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diff --git a/25467-8.txt b/25467-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..291db6e --- /dev/null +++ b/25467-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1735 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Big Temptation, by +L. T. Meade and M. B. Manwell and Maggie Brown + +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: A Big Temptation + +Author: L. T. Meade + M. B. Manwell + Maggie Brown + +Illustrator: Arthur A. Dixon + +Release Date: May 14, 2008 [EBook #25467] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A BIG TEMPTATION *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Josephine Paolucci and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net. + + + + + + + + + + + +A Big Temptation. + +[Illustration: "_What are you doing with that baby?_"] + + + + +A Big Temptation + +By + +L. T. Meade, + +And Other Stories + +by + +M. B. Manwell and Maggie Browne + +Illustrated by + +Arthur A. Dixon + + + LONDON: _Printed in Bavaria._ _NEW YORK:_ + ERNEST NISTER. 640. E. P. DUTTON & CO. + + +[Illustration] + + + + +A Big Temptation + +By + +L. T. Meade. + + +Netty stood on the doorstep of a rickety old house and nursed the baby. +She was ten years old and had the perfectly white face of a child who +had never felt any fresher air than that which blows in a London court. + +It is true that the year before she had gone with her brother Ben into +the country. The Ladies' Committee of the Holiday Fund had arranged the +matter, and Netty and Ben had gone away. They had spent a whole +delicious fortnight in a place where trees waved, and the air blew +fresh, and there were lots of wildflowers to pick; and she had run about +under the trees, and slept at night in the tiniest little room in the +world, and in the cleanest bed, and had awakened each morning to hear +the doves cooing and the birds singing, and she had thought then that no +happiness could be greater than hers. + +This had happened a year ago, and since then a new baby had arrived, +and the baby was rather sickly, and whenever Netty was not at school she +was lugging the baby about or trying to rock him to sleep. She was +baby's nurse, and she was not at all sorry, for she loved the baby and +the occupation gave her time to dream. + +Netty had big dark-blue eyes, which showed bigger and darker than ever +in the midst of her white little face. She could talk to the baby about +the country. How often she had told him the story of that brief +fortnight! + +"And you know, baby, there were real flowers growing; we picked them, +Ben and I, and we rolled about in the grass; yes, we did. You needn't +believe it unless you like, baby, but we did. Oh! it was fine. I had no +headaches there, and I could eat almost anything, and if you never heard +doves cooing, why, you never heard what's really pretty. But never mind: +your time will come--not yet awhile, but some day." + +On this particular July afternoon the sun was so hot and the air so +close that even Netty could not find it in her heart to be cheerful. + +"Oh, dear!" she said, with a deep sigh, "I do wish it were my turn for +the country this year. I would take you with me--yes, I would, baby. I +wouldn't mind a bit lugging you about, though you are getting heavy. I +wish it were my luck to be going this year, but there isn't a chance." + +She had scarcely uttered the last words before Ben's face was seen +peeping at her from behind a corner. + +Ben was a year older than his sister; he had long trousers very much +patched about the knees, and a shock head of rough red hair. Next to +baby, Netty loved him best in the world. He beckoned to her now, looking +very knowing. + +"I say, come here--here's a lark," he said; "come round the corner and +I'll show you something." + +Netty jumped up and, staggering under the weight of the heavy baby, +approached the spot where Ben was waiting for her. + +"Such a lark!" he continued; "you never heard tell anything like it. I +say, Netty, what do you say to the seaside for a whole day, you and me +together? We can go, yes, we can. To-morrow's the day; I have the +tickets. What do you say?" + +"Say?" cried Netty; "why, of course I say go; but it isn't true--it +can't be true." + +[Illustration] + +"Yes, it is," answered Ben. "I was standing by the scholars at the +school-house as they was coming out, and they were all getting their +tickets for the seaside treat, and I dashed in behind another boy, and a +teacher came round giving out the tickets and I grabbed two. He said to +me: 'Are you a Sunday scholar?' and I said: 'Yes, I am,' and there was a +big crowd and no one listened. I got two tickets, one for you and one +for me, and we'll go to-morrow. It's to a place called Southend. There's +a special train for us, and we'll take our chance. Oh, isn't it fun? +We'll see the waves and we'll feel the breezes and we'll bathe. My word! +I don't know whether I'm standing on my head or my heels." + +"Do show me the tickets, Ben," said Netty. + +Ben thrust his hand into his trousers pocket and presently brought out +two little pieces of cardboard on which the magical words were written +which would take him and his sister to the school feast. + +"There," he said; "it's all right--as right as can be." + +"But that isn't your name, Ben; it's Tom Minchin, Tom Minchin and a +number." + +"Well, and I'll be Tom Minchin for to-morrow," said Ben; "and you'll be +his sister Susy Minchin. We'll drop our own names for the day." + +"But what about the real Tom and Susy Minchin? Won't they come and find +out everything, and won't they be disappointed?" said Netty, who had a +strong sense of justice in her little nature. + +"Let them be: it's our turn for a bit of fun. Perhaps they won't come, +as they weren't there to-day. Anyhow, we'll risk it. I'm going, but you +needn't be Susy Minchin unless you like." + +"Oh, I'll be Susy," answered Netty, after a moment's anxious reflection; +"but we must take baby. What's to be done with baby? Mother said I was +to take charge of him all to-morrow, as she's going out charing. I can't +leave baby--that I can't, Ben." + +"If you take the baby we'll be found out," said Ben. + +"Well, I must risk it," said Netty; "I can't help it. You can go as Tom +Minchin, Ben, and if they turn me back on account of the baby--why, they +must, that's all." + +"They won't let baby come, so you had best leave him at home. There's +old Mrs. Court can look after him," said Ben, indicating an old woman +who sometimes took care of babies for twopence a day. + +"I never thought of Mrs. Court," said Netty, in a reflective voice; "but +where's the use? I haven't the twopence." + +"I believe I could manage that," said Ben; "it's worth a good try, isn't +it?" + +[Illustration] + +"Well, let us run and ask her," said Netty; "it would be a great pity if +I didn't get off with the rest of you. Do let me look at the tickets +once more, Ben." + +Ben condescended to give Netty one more peep. + +"Don't you forget when they're calling out our names that you are Susy +Minchin," he said; "and now if I can get twopence Mrs. Court will look +after baby." + +Netty kissed the