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+<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, Hoodie, by Mary Louisa Stewart Molesworth,
+Illustrated by Lewis Baumer</h1>
+<pre>
+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 <a href = "http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre>
+<p>Title: Hoodie</p>
+<p>Author: Mary Louisa Stewart Molesworth</p>
+<p>Release Date: July 25, 2008  [eBook #26125]</p>
+<p>Language: English</p>
+<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p>
+<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HOODIE***</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<h3>E-text prepared by Chris Curnow, Lindy Walsh,<br />
+    and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team<br />
+    (http://www.pgdp.net)</h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr class="full" />
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a href="images/cover.jpg"><img src="images/cover.jpg" alt=""/></a>
+</div>
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+
+<h1>Hoodie</h1>
+
+<h2>By Mrs. MOLESWORTH</h2>
+
+<h3>ILLUSTRATED BY LEWIS BAUMER</h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+
+<h4>W. &amp; R. CHAMBERS. LIMITED.<br />
+LONDON AND EDINBURGH.<br />
+1897</h4>
+
+
+<h4>Edinburgh:<br />
+Printed by W. &amp; R. Chambers, Limited.</h4>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="ill01" id="ill01"></a>
+<img src="images/ill01.jpg" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+<h3>"Nobody loves poor Hoodie."</h3>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+
+
+
+
+<h2>CONTENTS.</h2>
+
+<!-- Autogenerated TOC. Modify or delete as required. -->
+<p>
+<a href="#CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I. AT WAR WITH THE WORLD</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II. HOODIE GOES IN SEARCH OF A GRANDMOTHER</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III. LITTLE BABY AND ITS MOTHER</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV. MAUDIE'S GODMOTHER</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V. STORIES TELLING</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI. "THE CHINTZ CURTAINS"</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII. TWO TRUES</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII. HOODIE'S FOUNDLING</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX. THE GOLDEN CAGE</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X. FLOWN</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI. HOODIE'S DISOBEDIENCE</a><br />
+<a href="#CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII. HOODIE AWAKES</a><br /><br />
+<a href="#Books_by_Mrs_Molesworth">Books by Mrs. Molesworth</a><br />
+</p>
+<!-- End Autogenerated TOC. -->
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.</h2>
+
+
+<p><a href="#ill01">"Nobody loves poor Hoodie"</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#ill02">"I had my basket on my arm, and the big doggie stood beside me"</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#ill03">"It's just like Martin's cottage"</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#ill04">"Who is zou, please?"</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#ill05">Poor Cross</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#ill06">"Up in the nursley," said Hoodie coolly</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#ill07">"Has zou had a nice sleep?"</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#ill08">"He took off the cap and bowed low"</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#ill09">Hec and Duke ... sticking daisies on to a thorn</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#ill10">"If peoples interrumpt, I wish they'd finish their interrumpting, and
+not stop in the middle"</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#ill11">"The darling," said Hoodie ecstatically</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#ill12">Hec refused to be comforted</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#ill13">"Please 'agive me and kiss me"</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#ill14">"Slowly and cautiously, whistling softly all the time"</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#ill15">"Oh dear," she exclaimed. "Are the flowers all gone?"</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#ill16">"Tell Martin they're for Miss Maudie with Miss Hoodie's love"</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#ill17">Finis</a></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a href="images/illus.jpg"><img src="images/illus.jpg" alt=""/></a>
+</div>
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I.</h2>
+
+<h3>AT WAR WITH THE WORLD.</h3>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Who would think so small a thing<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Could make so great a pother?"<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p>A pretty, cheerful nursery&mdash;a nursery in which surely children could not
+but be happy&mdash;with pictures on the walls and toys in the glass-doored
+cupboard, and rocking-horse and doll-house, and everything a child's
+heart could wish for. Spring sunshine faint but clear, like the first
+pale primrose, peeping in at the window, a merry fire crackling away in
+the tidy hearth. And just in front of it, for it is early spring only, a
+group of children pleasant to see. A soft-haired, quiet-eyed little
+girl, a book open upon her knee, and at each side, nestling in beside
+her, a cherub-faced dot of a boy, listening to the story she was reading
+aloud.</p>
+
+<p>Such a peaceful, pretty picture! Ah yes&mdash;what a pity to disturb it. But
+I must show you the whole of it. Into this pretty nursery flies another
+child&mdash;a tiny fairy of a girl, tiny even for her years which are but
+five&mdash;in she flies, down the long passage which leads to the children's
+quarters, in at the nursery door, which, in spite of her hurry, she
+carefully closes, and seeing that the other door is open closes it too,
+then, flying back to the centre of the room, deliberately sets to work
+to&mdash;children, can you guess?&mdash;to <i>scream</i>!</p>
+
+<p>She sheds no tears, there is no grief, only wrath, great and furious, in
+the little face which should have been so pretty, in the big blue eyes
+which should have been so sweet. She shakes herself till her fair,
+fluffy hair is all in a "touzle," she dances with rage till her neck and
+arms are crimson, from time to time in the middle of her screams calling
+out at the pitch of her voice,</p>
+
+<p>"I don't love <i>any</i> body. I don't want <i>any</i> 'sing. I don't like <i>any</i>
+'sing. Go away ugly evybody. I don't love Pince. Go away ugly Pince."</p>
+
+<p>The girl by the fire looked up for a moment.</p>
+
+<p>"Prince isn't here," she said. "Oh, Hoodie," she went on wearily, "how
+<i>can</i> you&mdash;how can you be so naughty?"</p>
+
+<p>Hoodie turned towards her sister.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't love <i>zou</i>, Maudie. Naughty, ugly Maudie. Pince <i>sall</i> be
+here. Naughty Maudie. I <i>sall</i> be naughty. I don't love <i>any</i> body."</p>
+
+<p>"Nebber mind, Maudie dear, nebber mind naughty Hoodie. Hoodie's always
+naughty. Please go on, Maudie," said one of the two little boys.</p>
+
+<p>Magdalen tried to go on. But in the midst of such a din, it was very
+difficult to make herself heard, and at last she gave up in despair.</p>
+
+<p>"It's no good, Hec," she said, "I can't go on. Hoodie spoils everything
+when she gets like that."</p>
+
+<p>The little fellows' faces lengthened.</p>
+
+<p>"Hoodie 'poils ebery'sing," they murmured.</p>
+
+<p>Just then the door opened.</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Hoodie," said the maid who came in, "Miss Hoodie again! And Sunday
+morning too&mdash;the day you should be extra good."</p>
+
+<p>"The day she is nearly always extra naughty," said Magdalen, with the
+superiority of eight years old. "It's no good speaking to her, Martin.
+She's going to go on&mdash;she shut the doors first."</p>
+
+<p>Martin seated herself composedly beside the three children.</p>
+
+<p>"I never did see such a child," she said; "no, never. You would think,
+Miss Maudie, she might stop if she liked, seeing how she can keep it in
+like, as long as she's afraid of her Mamma hearing. If she can keep it
+in till she shuts the doors, she might keep it in altogether, you would
+think."</p>
+
+<p>"Stop! of course she can stop if she likes," said Magdalen. "What was it
+set her off, Martin, do you know?"</p>
+
+<p>"Something about Prince," replied Martin. "Thomas said she was trying to
+get him to come up-stairs with her, and he whistled to him, not knowing,
+and Prince ran away from her."</p>
+
+<p>"Hoodie's keeped all her bicsits for Pince, for a treat for him for
+Sunday," said little Hec, with some evident sympathy for Hoodie.</p>
+
+<p>"She shouldn't be so silly then," said Maudie. "What do dogs know about
+its being Sunday, and treats? I know Hoodie always spoils <i>our</i> Sundays,
+and we're better than dogs."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't love you, naughty Maudie. I don't love <i>any</i> body," screamed
+Hoodie.</p>
+
+<p>"It certainly doesn't look as if you did, and very soon nobody will love
+you, Miss Hoodie, if you go on so," said Martin, virtuously.</p>
+
+<p>"I wish," said Duke, the second twin, "I wish papa would build anoder
+<i>gate</i> big house and put Hoodie to live there all alone, don't you,
+Maudie? A gate big house where not nobody could hear her sceaming."</p>
+
+<p>Great applause followed this brilliant idea&mdash;but the laughter only
+increased Hoodie's fury. Duke was the next she turned upon.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't love you, naughty, ugly Duke," she screamed. "I don't love
+<i>any</i> body. Go away evybody, go away, go <i>away</i>, go <span class="smcap">AWAY</span>."</p>
+
+<p>Such was Hoodie&mdash;poor Hoodie&mdash;at five years old!</p>
+
+<p>What had made her so naughty? That was the question that puzzled
+everybody concerned&mdash;not forgetting Hoodie herself.</p>
+
+<p>"I didn't make myself. 'Tisn't my fault. God should have made Hoodie
+gooder," she would say defiantly.</p>
+
+<p>And was it not a puzzle? There was Maudie, just as nice and good a
+little girl as one would wish to see, and Hec and Duke, both
+comfortable, good-natured little fellows&mdash;all three, children to whom
+things came right, and whose presence in the world seemed as natural and
+pleasant a thing as that of birds in the trees or daisies in the grass.
+Why should not Hoodie be like them? She was born in July&mdash;one bright
+sunny day when all the world was rejoicing&mdash;and little Maudie had been
+so pleased to have a baby sister, and her godmother had begged that she
+might be called "Julian," and everybody had, for a time, made much of
+her. But, alas, as the years went on, they told a different
+tale&mdash;governesses and nurses, sister and brothers, it was the same story
+with all&mdash;Hoodie's temper was the strangest and the worst that ever a
+child had made herself and other people miserable by.</p>
+
+<p>"I could really fancy," said Maudie one day, "I could really fancy, if
+there <i>were</i> such things as fairies, you know&mdash;that one of them had been
+offended at not being asked to Hoodie's christening."</p>
+
+<p>And when Hoodie grew old enough to hear fairy tales, this speech of
+Maudie's came back to her mind, and she wondered, with the strange
+unexpressed bewilderment of a child, if indeed there were some mystery
+about her naughtiness&mdash;some spell cast upon her which it was hopeless to
+try to break. For she knew she was naughty, very naughty&mdash;she never
+thought of denying it. Only deep down <i>somewhere</i> in her&mdash;where, she
+could not have told&mdash;there was a feeling that she did not <i>want</i> to be
+naughty&mdash;she did not <i>like</i> being naughty&mdash;there was a mistake about her
+somehow or somewhere, which nobody could understand or ever would, and
+which it never entered her head to try to explain to any one.</p>
+
+<p>The screaming went on steadily&mdash;agreeably for Hoodie herself, it is to
+be hoped, for it certainly was anything but pleasant for other people.
+Suddenly there came a lull&mdash;a step was heard coming along the passage,
+and light as it was, Hoodie's quick ears were the first to hear it. It
+was mother!</p>
+
+<p>Hoodie's power of self-control was really very great&mdash;her screams ceased
+entirely, only, as her fury had this time been <i>very</i> great even for
+her, it had naturally arrived at tears and sobs, and in consequence she
+was not able all at once to stifle the sobs that shook her, or even by
+scrubbing at her poor eyes with all her might, with a rather grimy
+little ball which she called her "pocket-hankerwich," could she succeed
+in destroying all traces of the storm. She ran over to the window and
+stood with her back to the door, staring, or pretending to stare, down
+at the pretty garden beds, gay with crocuses and snowdrops. But mother's
+eyes were not to be so easily deceived. One glance at the peaceful,
+though subdued group round the fireplace, one anxious look at the little
+figure standing solitary by the window, its fat dimpled shoulders
+convulsively heaving every moment or two, its face resolutely turned
+away, and mother knew all.</p>
+
+<p>"What is wrong with Miss Julian?" she asked.</p>
+
+<p>"Really, ma'am, I can't quite say. I was down-stairs and when I came
+back she was in one of her ways, and you know, ma'am, it is no use
+speaking to her while she's like that. It was just some trifle about
+Prince, but if it wasn't that it would be something else."</p>
+
+<p>Martin's tone was slightly querulous, but Mrs. Caryll could not resent
+it. Martin as a rule was so good and patient with the children, and with
+the other three&mdash;Maudie and the boys&mdash;there was never a shadow of
+trouble. Even to Hoodie she was really kind, and though sometimes it did
+seem as if she did not take what is called "quite the right way with
+her," it would hardly have been fair to blame her for that, seeing that
+this mysterious right way in Hoodie's case, was quite as great a puzzle
+as the passage round the North Pole! So great a puzzle indeed that its
+very existence had come to be doubted, for hitherto one thing only about
+it was certain&mdash;no one had ever succeeded in finding it.</p>
+
+<p>On the whole, mother herself managed Hoodie better than any one else,
+but that, I fear, is not saying much. For whenever, after a long talk
+and many tears, Mrs. Caryll left the nursery with a somewhat lightened
+heart, thinking that for some time to come at least there was going to
+be peace, she was almost <i>sure</i> to be disappointed. Generally these very
+times were followed by the worst outbreaks, and in despair Mrs. Caryll
+would leave off talks and gentle measures and simply lock the
+aggravating little girl into her bedroom, whence in a few hours, the fit
+having at last worked itself off, Hoodie would emerge, silent indeed,
+but <i>so</i> cross, so unbearably irritable, that no one in the nursery
+dared look at her, much less speak to her, till a night's rest had to
+some extent soothed her down.</p>
+
+<p>It really seemed as if, as Martin said, there was nothing to do but
+leave her to herself, and it was with a terror of making things worse
+that Hoodie's mother now stood and looked at her, asking herself what
+<i>would</i> be best to do.</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps it would have been better," she said to herself, "if I had
+taken no notice of anything wrong," for she believed that Hoodie's
+intense mortification at <i>mother's</i> knowing of her naughtiness was what
+gave her more influence over her than any one else. But it was not quite
+the kind of influence she most cared to have&mdash;mortification, to my
+thinking, never does any one any good, but only fosters the evil <i>roots</i>
+from whence all these troubles spring. "If Hoodie cared about my knowing
+for fear of it grieving me, I would understand better how to manage
+her," thought Mrs. Caryll. "But if it were so she would show her sorrow
+in a different way. It is her pride, not her love, that is concerned."</p>
+
+<p>She was right, but wrong too. Hoodie was proud, but also intensely
+loving. She did grieve in her own wild, unreasonable way, at distressing
+her mother, but most of all she grieved that <i>she</i> should be the cause
+of it. It would have made her sorry for mother to be grieved by Maudie
+or the boys, but still that would have been different. It was the misery
+of believing herself to be always the cause of the unhappiness that
+seemed to come back and back upon her, making the very time at which she
+was "sorriest," the time at which it was hardest to be good.</p>
+
+<p>Hoodie's mother stood and considered. Then she crossed the room and
+touched her little girl on the neck. The bare white dumpling of a
+shoulder just "shruggled itself up" a little higher, but Hoodie gave no
+other sign of having felt anything.</p>
+
+<p>"Hoodie," said her mother.</p>
+
+<p>No reply.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Hoodie</i>," a little louder.</p>
+
+<p>Hoodie <i>had</i> to look round. What a face! Red eyes, tangled hair,
+frowning forehead, tight shut lips. No, the good angels had not yet
+found their way back to Hoodie's heart&mdash;the little black dog was still
+curled up on her back, scowling at every one that came near.</p>
+
+<p>"Hoodie," said her mother very quietly, "come with me to my room."</p>
+
+<p>Hoodie did not resist. She allowed her mother to take her hand and lead
+her away. As the door closed after them Maudie gave a sigh of relief.</p>
+
+<p>"Let's go on with our reading as long as we can," she said. "Hoodie will
+be worse than ever after she comes back. As soon as ever mother has gone
+down again and she thinks she won't hear, she'll begin again. Won't she,
+Martin?"</p>
+
+<p>"She often is like that," said Martin, "but perhaps she'll be better
+to-day. Go on reading, Miss Maudie, and take no notice of her when she
+comes in."</p>
+
+<p>In about ten minutes the door opened and Hoodie appeared. She marched in
+with a half-defiant air&mdash;evidently "humble-pie" had at present no
+attraction for her. No one took any notice of her. This did not suit
+Hoodie. She dragged her little chair across the room and placed it
+beside her sister's.</p>
+
+<p>"Doin' to be dood," she announced.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm glad to hear it, Miss Hoodie," said Martin.</p>
+
+<p>"Doin' to be dood. Maudie, litsen," said Hoodie impatiently, giving
+Magdalen's chair a jerk, "doin' to be <i>dood</i>."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well, Hoodie, only please don't pull my chair," said Maudie, in
+some fear and trembling.</p>
+
+<p>"You're not to read, you're to litsen when I speak," said Hoodie, "and I
+will pull your chair, if I like. I love mother, don't love <i>you</i>,
+Maudie, ugly 'sing that you is."</p>
+
+<p>Maudie did not answer. She glanced up at Martin for advice.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Miss Maudie," said Martin cheerfully, "aren't you going on with
+your story?"</p>
+
+<p>"It's done, Martin, you forget," said Maudie.</p>
+
+<p>Martin gave her a glance which Maudie understood. "Say something to take
+off her attention," was the interpretation of it.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll look for another. Don't run away, Hec and Duke," said the elder
+sister quickly. "I am afraid there is nothing in this book but what we
+have read lots of times," she added, after turning over the leaves for a
+minute or two. "I wish it was somebody's birthday soon, and then we'd
+get some new stories."</p>
+
+<p>"My birthday next," observed Hoodie, complacently.</p>
+
+<p>"No, Hoodie, 'tisn't," exclaimed both the boys, "'tisn't your birthday
+nextest. 'Tis ours. Aren't it now, Martin? You told us."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, dears, it is yours next. In June, Miss Hoodie dear, is theirs,
+you know, and yours won't be till July."</p>
+
+<p>Martin made the statement gingerly. She was uncommonly afraid of what
+she might be drawing on herself by her venturing to disagree with the
+small autocrat of the nursery. To her surprise Hoodie took the
+information philosophically, relieving her feelings only by a piece of
+biting satire.</p>
+
+<p>"That's acos the months is wrong. When <i>I</i> make the months they will
+come 'July, June,' not 'June, July,'" she said.</p>
+
+<p>Hec and Duke thought this so original that they began laughing. A
+doubtful expression crept over Hoodie's face. Should she resent it, or
+laugh with them? Martin took the bull by the horns.</p>
+
+<p>"Shall I tell you a story, my dears?" she said, "of what I once did on
+one of my birthdays when I was little? It came into my mind the other
+day, and I wonder I never told it you before, for it's something like
+the story of 'Little Red Riding Hood,' that Miss Hoodie got her name
+from."</p>
+
+<p>"No, no, Martin. Hoodie didn't get her name from that," said Maudie
+eagerly. "It was this way. Mother got her a little hood <i>like</i> Red
+Riding Hood's in our picture&mdash;only it was pink and not scarlet, and
+Hoodie liked it so, she screamed when they took it off, and once she
+was ill and she screamed so for it that they had to put it on her even
+in bed, and she had it on three days running."</p>
+
+<p>"Zee days zunning," repeated Hoodie, nodding her head with great
+satisfaction. She was evidently very proud of this legend of her
+infancy.</p>
+
+<p>"Dear me!" said Martin, "that was a funny fancy, to be sure. But the
+hood wouldn't be so pretty after that."</p>
+
+<p>"No, of course," said Maudie. "It was all crumpled up and spoilt. And
+mamma got her a new one, but Hoodie wouldn't have it on, and so after
+that she didn't have hoods any more, only she was always called Hoodie."</p>
+
+<p>"Always called Hoodie," reiterated the heroine of this remarkable
+anecdote, quite restored to good humour by finding herself looked upon
+as a historical character.</p>
+
+<p>"And now, Martin, what did you do on your birthday?" said Magdalen.</p>
+
+<p>"It was when I was eight," said Martin. "We lived in the country and we
+had a nice little farm. My father managed the farm and my mother had the
+dairy. And my old grandmother lived about three miles off in a little
+cottage near a wood&mdash;that was one thing that made me say it was like Red
+Riding Hood. I was very fond of going to see my grandmother, and I
+always counted it one of my treats. So the day before my birthday mother
+said to me, 'Janie, you shall go to your grandmother's to-morrow, if you
+like, as it is your birthday, and I'll pack a little basket for you to
+take to her, with some fresh eggs and butter. And I'll make a little
+cake for you to take too, and you shall stay to tea with her and have
+the cake to eat.'"</p>
+
+<p>"Had it pums in?" said Hec.</p>
+
+<p>"And laisins?" added Duke.</p>
+
+<p>"Silly boy," said Hoodie from the elevation of her five years, "pums
+<i>is</i> laisins."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh," said Duke submissively.</p>
+
+<p>"Do on, Martin, do on, kick, kick, Martin," said Hoodie, "gee-up-ping"
+on her footstool as if Martin was a lazy horse she was trying to make go
+faster.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," continued Martin, "I was pleased to go as you can fancy, and the
+next afternoon off I set. It was such a nice day. The flowers were just
+at their best&mdash;I stopped more than once to gather honeysuckle and twist
+it round the handle of the basket, it looked so pretty, and when I got
+to the little wood near which stood grandmother's cottage, I could
+hardly get on for stopping to look at the flowers that peeped out at the
+edge that skirted the road. And then I thought to myself how beautiful
+it must be further in the wood, and what a lovely bunch of cowslips I
+might gather. There was a little stile just where I was standing&mdash;I
+climbed over it and put the basket down on the ground, as I could not
+run with it in my hand, and then off I set, down a little path between
+the trees, glancing at every side as I ran, for the flowers I wanted.
+But I was disappointed&mdash;in the wood the flowers were not near so pretty
+as at the edge, and after picking a few, I threw them away again and
+turned back to the stile, where I had left my basket. But fancy my
+trouble when I found it was not there! I had been away such a short
+time, I could not believe it was really gone. I searched and I
+searched&mdash;all in vain&mdash;it was really <i>gone</i>&mdash;so at last I sat down and
+cried. I cried till I was tired of crying, and then I got up and walked
+slowly on to grandmother's. She was so kind I knew she would not scold
+me, but still she would be sorry and disappointed. And I really felt as
+if I would be too ashamed ever to go home and tell mother. When I got to
+grandmother's and walked up the little path to the cottage door&mdash;she had
+a nice little garden with roses and stocks and gilly-flowers and
+sweet-williams and lots of other nice old flowers&mdash;I was surprised to
+see it closed. It was not often grandmother was out of an afternoon,
+and besides, being my birthday, she might have known I would likely be
+coming to see her.</p>
+
+<p>"'Everything's gone wrong with me to-day,' I said to myself, and vexed
+to think of the lost basket and the long hot walk back in the sun, I sat
+down on the little bench at the door and began to cry again. It seemed
+too bad that my birthday should be spoilt like that. I had cried so much
+that my eyes were sore, and I leant my head against the back of the
+bench&mdash;it stood in a sort of little arbour&mdash;and closed them. I was not
+sleepy, I was only tired and stupid-like, but you can't fancy how
+startled I was when suddenly I felt something lick my hand, which was
+hanging down at my side. I opened my eyes and jumped up. There stood
+beside me a great big dog&mdash;a dog I had never seen before, looking up at
+me with his gentle, soft eyes, while on the ground at my feet was my
+lost basket! I was so delighted that I couldn't feel frightened,
+besides, who could have been frightened of such a dear, kind-looking
+dog? I threw my arms round his neck and hugged him, and told him he was
+a darling to have found my basket, and for a minute or two I really
+thought to myself he must be a sort of fairy&mdash;he seemed to have come so
+wonderful-like, all of a sudden. Just then I heard voices coming along
+the road. I ran to the gate to see who it was, and there, to my joy,
+was grandmother, and beside her a neighbour of hers, a gamekeeper I had
+seen now and then. I had my basket on my arm and the big doggie stood
+beside me."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="ill02" id="ill02"></a>
+<img src="images/ill02.jpg" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+<h3>"I had my basket on my arm and the big doggie stood
+beside me."</h3>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II.</h2>
+
+<h3>HOODIE GOES IN SEARCH OF A GRANDMOTHER.</h3>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"I care for nobody, no, not I,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And nobody cares for me!"<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p>Martin went on with her story:</p>
+
+<p>"'Janie!' cried grandmother when she saw me. 'What a nice picture they
+make&mdash;my little granddaughter and your great dog&mdash;don't they?' she said
+to the gamekeeper.</p>
+
+<p>"'And it was <i>your</i> basket, little Janie, that he found at the stile,
+then,' said the dog's master, and then he and grandmother explained,
+that walking along the road&mdash;grandmother was going up with him to see
+his wife who was ill&mdash;the dog who was following them had suddenly darted
+to one side and then crept from under the hedge with the basket in his
+mouth. They couldn't think whose it was, for no one was to be seen
+about, but when grandmother started to come home again the dog would
+follow her with it still in his mouth, so Roberts, that was the man's
+name, came along with her to see the end of it. Now wasn't it clever of
+the dog to know it was mine and bring it to me like that?"</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Very</i>," said the children. "But mightn't your grandmother have known
+it was your mother's basket?" said Magdalen.</p>
+
+<p>"It was a common enough one, but if she had looked inside she'd have
+known mother's butter and cake, I daresay," said Martin. "But the funny
+thing was, the dog would let no one touch it but me&mdash;he growled at
+grandmother when she tried to look in, but he stood by and saw me take
+out the things and just wagged his tail."</p>
+
+<p>"And did zou have nice tea, and cake, Martin?" said Hec.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh yes, dears, very nice. But for all that it cured me of setting down
+baskets or anything like that when I had to take them anywhere. For you
+see it isn't every dog that would have had the sense of that one."</p>
+
+<p>"And then he <i>might</i> have been a woof," suggested Hoodie. "The picture
+says a woof."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Maudie. "But this isn't the picture story, Hoodie. This was
+a real story of Martin herself, you know, for there aren't wolfs now."</p>
+
+<p>"Not none?" said Hoodie.</p>
+
+<p>"No, of course not."</p>
+
+<p>Hoodie nodded her head, but made no further remark, and the nursery
+party congratulated themselves on the astonishing success of their
+endeavours to "put her crying fit out of her head."</p>
+
+<p>This happy state of things lasted nearly all day. Hoodie was really most
+agreeable. She was rather more silent than usual, but, for her,
+surprisingly amiable.</p>
+
+<p>Martin was delighted.</p>
+
+<p>"Take my word for it, Miss Maudie," she said, "the only way with a child
+like her, is to take no notice and talk of something else."</p>
+
+<p>"But we can't always do that way, Martin,"&mdash;Maudie was not of a sanguine
+temperament,&mdash;"sometimes, you know, she's naughty about things that you
+<i>must</i> go on talking to her about, till you get her to do them."</p>
+
+<p>"I can't help it, Miss Maudie," said Martin. "Talk or no talk, it's my
+belief that no power on earth will get Miss Julian to do what she wants
+not to do. And folks can't live always quarrel&mdash;quarrelling. She may
+improve of herself like, when she gets older, but as she is now, I
+really think the less notice she gets the better."</p>
+
+<p>Maudie felt rather puzzled. She was only nine years old herself,
+remember, and Hoodie's queer ways were enough to puzzle much wiser heads
+than hers.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't think Martin's way would do," she said to herself, "but still I
+think there must be <i>some</i> way that would make her gooder if only we
+could find it."</p>
+
+<p>The children all went to church in the afternoon. The morning service
+was too long for them, their mother sensibly thought, but the afternoon
+hour, or hour and a quarter at most, no one, not even wee Hec and Duke,
+found too much. And Hoodie was rather fond of going to church. What she
+thought of, perched up by herself in her own corner of the pew, no one
+ever knew; that she listened, or attempted to listen, to what was going
+on, was doubtful in the extreme. But still, as a rule, church had a
+soothing effect on her, the quiet and restfulness, the monotony itself,
+seemed to calm her fidgety querulousness; possibly even the sensation of
+her Sunday clothes and the admiring glances of the little
+school-children helped to smooth her down for the time being.</p>
+
+<p>This special Sunday afternoon their mother was not with them. They went
+and returned under Martin's convoy, and till about half way on their way
+home again all went satisfactorily. Then unfortunately occurred the
+first ruffle. Maudie had been walking on in front with little Duke,
+Hoodie and Hec, each with a hand of Martin, behind, when Maudie stopped.</p>
+
+<p>"Martin," she said, "may Duke walk with you a little? He says he's
+tired."</p>
+
+<p>"Of course, poor dear," said Martin; "come here, Master Duke, and you,
+Miss Hoodie, go on a little with your sister."</p>
+
+<p>Hoodie let go Martin's hand readily enough.</p>
+
+<p>"Wonders will never cease," thought Martin, but alas, her rejoicing was
+premature. Hoodie let go her hand, but stood stock still without moving.</p>
+
+<p>"No," she said deliberately, "I won't walk with Maudie. Why can't Hec
+walk with Maudie, and me stay here?"</p>
+
+<p>"Because he's such a little boy, Miss Hoodie dear, and I daresay both he
+and Master Duke are getting tired. They've had a long walk you know."</p>
+
+<p>Martin was forgetting her own advice to Maudie. He who stopped to reason
+with Hoodie was lost indeed!</p>
+
+<p>"And so has me had a long walk, and so you might daresay me is tired
+too," returned Hoodie, standing her ground both actually and
+figuratively. Two fat little legs apart, two sturdy little feet planted
+firmly on the ground, there she stood looking up defiantly in Martin's
+face, armed for the fight.</p>
+
+<p>"Was there ever such a child?" thought poor Martin. Maudie's words had
+indeed been quickly fulfilled&mdash;here already was a case in which the
+taking-no-notice system was impossible&mdash;the child could not be left by
+herself on the high-road, where according to present appearances it was
+evidently her intention to stay unless&mdash;she got her own way!</p>
+
+<p>"Well, my dear, I daresay you are tired too," said Martin soothingly,
+"but still not <i>so</i> tired as poor little Duke. You're ever so much
+bigger you know. Think what tiny little feet your brothers have to trot
+all along the road on."</p>
+
+<p>"Mines is tiny too. I heard you saying them was very tiny to Mamma one
+day. And them's just as tired as Duke's; 'cos I'm bigger, my feets have
+more heavy to carry. I <i>will</i> have your hand, Martin, and I won't walk
+with ugly Maudie."</p>
+
+<p>"But you must, Miss Hoodie," said Martin, attempting firmness and
+decision as a last resource.</p>
+
+<p>"But I mustn't, 'cos I <i>won't</i>," said Hoodie.</p>
+
+<p>Martin glanced back along the road despairingly. Several groups of the
+country people on their way home from church were approaching the little
+party as they stood on the footpath.</p>
+
+<p>"Do come on, Martin," said Maudie; "it is so horrid for the people to
+see such a fuss. And then they say all about that we are all naughty.
+Look, there's farmer Bright and his daughters coming. Do come on&mdash;you'll
+<i>have</i> to let Hoodie walk with you, and Hec'll come with me."</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Hoodie," said Martin once more, "you are to walk on with Miss
+Maudie, do you hear?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Hoodie, without moving an inch, "I hear, but I <i>won't</i> walk
+with ugly Maudie."</p>
+
+<p>The Bright family were fast approaching. In despair Martin turned to
+Hoodie.</p>
+
+<p>"I am obliged to let you walk with me, Miss Julian," she said, solemnly,
+"because I cannot have every one in the road see how naughty you are.
+But when we get home I shall speak to your Mamma, and ask her to let you
+go walks alone. You make us all miserable."</p>
+
+<p>Hoodie took Martin's hand and marched on.</p>
+
+<p>"I should like to go walks alone, werry much," she said, amiably, to
+which remark Martin did not make any reply.</p>
+
+<p>The Bright family passed them with a friendly word to Martin, saying
+something in praise of the nice appearance of her little charges. And
+Hoodie smiled back to farmer Bright, as if she thought herself the best
+and sweetest-tempered of little girls. Then when they were out of
+sight, she suddenly dropped Martin's hand.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't want to walk with you. You're an ugly 'sing too," she said. "I
+like to walk belone, but I would walk with you if I <i>said</i> I would."</p>
+
+<p>And on she marched defiantly, well in front of the whole party. And
+again poor Martin murmured to herself,&mdash;"Was there <i>ever</i> such a child?"</p>
+
+<p>What was Hoodie saying to herself on in front where no one could hear
+her?</p>
+
+<p>"They don't love me. They like me to be away. Nobody loves poor Hoodie.
+Hoodie can't be good when nobody loves her. It isn't Hoodie's fault."</p>
+
+<p>And through her babyish brain there ran misty, dreamy ideas of something
+she would do to make "them" all sorry&mdash;she would go away somewhere "far,
+far," and never come back again. But where? This she could not yet
+settle about, but fortunately for the peace of the rest of the walk her
+cogitations kept her quiet till they were all at home again.</p>
+
+<p>Martin's threat of speaking to Hoodie's mother was not at once carried
+out. And Martin herself began to think better of it when at tea-time
+Hoodie behaved herself quite respectably. The naughty mood had passed
+again for the time, it seemed.</p>
+
+<p>Sitting round the table in the intervals of bread-and-butter and
+honey&mdash;for it was Sunday evening, "honey evening" the little boys called
+it&mdash;the children chatted together pleasantly. Martin's story had greatly
+impressed them.</p>
+
+<p>"Weren't you frightened at first when you saw the big, big doggie,
+Martin?" said Maudie.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Might</i> have been a woof," remarked Duke, whose ideas had a knack of
+getting so well lodged in his brain that it was often difficult to get
+them out again.</p>
+
+<p>"But there <i>are</i> no wolfs. I told you so before," said Maudie.</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Duke, "you toldened Hoodie so. You didn't tolden me."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, <i>dear</i> Duke, what does it matter?" said Magdalen, with a slight
+touch of impatience in her tone. "You heard me say it, and you do go on
+and on so about a thing."</p>
+
+<p>Hoodie looked up with a twinkle in her eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"Peoples always calls each other 'dear' whenever they doesn't like each
+other," she remarked.</p>
+
+<p>Maudie flashed round upon her.</p>
+
+<p>"That isn't true. I do like Duke&mdash;don't I, Duke? And Hec too&mdash;don't I
+love you dearly, Hec and Duke?"</p>
+
+<p>The two little boys clambered down from their chairs, by slow and
+ponderous degrees, and a hugging match of the three ensued.</p>
+
+<p>"Children, children," cried Martin, "you know it's against the rules for
+you to get down from your chairs at tea. Miss Maudie, dear, you
+shouldn't encourage it."</p>
+
+<p>"But Hoodie said unkind 'sings to Maudie, and we had to kiss dear
+Maudie," said the little boys. "Naughty Hoodie," and they glanced round
+indignantly at Hoodie.</p>
+
+<p>A hard look came over Hoodie's face.</p>
+
+<p>"Always naughty Hoodie," she muttered to herself. "Nobody loves Hoodie.
+Nebber mind. Don't care."</p>
+
+<p>"Little boys," said Martin, "you must go back to your seats and finish
+your tea. And don't call Miss Hoodie naughty for nothing at all but a
+little joke."</p>
+
+<p>Hoodie gave a quick glance at Martin.</p>
+
+<p>"Martin," she said, gravely, "if there is no woofs now, is there any
+grandmothers?"</p>
+
+<p>"Any grandmothers, Miss Hoodie?" repeated Martin. "How do you mean, my
+dear? of course every one has a grandmother, or has had."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh!" said Hoodie; "I didn't know. And is grandmothers always in
+cottages?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, you silly girl," said Maudie, laughing; "of course not. Don't you
+remember <i>our</i> grandmother? She was here two years ago. But I suppose
+you're too little to remember."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't laugh at her for not understanding, Miss Maudie," said Martin;
+"besides, don't you remember your grandmother's address is Parkwood
+Cottage? Very likely she's thinking of that."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Hoodie, "I was 'sinking of zat. I want a grandmother in a
+cottage. Grandmother in a cottage would be very kind, and there is no
+woofs."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh no, Miss Hoodie, there are no wolves," said Martin; "all the wolves
+were sent away long, long ago. Now, dears, you must have your hands
+washed and your hairs brushed to go down to the drawing-room."</p>
+
+<p>Hoodie was very quiet that evening. Her father noticed it after the
+children had gone up to bed again, and said to her mother that he was in
+hopes the child was going to turn over a new leaf. And her mother
+replied with a smile that she had been speaking to her very seriously
+that morning, and was glad to see how well the little girl had taken it.
+So both father and mother felt satisfied and happy about the child,
+little imagining the queer confused whirl of ideas at that very moment
+chasing each other round her busy brain.</p>
+
+<p>For Hoodie did not go to sleep till much later than the others, though
+she lay so still that her wakefulness was unnoticed. Under her pillow,
+wrapped up firstly in a piece of newspaper, over that in the clean
+pocket-handkerchief Martin had given her for church, were three biscuits
+she had got at dessert, two pieces of bread-and-butter, and one of bread
+and honey, which unobserved she had "saved" from tea. What she meant to
+do with these provisions was by no means clear, even in her own mind.
+She only knew that the proper thing was to have a basket of eatables of
+some kind, provided for a voyage of discovery such as that on which she
+was resolved.</p>
+
+<p>"The little Hoodie-girl in the picture has a bastwick, and Martin had a
+bastwick when she was a Hoodie-girl," she said to herself dreamily. "I
+will get more bead-and-butter to-morrow and then I can go. After
+dinner-time Martin wented when she was a Hoodie-girl. I will go after
+dinner-time too. The grandmother in the cottage will love Hoodie and
+there is no woofs. Peoples here doesn't love Hoodie."</p>
+
+<p>And so thinking she fell asleep.</p>
+
+<p>The next morning happened to be rainy. Hoodie ate her breakfast in
+silence, and what she did <i>not</i> eat she quietly added to the contents of
+the pocket-handkerchief parcel. Martin noticed her fumbling at
+something, but thankful for the quiet state of the atmosphere&mdash;otherwise
+Hoodie's temper&mdash;thought it wiser to make no remarks. For after all it
+was a very April sort of sunshine; and two or three times before dinner
+there were signs of possible storms&mdash;once in particular, when the little
+boy had got Prince up into the nursery to play with them and Hoodie
+insisted on turning him out.</p>
+
+<p>"Him's not to come in here," she said; "Hoodie won't have him in here no
+more."</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Really</i>, Hoodie," said Maudie, "this isn't all your room. Why won't
+you let poor Prince come in? It was only yesterday you were crying
+because he wouldn't come."</p>
+
+<p>"'Cos I loved him yesterday and I don't love him to-day," replied Hoodie
+coolly.</p>
+
+<p>"And how would you like if people spoke that way to you?" said Maudie
+virtuously. "Suppose we said we wouldn't have you in the nursery 'cos we
+don't love you to-day?"</p>
+
+<p>"Don't care," said Hoodie. "You can't send <i>me</i> out of the nursery. I'm
+not a dog. But if I like I can go of my own self," she added
+mysteriously. "And if peoples don't love me I <i>sall</i> go."</p>
+
+<p>Maudie did not catch the sense of the last few words, but Prince, being
+in his own mind by no means partial to the nursery, where the
+children's affection expressed itself in clutches and caresses very
+unsettling to his nerves, had taken advantage of the discussion to go
+off "of his own self," and in the lamentation over his running away, no
+more was said, and it was not till afterwards that the elder girl
+remembered her little sister's threat.</p>
+
+<p>But through dinner-time the hard, half-sullen look stayed on Hoodie's
+face, and again poor Martin shivered with fear that another storm was
+coming. Somewhat to her surprise things got no worse&mdash;not even when a
+message came up-stairs from "mother," that Maudie was to be ready to go
+out a drive with her at two, did Hoodie's rather curiously quiet manner
+desert her.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't care. Nobody loves me," she repeated to herself, but so low
+that no one heard her.</p>
+
+<p>"It'll be your turn next time, you know, Hoodie dear. Mother never
+forgets turns," said Magdalen consolingly, as, arrayed in her "best"
+white alpaca trimmed with blue, and white hat with blue feathers to
+match, she ran into the nursery to say good-bye to the stayers-at-home.</p>
+
+<p>"And Miss Hoodie will be good and help me with the little boys, won't
+you, Miss Hoodie dear?" said Martin. "There's some ironing I do want to
+get done for your Mamma this afternoon, if I could leave you three
+alone for a little."</p>
+
+<p>"Susan may stay with them," said Mrs. Caryll, who just then came into
+the nursery to see if Maudie was ready. "It is too damp still for the
+boys to go out, but Hoodie can play in the garden a little. She never
+catches cold and she will be the better for a run&mdash;eh, Hoodie?"</p>
+
+<p>No answer. Mrs. Caryll turned to Martin with a question in her face.
+"Anything wrong again?" it seemed to say.</p>
+
+<p>Martin shook her head.</p>
+
+<p>"I think not, ma'am," she said in a very low voice, "but really there's
+no saying. But I think she'll be all right once you're started with Miss
+Magdalen."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Caryll said no more. She took Maudie by the hand and left the
+nursery, only nodding good-bye to the little boys as she passed through
+the doorway.</p>
+
+<p>"Good-bye, darlings," said Maudie. "I'll bring you back something nice
+for tea."</p>
+
+<p>"Dood-bye, dear Maudie," called out Hec and Duke in return. Then they
+flew&mdash;no, I can hardly use that word with regard to their sturdy little
+legs' trot across the room&mdash;they trotted off to the window to see the
+carriage as it passed the corner of the drive and to kiss their little
+hands to Mamma and Maudie. And Hoodie remained determinedly looking out
+of the other window, from which no drive and no carriage were to be
+seen.</p>
+
+<p>"Nobody calls me darling. Nobody cares for Hoodie," she said to herself.
+"Nebber mind. Hoodie will go far, far."</p>
+
+<p>When Martin called to her a few minutes afterwards, to put her hat and
+jacket on for the run in the garden, which her mother had spoken of, she
+came at once, and stood quite still while her nurse dressed her. The
+submission struck Martin as rather suspicious.</p>
+
+<p>"Now Miss Hoodie, my dear," she said, "you'll not go on the grass or
+where it's wet. Just run about on the nice dry gravel for half an hour
+or so, and if you see the gardener about, you may ask him to show you
+the rabbits."</p>
+
+<p>Hoodie looked up in Martin's face with a rather curious expression.</p>
+
+<p>"I won't run in the grass," was all she said. Martin let her go off
+without any misgiving. For all Hoodie's strange temper she was in some
+ways a particularly sensible child for her age. She was quite to be
+trusted to play alone in the garden, for instance&mdash;she might have been
+safely left within reach of the most beautiful flowers in the
+conservatory without any special warning; not one would have been
+touched. She was truly, as Martin said, a strange mixture and
+contradiction.</p>
+
+<p>She had made her way half down the staircase, when she suddenly
+remembered her basket.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, my bastwick," she exclaimed. "I was nearly forgetting my bastwick,"
+and up-stairs again she climbed to the cupboard, in one dark corner of
+which she had hidden it. Luckily it was still there; no one had touched
+it; so feeling herself quite equipped for the journey, Hoodie walked out
+of the front door, crossed the gravel drive, and made her way down a
+little path with a rustic gate at the end leading straight out on to the
+high road. When she got there she stood still and looked about her.
+Which way should she go? It had turned out a beautiful afternoon, though
+the morning had been so stormy. The road was nearly dry already, the sky
+overhead was blue, save here and there where little feathery clouds were
+flying about in some agitation; it might rain again before night, for
+though not exactly cold, there was no summer glow as yet, and the
+sunshine, though bright, had a very April feeling about it.</p>
+
+<p>Hoodie stood still and looked about her, up and down the road. It was a
+pretty, peaceful scene&mdash;the broad well-kept highway, bordered at one
+side with beautiful old trees just bursting into bloom, and across, on
+the other side of the low hedge, the fresh green fields, all the fresher
+for the morning's rain, in some of which already the tender little
+lambkins were sporting about or cuddling in by the side of their warm
+woolly ewe-mothers.</p>
+
+<p>"I wish I was a lamb," thought Hoodie, as her glance fell on them. Then
+as she looked away beyond the fields to where in the distance the land
+sloped upwards into softly rising hills, a flight of birds attracted her
+attention. How prettily they flew, waving, now upwards, now downwards,
+like one long ribbon against the sky. "Or a little bird," she added. "If
+I was up there I could see so nicely where to go, and I could fly, fly,
+till I got to the sun."</p>
+
+<p>But just then the sound of wheels coming near brought her thoughts down
+to earth again. Which way should she go?</p>
+
+<p>She <i>must</i> pass through a wood. That was the only thing that at present
+she felt sure of, and there was a wood she remembered some way down the
+road, past Mr. Bright's farm. So down the road Hoodie trotted, her
+basket firmly clasped in her hand, her little figure the only moving
+thing to be seen along the queen's highway. For the cart to which the
+wheels belonged had passed quickly&mdash;it was only the grocer from the
+neighbouring town, so on marched Hoodie undisturbed. A little on this
+side of farmer Bright's a lane turned off to the left. This lane, Hoodie
+decided, must be the way to the wood, so she left the road and went
+along the lane for about a quarter of a mile, till, to her perplexity,
+it ended in a sort of little croft with a stile at each side. Hoodie
+climbed up both stiles in turns and looked about her. The wood was not
+to be seen from either, but across a field from the second stile she saw
+the tops of some trees standing on lower ground.</p>
+
+<p>"That must be the wood," thought Hoodie, and down she clambered again to
+fetch her basket which she had left on the other side. With some
+difficulty she hoisted it and herself up again, with greater difficulty
+got it and herself down the steps on the further side, and then set off
+triumphantly at a run in the direction of the trees she had seen.</p>
+
+<p>So far she was right. These trees were the beginning of a wood&mdash;a pretty
+little wood with a tiny stream running through the middle, and little
+nests of ferns and mosses in among the stones and tree-stumps on its
+banks&mdash;a very pretty little wood it must be in summer-time with the
+trees more fully out and the ground dry and crisp, and clear of the last
+year's leaves which still gave it a desolate appearance. Hoodie's
+spirits rose. She was getting on famously. Soon she might expect to see
+the grandmother's cottage, where no doubt the kettle would be boiling on
+the fire to make tea for her, and the table all nicely spread. For
+already she was beginning to feel hungry; she had journeyed, it seemed
+to her, a very long way, and more than once she eyed her basket
+wistfully, wondering if she might eat just one piece of the
+bread-and-butter.</p>
+
+<p>"The little Hoodie-girl in the picture didn't, and Martin didn't," she
+said to herself. "So I 'appose I'd better not. And perhaps if the woofs
+saw me eating, it would make them come."</p>
+
+<p>The idea made her shiver.</p>
+
+<p>"But Maudie said there was no woofs," she added. "Maudie said there
+wasn't no woofs. But I <i>wish</i> I could see the cottage."</p>
+
+<p>On and on she made her way,&mdash;here and there with really great
+difficulty, for there was no proper path, and sometimes the big
+tree-stumps were almost higher than her fat, rather short legs could
+either stride across or climb over. More than once she scratched these
+same bare legs pretty badly, and but for the resolution which was a
+strong part of her character, the queer little girl would have sat down
+on the ground and burst into tears. But she struggled on, and at last,
+to her delight, the trees in front of her cleared suddenly, and she saw
+before her a little hilly path surmounted by a stile. Hoodie clapped her
+hands, or would have done so but for the interference of the basket.</p>
+
+<p>"Hoodie's out of the wood," she said joyfully, "and up there perhaps
+I'll see the cottage."</p>
+
+<p>It happened that she was right. When she reached the stile, there, sure
+enough, across another little field the cottage, <i>a</i> cottage any way,
+was to be seen. A neat little cottage, something like the description
+Martin had given of <i>her</i> grandmother's cottage, which, jumbled up with
+the picture of long ago Red Riding Hood the first, on the nursery walls,
+was in Hoodie's mind as a sort of model of that in quest of which she
+had set out on her voyage of discovery. This cottage too had a little
+garden with a path up the middle, and at each side were beds, neatly
+bordered, which in summer-time no doubt would be gay with simple
+flowers. Hoodie glanced round the little garden approvingly as she made
+her way up to the door.</p>
+
+<p>"It's just like Martin's cottage," she thought. "But the Hoodie-girl in
+the picture was pulling somesing for the door to open and I don't see
+nosing to pull. I must knock I 'appose. I am <i>so</i> glad there's been none
+woofs."</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="ill03" id="ill03"></a>
+<img src="images/ill03.jpg" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+<h3>It's just like Martin's cottage</h3>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>Knock&mdash;knock&mdash;no answer. Knock, knock, <i>knock</i> a little louder this
+time. Hoodie began to wonder if the grandmother was going to be out,
+like the one in Martin's story&mdash;no&mdash;a sound at last of some one coming
+to open.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III.</h2>
+
+<h3>LITTLE BABY AND ITS MOTHER.</h3>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Polly put the kettle on,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And let's have tea."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p>The latch was lifted from the inside, and there stood before Hoodie&mdash;not
+an old woman with either "big" or little eyes, not a "grandmother" with
+a frilly cap all round her face, such as she had been vaguely expecting,
+yet certainly not a "woof" either! The person who stood in the doorway
+smiling down on the little girl was a very pretty and pleasant-looking
+young woman, with a fresh rosy face and merry eyes, and a sleeping baby
+in her arms!</p>
+
+<p>For the first moment Hoodie was too surprised to understand what she
+saw.</p>
+
+<p>At last, "I want my grandmother," she said. "<i>You</i> aren't my
+grandmother. I thought this was her cottage."</p>
+
+<p>The young woman smiled again.</p>
+
+<p>"No, Missy, you must have made a mistake. But <i>your</i> grandmother doesn't
+live in a little cottage like this, Missy, I'm sure. You must have quite
+come out of your road. Whose little lady are you?"</p>
+
+<p>Hoodie shook her head.</p>
+
+<p>"I want to live with my grandmother," she replied. "I don't want to be
+anybody's little lady. I've come such a long way&mdash;I know the cottage
+should be aside a wood, just like this. And I'm <i>so</i> tired and firsty."</p>
+
+<p>The quiver in her voice told that the self-control was coming to an end.
+The young woman's sympathy awoke at once.</p>
+
+<p>"Poor dear," she said. "Tired, of course you must be tired. Come in,
+dearie, and sit you down, and you shall have something to drink and to
+eat too, if you please. What would you like?" she went on, after she had
+established Hoodie on a funny little arm-chair by the fire&mdash;a chair
+bought last fair-day by her husband in his extreme delight at being the
+possessor of a fortnight old baby&mdash;"what would you like, Missy&mdash;a cup of
+milk&mdash;or some tea? Kettle's boiling, and 'tis just upon tea-time."</p>
+
+<p>"What a nice little chair," said Hoodie, making the observation that
+first came into her head before replying to the questions asked her, as
+was a habit of hers. "What a nice little chair! It just fits me,"
+turning her fat little body&mdash;to confess the truth, a rather tight
+fit&mdash;and the chair about together, like a snail congratulating itself on
+its shell.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Missy, and you're the first as has ever sat in it. It's to be for
+baby, the dear, as soon as she's old enough to sit up in it. But about
+what you'd like to drink, Missy?"</p>
+
+<p>"I were going to tell you," said Hoodie, with a touch of her usual
+authoritative manner. "I were going to tell you. I'd like tea&mdash;proper
+tea on a table, 'cos I've got my bicsits and 'sings in my bastwick, and
+we could put them out nicely. And if it's so far away to my
+grandmother's perhaps I'd better stay here and fancy you're her"&mdash;she
+glanced up in the young woman's face with such a queer, half-puzzled,
+half-comical look in her eyes that her new friend really began to wonder
+if the child was quite "right" in her head&mdash;"it would seem more like it,
+if we had proper tea on a table. But asides that, I'm so firsty I'd like
+a cup of milk first&mdash;just cold milk belone you know, to take away the
+firsty. Martin <i>sometimes</i> gives me a drink of milk like that just afore
+tea when I'm very firsty, even though she says it spoils my tea."</p>
+
+<p>"But I don't think it'll spoil your tea to-day, Missy," said the young
+woman, as she fetched the cup of milk. "You've come a long way, you
+see," she added, with a view to drawing Hoodie out as to her home and
+belongings.</p>
+
+<p>"And you'll give me <i>real</i> tea, won't you, little baby's mother? Not
+just milk and pertence?" inquired Hoodie, anxiously, as she watched the
+preparations for the meal.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course, Missy, you must have real tea, as you've come so far to see
+me. Which way did you come? I don't think I've ever seen you before, but
+then we've only been here a few weeks, since Thomas engaged with Farmer
+Bright."</p>
+
+<p>"I didn't come to see you, little baby's mother," said Hoodie, "I came
+to look for a grandmother in a cottage. But you're very nice, only&mdash;oh,
+do let me hold the little baby!" she exclaimed, seeing that the still
+sleeping child was about to be deposited in its cradle, as it was rather
+in its mother's way when lifting the kettle and so on;&mdash;"<i>do</i> let me
+hold it!"</p>
+
+<p>She held out her arms and smoothed a place on her knees for it, all
+ready. "Little baby's mother" had not the heart to refuse, though
+somewhat misdoubting but that poor baby would have been better in its
+cradle. But baby did not seem to think so; she gave one or two funny
+little yawns, half opened her eyes, and then composed herself to sleep
+again most philosophically in Hoodie's embrace. She was a nice baby and
+daintily cared for, even though her home was only a stone-floored
+cottage. She was number one in the first place, which says a good deal,
+and she was an extremely healthy and satisfactory baby in herself&mdash;and
+altogether as sweet and fresh and loveable as a wee baby buttercup under
+a hedge.</p>
+
+<p>The young mother eyed the little couple with great admiration.</p>
+
+<p>"How cleverly she holds it, to be sure!" she said to herself; adding to
+Hoodie, "You must have a baby at home, Miss, surely?" the remark as she
+made it reminding her of her anxiety to find out where the "home" of her
+mysterious little visitor was. "I cannot but give her her tea," she said
+to herself; "but I hope I sha'n't get into blame for keeping her here,
+if she's run away from her nurse unbeknown-like."</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Hoodie, with a melancholy tone in her voice. "There isn't no
+baby at home. Only Hec and Duke, and they're too big to be pettened, and
+they like Maudie better than me."</p>
+
+<p>"Do they really, Missy!" said the young woman. "Well, I'm sure I think
+you're a very nice young lady, and baby thinks so too, it's plain to
+see. See, she's waking, the darling."</p>
+
+<p>Hoodie stared solemnly at the baby as if some extraordinary marvel were
+about to happen. What did happen was this. Baby stretched itself,
+doubled up its little pink fists, as if to box some one, yawned, half
+opened its eyes, and then closed them again, having apparently
+considered the question of waking up and thought better of it&mdash;rolled
+over again, and again yawned, and finally opening its nice, baby blue
+eyes and gazing up inquiringly into Hoodie's face, slowly and
+deliberately <i>smiled</i> at her&mdash;a sweet baby smile, half-patronizing,
+half-mysterious, as if it had been away in some wonderful baby
+fairy-land which it would have liked to tell her about if it could, and
+rather pitied her for not having seen for herself. Hoodie gazed,
+enraptured. A pretty bright smile, a smile, it must be confessed, not
+too often seen there, broke over her own little face, and at the sight
+baby's satisfaction expressed itself in a regular chuckle. Hoodie turned
+to the young woman with a curious triumph.</p>
+
+<p>"Little baby's mother," she said, half awe-struck as it were, "I do
+believe she <i>loves</i> me."</p>
+
+<p>"Of course she does, and why shouldn't she?" replied the young mother
+heartily, yet feeling conscious of not altogether understanding the
+little girl. "Why shouldn't she love you, Missy? Little tiny babies like
+her always does love those as is kind to them. Don't you love your dear
+mamma, Missy? and your sisters if you have any&mdash;and what made you love
+them first, before you could understand like, if it wasn't that they
+loved you and were kind to you?"</p>
+
+<p>Hoodie shook her head&mdash;her usual refuge in perplexity.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know," she said. "I like peoples to love me lots&mdash;gate lots. I
+don't 'zink anybody loves me lots. If I was always to sit here holding
+baby so nice, do you think she'd love me lots?"</p>
+
+<p>Baby's mother laughed outright.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know that, Missy," she said, "she'd get very hungry and cry.
+And you'd be hungry, too. Aren't you hungry now? The tea's all ready,
+see, Missy, and your bread and butter's laid out. But I'm afraid it's
+rather hard. Won't you have some of mine instead&mdash;its nice and fresh.
+Has yours been packed up a long time?"</p>
+
+<p>Hoodie's attention being drawn to the bread and butter, she allowed
+baby's mother to regain possession of her treasure, and clambered up
+herself to the chair placed for her. When safely installed she eyed the
+provisions suspiciously.</p>
+
+<p>"I 'zink yours is nicer, little baby's mother," she said graciously,
+having first bitten a piece of her own rather uninviting bread. "It was
+only packened up last night&mdash;but perhaps it was the taking it to bed. I
+took it to bed acos I didn't want nobody to see. But the bicsits is
+nice. Mayn't baby have a bicsit, little baby's mother? If I had got to
+the grandmother's cottage there'd have been cake. You hasn't none cake,
+has you?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, Missy. You see I didn't know you were coming. If your mamma would
+let you come another day and I knew in time, I could bake a nice cake."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Hoodie, "and baby might have some. Does baby like cake?"</p>
+
+<p>"She hasn't no teeth to bite it with yet, Missy dear," said the young
+woman.</p>
+
+<p>"No teess!" exclaimed Hoodie, "what a funny baby. Did God forget zem?"
+she added, in a lower voice.</p>
+
+<p>The young woman turned away to hide her laughter; and just at this
+moment there came a rap at the door&mdash;a well-known rap evidently, for up
+jumped the young woman with a pleased face.</p>
+
+<p>"David!" she exclaimed, as she opened the door, "I thought you wouldn't
+be back till late, or I'd have waited tea."</p>
+
+<p>"I came in to say as I've got to go out again," said the man&mdash;a
+good-humoured looking young labourer&mdash;"little baby" had every reason to
+be good-humoured with such pleasant tempered father and mother!&mdash;"I've
+to drive over to Greenoaks to fetch some little pigs, so I mayn't be in
+till late. But bless us!" he exclaimed, as he just then caught sight of
+Hoodie seated in perfect satisfaction and evidently quite at home, at
+the tea-table, "who ever's this you've got with you, Liz?"</p>
+
+<p>His surprise was so comical that it set "Liz" off laughing again.</p>
+
+<p>"Bless <i>me</i> if I can tell you, David," she said. "She's the most
+old-fashioned little piece of goods I ever came across. But such a nice
+little lady too, and that taken with our baby! She won't tell me her
+name nor nothing," and then she went on to describe to David, Hoodie's
+arrival and all she had said.</p>
+
+<p>David scratched his head, as, half hidden in the doorway, where Hoodie
+had not yet caught sight of him, he glanced at the child, still deeply
+interested in her "tea."</p>
+
+<p>"It's my opinion," he said solemnly, as if what he was about to say was
+something that could not possibly have struck any one else; "it's my
+opinion as her nurse or some one has been cross to her and she's runned
+away."</p>
+
+<p>"But what shall we do?" said Mrs. Liz, a little anxiously. "How shall we
+find out where she belongs to?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, easy enough," said David. "She's but a baby. And even if she
+wouldn't tell, you may be sure they'll soon be sending after her. I
+could take her home on my way to Greenoaks if I knew where it was. Can't
+be far off&mdash;maybe it's one of the clergyman's children down by
+Springley."</p>
+
+<p>"They've none so little," said Mrs. David. "But there's Squire
+Caryll's&mdash;I heard say there's a sight o' little ones there. 'Twill be
+there."</p>
+
+<p>"Likely enough," said David. "But I'd like a cup o' tea, Liz, if the
+young lady'll excuse my being rather rough like."</p>
+
+<p>Lizzie laughed.</p>
+
+<p>"She's but a baby," she said; and so David came forward and sat down at
+the table.</p>
+
+<p>Hoodie looked up from her tea and stopped half way through a "bicsit" to
+take a good stare at the new comer.</p>
+
+<p>"Who is zou, please?" she said at last.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="ill04" id="ill04"></a>
+<img src="images/ill04.jpg" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+<h3>"Who is zou, please?"</h3>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>David looked rather awkward. It was somewhat embarrassing to be calmly
+challenged in this way at his own table, poor man, by a mite of a
+creature like this! He relieved his feelings by a glance at his wife and
+a faint whistle.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, to be sure!" he exclaimed.</p>
+
+<p>Lizzie understood the small questioner better.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, Missy," she said, "'Tis David. He's baby's father, and this is his
+house, and he's very pleased to see you here."</p>
+
+<p>Hoodie looked again at David; this time he seemed to find more favour in
+her eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"At the grandmother's cottage there wouldn't have been no Davids," she
+remarked. "His hands is rather dirty, isn't they, little baby's mother?"</p>
+
+<p>This was too much for David&mdash;he went off into a roar. Hoodie looked up
+doubtfully&mdash;was he laughing at <i>her</i>?&mdash;in her opinion, an unpardonable
+crime&mdash;but David's funny, good-natured face gained the day, and after a
+moment's hesitation Hoodie joined in the fun and laughed too, though at
+what she certainly didn't know.</p>
+
+<p>Friendly feeling thus established, David thought it time to begin his
+inquiries.</p>
+
+<p>"Hope you've enjoyed your tea, Miss," he said. "You must a been hungry
+after such a long walk. Round by Springley way was it?"</p>
+
+<p>"<i>What</i> did you say?" said Hoodie, opening her eyes. David's tone and
+accent were puzzling to her.</p>
+
+<p>"He says, was it round by Springley way you came, Missy&mdash;the way the
+church is?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh no, not the church way. I comed srough the wood and past Farmer
+Bright's. Home is not the church way," said Hoodie unsuspiciously.</p>
+
+<p>David and his wife nodded at each other. "Squire Caryll's," whispered
+Lizzie.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll be passing that way in the cart," said David. "Would you like a
+ride, Miss?"</p>
+
+<p>Hoodie shook her head.</p>
+
+<p>"No," she said decidedly, "I want to stay and nurse baby. May I take her
+now?" she added, preparing to descend from her chair.</p>
+
+<p>David could not help bursting out laughing again.</p>
+
+<p>"What wages is her to get, Liz?" he inquired.</p>
+
+<p>Hoodie turned upon him indignantly.</p>
+
+<p>"Ugly man," she exclaimed; "you'se not to laugh at me. I don't love you.
+I love baby&mdash;<i>please</i> give me baby," she said beseechingly to the young
+woman. "I'm all zeady," for by this time she was again settled in the
+little chair and had smoothed a place for baby.</p>
+
+<p>Lizzie good-humouredly laid baby again in her arms.</p>
+
+<p>"Hold her tight, please, Missy," she said, turning towards the door
+with her husband at a sign from him, and Hoodie sat in perfect content
+for some minutes till baby's mother returned.</p>
+
+<p>"Has zat ugly man gone?" inquired Hoodie coolly. "I'll stay with you and
+baby, but I don't like zat man."</p>
+
+<p>"But he's a nice man, Missy," said Mrs. David. "I don't know about his
+being very pretty, but he's very kind to baby and me, and that's better
+than being pretty, isn't it, Missy?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know," said Hoodie.</p>
+
+<p>After a time, in spite of her devotion, baby's unaccustomed weight made
+her little arms ache.</p>
+
+<p>"When does baby go to bed?" she asked.</p>
+
+<p>Baby's mother seized the opportunity.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, I think," she said. "I'll put her in her cradle for a bit, and
+then you and I can talk a little.&mdash;Don't you think, Missy?" she went on,
+when baby was safely deposited and Hoodie was free to stretch her tired
+little arms, "don't you think your poor mamma will be wondering where
+you are all this time?"</p>
+
+<p>"She's out d'iving in the calliage with Maudie. She won't know where I'm
+goned," replied Hoodie.</p>
+
+<p>"But your nurse, Missy&mdash;<i>she'll</i> have missed you?" said Mrs. David.</p>
+
+<p>"We haven't no nurse. We've only Martin," replied Hoodie, "and Martin
+loves Hec and Duke and Maudie best. She 'zinks Hoodie's naughty. She
+<i>always</i> says Hoodie's naughty."</p>
+
+<p>"Little baby's mother" did not know very well what to reply to this, so
+she contented herself with a general reflection.</p>
+
+<p>"All little girls are naughty sometimes," she said.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Hoodie, "but not <i>always</i>. I'd like to stay here with you
+and baby, little baby's mother, 'cos baby loves me, if you wouldn't have
+zat ugly man here."</p>
+
+<p>"But it's his house, Missy. We couldn't turn him out of his own house,
+could we? And I'm afeared there'd be many things you'd want we couldn't
+give you? At home you've a nice little room now, all carpeted and
+curtained, haven't you? And a pretty little bed all for yourself? We've
+nothing like that&mdash;we've only one room besides the kitchen."</p>
+
+<p>Hoodie did not at once reply. She appeared to be thinking things over.</p>
+
+<p>"I'd <i>like</i> to stay," she remarked after a while, "but I'd rather be let
+alone with you and baby. I don't like zat man. But if you haven't a room
+for me perhaps I'd better go and look for a grandmother's cottage again,
+and I'll come and see you sometimes, and baby, little baby's mother."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, that you must, Missy, and bring little brothers too. You won't
+think of going off to look for your grandmother again just yet. Perhaps
+it's quite a long way off by the railway she lives. Couldn't you ask
+your mamma to write her a letter and tell her how much you'd like to see
+her?"</p>
+
+<p>"But I want to go to her <i>cottage</i>," persisted Hoodie. "I know it is a
+cottage, Martin said so. I shouldn't want her if she wasn't in a
+cottage. And I saw it in the Hoodie-girl picture too."</p>
+
+<p>This was getting beyond poor Mrs. David; and finding herself not
+understood, added to Hoodie's irritation. She was half way, more than
+half way, fully three-quarters of the way into one of her hopeless
+crying fits, when fortunately there came an interruption.</p>
+
+<p>Hasty steps were heard coming up the garden path, followed by a hasty
+knock at the door. And almost before Lizzie could get to open it, two
+people hurried into the room. They were Martin and Cross the coachman.
+Hoodie looked up calmly.</p>
+
+<p>"Has you come to fetch me?" she inquired. "I didn't <i>want</i> to go home,
+but little baby's mother hasn't got enough little beds, but I'm going to
+come back here again. I <i>will</i>, whatever you say."</p>
+
+<p>Well as Martin knew the child, this was a degree too much for her. To
+have spent between two and three hours in really terrible anxiety about
+the little girl; to have had to bear some amount of reproach for not
+having sooner discovered Hoodie's escape; to have rushed off to fetch
+her on receiving the joyful news from the young labourer as he drove
+past Mr. Caryll's house, her heart full of the tenderest pity for her
+stray nursling who she never doubted had somehow lost her way,&mdash;all this
+had been trying enough for poor Martin. But to be met in this heartless
+way by the child&mdash;before strangers, too&mdash;to be coolly defied beforehand,
+as it were&mdash;it was too much. It was a toss-up between tears and temper.
