf at
+a small tavern on Vesey Street (which was subsequently abolished by the New
+York City Health Department as being unfit to offer what one of the small
+boys in this book calls "nushment") I happened to tell him about Miss de la
+Roche's work. I saw his eye, an eye of special clarity and brilliance,
+widen and darken with that particular emotion exhibited by a publisher who
+feels what is vulgarly known as a "hunch." He said he would "look into" the
+matter; and this book is the result._
+
+_The phrase "look into" is perhaps appropriate as applied to this book. For
+it is one of those books where the eye of the attentive reader sees more
+than a mere sparkling flow of words on a running surface of narrative. Of
+course this is not one of those books that "everybody_ must _read." It is
+not likely to become fashionable. But it seems to me so truly charming, so
+felicitous in subtle touches of humour, so tenderly moved with an
+under-running current of wistfulness, that surely it will find its own
+lovers; who will be, perhaps, among those who utter the names of Barrie and
+Kenneth Grahame with a special sound of voice._
+
+_Perhaps, since I myself was one of a family of three boys, the story of
+Angel, Seraph and John, makes a prejudicial claim upon my affection. I must
+admit that it is evident the author of the book was never herself a small
+boy: sometimes their imperfections are a little too perfect, too femininely
+and romantically conceived, to make me feel one of them. They have not
+quite the rowdy actuality of Mr. Tarkington's urchins. But the, fact that
+the whole story is told with a poet's imagination, and viewed through a
+golden cloud of fancy, gives us countervailing beauties that a strictly
+naturalistic treatment would miss. Let us not forget that we are in a
+"Cathedral Town"; and next door is a Bishop. And certainly in the vigorous
+and great-hearted Mary Ellen we stand solidly on the good earth of human
+nature "as is."_
+
+_It is not the intention of the introducer to anticipate the reader's
+pleasure by selfishly pointing out some of the dainty touches of humour
+that will arouse the secret applause of the mind. One thing only occurs to
+be said. The scene of the tale is said to be in England. And yet, to the
+zealous observer, there will seem to be some flavours that are hardly
+English. The language of the excellent Mary Ellen, for instance, comes to
+me with a distinct cisatlantic sound. Nor can I, somehow, visualize a
+planked back garden in an English Cathedral Town. I am wondering about
+this, and I conclude that perhaps it is due to the fact that Miss de la
+Roche lives in Toronto, that delightful city where the virtues of both
+England and America are said to be subtly and consummately blended. Her
+story, as simple and refreshing as the tune of an old song, and yet so
+richly spiced with humour, perhaps presents a blend of qualities and
+imaginations that we would only find in Canada; for the Canadians, after
+all, are the true Anglo-Americans. Perhaps they do not like to be called
+so? But I mean it well: I mean that they combine the good qualities of both
+sides._
+
+_And so one wishes good fortune to this book in its task--which every book
+must face for itself--of discovering its destined friends. There will be
+some readers, I think, who will look through it as through an open window,
+into a land of clear gusty winds and March sunshine and volleying church
+bells on Sunday mornings, into a land of terrible contradictions, a land
+whose emigres look back to it tenderly, yet without too poignant
+regret--the Almost Forgotten Land of childhood._
+
+CHRISTOPHER MORLEY.
+
+
+
+
+_Chapter I: Buried Treasure_
+
+
+I
+
+Probably our father would never have chosen Mrs. Handsomebody to be our
+governess and guardian during the almost two years he spent in South
+America, had it not seemed the natural thing to hand us over to the
+admirable woman who had been his own teacher in early boyhood.
+
+Had he not been bewildered by the sudden death of our young mother, he
+might have recalled scenes between himself and Mrs. Handsomebody that would
+have made him hesitate to leave three stirring boys under her entire
+control. Possibly he forgot that he had had his parents, and a doting aunt
+or two, to pad the angularities of Mrs. Handsomebody's rule, and to say
+whether or not her limber cane should seek his plumpest and most tender
+parts.
+
+Then, too, at that period, Mrs. Handsomebody was still unmarried. As Miss
+Wigmore she had not yet captured and quelled the manly spirit of Mr.
+Handsomebody. From being a blustering sort of man, he had become, Mary
+Ellen said, very mild and fearful.
+
+On his demise Mrs. Handsomebody was left in solitary possession of a tall,
+narrow house, in the shadow of the grey Cathedral in the rather grey and
+grim old town of Misthorpe. Here, Angel and The Seraph and I were set down
+one April morning, fresh from the country house, where we had been born;
+our mother's kisses still warm, one might say, on our round young cheeks.
+
+Unaccustomed to restraint, we were introduced into an atmosphere of
+drabness and restraint, best typified, perhaps, by the change from our
+tender, springy country turf, to the dry, blistered planks of Mrs.
+Handsomebody's back yard. Angel, fiery, candid, inconstant; the careless
+possessor of a beautiful boys' treble, which was to develop into the
+incomparable tenor of today--next, myself, a year younger, but equally tall
+and courageous, in a more dogged way--then, The Seraph, three years my
+junior, he was just five, following where we led with a blind loyalty,
+"Stubborn, strong and jolly as a pie."
+
+Truly when I think of us, as we were then, and when I remember how we came
+like a wild disturbing wind into that solemn house, I am inclined to pity
+Mrs. Handsomebody.
+
+Even when she sent us to bed in the colossal four-poster, in the middle of
+the afternoon, we were scarcely downcast, for it was not such a bad
+playground after all, and by drawing the curtains, we could shut ourselves
+completely away from the world dominated by petticoats.
+
+Then there was Mary Ellen, with her "followers," always our firm ally,
+brimming with boisterous good health. Looking back, I am convinced that
+Mrs. Handsomebody deserves our sympathy.
+
+
+II
+
+It was Saturday morning, and we three were in Mrs. Handsomebody's
+parlour--Angel, and The Seraph, and I.
+
+No sooner had the front door closed upon the tall angular figure of the
+lady, bearing her market basket, than we shut our books with a snap, ran on
+tiptoe to the top of the stairs, and, after a moment's breathless
+listening, cast our young forms on the smooth walnut bannister, and glided
+gloriously to the bottom.
+
+Regularly on a Saturday morning she went to market, and with equal
+regularity we cast off the yoke of her restraint, slid down the bannisters,
+and entered the forbidden precincts of the Parlour.
+
+On other week days the shutters of this grim apartment were kept closed,
+and an inquisitive eye, applied to the keyhole, could just faintly discern
+the portrait in crayon of the late Mr. Handsomebody, presiding, like some
+whiskered ghost, over the revels of the stuffed birds in the glass case
+below him.
+
+But on a Saturday morning Mary Ellen swept and dusted there. The shutters
+were thrown open, and the thin-legged piano and the haircloth furniture
+were furbished up for the morrow. Moreover Mary Ellen liked our company.
+She had a spooky feeling about the parlour. Mr. Handsomebody gave her the
+creeps, she said, and once when she had turned her back she had heard one
+of the stuffed birds twitter. It was a gruesome thought.
+
+When we bounded in on her, Mary Ellen was dragging the broom feebly across
+the gigantic green and red lilies of the carpet, her bare red arms moving
+like listless antennae. She could, when she willed, work vigorously and
+well, but no one knew when a heavy mood might seize her, and render her as
+useless as was compatible with retaining her situation.
+
+"Och, byes!" she groaned, leaning on her broom. "This Spring weather do be
+makin' me as wake as a blind kitten! Sure, I feel this mornin' like as if
+I'd a stone settin' on my stomach, an' me head feels as light as
+thistledown. I wisht the missus'd fergit to come home an' I could take a
+day off--but there's no such luck for Mary Ellen!"
+
+She made a few more passes with her broom and then sighed.
+
+"I think I'll soon be lavin' this place," she said.
+
+A vision of the house without the cheering presence of Mary Ellen rose
+blackly before us. We crowded round her.
+
+"Now, see here," said Angel masterfully, putting his arms about her stout
+waist. "You know perfectly well that father's coming back from South
+America soon to make a home for us, and that you are to come and be our
+cook, and make apple-dumplings, and have all the followers you like."
+
+Now Angel knew whereof he spoke, for Mary Ellen's "followers" were a bone
+of contention between her and her mistress.
+
+"Aw, Master Angel," she expostulated, "What a tongue ye have in yer head to
+be sure! Followers, is it? Sure, they're the bane o' me life! Now git out
+av the way o' the dust, all of yez, or I'll put a tin ear on ye!" And she
+began to swing her broom vigorously.
+
+We ran to the window and looked out but no sooner had we looked out than we
+whistled with astonishment at what we saw.
+
+First you must know that on the west of Mrs. Handsomebody's house stood the
+broad, ivy-clad mansion of the Bishop, grey stone, like the Cathedral; on
+the east was a dingy white brick house, exactly like Mrs. Handsomebody's.
+In it lived Mr. and Mrs. Mortimer Pegg and their three servants.
+
+To us they seemed very elegant, if somewhat uninteresting people. Mrs.
+Mortimer Pegg frequently had carriage callers, and not seldom sallied forth
+herself in a sedate victoria from the livery stables. But beyond an
+occasional flutter of excitement when their horses stopped at our very
+gate, there was little in this prim couple to interest us. So neat and
+precise were they as they tripped down the street together, that we called
+them (out of Mrs. Handsomebody's hearing) Mr. and Mrs. "Cribbage" Pegg.
+
+Now, on this morning in mid-spring when we looked out of the window our
+eyes discovered an object of such compelling interest in the Pegg's front
+garden that we rubbed them again to make sure that we were broad awake.
+
+Striding up and down the small enclosure was a tall old man wearing a
+brilliant-hued, flowered dressing-gown, that hung open at the neck,
+disclosing his long brown throat and hairy chest, and flapping negligently
+about his heels as he strode.
+
+He had bushy iron-grey hair and moustache, and tufts of curly grey beard
+grew around his chin and ears. His nose was large and sun-burned; and every
+now and again he would stop in his caged-animal walk and sniff the air as
+though he enjoyed it.
+
+I liked the old gentleman from the start.
+
+"Oo-o! See the funny old man!" giggled The Seraph. "Coat like Jacob an' his
+bwethern!"
+
+Angel and I plied Mary Ellen with questions. Who was he? Did he live with
+the Peggs? Did she think he was a foreigner? Mary Ellen, supported by her
+broom, stared out of the window.
+
+"For th' love of Hiven!" she ejaculated. "If that ain't a sight now! Byes,
+it's Mr. Pegg's own father come home from somewheres in th' Indies. Their
+cook was tellin' me of the time they have wid him. He's a bit light-headed,
+y'see, an' has all his meals in his own room--th' quarest dishes iver--an'
+a starlin' for a pet, mind ye."
+
+At that moment the old gentleman perceived that he was watched, and
+saluting Mary Ellen gallantly, he called out:
+
+"Good-morning, madam!"
+
+Mary Ellen, covered with confusion, drew back behind the curtain. I was
+about to make a suitable reply when I saw Mrs. Mortimer Pegg, herself,
+emerge from her house with a very red face, and resolutely grasp her
+father-in-law's arm. She spoke to him in a rapid undertone, and, after a
+moment's hesitation, he followed her meekly into the house.
+
+How I sympathized with him! I knew only too well the humiliation
+experienced by the helpless male when over-bearing woman drags him
+ignominiously from his harmless recreation.
+
+A bond of understanding seemed to be established between us at once.
+
+The voice of Mary Ellen broke in on my reverie. She was teasing Angel to
+sing.
+
+"Aw give us a chune, Master Angel before th' missus gets back! There's a
+duck. I'll give ye a pocket full of raisins as sure's fate!"
+
+Angel, full of music as a bird, could strum some sort of accompaniment to
+any song on the piano. It was Mary Ellen's delight on a Saturday morning to
+pour forth her pent up feelings in one of the popular songs, with Angel to
+keep her on the tune and thump a chord or two.
+
+It was a risky business. But The Seraph mounted guard at the window while I
+pressed my nose against the glass case that held the stuffed birds and
+wondered if any of them had come from South America. "How jolly," I
+thought, "to be there with father."
+
+Tum-te-tum-te-tum, strummed Angel.
+
+  "Casey would waltz with the strawberry blonde,
+          And the--band--played--on."
+
+His sweet reedy tones thrilled the April air.
+
+And Mary Ellen's voice, robust as the whistle of a locomotive, bursting
+with health and spirits, shook the very cobwebs that she had not swept
+down.
+
+  "Casey would waltz with th' strawberry blonde,
+          And--the--band--play--don!"
+
+Generally we had a faithful subordinate in The Seraph. He had a rather
+sturdy sense of honour. On this spring morning however, I think that the
+singing of Mary Ellen must have dulled his sensibilities, for, instead of
+keeping a bright lookout up the street for the dreaded form of Mrs.
+Handsomebody, he lolled across the window-sill, dangling a piece of string,
+with the April sunshine warming his rounded back.
+
+And as he dangled the string, Mrs. Handsomebody drew nearer and nearer. She
+entered the gate--she entered the house--she was in the parlour!!
+
+Angel and Mary Ellen had just given their last triumphant shout, when Mrs.
+Handsomebody said in a voice of cold fury:
+
+"Mary Ellen, kindly cease that ribald screaming. David (David is Angel's
+proper name) get up instantly from that piano stool and face me! John,
+Alexander, face me!"
+
+We did so tremblingly.
+
+"Now," said Mrs. Handsomebody, "you three boys go up to your bedroom--not
+to the schoolroom, mind--and don't let me hear another sound from you
+today! You shall get no dinner. At four I will come and discuss your
+disgraceful conduct with you. Now march!"
+
+She held the door open for us while we filed sheepishly under her arm. Then
+the door closed behind us with a decisive bang, and poor Mary Ellen was
+left in the torture-chamber with Mrs. Handsomebody and the stuffed birds.
+
+
+III
+
+Angel and I scurried up the stairway. We could hear The Seraph panting as
+he laboured after us.
+
+Once in the haven of our little room we rolled in a confused heap on the
+bed, scuffling indiscriminately. It was a favourite punishment with Mrs.
+Handsomebody, and we had a suspicion that she relished the fact that so
+much food was saved when we went dinnerless. At any rate, we were not
+allowed to make up the deficiency at tea-time.
+
+We always passed the hours of our confinement on the bed, for the room was
+very small and the one window stared blankly at the window of an unused
+room in the Peggs' house, which blankly returned the stare.
+
+But these were not dull times for us. As Elizabethan actors, striding about
+their bare stage, conjured up brave pictures of gilded halls or leafy
+forest glades, so we little fellows made a castle stronghold of our bed; or
+better still, a gallant frigate that sailed beyond the barren walls into
+unknown seas of adventure, and anchored at last off some rocky island where
+treasure lay hid among the hills.
+
+What brave fights with pirates there were, when Angel as Captain, I as
+mate, with The Seraph for a cabin boy, fought the bloody pirate gangs on
+those surf-washed shores, and gained the fight, though far out-numbered!
+
+They were not dull times in that small back room, but gay-coloured lawless
+times, when our fancy was let free, and we fought on empty stomachs, and
+felt only the wind in our faces, and heard the creak of straining cordage.
+What if we were on half-rations!
+
+On this particular morning, however, there was something to be disposed of
+before we got to business. To wit, the rank insubordination of The Seraph.
+It was not to be dealt with too lightly. Angel sat up with a dishevelled
+head.
+
+"Get up!" he commanded The Seraph, who obeyed wonderingly.
+
+"Now, my man," continued Angel, with the scowl that had made him dreaded
+the South Seas over, "have you anything to say for yourself?"
+
+The Seraph hung his head.
+
+"I was on'y danglin' a bit o' stwing," he murmured.
+
+"String"--repeated Angel, the scowl deepening, "dangling a bit of string!
+You may be dangling yourself at the end of a rope before the sun sets, my
+hearty! Here we are without any dinner, all along of you. Now see here,
+you'll go right over into that corner by the window with your face to the
+wall and stand there all the time John and I play! An'--an' you won't know
+what we're doing nor where we're going nor _anything_--so there!"
+
+The Seraph went, weeping bitterly. He hid his face in the dusty lace window
+curtain. He looked very small. I could not help remembering how father had
+said we were to take care of him and not make him cry.
+
+Somehow that morning things went ill with the adventure. The savour had
+gone out of our play. Two were but a paltry company after all. Where was
+the cabin-boy with his trusty dirk, eager to bleed for the cause? Though we
+kept our backs rigorously turned to the window, and spoke only in whispers,
+neither of us could quite forget the presence of that dejected little
+figure in the faded holland smock.
+
+After a bit The Seraph's whimpering ceased, and what was our surprise to
+hear the chuckling laugh with which he was wont to signify his pleasure!
+
+We turned to look at him. His face was pressed to the window, and again he
+giggled rapturously.
+
+"What's up, kid?" we demanded.
+
+"Ole Joseph-an'-his-Bwethern," he sputtered, "winkin' an' wavin' hands wiv
+me!"
+
+We were at his side like a shot, and there in the hitherto blank window of
+the Peggs' house stood the old gentleman of the flowered dressing-gown
+laughing and nodding at The Seraph! When he saw us he made a sign to us to
+open our window, and at the same instant raised his own.
+
+It took the three of us to accomplish it, for the window moved unreadily,
+being seldom raised, as Mrs. Handsomebody regarded fresh air much as she
+regarded a small boy, as something to be kept in its place.
+
+At last the window rose, protesting and creaking, and the next moment we
+were face to face with our new acquaintance.
+
+"Hello!" he said, in a loud jovial voice.
+
+"Hello!" said we, and stared.
+
+He had a strong, weather-beaten face, and wide-open light eyes, blue and
+wild as the sea.
+
+"Hello, boy!" he repeated, looking at Angel, "What's your name?"
+
+Now Angel was shy with strangers, so I usually answered questions.
+
+"His name," I replied then, "is David Curzon but mother called him Angel,
+so we jus' keep on doing it."
+
+"Oh," said the old gentleman. Then he fixed The Seraph with his eye.
+"What's the bantling's name?"
+
+The Seraph, mightily confused at being called a bantling, giggled inanely,
+so I replied again.
+
+"His name is Alexander Curzon, but mother called him The Seraph, so we jus'
+keep on doing it too."
+
+"Um-hm," assented the old gentleman, "and you--what's your name?"
+
+"John," I replied.
+
+"Oh," he said, with an odd little smile, "and what do they keep on calling
+_you_?"
+
+"Just John," I answered firmly, "nothing else."
+
+"Who's your father?" came the next question.
+
+"He's David Curzon, senior," I said proudly, "and he's in South America
+building a railroad an' Mrs. Handsomebody used to be his governess when he
+was a little boy, so he left us with her, but some day, pretty soon, I
+think, he's coming back to make a really home for us with rabbits an'
+puppies an' pigeons an' things."
+
+Our new friend nodded sympathetically. Then, quite suddenly, he asked:
+
+"Where's your mother?"
+
+"She's in Heaven," I answered sadly, "she went there two months ago."
+
+"Yes," broke in The Seraph eagerly, "but she's comin' back some day to make
+a _weally_ home for us!"
+
+"Shut up!" said Angel gruffly, poking him with his elbow.
+
+"The Seraph's very little," I explained apologetically, "he doesn't
+understand."
+
+The old gentleman put his hand in the pocket of his dressing-gown.
+
+"Bantling," he said with his droll smile, "do you like peppermint
+bull's-eyes?"
+
+"Yes," said The Seraph, "I yike them--one for each of us."
+
+Whereupon this extraordinary man began throwing us peppermints as fast as
+we could catch them. It was surprising how we began to feel at home with
+him, as though we had known him for years.
+
+He had travelled all over the world it seemed, and he brought many curious
+things to the window to show us. One of these was a starling whose wicker
+cage he placed on the sill where the sunlight fell.
+
+He had got it, he said, from one of the crew of a trading vessel off the
+coast of Java. The sailor had brought it all the way from Devon for
+company, and, he added--"the brute had put out both its eyes so that it
+would learn to talk more readily, so now, you see, the poor little fellow
+is quite blind."
+
+"Blind--blind--blind!" echoed the starling briskly, "blind--blind--blind!"
+
+He took it from its cage on his finger. It hopped up his arm till it
+reached his cheek, where it began to peck at his whiskers, crying all the
+while in its shrill, lonely tones,--"Blind, blind, blind!"
+
+We three were entranced; and an idea that was swiftly forming in my mind
+struggled for expression.
+
+If this wonderful old man had, as he said, sailed the seas from Land's End
+to Ceylon, was it not possible that he had seen, even fought with, real
+pirates? Might he not have followed hot on the trail of hidden treasure? My
+cheeks burned as I tried to put the question.
+
+"Did you--" I began, "did you--"
+
+"Well?" he encouraged. "Did I what, John?"
+
+"Oh, did you," I burst out, "ever see a pirate ship, an' pirates--real
+ones?"
+
+His face lit up.
+
+"Surely," he replied casually, "many an one."
+
+"P'raps--" ventured Angel, with an excited laugh, "p'raps you're one
+yourself!"
+
+The old gentleman searched our eager faces with his wide-open, sea blue
+eyes, then he looked cautiously into the room behind him, and, apparently
+satisfied that no one could overhear, he put his hand to the side of his
+mouth, and said in a loud hoarse whisper--
+
+"That I am. Pirate as ever was!"
+
+I think you could have knocked me down with a feather. I know my knees
+shook and the room reeled. The Seraph was the first to recover, piping
+cheerfully--
+
+"I yike piwates!"
+
+"Yes," repeated the old gentleman, reflectively, "pirate as ever was. The
+things I've seen and done would fill the biggest book you ever saw, and
+it'd make your hair stand on end to read it--what with fights, and murders,
+and hangings, and storms, and shipwreck, and the hunt for gold! Many a
+sweet schooner or frigate I've sunk, or taken for myself; and there isn't a
+port on the South Seas where women don't hush their children crying with
+the fear of Captain Pegg."
+
+Then he added hastily, as though he feared he had gone too far:
+
+"But I'm a changed man, mark you--a reformed man. If things suit me pretty
+well here I don't think I shall break out again. It is just that you chaps
+seem so sympathetic makes me tell you all this; but you must swear never to
+breathe a word of it, for no one knows but you. My son and daughter-in-law
+think I'm an archaeologist. It'd be an awful shock to them to find that I'm
+a pirate."
+
+We swore the blackest secrecy, and were about to ply him with a hundred
+questions, when we saw a maid carrying a large tray enter the room behind
+him.
+
+Captain Pegg, as I must now call him, gave us a gesture of warning and
+began to lower his window. A pleasant aroma of roast beef came across the
+alley. The next instant the flowered dressing-gown had disappeared and the
+window opposite stared blankly as before.
+
+Angel blew a deep breath. "Did you notice," he said, "how different he got
+once he had told us he was a pirate--wilder and rougher, and used more
+sailor words?"
+
+"However did you guess it first?" I asked admiringly.
+
+"I think I know a pirate when I see one," he returned loftily. "But, oh I
+say, wouldn't Mrs. Handsomebody be waxy if she knew?"
+
+"An' wouldn't Mary Ellen be scared stiff if _she_ knew?"
+
+"An' won't we have fun? Hurray!"
+
+We rolled in ecstasy on the much-enduring bed.
+
+We talked excitedly of the possibilities of such a wonderful and dangerous
+friendship. And as it turned out, none of our imaginings equalled what
+really happened.
+
+The afternoon passed quickly. As the hands of our alarm clock neared the
+hour of four we obliterated the traces of our sojourn on the bed as well as
+we could, and, when Mrs. Handsomebody entered, she found us sitting in a
+row on the three cane-bottomed chairs, on which we hung our clothes at
+night.
+
+The scolding she gave us was even longer and more humiliating to our
+manhood than usual. She shook her hard white finger near our faces and said
+that for very little she would write to our father and complain of our
+actions.
+
+"Now," she said, in conclusion, "give your faces and hands a thorough
+washing and comb your hair, which is disgraceful; then come quietly down to
+tea." The door closed behind her.
+
+"What beats me," said Angel, lathering his hands, "is why that wart on her
+chin wiggles so when she jaws us! I can't keep my eyes off it."
+
+"It wiggles," piped The Seraph, as he dragged a brush over his curls, "'cos
+it's nervous, an' I wiggle when she scolds too, 'cos _I'm_ nervous."
+
+"Don't you worry, old man," Angel responded, gaily, "we'll take care of
+you."
+
+We were in fine spirits despite our scolding. Indeed, we almost pitied Mrs.
+Handsomebody for her ignorance of the wonders amongst which she had her
+being.
+
+Here she was, fussing over some stuffed birds in a glass case, when a live
+starling, who could talk, had perched near her very window sill! She spent
+hours in conversation with her Unitarian minister, while a real pirate
+lived next door.
+
+It was pitiful, and yet it was very funny. We found it hard to go quietly
+down to tea with such thoughts in our minds, and after five hours in our
+bedroom.
+
+
+IV
+
+The next day was Sunday.
+
+As we sat at dinner with Mrs. Handsomebody after morning service, we were
+scarcely conscious of the large, white dumplings that bulged before us,
+with a delicious sticky sweet sauce, trickling down their dropsical sides.
+We plied our spoons with languid interest around their outer edges, as
+calves nibble around a straw stack. Our vagrant minds scoured the Spanish
+Main with Captain Pegg.
+
+Suddenly The Seraph spoke in that cock-sure way of his.
+
+"There's a piwate at Peggs."
+
+Mrs. Handsomebody looked at him sharply.
+
+"What's that?" she demanded. At the same instant Angel and I kicked him
+under cover of the table.
+
+"What did you say?" repeated Mrs. Handsomebody sternly.
+
+"Funny ole gennelman at the Cwibbage Peggs," replied The Seraph with his
+mouth full.
+
+Mrs. Handsomebody greatly respected Mr. and Mrs. Mortimer Pegg, and this
+play of words on the name incensed her.
+
+"Am I to understand Alexander," she gobbled, "that you are making _game_ of
+the Mortimer Peggs?"
+
+"Yes," giggled the wretched Seraph, "it's a cwibbage game. You play it wiv
+Peggs."
+
+"Leave the table instantly!" ordered Mrs. Handsomebody. "You are becoming
+unbearable."
+
+The Seraph cast one anguished look at his dumpling and burst into tears. We
+could hear his wails growing ever fainter as he plodded up the stairs.
+
+"Mary Ellen, remove that dumpling!" commanded Mrs. Handsomebody.
+
+Angel and I began to eat very fast. There was a short silence; then Mrs.
+Handsomebody said didactically:
+
+"The elder Mr. Pegg is a much travelled gentleman, and one of the most
+noted archaeologists of the day. A trifle eccentric in his manner perhaps
+but a deep thinker. David, can you tell me what an archaeologist is?"
+
+"Something you pretend you are," said Angel, "and you ain't."
+
+"Nonsense!" snapped Mrs. Handsomebody. "Look it up in your Johnson's when
+you go upstairs, and let me know the result. I will excuse you now."
+
+We found The Seraph lounging in a chair in the schoolroom.
+
+"Too bad about the dumpling, old boy," I said consolingly.
+
+"Oh, not too bad," he replied. "Mary Ellen fetched it up the backstairs to
+me. I'm vewy full."
+
+That afternoon we saw Captain Pegg go for a walk with his son and
+daughter-in-law. He looked quite altered in a long grey coat and tall hat.
+Mr. and Mrs. Mortimer Pegg seemed proud to walk with him.
+
+The following day was warm and sunny. When lessons were over we rushed to
+our bedroom window and to our joy we found that the window opposite was
+wide open, the wicker cage on the sill with the starling inside swelling up
+and preening himself in the sunshine, while just beyond sat Captain Pegg
+smoking a long pipe.
+
+He seemed delighted to see us.
+
+"Avast, my hearties!" he cried. "It's glorious sailing weather, but I've
+just been lying at anchor here, on the chance of sighting you. It does my
+heart good, y'see, to talk with some of my own kind, and leave off
+pretending to be an archaeologist--to stretch my mental legs, as it were.
+Well--have you taken your bearings this morning?"
+
+"Captain Pegg," I broke out with my heart tripping against my blouse, "you
+said something the other day about buried treasure. Did you really find
+some? And would you mind telling us how you set about it?"
+
+"Yes," he replied meditatively, "many a sack of treasure trove I've
+unearthed--but the most curious find of all, I got without searching and
+without blood being spilt. I was lying quiet those days, about forty years
+ago, off the north of the Orkney islands. Well, one morning I took a fancy
+to explore some of the outlying rocks and little islands dotted here and
+there. So I started off in a yawl with four seamen to row me; and not
+seeing much but barren rocks and stunted shrubs about, I bent over the
+stern and stared into the sea. It was as clear as crystal.
+
+"As we were passing through a narrow channel between two rock islands, I
+bade the men rest on their oars, for something strange below had arrested
+my attention. I now could see plainly, in the green depths, a Spanish
+galleon, standing upright, held as in a vice, by the grip of the two great
+rocks. She must have gone down with all hands, when the greater part of the
+Spanish Armada was wrecked on the shores of Britain.
+
+"'Shiver my timbers, lads,' I cried. 'Here'll be treasure in earnest! Back
+to the ship for our diving suits--booty for everyone, and plum duff for
+dinner!'
+
+"Well, to make a long story short, I, and four of the trustiest of the
+crew, put on our diving suits, and soon we were walking the slippery decks
+once trodden by Spanish grandees and soldiers, and the scene of many a
+bloody fight I'll be bound. Their skeletons lay about the deck, wrapped in
+sea-tangle, and from every crevice of the galleon, tall, red, and green,
+and yellow, and purple weeds had sprung, that waved and shivered with the
+motion of the sea. Her decks were strewn with shells and sand, and in and
+out of her rotted ribs frightened fish darted at our approach. It was a
+gruesome sight.
+
+"Three weeks we worked, carrying the treasure to our own ship, and I began
+to feel as much at home under water as above it. At last we set sail
+without mishap, and every man on board had his share and some of them gave
+up pirating and settled down as inn-keepers and tradesmen."
+
+As the sound of his deep voice ceased, we three were silent also, gazing
+longingly into his eyes that were so like the sea.
+
+Then--"Captain Pegg," said Angel, in a still, small voice, "I
+don't--s'pose--you'd know of any hidden treasure hereabouts? We'd most
+awfully like to find some. It'd be a jolly thing to write and tell father!"
+
+A droll smile flickered over the bronzed features of Captain Pegg. He
+brought down his fist on the window-sill.
+
+"Well, if you aren't chaps after my own heart!" he cried. "Treasure about
+here? I was just coming to that--and a most curious happening it is! There
+was a cabin-boy--name of Jenks--a lad that I trusted and loved like my own
+son, who stole the greater part of my share of the treasure, and, though I
+scoured the globe for him--" the Captain's eyes rolled fiercely--"I found
+neither trace of him nor the treasure, till two years ago. It was in
+Madagascar that I received a message from a dying man, confessing that,
+shaken by remorse, he had brought what was left of the plunder and buried
+it in Mrs. Handsomebody's back yard!"
+
+"Mrs. Handsomebody's back yard!" We chanted the words in utter amazement.
+
+"Just that," affirmed Captain Pegg solemnly. "Jenks found out that I owned
+the house next door but he dared not bury the treasure there because the
+yard was smoothly sodded, and would show up any disturbance; while Mrs.
+Handsomebody's yard, being covered with planks, was just the thing. So he
+simply raised one of the planks, dug a hole, and deposited the sack
+containing the last of the treasure, and wrote me his confession. And there
+you are!"
+
+He smiled benignly on us. I longed to hug him.
+
+The March wind swooped and whistled down the alley, and the starling gave
+little sharp twittering noises and cocked his head.
+
+"When, oh when--" we burst out--"tonight? May we search for it tonight,
+Captain Pegg?"
+
+He reflected. "No-o. Not tonight. Jenks, you see, sent me a plan of the
+yard with a cross to mark where the treasure lies, and I'll have to hunt it
+up so as not to waste our time turning up the whole yard. But tomorrow
+night--yes, tomorrow at midnight we'll start the search!"
+
+
+V
+
+At dinner that day the rice pudding had the flavor of ambrosia. By
+nightfall preparations were already on foot.
+
+Firstly the shovel had been smuggled from the coal cellar and secreted in a
+corner of the yard behind the ash barrel together with an iron crowbar to
+use as a lever and an empty sack to aid in the removal of the treasure.
+
+I scarcely slept that night, and when I did my mind was filled with wild
+imaginings. The next morning we were heedless scholars indeed, and at
+dinner I ate so little that Mrs. Handsomebody was moved to remark jocularly
+that somebody not a thousand miles away was shaping for a bilious bout.
+
+At four o'clock Captain Pegg appeared at his window looking the picture of
+cheerful confidence. He said it warmed his heart to be at his old
+profession again, and indeed I never saw a merrier twinkle in any one's
+eyes. He had found the plan of the yard sent by Jenks and he had no doubt
+that we should soon be in possession of the Spanish treasure.
+
+"But there's one thing, my lads;" he said solemnly, "I make no claim
+whatever to any share in this booty. Let that be understood. Anything we
+find is to be yours entirely. If I were to take any such goods into my
+son's house, his wife would get suspicious, uncomfortable questions would
+be asked, and it'd be all up with this archaeologist business."
+
+"Couldn't you hide it under your bed?" I suggested.
+
+"Oh, she'd be sure to find it," he replied sadly. "She's into everything.
+And even if they didn't locate it till I am dead, they'd feel disgraced to
+think their father had been a pirate. You'll have to take it."
+
+We agreed, therefore, to ease him of the responsibility of his strangely
+gotten gain. We then parted with the understanding that we were to meet him
+in the passage between the two houses promptly at midnight, and that in the
+meantime we were to preserve a calm and commonplace demeanour.
+
+With the addition of four crullers and a slab of cold bread pudding filched
+from the pantry, our preparations were now complete.
+
+We were well disciplined little animals; we always went to bed without a
+murmur, but on this night we literally flew there. The Seraph ended his
+prayers with--"and for this piwate tweasure make us twuly thankful. Amen."
+
+The next moment we had dived under the bed clothes and snuggled there in
+wild expectancy.
+
+From half past seven to twelve is a long stretch. The Seraph slept
+peacefully. Angel or I rose every little while and struck a match to look
+at the clock. At nine we were so hungry that we ate all four crullers. At
+eleven we ate the slab of cold bread pudding. After that we talked less,
+and I think Angel dozed, but I lay staring in the direction of the window,
+watching for the brightness which would signify that Captain Pegg was astir
+and had lighted his gas.
+
+At last it came--a pale and trembling messenger, that showed our little
+room to me in a new aspect--one of mystery and grotesque shadows.
+
+I was on my feet in an instant. I shook Angel's shoulder.
+
+"Up with you!" I whispered, hoarsely. "The hour has come!"
+
+I knew that drastic measures must be taken with The Seraph, so I just
+grasped him under the armpits and stood him on his feet without a word. He
+wobbled for a space, digging his knuckles in his eyes.
+
+The hands of the clock pointed to ten minutes to twelve.
+
+Angel and I hastily pulled on our trousers; and he, who liked to dress the
+part, stuck a knife in his belt, and twisted a scarlet silk handkerchief
+(borrowed from Mary Ellen) round his head. His dark eyes glistened under
+its folds.
+
+The Seraph and I went unadorned, save that he girt his trusty sword about
+his stout middle and I carried a toy bayonet.
+
+Down the inky-black stairs we crept, scarcely breathing. The lower hall
+seemed cavernous. I could smell the old carpets and the haircloth covering
+of the chairs. We sidled down the back hall among goloshes, umbrellas, and
+Turk's Head dusters. The back door had a key like that of a gaol.
+
+Angel tried it with both hands, but though it grated horribly, it stuck.
+Then I had a try, and could not resist a triumphant click of the tongue
+when it turned, for Angel was a vain fellow and took a rise out of being
+the elder.
+
+And when the moonlight shone upon us in the yard!--oh, the delicious
+freedom of it! We hopped for joy.
+
+In the passage we awaited our leader. Between the roofs we could see the
+low half-moon, hanging like a tilted bird's nest in the dark blue sky,
+while a group of stars fluttered near it like young birds. The Cathedral
+clock sounded the hour of midnight.
+
+Soon we heard the stealthy steps of Captain Pegg, and we gasped as we saw
+him, for in place of his flowered dressing-gown, he wore breeches and top
+boots, a loose shirt with a blue neckerchief knotted at the throat, and,
+gleaming at his side, a cutlass.
+
+He smiled broadly when he saw us.
+
+"Well, if you aren't armed--every man-jack of you--even to the bantling!"
+he cried. "Capital!"
+
+"My sword, she's _weal_," said The Seraph with dignity. "Sometimes I fight
+giants."
+
+Captain Pegg then shook hands with each of us in turn, and we thrilled at
+being treated as equals by such a man.
+
+"And now to work!" he said heartily. "Here is the plan of the yard as sent
+by Jenks."
+
+We could see it plainly by the moonlight, all neatly drawn out, even to the
+ash barrel and the clothes dryer, and there, on the fifth plank from the
+end was a cross in red ink, and beside it the magic word--Treasure!
+
+Captain Pegg inserted the crowbar in a wide crack between the fourth and
+fifth boards, then we all pressed our full weight upon it with a "Yo heave
+ho, my hearties!" from our chief.
+
+The board flew up and we flew down, sprawling on the ground. Somehow the
+Captain, versed in such matters, kept his feet, though he staggered a bit.
+
+Then, in an instant, we were pulling wildly at the plank to dislodge it.
+This we accomplished after much effort, and a dark, dank recess was
+disclosed.
+
+Captain Pegg dropped to his knees and with his hand explored cautiously
+under the planks. His face fell.
+
+"Shiver my timbers if I can find it!" he muttered.
+
+"Let me try!" I cried eagerly.
+
+Both Angel and I thrust our hands in also and fumbled among the moist lumps
+of earth. I felt an earth-worm writhe away.
+
+Captain Pegg now lighted a match and held it in the aperture. It cast a
+glow upon our tense faces.
+
+"Hold it closer!" implored Angel. "This way--right here--don't you see?"
+
+At the same moment we both had seen the heavy metal ring that projected,
+ever so little, above the surface of the earth. We grasped it
+simultaneously and pulled. Captain Pegg lighted another match. It was
+heavy--oh, so heavy!--but we got it out--a fair-sized leather bag bound
+with thongs. To one of these was attached the ring we had first caught
+sight of.
+
+Now, kneeling as we were, we stared up in Captain Pegg's face. His wide,
+blue eyes had somehow got a different look.
+
+"Little boys," he said gently, "open it!"
+
+There in the moonlight, we unloosed the fastenings of the bag and turned
+its contents out upon the bare boards. The treasure lay disclosed then, a
+glimmering heap, as though, out of the dank earth, we had digged a patch of
+moonshine.
+
+We squatted on the boards around it, our heads touching, our wondering eyes
+filled with the magic of it.
+
+"It is the treasure," murmured Angel, in an awe-struck voice, "real
+treasure-trove. Will you tell us, Captain Pegg, what all these things are?"
+
+Captain Pegg, squatting like the rest of us, ran his hands meditatively
+through the strange collection.