baby on its little mouth. + +"I'd take you if I could, baby," she said; "but oh, the sea! the sea! I +just do pine for it. I'll bring you back lots of shells, baby, that I +will, and you won't mind old Mrs. Court for once, and I'll have such +tales to tell you when I come back." + +So Netty went to find old Mrs. Court, and between them they arranged for +the baby's comfort on the following day and Mrs. Court was to have her +twopence in the evening. + +But the best-made plans do not always come to pass, for Netty that +evening received a lecture from her Mother on the subject of Mrs. Court. + +"What is this I hear?" cried the good woman; "that you mean to give baby +to the care of that old woman! Not a bit of it! I wouldn't allow the +baby to be seen in her rooms for all you could give me. What do you want +to get rid of the baby for? And what are you trying to hide from me, +Netty?" + +"It's nothing really, Mother; it's just that Ben and I are going to walk +to Battersea Park, and we've a penny apiece to buy buns. You won't stop +us going, Mother?" + +"Now aren't you an unnatural girl!" cried Mrs. Floss. "Why shouldn't you +take the poor baby with you? Wouldn't he like a sight of the park and +the green trees as well as you? If you take the baby with you, I'll give +you each another penny, and an extra one for the baby, and you can all +have a good time; now what do you say?" + +"I suppose I must do it, Mother," answered Netty; "and you're very +kind," she hastened to add. + +Mrs. Floss was far too busy to spend any more time talking to Netty. She +regarded the affair as absolutely settled, and went downstairs to tell +Mrs. Court that she was not to have the pleasure of looking after the +baby the following day. + +The next morning broke gloriously fine. Even as early as six o'clock it +was intensely hot in the attic where Netty slept. She had laid out all +her best things the night before--her blue cotton frock, carefully +washed and mangled, her cape to match, her sailor hat, somewhat ragged +round the brim, but not very dirty; even her cotton gloves. These last +she regarded as great treasures, and imagined that they would give a +distinctly genteel air to her appearance. + +As there was no possible way out of it, she must take the baby, too, and +she must just trust to luck to pulling the thing through. She knew +enough about tramways and omnibuses and railway carriages to be aware +that a baby in arms costs nothing, and she did not mind little Dan's +weight--she was accustomed to it; and she would like very much, as far +as she herself was concerned, to take him to the seaside. + +Accordingly, the baby was also got early out of his wooden cot, and +dressed in his very best clothes. The baby's best frock was made of +Turkey-red cotton, very faded, and he had a small worn-out fifth-hand +sun-bonnet tied under his chin, and his little legs were bare, but that +did not matter--it was, indeed, rather an advantage this hot weather. + +Ben frowned very much when he saw the baby. + +"Now, what do you mean by this?" he cried; "how can you be Susy Minchin +dragging that big baby about with you? You give it to Mrs. Court." + +"No, no," pleaded poor Netty; "Mother said I wasn't to leave baby with +Mrs. Court; we must bring Dan with us. There, Ben, you won't say no." + +Ben looked decidedly cross, but Netty had a very coaxing way with her. + +"Come along then," he said roughly; but there was a tenderness in that +rough tone, and Netty knew that her cause was won. It never occurred to +Ben to offer to carry the baby for Netty, but he made up his mind that +he must smuggle it through somehow. + +The pair reached the great station in good time, and were joined by a +lot of other children, and several teachers and Sunday-school +superintendents of all sorts, and also several clergymen. + +Ben and Netty soon mingled with the crowd and were marched in orderly +array past a gentleman who looked at each ticket and took down each name +as they went by. When it came to Ben's turn he called out manfully: "Tom +Minchin," nudging Netty at the same time. + +"Susy Minchin," she said. But here the little party were called to halt. + +"Susy Minchin, what are you doing with that baby?" said Mr. Stokes, the +curate. + +Poor little Netty, _alias_ Susy, found herself turning red and then +pale. + +"Please, sir," she said, dropping a curtsey that she was accustomed to +make to her Board-school teacher, "please, I couldn't come without Dan." + +"But I didn't know that Mrs. Minchin had a young baby," said the curate, +who was very young and fair-haired himself, and looked much puzzled what +to do. + +"It would kill me to go back now, sir," said Netty, and there was such a +passion of entreaty in her soft eyes and such a tremble round her pale +lips that the young curate looked at a pretty girl who was standing +near, and the pretty girl said: + +"Oh! poor little dear, she shan't be disappointed. I would rather take +the baby myself." + +"But it's against the rules," said the curate, "and others may take +advantage of it." + +"You shan't be prevented from going, little Susy Minchin," said the +girl, now coming forward. "Give me the baby until you are all well +started; then you shall have it back again." + +No sooner said than done--little Daniel was quickly transferred to the +arms of the fair-haired and very beautiful young lady, and Netty, +_alias_ Susy, marched on in triumph. + +"That was well done; I call that young lady a brick," whispered Netty to +Ben, but Ben replied: + +"Be quiet, and come along." + +They reached the great train and were huddled into their compartments, +and then slowly but surely it got up steam and moved out of the station, +and then, gathering speed, flew past the ugly houses, past the rows of +hot and dingy streets, into the pure, fresh lovely country. + +Netty caught her breath in her rapture, her eyes shone with pure +happiness, but in the midst of all her rejoicings a sudden memory of +little Dan came to distress her. + +"I have brought his bottle with me," she said, tapping her pocket, "and +he'll be hungry by now. I wish the lady would give him back." + +"You stay quiet," said Ben, nudging her; "where's the use of bothering?" + +The train flew through the country faster and faster, the air blew more +and more fresh against Netty's cheeks. She began to sniff. Could that +delicious smell be the smell of the sea, the great, rolling blue sea +which she had never seen, but which she had so often dreamed about? + +[Illustration] + +There was another little white-faced girl who sat near Netty, and Netty +asked her if she thought they were getting near the sea. She had a sharp +face and had been to the sea before, and she rather despised Netty for +her ignorance. Poor Netty was about to sink back into her seat with a +feeling of disappointment when a grave-looking lady who had the charge +of the compartment said, in a quiet voice: + +"We cannot reach the sea for a long time yet, little girl, but I see you +are much pleased and very much interested in everything; would you like +to come and sit near me?" + +All too willingly Netty changed her seat, and presently she and the kind +lady