+Unfortunately Martin chose the latter.</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Hoodie," she exclaimed, "you're a naughty, ungrateful little girl,
+a really naughty-hearted little girl&mdash;to have upset us all at home so;
+your poor mamma nearly ill with fright, and then to meet me like that.
+Speaking about not wanting to come home, and you will and you won't. I
+never heard anything like it. And to think of all the trouble you must
+have given to this&mdash;this young woman," she added, turning civilly
+enough, but with some little hesitation in her manner, to Mrs. Lizzie,
+as if not <i>quite</i> sure whether she did not deserve some share of the
+blame.</p>
+
+<p>Poor Lizzie had stood a little apart, looking rather frightened. In her
+eyes Martin was a dignified and important person. But now she came
+forward eagerly.</p>
+
+<p>"Trouble," she repeated, "oh dear no, ma'am. Little Miss hasn't given me
+one bit of trouble, and nothing but a pleasure 'twould have been, but
+for thinking you'd all be put out so about her at home. But you'll let
+her come again some day when she's passing, to see me and baby. She's
+been so taken up with the baby, has Missy."</p>
+
+<p>Martin hesitated. She wanted to be civil and kind&mdash;Mrs. Caryll had
+expressly desired her to thank the cottager's wife for taking care of
+the little truant, and Martin was by nature sensible and gentle, and not
+the least inclined to give herself airs as if she thought herself better
+than other people. But Hoodie's behaviour had quite upset her. She did
+not feel at all ready to reply graciously to Lizzie's meek invitation.
+So she stood still and hesitated. And seeing her hesitation, naughty
+Hoodie darted forward and threw her arms round Lizzie's neck, hugging
+and kissing her.</p>
+
+<p>"I <i>sall</i> come to see you, I will, I sall," she cried. "Never mind what
+that naughty, ugly 'sing says. I <i>will</i> come, dear little baby's
+mother."</p>
+
+<p>Martin was almost speechless with indignation. Poor Lizzie saw that she
+was angry, yet she had not the heart to put away the child clinging to
+her so affectionately, and David's words "perhaps her nurse is cross to
+her at home," came back to her mind. Things might really have become
+very uncomfortable indeed, but for Cross, the coachman, who unexpectedly
+came to the rescue. He had been standing by, rather, to tell the
+truth&mdash;now that the anxiety which he as well as the rest of the
+household had felt, was relieved&mdash;enjoying the scene.</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Hoodie's a rare one, to be sure," he said to himself, chuckling
+quietly. But when he saw that Martin was really taking things seriously,
+and that the young woman too looked distressed and anxious, he came
+forward quietly, and before Hoodie knew what he was doing he had lifted
+her up with a spring on to his shoulder, where she sat perched like a
+little queen.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, Miss Hoodie," he said, "if you'll be good, perhaps I'll carry you
+home."</p>
+
+<p>Hoodie, though extremely well pleased with her new and exalted position,
+was true to her colours.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Carry</i> me home, Coss," she said imperiously; "hasn't you brought the
+calliage for me?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, indeed I haven't," replied Cross; "little Misses as runs away from
+home can't expect to be fetched back in a carriage and pair. I think
+you're very well off as it is. But we must make haste home&mdash;just think
+how frightened your poor mamma has been."</p>
+
+<p>Hoodie tossed her head. Some very naughty imp seemed to have got her in
+his possession just then.</p>
+
+<p>"Gee-up, gee-who, get along, horsey," she cried, pummelling Cross's
+shoulders unmercifully with her feet. "Gallop away, old horse Coss,
+gee-up, gee-up. Good night, little baby's mother, I <i>sall</i> come back;"
+and Cross, thankful to get her away on any terms, turned to the door,
+humouring her by pretending to trot and gallop. But half way down the
+little garden path Hoodie suddenly pulled him up, literally pulled him
+up, by clasping him with her two arms so tightly round the throat that
+he was nearly strangled.</p>
+
+<p>"Stop, stop, horsey," she cried, "I haven't kissed the baby. I must kiss
+the baby."</p>
+
+<p>Even Cross's good nature was nearly at an end, but he dared not oppose
+her. He stood still, very red in the face, with some muttered
+exclamation, while Hoodie screamed to Lizzie to bring out the baby to be
+kissed, perfectly regardless of Martin's remonstrances.</p>
+
+<p>And in this fashion at last Hoodie was brought home&mdash;Martin walking home
+in silent despair alongside. Only when they got close to the lodge gate
+Hoodie pulled up Cross again, but this time in much gentler fashion.</p>
+
+<p>"Let me down, Coss, please," she said, meekly enough, "I'd rather walk
+now."</p>
+
+<p>And walk in she did, as demurely and comfortably as if she had just
+returned from an ordinary walk with her nurse.</p>
+
+<p>"Was there ever such a child?" said Martin to herself again.</p>
+
+<p>And poor Cross, as he walked away wiping his forehead, decided in his
+own mind that he'd rather have the breaking in of twenty young horses
+than of such a queer specimen as little Miss Hoodie.</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="ill05" id="ill05"></a>
+<img src="images/ill05.jpg" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+<h3>Poor Cross</h3>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV.</h2>
+
+<h3>MAUDIE'S GODMOTHER.</h3>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"If you'd have children safe abroad,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Just keep them safe at home."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p>They were all standing at the door&mdash;Maudie, Hec and Duke, that is to
+say, and mother in the background, and farther back still, half the
+servants of the household. But Hoodie marched in demurely by Martin's
+side&mdash;nay, more, she had taken hold of Martin's hand. And when Mrs.
+Caryll came forward hurriedly to meet them, of the two, Martin looked
+much the more upset and uncomfortable.</p>
+
+<p>"You have brought her back safe and sound, Martin!" exclaimed Hoodie's
+mother. "Oh, Hoodie, what a fright you have given us! What was she
+doing? How was it, Martin?"</p>
+
+<p>Martin hesitated.</p>
+
+<p>"If you please, ma'am," she said, "I think I'd rather tell you all about
+it afterwards. It's not late, but Miss Hoodie <i>must</i> be tired. Won't it
+be as well, ma'am, for her to go to bed at once?"</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Caryll understood Martin's manner.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," she said. "I think it will. Say good night to me, Hoodie, and to
+Maudie and your brothers. And to-morrow morning you must come early to
+my room. I want to talk to you."</p>
+
+<p>Hoodie looked up curiously in her mother's face. Was she vexed, or
+sorry, or what? Hoodie could not decide.</p>
+
+<p>"Good night, mother," she said, quietly. "Good night, Hec and Duke and
+Maudie," and she coolly turned away, and followed Martin up-stairs.</p>
+
+<p>The three other children crept round their mother. She looked pale and
+troubled.</p>
+
+<p>"Mamma," said one of the little boys, "has Hoodie been <i>naughty</i>? Aren't
+you glad she's come home?"</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Caryll stroked his head.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, dear," she said. "Of course I'm glad, <i>very</i> glad. But it wasn't
+good of her to frighten us all so, and I must make her understand that."</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Of course</i>," said Maudie, virtuously. "You don't understand, Hec."</p>
+
+<p>"But if we had all kissened Hoodie, she'd have known we were glad she
+had comed back," said Hec, still with a tone of being only half
+satisfied.</p>
+
+<p>A shadow crossed Mrs. Caryll's face. Was her little son's instinct
+right?</p>
+
+<p>"Shall us all go and kissen her now?" suggested Duke in a whisper to
+Maudie.</p>
+
+<p>"No, of course not," replied Magdalen. "You're too little to understand,
+and you're teasing poor mamma. Come with me and we'll play at something
+in the study till Martin comes for you. Don't be unhappy, dear mamma,"
+she added, turning to kiss her mother. "I am sure Hoodie didn't mean to
+vex you, only she is so strange."</p>
+
+<p>That was just it&mdash;Hoodie was so strange, so self-willed, and yet
+babyish, so heartless, and yet so impressionable. A sharp word or tone
+even would make her cry, and she was sensitive to even less than that,
+yet seemingly quite careless of the trouble and distress she caused to
+others.</p>
+
+<p>"My good little Maudie," said Mrs. Caryll, "why should not Hoodie too be
+a good and understandable little girl?" she added to herself.</p>
+
+<p>And what were the thoughts in Hoodie's queer little brain; what were the
+feelings in her queer little heart, when Martin had safely tucked her
+into her own nice little cot, and, rather shortly, bidden her lie quite
+still and not disturb her brothers when they came up to bed?</p>
+
+<p>"I wish I had stayed with little baby's mother," she said to herself.
+"Nobody was glad for me to come home. They is all ugly 'sings. Nobody
+kissened me. If it wasn't for zat ugly man I'd go back there, I would,
+whatever Martin said."</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>"I really think sometimes that there's something wanting in her nature,"
+said Hoodie's mother, sadly, that same evening. She had been listening
+to Martin's account of the meeting at the cottage, and was now telling
+over the whole affair in the drawing-room, for Mr. Caryll had only
+returned home late that evening, as he had been some way by train to
+meet a visitor who was coming to stay for a time at his house. This was
+a cousin of his wife's, a young lady named Magdalen King, who occupied
+the important position of Maudie's godmother. It was some years since
+Cousin Magdalen had seen the children, but she had so often received
+descriptions of them from their mother that she seemed to know them
+quite well. She listened with great interest to the account of Hoodie's
+escapade.</p>
+
+<p>"She must be a strange little girl," she remarked, quietly.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Mrs. Caryll, "so strange that, as I said, I really think
+sometimes there is something wanting in her nature."</p>
+
+<p>"Or unawakened," said Magdalen. "I don't pretend to understand children
+well&mdash;you know I was an only child&mdash;but still a little child's nature
+cannot be very easy to understand at the best of times. It must be so
+folded up, as it were, like a little half-opened bud. And then
+children's power of expressing themselves is so small&mdash;they must often
+feel themselves misunderstood and yet not know how to say even that. And
+oh, dear, what a puzzle life and the world and everything must seem to
+them!"</p>
+
+<p>"Not to them only, my dear Magdalen," said Mr. Caryll, drily.</p>
+
+<p>"And," said Mrs. Caryll, "it really isn't always the case that children
+are difficult to understand. None of ours are but Hoodie. There's Maudie
+now&mdash;she has always been a delicious child, and the little boys are very
+nice, except when Hoodie upsets them. But for her, as she is constantly
+told, there never would be the least ruffle in the nursery."</p>
+
+<p>"But does it do any good to tell her so?" said Miss King.</p>
+
+<p>Hoodie's mother smiled,</p>
+
+<p>"My dear Magdalen," she said, "wait till you see her. What <i>would</i> do
+her any good no one as yet has found out. She is just the most
+contradictory, queer-tempered, troublesome child that ever was known."</p>
+
+<p>"Poor little girl," said Maudie's godmother, thinking to herself that a
+little dog with such a <i>very</i> bad name as Hoodie was really not to be
+envied. She loved her own god-daughter Maudie dearly, and she knew it to
+be true that she was a very nice child, but her heart was sore for poor
+cantankerous Hoodie. You see her patience had not yet been tried by her
+as had been the patience of all those about the little girl, so after
+all she could not consider herself a fair judge.</p>
+
+<p>And her first introduction to the small black sheep of the nursery did
+not, it must be confessed, tend to prove that Hoodie's doings and
+misdoings were exaggerated.</p>
+
+<p>This was how it happened.</p>
+
+<p>Maudie's godmother was generally an early riser, but this first morning
+she somehow&mdash;tired perhaps with her journey&mdash;slept later than usual. She
+was not quite dressed, at least her pretty curly brown hair was still
+hanging about her shoulders, when a knock&mdash;a lot of little knocks, and
+then one rather firmer and more decided&mdash;came to the door, and in answer
+to her "Come in," appeared Martin, an old acquaintance of hers, beaming
+with pleasure, and ushering in her little people, all spick and span
+from their morning toilet, looking not unlike four rather shy little
+sheep under the charge of a faithful "colly."</p>
+
+<p>But when Martin caught sight of the young lady in her white
+dressing-gown and unarranged hair, she drew back.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, ma'am, I beg your pardon," she said. "My mistress said I might
+bring them in to see you first thing, as you were always dressed so
+early, but I can take them back to the nursery till you are ready.
+They've been worrying to come to you for ever so long."</p>
+
+<p>"And you were quite right to bring them," said Cousin Magdalen,
+heartily. "Come now, darlings, and let us make friends. I can tell
+Maudie and Hoodie in a moment of course, but I'm quite in a puzzle as to
+which is Hec and which Duke."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm Hec," and "I'm Duke," said the two little boys shyly, nestling up
+to their new friend as they spoke. She kissed them fondly.</p>
+
+<p>"Dear little fellows!" she said.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Cousin Magdalen, aren't they dear little boys? And will you please
+kiss me too?" said Maudie, in her pretty soft voice.</p>
+
+<p>Magdalen put her arm round her as she did so.</p>
+
+<p>"And Hoodie?" she said. "I must have a kiss from Hoodie too, mustn't I?"</p>
+
+<p>Hoodie stood stock still.</p>
+
+<p>"Come now, Miss Hoodie," whispered poor Martin. All the time she had
+been dressing the child she had been telling her how good she was to be
+to Cousin Magdalen, and hinting that perhaps if she behaved <i>very</i>
+nicely it would help to make them all forget the trouble she had caused
+the day before. But, alas! with what result?</p>
+
+<p>Hoodie stood stock still!</p>
+
+<p>Magdalen put out her hand and tried to draw the child to her.</p>
+
+<p>"You have plenty of kisses on that rosy mouth of yours, Hoodie," she
+said. "Won't you spare me one?"</p>
+
+<p>Hoodie screwed up her lips tighter than before; that was the only sign
+she gave of hearing what was said to her.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Oh</i>, Hoodie," said Maudie, reproachfully.</p>
+
+<p>Hoodie turned upon her with a glance of supreme contempt.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>You</i> can kissen her," she said; "she's yours, she's not mine. <i>I</i>
+don't want to kissen her."</p>
+
+<p>Cousin Magdalen looked at Maudie for explanation.</p>
+
+<p>"What does she mean?" she said.</p>
+
+<p>Maudie and Martin looked greatly distressed.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh," said Maudie, "it's only about your being my godmother and not
+hers. We were speaking about it in the nursery, and she said nobody ever
+gave her anything&mdash;like me having you, you know, Cousin Magdalen&mdash;and
+she was vexed, you know," she added in a lower voice, "because she
+couldn't find our grandmother's cottage yesterday."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Cousin Magdalen, "I know. But, Hoodie dear, you <i>have</i> a
+godmother and a very nice one, as well as a grandmother."</p>
+
+<p>"They're none use having," muttered Hoodie. "I never see them."</p>
+
+<p>"But some day you will. And besides, even though I'm Maudie's godmother,
+can't I love you too?"</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Hoodie bluntly.</p>
+
+<p>"And won't you kiss me?"</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Hoodie again. "I don't like you. I don't like your hairs.
+They is ugly, hanging down like that. I don't want to kiss you."</p>
+
+<p>And she turned her back on Cousin Magdalen, and marched quietly to the
+door.</p>
+
+<p>Martin began some apologies, but Miss King stopped her.</p>
+
+<p>"Never mind, Martin," she said. "It really doesn't matter. She will get
+to know me better in a little."</p>
+
+<p>But all the same, Cousin Magdalen, being, though very amiable and
+sensible, only human, <i>did</i> feel hurt by the little girl's rude repulse.
+It is never pleasant to be repulsed by any one; it is, I think, to even
+right-feeling people, particularly hurting to be repulsed by a <i>child</i>.
+And then Magdalen had been thinking a great deal about this poor little
+Hoodie that nobody seemed able to manage, and planning to herself
+various little ways by which she hoped to win her confidence, and thus
+perhaps be of real service to the child, and through her to her mother.</p>
+
+<p>"And now," she said to herself, "she has evidently taken a prejudice to
+me at first sight. What a pity! Yet," she added, as she brushed out and
+arranged the long thick brown hair which Hoodie had objected to, "she is
+only a baby. Perhaps she will like me better when my hair is fastened
+up. I must try her again."</p>
+
+<p>The other three children had stayed in their cousin's room&mdash;Martin
+having flown after Hoodie, whom she was now afraid to trust for a moment
+out of her sight&mdash;and while she finished dressing they chattered away in
+their own fashion.</p>
+
+<p>"Poor mamma's dot one headache zis morning," said Hec.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Duke, "papa comed to the nursley to say Hoodie wasn't to go
+to be talkened to, 'cos it would make poor mamma's headache worser."</p>
+
+<p>"Won't nobody talken to Hoodie zen?" said Hec.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't be silly, Hec dear," said Maudie, "of course mamma mustn't talk
+to her when her head's bad. Papa said to Martin that she must not let
+Hoodie out of her sight, but that he couldn't have mamma bothered about
+it any more, and that it would be better to drop the subject. What does
+it mean to 'drop the subject,' Cousin Magdalen? I thought perhaps it
+meant to put down the lowest bar on the gate at the end of the garden,
+where Hoodie sometimes creeps through to the cocky field. Could it be
+that?"</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Magdalen, turning away so as to hide her face, "it just means
+not to say any more about Hoodie's running away yesterday, because it
+has troubled your mother so much."</p>
+
+<p>"Of course," said Maudie. "It is all that that has given her a headache.
+It is nearly always Hoodie that gives her headaches. I wonder how she
+<i>can</i>."</p>
+
+<p>"But, Maudie dear," said her godmother very gently, "do you think it is
+quite kind of you to speak so? It is right to be sorry when Hoodie is
+naughty, but remember how much younger she is than you. And she does not
+<i>want</i> to make your mother ill&mdash;when she is naughty she just forgets all
+but the feelings she has herself, but that is different from <i>wishing</i>
+to hurt her mother."</p>
+
+<p>Maudie grew very red.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," she said in a low voice, "I see how you mean, Cousin Magdalen. I
+don't want to say unkind things of Hoodie."</p>
+
+<p>"No, dear. I don't think you do," said her godmother. "Tell me why do
+you call that field 'the cocky field'?"</p>
+
+<p>Maudie laughed.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, it's because in one corner of it there's the little house papa's
+made for the bantam cocks. Oh, Cousin Magdalen, they are <i>such</i> ducks."</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Such</i> ducks," echoed Hec and Duke. "And they lay such lovely eggs."</p>
+
+<p>"What remarkable creatures they must be," said Miss King. "But I must
+own I don't quite see how they can be <i>ducks</i> if they're cocks and
+hens."</p>
+
+<p>All the children laughed.</p>
+
+<p>"They isn't zeally ducks," explained matter-of-fact Duke,
+condescendingly. "But, you see, we calls zem ducks 'cos zey is so nice
+and pretty."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah yes, I see," said Cousin Magdalen, gravely. "So perhaps when you
+know me better, if you think me <i>very</i> nice, you'll call me a duck. Will
+you, Duke? Even though really, you know, I'm an old woman."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Duke, "p'raps I will. But I didn't know zou was a <i>old</i>
+woman."</p>
+
+<p>"Didn't you, you dear old man?" said his cousin, laughing. "Never mind,
+you may call me 'a old duck,' if you like. And after breakfast will you
+take me to see these wonderful bantams&mdash;that's to say if you're allowed
+to go there."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh yes," said Maudie. "We may go whenever we like. They're so
+tame&mdash;indeed, they're too tame, papa says, and that was why he made them
+a place further away from the house than they used to be. They used to
+come and hop about all the rooms, and once they laid an egg on one of
+the library arm-chairs, and another time in papa's paper basket. They
+thought that was a lovely nest."</p>
+
+<p>"And are they better behaved now?" said Miss King.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh yes, only sometimes they lay astray. So papa gives us a penny if we
+find any of their eggs about the field or in the hedges anywhere," said
+Maudie. "That's what makes Hoodie so fond of going in the cocky field.
+She's far the cleverest at finding eggs. You should see her&mdash;and she's
+got such a way with the cocks. She can cluck, cluck them close up to
+her, and often she catches them. They're not a bit afraid of her."</p>
+
+<p>"How funny," said Magdalen, not sorry to see Maudie's childish attempt
+at saying something in praise of her little sister. "I must certainly go
+with you to see the bantams after breakfast."</p>
+
+<p>"Timmediate after breakfast!" said Hec. "Will you come timmediate? For
+after zen Maudie has lessons."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Maudie, "I have lessons. Miss Meade comes from Springley to
+give me lessons."</p>
+
+<p>"And doesn't Hoodie have any?"</p>
+
+<p>"Sometimes," replied Maudie. "When she's in a good humour. When she's
+not, it's no use trying. I heard Miss Meade say so one day, and so now
+Hoodie very often says she's in a bad humour whether she is or not, 'cos
+she doesn't like lessons."</p>
+
+<p>"She <i>says</i> she's in a bad humour," repeated Magdalen, astonished.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh yes, she just calls out to Miss Meade, 'oh, one's come, one's come,'
+that means a bad humour's come, and once she says that, <i>nothing's</i> any
+good. She sometimes puts her fingers in her ears if Miss Meade tries to
+speak to her. So mamma settled it was no good doing anything; it did so
+interrumpt <i>my</i> lessons, and I'm getting big, you know. But please,
+Cousin Magdalen, will you come with us just the very minute after
+breakfast, and then there'll be time?"</p>
+
+<p>"Very well," said Magdalen. "I'll be ready 'timmediate,' I promise you."</p>
+
+<p>Whether or no Miss King knew much about children, she knew enough to
+understand that to them a promise, even about a small matter, is a very
+sacred thing. And she took care not to forfeit their confidence. No
+sooner did the four little figures appear on the lawn just outside the
+dining-room window, than she started up from the table where, though
+breakfast was finished, she was loitering a little in pleasant talk with
+her friends.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, where are you off to, in such a hurry?" said Mrs. Caryll.</p>
+
+<p>"I beg your pardon," said Magdalen, laughing. "I promised the children
+to go with them before their governess comes, to&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Excuse my interrupting you," said Mr. Caryll, "but I would just like to
+see if I can't finish the sentence for you. I am certain they are going
+to take you to see the bantams, now aren't they? They have all four,
+Hoodie especially, got bantams on the brain."</p>
+
+<p>He opened the glass-door as he spoke, and Miss King passed through.
+Three of the children ran forward joyously to meet her, the fourth
+followed more slowly, and from her way of moving, Cousin Magdalen
+strongly suspected that either "one" had just come, or that "one" had
+not yet gone. There was a decidedly black-doggy look about her fat
+little shoulders.</p>
+
+<p>But Miss King took no notice, and slowly, very slowly, the fourth little
+figure drew nearer to the others. Still she did not speak&mdash;the boys
+chattered merrily, and Maudie joined in, being sensible enough to
+understand that just now, at any rate, the taking no notice plan was the
+most likely to bring Hoodie round again.</p>
+
+<p>And by the time they reached "the cocky field," it was crowned with
+success. Hoodie forgot all her troubles in the pleasure of showing off
+her pets, and greatly distinguished herself by the cleverness with which
+she caught them and brought them up, one after the other, to be admired.</p>
+
+<p>"Isn't they <i>sweet</i>?" she said, ecstatically; "when I'm big, I'll have a
+house with lots and lots of cocks and hens."</p>
+
+<p>"I thought you were going to live in a cottage, like Red Riding Hood's
+grandmother, when you're big?" said Maudie, thoughtlessly.</p>
+
+<p>Hoodie turned upon her with a frown, and Cousin Magdalen felt really
+grieved to see how in one instant her pretty, round, rosy face lost its
+childlike expression, and grew hard and fierce.</p>
+
+<p>"You's not to laugh at me," she said. "I won't have nobody laugh at me."</p>
+
+<p>Maudie looked up penitently in Cousin Magdalen's face.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm so sorry. I <i>didn't</i> mean to set her off. Truly I didn't," she
+whispered.</p>
+
+<p>Cousin Magdalen felt that she knew and understood too little to attempt
+the interference she would have liked to use. More than interference
+indeed. For the moment she felt so provoked with Hoodie's naughty, silly
+bad temper, that she really felt ready to give her a severe scolding.
+She was too wise to do so, however, and certainly it would have done no
+good. More for Maudie's sake than for Hoodie's, she tried to turn the
+conversation in a pleasant way.</p>
+
+<p>"It is very queer," she said, "that people almost never do when they are
+grown up what they plan as children. When I was little I always planned
+that I should do nothing but travel, and after all, very few people have
+travelled less than I. I have been very stay-at-home."</p>
+
+<p>"I like travelling a little way," said Maudie; "but when it is a long
+way, it is so tiring."</p>
+
+<p>"Wouldn't you like the magic carpet that flew with you wherever you
+wished to be?" said Cousin Magdalen.</p>
+
+<p>"Was it in a fairy story?" said Maudie; and though Hoodie said nothing,
+she came slowly nearer and stood staring up in Miss King's face with her
+queer baby blue eyes that could look so sweet, and could, alas! look so
+cross and angry.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Cousin Magdalen, in reply to Maudie's question, "in a very
+old fairy story. Are you fond of fairy stories?"</p>
+
+<p>"<i>I</i> is," said a voice that was certainly not Maudie's.</p>
+
+<p>Magdalen turned to her quietly.</p>
+
+<p>"Are you, dear?" she said, as if not the least surprised at her joining
+in the conversation. "And you too, Maudie? And Hec and Duke?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh yes, very," said Maudie. "Of course Hec and Duke don't like
+difficult ones&mdash;there's some kinds that keeps meaning something else all
+the time, and they are rather difficult, aren't they?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Magdalen, smiling. "I like the old-fashioned ones that don't
+mean anything else. I must try to think of some for you."</p>
+
+<p>Maudie clapped her hands, and Hoodie's face grew very bright. Suddenly
+she gave a little spring, as if a new idea had struck her.</p>
+
+<p>"I've zought of some'sing," she cried, and turning to Miss King,</p>
+
+<p>"Does you like eggs?" she inquired.</p>
+
+<p>"Very much," said her cousin.</p>
+
+<p>"Zen, if you'll tell us stories, I'll get you eggs. Kite, kite fresh.
+Doesn't you like them <i>kite</i> fresh?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, quite fresh; they can't be too fresh," said Magdalen.</p>
+
+<p>"Can't be too fresh," repeated Hoodie. "Zat means just the moment minute
+they'se laid. Oh, that'll be lovely. And when'll you tell us some
+stories, please?"</p>
+
+<p>"Let's see," said Cousin Magdalen. "I'll have to think, and thinking
+takes a good long while."</p>
+
+<p>"Nebber mind," said Hoodie. "You'll zink as soon as you can, won't you,
+dear?"</p>
+
+<p>And for the rest of the morning's walk she was perfectly angelic, in
+consequence of which Cousin Magdalen felt more completely puzzled by her
+than ever.</p>
+
+<p>The day passed over pretty smoothly. Late in the afternoon, just as the
+children were preparing for a run in the garden before tea, an
+excitement got up in the nursery by the absence of Hoodie's basket,
+which she insisted on taking out with her.</p>
+
+<p>"My bastwick; oh my bastwick," she cried. "I must have my bastwick."</p>
+
+<p>"What do you want it for, Miss Hoodie?" said Martin. "There'll be no
+time for picking flowers, and we're not going up the lanes."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, but I must have my bastwick," repeated Hoodie.</p>
+
+<p>Martin, fearful of an outbreak, stood still to consider.</p>
+
+<p>"When did you have it last?" she said. "Now I do believe it was
+yesterday at that cottage, and I brought it home for you. Yes, and I put
+it down in the back hall where your hoops are. Now, Miss Hoodie, if
+you'll promise to be very good all the time you're out, you may run and
+fetch it. I'll be after you with the little boys in five minutes."</p>
+
+<p>Hoodie was off like a shot, but the five minutes grew into ten before
+Martin and the boys followed her; an ill-behaved button dropping off
+Hec's boot while the careful nurse was fastening it.</p>
+
+<p>"And if there's one thing I can't abide to see, it's children's boots
+wanting buttons," she said, "so run down, Miss Maudie, there's a dear,
+and take care of your sister till I come."</p>
+
+<p>Maudie ran down, but as she did not return Martin felt no misgivings,
+and she was greatly surprised and disappointed when, on going
+down-stairs, she was met by the child with an anxious face.</p>
+
+<p>"I couldn't find Hoodie in the back hall or anywhere about there," she
+said, "and I ran out a little way into the garden, because I knew you'd
+be so frightened, but I can't see her."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh dear, dear," said poor Martin, "wherever will she have gone to now?
+Take the boys into the study, Miss Maudie dear, for a few minutes, and
+I'll run round by the lodge, and ask if they have seen her pass. If
+she's gone up the wood to that cottage again they must have seen her.
+Dear me, dear me, I might have thought of it when she teased so about
+her basket."</p>
+
+<p>Off rushed Martin, and Maudie, faithful to her charge, kept watch over
+the little boys. They were not kept waiting very long, however. In two
+minutes Martin put in her head again.</p>
+
+<p>"Is she with you, Miss Maudie?" she said, quite breathless with running
+so fast, "No? Oh dear, where <i>can</i> she be? The woman at the lodge says
+she saw her running back to the house a few minutes ago. She is sure she
+did."</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps she's gone up to the nursery again," said Maudie.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh no," said Martin, "she'd never go there, once she thinks she's
+escaped again. She's got something new in her head, I'm sure. I'll just
+ask in the servants' hall if any of them have seen her."</p>
+
+<p>She left the room to do so, but as she passed by the foot of the stairs
+she heard a step. There, calmly coming down, was Hoodie, without her
+basket, however. But that, in her delight at recovering her truant,
+Martin did not notice.</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Hoodie, Miss Hoodie," she cried, "where <i>have</i> you been? You've
+given me such a fright again. Where <i>have</i> you been?"</p>
+
+<p>"Up in the nursley," said Hoodie, coolly. "I wented out a little, and
+then up-stairs to the nursley."</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="ill06" id="ill06"></a>
+<img src="images/ill06.jpg" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+<h3>"Up in the nursley," said Hoodie coolly</h3>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>And with this account of her doings Martin was obliged to be content.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V.</h2>
+
+<h3>STORIES TELLING.</h3>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i1">"This is the cock that crowed in the morn."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p>Late that night, no, very early the next morning, just as dawn was
+breaking, the peacefully sleeping inhabitants of Mr. Caryll's house were
+awakened by strange and alarming sounds which seemed to come from the
+direction of the nursery. The children's mother was one of the first to
+wake, and yet the sounds which had roused her having been heard
+indistinctly through her sleep, she was not able to say what they were.</p>
+
+<p>"It must be one of the children with croup&mdash;I am sure it sounded like
+what I have heard croup described, or like that dreadful illness they
+call the crowing cough," she said to Mr. Caryll, as she rushed out of
+the room in a fright.</p>
+
+<p>She had only got to the end of the long passage leading to the
+children's rooms when she ran against Miss King, closely followed by her
+maid and one, two, three other servants all pale and alarmed.</p>
+
+<p>"What can it be?" each said to the other.</p>
+
+<p>"Martin, Martin," cried Mrs. Caryll, "are you there? What <i>is</i> the
+matter?"</p>
+
+<p>But before any Martin was to be seen, again the sounds shrilled through
+the house.</p>
+
+<p>"Kurroo&mdash;kurallarrallo-oo-<i>ook!</i>" with a queer sudden sort of pull-up at
+the end, it seemed to sound.</p>
+
+<p>They all turned to look at each other.</p>
+
+<p>"It must be a real cock," said Miss King, looking less frightened.</p>
+
+<p>"It certainly doesn't sound like croup," said Mrs. Caryll.</p>
+
+<p>"It's just one of them mischievous bantams, ma'am," said the cook, a
+countrywoman who had made a study of cocks and hens. "They always give
+that sort of catchy croak at the end of their crows. But, to be sure,
+what a fright it's gave us all! And where can the creature be?"</p>
+
+<p>As she spoke, Martin appeared at the end of the passage, a basket in her
+arms, her face pale, leading by the hand a small figure in a white
+nightgown, a figure that pulled and pushed and kicked valiantly in its
+extreme reluctance to come any farther.</p>
+
+<p>"I won't be takened to Mamma. I won't, I won't. I'm not naughty. It's
+zou that's ugly and naughty," it screamed.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Caryll gave a despairing glance at her cousin.</p>
+
+<p>"Hoodie again!" she said.</p>
+
+<p>Martin hastened forward as fast as she could, considering the
+difficulties in her way.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, ma'am," she exclaimed, looking nearly ready to cry, "I am so sorry,
+so sorry and ashamed to have such an upset in the house at this time of
+the night, or morning, I should say. It really must seem with all these
+troubles as if I wasn't fit to manage the children. And just as Miss
+King has come, too. But oh dear, ma'am, I don't know <i>what</i> to do with
+Miss Hoodie and her queer ways."</p>
+
+<p>"But what <i>is</i> it, Martin? What has Hoodie been doing?" said Mrs.
+Caryll, rather impatiently. "Stop crying, Hoodie. You <i>must</i>," she added
+sternly, turning to the little girl, who was now regularly set agoing on
+one of her roars.</p>
+
+<p>Hoodie took not the slightest notice, but roared on. Her mother turned
+again to Martin, shaking her head.</p>
+
+<p>"No, ma'am," said Martin, "it's not the least use speaking to her. She
+has wakened all the others, of course&mdash;first with that nasty creature
+and then with her screaming."</p>
+
+<p>"What nasty creature? For goodness' sake explain yourself, Martin."</p>
+
+<p>"The cock, ma'am&mdash;the bantam cock," replied Martin, seeming quite
+astonished that Mrs. Caryll did not know all about it by instinct. "Miss
+Hoodie fetched it in in her basket, unbeknown to me, last night, and had
+it hidden under her bed. The creature was quite quiet all night, as is
+its nature, I suppose, and very likely frightened and not knowing where
+it was. But this morning all of a sudden it started the most awful
+screeching; it really sounded much worse than common crowing, or else it
+was hearing it half in one's sleep like. I thought, to be sure, one of
+those dear boys had got some awful fit. And to think it was nothing but
+Miss Hoodie's naughtiness&mdash;real mischievous naughtiness." Martin
+stopped, quite out of breath, and Hoodie's roars increased in violence.</p>
+
+<p>"Had she really no reason for it but mischief?" said Miss King.</p>
+
+<p>Martin hesitated.</p>
+
+<p>"She did begin some nonsense, ma'am, about having brought it in to lay
+an egg, or something like that."</p>
+
+<p>"Hoodie," said Magdalen, "can't you leave off screaming and tell us
+about it?"</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Hoodie, stopping at once and with perfect ease, "I can't
+leave off sc'eaming, and I won't. But I'll tell zou, 'cos it was for
+zou. I brought the little cock in to lay a egg for zour breakfast, 'cos
+zou said zou likened zem kite fresh, and now Martin's spoilt it all. Of
+course it c'owed to tell me it was going to lay the egg, and now it
+won't. It's all spoilt, and I <i>must</i> sc'eam."</p>
+
+<p>True to her determination she set to work again and roared so that it
+was almost impossible to hear one's voice.</p>
+
+<p>"What <i>shall</i> we do with her?" said her mother.</p>
+
+<p>"May I take her to my room?" said Cousin Magdalen. "It is farther away
+from the other children, so she can't disturb them even if she screams
+all day."</p>
+
+<p>Hoodie stopped again as suddenly as before.</p>
+
+<p>"I won't go to zour room," she said. "I don't like zou now&mdash;not one
+bit."</p>
+
+<p>Magdalen glanced at Mrs. Caryll.</p>
+
+<p>"May I take my own way with her!" her glance seemed to say. Mrs. Caryll
+nodded her head, and notwithstanding Martin's whispered warning, "Oh,
+Miss King, you don't <i>know</i> what a work you'll have with her," Magdalen
+turned to Hoodie, and before the child in the least understood what she
+was about, she had picked her up in her strong young arms and was half
+way down the passage before Hoodie's surprise had given her breath to
+begin her roars again.</p>
+
+<p>She was opening her mouth to do so, when her cousin stopped for a
+moment.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, Hoodie," she said, "<i>listen</i>. It was kind of you to want to get me
+a quite fresh egg for my breakfast, but it isn't kind of you at all to
+make that disagreeable noise, and to kick and fight so because I want to
+take you to my room."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't care," said Hoodie, "I don't like zou, and I will cry if I
+like. I don't like any people."</p>
+
+<p>"I am very sorry to find you are so silly," said Cousin Magdalen. "If
+you were older and understood better you would not talk like that."</p>
+
+<p>"I would if I liked," persisted Hoodie. "Big peoples can do whatever zey
+likes, and if I was big I could too."</p>
+
+<p>"Big people <i>can't</i> do whatever they like," said Miss King, "and nice
+big people never like to do things that other people don't like too."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't zey?" said Hoodie, meditatively. By this time they were safely
+shut into Miss King's room and Hoodie was plumped down into the middle
+of her cousin's bed&mdash;"Don't zey? Zen I don't want to be a nice big
+people. I want to be the kind that does whatever zey likes zerselves."</p>
+
+<p>Miss King gave a slight sigh&mdash;half of amusement, half of despair. She
+was beginning to understand that Hoodie's reformation was indeed no easy
+matter.</p>
+
+<p>"Very well, then. You had better go on screaming if you like it so
+much," she said, sitting down on the side of the bed and wondering to
+herself what would become of the world, if all the children in it were
+as tiresome to manage as Hoodie. In at the window the daylight was
+creeping timidly; all kinds of pretty colours were to be seen in the
+sky, and the birds were beginning their cheerful chatter. Still it was
+very early, and poor cousin Magdalen was sleepy. Was there <i>anything</i>
+that could make Hoodie go to sleep for an hour or two?</p>
+
+<p>"The little birds in the nests are kind to each other. They don't wake
+each other up in the night and scream so that there is no peace. I
+wonder why children can't be good too," she said.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm <i>not</i> sc'eaming," said Hoodie indignantly. "I've stoppened."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm glad to hear it. But if I get into bed and lie down and try to go
+to sleep, perhaps you'll begin again, as you don't care for what other
+people like."</p>
+
+<p>Hoodie was silent for a minute.</p>
+
+<p>"Does you want to go to sleep?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Magdalen. "I'm very tired."</p>
+
+<p>"Zen I won't sc'eam."</p>
+
+<p>Her cousin felt inclined to clap her hands, but wisely forbore.</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you," she said quietly, as she lay down.</p>
+
+<p>Hoodie wriggled.</p>
+
+<p>"No, zou isn't to say zank zou," she said. "I don't like zou. I don't
+like any people, 'cos they stopped my getting zat nice fresh egg. I
+won't get zou eggs no more. I don't like zou."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well," said her cousin.</p>
+
+<p>Some minutes' quiet followed. Then Hoodie's voice again.</p>
+
+<p>"When will zou tell us that story?" she inquired coolly.</p>
+
+<p>"What story?"</p>
+
+<p>"Zat story about oldwashion fairies, or some'sing like zat."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I said I'd try to think of a story for you," said Miss King,
+sleepily. "Well, I won't forget."</p>
+
+<p>"Zou must get it ready quick," said Hoodie. "Zou must tell it me, zou
+know, 'cos I've been so good about not sc'eaming."</p>
+
+<p>"But not now. You don't want me to tell you stories <i>now</i>," said her
+cousin in alarm.</p>
+
+<p>"No, zou may go to sleep now," replied Hoodie, condescendingly, adding
+after a moment's pause, "<i>I</i> can tell stories, lovely stories."</p>
+
+<p>"Can you? well, you had better think of one, and have it all ready,"
+said Magdalen in fresh alarm.</p>
+
+<p>"Mine's is always zeady, but zou may go to sleep now," was the reply, to
+her great relief, the truth being that Hoodie herself was as sleepy as
+she could be, for in two minutes her soft even breathing told that for a
+while her fidgety little spirit was at rest.</p>
+
+<p>Magdalen lay awake some time longer. In a half-dreamy way she was
+thinking over in her own mind the old fairy tales she had loved as a
+little girl&mdash;with them there mingled in her fancy the scenes and
+memories of her own childhood. She was glad to find Hoodie so eager for
+stories, it might be one way of winning the strange-tempered little
+creature's confidence, and she tried to call to mind some of the tales
+most likely to interest her. And somehow, "between sleeping and waking,"
+there came back to her mind the shadow of a fanciful little story she
+had either read or heard or imagined long ago, and as she fell asleep
+she said to herself, "Yes, that will do. I will tell them the story of
+'The Chintz Curtains.'"</p>
+
+<p>When Magdalen awoke again that morning it was, as might have been
+expected, a good deal later than usual. Hoodie was still sleeping
+soundly. Magdalen got up and dressed quietly. She was nearly quite ready
+when Hoodie awoke. A little movement in the bed caught Miss King's
+notice: she turned round. There was Hoodie, staring at her with
+wide-open eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Hoodie," she said, "how are you this morning?"</p>
+
+<p>Hoodie did not reply, but continued staring, so her cousin went on
+fastening up her hair. In a minute or two there came a remark, or
+question rather.</p>
+
+<p>"Has zou had a nice sleep?"</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="ill07" id="ill07"></a>
+<img src="images/ill07.jpg" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+<h3>"Has zou had a nice sleep?"</h3>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>"Yes, thank you."</p>
+
+<p>"Has zou thinkened of a story?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Magdalen. "I almost think I have."</p>
+
+<p>"<i>I</i> has too," said Hoodie, with a queer twinkle in her eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"Have you," said her cousin, "that's very clever of you."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," replied the little girl, "zou didn't know Hoodie was so c'ever,
+did zou?"</p>
+
+<p>"You'd better tell me the story first, and then I'll say what I think of
+it," said Magdalen.</p>
+
+<p>"Now?" inquired Hoodie, "sall I tell it now? It isn't a long one."</p>
+
+<p>"If you like," replied Magdalen, "you can tell it me while I finish
+doing my hair."</p>
+
+<p>"Well," began Hoodie, solemnly, "just a long time ago&mdash;oh no, that's a
+mistake, it should be just '<i>onst</i>&mdash;'"</p>
+
+<p>"Or 'once,'" corrected her cousin, "'once' is a proper word, and 'onst'
+isn't."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't care," said Hoodie, frowning. "I like to say 'onst.' If zou
+don't zink my words pretty you'll make one come, and if one comes I
+can't tell you stories."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well," said Magdalen, remembering Maudie's explanation of the
+mysterious phrase, "very well. I won't interrupt you. You may say any
+words you like."</p>
+
+<p>"Well then," began Hoodie again. "<i>Onst</i> there was a little girl. She
+was called&mdash;no, I won't tell zou what she was called&mdash;she had a papa and
+mamma and bruvvers and a sister, but zey didn't like her much."</p>
+
+<p>She stopped.</p>
+
+<p>"Dear me," said Magdalen, finding she was expected to say something,
+"that was very sad."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Hoodie, "vezy sad."</p>
+
+<p>"Why didn't they like her?"</p>
+
+<p>"'Cos zey thoughtened she was naughty. Zey was alvays saying she was
+naughty."</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps she was," said Magdalen.</p>
+
+<p>"Nebber mind," said Hoodie, "I want to go on. One day a lady comed what
+wasn't <i>hern</i> godmozer, so she didn't like her, and she toldened her she
+was ugly. But zen&mdash;oh zen she founded out that she wasn't ugly but she
+was pretty, vezy, vezy pretty&mdash;oh, she was so nice, and the little girl
+liked her vezy much&mdash;wasn't zat a nice story?"</p>
+
+<p>"Beautiful," said Miss King. "All except the part about her papa and
+mamma and sister and brothers not liking her. I don't like that part."</p>
+
+<p>"Nebber mind," replied Hoodie again. "Nebber mind about zat part zen.
+Doesn't zou like about the lady? Can zou guess who it was?"</p>
+
+<p>"Let me see," said Magdalen, solemnly. "I must think. A lady came that
+wasn't <i>her</i> godmother&mdash;dear me, who could it be?"</p>
+
+<p>"It was zou; it was zou," cried Hoodie, jumping up in bed and rushing at
+her cousin. "And the little girl was Hoodie, 'cos I do like zou now. I
+do, I do, and I'll be vezy good all day, to please you."</p>
+
+<p>"That's my dear little girl," said Cousin Magdalen, really gratified.
+"But won't you try to be good to please your papa and mamma too&mdash;and
+most of all, Hoodie dear, to please God."</p>
+
+<p>She lowered her voice a little, and Hoodie looked at her gravely.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know," she said. "I couldn't try such a long time and zey
+<i>alvays</i> says I'm naughty. No, I'll just please zou; nobody else, and if
+zou aren't pleased, I'll sc'eam. I can sc'eam in a minute."</p>
+
+<p>Magdalen grew alarmed.</p>
+
+<p>"Please don't," she said. "I'll be very pleased if you don't. And when
+you see how nice it is to please me, perhaps you'll go on trying to
+please everybody."</p>
+
+<p>Hoodie shook her head.</p>
+
+<p>"Zey <i>alvays</i> says I'm naughty," she repeated.</p>
+
+<p>Just then there came a knock at the door, and Martin put her head in.</p>
+
+<p>"Is Miss Hoodie awake yet, ma'am?" she inquired. "And I do hope she's
+let you have some sleep?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes indeed, thank you, Martin," said Miss King, cheerfully. "We
+have got on <i>very</i> well, haven't we, Hoodie? And I think you are going
+to have a very good little girl in the nursery to-day."</p>
+
+<p>"I hope so, I'm sure, ma'am," said Martin, rather dolefully. Her tone
+did not sound as if her hopes were very high, and Hoodie's next remark
+did not make them higher.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," she said, "I is going to be good&mdash;vezy, vezy good, <i>too</i> good.
+But it isn't to please zou, Martin. It's all to please <i>her</i>," pointing
+to Miss King, "and not zou, one bit. 'Cos I like her; she didn't scold
+me about the cock&mdash;she zanked me, and she's going to tell me a story."</p>
+
+<p>"Hoodie," said Magdalen gravely, "I don't call it beginning to be good
+to tell Martin you don't care to please her one bit."</p>
+
+<p>"Can't please ev'ybody," said Hoodie, with a toss of her shaggy head;
+"takes such a long time."</p>
+
+<p>"But speaking that way to Martin doesn't please <i>me</i>," persisted
+Magdalen.</p>
+
+<p>"Very well zen, I won't," said Hoodie, with unusual amiability. "I'll
+give Martin a kiss if you like. Only you must have the story ready the
+minute moment Maudie's done her letsons&mdash;will zou?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Magdalen, "it'll be quite ready."</p>
+
+<p>So Hoodie went off triumphantly in Martin's arms, things looking so
+promising that by the time they reached the nursery, the two were the
+best of friends.</p>
+
+<p>And, "what a nice little young lady you might be, Miss Hoodie," said
+Martin, encouragingly, "if you was always good."</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>Magdalen was ready for the children as she had promised. It was such a
+mild beautiful day, though only April, that she got leave to take them
+out-of-doors for the story-telling, and in a favourite corner, sunny yet
+sheltered, they settled their little camp-stools in a circle round her
+and prepared to listen.</p>
+
+<p>"Only," said wise Maudie, "if Hec and Duke get very tired they may run
+about a little, mayn't they, Cousin Magdalen?"</p>
+
+<p>"If even they get a <i>little</i> tired they may run about," said her
+godmother. "But I don't think they will. It is a sort of nonsense story,
+not clever enough to tire any of you."</p>
+
+<p>"What's it called, please?" said Maudie.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm not sure that it has a name," said Magdalen, "but if you'd rather
+it had one, we'll call it 'The Chintz Curtains.'"</p>
+
+<p>"Please begin then, and say it in very little words for Hec and Duke to
+understand, won't you?"</p>
+
+<p>Magdalen nodded her head, and began.</p>
+
+<p>"Once," she said, "once there was a little girl."</p>
+
+<p>"That's how my story began," said Hoodie, with the funny twinkle in her
+eyes again.</p>
+
+<p>"Never mind, <i>don't</i> interrumpt," said Maudie.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," Magdalen went on, "this little girl had no brothers or sisters,
+and though her father and mother were very kind to her she was sometimes
+rather lonely. And she often wished for other children to play with her.
+It happened one winter that she got ill&mdash;I am not sure what the illness
+was&mdash;measles, or something like that, it wasn't anything very, very bad,
+but still she was ill enough to be several days quite in bed, and
+several more partly in bed, and even after that a good many more before
+she could get up early to breakfast as usual, and do her lessons and run
+about in the garden, and play like <i>well</i> children. She didn't much mind
+being ill, not as much as you would, I don't think. For, you see, except
+just for the few days that she felt weak and giddy and really ill,
+staying in bed didn't seem to make very much difference to her, indeed
+in some ways it was rather nicer. She had lots of storybooks to
+read&mdash;several of her friends sent her presents of new ones&mdash;and
+certainly more dainty things to eat than when she was well&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Delly?" said Hec. "Duke and me had delly when we was ill."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Maudie, "last winter Hec and Duke had the <i>independent</i>
+fever, and they had to have jelly and beef-tea and things like that to
+make them strong again."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Magdalen, "that was why Lena&mdash;I forgot to tell you that that
+was the little girl's name&mdash;that was why they gave all those nice things
+to little Lena. But the worst of it was she didn't like them nearly as
+much as when she was well, and she often wished they would give her just
+common things, bread and butter and rice-pudding, you know, when she was
+ill, and keep all the very nice things for a treat when she was well and
+could enjoy them. She was getting well, of course; by the time it comes
+to thinking about what you have to eat, children generally are getting
+well; but she was rather slow about it, and even when she was up and
+about again as usual, she didn't <i>feel</i> or look a bit like usual. She
+was thin and white, and whatever she did tired her. Something queer
+seemed to have come over all her dolls and toys; they had all grown
+stupid in some tiresome way, and when she tried to sew, which she was
+generally rather clever at, all her fingers seemed to have turned into
+thumbs."</p>
+
+<p>"How dedful," said Hoodie, stretching out her two chubby hands and
+gravely gazing at them. "All zumbs wouldn't look pretty at all. I hope
+mine won't never be like that if I get ill."</p>
+
+<p>"My dear Hoodie," said Magdalen, as soon as she could speak for
+laughing. "I didn't mean it that way. Not <i>really</i>. I just meant that
+her fingers had got clumsy, you know, with her being weak and ill. It is
+just a way of speaking."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh!" said Hoodie, rather mystified still, "I'm glad them wasn't
+<i>zeally</i> all zumbs."</p>
+
+<p>"Only, Hoodie, I <i>do</i> wish"&mdash;began Maudie, but Magdalen went on before
+she had time to finish her sentence.</p>
+
+<p>"And as the days went on and she didn't seem to be getting back to be
+like herself, her mother grew rather anxious about her.</p>
+
+<p>"'We must do something about Lena,' she said to her father, 'she is not
+getting strong again. The doctor says she should have a change of air,
+but I don't see how to manage it. I cannot leave home while my mother is
+so ill,'&mdash;for Lena's grandmother lived with them and was rather an old
+and delicate lady&mdash;'and you, of course, cannot.'</p>
+
+<p>"Lena's father was always very busy. It was seldom he could leave home,
+not very often, indeed, that he had time to see much of his little girl,
+even at home. But he was very fond of her, and anxious to do everything
+for her good. So he and her mother talked it well over together, and at
+last they thought of a good plan, and when it was all settled her mother
+told Lena about it.</p>
+
+<p>"She called her to her one day when the little girl was sitting rather
+sadly trying to amuse herself with her dolls. But her head ached, and
+all her ideas seemed to have gone out of her mind. She could not think
+of any new plays for them, and she began to fancy their faces looked
+stupid.</p>
+
+<p>"'I almost think I'm getting too big for dolls,' she was saying to
+herself, when she heard her mother's voice calling her. And she slowly
+got down from her chair and went up-stairs to the drawing-room, where
+her mother was sitting writing.</p>
+
+<p>"'Are you very tired, dear?' she said kindly.</p>
+
+<p>"'Yes, mamma, I think so,' said Lena, as if she didn't much care whether
+she was tired or not.</p>
+
+<p>"'You seem often tired now, my poor little girl,' said her mother. 'I
+think it is that you have not got properly strong since you were ill.
+The doctor says a change of air would be the best thing for you, but
+just now neither your father nor I can leave home. Would you mind very
+much going away for a little without us?'</p>
+
+<p>"'Would it be very far, mamma?' said Lena. She liked the idea of going
+away, she had not often left home, and she had a great fancy for
+travelling, but still you can understand to go quite away without either
+her father or mother seemed rather lonely."</p>
+
+<p>"Hadn't she a nice nurse?" asked Maudie.</p>
+
+<p>"No, she hadn't a nurse quite all for herself. She was the only child,
+you know, and her father and mother were not very rich people, so the
+maid who waited on her had other work to do too. Her mother went on to
+explain to her that it was not to any very far-away place they thought
+of her going. It was to a pretty little sheltered village near the sea,
+where in an old-fashioned farmhouse there lived a very kind old woman
+who had been her mother's nurse long before Lena was born. Lena had seen
+her two or three times and liked her very much, and Mrs. Denny, that was
+the old nurse's name, had often told her about her pretty home where she
+lived with her son, who had never married, and for many years had taken
+care of this farm for the gentleman it belonged to. Mrs. Denny had
+promised Lena that if she came to see her she should have as much new
+milk as she could drink, and plenty of quite fresh eggs, and all sorts
+of nice country things. She had also promised her a particular bedroom
+all to herself&mdash;and Lena had forgotten none of these things, so that
+when her mother told her that it was to Rockrose Farm they were thinking
+of sending her, Lena, in her quiet way, felt quite pleased. She was not
+a little girl that made a fuss about things&mdash;she had lived too much
+alone to be anything but quiet&mdash;and just now she felt too tired to seem
+very eager. But her mother was pleased to see the bright look that came
+into her eyes, and to hear the cheerful sound in her voice when she
+replied, 'Oh, if it is to Mrs. Denny's, mamma, I should like to go
+<i>very</i> much. And I wonder if she will let me sleep in the room where the
+bed has such beautiful chintz curtains, all covered with pictures,
+mamma?'</p>
+
+<p>"Her mother smiled.</p>
+
+<p>"'I daresay she will, dear,' she said. 'I'm just writing to nurse now,
+and if you like I'll ask her to be sure to let you have the
+bedroom&mdash;with&mdash;&mdash;'"</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI.</h2>
+
+<h3>"THE CHINTZ CURTAINS."</h3>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"O lovely land of fairies,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">You are so bright and fair."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p>"The chintz curtains."</p>
+
+<p>Cousin Magdalen stopped for a minute.</p>
+
+<p>"Are you getting tired, dears, any of you?" she said.</p>
+
+<p>All the four heads were shaken at once.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh dear no," said Maudie.</p>
+
+<p>"In course not," said Hoodie.</p>
+
+<p>And "It's a vezy pretty story," said Hec; while Duke faintly echoed,
+"Vezy pretty."</p>
+
+<p>So Magdalen, thus encouraged, went on.</p>
+
+<p>"You begin to understand now why I said you might call the story 'the
+chintz curtains,'" she said. "We're now got like to the real beginning.
+At least I needn't explain any more about Lena&mdash;you must just fancy her
+arriving one afternoon at Rockrose Farm. It was a nice bright afternoon,
+though the winter was scarcely over, and little Lena already began to
+feel stronger and better when she ran out into the garden at one side of
+the house for a breath of fresh air after the long drive from the
+railway. Her father had brought her to the station, and there Mrs. Denny
+had met her, so that he might go straight back by the next train without
+losing any time.</p>
+
+<p>"'Oh, how nice it is,' she said to Mrs. Denny, as she stood in the
+middle of the little grass-plot beside the old sun-dial, and felt the
+sweet fresh air blowing softly over her face. 'How pretty the garden
+must be in summer.'</p>
+
+<p>"'Yes, my dear,' said Mrs. Denny. 'The flowers are very sweet. It seems
+to me there never were such sweet ones. And do you hear that sort of
+soft roar, Miss Lena? Do you know what that is?"</p>
+
+<p>"Lena stood quite still to listen, and a pleased look came over her
+face.</p>
+
+<p>"'Yes,' she said, 'I believe it is the sea. It is like far-away organs,
+isn't it?'</p>
+
+<p>"'And sometimes in stormy weather it is like great cannons booming,'
+said Mrs. Denny.</p>
+
+<p>"But just then it was difficult to think of storms or cannons, or
+anything so unpeaceful. Nothing could seem more perfectly calm and at
+rest than that dear old garden the first time Lena ever saw it. I don't
+think anything (any place perhaps I should say) can be more delicious
+than a little nest of a place like Rockrose, sheltered from the high
+winds by beautiful old trees, and yet open enough for the sea breezes to
+creep and flutter about it, and sometimes even to give what Lena called
+'a salty taste' to the air, if you stood with your mouth open and got a
+good drink of it. But I mustn't go on talking so much about the outside
+of the house, or I never shall get to the inside, shall I?</p>
+
+<p>"Well, after Lena had admired the garden, and promised herself many nice
+runs in it, Mrs. Denny took her into the house again. They passed
+through the kitchen, which had a little parlour out of it, where already
+tea was set out&mdash;it was such a delicious old kitchen, the paved floor as
+white and clean as constant scrubbing could make it, and the old
+cupboards and settles of dark wood shining like mirrors&mdash;they passed
+through the kitchen and across a little stone hall with whitewashed
+walls, out of which opened the best parlour, only used on very grand
+occasions, and up two flights of stone steps ending in a wide short
+passage running right across the house. At one end of this passage Mrs.
+Denny opened a door, which led into a sort of little ante-room, and here
+another rather low door being opened, Lena followed Mrs. Denny into the
+bedroom which was to be hers. It was not a very little room&mdash;there were
+two windows, one at each side&mdash;one of them looked out on to the garden,
+the other had a lovely view far away over the downs, to where one knew
+the sea <i>was</i>, though one could not see it. But fond as Lena was of
+pretty views, she did not run to the window to look out. She stood still
+for a moment and then ran forward eagerly to the end of the room, where
+the bed was placed, crying out with delight,</p>
+
+<p>"'Oh, that's the bed&mdash;that's the very bed you told me about, dear Mrs.
+Denny&mdash;the bed I did so want to sleep in. Thank you so much for
+remembering about it. Oh, how <i>beautiful</i> it is&mdash;I shouldn't mind being
+ill if I was in that bed.'</p>
+
+<p>"It really was a rather wonderful bed. It was a regular four-poster, if
+you know what that is&mdash;a bed with wooden posts at each corner, and
+curtains running all round, so that once you were inside it, you could
+if you liked draw them so close that it was like being in a tent."</p>
+
+<p>"I know," said Maudie, "I've seen beds like that. But I don't think
+Hoodie and the boys have&mdash;let me see; oh yes, I can tell them what it's
+like. It's like the bed in our <i>best</i> doll-house&mdash;the one with pink
+curtains trimmed with white. You know?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Hoodie, "the one where Miss Victoria has been so ill in,
+since she's got too ugly to sit in the drawing-room. I know."</p>
+
+<p>"But it's such a weeny bed," said Hec, "was zour little girl no bigger
+than zat little dolly, Cousin Magdalen?"</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Of course</i>," said Maudie, hastily. "How stupid you are, Hec."</p>
+
+<p>"Maudie," said her godmother, and Maudie got very red. "Maudie meant it
+was the same <i>shape</i> as that, but much bigger, Hec dear. Just the same
+as the piano in the study is the same shape as the one in the
+doll-house, only much bigger."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh zes," said Hec.</p>
+
+<p>"A great deal bigger than any of the beds people have now," continued
+Magdalen. "It was really big enough to have held six little Lenas
+instead of one. But it was the curtains that made it so particularly
+wonderful. They were very old, but the colours were still quite bright,
+they had been washed so carefully. And the pattern was something I
+really could not describe if I tried&mdash;it was the most delicious muddle
+of flowers, and trailing leaves and birds, and here and there a sort of
+little basket-work pattern that looked like a summer-house or the
+entrance to a grotto.</p>
+
+<p>"Lena stood feasting her eyes upon these marvellous curtains.</p>
+
+<p>"'I never did see anything so nice,' she said. 'Can I see the pictures
+when I'm <i>in</i> the bed, Mrs. Denny?'</p>
+
+<p>"'Oh yes, my dear, they're double&mdash;the same inside as out,' said Mrs.
+Denny, turning them as she spoke.</p>
+
+<p>"'How nice!' said Lena; 'well, if I'm late for breakfast, Mrs. Denny,
+you'll know that it'll be with looking at the curtains.'</p>
+
+<p>"'I'm not afraid but that you'll sleep well in this bed, Miss Lena,'
+said the old nurse. 'There's something very lucky about it. Many a one
+has told me they never had such sweet sleep or such pretty dreams as in
+our old bed. It's maybe that the room is a very pleasant one, never
+either too hot or too cold, and there's a beautiful scent of lavender,
+Miss Lena, all through the bed, as you'll find.'</p>
+
+<p>"Lena poked her little nose into the pillows on the spot.</p>
+
+<p>"'Oh yes,' she said, 'it's <i>beautiful</i>.'</p>
+
+<p>"'But you must be, or any way you should be, hungry, my dear,' said
+nurse. 'And tea's all ready. Come away down-stairs, and then you must go
+to bed early, you know. I must take great care of you, so that you'll
+look quite a different little girl when you go home again.'</p>
+
+<p>"Lena did justice to the tea, I assure you. She thought she had never
+enjoyed anything so much before as the nice things Mrs. Denny had got
+ready for her. And after tea there was her little box to unpack, and her
+things to arrange neatly in the old-fashioned bureau and on the shelves
+of the large light closet, opening out of the room. And by the time all
+this was done Lena began to feel both sleepy and tired, and was not at
+all sorry when Mrs. Denny told her that she thought it was quite time
+for her to go to bed.</p>
+
+<p>"And oh how very comfortable she felt when she was fairly settled in the
+dear old bed! It was <i>so</i> snug&mdash;just soft enough, but not too soft&mdash;not
+the kind of suffocatingly soft feather-bed in which you get down into a
+hole and never get out of it all night. It was springy as well as soft,
+and though the linen was not perhaps so fine as what Lena was accustomed
+to at home, it was real homespun for all that&mdash;and through everything
+there was the delicious wild thymy sort of scent of lavender which Mrs.
+Denny had promised her. Lena went to sleep really burrowing her nose,
+which was rather a snub one to begin with unfortunately, into the
+pillow, and the last words she thought to herself were, 'I could really
+fancy myself in a sort of fairy-land. And oh how nice it will be in the
+morning to lie awake and look at those lovely curtains.'</p>
+
+<p>"There was not so very much lying awake however the first morning as she
+had expected. It was so late when she awoke that the sun was quite a
+good way up in the sky, and Mrs. Denny was standing by the bed smiling
+at her little visitor, and wondering if she would have to make fresh
+bread and milk for her, as the bowlful that was ready would be quite
+spoilt with waiting so long. Up jumped Lena.</p>
+
+<p>"'Oh, dear Mrs. Denny,' she said, 'I have had such a beautiful, lovely
+sleep. And you don't know what funny dreams I had. I dreamt that there
+were fairies hidden in all the little crinks of the curtains, and I
+heard them talking about me and telling each other that it was the first
+time I had slept there, and they wondered if I was a good little girl.
+And then I thought I heard one say "if she is good we can please her
+well." <i>Wasn't</i> it funny, Mrs. Denny?'</p>
+
+<p>"'Very funny,' said Mrs. Denny, smiling. 'But you know, Miss Lena, I
+told you you'd have beautiful sleeps and dreams here, didn't I?'</p>
+
+<p>"'Yes,' said Lena, 'and I'm <i>so</i> hungry, you don't know how hungry I
+am.'</p>
+
+<p>"So she jumped up and washed and dressed and said her prayers, and came
+down to the kitchen as fresh and bright as a little girl could look. And
+Farmer Denny declared, if the roses in the gardens had been in bloom, he
+could have thought she had been stealing some for her cheeks&mdash;for
+already there was certainly more colour in them than when she had
+arrived. So the time passed very happily, and Lena did not feel the
+least dull either by day or by night.</p>
+
+<p>"It had not been the time of the full moon when she first came, but a
+few days later it happened to be so, and as the weather was beautifully
+fine just then there were almost no clouds in the sky, and the moon had
+it all her own pretty way. One night Lena woke up suddenly&mdash;it seemed to
+her that she had been asleep a long, long time, and she didn't feel the
+least heavy or confused, but quite fresh and brisk as if she had had all
+the sleep she needed. And the shining moonlight came pouring in at the
+windows in a sort of wide band of light falling right across the bed and
+showing out most beautifully the colours and patterns on the
+old-fashioned curtains. They looked even brighter than by daylight, and
+as Lena lay and looked at them, she saw wonderful new pictures that she
+had never noticed before&mdash;the sort of pathway between the green branches
+and foliage that seemed to lead up to one of the little bowers or
+grottos grew more distinct, and as Lena tried to trace it out with her
+eyes, she suddenly saw a little figure moving along the path she was
+looking at. She rubbed her eyes and looked again&mdash;the figure had
+disappeared, but instead she saw clearly in the moonlight two
+butterflies flitting about the same path, darting first backwards, then
+forwards, as if inviting her to follow them.</p>
+
+<p>"'If only I were a fly and could walk straight up a wall,' thought Lena,
+'I'd really step up that curtain and see if I couldn't make my way into
+that grotto,' and then she laughed to herself at the fancy&mdash;'as if any
+one <i>could</i> walk into a picture!' she said.</p>
+
+<p>"And then it seemed to her that the butterflies melted into the
+leaves&mdash;and there was no movement at all on the curtains.</p>
+
+<p>"'It must have been the trembling of the moonlight that made me fancy
+it,' Lena said to herself. And the next morning when she awoke she stood
+up on tiptoe to examine the particular spot where she had seen these
+curious things. It looked just the same as the other parts of the
+curtains&mdash;only half hidden among the bushy leaves near the rustic
+doorway that Lena called the arbour, she found out a queer brown little
+face that she had not seen before. It seemed to her to peep out at her
+suddenly, and she fancied that it was the face of the figure she had
+watched moving along the path in the moonlight.</p>
+
+<p>"'How funny that I never noticed it before,' she said, for when she
+looked at the same place on the pattern in other parts of the curtains
+she noticed the same queer little brown face, just like a monkey peeping
+from among the branches.</p>
+
+<p>"She was so surprised that she thought she would ask Mrs. Denny if <i>she</i>
+had ever noticed 'the monkeys,' but somehow it went quite out of her
+head. It was not till the next night that she remembered anything more
+about them.</p>
+
+<p>"For the next night, strange to say, she wakened again in the same
+sudden way. And again the moonlight was shining right on the curtains,
+and this time Lena felt more sure than the night before, that something
+was moving about among the leaves and flowers and branches that seemed
+to stand out so brightly.</p>
+
+<p>"'Oh dear,' she thought to herself, 'I <i>do</i> wish I could creep up quite
+quietly and see if it is one of those monkeys that has got loose. Oh
+please, Mr. Monkey, if you are a fairy, <i>do</i> come down and fetch me,'
+she added, laughing.</p>
+
+<p>"But her laughter stopped suddenly. Almost as she said the words the
+most curious sound reached her ears&mdash;at first it seemed like the buzzing
+of lots and lots of flies, bluebottles, midges, bees, cockchafers&mdash;every
+sort of creature of the kind, so that Lena started up in a fright. But
+no&mdash;no flies of any sort were to be seen, but nearer and nearer, louder
+and louder came the sound, till at last it grew into a sort of chant, as
+if a great number of little feet were stepping along together, and a
+great number of little buzzing voices singing in time to them. And
+glancing up at the curtains Lena plainly saw a whole quantity of tiny
+brown figures stepping&mdash;you couldn't call it sliding, they moved too
+regularly&mdash;downwards in the direction of her face. And if she had looked
+closer, she would have seen that every place in the pattern where the
+wee brown faces peeped out was empty! The monkeys had come to fetch her!