+
+"Why, strike me purple," he growled, "if that scamp Jenks hasn't kept most
+of the gold coins and left us only the silver! But here's three golden
+doubloons, all right, one apiece for ye! And here's ducats and silver
+florins, and pieces of eight--and some I can't name till I get the daylight
+on them. It's a pretty bit of treasure all told; and see here--" he held up
+two old Spanish watches, just the thing for gentlemen adventurers.
+
+We boys were now delving into the treasure on our own account, and brought
+to light a brace of antiquated pistols, an old silver flagon, a compass, a
+wonderful set of chess men carved from ivory, and some curious shells, that
+delighted The Seraph. And other quaint things there were that we handled
+reverently, and coins of different countries, square and round, and some
+with holes bored through.
+
+We were so intent upon our discovery that none of us heard the approaching
+footsteps till they were fair upon us. Then, with a start, we turned, and
+saw to our horror Mrs. Handsomebody and Mary Ellen, with her hair in
+curl-papers, and, close behind them, Mr. and Mrs. Mortimer Pegg, scantily
+attired, the gentleman carrying a revolver.
+
+"David! John! Alexander!" gobbled Mrs. Handsomebody.
+
+"Now what d'ye think of that!" came from Mary Ellen.
+
+"Father! Have you gone quite mad?" cried Mrs. Pegg.
+
+And--"Oh, I say Governor--" stammered the gentleman with the revolver.
+
+Captain Pegg rose to his feet with dignity.
+
+"These young gentlemen," he said, simply, "have with my help been able to
+locate some buried treasure, stolen from me years ago by a man named Jenks,
+and hidden here since two decades. I hereby renounce all claim to it in
+favour of my three brave friends!"
+
+Mr. Pegg was bent over the treasure.
+
+"Now, look here, sir," he said, rather sharply, "some of this seems to be
+quite valuable stuff--"
+
+"I know the value of it to a penny," replied his father, with equal
+asperity, "and I intend it shall belong solely and wholly to these boys."
+
+"Whatever are you rigged up like that for?" demanded his daughter-in-law.
+
+"As gentlemen of spirit," replied Captain Pegg, patiently, "we chose to
+dress the part. We do what we can to keep a little glamour and gaiety in
+the world. Some folk--" he looked at Mrs. Handsomebody--"would like to
+discipline it all away."
+
+"I think," said our governess, "that, considering it is _my_ back yard, I
+have some claim to--"
+
+"None at all, Madam--none at all!" interrupted Captain Pegg. "By all the
+rules of treasure-hunting, the finder keeps the treasure."
+
+Mrs. Handsomebody was silenced. She did not wish to quarrel with the Peggs.
+
+Mrs. Pegg moved closer to her.
+
+"Mrs. Handsomebody," she said, winking her white eyelashes very fast, "I
+really do not think that you should allow your pupils to accept
+this--er--treasure. My father-in-law has become very eccentric of late, and
+I am positive that he himself buried these things very recently. Only day
+before yesterday, I saw that set of ivory chessmen on his writing table."
+
+"Hold your tongue, Sophia!" shouted Captain Pegg loudly.
+
+Mr. Mortimer Pegg looked warningly at his wife.
+
+"All right, Governor! Don't you worry," he said taking his father's arm.
+"It shall be just as you say; but one thing is certain, you'll take your
+death of cold if you stay out in this night air." As he spoke, he turned up
+the collar of his coat.
+
+Captain Pegg shook hands grandly with Angel and me, then he lifted The
+Seraph in his arms and kissed him.
+
+"Good-night, bantling," he said, softly. "Sleep tight!"
+
+He turned then to his son. "Mort," said he, "I haven't kissed a little boy
+like that since you were just so high."
+
+Mr. Pegg laughed and shivered, and they went off quite amiably, arm in arm,
+Mrs. Pegg following, muttering to herself.
+
+Mrs. Handsomebody looked disparagingly at the treasure. "Mary Ellen," she
+ordered, "help the children to gather up that rubbish, and come in at once.
+Such an hour it is!"
+
+Mary Ellen, with many exclamations, assisted in the removal of the treasure
+to our bedroom. Mrs. Handsomebody, after seeing it deposited there, and us
+safely under the bed-clothes, herself extinguished the gas.
+
+"I shall write to your father," she said, severely, "and tell him the whole
+circumstance. _Then_ we shall see what is to be done with _you_, and with
+the _treasure_."
+
+With this veiled threat she left us. We snuggled our little bodies
+together. We were cold.
+
+"I'll write to father myself, tomorrow, an' 'splain everything," I
+announced.
+
+"D' you know," mused Angel, "I b'lieve I'll be a pirate, 'stead of a civil
+engineer like father. I b'lieve there's more in it."
+
+"I'll be an engineer just the same," said I.
+
+"I fink," murmured The Seraph, sleepily, "I fink I'll jus' be a bishop, an'
+go to bed at pwoper times an' have poached eggs for tea."
+
+
+
+
+_Chapter II: The Jilt_
+
+
+I
+
+The day after the finding of the Treasure, Mary Ellen told us that she had
+seen Captain Pegg drive away from his son's house in a closed cab, before
+we had emerged from the four-poster. There had been a quarrel, the servants
+had told her, and in spite of all his son and daughter-in-law could do, the
+peppery Captain had left them, refusing to divulge the name of his
+destination.
+
+"And they do say," Mary Ellen declared, "that he's no more fit to be
+wanderin' about the world alone than a babe unborn."
+
+We smiled at the ignorance of women-servants, and speculated much on the
+Captain's probable new adventure. We were confident that he would return
+one day, loaded with fresh booty, and full of tales of the sea.
+
+In the meantime, there was the Bishop. His house, as I have said stood
+between us and the Cathedral. It was a benign house, like a sleepy mastiff,
+and seemed to tolerate with lazy indifference the presence of its two
+narrow, high-backed neighbours, which with their cold, unblinking windows,
+looked like sinister, half-fed cats.
+
+We had not been long at Mrs. Handsomebody's before we made friends with
+Bishop Torrance. As he walked in his deep, green garden, one morning, we
+three watched him enviously over the brick wall, that separated us. We were
+balanced precariously on a board, laid across the ash barrel, and The
+Seraph, losing his balance, fell headlong into a bed of clove pinks, almost
+at the Bishop's feet.
+
+When his yells had subsided and explanations asked, and given, Angel and I
+were lifted over the wall, and shaken hands with, and given the freedom of
+the garden. We were introduced to the Bishop's niece, Margery, who was his
+sole companion, though we regarded, as one of the family, the Fountain Boy
+who blew cool jets of water through a shell, and turned his laughing face
+always upward toward the spires of the Cathedral.
+
+Thus a quaint friendship sprang up, and, though the Bishop had not the
+dash, and boldness of Captain Pegg, he was an understanding and
+high-hearted playfellow.
+
+I think The Seraph was his favourite. Even then, the dignified elegance of
+the Bishop's life appealed to that infant's love of the comfortable, and it
+tickled the Bishop immensely to have him pace solemnly up and down the
+garden, at his side, hands clasped behind his back, helping, as he
+believed, to "pwepare" the Bishop's sermon.
+
+All three of us were permitted by Mrs. Handsomebody to join the Cathedral
+choir.
+
+
+II
+
+Thus we had a feeling of proprietorship in the Bishop and his garden, and
+his niece, Margery, and the Fountain Boy. Hence what was our astonishment
+and chagrin to see one morning, from our schoolroom window, a chit of a
+girl, smaller than myself, strutting up and down the Bishop's garden,
+pushing a doll's perambulator. She had fluffy golden hair about her
+shoulders, and her skirts gave a rhythmic swing as she turned the corners.
+Now and then she would stop in her walk, remove the covering from the doll,
+do some idiotic thing to it, and replace the cover with elaborate care.
+
+We stared fascinated. Then Angel blew out his lips in disgust, and said--
+
+"Ain't girls the most sickenin' things?"
+
+"There she goes again, messing with the doll's quilt," I agreed.
+
+"Le's fwow somefing at her!" suggested The Seraph.
+
+"Yes, and get into a row with the Bishop," answered Angel. "But I don't see
+myself going over there to play again. She's spoiled everything."
+
+"I s'pose she's a spoiled child," said The Seraph, dreamily. "Wonder where
+her muvver is."
+
+"I say," said Angel, "let's rap on the pane, and then when she looks up,
+we'll all stick our tongues out at her. That'll scare her all right!"
+
+We did.
+
+When her wondering blue eyes were raised to our window, what they saw was
+three white disks pressed against the glass, with a flattened pink tongue
+protruding from each. We glared to see the effect of this outrage upon her.
+But the dauntless little creature never quailed. Worse than that, she put
+her fingers to her lips and blew three kisses at us--one apiece.
+
+We were staggered. We withdrew our reddened faces hastily and stared at
+each other. We were aghast. Almost we had been kissed by a girl!
+
+"Let's draw the blind!" said Angel. "She shan't see us! Then we can peek
+through the crack and watch her."
+
+But no sooner was the blind pulled down than we heard our governess coming
+and flew to our seats.
+
+"Boys!" she gobbled, stopping in the doorway, "what does this mean? The boy
+who pulled down that blind stand up!"
+
+Angel rose. "The light hurt my eyes," he lied feebly, "I aren't very well."
+
+"Ridiculous!" snapped Mrs. Handsomebody, running up the blind with
+precision, "this room at its brightest is dim. Your eyes are keen enough
+for mischief, sir. Now we shall proceed with our arithmetic."
+
+We floundered through the Tables, but my mind still wandered in the
+Bishop's garden. Resentment and curiosity struggled for mastery within me.
+In my mind's eye I saw her covering and uncovering the doll. Why did she do
+it? What did it feel like to push that "pram"? Would she drink tea from the
+Indian Tree cups and be allowed to strum on the piano? Oh, I wished she
+hadn't come! And yet--anyway, I was glad I was a boy.
+
+As Fate had it, Angel and The Seraph had to have their hair trimmed that
+afternoon. My own straight blond crop grew but slowly so I was free for an
+hour to follow my own devices. Those led me to climb to the roof of our
+scullery and from there mount the high brick wall.
+
+From this vantage point I scanned the surrounding country for signs of the
+interloper. There she was! There she was!
+
+Down on her knees at the fountain's brink, her curls almost touching the
+water, she was sailing boats made of hollyhock petals. The doll's
+perambulator stood near by.
+
+Noiselessly I crept along the wall till I reached the cherry tree that
+stood in the corner. Reaching its friendly branches, I let myself down,
+hand over hand, till, at last, I dropped lightly on the soft turf.
+
+I sauntered then to her side, and gazed at her moodily. If she saw me she
+gave no sign.
+
+In spite of myself I grew interested in the way she manipulated those boat
+petals. Evidently there was some system in her game but it was new to me.
+
+"That little black seed on this boat is Jason," she said at last, without
+looking up, "and these little white seeds are his comrades. They're
+searching for The Golden Fleece. My hair is the Fleece. Come and play!"
+
+Mutely I squatted beside her, and our two faces peered at each other in the
+mirror of the pool.
+
+She gave a funny eager little laugh.
+
+"Oh," she cried, "we match beautifully, don't we? Your hair is yellow and
+my hair is yellow, my eyes are blue and your eyes are blue."
+
+"My eyes are grey, like father's," I objected.
+
+"No, they're blue like mine. We match beautifully. Let's play something
+else." Before I could prevent her, she had swept Jason and his crew away,
+and, snatching the doll from the perambulator, had set it on the fountain's
+edge between us.
+
+"This is Dorothea," she announced, "isn't she sweet? I'm her mother. You
+should be the father, and Dorothea should want to paddle her toes in the
+fountain. Now you hold her--so."
+
+Before I was aware of it I was made to grasp the puppet by the waist, while
+her mistress began to rearrange the pillows in the "pram."
+
+I glanced fearfully at our schoolroom window, lest I should be discovered
+in so unmanly a posture. It seemed that we were quite alone and unobserved.
+
+A drowsy pleasure stole over my senses. The humming of the bees in the
+Canterbury Bells became a chant as of sirens. Dorothea's silly pink feet
+dangled in the pool. Surreptitiously I slipped my hand under water and felt
+them. They were getting spongy and seemed likely to come off. Truly there
+were compensations for such slavery.
+
+My companion returned and sat down with her slim body close to mine.
+
+"What is your name?" she cooed.
+
+"John."
+
+"Oh. Mine is Jane. You may call me Jenny. I'm visiting Aunt Margery. The
+Bishop is my great-uncle. What are your brothers' names?"
+
+"Angel and The Seraph. _They don't_ like girls." Instantly I wondered why I
+had said that. Did I like girls? _Not much._ But I didn't want Angel
+interfering in this. He had better keep away.
+
+"My father is a judge. He sends bad men to prison."
+
+"My father"--I was very proud of him--"is a civil engineer. He's in South
+America building a railroad, so that's why we live with Mrs. Handsomebody.
+But some day he's coming back to make a home for us. When I grow up I shall
+be an engineer too, and build bridges over canyons."
+
+"What's canyons? Hold Dorothea tighter."
+
+I explained canyons at length.
+
+"P'raps I'll take you with me," I added weakly.
+
+She clapped her hands rapturously.
+
+"Oh, what fun!" she gurgled. "I can keep house and hang my washing 'cross
+the canyon to dry!"
+
+Frankly I did not relish the thought of my canyon's being thus desecrated.
+I determined never to allow her to do any such thing, but, at the moment I
+was willing to indulge her fancy.
+
+"Yes," she prattled on, "I'll wheel Dorothea up and down the bridge and
+watch you work."
+
+Now there was some sense in that. What man does not enjoy being admired
+while he does things? In fact Jane had hit upon a great elemental truth
+when she suggested this. From that moment I was hers.
+
+Laying Dorothea, toes up, on the grass I proceeded to lead Jane into the
+most cherished realms of my fancy. Together we sailed those "perilous seas
+in faery lands forlorn," dabbling our hands in the fountain, while the
+golden August sunshine kissed our necks.
+
+I said not a word of this at tea. I munched my bread and butter in a sort
+of haze, scarcely conscious of the subdued conversation led by Mrs.
+Handsomebody, until I heard her say,
+
+"A little great-niece of Bishop Torrance is visiting next door. You are
+therefore invited to take tea with her tomorrow afternoon. I trust you will
+conduct yourselves with decency at table, and remember that a frail little
+girl is not to be played with as a headlong boy."
+
+I felt that she couldn't tell me anything about frail little girls, but I
+kept my knowledge to myself. The Seraph said--
+
+"Was you ever a fwail little gel, Mrs. Handsomebody?" Our governess fixed
+him with her eye.
+
+"I was a most decorous and obedient little girl, Alexander, and asked no
+impertinent questions of my elders."
+
+"Was Mary Ellen a fwail little gel?" persisted The Seraph.
+
+"No," snapped Mrs. Handsomebody, "judging from her characteristics as a
+servant, I should say that she was a very riotous, rude little girl. Now
+drink your milk."
+
+"I yike wiotous wude people," said The Seraph with his face in the tumbler;
+the milk trickled down his chin.
+
+"Leave the table, Alexander," commanded Mrs. Handsomebody, "your conduct is
+quite inexcusable." The Seraph departed, weeping.
+
+All that evening I thought about Jane. I had no heart for a pillow fight.
+At night I dreamed of her, and saw her weekly washing, suspended from a
+line, fluttering in the wind that raced along my canyon.
+
+I strained toward the hour when I should meet her at tea. I had never felt
+like this before. True, I had once conceived a violent fancy for a fat
+young woman in the pastry shop, but she had been replaced by a thin young
+woman who did not appeal to me, and the episode was forgotten.
+
+But, oh, this bitter-sweetness of my love for Jane! My despair when I found
+that she was to sit next Angel at tea, till I discovered that, seated
+opposite, I could stare at her, and admire how she nibbled her almond cake
+and sipped tea from an apple-green cup.
+
+After tea we played musical chairs, in the library, with Margery at the
+piano. First marched The Seraph with his brown curls bobbing; and after
+him, the stout Bishop in his gaiters; next Angel; then Jane on tiptoes; and
+lastly myself in squeaky new boots.
+
+Seraph and the Bishop were soon out of it. They were invariably beaten in
+our games, though afterward they always seemed to think they had won. So
+Angel, Jane, and I were left, prancing around two solemn carved chairs. The
+music ceased with a crash. Jane leaped to one chair while Angel and I fell
+simultaneously upon the other. We both clung to it desperately, but he
+dislodged me, inch by inch, and I, furious at being balked in my pursuit of
+Jane, struck him twice in the ribs, then ran into the dim hall and hid
+myself.
+
+There Jane found me, and there her tender lips kissed my hot cheek, and she
+squeezed me in her arms. For a moment we did not speak, then she
+whispered--
+
+"I wish _you_ had got the chair, John. I love you best of all."
+
+That night I hung about the kitchen while Mary Ellen was setting bread to
+rise. The time had come when I must speak to some fellow creature of this
+tremendous new element that had come into my life. I watched Mary Ellen's
+stout red arms as she manipulated the dough, in much perplexity. The
+kitchen was hot, the kettle sang, it seemed a moment for confidence, yet
+words were hard to find.
+
+At last I got out desperately:
+
+"Mary Ellen, what is love like?"
+
+"Love is it, Masther John? What do the likes o' me know about love thin?"
+She smiled broadly, as she dexterously shifted the puffy white mass.
+
+"Oh, _you_ know," I persisted, "'cos you've been in it, often. You've had
+lots of 'followers' now, Mary Ellen, haven't you?"
+
+"Well, thin, if ye must know, I'll tell ye point blunt to kape out av it.
+It's an awful thing whin it gits the best av ye."
+
+"But what's it _feel like_?" I probed.
+
+Mary Ellen wiped the flour off each red finger in turn, and gazed into the
+flame of the lamp.
+
+"It's like this," she said solemnly, "ye burns in yer insides till ye feel
+like ye had a furnace blazin' there. Thin whin it seems ye must bust wid
+the flarin' av it, ye suddintly turns cowld as ice, an' yer sowl do shrivil
+up wid fear. An' thin, at last, ye fergit all about it till the nixt wan
+happens along. Och--I haven't had a sphell fer months! This is an awful
+dull place. I think I'll be quittin' it soon."
+
+"Oh, no, no, Mary Ellen!" I cried, alarmed, "you mustn't leave us! When
+Jane and I get married you can come and live with us." I blushed furiously.
+
+"And who might Jane be?" demanded Mary Ellen, suspiciously.
+
+"She's the Bishop's great-niece," I explained proudly. "I love her
+terribly, Mary Ellen. It hurts in here." I pressed my hand on my stomach.
+
+"Well, well." She shook her head commiseratingly. "I'm sorry fer ye,
+Masther John--sthartin' off like this at your age. Here's the spoon I
+stirred the cake wid--have a lick o' that. It'll mebbe help ye."
+
+I licked pensively at the big wooden spoon, and felt strangely soothed. My
+admiration for Mary Ellen increased.
+
+As I slowly climbed the stairs for bed, visions of Jane hovered in the
+darkness above me--airy rainbows, with Jane's laughing face peering between
+the bars of pink and gold. I had never known a little girl before, and Jane
+embodied all things frail and exquisite.
+
+When I entered our room Angel was sitting on the side of the bed, pulling
+his shirt over his head. The Seraph already slept in his place next the
+wall.
+
+I stood before Angel with folded arms.
+
+"Hm," he muttered crossly, "you've been lickin' batter! It's on the end of
+your nose. Why didn't you get me something?"
+
+"There was nothing but dough," I explained, "and one batter spoon.
+And--and--I say, Angel--"
+
+"Well?" asked my elder tersely.
+
+"I--I'm in love something awful. It hurts. It's like this--" I hurried
+on--"You feel like you'd a furnace blazing in you, an' then you turn cold
+jus' as if you'd shrivel up, but you _never_, _never_, forget, an'--It's
+made a 'normous difference in my life, Angel--"
+
+I got no further. Angel had thrown himself backward on the bed and, kicking
+his bare legs in the air, broke into peals of delighted laughter.
+
+"It's that yellow-faced little Jenny!" he gurgled, "Oh, holy smoke!"
+
+His brutal mirth was short-lived. Mrs. Handsomebody appeared in the
+doorway, her face genuinely shocked at the sight that met her austere eyes.
+
+At this hour--such actions--was her house to be turned into Bedlam?--such
+indecent display of limbs--she was sick with shame for Angel--would discuss
+his conduct further, with him, tomorrow.
+
+She waited while I undressed and stood over us while we said our prayers at
+the side of the bed, at last extinguishing the light with a final
+admonition to be silent.
+
+I was bitterly disappointed in Angel. It was the first time he had failed
+me utterly. I put my arms around the sleeping Seraph and cried myself to
+sleep.
+
+
+III
+
+We were awakened by the sonorous music of the Cathedral chimes. It was
+Sunday. That meant stiff white Eton collars, and texts gabbled between
+mouthfuls of porridge; and, later, our three small bodies arrayed in short
+surplices, and the long service in the Cathedral. The Seraph was the very
+smallest boy in the choir. I think he was only tolerated there through
+Margery's intervention, because it would have broken his loyal little heart
+to be separated from Angel and me. He was highly ornamental too, as he
+collected the choir offertory in a little velvet bag, his tiny surplice
+jauntily bobbing, and the back of his neck, as an old lady once said, was
+more touching than the sermon.
+
+Angel had a voice like a flute.
+
+Beyond the tall choir stalls I could catch fleeting glimpses of Jane's
+little face beneath her daisied hat, looking on the same prayer-book with
+Margery. I swelled my chest beneath my surplice and chanted my very loudest
+in the hope that Jane might hear me. "O ye Showers and Dew, bless ye the
+Lord: praise him, and magnify him for ever."
+
+Her dreamy blue eyes peered over the edge of the book, the daisies on her
+hat nodded; she smiled; I smiled ecstatically back at her; and so two
+childish hearts stemmed the flood of praise that rose above the old grey
+pillars.
+
+At dinner, over his bread pudding, The Seraph murmured in a throaty
+voice--"When you is in love, first you burns yike a furnace, an' en you
+shwivel up wiv the cold. It's a vewy bad fing to be in love."
+
+I threw Angel a bitter look. This was his doing. So, contemptuously, had he
+treated my confidence, made as man to man. To tell the irresponsible Seraph
+of all people!
+
+"What's that, Alexander?" questioned Mrs. Handsomebody, sharply.
+
+"It's love," replied The Seraph, meekly, "you catch it off a girl. John's
+got it."
+
+Mrs. Handsomebody sank back in her chair with a groan.
+
+"Alexander," she said it solemnly, "I _tremble_ for your future. You are
+not the boy your father was. I tremble for you."
+
+"John," she continued, turning to me, "you will come into the parlour with
+me. I wish to have a talk with you. David and Alexander, you may amuse
+yourselves with one of my bound volumes of 'The Quiver.'"
+
+I followed her with burning cheeks into the stiff apartment where not only
+her eye was riveted upon me, but every glittering eye of every stuffed
+bird, to say nothing of the pale fixed gaze of Mr. Handsomebody.
+
+Needless to recall the lecture I received, the probing into my reluctant
+heart, the admonition which I could not heed for my fearful watching of
+that hard grey face.
+
+But, at last, it was over. I slipped into the hall, closing the door softly
+behind me, and listened. Silence abounded. On tiptoe I made my way to the
+kitchen. It was clean and empty. I noiselessly opened the back door. On the
+doorstep sat The Seraph busily engaged with a caterpillar.
+
+"Where's Angel?" I demanded curtly.
+
+"I fink," breathed The Seraph, stroking the caterpillar the wrong way, and
+then looking at his fingers, "I fink that he's witin' to father to tell on
+you. So there!"
+
+I waited to hear no more. Casting my care behind me I sped lightly along
+the passage between the houses, crossed the Bishop's lawn, and sought Jane
+in the garden.
+
+There I stood a moment, dazzled, by the golden August sunshine, the
+iridescent spray of the fountain, and the brilliant colours of the
+hollyhocks beside the wall.
+
+I saw Jane there, and my heart swelled with disappointment and rage--for
+she was not alone!
+
+Too late I repented my confidence to Angel; I might have known that he
+would never let the grass grow under his feet till he had tasted this new
+excitement. Well, he had not let the grass grow.
+
+Jane, I remember, had on a pale blue sash, and a fluffy white frock,
+beneath the frills of which, her slender black silk legs moved airily. By
+her side sauntered the traitorous Angel, his head bent toward her tenderly,
+and, most sickening of all, pushing before him, with an air of
+proprietorship, the perambulator containing the doll, Dorothea. Jane was
+simpering up at him in a way she had never looked at me.
+
+I saw at a glance that all was over, yet I was not to be cast aside thus
+lightly. I strode across the garden, and, pushing myself between them, I
+laid my hand masterfully on the handle of the "pram," beside Angel's.
+Neither of them uttered a word. So the three of us walked for a space in
+tense silence.
+
+Then, suddenly, Angel began to hammer my hand with his fist.
+
+"You let go of that!" he snarled. "Ge--tout of here!"
+
+"I won't!" I roared tragically. "She said I was the fa-ather of it!"
+
+"She did not!" yelled Angel. "I'm the father!"
+
+Jenny glanced fearfully at the windows of the Bishop's house. All was
+silent there. Then, with a scornful little kick at me, she said--"Go 'way,
+you nasty boy! _I_ don't want you. I only like Angel."
+
+There was nothing more to be said. I hung my head, and, with a sob in my
+throat, turned away. I could hear them whispering behind me.
+
+Before I reached our own yard Angel came running after me.
+
+"Tell you what I'll do, John," he said, as he came abreast, "tell you what
+I'll do--I'll fight you for her. Like knights of old, you know. We could go
+down to the coal cellar, and have a reg'lar tourney. It'd be bully fun. We
+could have pokers for lances. Say, will you?"
+
+I was not in a fighting mood, but I had never refused a challenge, and,
+somehow, the thought of bloodshed eased my pain a little. So,
+half-reluctantly, I followed him, as he eagerly led the way to the coal
+cellar.
+
+Even on this August day it was cold down there. Long cobwebs trailed,
+spectre-like from the beams, and a faint squeaking of young mice could be
+heard in the walls.
+
+We searched among the debris of years for suitable weapons. Finally,
+brandishing pokers, and with two rusty boiler lids for shields, we faced
+each other, uttering our respective battle cries in muffled tones. Angel
+had put a battered coal scuttle over his head for a helmet; and, through a
+break in it, I could see his dark eyes gleaming threateningly.
+
+With ring of shield we clashed together. I delivered--and
+received--stunning blows. Dust, long undisturbed, rose, and blinded us.
+
+How many a gallant fray has been broken up by a screaming woman! Now Mary
+Ellen, true to the perversity of her sex, rushed in to separate us.
+
+"Oh, losh! I never seen the beat o' ye!" she cried. "Ye've scairt me out av
+a year's growth! Sure the missus'll put a tin ear on ye, if she catches ye
+in the cellar in yer collars an' all!" Imperiously she disarmed us, and,
+without ceremony, we were hustled up the dark stairs to the kitchen sink.
+
+"It was a tournament, Mary Ellen, about a lady," I explained, with as much
+dignity as I could muster, "you shouldn't have interrupted."
+
+"There ain't a lady livin' that's worth messin' up yer clane clothes for,"
+said Mary Ellen, sternly. "Lord! To see the cinders in yer hair, an' the
+soot in yer ears--it does bate all--" As she talked, she scrubbed us
+vehemently with a washcloth.
+
+"Ouch!" moaned Angel, "oh, Mary El-len, you're _hurting_ me! That's my
+so-ore spot, eeeoow!"
+
+"Well, Master Angel," said Mary Ellen, "I don't want to hurt ye, but it do
+make me heart-sick to see ye bashin' aitch other wid pokers for the sake av
+a bit girl that's not worth a tinker's curse to ye! Now thin--here's a
+piece of cowld puddin' to each av ye--sit on the durestep where the missus
+won't see ye, an' git outside av it."
+
+In a chastened mood we sat outside the back door and ate our pudding. It
+was cold, clammy, very sweet, and deliciously satisfying.
+
+To our right the wall excluded any glimpse of the Bishop's garden, and
+beyond loomed the Cathedral, with two grey pigeons circling about its
+spire.
+
+I yearned to know what was going on beyond the wall. I could not help
+fancying that Jane, touched by remorse, was weeping by the fountain for me,
+and me only. Angel spoke.
+
+"I say--" he hunched his shoulders mischievously--"let's go 'round and see
+what she's doin' all alone, eh?"
+
+I leaped to the proposal. I had an insatiable desire to hear her speak once
+more, if it were only to taunt me.
+
+We made the passage stealthily; all the world seemed drowsing on that hazy
+Sunday afternoon. The blinds in the Bishop's study were drawn. Little did
+he guess the life his great-niece led!
+
+The grass was like moist velvet beneath our feet. A pair of sparrows were
+quarrelling over their bath at the fountain rim. We heard a low murmur of
+voices. A glint of Jane's white frock could be seen behind a guelder rose
+near the fountain. We crept up behind and peered through the foliage.
+
+There on a garden bench sat Jane, and there, clasped in her slim white arms
+was--The Seraph! The wretched Dorothea lay, face downward, on the grass at
+their feet.
+
+We strained our ears to hear what was being said. Jane spoke in that
+silvery voice of hers:
+
+"Say some more drefful things, Seraph. I jus' love to hear you."
+
+There was a moment's silence; then, The Seraph said in his blandest tone,
+the one word--
+
+"Blood!"
+
+Jane gave a tiny, ecstatic shriek.
+
+"Oh, go on!" she begged, "say more."
+
+"Blood," repeated The Seraph, firmly, "Hot blood--told blood--wed
+blood--thick blood--thin blood--bad blood."
+
+Again Jane squealed in fearful pleasure.
+
+"Go on," she urged. "Worser."
+
+Thus encouraged, The Seraph rapped out, without more ado, "Tiger
+blood--ephelant blood--caterpillar blood--ole witch blood"--then, after a
+pause, that the horror of it might sink deep in--"Baby blood!"
+
+Angel and I gave each other a look of enlightenment. It was gore then, that
+this delicately nurtured young person craved, good red gore, and plenty of
+it! Well--enough--we were free. Wait! What was she saying?
+
+"I _hate_ those other boys, Seraph, darling. Let's jus' you and me play
+together always. And you should be Dorothea's _father_, and Dorothea should
+want to paddle in the--"
+
+Away! Away! With sardonic laughter, we sped along the pebbled drive, nor
+stopped until we reached our own domain.
+
+Then in the planked back yard, we sat on our steps, with a volume of "The
+Quiver" on our knees, in case Mrs. Handsomebody should invade our privacy,
+and played a rollicking game of pirates. And when any of the fair sex fell
+into our hands we were none too gentle with them.
+
+"Chuck 'em overboard, lieutenant!" was Captain Angel's way of dealing with
+the case.
+
+Just as the Cathedral clock struck five, The Seraph swaggered up. He
+stopped before us, hands deep in pockets.
+
+"Well," said Angel, eyeing him resentfully, "you'll make a nice bishop, you
+will, usin' the language we heard a bit ago!"
+
+"Maybe I shan't have time to be a bishop, after all," replied The Seraph,
+condescendingly. "You see I'm goin' to mawy Jane. It'll keep me vewy busy."
+
+
+
+
+_Chapter III: Explorers of the Dawn_
+
+
+I
+
+Fast on the winged heels of Love came our discovery of the Dawn. Of course
+we had known all along that there was a sunrise--a mechanical sort of
+affair that started things going like clockwork. But Dawn was a bird of
+another feather.
+
+If we had had our parents with us they would have, in all likelihood,
+unfolded the mystery of it in some bedtime visit; but Mrs. Handsomebody, if
+she ever thought about the Dawn at all, probably looked on it with
+suspicion, and some disfavour, as a weak, feeble thing--a nebulous period
+fit neither for honest folk nor cutthroats.
+
+So it came about that we heard of it from our good friend the Bishop. Mrs.
+Handsomebody had given a grudging permission for us to take tea with him.
+In hot weather her voice and eyes always seemed frostier than usual. The
+closely shut windows and drawn blinds made the house a prison, and the
+glare of the planked back yard was even more intolerable. Therefore, when
+Rawlins, the Bishop's butler, told us that we were to have tea in the
+garden, it was hard for us to remember Mrs. Handsomebody's injunction to
+walk sedately and to bear in mind that our host was a bishop.
+
+But, as we crossed the cool lawn, our spirits, which had drooped all day,
+like flags at half-mast, rose, and fluttered in the summer breeze, and we
+could not resist a caper or two as we approached the tea-table.
+
+The Bishop did not even see us. His fine grave face was buried in a book he
+had on his knees, and his gaitered legs were bent so that he toed in.
+
+When we drew up before him, Angel and I in stiff Eton collars and The
+Seraph fresh as a daisy, in a clean white sailor blouse, he raised his eyes
+and gave us a vague smile, and a wave of the hand toward three low wicker
+chairs. We were not a bit abashed by this reception, for we knew the
+Bishop's ways, and it was joy enough that we were safe in his garden
+staring up at the blue sky through flickering leaves, and listening to the
+splash of the little fountain that lived in the middle of the cool grass
+plot.
+
+Surely, I thought, there never was such another garden--never another with
+such a rosy red brick wall, half-hidden by hollyhocks and larkspur--such
+springy, tender grass--such a great guardian Cathedral, that towered above
+and threw its deep beneficent shade! Here the timorous Cathedral pigeons
+strutted unafraid, and dipped their heads to drink of the fountain, raising
+them Heavenward, as they swallowed--thanking God, so the Bishop said, for
+its refreshment.
+
+It was hard to believe that next door, beyond the wall, lay Mrs.
+Handsomebody's planked back yard. Yet even at that moment I could see the
+tall, narrow house, and fancied that a blind moved as Mrs. Handsomebody
+peered down into the Bishop's garden to see how we behaved.
+
+Rawlins brought a tray and set it on the wicker table beside the Bishop's
+elbow. We discovered a silver muffin dish, a plate of cakes, and a glass
+pot of honey, to say nothing of the tea.
+
+Still the Bishop kept his gaze buried in his book, marking his progress
+with a blade of grass. Rawlins stole away without speaking and we three
+were left alone to stare in mute desire at the tea things. A bee was
+buzzing noisily about the honey jar. It was The Seraph who spoke at last,
+his hands clasped across his stomach.
+
+"Bishop," he said, politely, but firmly. "I would yike a little nushment."
+
+"Bless me!" cried the Bishop. "Wherever are my manners?" And he closed the
+book sharply on the grass blade, and dropped it under the table. "John,
+will you pour tea for us?"
+
+We finished the muffins and cake, all talking with our mouths full, in the
+most sociable and sensible way; and, after the honey pot was almost empty,
+we made the bee a prisoner in it, so that, like that Duke of Clarence, who
+was drowned in a butt of Malmsey, he got enough of what he liked at last.
+
+I think it was Angel who put the question that was to lead to so much that
+was exciting and mysterious.
+
+He said, leaning against the Bishop's shoulder: "What do you think is the
+most beautiful thing in the world, Bishop?"
+
+Our friend had The Seraph between his knees, and was gazing at the back of
+his head. "Well," he replied, "since you ask me seriously, I should say
+this little curl on The Seraph's nape."
+
+The Seraph felt for it.
+
+"I yike it," he said, "but I yike my wart better."
+
+"Good gracious," exclaimed the Bishop. "Don't tell me _you've_ a wart!"
+
+"Yes, a weal one," chuckled The Seraph. "It's little, but it's gwowing. I
+fink some day it'll be as big as the one on Mrs. Handsomebody's chin. _It
+can wiggle._"
+
+"You don't say so!" said the Bishop, rather hastily. "And where do you
+suppose you got it?"
+
+The Seraph smiled mischievously. "I fink I got it off a toad we had. He was
+an awful dear ole toad, but he died, 'cos we--"
+
+"Oh, I say, don't bother about the old toad, Seraph!" put in Angel hastily,
+feeling, as I did, that the manner of the toad's demise was best left to
+conjecture. "We want to hear about the most beautiful thing in the world.
+Please tell it, Bishop!"
+
+"Well--since you corner me," said the Bishop, his eyes on the larkspur, "I
+should say it is the wing of that pale blue butterfly, hovering above those
+deep blue flowers."
+
+Angel's face fell. "Oh, I didn't mean a little thing like that," he said.
+"I meant a 'normous, wonderful thing. Something that you couldn't _ever_
+forget."
+
+"Well--if you will have it," said the Bishop, "come close and I'll
+whisper." Instantly three heads hedged him in, and he said in a sonorous
+undertone--"_It's the Dawn._"
+
+"The Dawn!" We three repeated the magic words on the same note of secrecy.
+"But what is it like? How can we get to it? Is it like the sunset?"
+
+"I won't explain a bit of it," he replied. "You've got to seek it out for
+yourselves. It's a pity, though, you can't see it first in the country."
+
+"Must we get up in the dark?"
+
+"Yes. I think your tallest attic window faces the east. You must steal up
+there while it's still grey daylight. Have the windows open so that you can
+hear and smell, as well as see it. But I'm afraid the dear Seraph's too
+little."
+
+"Not me," asserted The Seraph, stoutly. "I'm stwong as two ephelants."
+
+"You mustn't be frightened when you hear its wings," said the Bishop, "nor
+be abashed at the splendour of it, for it was designed for just such little
+fellows as you. You will come and tell me then what happens, won't you? I
+shall probably never waken early enough to see it again."...
+
+
+II
+
+Though we played games after this, and the Bishop made a very satisfactory
+lion prowling about in a jungle of wicker chairs and table legs, we none of
+us quite lost sight of the adventure in store for us. Somewhere in the back
+of our heads lurked the thought of the Dawn with its suggestion of splendid
+mystery.
+
+We were no sooner at home again than we set about discussing ways and
+means.
+
+"The chief thing," said Angel, "is to waken about four. We have no alarm
+clock, so I s'pose we'll just have to take turns in keeping watch all
+night. The hall clock strikes, so we can watch hour about."
+
+"I'll take first watch!" put in The Seraph, eagerly.
+
+"You'll take just what's given to you, and no questions, young man," said
+Angel, out of the side of his mouth, and The Seraph subsided, crushed.
+
+Came bedtime at last, and the three of us in the big four-poster; the door
+shut upon the world of Mrs. Handsomebody, and the windows firmly barred
+against burglars and night air.
+
+Angel announced: "First watch for me! You go right to sleep, John, and I'll
+wake you when the clock strikes ten. Then you'll feel nice and fresh for
+your watch."
+
+But I wasn't at all sleepy and we lay in the dusk and talked till the
+familiar harsh voice of the hall clock rasped out nine o'clock.
+
+"You go to sleep, please John," whispered Angel in a drowsy voice, "and
+I'll watch till ten."
+
+I felt drowsy too, so I put my arm about the slumbering Seraph and soon
+fell fast asleep.
+
+It seemed to me but a moment when Angel roused me. I know I had barely
+settled down to an enjoyable dream in which I was the only customer in an
+ice-cream parlour, where there were seven waitresses, each one obsequiously
+proffering a different flavour.
+
+"Second watch on deck!" whispered Angel, hoarsely--"and look lively!"
+
+"But I'd only just put my spoon in the strawberry ice," I moaned. "Can't be
+ten minutes yet."