entered into a vigorous conversation. Netty confessed how anxious +she was about the baby. She tapped the bottle in her pocket and +described how she had made the necessary food with milk and water and a +pinch of sugar. + +"Dan will be fretting for his lunch by now," she said; "I do wish I +could get hold of him." + +"We shall be stopping at a big station in two or three minutes now," +said the lady, whose name was Mrs. Holmes, "and I will get out and find +Miss Pryce, who, I think from your description, must be the lady who has +charge of the little one. I will bring him back to you then. But what a +very audacious little girl you are to think that a baby would be allowed +to come to the Sunday treat." + +"I could not have come without him," replied Netty. + +"What is your name?" asked Mrs. Holmes. + +Poor Netty was on the point of saying Netty Floss, but at that moment +she caught Ben's eye and his warning glance saved her from making a +startling revelation. + +"Susy Minchin," she answered. + +"Minchin! I know the Minchins well. How is your Mother? I have not seen +her for some time." + +"Very well, indeed," answered Netty, flushing brightly. Her heart beat +with a sudden feeling of alarm. This was quite terrible news. The kind +lady knew her supposed Mother, Mrs. Minchin. Netty had not the faintest +idea what Mrs. Minchin was like; she did not know how many there were in +family, but a dreadful memory now darted through her brain--the curate +had said that he did not believe that the Minchins had a young baby. + +Suppose this lady who knew Mrs. Minchin so well should remember that +fact, then what should she do? + +The train stopped, Mrs. Holmes got out, and presently returned with the +baby. + +"By the way," she said, as she placed the child in Netty's arms, "is +this your little brother?" + +"No, ma'am, my little cousin," answered Netty, whose distress had +rendered her wonderfully sharp and indifferent to the many lies she was +telling. "He's my little cousin, ma'am, but I love him as if he were my +own brother." + +"So I can see, and he seems a dear little fellow, but what pale cheeks! +Do you give the poor baby enough to eat?" + +The baby was smiling in that inconsequent and yet fascinating way which +babies of a certain age adopt. + +His lips were forming into pretty three-corners, and his eyes were +blinking, and when he saw the bottle which Netty drew out of her pocket +he stretched out his little arms with delight and cooed with +satisfaction. + +Soon several of the other children clustered round little Dan and began +to fuss about him, and when they thrust sweets into his mouth he thought +the fun excellent and crowed and laughed and flung his arms in the air. + +"The sea will do him a sight of good, the darling," said Netty, kissing +him with rapture. + +Soon afterwards they reached Southend, and then the real pleasure of the +day began. Never as long as she lived could Netty forget that exciting +and wonderful day--the happiness of running along those sands, of +picking up those shells for herself, of sitting with Dan in her arms and +letting the soft sea breezes blow over her face; then, as the waves came +nearer and nearer, the darting away with little screams of frightened +rapture. Oh! there never in all the world could be a second day like +this! Then, too, the baby himself entered into the fun, and the best of +the whole thing was that before the day was over the baby, the only baby +in the whole party, began to assume the airs of a master, for all the +children noticed him, and the ladies noticed him, and even the curates +and the rector noticed him, and they all said: "What a pale-faced and +yet what a sweet baby he is!" + +And several offered to carry him, until Netty felt that he was quite a +diadem in her crown, and a most honourable and distinguished appendage. + +"See," she whispered to Ben, in the height of her joy, "did you ever see +anything like the fuss they're making over our Dan? Wasn't I right to +bring him?" + +"Oh! don't bother," cried Ben; "I'm going to play with some boys at the +other side of the beach, and won't be back for a couple of hours." + +Plenty of food was given to the happy children, and they returned home +dead-tired, some of them half-asleep, but all with dreams of bliss which +would remain in their hearts for many a long day. + +Perhaps of all the children who went to that school feast there was no +happier than Netty. She forgot her own wrong-doing in thinking of the +delightful scenes she had so lately witnessed, and fell asleep that +night holding the baby in her arms in a state of absolute bliss; but +alas! clouds were already coming over her sky. + +Early in the morning she awoke to find that Dan was hot and restless. +Dan, although he had enjoyed himself vastly the day before, had not been +treated judiciously. The many sweet-meats that the children had insisted +on giving him had upset his baby digestion. He awoke peevish, +heavy-eyed, and highly feverish. Netty, who idolised him, went straight +to her Mother to ask her opinion with regard to him. + +"He's not well," said Netty; "he's not well a bit. I had best go at once +and see the doctor, or take him round to the sixpenny dispensary." + +Mrs. Floss turned towards the bed where the baby lay, pulled down the +clothes, and looked at him. + +[Illustration: _There never in all the world could be a second day like +this!_] + +"There's nothing the matter with the child," she said. "Don't you get +fussing with your silly ways; the child's all right." + +"He's not, Mother. I am sure he ought to have medicine of some sort." + +"There, there, don't be silly," said the woman. "I am going out for a +day's charing, and have no time to be bothered. Look after Dan and do +your duty. I expect he took a chill yesterday when you took him to +Battersea Park; so now you must stay at home and nurse him back to +health." + +Poor little Netty smiled rather faintly. + +"You're looking dead-beat yourself," said the woman. "I can't make out +what's come to all of you. There's Ben hadn't any appetite for his good +plain breakfast. Now, you go and look after baby; I'm glad it's +Saturday: you needn't be at school." + +The day was hot, even hotter than the previous one. Mrs. Floss started +off on her charing expedition, and Netty sat on the doorstep with the +sick baby. Dan grew worse each moment. He could scarcely open his +languid eyes, his little face was deadly pale, and at times a shudder +ran through his frame. + +Mrs. Court came and looked at him ominously. "You'd better have left him +with me," she said. "He's eaten something that has disagreed with him, +and now he'll have convulsions and die." + +"Oh! don't say such cruel things," cried poor Netty. + +Mrs. Court hobbled back to her room, and Netty sat on with an awestruck +look on her face. Presently she stooped down and kissed the baby on his +brow. He was stirring restlessly. Netty felt that she loved him better +even than Ben, better than anything else in the world. + +"Don't you go, and die, baby," she said, in a low whisper. And now the +baby, just as if he heard the words and understood them, opened his +sweet blue eyes, and looked