+Where to?</p>
+
+<p>"That I must try to tell you&mdash;but as to how she got there, that is a
+different matter. She never knew it herself, so how could any one else
+know it? All I can tell you is this&mdash;she found herself standing in
+front of a little house&mdash;a pretty little house, something like the
+carved Swiss cottages that your mamma has in the library&mdash;there was a
+garden all round it, thick trees and bushes at the sides, and as Lena
+suddenly, as it were, seemed to awake to find herself there, she heard
+at the same moment a sort of scuttling all about her, just as if a lot
+of hares or rabbits had taken flight. And when she quickly turned round
+to look, she saw disappearing among the shrubs ever so
+many&mdash;<i>quantities</i> of pairs of little brown legs and feet&mdash;the bodies
+and heads belonging to them being already hidden in the green.</p>
+
+<p>"'It must be the monkeys,' thought Lena, and as this came into her mind
+it struck her too that this place where she found herself was the very
+place where she had wished to be. Till this moment she had somehow
+forgotten about it, but now she looked about her with great
+interest&mdash;yes&mdash;this cottage must be the very place she had called an
+arbour, for the fence in front of it was of rustic work like dried
+branches twisted together, and there at the side was one of the trees
+with the thick leaves where the monkey's face had peeped out&mdash;and at the
+other side were the plants with the big bobbing red flowers, and the
+other ones with the hanging yellow lilies&mdash;all the things she had
+noticed so often. Lena had really got her wish. She was <i>in</i> the chintz
+curtains. Only there were no birds, no butterflies, nothing moving at
+all&mdash;no monkeys' faces peeping at her from among the leaves. Everything
+was perfectly still.</p>
+
+<p>"'What shall I do?' thought Lena. 'Shall I go into the house and look
+about me? I wonder if it would be rude.'</p>
+
+<p>"It didn't seem so, for the door was left open&mdash;wide open, as if on
+purpose; so, after knocking once or twice and no one coming, Lena walked
+in. Such a pretty, but such a queer little house it was. It was more
+like a nest than a house. There was a little kitchen with cupboards all
+round, with open lattice-work doors through which you could see what was
+in them. They were filled with all sorts of queer provisions, nuts,
+acorns, apples of different kinds, and some fruits that Lena had never
+seen before. Then in the parlour the carpet was the prettiest you could
+imagine. Lena could not think what it was till she stooped down and felt
+it with her hands, and then she found it was moss, real live growing
+moss, so bright and green, and so soft and springy. And the sofa and
+chairs were all made of growing plants, twisted and trained so that the
+roots made the seat and the branches the back. Each was different. Lena
+sat down in one or two, and could not tell which was the most
+comfortable, they were all so nice, and so pretty. For each was
+ornamented with a different flower that seemed to grow in a wreath on
+purpose round the back and down the arms. There was no fireplace in the
+room, but there were some nice furry-looking rugs lying about, and when
+Lena looked at them closely she saw they were made of moss too&mdash;moss of
+a different kind, browner than the other, plaited together in some
+wonderful way with the soft flowery tufts kept outside. Lena lay down on
+the sofa and covered herself up with one of these rugs.</p>
+
+<p>"'How comfortable it is! What an awfully nice little house this is!' she
+said to herself. 'But how I do wish some one would come to speak to me.
+It feels rather like Silverhair in the Three Bears. Mr. Monkey, if this
+is your house, please come and speak to me.'</p>
+
+<p>"No sooner had she said this than there stood before her a wee brown
+figure&mdash;brown all over, face, hands, feet and all&mdash;only his eyes, which
+sparkled brightly like beads, were black. He was dressed in a short
+scarlet jacket, and on his head was a scarlet cap with a long, very long
+tassel. He took off the cap and bowed low&mdash;very low at Lena's feet&mdash;the
+top of his head when he stood upright reached about to her knees, and he
+bowed so low that his nose nearly touched her toes. Lena felt rather
+uncomfortable&mdash;she was not used to such very great respect, and she felt
+a little startled to think that she had called out to the little man, as
+'Mr. Monkey.' No doubt he was rather like a monkey, but still&mdash;</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="ill08" id="ill08"></a>
+<img src="images/ill08.jpg" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+<h3>"He took off the cap and bowed low."</h3>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>"She stood to think of something nice and civil to say, but she could
+not, try as she might, think of anything better than 'Thank you, sir.'</p>
+
+<p>"It did quite well&mdash;the little man seemed quite pleased, for he bowed
+again as low as before, and in a clear silvery voice like a little bell
+he spoke to Lena.</p>
+
+<p>"'What are your biddings, little lady?'"</p>
+
+<p>"'Oh,' said Lena, 'I do so want to see all this funny place. It was very
+kind of you to bring me up here, but I would like to see it all. May I
+walk all about your garden, Mr. Mon&mdash;oh, I beg your pardon,' she added
+in a hurry.</p>
+
+<p>"'Never mind,' said the little man. 'One name is as good as another. My
+brothers and I have been watching you, and we wish you well. If you will
+come with me I will show you all I can.'</p>
+
+<p>"'Oh, thank you,' said Lena, jumping up in a moment.</p>
+
+<p>"The little man walked out of his house, and standing in front of it he
+gave a long shrill whistle. Immediately from every direction whole
+quantities of other little brown men appeared&mdash;they seemed to tumble out
+of every branch of the trees, to peep up out of the ground almost at
+Lena's feet&mdash;till at last she felt like Gulliver among the Lilliputians.</p>
+
+<p>"'Fetch the carpet,' said the first little man, who seemed a sort of
+commander, and before Lena had time to see where it came from a
+beautifully bright blue sheet was stretched out before her, held all
+round by the dozens and dozens of little brown men, as if they were
+going to shake it.</p>
+
+<p>"'Step on to it, little lady,' said her friend.</p>
+
+<p>"Lena did so, and no sooner had her feet touched it than she felt it
+rise, rise up into the air, up up, till she wondered where she was going
+to. Then suddenly, as suddenly as it had begun to move, it stopped.</p>
+
+<p>"'Where are we?' she said, just then noticing for the first time that
+her own particular little brown man was sitting at her feet.</p>
+
+<p>"'At the top,' said the little man; 'it would have taken you a long time
+to climb up here, and we did not want to tire you. Now you shall see our
+gardens.'</p>
+
+<p>"He jumped off the carpet, and Lena followed him. All the other little
+men had disappeared, but she hardly noticed it, she was so delighted
+with what she saw. Before her were beautiful flower paths&mdash;paths edged
+with tall growing flowers of every colour indeed, for they never stayed
+the same for half a moment, but kept changing like rainbows&mdash;melting
+from one shade into another in the loveliest way, like the coloured
+lights at the pantomime.</p>
+
+<p>"'Oh, how lovely!' said Lena. 'May I gather some, please?'</p>
+
+<p>"The little man shook his head.</p>
+
+<p>"'You cannot,' he said, walking on before her.</p>
+
+<p>"After a while he turned down another path.</p>
+
+<p>"'These are our birds,' he said; and Lena, glancing more closely at what
+she had thought were still flowers, saw that they were trees with
+numberless branches, on each of which sat or perched a bird. They were a
+contrast to the many-coloured flowers, for each bird was of one colour
+only, and all the birds on each tree were the same. There was a tree
+perfectly covered with pure white ones, another with all red, a third
+all blue, and so on. And the birds swayed gently backwards and forwards
+on the branches, in time; though there was no sound, it seemed to Lena
+like hearing beautiful music. And somehow she did not feel inclined to
+speak or to ask any questions. She just quietly followed the little man,
+feeling happier and more pleased than she had ever felt in her life.
+And soon there came another change. Looking up, Lena saw that all the
+birds and flowers were left behind, and she was walking through a sort
+of thicket of leafless bushes. She wondered why they were so bare, when
+everything else in the brownies' country was so rich and bright.</p>
+
+<p>"'These are our orchards,' said her guide. 'But we keep the fruit packed
+up till it is wanted. It keeps it fresher. See now!' As he spoke he
+touched a bush.</p>
+
+<p>"'Grow,' he said, and in an instant there came a sort of flutter over
+the tree, and then at once there sprouted out all over the branches the
+most tempting-looking clusters of fruit. They were something like
+beautiful purple grapes, but richer and more luscious-looking than any
+grapes Lena had ever seen. And while she was admiring them the little
+man touched another, and instantly oranges, golden and gleaming like no
+oranges she had ever seen before, glistened out all over the branches.
+And the little man stepped on in front, touching the trees as he went,
+till the whole path was a perfect glow of fruits of every colour and
+shape. So beautiful were they to look at, that Lena somehow felt no wish
+to eat them.</p>
+
+<p>"On went the brownie, touching as he went, till suddenly the path came
+to an end, and Lena saw in front of her a high wall of bright green
+grass, with steps cut in it.</p>
+
+<p>"'Up here,' said her little friend, 'are our fish-ponds. Would you like
+to see them?'</p>
+
+<p>"Lena nodded her head. She was getting quite used to wonderful things,
+but the more she saw the more she wanted to see. She followed the little
+man up the steps, and when she got to the top she stood silent with
+surprise and delight. Of all the pretty wonders he had shown her, what
+she now saw was the prettiest. Six tiny lakes lay before her, and in
+each a fountain rose sparkling and dancing. And the fish that were in
+each lake rose up with the waters of the fountain and glided down them
+again as if almost they had wings. In each pond the fish were of
+different colours. There were, let me see, six ponds, did I not say?
+Yes&mdash;well in the first the fish were gold, in the second silver, in the
+third bronze; and in the three others even prettier, for in them the
+fish were ruby, emerald, and topaz. I mean they were of those colours,
+and in the water they gleamed as if they were made of the precious
+stones themselves. Lena gazed at them in perfect delight, and held out
+her hands so that the spray from the fountains fell on them, half hoping
+that by chance some of the fish might drop into her fingers by mistake.</p>
+
+<p>"The little man looked at her and smiled, but shook his head.</p>
+
+<p>"'No,' he said, as if he knew what she was thinking, 'no, you cannot
+catch them, just as you could not have gathered the flowers.'</p>
+
+<p>"Lena looked disappointed.</p>
+
+<p>"'I would so like to take some of them home,' she said, gently.</p>
+
+<p>"'It cannot be, child,' said the little man. 'They would have neither
+life nor colour out of their own waters. There are many, many more
+things to show you, but I fear the time is over. I must take you home
+before the moon sets.'</p>
+
+<p>"'But mayn't I come again?' said Lena. She had not time to hear the
+little man's answer, for again there came the quick rushing sound of the
+quantities and quantities of little feet, and again a sort of cloudy
+feeling came over Lena. She tried to speak again to the brownie, but her
+voice seemed to have no sound, and all she heard was his shrill whistle.
+It grew shriller and shriller till at last it got to sound not a whistle
+at all, but more like a cock's crow. And just then Lena opened her eyes,
+which she did not know were closed, and what do you think she saw? The
+morning sun peeping in at the lattice-window of her bedroom, and
+lighting up in its turn, as the moon had done a few hours before, the
+queer quaint patterns on the old chintz curtains. And down below in the
+yard Farmer Denny's young cock was busy telling all its companions, and
+little Lena as well, if she chose to listen, that it was time to be up
+and about."</p>
+
+<p>Magdalen stopped.</p>
+
+<p>"Is that all?" said Maudie.</p>
+
+<p>Hoodie said nothing, but stared up for her answer.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know," said their cousin.</p>
+
+<p>"You don't know?" said Maudie. "Cousin Magdalen, you're joking."</p>
+
+<p>"No, indeed I'm not. I really don't know. I daresay there's lots more if
+I had time to tell it you. The little man told her there were lots and
+lots more things to show her."</p>
+
+<p>"Did her ever go back again?" asked Hoodie gravely.</p>
+
+<p>"I hope so&mdash;I think so," said Magdalen. "But I don't think she ever went
+back quite the same way."</p>
+
+<p>Hoodie stared harder. Maudie looked up with a puzzled face.</p>
+
+<p>"Cousin Magdalen," she said, "I believe after all you've been taking us
+in. There is something in the story that means something else. How do
+you mean that Lena went back again to the brownies' country?"</p>
+
+<p>"I mean," said Magdalen, "that it was the country of fancy-land&mdash;a
+country we may all go to, if&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"If what, please?"</p>
+
+<p>"If we keep good and kind and sweet and pretty feelings in our hearts,"
+said Magdalen, slowly, and a little gravely. "But if we let ugly things
+in&mdash;crossness, idleness, and selfishness, and ugly creatures like
+that&mdash;the pretty fairies will never come near us to fetch us away to see
+their treasures. The brownies would not let untidy or ill-tempered
+children into their neat little nests of houses. And even if such
+children <i>did</i> get into fairy-land or fancy-land&mdash;whichever you like to
+call it, where there are such numberless beautiful and strange
+things&mdash;it would not be fairy-land to them, because their poor little
+eyes would be blind, and their poor little ears deaf."</p>
+
+<p>"I think I understand," said Maudie, "and some day perhaps, Cousin
+Magdalen, you'll tell us some more about Lena."</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps," said Magdalen, smiling.</p>
+
+<p>But Hoodie said nothing, only stared harder up in her cousin's face with
+her big blue eyes.</p>
+
+<p>And Hec and Duke, who had been amusing themselves since the story was
+over and the talking had begun, by sticking daisies on to a thorn,
+trotted up to Cousin Magdalen to kiss her and say, "Zank zou for the
+pitty story."</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="ill09" id="ill09"></a>
+<img src="images/ill09.jpg" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+<h3>Hec and Duke ... sticking daisies on to a thorn</h3>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII.</h2>
+
+<h3>TWO TRUES.</h3>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"The little stars are the lambs, I guess,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The fair moon is the shepherdess."<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Nursery Song.</span><br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p>A few mornings after the story telling in the garden, as Miss King was
+passing along the passage on her way down to breakfast, she overheard
+tumultuous sounds from the direction of the nursery. She stopped to
+listen. Various little voices were to be distinguished raised much
+higher than their wont, and among them, now and then, Martin's rather
+anxious tones as if entreating the children to listen to her advice.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't care," were among the first words Cousin Magdalen made out
+clearly, "there isn't two trues, and what I'm telling is real true
+<i>true</i>, as true as true."</p>
+
+<p>The speaker was Hoodie. Then came the answer from Maudie.</p>
+
+<p>"Hoodie, how <i>can</i> you?" she said in a voice of real distress. "I think
+it's dreadful to tell stories, and to keep on saying they're true when
+you know they're not. It wouldn't have mattered if you had explained it
+was a sort of fairy story like what Cousin Magdalen told us the other
+day, for of course that wasn't true either, only in a way it was."</p>
+
+<p>"And Hoodie didn't usplain a bit, not one bit," said Duke virtuously.
+"Her keeped on saying it were as true as true."</p>
+
+<p>"And we is too little to under'tand, isn't we?" put in Hec. "If Hoodie
+had toldened us she was in fun&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"But I <i>wasn't</i> in fun, you ugly, naughty, <i>ugly</i> boy," retorted Hoodie,
+by this time most evidently losing her temper. "And if peoples 'zinks so
+much about trues, they shouldn't vant me to say what isn't true about
+being in fun when I wasn't in fun. The moon <i>does</i>&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>A choky sound was now heard, caused by Maudie's putting her hand over
+her sister's mouth.</p>
+
+<p>"Hoodie, you're <i>not</i> to say that again," she exclaimed, no doubt with
+the best intention, but with an unfortunate result. Hoodie turned upon
+her like a little wild cat, and was in the act of slapping her
+vigorously when Miss King hurried into the room.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Hoodie!</i>" she said reproachfully.</p>
+
+<p>Hoodie looked up with a mixture of shame and defiance.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Hoodie, I am <i>so</i> sorry. I thought you had quite left off
+everything like that," said her cousin.</p>
+
+<p>One or two big tears crept slowly out of the corners of Hoodie's eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"They shouldn't say I was telling untrue things," she muttered. "'Tisn't
+my fault."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! Miss Hoodie," said Martin, injudiciously, "how <i>can</i> you say so?
+I'm sure, Miss," she went on, turning to Magdalen, "no one said a word
+to put her out. She was telling fairy stories like, to Master Duke and
+Master Hec, and they began asking her to explain and she would say it
+was quite true, not fairy stories at all. And Miss Maudie just tried to
+show her she shouldn't say that, and then you see, Miss, she flew into a
+temper."</p>
+
+<p>"What were the stories about, Hoodie?" inquired Miss King, kindly.</p>
+
+<p>Hoodie vouchsafed not a word in reply.</p>
+
+<p>Magdalen glanced at the others.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>I'll</i> tell," said Duke. "They was about things up in the sky, you
+know."</p>
+
+<p>"Angels, do you mean?" said Miss King.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh no, not angels," said Maudie. "It was about the stars and the moon.
+Hoodie has a fancy&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"It <i>isn't</i> a fancy," put in Hoodie fiercely.</p>
+
+<p>"Hoodie says," continued Maudie calmly, "that the moon and the stars and
+all of the things up in the sky, know each other, and talk to each
+other, and that she has heard them. The moon takes care of the stars,
+she says, and early in the morning when it is time for them all to go
+away the moon calls to them. I mean Hoodie says she does."</p>
+
+<p>"'Cos she <i>does</i>," replied Hoodie, before any one else had time to
+speak. "She calls to them and they all come round her together, and then
+they all go away like a flash&mdash;<i>so</i> quick, and it is so bright."</p>
+
+<p>Her funny eyes gleamed up into Magdalen's face. In the interest of what
+she was telling she forgot her temper.</p>
+
+<p>"Was it that that you saw?" asked Magdalen, gravely. "The flash of their
+going, I mean?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Hoodie, "I've seen it lots of times, and I try to keep awake
+on purpose. It passes&mdash;the flash, I mean&mdash;it passes by the little window
+near my head. The little window for seeing up into the sky, you know."</p>
+
+<p>Magdalen nodded her head.</p>
+
+<p>"I know," she said, "I had a window like that in my room when I was a
+little girl, and I was very fond of it. But I don't think I ever saw the
+moon and the stars saying good night, or good morning&mdash;which is it? And
+are none of the little stars ever left behind?"</p>
+
+<p>The whole of Hoodie's face lighted up with a smile, but the rest of the
+faces round Miss King looked grave and rather puzzled. Was she really
+going to encourage Hoodie in her fancies&mdash;thought Maudie and Martin?</p>
+
+<p>"I don't <i>'zink</i> so," said Hoodie, "but I'll look the next time."</p>
+
+<p>"Cousin Magdalen," whispered Maudie, gently pulling her godmother's
+dress, "it <i>isn't</i> true. You don't want Duke and Hec to think it is."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't think it would matter much if they did," replied Magdalen in
+the same tone. "Thinking little fancies like that true would do them far
+less harm than thinking their sister was telling falsehoods. But I will
+try to explain to Hoodie that perhaps it is better not to say any more
+about it to the little boys. Only, Maudie dear, I think you are old
+enough to understand better that Hoodie was not meaning to tell
+untruths."</p>
+
+<p>"She said she heard the moon and the stars <i>talking</i>," remonstrated
+Maudie.</p>
+
+<p>"Well&mdash;what if she did? Many a time when I was a little girl I have
+thought I heard the wind say real words when I was lying awake in my
+little bed. Of course I know better now, but so will Hoodie, and if
+these fancies please her and keep her content and happy, why not leave
+her them?"</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Martin</i> doesn't think so," said Maudie, rather mortified that her
+efforts to bring Hoodie to a sense of her wrong-doings were so little
+appreciated.</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Maudie, dear!" exclaimed Martin, "I never said so, I'm sure. I
+don't think I rightly understood what it was all about. I'm sure I don't
+want to be sharp on any of you for fancies that do no one any harm. I
+had plenty of them myself when I was little."</p>
+
+<p>"You see, Maudie, Martin does understand," said Miss King. "I'll try and
+explain about it better to you afterwards, but just now I really must
+hurry down to breakfast."</p>
+
+<p>She was turning away when a clamour of little voices stopped her.</p>
+
+<p>"Won't you come back after breakfast, Cousin Magdalen?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, do tum back."</p>
+
+<p>"It's such a wet day and we've nothing to do, 'cause it's Saturday, and
+Saturday's a holiday."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you want me to come and give you lessons then?" said Magdalen,
+mischievously.</p>
+
+<p>Dead silence&mdash;broken at last by Duke.</p>
+
+<p>"Couldn't you tum and tell us more stories?"</p>
+
+<p>Magdalen shook her head.</p>
+
+<p>"I haven't got any ready. Truly I haven't," she said. "It takes me a
+long time to think of them, always. But I'll tell you what we might do.
+I'll come up after breakfast with my work and you might all tell <i>me</i>
+stories. That would amuse everybody. Each of you try to think of one,
+but you mustn't tell each other what it is."</p>
+
+<p>Hoodie's face lighted up, but Maudie looked rather lugubrious.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>I</i> can't think of one," she said.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh yes you can, if you try," said Magdalen, cheerfully.</p>
+
+<p>"Must it be all out of my own head?"</p>
+
+<p>Miss King hesitated.</p>
+
+<p>"No, if you can remember one that you've read that the others don't
+know, that would do."</p>
+
+<p>Maudie looked relieved.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>I</i> don't need to remember one," said Hoodie. "I know such heaps. My
+head's all spinning full of them."</p>
+
+<p>"So's mine," said Duke, jumping about and clapping his hands.</p>
+
+<p>"And mine too," said Hec. "Kite 'pinning full."</p>
+
+<p>"What nonsense," said Hoodie. "You <i>don't</i> know stories. It's only me
+that does."</p>
+
+<p>"Hush, hush," said Miss King. "My plan won't be nice at all if it makes
+you quarrel. Now I <i>must</i> run down."</p>
+
+<p>The children were very quiet through breakfast time. Every now and then
+the little boys leant over across their bowls of bread and milk to
+whisper to each other.</p>
+
+<p>"Wouldn't that be lovely?" or</p>
+
+<p>"That'd be a vezy pitty story," till called to order by Martin, who told
+them that spilling their breakfast over the table would not be at all a
+good beginning to the stories.</p>
+
+<p>"'Twouldn't matter," remarked Hoodie, philosophically. "The cloth isn't
+clean; it's Saturday, you know, Martin."</p>
+
+<p>"Saturday or no Saturday," replied Martin, "it isn't pretty for little
+ladies and gentlemen to spill their food on the table. And it gets them
+in the habit of it for when they get big and have their breakfasts and
+dinners down-stairs."</p>
+
+<p>"Doesn't big people <i>never</i> spill things on the cloth?" inquired Hec,
+solemnly.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Fielding does," said Hoodie. "One day when he was here at luncheon,
+he was helping Mamma to wine, and he poured all down the outside of her
+glass. I think he's dedfully ugly. I wouldn't like ever to be a big
+people if I was to be like him."</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Hoodie," remonstrated Martin, hardly approving of the turn the
+conversation was taking, "do get on with your breakfast, and you'd
+better be thinking about your stories than talking about things you
+don't understand."</p>
+
+<p>Hoodie glanced at Martin with considerable contempt.</p>
+
+<p>"I'd like to make a story about Beauty and the Beast," she said. "I know
+who'd be the beast, but <i>you</i> shouldn't be Beauty, Martin."</p>
+
+<p>"Shouldn't I, Miss Hoodie?" said Martin, good-naturedly. "Miss King
+would make a nice Beauty, to my mind."</p>
+
+<p>Almost as she spoke the door opened, and Cousin Magdalen re-appeared.</p>
+
+<p>"Children," she said, "your mother says we may have the fire lighted in
+the billiard-room because it is such a chilly day, so I am going to take
+my work there and you may all come. Martin will be glad to get rid of
+you, because I know Saturday's a busy morning for her always."</p>
+
+<p>The news was received with great satisfaction, and before the end of
+another half-hour the four children were all under their cousin's charge
+in the billiard-room, for an hour or two, greatly to Martin's relief.</p>
+
+<p>"What pretty work you are doing, Cousin Magdalen," said Maudie, stroking
+admiringly the large canvas stretched on a frame at which Miss King was
+working.</p>
+
+<p>"I am glad you think it's pretty," said her godmother. "I think it is
+very pretty; but the colours are not very bright, and children generally
+like very bright colours. The pattern is copied from a very old piece of
+tapestry."</p>
+
+<p>"What's tapestry?" said Hoodie.</p>
+
+<p>"Old-fashioned work that used to be made long ago," said Miss King. "It
+was more like great pictures than anything else, and such quantities of
+it were made that whole walls were covered with it. Once when I was a
+very little girl I slept in a room all covered with tapestry, and in the
+middle of the night&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>She stopped suddenly.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>What?</i>" said Hoodie eagerly, peering up into her face. "What came in
+the middle of night?"</p>
+
+<p>"I didn't say anything came," said Cousin Magdalen, laughing. "I
+stopped because I thought I could make it into a little story and tell
+it to you afterwards. But we are forgetting all about your stories. Who
+is going to begin? Eldest first&mdash;you, Maudie, I suppose."</p>
+
+<p>Maudie looked rather melancholy.</p>
+
+<p>"I can't tell nice stories," she said. "I've been thinking such a time,
+and I can't think of anything except something very stupid."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, let us hear it, any way," said her cousin, "and then we can say
+if it is stupid or not."</p>
+
+<p>"It was a story I read," said Maudie, "or else some one told it me. I
+can't remember which it was. It was about a very poor little girl&mdash;she
+was dreadfully poor, just as poor as you could fancy."</p>
+
+<p>"No clothes&mdash;hadn't she no clothes?" asked Duke.</p>
+
+<p>"And nucken to eat?" added Hec.</p>
+
+<p>"Very little," said Maudie. "Of course she had some, or else she would
+have died. She hadn't any father or mother, only an old grandmother, who
+wasn't very kind to her. At least she was very old and deaf and all
+that, and perhaps that made her cross. And the little girl used to go
+messages for a shop&mdash;that was how she got a little money. It was a
+baker's shop near where they lived, and it was rather a grand shop&mdash;only
+they kept this little girl to go messages, not to the <i>grand</i> people
+that came there, you know, but to the people that bought the bread when
+it wasn't so new&mdash;and currant cakes that were rather stale&mdash;like that,
+you know. And on Sunday mornings she had the most to do, because they
+used to send a great lot of bread very early to a room where a kind lady
+had breakfast for a great many poor people&mdash;for a treat because it was
+Sunday. They used to have lots of bread and butter and hot coffee&mdash;very
+nice. And Lizzie, that was the little girl's name, liked Sunday mornings
+and going with the bread to that place, because it all looked so
+cheerful and comfortable, and the smell of the hot coffee was so good."</p>
+
+<p>"Didn't they never give her none?" asked Duke.</p>
+
+<p>"No, I don't think so. At least not before what I'm going to tell you.
+You should wait till I tell you. Well, one Sunday in winter, it was a
+dreadfully cold day; snowing and raining, and all mixed together, and
+wind too, I think&mdash;dreadful cold wind. And Lizzie nearly cried as she
+was going along to that place. She had such dreadfully sore chilblains
+on her feet and on her hands too. She got to the place and emptied the
+basket, and she was just coming away at the door, when a carriage came
+up and she stopped a minute to see the people get out. The first was the
+lady who gave the breakfast, Lizzie had seen her before, for she came
+sometimes&mdash;not every Sunday, but just sometimes&mdash;to see that the
+breakfast was all nice for her poor people. But this day, after she got
+out, she turned back to lift a little boy out of the carriage. And
+Lizzie had never seen this little boy before, because this was the first
+time he had ever come. His mother had brought him with her for a great
+treat. He was a very pretty little boy and his name was Arthur, and he
+was about six, I think it said in the story. The lady went into the room
+quick without noticing Lizzie, as she was in a hurry not to be late for
+the poor people, but Arthur stayed behind a minute and stared at Lizzie.
+She was so very cold, you know, she did look miserable, and then she had
+cried a little on the way, so her eyes were red.</p>
+
+<p>"Arthur went close up to her, staring all the time. Lizzie didn't mind.
+She stared at him too. He was so pretty and he had such pretty clothes
+on. When he got close to her, he looked sharp up into her face and
+said&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"'What is you crying for?'</p>
+
+<p>"Lizzie had forgotten she had been crying, so she said, 'I'm not crying.
+I'm only very cold.'</p>
+
+<p>"'Poor little girl,' said Arthur, 'I'll ask Mamma to give you a penny.'</p>
+
+<p>"He ran after his mother, who was wondering what he was staying for, and
+in a minute he came back again and put a little paper packet into
+Lizzie's hand.</p>
+
+<p>"'That's all mother's got in her penny purse,' he said, and he ran off
+again before Lizzie had time to thank him.</p>
+
+<p>"She was going to open the packet and see how much there was, but just
+then one of the men who helped to put out the breakfast came past and
+told her not to loiter about. So she took up her basket and ran away,
+for people often spoke crossly to her, and she was easily frightened.
+All the way home she kept thinking about her pennies and what she would
+buy with them, but she didn't open the packet, because the way she had
+to go there were so many rude boys about that she was afraid they might
+snatch it from her. And when she got to the shop where she had to take
+the basket to, the baker sent her another message, so it wasn't till
+much later than usual that she got home. And all this time she had never
+opened the packet, at least it said so in the story, though I think <i>I</i>
+would have peeped at it before&mdash;wouldn't you, Cousin Magdalen?"</p>
+
+<p>"I'm not sure," said Magdalen. "I think if one has something nice it is
+sometimes rather tempting to keep it for a while without looking it all
+over. It is something to look forward to."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Hoodie. "<i>I'd</i> have keepened it for alvays wrapped up, and
+then I could have alvays thought perhaps it was a fairy thing like."</p>
+
+<p>"You silly girl," said Maudie, "you're always fancying about fairies."</p>
+
+<p>"Maudie, <i>dear</i>" said Magdalen, "do try not to say things like that. You
+are telling the story so nicely and we're all so happy. Please don't
+spoil it by saying unkind little things."</p>
+
+<p>"I didn't mean to be unkind," said Maudie penitently.</p>
+
+<p>"P'ease do on with the story," said the little boys.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, when at last she got home, she opened the little packet,"
+continued Maudie, "and what <i>do</i> you think she saw? Instead of two
+pennies and a halfpenny perhaps, or something like that, there were&mdash;let
+me see&mdash;yes, that was it&mdash;there were a gold pound, a half-a-crown, and a
+shilling. Just fancy! Lizzie was so surprised that she didn't know what
+she felt&mdash;she looked at them and looked at them, and turned them in her
+hand, and then all at once it came into her mind that of course the lady
+had given her them by mistake, and that she should take them back to
+her. And she jumped up very quick and said to her grandmother there was
+another message she had to go, and without thinking anything about
+whether the lady would still be there or not, off she ran back again to
+the place where the poor people had their breakfast. She ran as hard as
+she could, but of course when she got there it was too late&mdash;the
+breakfast was done long ago, and all the people away and the doors
+locked, and there was no one about at all to tell her where she could
+find the lady. And Lizzie was so unhappy that she sat down on a step and
+cried. You see it was such a disappointment, for she couldn't tell how
+much the lady <i>had</i> meant to give her, and so she didn't like to take
+any. Besides, she felt that it would be better to give the packet back
+just as it was, only she had so wanted the pennies, for she never had
+any. The baker's wife always paid her grandmother, not Lizzie herself,
+for Lizzie's going messages.</p>
+
+<p>"And after she had cried a good while she got up and went home. But just
+as she got near the baker's shop she thought she might ask there if they
+knew the lady's name, so she went in to ask. There was no one in the
+shop but the young woman who helped&mdash;the others had gone to church."</p>
+
+<p>"How was it the shop was open, then, as it was Sunday?" asked Magdalen.</p>
+
+<p>"It wasn't open, only there was a sort of door in the shutters that
+Lizzie always went in and out by on Sunday mornings. I know that,
+because there was a picture of it&mdash;I remember now where I read the
+story&mdash;it was in a big picture magazine when I was quite a little girl,"
+said Maudie. "And this young woman was tidying the shop a little, and
+just going to shut it altogether when Lizzie went in. She was a
+good-natured young woman and she looked in the money books for the
+lady's name, but it wasn't in&mdash;only the name of the man the room
+belonged to where the breakfast was&mdash;and then she asked Lizzie what she
+wanted to know for, and Lizzie told her. The young woman told her she
+was very silly to think of giving it back. She said to her that
+certainly the lady had <i>given</i> it her, it wasn't even as if she had
+found it. And Lizzie could not say that was not true, and she felt so
+puzzled at first that she didn't know what to say. The young woman
+offered to change it for her so that nobody could wonder how she had got
+a gold piece, but Lizzie said she would think about it first. And then
+she went home, and thought, and thought, till at last it came quite
+plain into her mind that though it was true that the lady had given it
+her, still it was <i>more</i> true that she hadn't meant to give it her. And
+then she didn't feel so unhappy."</p>
+
+<p>Maudie stopped for a moment. It had turned out quite a long story, and
+she was a little tired.</p>
+
+<p>"And what did she do then? Quick, Maudie," said Hoodie.</p>
+
+<p>"What did her do? Kick, kick, Maudie," said the little boys.</p>
+
+<p>"Hush, children, don't hurry Maudie so. Let her rest a minute," said
+Cousin Magdalen; "she must be a little tired with speaking so long."</p>
+
+<p>"No, I'm not tired now," said Maudie, "only I want to remember to tell
+it quite right, and I couldn't quite remember what came next. Any way,
+she couldn't do anything more that day. But she wrapped up the money
+again quite safe, and put it in another paper, outside the one it had,
+and&mdash;oh, yes, that was it, she settled that she would wait till the next
+Sunday, and then stand at the door of the breakfast place to see the
+lady again. She didn't like telling any more people for fear they might
+take the money away from her, or something like that, and she couldn't
+think of anything better to do. Well, the next Sunday morning she took
+the bread as usual, and then she waited at the door for the lady to
+come, but she never came. Lizzie waited and waited, but she never came,
+and all the people had gone in and the breakfast was nearly done, but
+the lady never came. And at last she went and asked somebody if the lady
+wasn't coming&mdash;the woman who poured out the coffee, I think it was&mdash;and
+she told her no, the lady wasn't coming that day, and wouldn't come
+again for a great long while, because she was going away somewhere a
+good way off. Lizzie was so sorry, she began to cry, so the woman asked
+her what was the matter, and she told her, and the woman was so pleased
+with her for being so honest, that she gave her the lady's address and
+told her to go at once to the house, for perhaps she wouldn't have gone
+yet. But it was only another disappointment, for when poor Lizzie got
+there she found it was all shut up; they had gone away the day before."</p>
+
+<p>"Poor Lizzie," said Magdalen, "what did she do then?"</p>
+
+<p>"Poor Lizzie," said Hec and Duke, "and didn't she never get the real
+pennies?"</p>
+
+<p>"It wasn't pennies she wanted so much," said Hoodie, "she wanted the
+lady to know how good she was."</p>
+
+<p>"She wanted to <i>be</i> good, don't you think that would be a nicer way to
+say it, Hoodie?" said Cousin Magdalen. "You see, being so poor, it must
+sometimes have been very difficult for her not to use any of the money."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Maudie, "it said that in the story. Well, any way she <i>was</i>
+good. She sewed the money up in a little bag and put it in a safe place,
+and tried not to think about it. And all that winter she kept it and
+never touched it, though they were very poor that winter. It was so very
+cold, and poor people are always poorer in very cold winters, Martin
+says. Often they had no fire, and Lizzie's chilblains were dreadful, for
+her boots didn't keep out the rain and snow a bit, and often she was
+very hungry too, but still she never touched the money. And at last,
+after a very long time, the winter began to go away and the spring began
+to come, and the woman who poured out the coffee told Lizzie she had
+heard that the lady was coming home in the spring. So Lizzie began to
+wait a little every Sunday morning when she had given in the bread, to
+see if perhaps the lady would come. She waited like that for about six
+Sundays, I think, till at last one Sunday just as she was thinking it
+was no use waiting any more, the lady wouldn't be coming, a carriage
+drove up to the door, the very same carriage that Lizzie had seen come
+there before, and&mdash;and&mdash;the lady&mdash;the real same lady, and the real same
+little boy, got out! And Lizzie was so pleased she didn't know what to
+do, for though she had only seen them once before, she had watched for
+them so long that they seemed like great friends to her. But though she
+was so pleased, she began all to tremble and at first she couldn't
+speak, her voice went all away. She just pulled the lady's dress and
+looked up in her face but she couldn't speak. At first the lady didn't
+understand, though she was a kind lady she didn't like a dirty-looking
+little girl pulling her dress, and she looked at her a little sharply.
+But the little boy understood, and he called out&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"'Oh, mamma, mamma, it's the same little girl. Don't you remember? I
+wonder if she's been waiting here ever since.'</p>
+
+<p>"<i>That</i> was rather silly of him; of course she couldn't have been there
+ever since, but he was quite a little boy. And then the lady looked
+kindly at Lizzie and Lizzie's voice came back, and she said&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"'Oh, ma'am, this is the money you gave me by mistake. I've kept it all
+this time,' and she put the little packet into the lady's hand. And then
+something came over her; the feeling of having waited so long, I
+suppose, and she burst into tears. And what <i>do</i> you think the lady did?
+She was so sorry for poor Lizzie, and so pleased with her, that she
+actually kissed her!"</p>
+
+<p>"Aczhally <i>kissed</i> her," repeated Hoodie, Hec, and Duke. "That dirty
+girl!"</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Maudie, "she wasn't dirty. She was poor, but she wasn't
+dirty."</p>
+
+<p>"You said she was once," said Hoodie.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I didn't mean dirty, really. I meant she looked so, because her
+clothes were so old. And any way the lady did kiss her, and then she was
+so kind. She had never thought of having given Lizzie the money. It was
+some she had put up to pay a bill with, and she had meant to put it in
+her other purse, and when she couldn't find it, she thought she had lost
+it somehow. And though she was sorry, of course it didn't matter so very
+much. And she said if she had known she would have written a letter to
+the coffee woman to tell her to spend it for warm clothes for poor
+Lizzie. But after all, it all turned out nice. The lady was very kind to
+Lizzie after that, and paid for her going to school and being taught all
+nice things, so that when she got a little bigger she was a very nice
+servant. I think it said in the story that she learnt to be a nurse, and
+she was a very kind nurse always."</p>
+
+<p>"Like Martin?" said Duke.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Maudie.</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps she was even kinder than Martin," suggested Hec. "Perhaps she
+was <i>awful</i> kind."</p>
+
+<p>"Nobody could be kinder than Martin, except when we're naughty," said
+Duke, reproachfully.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't you think we should all thank Maudie for telling us such a nice
+story?" said Magdalen. "<i>I</i> thank her very much."</p>
+
+<p>"So do I," said Duke.</p>
+
+<p>"And me," said Hec.</p>
+
+<p>"And me," said Hoodie, "only I want to tell a story too."</p>
+
+<p>"We're all ready to listen," said Miss King. "But it mustn't be <i>very</i>
+long. I've to go out with your mother this afternoon, so I must write
+some letters before luncheon. And Hec and Duke have stories to tell,
+too, haven't they? So fire away, Hoodie."</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII.</h2>
+
+<h3>HOODIE'S FOUNDLING.</h3>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"I almost think a robin<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">To a fairy I prefer."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p>Hoodie gazed round her condescendingly.</p>
+
+<p>"I've such lots of stories in my head," she said. "They knock against
+each other. Well&mdash;I think I'll tell you a story of two little goblins.
+They lived in a star, and they were just e'zackly like each other. As
+like as two pins, or as like as a pin is to itself if you look at it in
+the looking-glass. They lived all alone in the star, and all day they
+stayed asleep like we do all night, but all night they were awake like
+we are all day, 'cos you see all day the star was shut up&mdash;like a shop,
+you know, only with curtains all round&mdash;all the stars are shut up like
+that all day, you know, and at night the moon wakes up and sends round
+to draw the curtains, and all the stars come out, rubbing their eyes."</p>
+
+<p>"They hasn't any hands&mdash;how can they rub their eyes?" objected Duke.</p>
+
+<p>"You silly boy," said Hoodie, very sharply. "How do <i>you</i> know? You've
+never been in the stars."</p>
+
+<p>"But you hasn't neither," he persisted.</p>
+
+<p>"Never mind. I know, and if I didn't I couldn't tell you. That's how
+people can tell stories. Well, the stars come out, lots and lots of
+them, and go running about all night, and then in the morning the moon
+sends round to draw all the curtains again and they're all to go to
+sleep."</p>
+
+<p>"But some nights the moon isn't there and the stars are there without
+her. How is that, Hoodie?" said Cousin Magdalen, rather mischievously.</p>
+
+<p>"You think so 'cos you don't know; but I do," said Hoodie, nodding her
+head sagaciously. "The moon's <i>alvays</i> there, only sometimes she has a
+cold, and then she wraps up her white face in a shawl and you can't see
+her."</p>
+
+<p>There was a twinkle of fun in Hoodie's green eyes as she said this that
+showed her cousin that her little teasing was understood.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, indeed," she said, gravely, "I did <i>not</i> know. Thank you, Hoodie,
+for explaining to me."</p>
+
+<p>"And so," continued Hoodie, "the goblins never saw anything of day
+things, but they saw very funny things at night when they went sailing
+about on the star."</p>
+
+<p>"Stars don't go sailing about," objected Maudie. "They're always quite
+still."</p>
+
+<p>"They're <i>not</i> then," said Hoodie: "that shows you don't listen, Maudie.
+I heard Papa say one day that the stars are going as fast as fast, only
+they go <i>so</i> fast that we can't see them."</p>
+
+<p>"What nonsense! Isn't it nonsense, Cousin Magdalen?" pleaded Maudie.</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Miss King. "It is true they are moving faster than we can
+even fancy, but the reason we can't see them moving isn't <i>exactly</i> what
+Hoodie says."</p>
+
+<p>"What is it then?"</p>
+
+<p>"I can't explain it to you just now&mdash;it would not be very easy for you
+to understand, and if I explained it, it would take too much time and we
+shouldn't hear the rest of Hoodie's story. I think we should let poor
+Hoodie go on with her story now without interrupting her any more."</p>
+
+<p>Hoodie required no further bidding.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," she said, "all night long the goblins went sailing about in the
+star, and sometimes they saw very funny things. They were up so high
+that they could look down and see everything, you know. They could see
+the big ponds up in the sky where the rain is made, and the <i>awful</i> big
+windmills up there where the wind blows from, and the cannons that bum
+the thunder down."</p>
+
+<p>"Could they&mdash;&mdash;?" began Duke, timidly, and then he stopped.</p>
+
+<p>"Could they what?" said Hoodie, rather snappishly. "If peoples
+interrumpt, I wish they'd finish their interrumpting, and not stop in
+the middle."</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="ill10" id="ill10"></a>
+<img src="images/ill10.jpg" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+<h3>"If peoples interrumpt, I wish they'd finish their
+interrumpting, and not stop in the middle."</h3>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>"I didn't like to say it," said Duke. "I only wanted to know if they
+could see right into the middle of the sky where the angels are."</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Hoodie, decidedly, "they couldn't. They was goblins; they
+wasn't angels at all, so they didn't want to see angels. It isn't that
+kind of story, Duke&mdash;I'll tell you one like that another day&mdash;Sunday
+perhaps. Now I want to go on about the goblins. What they liked best was
+to peep into the windows and look at people, and play them tricks
+sometimes. They was awful fond of playing tricks; goblins always is. But
+sometimes they gets tricks played them, and that's what my story's
+about. There was a window up in a house that they wanted to look in at,
+but they couldn't ever get quite high enough up, 'cos the window was at
+the top of the house, you see. It was the window of a witch, but the
+goblins didn't know that. She was a witch that lived all alone, and
+there wasn't anything she cared for except playing tricks, she was
+always playing tricks. She knowed the goblins wanted to peep in at her
+window, she knowed everything, 'cos that's what it means to be a witch,
+that and playing tricks. And she set herself to play a trick on the
+goblins&mdash;a reg'lar good trick, 'cos she didn't see what they was always
+wanting to peep in at her window for."</p>
+
+<p>Hoodie paused for a moment to take breath.</p>
+
+<p>"I <i>wonder</i> what the trick was," whispered Duke and Hec under their
+breath, evidently very much impressed.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, you may wonder," said Hoodie, majestically. "You'd never guess.
+Not in a milliond guesses. Well then, one night when the goblins was
+twisting and turning theirselves about on the very edge of the star,
+trying to peep in at the window, all of a suddent the witch's house
+turned right round, so that the window came to the side instead of up at
+the top, and one of the goblins gave a great jump and screamed out to
+the other&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"'I say, brother, we can see into the witch's house now.'"</p>
+
+<p>"But you said the goblins didn't know it was a witch that lived there,"
+said Maudie.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, they didn't know <i>at first</i>, but when they saw the house turned
+round, of course they knowed it must be a witch that lived there. Nobody
+else could turn their house round," said Hoodie, composedly. "And so
+they both <i>screamed</i>, they were so pleased, and all the time the witch
+was settling about the trick she'd play them. Now I must tell you what
+the trick was. The witch wasn't all a bad witch&mdash;she was a little good
+too, and there was a little girl lived in the room next to her that
+liked her very much, 'cos the witch was very good to her and used to
+tell her funny stories. And that was why the witch didn't want the
+goblins to peep into her room, 'cos she thought perhaps they'd steal
+away the little girl for a trick, for she was very often in the witch's
+room, and goblins is <i>awful</i> fond of stealing children and taking them
+up into the stars to live with them, so she&mdash;the witch, I mean&mdash;was sure
+that they'd try to steal her little girl once they saw her. So when the
+little girl came to see her that night, she made her go to bed in a nice
+little bed she'd made for her, and told her she was to be quite still,
+for perhaps a' ogre was coming to see her. The little girl was a little
+frightened but not very, for she knowed the witch would take care of her
+even though she knowed the witch had got very funny friends, ogres you
+know, and black cats that was really fairies, and all creatures like
+that&mdash;it's rather a dedful story, isn't it?&mdash;but you needn't be
+frightened, Duke and Hec, it'll come unfrightening soon. And so the
+little girl got into the little bed and cuddled herself up just like the
+witch had told her. And the goblins came sailing and sailing up on the
+star; they was working it like, to make it go quick you know, like a
+boat with men oaring it you know, and they was oaring and oaring so
+hard, they was as hot as hot. And at last they got the star right up to
+the edge of the window, but they made a little noise and the little girl
+was startled and jumped up in bed, just what the witch had not wanted
+her to do, and the goblins when they saw her forgot all about the witch
+and called out, 'Oh what a nice little girl to steal,' and they were
+<i>just</i> going to jump in and catch her up and steal her, when&mdash;what <i>do</i>
+you think?&mdash;the witch jumped out of the corner where she had been
+watching them and caught hold of them fast, one in each hand, and put
+them&mdash;where <i>do</i> you think?&mdash;one into each of the little girl's eyes!
+And they couldn't ever get out again, for there's a fine little glass
+lid in people's eyes that nobody could open but a witch, and she shut it
+down on them tight, and there they were; they couldn't do anything but
+peep out, and there they were for always, peeping out."</p>
+
+<p>"But didn't it hurt the little girl?" asked Maudie. "It would hurt
+dreadfully to have the least thing put in your eye."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh no," said Hoodie, "it didn't hurt her&mdash;not a bit&mdash;she just thought a
+fly had tickled her eyes, and she winkled them, and the witch said to
+her, 'You may come out of bed now, my dear. The ogre won't be coming
+to-night.' And so the little girl got out of bed, and when she came up
+to the witch, the witch looked at her and laughed, and the little girl
+couldn't think what she was laughing at, and she never knowed about the
+goblins being in her eyes till one day when her little brother was
+playing with her, he peeped in her face and said, 'I see two goblins in
+your eyes.'"</p>
+
+<p>"That was me," exclaimed Duke. "It was one day I looked in Hoodie's eyes
+and I saw two goblings in 'zem, I did. Hoodie's made the story about
+me."</p>
+
+<p>"I hasn't," said Hoodie, indignantly. "I've got stories enough without
+making them about silly little boys like you. Of course you saw the
+goblins in mine eyes&mdash;there's goblins in every little girl's eyes ever
+since the witch put them into her little girl's. It's comed to be the
+fashion, and now you know how it was, and that's the end of the story."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you for telling it, Hoodie," said Magdalen. "We're all very much
+obliged to you, and another day I hope you'll tell us some more. Now
+Duke and Hec, are your stories ready?"</p>
+
+<p>Hec looked exceedingly solemn.</p>
+
+<p>"I only know one," he said; "Duke knows lots."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, which of you is going to begin?"</p>
+
+<p>"Hec," said Duke.</p>
+
+<p>"Duke," said Hec.</p>
+
+<p>"Mine isn't ready," said Duke. "Hec, you begin. If you only know one it
+must be always ready."</p>
+
+<p>"Mine's only about a little dog," began Hec, modestly. "It was a little
+dog that had only three legs."</p>
+
+<p>"Only three legs!" exclaimed Magdalen. "My dear Hec, are you sure you
+haven't made a mistake?"</p>
+
+<p>"Sure," said Hec, "the housemaid had broke its leg off a long time ago,
+when she was dusting the mantelpiece, so the Mamma gave it to the little
+boy because it was spoilt for the drawing-room. And the little boy was
+very fond of it&mdash;it was made of hard stuff, you know, all white and
+shiny, and it had blue eyes. It was <i>very</i> pretty. Martin told me the
+story. She knowed the little boy. And one day the little boy lostened
+the little dog. He always had it on the nursery table at breakfast and
+dinner and tea; and he used to 'atend to feed it. Sometimes he put it on
+the edge of his plate, and sometimes if he 'atended it was 'firsty he
+put it on the edge of the milk-jug. And one day he lostened it. It was
+there at the beginning of tea he was sure, but at the end it wasn't
+there. And he looked and looked and looked but he couldn't find it; and
+the nurse looked and looked, but she couldn't find it. So the little boy
+cried. He cried dedfully, but he couldn't find it. And the nurse was
+vexed 'cos he wouldn't stop crying. She wasn't as kind as Martin. So he
+had to go to bed crying, and the next morning when he got up he cried
+again for his little doggie. And his Mamma said she would buy him
+another, but he didn't care for that. He said he wouldn't like any but
+his own dear doggie with only three legs. Well, that day they had
+rice-pudding for dinner. The little boy kept crying even when he was
+eating his dinner, and they zeally didn't know what to do with him. But
+what do you think came? He put some pudding in his mouf, and there was
+some'sing hard. He thought it was a stone, and he feeled to see what it
+was, and it was his little dog that had been cooked in the
+pudding&mdash;aczhally cooked in the pudding."</p>
+
+<p>"Like Tom Thumb," said Magdalen. "Yes, it was very funny. But it must
+have been a very little dog, Hec, to go in the little boy's mouth?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh yes, littler than Martin's fimble. She showed me," said Hec. "It was
+quite a little wee doggie. And Martin said it had got into the pudding,
+'cos it had been on the edge of the milk-jug and had felled in, and so
+it went down to the kitchen in the milk-jug, and the cook had put the
+milk that was over, to make a pudding. The little boy was so dedfully
+glad, you can't fancy. He never lostened the little dog again, Martin
+said, and he said he would keep it till he was a big man. That's all my
+story."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you, dear. You've told it very nicely. Hasn't he?" said Miss
+King.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Very</i> nicely," said Maudie.</p>
+
+<p>But Hoodie tossed her head rather contemptuously.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>I</i> like stories that peoples make out of their own heads," she said.</p>
+
+<p>"So do I," said Duke. "I've been making mine while Hec was telling his;
+I didn't need to listen, for I've heard the story of the little dog
+before. Now, I'll tell you mine. Onst there was a ogre that lived in a
+castle, and the castle was on the top of a big, big hill&mdash;such a awfully
+big hill that nobody could ever get up it&mdash;not the biggest person that
+ever was made couldn't get up it."</p>
+
+<p>"How did the ogre get up it then?" said Hoodie.</p>
+
+<p>"He didn't. He'd always been there and he had a' ogre's wife to cook his
+dinner, and he had a&mdash;a&mdash;oh yes, I know, he had a awful big
+billiard-table, and he used to use little boys' heads for the balls,"
+continued Duke, his eyes wandering round the room for inspiration as he
+proceeded. "And," he went on, as he caught sight of a large mirror at
+the end of the room, "he was so big he couldn't get any plates big
+enough for him to eat off, so he used to have big looking-glasses for
+plates, and&mdash;and&mdash;he had a coal-box for a salt-cellar, and when he had
+a' egg for breakfast he had the shovel for a' egg spoon, and&mdash;and&mdash;the
+white muslin curtains was his pocket-hankerwitches, and&mdash;&mdash;" here Duke
+came to a dead stop, but another gaze round the room provided fresh
+material, "and," he proceeded energetically, "the Venetian blind sticks
+was his matches, and his ogre's wife used to wash his hankerwitches in a
+lake, and that was his basin; and for soup she used a&mdash;oh I don't know
+what she had for soup&mdash;never mind that. But she had beautiful big
+earrings," his eyes at this moment happening to catch sight of
+Magdalen's side-face, "beautiful big earrings made of two shiny glass
+and goldy things for candles, like that one hanging up there, and&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"You're just making a rubbish story, Duke," said Maudie. "You just put
+in whatever you see. I don't call that a proper story at all. Is it,
+Cousin Magdalen?"</p>
+
+<p>"You're very unkind, Maudie," said Duke, dolefully, before Magdalen had
+time to reply. "It isn't a rubbish story. I was just going to tell you
+about one day when the ogre was very hungry&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, what did he do?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well," repeated Duke, somewhat mollified, "one day when the ogre was
+very hungry, he couldn't find nothing to eat, and he said to his wife,
+'Ogre's wife, I'll eat <i>you</i>, if you don't get me somefin to eat
+too-dreckly.' And his ogre's wife cried, and she said she'd go to the
+green-baker's and see if she couldn't get somefin for he to eat."</p>
+
+<p>"Go to the <i>where</i>, Duke?" said Magdalen, looking up from her work.</p>
+
+<p>"To the green-baker's, that's where they sell apples and pears and
+p'ums," said Duke.</p>
+
+<p>Maudie burst out laughing.</p>
+
+<p>"He means the green-<i>grocer's</i>," she said. "Oh, Duke, how funny you
+are!"</p>
+
+<p>"And how could the ogre's wife go and buy him things at shops if they
+were up on the top of a hill so big that nobody could get down?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh," replied Duke, "'cos there was andnother hill just a very little
+way off that they could get on quite easily, like steps, and there was
+lots of shops on the nother hill&mdash;all kinds."</p>
+
+<p>"All shops for ogreses?" inquired Hec timidly.</p>
+
+<p>"No, in course not. Shops for proper people. But when the ogre's wife
+went to buy somefin for him to eat she had to buy a whole shop-ful&mdash;lots
+and lots&mdash;but I zink I've toldened you enough for to-day. I must make
+some more up first."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well, dear, perhaps it will be better, and thank you for what
+you've told us to-day," said Cousin Magdalen, beginning to fold up her
+work. "I must try now to get my letter written before luncheon. I hope
+it's not going to rain all the afternoon."</p>
+
+<p>One or two of the children ran to the window, as she spoke, to examine
+the state of the clouds. Suddenly, as they stood there, something, a
+small dark thing, was seen to fall or flutter to the ground, a short way
+off.</p>
+
+<p>"What was that?" said Hoodie, whose quick eyes always saw things before
+any one else.</p>
+
+<p>"What?" said Duke deliberately.</p>
+
+<p>"Didn't you see something fall, stupid boy?" said Hoodie politely.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I saw somefin, but perhaps it was only a leaf."</p>
+
+<p>"But perhaps it wasn't only a leaf," said Hoodie impatiently. "There
+now, look there, don't you see it's moving? Over there by the little fat
+tree with the spiky leaves&mdash;oh, oh, oh! It's a bird&mdash;a poor little
+innicent bird&mdash;that's felled out of a netst," screamed Hoodie, in
+tremendous excitement, which always upset her English. "Oh, Cousin
+Magdalen, quick, quick! open the door, do, do, and let Hoodie go and
+fetcht the poor little bird."</p>
+
+<p>She danced about with impatience, her eyes streaming&mdash;for in curious
+contrast with Hoodie's scant affection for her fellow human beings was
+her immense tenderness and devotion towards dumb animals of every kind.
+She "would not hurt a fly" would have very poorly described her
+feelings. She had been known to nurse a maimed bluebottle for a week,
+getting up in the night to give it fresh crumbs of sugar&mdash;she had cried
+for two days and a half after accidentally seeing the last struggles of
+a chicken which the cook had killed for dinner, and had she clearly
+understood that the mutton-chops she was so fond of were really the ribs
+of "a poor sweet little sheep," I am quite sure mutton-chops would in
+future have been cooked in vain for Hoodie.</p>
+
+<p>Cousin Magdalen had not hitherto seen much of this side of the little
+girl's character, and she looked at her with some surprise, not sure if
+there was a mixture of temper in all these dancings-about and
+callings-out. But she came quickly across the room all the same, to the
+window, or glass door rather, where all the children were now
+assembled&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"What is it?" she said. "Hoodie, dear, why do you get into such a fuss?"</p>
+
+<p>"'Cos I want to go out and pick up the little bird, poor little innicent
+thing, that's felled out of the tree. Oh, Maudie's godmother, do open
+the door&mdash;quick, quick, and let me out," said Hoodie, still dancing
+about. "The bird will be lying there thinking that nobody cares."</p>
+
+<p>Magdalen quietly unfastened the door, which was bolted high up, out of
+the children's reach, and led the way out into the shrubbery. The rain
+had left off, but it had warmed rather than chilled the spring morning
+air, and a delicious scent of freshened earth met the little party as
+they came out of the billiard-room. Magdalen would have liked to stand
+still for a moment and look about her, and enjoy the sweet air, and
+listen to the pretty soft garden sounds&mdash;the crisp crunch of the heavy
+roller which the men were drawing over the damp gravel of the drive, the
+voices, further off, of the school children running home, for it was
+twelve o'clock,&mdash;prettier still, the faint cackles from the
+poultry-yard, and the twitterings, gradually waking up, of the birds,
+whose spirits had been depressed by the heavy rain&mdash;but where <i>Hoodie</i>
+was, such lingerings by the way must never be thought of! The child
+darted out the moment the door was opened, and rushed across the
+grass-plot just in front&mdash;heedless of the soaking to which this exposed
+her feet and legs up to her knees, for the grass hereabouts was allowed
+to grow wild, and in the corners near the wall was mixed with coarse
+ferns and bracken, through all of which Hoodie determinedly ploughed her
+way.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh dear," exclaimed poor Magdalen, "how <i>silly</i> I was to open the door!
+Just look at Hoodie, Maudie. She will be perfectly drenched. Martin
+really will have reason to think I am not fit to take care of you."</p>
+
+<p>"And she has her <i>best</i> house shoes on," said Maudie, lugubriously.
+"Martin put them on when she made us neat to come down to you, Cousin
+Magdalen, because one of her common ones wanted stitching up at the
+side, and Martin always says mirocco shoes never <i>are</i> the same again
+after they get soaked."</p>
+
+<p>"I must go after her, at all costs," said Magdalen, lifting up her long
+skirts as well as she could to prevent their getting any <i>more</i> than
+their share of drenching. "Now, Duke and Hec, stay where you are,
+whatever you do, or better still, go back into the billiard-room. I
+trust you, Maudie, to take care of them. I am afraid their feet are wet
+already."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, and Hec gets croup when his feet are wet," replied Maudie,
+consolingly. "Never mind though, Cousin Magdalen. I'll take him in, and
+take off his shoes and stockings by the fire and dry them."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you, dear," said Magdalen, at the bottom of her heart, though she
+would not have said so to the children, considerably relieved that
+Martin need not be summoned to the rescue. "She would really feel that I
+could not be trusted with them, and it would be such a pity, just when I
+wanted so much to be of use and to help Beatrice." (Beatrice was the
+name of the children's mother.)</p>
+
+<p>It was no very pleasant business following Hoodie across the long, soppy
+grass; even if one were quite careless of the effect on one's clothes,
+the soaking of one's feet and ankles was disagreeable, to say the least.
+But Magdalen faced it bravely, and found herself at last beside her
+troublesome charge. Hoodie, not content with having thoroughly drenched
+her fat little legs and feet in their pretty clothing of open-work socks
+and "mirocco" slippers, was actually down on her knees in the wet grass,
+tenderly stroking the ruffled feathers of the little bird whose
+misfortunes had aroused her sympathy, while tears poured down her face,
+and her voice was broken with sobs as, looking up, she saw her cousin,
+and cried out&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Maudie's godmother, him's dead. The innicent little sweet. I do
+believe him's dead, or just going to deaden. I daren't lift him up. Oh
+dear, oh dear!"</p>
+
+<p>It was impossible to scold her&mdash;her grief was so real; so with one
+rueful glance at the destruction already wrought on the nice blue merino
+frock and frilled muslin pinafore, Magdalen set to work to soothe and
+comfort the excited little girl.</p>
+
+<p>"Hush, Hoodie dear," she said. "You really mustn't cry so, even if the
+poor little bird is dead."</p>
+
+<p>"But Hoodie can't help it, for you know, Maudie's godmother, little
+birds doesn't go to heaven when they's dead&mdash;not like good people, you
+know, so I can't help crying."</p>
+
+<p>To this reason for Hoodie's tears Magdalen thought it best to make no
+reply, but she stooped down and carefully lifted up the little bird. It
+was a pretty little creature&mdash;its wings and breast marked with
+delicately shaded colour, though just now the feathers were ruffled and
+disordered&mdash;a very young bird; and Magdalen's country-bred eyes
+recognized it at once as a greenfinch.</p>
+
+<p>"Poor little birdie," she said gently, as she held it up to examine it
+more closely. "I wonder if its troubles are really over," she added to
+herself softly, not wishing to rouse Hoodie's hopes before she was sure
+of grounds for them. "No&mdash;it is not dead. It certainly is not&mdash;only
+stunned and terrified. Hoodie, the little bird is not dead. Leave off
+crying dear, and look at it. See, its little heart is beating quite
+plainly&mdash;there now, it is moving its wings. I don't think it is even
+much, or at all hurt."</p>
+
+<p>Hoodie drew near, her tear-stained cheeks all glowing with eagerness,
+holding her breath just as she did when her father for a great treat let
+her peep into the works of his watch.</p>
+
+<p>"Him's not dead," she exclaimed. "<i>Oh</i>, Cousin Magdalen, are you <i>sure</i>
+him's not dead? Oh, what <i>can</i> we do to make him quite well again?"</p>
+
+<p>She clasped her hands together with intense eagerness, and looked up in
+Magdalen's face as if her very life hung upon her words.</p>
+
+<p>"It must have fallen out of the nest," said Magdalen, looking up as she
+spoke at some of the trees near where they stood. "Still it seemed fully
+fledged, and it should be quite able to fly&mdash;most likely its parents
+suppose it is out in the world on its own account by now, and even if
+we could find the nest, it is pretty sure to be deserted."</p>
+
+<p>"You won't put it back in the netst, Cousin Magdalen&mdash;you don't mean
+that? It wouldn't have nothing to eat, and it would die," said Hoodie,
+the tears welling up again, for she hardly understood what her cousin
+was saying.</p>
+
+<p>"No, dear. I don't think it would be any good putting it back in the
+nest, and it would be very difficult to know which was its nest, there
+must be so many up in those trees," said Magdalen. "Besides, as you say,
+it wouldn't get anything to eat, for if all its brothers and sisters
+have flown away, the parent birds will not return to the nest. No, I
+think we had better take it into the house and take care of it till it
+gets quite strong. See, Hoodie, it is beginning to get out of its fright
+and to look about it."</p>
+
+<p>"The darling," said Hoodie, ecstatically. "It's cocking up its <i>sweet</i>
+little head as if it wanted me to kiss it. Oh, <i>dear</i> Cousin Magdalen,
+isn't it sweet? Do let me carry it into the house."</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="ill11" id="ill11"></a>
+<img src="images/ill11.jpg" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+<h3>"The darling," said Hoodie ecstatically</h3>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>But Magdalen told her it was better to leave the bird for the present in
+her handkerchief, which she had made into a comfortable little nest for
+it, "till we can find a cage for it; there is sure to be an empty cage
+of some kind about the house. And then we must see if your mother will
+give you leave to keep it for a while."</p>
+
+<p>"For alvays!" said Hoodie. "I must keep it for alvays, Maudie's
+godmother. Maudie has two calanies in a cage, so I might have one
+bird&mdash;mightn't I, Cousin Magdalen?"</p>
+
+<p>"We'll ask your mother," repeated Magdalen, afraid of committing herself
+to a child like Hoodie, who never, under any circumstances, forgot
+anything in the shape of a promise that was made to her, or had the
+least mercy on any unfortunate "big person" that showed any signs of
+"crying off" from such.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE GOLDEN CAGE.</h3>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Here secure from every danger,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Hop about, and chirp, and eat."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p>"Yes," repeated Hoodie to herself, as she followed her cousin into the
+house, "I'll keep the little bird <i>alvays</i>, and I'll teach it to love
+me; I'll be so <i>vezzy</i> kind to it."</p>
+
+<p>And as they entered the billiard-room where, true to her charge,
+faithful little Maudie was drying and warming the twins' feet by the
+fire, Hoodie exclaimed with great triumph&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"It's a bird, Maudie, a most bootiful bird, and I'm going to have it all
+for my vezzy own and keep it in a cage alvays. Cousin Magdalen is going
+to ask Mamma. May I go and tell her to come now quick, Cousin
+Magdalen?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, my dear, certainly not. Your mother's busy and must not be
+interrupted. You may go and ask for a little milk and a bit of bread,
+and I'll try if I can make the little bird eat something. It's opening
+its mouth as if it was hungry. But no&mdash;stop, Hoodie. I was forgetting
+what a state you are in. Maudie, take off her shoes and stockings
+too&mdash;that's a kind little girl. I'll help you in a minute when I've
+found a safe place for the little bird. There now&mdash;that'll do
+beautifully," as she spoke taking the skeins of wool out of her little
+work-basket and putting the bird in instead and carefully closing the
+lid. The children looked on with great interest.</p>
+
+<p>"Is him always to live in zere, Cousin Magdalen?" inquired Hec.</p>
+
+<p>Magdalen was by this time employed in examining into the state of
+Hoodie's garments. It was rather deplorable!</p>
+
+<p>"It's no good, Maudie," she exclaimed at last. "She must be thoroughly
+undressed, for she's damp all over. I <i>must</i> take her up to Martin&mdash;oh,
+dear, what a pity! Just when we had had such a nice morning."</p>
+
+<p>"But it was a vezzy good thing I saw the little bird felling down,
+wasn't it?" said Hoodie complacently, as she trotted off with her
+cousin's hand. "And Martin won't 'cold <i>me</i>, 'cos it was your fault for
+letting me go out in the wet; wasn't it, Cousin Magdalen?" she added
+with great satisfaction.</p>
+
+<p>Magdalen, to tell the truth, found it rather difficult to keep her
+temper with Hoodie just then.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Hoodie</i>," she said sharply. "It is not right to speak like that. You
+<i>know</i> you ran away out before I could stop you."</p>
+
+<p>"But if you hadn't opened the door, I couldn't have goned," was Hoodie's
+calm reply, with mischievous triumph in her bright eyes.</p>
+
+<p>Martin received the misfortune very philosophically&mdash;perhaps she was not
+sorry, at the bottom of her heart, that some one else should have some
+experience of the trials she had with Hoodie.</p>
+
+<p>"Not that she means always to be naughty, of course, Miss," she
+explained to Magdalen. "But she's that heedless and tiresome&mdash;oh dear!