+
+"Oh, I say," complained Angel, "don't you s'pose I know when the old clock
+strikes ten? You've been sleepin' like a drunken pirate and no mistake.
+Must be near eleven by now."
+
+"I'll just see for myself," I declared. "I'll go and look at the schoolroom
+clock." And I began to scramble over him.
+
+"You will not then--" muttered Angel, clutching me. "I shan't let you!"
+
+"You won't, eh? If it's really ten you needn't care, need you!"
+
+"Course it's ten--It's nearer eleven, but you're going to do what I say."
+
+At that we came to grips and fought and floundered till the bed rocked, and
+the poor little Seraph clung to his pillow as a shipwrecked sailor to a
+raft in a stormy sea. Exhaustion alone made us stop for breath; still we
+clung desperately to each other, our small bodies pressed hotly together,
+Angel's nose flattened against my ear. The Seraph snuggled up to us. "Just
+you wait"--breathed Angel--his hands tightened on me, then relaxed--his
+legs twitched--"Strawberry or pineapple, sir?" came the dulcet tones of the
+waitress. I was in my ice-cream parlour again! Seven flavours were laid
+before me. I fell to, for I was hot and thirsty.
+
+I was disturbed by The Seraph, singing his morning song. It was a tuneless
+drone, yet not unmusical. Always the first to open his eyes in the morning,
+he began his day with a sort of Saga of his exploits of the day before,
+usually meaningless to us but fraught with colour from his own peculiar
+sphere. At last he laughed outright--a Jovian laugh--at some remembered
+prank--and I rubbed my eyes and came to full consciousness. The sun was
+slanting through the shutters. Where, oh where, was the Dawn?
+
+I turned to look at Angel. He was staring at the slanting beam and swearing
+softly, as he well knew how.
+
+"We'll simply have to try again"--I said. "But however are we going to put
+in today?"
+
+The problem solved itself as all problems will and the day passed,
+following the usual landmarks of porridge, arithmetic, spelling, scoldings,
+mutton, a walk with our governess, bread and butter, prayers, and the (for
+once, longed for!) _bed_.
+
+That night we decided to lie awake together; passing the time with stories,
+and speculation about the mystery so soon to be explored by us. I told the
+first story, a long-drawn adventure of shipwreck, mutiny and coral Caves,
+with a fair sprinkling of skeletons to keep us broad awake.
+
+"It was a first-rate tale," sighed Angel, contentedly, when I had done,
+"an' you told it awfully well, John. If you like you may just tell another
+'stead o' me. Or The Seraph can tell one. Go ahead, Seraph, and make up the
+best story you know how."
+
+The Seraph, important, but sleepy, climbed over me, so that he might be in
+the middle, and then began, in a husky little voice:
+
+"Once upon a time there was fwee bwothers, all vwey nice, but the youngest
+was the bwavest an' stwongest of the fwee. He was as stwong as two bulls,
+an' he'd kill a dwagon before bweakfast, an' never be cocky about it--"
+
+Angel and I groaned in unison. We could not tolerate this sort of
+self-adulation from our junior. "Don't be such a little beast"--we
+admonished, and covered his head with a pillow. The Seraph was wont to
+accept such discipline, at our hands, philosophically, with no unseemly
+outcries or struggles; as a matter of fact, when we uncovered his head, we
+could tell by his even, reposeful breathing that he was fast asleep. It was
+too dark to see his face, but I could imagine his complacent smile.
+
+The night sped quickly after that. There was some desultory talk; then
+Angel, too, slept; I resolved to keep the watch alone. I heard the sound of
+footsteps in the street below, echoing, with a lonely sound; the rattle of
+a loose shutter in a sudden gust of wind; then, dead silence, followed
+after an interval by the scampering, and angry squeak of mice in the
+wall....
+
+The mice disturbed me again. There was a shattering of loose plaster; and
+suddenly opening my eyes, I saw the ghost of grey daylight stealing
+underneath the blind. The time had come!
+
+
+III
+
+Silently the three of us stole up the uncarpeted attic stair. It was
+unknown territory to us, having been forbidden from the first by Mrs.
+Handsomebody, and all we had ever seen from the hall below was a cramped
+passage, guarded by three closed doors. Time and time again we had been
+tempted to explore it, but there was a sinister aloofness about it that had
+hitherto repelled us. Now, however, it had become but a pathway to the
+Dawn, and, as we clutched the bannisters, we imagined ourselves three
+pilgrims fearfully climbing toward light and beauty.
+
+Angel stood first at the top. Gently he tried two doors in succession,
+which were locked. The third gave, harshly--it seemed to me, grudgingly.
+
+The Seraph and I pressed close behind Angel, glad of the warm contact of
+each other's bodies.
+
+In the large attic room, the air was stifling, and the sloping roof, from
+which dim cobwebs were draped, seemed to press toward the dark shapes of
+discarded furniture as though to guard some fearful secret. It took all our
+courage to grope our way to the low casement, and it was a struggle to
+dislodge the rusty bolt, and press the window out on its unused hinges. It
+creaked so loudly that we held our breath for a moment, but we drew it
+again with a sharp sensation of relief, as thirsty young animals drink, for
+fresh night air, sweet, stinging to the nostrils, had surged in upon us,
+sweeping away fear, and loneliness, and the hot depression of the attic
+room.
+
+Mrs. Handsomebody's house was tall, and we could look down upon many roofs
+and chimneys. They huddled together in the soft grey light as though
+waiting for some great happening which they expected, but did not
+understand. They wore an air of expectancy and humility. Little low-roofed
+out-houses pressed close to high walls for shelter, and a frosty white
+skylight stared up-ward fearfully.
+
+"Is this the Dawn?" came from The Seraph, in a tiny voice.
+
+"Only the beginning of it," I whispered back. "There's two stars left over
+from the night--see! that big blue one in the east, and the little white
+one just above the cobbler's chimney."
+
+"Will they be afwaid of the Dawn, when it comes?"
+
+"Rather. I shouldn't be surprised if the big fellow bolted right across the
+sky, and the little one will p'raps fall down the cobbler's chimney into
+his work-room."
+
+The Seraph was enchanted. "Then the cobbler'll sew him wight up in the sole
+of a shoe, an' the boy who wears the shoe will twinkle when he wuns, won't
+he? Oh, it's coming now! I hear it. I'm afwaid."
+
+"That's not the Dawn," said Angel, "that's the night flying away."
+
+It was true that there came to us then a rushing sound, as of strong wings;
+our hair was lifted from our hot foreheads; and the casement rattled on its
+hinges.
+
+This wind, that came from the wings of night, was sharp with the fragrance
+of heather and the sea. One fancied how it would surge through the dim
+aisles of cathedral-like forests, ruffling the plumage of drowsy birds,
+stirring the surface of some dark pool, where the trout still slept, and
+making sibilant music among the drooping reeds.
+
+The sky had now become delicately luminous, and a streak of saffron showed
+above the farthest roofs; a flock of little clouds huddled together above
+this, like timorous sheep at graze. The white star hung just above the
+cobbler's chimney, dangerously near, it seemed to us, who watched.
+
+There were only two of us at the window now, for Angel had stolen away to
+explore every corner of the new environment, as was his custom. I could
+hear the soft opening and shutting of bureau drawers, and once, a grunting
+and straining, as of one engaged in severe manual labour.
+
+A low whistle drew me to his side.
+
+"What's up?" I demanded.
+
+"Got this little old trunk open at last," he muttered, "full of women's
+junk. Funny stuff. Look."
+
+Our heads touched as we bent curiously over the contents. It was a dingy
+and insignificant box on the outside, but it was lined with a gaily
+coloured paper, on which nosegays of spring flowers bent beneath the weight
+of silver butterflies, and sad-eyed cockatoos. The trays were full, as
+Angel had said, of women's things; delicate, ruffly frocks of pink and
+lilac; and undergarments edged with yellowing lace. A sweet scent rose from
+them, as of some gentle presence that strove to reach the light and air
+once more. A pair of little white kid slippers looked as though they longed
+to twinkle in and out beneath a soft silk skirt. Angel's mischievous brown
+hands dived among the light folds, discovering opera glasses,--(treasures
+to be secured if possible, against some future South Sea expedition), an
+inlaid box of old-fashioned trinkets, a coral necklace, gold-tasselled
+earrings, and a brooch of tortured locks of hair.
+
+Angel's eyes were dancing above a gauze fan held coquettishly against his
+mouth of an impudent boy, but I gave no heed to him; I was busy with a
+velvet work-box that promised a solution of the mystery--for hidden away
+with thimble and scissors as one would secrete a treasure, was a fat little
+book, "The Mysteries of Udolpho." Some one had drawn on the fly leaf, very
+beautifully, I thought, a ribbed sea-shell, and on it had printed the
+words, "Lucy from Charles;" and on a scroll beneath the shell, in
+microscopic characters--"Bide the Time!"
+
+My brother was looking over my shoulder now. We were filled with
+conjecture.
+
+"Lucy," said Angel, "owned all this stuff, and Charles was her lover, of
+course. But who was she? Mrs. Handsomebody never had a daughter, I know,
+and if she had she'd never have allowed her to wear these things. Look how
+she jaws when Mary Ellen spends her wage on finery. I'll bet Lucy was a
+beauty. And she's dead too, you can bet, and Charles was her lover, and
+likely he's dead too. 'Bide the time,' eh? You see they're waitin' around
+yet--_somewheres_. Isn't it queer?"
+
+The Seraph's voice came from the window in a sort of chant:
+
+"The little white star has fallen down the cobbler's chimney!
+
+"It has fallen down, and the cobbler is sewing it into a shoe!
+
+"A milkman is wunning down the stweet!
+
+"Tell you what," whispered Angel, "I'll show you what Lucy was like--just a
+little. I'll make a picture of her."
+
+The space between two tall chests of drawers formed a sort of alcove in
+which stood a pier glass, whose tarnished frame was draped in white net.
+Before it Angel drew (without much caution) a high-backed chair, and on it
+he began his picture.
+
+Over the seat and almost touching the floor, he draped a frilled petticoat,
+and against the back of the chair (with a foundation of formidable stays
+for support) he hung a garment, which, even then, he seemed to know for a
+camisole. Over all he laid a charming lilac silk gown, and under the hem in
+the most natural attitude peeped the little party slippers. A small lace
+and velvet bonnet with streamers was hung at the apex of the creation, and
+in her lap (for the time has come to use the feminine pronoun) he spread
+the gauzy fan. He hung over her tenderly, as an artist over his
+subject--each fold must be in place--the empty sleeves curved just so--one
+fancied a rounded chin beneath the velvet streamers, so artfully was it
+adjusted. Her reflection in the pier glass was superb!
+
+"It is here!" chanted The Seraph. "Evwy bit of evwy fing is shinin'! Oh,
+Angel an' John, _please_ look!"
+
+We flew to the window and leaned across the sill.
+
+It was a happy world that morning, glowing in the sweetest dawn that ever
+broke over roofs and chimney pots. The earth sang as she danced her dewy
+way among the paling stars. The little grey clouds blushed pink against the
+azure sky. Blossoming boughs of peach and apricot hung over the gates of
+heaven, and rosy spirals curled upward from two chimneys. Pink-footed
+pigeons strutted, rooketty-cooing along the roofs. They nodded their heads
+as though to affirm the consummation of a miracle. "It is so--" they seemed
+to say--"It is indeed so--" One of them hopped upon the cobbler's chimney,
+peering earnestly into its depths. "It sees the star!" shouted The Seraph.
+"It sees the star and nods to it. 'I am higher now than you'--it says!"
+
+Something--was it a breath? a sigh?--made me look back into the attic where
+Lucy's clothes clung to the high-backed chair, like flower petals blown
+against a wall. The pier-glass had caught all the glory of the morning and
+was releasing it in quivering spears of light that dazzled me for a moment;
+I rubbed my eyes, and stared, and shook a little, for in the midst of all
+this splendour I saw Lucy! No pallid, rigid ghost, but something warm,
+eager with life, spreading the folds of the lilac gown like a butterfly
+warming its new wings in the strength of the sun.
+
+Her bosom rose and fell quickly, her eyes were fixed on me with a
+beseeching look, it seemed. I drew nearer--near enough to smell the faint
+perfume of her, and I saw then that she was not looking at me, but at the
+fat little book of "The Mysteries of Udolpho" which I still held in my
+hands. The book that Charles had given her! "Bide the time!" he had
+written, but she could bide the time no longer.
+
+Proud as any knight before his lady, I strode forward, and pressed the book
+into her hands--saw her slender fingers curl around it--heard her little
+gasp of joy. I should not have been at all surprised had the door opened
+and Charles walked in.
+
+As a matter of fact, the door _did_ open and--Mrs. Handsomebody walked in.
+
+
+IV
+
+She gave a sort of gurgling cry, as though she were being strangled. Angel
+and The Seraph faced about to look at her in consternation, their hair wild
+in the wind, and the rising sun making an aureole about them. The four of
+us stared at each other in silence for a space, while the attic-room, with
+its cobwebs reeled--the sun rose, and sank, like a floundering ship, and
+Mrs. Handsomebody resembling, in my fancy, a hungry spider, in curl papers,
+considered which victim was ripest for slaughter.
+
+"You--and you--and you--" she gobbled. "Oh, to think of it! No place safe!
+What you need is a _strong_ man. _We_ shall see! The very windows--burst
+from their bolts!" She slammed the casement and secured it, Angel and The
+Seraph darting from her path.
+
+"Even a dead woman's clothes--to make a scarecrow of!" She pounced--I hid
+my face while she did it, but I heard a sinister rustling and the snap of a
+trunk lid. It was over. "Bide the time."
+
+Ignominiously she herded us down the stairs; The Seraph making only one
+step at a time, led the way. Far down the drab vista of the back stairs
+that ended in the scullery, Mary Ellen's red, round face was seen for a
+moment, like a second rising sun, but vanished as suddenly as it had
+appeared, at a shout from Mrs. Handsomebody.
+
+We were in the schoolroom now, placed before her in a row, as was her wont
+in times of retribution. Seated behind her desk she wore her purple
+dressing gown with magisterial dignity; the wart upon her chin quivered as
+she prepared to speak.
+
+"Now, David," she said, rapping Angel smartly on the head, "can you say
+anything in explanation of this outrage upon my property? Hold your head up
+and toe out, please."
+
+Angel looked at his hands. "Nuffin' to explain," he said sulkily. "Just
+went an' did it."
+
+"Oh I thought so," said our governess. "It was just one of these seemingly
+irresistible impulses that have so often proved disastrous for all
+concerned. If your father knew--" she bit off the words as though they had
+a pleasant, if acrid taste--"if your poor father knew of your criminal
+proclivities, he would be a _crushed_ man. A _crushed man_."
+
+The Seraph was staring at her chin.
+
+Then--"I have one too," he said gently.
+
+"One _what_?" Her tone should have warned him. "One wart," he went on, with
+easy modesty. "It's just a little one. It can't wiggle--like yours--but
+it's gwowing nicely. Would you care to see it?"
+
+Mrs. Handsomebody affected not to hear him. She stared sombrely at Angel
+and me, but I believe The Seraph sealed our fate, for, after a moment's
+deliberation, she said curtly; "I shall have to beat you for this."
+
+She gave us six apiece, and I could not help noticing that, though The
+Seraph was the youngest and tenderest, his six were the most stinging.
+
+When we had been sent to our bedroom to say our prayers, and change our
+pitifully inadequate night clothes for day things, I put the question that
+was burning in my mind.
+
+"Did either of you see _her_?"
+
+"Who?"
+
+"Lucy, sitting there in the chair."
+
+Angel's brown eyes were blank.
+
+"I saw her _clothes_. What sickens me is that the dragon took that
+spy-glass. You see if I don't get it yet." (Mrs. Handsomebody was "the
+dragon" in our vernacular.)
+
+"Did _you_ see her, Seraph?"
+
+The Seraph was sitting on the floor, his head on his knees. He raised a
+tear-flushed face.
+
+"I'm 'most too cwushed to wemember," he said, huskily. "But I _fink_ Lucy
+was fat. It's a vewy bad fing to be fat, 'cos the cane hurts worser."
+
+I turned from such infantile imbecility to the exhilarating reflection that
+I was the only one to whom Lucy had shown herself--her chosen knight!
+
+I was burning to do her service, yet the passage that led to the attic
+stronghold was well guarded. Two days had passed before I made the attempt.
+I had been sent upstairs from the tea-table to wash my hands--though they
+were only comfortably soiled--and after I had dipped them in a basin of
+water that had done service for both Angel and The Seraph, I gave them a
+good rub on my trouser legs, as I tip-toed to the foot of the attic stairs.
+Cautiously, with fast-beating heart, I mounted, and tried the door. It was
+locked fast. I pressed my eye against the keyhole, and made out in the
+gloom the dark shape of the trunk, sinister, forbidding, inaccessible. No
+rustle of lilac silk, no faintest perfume, no appealing sigh from the
+gentle Lucy greeted me. All was dark and quiet. "Bide the time!" Who knew
+but that some day I might set her free?
+
+Yet my throat ached as I slowly made my way back to the table, presented my
+hands for a rather sceptical inspection by Mrs. Handsomebody, and dropped
+languidly into my seat.
+
+The Seraph gave me a look of sympathy--even understanding--perhaps he had
+heard me mount the distant attic stairs; his hearing was wonderfully acute.
+He chewed in silence for a moment and then he made one of those seemingly
+irrelevant remarks of his that, somehow, always set our little world
+a-rocking.
+
+"One fing about Lucy," he said, "she was always sweet-tempud."
+
+"Who?" snapped Mrs. Handsomebody.
+
+"Lucy--" repeated The Seraph. "Such a sweet-tempud gell."
+
+Mrs. Handsomebody leaned over him, and gobbled and threatened. The Seraph
+preserved a remarkable calm, considering that he was the storm centre. He
+even raised his small forefinger before his face and looked at it
+thoughtfully. His speculative gaze travelled from it to Mrs. Handsomebody's
+chin. I perceived then that he was comparing warts!
+
+
+
+
+_Chapter IV: A Merry Interlude_
+
+
+I
+
+My brothers and I were hanging over the gate that barred our way to the
+outer world, and singing, as loudly as we could, considering the pressure
+of the top bar on our young stomachs. We sang to keep warm, for Mrs.
+Handsomebody had decreed that no reefers were to be worn till the first of
+December. So, though November was raw, she maintained her discipline and
+refused to mollycoddle us.
+
+It was the fifth, and Angel chanted in that flute-like treble of his, that
+made passersby turn and smile at him:
+
+  "Remember, remember the fifth of November,
+    Gunpowder, treason and plot--"
+
+Then The Seraph added his little pipe:
+
+  "I see no weason why gunpowder tweason
+    Should ever be forgot."
+
+Then we shouted it all together.
+
+Our neighbour, Mr. Mortimer Pegg, who had never forgiven us for our share
+in the treasure hunt, came out of his house at that moment, and drew up
+before us.
+
+"This noise, you know," he said, in his precise way, "is affecting my
+wife's health deleteriously. She has gone to bed with a migraine."
+
+"Why don't you put him out," suggested The Seraph.
+
+Mr. Pegg eyed him severely, yet I thought I perceived a twinkle in his eye.
+
+"It's Guy Fawkes day," I explained. "You see, it must never be forgot."
+
+"It is a mistake in these enlightened days to keep up such old
+animosities," replied our neighbour. "For all you know I might be his
+direct descendant. If you must celebrate his undoing, better take these
+three sixpences and make yourselves ill on lemon fizz, or pink
+marshmallows, or vile licorice cigars."
+
+He placed a coin in each outstretched hand, and, without waiting for
+thanks, strode briskly down the street. We gazed after him, knocked
+speechless by this great beaker of bounty that had rolled in upon the flat
+expanse of our afternoon. Mr. Pegg, in his shiny top hat and neat Prince
+Albert moved away in the ruddy November sunlight as in a halo of opulence.
+Never before had we appreciated the princely turn of his toes beneath their
+drab spats, the flash of his twirled walking-stick. We resolved to keep him
+in mind. He was a neighbour worth having. Angel even suggested certain
+time-honoured ditties of boyhood, which, shouted in chorus, would be almost
+certain to have a disastrous effect on a female addicted to migraine.
+
+A deputation, consisting of The Seraph, then waited on Mrs. Handsomebody,
+to explain that our neighbour, Mr. Pegg, having been charmed by our
+singing, had presented us each with a sixpence, with the earnest injunction
+that the coin be expended on currant buns at the grocer's. The Seraph came
+back triumphant with the necessary consent.
+
+"We can go," he said, "but we're not to take a bite till we're back home.
+It's suppwising she'd let us do it."
+
+"Not a bit," said Angel cynically, "she knows they'll spoil our appetite
+for tea."
+
+The grocer was a fierce, red-bearded man who kept his wife in a little
+wooden stall, where she took in the constant flow of wealth extorted from
+his customers.
+
+We had told The Seraph that she was thus confined by her gloomy spouse, in
+order that she might be fattened for slaughter, and his eyes were large
+with pity as he stood on tiptoe to hand our three sixpences through the
+little wicket. The grocer's wife leaned forward to look at him, her plump
+underlip, after two futile attempts to form a chin, subsiding into a large
+white neck.
+
+The Seraph's look of pity deepened to horror. "You must be almost weady,"
+he gasped.
+
+"Ready? Ready for what, my little love?"
+
+"Stickin'--oo, will it hurt vewy much?"
+
+"Bless the child. What _does_ he mean?"
+
+"He's not very well," I explained. "I think he's delirious."
+
+"That's why we brought him here to get a cool drink," added Angel,
+hurriedly, and between us we led the recreant to the little table in the
+rear of the shop where the grocer had set out three glasses of ginger beer
+and a plate of mixed cakes. Five minutes of unalloyed bliss followed and we
+were just draining off the last dregs and cleaning up the crumbs, when a
+bullet-headed boy stuck his head in at the door.
+
+"Dorg's 'ere again," he said, laconically. "Nosin' abaht in the gabbage
+'eap."
+
+"Tie a can on 'is tile," said the grocer.
+
+The boy disappeared, and the three of us pushed back our chairs and
+followed in his wake, scenting adventure in the littered yard behind the
+shop with its strange odours of bygone fruit and greens.
+
+The dog, a small, black, Scottish terrier, was dragging an end of Boulogna
+sausage from the garbage heap. The bullet-headed boy winked at us, selected
+an empty can from the heap, produced a piece of string from his pocket, and
+grasped the terrier by the collar. But only for a moment. With a rush of
+concentrated fury it flew at his legs, gave him a sharp snap, and darted
+back to its sausage, with a warning glean of its eyes in our direction.
+
+"Ow," yelled the boy, doubling up, "'e's bit me sumpfin' cruel! You see if
+I daon't brain 'im for that!"
+
+He snatched up an axe and brandished it. The terrier dropped its sausage
+and showed its little pointed teeth.
+
+We three, with one impulse, flung ourselves between it and the boy.
+
+"You dare touch that dog," shouted Angel.
+
+"Oo's goin' to stop me, Mister Nosey Parker?" sneered the boy, with a
+flourish of his axe.
+
+"I am," said Angel, "'cos it's _my_ dog, see?" He coolly turned his back on
+the boy and bent over the terrier, who came to him cautiously, sniffing his
+legs.
+
+"Your dorg!" scoffed the boy, "w'y daon't yer feed 'im then? 'E's arf
+starved, 'e is. Yer ought to be 'ad up fer perwention of cruelty to
+hanimals. It's a disgrice."
+
+"We've only owned him a little while," explained Angel, "and he strayed
+away. He'll be jolly glad to get home again--won't you, Rover? Give us that
+bit of string and I'll lead him."
+
+The boy, suddenly friendly, in one of those swiftly changing moods of
+boyhood, assisted in the tying of the string to the little dog's collar,
+though he cast a longing look at its stout fringed tail that was so
+admirably built to further the riotous bouncings of an empty tin can.
+
+We led him triumphantly through the shop into the street, and we trotted in
+silence for a space, staring in rapt admiration of the little black paws
+that padded along in such a business-like fashion beside us, the
+knowingly-pointed ears, and valiant tail carried at a jaunty angle above
+the sturdy hind-quarters.
+
+When we reached our own quiet street we stopped. The Seraph looked in the
+bag of buns.
+
+"May I give him mine?" he asked.
+
+"Good boy," said Angel, and The Seraph presented the little dog with the
+large currant bun. We were charmed indeed when he sat up for it in the most
+approved trained-animal posture, with short fore-legs crossed on his plump
+hairy breast. How often had we longed for the joyous companionship of our
+old four-footed friends, the comfort of a soft warm tongue on one's cheek,
+the sensitive muzzle pressed into one's palm, the look of loving confidence
+in the deep brown eyes.
+
+But our governess hated dogs, and we were expressly forbidden to so much as
+pat the head of any stray canine that thrust an inquiring nose between the
+bars of her gate. Therefore, it was with sad foreboding that we watched the
+bun disappear. The Scotty held it between his forepaws and bit off decent
+mouthfuls, without sign of greed or haste. By his bearing and by his
+shining silver collar we knew that he was, or had been some one's cherished
+pet.
+
+The bun had cheered him wonderfully, for, as we moved homeward, he leaped
+playfully at his leash, and catching it in his teeth, worried it in an
+abandon of glee.
+
+We made no plans. We had no hopes. We merely were drawn by habit and
+necessity to the place where, we knew, desperate trouble awaited us. At the
+gate we halted.
+
+"We might take him into the yard to play for a little while," I said.
+"P'raps we could carry him upstairs wrapped in my coat, and hide him under
+the bed. Maybe he'd get so awful good he'd live under the bed, and we could
+save our food for him, and get up nights to play with him."
+
+As if to show his appreciation of the plan, the Scotty raised himself on
+his hind quarters, paddling the air with his forepaws in excited appeal,
+and giving vent to sharp, staccato barks.
+
+The next instant the front door was thrown open, and Mary Ellen, her cap
+askew, dashed down the steps to meet us.
+
+"Wheriver have ye been so long?" she ejaculated. "An' have ye been tould
+the news? 'Tis hersilf has taken a tumble, an' put her knee out so the
+doctor says. I'd jist been clanin' up the panthry shelves, an' _she_ got up
+on a chair to see whether I'd maybe missed the top one, an' I must have
+left a knob of soap on the chair, for the next thing I knew she was
+stretched on the flure, an' I had to fetch the doctor, an' he says she'll
+have to kape to her room for a fortnight or more, an' the lord only knows
+how I'm to wait on her an' manage the three av ye, wid yer pranks an' all!"
+
+The Seraph turned a somersault; then I turned a somersault; then Angel
+turned two; then the Scotty sat up, paddled the air with his forepaws, and
+sneezed twice.
+
+Mary Ellen was genuinely shocked.
+
+"I do belave," she said, solemnly, "that you've stones in your breasts
+instid av hearts--but you're jist like all men folk--if they think there's
+a good time in sthore for them, the women can suffer all they like, more
+shame to them." She was so worked up that she did not notice that the
+little dog had followed us into the house, until he was sitting up in the
+kitchen, his forepaws paddling the air, his tail thudding on the floor.
+Then she said, brimming over with admiration, though she tried to look
+severe;
+
+"And if you think I'll have sthray dawgs in my kitchen you're very much
+mistook.... Aw, it's a darlin' wee thing, isn't it?" For the Scotty, seeing
+that she had seated herself, had jumped to her lap and now sat there, nose
+in air, looking superbly at home.
+
+We closed about her, telling, in chorus, the story of the bullet-headed
+boy, and the garbage heap, and enlarging dramatically on the episode of the
+tin can.
+
+"And may we please keep him?" we entreated, "just for a few days till we
+find the owner of it! Mrs. Handsomebody will never know, for he can live in
+the coal cellar 'cept when we take him little walks on a string!"
+
+"If you don't let me do this I'll never marry you, so there!" This from
+Angel.
+
+"Have it your own way, thin," moaned Mary Ellen, capitulating, as usual,
+under the fire of Angel's pleading, "but moind, if she iver finds us out,
+it's mesilf will be walkin' the streets widout a character."
+
+
+II
+
+So began a merry interlude in the drabness of the Handsomebody regime. Mrs.
+Handsomebody kept to her room for nearly three weeks, unable to put her
+foot to the floor. On the first evening, she called us to her bedside; and,
+while we stood in a row, bewildered before the phenomenon of seeing her
+prostrate, she lectured us solemnly on the duties and responsibilities of
+our position, and implored us not to make the period of her enforced
+retirement a nightmare, because of our pranks. We promised, marvelling that
+bed-clothes could be kept so tidy, and fervently wishing she would display
+the knee that had been so severely "put out." It was a commonplace for Mrs.
+Handsomebody's temper to be thus afflicted, but her knee, never.
+
+When we returned to the kitchen, we found Mary Ellen sitting in a pensive
+attitude. Her forefinger pressed against her knit brow, her stout ankles
+crossed.
+
+"The little dawg has been tellin' me a secret," she volunteered in
+explanation, "a deep, dark secret. She's been tellin' me in a way of
+spakin' that she's a lady-dawg, God help her."
+
+"But how did she tell you, Mary Ellen? Did she speak out loud?" We were
+breathless with excitement.
+
+"She did not. I ast her, for I had me suspicion, if she was a lady-dawg an'
+I sez--'If yez are wag yer tail three times,' an' the words was scarce off
+me tongue, whin she wagged her tail three times."
+
+It was a marvel. Oh, these were going to be great days!
+
+"If you're a lady-dog, wag your tail three times," I ordered, squatting to
+peer into the sagacious brown eyes.
+
+Three times the stocky tail thumped the floor.
+
+Then Angel put the question, and was answered with equal promptitude.
+
+It was The Seraph's turn. With an insinuating smile he said: "If you are a
+gennelman dog wag your tail fwee times."
+
+But before there was time for so much as one wag, Mary Ellen caught the
+too-eager tail in a restraining grasp.
+
+"Now have done wid your nonsinse," she commanded. "Ye'll have the pore
+crature that worried it'll set up barkin', an' if the misthress did know,
+there be's a dawg in the house, she'd likely just throw a fit an' die."
+
+"Is it a vewy barkable dog?" queried The Seraph.
+
+"All dogs is barkable," said Mary Ellen, "and what we'll have to do is to
+kape her as quate as possible and pray that her owner'll come along this
+way, for turn her out I will not. It's easy seein' she's a pet be the ways
+of her."
+
+"It says 'Giftie' on her collar," Angel announced, separating the short,
+shaggy coat to read. "That must be her name. Hello, Giftie! Sit up,
+Giftie!"
+
+So Giftie she was, and, for a long three weeks, our joy and our delight.
+
+Was ever little body so full of spirit and the pride of life? The kitchen
+became her own domain where the three of us fought for the position of her
+most abject slave. Even Mary Ellen could scarcely work for watching her
+antics with an old stocking, which she pretended was a rat. Once she caught
+a live mouse and set us all shouting. Mary Ellen, in her excitement, upset
+a gravy-boat of hot gravy, and The Seraph slipped and sat down in it, and
+Giftie gambolling, mouse in mouth, ran through it and tracked it over the
+freshly scrubbed boards. If she had been a tigress with her prey she could
+not have been more ferocious with the mouse. She snarled at it: she worried
+it: she threw it up in the air and caught it: she laid it on the scullery
+floor and rolled on it: and when, finally, it ceased to squirm beneath her,
+she lay quite still, gazing pensively up at us with liquid eyes, and only
+now and then twitching her hind-quarters to remind her victim that she was
+still on the job.
+
+One never-to-be-forgotten day she rollicked into the kitchen proudly
+carrying Mrs. Handsomebody's solemn black shoe, which had been standing
+with its mate beneath Mrs. Handsomebody's bed. Before our horrified eyes,
+she worried it till the shoe-laces cracked about her head; threw it up and
+caught it, as she had the mouse; then taking it to her own bed in the
+scullery, she laid it there and rolled on it.
+
+When Mary Ellen had wrested the shoe from Giftie, she crept upstairs, her
+heart in her mouth, and restored it to its place beneath the bed.
+
+"It was a marvel," she said afterwards, "how the scallywag did what she did
+widout wakenin' _her_, for there was the mistress sleepin' on the broad of
+her back, and her two shoes, and her bed-socks scattered over the flure,
+and the pot of cold crame knocked off the chair at the head of her bed, and
+the half of it et. It's mesilf will dance for joy whin that little tormint
+gets took away."
+
+Inquiries were made of all the errand boys, but not one had heard of a lost
+dog. We came to dread the sound of the door-bell lest it should herald some
+determined grown-up come to snatch our treasure from us. Mr. Watlin, the
+butcher's young man, and Mary Ellen's favoured "follower" of the moment,
+took a lively interest in the affair. He was of the opinion that if Mrs.
+Handsomebody once saw the dog nothing would induce her to send it away. And
+he brought offerings of raw meat in his pocket to make her plump and
+glossy. Giftie grew plumper and glossier every day.
+
+Then, when two weeks had passed, she achieved the crowning triumph of her
+stay with us. It was a heavy morning of dense November fog, and the gas was
+still burning in the dining-room when we came down to breakfast. Mary Ellen
+did not bring us our porridge, as usual, neither did Giftie run in to greet
+us; so, after a moment's impatient wriggling in our chairs, we went to the
+kitchen to investigate. Giftie was nowhere in sight. Mary Ellen sat in an
+attitude of complete abandon, by the dresser, her apron over her head, her
+arms hanging loosely at her sides. Was Giftie dead? Had her owner come to
+fetch her? What horror had overcast the sun? We deluged her with questions,
+pulling the apron off her head, and dragging her from the chair.
+
+"Och, it's a terror she is," Mary Ellen said, at last. "Come wid me to the
+scullery an' ye'll see what she's got in the bed wid her."
+
+There was not much light in the scullery so we could not at first
+distinguish what lay on the mat beside Giftie. It moved; it snuffled;
+no--_they_ moved; _they_ snuffled. There were three of them. All at once it
+burst upon us that they were puppies--her puppies--our puppies--one apiece!
+We flopped on the floor beside her. She darted from her bed--licked our
+hands--snapped at our ankles--ran back to them--and, finally tremulous with
+excitement, allowed us to take them in our arms (The Seraph wrapped his in
+the skirt of his fresh holland smock) and sit blissfully in a row.
+
+We stroked the soft licked fur of their glossy coats; we examined their
+tiny sharp black nails; their blindness only endeared them the more to us.
+
+There we were found by Mr. Watlin.
+
+"'Ere's a picnic," he said. "'Ere's a bloomin' picnic." He caught up the
+nearest puppy, and turned it over in an experienced hand. "Tiles must be
+cut," he added.
+
+"Tails cut! Oh, no," I expostulated, "Giftie's tail isn't cut. Please
+don't."
+
+"All terriers should 'ave their tiles cut," said Mr. Watlin, firmly. "If
+the mother dog's tile isn't cut, is that any reason w'y 'er hoffspring
+should be disfigured in a like manner? Now's the time."
+
+"But it'll hurt," pleaded The Seraph. Do you do it wif a knife?"
+
+"I _bites_ 'em orf," replied Mr. Watlin, laconically, "an' it don't 'urt a
+bit."
+
+"In this world," he went on, "a lot depends on the way you does a thing.
+F'rinstance, when I kill a lamb or a steer, do I kill 'im brutally? Not at
+all. I runs 'im up an' down the slaughter yard to get 'is circulation up--I
+strokes 'im on the neck, an' tells 'im wot a fine feller 'e is, till 'e's
+in such good spirits that 'e tikes the killin' as a joke. Just a part of
+the gime, as it were. Sime with these 'ere pups. They'd like 'aving their
+tiles bit orf by me."
+
+We looked at the puppies doubtfully. It was hard to believe that they would
+really like it, and we were relieved when Mary Ellen broke in--
+
+"They will not be cut, nor bit, nor interfered wid in anny way. If Giftie's
+owner likes a long tail on her, he'd want a long tail on her puppies
+wouldn't he? That stands to reason, Mr. Watlin, don't it? and the owner may
+walk in here anny day."
+
+How we hated that nebulous owner! And now another cloud loomed on our
+horizon. Mrs. Handsomebody was getting better. She had sat up on a chair by
+the bedside; she had, with Mary Ellen's help, walked across the room; she
+had, all alone, walked down the hallway; she had come to the head of the
+stairs. She was like the man in the ghost story, who, fresh from his grave,
+called to his wife--snugly sleeping above--"Mary, I'm at the foot of the
+stairs.... Mary, I'm half way up." We, too, shuddered in anticipation. And
+Mary Ellen was almost as nervous as we, for hers was the responsibility.
+
+The puppies were more entrancing every day. Tiny slips of dewy blue showed
+between their furry eyelids. They learned to walk, and roll over, and to
+right themselves after being turned over by their mother's playful paws. We
+were squatting on the floor very busy with them, when Mary Ellen entered,
+round-eyed with fear.
+
+"'Tis herself is in the dining-room," she gasped.
+
+"Not Mrs. Handsomebody?"
+
+"Sorra a thing else. Put them pups in their basket and come out and shut
+the dure. Ye'd better go into the yard and be at some quate game. Oh,
+Lord--" and she hurried back to her mistress.
+
+This time we were safe, but there was tomorrow ahead, with certain
+discovery.
+
+Mr. Watlin, propped in the open doorway, brought his ingenious mind to bear
+upon the problem.
+
+"Now if Mrs. 'Andsomebody could be put under an obligation to that little
+dog, she'd probably tike it right into 'er 'eart and 'ome. If that little
+dog, f'rinstance, should save Mrs. 'Andsomebody from drowning--does she
+ever go in bathing?"
+
+"_Likely_, at _her_ age, in _December_!" sneered Mary Ellen. "Try again."
+
+"We might hold her under water in the bath-tub till Giftie would fish her
+out," suggested Angel.
+
+It was a colourful spectacle to visualize, and we dallied with it a space
+before abandoning it as impracticable. It seemed too much to hope that Mrs.
+Handsomebody, the bath-tub and Giftie could all be assembled at the
+critical moment.
+
+But Mr. Watlin was not to be rebuffed. "Then there's burglars," he went on.
+"Suppose Mrs. 'Andsomebody's valuables was to be rescued from a burglar for
+'er. She wouldn't be able to do enough for a little dog that 'ad chased 'im
+out of this very scullery, f'rinstance."
+
+We were thrilled by hope. "But where is the burglar?"
+
+"Well, I could produce the burglar in a pinch. He's reformed but he'd
+undertake a little job like this if he know'd it was for partic'lar friends
+of mine, and not a bit of 'arm in it. Is it a go?"
+
+Mystery brooded over the house of Handsomebody all that afternoon and
+evening. We were allowed to have no finger in this portentous pie.
+
+Mr. Watlin, with some small assistance from Mary Ellen, engineered the
+thing himself. We were sent to bed at the usual hour, and played at
+burglars on, and under, the bed, to while away the intervening hours.
+
+
+III
+
+It must have been almost midnight when our hearts were made to beat in our
+throats by such an uproar in the scullery, as seemed to cleave the darkness
+like a thunderbolt. Giftie appeared to be choking in her effort to unloose,
+all at once, a torrent of ferocious barks. A window shook, glass broke, a
+shutter slammed. Then followed a moment of awful silence before she settled
+down to a methodical yapping. We heard Mary Ellen run down the back stairs.