her full in the face, and then he gave a +faint smile and shut his eyes again, and she heard him breathing +quickly, and the next moment a spasm crossed his little face. + +Netty could stand it no longer. + +"I must take him to someone; but I haven't a penny in the world. Oh! +what shall I do? I know: I'll go to Mrs. Holmes, that kind lady; she'll +tell me what to do for Dan. She may punish me, she may do what she +likes, for I'll tell her the whole gospel truth, if only she'll save +Dan." + +Netty staggered to her feet; there was resolution on her little face. + +Mrs. Holmes had taken a fancy to the child who loved the baby so well, +and on parting the night before she had said to her: + +"I have just moved into a new house, Susy Minchin, and as perhaps you do +not know of the change, will you tell your Mother this is my new +address," and then she repeated it slowly twice to the child: "5, +George-street, Bloomsbury. Now, you will remember that, little girl, +won't you? and when I want your Mother to come to do a day's charing I +will let her know." + +[Illustration] + +Netty had scarcely listened at the time. What did it matter to her? for +she was not Susy Minchin: she was Netty Floss. + +But now like a ray of sunshine the memory of this address crossed her +mind. + +George-street, Bloomsbury, was a long way off, but Netty was a brave +walker. It took two hours, carrying that heavy baby, to get there, and +as she walked the baby's face frightened her more and more, but with the +aid of several friendly policemen she did get at last to George-street. +She walked up the steps of the tall house and sounded the knocker, and +waited with great anxiety until the door was opened. It was opened, not +by a servant, who in all probability would have sent Netty away, but by +no less a person than Mrs. Holmes herself. + +"Why, Susy!" cried the lady, starting back; "who would suppose that I +should see you here, and the dear baby too? What is the matter?" + +"Oh! let me in," panted poor Netty; "do, please, and I ain't Susy--I'm +Netty, and this ain't my little cousin--he's my own brother, and he's +bad, very bad. Oh, ma'am, I'm such a miserable girl!" + +In great astonishment Mrs. Holmes did allow the little girl to come into +the house. She took her into a small room and looked at once at the +baby. One glance showed her that he was very ill indeed. + +"My dear child," she said, "what a good thing you came when you did. In +an hour's time the poor baby might have died." + +Mrs. Holmes rang the bell briskly. + +"Bring a hot bath here and some mustard immediately," she said to the +servant; "and be quick, please, and then go round to Dr. Ross at the +corner and say that Mrs. Holmes wants to see him at once." + +[Illustration: _"Why, Susy! what is the matter?"_] + +All these things were done. The baby was taken out of Netty's arms, +undressed, and put into the bath. The doctor called, felt his little +swollen gums, and said they were really at the root of the mischief. He +lanced them and the baby got immediate relief. In less than an hour he +was lying in a soft sleep in Netty's arms. + +"He will do now," said Dr. Ross; "but if matters had been postponed I +would not have given much chance of his life." + +"And now, Susy, what is it?" said Mrs. Holmes, looking for the first +time attentively at the child. "Don't cry, my dear, the little fellow +will live; but what was that you said to me about _not_ being Susy?" + +"Oh! I must tell you," cried Netty; "I know you'll turn me out, but it +doesn't matter now, for you have saved baby's life." + +And then she did tell her story; with sobs, bitter sobs, she told it, +and somehow Mrs. Holmes had never felt nearer crying in her life than as +she listened. + +At last the poor little accusing voice was silent, and Netty looked up +with swollen eyes of misery to receive her sentence. + +"You did very wrong, of course, Netty," said Mrs. Holmes; "and I shall +be obliged to tell my Vicar, for we must enquire immediately where Tom +and Susy Minchin really were. But, my dear child, I am not going to be +very angry with you. I think when Daniel suffered so much this morning +you received your punishment, and I am not going to give you another. I +mean to forgive you, and to try to give you a chance in life." + +"Oh, you're an angel," said poor Netty; "will you be my friend even +though I have done this?" + +"You must promise never to do anything of the kind again." + +"Do you think I would want to?" said Netty; "and will you please forgive +Ben too, ma'am; he isn't bad really, but we did so _pine_ to look at +the sea. We had never seen it, and it was _such a big temptation_." + +[Illustration] + +"I quite understand," said Mrs. Holmes, and she stooped and kissed +Netty. "I will come round this evening to your house in order to see +your Mother," she said. "I am going to be your friend in the future." + +Mrs. Holmes was as good as her word. The baby quickly got well again, +Netty and Ben were forgiven, and were made _bonā-fide_ scholars at the +Sunday-school. When the school feast came round the following year they +were able to go to the feast, and as a matter of course had tickets; but +a greater treat was in store, for there was a special ticket sent by the +Ladies' Committee to no less a person than Dan himself. He was the only +baby allowed to come, and he had his own ticket. + + + + +The Other Carews. + +By + +M. B. Manwell. + + +"Don't you _wish_ that the other Carews could come to our birthday +party?" wistfully said Clary, the only girl among Doctor John Carew's +"seven little pickles," as he called them. + +"They would come like a shot if Uncle George would allow them, I know," +observed Mark, the second Carew boy, with the red hair that was always +so handy to fire off a joke about. + +"Hum! perhaps so. The weather's getting coldish, and they'd be glad to +come, if it was only to warm themselves a bit!" Oliver's eyes rolled +significantly at Mark's head, the owner of which, with an angry whoop, +made a dive at the speaker. There was an uproar in the play-room on the +spot. Five Carew boys, pursued by the furious Mark, leaped, laughing and +shouting, over chairs and stools, and even across the table. + +"Wait till I catch one of you, that's all!" panted Mark, stumbling over +a stool which Chris mischievously pushed in his way. + +"Wait, sir! Oh, certainly, sir!" teasingly said Chris, bowing almost in +two while Mark ruefully rubbed his shins. + +"Oh, boys, don't quarrel! Let us sit quiet and talk about the other +Carews!" Clary plaintively pleaded. "Don't you think we could somehow +get them to my birthday party?" + +The little sister was tucked away in the old rocking-chair in a corner, +safely out of the way of the line of march of her wild brothers. She was +a frail, small mortal, with long, smooth, yellow hair and anxious blue +eyes, just the apple of everybody's eye in the Tile House. + +"Father and Uncle George have never spoken to one another for three +whole years. Everybody in Allonby Edge knows that, and so do you, Clary! +Is it likely that the other Carews would be allowed to come to your +birthday party--is it now, I ask?" Oliver, the