+Though one could manage that if it wasn't for her queer temper&mdash;<i>queer</i>
+indeed! queer's no word for it."</p>
+
+<p>"Martin, Martin," came in Hoodie's shrill voice from the inner room,
+where she was sitting, minus the greater part of her attire, while
+Martin "aired" the clean clothes, unexpectedly required, at the nursery
+fire. "Martin, you must go down to the kitchen <i>at oncest</i>, and get
+some bread and milk for my bird. I'm going to keep it <i>alvays</i>, Martin,
+and you mustn't let Duke and Hec touch it never."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, well, Missie, we'll see," said Martin; "you must get your Mamma's
+leave first, you know."</p>
+
+<p>"By the bye, I'd better go and speak to her about it," said Magdalen.
+"Shall I tell the other children to come up-stairs, Martin? And my poor
+letter," she said, smiling rather dolefully, as she went out of the
+nursery, "I'll never get it written before luncheon, for I must
+superintend the feeding of the bird, otherwise the children will
+certainly kill it with kindness."</p>
+
+<p>Magdalen had a good deal of experience in rearing little birds and
+little lambs, and all such small unfortunates. She had always lived in
+the country, and having neither brothers nor sisters her tender heart
+had given its affections to the dumb creatures about her. It was
+fortunate for the foundling bird that it fell into her hands, as had it
+been left to Hoodie's affectionate cares its history would certainly
+have been quickly told. She was very indignant with Magdalen for the
+very tiny portions of bread and milk, which was all she would allow it
+to have, and asked her indignantly if she meant to "'tarve" the poor
+little pet.</p>
+
+<p>"Hush, Hoodie," said her mother, who had come to see the little bird.
+"If you speak so to Cousin Magdalen I certainly will not let you keep
+the bird. You should thank her <i>very</i> much for being so kind to you and
+giving up all her morning to you."</p>
+
+<p>Hoodie did not condescend to take any notice of her mother's reproof.</p>
+
+<p>"Hoodie," said Mrs. Caryll, "do you not hear what I say?"</p>
+
+<p>No reply.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Hoodie</i>," more sternly.</p>
+
+<p>Hoodie looked up at last.</p>
+
+<p>"Mamma dear," she said sweetly, "may I keep the little bird for my vezzy
+own? Cousin Magdalen said she would ask you if I might."</p>
+
+<p>Her mother looked puzzled.</p>
+
+<p>"If you are good perhaps I will let you keep it," she replied.</p>
+
+<p>Hoodie looked up sharply.</p>
+
+<p>"Did Cousin Magdalen ask you to let me keep it, Mamma?" she inquired.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said her mother.</p>
+
+<p>Hoodie turned to Magdalen.</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you, Maudie's godmother," she said condescendingly. "I thought
+perhaps you had forgottened."</p>
+
+<p>"And you wouldn't thank me till you were sure&mdash;was that it&mdash;eh, Hoodie?"
+said Magdalen.</p>
+
+<p>One of her funny twinkles came into Hoodie's green eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"I like peoples what doesn't forget," she remarked, with a toss of her
+shaggy head.</p>
+
+<p>Magdalen turned away to hide her amusement, but Hoodie's mother
+whispered rather dolefully, "Magdalen, was there <i>ever</i> such a child?"</p>
+
+<p>And Hoodie heard the words, and her little face grew hard and sullen.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm always naughty," she said to herself. "Naughty when I tell true,
+and naughty when I don't tell true. Nobody loves me, but I'll teach my
+bird to love me."</p>
+
+<p>"What is to be done about a cage for this little creature?" said
+Magdalen, looking up from her occupation of feeding the greenfinch with
+quillfuls of bread and milk. "Isn't there an old one anywhere about,
+that would do?"</p>
+
+<p>"I'm afraid not," said Hoodie's mother. "What can we do?"</p>
+
+<p>"Leave it in the basket for the present," said Magdalen. "And&mdash;if Hoodie
+is <i>very</i> good, perhaps&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps what?" said Hoodie, very eagerly.</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps some kind fairy will fly down with a cage for the poor little
+bird," said Magdalen, mysteriously.</p>
+
+<p>Again Hoodie's eyes twinkled with fun.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>I</i> know who the kind fairy will be," she said, skipping about in
+delight. Then suddenly she flung herself upon her cousin and hugged her
+valorously.</p>
+
+<p>"I do love <i>you</i>, Cousin Magdalen," she whispered. "I do. I <i>do</i>. And
+I'd love Mamma too," she added&mdash;her mother having left the room&mdash;"if she
+wouldn't <i>alvays</i> say I'm naughty."</p>
+
+<p>"But Hoodie, my dear little girl, do you really think you are always
+good?" said Magdalen.</p>
+
+<p>"In course not," said Hoodie, "but I'm not <i>alvays</i> naughty neither."</p>
+
+<p>Just then the luncheon-bell rang, and the interesting discussion,
+greatly, it is to be feared, to Hoodie's satisfaction, could not be
+continued.</p>
+
+<p>"You're going to be very good to-day, any way, aren't you, Hoodie?"
+whispered Magdalen, as they went into the dining-room, where the
+children dined at the big people's luncheon.</p>
+
+<p>"P'raps," replied Hoodie.</p>
+
+<p>"Because you know the kind fairy can't give you the cage if you're not,"
+said Magdalen, smiling.</p>
+
+<p>"I forgot about that," observed Hoodie, coolly.</p>
+
+<p>And her behaviour during the meal left nothing to be desired. But to do
+her justice, her naughtiness did not as a rule show itself in such
+circumstances, and according to Martin this was the "provokingest" part
+of it. "That a little lady who could be so pretty behaved if she chose
+should stamp and scream and rage like a little wild bear"&mdash;though where
+Martin had seen these wonderful performances of little wild bears, I am
+sorry to say I cannot tell you&mdash;<i>was</i> aggravating, there is no doubt.
+And as Magdalen watched Hoodie through luncheon, and saw her pretty way
+of handling her knife and fork, and noticed how she never asked for
+anything but waited till it was offered her, never forgot her "if you
+please's" and "thank you's," and was always perfectly content with
+whatever was given her, she repeated to herself in other words Martin's
+often expressed opinion.</p>
+
+<p>"What a nice child she might be! What a nice child she <i>is</i>, when she
+likes! Oh, Hoodie, what a pity it is that you ever let the little black
+dog climb on to your shoulders or the little cross imps get into your
+heart!"</p>
+
+<p>Just at that moment Hoodie caught her eye. She drew herself straight up
+on her chair with a little air of inviting approval.</p>
+
+<p>"Am I not <i>vezzy</i> good?" Magdalen could almost fancy she heard her
+saying, and in spite of herself, she could not help smiling back at the
+funny little girl.</p>
+
+<p>Luncheon over, the children were dismissed for their walk, for the rain
+was now quite over and the afternoon promised to be fine and sunny. As
+they were leaving the room Hoodie threw her arms round Magdalen's neck
+and drew her head down that she might whisper into her ear.</p>
+
+<p>"Will the fairy come, does you think?" she asked.</p>
+
+<p>"I hope so," said Magdalen, in the same tone; "but, Hoodie, you must
+promise me one thing. You must not touch the little bird while I am
+away. I have put it on my table in the basket and it will be quite safe
+there. You may go in to look at it with Maudie, but you must not touch
+it."</p>
+
+<p>"Won't it be hungry?" inquired Hoodie.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh no, I'll give it a little more before I go out, and then it will be
+all right till I come in. You promise, Hoodie?"</p>
+
+<p>Hoodie nodded her head.</p>
+
+<p>"P'omise," she repeated.</p>
+
+<p>Magdalen looked after her anxiously.</p>
+
+<p>"Poor little Hoodie," she said to herself, as she watched the neat
+little figure tripping out of the room. Just then the children's mother
+came over to her.</p>
+
+<p>"Magdalen, my dear child," she said, "you must not worry yourself about
+these children. You have been looking quite careworn all the morning,
+and I can't have it."</p>
+
+<p>"But I wanted to help you with them, so that you might have a little
+rest and get quite strong again, dear Beatrice," said Magdalen. "You
+have never been really well since your illness last winter, and Mamma
+and I thought I should be able to help you&mdash;and&mdash;and&mdash;" the tears came
+into Cousin Magdalen's pretty eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, dear, and who could have done more to help me than you, since you
+have been here? I shall miss you terribly when you go, especially about
+Hoodie," and in spite of her wish to cheer Magdalen, Hoodie's mother
+gave a little sigh.</p>
+
+<p>"It was about Hoodie I was thinking," said Magdalen. "I was so anxious
+to do her good."</p>
+
+<p>"And don't you think you have?"</p>
+
+<p>Magdalen hesitated.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know. Sometimes I think I have made an impression on her, and
+then it seems all to have gone off again. She is such a queer
+mixture&mdash;in some ways so old for her age, and in some ways such a
+baby."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Mrs. Caryll. "It is so very difficult to know how to treat
+her. But she is very fond of you, Magdalen, and I am so glad to see it.
+We really used to think it wasn't in her to be fond of any one."</p>
+
+<p>"But I am sure it is in her," said Magdalen, "only&mdash;I hardly can say
+what I mean&mdash;if she could be made to believe that other people love
+<i>her</i>, that she could be of use to others&mdash;I think that would take away
+the sort of defiance and hardness one sees in her sometimes. It is so
+unlike a child. She is always imagining people don't care for her, and
+then she takes actual pleasure in being as naughty as she can be."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Hoodie's mother; "there really are days when she goes out of
+her way to be naughty, one might say,&mdash;when it is enough for Martin to
+tell her to do or not to do <i>anything</i>, for her to wish to do or not to
+do the opposite. Still she <i>has</i> been better lately, Magdalen, and it is
+all thanks to you."</p>
+
+<p>"Poor little Hoodie!" said her cousin, "I wonder why it should be so
+very difficult for her to be good. But we must get ready now, must we
+not, Beatrice? And <i>whatever</i> I do I must not forget the cage, or any
+good I can ever hope to do Hoodie will be at an end!"</p>
+
+<p>"But she is only to have it if she really has been good?" said Mrs.
+Caryll, who was sometimes afraid that Magdalen was rather inclined to
+spoil Hoodie.</p>
+
+<p>"Only if she has been good, you may be sure," said Magdalen. "And there
+is one thing about Hoodie&mdash;she does keep a promise."</p>
+
+<p>"You think she is honest and truthful?" said Mrs. Caryll.</p>
+
+<p>"By nature I am sure she is. But her brain is so full of fancies that
+she hardly understands herself, that I can quite see how sometimes it
+must seem as if she were not straightforward. Not that the fancies would
+do her any harm if they were all happy and pretty ones&mdash;but I do wish
+she could get rid of the idea that no one cares for her. It is <i>that</i>
+that sours her and spoils her, poor little girl."</p>
+
+<p>Hoodie's mother looked affectionately at Magdalen.</p>
+
+<p>"Where have you learnt to be so wise about children, Magda?" she said.
+"You seem to understand them as if you had lived among them all your
+life."</p>
+
+<p>"It is only because I love them so much," said Magdalen, simply. "And
+often somehow&mdash;&mdash;" she hesitated.</p>
+
+<p>"Often what?" said her cousin, smiling.</p>
+
+<p>"I was going to say&mdash;but I stopped because I thought perhaps you would
+not like it as we were talking of your children who have everything to
+make them happy&mdash;" said Magdalen. "I was going to say that sometimes,
+often, I am so very, very sorry for children. Even their naughtinesses
+and sillinesses make me sorry for them. They are so strange to it
+all&mdash;and it is so difficult to learn wisdom."</p>
+
+<p>Hoodie's mother smiled again.</p>
+
+<p>"You are such a venerable owl yourself, you funny child," she said.
+"However, I do understand you, and I agree with you. I do feel very
+sorry for poor Hoodie sometimes, even though she really goes out of her
+way to make herself unhappy. But what <i>is</i> one to do?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, that is the puzzle," said Magdalen. "In the first place any way, I
+am going to buy her a cage for her bird&mdash;it will be good for her to take
+regular care of the bird. I am so glad you said she might keep it."</p>
+
+<p>"I only hope we shall be able to rear it," said Mrs. Caryll. "Hoodie
+would indeed think all the powers were against her if it died. That is
+the worst of pets."</p>
+
+<p>"I think this bird will get on, if it is taken care of and not
+over-fed," said Magdalen. "It is a greenfinch, you know, and
+greenfinches take kindly to domestic life. Besides, it is not so very
+young a bird, and it looks quite bright and happy now that it has got
+over its fright," and so saying she followed Hoodie's mother out of the
+room to prepare for their drive.</p>
+
+<p>It was nearly five o'clock in the afternoon when they returned. Cousin
+Magdalen ran joyously up-stairs to the nursery carrying a very
+funnily-shaped parcel in her hand. The children were all at tea. She
+heard their voices and the clatter and tinkle that always accompanies a
+nursery meal as she came along the passage, and she opened the door so
+softly that for a moment or two she stood watching the little party
+before any of them noticed her.</p>
+
+<p>How nice and pretty and happy they looked! Martin, a perfect picture of
+a kind, tidy nurse, sat pouring out the tea, looking for once quite
+easy-minded and at rest; Maudie, a little model of neatness as usual,
+her small sweet face wearing an expression of the utmost gravity as she
+carefully spread some honey on Hec's bread and butter; Duke, frowning
+with eagerness to understand some mysterious communication which his
+neighbour Hoodie was making to him in a low voice, her eyes bright with
+excitement, her cheeks rosy, and her pretty fat shoulders "shruggled"
+up, as she bent to whisper to her little brother.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>What</i> do you say, Hoodie? I don't under'tand. How could it be all of
+gold?" were the first words that met Magdalen's ears.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Hush</i>, Duke," said Hoodie, placing her sticky little hand on his
+mouth, "you're <i>not</i> to tell. I didn't say it would be all gold. I said
+p'raps the little points at the top would be goldy&mdash;like the shiny top
+of the point on the church. But you're too little to know what I mean.
+You must wait till&mdash;Oh!" with a scream of delight, "<i>there's</i> Maudie's
+godmother! Oh, Maudie's godmother, Maudie's godmother, <i>have</i> you got
+it?"</p>
+
+<p>She was off her seat and in Magdalen's arms in an instant&mdash;hugging,
+jumping, kissing, dancing with eagerness. It was all Magdalen could do
+not at once to hold out to her the parcel, but her promise to Hoodie's
+mother must not be broken.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," she said, "I have got it. But first tell me, Hoodie dear&mdash;have
+you been really a good little girl all the afternoon? Has she, Martin?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, trually I've been good&mdash;vezzy good&mdash;haven't I, Martin?" said
+Hoodie.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Miss. I must really say she has been very good. I don't remember
+ever having a more peacefuller afternoon," said Martin with great
+satisfaction.</p>
+
+<p>"I am so glad," said Magdalen. "And you didn't touch the bird, Hoodie?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, oh no, I didn't touch it one bit," said Hoodie earnestly. "I went
+and lookened at it, but I didn't touch it. Martin will tell you."</p>
+
+<p>"No, Miss, she was quite good. She just stood and peeped at it, but she
+didn't touch it, I'm sure, for I went with her to your room and stayed
+there a few minutes while she looked at the bird."</p>
+
+<p>"That was very nice," said Magdalen.</p>
+
+<p>"We didn't let Hec and Duke go," said Hoodie, "for they'd have wanted to
+touch the bird, wouldn't they? They're so little, you see, and Hec says
+he likes smooving down the feavers on little birds's backs, so Martin
+and me thought we'd better not let them be temptationed to touch the
+bird."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, yes, that was very wise. And as Martin stayed with you, you weren't
+temptationed either, were you, Hoodie?"</p>
+
+<p>Somewhat to her surprise, at this Hoodie grew rather red.</p>
+
+<p>"I didn't stay all the time, Miss," said Martin. "I heard the little
+boys calling me, so I left Miss Hoodie for a minute or two feeling sure
+I might trust her."</p>
+
+<p>"So there's nothing to prevent my giving you the cage. That's very
+nice," said Magdalen. She lifted the funny-looking parcel on to the
+table and unfastened the paper. There stood the cage&mdash;and such a pretty
+one! It was painted white and green, and greatly and specially to
+Hoodie's satisfaction the pointed tops of the pagoda-like roof were
+gilt.</p>
+
+<p>"Didn't I tell you so," she said to Duke in a tone of great superiority,
+"I told you there'd be goldy points on the top."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Duke, much impressed; "I wonder how you knowed, Hoodie?"</p>
+
+<p>Hoodie tossed her head.</p>
+
+<p>"Knowed, in course I knowed," she said.</p>
+
+<p>Only Hec did not seem as much interested and delighted as the others. He
+just glanced at the cage and then subsided again to his bread and honey.</p>
+
+<p>"What's the matter with Hec?" said Cousin Magdalen. "He doesn't look as
+bright as usual, does he, Martin?"</p>
+
+<p>"He's been very quiet all the afternoon," said Martin, "but I don't
+think he can be ill. He's eaten a good tea, hasn't he, Miss Maudie?"</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Very</i>," said Maudie. "Three big slices first&mdash;only with butter, you
+know, and then six with honey. We always have to eat three plain first,
+on honey days," she added by way of explanation to her cousin.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Nine</i> slices," said Magdalen, opening her eyes. "Martin, isn't that
+enough to make him ill?"</p>
+
+<p>"Bless you, no, Miss," said Martin, laughing. "As long as it's bread and
+butter, there's not much fear."</p>
+
+<p>"Or bread and honey," corrected Hoodie. "One day Duke and Hec and
+me&mdash;Maudie wasn't there&mdash;one day Duke and Hec and me eatened firty-two
+slices&mdash;Martin counted. It was when we was at the seaside."</p>
+
+<p>"My dear Hoodie!" exclaimed Magdalen, and the astonishment on her face
+made them all laugh.</p>
+
+<p>The consumption of bread and butter and honey seemed however over for
+the present, so Magdalen led the way to her own room, followed by Hoodie
+carrying the precious cage which she would entrust to no other hands,
+Maudie, the twins, and Martin bringing up the rear.</p>
+
+<p>Magdalen opened the door and crossed the room, which was a large one, to
+the side window, on the writing-table, in front of which, she had left
+the basket containing the bird. She had placed it carefully, with a
+little circle of books round it to prevent the bird's fluttering
+knocking it over. As she came near the table, she gave an exclamation of
+surprise and vexation. The circle of books was still there undisturbed,
+but the basket was no longer in the centre&mdash;indeed, at the first glance
+Magdalen could not see it at all.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh dear!" she exclaimed. "Where can the basket be? Hoodie, you <i>surely</i>
+didn't touch it?"</p>
+
+<p>The moment she had said the words she regretted them&mdash;but just at first
+she had not time to look at Hoodie to see how she had taken them, for
+another glance at the table showed her the basket peeping up behind the
+edge where it had slipped down, though fortunately the table was pushed
+too near the wall for it to have fallen quite on to the floor.</p>
+
+<p>Magdalen darted forward and carefully drew out the basket, in
+considerable fear and trembling as to the state of the little bird
+inside. But to her relief it seemed all right. It had had another
+fright, no doubt, poor thing&mdash;it must have thought life a very queer
+series of falls and bumps and knocks, I should think, judging by its own
+experience, but still it seemed to have a happy faculty of recovering
+itself, and though its position in the toppled-over basket could not
+have been very comfortable, it looked quite bright and chirpy when
+Magdalen gently lifted the lid to examine it.</p>
+
+<p>"It is hungry, I'm sure," she said; "can't you give me a little bread
+soaked in milk for it again, Martin. There's some milk on the nursery
+table, isn't there?"</p>
+
+<p>"To be sure, Miss," said Martin, starting off at once. To her surprise,
+as she left the room she felt a hand slipped into hers. It was Hoodie's.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll go with you," said the child, and Martin, thinking she only wanted
+to go with her to see about the bread and milk, made no objection. It
+was not till they reached the nursery that Martin noticed the expression
+of the little girl's face. It was stormy in the extreme.</p>
+
+<p>"I won't go back to Maudie's godmother's room," she exclaimed. "I won't
+have the cage. I won't speak to her&mdash;nasty, <i>ugly</i> Maudie's godmother."</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Hoodie!" said Martin, in amazement and distress. "You speaking
+that naughty way of your cousin who has been so very nice and kind to
+you."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't care," said Hoodie, fairly on the way to one of her grandest
+tempers, "<i>I</i> don't care. She's not nice and kind. She doesn't believe
+what I say. I <i>toldened</i> her I didn't touch the basket, and she said I
+did."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh no, Miss Hoodie, my dear, I'm sure she didn't say that. She only
+asked you if you were quite sure you didn't. And who could have done it,
+I'm sure I can't think," said Martin, herself by no means satisfied
+that Hoodie's indignation was not a sign of her knowing herself to
+blame. "No one was in the room but you and me this afternoon, for none
+of the servants ever go near it till dressing time. Besides, they
+wouldn't go touching the bird. If it had been one of the little boys
+now. It's just what they might have done, reaching up to get it. But
+they weren't there at all."</p>
+
+<p>"<i>I</i> don't care," reiterated Hoodie. "I didn't do it, but Maudie's
+godmother doesn't believe me. <i>I</i> don't care. But I won't have the
+cage." And in spite of all Martin could say, the child resolutely
+refused to leave the nursery.</p>
+
+<p>Hoodie sat there alone, nursing her wrath and bitter feelings.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>I</i> don't care," she kept repeating to herself. "Nobody likes me. I'm
+alvays naughty. What's the good of being good? I did so want to touch
+the bird when Martin went out of the room and left me alone, but I
+didn't, 'cos I'd p'omised. I might as well, 'cos Maudie's godmother
+doesn't believe me. It's very unkind of God to make it seem that I'm
+alvays naughty. It's not my fault. <i>I</i> don't care."</p>
+
+<p>In Magdalen's room Martin was relating Hoodie's indignation.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, how sorry I am for saying that," said Magdalen. "It will just make
+her lose her trust in me. And I do believe her. I'm sure she didn't
+touch it. Don't you think so, Martin?"</p>
+
+<p>Martin hesitated.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Miss, I do think I believe her. Only didn't you notice how red she
+got when I said I wasn't with her <i>all</i> the time in your room this
+afternoon?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Magdalen; "but I thought it was just that she felt so eager
+for me to know she had kept her promise. I <i>don't</i> think she touched it,
+Martin. I really don't. But I am afraid it will be difficult to make her
+believe I don't."</p>
+
+<p>Just then a sudden sound of weeping made them all start, thinking for a
+moment that it must be Hoodie herself, who had run back from the
+nursery. But no&mdash;it was not Hoodie&mdash;it was Hec. The little fellow had
+crept under the table unobserved, and there had been listening to the
+conversation.</p>
+
+<p>"What's the matter, dear? What's the matter, my darling? Don't cry so,
+Master Hec," said Martin, as she drew him out.</p>
+
+<p>"Poor Hec! Poor little Hec! Has he hurt himself?" exclaimed all the
+others.</p>
+
+<p>"No, no, I hasn't hurt myself," sobbed Hec. "I'm crying 'cos it was
+<i>me</i>. It was <i>me</i> that tumbled the basket down, and Cousin Magdalen
+'colded Hoodie. It wasn't poor Hoodie. It was all me."</p>
+
+<p>And for some minutes, conscience-stricken Hec refused to be comforted.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="ill12" id="ill12"></a>
+<img src="images/ill12.jpg" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+<h3>Hec refused to be comforted</h3>
+
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X.</h2>
+
+<h3>FLOWN.</h3>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"One flew away, and then there was none."<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0"><span class="smcap">Three Little Birds.</span><br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p>Hoodie sat alone in the nursery, wrathful and sore. All the pleasure in
+the little bird and the beautiful cage seemed to have gone.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't love her neither, not now," she said to herself. "I don't
+<i>think</i>&mdash;no, I really don't <i>think</i> I love anybody, 'cos nobody loves
+me, and ev'ybody thinks I'm naughty. Never mind&mdash;I'll go away some day.
+As soon as ever I'm big enough I'll go kite away and never come back
+again, and I sha'n't care what anybody says then."</p>
+
+<p>There was some comfort though of a rather vague kind in this thought.
+Hoodie sat swinging her legs backwards and forwards, while queer fancies
+of where she would go&mdash;what she would do, once she was "big enough,"
+chased each other round her busy little brain.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly a sound in the passage outside the nursery door made her look
+up just in time to see the door open and Magdalen, leading tearful Hec
+by the hand, followed by Maudie, Duke, and Martin, come in.</p>
+
+<p>Hoodie looked up with some curiosity.</p>
+
+<p>"Hoodie," said Magdalen, "Hec wants to tell you how sorry he is that you
+have got blamed on his account. It was he that touched the basket and
+knocked it over. He ran into my room to look at the bird without
+Martin's knowing he had left the nursery, and he was so afraid that he
+had hurt the little bird, by knocking it over, that he didn't like to
+tell. Kiss him and speak kindly to him, poor little boy, Hoodie dear. He
+has been so unhappy."</p>
+
+<p>Hoodie gravely contemplated her little brother, but without giving any
+signs of obeying her cousin's request.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>I</i> have been unhappy too," she said, "and it wasn't my fault. It <i>was</i>
+Hec's."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, then," said Magdalen, "it should make you the more sorry for Hec.
+He has had the unhappiness of knowing it <i>was</i> his fault, which is the
+worst unhappiness of all."</p>
+
+<p>Hoodie threw back her head.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>I</i> don't think so," she said. "I think the worst is when people alvays
+says you're naughty when you're not."</p>
+
+<p>"I am sorry you thought I said you were naughty when you weren't,
+Hoodie," said Magdalen, "but you thought I meant more than I did. As
+soon as I thought about it quietly I felt sure you hadn't touched the
+basket&mdash;and even <i>more</i> sure, that if you had been tempted to touch it,
+you would have said so."</p>
+
+<p>"'Cos Hec toldened you it was him," said Hoodie.</p>
+
+<p>"No, before Hec said a word, I said to Martin I was sure it wasn't you."</p>
+
+<p>Hoodie looked up with a new light in her eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Did</i> you?" she said, as if hardly able to believe it.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, indeed, Miss Hoodie," said Martin, "Miss King did say so. And very
+kind of her it was, to trust you so, for you did look very funny when I
+said you had been a few minutes alone in the room."</p>
+
+<p>Hoodie flamed round upon her.</p>
+
+<p>"It's vezzy nasty of you to say that, Martin," she exclaimed violently.
+"<i>Vezzy</i> nasty. You alvays think I'm naughty. I daresay I did look
+funny, 'cos I was temptationed, awful temptationed to touch the bird,
+but I wouldn't, no I <i>wouldn't</i>, 'cos I'd p'omised."</p>
+
+<p>And at last her mingled feelings found relief in a burst of sobs.</p>
+
+<p>The sight was too much for Hec, already in a sorely depressed and
+tearful condition. He threw his arms round Hoodie, nearly dragging her
+off her chair in his endeavours to get her shaggy head down to the level
+of his own close-cropped dark one for an embrace.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh Hoodie, Hoodie, <i>dear</i> Hoodie, don't cry," he beseeched her. "It's
+all Hec's fault. Naughty Hec. Oh Hoodie, please 'agive me and kiss me,
+and I'll never, never touch your bird again."</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="ill13" id="ill13"></a>
+<img src="images/ill13.jpg" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+<h3>"Please 'agive me and kiss me."</h3>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>Hoodie was quite melted.</p>
+
+<p>"Dear Hec&mdash;poor Hec," she cried in her turn. "Don't cry, dear Hec," and
+the two little creatures hugged and kissed and cried, all in one.</p>
+
+<p>"Let's kiss Maudie's godmother too. She didn't think you was naughty,
+Hoodie," suggested Hec, and Hoodie at once took his advice, so the
+kissing and hugging were transferred to poor Magdalen, who bore them
+heroically, till at last she was so very nearly smothered that she was
+obliged to cry for mercy.</p>
+
+<p>"And let us go back to my room now," she said, "and introduce the little
+bird to its new house. It hasn't seen it yet, you know, Hoodie."</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Hasn't</i> it?" said Hoodie.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course not. The cage is yours&mdash;your very own. I waited for you to
+come before putting the bird in it."</p>
+
+<p>"That was <i>vezzy</i> good of you," said Hoodie, approvingly; and as happy
+and light-hearted as if no temper or trouble of any kind had ever come
+near her, she took Hec's hand and trotted off with her cousin to help in
+the installation of the bird in its beautiful cage.</p>
+
+<p>"What funny creatures children are," said Magdalen to herself, "and of
+them all surely Hoodie is the funniest."</p>
+
+<p>It would be impossible to tell the pleasure that the possession of the
+little bird gave to Hoodie, and the devotion she showed to it. For some
+days its cage remained in Miss King's room, that Cousin Magdalen herself
+might watch how the little creature got on, and there, as Martin said,
+"morning, noon, and night," Hoodie was to be found. It was the prettiest
+sight to see her, seated by the table, her elbows resting upon it, and
+her chubby face leaning on her hands, while her eyes eagerly followed
+every movement of her favourite. She was never tired of sitting thus,
+she was never cross or impatient, nor did she ever attempt to touch the
+greenfinch without Magdalen's leave. And finding that the little girl
+was so gentle and obedient, and that the bird gave her such pleasure,
+Magdalen kindly did her utmost to increase this pleasure. She taught
+Hoodie how to tame and make friends with her pet, to call to it with her
+soft little voice&mdash;for no one could have a softer or prettier voice than
+Hoodie when she chose&mdash;always in the same tone, till the bird learnt to
+recognize it and to come at her summons. And oh the delight of the first
+time this happened! Hoodie was holding out her hand, the forefinger
+outstretched to the open door of the cage, half-cooing, half-whistling,
+in the pretty way Magdalen had taught her, when birdie, its head cocked
+on one side as if half in timidity, half in coquetry, at last mustered
+up courage and hopped on to the fat little pink finger.</p>
+
+<p>Hoodie <i>nearly</i> screamed with delight, but recollected herself just in
+time not to frighten the bird.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Cousin Magdalen," she whispered in the most tremendous excitement,
+"Him is pouching, him's pouching on my finger. Oh the darling,&mdash;look,
+look, Maudie's godmother."</p>
+
+<p>But before Maudie's godmother could get across the room to look, Mr.
+Birdie had hopped off its new perch, and the experiment had to be
+repeated.</p>
+
+<p>"Come and pouch, birdie, dear birdie; <i>do</i> come and pouch on my finger,"
+said Hoodie, beseechingly.</p>
+
+<p>"Call it the way I taught you," whispered Magdalen.</p>
+
+<p>Hoodie did so, and at the sound of her well-known call, the greenfinch
+cocked its head, looked round on all sides, appeared to consider, and at
+last condescended again to hop on to its little Mistress's finger.</p>
+
+<p>"Isn't it <i>sweet</i>?" said Hoodie ecstatically, though scarcely daring to
+breathe for fear of disturbing it.</p>
+
+<p>"If you take care never to startle it," said Magdalen, "it will get in
+the way of coming regularly whenever you call it. <i>Never</i> let it hear
+you speaking angrily or roughly, Hoodie. That would startle it more than
+anything."</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Would</i> it?" said Hoodie, regarding her pet with affection not
+unmingled with respect. "Would it know I was naughty? Cousin Magdalen,"
+she added, looking up into her friend's face with considerable awe in
+her bright green eyes; "Cousin Magdalen, do you think <i>p'raps</i> my bird's
+a fairy, and that God sent it to teach me to be good?"</p>
+
+<p>Fortunately by this time Magdalen's intercourse with Hoodie had taught
+her the necessity of great control of herself. Whatever Hoodie said or
+did, she must not be laughed at&mdash;not even smiled at, if in the smile
+there lurked the slightest shadow of ridicule. Once let Hoodie imagine
+she was being made fun of and all hope of leading her and making her
+love and trust you was over.</p>
+
+<p>So Magdalen's face remained quite grave as she replied to Hoodie's
+question,</p>
+
+<p>"I think that <i>everything</i> nice and pretty that comes to us is sent by
+God, dear. And He means them all to teach us to be good. But I don't
+think you need fancy your little bird is a fairy."</p>
+
+<p>"It's <i>so</i> clever," said Hoodie. "Fancy him knowing when I call. Do you
+think some day it'll learn to speak, Cousin Magdalen?"</p>
+
+<p>Cousin Magdalen shook her head.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm afraid not. It isn't the kind of bird that ever learns to speak,"
+she replied, as gravely as before. "But I shouldn't wonder if it learns
+to know you very well&mdash;to come in a moment when it hears you call, and
+to show you that it is pleased to see you."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh how lovely that'll be," said Hoodie, dancing about with delight.
+"Fancy it coming on my finger whenever I say 'Birdie dear, come and
+pouch.' I'll <i>never</i> let it hear me speak c'oss, Cousin Magdalen.
+Whenever I feel <i>it</i> coming I'll go out of the room and shut the door
+tight so it sha'n't hear me."</p>
+
+<p>"Whenever you feel what coming?" asked Magdalen.</p>
+
+<p>"<i>It</i>," repeated Hoodie, "c'ossness, you know. It must come
+sometimes&mdash;<i>all</i> chindrel is c'oss <i>sometimes</i>," she added
+complacently.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, but suppose some children were to make up their minds to be cross
+<i>no</i> times," said Magdalen with a smile. "Wouldn't that be a good thing?
+Suppose a little girl I know, not very far from here, was to set the
+example."</p>
+
+<p>Hoodie laughed.</p>
+
+<p>"Cousin <i>Magdalen</i>," she said, with an accent on the name that she
+always gave when amused. "Cousin <i>Magdalen</i>, how funny you are! I know
+who you mean&mdash;yes, I do, kite well. But she couldn't, that little girl
+couldn't help being c'oss <i>sometimes</i>."</p>
+
+<p>She shook her head sagaciously.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, any way," said Magdalen, "try and let the 'sometimes' come as
+seldom as possible. Won't you do that, Hoodie?"</p>
+
+<p>Just then there came a tap at the door.</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Hoodie," said Martin's voice. "Come to tea, please. It's quite
+ready."</p>
+
+<p>Hoodie gave an impatient shake. Fortunately the bird was no longer on
+her finger, otherwise its nerves would have been considerably startled.
+Hoodie had been on the point of putting her hand into the cage to entice
+it to hop on to her finger and thus to lift it out when Martin's summons
+came.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't want any tea," she said; "do go away, Martin. You <i>alvays</i>
+come for me when I don't want to go."</p>
+
+<p>"Hoodie," whispered Magdalen, "the bird will be quite frightened to hear
+you speak like that."</p>
+
+<p>Hoodie looked startled.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh dear," she said. "I quite forgot. You see, Cousin Magdalen, it
+<i>will</i> come. There's no good trying to keep it away."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, there is," said Magdalen. "There's good in trying to keep it away,
+and there's good in trying to send it away even after it's come. You're
+sending it away now, Hoodie, I think."</p>
+
+<p>"Am I?" said Hoodie, doubtfully. Then with a sudden change of tone,
+"Well, I <i>will</i> then. I'll go goodly with Martin. Martin," she said
+amiably, turning to her nurse, "I'm coming. I'll go out of the room kite
+goodly and quiet, and then perhaps birdie won't remember about my
+speaking c'oss."</p>
+
+<p>"I daresay he won't," said Magdalen encouragingly. "I'll give him some
+fresh seed to eat, as it's rather low in his box, and that will give him
+something else to think of. But I won't speak to him, Hoodie. I never
+do, because I want him to learn to know your voice."</p>
+
+<p>"That's out of the Bible," was Hoodie's parting remark, as she went off
+with Martin, quite "goodly," as she had promised.</p>
+
+<p>Day by day Hoodie loved her bird more and more, and her love was repaid
+by great success in taming the little creature. It grew to know her
+wonderfully well, to hop on to her rosy finger when she called to it,
+adding always, "Birdie, birdie, come and <i>pouch</i>," with a soft clear
+note of delight that it was quite a pleasure to hear. Its cage was
+placed in the window of a little ante-room, out of which Miss King's
+room opened. There had been some talk of putting it in the nursery, but
+Hoodie pleaded against this. The cat <i>had</i> been known to enter the
+nursery, for Hec and Duke were rather fond of old pussy, and Prince was
+a frequent visitor there. And besides this, Hoodie could not feel quite
+sure that her little brothers might not be some day "temptationed" to
+touch her favourite. It was pretty clear any way that birdie's residence
+in the nursery would be a source of quarrels, so Mother and Magdalen and
+Martin agreed that the ante-room window would be the best and safest
+place.</p>
+
+<p>"It isn't as if winter was coming instead of summer," said Magdalen. "In
+that case a room without a fire would be too cold for it. But every day,
+now, the weather is getting brighter and warmer. What are you looking
+so grave about, Hoodie?"</p>
+
+<p>Hoodie looked up solemnly.</p>
+
+<p>"I were just thinking," she replied, "what a pity it would be if winter
+comed back again instead of summer, just when we've settled about my
+bird so nicely&mdash;by mistake you know."</p>
+
+<p>"But winter and summer don't come of themselves, Miss Hoodie," said
+Martin. "You know God sends them, and He never makes mistakes."</p>
+
+<p>"But <i>supposing</i> He did," said Hoodie, "you are so stupid, Martin. You
+might <i>suppose</i>."</p>
+
+<p>"Hoodie!" said Magdalen, warningly.</p>
+
+<p>Hoodie gave a wriggle, but said no more. Not that she was vanquished
+however. She waited till bed-time, and then, after saying aloud as usual
+her little evening prayer, added a special clause for Martin's
+edification. "And p'ease, dear God, be sure not to forget to send the
+nice warm summer for my little bird, and don't let cold winter come back
+again by mistake."</p>
+
+<p>"It'll do no harm to <i>'amind</i> God, any way," she observed with
+satisfaction, as she lay down in bed and composed herself for her
+night's repose.</p>
+
+<p>Weeks passed on and the nice warm summer came. Hoodie's devotion to her
+bird seemed to increase as time went on, and so much of her time was
+spent beside its cage that the nursery peace and quiet were much greater
+than before its arrival.</p>
+
+<p>One day, just after the nursery breakfast, she hastened to her pet as
+usual. Rather to her vexation she saw that her two little brothers were
+standing by the cage, of which the door was open, Miss King beside them.
+Hoodie frowned, but did not venture to say anything.</p>
+
+<p>"See, Hoodie," said Magdalen, "see how very confiding birdie has learnt
+to be. He has actually hopped on to Duke's finger when he whistled to
+him the way you do. It will do him no harm now to be friendly to other
+people too&mdash;now that he knows you so well. Look at him."</p>
+
+<p>"See, Hoodie," cried Duke in delight, holding up his stumpy little
+forefinger, on which birdie was contentedly perched.</p>
+
+<p>An ugly black cloud came over Hoodie's face. She darted forward, furious
+with anger.</p>
+
+<p>"I <i>won't</i> have him pouch on your finger, Duke," she cried. "I won't
+have <i>anybody</i> call him but me. I won't. I won't&mdash;he's the only thing
+that loves me and nobody's to touch him. Go away, naughty Duke; ugly
+Duke."</p>
+
+<p>She pushed Duke aside with one hand and with the other attempted,
+gently, notwithstanding her passion, to take the bird. The window was
+wide open, and the children were standing beside it. Magdalen, who was
+at the other side of the table on which stood the cage, hurried forward,
+but too late. Startled by Hoodie's loud voice, not recognizing in the
+furious little girl its gentle mistress, and with some instinct of
+self-preservation, the greenfinch, with a frightened uncertain note,
+flew off Duke's finger, alighted for one instant on the window-sill,
+from which it seemed for a moment to look at the group in the room, as
+if in farewell, then, before Magdalen could do anything, before Hoodie
+had taken in the idea of the misfortune that threatened her, raised its
+pretty wings with another soft reproachful note, and flew away&mdash;away out
+in the bright sunny garden, over the bushes and flowers, away&mdash;away&mdash;to
+some leafy corner up among the high trees, where there would be no angry
+voices to startle it, no quarrelsome children to frighten its tender
+little heart&mdash;no sound but the soft brush of the squirrel's furry tail
+among the branches, and the gentle flutter of the summer breeze. Away,
+away! But what did that "away" mean to poor broken-hearted Hoodie?</p>
+
+<p>She stood motionless with surprise and horror&mdash;she did not dart to the
+window as one would have expected&mdash;ready almost to throw herself out of
+it in fruitless pursuit of her favourite&mdash;she stood perfectly still, as
+if turned into stone. But the expression on her face was so strange and
+unnatural that Miss King felt frightened.</p>
+
+<p>"Hoodie," she exclaimed. "Hoodie, child, don't stand like that. Come to
+the window and call to your bird. Perhaps he will hear you and fly
+back."</p>
+
+<p>She said it more to rouse Hoodie out of the depth of her misery than
+because she really thought the bird would return, for in the bottom of
+her heart she feared much that it had truly flown away, and that once it
+felt itself out in the open air its natural instinct of freedom would
+prevent its returning to its cage.</p>
+
+<p>Hoodie started.</p>
+
+<p>"Come back? Do you <i>think</i> he'll come back, Cousin Magdalen?" she
+exclaimed, and rushing to the window, and leaning out so far that
+Magdalen was obliged to hold her for fear she should fall over, she gave
+the soft clear call which her cousin had taught her&mdash;over and over
+again, till, tired and out of breath, she drew in her head and looked up
+in Magdalen's face despairingly.</p>
+
+<p>"He won't come," she said, "he won't come. P'raps he's flied away too
+far to hear me. P'raps he can hear me but he doesn't want to come. Oh
+dear, <i>oh</i> dear, what shall I do? My bird, my bird&mdash;you always said he
+would fly away if he heard me speak c'oss, and I did speak c'oss, dedful
+c'oss. <i>Oh!</i> what shall I do?"</p>
+
+<p>Hoodie sank down on the floor&mdash;a little heap of tears and misery. Hec
+and Duke flung their arms around her, beseeching her not to cry so, but
+there was no comfort for Hoodie.</p>
+
+<p>"It was my own fault," she kept repeating, "my own fault for speaking so
+c'oss. The bird will never come back. Oh no, Hec and Duke, dear Hec and
+Duke, it isn't no good kissing me. I'll never, never be happy again, and
+it's my own fault."</p>
+
+<p>It was impossible not to be sorry for her. Magdalen felt almost ready to
+burst into tears herself. She took Hoodie up in her arms and tried to
+comfort her.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't think you should quite lose heart about birdie, Hoodie. He may
+come back again, once he has had a good fly. We must keep the window
+open, and you must keep calling to him every now and then, in the way he
+is used to. And perhaps it would be a good plan to go out in the garden
+and call&mdash;he may perhaps have flown up among the trees at the other
+side."</p>
+
+<p>Hoodie was only too ready. Patiently, while her cousin went down to her
+breakfast, the little girl stood at the window calling to the truant.
+Every now and then the sobs that would continue to rise, made a sad
+little quaver in the middle, and once or twice poor Hoodie was obliged
+to stop altogether. But she soon began again, and every now and then
+between her whistles, she said in a beseeching, half heart-broken tone&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, birdie, <i>won't</i> you come? Come, dear birdie, oh <i>do</i> come and pouch
+on my finger. I'll never, never speak c'oss again&mdash;never, dear birdie,
+if only you'll come back and pouch on my finger."</p>
+
+<p>It was very melancholy. Very melancholy too was the walking about the
+garden in vain hopes that birdie might be somewhere near and would fly
+down again. The whole day passed most sadly. Hoodie's eyes were swollen
+with crying, and she could scarcely eat any dinner or tea, and her
+distress naturally was felt by all the nursery party. It was one of the
+saddest days the children had ever known, and they all went to bed with
+sorely troubled little hearts.</p>
+
+<p>Magdalen too was grieved and sorry.</p>
+
+<p>"I blame myself," she said to Hoodie's mother. "Pets are always a risk,
+and Hoodie is such a strange mixture that one shouldn't run risks with
+her. I wish I had never suggested her keeping the bird as a pet, but I
+thought it might be good for her to have something of her very own to
+care for and attend to."</p>
+
+<p>"And so it was," said Hoodie's mother. "It has done her a great deal of
+good; it has softened her wonderfully. We all noticed it. And even this
+trouble may do her good; it may teach her really to try to master that
+sad temper of hers."</p>
+
+<p>"I had no idea she would have been so put out at Duke's playing with her
+bird," Magdalen went on, "or I would not have risked it."</p>
+
+<p>"But she <i>should</i> not have been put out at it," said Mrs. Caryll. "You
+have nothing whatever to reproach yourself with, dear Magdalen. Hoodie
+<i>must</i> be taught that she cannot be allowed to yield to that selfish,
+jealous temper."</p>
+
+<p>"I know," said Magdalen. "But how are we to teach her? that is the
+difficulty&mdash;the least severity or sternness which does good to other
+children, seems to rouse her very worst feelings and only to harden her.
+She is not hardened now, poor little soul, she is perfectly humble. Oh,
+how I do wish I could find her bird for her!"</p>
+
+<p>"Don't trouble yourself so much about it, dear. You really must not,"
+said Mrs. Caryll, as she bade her cousin good night.</p>
+
+<p>But unfortunately those things which our friends beg us not to trouble
+ourselves about are generally the very things we find it the most
+impossible to put out of our minds. Magdalen could not leave off
+"troubling" about poor Hoodie. She slept little, and when she did sleep
+it was only to dream of the lost bird, sometimes that it was found again
+in all sorts of impossible places&mdash;sometimes that Hoodie was climbing a
+dreadfully high mountain, or attempting to swim across a deep river,
+where Magdalen felt that she would certainly be drowned,&mdash;in search of
+it. And once she dreamt that the bird flew into her room and perched at
+the foot of her bed, and when she exclaimed with delight at seeing it
+again it suddenly began to speak to her, and its voice sounded exactly
+like Hoodie's.</p>
+
+<p>"I have come to say good-bye to you, Maudie's godmother," it said.
+"Nobody loves me, and I am always naughty, so I'd better go away."</p>
+
+<p>And as Magdalen started up to catch the bird, or Hoodie, whichever it
+was&mdash;in her dream it seemed both&mdash;she awoke.</p>
+
+<p>It was bright daylight already, though only five o'clock. Outside in the
+garden the sun was shining beautifully, the air, as Magdalen opened her
+window, felt deliciously fresh and sweet, everything had the peaceful
+untroubled look of very early morning&mdash;of a very early spring morning
+especially&mdash;when the birds and the flowers and the sunshine and the
+breezes have had it all to themselves, as it were, undisturbed by the
+troubles and difficulties and disagreements that busy day is sure to
+bring with it, as long as there are men and women, and boys and girls,
+in this puzzling world of ours.</p>
+
+<p>Though, after all, it is better to be a child than a bird or a
+flower&mdash;whatever mistakes we may make, whatever wrong we may do, all,
+alas, adding to the great mass of mistakes and wrong&mdash;whatever sorrows
+we may have to bear, it is something to feel in us the power of bearing
+them, the power of <i>trying</i> to put right even what we may have helped to
+put wrong&mdash;best of all the power of loving each other, and of helping
+each other in a way that the happy, innocent birds and flowers know
+nothing about. Is it not better to be <i>ourselves</i>, after all?</p>
+
+<p>Magdalen leant out of the window, enjoying the sweet air and sunshine,
+but thinking all the time how much more she would have enjoyed this
+bright morning but for her sympathy with poor Hoodie's trouble.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly a thought struck her. <i>Possibly</i> the bird, chilled and hungry
+after some hours' freedom, unaccustomed to be out in the dark, or to
+find food for itself&mdash;<i>possibly</i> he might have returned to his cage in
+the night. Magdalen threw on her dressing-gown and hurried into the
+ante-room. The window was open, the cage-door stood open too, everything
+was ready to welcome the little wanderer&mdash;fresh seed in the box, fresh
+water in the glass&mdash;Hoodie had seen to it all herself before going to
+bed&mdash;but that was all!</p>
+
+<p>There was no little feathered occupant in the cage&mdash;it was empty, and
+with a fresh feeling of disappointment, Magdalen stood by the window
+again, looking out at the bright morning, and wondering what she could
+do to comfort poor Hoodie. Outside, the birds were singing merrily.</p>
+
+<p>"Should I get her another bird?" thought Magdalen, "a canary, perhaps,
+accustomed to cage life? No, I think not. It might only lead to fresh
+disappointment; besides, I don't think Hoodie is the sort of child to
+care for another, <i>instead</i>. No, that wouldn't do."</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly a sort of flutter in the leaves round the window-frame&mdash;Mr.
+Caryll's house was an old one; there were creepers all over the
+walls&mdash;made Magdalen look up.</p>
+
+<p>"Can there be a nest in the eaves?" she said to herself, for the flutter
+was evidently that of a bird; and as she was watching, she saw it fly
+out&mdash;fly down rather from the projecting window-roof, and&mdash;to her
+amazement, after seeming for an instant or two to hesitate, it summoned
+up courage and flew a little way into the room&mdash;too high up for her to
+reach however, and not far enough into the room for her to venture to
+shut the window. She stood breathless, for as it at last settled for a
+moment on the curtain-rod, she saw what at first she had scarcely
+ventured to believe, that it was Hoodie's bird.</p>
+
+<p>It stayed a moment on the rod, then it flew off again&mdash;made a turn round
+the room&mdash;"oh," thought Magdalen, "if it <i>would</i> but settle somewhere
+further from the window, so that I could shut it in"&mdash;But no, off it
+flew again&mdash;out into the open air, and Magdalen's heart sank. Patience!
+Another moment and it was back again, with designs on its cage
+apparently, but it hesitated half way. Now was the critical moment.
+Magdalen hesitated. Should she risk it? She stretched out her hand
+towards the bird and softly and tremulously whistled to it in Hoodie's
+well-known call. The wavering balance of birdie's intentions was
+turned&mdash;it cocked its head on one side, and with a pretty chirp flew
+towards Magdalen and perched on her finger! Slowly and cautiously,
+whistling softly all the time, she slipped her hand into the cage, and
+quickly withdrawing it the instant birdie hopped off he found himself
+caught.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="ill14" id="ill14"></a>
+<img src="images/ill14.jpg" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+<h3>"Slowly and cautiously, whistling softly all the time"</h3>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>But he seemed quite content, and in two moments was pecking at his seed
+as if nothing had happened.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI.</h2>
+
+<h3>HOODIE'S DISOBEDIENCE.</h3>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"Where are the pretty primroses gone,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">That lately bloomed in the wood?"<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p>Notwithstanding her troubles, on account of them partly, perhaps, for
+nothing tires out little children more than long crying, Hoodie slept
+soundly that night. She was still sleeping when, at seven o'clock,
+Magdalen, already dressed and with the cage in her hand, came into her
+room to watch for her waking.</p>
+
+<p>Martin, who had heard the joyful news an hour ago, stood with Miss King
+beside the little girl's bed and looked at her. Poor Hoodie! Her rosy
+face still bore traces of yesterday's weeping, and now and then through
+her sleep one heard that little sobbing catch in her breathing which is,
+to my thinking, one of the most piteous sounds in the world.</p>
+
+<p>"She's tired herself out," said Martin. "She may sleep another hour or
+more. You'll be tired standing there, miss. Who would think Miss Hoodie
+had it in her to take things to heart so, for to see her sometimes she's
+like as if she had no heart or love in her at all."</p>
+
+<p>"I think I'll put the cage on a chair beside the bed," said Magdalen,
+"and then she'll be sure to see it the moment she wakes."</p>
+
+<p>She did so and went quietly away. Half an hour later, coming back again
+to see if Hoodie was still sleeping, she heard as she opened the door
+the sound of the little girl's voice. She had just awakened and had
+discovered the return of her bird. She was in an ecstasy of delight,
+very pretty to hear and see.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh my darling little bird," she was saying, "oh my sweet, innocent pet,
+have you come back? oh my dear, <i>dear</i> bird! You didn't mean to go away
+from Hoodie, did you? You lost your way, didn't you? Hoodie will never
+speak c'oss again, birdie, <i>never</i>. I do think God is vezzy kind to send
+you back again, and I <i>will</i> try to please Him by being good, 'cos He's
+so kind."</p>
+
+<p>Magdalen stood still and watched her, with pleasure, but with a strange
+sort of slight sadness and misgiving too. There was something almost
+startling in the little girl's extreme love for the bird, and it made
+her cousin wish it could be bestowed on a higher object.</p>
+
+<p>"Why can't she love her sister and brothers more?" she thought to
+herself. "I do not know what she would do now if anything again happened
+to the bird. I wonder if it would have been better if it had not come
+back. But no, I must not think that. <i>All</i> love must do good to a nature
+like Hoodie's, and her love for the bird may teach her other things. And
+oh, I should have been sorry to leave her while she was as unhappy as
+she was yesterday."</p>
+
+<p>Then she came forward into the room, and when Hoodie saw her, there was
+a fresh cry of delight, and Magdalen had to tell her over and over again
+exactly how it had all happened; how it was that she was up so early,
+how birdie flew in and then out again, and how Magdalen feared that
+after all she might not be able to catch him, and how delighted she was
+when she felt sure she had got him safe.</p>
+
+<p>"I was so glad to think how pleased you would be, Hoodie, dear!" she
+said.</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you, Cousin Magdalen, you are vezzy kind," said Hoodie. "And I
+think God is vezzy kind too, for you know I said my prayers to Him last
+night to send birdie back again, so He must have told him to come.
+P'raps He sent a' angel to show birdie the way. I'm going to be vezzy
+good now, Cousin Magdalen, <i>awful</i> good, alvays, 'cos God was kind and
+sent birdie back. <i>Won't</i> God be glad?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, dear, God is always glad when His little children are good. He
+likes them to be happy, and being good is the only way," said Magdalen.</p>
+
+<p>"But won't He be <i>dedfully</i> glad for me to be kite good?" said Hoodie,
+seemingly not quite satisfied with her cousin's tone. "I wouldn't have
+tried so much if He hadn't sent birdie back, but now I'm going to try
+awful hard."</p>
+
+<p>"But, Hoodie dear, even if God hadn't sent birdie back it would have
+been right to try as hard as ever you could," said Magdalen. "That's
+what I wish you could understand&mdash;even when God <i>doesn't</i> do what we ask
+Him we should try to please Him. For He loves us just the same&mdash;better
+than if He did what we ask, for He knows that sometimes what we ask
+wouldn't be good for us. I don't think you understand that, Hoodie dear.
+You think when your mother, or Martin perhaps, doesn't do all at once
+what you ask, that it is because they don't love you. You mustn't feel
+that way, dear, either about your friends here, or about God, your best
+friend of all."</p>
+
+<p>Hoodie looked up, rather puzzled. Magdalen feared she had not understood
+what she said, and almost regretted having said it. And afterwards she
+wondered what had put it into her mind to try to explain to the little
+girl what puzzles and bewilders far wiser people, but by the time that
+"afterwards" came she no longer regretted having said what she had.</p>
+
+<p>"I do think God loves me now," said Hoodie, sturdily, "'cos He's sent
+birdie back, and so I'm going to try to be good. But if I was God I'd
+<i>alvays</i> do what ev'ybody asked me, and I'd <i>make</i> it be good for them,
+and then ev'ybody would be so pleased, they'd always try to be good."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm afraid not, Hoodie," said Magdalen with a slight smile. "I'm afraid
+if everybody always got what they want there would soon be very little
+goodness left anywhere."</p>
+
+<p>Hoodie at this looked more puzzled than before, but Magdalen, who had
+been speaking more to herself than to the child this time, did not try
+to explain any more. She bent over Hoodie and kissed her.</p>
+
+<p>"Any way don't forget about trying to be good, and ask God to help you,"
+she said.</p>
+
+<p>The next day "Maudie's godmother" went away. She had stayed longer than
+she had intended, and now her father and mother could spare her no
+longer. The children were greatly distressed at her going. Maudie cried
+gently, the boys more uproariously, and all three joined in reproaching
+Hoodie for not crying at all. Hoodie seemed quite indifferent to their
+remarks.</p>
+
+<p>"Why should I cry?" she said. "It would be very silly to cry when Cousin
+Magdalen is going back to her father and mother. Crying isn't any good."</p>
+
+<p>"You don't love Cousin Magdalen," said Maudie, "if you did you couldn't
+help crying."</p>
+
+<p>"I <i>do</i> love her. I love her as many times as you do, ugl"&mdash;&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>She stopped&mdash;Magdalen was looking at her with a look that Hoodie
+understood. Hoodie ran to her and threw her arms round her neck.</p>
+
+<p>"I <i>do</i> love you, Cousin Magdalen," she whispered. "Don't you believe
+me? I do love you, and I'm trying dedfully to be good, to please you and
+God, 'cos of birdie coming back."</p>
+
+<p>"I do believe you, dear," said Magdalen, and Hoodie glanced round with
+triumph.</p>
+
+<p>I am coming now to a part of Hoodie's history which I cannot prevent
+being rather sad. I wish, for some reasons, I could prevent it. But true
+stories must be told true, and even fancy stories must be told in a
+fancy true way, or else they do not suit themselves. When I was a
+little girl I never cared for the new-fashioned "Red Riding Hood" story;
+the one in which she was <i>not</i> eaten up at the end after all, but saved
+by a wood-cutter at the last minute. Of course it was very nice to think
+of poor Red Riding Hood not being eaten up, if one could have managed to
+believe it. But somehow I never could, and even now whenever I think of
+the story the old original ending, dreadful as it was, always comes back
+to me. So now that I am telling you about&mdash;not Red Riding Hood&mdash;but my
+queer, fanciful, but still I hope lovable, Hoodie, I feel that I must go
+straight on and tell you what really happened, even though it makes you
+rather sad.</p>
+
+<p>For some time after Miss King left, things went on pretty smoothly, very
+smoothly, perhaps I should say. Hoodie did not forget about trying to be
+good, especially in her bird's presence. It became a sort of conscience
+to her, and as, by a law which is a great help in learning to be
+good,&mdash;though also a danger the more in learning <i>wrong</i>,&mdash;by the law of
+<i>habit</i>, every time one tries to keep under one's ill temper, makes it
+easier for the next time, it grew really easier for Hoodie to check her
+naughty cross words and looks from the way she kept them down when
+beside her little pet. And Martin and every one began to think it had
+been a happy thing for Hoodie and those about her that her cousin had
+taught her how to tame and care for the pretty greenfinch.</p>
+
+<p>It was so pretty, poor little birdie! It grew so tame that, with the
+window shut of course, it spent a great part of its time flying freely
+about the ante-room where stood its cage. It would "pouch" not only on
+Hoodie's finger but on her shoulder, her head&mdash;anywhere she chose to
+place it. And in an instant, at the sound of her call, it would fly to
+her. Every morning it was her first thought, every night her last. And
+night and morning when she said her prayers, she never forgot to thank
+God for being "<i>so</i> kind as to send birdie back again," and to beg Him
+to keep birdie safe and well.</p>
+
+<p>One evening&mdash;how it happened I cannot tell,&mdash;it was very hot and sultry
+weather, with thunder about, and at such times people are careless about
+closing doors and windows&mdash;one evening, by some mischance which no one
+ever could explain, the window of "birdie's room," as it had come to be
+called, was either left open, or flew open in some way. Hoodie was sure
+she had closed it when she went to bid her pet good night, but it was
+what is called a lattice window, and these are apt to fly open unless
+very firmly shut. Birdie was safe in his cage however, and the door of
+<i>that</i> was fortunately&mdash;even when you hear what happened, children, you
+will agree with me that that part of it <i>was</i> fortunate&mdash;quite fastened.
+Early next morning, one of the servants who slept in an attic above the
+ante-room, heard a noise below. She was a kind-hearted girl, and her
+first thought was of Miss Hoodie's bird. She got up at once, and
+hurrying down-stairs&mdash;it was not so very early after all, nearly six
+o'clock&mdash;ran to the ante-room. As she opened the door, to her horror a
+great big strange cat jumped out of the window.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh dear, oh dear," said Lucy, "can he have got at birdie?"</p>
+
+<p>The cage was not to be seen&mdash;but in another moment Lucy spied it on the
+floor, knocked down off the table by the cruel cat. He had not got at
+birdie&mdash;birdie lay in one corner, quite still as if dead, and yet when
+Lucy with trembling fingers unfastened the cage door and tenderly lifted
+out his little occupant, she could see no injury, not the slightest
+scratch.</p>
+
+<p>"His heart's beating still," she said, "perhaps it's only the fright of
+the fall," and she was turning to the window to examine birdie more
+closely, when a sound behind her made her start, and turning round she
+saw in the doorway the bird's little mistress, poor Hoodie herself. She
+was in her nightgown only&mdash;she had run from her room with her little
+bare feet, having heard Lucy passing down-stairs, with an instinct of
+fear that some evil had befallen her pet.</p>
+
+<p>"Lucy, Lucy," she cried, "what is the matter? It isn't anything the
+matter with birdie. Oh, dear Lucy, <i>don't</i> say it is."</p>
+
+<p>Her voice somehow, as Lucy said afterwards, sounded like that of a
+grown-up person&mdash;all the babyishness seemed to have gone out of it&mdash;she
+did not cry, she stood there white as a sheet, clasping her hands in a
+way that went to Lucy's heart.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Miss Hoodie," she replied, the tears running down her face, for she
+was very tender-hearted, "oh dear, Miss Hoodie, don't take on so. I hope
+birdie's not badly hurt. The cat didn't touch him. It knocked over the
+cage, and it must have been the fall; but <i>perhaps</i> he's more frightened
+than hurt."</p>
+
+<p>"Give him to me, Lucy," said Hoodie. "Let me hold him in my own hands.
+Oh, birdie dear, oh, birdie darling, don't you know me?" for birdie lay
+still and limp&mdash;almost as if dead already. Hoodie, forcing back the
+tears, whistled her usual call to him, and as its sound reached his
+ears, birdie seemed to quiver, raised his head, feebly flapped his
+wings, and tried, with a piteous attempt at shaking off the sleep from
+which he would never again awake, tried to rouse himself and to struggle
+to his feet.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Lucy," cried Hoodie, "he's getting better," but as she said the
+words, birdie fell over on his side, uttered the feeblest of chirps, and
+with a little quiver lay still&mdash;quite still&mdash;he was dead. The fright had
+killed him.</p>
+
+<p>Hoodie looked up in Lucy's face with tearless eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"Is he dead?" she said.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Miss Hoodie dear," said Lucy, softly stroking the ruffled
+feathers, "he is dead, but oh dear, Miss Hoodie, it isn't so bad as if
+the cat had torn and scratched him all over. You should think of that."</p>
+
+<p>But Hoodie could think of nothing in the shape of comfort. She held the
+little dead bird out to Lucy.</p>
+
+<p>"Take him and bury him," she said. "He can't love me any more, so take
+him away. All the loving's dead. He was the only thing that loved me. I
+won't try to be good any more. God is very unkind."</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Hoodie!" exclaimed Lucy, considerably shocked. But Hoodie just
+looked at her with a hard set expression in her white face.</p>
+
+<p>"You don't understand," she said. "Take him away and bury him."</p>
+
+<p>She turned to the door and left the room. She went slowly back to her
+own room, and got into her little bed again. Then, like the old Hebrew
+king, poor little English Hoodie "turned her face to the wall," and wept
+and wept as if never again there could be for her brightness in the
+sunshine, or love and happiness in life.</p>
+
+<p>"My bird, my bird," she moaned. That was all she could say.</p>
+
+<p>She refused at first to get up and be dressed. Then, with an idea
+perhaps that if she did so she would be more independent than if staying
+in bed, with papa and mamma and Martin and everybody coming to talk to
+her, and try to comfort her, she slowly got out of bed and let Martin
+dress her. But when it came to saying her prayers, she altogether
+refused to do so, and on this point there was no getting her to give in.
+She did not refuse to eat her breakfast, because she had sense enough to
+know that sooner or later she would be obliged to eat, but the moment it
+was swallowed, she took her little chair and seated herself in the
+corner of the nursery, her face to the wall, crying, crying steadily,
+and hopelessly, turning like a little fury upon any one who ventured to
+speak to her, only moaning out from time to time&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"My bird, oh my bird!"</p>
+
+<p>They were all very sorry for her. Maudie's tears and those of the little
+boys had flowed freely when the sad story was first told to them; they
+had all rushed to Hoodie to try to kiss and comfort her. But her extreme
+crossness, or what any way looked like it to them, sent them away
+puzzled and hurt. Hoodie's mother had proposed that the little girl
+should spend the whole day down-stairs with her, have dinner at the
+dining-room luncheon, and go a drive in the afternoon, but to all this
+Hoodie only replied by a determined shake of the head, as well as to her
+father's offer of a new bird, or two if she liked, the prettiest that
+could be bought.</p>
+
+<p>So they were all really at their wits' end.</p>
+
+<p>It was very sad, but one must also allow that it was very tiresome.