+
+We clambered out of bed, and tumbled into the hall. Mrs. Handsomebody was
+there before us, a gigantic shadow of her thrown on the walls by a candle
+she held unsteadily in her hand.
+
+"Merciful Heaven!" she was saying under her breath. "What can have
+happened!" She motioned us to fall in behind her, and it was plain that,
+crippled as she was, she intended to interpose her body, in its flannel
+nightgown, between us and whatever danger lurked below. She made the
+descent clinging to the bannister, the three of us jostling each other in
+the rear, and, once, nearly precipitated on her back by a caper of Angel's
+on the edge of a step.
+
+Mary Ellen met us in the dining-room, her face pale with excitement.
+
+"It was a burglar in the scullery, ma'am," she burst out, never looking at
+us. "It's a mercy we wasn't all murthered in our beds this night--the
+windy's broke, an' the shutter's pried loose, and a bag full av all the
+things off the sideboard is settin' on the flure. Sure, I heard the steps
+av him runnin' full lick down the lane--"
+
+Mrs. Handsomebody looked at her bereft sideboard, and dropped into a chair
+with a gasp.
+
+"Are you _sure_ he's gone?"
+
+"Yes'm. I stuck me head out the windy and seen him."
+
+"You're a brave girl. Get me the bitters. Yes, and lock the door into the
+scullery--stay, what dog was it that barked?"
+
+Mary Ellen hung her head. "The dawg the little boys have been keepin' this
+bit while. It does no harm at all."
+
+Mrs. Handsomebody's face was a mask. She said composedly: "Well, get the
+bitters and then bring in the dog."
+
+Mary Ellen did as she was bid.
+
+Enter now Giftie, tail up, ears pricked, the picture of conscious
+well-doing. She went straight to Mrs. Handsomebody, sniffed her ankles;
+wagged her tail in appreciation of the odour of the liniment that emanated
+from the injured lady; and finally sat up before her with an ingratiating
+paddling of the forepaws.
+
+Mrs. Handsomebody regarded her sombrely. "May I ask how long you have
+harboured this stray?"
+
+"Just since the day ye fell, ma'am, and I was that upset that I was scarce
+in me right moind, and indade, it's hersilf has saved us from robbery and
+mebbe murther this night wid her barkin'."
+
+Giftie, tired of sitting up without reward or encouragement, had trotted
+quietly out of the room. She now came back waddling with importance, a pup
+in her mouth. She laid it at the feet of our governess as though to
+say--"There now, what do you make of that?"
+
+"Horrors!" cried Mrs. Handsomebody, drawing back, as though the puppy were
+a serpent.
+
+With a joyful kick of the heels, Giftie was off again. In breathless
+silence we waited. The second puppy, sleepy and squirming, was laid beside
+its brother.
+
+"I presume you have another?" said Mrs. Handsomebody in a controlled voice
+but gripping the arms of her chair.
+
+Giftie brought the other.
+
+"Oh, Mrs. Handsomebody!" I implored, "please, please, let us keep them!
+They're as good as gold, and they'd guard the house and everything--and
+maybe save you from drowning some time. Don't take them from us, pl-ease!"
+The Seraph, in sympathy, began to cry. Angel picked up his pup and held it
+against his breast.
+
+"Silence!" rapped out Mrs. Handsomebody. "Mary Ellen, fetch _The Times_.
+And just look in the scullery to see that all is quiet there. Fetch the bag
+left by the robber."
+
+Mrs. Handsomebody sipped her bitters while Mary Ellen did her behests. Each
+of us cuddled his own puppy, and Giftie began an energetic search for a
+flea.
+
+Had our hearts not been in the grip of apprehension we should have laughed
+at the figure cut by Mary Ellen, panting under the sack of plate. Mr.
+Watlin's burglar had done his job well, and Mrs. Handsomebody groaned when
+she saw her most cherished possessions tumbled in such a reckless fashion.
+But not a thing was missing, and when they had been replaced on the
+sideboard, she turned briskly to _The Times_. She ran a long white finger
+down the Lost column.
+
+"Ah, here we are--" she announced, complacently--"Pay attention, boys," and
+she read:
+
+     "_Reward_ for information leading to the recovery of Scottish terrier,
+     female, wearing silver collar engraved, Giftie, stolen or strayed from
+     5 Argyle Road, on November third. Anyone detaining after this notice
+     will be prosecuted."
+
+"You see," exclaimed Mrs. Handsomebody, triumphantly, "you have made
+yourselves liable to a heavy fine, or even imprisonment, by detaining what
+is, I presume, a very valuable beast. Argyle Road--a very good locality--is
+not too great a distance for you to walk. In the morning, we shall return
+that dog and her--er--young, and I see nothing amiss in your accepting a
+suitable reward. Not a word now! No insubordination, mind. I won't have it.
+David, John, Alexander, listen--I am in no mood to be trifled with. Put
+down those squirming creatures and march to your bed!"
+
+Giftie's hour had struck. It was no use rebelling. With bitter composure,
+we carried our beloved to the scullery, and laid them on the mat beside
+their mother. It was not until we were safe in bed that our pent up fury
+broke loose; and we pounded the pillows, and cursed the name of womankind.
+
+Women! Tyrants! Mischievous busybodies!
+
+"When I'm a man," said Angel, suddenly, "I'll marry a woman, and I'll beat
+her every day."
+
+"Me too!" cried The Seraph, stoutly, "I'll mawy two--fat ones--an' beat 'em
+bofe."
+
+For myself, I was inclined for an unhampered bachelorhood, but it soothed
+my wounded spirit to picture these three hapless females in the grip of
+Angel and The Seraph, and the music of their outcries lulled me fast
+asleep.
+
+
+IV
+
+We found next morning that Mrs. Handsomebody and Mary Ellen had never gone
+back to bed all night, but had kept watch in the dining-room till daylight,
+when Mary Ellen had been dispatched to find a policeman. He was in the
+kitchen now, a commanding figure, making notes in a little book; and
+seeming to derive great benefit from his conversation with Mary Ellen.
+
+A new arrival was a wheeled-chair to convey Mrs. Handsomebody to 5 Argyle
+Road. Therefore, about ten o'clock, after the most exhausting preparations,
+we set out, a singular party; Mrs. Handsomebody enthroned in the chair,
+mistress of herself (and every one else) her black-gloved hands crossed on
+her lap; Mary Ellen, hot, straining over the wheeled-chair, lest her
+mistress get an unseemly bump at the crossing; Angel and I, bearing between
+us a covered hamper containing the three pups; while Giftie and The Seraph
+in the abandon of youth and ignorance, sported on the outskirts of the
+group.
+
+The way was long, and our arms ached with the weight of the hamper, when we
+stopped before the gate of Number 5 Argyle Road. It was an imposing house
+in its own grounds; large clipped trees stood about; and a bent old
+gardener was doing something to one of those, while a tall grey-haired
+woman in mannish tweeds superintended the work. A Scottish terrier, fit
+mate for Giftie, was digging furiously at the root of the tree. He
+discovered our presence first, and, before we had time to introduce
+ourselves, he and Giftie, with bristling backs, were jumping about one
+another in a sort of friendly hostility, and filling the air with barks of
+greeting. Giftie, then, darted for the hamper, sniffed it, ran back to the
+other Scotty, and bit him so that he yelped. All was confusion.
+
+The tall lady came toward us smiling broadly. She exclaimed above the din:
+"How can I thank you? I see you have brought home our little
+wanderer--Giftie, how can you treat Colin so? Poor Colin--lift him up,
+Giles, she's going to bite him again--I suppose there are pups in the
+hamper. Let's see, boys."
+
+We uncovered the hamper proudly. The three puppies lay curled like little
+sea anemones. Giftie tried to get in the hamper with them, but her mistress
+restrained her gently, while she lifted them out, one by one, and examined
+each, critically, Mrs. Handsomebody watching her all the while with an
+expression of disapproval, that bordered on disgust.
+
+The tall lady, quite oblivious to all this, seated herself on the ground
+with the puppies on her lap, muttering ecstatically-"Perfect beauties--what
+luck! Giftie, you're a wonder!" Whereupon Giftie tried to kiss her on the
+ear. The bent old gardener, brought Colin to us and made him shake hands,
+and we thought him very long-faced and dour after roguish Giftie.
+
+Presently Mrs. Handsomebody spoke in her most decisive tones:
+
+"I fear I shall take a chill if I remain in this damp place. Come boys.
+Mary Ellen, kindly reverse the chair!"
+
+The tall lady rose to her feet.
+
+"Oh, please, come in and have something hot, and tell me all about it. And
+there's the reward."
+
+"I thank you," replied Mrs. Handsomebody, "I shall not venture to leave my
+chair. As for the dog, it came to us several weeks ago, when I was ill;
+hence the delay in returning it--and its young."
+
+"Your grandchildren?" questioned the tall lady abruptly.
+
+"My pupils, and, for the present, my wards," replied Mrs. Handsomebody
+frigidly.
+
+"Wish I could steal them," said the lady. "If I'd dogs and boys too, I'd be
+happy. These are darlings." She turned to us then. "Boys, do you like
+Giftie very much?"
+
+"Oh, we love her," we chorused.
+
+"Would you like one of her puppies for your very own to keep?"
+
+Would we? We couldn't speak for longing.
+
+Mrs. Handsomebody spoke for us.
+
+"I allow no pets, canine or otherwise."
+
+The tall lady scowled. "But these are valuable dogs."
+
+"All dogs are alike to me. Canines."
+
+The tall lady gave something between a snort and a sigh.
+
+"Would you allow them to accept a sovereign apiece then?"
+
+"That would be permissible."
+
+"I shall be back directly," and with astonishing speed she ran to the house
+with Colin and Giftie barking on either side of her. It was but a moment
+till she returned and pressed a golden sovereign into each languid hand.
+The sight of so much bullion all at once braced us for the moment, and we
+forgot to be miserable. She came with us to the gate, asking a dozen
+questions about ourselves, and our father, and Giftie's stay with us.
+Giftie had to be restrained from following us, and with sinking hearts we
+kissed her little black nose and said good-bye.
+
+"Good-bye!" called the tall lady, "come again any time! Come and spend the
+day with us!"
+
+Our governess called us peremptorily. She was half a block in advance.
+
+When we reached the chair, she said, in a conciliatory tone: "I shall
+arrange for you to have some unusual treat from your reward, some concerts
+and lantern lectures suited to your years, and maybe, as the Christmas
+Season approaches, even a pantomime. What do you say?"
+
+I looked at the woman. Was she mad to imagine that such paltry, sickly
+treats could make up for the loss of three pups whose eyes were beginning
+to open? My own eyes smarted with tears. I looked at Mary Ellen. Two bright
+drops hung on her cheeks as she laboured behind the chair. I looked at
+Angel. He was balancing himself on the curb with an air of desperate
+indifference. I could hear The Seraph weeping as he brought up the rear.
+
+I lingered behind to offer him a suck of a piece of licorice I had. Then I
+saw that he had stopped and was hunched above the grating of a sewer. I
+could but think that his spirits had reached such an ebb that nothing save
+the contemplation of the foulest depths might salve his misery. But I was
+mistaken! His hand moved above the grating. Something flashed. Then I
+swelled my chest with pride in him. Truly, The Seraph was a brother to be
+proud of--a fellow of sturdy passions, not to be trifled with!
+
+He had chucked his sovereign down the sewer!
+
+
+
+
+_Chapter V: Freedom_
+
+
+I
+
+Life became dull indeed after Giftie was taken from us. November drew on to
+December; beating rains kept us indoors for days at a time. Mrs.
+Handsomebody had a horror of wet feet. With faces pressed against streaming
+window panes, we watched for the blurred progress of the lamplighter down
+the street, as the one excitement of the day. Even our friend the Bishop
+deserted us and went for a long stay in the south of France. Angel
+developed a sore throat just before Christmas so we had no part in the
+Christmas music in the Cathedral. The toy pistols sent by our father did
+not arrive till a fortnight after Christmas, and when they did arrive, the
+joy of possessing them was short-lived, for after Angel had cracked a pane
+of glass with his, and I had hit Mary Ellen on the ear, so that it was
+swollen and red for days, Mrs. Handsomebody confiscated them all as
+dangerous weapons to be kept till we were beyond her control.
+
+She gave us each a new prayer book illustrated by pictures from the Gospel.
+I coloured the pictures in mine with crayons, and got my hands rulered for
+it; Angel traded his with one of the choir boys for a catapult which he
+successfully kept in concealment, with occasional forays on back alley
+cats. The Seraph was immensely pleased with his. He carried it about in his
+blouse, producing it, now and again, for reference, with pretended
+solemnity. His manner became unbearably clerical. I think he felt himself,
+at least, a Canon.
+
+The winter wore on, and we became pale and peevish from lack of air, when
+all our little world was quickened by the coming of the telegram.
+
+It had come while we were at lessons. Angel and I were standing before our
+governess with our hands behind our backs, when Mary Ellen burst in at the
+door. I had been stumbling over the names of the Channel Islands, and I
+stopped with my mouth open, relieved to see Mrs. Handsomebody's look of
+indignation raised from my face to that of Mary Ellen.
+
+"Is that the way I have instructed you to enter the room where I sit?"
+asked Mrs. Handsomebody sternly.
+
+"Lord, no, ma'am," gasped Mary Ellen, "but it's a telegram I've brung for
+ye, an' I thought as it was likely bad news, ye wouldn't want to be kept
+waitin' while I'd rap at the dure!" She presented the bit of paper between
+a wet thumb and forefinger.
+
+"You may take your seats," said Mrs. Handsomebody coldly, to us.
+
+Angel and I slipped into our places at the long book-littered table, on
+either side of The Seraph. We were thus placed, in order that his small
+plump person should prove an obstacle to familiar intercourse between Angel
+and myself during school hours; and, as our intercourse usually took the
+form of punches in the short ribs, or wet paper pellets aimed at an
+unoffending nose, The Seraph was frequently the recipient of such
+pleasantries. He bore them with good humour and stoicism.
+
+"I'll bet anything," whispered Angel, over The Seraph's curls, "that it's a
+telegram from father saying that he's coming to fetch us! Wouldn't that be
+jolly? And she's waxy about it too--see how white she's gone!"
+
+Mrs. Handsomebody rose.
+
+"Boys," she said, in her most frigid manner, "owing to news of a sudden
+bereavement, I shall not be able to continue your lessons today--nor
+tomorrow. You will, I hope, make the most of the time intervening. You were
+in a shocking state of unpreparedness both in History and Geography this
+morning. Keep your little brother out of mischief, and _remember_," raising
+her long forefinger, "you are not, under any consideration, to leave the
+premises during my absence. As I have a great responsibility on your
+account, I wish to be certain that you are not endangering yourselves in
+the street. When I return we shall undertake some long walks."
+
+Picking up the telegram from the floor where it had fallen, Mrs.
+Handsomebody slowly left the room, and closed the door behind her.
+
+"She's always jawing about her responsibility," muttered Angel resentfully.
+"Why don't she let us run about like other boys 'stead of mewing us up like
+a parcel of girls? I'll be shot if I stand it!"
+
+"What _are_ the Channel Islands anyhow?" I asked to change the subject.
+"I'd just got to Jersey, Guernsey, when I got stuck."
+
+"Jersey, Guernsey, Sweater, Sock and Darn," replied my elder, emphasizing
+the last named.
+
+"_Was_ the telegram from father?" interrupted The Seraph. "Is he comin'
+home?"
+
+"No, silly," replied Angel. "Some one belonging to Mrs. Handsomebody is
+dead. She's goin' to the funeral, I s'pose. Whoever can it be, John? Didn't
+know _she_ had any people."
+
+"A whole day away," I mused, "it has never happened before."
+
+I looked at Angel, and Angel looked at me--such looks as might be exchanged
+by lion cubs in captivity. We remembered our old home with its stretch of
+green lawn, the dogs, the stable with the sharp sweet smell of hay, and the
+pigeons, sliding and "rooketty-cooing" on the roof. Here, the windows of
+our schoolroom looked out on a planked back yard, and our daily walks with
+Mrs. Handsomebody were dreary outings indeed.
+
+Of a sudden Angel threw his Geography into the air. His brown eyes were
+sparkling.
+
+"We'll make a day of it, Lieutenant," he cried, slapping me on the
+shoulder. He always called me Lieutenant where mischief was a-foot. "Such a
+day as _never_ was! We'll do every blessed thing we're s'posed not to! Most
+of all--we'll _run the streets_!"
+
+At that instant, Mary Ellen opened the door and put her rosy face in.
+
+"She do be packin' her bag, byes," she whispered, "she's takin' the eliven
+o'clock train, an' she won't be back till tomorrow at noon. Now what d'ye
+think o' that? She's awful quate, but she's niver spilt a tear fer him that
+I could spot."
+
+"For who?"
+
+"Why, her brother to be sure. It's him that's dead. It's a attack of
+brownkitis that's carried him off so suddint. Her only brother an'--yes,
+ma'a'm, I'm comin'," her broad face disappeared, "I was on'y tellin' the
+young gintlemen to be nice an' quate while I git their dinner ready. Will
+they be havin' the cold mutten from yisterday ma'a'm?" Her voice trailed
+down the hall.
+
+Presently we heard the front door close. We raced to the top of the stairs.
+
+"Is she gone?" we whispered, peering over the bannister into the hall
+below. But, of course, she was gone, else Mary Ellen would never dare to
+stand thus in the open doorway, gaping up and down the street! We slid
+recklessly down the hand-rail. It was the first infringement of rules--the
+wig was on the green! We crowded about Mary Ellen in the doorway, sniffing
+the air.
+
+"Och, it's a bad lot ye are!" said she, taking The Seraph under the arms
+and swinging him out over the steps, "shure it's small wonder the missus is
+strict wid ye, else ye'd be ridin' rough-shod over her as ye do over me!
+It's jist man-nature, mind ye--ye can't help it!"
+
+"Well, it's not man-nature to be mewed up as she does us," said Angel,
+swaggering, "and, I don't know what you mean to do, Mary Ellen, but _we_
+mean to take a day off, so there!" He nodded his curly head defiantly at
+her.
+
+"Now, listen here, byes," said Mary Ellen, turning sober all of a sudden,
+and shutting the door, "you come right out to the kitchen wid me, an' we'll
+talk this thing over. I've got a word to say to ye."
+
+She led the way down the hall and through the dining-room with its
+atmosphere of haircloth, into the more friendly kitchen, where even the
+oppressions of Mrs. Handsomebody could not quite subdue the bounding
+spirits of Mary Ellen.
+
+Angel sallied to the cupboard. "Bother!" he said, discontentedly,
+investigating the cake-box, "that same old seedy-cake! Won't you _please_
+make us a treat today, Mary Ellen? Jam tarts or some sticky sort of cake
+like you see in the pastry shop window."
+
+"That's the very thing I was goin' to speak about, my dear," Mary Ellen
+replied, "if ye'll jist howld yer horses." Before proceeding, she cut us
+each, herself included, a slice of the seed cake, and, when we were all
+munching (save Angel, who was busy picking the seeds out of his cake) she
+went on--
+
+"Now, as well ye know, I've worked here manny a long month, and I've had
+followers a-plinty, yit there's noan o' thim I like the same as Mr. Watlin,
+the butcher's young man, an' it makes me blush wid shame, whin I think that
+after all the pippermints, an' gum drops, an' jawbone breakers he's give
+me, not to speak of minsthral shows an' rides on the tram-cars, an' I've
+niver given him so much as a cup o' tay in this kitchen. Not _wan_ cup o'
+tay, mind ye!"
+
+We shook our heads commiseratingly. Angel flicked his last caraway seed at
+her--
+
+"Well," he said, with a wink, "you gave him something better than tea--I
+saw you!"
+
+"Aw, well, my dear," replied Mary Ellen, without smiling, "a man that do be
+boardin' all the time likes a little attintion sometimes--an' a taste o'
+home cookin'. Now hark to my plan. I mane to have a little feast of oyster
+stew, an' cake, an' coffee, an' the like this very night, fer Mr. Watlin
+an' me, an' yersilves. You kin have yours in the dining-room like little
+gintlemen, an' him an' me'll ate in the kitchen here. Thin, after the
+supper, ye kin come out an' hear Mr. Watlin play on the fiddle. He plays
+somethin' grand, havin' larned off the best masters. It'll be a rale treat
+fer ye! The missus 'll niver be the wiser, an' we'll all git a taste o'
+_freedom_, d'ye see?"
+
+We were unanimous in our approval, The Seraph expressing his by a
+somersault.
+
+"But," said Angel, "there's just one thing, Mary Ellen; if there's going to
+be a party you and Mr. Watlin have got to have yours in the dining-room the
+same as us. It'll be ever so much jollier, and more like a real party."
+
+"Thrue fer ye, Master Angel!" cried Mary Ellen heartily, "sure, there's
+noan o' the stiff-neck about ye, an' ye'll git yer fill av oysters an' cake
+fer that, mark my words! As fer my Mr. Watlin, there ain't a claner,
+smarter feller to be found annywheres. But, oh, if the mistress was to find
+it out--" she turned pale with apprehension.
+
+"How could she?" we assured her. Every curtain would be drawn, and,
+besides, Mrs. Handsomebody was not intimate with her neighbours.
+
+Mary Ellen gave us our cold mutton and rice pudding that day in free and
+easy fashion. She did not place the dishes and cutlery with that
+mathematical precision demanded of her by Mrs. Handsomebody, but scattered
+them over the cloth in a promiscuous way that we found very exhilarating.
+And, instead of Mrs. Handsomebody's austere figure dominating our repast,
+there was Mary Ellen, resting her red knuckles on the table-cloth, and
+fairly bubbling over with plans for the prospective entertainment of her
+lover! Our hearts went out to the good girl and her Mr. Watlin. We began to
+think of him as a dear friend.
+
+"Now, my dears," said she, when the meal was over, "take yourselves off
+while I clane up and do my shoppin', but fer pity's sake, don't lave the
+front garden, fer if annything was to happen to ye--"
+
+Angel cut her short with--"None of that Mary Ellen! This is _our_ day too,
+and we shall do what we jolly well please!" He completed his protest by
+throwing himself bodily on the stout domestic, and The Seraph and I, though
+we had eaten to repletion, followed his example. Mary Ellen, howbeit, was a
+match for the three of us, and bundled us out of the side entrance into the
+laneway, triumphantly locking the door upon us.
+
+Without a look behind, we scampered to the street, and then stood still,
+staring at each other, dazzled by the vista that opened up before us--what
+to do with these glorious hours of freedom!
+
+
+II
+
+It was one of those late February days, when Nature, after months of frozen
+disregard for man, of a sudden smiles, and you see that her face has grown
+quite young, and that she is filled with gracious intent towards you. The
+bare limbs of the chestnut trees before the house looked shiny against the
+dim blue of the sky; they seemed to strain upward toward the light and
+warmth. A score of sparrows were busy on the roadway.
+
+After all, it was The Seraph who made the first dash, who took the bit in
+his milk-teeth, as it were; and, without a by-your-leave, strutted across
+the strip of sod to the road, and so set forth. He carried his head very
+high, and he would now and then shake it in that manner peculiar to the
+equine race. Angel and I followed closely with occasional caracoles, and
+cavortings, and scornful blowings through the nostrils. All three shied at
+a lamp-post. It needed no second glance to perceive that we were mettlesome
+steeds out for exercise, and feeling our oats.
+
+A very old gentleman with an umbrella and top hat saw us. He rushed to the
+curb waving his umbrella and crying, "Whoa, whoa," but we only arched our
+proud necks and broke into a gallop. How the pavement echoed under our
+flying hoofs! How warmly the sun glistened on our sleek coats! How pleasant
+the jingling sound of the harness and the smell of the harness oil!
+
+We left the decorous street we knew so well, and turned into narrow and
+untidy Henwood street. Shabby houses and shops were jumbled promiscuously
+together, and the pavement was full of holes. From the far end of it came
+the joyous tones of a hand-organ, vibrating on the early afternoon air. The
+eaves on the sunny side of the street were dripping. A fishmonger's shop
+sent forth its robust odour. The scarlet of a lobster caught our eyes as we
+flew past.
+
+Could it be possible that the player of the organ was our old friend Tony,
+to whose monkey we had often handed our coppers through the palings?
+
+We were horses no longer. Who had time for such pretence when Tony was
+grinding out "White Wings" with all his might? Angel and I took to the
+side-walk and ran with all speed, leaving the poor little Seraph pumping
+away in the rear, not quite certain whether he was horse or boy, but
+determined not to be outdistanced.
+
+It was indeed Tony, and his white teeth gleamed when he saw us coming, and
+his eyebrows went up to his hat brim at sight of us bareheaded and alone,
+who always handed our coppers through the palings. And Anita, the monkey,
+was there, looking rather pale and sickly after the long Winter, but full
+of pluck, grinning, as she doffed her gold-braided hat.
+
+Angel and The Seraph rarely had any money. The little allowance father gave
+us through Mrs. Handsomebody, burnt a hole in their pockets till it was
+expended on toffee or marshmallows. But I was made of different stuff, and
+by the end of the week, I was the financial strength of the trio. It was I,
+who now fished out a penny which Angel snatched from me. He craved the joy
+of the giver, and chuckled when Anita's small pink palm closed over the
+coin. But I was too happy to quarrel with him. Every one seemed in
+good-humour that day. Windows were pushed up and small change tossed out,
+or dropped in Anita's cup as she perched, chattering, on the sill. A stout
+grocer in his white apron gave her a little pink biscuit to nibble.
+Half-grown girls lolled on the handles of perambulators to listen, while
+their charges pulled faces of fear at the supple Anita.
+
+We three sat on the curb close to the organ, our small heads reeling with
+the melodies that thundered from it. When Tony moved on, we rose and
+followed him. At the next corner he rested his organ on its one leg and
+looked down at us.
+
+"You betta go home," he admonished, "your mamma not like."
+
+"We're going to run the streets today," I said, manfully, "Mrs.
+Handsomebody is away at a funeral."
+
+"A funer-al," repeated Tony, "she know--about dis?"
+
+"No--" I replied, "but Mary Ellen does."
+
+"She a beeg lady--dis Marie Ellen?"
+
+"Oh, yes. She's awfully big. Bigger than you, and strong--"
+
+"Oh, all right," said Tony, "but don' you get los'." We helped him to carry
+the organ. It was a new one he said, and very expensive to hire. We asked
+him endless questions we had always been wanting to ask--about Italy, and
+his parents, and sisters, and we told him about father in South America,
+and about the party that night for Mr. Watlin.
+
+From street to street we wandered till we were gloriously and irrevocably
+lost. Angel and I helped to grind the organ and The Seraph even presented
+himself at doors with Anita's little tin cup in his hand. And either
+because he was so little or his eyelashes were so long, he never came back
+empty-handed. Tony seemed well content with our company.
+
+So the afternoon sped on. Narrow alleys we played in, and wide streets, and
+once we passed through a crowded thoroughfare where we had to hug close to
+the organ, and once we met Tony's brother Salvator, who gave us each a long
+red banana.
+
+At last Tony, looking down at us with a smile, said:
+
+"Jus' one more tune here, then I tak' you home. See? De sun's gettin' low
+and dat little one's gettin' tired. I tak' you home in a minute."
+
+We, remembering the party, were nothing loath. Poor Mary Ellen would be in
+a state by now, and our legs had almost given out.
+
+This street was a quiet one. At the corner some untidy little girls danced
+on the pavement, while a group of boys stood by, loafing against the window
+of a small liquor shop, and occasionally scattering the girls by some
+threat of hair-pulling or kissing.
+
+The western sky was saffron. The eaves, that had been dripping all day, now
+wore silent rows of icicles. Possibly the little girls danced to keep warm.
+The Seraph began to whimper.
+
+"This air stwikes cold on my legs," he murmured.
+
+I sat down beside him on the curb, and we snuggled together for warmth.
+
+"Never mind, old sport," I whispered cheerily. "Just think of the goodies
+Mary Ellen's making for us! Pretty soon we'll be home."
+
+While I strove to revive The Seraph's flagging spirits, Angel had strolled
+along the street to watch the little girls. He had an eye for the gentle
+sex even when their fairness was disguised by dirty pinafores and stiff
+pigtails. I did not see what happened, but above the noise of the organ I
+heard first, shouts of derision and anger, and then my brother's voice
+crying out in pain.
+
+I pushed aside the clinging Seraph and ran to where I saw the two groups
+melted into one about a pair of combatants. The little girls parted to let
+me through. I saw then that the contending parties were Angel and a boy
+whose tousled head was fully six inches above my brother's. He had gripped
+Angel by the back of the neck with one hand, while with the other he struck
+blows that sounded horrible to me. Angel was hitting out wildly. When the
+boy saw me, he hooked his leg behind Angel's and threw him on his back with
+deadly ease, at the same time administering a kick in the stomach. He
+turned then to me with a leer.
+
+"Well, pretty," he simpered, "does yer want some too? I s'y fellers, 'ere's
+another Hangel comin' fer 'is dose. Put up yer little 'ooks then; an' I'll
+give yer two black 'osses an' a red driver! Aw, come on, sissy!"
+
+I tried to remember what father had said about fighting. "Don't clutch and
+don't paw. Strike out from the shoulder like a gentleman." So, while the
+boy was talking, I struck out from the shoulder right on the end of his
+nose with my shut fist.
+
+Whatever things I may achieve, never, ah, never shall I experience a thrill
+of triumph equal to that which made my blood dance when I saw a trickle--a
+goodly, rich red trickle!--of blood spurt from the bully's nose.
+
+"Ow! Ow! Wesley! Oo's got a red driver on 'is own?" shouted his comrades.
+"Plug aw'y little 'un!"
+
+He snarled horribly, showing his big front teeth. I could feel his breath
+hot on my face as he clutched me round the neck. I could see some boys
+holding Angel back, I could hear The Seraph's wail of "John! John!" Then,
+simultaneously there came a blow on my own nose, and a grasping of my
+collar, and a shaking that freed us of each other, for I was clutching him
+with fury equal to his own.
+
+A minute passed before I could regain possession of myself. The street
+reeled, the organ seemed to be grinding in my own head, and yet I found
+that it was not playing at all, for there was Tony with it on his back,
+looking anxiously into my face, and firing a volley of invective after the
+big boy, who was retreating with his mates.
+
+I looked up at the owner of the hand which still held my collar. He was a
+very thin young man with a pale face and quiet grey eyes.
+
+Tony began to offer incoherent explanations.
+
+"But who are they?" demanded the young man, "they don't seem to belong to
+this street."
+
+"No, no, no," reiterated Tony, "dey are little fr-riends of mine--dey come
+for a walk with me. Oh, I shall get into some trouble for dis, I tink! It
+was all dose damn boys dat bully heem, an' when I would run to help, dere
+was my Anita lef' on da organ, an' I mus' not lose her!"
+
+"It's all right," I explained to the young man, "we were just spending the
+afternoon with Tony, and it wasn't his fault we got to fighting, and--and
+did I do very badly please? Did you notice whether I pawed or not?"
+
+"By George!" said the young man, "you made the claret flow!"
+
+"It took two of them to hold me or I'd have got back at him," said Angel.
+
+"It took fwee o' them to hold _me_," piped The Seraph, "or I'd have punched
+evwybody!"
+
+"How did it start?" enquired the young man.
+
+"That biggest one asked me my name," replied Angel, "and before I thought
+I'd said, 'Angel,' and that started them. Of course my real name is David,
+but I forgot for the moment."
+
+"Pet names _are_ a nuisance sometimes," said the young man, smiling, "I had
+one once. It was John Peel. But no one calls me that now."
+
+"I will tak' dem home now," interrupted Tony. "Come," taking The Seraph's
+hand, "dere will be no more running da street for you little boys!"
+
+"I'll walk along, too," said the young man, "I've nothing else to do."
+
+I strode along at his side greatly elated. I was as hot as fire, and some
+of the gamin's blood was still on my hand. I cherished it secretly.
+
+Although the young man had quiet, even sad, eyes, it turned out that he was
+wonderfully interesting. He had travelled considerably, and had even
+visited South America, yet he could not have been an engineer like father,
+building railroads, for he looked very poor.
+
+I was sorry when we reached Mrs. Handsomebody's front door.
+
+"Good-bye," he said, holding out his hand.
+
+But a happy thought struck me. I told him about Mary Ellen's party. "And,"
+I hurried on, "there'll be oysters and coffee and all sorts of good things
+to eat, and we'd like most awfully to have you join us if you will. Mary
+Ellen would be proud to entertain a friend of ours. Wouldn't she Angel?"
+
+"Yes, and Tony can come too!" cried Angel. "We'll have a _regular_ party!"
+
+"Yes, yes, I will come to da party," said Tony, quickly, "I am vera hungry.
+You will egsplain to Mees Marie Ellen, yes?"
+
+"John can 'splain _anything_," put in The Seraph.
+
+"Oh, please come!" I pleaded, dragging the young man down the side passage.
+He suffered himself to be led as far as the back entrance, but, once there,
+he halted.
+
+"Tony and I shall wait here," he said, "and you'll go in and send your Mary
+Ellen out to inspect us. We shall see what she thinks of such a surprise
+party before we venture in, eh, Tony?" He gave a queer little laugh.
+
+"Yes, yes," said Tony, "I will leave da organ out sida, but Anita mus' come
+in. She is vera good monk in a party."
+
+
+III
+
+We three entered breathlessly. Who can describe the babble of our
+explanations and appeals to Mary Ellen's hospitality, and her reproaches
+for the fright we had given her? Howbeit, when the first clamour subsided,
+we perceived that Mary Ellen's Mr. Watlin was ensconced behind the stove,
+looking tremendously dressed up and embarrassed. He now came forward and
+shook each of us by the hand, quite enveloping our little paws in a great
+expanse of warm thick flesh, smelling of scented soap.
+
+The greetings over, Mary Ellen and he conferred for a moment in the corner,
+then Mr. Watlin creaked across the kitchen on tiptoe (I fancy he could not
+yet bring himself to believe in Mrs. Handsomebody's entire absence from the
+house) and disappeared through the outer door into the yard where the young
+man and Tony and Anita waited.
+
+"Now," said Mary Ellen, sternly, "ye've just got to abide by Mr. Watlin's
+decision. If he says they're passable, why, in they come, an' if he gives
+'em their walkin' ticket, well an' good, an' not a squeak out o' ye. I've
+had about enough o' yer actions for wan day!"
+
+"But he's a gentleman, Mary Ellen!" I insisted.
+
+"Ay, an' the monkey's a lady, no doubt! I know the kind!" I had never seen
+Mary Ellen so sour.
+
+But our fears for our friends were set at rest, for at that instant, the
+door opened and Mr. Watlin entered, followed by the young man and Tony,
+with Anita perching on his shoulder. Mary Ellen could not refrain from a
+broad smile at the spectacle. The kitchen was filled with delightful
+odours. The spirits of everyone seemed to rise at a bound.
+
+"Good-evening to ye, Tony," said Mary Ellen, and then she turned to our new
+friend.
+
+"I don't know how you call yourself, sir," she said, bluntly.
+
+"You may call me Harry, if you will," he replied, after a slight
+hesitation.
+
+Mary Ellen, with a keen look at him, said, "Won't you sit down, sir? The
+victuals will be on the table in the dining-room directly. Mr. Watlin,
+would ye mind givin' me a hand with them dish-covers?"
+
+Mr. Watlin assisted Mary Ellen deftly, and with an air of proprietorship.
+He was a stout young man with a blond pompadour, and a smooth-shaven ruddy
+face. As soon as an opportunity offered, I asked him whether he had brought
+his fiddle. He smiled enigmatically.
+
+"You shall see wot you shall see, and 'ear wot you shall 'ear," he replied.
+
+In time the great tureen (Mrs. Handsomebody's silver plated one) was on the
+table and the guests were bidden to "sit in." Mary Ellen, full of dignity,
+seated herself in Mrs. Handsomebody's place behind the coffee urn, while
+Mr. Watlin drew forward the heavy armchair, which since the demise of Mr.
+Handsomebody, had been occupied by no one save the Unitarian minister when
+he took tea with us. Angel and The Seraph and I were ranged on one side of
+the table, and Tony and Harry on the other. Anita sat on the chair behind
+Tony, and every now and again she would push her head under his arm and
+peer shyly over the table, or reach with a thin little claw toward a morsel
+of food he was raising to his mouth.
+
+It would be impossible to conceive of seven people with finer appetites, or
+of a hostess more determined that her guests should do themselves injury
+from over-eating. Although two of our company were unexpected, there was
+more than enough for every one. The oysters were followed by a Bedfordshire
+pudding, potatoes, cold ham, celery, several sorts of pastry, oranges and
+coffee. It was when we reached the lighter portion of the feast that
+tongues were unloosed, and conviviality bloomed like an exotic flower in
+Mrs. Handsomebody's dining-room.
+
+Mary Ellen placed a plateful of scraps on the floor before Anita.
+
+She said, "That ought to stand to her, pore thing! She do be awful ganted."
+
+"These 'ere fancies is wot tikes me," said Mr. Watlin, helping himself to
+his third lemon turnover. "Sub-stantial food is all right. I shouldn't care
+to do without meat and the like, but it's the fancies that seems to tickle
+all the w'y down. Sub-stantial foods is like hugs, but fancies might come
+under the 'ead of kisses--you don't know when you get enough on 'em, hey
+Tony? You lika da kiss?"
+
+Tony turned up his palms.
+
+"Oh, no, no, dey are not for a poor fella lak me!"
+
+"Watlin," said Harry, "did you say you were a Kent man?"
+
+"Ay, from Kent, the garden of England."
+
+"Are you related to Carrot Bill Watlin, then?"
+
+"Carrot Bill!" shouted Mr. Watlin, "Carrot Bill! Am I related to 'im? W'y
+'e's my uncle, 'e is! And do you know 'im then?"
+
+"I've seen him hundreds of times," said Harry.
+
+"There never was such a feller as Carrot Bill," said Mr. Watlin, turning to
+us, "there ain't nobody in Kent can bunch carrots like 'im. W'y, truck-men
+from all over the county brings their carrots to Bill to be bunched, afore
+they tikes 'em to Covent Garden Market! 'E trims 'em down just so, an' fits
+'em together till you'd think they'd growed in bunches. An' they look that
+'andsome that they bring a penny more a bunch. An' to fancy you know
+'im--well I never! Wot nime was it you said?"
+
+"Harry."
+
+"Ow, I meant your surnime."
+
+"Smith," said Harry, shortly.
+
+"Smith," meditated Mr. Watlin, "I know several Smiths in Kent. You're
+likely one on 'em. Well, I must shake 'ands with you for the sake of Carrot
+Bill." He reached across the table and grasped Harry's hand in a hearty
+shake. Thereupon we drank a health to Carrot Bill in bottled beer; and this
+was followed by a toast to Mrs. Handsomebody, which somehow subdued us a
+little.
+
+"'Er brother is dead you s'y," reflected Mr. Watlin, "and 'ow hold a man
+might 'e be?"