eldest, put his hands in +his pockets, and stood with his back to the empty fireplace, secretly +flattering himself that even Father could not strike a more manly +attitude. + +It was Saturday--a pouring wet Saturday--and the boys were +house-prisoners. They had struggled through every indoor game they knew, +starting with a pillow-fight before the beds were made, to the tearful +wrath of old Euphemia, who kept Dr. John Carew's house because the +sweet-faced Mother, whom the children adored so, was ill and frail most +of her days. + +When in the pillow-fray a bolster burst and the feathers thickly snowed +the staircase and hall, Euphemia's wrath boiled over, and the boys, with +Clary also, were sternly hustled upstairs to the play-room, there to be +locked in until the dinner-bell should release them. Peace at any price +Euphemia was determined to have. + +"You don't think they can get into mischief locked in--there's the +window, you know, Euphemia," nervously said Mother. It was one of the +poor lady's particularly bad days, and she was shut up in her own room. + +"No, mem, there's no fear. Not even such wild little reskels as ours +would climb out o' that high window, an' there ain't no other outlet +save it be the chimney. Not that I'd be surprised to see 'em one after +another creep out o' the chimney-pot black as black!" Euphemia, with +her head in the air, walked off muttering. + +[Illustration] + +However, as the morning wore on and a wondrous quiet reigned at the top +of the house, where the boys were engaged in painting fearsome animals +and golliwogs on the jambs of the mantelpiece, Euphemia relented. + +"Mary Jane," said she to the good-tempered, red-elbowed help in the +kitchen, "you take up this plate o' gingerbread to the children. Pretty +dears, they must be nigh starving!" And a goodly heap of gingerbread +chunks travelled upstairs to the play-room, the door of which was +unlocked. + +It was over this welcome interruption that a wonderful new game was +hatched. + +"Clary, tell us about the mountain railway," said Oliver, seating +himself on the edge of the table to munch contentedly. + +His little sister had spent the previous winter with her ailing Mother +in the Alps, at an hotel built on purpose for sick folk as high up in +the air as was possible. And the boys were never tired of listening to +her descriptions of the life so far up in the clouds and snows that the +sun was nearly always shining hotly. + +"I shouldn't mind being sick myself if it was only just to wear those +funny snow-boots and walk over the hard snow up and down the +mountain-sides," said Mark, reaching out for another piece of +gingerbread. + +"Oh, I'd like the tobogganing--the 'luging,' Clary calls it. Fancy +spinning down in the moonlight!" cried one of the smaller boys, Johnny. + +"No! Give me the riskiest of all--that queer railway up and down the +great mountain. Tell us about it again, Clary," urged Oliver. + +"That's called the funicular!" Very proud of being able to say the long +word, Clary propped up her every-day doll beside her in the +rocking-chair and, folding her mites of hands, proceeded to explain. + +"It's quite a little young railway, y' know. It's only to take people up +to the hotel on top of the Mont, where Mother and I lived last winter." +Then she told the boys how the little train toiled up the sheer face of +a great mountain to the clouds. And it had to descend, also, which was +worse far. Clary shuddered and hid her blue eyes as she described that +coming down, while the eyes of the boys fairly bolted over the mere +thought of a journey so full of risks and perils. + +"It must have been prime!" calmly observed Chris, always to the front if +danger were in the air. "What did you think about, Clary, when the +funicular came jolting down the steps hewn out for it in the steep +mountain? What did it feel like? Come now, tell us," persisted Chris +curiously. + +"I fink it was like stepping out of a high window into the dark night," +explained the little maid. "I didn't like it, an' I pulled the wire to +shut my dolly's eyes, case she saw and it f'itened her, y' know!" The +first thought of mother Clary had been for her waxen baby. + +"Well, let's play at the funicular," suggested Oliver, when the +gingerbread plate was cleared. + +"Hooray! Down the banisters?" Mark was on fire in a moment. So were the +other boys, and there was a stampede for the staircase. + +"You can come, too, Clary!" shouted her brothers, and, bustling out of +the rocking-chair, the little mother carefully carried her baby +treasure, wrapped in a tiny shawl, for the perilous journey down the +mountain-side. + +The Tile House was of considerable size: it and the White House where +Doctor George Carew lived were the only two large dwellings in the +village of Allonby Edge. But of the two the Tile House was the higher, +having an extra storey. The staircase was, consequently, a pretty long +one, with only one landing at the upper floor, which led up to the play +attic and servants' rooms. + +"Couldn't have a better railway than this!" said Oliver, his head on one +side as he regarded the length of banister. + +Presently, the boys were tasting the fearful joy of precipitating +themselves down the slippery route, which they grandly called the +funicular. + +The journeys were accompanied by a good deal of uproar, but the green +baize swing-door shut off the sound from the ears of Euphemia and Mary +Jane in the kitchen. + +So the noisy crew had it all their own way. + +Oliver was the driver of the train, and Mark the guard, the rest being +passengers, and the traffic up and down to the hotel on the high Alps +was something extraordinary. + +"It's the going up that's the horrid difficulty!" panted Johnny, whose +legs were rather short to interlace in the banister rails and thus heave +himself upwards as the other boys did. + +"Difficulties were made on purpose to be overcome," loftily said Mark, +"and mountain railways are full of them. Now then, Clary," he shouted +upstairs, "why don't you be a passenger? Aren't you getting tired of +living up in the mountain hotel? Don't you want to come home and see +your family?" + +"Yeth, I do want to come home," piped a small voice from far away up +under the roof. "So does my Hilda Rose," and Clary's little fair head +peered over the top banister. + +"Come along then!" recklessly shouted the boys. "Can't you get aboard +the funicular yourself and start your journey?" + +"What sillies girls are; just like women, always expecting somebody to +hand them in and hand them out!" grumbled Mark, who, being the guard, +felt bound to go up and start the lady passenger. + +"Now then, ma'am," he said briskly, "you and your little girl had better +get in. Train's going to start when I wave this green flag!" + +"Oh, please hold my Hilda Rose until I get my seat," nervously said the +passenger. "Oh! Mark--I mean Mr. Guard, do you think that Hilda Rose and +me can go down wifout falling?" + +"Why, of course!" scornfully answered the guard. "Haven't you been on a +funicular before--the real thing? What's the use of bragging about the +dangers you've been through if you can't face them