+Martin began to fear that the child would really make herself ill, and
+as was Martin's "way," her anxiety began to make her rather cross.</p>
+
+<p>"I wish Miss King had never put it into the child's head to have a pet
+bird," she muttered to herself as she was washing up the tea-things that
+evening, glancing at Hoodie's disconsolate figure still in the corner of
+the nursery. "Miss King may be all very well and kind, but she's no
+knowledge of children, how should she have any? I think it's much best
+to leave children to them that understands them; though indeed as for
+any one's understanding Miss Hoodie&mdash;&mdash;!"</p>
+
+<p>Fortunately it did not occur to Hoodie to make any objection to going to
+bed, and it was a relief to every one to know of her being there and
+safely asleep, "forgetting her troubles for a while," as Martin said.
+The next day was very little better. Hoodie did not cry quite so much,
+but she still sat in a corner doing nothing, and when any one attempted
+to speak to her, however kindly, she turned upon them with fierceness,
+like a little ill-tempered cat.</p>
+
+<p>Yet it was not ill-temper; it was really misery, or at least it was
+ill-temper caused by misery. But as no gentleness and patience, no
+sympathy or attempt at comforting her did any good, but harm&mdash;and as any
+approach to reasoning with her, or scolding her, seemed to harden her
+already embittered little heart more and more, what was to be done, what
+could be done, but leave her alone? She continued determinedly to
+refuse, night and morning, to say her prayers, and refused, too, to say
+grace at the nursery table when it was her turn. But of all this Mrs.
+Caryll wisely desired Martin to take no notice, and not to try to force
+the child to any formal utterance of words in which her heart had no
+part.</p>
+
+<p>"It <i>must</i> be all right again soon if only we are patient with her,"
+said Hoodie's mother, more cheerfully than she was really feeling, for
+she saw that Martin was very much worried and distressed about Hoodie,
+and she was anxious to encourage her.</p>
+
+<p>"It is to be hoped so, ma'am, I'm sure," was Martin's rather hopeless
+reply.</p>
+
+<p>Somewhat to everybody's surprise, on the third day Hoodie condescended
+to ask a favour. Might she go out for a walk alone with Lucy? Everybody
+was so enchanted at her seeming to take interest in anything or wishing
+for anything, that with some conditions her request was at once granted.
+It was arranged that she should set off with Lucy and go wherever she
+wished, with the understanding that she would meet Martin and the other
+children at four o'clock at a certain point on the road, as it was not
+convenient that Lucy should stay out longer. To this Hoodie agreed.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm going through the wood," she said. "I want to get some flowers that
+grow there, and Lucy must take a basket and a knife to dig them up, and
+then I'll tell her what to do."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well, Miss Hoodie," said Martin, but privately she told Lucy not
+to let the little girl go to the cottages at the edge of the wood, for
+Martin had never forgotten the fright of Hoodie's escapade several
+months ago. "If she gets in the way of going to that young woman's
+cottage, she'll be for ever running off," she said. "So silly of the
+people to encourage her, when they might see we didn't like it. We met
+the young woman the other day, and she actually stopped short in the
+road and began asking when Miss Hoodie was coming to see her again."</p>
+
+<p>"But mamma says they're very respectable people, Martin," said Maudie,
+who was standing by. "I don't think she would mind if Hoodie did go to
+see them. Papa said one day he wished the young woman's husband was one
+of our men. He's so steady."</p>
+
+<p>"Hold your tongue, Miss Maudie," said Martin with unusual sharpness. She
+knew that what the child said was true, but she had taken a prejudice
+against the little family in Red Riding Hood's cottage, as the children
+always called it, and when a good conscientious woman of Martin's age
+and character once takes a prejudice, it is rather a hopeless matter!</p>
+
+<p>Poor Maudie slid away, feeling in her turn that things were rather hard
+upon her. She had been very patient and gentle with her strange-tempered
+little sister these three days, and had tried not to feel hurt at
+Hoodie's indifference to all her small overtures of sympathy. And now
+to be told by Martin to hold her tongue when all she meant was to try to
+make things better, was not easy to bear.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm sure Hoodie wants to get flowers to put on birdie's grave," she
+thought to herself, as she wiped away the tears called forth by Martin's
+sharp words. "I think she <i>might</i> have told me about it and asked me to
+go too."</p>
+
+<p>But she said nothing about it, and set off uncomplainingly on her
+solitary walk with Martin, for the two little boys were spending the
+afternoon with the children at the Rectory.</p>
+
+<p>Hoodie marched Lucy straight off to the wood. Primroses were the flowers
+on which her heart was set, for birdie's grave, as Maudie had guessed.
+She had seen them growing in the wood in the spring in great numbers and
+beauty, and no flower, she had settled in her mind, could look so pretty
+on birdie's grave. She said very little to Lucy, having satisfied
+herself that the knife to dig the roots up with and the basket to carry
+them home in had not been forgotten, she walked along in silence. But
+when they reached the wood and had gone some little way into it and no
+primroses were to be seen Hoodie looked very much disappointed.</p>
+
+<p>"There were such lots," she said to herself.</p>
+
+<p>"Lots of what, Miss Hoodie?" asked Lucy, thinking her charge the oddest
+child she had ever had to do with.</p>
+
+<p>"Of p'imroses," said Hoodie. "That's what I came for, to plant them on
+birdie's grave, you know, Lucy."</p>
+
+<p>"Primroses," repeated Lucy. "Of course not now, Miss Hoodie. They're
+over long ago. See, these are their leaves&mdash;lots of them."</p>
+
+<p>She stooped as she spoke, and pointed out the primrose plants clustering
+thickly at their feet. Hoodie stooped too, to look at them.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh dear," she exclaimed. "Are the flowers all gone? What shall I do? If
+we unplanted one, Lucy, and took it home, and watered it <i>lots</i>, twenty
+times a day p'raps, wouldn't more flowers come?"</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="ill15" id="ill15"></a>
+<img src="images/ill15.jpg" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+<h3>"Oh dear," she exclaimed. "Are the flowers all gone?"</h3>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>"Not this year, Miss Hoodie," said Lucy. "Not all the watering in the
+world would make any flowers come before the spring, and watering too
+much would kill the plant altogether."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh dear," repeated Hoodie, "what shall I do?"</p>
+
+<p>"Won't no other flowers do?" said Lucy. "There's violets still, and lots
+of others in the garden that Hopkins would give you&mdash;much prettier than
+primroses."</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Hoodie, shaking her head, "none but p'imroses would do.
+Birdie liked them best, I know, for when I put some once in the wires of
+his cage, he chirped. When will the spring come, Lucy?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not for a good bit, Miss Hoodie," said Lucy, "it's only July now.
+There's all the summer to go through, and then autumn when it begins to
+get cold, and then all the cold winter, before the spring comes. A good
+while&mdash;eight months, and there's more than four weeks in each month, you
+know."</p>
+
+<p>"I can't help it," said Hoodie, "only p'imroses will do. Please dig some
+roots up, Lucy, and we'll plant them on birdie's grave. The green leaves
+are a little pretty, and in the spring the flowers will come. And if I'm
+dead before the spring," she added solemnly, "you mustn't forget to
+water them all the same."</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Hoodie!" said Lucy, reproachfully, "you should not talk that way
+really. Your mamma wouldn't like it."</p>
+
+<p>"Why not?" said Hoodie, "there's lots about deadening in the Bible and
+in the church books, so it can't be naughty. I wouldn't mind, if only I
+thought birdie was in heaven."</p>
+
+<p>"We'd better be going on," said Lucy, rather anxious to give a turn to
+the conversation, "or we'll be late for Martin and Miss Maudie. I've got
+up two nice roots, and we may see some others that take your fancy as we
+go on."</p>
+
+<p>They made their way slowly through the wood&mdash;Hoodie peering about here
+and there in search of primroses still, some two or three might, she
+thought, possibly have been left behind, or some buds might by mistake
+have bloomed later than their neighbours. For Hoodie, as you have seen,
+was not easily convinced of anything that she did not wish to believe.</p>
+
+<p>But all her peering was in vain; they reached the end of the little wood
+without a single primrose showing its pretty face, and Hoodie was
+obliged to content herself with the brightest and freshest plants they
+could find, which Lucy good-naturedly dug up for her.</p>
+
+<p>At the edge of the wood, the path led them in front of the cottage to
+which three or four months ago Hoodie's memorable visit had been paid.
+Lucy walked on quickly, talking of other things in hope of distracting
+the little girl's attention till the forbidden ground was safely passed.
+Vain hope. Hoodie came to a dead stand in front of the little garden
+gate.</p>
+
+<p>"That is the cottage where baby and its mother and the ugly man live,"
+she announced to Lucy. "Once, a long time ago, I went there to tea.
+Baby's mother asked me to come again some day."</p>
+
+<p>"But not to-day, Miss Hoodie," said poor Lucy, nervously "we'd be too
+late if we stopped now."</p>
+
+<p>"No, not to-day," said Hoodie. "I don't want to go to-day. I'm too
+unhappy about birdie to care for cakes now. I don't think I'll ever care
+for cakes any more. Besides," with a slight hesitation, "she won't have
+any ready. She said I was to let her know. <i>P'raps</i> I'll let her know
+some day."</p>
+
+<p>She was turning to walk on, immensely to Lucy's relief, when the gleam
+of some pale yellow flowers growing close under the cottage walls, up at
+the other end of the long narrow strip of garden, caught her glance.</p>
+
+<p>"Lucy," she cried. "I see some p'imroses in the garden. I must run in
+and ask baby's mother to give me some. I'm sure she will."</p>
+
+<p>She unfastened the wooden gate and was some steps up the path before
+Lucy had time to reply.</p>
+
+<p>"They're not primroses, Miss Hoodie," she said. "Indeed they're not. I
+can see from here. They're quite another kind. Oh, do come back, Miss
+Hoodie."</p>
+
+<p>"I won't be a minute," said Hoodie, "I'd like some of the flowers any
+way," and she began to run on again.</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Hoodie," cried Lucy, driven to despair, "Martin said you mustn't
+on no account go into the cottage."</p>
+
+<p>Hoodie's wrath and self-will were instantly aroused.</p>
+
+<p>"Well then, Martin had no business to say so," she replied. "<i>Mamma</i>
+never said I wasn't to go. She said I should go some day to see the
+baby again and to thank baby's mother."</p>
+
+<p>"But not by yourself&mdash;without Martin, Miss Hoodie. Your mamma always
+tells you to be obedient to Martin, I know."</p>
+
+<p>Hoodie vouchsafed no answer, but marched on, up the little garden path
+towards the house. Lucy looked after her in dismay. What should she do?
+Following her and repeating Martin's orders would probably only make
+Hoodie still more determined. Besides, Lucy was a very gentle, civil
+girl; it was very disagreeable to her to think of going into the
+cottage, and telling the owners of it that the child had been forbidden
+to speak to them, and she gazed round her in perplexity, heartily
+wishing that Miss Hoodie had not chosen her for her companion in her
+walk. Suddenly, some distance off, coming across the fields, she
+perceived two figures, a tall one and a little one. Lucy had good eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"Martin and Miss Maudie," she exclaimed, with relief, and just glancing
+back to see that Hoodie was by this time inside the cottage, she ran as
+fast as she could to meet the new comers and tell of Hoodie's
+disobedience.</p>
+
+<p>She was all out of breath by the time she got up to them, though they
+hastened their steps when they saw her coming&mdash;and at first Martin
+could not understand what Lucy was saying. When she did so, she was
+exceedingly put out.</p>
+
+<p>"Run into the cottage, has she, Lucy?" she exclaimed. "And after all I
+said! I really do think you might have managed her better, naughty
+though she is. Oh dear me, I do wish she hadn't been allowed to come out
+without me."</p>
+
+<p>Maudie stood by in great trouble at Hoodie's misdoing.</p>
+
+<p>"Martin will be so cross to her," she thought, "and Hoodie will speak
+naughtily, I'm sure. I'll run on to the cottage first and tell her how
+vexed Martin is, and beg her to come back quick and say she's sorry."</p>
+
+<p>And before Martin and Lucy noticed what she was doing, she was half way
+across the fields to the cottage.</p>
+
+<p>The door stood open when she got there. Maudie peeped into the kitchen
+but saw no one. "Hoodie," she called out softly, "are you there?"</p>
+
+<p>No answer.</p>
+
+<p>"Hoodie," called Maudie again, more loudly, "I've come to fetch you.
+Martin's just coming."</p>
+
+<p>Then Hoodie's voice sounded from above.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm up here, Maudie. I came up here 'cos there was no one in the
+kitchen. And baby's mother doesn't want me to stay 'cos poor baby's ill,
+so I'll come."</p>
+
+<p>Maudie could not, however, clearly distinguish what Hoodie said, so,
+guided by the sound of Hoodie's voice, she in turn mounted the
+ladder-like staircase which led to the sleeping-room above. Hoodie was
+just preparing to come down, but when Maudie made her appearance she
+drew back a little into the room.</p>
+
+<p>"Baby's mother won't let me nurse baby," she said, "'cos she's ill,
+though I'm sure I wouldn't hurt her. Do look at her, Maudie. You can't
+think how pretty she is when she's well&mdash;but her face is very red
+to-day&mdash;baby's mother thinks she's getting her teeth."</p>
+
+<p>Maudie approached rather timidly. Certainly the baby's face was very
+red.</p>
+
+<p>"Please, miss," said its mother, "I think you'd better not stay. It's
+very kind of you, and I'm that sorry I can't tell you, to ask you to
+go."</p>
+
+<p>"I've only <i>just</i> come up-stairs," said Hoodie. "I waited ever so long
+in the kitchen, 'cos I thought baby's mother was out, and that she'd
+come in soon. And then I called out and I heard she was up-stairs, so I
+came up, but she won't let me touch baby and I can nurse her so nicely."</p>
+
+<p>"It isn't for that, miss," said Mrs. Lizzie in distress; "it's only
+<i>for fear</i> there should be anything catchin' about her. Doctor saw her
+yesterday and thought it was only her teeth, still it's best to be
+careful."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, thank you," said Maudie, "I think we'd better go. Perhaps we'll
+come again when baby's better. Come, Hoodie."</p>
+
+<p>With some difficulty she got Hoodie away, for though considerably
+offended with baby's mother, Hoodie was much more inclined to stay and
+argue it out with her, than to give in quietly. At the foot of the stair
+they met Martin; Maudie explained things to her, and Martin's face grew
+very grave. She was too really alarmed to be cross.</p>
+
+<p>"Run out at once," she said, "both of you, into the open air, and stay
+in the field till I come; I have sent Lucy home. Better know the worst
+at once," she added to herself, as she climbed the steep little stair,
+"oh dear, oh dear! who ever would have thought of such a thing?"</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII.</h2>
+
+<h3>HOODIE AWAKES.</h3>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"And till we're nice old ladies<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">We'll love each other so."<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<p>When Martin joined the two little girls again, her face looked not only
+grave, but white. Maudie felt frightened, she hardly knew why. Hoodie,
+in a state of defiance to meet the expected scolding, was so amazed at
+its not coming that the surprise kept her quiet. So they all three
+walked home in silence, though as fast as possible. No lingering by the
+way to gather flowers, or to watch the ducks in Farmer Girton's pond!
+Martin held a hand of each little girl, and merely saying now and then,
+"We must go straight home, my dears," marched steadily on. It was a
+strange, unnatural kind of walk&mdash;the children felt something mysterious
+about it, without knowing what, and poor Martin's heart was terribly
+sore. She <i>could not</i> scold Hoodie, naughty as she had undoubtedly
+been, for sad fears were picturing themselves before her&mdash;what might not
+be the result of Hoodie's disobedience?</p>
+
+<p>"Supposing," thought poor Martin, who was of a very anxious, as well as
+affectionate disposition, "supposing this is the last walk we ever have
+together? oh dear, oh dear&mdash;scarlet fever is an awful thing once it gets
+into a family, and the kind that is about is a bad kind, they say."</p>
+
+<p>She did not lose her presence of mind, however. As soon as ever they
+reached the house, she sent the two children straight up to Maudie's
+room, a plainly furnished little room opening out of the day-nursery,
+and told them to wait there till she came to them. Then she went at once
+to see their mother, and some time passed before she came up to them.</p>
+
+<p>"What's the matter, Martin?" said Maudie, timidly. "Why do you look so
+sad?"</p>
+
+<p>She did not notice that her mother had followed Martin into the room.</p>
+
+<p>"Martin is rather troubled about something," said her mother, "and you
+must both try to be very good. And I want to tell you that dear little
+Hec and Duke are not coming home this evening. They are going to stay a
+few days at the Rectory."</p>
+
+<p>Maudie gazed up into her mother's face. She saw there were tears in her
+eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"Mamma!" she exclaimed. Then in a low voice she whispered, "I
+understand, mamma. I'll try to be good, and I'll pray to God for us not
+to get the catching illness."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Caryll stooped and kissed her.</p>
+
+<p>"I knew you would be good, dear, and try to make Hoodie so too. Poor
+Hoodie&mdash;she does not know what her disobedience may have caused."</p>
+
+<p>The next few days passed slowly and strangely. It was strange and dull
+to be without the boys, and to Hoodie it was particularly strange that
+no one scolded her for what she knew she had deserved scolding. They
+went out for a walk twice a day, by the doctor's orders, who came to see
+them the morning after the unfortunate visit to the cottage. Every one
+was very kind, but every one looked grave, and very soon Hoodie began to
+find it very dull to have no lessons to do, no Hec and Duke to play and
+quarrel with, and to have to spend all their time in the two rooms,
+except of course when they were out with Martin, who never left them for
+a minute. It was very dull, but worse was to follow. On the morning of
+the sixth day, Maudie woke with a headache, and a bad pain in her
+throat, and bravely as she tried to bear it, it was plain to be seen
+that the poor little girl was suffering very much. Martin would not let
+her get up, and an hour or two after breakfast, Hoodie, sitting alone
+and very disconsolate in the day-nursery, heard Dr. Reynolds and her
+mother coming up-stairs. She jumped up and ran to meet them.</p>
+
+<p>"Mamma," she said, "Martin won't let me play with Maudie, and I've
+nothing to do. Martin is very cross."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Caryll looked gravely at Hoodie.</p>
+
+<p>"Hoodie," she said, "you <i>must</i> be obedient."</p>
+
+<p>"And Miss Maudie doesn't want her, ma'am," said Martin, appearing at the
+door of Maudie's room. "She can't bear the least noise; and any way it's
+better for Miss Hoodie not to be near her, isn't it, sir?" she asked,
+turning to the doctor.</p>
+
+<p>He shrugged his shoulders.</p>
+
+<p>"As to infection," he said, "separating them now is a chance the more,
+that's all one can say. But one must do one's best. And in any case the
+child is better out of a fevered atmosphere. I would prepare another
+room for her, I think," he added to Mrs. Caryll, and then they both went
+into Maudie's room, and Hoodie heard no more.</p>
+
+<p>Hoodie sat by herself, drumming her little fat legs on the side of the
+table.</p>
+
+<p>"I wonder what they mean," she said to herself. "I wonder what the
+doctor means about affection. That's loving&mdash;at least people always put
+it at the end of their letters whether they're loving or not. I think
+people tells lots of stories when they'se big&mdash;<i>lotser</i> than when
+they'se little. And it's all that horrid Martin that's stoppened my
+going into Maudie's room&mdash;I don't believe Maudie said she didn't want
+me."</p>
+
+<p>Just then Martin put her head out at the doorway of the inner room.</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Hoodie," she said, "please ring the bell&mdash;there's no bell in
+here&mdash;and when Jane comes up, tell her to send Lucy to speak to me at
+the other door&mdash;the door that opens to the passage."</p>
+
+<p>Hoodie executed the commission with great alacrity&mdash;even having a
+message to give was better than having nothing at all to do, and ringing
+the bell had always been greatly after Hoodie's own heart.</p>
+
+<p>Somewhat to her surprise, a few minutes after Jane had gone down again
+in search of Lucy, Lucy herself came into the nursery.</p>
+
+<p>"You were to go to the <i>other</i> door. What a time you've been of coming
+up," said Hoodie, politely.</p>
+
+<p>"I've <i>been</i> to the other door, Miss Hoodie, and Martin has told me what
+she wants me to do," replied Lucy. "Poor Martin, I'm right down sorry
+for her, and poor little Miss Maudie," said Lucy. "Now, Miss Hoodie, I'm
+going to take you out into the garden a little, and when we come in I'm
+going to stay with you in the sewing-room."</p>
+
+<p>Lucy's manner had become more decided, and somehow Hoodie did not make
+any objection. She let Lucy put on her hat and take her into the garden,
+quietly enough.</p>
+
+<p>"Is Maudie <i>very</i> ill, Lucy?" she asked.</p>
+
+<p>"I hope not," said Lucy, "but it's too soon to say much yet."</p>
+
+<p>"Why are you sorry for Martin?" was Hoodie's next inquiry.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, because it's such a upset, and her that's that fond of you all,"
+said Lucy. "I'm sure if there's anything I can do, I'll be only too
+glad. I'm very glad I've had the fever."</p>
+
+<p>"Why are you glad? When did you have it, and was it the affection fever
+like what Maudie's got?" asked Hoodie.</p>
+
+<p>Lucy did not laugh. She was rather a matter-of-fact girl.</p>
+
+<p>"I had it when I was six, and people don't often, almost never, have it
+twice," she replied. "That's how I'm to take care of you, Miss Hoodie,
+otherwise they'd have been afraid of my catching it. Your mamma's a very
+kind lady that way, and it's dreadfully catching&mdash;just see how poor Miss
+Maudie's got it with that one minute in that cottage the other day."</p>
+
+<p>Hoodie stared at her.</p>
+
+<p>"Did Maudie catch it that day she ran to tell me to come away from the
+baby's mother's cottage?" she said.</p>
+
+<p>Lucy stared at her in turn.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course," she said. "Didn't you know that, Miss Hoodie? It can't be
+helped now, you see, and we must hope Miss Maudie will get better. But
+it'll be a lesson to you to be obedient another time. Let's go and
+gather some flowers, Miss Hoodie, and make a little nosegay for you to
+send in to Miss Maudie."</p>
+
+<p>But Hoodie shook her head, and she had a look in her face which made
+Lucy wish she had not told her what she had, though never doubting but
+that the child already knew it.</p>
+
+<p>"Maudie wouldn't care for any flowers from <i>me</i>. Nobody will ever love
+me at all now," she said. "It was me that made Maudie ill. Oh, I do wish
+God had made me ill instead of Maudie, for everybody loves her, and
+nobody loves me."</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Hoodie," said Lucy, really startled. "You <i>mustn't</i> talk so.
+Everybody would love you just as they do Miss Maudie if you'd try to be
+a good and obedient little girl."</p>
+
+<p>Hoodie shook her head again.</p>
+
+<p>"You don't know, Lucy," she said. "I have tried and it isn't any good,
+so I've left off."</p>
+
+<p>Lucy trembled a little as to what this announcement might be followed up
+by, in the way of special naughtiness. But her fears were misplaced.
+Hoodie was perfectly good and gentle all day&mdash;almost too much so indeed;
+Lucy would have liked to see a touch of her old self-will and petulance,
+for she could not help fearing she was to blame for the strange
+depression of Hoodie's spirits. She was very kind and good to the little
+girl, and did her utmost to amuse her, but it was a strange, sad time.
+The house, lately so cheerful with children's voices and the patter of
+their restless little feet up and down the passages, was now silent and
+gloomy, and the servants spoke with hushed voices and went about with
+anxious looks. Hoodie was not allowed to go near Maudie's room&mdash;she only
+saw her mother and Martin now and then at the end of the passage, or out
+of the window, for they were both engrossed in nursing Maudie. Every
+morning Hoodie sent Lucy as soon as she awoke to ask for news of
+Maudie, and though she said very little, there was a look in her eyes
+when Lucy brought back the answer&mdash;"Not much better yet, Miss
+Hoodie,"&mdash;that went to Lucy's heart.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll never say Miss Hoodie has no feelings again," she said to herself,
+"never."</p>
+
+<p>After a few days there came a morning when Lucy, who was not very clever
+at hiding <i>her</i> feelings, came back to Hoodie looking graver than usual,
+and with something very like tears in her eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"Isn't Maudie better <i>yet</i>, Lucy?" asked Hoodie with a sad sort of
+impatience.</p>
+
+<p>"She couldn't be better <i>yet</i>, Miss Hoodie," said Lucy, "an illness like
+that always takes its time."</p>
+
+<p>"But is she <i>worser</i> then?" said Hoodie, staring up in Lucy's face.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm afraid she is, rather. Her throat's so sore," said Lucy, turning
+away.</p>
+
+<p>Hoodie said nothing, but sat down quietly on her little chair, leaning
+her head on her hands. A few minutes after, Lucy went down to the
+kitchen with Hoodie's breakfast things&mdash;she happened not to shut the
+door firmly, as the tray was in her hands, and when she came up-stairs
+again, she was surprised to hear some one talking in the room.</p>
+
+<p>"Who can it be?" she said to herself, for Mrs. Caryll had given strict
+orders that in case of any infection about Hoodie herself, none of the
+other servants were to be with her. Lucy stopped a minute to listen. The
+voice was Hoodie's own. She was kneeling in a corner of the room, and
+the words Lucy overheard were these&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Maudie is worser," Hoodie was saying, "Maudie is worser, and if she
+keeps getting worser she'll die. And it wasn't Maudie's fault that she
+got the affection fever. It was Hoodie's fault. Oh, please, dear God,
+make Maudie better, and Hoodie won't mind if <i>she</i> gets the fever, 'cos
+it was her fault. Hoodie's been so naughty, and poor Maudie's good. And
+everybody loves Maudie, but nobody <i>can</i> love Hoodie. So please, dear
+God, make Maudie better," and then she ended in her usual fashion&mdash;"For
+Jesus Christ's sake. Amen."</p>
+
+<p>Lucy stood holding her breath at the door. When she saw that Hoodie got
+up from kneeling and sat quietly down on her chair again, she ventured
+to enter the room. Hoodie looked at her rather suspiciously.</p>
+
+<p>"Lucy," she said, with a touch of her old imperiousness, "I think you
+should 'amember to knock at the door."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well, Miss Hoodie," said Lucy meekly, for somehow she could not
+have helped agreeing with whatever Hoodie chose to say, "I'll not forget
+again."</p>
+
+<p>Hoodie sat quite quiet, still leaning her head on her hands, doing
+nothing and seeming to wish for nothing.</p>
+
+<p>"Are you not well to-day, Miss Hoodie?" Lucy asked at last.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Hoodie, "I'm kite well, and I think Maudie'll be better
+to-morrow."</p>
+
+<p>But all day long she continued very, very quiet, and once or twice Lucy
+wondered if she should let Hoodie's mother or Martin know how strange
+the child seemed.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll wait till to-morrow, any way," she decided. "It seems a shame to
+trouble them more to-day, for this has been much the worst day with Miss
+Maudie, I fancy. It's to be hoped it's the turn."</p>
+
+<p>And when to-morrow morning came she was glad she had not troubled them,
+for Hoodie seemed better and brighter than for some days past. She did
+not seem impatient for the news of Maudie, not as impatient as Lucy
+herself, who ran along to tap at Martin's door as soon as she awoke, and
+came back with a relieved face to tell Hoodie that the news was much
+better this morning, Maudie seemed really to have got the turn.</p>
+
+<p>"I knew she'd be better to-day," said Hoodie, composedly. "Didn't I tell
+you so, Lucy?"</p>
+
+<p>And when they went out into the garden she carefully gathered a nosegay
+for Maudie, choosing the prettiest flowers and tying them together with
+a piece of ribbon she took off one of her dolls.</p>
+
+<p>"Take those to Maudie's room, Lucy," she said, "and tap at the door, and
+tell Martin they're for Miss Maudie with Miss Hoodie's love, and she's
+very glad she's better."</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="ill16" id="ill16"></a>
+<img src="images/ill16.jpg" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+<h3>"Tell Martin they're for Miss Maudie with Miss Hoodie's love."</h3>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>"Miss Maudie will be pleased, I'm sure," said Lucy, thinking to herself
+as she said so how very pretty Miss Hoodie was looking. Her eyes were so
+bright, and her cheeks so rosy, and on her face there was such a pretty
+smile while she was arranging the flowers, that Lucy could not resist
+stooping down to kiss her.</p>
+
+<p>"Never was a sweeter child than she can be when she likes," said Lucy to
+herself, as she made her way with the nosegay and the message to
+Maudie's room.</p>
+
+<p>Altogether things were beginning to look much brighter again, and,
+reassured as to Maudie's being really better, Mrs. Caryll went to bed
+that night for the first time for a fortnight, with a lighter heart.</p>
+
+<p>"Maudie is much better," she had written that evening to Cousin
+Magdalen, "and it is not now likely that Hoodie will get the fever, as
+so many days have passed. Somehow I have never felt very uneasy about
+Hoodie from the first, though 'by rights,' as the children say, she
+should have had it and not poor Maudie, as it all came through her
+disobedience. And even if she had got it, I should not have felt so
+anxious as about Maudie&mdash;Hoodie is so very strong. But I hope now that
+we need not be anxious about either, and that our troubles are passing
+over."</p>
+
+<p>Poor Mrs. Caryll would not have written so cheerfully had she known that
+that very afternoon Lucy's fears about Hoodie had again been aroused.
+The little girl would not eat anything at tea-time, though she drank
+eagerly two or three cups of milk. And after tea she said her head
+ached, and she was so sleepy and tired that Lucy thought it well to put
+her early to bed.</p>
+
+<p>"Such a pity," thought Lucy, "just when she was looking so bright this
+morning. I wish I could think she had just caught cold, but the
+weather's so fine, it's not likely."</p>
+
+<p>All night Hoodie tossed about uneasily. She started and talked in her
+sleep, and by morning she looked so flushed and strange that Lucy felt
+that she must at once tell Martin, and that there could be no question
+of Hoodie's getting up and being dressed. She wanted to get up, poor
+little girl, but her head felt so giddy when she raised it from the
+pillow that she was glad to lay it down again. And before the day was
+many hours older, there was no doubt that Hoodie had got the fever.</p>
+
+<p>She knew it herself, though nothing was said about it before her, and
+she had her own thoughts about it in her mind, which she expressed to
+Lucy when no one else was there.</p>
+
+<p>"I've got the affection fever, Lucy," she said. "I'm sure I have, 'cos I
+asked God to make Maudie better 'cos it wasn't her fault, and I said I
+wouldn't mind if I had it, 'cos it was my fault."</p>
+
+<p>And poor Lucy, not knowing what to say, turned away to hide the tears in
+her eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't think we need be anxious about her," said Mrs. Caryll to the
+doctor, "she is so much stronger than Maudie."</p>
+
+<p>But Dr. Reynolds did not reply very heartily; the truth being that he
+saw from the first that Hoodie was likely to be much more ill than
+Maudie had been. And Hoodie herself from the first, too, seemed to have
+a strange, babyish instinct that it was so.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm glad Maudie is better," she said often during the first day or
+two, to Lucy, "'cos you know it wasn't her fault. I don't mind having
+the affection fever, but it is rather sore. Everybody loves Maudie so,
+it's a good thing she's better."</p>
+
+<p>"But everybody loves you too, Miss Hoodie," said Lucy, tenderly,
+"specially when you're such a good, patient little girl."</p>
+
+<p>Hoodie made a movement as if she would have shaken her head, only the
+poor little head was too heavy and aching to shake.</p>
+
+<p>"No, Lucy," she said, "not like Maudie, 'cos she's so good, and I'm not.
+I did try, but I had to leave off. And my bird's dead, you know, though
+I did ask God to take care of it every time I said my prayers. But I'm
+glad God's made Maudie better. I 'appose it's 'cos she's good. But I
+don't mind having the fever&mdash;not now my bird's dead, 'cos he did love
+me, didn't he, Lucy?"</p>
+
+<p>Her mind was beginning to wander, and for many days and nights Hoodie
+knew nothing of anything that passed about her. Sometimes she seemed in
+a sort of stupor, at others she would talk incessantly in her little
+weak childish voice, till it made one's heart ache to hear her. She did
+not suffer so much from her throat as Maudie had done, though otherwise
+so much more ill. The fever seemed to have seized her in its strong,
+cruel arms with so hard a grasp, that often and often it appeared to
+those about her as if it never again would let her go, but would carry
+her away out of their sight, without her even being able to bid them
+good-bye&mdash;murmuring ever those sad words which seemed to be burnt into
+her childish brain, about nobody loving her because she wasn't good like
+Maudie, about having tried in vain to be good, and that her birdie was
+dead and God didn't love her either, always ending up that it was a good
+thing Maudie was better, "wasn't it, Lucy?" Though when poor Lucy choked
+down her tears to answer cheerfully "Yes, indeed, Miss Hoodie," poor
+Hoodie could not hear her voice, and began again the same weary
+murmurings.</p>
+
+<p>It was very sad for them all&mdash;most sad of all for Hoodie's mother, whose
+heart grew sore as she listened to her poor little girl's faint words.
+It seemed to her that never before had she understood her child, and the
+great longing for love that had been hidden in her queer-tempered,
+fanciful nature.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, Hoodie darling, we do love you&mdash;dearly, dearly," she would
+sometimes say as she bent over her; but the bright eyes, too bright by
+far, gazed up without seeing, and the weary little head, shorn of its
+pretty tangle of fuzzy hair, moved restlessly on the pillow, while
+Hoodie kept talking about her dead bird and nobody loving her, through
+the slow weary hours while life and death were fighting over her little
+bed.</p>
+
+<p>"If she dies without knowing us again, it will break my heart," said
+Hoodie's mother to the doctor; and what could he say, poor man, but
+shake his head sorrowfully in sympathy?</p>
+
+<p>They tried to prevent Maudie knowing how ill Hoodie was, but it was
+impossible. When people are ill, or recovering from illness, they seem
+to guess things in a way that is sometimes quite astonishing, and so it
+was with Maudie. She was now much better&mdash;she had been half-dressed and
+lifted on to a sofa in her own room some days ago, but when she found
+out about Hoodie, she fretted so dreadfully that it threatened to make
+her ill again.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, do let me see her!" she cried. "I don't mind if she's too ill to
+know me. I don't mind if she can't speak to me, but I must see her. Poor
+Hoodie, dear little Hoodie," she went on, the tears streaming down her
+face. "Oh, mamma, I don't think I was always very kind to her. I used to
+tell her we'd be happier without her, but I <i>do</i> love her. Oh, do let me
+see her!"</p>
+
+<p>For unfortunately, through hearing some of the servants talking, Maudie
+knew some part of what Hoodie had been saying in her unconsciousness,
+and it was this that was distressing her so greatly.</p>
+
+<p>Oh, children dear, remember this&mdash;there is no pain so terrible, no
+suffering so without comfort, as the feeling sorrow <i>too late</i> for
+unkindness or want of tenderness to others&mdash;little sharp words which did
+not seem so bad at the time, careless or selfish neglect of the wishes
+we could have gratified with just a little trouble&mdash;how they all rise up
+<i>afterwards</i> and refuse to be forgotten! Our grief may then exaggerate
+our past unkindness perhaps, and, as is the way with our weak human
+nature, things out of our reach seem of double value; the affection we
+knew to be always at hand we never prized enough till we lost it. But
+should we not take this as a warning? Avoid the <i>habit</i> of small
+unkindnesses, of sharp, hurting words&mdash;even though in your heart you do
+not mean them. Try, my darlings, every hour and every day, to behave to
+each other as you would wish to have behaved, were this day to be your
+last together. Then indeed even the sore parting of death would lose
+half its bitterness&mdash;the kingdom of Heaven would already have begun in
+your own hearts&mdash;the happy kingdom where there is neither sorrow nor
+bitterness, nor tears&mdash;the kingdom over which reigns the beautiful
+Spirit of Love.</p>
+
+<p>At last there came a day on which the doctor said that without risk
+Maudie might be taken to see Hoodie&mdash;only to see her&mdash;there was no
+thought of her speaking to Hoodie, or Hoodie to her, for the little girl
+was lying in a stupor&mdash;quite quiet and unconscious, and out of this
+stupor, though he did not say so, Dr. Reynolds had but little hope of
+her waking to life again. The fever had let her go at last, had thrown
+her down, as it were, careless of how she fell, and the poor little
+shaken worn-out Hoodie that it had left there, white and thin and
+lifeless, hardly seemed as if it <i>could</i> ever rouse up again to live and
+talk and play&mdash;and there was nothing to do but to wait.</p>
+
+<p>So Maudie was carried into the room where this unfamiliar Hoodie was
+lying, and allowed to look at her poor little face and to cry quietly to
+herself as she looked. In whose arms, children, do you think she was
+carried? It was in Magdalen's. When she heard of the trouble that had
+fallen over her little friends she could not rest till she came to them.
+She had had the fever long ago, she wrote; she was so strong that
+nursing never made her ill or tired&mdash;she could sit up a whole week of
+nights without being knocked up. But when she arrived she found that in
+the way of actual nursing there was little to do. Hoodie lay still and
+lifeless&mdash;all the restlessness gone; for her indeed, it seemed to
+Magdalen, there would never again be anything to do, no care and
+tenderness to bestow&mdash;and the thought brought burning tears to poor
+Magdalen's eyes, though she bravely drove them back, and did her best to
+comfort Maudie and her mother.</p>
+
+<p>"Cousin Magdalen," said Maudie, when they had sat for a few minutes by
+Hoodie's bed, "Cousin Magdalen, can't we do <i>anything</i> to make her
+better? Oh, dear, dear little Hoodie, oh, how I wish I had never been
+the least bit not kind to her."</p>
+
+<p>Then raising herself in her cousin's arms, she knelt on her lap, and
+leaning her head on Magdalen's shoulder, she said, while her voice was
+broken with sobs&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, dear God, <i>please</i> make Hoodie better. We do so love her&mdash;and she
+doesn't know how we love her, because I've been unkind to her sometimes.
+Oh, dear God, <i>please</i> make her better."</p>
+
+<p>And then, her voice changing a little, as if she were afraid that her
+simple entreaty was hardly solemn enough to be considered "prayer," she
+added, like Hoodie, "For Jesus Christ's sake. Amen."</p>
+
+<p>A slight movement just then made itself heard in Hoodie's cot; a
+flutter more than anything else. Magdalen, gently putting Maudie on her
+chair, started up in alarm. She knew that any change in Hoodie was now
+most critical. She bent over the child, the better to observe her. A
+faint smile came fluttering to Hoodie's face, and in another moment,
+with a little effort, she opened her eyes. But she did not seem to see,
+or if she saw, she did not recognize, Magdalen, for the word that she
+whispered was "Maudie."</p>
+
+<p>Low as it was Maudie heard it.</p>
+
+<p>"She's speaking to me," she exclaimed. "Yes, Hoodie dear, what is it?"</p>
+
+<p>Magdalen lifted her on to the bed. She could not refuse, though afraid
+that perhaps she was not doing right. The two little sisters lay close
+together.</p>
+
+<p>"Maudie," whispered Hoodie again, in a little, weak, faint voice.
+"Maudie, I was waking, and I heard you speaking so nice. I heard you say
+'Please God make Hoodie better, 'cos we <i>do</i> so love her.' I didn't know
+that, Maudie, I've been so naughty. But if you want me to get better
+I'll try. God's been very kind except that He let birdie die. But I love
+you better than birdie, Maudie, and perhaps God'll make me better too."</p>
+
+<p>She could not say any more, but she smiled again as Maudie, put her
+arms round her and covered her face with loving kisses. Then Martin,
+whom Magdalen had summoned, gave her the wine the doctor had ordered in
+case of her awaking; Hoodie took it meekly, and then turning her head on
+the pillow murmured gently, "I'm very sleepy, but I'll soon get better.
+The affection fever was very sore, Maudie."</p>
+
+<p>Hoodie was right. From that moment she did begin to get better. They
+were still very anxious about her&mdash;there were many days still to pass
+before it was quite sure that she was out of danger, and for many more
+after that she was so weak that it hardly seemed as if a child's usual
+strength could ever come back to her. But in time all came right, and
+terribly ill as she had been, the fever left no lasting harm. And the
+life that began for the two little sisters from this time was a bright
+and peaceful one&mdash;they had learnt to value each other and each other's
+love as never before, and from the moment that it came home to Hoodie,
+that she really took into her fanciful little heart, how dearly she was
+loved, half her troubles seemed at an end. Day by day she learned new
+ways in which even she, a little simple child, might help and comfort
+and cheer those about her&mdash;she lost the old sore feeling of being
+nothing but a trouble and a worry, an "alvays naughty" Hoodie, and
+never again was any one tempted to say that among the fairies invited to
+baby Julian's christening, those of sweet temper and unselfishness had
+been forgotten.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>They are grown-up now&mdash;much more than grown-up. If you met them in the
+street, if they came to call on your mother some day, you would not
+guess they were quiet little Maudie and queer-tempered Hoodie. And as
+for Hec and Duke!&mdash;they could jump you up on their great strong
+shoulders as easily as the ogres they used to be so fond of making up
+stories about. There is only one thing which, if you heard it said, as
+it often is, might remind you of the children I have been telling you
+about. Men and women as they are, separated sometimes by half the world,
+it has always been remarked of them how much they love each
+other&mdash;brothers and sisters in deed, as well as in name, friends tried
+and true to each other through all the difficulties and sorrows and
+troubles which have come to them as to every one else in this world of
+many colours; of rainy as well as of sunny days&mdash;of discouragement and
+disappointment, but of happiness too&mdash;and love through all.</p>
+
+<p>Cousin Magdalen's dark hair is beginning to get white now, but still I
+feel sure you would think her very pretty. Did she ever write out the
+story that she promised to tell Hoodie and the others some day? By the
+bye I must not forget to ask her the next time we meet.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<div class="figcenter">
+<a name="ill17" id="ill17"></a>
+<img src="images/ill17.jpg" alt=""/>
+</div>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="Books_by_Mrs_Molesworth" id="Books_by_Mrs_Molesworth"></a>Books by Mrs. Molesworth</h2>
+
+<h4>PUBLISHED BY</h4>
+
+<h3>W. &amp; R. CHAMBERS, Limited.</h3>
+
+
+<p>MEG LANGHOLME; or, The Day after To-morrow. Eight Illustrations by W.
+Rainey</p>
+
+<p>PHILIPPA. Eight Illustrations by J. Finnemore</p>
+
+<p>OLIVIA. Eight Illustrations by Robert Barnes</p>
+
+<p>BLANCHE. Eight Illustrations by Robert Barnes</p>
+
+<p>ROBIN REDBREAST. Six Illustrations by R. Barnes</p>
+
+<p>WHITE TURRETS. Four Illustrations by W. Rainey</p>
+
+<p>IMOGEN; or, Only Eighteen. Four Illustrations by H. A. Bone</p>
+
+<p>THE NEXT-DOOR HOUSE. Six Illustrations by W. Hatherell</p>
+
+<p>THE GREEN CASKET, AND OTHER STORIES. Illustrated</p>
+
+<p>THE BEWITCHED LAMP. Frontispiece by R. Barnes</p>
+
+<p>NESTA; or, Fragments of a Little Life</p>
+
+
+<p>W. &amp; R. CHAMBERS, <span class="smcap">Ltd., London and Edinburgh</span>.</p>
+
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr class="full" />
+<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HOODIE***</p>
+<p>******* This file should be named 26125-h.txt or 26125-h.zip *******</p>
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@@ -0,0 +1,7088 @@
+The Project Gutenberg eBook, Hoodie, by Mary Louisa Stewart Molesworth,
+Illustrated by Lewis Baumer
+
+
+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: Hoodie
+
+
+Author: Mary Louisa Stewart Molesworth
+
+
+
+Release Date: July 25, 2008  [eBook #26125]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HOODIE***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Chris Curnow, Lindy Walsh, and the Project Gutenberg
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net)
+
+
+
+Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
+      file which includes the original illustrations.
+      See 26125-h.htm or 26125-h.zip:
+      (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/6/1/2/26125/26125-h/26125-h.htm)
+      or
+      (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/6/1/2/26125/26125-h.zip)
+
+
+
+
+
+HOODIE
+
+by
+
+MRS. MOLESWORTH
+
+Illustrated by Lewis Baumer
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+W. & R. Chambers. Limited.
+London and Edinburgh.
+1897
+
+Edinburgh:
+Printed by W. & R. Chambers, Limited.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: "Nobody loves poor Hoodie."]
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+   CHAPTER I. AT WAR WITH THE WORLD
+
+   CHAPTER II. HOODIE GOES IN SEARCH OF A GRANDMOTHER
+
+   CHAPTER III. LITTLE BABY AND ITS MOTHER
+
+   CHAPTER IV. MAUDIE'S GODMOTHER
+
+   CHAPTER V. STORIES TELLING
+
+   CHAPTER VI. "THE CHINTZ CURTAINS"
+
+   CHAPTER VII. TWO TRUES
+
+   CHAPTER VIII. HOODIE'S FOUNDLING
+
+   CHAPTER IX. THE GOLDEN CAGE
+
+   CHAPTER X. FLOWN
+
+   CHAPTER XI. HOODIE'S DISOBEDIENCE
+
+   CHAPTER XII. HOODIE AWAKES
+
+
+
+
+LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
+
+
+   "Nobody loves poor Hoodie"
+
+   "I had my basket on my arm, and the big doggie stood beside me"
+
+   "It's just like Martin's cottage"
+
+   "Who is zou, please?"
+
+   Poor Cross
+
+   "Up in the nursley," said Hoodie coolly
+
+   "Has zou had a nice sleep?"
+
+   "He took off the cap and bowed low"
+
+   Hec and Duke ... sticking daisies on to a thorn
+
+   "If peoples interrumpt, I wish they'd finish their interrumpting,
+   and not stop in the middle"
+
+   "The darling," said Hoodie ecstatically
+
+   Hec refused to be comforted
+
+   "Please 'agive me and kiss me"
+
+   "Slowly and cautiously, whistling softly all the time"
+
+   "Oh dear," she exclaimed. "Are the flowers all gone?"
+
+   "Tell Martin they're for Miss Maudie with Miss Hoodie's love"
+
+   Finis
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: HOODIE]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+AT WAR WITH THE WORLD.
+
+    "Who would think so small a thing
+    Could make so great a pother?"
+
+
+A pretty, cheerful nursery--a nursery in which surely children could not
+but be happy--with pictures on the walls and toys in the glass-doored
+cupboard, and rocking-horse and doll-house, and everything a child's
+heart could wish for. Spring sunshine faint but clear, like the first
+pale primrose, peeping in at the window, a merry fire crackling away in
+the tidy hearth. And just in front of it, for it is early spring only, a
+group of children pleasant to see. A soft-haired, quiet-eyed little
+girl, a book open upon her knee, and at each side, nestling in beside
+her, a cherub-faced dot of a boy, listening to the story she was reading
+aloud.
+
+Such a peaceful, pretty picture! Ah yes--what a pity to disturb it. But
+I must show you the whole of it. Into this pretty nursery flies another
+child--a tiny fairy of a girl, tiny even for her years which are but
+five--in she flies, down the long passage which leads to the children's
+quarters, in at the nursery door, which, in spite of her hurry, she
+carefully closes, and seeing that the other door is open closes it too,
+then, flying back to the centre of the room, deliberately sets to work
+to--children, can you guess?--to _scream_!
+
+She sheds no tears, there is no grief, only wrath, great and furious, in
+the little face which should have been so pretty, in the big blue eyes
+which should have been so sweet. She shakes herself till her fair,
+fluffy hair is all in a "touzle," she dances with rage till her neck and
+arms are crimson, from time to time in the middle of her screams calling
+out at the pitch of her voice,
+
+"I don't love _any_ body. I don't want _any_ 'sing. I don't like _any_
+'sing. Go away ugly evybody. I don't love Pince. Go away ugly Pince."
+
+The girl by the fire looked up for a moment.
+
+"Prince isn't here," she said. "Oh, Hoodie," she went on wearily, "how
+_can_ you--how can you be so naughty?"
+
+Hoodie turned towards her sister.
+
+"I don't love _zou_, Maudie. Naughty, ugly Maudie. Pince _sall_ be
+here. Naughty Maudie. I _sall_ be naughty. I don't love _any_ body."
+
+"Nebber mind, Maudie dear, nebber mind naughty Hoodie. Hoodie's always
+naughty. Please go on, Maudie," said one of the two little boys.
+
+Magdalen tried to go on. But in the midst of such a din, it was very
+difficult to make herself heard, and at last she gave up in despair.
+
+"It's no good, Hec," she said, "I can't go on. Hoodie spoils everything
+when she gets like that."
+
+The little fellows' faces lengthened.
+
+"Hoodie 'poils ebery'sing," they murmured.
+
+Just then the door opened.
+
+"Miss Hoodie," said the maid who came in, "Miss Hoodie again! And Sunday
+morning too--the day you should be extra good."
+
+"The day she is nearly always extra naughty," said Magdalen, with the
+superiority of eight years old. "It's no good speaking to her, Martin.
+She's going to go on--she shut the doors first."
+
+Martin seated herself composedly beside the three children.
+
+"I never did see such a child," she said; "no, never. You would think,
+Miss Maudie, she might stop if she liked, seeing how she can keep it in
+like, as long as she's afraid of her Mamma hearing. If she can keep it
+in till she shuts the doors, she might keep it in altogether, you would
+think."
+
+"Stop! of course she can stop if she likes," said Magdalen. "What was it
+set her off, Martin, do you know?"
+
+"Something about Prince," replied Martin. "Thomas said she was trying to
+get him to come up-stairs with her, and he whistled to him, not knowing,
+and Prince ran away from her."
+
+"Hoodie's keeped all her bicsits for Pince, for a treat for him for
+Sunday," said little Hec, with some evident sympathy for Hoodie.
+
+"She shouldn't be so silly then," said Maudie. "What do dogs know about
+its being Sunday, and treats? I know Hoodie always spoils _our_ Sundays,
+and we're better than dogs."
+
+"I don't love you, naughty Maudie. I don't love _any_ body," screamed
+Hoodie.
+
+"It certainly doesn't look as if you did, and very soon nobody will love
+you, Miss Hoodie, if you go on so," said Martin, virtuously.
+
+"I wish," said Duke, the second twin, "I wish papa would build anoder
+_gate_ big house and put Hoodie to live there all alone, don't you,
+Maudie? A gate big house where not nobody could hear her sceaming."
+
+Great applause followed this brilliant idea--but the laughter only
+increased Hoodie's fury. Duke was the next she turned upon.
+
+"I don't love you, naughty, ugly Duke," she screamed. "I don't love
+_any_ body. Go away evybody, go away, go _away_, go AWAY."
+
+Such was Hoodie--poor Hoodie--at five years old!
+
+What had made her so naughty? That was the question that puzzled
+everybody concerned--not forgetting Hoodie herself.
+
+"I didn't make myself. 'Tisn't my fault. God should have made Hoodie
+gooder," she would say defiantly.
+
+And was it not a puzzle? There was Maudie, just as nice and good a
+little girl as one would wish to see, and Hec and Duke, both
+comfortable, good-natured little fellows--all three, children to whom
+things came right, and whose presence in the world seemed as natural and
+pleasant a thing as that of birds in the trees or daisies in the grass.
+Why should not Hoodie be like them? She was born in July--one bright
+sunny day when all the world was rejoicing--and little Maudie had been
+so pleased to have a baby sister, and her godmother had begged that she
+might be called "Julian," and everybody had, for a time, made much of
+her. But, alas, as the years went on, they told a different
+tale--governesses and nurses, sister and brothers, it was the same story
+with all--Hoodie's temper was the strangest and the worst that ever a
+child had made herself and other people miserable by.
+
+"I could really fancy," said Maudie one day, "I could really fancy, if
+there _were_ such things as fairies, you know--that one of them had been
+offended at not being asked to Hoodie's christening."
+
+And when Hoodie grew old enough to hear fairy tales, this speech of
+Maudie's came back to her mind, and she wondered, with the strange
+unexpressed bewilderment of a child, if indeed there were some mystery
+about her naughtiness--some spell cast upon her which it was hopeless to
+try to break. For she knew she was naughty, very naughty--she never
+thought of denying it. Only deep down _somewhere_ in her--where, she
+could not have told--there was a feeling that she did not _want_ to be
+naughty--she did not _like_ being naughty--there was a mistake about her
+somehow or somewhere, which nobody could understand or ever would, and
+which it never entered her head to try to explain to any one.
+
+The screaming went on steadily--agreeably for Hoodie herself, it is to
+be hoped, for it certainly was anything but pleasant for other people.
+Suddenly there came a lull--a step was heard coming along the passage,
+and light as it was, Hoodie's quick ears were the first to hear it. It
+was mother!
+
+Hoodie's power of self-control was really very great--her screams ceased
+entirely, only, as her fury had this time been _very_ great even for
+her, it had naturally arrived at tears and sobs, and in consequence she
+was not able all at once to stifle the sobs that shook her, or even by
+scrubbing at her poor eyes with all her might, with a rather grimy
+little ball which she called her "pocket-hankerwich," could she succeed
+in destroying all traces of the storm. She ran over to the window and
+stood with her back to the door, staring, or pretending to stare, down
+at the pretty garden beds, gay with crocuses and snowdrops. But mother's
+eyes were not to be so easily deceived. One glance at the peaceful,
+though subdued group round the fireplace, one anxious look at the little
+figure standing solitary by the window, its fat dimpled shoulders
+convulsively heaving every moment or two, its face resolutely turned
+away, and mother knew all.
+
+"What is wrong with Miss Julian?" she asked.
+
+"Really, ma'am, I can't quite say. I was down-stairs and when I came
+back she was in one of her ways, and you know, ma'am, it is no use
+speaking to her while she's like that. It was just some trifle about
+Prince, but if it wasn't that it would be something else."
+
+Martin's tone was slightly querulous, but Mrs. Caryll could not resent
+it. Martin as a rule was so good and patient with the children, and with
+the other three--Maudie and the boys--there was never a shadow of
+trouble. Even to Hoodie she was really kind, and though sometimes it did
+seem as if she did not take what is called "quite the right way with
+her," it would hardly have been fair to blame her for that, seeing that
+this mysterious right way in Hoodie's case, was quite as great a puzzle
+as the passage round the North Pole! So great a puzzle indeed that its
+very existence had come to be doubted, for hitherto one thing only about
+it was certain--no one had ever succeeded in finding it.
+
+On the whole, mother herself managed Hoodie better than any one else,
+but that, I fear, is not saying much. For whenever, after a long talk
+and many tears, Mrs. Caryll left the nursery with a somewhat lightened
+heart, thinking that for some time to come at least there was going to
+be peace, she was almost _sure_ to be disappointed. Generally these very
+times were followed by the worst outbreaks, and in despair Mrs. Caryll
+would leave off talks and gentle measures and simply lock the
+aggravating little girl into her bedroom, whence in a few hours, the fit
+having at last worked itself off, Hoodie would emerge, silent indeed,
+but _so_ cross, so unbearably irritable, that no one in the nursery
+dared look at her, much less speak to her, till a night's rest had to
+some extent soothed her down.
+
+It really seemed as if, as Martin said, there was nothing to do but
+leave her to herself, and it was with a terror of making things worse
+that Hoodie's mother now stood and looked at her, asking herself what
+_would_ be best to do.
+
+"Perhaps it would have been better," she said to herself, "if I had
+taken no notice of anything wrong," for she believed that Hoodie's
+intense mortification at _mother's_ knowing of her naughtiness was what
+gave her more influence over her than any one else. But it was not quite
+the kind of influence she most cared to have--mortification, to my
+thinking, never does any one any good, but only fosters the evil _roots_
+from whence all these troubles spring. "If Hoodie cared about my knowing
+for fear of it grieving me, I would understand better how to manage
+her," thought Mrs. Caryll. "But if it were so she would show her sorrow
+in a different way. It is her pride, not her love, that is concerned."
+
+She was right, but wrong too. Hoodie was proud, but also intensely
+loving. She did grieve in her own wild, unreasonable way, at distressing
+her mother, but most of all she grieved that _she_ should be the cause
+of it. It would have made her sorry for mother to be grieved by Maudie
+or the boys, but still that would have been different. It was the misery
+of believing herself to be always the cause of the unhappiness that
+seemed to come back and back upon her, making the very time at which she
+was "sorriest," the time at which it was hardest to be good.
+
+Hoodie's mother stood and considered. Then she crossed the room and
+touched her little girl on the neck. The bare white dumpling of a
+shoulder just "shruggled itself up" a little higher, but Hoodie gave no
+other sign of having felt anything.
+
+"Hoodie," said her mother.
+
+No reply.
+
+"_Hoodie_," a little louder.
+
+Hoodie _had_ to look round. What a face! Red eyes, tangled hair,
+frowning forehead, tight shut lips. No, the good angels had not yet
+found their way back to Hoodie's heart--the little black dog was still
+curled up on her back, scowling at every one that came near.
+
+"Hoodie," said her mother very quietly, "come with me to my room."
+
+Hoodie did not resist. She allowed her mother to take her hand and lead
+her away. As the door closed after them Maudie gave a sigh of relief.
+
+"Let's go on with our reading as long as we can," she said. "Hoodie will
+be worse than ever after she comes back. As soon as ever mother has gone
+down again and she thinks she won't hear, she'll begin again. Won't she,
+Martin?"
+
+"She often is like that," said Martin, "but perhaps she'll be better
+to-day. Go on reading, Miss Maudie, and take no notice of her when she
+comes in."
+
+In about ten minutes the door opened and Hoodie appeared. She marched in
+with a half-defiant air--evidently "humble-pie" had at present no
+attraction for her. No one took any notice of her. This did not suit
+Hoodie. She dragged her little chair across the room and placed it
+beside her sister's.
+
+"Doin' to be dood," she announced.
+
+"I'm glad to hear it, Miss Hoodie," said Martin.
+
+"Doin' to be dood. Maudie, litsen," said Hoodie impatiently, giving
+Magdalen's chair a jerk, "doin' to be _dood_."
+
+"Very well, Hoodie, only please don't pull my chair," said Maudie, in
+some fear and trembling.
+
+"You're not to read, you're to litsen when I speak," said Hoodie, "and I
+will pull your chair, if I like. I love mother, don't love _you_,
+Maudie, ugly 'sing that you is."
+
+Maudie did not answer. She glanced up at Martin for advice.
+
+"Well, Miss Maudie," said Martin cheerfully, "aren't you going on with
+your story?"
+
+"It's done, Martin, you forget," said Maudie.
+
+Martin gave her a glance which Maudie understood. "Say something to take
+off her attention," was the interpretation of it.
+
+"I'll look for another. Don't run away, Hec and Duke," said the elder
+sister quickly. "I am afraid there is nothing in this book but what we
+have read lots of times," she added, after turning over the leaves for a
+minute or two. "I wish it was somebody's birthday soon, and then we'd
+get some new stories."
+
+"My birthday next," observed Hoodie, complacently.
+
+"No, Hoodie, 'tisn't," exclaimed both the boys, "'tisn't your birthday
+nextest. 'Tis ours. Aren't it now, Martin? You told us."
+
+"Yes, dears, it is yours next. In June, Miss Hoodie dear, is theirs,
+you know, and yours won't be till July."
+
+Martin made the statement gingerly. She was uncommonly afraid of what
+she might be drawing on herself by her venturing to disagree with the
+small autocrat of the nursery. To her surprise Hoodie took the
+information philosophically, relieving her feelings only by a piece of
+biting satire.
+
+"That's acos the months is wrong. When _I_ make the months they will
+come 'July, June,' not 'June, July,'" she said.
+
+Hec and Duke thought this so original that they began laughing. A
+doubtful expression crept over Hoodie's face. Should she resent it, or
+laugh with them? Martin took the bull by the horns.
+
+"Shall I tell you a story, my dears?" she said, "of what I once did on
+one of my birthdays when I was little? It came into my mind the other
+day, and I wonder I never told it you before, for it's something like
+the story of 'Little Red Riding Hood,' that Miss Hoodie got her name
+from."
+
+"No, no, Martin. Hoodie didn't get her name from that," said Maudie
+eagerly. "It was this way. Mother got her a little hood _like_ Red
+Riding Hood's in our picture--only it was pink and not scarlet, and
+Hoodie liked it so, she screamed when they took it off, and once she
+was ill and she screamed so for it that they had to put it on her even
+in bed, and she had it on three days running."
+
+"Zee days zunning," repeated Hoodie, nodding her head with great
+satisfaction. She was evidently very proud of this legend of her
+infancy.
+
+"Dear me!" said Martin, "that was a funny fancy, to be sure. But the
+hood wouldn't be so pretty after that."
+
+"No, of course," said Maudie. "It was all crumpled up and spoilt. And
+mamma got her a new one, but Hoodie wouldn't have it on, and so after
+that she didn't have hoods any more, only she was always called Hoodie."
+
+"Always called Hoodie," reiterated the heroine of this remarkable
+anecdote, quite restored to good humour by finding herself looked upon
+as a historical character.
+
+"And now, Martin, what did you do on your birthday?" said Magdalen.
+
+"It was when I was eight," said Martin. "We lived in the country and we
+had a nice little farm. My father managed the farm and my mother had the
+dairy. And my old grandmother lived about three miles off in a little
+cottage near a wood--that was one thing that made me say it was like Red
+Riding Hood. I was very fond of going to see my grandmother, and I
+always counted it one of my treats. So the day before my birthday mother
+said to me, 'Janie, you shall go to your grandmother's to-morrow, if you
+like, as it is your birthday, and I'll pack a little basket for you to
+take to her, with some fresh eggs and butter. And I'll make a little
+cake for you to take too, and you shall stay to tea with her and have
+the cake to eat.'"
+
+"Had it pums in?" said Hec.
+
+"And laisins?" added Duke.
+
+"Silly boy," said Hoodie from the elevation of her five years, "pums
+_is_ laisins."
+
+"Oh," said Duke submissively.
+
+"Do on, Martin, do on, kick, kick, Martin," said Hoodie, "gee-up-ping"
+on her footstool as if Martin was a lazy horse she was trying to make go
+faster.
+
+"Well," continued Martin, "I was pleased to go as you can fancy, and the
+next afternoon off I set. It was such a nice day. The flowers were just
+at their best--I stopped more than once to gather honeysuckle and twist
+it round the handle of the basket, it looked so pretty, and when I got
+to the little wood near which stood grandmother's cottage, I could
+hardly get on for stopping to look at the flowers that peeped out at the
+edge that skirted the road. And then I thought to myself how beautiful
+it must be further in the wood, and what a lovely bunch of cowslips I
+might gather. There was a little stile just where I was standing--I
+climbed over it and put the basket down on the ground, as I could not
+run with it in my hand, and then off I set, down a little path between
+the trees, glancing at every side as I ran, for the flowers I wanted.
+But I was disappointed--in the wood the flowers were not near so pretty
+as at the edge, and after picking a few, I threw them away again and
+turned back to the stile, where I had left my basket. But fancy my
+trouble when I found it was not there! I had been away such a short
+time, I could not believe it was really gone. I searched and I
+searched--all in vain--it was really _gone_--so at last I sat down and
+cried. I cried till I was tired of crying, and then I got up and walked
+slowly on to grandmother's. She was so kind I knew she would not scold
+me, but still she would be sorry and disappointed. And I really felt as
+if I would be too ashamed ever to go home and tell mother. When I got to
+grandmother's and walked up the little path to the cottage door--she had
+a nice little garden with roses and stocks and gilly-flowers and
+sweet-williams and lots of other nice old flowers--I was surprised to
+see it closed. It was not often grandmother was out of an afternoon,
+and besides, being my birthday, she might have known I would likely be
+coming to see her.
+
+"'Everything's gone wrong with me to-day,' I said to myself, and vexed
+to think of the lost basket and the long hot walk back in the sun, I sat
+down on the little bench at the door and began to cry again. It seemed
+too bad that my birthday should be spoilt like that. I had cried so much
+that my eyes were sore, and I leant my head against the back of the
+bench--it stood in a sort of little arbour--and closed them. I was not
+sleepy, I was only tired and stupid-like, but you can't fancy how
+startled I was when suddenly I felt something lick my hand, which was
+hanging down at my side. I opened my eyes and jumped up. There stood
+beside me a great big dog--a dog I had never seen before, looking up at
+me with his gentle, soft eyes, while on the ground at my feet was my
+lost basket! I was so delighted that I couldn't feel frightened,
+besides, who could have been frightened of such a dear, kind-looking
+dog? I threw my arms round his neck and hugged him, and told him he was
+a darling to have found my basket, and for a minute or two I really
+thought to myself he must be a sort of fairy--he seemed to have come so
+wonderful-like, all of a sudden. Just then I heard voices coming along
+the road. I ran to the gate to see who it was, and there, to my joy,
+was grandmother, and beside her a neighbour of hers, a gamekeeper I had
+seen now and then. I had my basket on my arm and the big doggie stood
+beside me."
+
+[Illustration: "I had my basket on my arm and the big doggie stood
+beside me."]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+HOODIE GOES IN SEARCH OF A GRANDMOTHER.
+
+    "I care for nobody, no, not I,
+    And nobody cares for me!"
+
+
+Martin went on with her story:
+
+"'Janie!' cried grandmother when she saw me. 'What a nice picture they
+make--my little granddaughter and your great dog--don't they?' she said
+to the gamekeeper.
+
+"'And it was _your_ basket, little Janie, that he found at the stile,
+then,' said the dog's master, and then he and grandmother explained,
+that walking along the road--grandmother was going up with him to see
+his wife who was ill--the dog who was following them had suddenly darted
+to one side and then crept from under the hedge with the basket in his
+mouth. They couldn't think whose it was, for no one was to be seen
+about, but when grandmother started to come home again the dog would
+follow her with it still in his mouth, so Roberts, that was the man's
+name, came along with her to see the end of it. Now wasn't it clever of
+the dog to know it was mine and bring it to me like that?"
+
+"_Very_," said the children. "But mightn't your grandmother have known
+it was your mother's basket?" said Magdalen.
+
+"It was a common enough one, but if she had looked inside she'd have
+known mother's butter and cake, I daresay," said Martin. "But the funny
+thing was, the dog would let no one touch it but me--he growled at
+grandmother when she tried to look in, but he stood by and saw me take
+out the things and just wagged his tail."