+
+"Blessed if I know," replied Mary Ellen, "but he was years an' years
+younger than her. She brought him up, and from what I can find out, he
+turned out pretty bad."
+
+"Tck, tck." Mr. Watlin was moved. "It was very sad for the lidy, but 'e's
+dead now, poor chap! We must speak no ill of the dead."
+
+"It's a vewy bad fing to be dead," interposed The Seraph, sententiously,
+"you can't eat, you can't dwink, an' you just fly 'wound an' 'wound,
+lookin' for somefing to light on!"
+
+"Right-o, young gentleman!" said Mr. Watlin, "and put as couldn't be
+better. And the moral is, mike the most of our time wot's left!"
+
+"Well, fer my part," sighed Mary Ellen, "I've et so hearty, I feel like as
+though I'd a horse settin' on my stomick! Sure I don't know how to move."
+
+"A little pinch of bi-carbonate of soder will hease that, my dear," said
+her lover.
+
+"Please, _did_ you bring your fiddle, Mr. Watlin?" pleaded Angel, "won't
+you play now?"
+
+"Ah, I lof da fiddle!" said Tony, caressing Anita's little head.
+
+Mr. Watlin, thus importuned, disappeared for a space into the back hall,
+whence he finally emerged in his shirt sleeves, carrying the violin under
+his arm. We drew our chairs together at one end of the room, and watched
+him as he tuned the instrument, frowning sternly the while.
+
+"Lydies and gentleman," said he, "I 'ope you'll pardon me appearing before
+you in my waistcoat. I must not be 'ampered you see, wen I manipulate the
+bow. I must 'ave freedom. It's a grand thing freedom! Ah!"
+
+"He's gone as far as he can go on the fiddle," explained Mary Ellen to the
+company. "Someday he'll give up the butchering business and take to music
+thorough."
+
+Mr. Watlin now, with the violin tucked under his chin, began to play in a
+very spirited manner. Our pulses beat time to lively polka and schottische
+while Mr. Watlin tapped on the carpet with his large foot as he played.
+Mary Ellen was wild for a dance, she said.
+
+"Get up and 'ave a gow, then," encouraged Mr. Watlin, "you and 'Arry
+there!" But she, for some reason, would not, and Harry was not urgent.
+
+"I can play da fiddle a little," said Tony, as our artist paused for a
+rest.
+
+Mr. Watlin clapped him good-humouredly on the shoulder. "Go to it then, my
+boy, give us your little tune! I'm out of form tonight, anyw'y." He pushed
+the violin patronizingly into Tony's brown hands.
+
+The Italian took it, oh, so lovingly, and, with an apologetic glance at Mr.
+Watlin, he tuned the strings to a different pitch. Anita climbed to the
+back of his neck.
+
+Then came music, flooding, trickling, laughing, from the bow of Tony! Italy
+you could see; and little, half-naked children, playing in the sleepy
+street! You could hear the tinkle of donkey bells, and the cooing of
+pigeons; you could see Tony's home as he was seeing it, and hear his
+sisters singing. It was Spring in Tuscany.
+
+The theme grew sad. It sang of loneliness. A lost child was wandering
+through the forest, who could not find his mother. It was very dark beneath
+the fir trees, and the wind made the boy shiver. His cry of--Mother!
+Mother! echoed in my heart and would not be hushed. I hid my face in the
+hollow of my arm and sobbed bitterly.
+
+The music ceased. Harry had me in his arms.
+
+"What's wrong, old fellow, was it something in Tony's music that hurt?"
+
+I nodded, clinging to him.
+
+"It's 'igh time 'e was in bed," said Mr. Watlin, taking the fiddle
+brusquely from the Italian's hands, "'e don't fancy doleful ditties, an' no
+more do I, hey Johnnie?"
+
+Tony only smiled at me. "I tink you like my music," he said.
+
+Harry now announced rather hurriedly that he must be going, and after he
+had said good-night to every one, and thanked Mary Ellen in a very manly
+way, he still kept my hand in his, and, together, we passed out of doors.
+
+It was frosty cold. The air came gratefully to my hot cheeks. Harry stared
+up at the stars in silence for a moment, then he said:
+
+"I want to tell you something, John, before I go. I don't know just how to
+make you understand. But I--I'm not the loafer you think I am--"
+
+"Oh, I don't--"
+
+"No one but a loafer or a sponge would do what I've done tonight," he
+persisted, "but I came here because I like you little chaps so
+well--and--because--I was so infernally hungry. I hadn't eaten since last
+night, you know, and when I heard about the oysters and coffee, I just
+couldn't refuse, and--I came."
+
+"Oh, I'm sorry," I said, "I'm sorry, Harry! I like you awfully!"
+
+I gave him my hand and, hearing the voices of Mr. Watlin and Tony, he
+hurried to the street.
+
+I stumbled sleepily into the kitchen.
+
+"Och, do go to bed, Masther John!" exclaimed Mary Ellen, "you're as white
+as a cloth! Well, if you're sick tomorrow, ye must jist grin an' bear it!
+An' sure we _have_ had a day of it, haven't we? Thim oysters was the clane
+thing!"
+
+
+IV
+
+She followed us to the foot of the stairs with a lamp. The shadows of the
+bannisters raced up the wall ahead of us, as she moved away. The Seraph
+gripped the back of my blouse. We stopped at the door of Mrs.
+Handsomebody's bedroom. Like Mrs. Handsomebody, it towered above us, pale
+and forbidding.
+
+"I dare you," said Angel, "to open it and stick your head in."
+
+I was too drowsy to be timid. I turned the handle and opened the door far
+enough to insert my round tow head.
+
+The room was unutterably still. A pale bluish light filtered through the
+long white curtains. The ghostly bed awaited its occupant. The door of a
+tall wardrobe stood open--did something stir inside? I withdrew my head and
+closed the door. Now I remembered that the room had smelled of black kid
+gloves. I shuddered.
+
+"You were afraid!" jeered Angel.
+
+"Not I. It was nothing to do."
+
+But when we were safe in bed and Mary Ellen had come and put out our light,
+I lay a-thinking of the empty room. Strange, when people went away and left
+you, how Something stayed behind! A shadowy, wistful something, that
+smelled of kid gloves!
+
+We slept till ten next morning. Mary Ellen superintended our baths. We were
+in a state to behold, she said, and she was apprehensive lest Mrs.
+Handsomebody should observe my swollen nose, for the big boy's fist had
+somewhat enlarged that unobtrusive feature.
+
+"Jist say ye've a bit of feverish cold if she remarks it," she cautioned,
+"people often swells up wid colds."
+
+We ate our bread and strawberry jam and milk from one end of the dining
+table. We heaped the bread with sugar, and stirred the jam into our milk.
+After breakfast, we played at knights and robbers in the schoolroom. It was
+a raw morning, and a Scotch mist dimmed the window pane.
+
+Angel and I were in the midst of a terrific fight over a princess whom he
+was bearing off to his robber cave (The Seraph, draped in a chenille
+table-cover, impersonating the princess) when we were interrupted by the
+tinkle of the dinner bell.
+
+How the morning had flown! Had she returned then? Was the funeral over? Had
+she heard our shouts? We descended the stairs with some misgivings and
+entered the dining-room in single file.
+
+Yes, she was there, standing by the table, her black dress looking blacker
+than ever! After a dry little kiss on each of our foreheads, she motioned
+us to seat ourselves, and took her own accustomed place behind the tea
+things. There was a solemn click of knives and forks. Mary Ellen waited on
+us primly. It was not to be thought that this was the same room in which we
+had feasted so uproariously on the night previous.
+
+Yet I stared at Mrs. Handsomebody and marvelled that she should suspect
+nothing. Did she get no whiff of the furry smell of Anita? Did no faint
+echo of Tony's music disturb her thoughts? What were her thoughts? Deep
+ones I was sure, for her brow was knit. Was she thinking of that brother on
+whom the Scotch mist was falling so remorselessly?
+
+The Seraph was speaking.
+
+"It's a vewy bad fing to be dead," he was saying reminiscently--, "you
+can't eat, you can't dwink, an' you jus' fly awound lookin' for somefing to
+light on!"
+
+I trembled for him, but Mrs. Handsomebody, lost in thought, gave no heed to
+him.
+
+At last she raised her eyes.
+
+"I hope you behaved yourselves well, and made profitable use of your time
+during my absence?"
+
+We made incoherent murmurs of assent.
+
+"Name the Channel Islands, John."
+
+"Guernsey, Jersey, Alderney, Sark, and Herm," I replied glibly. So much had
+I saved from the wreck of things ordained.
+
+"Correct. Are you through your dinners then? You may pass out. Ah, your
+nose, John; it looks quite red. What caused that?"
+
+I said that I believed I had an inward burning fever. I had embellished
+Mary Ellen's suggestion.
+
+"I hope you are not going to be ill," she sighed.
+
+It was not until Angel and I were back in the schoolroom, that we
+discovered the absence of The Seraph. We turned surprised looks on each
+other. Our junior seldom left our heels.
+
+"I remember now," reflected Angel, "that, as he passed her, she stopped
+him. I didn't think anything of it. What can she have found out? D'you
+s'pose she's pumping the kid?"
+
+We were left to our conjectures for fully a quarter of an hour. Then we
+heard him plodding leisurely up the stairs. We greeted him impatiently.
+
+"What's up? Did you blab? Whatever _did_ she say?" We hurled the questions
+at him.
+
+The Seraph maintained an air of calm superiority. He even hopped from one
+floral wreath on the carpet to another, with his hands behind his back, as
+was his custom when he wished to reflect undisturbed. He ignored our
+importunities.
+
+Angel, in exasperation, took him by the collar.
+
+"You tell us why she kept you down there so long!"
+
+Thus cornered, The Seraph raised his large eyes to our inquiring faces with
+great solemnity.
+
+"She kept me," he said, "to cuddle me, an' to give me this--" he showed a
+white peppermint lozenge between his little teeth.
+
+To _cuddle_ him. Was the world coming to an end?
+
+"Yes," he persisted, "she kept me to cuddle me, an' she was cwyin'--so
+there!"
+
+Mrs. Handsomebody crying!
+
+"It's about her dead brother, of course," said Angel. "That's why she
+cried."
+
+"No," said The Seraph, stoutly. "He was a _man_, an' she was cwyin' about a
+little _wee_ boy like me, she used to cuddle long ago!"
+
+
+
+
+_Chapter VI: D'ye Ken John Peel?_
+
+
+I
+
+Probably a little boy is never quite so happy as when he is worshipping and
+imitating a young man. From this time on my hero was Harry, about whom so
+fascinating an air of mystery hung that his lightest word was something to
+be treasured. I pictured him, hungry and alone, perhaps brooding over the
+Collect for next Sunday, or something of equal melancholy. I was always on
+the watch for his tall, slender figure, when we took our walks, but when we
+did meet again, it came as a surprise, and quite took me off my feet.
+
+A month had passed since Mary Ellen's party. It was a windy, sunny day in
+March, and great white clouds billowed in a clear sky--like clean clothes
+in a tub of blueing, Mary Ellen had said. I was sitting alone on the steps
+of the Cathedral. Angel was in the schoolroom writing his weekly letter to
+father, and The Seraph was suffering a bath at the hands of Mary Ellen,
+following an excursion into the remoter depths of the coal cellar.
+
+So I sat on the Cathedral steps alone. It was a fine morning for flights of
+the imagination. The soft thunder of the Cathedral organ became at my will
+the booming of the surf on a distant coral reef. The pigeons wheeling
+overhead became gulls, whimpering in the cordage. Little did the ancient
+caretaker reck, as he swept the stretch of flagging before the carved door,
+that he was washing off the deck of a frigate, whilst I, the rover of the
+seas, kept a stern eye on him. Louder boomed the surf--then soft again. The
+door behind me had opened and closed. The deck-washer touched his cap. Then
+the Bishop stood above me, smiling, the sun glinting in his blue eyes and
+on the buttons of his gaiters.
+
+"Hal-_lo_, John," he said. "What's the game this morning. Seafaring as
+usual?"
+
+I nodded, "She's as saucy a frigate," I answered happily, "as ever sailed
+the seas, and this here wild weather is just a frolic for her. But I don't
+like the look of yon black craft to the windward." And I pointed to a
+dustman's cart that had just hove into view.
+
+"I entirely agree with you," replied the Bishop. "She looks as though she
+were out on dirty business. I'd like nothing better than to stay and see
+you make short work of her, but here it is Friday morning, and not a
+blessed word of my sermon written, so I must be getting on." And with that
+he strode down the street to his own house. I was alone again watching the
+approaching vessel with suspicion. Then, above the thrashing of the spray,
+I heard my name spoken by a voice I knew, and turning looked straight up
+into Harry's face.
+
+"John!" he repeated. "What luck. I have been watching for you for days, you
+little hermit!"
+
+"Watching for me, Harry?"
+
+"Yes," he proceeded, "and the one time I saw you, that starched governess
+of yours had you gripped by the hand--"
+
+--"just like any old baby girl," I broke in.
+
+Harry laughed and shook my hand enthusiastically. I saw that he was even
+thinner than before. Was he, I wondered, "infernally hungry" at this very
+minute?
+
+"John," he said, looking into my eyes: "You can help me if you will. We're
+friends, aren't we?"
+
+I let him see that I was all on fire to help him, and it was then that he
+made his wonderful suggestion.
+
+"Would it be possible to evade your governess long enough to come and have
+a bite with me?"
+
+Dinner with Harry! In his own room! What an adventure to repeat to Angel
+and The Seraph! Without further parley I set off down Henwood street at a
+trot lest Mrs. Handsomebody should spy me from her bedroom window, in a
+fateful way she had. Harry hurried after me, catching my arm and drawing me
+close to him.
+
+"What a plucky little shaver you are, John," he said. "I know she's a
+corker, but I think you and I are a match for her, eh?"
+
+I strode beside him breathless. I felt taller, stronger, than ever before.
+By contrast with our masculinity Mrs. Handsomebody seemed a rather pitiful
+old woman.
+
+We spoke little, but hurried through many streets, till, at last, we came
+to the narrow dingy one where I had first seen Harry. We turned down an
+alley beside a green grocer's shop and entered a narrow doorway into the
+strangest passage I had ever seen.
+
+It was damp and chill. The floor was paved with dark red bricks and the
+walls were stone. On our left I glimpsed a dim closet where a woman with
+fat arms was dipping milk out of what looked like a zinc-covered box. On
+our right rose the steepest, most winding staircase imaginable; and close
+to the wall beside the stairs towered a giant grapevine whose stem was as
+thick as a man's arm. After an eccentric curve or two, this amazing vine
+disappeared through a convenient hole in the roof. I was lost in admiration
+and should have liked to stop and examine it, but Harry urged me up the
+stairs.
+
+"How is that for steep?" he demanded, at the top. "Winded, eh? Now these
+are my digs, John--" and he threw open a door with a flourish.
+
+It was a shabby little room with a threadbare carpet, yet it wore an air of
+adventure somehow. The lamp shade had a daring tilt to it; the blind had
+been run up askew; and the red table cover had been pushed back to make
+room for a mound of books. Harry's bed looked as though he had been having
+a pillow fight. Surely not with the fat lady downstairs.
+
+Harry was clearing the table by tossing the books into the middle of the
+bed. "We're going to have tea directly," he explained. "Can't you hear her
+puffing up the stairs? I expect a catastrophe every time she does it." He
+set two chairs at the table and gazed eagerly at the doorway.
+
+She appeared at last with heaving bosom carrying a large tray, and began to
+lay the table. I observed with great interest that she was placing a whole
+kidney for each of us, and that there were also potato chips and six jam
+puffs. Harry bade me sit down with the air of one who entertains a guest of
+importance; I swelled with pride as I attacked the kidney.
+
+Harry, sitting opposite, eating with a gusto equal to my own, seemed to me
+the most perfect and luckiest of mortals.
+
+"Harry!" I got it out through my mouth full of potato chips, "Harry, I say!
+Do you always have jolly things like these to eat?"
+
+He gave a short laugh.
+
+"Oh, no, my John! On the contrary there are many times when I do not eat at
+all. However, I paid a visit to an uncle of mine yesterday, who gave me so
+much money that I shall live well for some time to come, but--I shall never
+know the time o'day."
+
+"Oh, but that's fine--" I cried, "Not to know the time! I wish I didn't for
+it's always time to go to bed, or do lessons, or take a tiresome walk with
+Mrs. Handsomebody."
+
+Harry stared hard at me. "What do you suppose," he asked, "she'll do to
+you, for skipping dinner? Something pretty hot?"
+
+"I dunno," I returned. "It's a new sort of badness. P'raps I'll have to do
+without tea, or maybe she'll write to father--she's always threatening.
+Don't let's talk about it."
+
+"She appears to be a rather poisonous old party," commented Harry. "I see
+that it behooves me to get to business and tell you just why I brought you
+here." He pushed back his plate and took from his pocket a short thick pipe
+and lighted it.
+
+"Now John," he smiled, "just finish up those jam puffs. Don't leave one, or
+my landlady will eat it, and she has double chins enough. I want to talk to
+you as man to man."
+
+Man to man! How I wished that Angel could see me, being made the confidant
+of Harry! I helped myself to my third jam puff with an air of cool
+deliberation.
+
+"Now--" Harry leant across the table, his eyes on mine, "What sort of
+looking man would you expect my father to be, John?"
+
+I studied Harry and hazarded--"A brown face, and awfully thin, and greenish
+eyes, and crinkly brown hair."
+
+"Wrong!" cried Harry, smiting the table. "My father's got a full pink face,
+the bluest of eyes and a fine head of white hair, which, I am afraid I
+helped to whiten, worse luck!"
+
+"He sounds nice," I commented.
+
+"He is. Now what do you suppose my father _does_, John?"
+
+"Not a _pirate_!" but I said it hopefully.
+
+"Far from it. He's a bishop."
+
+"Hurray!" I cried. "Our best friend is a bishop. He lives right next door
+to us."
+
+"The very man," said Harry. "He's my father."
+
+I was incredulous.
+
+"But he's only got his niece, Margery, and his butler, and his cook! The
+cook's awfully good to him. Makes his favorite pudding any day he wants
+it."
+
+"Ay, but he's got me too," said Harry solemnly, "or, at least, he _should_
+have me. We're at the outs."
+
+"Well, then, all you have to do is to make friends, isn't it?"
+
+"Not so simple as it sounds," replied Harry gloomily.
+
+"I have been a bad son to him." He rose abruptly and began walking up and
+down the room. I got to my feet too, and strode beside him, hands deep in
+pockets. I longed for a short thick pipe.
+
+"I never did what he wanted me to," pursued Harry. "He wanted me to stick
+at college and make something of myself, but all I cared to do was to knock
+about with chaps who weren't good for me, and I simply wouldn't study. So
+we had words. Hot ones too. I left home with a little money my mother had
+left me. I was twenty-one then--five years ago." He looked down in my face
+with his sudden smile. "You're a rum little toad," he said. "I like to talk
+to you, John."
+
+I thought: "When I'm a man I'll have a pipe like that, and hold it in my
+teeth when I talk."
+
+Harry sat down on the side of his tumbled bed clasping an ankle.
+
+"For three years," he went on, "I knocked about from one country to another
+seeing the world, till at last all my money was gone. Then I came back to
+England but I wouldn't go to my father until I had done something that
+would justify myself--make him proud of me. It seemed to me that I could
+become a great actor if I had a chance. Very well. After a lot of waiting
+and disappointments I got an engagement with a third rate company that
+travelled mostly on one-night stands--you understand?
+
+"I have been at it ever since, playing all sorts of parts--companies
+breaking up without salaries being paid--then another just as bad--cheap
+lodgings--bad food--and long stretches of being out of a job altogether. I
+am that way now. I have only seen my father once in all this time. It was
+simply--well--" He gave his funny smile and shook his head ruefully.
+
+I leaned over the foot of the bed staring expectantly.
+
+"We had arrived one Sunday morning in a small town, and were trailing
+wearily down the street just as the people were going to morning service.
+Suddenly, as I was passing a large church, I saw my father alight from the
+carriage at the door. I found out afterwards that he had come to conduct a
+special service. He was so near that I could have touched him, but I just
+stood, rooted to the spot, so beastly ashamed you know, with my shabby
+travelling bag behind me, and my heart pounding away like Billy-ho!"
+
+"Oh, I wish he'd seen you!" I cried, "he'd have made it up like a shot."
+
+Harry blew a great cloud of smoke. "Well, I want to sneak back to him,
+John--but--here's the rub--_perhaps Margery does not want me_." He sucked
+gloomily at his pipe for a bit in silence, then taking it from his mouth he
+stabbed at me with the stem of it.
+
+"This is where you come in my friend. You'd like to help, wouldn't you?"
+
+I nodded emphatically.
+
+"This, then, is what I want you to do. Find Margery this afternoon and say
+to her: 'Margery, I've met your cousin Harry. Would you like to have him
+come home again?' Watch her face then--you're a shrewd little fellow--and
+if she looks happy and pleased about it you must let me know, but if she
+looks glum and as if her plans had been upset, you must tell me just the
+same. Never mind what she says, watch her face. Will you do it?"
+
+"Rather!" We shook hands on it.
+
+"But--" I asked, "when shall I see you? I daren't come here again, I'm
+afraid."
+
+"Tomorrow is Saturday," he replied thoughtfully. "The Bishop will keep to
+his study till noon--"
+
+"And Mrs. Handsomebody goes to market!" I chimed in.
+
+"Good. I'll be at the Cathedral corner at ten o'clock. Meet me there. Now
+you'd better cut home."
+
+He took my arm and led me down the strange winding stairway, through the
+cool damp passage where the grapevine grew, to the sunken doorstep.
+
+"Know your way home?" he demanded. "Right-o! I depend on you, John. And
+mind you watch her face, _like a cat_. Good-bye!" And he affectionately
+squeezed my arm.
+
+
+II
+
+I set off as fast as my legs could carry me; and the nearer home I drew,
+the greater became my fear of Mrs. Handsomebody. What would she say? Dinner
+would be over long ago I knew. My steps began to lag as I reached the
+Cathedral corner. The great grey pile usually so friendly now rose before
+me gloomily. Inside, the organ boomed like an accusing voice. My heart
+sank. Mrs. Handsomebody's house with the blinds drawn three-quarters of the
+way down the windows seemed to watch my approach with an air of cold
+cynicism.
+
+Softly I turned the door-knob and entered the dim hall. All was quiet, a
+quiet pervaded by the familiar smell of old fabrics, bygone meals, and
+umbrellas. The white door of the parlour towered like a ghost. I put my arm
+across my eyes and began to cry.
+
+At first I only snivelled, but surrendered myself after a few successful
+ventures, to a loud despairing roar.
+
+I could see the blurred image of Mrs. Handsomebody standing at the top of
+the stairs. I heard her sharp command to mount them instantly, and I began
+to grope my way up, hanging by the bannister.
+
+When I had gained the top, her angular hand grasped my shoulder and pushed
+me before her, into the schoolroom. The Seraph's eyes were large with
+sympathy, but Angel grinned maliciously. Our governess seated herself
+beside her desk and placed me in front of her.
+
+"Now," she said, in a voice of cold anger, "will _you_ be good enough to
+explain your strange conduct? Where have you been all this while?"
+
+"Sittin' on the Cathedral steps," I sobbed.
+
+"That is a falsehood, John. Twice I sent David to search for you there and
+both times he reported that you were nowhere in sight. _Where were you?_
+Answer truthfully or it will be the worse for you."
+
+"I h-hid when I saw him comin'," I stammered, "I was too s-sick to come
+home." Surely this would affect her!
+
+She stared incredulously. "Sick! Where are you sick?"
+
+"All o-ver."
+
+"Take your hand from your eyes. What made you sick?"
+
+"I f-fell."
+
+"Fell!" her tone was contemptuous. "Where did you fall?"
+
+"D-down."
+
+Mrs. Handsomebody became ironical.
+
+"How _extraordinary_! I have never heard of people falling up."
+
+"They can fall out," interrupted Angel.
+
+Mrs. Handsomebody rapped her ruler in his direction.
+
+"Silence!" she gobbled. "Not another word from you." Then, turning to
+me--"You say that you fell down, hurt yourself, and have since been in
+hiding. Now tell me _precisely_ what happened from the moment that you
+ventured beyond the bounds I have prescribed for you."
+
+There was no use in hedging. I saw that there was nothing for it but to
+drown this woman out; so I raised my voice and drowned her out.
+
+My next sensation was that of a scuffle, several sharp smacks with the
+ruler, and at last being sat down very hard on a chair in our bedroom. Mrs.
+Handsomebody was standing in the doorway. I had never seen her with so high
+a colour.
+
+"You will remain in that chair," she commanded, "until tea time. Do not
+loll on the bed. And you may rest assured that I shall leave no stone
+unturned till I have discovered every detail of this prank. It is at such
+times as these that I regret ever having undertaken the charge of three
+such unruly boys. It is only the high regard in which I hold your father
+that makes it tolerable. I hope you will take advantage of your solitude to
+review thoroughly your past."
+
+She closed the door with deliberate forebearance, then I heard the key
+click in the lock and her inexorable retreating footsteps.
+
+I found my wad of a handkerchief and rubbed my cheeks. I had stopped crying
+but my body still was shaken. For a long time I sat staring straight before
+me busy with plans for the afternoon. Then I fell asleep.
+
+A soft thumping on the panel of the door roused me at last. I felt stiff
+and rather desolate.
+
+"John!" It was The Seraph's voice. "I say, John! You should be a dwagon,
+an' when I kick on the door you should woar fwightfully."
+
+"Where's _she_?" 'Twas thus we designated our governess.
+
+"Gone away out. Will you be a dwagon, John?"
+
+Obligingly I dropped to my hands and knees and ambled to the door. The
+Seraph kicked it vigorously and I began to roar. I was pleased to find that
+so much crying had left my voice very husky so that I could indeed roar
+horribly. The louder The Seraph kicked the louder I roared. It was
+exhausting, and I had had about enough of it when I heard Mary Ellen
+pounding up the uncarpeted back stairs.
+
+"If you kick that dure onct more--" she panted--"ye little tormint--I'll
+put a tin ear on ye! As fer you, Masther John, 'tis yersilf has a voice
+like young thunder!"
+
+She unlocked the door and threw it wide open; Angel and The Seraph crowded
+in after her. Mary Ellen's sleeves were rolled above her elbows, her red
+face was covered with little beads of perspiration, and she wore large
+goloshes. A savour of soap suds, mops, and the corners of old pantries,
+emanated from her. She extended to me a moist palm on which lay a thick
+slice of bread spread with cold veal gravy.
+
+"This," said she, "is to stay ye till tea-time; an' now let me git back to
+me scrubbin' or the suds'll be all dried up on me."
+
+But I caught her apron and held her fast.
+
+"Oh, don't go, Mary Ellen!" I begged, "I've something awfully interesting
+to tell you. Do sit down!"
+
+"I will not thin. And you've nothin' to tell me that I haven't got be heart
+already."
+
+"But this is about Harry, who had supper with us and Mr. Watlin and Tony.
+It's a most surprising adventure. Just wait and hear." I dragged her to a
+chair.
+
+She settled back with a smile of relaxation. "Aw well," she remarked, "who
+would be foriver workin' fer small pay an' little thanks? Out wid your
+story my lambie." And she drew The Seraph on her ample lap.
+
+So while they clustered about me I told my whole adventure, ending with
+Harry's plea that I interview Margery on his behalf.
+
+"It's a 'normous responsibility," I sighed.
+
+"Don't you worry," said Mary Ellen, "she'll want him home fast enough, a
+fine young gintleman like him. Now I'm minded of it, their cook did tell me
+that the Bishop had a son that was a regular playboy.
+
+"He's not a playboy," I retorted. "He's splendid--and _please_ Mary Ellen,
+there's something I want you to do for me. You must let me go this minute
+to see Margery and find out if she wants him back again."
+
+"Oh, she'll have him, no fear." This with a broad smile.
+
+"But I've got to _ask_ her. I promised. It's a 'normous responsibility.
+Will you _please_ let me, Mary El-len?"
+
+"I will not," replied Mary Ellen, firmly. "It'ud be as much as my place is
+worth."
+
+I began to cry. Angel came to the rescue.
+
+"Be a sport, Mary Ellen. Let him go. I'll stand at the gate and if I see
+the Dragon coming, I'll pass the tip to John, and he can cut over the
+garden wall and be in the room before she gets to the front door."
+
+Mary Ellen threw up her hands. She never could resist Angel's coaxing. "God
+save Ireland," she groaned, and, dropping The Seraph, clattered back to the
+kitchen.
+
+The Seraph stood like a rumpled robin where she had deposited him. He had
+confided to me once that he rather liked being nursed by Mary Ellen, though
+the heaving of her bosom bothered him. He was far too polite to tell her
+this: but now that she was gone, he hunched his shoulders, stretched his
+neck and breathed--
+
+"What a welief!--"
+
+I found Margery alone in the drawing-room. People had just been, for
+teacups were standing about, and a single muffin lay in a silver muffin
+dish. Even in the stress of my mission its isolation appealed to me.
+
+Margery was doing something to a bowl of roses but she looked up, startled
+at my appearance.
+
+"Why, John!" she exclaimed, "what is the matter with you? Have you been
+crying? Your face is awfully smudgy."
+
+"Sorry," I replied, "I wasn't crying but I'm on very particular business
+and I hadn't time to wash." I went at it, hammer and tongs, then--"It's
+about Harry. He wants to know if you'll have him home again."
+
+Margery looked just puzzled.
+
+"Harry! Harry who?"
+
+"Your Harry," I replied, manfully. "The Bishop's Harry." And I poured out
+the whole story of my meeting with Harry and his passionate desire to come
+home. All the while, I anxiously watched Margery's face for signs of joy or
+disapproval. It was pale and still as the face of a white moth, but when
+she spoke her words fell on my budding hopes like cold rain. She put her
+hands on my shoulders and said earnestly:
+
+"You must tell him not to come, John. It would be such a great pity! The
+Bishop is quite, quite used to being without him now, and it would upset
+him dreadfully to try to forgive Harry. I don't believe he could. And he
+and I are so contented. Harry would be very disturbing--you see, he's such
+a restless young man, John; and he hasn't been at all kind to his father.
+He's done--things--"
+
+"But you don't know him!" I interrupted. "He's splendid!"
+
+"I don't _want_ to know him," Margery persisted. "He's a very--"
+
+I could let this thing go no further. Here was another woman who must be
+drowned out. I raised my voice, therefore, and almost shouted--
+
+"Well, you've got to know him! He's coming home tomorrow night. At seven.
+He wants his bed got ready. So there."
+
+Margery sat down. She got quite red.
+
+"Why didn't you tell me this before?" she demanded.
+
+"'Cos I was breaking it to you gently, like they do accidents," I answered
+calmly.
+
+Suddenly Margery began to laugh hysterically. She pressed her palms against
+her cheeks and laughed and laughed. Then she said:--
+
+"John, you're a most extraordinary boy."
+
+I thought so too, but I said, modestly--"Oh, well. Somebody had to do it."
+Then, in the flush of my triumph I remembered Mrs. Handsomebody. "But, oh,
+I say, I must be going! And--please--would it matter much if we were here
+to see him come home? We'd be very quiet."
+
+Margery looked relieved. "I believe it would help--" she said. "It will be
+rather difficult. Yes, do come. Ask your governess if you may spend an hour
+with Uncle and me between your tea and bedtime. And, oh, John, that muffin
+looks wretchedly lonely."
+
+Outside, I divided the spoils with Angel.
+
+"Well--" he demanded, his mouth full of muffin--"shewanimbagagen?"
+
+"Rather," I cried, joyously. "I managed the whole thing. And we're to be
+there at seven to see him come."
+
+We raced to the kitchen and told Mary Ellen, who was promptly impressed,
+but The Seraph after a close scrutiny of us, said bitterly--
+
+"There's cwumbs on your faces!"
+
+"Cwumbs on your own face, old sillybilly!" mocked Angel, "and what's more,
+they're sugar cwumbs!"
+
+
+III
+
+As fate would have it, Mrs. Handsomebody decreed that I should not leave
+the house on Saturday morning, and she, having a spell of sciatica did not
+go to market, as usual; so there I was, unable to meet Harry on the
+cathedral steps, as I had promised. It simply meant that Angel must
+undertake the mission, while I kicked my heels in the schoolroom.
+
+He undertook it with a careless alacrity that was very irritating to one
+who longed to finish, in his own fashion, an undertaking that had, so far,
+been carried on with masterly diplomacy.
+
+The Seraph went with Angel, and it seemed a long hour indeed till I heard
+the longed-for footsteps hurrying up the stairs. The door was thrown open,
+and they burst in rosy and wind-blown.
+
+"It's all right," announced Angel briskly. "He'll be there sharp at seven,
+and he's jolly glad that we're to be there too!"
+
+"And did you tell him?" I asked rather plaintively, "that I had done the
+whole thing?"
+
+"Course I did."
+
+"What did he say when you told him he was to come home?"
+
+"He slapped his leg--" Angel gave his own leg a vigorous slap in
+illustration--"and said--'once aboard the lugger, and the girl is mine!'"
+
+It was a fascinating and cryptic utterance. We all tried it on varying
+notes of exultation. It put zest into what otherwise would have been a
+dragging day. By tea-time our legs were sore with whacking.
+
+Came the hour at last. We set out holding each other by moist clean hands,
+an admonishing Mrs. Handsomebody on the doorsill.
+
+Our hearts were high with excitement when we were shown ceremoniously into
+the Bishop's library, where he and Margery were sitting in the dancing
+firelight. We loved the dark-panelled room where we were always made so
+happy. At Mrs. Handsomebody's we could never do anything right, mugs of
+milk had a spiteful way of tilting over on the table-cloth without ever
+having been touched, but we could handle the things in the Chinese cabinet
+here or play carpet ball on the rug in the most seemly fashion.
+
+No one could tell stories like the Bishop, and after we had played for a
+bit, and The Seraph had demonstrated, on the hearthrug, how he could turn a
+somersault, some one suggested a story.
+
+I often thought it a pity that those, who only heard the Bishop preach,
+should never know how his great talents were wasted in that role. It took
+the "Arabian Nights" to bring out the deep thrill of his sonorous voice,
+and his power of filling the human heart with delicious fear.
+
+Now we perched about him listening with rapt eyes to the tale of Ali Baba.
+We wished there were more women like the faithful Morgiana with her pot of
+boiling oil. The Seraph, especially, revelled in the thought of those poor
+devils of thieves, each simmering away in his own jar.
+
+There fell a silence when the story was finished, and I was just casting
+about in my mind for the next one I should beg, when, Angel, looking at the
+clock, suddenly asked:
+
+"Bishop, will you sing? Will you please sing us a nice old song 'stead of a
+story? Sing 'John Peel,' won't you?"
+
+"Please sing 'John Peel'!" echoed The Seraph.
+
+The Bishop seemed loath to sing "John Peel." It was years since he had sung
+it, he said; he had almost forgotten the words. But when Margery joined her
+persuasions to ours, he consented to sing just one verse and the chorus. So
+he sang (but rather softly);
+
+  "D'ye ken John Peel, with his coat so grey?
+    D'ye ken John Peel, at the break of day?
+  D'ye ken John Peel, when he's far, far away,
+    With his hounds and his horn in the morning?"
+
+Before he had time to begin the chorus, it was taken up by a mellow
+baritone voice in the hall. It began softly too, but when it reached the
+"View halloo," it rang boldly.
+
+  "For the sound of his horn brought me from my bed,
+    And the cry of his hounds, which he oft-times led,
+  Peel's 'View halloo!' would awaken the dead,
+    Or the fox from his lair in the morning."
+
+The Bishop never moved a muscle till the last note died away, then he shook
+us off him, took three strides to the door, and swept the curtains back.
+Harry stood in the doorway with a rather shame-faced smile.
+
+"Good God!" exclaimed the Bishop. "Harry!" Then he put his arms around him
+and kissed him.
+
+I threw a triumphant glance at Margery. It hadn't hurt the Bishop at all to
+forgive Harry.
+
+"It was all the doing of these kids," Harry was saying, "if they hadn't
+cleared the way, I'd never have dared. John engineered everything. As a
+diplomat he's a pocket marvel."
+
+He and Margery gave each other a very funny look. I should like to have
+heard their later conversation.
+
+"They're good boys," said the Bishop, with an arm still around Harry,
+"capital boys, and if their governess will let them come to dinner tomorrow
+we'll have a sort of party, and talk everything over. I think cook would
+make a blackberry pudding. Will you arrange it Margery? Just now I want--"
+He said no more, but he and Harry gripped hands.
+
+Margery herded us gently into the hall, and gave us each two chocolate
+bars.
+
+Going home under the first pale stars, we were three rollicking blades
+indeed. We no longer held hands, but we hooked arms, and swaggered and we
+did not ring the bell till the last vestige of chocolate was gone.
+
+As we waited for Mary Ellen, I said, suddenly to Angel:
+
+"Angel, what made you ask the Bishop to sing 'John Peel'? Did you know
+Harry was going to sing in the hall?"
+
+"Oh, Harry and I fixed that up this morning," replied my senior, airily. "I
+kept it to myself, 'cos I didn't want any interference, see?"
+
+Mary Ellen, opening the door at this moment, prevented a scuffle, though I
+was in too happy a mood to quarrel with any one.
+
+Mrs. Handsomebody was surprisingly civil about our visit. She showed great
+interest in the return of the Bishop's only son. Was he a nice young man?
+she asked. Was he nice-looking? Did the Bishop appear to be overjoyed to
+see him?
+
+We three were seated on three stiff-backed chairs, our backs to the wall.
+Angel and I told her as much as was good for her to know of the adventure.
+
+The Seraph felt that he was being ignored, so when a pause came, he
+remarked in that throaty little voice of his:
+
+"It's a vewy bad fing to be boiled in oil."
+
+"What's that?" snapped Mrs. Handsomebody. "Say that again!"
+
+"It's a vewy bad fing to be boiled in oil," reiterated The Seraph suavely,
+"thirty-nine of 'em there was--for the captain was stabbed alweady--boilin'
+away in oil. Their _ears was full of it_."
+
+Mrs. Handsomebody gripped the arms of her chair, and leaned towards him.
+
+"Alexander, I have never known a child of such tender years to possess so
+unquenchable a lust for frightfulness. It must be eradicated at all costs."
+
+The Seraph stood, then, balancing himself on the rung of his chair,
+
+"'Once aboard the lugger,'" he sang out, slapping his plump little thigh,
+"'and the gell is mine!'"
+
+Mrs. Handsomebody sank back in her chair. She said:
+
+"This is appalling. David--John--take your little brother to bed instantly!
+Take him out of my hearing."
+
+Angel and I each grasped an arm of the reluctant infant and dragged him
+from the room. He stamped up the stairway between us, with an air of
+stubborn jollity.
+
+When we had reached the top, he loosed himself from me and put his head
+over the handrail.
+
+"'John Peel's View Halloo! would waken the dead'--" he roared down into the
+hall.
+
+But he got no further. Between us we hustled him into the bedroom, and shut
+the door. Angel and I leaned against it, then, in helpless laughter.