a second time? Now, +then, are you ready, ma'am?" + +[Illustration: _Oliver was stooping over the senseless little figure._] + +"Oh, no; not yet! Oh, but we sitted the other way in the real railway!" +tearfully remonstrated the passenger, who had been settled by the guard +on the banister face downwards. + +"Can't help that, ma'am. It's the way we run trains. We gen'lly do +things different from the foreigners. Now then, I'll tie your little +girl on your back with her sash-ends, and, if you hold on tight, you +will both get to the bottom all right!" + +And she might have got to her destination in safety had the passenger +been a boy accustomed to banister sliding instead of a weak, fragile +little girl. + +"Ready below there?" shouted down the guard. "There, ma'am, I've +telegraphed down that you're coming!" + +Mark's hand let go the wildly clinging passenger. A green flag was +waved. A shrill whistling rang through the house. + +The funicular was off! + +Then came faint, muffled cries of terror: a swish through the air as the +two passengers came sliding down: a louder shriek: and, lastly, a thud +on the hall floor that made the hearts of the waiting group of boys +stand quite still for a second or two. + +At their feet was a huddled heap of blue frock and white pinafore, over +which trailed a wisp of long fair hair. The heap was perfectly still, +perfectly silent. + +"Is she--is she----?" Mark's tongue clove to the roof of his mouth and +refused to finish the question when, tearing down the staircase, he +reached the hall, his face livid under the red hair. Oliver was stooping +over the senseless little figure, touching with frightened fingers now +the little face, then the still small hands. + +"Fetch Euphemia, quick!" the boy said hoarsely. + +Like an arrow Johnny fled through the green baize door, and then, with +an alarmed cry, old Euphemia ran into the hall. + +"Oh, my pretty, my pretty!" Trembling like a leaf and ghastly white, the +old woman crouched down to gently feel each little limb. And as she did +so the boys covered their eyes to hide the sight. + +"Did anyone of ye push her down? How was it, tell me true?" + +"No, no; oh! nobody pushed her! She fell all the way down the +banisters!" several of the boys spoke together. + +"We were playing at the funicular, and she lost her balance!" The last +words were sobbed out by Mark. + +"Playing at the--what?" gasped Euphemia, in horror. "Boy!"--she clutched +Oliver's shoulder--"flee to the White House and fetch Doctor George. Say +it's life or death. The master's away for a long round on the hills at +the farms. Tell them that. Go!" + +"But, Euphemia--Uncle George would refuse to come inside our door!" +stammered Oliver. + +"Do as I bid ye, boy, and quick! Say to Dr. George these words from old +Euphemia: 'The Lord do unto you and yours as ye do unto us in this sore +need!' He will heed that message, if he's got a heart, not a stone, in +him!" + +With a shuddering groan, Oliver ran out into the pelting rain, +bare-headed, on to the other end of Allonby Edge, where stood the White +House with the red lamp, the home of the other Doctor Carew, the brother +who had not spoken to Oliver's Father for three years. + +As he raced along, with a heart beating in terror at what he had left +behind on the hall-floor, there flitted through the boy's brain the old +wondering curiosity as to what made the doctor-brothers such bitter +enemies. + + * * * * * + +In the dining-room of the White House a group of children were staring +idly out of the window, watching the village ducks, the only creatures +really enjoying the deluge of rain on that wet Saturday. + +The table was spread for early dinner, and the appetising sniffs +stealing up from the kitchen reminded the other Carews that they were +hungry. + +"Oh, do look!" Gwen nudged Tony excitedly. "There's a boy with nothing +on his head tearing along in the rain! He will fall over those wobbling +ducks if he doesn't look out!" + +"I do believe he is making for our house!" slowly said Tony, as he +stared out eagerly. + +"There's somebody taken suddenly ill, that's it! He's coming for Pater!" +observed Traffy, a bright little urchin who had just stepped out of +petticoats into a sailor suit and Latin. + +"Oh, oh! it's one of the Carew boys from Tile House, and he is coming in +here!" Trissy, the youngest, whispered, in an awestruck voice, and she +shrank back from the window. The four Carews of the White House had +brooded to the full as much as the young folk of the Tile House over the +estrangement between their Fathers, though they had never dared to ask +their parents any questions about the matter. + +All the children knew this much, that old Grandpapa had been Doctor Mark +Carew of Allonby Edge, and when he died his two sons succeeded to his +practice as partners. In time the young doctors married, and the elder +children remembered dimly that the Tile House and the White House had +been like one home with two roofs. + +Then came the mysterious quarrel that froze up that "good and joyful +thing, dwelling together in unity." It was all so sad and heart-breaking +that nobody ever ventured to question the two brothers thus living apart +in enmity. The more you love anyone, the more terrible a thing it is to +quarrel with that person. + +So the breach had gone on widening with the years, and the little +Carews had grown out of all knowledge of each other, especially as they +bicycled every day to different schools in the county town. It was only +in church indeed that they kept up any sort of acquaintance with each +other's looks. + +[Illustration] + +"Yes, it's one of the other Carews," Tony said gravely. "And Father's in +the surgery: he drove up five minutes ago. What can be the matter? That +boy is tearing at the surgery bell. Listen!" + +With their hearts in their mouths the Carews tip-toed along the passage +leading to the surgery-door, which was shut fast. There seemed to be a +dreadful silence in the house. Mother was upstairs with the fretful +baby of the family, and there was nobody to run to. + +Behind the close-shut surgery-door a strange scene was going on. Sitting +well back in his consulting-chair, his hands spread out, finger to +finger, thumb to thumb, Doctor George was gazing sternly in silence at +an eager little speaker. + +"Oh, do come; do, Uncle George! Our Clary is killed, and Father's away +on his rounds among the hill-farms!" + +Oliver's teeth chattered in his head, and his little knees knocked +together as he stood with the rain-drops falling from his bare head on +to his little shoulders. + +"Did your Mother send you here for me?" Doctor George asked harshly. + +"No; oh, no! We dared not tell Mother! Clary fell from the top of the +Tile House to the hall floor, and she's all white and still. And +Euphemia lifted her arm, and it fell double!" + +Dr. George suddenly sat up straight. + +"Is it broken or is it a sprain?" he asked peremptorily. + +"I--I don't know. I think she's killed!" answered the boy brokenly. + +Oliver was nearly fainting from sheer fright, as Dr. George could see +for himself. + +"Come along, boy," he said sharply, and he gathered together two or +three necessaries from the surgery-table while he spoke. + +Presently two figures plunged out into the pouring rain. + +"Father's gone with the other Carew! What can be the matter? Perhaps +Uncle John's killed, and they're going to make it up!" whispered the +girls. + +"You are sillies!" scornfully said Tony. "How can people make it up if +they're dead?" + +Ah, how, Tony? The time for that has gone by, indeed, boy! + +Of the two figures that fled through the rain, the doctor reached the +Tile House first. In a trice he pushed aside Euphemia and he was +kneeling beside the motionless little figure; and, presently, when he +had gently probed the little form and lifted one limb after another, he +groaned under his breath. This little, tender, fair-headed thing, with +the face that reminded him so startlingly of his dead Mother, was sorely +injured; perhaps fatally so. As yet, he knew not. + +Without a word, he cautiously lifted the unconscious Clary in his strong +arms, and signed to Euphemia to lead the way. + +Then the door of the room he entered with his burden was shut, and the +Carew boys huddled close together, a miserable group. What if they had +killed the little, tender sisterling who was their queen and idol? + +And Mother upstairs in her sick-room knew nothing as yet, while Father, +away on his long hill-round, was equally ignorant. It seemed to make +things so much more terrible to the little boys that they alone should +know. + +"Come away, beside the fire, dearies." Mary Jane beckoned them into the +kitchen, and the wretched boys crept round the ruddy blaze, which +seemed, somehow, like a friend, and they stretched out their cold hands +to its warmth as they waited, too frightened to wonder aloud what was +being done in that room where Euphemia and Uncle George were shut up +with Clary. + +When Mother's bell rang their hearts jumped into their mouths. + +"No! none of you boys are going up!" said Mary Jane firmly. "Euphemia, +she said as 'twas as much as my place was worth if I let the mistress +know o' this before the doctor comes home. So I'll carry up her +dinner-tray and keep my tongue atween my teeth, and you boys must bide +quiet as quiet till we see!" + +The boys shivered as Mary Jane, lifting up the tray, significantly +nodded. + + * * * * * + +It was quite an hour after. Mary Jane, loyal to the core, had kept her +ailing mistress in perfect ignorance of the terrible calamity, and the +little boys still crowded round the kitchen fire waiting. + +Suddenly every head was raised. "That's Peter's trot; don't you hear? +Father's coming home!" + +Each of the boys stood up. Who was to go out to meet the gig and tell +the dreadful news to Doctor John? + +"Perhaps I ought to do it!" said Mark, in a strangled voice. "I started +the train, y' know! So I'll take all the blame on myself!" + +Somehow the other boys thought poor Mark, for all his shock of red hair, +looked exactly like one of the brave knights of old setting forth to +battle. Old Peter, the doctor's horse, eager for his stable comforts and +shelter, brought the gig round in fine style, and Doctor John alighted +quickly, with the upward glance at Mother's window which he never +forgot. + +"Why, sonny," he began cheerily, then halted as, with a tweak at his +Father's sleeve, Mark beckoned him indoors. "Is there anything the +matter with Mother? Quick; speak, boy!" The doctor's voice was sharp +with fear. But Mark could not speak, and Doctor John, with a heart of +lead, followed the boy into the house. + +"In there, Father! It's Clary, and it's all my fault!" Mark's voice had +come back, but it was a mere whisper, and he pointed to the close-shut +door. + +[Illustration: _Doctor John was on his knees beside the bed_] + +Turning the door-handle quickly, Doctor John nearly fell backwards. Over +the bed, on which lay a little figure, bent the brother to whom he had +not spoken for three years, with his ear laid close to the little heart, +listening to its fluttering beats, and one hand raised warningly at the +sound of the opening door. The next moment the wonder-shock had passed. +Without a word Doctor John was on his knees beside the bed, and Doctor +George, glancing up, saw that it was Clary's Father who had entered. +Then he stood up straight, and would have retreated hastily, but his +forefinger was tight in the clutch of a weak, small hand. Doctor George +was chained to the spot; he dared not move. + +"She opened her eyes once, and gripped my finger like that!" he +whispered awkwardly. + +The Father did not speak, nor even look away from the white, still face. +But, stretching across the bed, he laid a detaining hand on his +brother's coat-sleeve. + +It was quite late in the afternoon when the two doctors came out into +the hall. The boys crept to the half-open kitchen door to listen +eagerly. + +"Thank God, and thank you, George, she will live!" + +It was a strained harsh voice, but it was Father's, and the boys all +pressed forward. + +Then they hastily retreated, for, while the two doctors stood side by +side, Father's head was bent on Uncle George's shoulder and their hands +were clasped hard. + +"They must be making it up!" whispered Oliver to his awestruck brothers. + +And it was so. The breach of years was healed in a single afternoon. The +brothers were once again friends. Whatever their quarrel had been--and +neither the children of the Tile House nor the other Carews ever knew +what it was about--it fled away like a morning mist in the face of a +great peril, for death had come very close to little Clary that rainy +Saturday. + +It was many weeks before she left her bed, but when her own birthday +came round Father carried her, covered with shawls, in to tea, and Clary +could not believe her blue eyes. + +On the table was a huge frosted white cake, with flags flying and +"CLARE" in great letters upon it, while Mother, who had grown pounds +better lately, smiled behind the army of cups and saucers. + +But wonder of wonders, round and round the table, the guests were all +Carews! + +"'A motley crew' we are!" cheerfully announced Doctor George, and all +the children radiantly clapped their hands at his joke. Even the White +House baby, which had been carried to the feast, gurgled and crowed +loudly on its Mother's lap. + +And when they all pressed forward with their birthday gifts and to wish +Clary many happy returns of the day, Mark, his ears as red as his hair, +whispered under his breath: "I was just awf'lly sorry, Clary! An' I'll +never, never forget that little girls and women are different from us +rough boys!" + +And Mark never will; nor will any of the Carew boys. + +[Illustration] + + + + +Kurus: The King of the Cannibal Islands. + +By + +Maggie Browne. + + +It certainly was the very ugliest doll you ever saw. It hadn't a bit of +wax about it. It was a rag doll, a brown rag doll with black woolly +hair, beads for eyes, and--horror of horrors--a ring through its nose! +Then its clothes--no pretty pink frock and clean pinafore, no clothes to +take off and on--it had only a black fur rug round its waist. + +Mollie was nearly in tears as she stared at it, and Geoffrey's cheeks +were very red. + +It