+
+"And did zou have nice tea, and cake, Martin?" said Hec.
+
+"Oh yes, dears, very nice. But for all that it cured me of setting down
+baskets or anything like that when I had to take them anywhere. For you
+see it isn't every dog that would have had the sense of that one."
+
+"And then he _might_ have been a woof," suggested Hoodie. "The picture
+says a woof."
+
+"Yes," said Maudie. "But this isn't the picture story, Hoodie. This was
+a real story of Martin herself, you know, for there aren't wolfs now."
+
+"Not none?" said Hoodie.
+
+"No, of course not."
+
+Hoodie nodded her head, but made no further remark, and the nursery
+party congratulated themselves on the astonishing success of their
+endeavours to "put her crying fit out of her head."
+
+This happy state of things lasted nearly all day. Hoodie was really most
+agreeable. She was rather more silent than usual, but, for her,
+surprisingly amiable.
+
+Martin was delighted.
+
+"Take my word for it, Miss Maudie," she said, "the only way with a child
+like her, is to take no notice and talk of something else."
+
+"But we can't always do that way, Martin,"--Maudie was not of a sanguine
+temperament,--"sometimes, you know, she's naughty about things that you
+_must_ go on talking to her about, till you get her to do them."
+
+"I can't help it, Miss Maudie," said Martin. "Talk or no talk, it's my
+belief that no power on earth will get Miss Julian to do what she wants
+not to do. And folks can't live always quarrel--quarrelling. She may
+improve of herself like, when she gets older, but as she is now, I
+really think the less notice she gets the better."
+
+Maudie felt rather puzzled. She was only nine years old herself,
+remember, and Hoodie's queer ways were enough to puzzle much wiser heads
+than hers.
+
+"I don't think Martin's way would do," she said to herself, "but still I
+think there must be _some_ way that would make her gooder if only we
+could find it."
+
+The children all went to church in the afternoon. The morning service
+was too long for them, their mother sensibly thought, but the afternoon
+hour, or hour and a quarter at most, no one, not even wee Hec and Duke,
+found too much. And Hoodie was rather fond of going to church. What she
+thought of, perched up by herself in her own corner of the pew, no one
+ever knew; that she listened, or attempted to listen, to what was going
+on, was doubtful in the extreme. But still, as a rule, church had a
+soothing effect on her, the quiet and restfulness, the monotony itself,
+seemed to calm her fidgety querulousness; possibly even the sensation of
+her Sunday clothes and the admiring glances of the little
+school-children helped to smooth her down for the time being.
+
+This special Sunday afternoon their mother was not with them. They went
+and returned under Martin's convoy, and till about half way on their way
+home again all went satisfactorily. Then unfortunately occurred the
+first ruffle. Maudie had been walking on in front with little Duke,
+Hoodie and Hec, each with a hand of Martin, behind, when Maudie stopped.
+
+"Martin," she said, "may Duke walk with you a little? He says he's
+tired."
+
+"Of course, poor dear," said Martin; "come here, Master Duke, and you,
+Miss Hoodie, go on a little with your sister."
+
+Hoodie let go Martin's hand readily enough.
+
+"Wonders will never cease," thought Martin, but alas, her rejoicing was
+premature. Hoodie let go her hand, but stood stock still without moving.
+
+"No," she said deliberately, "I won't walk with Maudie. Why can't Hec
+walk with Maudie, and me stay here?"
+
+"Because he's such a little boy, Miss Hoodie dear, and I daresay both he
+and Master Duke are getting tired. They've had a long walk you know."
+
+Martin was forgetting her own advice to Maudie. He who stopped to reason
+with Hoodie was lost indeed!
+
+"And so has me had a long walk, and so you might daresay me is tired
+too," returned Hoodie, standing her ground both actually and
+figuratively. Two fat little legs apart, two sturdy little feet planted
+firmly on the ground, there she stood looking up defiantly in Martin's
+face, armed for the fight.
+
+"Was there ever such a child?" thought poor Martin. Maudie's words had
+indeed been quickly fulfilled--here already was a case in which the
+taking-no-notice system was impossible--the child could not be left by
+herself on the high-road, where according to present appearances it was
+evidently her intention to stay unless--she got her own way!
+
+"Well, my dear, I daresay you are tired too," said Martin soothingly,
+"but still not _so_ tired as poor little Duke. You're ever so much
+bigger you know. Think what tiny little feet your brothers have to trot
+all along the road on."
+
+"Mines is tiny too. I heard you saying them was very tiny to Mamma one
+day. And them's just as tired as Duke's; 'cos I'm bigger, my feets have
+more heavy to carry. I _will_ have your hand, Martin, and I won't walk
+with ugly Maudie."
+
+"But you must, Miss Hoodie," said Martin, attempting firmness and
+decision as a last resource.
+
+"But I mustn't, 'cos I _won't_," said Hoodie.
+
+Martin glanced back along the road despairingly. Several groups of the
+country people on their way home from church were approaching the little
+party as they stood on the footpath.
+
+"Do come on, Martin," said Maudie; "it is so horrid for the people to
+see such a fuss. And then they say all about that we are all naughty.
+Look, there's farmer Bright and his daughters coming. Do come on--you'll
+_have_ to let Hoodie walk with you, and Hec'll come with me."
+
+"Miss Hoodie," said Martin once more, "you are to walk on with Miss
+Maudie, do you hear?"
+
+"Yes," said Hoodie, without moving an inch, "I hear, but I _won't_ walk
+with ugly Maudie."
+
+The Bright family were fast approaching. In despair Martin turned to
+Hoodie.
+
+"I am obliged to let you walk with me, Miss Julian," she said, solemnly,
+"because I cannot have every one in the road see how naughty you are.
+But when we get home I shall speak to your Mamma, and ask her to let you
+go walks alone. You make us all miserable."
+
+Hoodie took Martin's hand and marched on.
+
+"I should like to go walks alone, werry much," she said, amiably, to
+which remark Martin did not make any reply.
+
+The Bright family passed them with a friendly word to Martin, saying
+something in praise of the nice appearance of her little charges. And
+Hoodie smiled back to farmer Bright, as if she thought herself the best
+and sweetest-tempered of little girls. Then when they were out of
+sight, she suddenly dropped Martin's hand.
+
+"I don't want to walk with you. You're an ugly 'sing too," she said. "I
+like to walk belone, but I would walk with you if I _said_ I would."
+
+And on she marched defiantly, well in front of the whole party. And
+again poor Martin murmured to herself,--"Was there _ever_ such a child?"
+
+What was Hoodie saying to herself on in front where no one could hear
+her?
+
+"They don't love me. They like me to be away. Nobody loves poor Hoodie.
+Hoodie can't be good when nobody loves her. It isn't Hoodie's fault."
+
+And through her babyish brain there ran misty, dreamy ideas of something
+she would do to make "them" all sorry--she would go away somewhere "far,
+far," and never come back again. But where? This she could not yet
+settle about, but fortunately for the peace of the rest of the walk her
+cogitations kept her quiet till they were all at home again.
+
+Martin's threat of speaking to Hoodie's mother was not at once carried
+out. And Martin herself began to think better of it when at tea-time
+Hoodie behaved herself quite respectably. The naughty mood had passed
+again for the time, it seemed.
+
+Sitting round the table in the intervals of bread-and-butter and
+honey--for it was Sunday evening, "honey evening" the little boys called
+it--the children chatted together pleasantly. Martin's story had greatly
+impressed them.
+
+"Weren't you frightened at first when you saw the big, big doggie,
+Martin?" said Maudie.
+
+"_Might_ have been a woof," remarked Duke, whose ideas had a knack of
+getting so well lodged in his brain that it was often difficult to get
+them out again.
+
+"But there _are_ no wolfs. I told you so before," said Maudie.
+
+"No," said Duke, "you toldened Hoodie so. You didn't tolden me."
+
+"Well, _dear_ Duke, what does it matter?" said Magdalen, with a slight
+touch of impatience in her tone. "You heard me say it, and you do go on
+and on so about a thing."
+
+Hoodie looked up with a twinkle in her eyes.
+
+"Peoples always calls each other 'dear' whenever they doesn't like each
+other," she remarked.
+
+Maudie flashed round upon her.
+
+"That isn't true. I do like Duke--don't I, Duke? And Hec too--don't I
+love you dearly, Hec and Duke?"
+
+The two little boys clambered down from their chairs, by slow and
+ponderous degrees, and a hugging match of the three ensued.
+
+"Children, children," cried Martin, "you know it's against the rules for
+you to get down from your chairs at tea. Miss Maudie, dear, you
+shouldn't encourage it."
+
+"But Hoodie said unkind 'sings to Maudie, and we had to kiss dear
+Maudie," said the little boys. "Naughty Hoodie," and they glanced round
+indignantly at Hoodie.
+
+A hard look came over Hoodie's face.
+
+"Always naughty Hoodie," she muttered to herself. "Nobody loves Hoodie.
+Nebber mind. Don't care."
+
+"Little boys," said Martin, "you must go back to your seats and finish
+your tea. And don't call Miss Hoodie naughty for nothing at all but a
+little joke."
+
+Hoodie gave a quick glance at Martin.
+
+"Martin," she said, gravely, "if there is no woofs now, is there any
+grandmothers?"
+
+"Any grandmothers, Miss Hoodie?" repeated Martin. "How do you mean, my
+dear? of course every one has a grandmother, or has had."
+
+"Oh!" said Hoodie; "I didn't know. And is grandmothers always in
+cottages?"
+
+"Oh, you silly girl," said Maudie, laughing; "of course not. Don't you
+remember _our_ grandmother? She was here two years ago. But I suppose
+you're too little to remember."
+
+"Don't laugh at her for not understanding, Miss Maudie," said Martin;
+"besides, don't you remember your grandmother's address is Parkwood
+Cottage? Very likely she's thinking of that."
+
+"Yes," said Hoodie, "I was 'sinking of zat. I want a grandmother in a
+cottage. Grandmother in a cottage would be very kind, and there is no
+woofs."
+
+"Oh no, Miss Hoodie, there are no wolves," said Martin; "all the wolves
+were sent away long, long ago. Now, dears, you must have your hands
+washed and your hairs brushed to go down to the drawing-room."
+
+Hoodie was very quiet that evening. Her father noticed it after the
+children had gone up to bed again, and said to her mother that he was in
+hopes the child was going to turn over a new leaf. And her mother
+replied with a smile that she had been speaking to her very seriously
+that morning, and was glad to see how well the little girl had taken it.
+So both father and mother felt satisfied and happy about the child,
+little imagining the queer confused whirl of ideas at that very moment
+chasing each other round her busy brain.
+
+For Hoodie did not go to sleep till much later than the others, though
+she lay so still that her wakefulness was unnoticed. Under her pillow,
+wrapped up firstly in a piece of newspaper, over that in the clean
+pocket-handkerchief Martin had given her for church, were three biscuits
+she had got at dessert, two pieces of bread-and-butter, and one of bread
+and honey, which unobserved she had "saved" from tea. What she meant to
+do with these provisions was by no means clear, even in her own mind.
+She only knew that the proper thing was to have a basket of eatables of
+some kind, provided for a voyage of discovery such as that on which she
+was resolved.
+
+"The little Hoodie-girl in the picture has a bastwick, and Martin had a
+bastwick when she was a Hoodie-girl," she said to herself dreamily. "I
+will get more bead-and-butter to-morrow and then I can go. After
+dinner-time Martin wented when she was a Hoodie-girl. I will go after
+dinner-time too. The grandmother in the cottage will love Hoodie and
+there is no woofs. Peoples here doesn't love Hoodie."
+
+And so thinking she fell asleep.
+
+The next morning happened to be rainy. Hoodie ate her breakfast in
+silence, and what she did _not_ eat she quietly added to the contents of
+the pocket-handkerchief parcel. Martin noticed her fumbling at
+something, but thankful for the quiet state of the atmosphere--otherwise
+Hoodie's temper--thought it wiser to make no remarks. For after all it
+was a very April sort of sunshine; and two or three times before dinner
+there were signs of possible storms--once in particular, when the little
+boy had got Prince up into the nursery to play with them and Hoodie
+insisted on turning him out.
+
+"Him's not to come in here," she said; "Hoodie won't have him in here no
+more."
+
+"_Really_, Hoodie," said Maudie, "this isn't all your room. Why won't
+you let poor Prince come in? It was only yesterday you were crying
+because he wouldn't come."
+
+"'Cos I loved him yesterday and I don't love him to-day," replied Hoodie
+coolly.
+
+"And how would you like if people spoke that way to you?" said Maudie
+virtuously. "Suppose we said we wouldn't have you in the nursery 'cos we
+don't love you to-day?"
+
+"Don't care," said Hoodie. "You can't send _me_ out of the nursery. I'm
+not a dog. But if I like I can go of my own self," she added
+mysteriously. "And if peoples don't love me I _sall_ go."
+
+Maudie did not catch the sense of the last few words, but Prince, being
+in his own mind by no means partial to the nursery, where the
+children's affection expressed itself in clutches and caresses very
+unsettling to his nerves, had taken advantage of the discussion to go
+off "of his own self," and in the lamentation over his running away, no
+more was said, and it was not till afterwards that the elder girl
+remembered her little sister's threat.
+
+But through dinner-time the hard, half-sullen look stayed on Hoodie's
+face, and again poor Martin shivered with fear that another storm was
+coming. Somewhat to her surprise things got no worse--not even when a
+message came up-stairs from "mother," that Maudie was to be ready to go
+out a drive with her at two, did Hoodie's rather curiously quiet manner
+desert her.
+
+"I don't care. Nobody loves me," she repeated to herself, but so low
+that no one heard her.
+
+"It'll be your turn next time, you know, Hoodie dear. Mother never
+forgets turns," said Magdalen consolingly, as, arrayed in her "best"
+white alpaca trimmed with blue, and white hat with blue feathers to
+match, she ran into the nursery to say good-bye to the stayers-at-home.
+
+"And Miss Hoodie will be good and help me with the little boys, won't
+you, Miss Hoodie dear?" said Martin. "There's some ironing I do want to
+get done for your Mamma this afternoon, if I could leave you three
+alone for a little."
+
+"Susan may stay with them," said Mrs. Caryll, who just then came into
+the nursery to see if Maudie was ready. "It is too damp still for the
+boys to go out, but Hoodie can play in the garden a little. She never
+catches cold and she will be the better for a run--eh, Hoodie?"
+
+No answer. Mrs. Caryll turned to Martin with a question in her face.
+"Anything wrong again?" it seemed to say.
+
+Martin shook her head.
+
+"I think not, ma'am," she said in a very low voice, "but really there's
+no saying. But I think she'll be all right once you're started with Miss
+Magdalen."
+
+Mrs. Caryll said no more. She took Maudie by the hand and left the
+nursery, only nodding good-bye to the little boys as she passed through
+the doorway.
+
+"Good-bye, darlings," said Maudie. "I'll bring you back something nice
+for tea."
+
+"Dood-bye, dear Maudie," called out Hec and Duke in return. Then they
+flew--no, I can hardly use that word with regard to their sturdy little
+legs' trot across the room--they trotted off to the window to see the
+carriage as it passed the corner of the drive and to kiss their little
+hands to Mamma and Maudie. And Hoodie remained determinedly looking out
+of the other window, from which no drive and no carriage were to be
+seen.
+
+"Nobody calls me darling. Nobody cares for Hoodie," she said to herself.
+"Nebber mind. Hoodie will go far, far."
+
+When Martin called to her a few minutes afterwards, to put her hat and
+jacket on for the run in the garden, which her mother had spoken of, she
+came at once, and stood quite still while her nurse dressed her. The
+submission struck Martin as rather suspicious.
+
+"Now Miss Hoodie, my dear," she said, "you'll not go on the grass or
+where it's wet. Just run about on the nice dry gravel for half an hour
+or so, and if you see the gardener about, you may ask him to show you
+the rabbits."
+
+Hoodie looked up in Martin's face with a rather curious expression.
+
+"I won't run in the grass," was all she said. Martin let her go off
+without any misgiving. For all Hoodie's strange temper she was in some
+ways a particularly sensible child for her age. She was quite to be
+trusted to play alone in the garden, for instance--she might have been
+safely left within reach of the most beautiful flowers in the
+conservatory without any special warning; not one would have been
+touched. She was truly, as Martin said, a strange mixture and
+contradiction.
+
+She had made her way half down the staircase, when she suddenly
+remembered her basket.
+
+"Oh, my bastwick," she exclaimed. "I was nearly forgetting my bastwick,"
+and up-stairs again she climbed to the cupboard, in one dark corner of
+which she had hidden it. Luckily it was still there; no one had touched
+it; so feeling herself quite equipped for the journey, Hoodie walked out
+of the front door, crossed the gravel drive, and made her way down a
+little path with a rustic gate at the end leading straight out on to the
+high road. When she got there she stood still and looked about her.
+Which way should she go? It had turned out a beautiful afternoon, though
+the morning had been so stormy. The road was nearly dry already, the sky
+overhead was blue, save here and there where little feathery clouds were
+flying about in some agitation; it might rain again before night, for
+though not exactly cold, there was no summer glow as yet, and the
+sunshine, though bright, had a very April feeling about it.
+
+Hoodie stood still and looked about her, up and down the road. It was a
+pretty, peaceful scene--the broad well-kept highway, bordered at one
+side with beautiful old trees just bursting into bloom, and across, on
+the other side of the low hedge, the fresh green fields, all the fresher
+for the morning's rain, in some of which already the tender little
+lambkins were sporting about or cuddling in by the side of their warm
+woolly ewe-mothers.
+
+"I wish I was a lamb," thought Hoodie, as her glance fell on them. Then
+as she looked away beyond the fields to where in the distance the land
+sloped upwards into softly rising hills, a flight of birds attracted her
+attention. How prettily they flew, waving, now upwards, now downwards,
+like one long ribbon against the sky. "Or a little bird," she added. "If
+I was up there I could see so nicely where to go, and I could fly, fly,
+till I got to the sun."
+
+But just then the sound of wheels coming near brought her thoughts down
+to earth again. Which way should she go?
+
+She _must_ pass through a wood. That was the only thing that at present
+she felt sure of, and there was a wood she remembered some way down the
+road, past Mr. Bright's farm. So down the road Hoodie trotted, her
+basket firmly clasped in her hand, her little figure the only moving
+thing to be seen along the queen's highway. For the cart to which the
+wheels belonged had passed quickly--it was only the grocer from the
+neighbouring town, so on marched Hoodie undisturbed. A little on this
+side of farmer Bright's a lane turned off to the left. This lane, Hoodie
+decided, must be the way to the wood, so she left the road and went
+along the lane for about a quarter of a mile, till, to her perplexity,
+it ended in a sort of little croft with a stile at each side. Hoodie
+climbed up both stiles in turns and looked about her. The wood was not
+to be seen from either, but across a field from the second stile she saw
+the tops of some trees standing on lower ground.
+
+"That must be the wood," thought Hoodie, and down she clambered again to
+fetch her basket which she had left on the other side. With some
+difficulty she hoisted it and herself up again, with greater difficulty
+got it and herself down the steps on the further side, and then set off
+triumphantly at a run in the direction of the trees she had seen.
+
+So far she was right. These trees were the beginning of a wood--a pretty
+little wood with a tiny stream running through the middle, and little
+nests of ferns and mosses in among the stones and tree-stumps on its
+banks--a very pretty little wood it must be in summer-time with the
+trees more fully out and the ground dry and crisp, and clear of the last
+year's leaves which still gave it a desolate appearance. Hoodie's
+spirits rose. She was getting on famously. Soon she might expect to see
+the grandmother's cottage, where no doubt the kettle would be boiling on
+the fire to make tea for her, and the table all nicely spread. For
+already she was beginning to feel hungry; she had journeyed, it seemed
+to her, a very long way, and more than once she eyed her basket
+wistfully, wondering if she might eat just one piece of the
+bread-and-butter.
+
+"The little Hoodie-girl in the picture didn't, and Martin didn't," she
+said to herself. "So I 'appose I'd better not. And perhaps if the woofs
+saw me eating, it would make them come."
+
+The idea made her shiver.
+
+"But Maudie said there was no woofs," she added. "Maudie said there
+wasn't no woofs. But I _wish_ I could see the cottage."
+
+On and on she made her way,--here and there with really great
+difficulty, for there was no proper path, and sometimes the big
+tree-stumps were almost higher than her fat, rather short legs could
+either stride across or climb over. More than once she scratched these
+same bare legs pretty badly, and but for the resolution which was a
+strong part of her character, the queer little girl would have sat down
+on the ground and burst into tears. But she struggled on, and at last,
+to her delight, the trees in front of her cleared suddenly, and she saw
+before her a little hilly path surmounted by a stile. Hoodie clapped her
+hands, or would have done so but for the interference of the basket.
+
+"Hoodie's out of the wood," she said joyfully, "and up there perhaps
+I'll see the cottage."
+
+It happened that she was right. When she reached the stile, there, sure
+enough, across another little field the cottage, _a_ cottage any way,
+was to be seen. A neat little cottage, something like the description
+Martin had given of _her_ grandmother's cottage, which, jumbled up with
+the picture of long ago Red Riding Hood the first, on the nursery walls,
+was in Hoodie's mind as a sort of model of that in quest of which she
+had set out on her voyage of discovery. This cottage too had a little
+garden with a path up the middle, and at each side were beds, neatly
+bordered, which in summer-time no doubt would be gay with simple
+flowers. Hoodie glanced round the little garden approvingly as she made
+her way up to the door.
+
+"It's just like Martin's cottage," she thought. "But the Hoodie-girl in
+the picture was pulling somesing for the door to open and I don't see
+nosing to pull. I must knock I 'appose. I am _so_ glad there's been none
+woofs."
+
+[Illustration: It's just like Martin's cottage]
+
+Knock--knock--no answer. Knock, knock, _knock_ a little louder this
+time. Hoodie began to wonder if the grandmother was going to be out,
+like the one in Martin's story--no--a sound at last of some one coming
+to open.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+LITTLE BABY AND ITS MOTHER.
+
+    "Polly put the kettle on,
+    And let's have tea."
+
+
+The latch was lifted from the inside, and there stood before Hoodie--not
+an old woman with either "big" or little eyes, not a "grandmother" with
+a frilly cap all round her face, such as she had been vaguely expecting,
+yet certainly not a "woof" either! The person who stood in the doorway
+smiling down on the little girl was a very pretty and pleasant-looking
+young woman, with a fresh rosy face and merry eyes, and a sleeping baby
+in her arms!
+
+For the first moment Hoodie was too surprised to understand what she
+saw.
+
+At last, "I want my grandmother," she said. "_You_ aren't my
+grandmother. I thought this was her cottage."
+
+The young woman smiled again.
+
+"No, Missy, you must have made a mistake. But _your_ grandmother doesn't
+live in a little cottage like this, Missy, I'm sure. You must have quite
+come out of your road. Whose little lady are you?"
+
+Hoodie shook her head.
+
+"I want to live with my grandmother," she replied. "I don't want to be
+anybody's little lady. I've come such a long way--I know the cottage
+should be aside a wood, just like this. And I'm _so_ tired and firsty."
+
+The quiver in her voice told that the self-control was coming to an end.
+The young woman's sympathy awoke at once.
+
+"Poor dear," she said. "Tired, of course you must be tired. Come in,
+dearie, and sit you down, and you shall have something to drink and to
+eat too, if you please. What would you like?" she went on, after she had
+established Hoodie on a funny little arm-chair by the fire--a chair
+bought last fair-day by her husband in his extreme delight at being the
+possessor of a fortnight old baby--"what would you like, Missy--a cup of
+milk--or some tea? Kettle's boiling, and 'tis just upon tea-time."
+
+"What a nice little chair," said Hoodie, making the observation that
+first came into her head before replying to the questions asked her, as
+was a habit of hers. "What a nice little chair! It just fits me,"
+turning her fat little body--to confess the truth, a rather tight
+fit--and the chair about together, like a snail congratulating itself on
+its shell.
+
+"Yes, Missy, and you're the first as has ever sat in it. It's to be for
+baby, the dear, as soon as she's old enough to sit up in it. But about
+what you'd like to drink, Missy?"
+
+"I were going to tell you," said Hoodie, with a touch of her usual
+authoritative manner. "I were going to tell you. I'd like tea--proper
+tea on a table, 'cos I've got my bicsits and 'sings in my bastwick, and
+we could put them out nicely. And if it's so far away to my
+grandmother's perhaps I'd better stay here and fancy you're her"--she
+glanced up in the young woman's face with such a queer, half-puzzled,
+half-comical look in her eyes that her new friend really began to wonder
+if the child was quite "right" in her head--"it would seem more like it,
+if we had proper tea on a table. But asides that, I'm so firsty I'd like
+a cup of milk first--just cold milk belone you know, to take away the
+firsty. Martin _sometimes_ gives me a drink of milk like that just afore
+tea when I'm very firsty, even though she says it spoils my tea."
+
+"But I don't think it'll spoil your tea to-day, Missy," said the young
+woman, as she fetched the cup of milk. "You've come a long way, you
+see," she added, with a view to drawing Hoodie out as to her home and
+belongings.
+
+"And you'll give me _real_ tea, won't you, little baby's mother? Not
+just milk and pertence?" inquired Hoodie, anxiously, as she watched the
+preparations for the meal.
+
+"Of course, Missy, you must have real tea, as you've come so far to see
+me. Which way did you come? I don't think I've ever seen you before, but
+then we've only been here a few weeks, since Thomas engaged with Farmer
+Bright."
+
+"I didn't come to see you, little baby's mother," said Hoodie, "I came
+to look for a grandmother in a cottage. But you're very nice, only--oh,
+do let me hold the little baby!" she exclaimed, seeing that the still
+sleeping child was about to be deposited in its cradle, as it was rather
+in its mother's way when lifting the kettle and so on;--"_do_ let me
+hold it!"
+
+She held out her arms and smoothed a place on her knees for it, all
+ready. "Little baby's mother" had not the heart to refuse, though
+somewhat misdoubting but that poor baby would have been better in its
+cradle. But baby did not seem to think so; she gave one or two funny
+little yawns, half opened her eyes, and then composed herself to sleep
+again most philosophically in Hoodie's embrace. She was a nice baby and
+daintily cared for, even though her home was only a stone-floored
+cottage. She was number one in the first place, which says a good deal,
+and she was an extremely healthy and satisfactory baby in herself--and
+altogether as sweet and fresh and loveable as a wee baby buttercup under
+a hedge.
+
+The young mother eyed the little couple with great admiration.
+
+"How cleverly she holds it, to be sure!" she said to herself; adding to
+Hoodie, "You must have a baby at home, Miss, surely?" the remark as she
+made it reminding her of her anxiety to find out where the "home" of her
+mysterious little visitor was. "I cannot but give her her tea," she said
+to herself; "but I hope I sha'n't get into blame for keeping her here,
+if she's run away from her nurse unbeknown-like."
+
+"No," said Hoodie, with a melancholy tone in her voice. "There isn't no
+baby at home. Only Hec and Duke, and they're too big to be pettened, and
+they like Maudie better than me."
+
+"Do they really, Missy!" said the young woman. "Well, I'm sure I think
+you're a very nice young lady, and baby thinks so too, it's plain to
+see. See, she's waking, the darling."
+
+Hoodie stared solemnly at the baby as if some extraordinary marvel were
+about to happen. What did happen was this. Baby stretched itself,
+doubled up its little pink fists, as if to box some one, yawned, half
+opened its eyes, and then closed them again, having apparently
+considered the question of waking up and thought better of it--rolled
+over again, and again yawned, and finally opening its nice, baby blue
+eyes and gazing up inquiringly into Hoodie's face, slowly and
+deliberately _smiled_ at her--a sweet baby smile, half-patronizing,
+half-mysterious, as if it had been away in some wonderful baby
+fairy-land which it would have liked to tell her about if it could, and
+rather pitied her for not having seen for herself. Hoodie gazed,
+enraptured. A pretty bright smile, a smile, it must be confessed, not
+too often seen there, broke over her own little face, and at the sight
+baby's satisfaction expressed itself in a regular chuckle. Hoodie turned
+to the young woman with a curious triumph.
+
+"Little baby's mother," she said, half awe-struck as it were, "I do
+believe she _loves_ me."
+
+"Of course she does, and why shouldn't she?" replied the young mother
+heartily, yet feeling conscious of not altogether understanding the
+little girl. "Why shouldn't she love you, Missy? Little tiny babies like
+her always does love those as is kind to them. Don't you love your dear
+mamma, Missy? and your sisters if you have any--and what made you love
+them first, before you could understand like, if it wasn't that they
+loved you and were kind to you?"
+
+Hoodie shook her head--her usual refuge in perplexity.
+
+"I don't know," she said. "I like peoples to love me lots--gate lots. I
+don't 'zink anybody loves me lots. If I was always to sit here holding
+baby so nice, do you think she'd love me lots?"
+
+Baby's mother laughed outright.
+
+"I don't know that, Missy," she said, "she'd get very hungry and cry.
+And you'd be hungry, too. Aren't you hungry now? The tea's all ready,
+see, Missy, and your bread and butter's laid out. But I'm afraid it's
+rather hard. Won't you have some of mine instead--its nice and fresh.
+Has yours been packed up a long time?"
+
+Hoodie's attention being drawn to the bread and butter, she allowed
+baby's mother to regain possession of her treasure, and clambered up
+herself to the chair placed for her. When safely installed she eyed the
+provisions suspiciously.
+
+"I 'zink yours is nicer, little baby's mother," she said graciously,
+having first bitten a piece of her own rather uninviting bread. "It was
+only packened up last night--but perhaps it was the taking it to bed. I
+took it to bed acos I didn't want nobody to see. But the bicsits is
+nice. Mayn't baby have a bicsit, little baby's mother? If I had got to
+the grandmother's cottage there'd have been cake. You hasn't none cake,
+has you?"
+
+"No, Missy. You see I didn't know you were coming. If your mamma would
+let you come another day and I knew in time, I could bake a nice cake."
+
+"Yes," said Hoodie, "and baby might have some. Does baby like cake?"
+
+"She hasn't no teeth to bite it with yet, Missy dear," said the young
+woman.
+
+"No teess!" exclaimed Hoodie, "what a funny baby. Did God forget zem?"
+she added, in a lower voice.
+
+The young woman turned away to hide her laughter; and just at this
+moment there came a rap at the door--a well-known rap evidently, for up
+jumped the young woman with a pleased face.
+
+"David!" she exclaimed, as she opened the door, "I thought you wouldn't
+be back till late, or I'd have waited tea."
+
+"I came in to say as I've got to go out again," said the man--a
+good-humoured looking young labourer--"little baby" had every reason to
+be good-humoured with such pleasant tempered father and mother!--"I've
+to drive over to Greenoaks to fetch some little pigs, so I mayn't be in
+till late. But bless us!" he exclaimed, as he just then caught sight of
+Hoodie seated in perfect satisfaction and evidently quite at home, at
+the tea-table, "who ever's this you've got with you, Liz?"
+
+His surprise was so comical that it set "Liz" off laughing again.
+
+"Bless _me_ if I can tell you, David," she said. "She's the most
+old-fashioned little piece of goods I ever came across. But such a nice
+little lady too, and that taken with our baby! She won't tell me her
+name nor nothing," and then she went on to describe to David, Hoodie's
+arrival and all she had said.
+
+David scratched his head, as, half hidden in the doorway, where Hoodie
+had not yet caught sight of him, he glanced at the child, still deeply
+interested in her "tea."
+
+"It's my opinion," he said solemnly, as if what he was about to say was
+something that could not possibly have struck any one else; "it's my
+opinion as her nurse or some one has been cross to her and she's runned
+away."
+
+"But what shall we do?" said Mrs. Liz, a little anxiously. "How shall we
+find out where she belongs to?"
+
+"Oh, easy enough," said David. "She's but a baby. And even if she
+wouldn't tell, you may be sure they'll soon be sending after her. I
+could take her home on my way to Greenoaks if I knew where it was. Can't
+be far off--maybe it's one of the clergyman's children down by
+Springley."
+
+"They've none so little," said Mrs. David. "But there's Squire
+Caryll's--I heard say there's a sight o' little ones there. 'Twill be
+there."
+
+"Likely enough," said David. "But I'd like a cup o' tea, Liz, if the
+young lady'll excuse my being rather rough like."
+
+Lizzie laughed.
+
+"She's but a baby," she said; and so David came forward and sat down at
+the table.
+
+Hoodie looked up from her tea and stopped half way through a "bicsit" to
+take a good stare at the new comer.
+
+"Who is zou, please?" she said at last.
+
+[Illustration: "Who is zou, please?"]
+
+David looked rather awkward. It was somewhat embarrassing to be calmly
+challenged in this way at his own table, poor man, by a mite of a
+creature like this! He relieved his feelings by a glance at his wife and
+a faint whistle.
+
+"Well, to be sure!" he exclaimed.
+
+Lizzie understood the small questioner better.
+
+"Why, Missy," she said, "'Tis David. He's baby's father, and this is his
+house, and he's very pleased to see you here."
+
+Hoodie looked again at David; this time he seemed to find more favour in
+her eyes.
+
+"At the grandmother's cottage there wouldn't have been no Davids," she
+remarked. "His hands is rather dirty, isn't they, little baby's mother?"
+
+This was too much for David--he went off into a roar. Hoodie looked up
+doubtfully--was he laughing at _her_?--in her opinion, an unpardonable
+crime--but David's funny, good-natured face gained the day, and after a
+moment's hesitation Hoodie joined in the fun and laughed too, though at
+what she certainly didn't know.
+
+Friendly feeling thus established, David thought it time to begin his
+inquiries.
+
+"Hope you've enjoyed your tea, Miss," he said. "You must a been hungry
+after such a long walk. Round by Springley way was it?"
+
+"_What_ did you say?" said Hoodie, opening her eyes. David's tone and
+accent were puzzling to her.
+
+"He says, was it round by Springley way you came, Missy--the way the
+church is?"
+
+"Oh no, not the church way. I comed srough the wood and past Farmer
+Bright's. Home is not the church way," said Hoodie unsuspiciously.
+
+David and his wife nodded at each other. "Squire Caryll's," whispered
+Lizzie.
+
+"I'll be passing that way in the cart," said David. "Would you like a
+ride, Miss?"
+
+Hoodie shook her head.
+
+"No," she said decidedly, "I want to stay and nurse baby. May I take her
+now?" she added, preparing to descend from her chair.
+
+David could not help bursting out laughing again.
+
+"What wages is her to get, Liz?" he inquired.
+
+Hoodie turned upon him indignantly.
+
+"Ugly man," she exclaimed; "you'se not to laugh at me. I don't love you.
+I love baby--_please_ give me baby," she said beseechingly to the young
+woman. "I'm all zeady," for by this time she was again settled in the
+little chair and had smoothed a place for baby.
+
+Lizzie good-humouredly laid baby again in her arms.
+
+"Hold her tight, please, Missy," she said, turning towards the door
+with her husband at a sign from him, and Hoodie sat in perfect content
+for some minutes till baby's mother returned.
+
+"Has zat ugly man gone?" inquired Hoodie coolly. "I'll stay with you and
+baby, but I don't like zat man."
+
+"But he's a nice man, Missy," said Mrs. David. "I don't know about his
+being very pretty, but he's very kind to baby and me, and that's better
+than being pretty, isn't it, Missy?"
+
+"I don't know," said Hoodie.
+
+After a time, in spite of her devotion, baby's unaccustomed weight made
+her little arms ache.
+
+"When does baby go to bed?" she asked.
+
+Baby's mother seized the opportunity.
+
+"Now, I think," she said. "I'll put her in her cradle for a bit, and
+then you and I can talk a little.--Don't you think, Missy?" she went on,
+when baby was safely deposited and Hoodie was free to stretch her tired
+little arms, "don't you think your poor mamma will be wondering where
+you are all this time?"
+
+"She's out d'iving in the calliage with Maudie. She won't know where I'm
+goned," replied Hoodie.
+
+"But your nurse, Missy--_she'll_ have missed you?" said Mrs. David.
+
+"We haven't no nurse. We've only Martin," replied Hoodie, "and Martin
+loves Hec and Duke and Maudie best. She 'zinks Hoodie's naughty. She
+_always_ says Hoodie's naughty."
+
+"Little baby's mother" did not know very well what to reply to this, so
+she contented herself with a general reflection.
+
+"All little girls are naughty sometimes," she said.
+
+"Yes," said Hoodie, "but not _always_. I'd like to stay here with you
+and baby, little baby's mother, 'cos baby loves me, if you wouldn't have
+zat ugly man here."
+
+"But it's his house, Missy. We couldn't turn him out of his own house,
+could we? And I'm afeared there'd be many things you'd want we couldn't
+give you? At home you've a nice little room now, all carpeted and
+curtained, haven't you? And a pretty little bed all for yourself? We've
+nothing like that--we've only one room besides the kitchen."
+
+Hoodie did not at once reply. She appeared to be thinking things over.
+
+"I'd _like_ to stay," she remarked after a while, "but I'd rather be let
+alone with you and baby. I don't like zat man. But if you haven't a room
+for me perhaps I'd better go and look for a grandmother's cottage again,
+and I'll come and see you sometimes, and baby, little baby's mother."
+
+"Yes, that you must, Missy, and bring little brothers too. You won't
+think of going off to look for your grandmother again just yet. Perhaps
+it's quite a long way off by the railway she lives. Couldn't you ask
+your mamma to write her a letter and tell her how much you'd like to see
+her?"
+
+"But I want to go to her _cottage_," persisted Hoodie. "I know it is a
+cottage, Martin said so. I shouldn't want her if she wasn't in a
+cottage. And I saw it in the Hoodie-girl picture too."
+
+This was getting beyond poor Mrs. David; and finding herself not
+understood, added to Hoodie's irritation. She was half way, more than
+half way, fully three-quarters of the way into one of her hopeless
+crying fits, when fortunately there came an interruption.
+
+Hasty steps were heard coming up the garden path, followed by a hasty
+knock at the door. And almost before Lizzie could get to open it, two
+people hurried into the room. They were Martin and Cross the coachman.
+Hoodie looked up calmly.
+
+"Has you come to fetch me?" she inquired. "I didn't _want_ to go home,
+but little baby's mother hasn't got enough little beds, but I'm going to
+come back here again. I _will_, whatever you say."
+
+Well as Martin knew the child, this was a degree too much for her. To
+have spent between two and three hours in really terrible anxiety about
+the little girl; to have had to bear some amount of reproach for not
+having sooner discovered Hoodie's escape; to have rushed off to fetch
+her on receiving the joyful news from the young labourer as he drove
+past Mr. Caryll's house, her heart full of the tenderest pity for her
+stray nursling who she never doubted had somehow lost her way,--all this
+had been trying enough for poor Martin. But to be met in this heartless
+way by the child--before strangers, too--to be coolly defied beforehand,
+as it were--it was too much. It was a toss-up between tears and temper.
+Unfortunately Martin chose the latter.
+
+"Miss Hoodie," she exclaimed, "you're a naughty, ungrateful little girl,
+a really naughty-hearted little girl--to have upset us all at home so;
+your poor mamma nearly ill with fright, and then to meet me like that.
+Speaking about not wanting to come home, and you will and you won't. I
+never heard anything like it. And to think of all the trouble you must
+have given to this--this young woman," she added, turning civilly
+enough, but with some little hesitation in her manner, to Mrs. Lizzie,
+as if not _quite_ sure whether she did not deserve some share of the
+blame.
+
+Poor Lizzie had stood a little apart, looking rather frightened. In her
+eyes Martin was a dignified and important person. But now she came
+forward eagerly.
+
+"Trouble," she repeated, "oh dear no, ma'am. Little Miss hasn't given me
+one bit of trouble, and nothing but a pleasure 'twould have been, but
+for thinking you'd all be put out so about her at home. But you'll let
+her come again some day when she's passing, to see me and baby. She's
+been so taken up with the baby, has Missy."
+
+Martin hesitated. She wanted to be civil and kind--Mrs. Caryll had
+expressly desired her to thank the cottager's wife for taking care of
+the little truant, and Martin was by nature sensible and gentle, and not
+the least inclined to give herself airs as if she thought herself better
+than other people. But Hoodie's behaviour had quite upset her. She did
+not feel at all ready to reply graciously to Lizzie's meek invitation.
+So she stood still and hesitated. And seeing her hesitation, naughty
+Hoodie darted forward and threw her arms round Lizzie's neck, hugging
+and kissing her.
+
+"I _sall_ come to see you, I will, I sall," she cried. "Never mind what
+that naughty, ugly 'sing says. I _will_ come, dear little baby's
+mother."
+
+Martin was almost speechless with indignation. Poor Lizzie saw that she
+was angry, yet she had not the heart to put away the child clinging to
+her so affectionately, and David's words "perhaps her nurse is cross to
+her at home," came back to her mind. Things might really have become
+very uncomfortable indeed, but for Cross, the coachman, who unexpectedly
+came to the rescue. He had been standing by, rather, to tell the
+truth--now that the anxiety which he as well as the rest of the
+household had felt, was relieved--enjoying the scene.
+
+"Miss Hoodie's a rare one, to be sure," he said to himself, chuckling
+quietly. But when he saw that Martin was really taking things seriously,
+and that the young woman too looked distressed and anxious, he came
+forward quietly, and before Hoodie knew what he was doing he had lifted
+her up with a spring on to his shoulder, where she sat perched like a
+little queen.
+
+"Now, Miss Hoodie," he said, "if you'll be good, perhaps I'll carry you
+home."
+
+Hoodie, though extremely well pleased with her new and exalted position,
+was true to her colours.
+
+"_Carry_ me home, Coss," she said imperiously; "hasn't you brought the
+calliage for me?"
+
+"No, indeed I haven't," replied Cross; "little Misses as runs away from
+home can't expect to be fetched back in a carriage and pair. I think
+you're very well off as it is. But we must make haste home--just think
+how frightened your poor mamma has been."
+
+Hoodie tossed her head. Some very naughty imp seemed to have got her in
+his possession just then.
+
+"Gee-up, gee-who, get along, horsey," she cried, pummelling Cross's
+shoulders unmercifully with her feet. "Gallop away, old horse Coss,
+gee-up, gee-up. Good night, little baby's mother, I _sall_ come back;"
+and Cross, thankful to get her away on any terms, turned to the door,
+humouring her by pretending to trot and gallop. But half way down the
+little garden path Hoodie suddenly pulled him up, literally pulled him
+up, by clasping him with her two arms so tightly round the throat that
+he was nearly strangled.
+
+"Stop, stop, horsey," she cried, "I haven't kissed the baby. I must kiss
+the baby."
+
+Even Cross's good nature was nearly at an end, but he dared not oppose
+her. He stood still, very red in the face, with some muttered
+exclamation, while Hoodie screamed to Lizzie to bring out the baby to be
+kissed, perfectly regardless of Martin's remonstrances.
+
+And in this fashion at last Hoodie was brought home--Martin walking home
+in silent despair alongside. Only when they got close to the lodge gate
+Hoodie pulled up Cross again, but this time in much gentler fashion.
+
+"Let me down, Coss, please," she said, meekly enough, "I'd rather walk
+now."
+
+And walk in she did, as demurely and comfortably as if she had just
+returned from an ordinary walk with her nurse.
+
+"Was there ever such a child?" said Martin to herself again.
+
+And poor Cross, as he walked away wiping his forehead, decided in his
+own mind that he'd rather have the breaking in of twenty young horses
+than of such a queer specimen as little Miss Hoodie.
+
+[Illustration: Poor Cross]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+MAUDIE'S GODMOTHER.
+
+    "If you'd have children safe abroad,
+    Just keep them safe at home."
+
+
+They were all standing at the door--Maudie, Hec and Duke, that is to
+say, and mother in the background, and farther back still, half the
+servants of the household. But Hoodie marched in demurely by Martin's
+side--nay, more, she had taken hold of Martin's hand. And when Mrs.
+Caryll came forward hurriedly to meet them, of the two, Martin looked
+much the more upset and uncomfortable.
+
+"You have brought her back safe and sound, Martin!" exclaimed Hoodie's
+mother. "Oh, Hoodie, what a fright you have given us! What was she
+doing? How was it, Martin?"
+
+Martin hesitated.
+
+"If you please, ma'am," she said, "I think I'd rather tell you all about
+it afterwards. It's not late, but Miss Hoodie _must_ be tired. Won't it
+be as well, ma'am, for her to go to bed at once?"
+
+Mrs. Caryll understood Martin's manner.
+
+"Yes," she said. "I think it will. Say good night to me, Hoodie, and to
+Maudie and your brothers. And to-morrow morning you must come early to
+my room. I want to talk to you."
+
+Hoodie looked up curiously in her mother's face. Was she vexed, or
+sorry, or what? Hoodie could not decide.
+
+"Good night, mother," she said, quietly. "Good night, Hec and Duke and
+Maudie," and she coolly turned away, and followed Martin up-stairs.
+
+The three other children crept round their mother. She looked pale and
+troubled.
+
+"Mamma," said one of the little boys, "has Hoodie been _naughty_? Aren't
+you glad she's come home?"
+
+Mrs. Caryll stroked his head.
+
+"Yes, dear," she said. "Of course I'm glad, _very_ glad. But it wasn't
+good of her to frighten us all so, and I must make her understand that."
+
+"_Of course_," said Maudie, virtuously. "You don't understand, Hec."
+
+"But if we had all kissened Hoodie, she'd have known we were glad she
+had comed back," said Hec, still with a tone of being only half
+satisfied.
+
+A shadow crossed Mrs. Caryll's face. Was her little son's instinct
+right?
+
+"Shall us all go and kissen her now?" suggested Duke in a whisper to
+Maudie.
+
+"No, of course not," replied Magdalen. "You're too little to understand,
+and you're teasing poor mamma. Come with me and we'll play at something
+in the study till Martin comes for you. Don't be unhappy, dear mamma,"
+she added, turning to kiss her mother. "I am sure Hoodie didn't mean to
+vex you, only she is so strange."
+
+That was just it--Hoodie was so strange, so self-willed, and yet
+babyish, so heartless, and yet so impressionable. A sharp word or tone
+even would make her cry, and she was sensitive to even less than that,
+yet seemingly quite careless of the trouble and distress she caused to
+others.
+
+"My good little Maudie," said Mrs. Caryll, "why should not Hoodie too be
+a good and understandable little girl?" she added to herself.
+
+And what were the thoughts in Hoodie's queer little brain; what were the
+feelings in her queer little heart, when Martin had safely tucked her
+into her own nice little cot, and, rather shortly, bidden her lie quite
+still and not disturb her brothers when they came up to bed?
+
+"I wish I had stayed with little baby's mother," she said to herself.
+"Nobody was glad for me to come home. They is all ugly 'sings. Nobody
+kissened me. If it wasn't for zat ugly man I'd go back there, I would,
+whatever Martin said."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"I really think sometimes that there's something wanting in her nature,"
+said Hoodie's mother, sadly, that same evening. She had been listening
+to Martin's account of the meeting at the cottage, and was now telling
+over the whole affair in the drawing-room, for Mr. Caryll had only
+returned home late that evening, as he had been some way by train to
+meet a visitor who was coming to stay for a time at his house. This was
+a cousin of his wife's, a young lady named Magdalen King, who occupied
+the important position of Maudie's godmother. It was some years since
+Cousin Magdalen had seen the children, but she had so often received
+descriptions of them from their mother that she seemed to know them
+quite well. She listened with great interest to the account of Hoodie's
+escapade.
+
+"She must be a strange little girl," she remarked, quietly.
+
+"Yes," said Mrs. Caryll, "so strange that, as I said, I really think
+sometimes there is something wanting in her nature."
+
+"Or unawakened," said Magdalen. "I don't pretend to understand children
+well--you know I was an only child--but still a little child's nature
+cannot be very easy to understand at the best of times. It must be so
+folded up, as it were, like a little half-opened bud. And then
+children's power of expressing themselves is so small--they must often
+feel themselves misunderstood and yet not know how to say even that. And
+oh, dear, what a puzzle life and the world and everything must seem to
+them!"
+
+"Not to them only, my dear Magdalen," said Mr. Caryll, drily.
+
+"And," said Mrs. Caryll, "it really isn't always the case that children
+are difficult to understand. None of ours are but Hoodie. There's Maudie
+now--she has always been a delicious child, and the little boys are very
+nice, except when Hoodie upsets them. But for her, as she is constantly
+told, there never would be the least ruffle in the nursery."
+
+"But does it do any good to tell her so?" said Miss King.
+
+Hoodie's mother smiled,
+
+"My dear Magdalen," she said, "wait till you see her. What _would_ do
+her any good no one as yet has found out. She is just the most
+contradictory, queer-tempered, troublesome child that ever was known."
+
+"Poor little girl," said Maudie's godmother, thinking to herself that a
+little dog with such a _very_ bad name as Hoodie was really not to be
+envied. She loved her own god-daughter Maudie dearly, and she knew it to
+be true that she was a very nice child, but her heart was sore for poor
+cantankerous Hoodie. You see her patience had not yet been tried by her
+as had been the patience of all those about the little girl, so after
+all she could not consider herself a fair judge.
+
+And her first introduction to the small black sheep of the nursery did
+not, it must be confessed, tend to prove that Hoodie's doings and
+misdoings were exaggerated.
+
+This was how it happened.
+
+Maudie's godmother was generally an early riser, but this first morning
+she somehow--tired perhaps with her journey--slept later than usual. She
+was not quite dressed, at least her pretty curly brown hair was still
+hanging about her shoulders, when a knock--a lot of little knocks, and
+then one rather firmer and more decided--came to the door, and in answer
+to her "Come in," appeared Martin, an old acquaintance of hers, beaming
+with pleasure, and ushering in her little people, all spick and span
+from their morning toilet, looking not unlike four rather shy little
+sheep under the charge of a faithful "colly."
+
+But when Martin caught sight of the young lady in her white
+dressing-gown and unarranged hair, she drew back.
+
+"Oh, ma'am, I beg your pardon," she said. "My mistress said I might
+bring them in to see you first thing, as you were always dressed so
+early, but I can take them back to the nursery till you are ready.
+They've been worrying to come to you for ever so long."
+
+"And you were quite right to bring them," said Cousin Magdalen,
+heartily. "Come now, darlings, and let us make friends. I can tell
+Maudie and Hoodie in a moment of course, but I'm quite in a puzzle as to
+which is Hec and which Duke."
+
+"I'm Hec," and "I'm Duke," said the two little boys shyly, nestling up
+to their new friend as they spoke. She kissed them fondly.
+
+"Dear little fellows!" she said.
+
+"Yes, Cousin Magdalen, aren't they dear little boys? And will you please
+kiss me too?" said Maudie, in her pretty soft voice.
+
+Magdalen put her arm round her as she did so.
+
+"And Hoodie?" she said. "I must have a kiss from Hoodie too, mustn't I?"
+
+Hoodie stood stock still.
+
+"Come now, Miss Hoodie," whispered poor Martin. All the time she had
+been dressing the child she had been telling her how good she was to be
+to Cousin Magdalen, and hinting that perhaps if she behaved _very_
+nicely it would help to make them all forget the trouble she had caused
+the day before. But, alas! with what result?
+
+Hoodie stood stock still!
+
+Magdalen put out her hand and tried to draw the child to her.
+
+"You have plenty of kisses on that rosy mouth of yours, Hoodie," she
+said. "Won't you spare me one?"
+
+Hoodie screwed up her lips tighter than before; that was the only sign
+she gave of hearing what was said to her.
+
+"_Oh_, Hoodie," said Maudie, reproachfully.
+
+Hoodie turned upon her with a glance of supreme contempt.
+
+"_You_ can kissen her," she said; "she's yours, she's not mine. _I_
+don't want to kissen her."
+
+Cousin Magdalen looked at Maudie for explanation.
+
+"What does she mean?" she said.
+
+Maudie and Martin looked greatly distressed.
+
+"Oh," said Maudie, "it's only about your being my godmother and not
+hers. We were speaking about it in the nursery, and she said nobody ever
+gave her anything--like me having you, you know, Cousin Magdalen--and
+she was vexed, you know," she added in a lower voice, "because she
+couldn't find our grandmother's cottage yesterday."
+
+"Yes," said Cousin Magdalen, "I know. But, Hoodie dear, you _have_ a
+godmother and a very nice one, as well as a grandmother."
+
+"They're none use having," muttered Hoodie. "I never see them."
+
+"But some day you will. And besides, even though I'm Maudie's godmother,
+can't I love you too?"
+
+"No," said Hoodie bluntly.
+
+"And won't you kiss me?"
+
+"No," said Hoodie again. "I don't like you. I don't like your hairs.
+They is ugly, hanging down like that. I don't want to kiss you."
+
+And she turned her back on Cousin Magdalen, and marched quietly to the
+door.
+
+Martin began some apologies, but Miss King stopped her.
+
+"Never mind, Martin," she said. "It really doesn't matter. She will get
+to know me better in a little."
+
+But all the same, Cousin Magdalen, being, though very amiable and
+sensible, only human, _did_ feel hurt by the little girl's rude repulse.
+It is never pleasant to be repulsed by any one; it is, I think, to even
+right-feeling people, particularly hurting to be repulsed by a _child_.
+And then Magdalen had been thinking a great deal about this poor little
+Hoodie that nobody seemed able to manage, and planning to herself
+various little ways by which she hoped to win her confidence, and thus
+perhaps be of real service to the child, and through her to her mother.
+
+"And now," she said to herself, "she has evidently taken a prejudice to
+me at first sight. What a pity! Yet," she added, as she brushed out and
+arranged the long thick brown hair which Hoodie had objected to, "she is
+only a baby. Perhaps she will like me better when my hair is fastened
+up. I must try her again."
+
+The other three children had stayed in their cousin's room--Martin
+having flown after Hoodie, whom she was now afraid to trust for a moment
+out of her sight--and while she finished dressing they chattered away in
+their own fashion.
+
+"Poor mamma's dot one headache zis morning," said Hec.
+
+"Yes," said Duke, "papa comed to the nursley to say Hoodie wasn't to go
+to be talkened to, 'cos it would make poor mamma's headache worser."
+
+"Won't nobody talken to Hoodie zen?" said Hec.
+
+"Don't be silly, Hec dear," said Maudie, "of course mamma mustn't talk
+to her when her head's bad. Papa said to Martin that she must not let
+Hoodie out of her sight, but that he couldn't have mamma bothered about
+it any more, and that it would be better to drop the subject. What does
+it mean to 'drop the subject,' Cousin Magdalen? I thought perhaps it
+meant to put down the lowest bar on the gate at the end of the garden,
+where Hoodie sometimes creeps through to the cocky field. Could it be
+that?"
+
+"No," said Magdalen, turning away so as to hide her face, "it just means
+not to say any more about Hoodie's running away yesterday, because it
+has troubled your mother so much."
+
+"Of course," said Maudie. "It is all that that has given her a headache.
+It is nearly always Hoodie that gives her headaches. I wonder how she
+_can_."
+
+"But, Maudie dear," said her godmother very gently, "do you think it is
+quite kind of you to speak so? It is right to be sorry when Hoodie is
+naughty, but remember how much younger she is than you. And she does not
+_want_ to make your mother ill--when she is naughty she just forgets all
+but the feelings she has herself, but that is different from _wishing_
+to hurt her mother."
+
+Maudie grew very red.
+
+"Yes," she said in a low voice, "I see how you mean, Cousin Magdalen. I
+don't want to say unkind things of Hoodie."
+
+"No, dear. I don't think you do," said her godmother. "Tell me why do
+you call that field 'the cocky field'?"
+
+Maudie laughed.
+
+"Oh, it's because in one corner of it there's the little house papa's
+made for the bantam cocks. Oh, Cousin Magdalen, they are _such_ ducks."
+
+"_Such_ ducks," echoed Hec and Duke. "And they lay such lovely eggs."
+
+"What remarkable creatures they must be," said Miss King. "But I must
+own I don't quite see how they can be _ducks_ if they're cocks and
+hens."
+
+All the children laughed.
+
+"They isn't zeally ducks," explained matter-of-fact Duke,
+condescendingly. "But, you see, we calls zem ducks 'cos zey is so nice
+and pretty."
+
+"Ah yes, I see," said Cousin Magdalen, gravely. "So perhaps when you
+know me better, if you think me _very_ nice, you'll call me a duck. Will
+you, Duke? Even though really, you know, I'm an old woman."
+
+"Yes," said Duke, "p'raps I will. But I didn't know zou was a _old_
+woman."
+
+"Didn't you, you dear old man?" said his cousin, laughing. "Never mind,
+you may call me 'a old duck,' if you like. And after breakfast will you
+take me to see these wonderful bantams--that's to say if you're allowed
+to go there."
+
+"Oh yes," said Maudie. "We may go whenever we like. They're so
+tame--indeed, they're too tame, papa says, and that was why he made them
+a place further away from the house than they used to be. They used to
+come and hop about all the rooms, and once they laid an egg on one of
+the library arm-chairs, and another time in papa's paper basket. They
+thought that was a lovely nest."
+
+"And are they better behaved now?" said Miss King.
+
+"Oh yes, only sometimes they lay astray. So papa gives us a penny if we
+find any of their eggs about the field or in the hedges anywhere," said
+Maudie. "That's what makes Hoodie so fond of going in the cocky field.
+She's far the cleverest at finding eggs. You should see her--and she's
+got such a way with the cocks. She can cluck, cluck them close up to
+her, and often she catches them. They're not a bit afraid of her."
+
+"How funny," said Magdalen, not sorry to see Maudie's childish attempt
+at saying something in praise of her little sister. "I must certainly go
+with you to see the bantams after breakfast."
+
+"Timmediate after breakfast!" said Hec. "Will you come timmediate? For
+after zen Maudie has lessons."
+
+"Yes," said Maudie, "I have lessons. Miss Meade comes from Springley to
+give me lessons."
+
+"And doesn't Hoodie have any?"
+
+"Sometimes," replied Maudie. "When she's in a good humour. When she's
+not, it's no use trying. I heard Miss Meade say so one day, and so now
+Hoodie very often says she's in a bad humour whether she is or not, 'cos
+she doesn't like lessons."
+
+"She _says_ she's in a bad humour," repeated Magdalen, astonished.
+
+"Oh yes, she just calls out to Miss Meade, 'oh, one's come, one's come,'
+that means a bad humour's come, and once she says that, _nothing's_ any
+good. She sometimes puts her fingers in her ears if Miss Meade tries to
+speak to her. So mamma settled it was no good doing anything; it did so
+interrumpt _my_ lessons, and I'm getting big, you know. But please,
+Cousin Magdalen, will you come with us just the very minute after
+breakfast, and then there'll be time?"
+
+"Very well," said Magdalen. "I'll be ready 'timmediate,' I promise you."
+
+Whether or no Miss King knew much about children, she knew enough to
+understand that to them a promise, even about a small matter, is a very
+sacred thing. And she took care not to forfeit their confidence. No
+sooner did the four little figures appear on the lawn just outside the
+dining-room window, than she started up from the table where, though
+breakfast was finished, she was loitering a little in pleasant talk with
+her friends.
+
+"Why, where are you off to, in such a hurry?" said Mrs. Caryll.
+
+"I beg your pardon," said Magdalen, laughing. "I promised the children
+to go with them before their governess comes, to--"
+
+"Excuse my interrupting you," said Mr. Caryll, "but I would just like to
+see if I can't finish the sentence for you. I am certain they are going
+to take you to see the bantams, now aren't they? They have all four,
+Hoodie especially, got bantams on the brain."
+
+He opened the glass-door as he spoke, and Miss King passed through.
+Three of the children ran forward joyously to meet her, the fourth
+followed more slowly, and from her way of moving, Cousin Magdalen
+strongly suspected that either "one" had just come, or that "one" had
+not yet gone. There was a decidedly black-doggy look about her fat
+little shoulders.
+
+But Miss King took no notice, and slowly, very slowly, the fourth little
+figure drew nearer to the others. Still she did not speak--the boys
+chattered merrily, and Maudie joined in, being sensible enough to
+understand that just now, at any rate, the taking no notice plan was the
+most likely to bring Hoodie round again.
+
+And by the time they reached "the cocky field," it was crowned with
+success. Hoodie forgot all her troubles in the pleasure of showing off
+her pets, and greatly distinguished herself by the cleverness with which
+she caught them and brought them up, one after the other, to be admired.
+
+"Isn't they _sweet_?" she said, ecstatically; "when I'm big, I'll have a
+house with lots and lots of cocks and hens."
+
+"I thought you were going to live in a cottage, like Red Riding Hood's
+grandmother, when you're big?" said Maudie, thoughtlessly.
+
+Hoodie turned upon her with a frown, and Cousin Magdalen felt really
+grieved to see how in one instant her pretty, round, rosy face lost its
+childlike expression, and grew hard and fierce.
+
+"You's not to laugh at me," she said. "I won't have nobody laugh at me."
+
+Maudie looked up penitently in Cousin Magdalen's face.
+
+"I'm so sorry. I _didn't_ mean to set her off. Truly I didn't," she
+whispered.
+
+Cousin Magdalen felt that she knew and understood too little to attempt
+the interference she would have liked to use. More than interference
+indeed. For the moment she felt so provoked with Hoodie's naughty, silly
+bad temper, that she really felt ready to give her a severe scolding.
+She was too wise to do so, however, and certainly it would have done no
+good. More for Maudie's sake than for Hoodie's, she tried to turn the
+conversation in a pleasant way.
+
+"It is very queer," she said, "that people almost never do when they are
+grown up what they plan as children. When I was little I always planned
+that I should do nothing but travel, and after all, very few people have
+travelled less than I. I have been very stay-at-home."
+
+"I like travelling a little way," said Maudie; "but when it is a long
+way, it is so tiring."
+
+"Wouldn't you like the magic carpet that flew with you wherever you
+wished to be?" said Cousin Magdalen.
+
+"Was it in a fairy story?" said Maudie; and though Hoodie said nothing,
+she came slowly nearer and stood staring up in Miss King's face with her
+queer baby blue eyes that could look so sweet, and could, alas! look so
+cross and angry.
+
+"Yes," said Cousin Magdalen, in reply to Maudie's question, "in a very
+old fairy story. Are you fond of fairy stories?"
+
+"_I_ is," said a voice that was certainly not Maudie's.
+
+Magdalen turned to her quietly.
+
+"Are you, dear?" she said, as if not the least surprised at her joining
+in the conversation. "And you too, Maudie? And Hec and Duke?"
+
+"Oh yes, very," said Maudie. "Of course Hec and Duke don't like
+difficult ones--there's some kinds that keeps meaning something else all
+the time, and they are rather difficult, aren't they?"
+
+"Yes," said Magdalen, smiling. "I like the old-fashioned ones that don't
+mean anything else. I must try to think of some for you."
+
+Maudie clapped her hands, and Hoodie's face grew very bright. Suddenly
+she gave a little spring, as if a new idea had struck her.
+
+"I've zought of some'sing," she cried, and turning to Miss King,
+
+"Does you like eggs?" she inquired.
+
+"Very much," said her cousin.
+
+"Zen, if you'll tell us stories, I'll get you eggs. Kite, kite fresh.
+Doesn't you like them _kite_ fresh?"
+
+"Yes, quite fresh; they can't be too fresh," said Magdalen.
+
+"Can't be too fresh," repeated Hoodie. "Zat means just the moment minute
+they'se laid. Oh, that'll be lovely. And when'll you tell us some
+stories, please?"
+
+"Let's see," said Cousin Magdalen. "I'll have to think, and thinking
+takes a good long while."
+
+"Nebber mind," said Hoodie. "You'll zink as soon as you can, won't you,
+dear?"
+
+And for the rest of the morning's walk she was perfectly angelic, in
+consequence of which Cousin Magdalen felt more completely puzzled by her
+than ever.
+
+The day passed over pretty smoothly. Late in the afternoon, just as the
+children were preparing for a run in the garden before tea, an
+excitement got up in the nursery by the absence of Hoodie's basket,
+which she insisted on taking out with her.
+
+"My bastwick; oh my bastwick," she cried. "I must have my bastwick."
+
+"What do you want it for, Miss Hoodie?" said Martin. "There'll be no
+time for picking flowers, and we're not going up the lanes."
+
+"Oh, but I must have my bastwick," repeated Hoodie.
+
+Martin, fearful of an outbreak, stood still to consider.
+
+"When did you have it last?" she said. "Now I do believe it was
+yesterday at that cottage, and I brought it home for you. Yes, and I put
+it down in the back hall where your hoops are. Now, Miss Hoodie, if
+you'll promise to be very good all the time you're out, you may run and
+fetch it. I'll be after you with the little boys in five minutes."
+
+Hoodie was off like a shot, but the five minutes grew into ten before
+Martin and the boys followed her; an ill-behaved button dropping off
+Hec's boot while the careful nurse was fastening it.
+
+"And if there's one thing I can't abide to see, it's children's boots
+wanting buttons," she said, "so run down, Miss Maudie, there's a dear,
+and take care of your sister till I come."
+
+Maudie ran down, but as she did not return Martin felt no misgivings,
+and she was greatly surprised and disappointed when, on going
+down-stairs, she was met by the child with an anxious face.
+
+"I couldn't find Hoodie in the back hall or anywhere about there," she
+said, "and I ran out a little way into the garden, because I knew you'd
+be so frightened, but I can't see her."
+
+"Oh dear, dear," said poor Martin, "wherever will she have gone to now?
+Take the boys into the study, Miss Maudie dear, for a few minutes, and
+I'll run round by the lodge, and ask if they have seen her pass. If
+she's gone up the wood to that cottage again they must have seen her.
+Dear me, dear me, I might have thought of it when she teased so about
+her basket."
+
+Off rushed Martin, and Maudie, faithful to her charge, kept watch over
+the little boys. They were not kept waiting very long, however. In two
+minutes Martin put in her head again.
+
+"Is she with you, Miss Maudie?" she said, quite breathless with running
+so fast, "No? Oh dear, where _can_ she be? The woman at the lodge says
+she saw her running back to the house a few minutes ago. She is sure she
+did."
+
+"Perhaps she's gone up to the nursery again," said Maudie.
+
+"Oh no," said Martin, "she'd never go there, once she thinks she's
+escaped again. She's got something new in her head, I'm sure. I'll just
+ask in the servants' hall if any of them have seen her."
+
+She left the room to do so, but as she passed by the foot of the stairs
+she heard a step. There, calmly coming down, was Hoodie, without her
+basket, however. But that, in her delight at recovering her truant,
+Martin did not notice.