+
+In a moment I felt my arm squeezed by Angel, who was pointing ecstatically
+toward the bed.
+
+There, by the bedside, his dimpled hands folded, his curly head meekly
+bent, knelt The Seraph.
+
+He was saying his prayers.
+
+
+
+
+_Chapter VII: Granfa_
+
+
+I
+
+At Mrs. Handsomebody's on a Sunday morning Angel and I had an egg divided
+between us, after our porridge. It was boiled rather hard so that it might
+not run, and we watched the cutting of it jealously. The Seraph's infant
+organs were supposed not to be strong enough to cope with even half an egg,
+so he must needs satisfy himself with the cap from Mrs. Handsomebody's; and
+he made the pleasure endure by the most minute nibbling, filling up the
+gaps with large mouthfuls of toast.
+
+It was at a Sunday morning breakfast that Mrs. Handsomebody broached the
+subject of fishing. Angel and I had just scraped the last vestige of
+rubbery white from our half shells, and, having reversed them in our
+egg-cups, were gazing wistfully at what appeared to be two unchipped eggs,
+when she spoke.
+
+"You have been invited by Bishop Torrance to go on a fishing excursion with
+him tomorrow, and I have consented; provided, of course, that your conduct
+today be most exemplary. What do you say? Thanks would not be amiss."
+
+Angel and I mumbled thanks, though we were well nigh speechless with
+astonishment and joy. The Seraph bolted his cherished bit of egg whole and
+said in his polite little voice:
+
+"He's a vewy nice man to take us fishin'. I wonder what made him do it."
+
+"I have never pretended," returned Mrs. Handsomebody, stiffly, "to account
+for the vagaries of the male. Yet I grant you it seems singular that a
+dignitary of the church should find pleasure in such a project, in company
+with three growing boys."
+
+"If it had been anyone but the Bishop," she went on, "I should have
+refused, for there are untold possibilities of danger in trout fishing. You
+must, for example, guard against imbedding the fish hook in the flesh,
+which is most painful, often leading to blood-poisoning. This is to say
+nothing of the risk in sitting on damp grass, or the stings of insects."
+
+"Did you ever sit on the sting of an insect, please?" questioned The Seraph
+eagerly.
+
+Mrs. Handsomebody looked at him sharply. "One more question of that
+character," she said, "and you will remain at home." Then, glancing around
+the table, she went on--"What! your eggs gone so soon? We shall give thanks
+then. Alexander"--to The Seraph--"It is your turn to say grace. Proceed."
+
+The Seraph, with folded hands and bent head, repeated glibly:
+
+"Accept our thanks, O Lord, for these Thy good cweatures given to our use,
+and by them fit us for Thy service. Amen."
+
+There was a scraping of chairs, and we got to our feet. The Seraph, holding
+his bit of egg shell in his warm little palm asked--"Is an egg a cweature,
+yet?"
+
+Mrs. Handsomebody gloomed down at him from her height. "I say it in all
+solemnity, Alexander, the natural bent of your mind is toward the ribald
+and cynical. I do what I can to curb it, but I fear for your future." And
+she swept from the room.
+
+Eagerly we took our places in the choir stalls that morning.
+
+The May sunshine had taken on the mellowness of summer, and it struck fire
+from the sacred vessels on the altar, and the brazen-winged eagle of the
+lectern. Strange-shaped patterns of wine-colour and violet were cast from
+the stained glass windows upon the walls and pillars, enriching the grey
+fabric of the church, like tropic flowers. The window nearest me was a
+favourite of ours. It was dedicated, so saith the bronze tablet beneath, to
+the memory of Cosmo John, fifth son of an Earl of Aberfalden. He had died
+at the age of fifteen, not a tender age to me, but the age toward which I
+was eagerly straining, the vigourous, untrammelled age of the big boy.
+
+I stared at the young knight in the red cloak who, to me, represented Cosmo
+John, and thought it a great pity that he should have gone off in such a
+hurry, just when life was opening up such happy vistas before him, vistas
+no longer patrolled by governesses and maid servants, nor hedged in by
+petty restrictions. Cosmo John had died one hundred years ago, in May--and,
+by the Rood! this was May! Had he ever been a-fishing. Had the sudden
+tremor of the rod made his young heart to leap? I heard the Bishop's rich
+voice roll on:
+
+"--Most heartily we beseech Thee with Thy favour to behold our most
+gracious Sovereign Lady, Queen Victoria; and so replenish her with the
+grace of Thy Holy Spirit that she may alway incline to Thy will"--the
+Bishop's voice became one with the murmur of the river, as it moved among
+the ridges; the mellow sunlight scarcely touched this sheltered pool, but
+one could see it in its full strength on the meadow beyond, where larks
+were nesting. I brought myself up with a start. The Bishop's voice came
+from a great distance--"beseech Thee to bless Albert Edward Prince of
+Wales"--Angel was joggling me with his elbow.
+
+"You duffer," he whispered, "you've been nodding. Get your hymn book."
+
+In the choir vestry the Bishop stopped for a moment beside us, his surplice
+billowing about him like the sails about a tall mast when the wind dies.
+"At seven," he said, "tomorrow morning at my house. And _wear old
+clothes_."
+
+The sails were filled, and he moved majestically away, towering above the
+small craft around him.
+
+
+II
+
+It was morning. It was ten o'clock. It was May. We were all stowed away in
+the Bishop's trap with his son, Harry, controlling the fat pony, whose
+small fore-hoof pawed impatiently on the asphalt. Angel and I had donned
+old jerseys and The Seraph a clean holland pinafore, against which he
+pressed an empty treacle tin where a solitary worm reared an anxious head
+against the encircling gloom.
+
+"I've got a worm," he gasped, gleefully, as the pony, released at last,
+jerked us almost off our seats. "He's nice an' fat, an' he's quite clean,
+for I've washed him fwee times. He's as tame as anyfing. He's wather a dear
+ole worm, an' it seems a shame to wun a hook frew him."
+
+"Child, it shall not be done," consoled the Bishop. "Keep your worm, and,
+when we get to the river-bank, we'll introduce him to the country worms,
+and maybe he'll like them so well he'll marry and settle down there for the
+rest of his days."
+
+"If he could see a lady-worm he'd like," stipulated The Seraph.
+
+"He'd have a wide choice," said the Bishop. "The country is full of worms,
+some of them charming, I daresay."
+
+"And, I say," chuckled Angel, "you could perform the ceremony--if only we
+knew their names."
+
+"This is Charles Augustus," said The Seraph with dignity.
+
+"She'd likely be Ernestine," I put in.
+
+"Very well," said the Bishop. "It should proceed thus: 'I, Charles
+Augustus, take thee, Ernestine, to have and to hold'--and I do wish, Harry,
+that you'd have a care and hold Merrylegs in. He's almost taking our breath
+away. Such a speed is undignified, and bad for the digestion."
+
+It was true that the fat pony was in amazing spirits that morning. Shops
+and houses were passed with exhilarating speed. To us little fellows, who
+always walked with our governess, when we went abroad, it was intoxicating.
+
+Soon the town was left behind and we were bowling along a country road past
+a field where boys were flying a kite, its long tail making sinuous curves
+against the turquoise sky. The air was sweet with the fresh May showers;
+and the swift roll of wheels was an inspiring accompaniment to our chatter.
+
+Further along lay a tranquil pond in a common, its surface stirred by a
+tiny boat with white sails. An old, white-bearded man in a smock frock was
+teaching his grandsons to sail the boat. It must be jolly, we thought, to
+have a nice old grandfather to play with one.
+
+At last we passed a vine-embowered inn, set among apple trees in bloom. It
+was "The Sleepy Angler" and the Bishop said that the river curved just
+beyond it.
+
+We gave a shout of joy as we caught the glint of it; a shout that might
+well have been a warning to any lurking trout. Angel and I scarcely waited
+for the pony to draw up beneath the trees before we tumbled out of the
+trap; and the Bishop, grasping the eager Seraph by the wrist, swung him to
+the ground after us.
+
+We felt very small and light, and almost fairy-like, as we ran here and
+thither over the lush grass, studded with spring flowers. Our sensitive
+nostrils were greeted by enticing new odors that seemed to be pressed from
+the springy sod of our scampering feet. The Seraph still clutched the
+treacle tin, and Charles Augustus must have had a bad quarter hour of it.
+
+The stream, which was a sharp, clear one, sped through flowery meadows,
+where geese were grazing as soberly as cows. An old orchard enfolded it, at
+last, scattering pink petals on its flowing cloud-flecked surface, and
+drawing new life from its freshness.
+
+Harry made the pony comfortable and lit his pipe, and the Bishop got ready
+his tackle, while the three of us clustered about him, filled with wonder
+and delight to see the book of many coloured flies, and all the intricacies
+of preparing the rod and bait. Angel and I were equipped with proper rods
+baited with greenish May-flies, and The Seraph got a willow wand and line
+at the end of which dangled an active grasshopper.
+
+"You know," said the Bishop, when we had cast our flies, "if I were a
+whole-hearted angler, I should not have brought three such restless spirits
+on this expedition but truly I am--
+
+  'No fisher,
+  But a well-wisher
+  To the game!'
+
+So, now that you are here, suppose I give you a lesson in manipulating your
+tackling. If you proceed as you have begun, there will very soon not be so
+much as a minnow within a mile of us. Easy now, Angel; just move your fly
+gently on top of the water so that his bright wings may attract the eye of
+the most wanton trout. Easy, John--by the lord, I've caught a Greyling! And
+come and sniff him, and you'll find he smells of water-thyme."
+
+How aptly we took to this sort of teaching, given in the fresh outdoors,
+the air pleasant with honeysuckle, and a lark carolling high above us! We
+could scarcely restrain our shouts when Angel's first trout was landed with
+the aid of a net, and lay golden and white as a daffodil on the grass. So
+absorbed were we that no one gave any heed to The Seraph, stationed farther
+down stream, till a roar of rage discovered him, dancing empty-handed on
+the bank, his rod sailing smartly down the stream, leaving only a wake of
+tiny ripples.
+
+"It was a 'normous lusty trout," he wailed, "as big as a whale, an' he
+swallowed my grasshopper, an' hook, an' gave me _such_ a look! And I'd
+pwomised him to Mary Ellen for her tea!"
+
+"We may as well give up for a while," said the Bishop, mildly, "and have
+some lunch. Bring The Seraph to me, boys, and I shall comfort him, whilst
+you unpack the hamper."
+
+What hearty, wholesome appetites we brought to the cold beef and radishes!
+And how much more satisfying such fare than the milky messes served to us
+by Mrs. Handsomebody! Harry had buried a bottle of ale under the cool sod,
+and we had tastes of that to wash our victuals down. Even Charles Augustus
+had a little of it poured into his cell to comfort him.
+
+When we were satisfied, the Bishop retired to the shade of a hedge with his
+pipe; The Seraph wandered off by himself to hunt for birds' nests; and
+Angel and I took fresh flies and tried our luck anew. But the sun was high;
+the south breeze was fallen; and the trout had sought their farthest
+chambers in the pool.
+
+Angel soon tired when sport flagged.
+
+"Let's go find the kid," he said, throwing down the rod, "he'll be getting
+himself drowned if we don't keep an eye on him. I'll race you to that
+nearest apple tree!"
+
+With nimble legs, and swiftly beating hearts, we scampered over the smooth
+turf, and I threw a triumphant look over my shoulder at him, as I hurled
+myself upon the mossy bole of the old tree. Then I saw that Angel had
+stopped stock still and was staring open-mouthed beyond me. I turned. Then,
+I, too, stared open-mouthed. Trust The Seraph for falling on his feet! What
+though his rod had been filched--here he was, without a moment's loss,
+plunged in a new adventure!
+
+
+III
+
+He was seated beneath an apple tree, on the bank of the stream in deep
+conversation with a most remarkable old man, who was fishing industriously
+with the very rod The Seraph so lately had bewailed. He was an
+astonishingly old man, with hair and beard as white as wool, wreathing a
+face as pink as the apple-blossoms that fell about him. Cautiously we drew
+near, quite unobserved by the two who seemed utterly absorbed in their
+occupation of watching the line as it dipped into the stream. Now we could
+see that the old man's clothes were ragged, and that he had taken off his
+boots to ease his tired feet, the toes of which protruded from his socks,
+even pinker than his face.
+
+He was speaking in a full soft voice with an accent which was new to us.
+
+"Yon trout," said he, "was in a terrible frizz wi' the hook gnawing his
+vitals, and he swum about among the reeds near the bank in a manner to
+harrer your feelings. The line got tangled in the growing stuff, and I, so
+quick as an otter, pounced on him, and had him on the bank afore 'ee could
+say 'scat,' and there he lies breathing his last, and blessing me no doubt
+for relieving him in his shameful state."
+
+"I fink he's weally my twout," said The Seraph. "I caught him first you
+see."
+
+"That pint might take a terr'ble understanding lawyer to unravel," replied
+the old man, "but sooner than quarrel in such an unsporting fashion, I'll
+give 'ee the trout, though I had had a notion of roasting him to my own
+breakfast."
+
+The Seraph stroked the glistening side of the recumbent trout admiringly;
+he poked his plump forefinger into it's quivering pink gill. The result was
+startling. The trout leaped into the air with a flourish of silvery tail;
+then fell floundering on The Seraph's bare knees. Our junior, seized with
+one of his unaccountable impulses, grasped him by the middle and hurled him
+into the stream. A second more and the trout was gone, leaving only a thin
+line of red to mark his passing. Angel and I ran forward to protect The
+Seraph if need be from the consequences of his hardy act; but the old man
+was smiling placidly.
+
+"That trout," he said, "is so gleeful to get away from his captivity as I
+be to escape from the work'us."
+
+"Oh, did you run away from the workhouse?" we cried, in chorus, gathering
+around him, "Have you run far?" And we looked at his broken boots.
+
+"I ban't a dareful man," he replied, "that would run down the road in
+daylight for the whole nation to see, and I be terr'ble weak in the legs,
+so I just crept out in the night, so quiet as a star-beam, and sheltered in
+the orchard yonder, till I seed the rod fairly put in my hand by the
+Almighty, that I mid strike manna out of the stream, like old Moses, so to
+speak."
+
+"You're a funny man," said Angel. "You've a rum way of talking."
+
+"I come from Devon by natur," he answered, "and my tongue still has the
+twist o't though I haven't seed the moors these sixty years."
+
+"You must be pretty old."
+
+"Old! I be so aged that I can remember my grandmother when she was but a
+rosy-cheeked slip of a gal."
+
+We stared in awe before such antiquity.
+
+The Seraph ventured: "Did your grandmother put you in the work'us?"
+
+"No, no. Not she. It was my two grandsons. Well-fixed men they be too, for
+Philip had a fine cow until the bailiff took her; and Zachary thinks naught
+on a Fair day o' buying meat pasties for hisself and his missus, and
+parading about before the nation wi' the gravy fair running down their
+wrists. Ay--but the work'us was good enough for old Granfa. 'Darn'ee,' says
+I to Philip, 'there's life in the old dog yet, and I'll escape from here in
+the fulness of time!' Which I did."
+
+We grouped ourselves about him in easy attitudes of attention. We felt
+strangely drawn to this ancient rebel against authority. We pictured the
+workhouse as a vast schoolroom where white-haired paupers laboured over
+impossible tasks, superintended by a matron, cold and angular, like Mrs.
+Handsomebody.
+
+"Are your own children all dead?" I put the question timidly, for I feared
+to recall more filial ingratitude.
+
+"Dead as door-nails," he replied, solemnly. "All of them."
+
+"Were there many?"
+
+"When I had been married but seven years, there were six; and after that I
+lost count. At that time I was moved to compose a little song about them,
+and I'd sing it to 'ee this moment if I had a bite o' victuals to stay me."
+
+"Look here, Seraph," I cried, "You cut back to the hamper and fetch some
+beef and bread, and anything else that's loose. Look sharp, now."
+
+The Seraph ran off obediently, and it was not long till he re-appeared with
+food and the dregs of the ale.
+
+It was a treat to see Granfa make way with these. He smacked his lips and
+wiped his beard on his sleeve with the relish born of prolonged abstinence.
+As he ate, the apple-blossoms fell about him, settling on the rim of his
+ragged hat, and even finding shelter among the white waves of his beard. We
+sat cross-legged on the grass before him eagerly awaiting the song.
+
+At last, in a voice rich with emotion, he sang to a strange lilting tune:
+
+  "I be in a terr'ble fix,
+  Wife have I and childer six.
+
+  "I'd got married just for fun,
+  When in popped Baby Number one--
+
+  "I'd got an easy job to do,
+  When in strolled Baby Number Two--
+
+  "I was fishin' in the sea,
+  When up swum Baby Number Three--
+
+  "My boat had scarcely touched the shore,
+  When in clumb Baby Number Four!
+
+  "I was the scaredest man alive,
+  When wife found Baby Number Five.
+
+  "The cradle was all broke to sticks
+  When in blew Baby Number Six--
+
+  "And now I'm praying hard that Heaven
+  Will keep a grip on Number Seven."
+
+"And did Heaven keep a gwip on it?" inquired The Seraph as soon as the last
+notes died away.
+
+"Not a bit of it," responded our friend. "They come along so fast that I
+was all in a mizmaze trying to keep track on 'em. And good childer they
+was, and would never have turned me out as their sons have had the stinkin'
+impidence to do. But now, souls, tell me all about yourselves, for I be a
+terr'ble perusin' man and I like to ponder on the doings of my
+fellow-creatures. Did you mention the name of a parson, over by yon
+honeysuckle hedge?"
+
+We thought the old man was excellent; and we found it an easy thing to make
+a confidant of him. So, while he puffed at a stubby clay pipe, we drew
+closer and told him all about the Bishop and about father and how lonely we
+were for him. Blue smoke from his clay pipe spun about us, seeming to bind
+us lightly in a fine web of friendship. Through it his blue eyes shone
+longingly, his pink face shone with sympathy, and his white beard with its
+clinging apple-blossom petals, rose and fell on his ragged breast.
+
+"It's a great pity," said Angel, "that father isn't here now, because I'm
+certain he'd be jolly glad to adopt you for a grandfather for us. He's a
+most reasonable man."
+
+Our new friend shook his head doubtfully.
+
+"It would be a noble calling," he said, "but I ban't wanted by nobody I'm
+afeard. I think I'll just bide here by this pleasant stream, till in the
+fulness of time I be food for worms."
+
+"Could Charles Augustus have a little of you?" asked The Seraph, sweetly.
+
+"Ess Fay, he may have his share." It appeared that the story of Charles had
+been told before Angel and I had arrived.
+
+"Well, you're not going to be deserted," said Angel, in his lordly way,
+"we'll just adopt you on our own. Mrs. Handsomebody won't let us have a
+dog, nor a guinea pig, nor rabbits, nor even a white rat, but, you bet,
+she's got to let us keep a grandfather, if we take him right home and say
+he's come for a visit, and, of course, father'll have to pay for his board.
+Let's do it, eh John?"
+
+When Angel's eyes sparkled with a conquering light, few could resist him.
+Certainly not I, his faithful adherent. Anyway I wanted Granfa myself
+badly, so I nodded solemnly. "Let's."
+
+"It'll be the greatest lark ever," he said, "and here comes the Bishop."
+
+"Hand me my shoon, quick," said Granfa, nervously.
+
+The Bishop was indeed coming slowly toward us, across the sun-lit meadow,
+carrying his rod in one hand, and in the other the tin containing Charles
+Augustus. By the time he had reached us Granfa had struggled into his boots
+and was standing, hat in hand, with an air of meek expectancy. Angel,
+always so fluent when we were by ourselves, balked at explaining things to
+grown-ups, and, though the Bishop usually saw things from our point of
+view, one could never be absolutely certain that even he would not prove
+obtuse on such a delicate issue as this.
+
+So I rose, and met his enquiring look with such explanation as suited his
+adult understanding.
+
+"Please, sir," I said, politely, "this nice old man has been turned out by
+his grandsons, and he's on his way to town, where he's got some kind
+grandsons--"
+
+--"Fwee of 'em," put in The Seraph.
+
+--"And we were wondering," I hurried on, "if you'd give him a lift that
+far."
+
+"I expect you're tired out," said the Bishop, kindly, turning to Granfa.
+
+"I be none too peart, but terrible wishful to get under the roof o' my
+grandsons, thank 'ee."
+
+"You shall have a seat beside Harry; I see you've had some lunch; and now,
+boys, I think we have time for an hour's fishing before we go, but first we
+must dispose of Charles Augustus. I don't like the way he looks. I don't
+know whether he's just foxy and pretending he's dead so we shan't use him
+for bait, or whether the ale was too much for him. At any rate, he's
+looking far from well." And the Bishop peered anxiously into the treacle
+tin.
+
+So the search began for the ideal mate for Charles Augustus. He was laid in
+state on a large burdock leaf, where he stretched himself warily enough in
+the fervent heat of the sun. The Seraph, quick as a robin, was the first to
+pounce upon a large, but active dew-worm, which, he announced, was
+Ernestine.
+
+We made an excited little group around the burdock, as The Seraph, flushed
+with pride, deposited her beside the lonely Charles. She glided toward him.
+She touched him. The effect was electrical. Charles Augustus, after one
+violent contortion, hurled himself from the burdock, and, before we could
+intercept him, disappeared into a bristling forest of grass blades.
+
+"He's gone! He's gone!" wailed The Seraph. "He's wun away fwom her!"
+
+But, even as he spoke, the agile Ernestine leapt lightly from the trembling
+leaf in hot pursuit. Green spears bent to open a way for her; dizzy gnats
+paused in their droning song, feeling in the ether the tremor of the chase;
+bees fell from the heart of honey-sweet flowers, and lay murmuring and
+booming in the grass.
+
+They were gone. An ant had mounted the burdock leaf, and, careless of the
+drama that had just been enacted, sought eagerly among the crevices for
+provender. The Bishop spoke first.
+
+"I think she'll get him," he said musingly. "She's got a sort of cave-woman
+look, and she has no petticoats to impede her."
+
+"Ess fay," assented Granfa, "her'll get him, and hold him fast too, I'll be
+bound. A terr'ble powerful worm."
+
+We stood in silence for a space, our eyes fixed on the ground picturing
+that chase through dim subterranean passages, smelling of spring showers;
+Charles Augustus, wasted, febrile, panting with agitation; Ernestine,
+lithe, ardent, awful in her purpose.
+
+We were still pensive when we retraced our steps across the meadow. The
+Bishop and Harry and The Seraph resumed their fishing, but Angel and I
+preferred to be on the grass beside Granfa, while he told us tales of old
+smuggling days in Devon and Cornwall, where his little cutter had slipped
+round about the delicate yet rugged coast, loaded with brandy and bales of
+silk from France, guided by strange red and blue lights from the shore; and
+where solemn cormorants kept darkly secret all they saw when they sailed
+aloft at dawn.
+
+
+IV
+
+We were delighted with Granfa. It seemed to us that the acquiring of him
+was the finest thing we had yet done. This elation of spirit remained with
+us during all the drive home. The grey old town was wrapped in a golden
+mist of romance; its windows reflected the fire of the sunset. It was not
+until we had separated from the Bishop and stood, a group of four, before
+Mrs. Handsomebody's house, that dread misgiving took the pith out of our
+legs. All of a sudden Granfa loomed bulky and solid; the problem of where
+he was to be stowed presented itself. He was not like Giftie to be hidden
+in the scullery. He was not even like a white rat that could be secreted
+under one's bed till its unfortunate odour resulted in painful research.
+No; Granfa must be accounted for, and that soon.
+
+"Better go round to the back," suggested Angel, "and tackle Mary Ellen
+first."
+
+So we traversed the chill passage between the tall houses, and softly
+lifted the latch of the kitchen door. Mary Ellen was alone, her work done,
+her nose buried in a novel of such fine print that it necessitated the
+lamp's being perilously near the fringe of frowsy hair that covered her
+forehead. We were inside the kitchen before she was recalled from the high
+life in which she revelled.
+
+"Is it yersilves?" she exclaimed, with a start. "Sure, you've give me a
+nice fright prowlin' about like thaves--and whoiver may be the ould man wid
+ye? The mistress'll stand no tramps or beggars about, as well you know."
+
+"He's no tramp or beggar," I retorted, stoutly, "he's Granfa."
+
+"Granfa! Granfa who? Noan o' your nonsense, now, byes. What's the truth
+now, spit it out!"
+
+"He's Granfa," I reiterated, desperately, "Our own nice grandfather that we
+haven't seen for years, and--he's just come for a nice little visit with
+us. Why, Mary Ellen, the Bishop knows him--"
+
+"Known him for years," put in Angel. "Went to Harrow together."
+
+"Ess fay," assented Granfa, eagerly. "Us were boon companions up to
+Harrer."
+
+"The Bishop brought him wight here in the pony twap," added The Seraph,
+"and we'd all yike a little nushment, please."
+
+Mary Ellen, in spite of herself, was half convinced. Granfa's blue eyes
+were so candid; there was an air of dignity about his snow-white locks and
+beard, that disarmed hostility.
+
+"Look here, now," said Mary Ellen, in an aside, to us, "he seems a nice
+ould gentlemin enough, but think av the throuble ye got us in over Giftie,
+sure I won't have yez experimentalling wid grandfathers."
+
+Granfa appeared to have overheard, for he spoke up.
+
+"I just want to bide here a little while, my dearie, till I hear from my
+son in South Americer. The other two put me out, you see, so I've only him
+to depend on, till I be called away."
+
+Mary Ellen flushed. "You'd be welcome to stay if it was my house, sir; but
+my misthress is to be reckoned wid. By God's mercy, she is off to a
+missionary meeting tonight, her bein' president av the society for makin'
+Unitarians out av the blacks. Sorra a thing will she hear of this till
+mornin', and I'll put you in my own bed, and slape on two cheers in the
+scullery, for it'd niver do for the boys' grandfather to be used like a
+beggar-man."
+
+We thought it a capital idea for Mary Ellen to sleep in the scullery--it
+would save her the fag of running downstairs in the morning to get
+breakfast, and Granfa would be conveniently placed for us, in case we
+wanted a story or game before breakfast.
+
+So, after partaking of a little nourishment, as The Seraph put it, we
+retired to Mary Ellen's room; she leading the way up the dark backstairs
+with a lighted candle; Granfa next bearing his little bundle; and we three
+in the rear, exceedingly tired, but in excellent spirits.
+
+Granfa looked very snug in Mary Ellen's bed, with his curly beard resting
+comfortably on the red and white quilt, and his blue eyes twinkling up at
+us.
+
+"Comfy, Granfa?" asked The Seraph.
+
+"I be just so cozy as an old toad," he replied. "I do believe I'm a-going
+to be terr'ble happy in my new home."
+
+Mary Ellen had gone downstairs to prepare her place in the scullery, so we
+climbed on the bed with him, making believe it was a smuggler's cutter, and
+had many hair-raising adventures that were brought to an end, at last, by
+the discovery that Granfa was fast asleep.
+
+We were at the windlass heaving up the anchor, at the time, and had just
+struck up a sailor's chanty, which made a good deal of noise, but nothing
+seemed to disturb Granfa. He slumbered peacefuly through all the rattle of
+chains, and shouting of commands, so, somewhat subdued, we decided there
+was nothing for it but to seek our berths.
+
+Snug beneath our covers, at last, we felt to the full, the new spirit of
+adventure that had spread its irridescent wings over the house. There was
+Granfa, snoring under Mary Ellen's patchwork quilt; there was the trusty
+Mary Ellen, herself, stowed away in the scullery; there was Mrs.
+Handsomebody, on missionary duty among the blacks; here were we--The Seraph
+expressed our feelings exactly just before we fell asleep. "We'm terr'ble
+lucky chaps," he said, in the Devon dialect, "ban't us?"
+
+
+V
+
+Our bedroom window was always tightly closed, and, at night, so were the
+shutters; yet a sunbeam, adventurous, like ourselves, found its way through
+a broken slat, and, cleaving the heavy air of the chamber, flew straight to
+The Seraph's nose, where it perched, lending a radiant prominence to that
+soft feature.
+
+The Seraph roused himself. He opened his eyes; the sunbeam found them two
+dark forest pools, and plunged therein. The Seraph opened his mouth and
+laughed, showing all his little white teeth, and the sunbeam dived
+straightway down his throat.
+
+"Hurrah!" cried The Seraph, "let's get up!" And scrambled out of bed.
+
+At the same instant came a loud tapping on the door of Mary Ellen's
+bedroom. We surmised, correctly, that Mrs. Handsomebody, listening in vain
+for the sound of her handmaiden's descent of the back stairs had risen
+wrathfully, and come to summon her in person. A chill of apprehension ran
+along my spine. I got up and stole to the door, followed by my brothers.
+Through a crack we peered fearfully in the direction of the rapping, our
+trembling bodies close together.
+
+Mrs. Handsomebody, in purple dressing-gown and red woollen slippers, stood
+in a listening attitude, her gaze bent on the door that hid Granfa.
+
+"Are you aware of the hour?" she demanded peremptorily. "Rise at once and
+open this door."
+
+There was a creaking of the mattress and sound of shuffling feet; the door
+was opened reluctantly, and Granfa, bare-legged, white of beard and
+red-shirted, stood in the aperture.
+
+Mrs. Handsomebody did not shriek; rather she made the inarticulate noises
+of one in a nightmare and put out her hands as if to keep Granfa off.
+"Merciful Heaven!" she whispered. "What has happened to you?"
+
+"I do feel far from peart," replied Granfa.
+
+"This is horrible. Did you feel it coming on?"
+
+"Off and on for a long time," said Granfa. "It's been a terr'ble
+experience, and I ban't likely to be ever the same again, I'm afeared."
+
+Mrs. Handsomebody looked ready to faint.
+
+At that moment, Mary Ellen, having heard the voice of her mistress,
+projected her face above the doorsill of the backstairs. It was always a
+rosy face, but now with excitement and shamefacedness, it was as red as a
+harvest moon, coming up from the darkness.
+
+The sight of her turned Mrs. Handsomebody's terror into rage.
+
+"Shameful, depraved girl," she gobbled, "who is this you have in your
+chamber? Ah, I've caught you! The ingratitude! You terrible old
+wretch!"--this to Granfa--"close that door instantly while I send for the
+police!"
+
+By this time we had ventured into the hall, and, Mrs. Handsomebody, seeing
+us groaned: "Under the roof with these innocent children--I thought that in
+my care their innocence was safe."
+
+"It was thim same innocents that brung him here," said Mary Ellen, stung
+into disclosing our part in the scandal, "and it's himsilf is their own
+grandfather."
+
+Mrs. Handsomebody's gaze was appalling as she turned it on us three.
+
+"You? Your grandfather? What fresh insanity is this?"
+
+"You see," I explained, keeping my fascinated eyes on the wart on her chin,
+"he's just come for a little visit, and he really is our Granfa, and we
+love him awfully."
+
+"Won't have him abused," spluttered The Seraph.
+
+"Be rights," added Mary Ellen, solemnly, "he should have the best spare
+room, the byes' own aged relation."
+
+"I shall sift this affair," said Mrs. Handsomebody, "to its most appalling
+dregs. You, Alexander"--to The Seraph--"are the smallest, look through that
+keyhole and inform me what he is doing."
+
+The Seraph obeyed, chuckling. "He's took to the bed again--all exceptin'
+one leg--"
+
+"We can dispense with detail," cut in our governess. "Is he at all
+violent?"
+
+"Bless you, no," replied Mary Ellen. "He's as mild mannered as can be and
+an old friend of the Bishop's, so they say. 'Twas him that brung him home
+in his pony trap."
+
+"The Bishop! I must see the Bishop instantly."
+
+As she spoke a stentorian shout of "Butcher!" came from the regions below.
+
+"There," she said, to Mary Ellen, "is young Watlin. Call him up instantly;
+and he shall guard the door while I dress. Explain the situation very
+briefly to him. It would be well to arm him with a poker, in case the old
+man becomes violent. David, go to Bishop Torrance and tell him that I hope
+he will call on me at once, if possible. Put on your clothes, but you may
+leave your hair in disorder, just as it is. It will serve to show the
+Bishop into what a state of panic this household has been thrown."
+
+She was obliged to retire hastily to her room because of the arrival of Mr.
+Watlin.
+
+It was some time before Mary Ellen, and The Seraph, and I could make him
+understand what had happened, though we all tried at once.
+
+"And you mean to tell me that he's in there?" he asked, at last, grinning
+broadly.
+
+"Sorra a place else," replied Mary Ellen, "and you're to guard the door
+till the police comes."
+
+"Guard nothink," said Mr. Watlin, belligerently, "I'll go right in and
+tackle him single-handed."
+
+With one accord The Seraph and I flung ourselves before the door.
+
+"You shan't hurt him," we cried, "he's our own Granfa! We'll fight you
+first."
+
+Mr. Watlin made some playful passes at our stomachs. "Let's all have a
+fight," he chaffed. Then he said--"Hullo, here's the old 'un himself, and
+quite a character to be sure. No wonder Mrs. 'Andsomebody is in a taking."
+
+The door had opened behind us; Granfa stood revealed, wearing his ragged
+coat and hat, and carrying his stick and little bundle, wrapped in a red
+handkerchief.
+
+"Don't 'ee get in a frizz, my dears, about me," he said with dignity. "I be
+leaving this instant moment. As for you--" addressing Mr. Watlin--"you be a
+gert beefy critter, but don't be too sure you could tackle me,
+single-handed. I be terr'ble full of power when I'm roused, and it takes a
+deal to calm me down again." And he trotted to the head of the stairs and
+began to descend.
+
+The Seraph and I kept close on either side of him, tightly holding his
+hands.
+
+"She's in the parlour," I whispered, "and the Bishop's with her. Shall you
+go in?"
+
+Granfa nodded solemnly.
+
+We stood in the doorway of the sacred apartment. Even there, the spirit of
+the May morning seemed to have penetrated, for in the glass case a stuffed
+oriole had cocked his eye with a longing look at a withered nest that hung
+before him.
+
+Mrs. Handsomebody had just finished her recital. "I thought I should have
+swooned," she said.
+
+"And no wonder," replied the Bishop, "I'm quite sure I should have." Then
+he turned to us with a look of mingled amusement and concern. "Now what do
+you suppose I'm going to do with you Granfa?"
+
+"Oh, parson, don't 'ee send me back to the work'us! If I bide there any
+longer, 'twill break my fine spirit."
+
+"I am going to propose something very different," said the Bishop, kindly.
+"We need another sweeper and duster about the Cathedral, and if you think
+you are strong enough to wield a broom, you may earn a decent living. I
+know a very kind charwoman, who would lodge and board you, and you would be
+near your little--"
+
+"Gwandsons," said The Seraph.
+
+"Silence!" ordered Mrs. Handsomebody.
+
+"You would be near us all," finished the Bishop, blandly.
+
+"Ess fay. I can wield a broom," said Granfa. "And 'twill be a noble end for
+me to pass my days in such a holy spot. 'Twill be but a short jump from
+there fair into Heaven itself, and I do thank 'ee, parson, with all my
+heart."
+
+So it was settled, and turned out excellently. Even Mary Ellen could have
+learned from Granfa new ways of handling a broom with the least exertion to
+the worker; aye, in his hands, the broom seemed used chiefly as a support;
+a staff, upon which he leant while telling us many a tale of those rare old
+smuggling days of his youth.
+
+Sometimes, in dim unused parts of the building, we would rig up a pirate's
+ship, and Granfa would fix the broom to the masthead to show that he, like
+Drake, had swept the seas.
+
+Sometimes, indeed, we found him fast asleep in a corner of some
+crimson-cushioned pew, looking so peaceful that, rough sea-going fellows
+though we were, we had not the heart to rouse him.
+
+Once, standing before the stained glass window in memory of young Cosmo
+John, Granfa said:
+
+"It beats all how thiccy lad does yearn toward me. His eyes follow me
+wherever I go."
+
+"And no wonder, Granfa," cried The Seraph, throwing his arms around him,
+"for everybody loves 'ee so!"
+
+
+
+
+_Chapter VIII: Noblesse Oblige_
+
+
+I
+
+Angel and I grew amazingly that summer. We grew in length of limb but with
+no corresponding gain in scholastic stature. We had made up our minds to
+retain as little as possible of Mrs. Handsomebody's teaching and we had
+succeeded so well in our purpose, that, at nine and ten we had about as
+much book-learning as would have befitted The Seraph, while he retained the
+serene ignorance of babyhood. But in affairs of the imagination we were no
+laggards. We eagerly drank in Granfa's tales of the sea, and Harry lent us
+many a hair-raising book of adventure.
+
+Yet we longed for the companionship of other boys of our own age, and
+strained towards the day when we should go to school. Our abounding energy
+chafed more and more under the rule of Mrs. Handsomebody.
+
+Now she had left the schoolroom to interview a plumber, and her black
+bombazine dress having sailed away like a cloud, we had utterly relaxed,
+and were basking in the sunshine of her absence.
+
+Slumped on my spine, I was watching a spider, just over my head, that was
+leisurely ascending his shining rope-ladder to the ceiling. I contemplated
+his powers of retreat with an almost bitter envy. Fancy being able, at a
+moment's notice, to bolt out of reach (even out of sight and hearing) of
+all that was obnoxious to a fellow! I pictured myself, when some
+particularly harassing question had been put by my governess, springing
+from my seat, snatching the ever-ready shining rope and making for some
+friendly cornice, where, with my six or eight legs wrapped round my head, I
+would settle down for a snug sleep, not to be disturbed by any female.
+
+Yet, I had to admit, that if any one in the schoolroom played the role of
+spider, it was Mrs. Handsomebody herself, whose desk was the centre of a
+web of books, pencils, rulers and a cane, in the meshes of which we three
+were caught like young flies, before our bright wings had been unfolded.
+
+I looked at The Seraph. After slavishly making pot hooks all the afternoon,
+he was now licking them off his slate with unaffected relish. I turned to
+Angel.
+
+With hands thrust deep in his pockets he was staring disconsolately at the
+unfinished sum before him. I, too, had given it up in despair.
+
+"It's mediocre," he muttered. "Absolutely mediocre, and I won't stand it."
+
+_Mediocre._ It was a new word to me, and I wondered where he had picked it
+up. It was like Angel to spring it on me this way.
+
+"Awfully mediocre," I assented. "And it can't be done."
+
+A flicker of annoyance crossed his face that his new word should be thus
+lightly bandied, but he went on--"Just listen here: an apple-woman who had
+four score of apples in her cart, sold three dozen at four pence,
+half-penny a dozen; two and a half dozen at five pence a dozen. At what
+price would she have to sell the remaining, in order to realize"--
+
+"And look here," I interrupted, wrathfully, "Why does she always give us
+sums about an apple-woman, or a muffin-man? It just makes a chap hungry.
+Why doesn't she make one up about a dentist for a change, or somethin' like
+that?"
+
+"Yes," assented Angel, catching at the idea. "Like this: if a dentist
+pulled five teeth out of one lady, and seven and a half out of another, at
+two shillings apiece how many must he pull in order to--"
+
+"Then there's undertakers," I broke in. "If a undertaker buried nine
+corpses one day, and six and a half the next--"
+
+I had to stop, for Angel was convulsed with laughter, and The Seraph was
+beginning to get noisy.