had come in a most promising cardboard box, wrapped up in the +cleanest of tissue-paper; and when Mollie opened the parcel she had felt +sure that the doll would have pink cheeks, blue eyes, and lovely golden +hair--and then to find such a thing! + +"It is too bad of Uncle Percy," said Mollie; "it is almost unkind." + +"I think it is more 'curous' than pretty," said Geoffrey solemnly; "I +should call it 'Kurus.'" He had been trying for several minutes to think +of something to say to comfort Mollie. + +"But I wanted to call it Evelina," said Molly; "I can't call that thing +Evelina. Why, I can't even show it to Bessie." + +[Illustration: _Geoffrey began to dig the hole._] + +Now, Bessie was the little girl next door, Mollie's own well-beloved +playmate. + +"I don't think I should show it to anyone," said Geoffrey, and then he +began to think. + +Mollie was thinking too. + +"Mary Selina Trewin," said Geoffrey solemnly. + +Mollie jumped. When her Mother called her Mary Selina she knew something +serious was coming. + +"Mary Selina Trewin," said Geoffrey, "who has seen that doll?--Nobody. +Who saw the postman bring it?--Nobody. Who knows it is here?--Nobody." + +"What are you talking about?" said Mollie, much puzzled. + +"Mary Selina Trewin," said Geoffrey, "who shall see it? Who shall know +it is here?--Why, nobody. We will get rid of that doll; we will hide +it." And then he whispered mysteriously: "We will bury it this very +minute. Come along." And Mollie went, just pushing the doll into the box +with all the papers, and hiding it under her pinafore. + +They reached the garden without being seen, and Geoffrey began to dig +the hole. + +"It must be deep as deep as deep," said Mollie. + +"Deeper than that," said Geoffrey. + +But it is not easy to dig with a stick, and the hole was anything but +deep when Nurse's voice was heard calling: "Miss Mollie! Master +Geoffrey!" + +"What shall we do?" said Geoffrey. + +"Put it in quickly, cover it up, and we'll make the hole deeper after +tea," said Mollie. + +So the box and doll were popped in the hole and covered up, and Mollie +and Geoffrey ran in to Nurse. Nurse wanted to make them tidy for tea. +Never had the two children stood so quietly to have their faces washed +and their hair brushed. + +At tea-time they talked so little that Mother began to suspect that +something was wrong. + +[Illustration] + +"I wonder the doll doesn't come from Uncle Percy, Mollie," she said. "I +expect he is searching for the very prettiest of all the dollies." + +Molly nearly choked over her bread-and-butter; but Geoffrey said never a +word. + +He was staring out of the window, staring at Snap, who was tearing up +and down the lawn, carrying something brown in his mouth. + +"What has Snap found?" said Mother. "Is it a rabbit? Really I must ask +Jane to----" + +"I'll go, Mother," said Geoffrey, and he was down from his chair without +waiting for Mother to say "Yes" or "No." + +"Oh, oh, oh!" cried Mollie. "Look at Snap!" + +"What can it be?" said Mother. "Ah! Geoffrey has caught him. Now we +shall see what it was." + +But Geoffrey came back into the room with the reddest of cheeks and the +emptiest of hands. + +"What had the dog got, Geoffrey?" asked Mother. "Mollie, what is the +matter?" + +Certainly Mollie's conduct was peculiar. She was making signs to +Geoffrey, pointing out of the window, opening her mouth, and shaking her +head. + +"T-t-t--" stammered Mollie, and then there was a knock at the front +door. + +"Who can that be?" said Mother. + +A voice was heard in the hall, a voice they all knew. + +"Uncle Percy himself," cried Mother; "then, Mollie, he must have brought +your doll." + +Uncle Percy came into the room and was welcomed warmly by Mother, but +very quietly by the children. As soon as they could they slipped out of +the room and made their way into the garden. "We shall have to tell +now," said Mollie. "Where did you put it?" + +"I threw it behind the laurel-bush," said Geoffrey. "I suppose I had +better get it." + +He ran to the laurel-bush and Mollie followed. + +"Mary Selina Trewin," said Geoffrey, "it isn't there." And though they +searched and hunted they couldn't find any trace of the ugly doll. + +"Oh, dear," said Mollie, "what are we to do?" + +This time she began to cry really. + +"Well, you are a queer girl," said Geoffrey; "you nearly cried when it +came, and now you really cry when it is gone." + +"But what will Uncle Percy say?" said Mollie. + +"Well, the only thing to do," said Geoffrey, "is to tell Mother all +about it." + +"Oh, Geoffrey," said Mollie, "we may find it." + +But Geoffrey was quite decided. "Snap must have eaten the old thing up. +Come along." + +The children found their Mother and Uncle Percy sitting by the fire +talking busily. What they were saying neither Mollie nor Geoffrey heard; +they were too busy to listen, for on the table lay an open cardboard +box, and in the box lay a lovely doll--blue eyes, pink cheeks, golden +hair, dressed in the prettiest of dresses and cleanest of pinafores. + +"Oh!" said Mollie. + +"Oh!" said Geoffrey. + +"There you are, young people," said Uncle Percy. "Yes, Mollie, that is +the doll I promised you. Do you think you will like it?" + +"But the other?" said Geoffrey. + +"Oh, you heard what we were saying, did you, young man?" said Uncle +Percy. "Well, I'm sorry I sent the wrong parcel, but Mother will send it +back as soon as----" + +"But she can't send it back," said Mollie. + +"Snap has eaten it," said Geoffrey. + +[Illustration] + +"What?" cried Uncle Percy. + +And then, of course, out came the whole story. They were scolded, they +were punished, they were comforted and kissed, and Mollie went to bed +that night hugging Evelina, the rosy-cheeked beauty, very tightly. + +And the other! Uncle Percy said it didn't matter; he had only bought it +to play a joke on someone. Mother and Mollie and Geoffrey and Jane and +everybody hunted everywhere for it, but they didn't find it. A few days +later a letter came from Bessie asking "Geoffrey and Mollie to come to +tea with the King of the Cannibal Islands." + +"The gardener found him in the garden," said Bessie, as Geoffrey and +Mollie stared at Bessie's new doll. "Someone must have thrown him away, +for he was ragged and torn; but Mother mended him, and, though he's +queer, I like him the best of all my dolls." + +"He is curous," said Geoffrey. + +"I think I will call him Kurus, the King of the Cannibal Islands," said +Bessie. + +Mollie and Geoffrey were not very cheerful that afternoon, but Bessie +did not notice it; she was so pleased with Kurus. + +As the two children went home they felt very solemn and sad. + +"It was it," said Mollie. + +"Of course," said Geoffrey. "Snap, you know." + +"What shall we do?" said Mollie. + +"Tell Mother," said Geoffrey; "she'll help." + +And Mother did help. She talked to Uncle Percy and to the children; but +nobody said a word to Bessie, and, though she still has Kurus and is +very fond of him, she does not know all the queer things that happened +to him. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Big Temptation, by +L. T. Meade and M. B. 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