+
+"Miss Hoodie, Miss Hoodie," she cried, "where _have_ you been? You've
+given me such a fright again. Where _have_ you been?"
+
+"Up in the nursley," said Hoodie, coolly. "I wented out a little, and
+then up-stairs to the nursley."
+
+[Illustration: "Up in the nursley," said Hoodie coolly]
+
+And with this account of her doings Martin was obliged to be content.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+STORIES TELLING.
+
+     "This is the cock that crowed in the morn."
+
+
+Late that night, no, very early the next morning, just as dawn was
+breaking, the peacefully sleeping inhabitants of Mr. Caryll's house were
+awakened by strange and alarming sounds which seemed to come from the
+direction of the nursery. The children's mother was one of the first to
+wake, and yet the sounds which had roused her having been heard
+indistinctly through her sleep, she was not able to say what they were.
+
+"It must be one of the children with croup--I am sure it sounded like
+what I have heard croup described, or like that dreadful illness they
+call the crowing cough," she said to Mr. Caryll, as she rushed out of
+the room in a fright.
+
+She had only got to the end of the long passage leading to the
+children's rooms when she ran against Miss King, closely followed by her
+maid and one, two, three other servants all pale and alarmed.
+
+"What can it be?" each said to the other.
+
+"Martin, Martin," cried Mrs. Caryll, "are you there? What _is_ the
+matter?"
+
+But before any Martin was to be seen, again the sounds shrilled through
+the house.
+
+"Kurroo--kurallarrallo-oo-_ook!_" with a queer sudden sort of pull-up at
+the end, it seemed to sound.
+
+They all turned to look at each other.
+
+"It must be a real cock," said Miss King, looking less frightened.
+
+"It certainly doesn't sound like croup," said Mrs. Caryll.
+
+"It's just one of them mischievous bantams, ma'am," said the cook, a
+countrywoman who had made a study of cocks and hens. "They always give
+that sort of catchy croak at the end of their crows. But, to be sure,
+what a fright it's gave us all! And where can the creature be?"
+
+As she spoke, Martin appeared at the end of the passage, a basket in her
+arms, her face pale, leading by the hand a small figure in a white
+nightgown, a figure that pulled and pushed and kicked valiantly in its
+extreme reluctance to come any farther.
+
+"I won't be takened to Mamma. I won't, I won't. I'm not naughty. It's
+zou that's ugly and naughty," it screamed.
+
+Mrs. Caryll gave a despairing glance at her cousin.
+
+"Hoodie again!" she said.
+
+Martin hastened forward as fast as she could, considering the
+difficulties in her way.
+
+"Oh, ma'am," she exclaimed, looking nearly ready to cry, "I am so sorry,
+so sorry and ashamed to have such an upset in the house at this time of
+the night, or morning, I should say. It really must seem with all these
+troubles as if I wasn't fit to manage the children. And just as Miss
+King has come, too. But oh dear, ma'am, I don't know _what_ to do with
+Miss Hoodie and her queer ways."
+
+"But what _is_ it, Martin? What has Hoodie been doing?" said Mrs.
+Caryll, rather impatiently. "Stop crying, Hoodie. You _must_," she added
+sternly, turning to the little girl, who was now regularly set agoing on
+one of her roars.
+
+Hoodie took not the slightest notice, but roared on. Her mother turned
+again to Martin, shaking her head.
+
+"No, ma'am," said Martin, "it's not the least use speaking to her. She
+has wakened all the others, of course--first with that nasty creature
+and then with her screaming."
+
+"What nasty creature? For goodness' sake explain yourself, Martin."
+
+"The cock, ma'am--the bantam cock," replied Martin, seeming quite
+astonished that Mrs. Caryll did not know all about it by instinct. "Miss
+Hoodie fetched it in in her basket, unbeknown to me, last night, and had
+it hidden under her bed. The creature was quite quiet all night, as is
+its nature, I suppose, and very likely frightened and not knowing where
+it was. But this morning all of a sudden it started the most awful
+screeching; it really sounded much worse than common crowing, or else it
+was hearing it half in one's sleep like. I thought, to be sure, one of
+those dear boys had got some awful fit. And to think it was nothing but
+Miss Hoodie's naughtiness--real mischievous naughtiness." Martin
+stopped, quite out of breath, and Hoodie's roars increased in violence.
+
+"Had she really no reason for it but mischief?" said Miss King.
+
+Martin hesitated.
+
+"She did begin some nonsense, ma'am, about having brought it in to lay
+an egg, or something like that."
+
+"Hoodie," said Magdalen, "can't you leave off screaming and tell us
+about it?"
+
+"No," said Hoodie, stopping at once and with perfect ease, "I can't
+leave off sc'eaming, and I won't. But I'll tell zou, 'cos it was for
+zou. I brought the little cock in to lay a egg for zour breakfast, 'cos
+zou said zou likened zem kite fresh, and now Martin's spoilt it all. Of
+course it c'owed to tell me it was going to lay the egg, and now it
+won't. It's all spoilt, and I _must_ sc'eam."
+
+True to her determination she set to work again and roared so that it
+was almost impossible to hear one's voice.
+
+"What _shall_ we do with her?" said her mother.
+
+"May I take her to my room?" said Cousin Magdalen. "It is farther away
+from the other children, so she can't disturb them even if she screams
+all day."
+
+Hoodie stopped again as suddenly as before.
+
+"I won't go to zour room," she said. "I don't like zou now--not one
+bit."
+
+Magdalen glanced at Mrs. Caryll.
+
+"May I take my own way with her!" her glance seemed to say. Mrs. Caryll
+nodded her head, and notwithstanding Martin's whispered warning, "Oh,
+Miss King, you don't _know_ what a work you'll have with her," Magdalen
+turned to Hoodie, and before the child in the least understood what she
+was about, she had picked her up in her strong young arms and was half
+way down the passage before Hoodie's surprise had given her breath to
+begin her roars again.
+
+She was opening her mouth to do so, when her cousin stopped for a
+moment.
+
+"Now, Hoodie," she said, "_listen_. It was kind of you to want to get me
+a quite fresh egg for my breakfast, but it isn't kind of you at all to
+make that disagreeable noise, and to kick and fight so because I want to
+take you to my room."
+
+"I don't care," said Hoodie, "I don't like zou, and I will cry if I
+like. I don't like any people."
+
+"I am very sorry to find you are so silly," said Cousin Magdalen. "If
+you were older and understood better you would not talk like that."
+
+"I would if I liked," persisted Hoodie. "Big peoples can do whatever zey
+likes, and if I was big I could too."
+
+"Big people _can't_ do whatever they like," said Miss King, "and nice
+big people never like to do things that other people don't like too."
+
+"Don't zey?" said Hoodie, meditatively. By this time they were safely
+shut into Miss King's room and Hoodie was plumped down into the middle
+of her cousin's bed--"Don't zey? Zen I don't want to be a nice big
+people. I want to be the kind that does whatever zey likes zerselves."
+
+Miss King gave a slight sigh--half of amusement, half of despair. She
+was beginning to understand that Hoodie's reformation was indeed no easy
+matter.
+
+"Very well, then. You had better go on screaming if you like it so
+much," she said, sitting down on the side of the bed and wondering to
+herself what would become of the world, if all the children in it were
+as tiresome to manage as Hoodie. In at the window the daylight was
+creeping timidly; all kinds of pretty colours were to be seen in the
+sky, and the birds were beginning their cheerful chatter. Still it was
+very early, and poor cousin Magdalen was sleepy. Was there _anything_
+that could make Hoodie go to sleep for an hour or two?
+
+"The little birds in the nests are kind to each other. They don't wake
+each other up in the night and scream so that there is no peace. I
+wonder why children can't be good too," she said.
+
+"I'm _not_ sc'eaming," said Hoodie indignantly. "I've stoppened."
+
+"I'm glad to hear it. But if I get into bed and lie down and try to go
+to sleep, perhaps you'll begin again, as you don't care for what other
+people like."
+
+Hoodie was silent for a minute.
+
+"Does you want to go to sleep?"
+
+"Yes," said Magdalen. "I'm very tired."
+
+"Zen I won't sc'eam."
+
+Her cousin felt inclined to clap her hands, but wisely forbore.
+
+"Thank you," she said quietly, as she lay down.
+
+Hoodie wriggled.
+
+"No, zou isn't to say zank zou," she said. "I don't like zou. I don't
+like any people, 'cos they stopped my getting zat nice fresh egg. I
+won't get zou eggs no more. I don't like zou."
+
+"Very well," said her cousin.
+
+Some minutes' quiet followed. Then Hoodie's voice again.
+
+"When will zou tell us that story?" she inquired coolly.
+
+"What story?"
+
+"Zat story about oldwashion fairies, or some'sing like zat."
+
+"Oh, I said I'd try to think of a story for you," said Miss King,
+sleepily. "Well, I won't forget."
+
+"Zou must get it ready quick," said Hoodie. "Zou must tell it me, zou
+know, 'cos I've been so good about not sc'eaming."
+
+"But not now. You don't want me to tell you stories _now_," said her
+cousin in alarm.
+
+"No, zou may go to sleep now," replied Hoodie, condescendingly, adding
+after a moment's pause, "_I_ can tell stories, lovely stories."
+
+"Can you? well, you had better think of one, and have it all ready,"
+said Magdalen in fresh alarm.
+
+"Mine's is always zeady, but zou may go to sleep now," was the reply, to
+her great relief, the truth being that Hoodie herself was as sleepy as
+she could be, for in two minutes her soft even breathing told that for a
+while her fidgety little spirit was at rest.
+
+Magdalen lay awake some time longer. In a half-dreamy way she was
+thinking over in her own mind the old fairy tales she had loved as a
+little girl--with them there mingled in her fancy the scenes and
+memories of her own childhood. She was glad to find Hoodie so eager for
+stories, it might be one way of winning the strange-tempered little
+creature's confidence, and she tried to call to mind some of the tales
+most likely to interest her. And somehow, "between sleeping and waking,"
+there came back to her mind the shadow of a fanciful little story she
+had either read or heard or imagined long ago, and as she fell asleep
+she said to herself, "Yes, that will do. I will tell them the story of
+'The Chintz Curtains.'"
+
+When Magdalen awoke again that morning it was, as might have been
+expected, a good deal later than usual. Hoodie was still sleeping
+soundly. Magdalen got up and dressed quietly. She was nearly quite ready
+when Hoodie awoke. A little movement in the bed caught Miss King's
+notice: she turned round. There was Hoodie, staring at her with
+wide-open eyes.
+
+"Well, Hoodie," she said, "how are you this morning?"
+
+Hoodie did not reply, but continued staring, so her cousin went on
+fastening up her hair. In a minute or two there came a remark, or
+question rather.
+
+"Has zou had a nice sleep?"
+
+[Illustration: "Has zou had a nice sleep?"]
+
+"Yes, thank you."
+
+"Has zou thinkened of a story?"
+
+"Yes," said Magdalen. "I almost think I have."
+
+"_I_ has too," said Hoodie, with a queer twinkle in her eyes.
+
+"Have you," said her cousin, "that's very clever of you."
+
+"Yes," replied the little girl, "zou didn't know Hoodie was so c'ever,
+did zou?"
+
+"You'd better tell me the story first, and then I'll say what I think of
+it," said Magdalen.
+
+"Now?" inquired Hoodie, "sall I tell it now? It isn't a long one."
+
+"If you like," replied Magdalen, "you can tell it me while I finish
+doing my hair."
+
+"Well," began Hoodie, solemnly, "just a long time ago--oh no, that's a
+mistake, it should be just '_onst_--'"
+
+"Or 'once,'" corrected her cousin, "'once' is a proper word, and 'onst'
+isn't."
+
+"I don't care," said Hoodie, frowning. "I like to say 'onst.' If zou
+don't zink my words pretty you'll make one come, and if one comes I
+can't tell you stories."
+
+"Very well," said Magdalen, remembering Maudie's explanation of the
+mysterious phrase, "very well. I won't interrupt you. You may say any
+words you like."
+
+"Well then," began Hoodie again. "_Onst_ there was a little girl. She
+was called--no, I won't tell zou what she was called--she had a papa and
+mamma and bruvvers and a sister, but zey didn't like her much."
+
+She stopped.
+
+"Dear me," said Magdalen, finding she was expected to say something,
+"that was very sad."
+
+"Yes," said Hoodie, "vezy sad."
+
+"Why didn't they like her?"
+
+"'Cos zey thoughtened she was naughty. Zey was alvays saying she was
+naughty."
+
+"Perhaps she was," said Magdalen.
+
+"Nebber mind," said Hoodie, "I want to go on. One day a lady comed what
+wasn't _hern_ godmozer, so she didn't like her, and she toldened her she
+was ugly. But zen--oh zen she founded out that she wasn't ugly but she
+was pretty, vezy, vezy pretty--oh, she was so nice, and the little girl
+liked her vezy much--wasn't zat a nice story?"
+
+"Beautiful," said Miss King. "All except the part about her papa and
+mamma and sister and brothers not liking her. I don't like that part."
+
+"Nebber mind," replied Hoodie again. "Nebber mind about zat part zen.
+Doesn't zou like about the lady? Can zou guess who it was?"
+
+"Let me see," said Magdalen, solemnly. "I must think. A lady came that
+wasn't _her_ godmother--dear me, who could it be?"
+
+"It was zou; it was zou," cried Hoodie, jumping up in bed and rushing at
+her cousin. "And the little girl was Hoodie, 'cos I do like zou now. I
+do, I do, and I'll be vezy good all day, to please you."
+
+"That's my dear little girl," said Cousin Magdalen, really gratified.
+"But won't you try to be good to please your papa and mamma too--and
+most of all, Hoodie dear, to please God."
+
+She lowered her voice a little, and Hoodie looked at her gravely.
+
+"I don't know," she said. "I couldn't try such a long time and zey
+_alvays_ says I'm naughty. No, I'll just please zou; nobody else, and if
+zou aren't pleased, I'll sc'eam. I can sc'eam in a minute."
+
+Magdalen grew alarmed.
+
+"Please don't," she said. "I'll be very pleased if you don't. And when
+you see how nice it is to please me, perhaps you'll go on trying to
+please everybody."
+
+Hoodie shook her head.
+
+"Zey _alvays_ says I'm naughty," she repeated.
+
+Just then there came a knock at the door, and Martin put her head in.
+
+"Is Miss Hoodie awake yet, ma'am?" she inquired. "And I do hope she's
+let you have some sleep?"
+
+"Oh, yes indeed, thank you, Martin," said Miss King, cheerfully. "We
+have got on _very_ well, haven't we, Hoodie? And I think you are going
+to have a very good little girl in the nursery to-day."
+
+"I hope so, I'm sure, ma'am," said Martin, rather dolefully. Her tone
+did not sound as if her hopes were very high, and Hoodie's next remark
+did not make them higher.
+
+"Yes," she said, "I is going to be good--vezy, vezy good, _too_ good.
+But it isn't to please zou, Martin. It's all to please _her_," pointing
+to Miss King, "and not zou, one bit. 'Cos I like her; she didn't scold
+me about the cock--she zanked me, and she's going to tell me a story."
+
+"Hoodie," said Magdalen gravely, "I don't call it beginning to be good
+to tell Martin you don't care to please her one bit."
+
+"Can't please ev'ybody," said Hoodie, with a toss of her shaggy head;
+"takes such a long time."
+
+"But speaking that way to Martin doesn't please _me_," persisted
+Magdalen.
+
+"Very well zen, I won't," said Hoodie, with unusual amiability. "I'll
+give Martin a kiss if you like. Only you must have the story ready the
+minute moment Maudie's done her letsons--will zou?"
+
+"Yes," said Magdalen, "it'll be quite ready."
+
+So Hoodie went off triumphantly in Martin's arms, things looking so
+promising that by the time they reached the nursery, the two were the
+best of friends.
+
+And, "what a nice little young lady you might be, Miss Hoodie," said
+Martin, encouragingly, "if you was always good."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Magdalen was ready for the children as she had promised. It was such a
+mild beautiful day, though only April, that she got leave to take them
+out-of-doors for the story-telling, and in a favourite corner, sunny yet
+sheltered, they settled their little camp-stools in a circle round her
+and prepared to listen.
+
+"Only," said wise Maudie, "if Hec and Duke get very tired they may run
+about a little, mayn't they, Cousin Magdalen?"
+
+"If even they get a _little_ tired they may run about," said her
+godmother. "But I don't think they will. It is a sort of nonsense story,
+not clever enough to tire any of you."
+
+"What's it called, please?" said Maudie.
+
+"I'm not sure that it has a name," said Magdalen, "but if you'd rather
+it had one, we'll call it 'The Chintz Curtains.'"
+
+"Please begin then, and say it in very little words for Hec and Duke to
+understand, won't you?"
+
+Magdalen nodded her head, and began.
+
+"Once," she said, "once there was a little girl."
+
+"That's how my story began," said Hoodie, with the funny twinkle in her
+eyes again.
+
+"Never mind, _don't_ interrumpt," said Maudie.
+
+"Well," Magdalen went on, "this little girl had no brothers or sisters,
+and though her father and mother were very kind to her she was sometimes
+rather lonely. And she often wished for other children to play with her.
+It happened one winter that she got ill--I am not sure what the illness
+was--measles, or something like that, it wasn't anything very, very bad,
+but still she was ill enough to be several days quite in bed, and
+several more partly in bed, and even after that a good many more before
+she could get up early to breakfast as usual, and do her lessons and run
+about in the garden, and play like _well_ children. She didn't much mind
+being ill, not as much as you would, I don't think. For, you see, except
+just for the few days that she felt weak and giddy and really ill,
+staying in bed didn't seem to make very much difference to her, indeed
+in some ways it was rather nicer. She had lots of storybooks to
+read--several of her friends sent her presents of new ones--and
+certainly more dainty things to eat than when she was well--"
+
+"Delly?" said Hec. "Duke and me had delly when we was ill."
+
+"Yes," said Maudie, "last winter Hec and Duke had the _independent_
+fever, and they had to have jelly and beef-tea and things like that to
+make them strong again."
+
+"Yes," said Magdalen, "that was why Lena--I forgot to tell you that that
+was the little girl's name--that was why they gave all those nice things
+to little Lena. But the worst of it was she didn't like them nearly as
+much as when she was well, and she often wished they would give her just
+common things, bread and butter and rice-pudding, you know, when she was
+ill, and keep all the very nice things for a treat when she was well and
+could enjoy them. She was getting well, of course; by the time it comes
+to thinking about what you have to eat, children generally are getting
+well; but she was rather slow about it, and even when she was up and
+about again as usual, she didn't _feel_ or look a bit like usual. She
+was thin and white, and whatever she did tired her. Something queer
+seemed to have come over all her dolls and toys; they had all grown
+stupid in some tiresome way, and when she tried to sew, which she was
+generally rather clever at, all her fingers seemed to have turned into
+thumbs."
+
+"How dedful," said Hoodie, stretching out her two chubby hands and
+gravely gazing at them. "All zumbs wouldn't look pretty at all. I hope
+mine won't never be like that if I get ill."
+
+"My dear Hoodie," said Magdalen, as soon as she could speak for
+laughing. "I didn't mean it that way. Not _really_. I just meant that
+her fingers had got clumsy, you know, with her being weak and ill. It is
+just a way of speaking."
+
+"Oh!" said Hoodie, rather mystified still, "I'm glad them wasn't
+_zeally_ all zumbs."
+
+"Only, Hoodie, I _do_ wish"--began Maudie, but Magdalen went on before
+she had time to finish her sentence.
+
+"And as the days went on and she didn't seem to be getting back to be
+like herself, her mother grew rather anxious about her.
+
+"'We must do something about Lena,' she said to her father, 'she is not
+getting strong again. The doctor says she should have a change of air,
+but I don't see how to manage it. I cannot leave home while my mother is
+so ill,'--for Lena's grandmother lived with them and was rather an old
+and delicate lady--'and you, of course, cannot.'
+
+"Lena's father was always very busy. It was seldom he could leave home,
+not very often, indeed, that he had time to see much of his little girl,
+even at home. But he was very fond of her, and anxious to do everything
+for her good. So he and her mother talked it well over together, and at
+last they thought of a good plan, and when it was all settled her mother
+told Lena about it.
+
+"She called her to her one day when the little girl was sitting rather
+sadly trying to amuse herself with her dolls. But her head ached, and
+all her ideas seemed to have gone out of her mind. She could not think
+of any new plays for them, and she began to fancy their faces looked
+stupid.
+
+"'I almost think I'm getting too big for dolls,' she was saying to
+herself, when she heard her mother's voice calling her. And she slowly
+got down from her chair and went up-stairs to the drawing-room, where
+her mother was sitting writing.
+
+"'Are you very tired, dear?' she said kindly.
+
+"'Yes, mamma, I think so,' said Lena, as if she didn't much care whether
+she was tired or not.
+
+"'You seem often tired now, my poor little girl,' said her mother. 'I
+think it is that you have not got properly strong since you were ill.
+The doctor says a change of air would be the best thing for you, but
+just now neither your father nor I can leave home. Would you mind very
+much going away for a little without us?'
+
+"'Would it be very far, mamma?' said Lena. She liked the idea of going
+away, she had not often left home, and she had a great fancy for
+travelling, but still you can understand to go quite away without either
+her father or mother seemed rather lonely."
+
+"Hadn't she a nice nurse?" asked Maudie.
+
+"No, she hadn't a nurse quite all for herself. She was the only child,
+you know, and her father and mother were not very rich people, so the
+maid who waited on her had other work to do too. Her mother went on to
+explain to her that it was not to any very far-away place they thought
+of her going. It was to a pretty little sheltered village near the sea,
+where in an old-fashioned farmhouse there lived a very kind old woman
+who had been her mother's nurse long before Lena was born. Lena had seen
+her two or three times and liked her very much, and Mrs. Denny, that was
+the old nurse's name, had often told her about her pretty home where she
+lived with her son, who had never married, and for many years had taken
+care of this farm for the gentleman it belonged to. Mrs. Denny had
+promised Lena that if she came to see her she should have as much new
+milk as she could drink, and plenty of quite fresh eggs, and all sorts
+of nice country things. She had also promised her a particular bedroom
+all to herself--and Lena had forgotten none of these things, so that
+when her mother told her that it was to Rockrose Farm they were thinking
+of sending her, Lena, in her quiet way, felt quite pleased. She was not
+a little girl that made a fuss about things--she had lived too much
+alone to be anything but quiet--and just now she felt too tired to seem
+very eager. But her mother was pleased to see the bright look that came
+into her eyes, and to hear the cheerful sound in her voice when she
+replied, 'Oh, if it is to Mrs. Denny's, mamma, I should like to go
+_very_ much. And I wonder if she will let me sleep in the room where the
+bed has such beautiful chintz curtains, all covered with pictures,
+mamma?'
+
+"Her mother smiled.
+
+"'I daresay she will, dear,' she said. 'I'm just writing to nurse now,
+and if you like I'll ask her to be sure to let you have the
+bedroom--with----'"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+"THE CHINTZ CURTAINS."
+
+    "O lovely land of fairies,
+    You are so bright and fair."
+
+
+"The chintz curtains."
+
+Cousin Magdalen stopped for a minute.
+
+"Are you getting tired, dears, any of you?" she said.
+
+All the four heads were shaken at once.
+
+"Oh dear no," said Maudie.
+
+"In course not," said Hoodie.
+
+And "It's a vezy pretty story," said Hec; while Duke faintly echoed,
+"Vezy pretty."
+
+So Magdalen, thus encouraged, went on.
+
+"You begin to understand now why I said you might call the story 'the
+chintz curtains,'" she said. "We're now got like to the real beginning.
+At least I needn't explain any more about Lena--you must just fancy her
+arriving one afternoon at Rockrose Farm. It was a nice bright afternoon,
+though the winter was scarcely over, and little Lena already began to
+feel stronger and better when she ran out into the garden at one side of
+the house for a breath of fresh air after the long drive from the
+railway. Her father had brought her to the station, and there Mrs. Denny
+had met her, so that he might go straight back by the next train without
+losing any time.
+
+"'Oh, how nice it is,' she said to Mrs. Denny, as she stood in the
+middle of the little grass-plot beside the old sun-dial, and felt the
+sweet fresh air blowing softly over her face. 'How pretty the garden
+must be in summer.'
+
+"'Yes, my dear,' said Mrs. Denny. 'The flowers are very sweet. It seems
+to me there never were such sweet ones. And do you hear that sort of
+soft roar, Miss Lena? Do you know what that is?"
+
+"Lena stood quite still to listen, and a pleased look came over her
+face.
+
+"'Yes,' she said, 'I believe it is the sea. It is like far-away organs,
+isn't it?'
+
+"'And sometimes in stormy weather it is like great cannons booming,'
+said Mrs. Denny.
+
+"But just then it was difficult to think of storms or cannons, or
+anything so unpeaceful. Nothing could seem more perfectly calm and at
+rest than that dear old garden the first time Lena ever saw it. I don't
+think anything (any place perhaps I should say) can be more delicious
+than a little nest of a place like Rockrose, sheltered from the high
+winds by beautiful old trees, and yet open enough for the sea breezes to
+creep and flutter about it, and sometimes even to give what Lena called
+'a salty taste' to the air, if you stood with your mouth open and got a
+good drink of it. But I mustn't go on talking so much about the outside
+of the house, or I never shall get to the inside, shall I?
+
+"Well, after Lena had admired the garden, and promised herself many nice
+runs in it, Mrs. Denny took her into the house again. They passed
+through the kitchen, which had a little parlour out of it, where already
+tea was set out--it was such a delicious old kitchen, the paved floor as
+white and clean as constant scrubbing could make it, and the old
+cupboards and settles of dark wood shining like mirrors--they passed
+through the kitchen and across a little stone hall with whitewashed
+walls, out of which opened the best parlour, only used on very grand
+occasions, and up two flights of stone steps ending in a wide short
+passage running right across the house. At one end of this passage Mrs.
+Denny opened a door, which led into a sort of little ante-room, and here
+another rather low door being opened, Lena followed Mrs. Denny into the
+bedroom which was to be hers. It was not a very little room--there were
+two windows, one at each side--one of them looked out on to the garden,
+the other had a lovely view far away over the downs, to where one knew
+the sea _was_, though one could not see it. But fond as Lena was of
+pretty views, she did not run to the window to look out. She stood still
+for a moment and then ran forward eagerly to the end of the room, where
+the bed was placed, crying out with delight,
+
+"'Oh, that's the bed--that's the very bed you told me about, dear Mrs.
+Denny--the bed I did so want to sleep in. Thank you so much for
+remembering about it. Oh, how _beautiful_ it is--I shouldn't mind being
+ill if I was in that bed.'
+
+"It really was a rather wonderful bed. It was a regular four-poster, if
+you know what that is--a bed with wooden posts at each corner, and
+curtains running all round, so that once you were inside it, you could
+if you liked draw them so close that it was like being in a tent."
+
+"I know," said Maudie, "I've seen beds like that. But I don't think
+Hoodie and the boys have--let me see; oh yes, I can tell them what it's
+like. It's like the bed in our _best_ doll-house--the one with pink
+curtains trimmed with white. You know?"
+
+"Yes," said Hoodie, "the one where Miss Victoria has been so ill in,
+since she's got too ugly to sit in the drawing-room. I know."
+
+"But it's such a weeny bed," said Hec, "was zour little girl no bigger
+than zat little dolly, Cousin Magdalen?"
+
+"_Of course_," said Maudie, hastily. "How stupid you are, Hec."
+
+"Maudie," said her godmother, and Maudie got very red. "Maudie meant it
+was the same _shape_ as that, but much bigger, Hec dear. Just the same
+as the piano in the study is the same shape as the one in the
+doll-house, only much bigger."
+
+"Oh zes," said Hec.
+
+"A great deal bigger than any of the beds people have now," continued
+Magdalen. "It was really big enough to have held six little Lenas
+instead of one. But it was the curtains that made it so particularly
+wonderful. They were very old, but the colours were still quite bright,
+they had been washed so carefully. And the pattern was something I
+really could not describe if I tried--it was the most delicious muddle
+of flowers, and trailing leaves and birds, and here and there a sort of
+little basket-work pattern that looked like a summer-house or the
+entrance to a grotto.
+
+"Lena stood feasting her eyes upon these marvellous curtains.
+
+"'I never did see anything so nice,' she said. 'Can I see the pictures
+when I'm _in_ the bed, Mrs. Denny?'
+
+"'Oh yes, my dear, they're double--the same inside as out,' said Mrs.
+Denny, turning them as she spoke.
+
+"'How nice!' said Lena; 'well, if I'm late for breakfast, Mrs. Denny,
+you'll know that it'll be with looking at the curtains.'
+
+"'I'm not afraid but that you'll sleep well in this bed, Miss Lena,'
+said the old nurse. 'There's something very lucky about it. Many a one
+has told me they never had such sweet sleep or such pretty dreams as in
+our old bed. It's maybe that the room is a very pleasant one, never
+either too hot or too cold, and there's a beautiful scent of lavender,
+Miss Lena, all through the bed, as you'll find.'
+
+"Lena poked her little nose into the pillows on the spot.
+
+"'Oh yes,' she said, 'it's _beautiful_.'
+
+"'But you must be, or any way you should be, hungry, my dear,' said
+nurse. 'And tea's all ready. Come away down-stairs, and then you must go
+to bed early, you know. I must take great care of you, so that you'll
+look quite a different little girl when you go home again.'
+
+"Lena did justice to the tea, I assure you. She thought she had never
+enjoyed anything so much before as the nice things Mrs. Denny had got
+ready for her. And after tea there was her little box to unpack, and her
+things to arrange neatly in the old-fashioned bureau and on the shelves
+of the large light closet, opening out of the room. And by the time all
+this was done Lena began to feel both sleepy and tired, and was not at
+all sorry when Mrs. Denny told her that she thought it was quite time
+for her to go to bed.
+
+"And oh how very comfortable she felt when she was fairly settled in the
+dear old bed! It was _so_ snug--just soft enough, but not too soft--not
+the kind of suffocatingly soft feather-bed in which you get down into a
+hole and never get out of it all night. It was springy as well as soft,
+and though the linen was not perhaps so fine as what Lena was accustomed
+to at home, it was real homespun for all that--and through everything
+there was the delicious wild thymy sort of scent of lavender which Mrs.
+Denny had promised her. Lena went to sleep really burrowing her nose,
+which was rather a snub one to begin with unfortunately, into the
+pillow, and the last words she thought to herself were, 'I could really
+fancy myself in a sort of fairy-land. And oh how nice it will be in the
+morning to lie awake and look at those lovely curtains.'
+
+"There was not so very much lying awake however the first morning as she
+had expected. It was so late when she awoke that the sun was quite a
+good way up in the sky, and Mrs. Denny was standing by the bed smiling
+at her little visitor, and wondering if she would have to make fresh
+bread and milk for her, as the bowlful that was ready would be quite
+spoilt with waiting so long. Up jumped Lena.
+
+"'Oh, dear Mrs. Denny,' she said, 'I have had such a beautiful, lovely
+sleep. And you don't know what funny dreams I had. I dreamt that there
+were fairies hidden in all the little crinks of the curtains, and I
+heard them talking about me and telling each other that it was the first
+time I had slept there, and they wondered if I was a good little girl.
+And then I thought I heard one say "if she is good we can please her
+well." _Wasn't_ it funny, Mrs. Denny?'
+
+"'Very funny,' said Mrs. Denny, smiling. 'But you know, Miss Lena, I
+told you you'd have beautiful sleeps and dreams here, didn't I?'
+
+"'Yes,' said Lena, 'and I'm _so_ hungry, you don't know how hungry I
+am.'
+
+"So she jumped up and washed and dressed and said her prayers, and came
+down to the kitchen as fresh and bright as a little girl could look. And
+Farmer Denny declared, if the roses in the gardens had been in bloom, he
+could have thought she had been stealing some for her cheeks--for
+already there was certainly more colour in them than when she had
+arrived. So the time passed very happily, and Lena did not feel the
+least dull either by day or by night.
+
+"It had not been the time of the full moon when she first came, but a
+few days later it happened to be so, and as the weather was beautifully
+fine just then there were almost no clouds in the sky, and the moon had
+it all her own pretty way. One night Lena woke up suddenly--it seemed to
+her that she had been asleep a long, long time, and she didn't feel the
+least heavy or confused, but quite fresh and brisk as if she had had all
+the sleep she needed. And the shining moonlight came pouring in at the
+windows in a sort of wide band of light falling right across the bed and
+showing out most beautifully the colours and patterns on the
+old-fashioned curtains. They looked even brighter than by daylight, and
+as Lena lay and looked at them, she saw wonderful new pictures that she
+had never noticed before--the sort of pathway between the green branches
+and foliage that seemed to lead up to one of the little bowers or
+grottos grew more distinct, and as Lena tried to trace it out with her
+eyes, she suddenly saw a little figure moving along the path she was
+looking at. She rubbed her eyes and looked again--the figure had
+disappeared, but instead she saw clearly in the moonlight two
+butterflies flitting about the same path, darting first backwards, then
+forwards, as if inviting her to follow them.
+
+"'If only I were a fly and could walk straight up a wall,' thought Lena,
+'I'd really step up that curtain and see if I couldn't make my way into
+that grotto,' and then she laughed to herself at the fancy--'as if any
+one _could_ walk into a picture!' she said.
+
+"And then it seemed to her that the butterflies melted into the
+leaves--and there was no movement at all on the curtains.
+
+"'It must have been the trembling of the moonlight that made me fancy
+it,' Lena said to herself. And the next morning when she awoke she stood
+up on tiptoe to examine the particular spot where she had seen these
+curious things. It looked just the same as the other parts of the
+curtains--only half hidden among the bushy leaves near the rustic
+doorway that Lena called the arbour, she found out a queer brown little
+face that she had not seen before. It seemed to her to peep out at her
+suddenly, and she fancied that it was the face of the figure she had
+watched moving along the path in the moonlight.
+
+"'How funny that I never noticed it before,' she said, for when she
+looked at the same place on the pattern in other parts of the curtains
+she noticed the same queer little brown face, just like a monkey peeping
+from among the branches.
+
+"She was so surprised that she thought she would ask Mrs. Denny if _she_
+had ever noticed 'the monkeys,' but somehow it went quite out of her
+head. It was not till the next night that she remembered anything more
+about them.
+
+"For the next night, strange to say, she wakened again in the same
+sudden way. And again the moonlight was shining right on the curtains,
+and this time Lena felt more sure than the night before, that something
+was moving about among the leaves and flowers and branches that seemed
+to stand out so brightly.
+
+"'Oh dear,' she thought to herself, 'I _do_ wish I could creep up quite
+quietly and see if it is one of those monkeys that has got loose. Oh
+please, Mr. Monkey, if you are a fairy, _do_ come down and fetch me,'
+she added, laughing.
+
+"But her laughter stopped suddenly. Almost as she said the words the
+most curious sound reached her ears--at first it seemed like the buzzing
+of lots and lots of flies, bluebottles, midges, bees, cockchafers--every
+sort of creature of the kind, so that Lena started up in a fright. But
+no--no flies of any sort were to be seen, but nearer and nearer, louder
+and louder came the sound, till at last it grew into a sort of chant, as
+if a great number of little feet were stepping along together, and a
+great number of little buzzing voices singing in time to them. And
+glancing up at the curtains Lena plainly saw a whole quantity of tiny
+brown figures stepping--you couldn't call it sliding, they moved too
+regularly--downwards in the direction of her face. And if she had looked
+closer, she would have seen that every place in the pattern where the
+wee brown faces peeped out was empty! The monkeys had come to fetch her!
+Where to?
+
+"That I must try to tell you--but as to how she got there, that is a
+different matter. She never knew it herself, so how could any one else
+know it? All I can tell you is this--she found herself standing in
+front of a little house--a pretty little house, something like the
+carved Swiss cottages that your mamma has in the library--there was a
+garden all round it, thick trees and bushes at the sides, and as Lena
+suddenly, as it were, seemed to awake to find herself there, she heard
+at the same moment a sort of scuttling all about her, just as if
+a lot of hares or rabbits had taken flight. And when she quickly
+turned round to look, she saw disappearing among the shrubs ever so
+many--_quantities_ of pairs of little brown legs and feet--the bodies
+and heads belonging to them being already hidden in the green.
+
+"'It must be the monkeys,' thought Lena, and as this came into her mind
+it struck her too that this place where she found herself was the very
+place where she had wished to be. Till this moment she had somehow
+forgotten about it, but now she looked about her with great
+interest--yes--this cottage must be the very place she had called an
+arbour, for the fence in front of it was of rustic work like dried
+branches twisted together, and there at the side was one of the trees
+with the thick leaves where the monkey's face had peeped out--and at the
+other side were the plants with the big bobbing red flowers, and the
+other ones with the hanging yellow lilies--all the things she had
+noticed so often. Lena had really got her wish. She was _in_ the chintz
+curtains. Only there were no birds, no butterflies, nothing moving at
+all--no monkeys' faces peeping at her from among the leaves. Everything
+was perfectly still.
+
+"'What shall I do?' thought Lena. 'Shall I go into the house and look
+about me? I wonder if it would be rude.'
+
+"It didn't seem so, for the door was left open--wide open, as if on
+purpose; so, after knocking once or twice and no one coming, Lena walked
+in. Such a pretty, but such a queer little house it was. It was more
+like a nest than a house. There was a little kitchen with cupboards all
+round, with open lattice-work doors through which you could see what was
+in them. They were filled with all sorts of queer provisions, nuts,
+acorns, apples of different kinds, and some fruits that Lena had never
+seen before. Then in the parlour the carpet was the prettiest you could
+imagine. Lena could not think what it was till she stooped down and felt
+it with her hands, and then she found it was moss, real live growing
+moss, so bright and green, and so soft and springy. And the sofa and
+chairs were all made of growing plants, twisted and trained so that the
+roots made the seat and the branches the back. Each was different. Lena
+sat down in one or two, and could not tell which was the most
+comfortable, they were all so nice, and so pretty. For each was
+ornamented with a different flower that seemed to grow in a wreath on
+purpose round the back and down the arms. There was no fireplace in the
+room, but there were some nice furry-looking rugs lying about, and when
+Lena looked at them closely she saw they were made of moss too--moss of
+a different kind, browner than the other, plaited together in some
+wonderful way with the soft flowery tufts kept outside. Lena lay down on
+the sofa and covered herself up with one of these rugs.
+
+"'How comfortable it is! What an awfully nice little house this is!' she
+said to herself. 'But how I do wish some one would come to speak to me.
+It feels rather like Silverhair in the Three Bears. Mr. Monkey, if this
+is your house, please come and speak to me.'
+
+"No sooner had she said this than there stood before her a wee brown
+figure--brown all over, face, hands, feet and all--only his eyes, which
+sparkled brightly like beads, were black. He was dressed in a short
+scarlet jacket, and on his head was a scarlet cap with a long, very long
+tassel. He took off the cap and bowed low--very low at Lena's feet--the
+top of his head when he stood upright reached about to her knees, and he
+bowed so low that his nose nearly touched her toes. Lena felt rather
+uncomfortable--she was not used to such very great respect, and she felt
+a little startled to think that she had called out to the little man, as
+'Mr. Monkey.' No doubt he was rather like a monkey, but still--
+
+[Illustration: "He took off the cap and bowed low."]
+
+"She stood to think of something nice and civil to say, but she could
+not, try as she might, think of anything better than 'Thank you, sir.'
+
+"It did quite well--the little man seemed quite pleased, for he bowed
+again as low as before, and in a clear silvery voice like a little bell
+he spoke to Lena.
+
+"'What are your biddings, little lady?'"
+
+"'Oh,' said Lena, 'I do so want to see all this funny place. It was very
+kind of you to bring me up here, but I would like to see it all. May I
+walk all about your garden, Mr. Mon--oh, I beg your pardon,' she added
+in a hurry.
+
+"'Never mind,' said the little man. 'One name is as good as another. My
+brothers and I have been watching you, and we wish you well. If you will
+come with me I will show you all I can.'
+
+"'Oh, thank you,' said Lena, jumping up in a moment.
+
+"The little man walked out of his house, and standing in front of it he
+gave a long shrill whistle. Immediately from every direction whole
+quantities of other little brown men appeared--they seemed to tumble out
+of every branch of the trees, to peep up out of the ground almost at
+Lena's feet--till at last she felt like Gulliver among the Lilliputians.
+
+"'Fetch the carpet,' said the first little man, who seemed a sort of
+commander, and before Lena had time to see where it came from a
+beautifully bright blue sheet was stretched out before her, held all
+round by the dozens and dozens of little brown men, as if they were
+going to shake it.
+
+"'Step on to it, little lady,' said her friend.
+
+"Lena did so, and no sooner had her feet touched it than she felt it
+rise, rise up into the air, up up, till she wondered where she was going
+to. Then suddenly, as suddenly as it had begun to move, it stopped.
+
+"'Where are we?' she said, just then noticing for the first time that
+her own particular little brown man was sitting at her feet.
+
+"'At the top,' said the little man; 'it would have taken you a long time
+to climb up here, and we did not want to tire you. Now you shall see our
+gardens.'
+
+"He jumped off the carpet, and Lena followed him. All the other little
+men had disappeared, but she hardly noticed it, she was so delighted
+with what she saw. Before her were beautiful flower paths--paths edged
+with tall growing flowers of every colour indeed, for they never stayed
+the same for half a moment, but kept changing like rainbows--melting
+from one shade into another in the loveliest way, like the coloured
+lights at the pantomime.
+
+"'Oh, how lovely!' said Lena. 'May I gather some, please?'
+
+"The little man shook his head.
+
+"'You cannot,' he said, walking on before her.
+
+"After a while he turned down another path.
+
+"'These are our birds,' he said; and Lena, glancing more closely at what
+she had thought were still flowers, saw that they were trees with
+numberless branches, on each of which sat or perched a bird. They were a
+contrast to the many-coloured flowers, for each bird was of one colour
+only, and all the birds on each tree were the same. There was a tree
+perfectly covered with pure white ones, another with all red, a third
+all blue, and so on. And the birds swayed gently backwards and forwards
+on the branches, in time; though there was no sound, it seemed to Lena
+like hearing beautiful music. And somehow she did not feel inclined to
+speak or to ask any questions. She just quietly followed the little man,
+feeling happier and more pleased than she had ever felt in her life.
+And soon there came another change. Looking up, Lena saw that all the
+birds and flowers were left behind, and she was walking through a sort
+of thicket of leafless bushes. She wondered why they were so bare, when
+everything else in the brownies' country was so rich and bright.
+
+"'These are our orchards,' said her guide. 'But we keep the fruit packed
+up till it is wanted. It keeps it fresher. See now!' As he spoke he
+touched a bush.
+
+"'Grow,' he said, and in an instant there came a sort of flutter over
+the tree, and then at once there sprouted out all over the branches the
+most tempting-looking clusters of fruit. They were something like
+beautiful purple grapes, but richer and more luscious-looking than any
+grapes Lena had ever seen. And while she was admiring them the little
+man touched another, and instantly oranges, golden and gleaming like no
+oranges she had ever seen before, glistened out all over the branches.
+And the little man stepped on in front, touching the trees as he went,
+till the whole path was a perfect glow of fruits of every colour and
+shape. So beautiful were they to look at, that Lena somehow felt no wish
+to eat them.
+
+"On went the brownie, touching as he went, till suddenly the path came
+to an end, and Lena saw in front of her a high wall of bright green
+grass, with steps cut in it.
+
+"'Up here,' said her little friend, 'are our fish-ponds. Would you like
+to see them?'
+
+"Lena nodded her head. She was getting quite used to wonderful things,
+but the more she saw the more she wanted to see. She followed the little
+man up the steps, and when she got to the top she stood silent with
+surprise and delight. Of all the pretty wonders he had shown her, what
+she now saw was the prettiest. Six tiny lakes lay before her, and in
+each a fountain rose sparkling and dancing. And the fish that were in
+each lake rose up with the waters of the fountain and glided down them
+again as if almost they had wings. In each pond the fish were of
+different colours. There were, let me see, six ponds, did I not say?
+Yes--well in the first the fish were gold, in the second silver, in the
+third bronze; and in the three others even prettier, for in them the
+fish were ruby, emerald, and topaz. I mean they were of those colours,
+and in the water they gleamed as if they were made of the precious
+stones themselves. Lena gazed at them in perfect delight, and held out
+her hands so that the spray from the fountains fell on them, half hoping
+that by chance some of the fish might drop into her fingers by mistake.
+
+"The little man looked at her and smiled, but shook his head.
+
+"'No,' he said, as if he knew what she was thinking, 'no, you cannot
+catch them, just as you could not have gathered the flowers.'
+
+"Lena looked disappointed.
+
+"'I would so like to take some of them home,' she said, gently.
+
+"'It cannot be, child,' said the little man. 'They would have neither
+life nor colour out of their own waters. There are many, many more
+things to show you, but I fear the time is over. I must take you home
+before the moon sets.'
+
+"'But mayn't I come again?' said Lena. She had not time to hear the
+little man's answer, for again there came the quick rushing sound of the
+quantities and quantities of little feet, and again a sort of cloudy
+feeling came over Lena. She tried to speak again to the brownie, but her
+voice seemed to have no sound, and all she heard was his shrill whistle.
+It grew shriller and shriller till at last it got to sound not a whistle
+at all, but more like a cock's crow. And just then Lena opened her eyes,
+which she did not know were closed, and what do you think she saw? The
+morning sun peeping in at the lattice-window of her bedroom, and
+lighting up in its turn, as the moon had done a few hours before, the
+queer quaint patterns on the old chintz curtains. And down below in the
+yard Farmer Denny's young cock was busy telling all its companions, and
+little Lena as well, if she chose to listen, that it was time to be up
+and about."
+
+Magdalen stopped.
+
+"Is that all?" said Maudie.
+
+Hoodie said nothing, but stared up for her answer.
+
+"I don't know," said their cousin.
+
+"You don't know?" said Maudie. "Cousin Magdalen, you're joking."
+
+"No, indeed I'm not. I really don't know. I daresay there's lots more if
+I had time to tell it you. The little man told her there were lots and
+lots more things to show her."
+
+"Did her ever go back again?" asked Hoodie gravely.
+
+"I hope so--I think so," said Magdalen. "But I don't think she ever went
+back quite the same way."
+
+Hoodie stared harder. Maudie looked up with a puzzled face.
+
+"Cousin Magdalen," she said, "I believe after all you've been taking us
+in. There is something in the story that means something else. How do
+you mean that Lena went back again to the brownies' country?"
+
+"I mean," said Magdalen, "that it was the country of fancy-land--a
+country we may all go to, if----"
+
+"If what, please?"
+
+"If we keep good and kind and sweet and pretty feelings in our hearts,"
+said Magdalen, slowly, and a little gravely. "But if we let ugly things
+in--crossness, idleness, and selfishness, and ugly creatures like
+that--the pretty fairies will never come near us to fetch us away to see
+their treasures. The brownies would not let untidy or ill-tempered
+children into their neat little nests of houses. And even if such
+children _did_ get into fairy-land or fancy-land--whichever you like to
+call it, where there are such numberless beautiful and strange
+things--it would not be fairy-land to them, because their poor little
+eyes would be blind, and their poor little ears deaf."
+
+"I think I understand," said Maudie, "and some day perhaps, Cousin
+Magdalen, you'll tell us some more about Lena."
+
+"Perhaps," said Magdalen, smiling.
+
+But Hoodie said nothing, only stared harder up in her cousin's face with
+her big blue eyes.
+
+And Hec and Duke, who had been amusing themselves since the story was
+over and the talking had begun, by sticking daisies on to a thorn,
+trotted up to Cousin Magdalen to kiss her and say, "Zank zou for the
+pitty story."
+
+[Illustration: Hec and Duke ... sticking daisies on to a thorn]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+TWO TRUES.
+
+    "The little stars are the lambs, I guess,
+    The fair moon is the shepherdess."
+
+    NURSERY SONG.
+
+
+A few mornings after the story telling in the garden, as Miss King was
+passing along the passage on her way down to breakfast, she overheard
+tumultuous sounds from the direction of the nursery. She stopped to
+listen. Various little voices were to be distinguished raised much
+higher than their wont, and among them, now and then, Martin's rather
+anxious tones as if entreating the children to listen to her advice.
+
+"I don't care," were among the first words Cousin Magdalen made out
+clearly, "there isn't two trues, and what I'm telling is real true
+_true_, as true as true."
+
+The speaker was Hoodie. Then came the answer from Maudie.
+
+"Hoodie, how _can_ you?" she said in a voice of real distress. "I think
+it's dreadful to tell stories, and to keep on saying they're true when
+you know they're not. It wouldn't have mattered if you had explained it
+was a sort of fairy story like what Cousin Magdalen told us the other
+day, for of course that wasn't true either, only in a way it was."
+
+"And Hoodie didn't usplain a bit, not one bit," said Duke virtuously.
+"Her keeped on saying it were as true as true."
+
+"And we is too little to under'tand, isn't we?" put in Hec. "If Hoodie
+had toldened us she was in fun----"
+
+"But I _wasn't_ in fun, you ugly, naughty, _ugly_ boy," retorted Hoodie,
+by this time most evidently losing her temper. "And if peoples 'zinks so
+much about trues, they shouldn't vant me to say what isn't true about
+being in fun when I wasn't in fun. The moon _does_----"
+
+A choky sound was now heard, caused by Maudie's putting her hand over
+her sister's mouth.
+
+"Hoodie, you're _not_ to say that again," she exclaimed, no doubt with
+the best intention, but with an unfortunate result. Hoodie turned upon
+her like a little wild cat, and was in the act of slapping her
+vigorously when Miss King hurried into the room.
+
+"_Hoodie!_" she said reproachfully.
+
+Hoodie looked up with a mixture of shame and defiance.
+
+"Oh, Hoodie, I am _so_ sorry. I thought you had quite left off
+everything like that," said her cousin.
+
+One or two big tears crept slowly out of the corners of Hoodie's eyes.
+
+"They shouldn't say I was telling untrue things," she muttered. "'Tisn't
+my fault."
+
+"Oh! Miss Hoodie," said Martin, injudiciously, "how _can_ you say so?
+I'm sure, Miss," she went on, turning to Magdalen, "no one said a word
+to put her out. She was telling fairy stories like, to Master Duke and
+Master Hec, and they began asking her to explain and she would say it
+was quite true, not fairy stories at all. And Miss Maudie just tried to
+show her she shouldn't say that, and then you see, Miss, she flew into a
+temper."
+
+"What were the stories about, Hoodie?" inquired Miss King, kindly.
+
+Hoodie vouchsafed not a word in reply.
+
+Magdalen glanced at the others.
+
+"_I'll_ tell," said Duke. "They was about things up in the sky, you
+know."
+
+"Angels, do you mean?" said Miss King.
+
+"Oh no, not angels," said Maudie. "It was about the stars and the moon.
+Hoodie has a fancy----"
+
+"It _isn't_ a fancy," put in Hoodie fiercely.
+
+"Hoodie says," continued Maudie calmly, "that the moon and the stars and
+all of the things up in the sky, know each other, and talk to each
+other, and that she has heard them. The moon takes care of the stars,
+she says, and early in the morning when it is time for them all to go
+away the moon calls to them. I mean Hoodie says she does."
+
+"'Cos she _does_," replied Hoodie, before any one else had time to
+speak. "She calls to them and they all come round her together, and then
+they all go away like a flash--_so_ quick, and it is so bright."
+
+Her funny eyes gleamed up into Magdalen's face. In the interest of what
+she was telling she forgot her temper.
+
+"Was it that that you saw?" asked Magdalen, gravely. "The flash of their
+going, I mean?"
+
+"Yes," said Hoodie, "I've seen it lots of times, and I try to keep awake
+on purpose. It passes--the flash, I mean--it passes by the little window
+near my head. The little window for seeing up into the sky, you know."
+
+Magdalen nodded her head.
+
+"I know," she said, "I had a window like that in my room when I was a
+little girl, and I was very fond of it. But I don't think I ever saw the
+moon and the stars saying good night, or good morning--which is it? And
+are none of the little stars ever left behind?"
+
+The whole of Hoodie's face lighted up with a smile, but the rest of the
+faces round Miss King looked grave and rather puzzled. Was she really
+going to encourage Hoodie in her fancies--thought Maudie and Martin?
+
+"I don't _'zink_ so," said Hoodie, "but I'll look the next time."
+
+"Cousin Magdalen," whispered Maudie, gently pulling her godmother's
+dress, "it _isn't_ true. You don't want Duke and Hec to think it is."
+
+"I don't think it would matter much if they did," replied Magdalen in
+the same tone. "Thinking little fancies like that true would do them far
+less harm than thinking their sister was telling falsehoods. But I will
+try to explain to Hoodie that perhaps it is better not to say any more
+about it to the little boys. Only, Maudie dear, I think you are old
+enough to understand better that Hoodie was not meaning to tell
+untruths."
+
+"She said she heard the moon and the stars _talking_," remonstrated
+Maudie.
+
+"Well--what if she did? Many a time when I was a little girl I have
+thought I heard the wind say real words when I was lying awake in my
+little bed. Of course I know better now, but so will Hoodie, and if
+these fancies please her and keep her content and happy, why not leave
+her them?"
+
+"_Martin_ doesn't think so," said Maudie, rather mortified that her
+efforts to bring Hoodie to a sense of her wrong-doings were so little
+appreciated.
+
+"Miss Maudie, dear!" exclaimed Martin, "I never said so, I'm sure. I
+don't think I rightly understood what it was all about. I'm sure I don't
+want to be sharp on any of you for fancies that do no one any harm. I
+had plenty of them myself when I was little."
+
+"You see, Maudie, Martin does understand," said Miss King. "I'll try and
+explain about it better to you afterwards, but just now I really must
+hurry down to breakfast."
+
+She was turning away when a clamour of little voices stopped her.
+
+"Won't you come back after breakfast, Cousin Magdalen?"
+
+"Oh, do tum back."
+
+"It's such a wet day and we've nothing to do, 'cause it's Saturday, and
+Saturday's a holiday."
+
+"Do you want me to come and give you lessons then?" said Magdalen,
+mischievously.
+
+Dead silence--broken at last by Duke.
+
+"Couldn't you tum and tell us more stories?"
+
+Magdalen shook her head.
+
+"I haven't got any ready. Truly I haven't," she said. "It takes me a
+long time to think of them, always. But I'll tell you what we might do.
+I'll come up after breakfast with my work and you might all tell _me_
+stories. That would amuse everybody. Each of you try to think of one,
+but you mustn't tell each other what it is."
+
+Hoodie's face lighted up, but Maudie looked rather lugubrious.
+
+"_I_ can't think of one," she said.
+
+"Oh yes you can, if you try," said Magdalen, cheerfully.
+
+"Must it be all out of my own head?"
+
+Miss King hesitated.
+
+"No, if you can remember one that you've read that the others don't
+know, that would do."
+
+Maudie looked relieved.
+
+"_I_ don't need to remember one," said Hoodie. "I know such heaps. My
+head's all spinning full of them."
+
+"So's mine," said Duke, jumping about and clapping his hands.
+
+"And mine too," said Hec. "Kite 'pinning full."
+
+"What nonsense," said Hoodie. "You _don't_ know stories. It's only me
+that does."
+
+"Hush, hush," said Miss King. "My plan won't be nice at all if it makes
+you quarrel. Now I _must_ run down."
+
+The children were very quiet through breakfast time. Every now and then
+the little boys leant over across their bowls of bread and milk to
+whisper to each other.
+
+"Wouldn't that be lovely?" or
+
+"That'd be a vezy pitty story," till called to order by Martin, who told
+them that spilling their breakfast over the table would not be at all a
+good beginning to the stories.
+
+"'Twouldn't matter," remarked Hoodie, philosophically. "The cloth isn't
+clean; it's Saturday, you know, Martin."
+
+"Saturday or no Saturday," replied Martin, "it isn't pretty for little
+ladies and gentlemen to spill their food on the table. And it gets them
+in the habit of it for when they get big and have their breakfasts and
+dinners down-stairs."
+
+"Doesn't big people _never_ spill things on the cloth?" inquired Hec,
+solemnly.
+
+"Mr. Fielding does," said Hoodie. "One day when he was here at luncheon,
+he was helping Mamma to wine, and he poured all down the outside of her
+glass. I think he's dedfully ugly. I wouldn't like ever to be a big
+people if I was to be like him."
+
+"Miss Hoodie," remonstrated Martin, hardly approving of the turn the
+conversation was taking, "do get on with your breakfast, and you'd
+better be thinking about your stories than talking about things you
+don't understand."
+
+Hoodie glanced at Martin with considerable contempt.
+
+"I'd like to make a story about Beauty and the Beast," she said. "I know
+who'd be the beast, but _you_ shouldn't be Beauty, Martin."
+
+"Shouldn't I, Miss Hoodie?" said Martin, good-naturedly. "Miss King
+would make a nice Beauty, to my mind."
+
+Almost as she spoke the door opened, and Cousin Magdalen re-appeared.
+
+"Children," she said, "your mother says we may have the fire lighted in
+the billiard-room because it is such a chilly day, so I am going to take
+my work there and you may all come. Martin will be glad to get rid of
+you, because I know Saturday's a busy morning for her always."
+
+The news was received with great satisfaction, and before the end of
+another half-hour the four children were all under their cousin's charge
+in the billiard-room, for an hour or two, greatly to Martin's relief.
+
+"What pretty work you are doing, Cousin Magdalen," said Maudie, stroking
+admiringly the large canvas stretched on a frame at which Miss King was
+working.
+
+"I am glad you think it's pretty," said her godmother. "I think it is
+very pretty; but the colours are not very bright, and children generally
+like very bright colours. The pattern is copied from a very old piece of
+tapestry."
+
+"What's tapestry?" said Hoodie.
+
+"Old-fashioned work that used to be made long ago," said Miss King. "It
+was more like great pictures than anything else, and such quantities of
+it were made that whole walls were covered with it. Once when I was a
+very little girl I slept in a room all covered with tapestry, and in the
+middle of the night----"
+
+She stopped suddenly.
+
+"_What?_" said Hoodie eagerly, peering up into her face. "What came in
+the middle of night?"
+
+"I didn't say anything came," said Cousin Magdalen, laughing. "I
+stopped because I thought I could make it into a little story and tell
+it to you afterwards. But we are forgetting all about your stories. Who
+is going to begin? Eldest first--you, Maudie, I suppose."
+
+Maudie looked rather melancholy.
+
+"I can't tell nice stories," she said. "I've been thinking such a time,
+and I can't think of anything except something very stupid."
+
+"Well, let us hear it, any way," said her cousin, "and then we can say
+if it is stupid or not."
+
+"It was a story I read," said Maudie, "or else some one told it me. I
+can't remember which it was. It was about a very poor little girl--she
+was dreadfully poor, just as poor as you could fancy."
+
+"No clothes--hadn't she no clothes?" asked Duke.
+
+"And nucken to eat?" added Hec.
+
+"Very little," said Maudie. "Of course she had some, or else she would
+have died. She hadn't any father or mother, only an old grandmother, who
+wasn't very kind to her. At least she was very old and deaf and all
+that, and perhaps that made her cross. And the little girl used to go
+messages for a shop--that was how she got a little money. It was a
+baker's shop near where they lived, and it was rather a grand shop--only
+they kept this little girl to go messages, not to the _grand_ people
+that came there, you know, but to the people that bought the bread when
+it wasn't so new--and currant cakes that were rather stale--like that,
+you know. And on Sunday mornings she had the most to do, because they
+used to send a great lot of bread very early to a room where a kind lady
+had breakfast for a great many poor people--for a treat because it was
+Sunday. They used to have lots of bread and butter and hot coffee--very
+nice. And Lizzie, that was the little girl's name, liked Sunday mornings
+and going with the bread to that place, because it all looked so
+cheerful and comfortable, and the smell of the hot coffee was so good."
+
+"Didn't they never give her none?" asked Duke.
+
+"No, I don't think so. At least not before what I'm going to tell you.
+You should wait till I tell you. Well, one Sunday in winter, it was a
+dreadfully cold day; snowing and raining, and all mixed together, and
+wind too, I think--dreadful cold wind. And Lizzie nearly cried as she
+was going along to that place. She had such dreadfully sore chilblains
+on her feet and on her hands too. She got to the place and emptied the
+basket, and she was just coming away at the door, when a carriage came
+up and she stopped a minute to see the people get out. The first was the
+lady who gave the breakfast, Lizzie had seen her before, for she came
+sometimes--not every Sunday, but just sometimes--to see that the
+breakfast was all nice for her poor people. But this day, after she got
+out, she turned back to lift a little boy out of the carriage. And
+Lizzie had never seen this little boy before, because this was the first
+time he had ever come. His mother had brought him with her for a great
+treat. He was a very pretty little boy and his name was Arthur, and he
+was about six, I think it said in the story. The lady went into the room
+quick without noticing Lizzie, as she was in a hurry not to be late for
+the poor people, but Arthur stayed behind a minute and stared at Lizzie.
+She was so very cold, you know, she did look miserable, and then she had
+cried a little on the way, so her eyes were red.
+
+"Arthur went close up to her, staring all the time. Lizzie didn't mind.
+She stared at him too. He was so pretty and he had such pretty clothes
+on. When he got close to her, he looked sharp up into her face and
+said--
+
+"'What is you crying for?'
+
+"Lizzie had forgotten she had been crying, so she said, 'I'm not crying.
+I'm only very cold.'
+
+"'Poor little girl,' said Arthur, 'I'll ask Mamma to give you a penny.'
+
+"He ran after his mother, who was wondering what he was staying for, and
+in a minute he came back again and put a little paper packet into
+Lizzie's hand.
+
+"'That's all mother's got in her penny purse,' he said, and he ran off
+again before Lizzie had time to thank him.
+
+"She was going to open the packet and see how much there was, but just
+then one of the men who helped to put out the breakfast came past and
+told her not to loiter about. So she took up her basket and ran away,
+for people often spoke crossly to her, and she was easily frightened.
+All the way home she kept thinking about her pennies and what she would
+buy with them, but she didn't open the packet, because the way she had
+to go there were so many rude boys about that she was afraid they might
+snatch it from her. And when she got to the shop where she had to take
+the basket to, the baker sent her another message, so it wasn't till
+much later than usual that she got home. And all this time she had never
+opened the packet, at least it said so in the story, though I think _I_
+would have peeped at it before--wouldn't you, Cousin Magdalen?"
+
+"I'm not sure," said Magdalen. "I think if one has something nice it is
+sometimes rather tempting to keep it for a while without looking it all
+over. It is something to look forward to."
+
+"Yes," said Hoodie. "_I'd_ have keepened it for alvays wrapped up, and
+then I could have alvays thought perhaps it was a fairy thing like."
+
+"You silly girl," said Maudie, "you're always fancying about fairies."
+
+"Maudie, _dear_" said Magdalen, "do try not to say things like that. You
+are telling the story so nicely and we're all so happy. Please don't
+spoil it by saying unkind little things."
+
+"I didn't mean to be unkind," said Maudie penitently.
+
+"P'ease do on with the story," said the little boys.
+
+"Well, when at last she got home, she opened the little packet,"
+continued Maudie, "and what _do_ you think she saw? Instead of two
+pennies and a halfpenny perhaps, or something like that, there were--let
+me see--yes, that was it--there were a gold pound, a half-a-crown, and a
+shilling. Just fancy! Lizzie was so surprised that she didn't know what
+she felt--she looked at them and looked at them, and turned them in her
+hand, and then all at once it came into her mind that of course the lady
+had given her them by mistake, and that she should take them back to
+her. And she jumped up very quick and said to her grandmother there was
+another message she had to go, and without thinking anything about
+whether the lady would still be there or not, off she ran back again to
+the place where the poor people had their breakfast. She ran as hard as
+she could, but of course when she got there it was too late--the
+breakfast was done long ago, and all the people away and the doors
+locked, and there was no one about at all to tell her where she could
+find the lady. And Lizzie was so unhappy that she sat down on a step and
+cried. You see it was such a disappointment, for she couldn't tell how
+much the lady _had_ meant to give her, and so she didn't like to take
+any. Besides, she felt that it would be better to give the packet back
+just as it was, only she had so wanted the pennies, for she never had
+any. The baker's wife always paid her grandmother, not Lizzie herself,
+for Lizzie's going messages.
+
+"And after she had cried a good while she got up and went home. But just
+as she got near the baker's shop she thought she might ask there if they
+knew the lady's name, so she went in to ask. There was no one in the
+shop but the young woman who helped--the others had gone to church."
+
+"How was it the shop was open, then, as it was Sunday?" asked Magdalen.
+
+"It wasn't open, only there was a sort of door in the shutters that
+Lizzie always went in and out by on Sunday mornings. I know that,
+because there was a picture of it--I remember now where I read the
+story--it was in a big picture magazine when I was quite a little girl,"
+said Maudie. "And this young woman was tidying the shop a little, and
+just going to shut it altogether when Lizzie went in. She was a
+good-natured young woman and she looked in the money books for the
+lady's name, but it wasn't in--only the name of the man the room
+belonged to where the breakfast was--and then she asked Lizzie what she
+wanted to know for, and Lizzie told her. The young woman told her she
+was very silly to think of giving it back. She said to her that
+certainly the lady had _given_ it her, it wasn't even as if she had
+found it. And Lizzie could not say that was not true, and she felt so
+puzzled at first that she didn't know what to say. The young woman
+offered to change it for her so that nobody could wonder how she had got
+a gold piece, but Lizzie said she would think about it first. And then
+she went home, and thought, and thought, till at last it came quite
+plain into her mind that though it was true that the lady had given it
+her, still it was _more_ true that she hadn't meant to give it her. And
+then she didn't feel so unhappy."
+
+Maudie stopped for a moment. It had turned out quite a long story, and
+she was a little tired.
+
+"And what did she do then? Quick, Maudie," said Hoodie.
+
+"What did her do? Kick, kick, Maudie," said the little boys.
+
+"Hush, children, don't hurry Maudie so. Let her rest a minute," said
+Cousin Magdalen; "she must be a little tired with speaking so long."