+
+Angel produced a small bottle of licorice water from his pocket and took a
+long mouthful. Then he handed it to me. It was soothing, delicious.
+
+"Me too!" cried The Seraph, and I held it to his eager little mouth.
+
+"Here," said Angel angrily, "he's swiggin' down the whole thing. Drop it,
+young'un!"
+
+At the same moment, the door opened quietly, and Mrs. Handsomebody entered.
+I tore the bottle from The Seraph's clinging lips, and stuffed it,
+corkless, into my pocket.
+
+Mrs. Handsomebody sat down and disposed her skirt about her knees. Her eyes
+travelled over us.
+
+"Alexander," she said to The Seraph, "stand up." He meekly rose.
+
+"What is that on your chin?"
+
+The Seraph explored his chin with his tongue.
+
+"It tastes sweet," he said.
+
+"I asked what is it?"
+
+The Seraph shot an imploring glance at Angel.
+
+"I fink," he hedged, "it's some of the gwavy fwom dinner left over."
+
+Mrs. Handsomebody turned to Angel and me.
+
+"Stand up," she commanded, sternly, "and we shall sift this matter to the
+root."
+
+"Yes," admitted Angel, nonchalantly. "It was licorice root made into a
+drink."
+
+"Licorice root," repeated our governess, in a tone of disgust. "It is by
+imbibing such vile concoctions that the taste for more ardent spirits is
+created. When I was your age, I had taken no beverage save milk and hot
+water, from which I graduated naturally to weak tea, and from thence to
+the--er--stronger brew. I am at present your guardian as well as your
+teacher and I shall do my utmost to eradicate--"
+
+It was impossible to follow her discourse because of the keen discomfort I
+was feeling as the remainder of the licorice water trickled down my right
+leg. I was brought up with a start by Mrs. Handsomebody almost shouting:
+
+"John! What is that puddle on the floor beneath you? Don't move! Stay where
+you are." She sprang to my side and grasped my shoulder.
+
+"I s'pose it's some more of the woot," giggled The Seraph.
+
+I put my hand in my pocket and produced the empty bottle. Mrs. Handsomebody
+took it between her thumb and forefinger. She gave me a sharp rap on the
+head with it.
+
+"Now," she gobbled, "go to your room and remain there till the exercises
+are over, then return to me for punishment. _And_ change your trousers."
+
+
+II
+
+My trousers had been changed. Afternoon school was over, and I had just
+finished the last weary line in the long imposition set by Mrs.
+Handsomebody. I stretched my cramped limbs, and wondered dully where my
+brothers were. My depression was increased by the fact that the
+freshly-donned trousers were brown tweed, while my jacket was of blue
+serge.
+
+I laid the imposition on Mrs. Handsomebody's desk, and listlessly set out
+to find the others. I could hear Mary Ellen in the kitchen thumping a mop
+against the legs of the furniture in a savage manner that bespoke no mood
+of airy persiflage. Therefore, I did not go down the back stairs, but
+throwing a leg over the hand-rail of the front stairs, I slowly slid to the
+bottom, and rested there a space on my stomach, an attitude peaceful, and
+conducive to clear thinking.
+
+I reviewed the situation dispassionately. Here was I, who had scarcely been
+at all to blame, humiliated, an outcast, so to speak, while Angel, who had
+made the beastly mess, went unscathed. As for The Seraph! I could scarcely
+bear to think of him with his tell-tale sticky little chin.
+
+Voices roused me. Buoyant with animation, they penetrated beyond the closed
+front door. A loud unknown voice, mingled with those of Angel and The
+Seraph.
+
+In an instant, I was on my feet, my nose pressed against one of the narrow
+windows of ruby-coloured glass that were on either side of the hall door. I
+could see three small red figures in animated conversation on the square
+grass plot before the house. The largest of the three began to execute a
+masterly hop, skip and jump on the crimson grass. Above arched the sanguine
+sky.
+
+I opened the door and closing it softly behind me, stood on the steps.
+
+The newcomer was a sturdy fellow about a year older than Angel. He had a
+devil-may-care air about him, and he wore, at a rakish angle, a cap,
+bearing the badge of a well-known school. He turned to me instantly.
+
+"Well," he said, "you're a rum-lookin' pup."
+
+I was rather abashed at such a greeting, but I held my ground. "My name is
+John," I replied simply.
+
+"Oh, Lord!" he groaned. "_John!_ Don't you know enough to give your
+surname? Eh? I wish we had you at my school for a term. We'd lick you into
+shape."
+
+"His surname is Curzon, too," put in Angel, "same as mine."
+
+"Very well, then," said the boy, "you're Curzon major, Curzon minor, and
+Curzon minimus. Hear that, Curzon minimus?" he shouted, tweaking The
+Seraph's ear.
+
+"I say," said Angel, "you let him alone!" And I ran down the steps. The boy
+stared.
+
+"Don't you keep him in order?" he asked.
+
+"Rather," replied Angel, "but I don't hurt him for nothing."
+
+"I have two young brothers," said the boy, "and I hurt them for next to
+nothing. Licks 'em into shape."
+
+He looked around him and then added, "There's no fun here. Let's hook it to
+my place, and I'll show you my rabbits. I've taken a fancy to you, and, if
+you like, I'll let you call me by my first name. It's Simon. And I'll call
+you by yours. That minor and minimus business is rather rotten when you're
+friends. Come along."
+
+Mrs. Handsomebody, we knew, was safe at a lecture on The Application of
+Science to Human Relationships; Mary Ellen was doing her Friday's cleaning;
+therefore, we set off with our new-found friend without fear of hindrance
+from the female section of our household.
+
+
+III
+
+As we trotted along, Simon told us that his family had taken a large old
+house that had stood vacant ever since we had come to live with Mrs.
+Handsomebody. How often we had timidly passed its dingy front, wondering
+what might be within its closed shutters and deep-set front door!
+
+Now, as we approached, we saw that the sign, To Let, had been taken down;
+the door and shutters were wide open; and, one of the shutters, hanging at
+a rakish angle, much as Simon wore his cap, gave a promise of jollity and
+lack of restraint within.
+
+"We shall just cut around to the back garden," announced Simon. "The kids
+are there, and need putting in order by the row they are making."
+
+We passed through a low door in the wall that separated the front garden
+from the back. The wall was overgrown with dusty untrimmed creepers, from
+which a flock of sparrows flew when the door was opened.
+
+For a moment, we could scarcely take in the scene before us; in our
+experience it was so unprecedented. But Simon did not seem in the least
+surprised.
+
+"Hi, kids!" he yelled, "just keep that water off us, will you! Put down
+that hose, Mops!"
+
+Mops was a girl a little younger than Simon. She stood in the middle of the
+garden, a hose in her hands, and she was absorbed in drenching two
+half-naked small boys and five fox terriers, who circled around her like
+performers in a circus ring. The noise of yelling boys and barking dogs was
+terrific.
+
+"What's she doing?" we gasped.
+
+"It's so dev'lish hot that the hose feels bully. Like to try it?"
+
+"I wish we had got our bathing suits," said Angel.
+
+"Never mind. I think there's a couple of pairs of trunks in the scullery,
+and the young 'un can have a pinafore of Mopsie's."
+
+He led the way down some littered steps into a basement room, where a
+dishevelled maid was blacking boots.
+
+"Here Playter," he ordered, "dig up some togs for a hosing, will you? And
+be sharp about it, there's a love."
+
+The girl obligingly dropped her boots, and turning out the contents of a
+cupboard, produced some faded blue bathing trunks.
+
+To us they seemed shamelessly inadequate, but Simon appeared satisfied. Now
+he hurried us to a summer-house occupied by a family of lop-eared rabbits,
+and here we changed into the trunks. The Seraph required some help, and
+when he was stripped, I could see his little heart pounding away at his
+ribs, for, between the exertion of keeping up to us, and not quite
+understanding why he was being undressed, he was very much wrought up.
+
+"It's just fun," I reassured him. "Don't get funky."
+
+"I'm not," he whispered, as I tied on his trunks, "but I fink it's a
+dangerous enterpwise."
+
+"Time's up," yelled Simon, "get into the game!"
+
+We leaped from the summer-house to the grass, and, refreshing it was to our
+bare soles. The first onslaught from the hose almost knocked my legs from
+under me, and, indeed, throughout the game, Mops seemed to single me out
+for special attention. We three had never in our lives given way to such an
+abandon of wildness. The Seraph yelled till he was hoarse, and, when at
+last Mops surrendered the hose to Simon, the orgy grew wilder still.
+
+In the midst of it, a French window at the back of the house opened, and a
+lady stood on the threshold.
+
+My senses had received only a delicate impression of pink satin, golden
+hair, and flashing rings, when Simon turned the hose, in full force, on the
+step just below her, sending a shower of drops all about her. With a scream
+she fled indoors, slamming the French window.
+
+"You got her that time, all right," said Mops, grinning roguishly.
+
+"Who is she?" I gasped.
+
+"Oh, just mummy," replied Simon, nonchalantly.
+
+The French window opened again. This time a young man in grey tweeds
+appeared. I quite expected to see him greeted with a shower also, but Simon
+respectfully lowered the hose.
+
+"Did you turn that hose on your mother, Simon?" asked the young man
+sternly.
+
+"Just a little," answered Simon.
+
+"Well, the next time you do it you'll get your jacket dusted, do you hear?"
+
+"Yes, father."
+
+The young man disappeared into the house, three of the wet dogs following
+him.
+
+"Isn't Lord Simon sweet?" asked Mops, with another roguish smile at me.
+
+"Awfully," I replied politely, "but is the lady really your mother?"
+
+"Let's feed," interrupted Simon, throwing down the hose, "I've a rare old
+twist on."
+
+I was sorry he had interrupted us, for I yearned towards Mops, and I felt
+that further conversation with me would be acceptable to her, but we were
+swept away in the stampede for food to the basement kitchens.
+
+They seemed immense to me, and full of the jolliest servants I had ever
+seen. Two men-servants in livery were playing a game of cribbage at one end
+of a long littered table, while several laughing maid-servants hung over
+their shoulders. The game was suspended at our entrance, and they all
+turned to ask us questions and chaff us about our appearance. One of the
+fox terriers jumped on the table and began nosing among the saucepans.
+Nobody stopped him. The fat, good-natured cook busied herself in spreading
+bread and butter with Sultana raisins for us; the maid-servants made a
+great fuss over The Seraph.
+
+In such a whirlwind did this family live that just as I was beginning to
+feel at ease in this extraordinary kitchen, I was rushed back to the garden
+to play, a somewhat solid feeling in my stomach telling me that the bread
+and Sultanas had arrived.
+
+"Hurrah for stilts," screamed Mops.
+
+"Just the thing," assented Simon. "Here young Bunny and Bill, fetch the
+stilts, and be sharp about it--hear?" and he gave them each a punch in the
+ribs.
+
+Thus encouraged, Bunny and Bill scampered across the grass, the
+fox-terriers yelping at their heels, and, from a convenient out-house all
+sizes of stilts were produced.
+
+These accomplished children could do all manner of amazing feats on the
+stilts; even little Bill laughed at our awkward attempts. But, after many
+falls, Angel and I could limp haltingly about the garden, and experienced
+the new joy of looking down at things instead of up.
+
+We noticed presently that Simon was propped against the high wall that
+divided this garden from the next. In a moment he called to us:
+
+"Toddle over here and see what the old girls are doing."
+
+"Who does he mean?" I asked Mops, as we moved stiffly, side by side.
+
+"It's the Unaquarium parson's garden," she said. "I expect they're having a
+tea-fight. They're always up to something fishy."
+
+Something ominous in the words should have warned me, but I was too elated
+to be heedful of signs or portents. I clutched the wall, and, with a grin
+of amusement, gazed down at the group of ladies, who, with two gentlemen in
+black, were drinking tea on the lawn.
+
+Bunny threw a green pear at the thin legs of the taller gentleman.
+
+The gentleman shied in a most spirited fashion, slopping his tea.
+
+Everybody turned to look in our direction.
+
+"Duck," hissed Mops.
+
+But it was too late to duck. Several ladies were already sweeping towards
+us.
+
+Then my soul fainted within me, for the voice of the being who ruled our
+little universe spoke as from a dark cloud.
+
+"David! John! Alexander!" gobbled the Voice, "are you gone mad? Come here
+instantly--but no--you appear to be nude--answer me--are you nude?"
+
+Mops answered for us; we were too afflicted for speech.
+
+"If you mean naket, we're not," she said, "but the dressed-up part of us is
+on this side."
+
+I was conscious of murmuring voices: What a terrible little girl; indeed
+the whole family; as for the mother--Yes--my pupils, and, for the present,
+my wards--Once they even threw a dead rat over!
+
+Then up spoke Mrs. Handsomebody. "Put on your clothes," she ordered, "and
+meet me at the corner. I shall be waiting."
+
+
+IV
+
+We had put on our clothes. We had met her but, good Heaven! what a
+Rendezvous! She, and Angel, and I were pallid with suppressed emotions,
+while The Seraph's face was flushed crimson. He was weeping loudly, as he
+followed in our wake, and walking with some difficulty, since Angel and I,
+in our agitation, had put his trousers on back to front.
+
+Mrs. Handsomebody placed us in a row, on three chairs in the dining-room,
+and seated herself opposite to us. After removing her bonnet, and giving it
+to Mary Ellen to carry upstairs to the wardrobe, she said:
+
+"If I believed that you realized the enormity of what you have done, I
+should write to South America to your father, and tell him that I would no
+longer undertake the responsibility of three boys so evilly inclined. What
+do you suppose my sensations were when, at the close of the lecture, the
+other ladies, the professor, our pastor, and myself adjourned to the garden
+for tea, to find you three perched, almost nude, on a wall, in such
+company?"
+
+"Do you know that those people are not respectable? The man, I am told, is
+a rake, who attends cockfights, and the mother of those children has been
+seen in the garden--_tight_!"
+
+"Was that the lady in pink satin?" asked Angel, showing interest for the
+first time.
+
+"I daresay. One would expect to find her in pink satin."
+
+The lecture went on, but I did not hear it; my mind dwelt insistently on
+thoughts of the lady in pink.
+
+"What did she do, please?" I interrupted, thoughtlessly, at last.
+
+"Who do?"
+
+"The lady. When she was tight."
+
+"So that is where your thoughts were," said Mrs. Handsomebody, angrily,
+"nice speculations indeed, for a little boy!"
+
+"I should yike a little nushment, please," interrupted The Seraph in his
+turn.
+
+"Not nourishment, but punishment is what you will get, young man," replied
+our governess, tartly. "What you three need is discipline at the hands of a
+strong man. We shall now go upstairs."
+
+
+V
+
+It was over. The gas was out, and we were in bed. Not snugly in bed, but
+smartingly; each trying to find a cool place on the sheets, and things very
+much bedewed by the tears of The Seraph.
+
+"I don't care," said Angel, rather huskily. "It was worth it, I'd do it
+again like a shot."
+
+"So would I," I assented. "Whatever do you s'pose they're up to now!"
+
+And, indeed, the thought of this spirited family coloured all my dreams. As
+in dancing rainbows they whirled about my bed: Mops with the hose; Bunny
+and Bill twinkling on stilts; Simon with all the dogs at his heels; and
+above all, the lady in pink, presiding like a golden-haired goddess, and
+very "tight."
+
+We were still in black disgrace at breakfast. Scarcely dared we raise our
+eyes to the cold face of Mrs. Handsomebody, lest she should read in them
+some yearning recollection of yesterday's misdeeds. Large spoonfuls of
+porridge and thin milk made unwonted gurgling noises as they hurried down
+our throats to our empty young stomachs.
+
+When we had done, and The Seraph had offered thanks to God for this good
+meal, Mrs. Handsomebody marched us, like conscripts to the schoolroom,
+where she assigned to each of us a task to keep him busy until her return
+from market.
+
+But the front door had barely closed upon her black bombazine dress, when
+we scampered to the head of the stairs, threw ourselves upon the hand-rail,
+and slid lightly to the bottom, and from there ran to find Mary Ellen in
+the parlour.
+
+She was sweeping out the sombre room with such listless movements of her
+plump, red arms, that the moist tea-leaves on the floor scarce moved
+beneath the broom.
+
+"Sure, I niver see sich a cairpet as this in all me born days," she was
+saying. "If I was to swape till I fell prostitute, I'd niver git it clane."
+
+"Oh, don't bother about the work, Mary Ellen!" we cried. "Just listen to
+the adventure we had yesterday!"
+
+"I listened to the hindermost part of it," she returned, "and it sounded
+purty lively."
+
+"Who cares?" said Angel. "It didn't hurt a bit."
+
+"Not a bit," assented The Seraph, cheerily. "She gets weaker evwy day, and
+I get stwonger."
+
+We rushed upon Mary Ellen then with the whole story of our new friends,
+dwelling, especially, upon our visit below stairs, and the rollicking men
+and maid-servants we found there.
+
+"They were drinking beer-and-gin," concluded Angel, "and the scullery-maid
+did a breakdown for us in a pair of hunting boots."
+
+"It beats all," said Mary Ellen, leaning on her broom, "what kapes me in a
+dull place like this, whin there do be sich wild goin's on just around the
+corner like. I'd give a month's wage to see thim folks."
+
+"Come around with me," suggested Angel, "and I'll introduce you."
+
+"Oh, no, Masther Angel. Misther Watlin, me young man, wouldn't want me to
+be goin' into mixed company widout him. An it do seem a pity, too, since I
+have me new blue dress, for if ever I look lovely, I look lovely in blue."
+And she attacked the tea-leaves with a lagging broom.
+
+Mrs. Handsomebody, when dinner was over, fixed us with her cold grey eye,
+and said:
+
+"Since you have proved yourselves utterly untrustworthy, you shall be
+locked in your bedroom, during my absence this afternoon. Mary Ellen, who
+will be engaged in cleaning the coal cellar, has been instructed to supply
+you with bread and milk at four o'clock. By exemplary behaviour today, you
+will ensure a return to your customary privileges tomorrow."
+
+
+VI
+
+The prison door was locked. The gaoler gone.
+
+Thus our Saturday half-holiday!
+
+Angel and I threw ourselves, face downward, on the bed. Not so The Seraph.
+Folding his arms, which were almost too short to fold, he stood before the
+single window, gazing through its grimy glass at the brick wall opposite,
+as though determined to find something cheerful in the outlook.
+
+Aeons passed.
+
+Familiar faces began to leer at me from the pattern in the wall-paper.
+Angel was despondently counting out his money on the counter-pane, and
+trying to make three half-pennys and a penny with a hole through it, look
+like affluence.
+
+Suddenly there came a rattling of hard particles on the pane. As we stared
+at each other in surprise, another volley followed. It was a signal, and no
+mistake! Already The Seraph was tapping the window in response. A moment of
+violent exertion passed before we could get it open. Then, thrusting out
+our heads we discovered Simon standing in the passage below, his upturned
+face wearing an anxious grin.
+
+"Thought I'd never get you," he whispered hoarsely. "I saw the Dragon go
+out, so I fired a handful of gravel at every window in turn. Come on out."
+
+"We can't. We're locked in!" we chorused dismally.
+
+"I'll try to catch you if you jump," he suggested. "I would break the fall,
+anyway."
+
+But the way looked long, and Simon very small.
+
+Then: "There's a ladder," cried The Seraph, gleefully, "better twy that."
+
+With his usual clear-sightedness, he had spied what had escaped his
+seniors. Our neighbour, Mr. Mortimer Pegg, had been having some paper hung,
+and, surely enough, the workmen had left a tall ladder propped against the
+wall of the house. Without a second's hesitation, Simon flung himself upon
+it, and with one splendid effort, hurled it from that support to the wall
+of Mrs. Handsomebody's house. Then, with the strength of a superman, he
+dragged it until it leaned just below our window, and stood gasping at its
+base.
+
+"Good fellow," said Angel, and began to climb out.
+
+"Now, you hand me The Seraph," he ordered, "and I'll attend to him."
+
+I had some misgivings as I passed his plump, clinging little person through
+the window, and watched him make the perilous descent, but, in time, he
+reached the ground, and then I, too, stood beside the others, and the four
+of us scampered lightly down the street with no misgivings, and no fears.
+
+Before the door of our own grocer, Simon made a halt.
+
+"Must have somethin' wet," he gasped. "Ladder nearly floored me."
+
+He took us in and treated us with princely unconcern to ginger beer and a
+jam puff apiece. As we sucked our beer through straws, I smiled to think of
+Mary Ellen, doubtless preparing bread and milk at home.
+
+Once more we entered the garden through the creeper-hung door. We visited
+the rabbits, and unchained one of the fox-terriers, which had been tied up,
+Simon told us, as a punishment for eating part of a lace curtain. Bill
+appeared then and said that his mother desired us to go to her in the
+drawing-room, and, as it was beginning to rain, Simon agreed that it wasn't
+a bad idea. We might even find something to eat in there.
+
+As we trooped past the basement window, I lingered behind the others, and
+peered for a space into the lawless region below. What met my gaze almost
+took my breath away: for there was our own Mary Ellen, who should have been
+at that moment cleaning the coal cellar, sitting at one end of the long
+table, in her new blue dress, and plumed hat, a gentleman in livery on
+either side of her, and on the table before her, a mug, which, without
+doubt, contained gin-and-beer!
+
+I waited to see no more. Enough to know that all the world was run amuck!
+With a glad whoop, I sped after the others, and only drew up when I stood
+on the threshold of the drawing-room.
+
+Like the servants' hall, it was a large apartment, and, like it, was
+bewildering in its colour and movement, to eyes accustomed to the grey
+decorum of Mrs. Handsomebody's establishment.
+
+Though it was summer, there was a fire on the hearth, which played with
+changeful constancy on the vivid chintzes, silver candle-sticks, and many
+mirrors of the room, but most of all, on the golden hair and satin tea-gown
+of the lady in pink.
+
+She was speaking in a loud, clear voice to Simon's father, who was leaning
+against the mantelpiece smoking.
+
+"Why the devil," she was saying, "should you smoke expensive cigars? Why
+don't you smoke cigarettes as I do?"
+
+She angrily puffed at one as she spoke, and threw herself back among the
+black and gold cushions of the divan, where she was sitting. Her fair brow
+cleared, however, as her glance rested on The Seraph.
+
+"Adorable little toad!" she cried, drawing him to her side. "What is your
+name?"
+
+"Alexander," replied our youngest, "but they call me The Seraph. I'm not a
+pampud pet."
+
+This sent the lady into a gale of laughter. She hugged him closer and
+turned to me.
+
+"And what is your name, Sobersides?" she demanded.
+
+"John," I replied, "and my father is David Curzon, and he is an engineer in
+South America, but he's coming back to England some day, and, I expect then
+we shall go to school. We just live with Mrs. Handsomebody."
+
+As I talked, her expression changed. She leaned forward, searching my face
+eagerly.
+
+"Is it possible?" she said, in a tragic voice. "Is it possible? David
+Curzon. His son. The very spit of him!" Abruptly she broke into gay
+laughter, which, somehow, I did not quite like: and turning to her husband,
+she said: "Do you remember Davy Curzon? He was such a silly old pet. Lor'!
+I'd quite forgot him!"
+
+"Lucky Davy," said the gentleman, smiling at me.
+
+"And he was so ridiculously poor," she went on, "I remember he ruined
+himself once to buy me a pair of cream-coloured ponies, and a lapis-lazuli
+necklace. And I daresay he's _fat_ now!"
+
+"He is not," I retorted stoutly. "He's thin. He's had the fever."
+
+"Again?" she cried. "He had it when I knew him--badly too. Who did he
+marry?"
+
+"A Miss Vicars," replied her husband. "Good family. A screaming beauty too.
+Other two boys look like her."
+
+But the lady had now, it seemed, no interest in the other two boys. The
+Seraph was deposed from his place on the divan to make room for me; and the
+lady begged me to give her a kiss, just for old times' sake. Yet, somehow,
+I did not quite like it, for I felt that she was making fun of my father,
+the hero of my dreams.
+
+Meanwhile, the other children, unchided, were making things lively in their
+own way. Mops and the boys were eating dates from a bowl and pelting each
+other with the stones, while a new member of the family, a seemingly
+sexless being in a blue sash and shoulder knots, called "Baby," galloped up
+and down the room with a battledore and shuttlecock.
+
+
+VII
+
+No servant announced her name. I felt no warning tremor of solid Earth
+beneath my feet. Yet there she was, in full equipment of bombazine dress,
+hard black bonnet, reticule, and umbrella, gripped like an avenging sword.
+Oh, that some merciful cloud might have swept us, like fair Iphigenia to
+the abode of the gods, and left three soft-eyed hinds in our stead!
+
+Yet, there we were, gazing at her, spellbound: and presently she enunciated
+with awful distinctness:
+
+"I am come to apologize for the intrusion of my wards upon your privacy,
+and to remove them instantly."
+
+"Oh, bless you," said the lady in pink, cheerily, "three or four more don't
+matter to us. Won't you sit down? And children--please let the lady's
+things be, d'you hear?" for these intrepid children had gathered around
+Mrs. Handsomebody as though she were a dancing bear; and "Baby" had even
+pulled her umbrella from her hand substituting for it the battledore which
+Mrs. Handsomebody unconsciously held, with an effect of ferocious
+playfulness.
+
+"I thank you," replied Mrs. Handsomebody. "I shall remain standing."
+
+"Let me make you acquainted with my husband," pursued the lady, "he's Lord
+Simon de Lacey, second son of the Duke of Aberfalden. Please excuse him
+smokin'!"
+
+The effect of these simple words on Mrs. Handsomebody was startling. She
+brandished the battledore as though to ward off the approaching Lord Simon,
+and repeated in a trembling voice:
+
+"Lord Simon de Lacey--Duke of Aberfalden. Surely there is some mistake."
+
+"I'm afraid not," said Lord Simon, shaking her hand. "In me you behold the
+traditional, impecunious younger son, and--"
+
+"But it will not always be so," interrupted Lady Simon, shouting to make
+herself heard, "for, you see, my husband's older brother is an invalid who
+will never marry, so we shall inherit the dukedom and estates one day. This
+child--" pointing to young Simon--"is a future duke."
+
+"He has a lovely brow," said Mrs. Handsomebody, beaming at him.
+
+Indeed, an astounding change had come over our governess. No longer was her
+manner frigid; her face, so grey and hard, had softened till it seemed to
+radiate benevolence. She beamed at Bill and Bunny playing at leap-frog
+before her chair; she beamed at "Baby," galloping astride of her umbrella;
+she beamed at Mops, trying to force a date into the mouth of a struggling
+fox-terrier; she even beamed at me when I caught her eye.
+
+"I trust that your father, the Duke, keeps well," she said to Lord Simon.
+
+"Great old boy," he replied. "Never misses a meet. Been in at the death of
+nearly four thousand foxes."
+
+"Ah, blood will tell," breathed Mrs. Handsomebody.
+
+"You see," interposed Lady Simon, "the Duke disinherited my husband when he
+married me. Didn't approve of the Profession. I was Miss Dulcie June,
+awfully well known. Photographs all over the place. Danced at the Gaiety,
+y'know."
+
+"I'm sure I have heard of you," said Mrs. Handsomebody.
+
+"Well, the Duke and I ran into each other at a dog show last week, and he
+was so struck with me, he asked to be introduced, and has asked us all to
+visit him at Falden Castle. It looks hopeful, don't it?"
+
+"Indeed, yes. But we shall be very sorry to lose you. It is so difficult
+for me to find suitable companions for my wards, and your children are
+so--spirited. Of course, blood will tell."
+
+"Just what I say," assented Lady Simon, "for I was a spirited girl, if ever
+there was one. What with late hours, and toe-dancin' and high-kickin', it's
+a wonder how I stood it. I think I was like that Sir Galahad chap whose
+'strength was as the strength of ten'--"
+
+"Doubtless because your art was pure, my love," put in Lord Simon, with a
+sly smile.
+
+"I used to know this boy's father in those days," went on Lady Simon. "He
+was a lamb."
+
+"He was also my pupil in his youth," said Mrs. Handsomebody, and the two
+talked on in the happiest fashion, till we took our leave, the whole family
+following us to the door, and "Baby" returning Mrs. Handsomebody's
+umbrella, and relieving her of the battledore without her having been aware
+of the negotiation.
+
+So we who had expected to be haled to retribution, as criminals of the
+deepest dye, floated homeward in the serene light of Mrs. Handsomebody's
+approval.
+
+No one spoke till the Cathedral came in view. Then Angel said:
+
+"There's a window in the Cathedral in memory of a son of some Duke of
+Aberfalden. He died about a hundred years ago."
+
+"The very same family," replied our governess, "and, I am sure, from now
+on, my dear boy, you will regard the window with a new reverence."
+
+"You must have noticed," she proceeded, "the geniality and dignity that
+emanated from each separate member of that noble family. This is admirably
+expressed by the French in the saying--'Noblesse oblige'--meaning that
+nobility has its obligations. Repeat the phrase after me, David, that you
+may acquire a perfect accent."
+
+"Knob-less obleedge," repeated Angel, submissively; and The Seraph also
+repeated it several times, as though storing it away for future use.
+
+When Mrs. Handsomebody rang the door-bell, I trembled for Mary Ellen,
+remembering where I had last seen her, but the admirable girl promptly
+opened the door to us, clad in the drabbest of her cellar-cleaning garb, a
+smudge of soot on her rosy cheek.
+
+Mrs. Handsomebody ordered sardines for tea, and had the silver tea-pot
+brought out. She also dressed for the occasion, adding a jet bracelet,
+seldom seen, to her toilet.
+
+All went well, till, at bedtime, The Seraph could not be found. Becoming
+alarmed, Mrs. Handsomebody, at last, opened the door of the forbidden
+parlour, Angel and I peering from behind her, hoping, yet fearing, to
+discover the recreant.
+
+Truly the gods had a mind to The Seraph. His was ever the cream of every
+adventure. There he was, lolling at ease, in a tasselled velvet chair, just
+beneath the portrait of Mr. Handsomebody. Lolling at ease, and smoking a
+gold-tipped cigarette, which, he afterwards confessed, he had got from
+Bill, in trade for a piece of India-rubber.
+
+Like an old-timer he handled it, watching the smoke-wreaths above his head
+with the tranquil gaze of an elderly club-man.
+
+"Merciful Heaven!" screamed Mrs. Handsomebody, clutching Angel and me for
+support. "Are you demented, Alexander? Do you realize what you are doing?"
+
+The Seraph drew a long puff, looking straight into her eyes, before he
+replied: then, in a tone of gentle seriousness, he said:
+
+"Knob-less obleedge."
+
+
+
+
+_Chapter IX: The Cobbler And His Wife_
+
+
+I
+
+Bootlaces had become of immense importance to us, since a lack of them
+always meant a visit to the cobbler to buy new ones. They were
+comparatively easy to break, or to tie in knots that even Mary Ellen's
+strong fingers could not undo. Then there were tongues. One could always
+dislocate a tongue. At any rate, the boots of one of the three were always
+needing attention.
+
+"Bless me!" our governess would exclaim, wrathfully, "Another heel off! One
+would think you did it purposely. And boots such a price! Just think of
+your poor father in South America, working day in and day out to provide
+you with boots, which you treat with no more consideration than if they
+were horseshoes--well, to the cobbler's then--and tell him to mind his
+charges. It should cost no more than sixpence."
+
+The cobbler lived in the tiniest of a group of tiny houses that huddled
+together, in a panicky fashion, in a narrow street behind Mrs.
+Handsomebody's house. From an upper window we could look down on their
+roofs, where the plump, Cathedral pigeons used to congregate to gossip and
+sun themselves.
+
+You went down three stone steps into the cobbler's shop. There he always
+sat at work by his bench, tapping away at the sole of a shoe, or stitching
+leather with his strange needle. His hands fascinated us by their coat of
+smooth oily dirt. Never cleaner, never dirtier, always the same useful,
+glove-like covering. Did he go to bed with them so? How jolly! we thought.
+His face, too, was of extraordinary interest. It was so thin that the sharp
+bones could be seen beneath the dusky skin, and he would twitch his
+nostrils at the breeze that came in his open window, for all the world like
+an eager brown hare. His hair curled so tightly over his head that one knew
+he could never pull a comb through it, and we were sure he was far too
+sensible to try.
+
+Mrs. Handsomebody said he was half gypsy, and not to be encouraged. Mary
+Ellen said, God help him with that wife of his.
+
+He bred canaries.
+
+All about the low window their wooden cages hung. Even from the darkest
+corners of the shop bursts of song leaped like little flames and yellow
+breasts bloomed like daffodils. When the cobbler tapped a shoe with his
+hammer, they sang loudest, making a wild and joyous din.
+
+Thus they were all busy together when we entered on this winter morning,
+carrying Angel's heelless boot, wrapped in a newspaper.
+
+"Good-morning, Mr. Martindale," said Angel, above the din, "you see I've
+got another heel off, so I'm wearing my Sunday boots, and Mrs. Handsomebody
+says it shouldn't be above sixpence, please."
+
+The cobbler ceased his tapping, and all the birds stopped to listen:
+
+"Good-morning, little masters," he said, in his soft voice. "What wild
+things your feet are to be sure. Try as I will, I cannot tame them. You
+might as well try to keep three wild ponies shod." He undid the parcel and
+turned the boot over in his hands. "Sixpence, did she say? Nay, tell her a
+shilling, for the sole needs stitching as well."
+
+"Oh, but you must keep that for another day," said Angel, "so we can come
+again."
+
+"How she tries to keep you down," said the cobbler. "How old are you now?"
+
+I replied to this. "Angel's ten, and I'm nine, and The Seraph's six."
+
+"Just the brave age for the woods. I wish I had my old van again, and could
+take you on the road with me. You'd learn something of forest ways in no
+time. Shall you wait for this?"
+
+Wait for it? Rather. We established ourselves about him; The Seraph climbed
+beside him on the bench; Angel took possession of his tools, handing them
+to him as required; while I busied myself in plentifully oiling a strip of
+leather. The birds chirped and pecked above our heads.
+
+Angel asked: "Did you do much cobbling in the van, Mr. Martindale?"
+
+"Ay, cobbling and tinkering too. The forest birds liked to hear me just the
+same as those canaries. Especially the tinkering. They'd crowd about and
+sing fit to burst their throats--wood-thrushes, finches, and all sorts.
+Then, I used to stop at village fairs and take in a nice bit of silver. For
+my missus could play the concertina, and I had a cage of lovebirds that
+could tell fortunes and do tricks."
+
+A strange voice spoke from the passage behind the shop.
+
+"Ay. Comical tricks lovebirds do. And cruel tricks, love. I've been tricked
+by 'em."
+
+"Better lie down, Ada," said Martindale. "Or make tea. That'll quiet ye."
+He rose and went to the door, closing it softly. But he had barely seated
+himself again, when there came a scream from the passage.
+
+"Look what you've did, you villain, you've shut me in the door! Oh! oh! I'm
+trapped in this comical passage! Loose me quick!"
+
+Martindale sprang to the door, where a strip of red petticoat showed that
+his wife was indeed caught, and went out into the passage, speaking in a
+soothing tone, and leading her away.
+
+"I fink I'll go," whispered The Seraph.
+
+"Don't be silly," I assured him, "the cobbler will take care she don't hurt
+us."
+
+"She's a character, isn't she?" said Angel, borrowing a phrase from Mary
+Ellen.
+
+Martindale returned then, sat down on his bench, and, smoothing his leather
+apron, resumed his work with composure.
+
+"I fink," said The Seraph, "I hear Mrs. Handsomebody calling. I better be
+off."
+
+"Bide a little while," said Martindale, "and I'll tell you a first rate
+story--about birds too. Then you'll forget your fright, little master, eh?"
+
+The Seraph moved closer to him, and the canaries burst into a fury of song.
+
+"It's wonderful what birds know," he began. "News flies as fast among 'em
+as wind on the heath, and if you do an injury to one, the others'll never
+forgive it. For though they may fight among themselves, they'll all join
+together against one wicked cruel man."
+
+The canaries ceased their singing, and fluttered against the bars.
+
+"Just look at Coppertoes," said the cobbler, pointing to a large ruffled
+bird, "he's heard this tale often afore, yet it always excites him. He'll
+peck at his perch; and beat his wings for hours after it. Won't you, my
+pet?"
+
+Coppertoes crouched on his perch, his beak open, making little hissing
+sounds.
+
+"Well, there was a man," went on the cobbler, "a student fellow he was, who
+was always making queer messes with chemicals, and fancying he was about to
+discover some wonderful new combination. He lived in a top room in a high,
+narrow house, well on towards three hundred years ago. And all those years,
+a family of song-sparrows, and their descendants, had nested under the
+eaves directly above his window. Hatched out their young; fed them; and
+taught them to fly. Very well. This student fellow was all in a fever one
+morning because he believed that, at last, his great discovery was all but
+perfect. Just a few hours more and he would have it in the hollow of his
+hand. But he could not rightly fasten his brain to work because of the
+constant cheeping of the young sparrows under the eaves. Every time the
+mother bird brought them a moth or worm they raised a chorus of yells; and
+when she flew away, they cheeped for her to come back again.
+
+"The student-fellow shut his window, but it did not keep out the noise.
+Then he flung open the window and waved his arms and shouted at them. But
+they only cheeped the louder. Now a dreadful rage took hold on him. With
+his heart full of murder, he fetched a basin in which he had put some
+poisonous drug. He set fire to this and set it on the window sill just
+below the nest. Then, with a triumphal smile, he shut the window fast,
+leaving the fledglings to perish in the fumes that rose, thick and deadly
+from the basin.
+
+"For hours he worked, and, at last, to his great joy, he figured out the
+amazing problem that was to be a gain to the whole world. He was so tired
+that he clean forgot the little birds, and flung himself, face down, on his
+bed to rest. He did not wake until the next morning at seven. It was so
+dark that he had to strike a light to see the face of his watch. Now he
+knew that it should not be dark at either seven in the morning or seven at
+night; and he felt very strange. The room was full of the unclean smells of
+his chemicals, and he groped his way to the window to get air. But the
+outdoor air was murky and he saw that a heavy cloud had settled just above
+the chimney pots. This cloud seemed to palpitate, as though made of a
+million beating wings. Down below he could hear the clatter of wooden clogs
+on the cobble stones, as people were running in a panic to the Town Hall.
+The big bell of it began to ring, but in a muffled way as though borne down
+by the cloud. The student guessed that a meeting was being called.
+
+"He remembered the sparrows then, and he craned his neck to see the nest.
+There was the little mother-bird sitting in the nest with her wings
+outstretched to protect the nestlings from the deadly fumes. Her beak was
+wide open and she was quite dead."
+
+The Seraph's breast heaved and his tears began to drop on the cobbler's
+leather apron. Coppertoes squatted beneath his swing, striking it angrily
+with his shoulders so that it swung violently. All the other birds were
+silent.
+
+Steadily working at the shoe the cobbler proceeded: "The terrible truth was
+borne to the student then, and he knew that the cock sparrow, on finding
+his mate and her young ones thus foully murdered, had flown swiftly to the
+king of all the birds, and told him of the deed. The king had summoned
+great battalions of birds, from fierce eagles and owls (these last rushing
+from their dark hiding places) down to fluttering little wrens and tomtits.
+'Twas of those that the great cloud was made, and it hung just over the
+town like a dark wave that would soon smother the townsfolk.
+
+"The student caught up the paper where he had writ the great discovery and
+made for the street, running along with the rest of the folk, and ready to
+drop with fear of the great press of wings above them. When he got to the
+Town Hall, he found the whole town huddled together there, even new mothers
+with their babes, like young birds; and, in a moment the beadle had swung
+the great doors shut. In there they could scarce see each other's fearful
+faces; but the student clumb up on the council table, and he told out
+bravely enough how it was all his doing, and since he had brought it to
+pass, he was prepared to go out and face the birds alone.
+
+"But first he handed over the paper to the Mayor, and charged him to guard
+it stoutly, for it was about the most precious thing on earth. Then he
+called--'Good-bye! friends,' and went, since there was no time to spare;
+for the birds were beginning to hammer like hail on the windows with their
+beaks, especially the cranes and flamingos.
+
+"When the door had clanged behind him the women mourned aloud, for they
+knew they would never see him again. A great tumult rose outside as of a
+hurricane, and it grew pitch dark. After a spell, the noise ceased, and the
+cloud lifted, and a shaft of sunlight slanted across the hall. The village
+tailor opened the door, for the mayor and the beadle were sore afeared.
+There was not a bird in sight, though the ground was inches deep in
+feathers they had dropped. As for the student, no one ever saw him again.
+Whether the birds had carried him off bodily to some secret place, or
+whether they had torn him piecemeal, no one knew."
+
+The Seraph sniffled. "It's nice and twagic," he said.
+
+"What became of his great discovery?" asked Angel.
+
+"Ay, you may well ask that. Why, the mayor said it was bewitched and held
+it in the flame of a candle till there was naught left of it but
+cinders.... Now, here is your boot, little master, good as new, and the
+cost but one shilling."
+
+
+II
+
+When we entered the house, we heard voices in the parlour, and found our
+governess there, superintending Mary Ellen at work. Mary Ellen was
+carefully brushing and dusting the plumage of the stuffed birds.
+
+I stared with a new interest at those feathered members of our household,
+who held themselves so coldly aloof from the rest of us; asking neither
+gift of chickweed nor of sugar, disdaining the very air we breathed. Who
+knew but that yonder sad-eyed hawk had helped to tear the student!
+"Piecemeal" the cobbler's word for it--one could picture him with some
+bloody fragment, shooting straight upward, his wide pinions spread.
+
+Mrs. Handsomebody was speaking in a complaining way to Angel.
+
+"A shilling! 'Tis ridiculous. For such a paltry piece of work. I shall go
+around that way when we take our walk and protest against such extortion. I
+said sixpence to you when you set out."
+
+"I know," replied Angel, "but he said it was worth a shilling."
+
+"You see, he has a wife to keep," put in The Seraph, "and live birds to
+feed."
+
+Mary Ellen withdrew her head from the interior of the glass case.
+
+"Oh'm," she said, very red in the face, "it's thrue that Misther Martindale
+needs every penny he can lay hands on, for his wife is no good to him at
+all, and he has to hire a charwoman to clane up for her."
+
+"Then," said Mrs. Handsomebody, "I shall seek a shoemaker who has no such
+encumbrance. Is the woman feeble-minded or a sloven?"
+
+"Faith, she's both 'm, and ivery day she's gettin' worse than she do be.
+I've heard her say sich things whin I've been in the shop that me very
+sowl-case shivered."
+
+"What sort of things?"
+
+"Well," said Mary Ellen, circling her duster on the glasses, so that she
+might still be said to be working as she talked, "the other day whin I
+called for me slippers wid the satin bows on--"
+
+"I disapprove of those bows."
+
+"--She was in the passage beyant, and just the voice of her came through
+the crack o' the dure. She says, says she: 'If a body was to fall--an'
+fall--an' fall--and there was naught to stop him, it's comical to think
+where he'd light on.'... Her voice was as solemn as the church organ, 'm.
+Another day she says: 'If I could only git the moon out of this passage,
+there'd be room for my head to whirl round and round!' 'Excuse me,' I says
+to the cobbler, 'I'll call for thim shoes later.'"
+
+"What appearance has she?" inquired Mrs. Handsomebody.
+
+"Noan at all. I've niver seed her. No one has ever seed her. She's more
+banshee than woman, I do belave."
+
+True to her threat, Mrs. Handsomebody stopped at the cobbler's that
+afternoon, at the outset of our accustomed promenade. The birds were in
+full chorus as we descended the steps into the shop.
+
+The cobbler got to his feet, and touched his forehead respectfully. This
+pleased Mrs. Handsomebody.
+
+"My good man," she said, "You have sadly overcharged me for putting a new
+heel on this child's boot. I said, when I sent it that it was worth
+sixpence--"
+
+The cobbler opened his mouth to speak.
+
+--"Now, don't interrupt," continued Mrs. Handsomebody. "I shall not ask you
+to refund the sixpence; but I have brought a prunella gaiter of my own
+which needs stitching, and I shall expect you to do it, without extra
+charge, if you wish to retain the patronage of my household."
+
+Here was a test of manhood! Would Martindale, a full-grown male, submit to
+being bullied by a creature who wore a bustle, and a black silk apron?
+Alas, for the whiskered sex! He took his medicine; just as we, hedged in
+some fateful corner, gulped down our castor oil. Turning the gaiter over in
+his dark hands, he meekly assented. Mrs. Handsomebody, appeased by her easy
+victory, inquired after his wife.
+
+"Oh, poorly as usual, thank you ma'am," he said.
+
+"I should think that country life would be much better for her."
+
+"She's even worse in the country."
+
+"There was a sheet of an excellent religious paper wrapped about that
+gaiter. You might give it to her to read."
+
+"Thank you, ma'am, I will, though she takes more comfort reading the
+dream-book than anything."
+
+"Burn the dream-book. It is probably at the root of the trouble."
+
+"No," replied the cobbler, slowly, "It all began when we lost our
+daughter."
+
+Mrs. Handsomebody was touched. "That is sad indeed. How old was the child?"
+
+"Just two days old, ma'am. We were camping in a forest when she was born,
+and I had laid her in a little hammock among the birds, and some gypsies
+must have stolen her, for when I came back she was gone. She'd be eighteen
+now." He stroked his leather apron with trembling hands, at the same time
+giving me a curious look of appeal. So when Mrs. Handsomebody, after a few
+words of sympathy made a movement to go, I developed a strange pain in the
+leg, that made walking an impossibility. She consented that I should rest a
+while at the cobbler's, and then return home carrying the gaiter.
+
+When Martindale and I were left alone, he cautiously opened the door into
+the passage, peered out, and then returned. He said softly:
+
+"Little Master, I've got to get rid of Coppertoes. She's turned against
+him. She says he comes out of his cage of nights, and flies about the
+house, pecking at the food, and trying to make a nest in her hair. She says
+he stole a golden sovereign of hers and hid it in an old shoe. Isn't it a
+shame, and he such a lovely bird?"
+
+"It's awful," I agreed. "What shall you do?"
+
+"I know a man who will buy him, but he is out of town till tomorrow. Could
+I depend on you, little master, to keep him for me till then? If he is left
+here the misses will do him an injury."
+
+"But Mrs. Handsomebody--" I faltered.
+
+"Just put him in some out o' the way corner with a cloth over his cage, and
+a lump of sugar. He'll be quiet as can be, and 'twill soon be dark--"
+
+
+III
+
+With a delicious sense of secrecy, I stole past the Cathedral. Pressed
+against my breast was the cage that held Coppertoes. He sat quietly on his
+perch, very long, and slender, and bright-eyed with amazement at this
+sudden excursion into a new world. I wondered what he thought of the
+towering Cathedral, shrouded in a film of hoar frost that lent its ancient
+stones a bloom as delicate as the petals of flowers.
+
+Three pigeons hopped daintily down the shallow stone steps, cocking their
+heads inquisitively at the bird in the cage. I shouted at them, and they
+rose slowly to the tower above.
+
+Silent indeed was the hall when I entered. Only the clock ticked
+ponderously. The house was cold, and Coppertoes seemed suddenly very
+fragile. How lonely he would be! I stared at the closed door of the
+parlour, thinking what a shame that the stuffed birds in there were not
+alive, so they might be company for him. Still--he was very young--and had
+not seen much of the world. Might he not be made to believe that they were
+a foreign breed that never chirped or left their perches? Anything was
+better than the dark and loneliness. And if he chose to sing I was sure he
+could not be heard through that heavy door.
+
+Like a ghost I went in and shut the door behind me.
+
+I held his wicker cage against the glass case. "Coppertoes," I whispered,
+"Other birds! Aren't they pretty? Want to get in an' play with them, old
+chap? See the pretty oriole? An' the owl, Coppertoes. Lovebirds, too. Want
+to get in, little fellow? Such a bully big cage you never saw."
+
+I opened the door of the glass case, and cautiously introduced the bird
+cage. I opened the door of the cage. Coppertoes paid no heed but busied
+himself in pecking sharply at his lump of sugar. I urged him with my finger
+but still he refused to see the door. Then I took away his sugar, and poked
+him. With a light and careless hop he was on the threshold. He cocked his
+head. He spied the oriole.
+
+An instant later he was at its throat. Feathers flew. He was back again on
+the roof of his cage spitting feathers out of his mouth. More feathers
+sailed slowly through the heavy air. Then he spied the lovebirds. With
+passionate fury he attacked them both at once, tearing their plumage
+impartially; his eye already selecting the next victim.
+
+Though my heart thumped with apprehension, my mouth was stretched in a
+broad grin. I felt that I should never tire of the spectacle before me. I
+realized that I had always hated the stuffed birds.
+
+Coppertoes was busy with the owl, when a piercing scream came from behind
+me. I turned and found Mrs. Handsomebody gazing with horrified fascination
+at the orgy under glass. She took three steps forward, her eyes starting
+with horror.
+
+"Come to life--" she gasped, in a strangled voice--"after all these
+years--and gone stark mad."
+
+She fell, at full length, across the green and red medallions of the
+carpet.
+
+Then, with a rush, Mary Ellen and the charwoman, Mrs. Coe, were upon us,
+and, after them, my brothers.
+
+"Lord preserve us!" cried Mary Ellen, bending above her prostrate mistress,
+"what has come over the poor lady to be took like this?"
+
+"Is she dead, do you fink?" asked The Seraph, on a hopeful note.
+
+"Well, if she is, faith! 'tis yersilves has kilt her."
+
+"She's just in a swoond," asserted Mrs. Coe, calmly. "Wot she needs is
+brandy. Yus, and terbaccer smoke blowed dahn 'er froat." Mrs. Handsomebody
+moaned.
+
+"Better get her out of here," suggested Angel, his eye on Coppertoes who,
+sated by bloodshed, lay with wings outstretched, panting on the floor of
+the case.
+
+"Thrue," agreed Mary Ellen. "And shut the dure afther ye, and make
+yersilves scarce till tea-time, like good childer, do."
+
+Mrs. Handsomebody was borne away by Mary Ellen and Mrs. Coe, the latter
+still muttering--"terbaccer smoke dahn 'er froat."
+
+We restored Coppertoes to his wicker cage, and wrapping it in an
+antimacassar, hid it beneath the piano.
+
+
+IV
+
+We three sat, "making ourselves scarce," on the topmost of the steps before
+the front door. It was only four by the Cathedral clock, which solemnly
+struck the hour, but it was almost dark. It was cold and we pressed closely
+together for warmth. The Seraph murmured a little song of which I caught
+the words:
+
+  "The birds! The birds!
+    He knocked the stuffing
+    Out of the stuffed birds!"
+
+We watched the slow progress of the lamplighter along the street. Like a
+god, he marched solemnly, leaving new stars in his wake.
+
+As he raised his wand and touched the lamp before our house, a new figure
+appeared beneath its rays, hurrying darkly towards us. It entered the gate
+and came in a stealthy way to where we sat. We recognized the cobbler.
+
+"Little masters," he whispered. "She's flitted."
+
+"Good widdance," said The Seraph, briskly. "She was too comical to be a
+nice wife."
+
+"Ah, no," replied the cobbler. "She's weak in her head and bound to come to
+something hurtful. I'll not seek my bed this night until I've found her. I
+thought mayhap you'd ha' seen her pass!"
+
+"No," replied Angel. "We didn't. But perhaps the lamplighter did."
+
+With one accord, we hurried after the retreating figure. Hearing our
+footsteps, he turned and faced us beneath a newly lit lamp. Its serene
+radiance fell on his solemn blue-eyed face, surrounded by red whiskers.
+
+"What's the turmoil?" he asked. "Did I forget a lamp?"
+
+"Have ye seen a strange-appearing woman?" asked Martindale. "With a shawl
+about her, and mayhap remarking something about the moon, or a evil-minded
+canary."
+
+The lamplighter ran his fingers through his red beard. "She warn't saying
+naught about canaries," he affirmed, "but she did say as how if she could
+once get the moon in Wumble Pool, she'd drown it."
+
+"Wumble Pool. That's where she's gone then. I can't seem to place it."
+
+"It's less nor a mile from here, and since my last lamp is lit, I'll not
+mind guiding you so far. Who be she, this woman?"
+
+"My wife. She's fey, and I'm fearing she'll drown herself."
+
+"It's a very bad fing to be drowned," put in The Seraph, as we all set off
+together. "'Cos a bath in a tub is wet enough."
+
+What a chill, dark night it was growing! The Cathedral clock struck a
+hollow warning note as we passed. We heard the beat of wings as the pigeons
+settled for the night.
+
+The Seraph grasped a hand each of the cobbler and the lamplighter, taking
+long manful strides to keep up with them. We seemed, indeed, a sinister
+company setting out on dark adventure.
+
+Hurriedly we traversed narrow, winding streets, where night had already
+fallen in the shadow of clammy walls. Strange and eerie was the path
+between wet trees, when we had left the town behind. The lamplighter with
+his tall wand alight seemed like some unearthly messenger come to conduct
+us to goblin realms.
+
+We spoke never a word till an open common lay before us; then the
+lamplighter pointing with his wand to a glimmering surface fringed by rank
+grass, said:
+
+"Yon's Wumble Pool."
+
+Wumble Pool! The very name struck a chill to our hearts.
+
+"Yes, and there's the moon," whispered the cobbler.
+
+It was true that the distorted image of the moon floated dimly in the Pool,
+as though it had indeed been caught by the mad-woman, and drowned.
+
+"How soft the ground is!" breathed Angel.
+
+"Ay, and the Pool has no bottom," said the lamplighter.
+
+"I can't think she'd have the heart to do it," said Martindale.
+
+The Seraph screamed.
+
+"There she is! I see her! Standing in the Pool!"
+
+We ran to the brink. A cold air struck our faces. Our feet sank ankle-deep
+in the mud. The cobbler did not stop, but ran on into the Pool, where the
+shawled figure of a woman stood, covered to the waist by the sullen, black
+water.
+
+"Ada! Ada!" cried the cobbler, throwing his arms about her.
+
+"Leave me go!" shrieked the woman. "I'm a-goin' to drownd myself!"
+
+The struggle in the water, shattered the reflection of the moon like pale
+amber glass. Once they both sank into the water; the lamplighter waving his
+wand, and shouting. Then, at last, the four of us bent over them as they
+lay, huddled, on the grass at the brink.
+
+"You'd ought to be ashamed of yourself to worrit your 'usband so," said the
+lamplighter, sternly.
+
+"'Usband!" cried the woman, shrilly. "I've got no 'usband!"
+
+The cobbler gave a cry of fear. He pulled the shawl from her head and felt
+the face and hair.
+
+"God's truth!" he muttered, "I've saved the wrong woman."
+
+"Better fwow her back again," suggested The Seraph.
+
+"Nay, nay, little man," said the lamplighter, holding his light close to
+her face. "That would never do. Besides, her be young and winsome."
+
+"I'd keep her," said Angel.
+
+"Whoever are you, lass?" asked Martindale, in a trembling voice, "and why
+did you plan to make way with yourself?"
+
+The moon shone wanly on the girl's face and wet hair.
+
+"I'm nobody," she wailed, "and I be tired of life."
+
+"Did you see aught of a strange woman?" asked Martindale. "One who was
+talking about the moon, and her head a-whirling?"
+
+"She came right down the road ahead of me," she answered, in a weak voice,
+"and ran straight into the pool. When she was in, she grabbed the floating
+image of the moon, and she said: 'I've got you, at last, you comical
+villain!' And she laughed, and seemed to struggle with it, and she went
+down."
+
+"That'd be her, all right," said the lamplighter.
+
+"Ada mine, Ada mine," mourned Martindale.
+
+Angel and The Seraph and I clutched hands, and looked shudderingly into
+Wumble Pool.
+
+"That seemed to scare me like," went on the girl, "and I couldn't jump
+right in, but I just crept, a step at a time, fearing I'd step on the
+body."
+
+"No danger," said The Seraph complacently, "there's no bottom."
+
+"One thing is certain," pronounced the lamplighter, "this young 'ooman
+should have some hot spirits in her inside, and be wrapped in a warm
+blanket, afore she's starved with the cold."
+
+First we walked all around Wumble Pool, and poked it with sticks, but there
+was no sign of the cobbler's wife. Then, slowly, we retraced our steps to
+the town, the two men supporting the dripping girl.
+
+A lamp burned with a ruddy glow in the room behind the shop, where all the
+birds were sleeping. Martindale put his charge in a chair by the hearth,
+and made gin-and-beer hot for everybody. The Seraph kissed the girl, and
+she said that she was glad after all that she was safe out of Wumble Pool.
+
+"What is your name, my dear?" questioned Martindale.
+
+"I don't know my name rightly, sir, for I was stole by gipsies when I was
+but two days old."
+
+The cobbler gave a cry and set down his glass. "Gipsies--two days' old--"
+he stammered. Then he pushed back the thick hair, about her ear. "Yes,
+yes!" pointing to a tiny slit in the lobe, "there is the very place,--where
+one of my jealous birds pecked her the day she was born!" He caught her in
+his arms and held her, mystified but happy--.
+
+The reunion was interrupted by a pounding at the door. It was a furious
+Mary Ellen, her night out completely spoiled by the search for us.
+
+Thus we were haled before Mrs. Handsomebody, questioned, upbraided, and
+given, at last, a bowl of hot gruel apiece.
+
+"You deserve," she said bitterly, "to go empty to bed, but my conscience
+forbids that I relax my vigilance over your health. Tomorrow, we shall see
+what can be done in the way of discipline."
+
+We sat on three high-backed haircloth chairs. The steaming gruel slipped
+thickly into our stomachs. The hot gin had gone to our heads. Mrs.
+Handsomebody's head looked abnormally large to me, and seemed to be
+whirling round and round. Surely she was not getting like the cobbler's
+wife! Mrs. Handsomebody was still scolding:
+
+"You began the day by introducing a canary of the lowest proclivities into
+my case of stuffed birds, where he perpetrated irreparable damage--"
+
+The Seraph interrupted, "Don't you yike live birds, Mrs. Handsomebody?"
+
+"I prefer stuffed birds to live ones, I confess."
+
+The Seraph said apologetically: "And I pwefer gin to gwuel--any day."
+
+"Gin! Where did you taste gin?"
+
+Without reply The Seraph hurried on, while Angel and I scraped our bowls:
+
+"There was once a student fellow and he didn't yike live birds, either. He
+poisoned one and it died. Then he undertook a walk (this was a favourite
+expression of Mrs. Handsomebody's) and all the other birds pounced on him
+and tore him piecemeal."
+
+Mrs. Handsomebody, with a ferocious gleam in her eye, leaned forward to
+catch the rest. The Seraph's voice was low and insinuating.
+
+"I was finking"--with a chuckle--"that you might poison one of the nicest
+of the stuffed birds. Then you might get in the glass case wiv the others.
+We could lock the door on the outside and watch through the glass."
+
+"And I expect you think they would tear _me_ piecemeal? Is that the idea?"
+
+"Oh, I don't know," chuckled The Seraph. "But suppose you twy it."
+
+
+
+
+_Chapter X: The New Day_
+
+
+I
+
+I think we must have felt that he was coming, for we awoke at dawn that
+morning. I could barely see the silvery bars between the slats of the
+shutters. The Seraph was stirring in his sleep, and in a moment he
+whispered: "I say, John, what's that long black thing behind the door?"
+
+"Just some clothes hung up," I whispered back.
+
+"I fought they moved," he said. "Do you fink the wardrobe door moved,
+John?"
+
+"Everything seems a little queer this morning," I replied. "I heard a
+whispering sort of noise at the shutters a bit ago."
+
+Angel began to talk in his sleep.
+
+"If three suns were to rise at six," he muttered, "how many stars would it
+take to make a moon?"
+
+The Seraph began to laugh delightedly. He kicked his legs and showed all
+his little white teeth. Angel opened his eyes and stared at us crossly.
+"What a beastly row," he said. "I want to sleep some more."
+
+The silver bars between the slats of the shutters took a golden tinge.
+Clearly it was to be a fine day, after a week of rain and sleet.
+
+The chimes of the Cathedral sounded. The notes came with penetrating
+sweetness as though the air were cold and clear. We heard the door of Mary
+Ellen's room open; she descended the back stairs noisily.
+
+The Seraph turned a somersault in the middle of the bed.
+
+"Cwistmas is coming," he said, trying to stand on his head, "and I want a
+pony."
+
+We threw ourselves into a general scuffle, and the old-four-poster creaked
+and the bolster fell to the floor.
+
+Then up the cavernous backstairs came the peal of the front door bell. We
+heard Mary Ellen drop the poker and run through the house. It was an
+unheard of hour for the front door bell to ring. We sat up in bed in
+stiffened attitudes of expectancy. Mary Ellen was mounting the front stair.
+She rapped loudly at Mrs. Handsomebody's bedroom door. There were whispers.
+Then Mrs. Handsomebody's voice came decidedly:
+
+"Go about your work with the utmost speed. Say nothing to the boys of this.
+I shall tell them when they have had their breakfast."
+
+In a moment she appeared at our door in her purple dressing-gown, an
+expression of repressed excitement on her face. A sunbeam slanting through
+the passage rested on the fringe of curl-papers about her head so that she
+looked like some elderly saint wearing a rather ragged halo.
+
+"I have received news," she announced, with more than usual firmness,
+"which will make it necessary for us to rise immediately. Dress as quickly
+as you can, and help your little brother. What a state you have got that
+bed into! You deserve to be punished." She stood for a moment, her eyes
+resting on us with a curious look, then, with a sigh, she turned away and
+went back to her room.
+
+At breakfast she still wore her dressing-gown, an unprecedented laxity.
+Beside her on the table-cloth lay a crumpled piece of buff paper. So it was
+by telegram that the news had come. Instantly I thought. The telegram is
+from father. He is coming home. Maybe he is on his way. In London even! The
+food would not go down my throat. Shudders of excitement shook me.
+
+I looked at Angel. Taking advantage of Mrs. Handsomebody's absorption he
+was spreading a second spoonful of sugar over his porridge. The Seraph was
+staring, spoon in hand, into Mrs. Handsomebody's set face. He said--
+
+"Mrs. Handsomebody, if I was to smile at you, would you smile back at me?"
+
+"Alexander," replied Mrs. Handsomebody, "I hope I have never been found
+wanting in courtesy. But, at present, I should prefer to see you eat your
+breakfast with as much speed as possible. John, eat your porridge."
+
+"I can't, please."
+
+"Eat it instantly, sir."
+
+"I can't," I repeated, beginning to blubber, "I want to see father!"
+
+"Eat your porridge and you shall see him. He will be here at ten o'clock.
+Silence, now, no uproar. My nerves are under quite enough strain." She
+poured herself fresh tea, and continued:
+
+"There will be no tasks today. After breakfast you will put on your best
+jackets and collars, and sit in the parlour until he arrives. I implore you
+to be as composed as possible."
+
+The questions that poured from us were hushed by a gesture of her
+inflexible, white hand. Dazed by the news, we were herded back to our
+bedroom, hurried into stiff white collars and hustled into shining Sunday
+shoes. There was the sound of cold water tinkling in the basin; of
+straining bootlaces; and of the creaking of a loose board in the floor
+every time Mary Ellen stepped on it. Scarcely a word was spoken. Now that
+what we had so long strained towards was at hand we stood breathless before
+the immensity of it. The long year and nine months at Mrs. Handsomebody's
+fell like a heavy curtain between us and the past. Our father's face had
+grown hazy to us. I think The Seraph only pretended to remember. His coming
+had been held over our heads so long, as a time of swift retribution, that
+a feeling of doubt, almost terror, mingled with our joy.
+
+At last we were ready. With shining faces, burning ears, and quickly
+tapping hearts, we went soberly down the stairs. The door of the parlour
+stood wide open. Mrs. Handsomebody, herself, was dusting the case of
+stuffed birds, whose plumage, sadly thinned by the attentions of
+Coppertoes, seemed to quiver with expectancy.
+
+We were instructed to wait inside the iron gate, at the front, until train
+time, when we were to be recalled to the parlour, and take our places on
+three chairs, already ranged in a row for us. Thus we were to be displayed
+by Mrs. Handsomebody, to our sire.
+
+We found Granfa polishing the brass on the front door, his white locks
+bobbing as he rubbed.
+
+"Oh, Granfa," we cried, "have you heard the news?"
+
+"Ess fay," he replied, straightening his back, "for thiccy Mary Ellen came
+a-galloping at top speed to ask me to shine the brasses for 'ee, knowing I
+have a wonderful art that way. The poor Zany was all in a mizmaze."
+
+"Are you glad father's coming?"
+
+"Glad! I be so joyful as a bulfinch in springtime. See how the very face of
+Natur' be lit up for the grand occasion."
+
+The sky had, indeed, become deeply blue, and a great pink cloud hung above
+the Cathedral like a welcoming banner. There had been frost in the night
+forming thin ice over the puddles in the road. All those reflected the
+serene pink of the cloud, a blue pigeon picked his way delicately among
+them. A sweet-smelling wind swayed the moist brown limbs of the elm trees.
+All the world seemed like a great organ attuned to joy.
+
+"Suppose," suggested Angel, "that we just race around to the cobbler's and
+tell him the news. The Dragon is too busy to miss us."
+
+The very thing! It would take only a few minutes and would be something to
+do to pass the time. Softly we slipped through the iron gate; lightly we
+hastened along the shining wet street; under the shadow of the Cathedral,
+whose spire seemed to taper to the sky; down narrow, winding Henwood Street
+till we reached the cobbler's shop.
+
+Martindale was standing in the open door his face raised as though he were
+drinking in the fragrance of the morning. A chorus of bird song came from
+inside.
+
+"Hallo, Mr. Martindale," Angel shouted.
+
+"What do you suppose? Father's coming home."
+
+"He'll be here In less than two hours," I panted.
+
+The cobbler put a dark hand on a shoulder of each. "That's grand news,
+little masters," he said. "But I hope he won't take you so far away that I
+shall never see you. The birds like you too. They never sing so loud as
+when you are in the shop."
+
+While he was speaking we heard footsteps coming quickly down Henwood street
+around the corner. They were quick, sharp footsteps that rang on the frosty
+air. "It's curious," said the cobbler, "how footsteps sound here. I think
+it's the Cathedral walls that give that ringing sound."
+
+We turned to watch for the approaching pedestrian. We wondered who he was
+that walked with such an eager, springing step. He turned the corner. He
+faced us. Then he laughed out loud and said, "Hello!"
+
+We were, for a second, simply staggered. We made incoherent noises like
+young animals. Then we were snatched by rough tweed arms, a small, stiff
+moustache rasped our cheeks, and--"Father!" we squealed, at last, in
+chorus.
+
+"I found I could catch an early train," he said, "so I just hopped on, for
+I was in a desperate hurry to see you. What are you doing here, at this
+hour?" He stared at the cobbler.
+
+"This is Mr. Martindale," I explained. "He mends our boots, and tells us
+stories, and he's got a bird named Coppertoes."
+
+"So you are a friend of my boys," said father. "Ay. And they're grand
+little lads, sir. I have a daughter of my own I'm very proud of, sir. She
+was lost for seventeen years, and your sons helped me to find her."
+
+His daughter came to the door then to call him to breakfast. She had a
+yellow braid over each shoulder, and Coppertoes was sitting on her wrist
+with a piece of chickweed in his bill. Father stopped to admire them both.
+
+"By George," he said, when we had left them, "if all your friends are as
+interesting as those, I should like to meet them."
+
+"They are that," I said, happily, "and here's another of them."
+
+It was Granfa, standing at the gate, his blue eyes staring with amazement.
+He raised his broom to his shoulder and stood at attention as we drew near.
+
+"What a sight for the nation!" he exclaimed. "Welcome home my dear
+son-in-law. I be terrible proud to hand my charges over to 'ee. Us have got
+along famous while you was over to South Ameriky."
+
+I trembled for fear father should say something to hurt Granfa's feelings,
+but he seemed to understand him at once, and shook him by the hand, and
+made him a present of some tobacco on the spot.
+
+
+II
+
+"Merciful Heaven!" screamed Mrs. Handsomebody. "Davy!" "Mr. Curzon!" She
+clutched her curl-papers in one hand and the front of her purple wrapper in
+the other. "We did not expect you for an hour yet."
+
+Father laughed. "Well, I've saved you some of the trouble of preparing by
+coming early. How very well you are looking. And how well-cared-for the
+children. I'm delighted. I think I shall take them over to the hotel where
+my luggage has been sent and have a talk with them and come back later.
+Will that suit you?"
+
+But Mrs. Handsomebody insisted that he have a proper breakfast, and
+installed us in the parlour while she retired to assume the decent armour
+of the day.
+
+Father sat facing the stuffed birds. He put The Seraph on his knee, and
+Angel and I hung on either side of him. We were suddenly shy of him, and it
+seemed enough to be near him, and to feel the all-surrounding power and
+protection of him. His cheeks were incredibly sun-browned, with a ruddy
+glow beneath; his moustache and the hair at his temples were almost golden.
+I liked the greenish grey of his tweed suit that seemed to match his clear,
+wide-open eyes.
+
+He made a wry face at the stuffed birds and then he whispered: "Old chaps,
+have you been happy here?"
+
+We nodded. The past was gone. What did it matter! "Oh, but, we want to be
+wiv you! Don't leave us," breathed The Seraph, burrowing his face into the
+rough tweed shoulder.
+
+Angel and I burrowed against him too. "Don't leave us again," we whispered.
+
+He began to kiss us, and to rumple our heads, and to bite The Seraph's
+cheek. The Seraph, drunk with joy, jumped down, and pulling open the door
+of the glass case tried to drag a lovebird from its perch to present to
+father. We were just able to stop him when our governess returned.
+
+She was dignified and smiling, in black satin and a gold chain. Mary Ellen
+had the breakfast laid in the dining-room and we sat about him, watching
+him eat. With what admiration we beheld his masterful attack on the bacon
+and eggs! It became awe when we saw the quantity of marmalade that he
+spread upon his toast.
+
+And Mrs. Handsomebody beamed fatuously at him!
+
+Between mouthfuls he talked. "Do you remember how I used to call you
+Wiggie? And the time I hid the white rat in your bonnet box?"
+
+Mrs. Handsomebody cackled. The Seraph kicked the table leg, unreproved. I
+drifted after Mary Ellen to the kitchen. "Isn't he fine?" I bragged.
+
+"Divil a finer," agreed she.
+
+"And 'tis yersilf, Masther John," she added, "is the very spit av him.
+Shure it's you should be the proud bye."
+
+"And, Mary Ellen, you are to come and live with us, you know, and have all
+the 'followers' you want."
+
+"Och," she laughed, "I'm done wid followers, me dear. To tell ye the truth,
+Mr. Watlin and I are plannin' to git hitched up, before the New Year. An
+uncle of his have died and left him enough to start him in the butcherin'
+business on his own account. So maybe you'll dance at me weddin' yet."
+
+"I'll give you a nice present, Mary Ellen, dear," I promised, putting my
+arm around her.
+
+"Yes," she went on, squeezing me, "and the cook next door was tellin' me
+last night, that the word is goin' about that Miss Margery an' Misther
+Harry is engaged too. So there's love in the air, Masther John. D'ye mind
+the time 'twas yersilf was in love wid little Miss Jane? Bless yer little
+heart."
+
+I fled back to the dining-room.
+
+Mary Ellen was now dispatched to blow her whistle for a hansom, and almost
+before we realized it we found ourselves rolling smoothly to the hotel
+where father was to stay.
+
+Next, we were in his very room, exploring, with adventurous fingers, all
+his admirable, tobacco-smelling belongings. When his back was turned, Angel
+even unsheathed his razor and flourished it, for one hair-lifting second.
+But father caught him and promised that he should become acquainted with
+the razor-strop also, if he grew too bold.
+
+We went out and bought chocolates and toys and brought them back to his
+room to play with. The morning passed in a delicious dream. Then luncheon
+downstairs with him, the eyes of many people on us.
+
+Among them I discovered, before long, the laughing blue eyes of Lady Simon.
+She was not looking at me, but very eagerly at father, as though she were
+trying to make him see her. In a moment she succeeded, and, without a word
+of explanation to us he jumped up and strode across to the table where she
+and Lord Simon sat. The Seraph ran after him and was gathered into her arms
+while she smiled and talked to father over his curls.
+
+"Wonder if she's askin' him for another lapis lazarus necklace," said
+Angel, his mouth full of charlotte russe, "she'd better not, 'cos we're all
+he can afford now."
+
+I did not like the idea either, so when father came back with The Seraph
+hanging to his coat tails, I remarked, with some asperity:
+
+"She said you nearly ruined yourself once to buy her a pair of
+cream-coloured ponies."
+
+"Yes, and a lapis lazarus necklace," added Angel, accusingly.
+
+"I want a cweam-culled pony!" shouted The Seraph.
+
+Father leaned over us with almost the expression of Mrs. Handsomebody in
+his eye.
+
+"You shall all have ponies," he said, "any old colour you like, cream, or
+pink, or blue, if you'll shut up and be good."
+
+Dazzled by the vision of a herd of rainbow-coloured ponies we suffered
+ourselves to be led in silence from the dining-room. Outside, father said,
+still with the look of Mrs. Handsomebody in his eye:
+
+"I have to make a call on a lady in Argyle Road, my godmother. Do you feel
+prepared to come, and be good boys, or shall I send you back to your
+governess?"
+
+"Argyle Road!" exclaimed Angel. "That's where Giftie lived."
+
+"Want to see Giftie!" came from The Seraph, "and Colin."
+
+"Are you going to be good?"
+
+"Rather," said Angel. "Please take us."
+
+Another hansom was called. We were quite prepared to see it stop before the
+large square house where Giftie lived. It stopped. There was a clamour of
+barks from three Scottish terriers as we entered the gate. In a second I
+had Giftie in my arms; her little, hard wriggling body pressed to my
+breast; her little red tongue showing between her pointed white teeth. She
+was wild with the joy of welcoming us, but Colin walked solemnly away, his
+tail very much in the air. The third dog I felt sure was one of Giftie's
+pups. "His name is Tam," shouted the tall grey-haired lady, having suddenly
+appeared, and I discovered then that we were in the drawing-room, and
+pulled off my cap, and smiled up at her.
+
+"I've been saving him for you," she went on, "hoping you would turn up. The
+other two are sold. But Tam is for you boys, and oh, Davy," turning to
+father, "you must let me have them for Christmas. We shall have an enormous
+Christmas Tree, and look! it's beginning to snow."
+
+It was true. Great white flakes were softly whirling past the windows,
+shutting us away from the outer world. The fire seemed to burn the brighter
+for them, the air seemed full of happiness and gay adventure. We bent over
+our new possession on the hearthrug in ecstasy. Tam, in ferocious
+playfulness, tried to show us all part of his body at once. But when we
+overcame him, and pinned him down, he lay limply, with his tongue out at
+one side, and the promise of many a future romp in his roguish brown eyes.
+Giftie brought a woollen bedroom slipper from upstairs to worry for our
+amusement. Even Colin grew friendly. The talk went on above our heads, the
+far-off talk of grown-ups. But stay--it was not so incomprehensible after
+all! What was it she was saying? A pantomime! A deserving Charity. Had
+tickets. Suppose we take the children. Would it bore Davy? Davy said it
+wouldn't.
+
+Was all our new life to be a whirl like this? Now we were back in the
+hansom cab bowling through the madly dancing snowflakes. Now we were back
+at Mrs. Handsomebody's having tea with a double portion of jam; being
+scrubbed and brushed, and warned of our behaviour, sliding on the slippery
+soles of new boots; sniffing the fresh linen of clean handkerchiefs;
+watching Mrs. Handsomebody tie her bonnet strings with trembling fingers.
+
+In a four-wheeler now, squeezed very closely together; the wheels moving
+heavily through the ever-deepening snow; lights flashing by the snowy
+windows, father's leg and boot pressing against me cruelly but giving a
+delicious sense of protection and good fellowship. Then the blazing light,
+and heat, and pressing crowd of the lobby; a sense of terror lest the
+pompous man who took tickets would refuse to accept those tendered by
+father; immense relief, as a thin, bounding individual led us down the
+sloping aisle. Father's guiding hand on our shoulders; we were in our
+seats.
+
+On my right sat father, and beyond him Angel. On my left The Seraph and
+Mrs. Handsomebody, her hands clasped tensely in her lap. But who was that
+in the golden light beyond Angel? Who indeed but our old friend Captain
+Pegg who had come, it appeared, with Giftie's mistress. Lucky Angel to be
+next him, laughing and whispering with him! Then, lucky me to be pushed
+between the seats to shake his hand.
+
+"Shiver my timbers, John," he whispered, "but I have great days to tell you
+of! Days of plunder and bloodshed, my hearty. I went back to the old life,
+for a while, you know. Look here!" He drew aside his coat and around his
+waist I saw that he wore a belt of alligator skin into which was thrust a
+curved and glittering bowie knife!
+
+The curtain was going up. I was pulled back into my seat. My pulses
+throbbed as scene by scene the pantomime was disclosed before my happy
+eyes. Here was I, John Curzon, part of quite as good a play as yon.
+Pirates, love, fluttering banners, swashbuckling clowns, life stretched
+before me, a jolly adventure with Angel and The Seraph always there to
+share the fun. Now the Seraph's head had dropped to Mrs. Handsomebody's
+lap. He was half asleep. Her black kid hand patted his back. She was gazing
+with a rapt smile at the stage.
+
+The pantomime was nearly over. The night of danger and dark alarm was past.
+Rosy morning broke upon the mountain side, and Columbine, reclining in a
+pearl-pink shell, opened her eyes and smiled upon a flowery world.
+
+I felt father's cheek against my head. His hand covered mine. He whispered:
+
+"Happy, John?"
+
+I nodded, clutching his fingers. And so we met the New Day together.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Explorers of the Dawn, by Mazo de la Roche
+
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