+
+"No, I'm not tired now," said Maudie, "only I want to remember to tell
+it quite right, and I couldn't quite remember what came next. Any way,
+she couldn't do anything more that day. But she wrapped up the money
+again quite safe, and put it in another paper, outside the one it had,
+and--oh, yes, that was it, she settled that she would wait till the next
+Sunday, and then stand at the door of the breakfast place to see the
+lady again. She didn't like telling any more people for fear they might
+take the money away from her, or something like that, and she couldn't
+think of anything better to do. Well, the next Sunday morning she took
+the bread as usual, and then she waited at the door for the lady to
+come, but she never came. Lizzie waited and waited, but she never came,
+and all the people had gone in and the breakfast was nearly done, but
+the lady never came. And at last she went and asked somebody if the lady
+wasn't coming--the woman who poured out the coffee, I think it was--and
+she told her no, the lady wasn't coming that day, and wouldn't come
+again for a great long while, because she was going away somewhere a
+good way off. Lizzie was so sorry, she began to cry, so the woman asked
+her what was the matter, and she told her, and the woman was so pleased
+with her for being so honest, that she gave her the lady's address and
+told her to go at once to the house, for perhaps she wouldn't have gone
+yet. But it was only another disappointment, for when poor Lizzie got
+there she found it was all shut up; they had gone away the day before."
+
+"Poor Lizzie," said Magdalen, "what did she do then?"
+
+"Poor Lizzie," said Hec and Duke, "and didn't she never get the real
+pennies?"
+
+"It wasn't pennies she wanted so much," said Hoodie, "she wanted the
+lady to know how good she was."
+
+"She wanted to _be_ good, don't you think that would be a nicer way to
+say it, Hoodie?" said Cousin Magdalen. "You see, being so poor, it must
+sometimes have been very difficult for her not to use any of the money."
+
+"Yes," said Maudie, "it said that in the story. Well, any way she _was_
+good. She sewed the money up in a little bag and put it in a safe place,
+and tried not to think about it. And all that winter she kept it and
+never touched it, though they were very poor that winter. It was so very
+cold, and poor people are always poorer in very cold winters, Martin
+says. Often they had no fire, and Lizzie's chilblains were dreadful, for
+her boots didn't keep out the rain and snow a bit, and often she was
+very hungry too, but still she never touched the money. And at last,
+after a very long time, the winter began to go away and the spring began
+to come, and the woman who poured out the coffee told Lizzie she had
+heard that the lady was coming home in the spring. So Lizzie began to
+wait a little every Sunday morning when she had given in the bread, to
+see if perhaps the lady would come. She waited like that for about six
+Sundays, I think, till at last one Sunday just as she was thinking it
+was no use waiting any more, the lady wouldn't be coming, a carriage
+drove up to the door, the very same carriage that Lizzie had seen come
+there before, and--and--the lady--the real same lady, and the real same
+little boy, got out! And Lizzie was so pleased she didn't know what to
+do, for though she had only seen them once before, she had watched for
+them so long that they seemed like great friends to her. But though she
+was so pleased, she began all to tremble and at first she couldn't
+speak, her voice went all away. She just pulled the lady's dress and
+looked up in her face but she couldn't speak. At first the lady didn't
+understand, though she was a kind lady she didn't like a dirty-looking
+little girl pulling her dress, and she looked at her a little sharply.
+But the little boy understood, and he called out--
+
+"'Oh, mamma, mamma, it's the same little girl. Don't you remember? I
+wonder if she's been waiting here ever since.'
+
+"_That_ was rather silly of him; of course she couldn't have been there
+ever since, but he was quite a little boy. And then the lady looked
+kindly at Lizzie and Lizzie's voice came back, and she said--
+
+"'Oh, ma'am, this is the money you gave me by mistake. I've kept it all
+this time,' and she put the little packet into the lady's hand. And then
+something came over her; the feeling of having waited so long, I
+suppose, and she burst into tears. And what _do_ you think the lady did?
+She was so sorry for poor Lizzie, and so pleased with her, that she
+actually kissed her!"
+
+"Aczhally _kissed_ her," repeated Hoodie, Hec, and Duke. "That dirty
+girl!"
+
+"No," said Maudie, "she wasn't dirty. She was poor, but she wasn't
+dirty."
+
+"You said she was once," said Hoodie.
+
+"Well, I didn't mean dirty, really. I meant she looked so, because her
+clothes were so old. And any way the lady did kiss her, and then she was
+so kind. She had never thought of having given Lizzie the money. It was
+some she had put up to pay a bill with, and she had meant to put it in
+her other purse, and when she couldn't find it, she thought she had lost
+it somehow. And though she was sorry, of course it didn't matter so very
+much. And she said if she had known she would have written a letter to
+the coffee woman to tell her to spend it for warm clothes for poor
+Lizzie. But after all, it all turned out nice. The lady was very kind to
+Lizzie after that, and paid for her going to school and being taught all
+nice things, so that when she got a little bigger she was a very nice
+servant. I think it said in the story that she learnt to be a nurse, and
+she was a very kind nurse always."
+
+"Like Martin?" said Duke.
+
+"Yes," said Maudie.
+
+"Perhaps she was even kinder than Martin," suggested Hec. "Perhaps she
+was _awful_ kind."
+
+"Nobody could be kinder than Martin, except when we're naughty," said
+Duke, reproachfully.
+
+"Don't you think we should all thank Maudie for telling us such a nice
+story?" said Magdalen. "_I_ thank her very much."
+
+"So do I," said Duke.
+
+"And me," said Hec.
+
+"And me," said Hoodie, "only I want to tell a story too."
+
+"We're all ready to listen," said Miss King. "But it mustn't be _very_
+long. I've to go out with your mother this afternoon, so I must write
+some letters before luncheon. And Hec and Duke have stories to tell,
+too, haven't they? So fire away, Hoodie."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+HOODIE'S FOUNDLING.
+
+    "I almost think a robin
+      To a fairy I prefer."
+
+
+Hoodie gazed round her condescendingly.
+
+"I've such lots of stories in my head," she said. "They knock against
+each other. Well--I think I'll tell you a story of two little goblins.
+They lived in a star, and they were just e'zackly like each other. As
+like as two pins, or as like as a pin is to itself if you look at it in
+the looking-glass. They lived all alone in the star, and all day they
+stayed asleep like we do all night, but all night they were awake like
+we are all day, 'cos you see all day the star was shut up--like a shop,
+you know, only with curtains all round--all the stars are shut up like
+that all day, you know, and at night the moon wakes up and sends round
+to draw the curtains, and all the stars come out, rubbing their eyes."
+
+"They hasn't any hands--how can they rub their eyes?" objected Duke.
+
+"You silly boy," said Hoodie, very sharply. "How do _you_ know? You've
+never been in the stars."
+
+"But you hasn't neither," he persisted.
+
+"Never mind. I know, and if I didn't I couldn't tell you. That's how
+people can tell stories. Well, the stars come out, lots and lots of
+them, and go running about all night, and then in the morning the moon
+sends round to draw all the curtains again and they're all to go to
+sleep."
+
+"But some nights the moon isn't there and the stars are there without
+her. How is that, Hoodie?" said Cousin Magdalen, rather mischievously.
+
+"You think so 'cos you don't know; but I do," said Hoodie, nodding her
+head sagaciously. "The moon's _alvays_ there, only sometimes she has a
+cold, and then she wraps up her white face in a shawl and you can't see
+her."
+
+There was a twinkle of fun in Hoodie's green eyes as she said this that
+showed her cousin that her little teasing was understood.
+
+"Oh, indeed," she said, gravely, "I did _not_ know. Thank you, Hoodie,
+for explaining to me."
+
+"And so," continued Hoodie, "the goblins never saw anything of day
+things, but they saw very funny things at night when they went sailing
+about on the star."
+
+"Stars don't go sailing about," objected Maudie. "They're always quite
+still."
+
+"They're _not_ then," said Hoodie: "that shows you don't listen, Maudie.
+I heard Papa say one day that the stars are going as fast as fast, only
+they go _so_ fast that we can't see them."
+
+"What nonsense! Isn't it nonsense, Cousin Magdalen?" pleaded Maudie.
+
+"No," said Miss King. "It is true they are moving faster than we can
+even fancy, but the reason we can't see them moving isn't _exactly_ what
+Hoodie says."
+
+"What is it then?"
+
+"I can't explain it to you just now--it would not be very easy for you
+to understand, and if I explained it, it would take too much time and we
+shouldn't hear the rest of Hoodie's story. I think we should let poor
+Hoodie go on with her story now without interrupting her any more."
+
+Hoodie required no further bidding.
+
+"Well," she said, "all night long the goblins went sailing about in the
+star, and sometimes they saw very funny things. They were up so high
+that they could look down and see everything, you know. They could see
+the big ponds up in the sky where the rain is made, and the _awful_ big
+windmills up there where the wind blows from, and the cannons that bum
+the thunder down."
+
+"Could they----?" began Duke, timidly, and then he stopped.
+
+"Could they what?" said Hoodie, rather snappishly. "If peoples
+interrumpt, I wish they'd finish their interrumpting, and not stop in
+the middle."
+
+[Illustration: "If peoples interrumpt, I wish they'd finish their
+interrumpting, and not stop in the middle."]
+
+"I didn't like to say it," said Duke. "I only wanted to know if they
+could see right into the middle of the sky where the angels are."
+
+"No," said Hoodie, decidedly, "they couldn't. They was goblins; they
+wasn't angels at all, so they didn't want to see angels. It isn't that
+kind of story, Duke--I'll tell you one like that another day--Sunday
+perhaps. Now I want to go on about the goblins. What they liked best was
+to peep into the windows and look at people, and play them tricks
+sometimes. They was awful fond of playing tricks; goblins always is. But
+sometimes they gets tricks played them, and that's what my story's
+about. There was a window up in a house that they wanted to look in at,
+but they couldn't ever get quite high enough up, 'cos the window was at
+the top of the house, you see. It was the window of a witch, but the
+goblins didn't know that. She was a witch that lived all alone, and
+there wasn't anything she cared for except playing tricks, she was
+always playing tricks. She knowed the goblins wanted to peep in at her
+window, she knowed everything, 'cos that's what it means to be a witch,
+that and playing tricks. And she set herself to play a trick on the
+goblins--a reg'lar good trick, 'cos she didn't see what they was always
+wanting to peep in at her window for."
+
+Hoodie paused for a moment to take breath.
+
+"I _wonder_ what the trick was," whispered Duke and Hec under their
+breath, evidently very much impressed.
+
+"Yes, you may wonder," said Hoodie, majestically. "You'd never guess.
+Not in a milliond guesses. Well then, one night when the goblins was
+twisting and turning theirselves about on the very edge of the star,
+trying to peep in at the window, all of a suddent the witch's house
+turned right round, so that the window came to the side instead of up at
+the top, and one of the goblins gave a great jump and screamed out to
+the other--
+
+"'I say, brother, we can see into the witch's house now.'"
+
+"But you said the goblins didn't know it was a witch that lived there,"
+said Maudie.
+
+"Well, they didn't know _at first_, but when they saw the house turned
+round, of course they knowed it must be a witch that lived there. Nobody
+else could turn their house round," said Hoodie, composedly. "And so
+they both _screamed_, they were so pleased, and all the time the witch
+was settling about the trick she'd play them. Now I must tell you what
+the trick was. The witch wasn't all a bad witch--she was a little good
+too, and there was a little girl lived in the room next to her that
+liked her very much, 'cos the witch was very good to her and used to
+tell her funny stories. And that was why the witch didn't want the
+goblins to peep into her room, 'cos she thought perhaps they'd steal
+away the little girl for a trick, for she was very often in the witch's
+room, and goblins is _awful_ fond of stealing children and taking them
+up into the stars to live with them, so she--the witch, I mean--was sure
+that they'd try to steal her little girl once they saw her. So when the
+little girl came to see her that night, she made her go to bed in a nice
+little bed she'd made for her, and told her she was to be quite still,
+for perhaps a' ogre was coming to see her. The little girl was a little
+frightened but not very, for she knowed the witch would take care of her
+even though she knowed the witch had got very funny friends, ogres you
+know, and black cats that was really fairies, and all creatures like
+that--it's rather a dedful story, isn't it?--but you needn't be
+frightened, Duke and Hec, it'll come unfrightening soon. And so the
+little girl got into the little bed and cuddled herself up just like the
+witch had told her. And the goblins came sailing and sailing up on the
+star; they was working it like, to make it go quick you know, like a
+boat with men oaring it you know, and they was oaring and oaring so
+hard, they was as hot as hot. And at last they got the star right up to
+the edge of the window, but they made a little noise and the little girl
+was startled and jumped up in bed, just what the witch had not wanted
+her to do, and the goblins when they saw her forgot all about the witch
+and called out, 'Oh what a nice little girl to steal,' and they were
+_just_ going to jump in and catch her up and steal her, when--what _do_
+you think?--the witch jumped out of the corner where she had been
+watching them and caught hold of them fast, one in each hand, and put
+them--where _do_ you think?--one into each of the little girl's eyes!
+And they couldn't ever get out again, for there's a fine little glass
+lid in people's eyes that nobody could open but a witch, and she shut it
+down on them tight, and there they were; they couldn't do anything but
+peep out, and there they were for always, peeping out."
+
+"But didn't it hurt the little girl?" asked Maudie. "It would hurt
+dreadfully to have the least thing put in your eye."
+
+"Oh no," said Hoodie, "it didn't hurt her--not a bit--she just thought a
+fly had tickled her eyes, and she winkled them, and the witch said to
+her, 'You may come out of bed now, my dear. The ogre won't be coming
+to-night.' And so the little girl got out of bed, and when she came up
+to the witch, the witch looked at her and laughed, and the little girl
+couldn't think what she was laughing at, and she never knowed about the
+goblins being in her eyes till one day when her little brother was
+playing with her, he peeped in her face and said, 'I see two goblins in
+your eyes.'"
+
+"That was me," exclaimed Duke. "It was one day I looked in Hoodie's eyes
+and I saw two goblings in 'zem, I did. Hoodie's made the story about
+me."
+
+"I hasn't," said Hoodie, indignantly. "I've got stories enough without
+making them about silly little boys like you. Of course you saw the
+goblins in mine eyes--there's goblins in every little girl's eyes ever
+since the witch put them into her little girl's. It's comed to be the
+fashion, and now you know how it was, and that's the end of the story."
+
+"Thank you for telling it, Hoodie," said Magdalen. "We're all very much
+obliged to you, and another day I hope you'll tell us some more. Now
+Duke and Hec, are your stories ready?"
+
+Hec looked exceedingly solemn.
+
+"I only know one," he said; "Duke knows lots."
+
+"Well, which of you is going to begin?"
+
+"Hec," said Duke.
+
+"Duke," said Hec.
+
+"Mine isn't ready," said Duke. "Hec, you begin. If you only know one it
+must be always ready."
+
+"Mine's only about a little dog," began Hec, modestly. "It was a little
+dog that had only three legs."
+
+"Only three legs!" exclaimed Magdalen. "My dear Hec, are you sure you
+haven't made a mistake?"
+
+"Sure," said Hec, "the housemaid had broke its leg off a long time ago,
+when she was dusting the mantelpiece, so the Mamma gave it to the little
+boy because it was spoilt for the drawing-room. And the little boy was
+very fond of it--it was made of hard stuff, you know, all white and
+shiny, and it had blue eyes. It was _very_ pretty. Martin told me the
+story. She knowed the little boy. And one day the little boy lostened
+the little dog. He always had it on the nursery table at breakfast and
+dinner and tea; and he used to 'atend to feed it. Sometimes he put it on
+the edge of his plate, and sometimes if he 'atended it was 'firsty he
+put it on the edge of the milk-jug. And one day he lostened it. It was
+there at the beginning of tea he was sure, but at the end it wasn't
+there. And he looked and looked and looked but he couldn't find it; and
+the nurse looked and looked, but she couldn't find it. So the little boy
+cried. He cried dedfully, but he couldn't find it. And the nurse was
+vexed 'cos he wouldn't stop crying. She wasn't as kind as Martin. So he
+had to go to bed crying, and the next morning when he got up he cried
+again for his little doggie. And his Mamma said she would buy him
+another, but he didn't care for that. He said he wouldn't like any but
+his own dear doggie with only three legs. Well, that day they had
+rice-pudding for dinner. The little boy kept crying even when he was
+eating his dinner, and they zeally didn't know what to do with him. But
+what do you think came? He put some pudding in his mouf, and there was
+some'sing hard. He thought it was a stone, and he feeled to see what it
+was, and it was his little dog that had been cooked in the
+pudding--aczhally cooked in the pudding."
+
+"Like Tom Thumb," said Magdalen. "Yes, it was very funny. But it must
+have been a very little dog, Hec, to go in the little boy's mouth?"
+
+"Oh yes, littler than Martin's fimble. She showed me," said Hec. "It was
+quite a little wee doggie. And Martin said it had got into the pudding,
+'cos it had been on the edge of the milk-jug and had felled in, and so
+it went down to the kitchen in the milk-jug, and the cook had put the
+milk that was over, to make a pudding. The little boy was so dedfully
+glad, you can't fancy. He never lostened the little dog again, Martin
+said, and he said he would keep it till he was a big man. That's all my
+story."
+
+"Thank you, dear. You've told it very nicely. Hasn't he?" said Miss
+King.
+
+"_Very_ nicely," said Maudie.
+
+But Hoodie tossed her head rather contemptuously.
+
+"_I_ like stories that peoples make out of their own heads," she said.
+
+"So do I," said Duke. "I've been making mine while Hec was telling his;
+I didn't need to listen, for I've heard the story of the little dog
+before. Now, I'll tell you mine. Onst there was a ogre that lived in a
+castle, and the castle was on the top of a big, big hill--such a awfully
+big hill that nobody could ever get up it--not the biggest person that
+ever was made couldn't get up it."
+
+"How did the ogre get up it then?" said Hoodie.
+
+"He didn't. He'd always been there and he had a' ogre's wife to cook his
+dinner, and he had a--a--oh yes, I know, he had a awful big
+billiard-table, and he used to use little boys' heads for the balls,"
+continued Duke, his eyes wandering round the room for inspiration as he
+proceeded. "And," he went on, as he caught sight of a large mirror at
+the end of the room, "he was so big he couldn't get any plates big
+enough for him to eat off, so he used to have big looking-glasses for
+plates, and--and--he had a coal-box for a salt-cellar, and when he had
+a' egg for breakfast he had the shovel for a' egg spoon, and--and--the
+white muslin curtains was his pocket-hankerwitches, and----" here Duke
+came to a dead stop, but another gaze round the room provided fresh
+material, "and," he proceeded energetically, "the Venetian blind sticks
+was his matches, and his ogre's wife used to wash his hankerwitches in a
+lake, and that was his basin; and for soup she used a--oh I don't know
+what she had for soup--never mind that. But she had beautiful big
+earrings," his eyes at this moment happening to catch sight of
+Magdalen's side-face, "beautiful big earrings made of two shiny glass
+and goldy things for candles, like that one hanging up there, and----"
+
+"You're just making a rubbish story, Duke," said Maudie. "You just put
+in whatever you see. I don't call that a proper story at all. Is it,
+Cousin Magdalen?"
+
+"You're very unkind, Maudie," said Duke, dolefully, before Magdalen had
+time to reply. "It isn't a rubbish story. I was just going to tell you
+about one day when the ogre was very hungry----"
+
+"Well, what did he do?"
+
+"Well," repeated Duke, somewhat mollified, "one day when the ogre was
+very hungry, he couldn't find nothing to eat, and he said to his wife,
+'Ogre's wife, I'll eat _you_, if you don't get me somefin to eat
+too-dreckly.' And his ogre's wife cried, and she said she'd go to the
+green-baker's and see if she couldn't get somefin for he to eat."
+
+"Go to the _where_, Duke?" said Magdalen, looking up from her work.
+
+"To the green-baker's, that's where they sell apples and pears and
+p'ums," said Duke.
+
+Maudie burst out laughing.
+
+"He means the green-_grocer's_," she said. "Oh, Duke, how funny you
+are!"
+
+"And how could the ogre's wife go and buy him things at shops if they
+were up on the top of a hill so big that nobody could get down?"
+
+"Oh," replied Duke, "'cos there was andnother hill just a very little
+way off that they could get on quite easily, like steps, and there was
+lots of shops on the nother hill--all kinds."
+
+"All shops for ogreses?" inquired Hec timidly.
+
+"No, in course not. Shops for proper people. But when the ogre's wife
+went to buy somefin for him to eat she had to buy a whole shop-ful--lots
+and lots--but I zink I've toldened you enough for to-day. I must make
+some more up first."
+
+"Very well, dear, perhaps it will be better, and thank you for what
+you've told us to-day," said Cousin Magdalen, beginning to fold up her
+work. "I must try now to get my letter written before luncheon. I hope
+it's not going to rain all the afternoon."
+
+One or two of the children ran to the window, as she spoke, to examine
+the state of the clouds. Suddenly, as they stood there, something, a
+small dark thing, was seen to fall or flutter to the ground, a short way
+off.
+
+"What was that?" said Hoodie, whose quick eyes always saw things before
+any one else.
+
+"What?" said Duke deliberately.
+
+"Didn't you see something fall, stupid boy?" said Hoodie politely.
+
+"Yes, I saw somefin, but perhaps it was only a leaf."
+
+"But perhaps it wasn't only a leaf," said Hoodie impatiently. "There
+now, look there, don't you see it's moving? Over there by the little fat
+tree with the spiky leaves--oh, oh, oh! It's a bird--a poor little
+innicent bird--that's felled out of a netst," screamed Hoodie, in
+tremendous excitement, which always upset her English. "Oh, Cousin
+Magdalen, quick, quick! open the door, do, do, and let Hoodie go and
+fetcht the poor little bird."
+
+She danced about with impatience, her eyes streaming--for in curious
+contrast with Hoodie's scant affection for her fellow human beings was
+her immense tenderness and devotion towards dumb animals of every kind.
+She "would not hurt a fly" would have very poorly described her
+feelings. She had been known to nurse a maimed bluebottle for a week,
+getting up in the night to give it fresh crumbs of sugar--she had cried
+for two days and a half after accidentally seeing the last struggles of
+a chicken which the cook had killed for dinner, and had she clearly
+understood that the mutton-chops she was so fond of were really the ribs
+of "a poor sweet little sheep," I am quite sure mutton-chops would in
+future have been cooked in vain for Hoodie.
+
+Cousin Magdalen had not hitherto seen much of this side of the little
+girl's character, and she looked at her with some surprise, not sure if
+there was a mixture of temper in all these dancings-about and
+callings-out. But she came quickly across the room all the same, to the
+window, or glass door rather, where all the children were now
+assembled--
+
+"What is it?" she said. "Hoodie, dear, why do you get into such a fuss?"
+
+"'Cos I want to go out and pick up the little bird, poor little innicent
+thing, that's felled out of the tree. Oh, Maudie's godmother, do open
+the door--quick, quick, and let me out," said Hoodie, still dancing
+about. "The bird will be lying there thinking that nobody cares."
+
+Magdalen quietly unfastened the door, which was bolted high up, out of
+the children's reach, and led the way out into the shrubbery. The rain
+had left off, but it had warmed rather than chilled the spring morning
+air, and a delicious scent of freshened earth met the little party as
+they came out of the billiard-room. Magdalen would have liked to stand
+still for a moment and look about her, and enjoy the sweet air, and
+listen to the pretty soft garden sounds--the crisp crunch of the heavy
+roller which the men were drawing over the damp gravel of the drive, the
+voices, further off, of the school children running home, for it was
+twelve o'clock,--prettier still, the faint cackles from the
+poultry-yard, and the twitterings, gradually waking up, of the birds,
+whose spirits had been depressed by the heavy rain--but where _Hoodie_
+was, such lingerings by the way must never be thought of! The child
+darted out the moment the door was opened, and rushed across the
+grass-plot just in front--heedless of the soaking to which this exposed
+her feet and legs up to her knees, for the grass hereabouts was allowed
+to grow wild, and in the corners near the wall was mixed with coarse
+ferns and bracken, through all of which Hoodie determinedly ploughed her
+way.
+
+"Oh dear," exclaimed poor Magdalen, "how _silly_ I was to open the door!
+Just look at Hoodie, Maudie. She will be perfectly drenched. Martin
+really will have reason to think I am not fit to take care of you."
+
+"And she has her _best_ house shoes on," said Maudie, lugubriously.
+"Martin put them on when she made us neat to come down to you, Cousin
+Magdalen, because one of her common ones wanted stitching up at the
+side, and Martin always says mirocco shoes never _are_ the same again
+after they get soaked."
+
+"I must go after her, at all costs," said Magdalen, lifting up her long
+skirts as well as she could to prevent their getting any _more_ than
+their share of drenching. "Now, Duke and Hec, stay where you are,
+whatever you do, or better still, go back into the billiard-room. I
+trust you, Maudie, to take care of them. I am afraid their feet are wet
+already."
+
+"Yes, and Hec gets croup when his feet are wet," replied Maudie,
+consolingly. "Never mind though, Cousin Magdalen. I'll take him in, and
+take off his shoes and stockings by the fire and dry them."
+
+"Thank you, dear," said Magdalen, at the bottom of her heart, though she
+would not have said so to the children, considerably relieved that
+Martin need not be summoned to the rescue. "She would really feel that I
+could not be trusted with them, and it would be such a pity, just when I
+wanted so much to be of use and to help Beatrice." (Beatrice was the
+name of the children's mother.)
+
+It was no very pleasant business following Hoodie across the long, soppy
+grass; even if one were quite careless of the effect on one's clothes,
+the soaking of one's feet and ankles was disagreeable, to say the least.
+But Magdalen faced it bravely, and found herself at last beside her
+troublesome charge. Hoodie, not content with having thoroughly drenched
+her fat little legs and feet in their pretty clothing of open-work socks
+and "mirocco" slippers, was actually down on her knees in the wet grass,
+tenderly stroking the ruffled feathers of the little bird whose
+misfortunes had aroused her sympathy, while tears poured down her face,
+and her voice was broken with sobs as, looking up, she saw her cousin,
+and cried out--
+
+"Oh, Maudie's godmother, him's dead. The innicent little sweet. I do
+believe him's dead, or just going to deaden. I daren't lift him up. Oh
+dear, oh dear!"
+
+It was impossible to scold her--her grief was so real; so with one
+rueful glance at the destruction already wrought on the nice blue merino
+frock and frilled muslin pinafore, Magdalen set to work to soothe and
+comfort the excited little girl.
+
+"Hush, Hoodie dear," she said. "You really mustn't cry so, even if the
+poor little bird is dead."
+
+"But Hoodie can't help it, for you know, Maudie's godmother, little
+birds doesn't go to heaven when they's dead--not like good people, you
+know, so I can't help crying."
+
+To this reason for Hoodie's tears Magdalen thought it best to make no
+reply, but she stooped down and carefully lifted up the little bird. It
+was a pretty little creature--its wings and breast marked with
+delicately shaded colour, though just now the feathers were ruffled and
+disordered--a very young bird; and Magdalen's country-bred eyes
+recognized it at once as a greenfinch.
+
+"Poor little birdie," she said gently, as she held it up to examine it
+more closely. "I wonder if its troubles are really over," she added to
+herself softly, not wishing to rouse Hoodie's hopes before she was sure
+of grounds for them. "No--it is not dead. It certainly is not--only
+stunned and terrified. Hoodie, the little bird is not dead. Leave off
+crying dear, and look at it. See, its little heart is beating quite
+plainly--there now, it is moving its wings. I don't think it is even
+much, or at all hurt."
+
+Hoodie drew near, her tear-stained cheeks all glowing with eagerness,
+holding her breath just as she did when her father for a great treat let
+her peep into the works of his watch.
+
+"Him's not dead," she exclaimed. "_Oh_, Cousin Magdalen, are you _sure_
+him's not dead? Oh, what _can_ we do to make him quite well again?"
+
+She clasped her hands together with intense eagerness, and looked up in
+Magdalen's face as if her very life hung upon her words.
+
+"It must have fallen out of the nest," said Magdalen, looking up as she
+spoke at some of the trees near where they stood. "Still it seemed fully
+fledged, and it should be quite able to fly--most likely its parents
+suppose it is out in the world on its own account by now, and even if
+we could find the nest, it is pretty sure to be deserted."
+
+"You won't put it back in the netst, Cousin Magdalen--you don't mean
+that? It wouldn't have nothing to eat, and it would die," said Hoodie,
+the tears welling up again, for she hardly understood what her cousin
+was saying.
+
+"No, dear. I don't think it would be any good putting it back in the
+nest, and it would be very difficult to know which was its nest, there
+must be so many up in those trees," said Magdalen. "Besides, as you say,
+it wouldn't get anything to eat, for if all its brothers and sisters
+have flown away, the parent birds will not return to the nest. No, I
+think we had better take it into the house and take care of it till it
+gets quite strong. See, Hoodie, it is beginning to get out of its fright
+and to look about it."
+
+"The darling," said Hoodie, ecstatically. "It's cocking up its _sweet_
+little head as if it wanted me to kiss it. Oh, _dear_ Cousin Magdalen,
+isn't it sweet? Do let me carry it into the house."
+
+[Illustration: "The darling," said Hoodie ecstatically]
+
+But Magdalen told her it was better to leave the bird for the present in
+her handkerchief, which she had made into a comfortable little nest for
+it, "till we can find a cage for it; there is sure to be an empty cage
+of some kind about the house. And then we must see if your mother will
+give you leave to keep it for a while."
+
+"For alvays!" said Hoodie. "I must keep it for alvays, Maudie's
+godmother. Maudie has two calanies in a cage, so I might have one
+bird--mightn't I, Cousin Magdalen?"
+
+"We'll ask your mother," repeated Magdalen, afraid of committing herself
+to a child like Hoodie, who never, under any circumstances, forgot
+anything in the shape of a promise that was made to her, or had the
+least mercy on any unfortunate "big person" that showed any signs of
+"crying off" from such.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+THE GOLDEN CAGE.
+
+    "Here secure from every danger,
+    Hop about, and chirp, and eat."
+
+
+"Yes," repeated Hoodie to herself, as she followed her cousin into the
+house, "I'll keep the little bird _alvays_, and I'll teach it to love
+me; I'll be so _vezzy_ kind to it."
+
+And as they entered the billiard-room where, true to her charge,
+faithful little Maudie was drying and warming the twins' feet by the
+fire, Hoodie exclaimed with great triumph--
+
+"It's a bird, Maudie, a most bootiful bird, and I'm going to have it all
+for my vezzy own and keep it in a cage alvays. Cousin Magdalen is going
+to ask Mamma. May I go and tell her to come now quick, Cousin
+Magdalen?"
+
+"No, my dear, certainly not. Your mother's busy and must not be
+interrupted. You may go and ask for a little milk and a bit of bread,
+and I'll try if I can make the little bird eat something. It's opening
+its mouth as if it was hungry. But no--stop, Hoodie. I was forgetting
+what a state you are in. Maudie, take off her shoes and stockings
+too--that's a kind little girl. I'll help you in a minute when I've
+found a safe place for the little bird. There now--that'll do
+beautifully," as she spoke taking the skeins of wool out of her little
+work-basket and putting the bird in instead and carefully closing the
+lid. The children looked on with great interest.
+
+"Is him always to live in zere, Cousin Magdalen?" inquired Hec.
+
+Magdalen was by this time employed in examining into the state of
+Hoodie's garments. It was rather deplorable!
+
+"It's no good, Maudie," she exclaimed at last. "She must be thoroughly
+undressed, for she's damp all over. I _must_ take her up to Martin--oh,
+dear, what a pity! Just when we had had such a nice morning."
+
+"But it was a vezzy good thing I saw the little bird felling down,
+wasn't it?" said Hoodie complacently, as she trotted off with her
+cousin's hand. "And Martin won't 'cold _me_, 'cos it was your fault for
+letting me go out in the wet; wasn't it, Cousin Magdalen?" she added
+with great satisfaction.
+
+Magdalen, to tell the truth, found it rather difficult to keep her
+temper with Hoodie just then.
+
+"_Hoodie_," she said sharply. "It is not right to speak like that. You
+_know_ you ran away out before I could stop you."
+
+"But if you hadn't opened the door, I couldn't have goned," was Hoodie's
+calm reply, with mischievous triumph in her bright eyes.
+
+Martin received the misfortune very philosophically--perhaps she was not
+sorry, at the bottom of her heart, that some one else should have some
+experience of the trials she had with Hoodie.
+
+"Not that she means always to be naughty, of course, Miss," she
+explained to Magdalen. "But she's that heedless and tiresome--oh dear!
+Though one could manage that if it wasn't for her queer temper--_queer_
+indeed! queer's no word for it."
+
+"Martin, Martin," came in Hoodie's shrill voice from the inner room,
+where she was sitting, minus the greater part of her attire, while
+Martin "aired" the clean clothes, unexpectedly required, at the nursery
+fire. "Martin, you must go down to the kitchen _at oncest_, and get
+some bread and milk for my bird. I'm going to keep it _alvays_, Martin,
+and you mustn't let Duke and Hec touch it never."
+
+"Well, well, Missie, we'll see," said Martin; "you must get your Mamma's
+leave first, you know."
+
+"By the bye, I'd better go and speak to her about it," said Magdalen.
+"Shall I tell the other children to come up-stairs, Martin? And my poor
+letter," she said, smiling rather dolefully, as she went out of the
+nursery, "I'll never get it written before luncheon, for I must
+superintend the feeding of the bird, otherwise the children will
+certainly kill it with kindness."
+
+Magdalen had a good deal of experience in rearing little birds and
+little lambs, and all such small unfortunates. She had always lived in
+the country, and having neither brothers nor sisters her tender heart
+had given its affections to the dumb creatures about her. It was
+fortunate for the foundling bird that it fell into her hands, as had it
+been left to Hoodie's affectionate cares its history would certainly
+have been quickly told. She was very indignant with Magdalen for the
+very tiny portions of bread and milk, which was all she would allow it
+to have, and asked her indignantly if she meant to "'tarve" the poor
+little pet.
+
+"Hush, Hoodie," said her mother, who had come to see the little bird.
+"If you speak so to Cousin Magdalen I certainly will not let you keep
+the bird. You should thank her _very_ much for being so kind to you and
+giving up all her morning to you."
+
+Hoodie did not condescend to take any notice of her mother's reproof.
+
+"Hoodie," said Mrs. Caryll, "do you not hear what I say?"
+
+No reply.
+
+"_Hoodie_," more sternly.
+
+Hoodie looked up at last.
+
+"Mamma dear," she said sweetly, "may I keep the little bird for my vezzy
+own? Cousin Magdalen said she would ask you if I might."
+
+Her mother looked puzzled.
+
+"If you are good perhaps I will let you keep it," she replied.
+
+Hoodie looked up sharply.
+
+"Did Cousin Magdalen ask you to let me keep it, Mamma?" she inquired.
+
+"Yes," said her mother.
+
+Hoodie turned to Magdalen.
+
+"Thank you, Maudie's godmother," she said condescendingly. "I thought
+perhaps you had forgottened."
+
+"And you wouldn't thank me till you were sure--was that it--eh, Hoodie?"
+said Magdalen.
+
+One of her funny twinkles came into Hoodie's green eyes.
+
+"I like peoples what doesn't forget," she remarked, with a toss of her
+shaggy head.
+
+Magdalen turned away to hide her amusement, but Hoodie's mother
+whispered rather dolefully, "Magdalen, was there _ever_ such a child?"
+
+And Hoodie heard the words, and her little face grew hard and sullen.
+
+"I'm always naughty," she said to herself. "Naughty when I tell true,
+and naughty when I don't tell true. Nobody loves me, but I'll teach my
+bird to love me."
+
+"What is to be done about a cage for this little creature?" said
+Magdalen, looking up from her occupation of feeding the greenfinch with
+quillfuls of bread and milk. "Isn't there an old one anywhere about,
+that would do?"
+
+"I'm afraid not," said Hoodie's mother. "What can we do?"
+
+"Leave it in the basket for the present," said Magdalen. "And--if Hoodie
+is _very_ good, perhaps----"
+
+"Perhaps what?" said Hoodie, very eagerly.
+
+"Perhaps some kind fairy will fly down with a cage for the poor little
+bird," said Magdalen, mysteriously.
+
+Again Hoodie's eyes twinkled with fun.
+
+"_I_ know who the kind fairy will be," she said, skipping about in
+delight. Then suddenly she flung herself upon her cousin and hugged her
+valorously.
+
+"I do love _you_, Cousin Magdalen," she whispered. "I do. I _do_. And
+I'd love Mamma too," she added--her mother having left the room--"if she
+wouldn't _alvays_ say I'm naughty."
+
+"But Hoodie, my dear little girl, do you really think you are always
+good?" said Magdalen.
+
+"In course not," said Hoodie, "but I'm not _alvays_ naughty neither."
+
+Just then the luncheon-bell rang, and the interesting discussion,
+greatly, it is to be feared, to Hoodie's satisfaction, could not be
+continued.
+
+"You're going to be very good to-day, any way, aren't you, Hoodie?"
+whispered Magdalen, as they went into the dining-room, where the
+children dined at the big people's luncheon.
+
+"P'raps," replied Hoodie.
+
+"Because you know the kind fairy can't give you the cage if you're not,"
+said Magdalen, smiling.
+
+"I forgot about that," observed Hoodie, coolly.
+
+And her behaviour during the meal left nothing to be desired. But to do
+her justice, her naughtiness did not as a rule show itself in such
+circumstances, and according to Martin this was the "provokingest" part
+of it. "That a little lady who could be so pretty behaved if she chose
+should stamp and scream and rage like a little wild bear"--though where
+Martin had seen these wonderful performances of little wild bears, I am
+sorry to say I cannot tell you--_was_ aggravating, there is no doubt.
+And as Magdalen watched Hoodie through luncheon, and saw her pretty way
+of handling her knife and fork, and noticed how she never asked for
+anything but waited till it was offered her, never forgot her "if you
+please's" and "thank you's," and was always perfectly content with
+whatever was given her, she repeated to herself in other words Martin's
+often expressed opinion.
+
+"What a nice child she might be! What a nice child she _is_, when she
+likes! Oh, Hoodie, what a pity it is that you ever let the little black
+dog climb on to your shoulders or the little cross imps get into your
+heart!"
+
+Just at that moment Hoodie caught her eye. She drew herself straight up
+on her chair with a little air of inviting approval.
+
+"Am I not _vezzy_ good?" Magdalen could almost fancy she heard her
+saying, and in spite of herself, she could not help smiling back at the
+funny little girl.
+
+Luncheon over, the children were dismissed for their walk, for the rain
+was now quite over and the afternoon promised to be fine and sunny. As
+they were leaving the room Hoodie threw her arms round Magdalen's neck
+and drew her head down that she might whisper into her ear.
+
+"Will the fairy come, does you think?" she asked.
+
+"I hope so," said Magdalen, in the same tone; "but, Hoodie, you must
+promise me one thing. You must not touch the little bird while I am
+away. I have put it on my table in the basket and it will be quite safe
+there. You may go in to look at it with Maudie, but you must not touch
+it."
+
+"Won't it be hungry?" inquired Hoodie.
+
+"Oh no, I'll give it a little more before I go out, and then it will be
+all right till I come in. You promise, Hoodie?"
+
+Hoodie nodded her head.
+
+"P'omise," she repeated.
+
+Magdalen looked after her anxiously.
+
+"Poor little Hoodie," she said to herself, as she watched the neat
+little figure tripping out of the room. Just then the children's mother
+came over to her.
+
+"Magdalen, my dear child," she said, "you must not worry yourself about
+these children. You have been looking quite careworn all the morning,
+and I can't have it."
+
+"But I wanted to help you with them, so that you might have a little
+rest and get quite strong again, dear Beatrice," said Magdalen. "You
+have never been really well since your illness last winter, and Mamma
+and I thought I should be able to help you--and--and--" the tears came
+into Cousin Magdalen's pretty eyes.
+
+"Well, dear, and who could have done more to help me than you, since you
+have been here? I shall miss you terribly when you go, especially about
+Hoodie," and in spite of her wish to cheer Magdalen, Hoodie's mother
+gave a little sigh.
+
+"It was about Hoodie I was thinking," said Magdalen. "I was so anxious
+to do her good."
+
+"And don't you think you have?"
+
+Magdalen hesitated.
+
+"I don't know. Sometimes I think I have made an impression on her, and
+then it seems all to have gone off again. She is such a queer
+mixture--in some ways so old for her age, and in some ways such a
+baby."
+
+"Yes," said Mrs. Caryll. "It is so very difficult to know how to treat
+her. But she is very fond of you, Magdalen, and I am so glad to see it.
+We really used to think it wasn't in her to be fond of any one."
+
+"But I am sure it is in her," said Magdalen, "only--I hardly can say
+what I mean--if she could be made to believe that other people love
+_her_, that she could be of use to others--I think that would take away
+the sort of defiance and hardness one sees in her sometimes. It is so
+unlike a child. She is always imagining people don't care for her, and
+then she takes actual pleasure in being as naughty as she can be."
+
+"Yes," said Hoodie's mother; "there really are days when she goes out of
+her way to be naughty, one might say,--when it is enough for Martin to
+tell her to do or not to do _anything_, for her to wish to do or not to
+do the opposite. Still she _has_ been better lately, Magdalen, and it is
+all thanks to you."
+
+"Poor little Hoodie!" said her cousin, "I wonder why it should be so
+very difficult for her to be good. But we must get ready now, must we
+not, Beatrice? And _whatever_ I do I must not forget the cage, or any
+good I can ever hope to do Hoodie will be at an end!"
+
+"But she is only to have it if she really has been good?" said Mrs.
+Caryll, who was sometimes afraid that Magdalen was rather inclined to
+spoil Hoodie.
+
+"Only if she has been good, you may be sure," said Magdalen. "And there
+is one thing about Hoodie--she does keep a promise."
+
+"You think she is honest and truthful?" said Mrs. Caryll.
+
+"By nature I am sure she is. But her brain is so full of fancies that
+she hardly understands herself, that I can quite see how sometimes it
+must seem as if she were not straightforward. Not that the fancies would
+do her any harm if they were all happy and pretty ones--but I do wish
+she could get rid of the idea that no one cares for her. It is _that_
+that sours her and spoils her, poor little girl."
+
+Hoodie's mother looked affectionately at Magdalen.
+
+"Where have you learnt to be so wise about children, Magda?" she said.
+"You seem to understand them as if you had lived among them all your
+life."
+
+"It is only because I love them so much," said Magdalen, simply. "And
+often somehow----" she hesitated.
+
+"Often what?" said her cousin, smiling.
+
+"I was going to say--but I stopped because I thought perhaps you would
+not like it as we were talking of your children who have everything to
+make them happy--" said Magdalen. "I was going to say that sometimes,
+often, I am so very, very sorry for children. Even their naughtinesses
+and sillinesses make me sorry for them. They are so strange to it
+all--and it is so difficult to learn wisdom."
+
+Hoodie's mother smiled again.
+
+"You are such a venerable owl yourself, you funny child," she said.
+"However, I do understand you, and I agree with you. I do feel very
+sorry for poor Hoodie sometimes, even though she really goes out of her
+way to make herself unhappy. But what _is_ one to do?"
+
+"Yes, that is the puzzle," said Magdalen. "In the first place any way, I
+am going to buy her a cage for her bird--it will be good for her to take
+regular care of the bird. I am so glad you said she might keep it."
+
+"I only hope we shall be able to rear it," said Mrs. Caryll. "Hoodie
+would indeed think all the powers were against her if it died. That is
+the worst of pets."
+
+"I think this bird will get on, if it is taken care of and not
+over-fed," said Magdalen. "It is a greenfinch, you know, and
+greenfinches take kindly to domestic life. Besides, it is not so very
+young a bird, and it looks quite bright and happy now that it has got
+over its fright," and so saying she followed Hoodie's mother out of the
+room to prepare for their drive.
+
+It was nearly five o'clock in the afternoon when they returned. Cousin
+Magdalen ran joyously up-stairs to the nursery carrying a very
+funnily-shaped parcel in her hand. The children were all at tea. She
+heard their voices and the clatter and tinkle that always accompanies a
+nursery meal as she came along the passage, and she opened the door so
+softly that for a moment or two she stood watching the little party
+before any of them noticed her.
+
+How nice and pretty and happy they looked! Martin, a perfect picture of
+a kind, tidy nurse, sat pouring out the tea, looking for once quite
+easy-minded and at rest; Maudie, a little model of neatness as usual,
+her small sweet face wearing an expression of the utmost gravity as she
+carefully spread some honey on Hec's bread and butter; Duke, frowning
+with eagerness to understand some mysterious communication which his
+neighbour Hoodie was making to him in a low voice, her eyes bright with
+excitement, her cheeks rosy, and her pretty fat shoulders "shruggled"
+up, as she bent to whisper to her little brother.
+
+"_What_ do you say, Hoodie? I don't under'tand. How could it be all of
+gold?" were the first words that met Magdalen's ears.
+
+"_Hush_, Duke," said Hoodie, placing her sticky little hand on his
+mouth, "you're _not_ to tell. I didn't say it would be all gold. I said
+p'raps the little points at the top would be goldy--like the shiny top
+of the point on the church. But you're too little to know what I mean.
+You must wait till--Oh!" with a scream of delight, "_there's_ Maudie's
+godmother! Oh, Maudie's godmother, Maudie's godmother, _have_ you got
+it?"
+
+She was off her seat and in Magdalen's arms in an instant--hugging,
+jumping, kissing, dancing with eagerness. It was all Magdalen could do
+not at once to hold out to her the parcel, but her promise to Hoodie's
+mother must not be broken.
+
+"Yes," she said, "I have got it. But first tell me, Hoodie dear--have
+you been really a good little girl all the afternoon? Has she, Martin?"
+
+"Oh, trually I've been good--vezzy good--haven't I, Martin?" said
+Hoodie.
+
+"Yes, Miss. I must really say she has been very good. I don't remember
+ever having a more peacefuller afternoon," said Martin with great
+satisfaction.
+
+"I am so glad," said Magdalen. "And you didn't touch the bird, Hoodie?"
+
+"No, oh no, I didn't touch it one bit," said Hoodie earnestly. "I went
+and lookened at it, but I didn't touch it. Martin will tell you."
+
+"No, Miss, she was quite good. She just stood and peeped at it, but she
+didn't touch it, I'm sure, for I went with her to your room and stayed
+there a few minutes while she looked at the bird."
+
+"That was very nice," said Magdalen.
+
+"We didn't let Hec and Duke go," said Hoodie, "for they'd have wanted to
+touch the bird, wouldn't they? They're so little, you see, and Hec says
+he likes smooving down the feavers on little birds's backs, so Martin
+and me thought we'd better not let them be temptationed to touch the
+bird."
+
+"Ah, yes, that was very wise. And as Martin stayed with you, you weren't
+temptationed either, were you, Hoodie?"
+
+Somewhat to her surprise, at this Hoodie grew rather red.
+
+"I didn't stay all the time, Miss," said Martin. "I heard the little
+boys calling me, so I left Miss Hoodie for a minute or two feeling sure
+I might trust her."
+
+"So there's nothing to prevent my giving you the cage. That's very
+nice," said Magdalen. She lifted the funny-looking parcel on to the
+table and unfastened the paper. There stood the cage--and such a pretty
+one! It was painted white and green, and greatly and specially to
+Hoodie's satisfaction the pointed tops of the pagoda-like roof were
+gilt.
+
+"Didn't I tell you so," she said to Duke in a tone of great superiority,
+"I told you there'd be goldy points on the top."
+
+"Yes," said Duke, much impressed; "I wonder how you knowed, Hoodie?"
+
+Hoodie tossed her head.
+
+"Knowed, in course I knowed," she said.
+
+Only Hec did not seem as much interested and delighted as the others. He
+just glanced at the cage and then subsided again to his bread and honey.
+
+"What's the matter with Hec?" said Cousin Magdalen. "He doesn't look as
+bright as usual, does he, Martin?"
+
+"He's been very quiet all the afternoon," said Martin, "but I don't
+think he can be ill. He's eaten a good tea, hasn't he, Miss Maudie?"
+
+"_Very_," said Maudie. "Three big slices first--only with butter, you
+know, and then six with honey. We always have to eat three plain first,
+on honey days," she added by way of explanation to her cousin.
+
+"_Nine_ slices," said Magdalen, opening her eyes. "Martin, isn't that
+enough to make him ill?"
+
+"Bless you, no, Miss," said Martin, laughing. "As long as it's bread and
+butter, there's not much fear."
+
+"Or bread and honey," corrected Hoodie. "One day Duke and Hec and
+me--Maudie wasn't there--one day Duke and Hec and me eatened firty-two
+slices--Martin counted. It was when we was at the seaside."
+
+"My dear Hoodie!" exclaimed Magdalen, and the astonishment on her face
+made them all laugh.
+
+The consumption of bread and butter and honey seemed however over for
+the present, so Magdalen led the way to her own room, followed by Hoodie
+carrying the precious cage which she would entrust to no other hands,
+Maudie, the twins, and Martin bringing up the rear.
+
+Magdalen opened the door and crossed the room, which was a large one, to
+the side window, on the writing-table, in front of which, she had left
+the basket containing the bird. She had placed it carefully, with a
+little circle of books round it to prevent the bird's fluttering
+knocking it over. As she came near the table, she gave an exclamation of
+surprise and vexation. The circle of books was still there undisturbed,
+but the basket was no longer in the centre--indeed, at the first glance
+Magdalen could not see it at all.
+
+"Oh dear!" she exclaimed. "Where can the basket be? Hoodie, you _surely_
+didn't touch it?"
+
+The moment she had said the words she regretted them--but just at first
+she had not time to look at Hoodie to see how she had taken them, for
+another glance at the table showed her the basket peeping up behind the
+edge where it had slipped down, though fortunately the table was pushed
+too near the wall for it to have fallen quite on to the floor.
+
+Magdalen darted forward and carefully drew out the basket, in
+considerable fear and trembling as to the state of the little bird
+inside. But to her relief it seemed all right. It had had another
+fright, no doubt, poor thing--it must have thought life a very queer
+series of falls and bumps and knocks, I should think, judging by its own
+experience, but still it seemed to have a happy faculty of recovering
+itself, and though its position in the toppled-over basket could not
+have been very comfortable, it looked quite bright and chirpy when
+Magdalen gently lifted the lid to examine it.
+
+"It is hungry, I'm sure," she said; "can't you give me a little bread
+soaked in milk for it again, Martin. There's some milk on the nursery
+table, isn't there?"
+
+"To be sure, Miss," said Martin, starting off at once. To her surprise,
+as she left the room she felt a hand slipped into hers. It was Hoodie's.
+
+"I'll go with you," said the child, and Martin, thinking she only wanted
+to go with her to see about the bread and milk, made no objection. It
+was not till they reached the nursery that Martin noticed the expression
+of the little girl's face. It was stormy in the extreme.
+
+"I won't go back to Maudie's godmother's room," she exclaimed. "I won't
+have the cage. I won't speak to her--nasty, _ugly_ Maudie's godmother."
+
+"Miss Hoodie!" said Martin, in amazement and distress. "You speaking
+that naughty way of your cousin who has been so very nice and kind to
+you."
+
+"I don't care," said Hoodie, fairly on the way to one of her grandest
+tempers, "_I_ don't care. She's not nice and kind. She doesn't believe
+what I say. I _toldened_ her I didn't touch the basket, and she said I
+did."
+
+"Oh no, Miss Hoodie, my dear, I'm sure she didn't say that. She only
+asked you if you were quite sure you didn't. And who could have done it,
+I'm sure I can't think," said Martin, herself by no means satisfied
+that Hoodie's indignation was not a sign of her knowing herself to
+blame. "No one was in the room but you and me this afternoon, for none
+of the servants ever go near it till dressing time. Besides, they
+wouldn't go touching the bird. If it had been one of the little boys
+now. It's just what they might have done, reaching up to get it. But
+they weren't there at all."
+
+"_I_ don't care," reiterated Hoodie. "I didn't do it, but Maudie's
+godmother doesn't believe me. _I_ don't care. But I won't have the
+cage." And in spite of all Martin could say, the child resolutely
+refused to leave the nursery.
+
+Hoodie sat there alone, nursing her wrath and bitter feelings.
+
+"_I_ don't care," she kept repeating to herself. "Nobody likes me. I'm
+alvays naughty. What's the good of being good? I did so want to touch
+the bird when Martin went out of the room and left me alone, but I
+didn't, 'cos I'd p'omised. I might as well, 'cos Maudie's godmother
+doesn't believe me. It's very unkind of God to make it seem that I'm
+alvays naughty. It's not my fault. _I_ don't care."
+
+In Magdalen's room Martin was relating Hoodie's indignation.
+
+"Oh, how sorry I am for saying that," said Magdalen. "It will just make
+her lose her trust in me. And I do believe her. I'm sure she didn't
+touch it. Don't you think so, Martin?"
+
+Martin hesitated.
+
+"Yes, Miss, I do think I believe her. Only didn't you notice how red she
+got when I said I wasn't with her _all_ the time in your room this
+afternoon?"
+
+"Yes," said Magdalen; "but I thought it was just that she felt so eager
+for me to know she had kept her promise. I _don't_ think she touched it,
+Martin. I really don't. But I am afraid it will be difficult to make her
+believe I don't."
+
+Just then a sudden sound of weeping made them all start, thinking for a
+moment that it must be Hoodie herself, who had run back from the
+nursery. But no--it was not Hoodie--it was Hec. The little fellow had
+crept under the table unobserved, and there had been listening to the
+conversation.
+
+"What's the matter, dear? What's the matter, my darling? Don't cry so,
+Master Hec," said Martin, as she drew him out.
+
+"Poor Hec! Poor little Hec! Has he hurt himself?" exclaimed all the
+others.
+
+"No, no, I hasn't hurt myself," sobbed Hec. "I'm crying 'cos it was
+_me_. It was _me_ that tumbled the basket down, and Cousin Magdalen
+'colded Hoodie. It wasn't poor Hoodie. It was all me."
+
+And for some minutes, conscience-stricken Hec refused to be comforted.
+
+[Illustration: Hec refused to be comforted]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+FLOWN.
+
+    "One flew away, and then there was none."
+
+    THREE LITTLE BIRDS.
+
+
+Hoodie sat alone in the nursery, wrathful and sore. All the pleasure in
+the little bird and the beautiful cage seemed to have gone.
+
+"I don't love her neither, not now," she said to herself. "I don't
+_think_--no, I really don't _think_ I love anybody, 'cos nobody loves
+me, and ev'ybody thinks I'm naughty. Never mind--I'll go away some day.
+As soon as ever I'm big enough I'll go kite away and never come back
+again, and I sha'n't care what anybody says then."
+
+There was some comfort though of a rather vague kind in this thought.
+Hoodie sat swinging her legs backwards and forwards, while queer fancies
+of where she would go--what she would do, once she was "big enough,"
+chased each other round her busy little brain.
+
+Suddenly a sound in the passage outside the nursery door made her look
+up just in time to see the door open and Magdalen, leading tearful Hec
+by the hand, followed by Maudie, Duke, and Martin, come in.
+
+Hoodie looked up with some curiosity.
+
+"Hoodie," said Magdalen, "Hec wants to tell you how sorry he is that you
+have got blamed on his account. It was he that touched the basket and
+knocked it over. He ran into my room to look at the bird without
+Martin's knowing he had left the nursery, and he was so afraid that he
+had hurt the little bird, by knocking it over, that he didn't like to
+tell. Kiss him and speak kindly to him, poor little boy, Hoodie dear. He
+has been so unhappy."
+
+Hoodie gravely contemplated her little brother, but without giving any
+signs of obeying her cousin's request.
+
+"_I_ have been unhappy too," she said, "and it wasn't my fault. It _was_
+Hec's."
+
+"Well, then," said Magdalen, "it should make you the more sorry for Hec.
+He has had the unhappiness of knowing it _was_ his fault, which is the
+worst unhappiness of all."
+
+Hoodie threw back her head.
+
+"_I_ don't think so," she said. "I think the worst is when people alvays
+says you're naughty when you're not."
+
+"I am sorry you thought I said you were naughty when you weren't,
+Hoodie," said Magdalen, "but you thought I meant more than I did. As
+soon as I thought about it quietly I felt sure you hadn't touched the
+basket--and even _more_ sure, that if you had been tempted to touch it,
+you would have said so."
+
+"'Cos Hec toldened you it was him," said Hoodie.
+
+"No, before Hec said a word, I said to Martin I was sure it wasn't you."
+
+Hoodie looked up with a new light in her eyes.
+
+"_Did_ you?" she said, as if hardly able to believe it.
+
+"Yes, indeed, Miss Hoodie," said Martin, "Miss King did say so. And very
+kind of her it was, to trust you so, for you did look very funny when I
+said you had been a few minutes alone in the room."
+
+Hoodie flamed round upon her.
+
+"It's vezzy nasty of you to say that, Martin," she exclaimed violently.
+"_Vezzy_ nasty. You alvays think I'm naughty. I daresay I did look
+funny, 'cos I was temptationed, awful temptationed to touch the bird,
+but I wouldn't, no I _wouldn't_, 'cos I'd p'omised."
+
+And at last her mingled feelings found relief in a burst of sobs.
+
+The sight was too much for Hec, already in a sorely depressed and
+tearful condition. He threw his arms round Hoodie, nearly dragging her
+off her chair in his endeavours to get her shaggy head down to the level
+of his own close-cropped dark one for an embrace.
+
+"Oh Hoodie, Hoodie, _dear_ Hoodie, don't cry," he beseeched her. "It's
+all Hec's fault. Naughty Hec. Oh Hoodie, please 'agive me and kiss me,
+and I'll never, never touch your bird again."
+
+[Illustration: "Please 'agive me and kiss me."]
+
+Hoodie was quite melted.
+
+"Dear Hec--poor Hec," she cried in her turn. "Don't cry, dear Hec," and
+the two little creatures hugged and kissed and cried, all in one.
+
+"Let's kiss Maudie's godmother too. She didn't think you was naughty,
+Hoodie," suggested Hec, and Hoodie at once took his advice, so the
+kissing and hugging were transferred to poor Magdalen, who bore them
+heroically, till at last she was so very nearly smothered that she was
+obliged to cry for mercy.
+
+"And let us go back to my room now," she said, "and introduce the little
+bird to its new house. It hasn't seen it yet, you know, Hoodie."
+
+"_Hasn't_ it?" said Hoodie.
+
+"Of course not. The cage is yours--your very own. I waited for you to
+come before putting the bird in it."
+
+"That was _vezzy_ good of you," said Hoodie, approvingly; and as happy
+and light-hearted as if no temper or trouble of any kind had ever come
+near her, she took Hec's hand and trotted off with her cousin to help in
+the installation of the bird in its beautiful cage.
+
+"What funny creatures children are," said Magdalen to herself, "and of
+them all surely Hoodie is the funniest."
+
+It would be impossible to tell the pleasure that the possession of the
+little bird gave to Hoodie, and the devotion she showed to it. For some
+days its cage remained in Miss King's room, that Cousin Magdalen herself
+might watch how the little creature got on, and there, as Martin said,
+"morning, noon, and night," Hoodie was to be found. It was the prettiest
+sight to see her, seated by the table, her elbows resting upon it, and
+her chubby face leaning on her hands, while her eyes eagerly followed
+every movement of her favourite. She was never tired of sitting thus,
+she was never cross or impatient, nor did she ever attempt to touch the
+greenfinch without Magdalen's leave. And finding that the little girl
+was so gentle and obedient, and that the bird gave her such pleasure,
+Magdalen kindly did her utmost to increase this pleasure. She taught
+Hoodie how to tame and make friends with her pet, to call to it with her
+soft little voice--for no one could have a softer or prettier voice than
+Hoodie when she chose--always in the same tone, till the bird learnt to
+recognize it and to come at her summons. And oh the delight of the first
+time this happened! Hoodie was holding out her hand, the forefinger
+outstretched to the open door of the cage, half-cooing, half-whistling,
+in the pretty way Magdalen had taught her, when birdie, its head cocked
+on one side as if half in timidity, half in coquetry, at last mustered
+up courage and hopped on to the fat little pink finger.
+
+Hoodie _nearly_ screamed with delight, but recollected herself just in
+time not to frighten the bird.
+
+"Oh, Cousin Magdalen," she whispered in the most tremendous excitement,
+"Him is pouching, him's pouching on my finger. Oh the darling,--look,
+look, Maudie's godmother."
+
+But before Maudie's godmother could get across the room to look, Mr.
+Birdie had hopped off its new perch, and the experiment had to be
+repeated.
+
+"Come and pouch, birdie, dear birdie; _do_ come and pouch on my finger,"
+said Hoodie, beseechingly.
+
+"Call it the way I taught you," whispered Magdalen.
+
+Hoodie did so, and at the sound of her well-known call, the greenfinch
+cocked its head, looked round on all sides, appeared to consider, and at
+last condescended again to hop on to its little Mistress's finger.
+
+"Isn't it _sweet_?" said Hoodie ecstatically, though scarcely daring to
+breathe for fear of disturbing it.
+
+"If you take care never to startle it," said Magdalen, "it will get in
+the way of coming regularly whenever you call it. _Never_ let it hear
+you speaking angrily or roughly, Hoodie. That would startle it more than
+anything."
+
+"_Would_ it?" said Hoodie, regarding her pet with affection not
+unmingled with respect. "Would it know I was naughty? Cousin Magdalen,"
+she added, looking up into her friend's face with considerable awe in
+her bright green eyes; "Cousin Magdalen, do you think _p'raps_ my bird's
+a fairy, and that God sent it to teach me to be good?"
+
+Fortunately by this time Magdalen's intercourse with Hoodie had taught
+her the necessity of great control of herself. Whatever Hoodie said or
+did, she must not be laughed at--not even smiled at, if in the smile
+there lurked the slightest shadow of ridicule. Once let Hoodie imagine
+she was being made fun of and all hope of leading her and making her
+love and trust you was over.
+
+So Magdalen's face remained quite grave as she replied to Hoodie's
+question,
+
+"I think that _everything_ nice and pretty that comes to us is sent by
+God, dear. And He means them all to teach us to be good. But I don't
+think you need fancy your little bird is a fairy."
+
+"It's _so_ clever," said Hoodie. "Fancy him knowing when I call. Do you
+think some day it'll learn to speak, Cousin Magdalen?"
+
+Cousin Magdalen shook her head.
+
+"I'm afraid not. It isn't the kind of bird that ever learns to speak,"
+she replied, as gravely as before. "But I shouldn't wonder if it learns
+to know you very well--to come in a moment when it hears you call, and
+to show you that it is pleased to see you."
+
+"Oh how lovely that'll be," said Hoodie, dancing about with delight.
+"Fancy it coming on my finger whenever I say 'Birdie dear, come and
+pouch.' I'll _never_ let it hear me speak c'oss, Cousin Magdalen.
+Whenever I feel _it_ coming I'll go out of the room and shut the door
+tight so it sha'n't hear me."
+
+"Whenever you feel what coming?" asked Magdalen.
+
+"_It_," repeated Hoodie, "c'ossness, you know. It must come
+sometimes--_all_ chindrel is c'oss _sometimes_," she added
+complacently.
+
+"Well, but suppose some children were to make up their minds to be cross
+_no_ times," said Magdalen with a smile. "Wouldn't that be a good thing?
+Suppose a little girl I know, not very far from here, was to set the
+example."
+
+Hoodie laughed.
+
+"Cousin _Magdalen_," she said, with an accent on the name that she
+always gave when amused. "Cousin _Magdalen_, how funny you are! I know
+who you mean--yes, I do, kite well. But she couldn't, that little girl
+couldn't help being c'oss _sometimes_."
+
+She shook her head sagaciously.
+
+"Well, any way," said Magdalen, "try and let the 'sometimes' come as
+seldom as possible. Won't you do that, Hoodie?"
+
+Just then there came a tap at the door.
+
+"Miss Hoodie," said Martin's voice. "Come to tea, please. It's quite
+ready."
+
+Hoodie gave an impatient shake. Fortunately the bird was no longer on
+her finger, otherwise its nerves would have been considerably startled.
+Hoodie had been on the point of putting her hand into the cage to entice
+it to hop on to her finger and thus to lift it out when Martin's summons
+came.
+
+"I don't want any tea," she said; "do go away, Martin. You _alvays_
+come for me when I don't want to go."
+
+"Hoodie," whispered Magdalen, "the bird will be quite frightened to hear
+you speak like that."
+
+Hoodie looked startled.
+
+"Oh dear," she said. "I quite forgot. You see, Cousin Magdalen, it
+_will_ come. There's no good trying to keep it away."
+
+"Yes, there is," said Magdalen. "There's good in trying to keep it away,
+and there's good in trying to send it away even after it's come. You're
+sending it away now, Hoodie, I think."
+
+"Am I?" said Hoodie, doubtfully. Then with a sudden change of tone,
+"Well, I _will_ then. I'll go goodly with Martin. Martin," she said
+amiably, turning to her nurse, "I'm coming. I'll go out of the room kite
+goodly and quiet, and then perhaps birdie won't remember about my
+speaking c'oss."
+
+"I daresay he won't," said Magdalen encouragingly. "I'll give him some
+fresh seed to eat, as it's rather low in his box, and that will give him
+something else to think of. But I won't speak to him, Hoodie. I never
+do, because I want him to learn to know your voice."
+
+"That's out of the Bible," was Hoodie's parting remark, as she went off
+with Martin, quite "goodly," as she had promised.
+
+Day by day Hoodie loved her bird more and more, and her love was repaid
+by great success in taming the little creature. It grew to know her
+wonderfully well, to hop on to her rosy finger when she called to it,
+adding always, "Birdie, birdie, come and _pouch_," with a soft clear
+note of delight that it was quite a pleasure to hear. Its cage was
+placed in the window of a little ante-room, out of which Miss King's
+room opened. There had been some talk of putting it in the nursery, but
+Hoodie pleaded against this. The cat _had_ been known to enter the
+nursery, for Hec and Duke were rather fond of old pussy, and Prince was
+a frequent visitor there. And besides this, Hoodie could not feel quite
+sure that her little brothers might not be some day "temptationed" to
+touch her favourite. It was pretty clear any way that birdie's residence
+in the nursery would be a source of quarrels, so Mother and Magdalen and
+Martin agreed that the ante-room window would be the best and safest
+place.
+
+"It isn't as if winter was coming instead of summer," said Magdalen. "In
+that case a room without a fire would be too cold for it. But every day,
+now, the weather is getting brighter and warmer. What are you looking
+so grave about, Hoodie?"
+
+Hoodie looked up solemnly.
+
+"I were just thinking," she replied, "what a pity it would be if winter
+comed back again instead of summer, just when we've settled about my
+bird so nicely--by mistake you know."
+
+"But winter and summer don't come of themselves, Miss Hoodie," said
+Martin. "You know God sends them, and He never makes mistakes."
+
+"But _supposing_ He did," said Hoodie, "you are so stupid, Martin. You
+might _suppose_."
+
+"Hoodie!" said Magdalen, warningly.
+
+Hoodie gave a wriggle, but said no more. Not that she was vanquished
+however. She waited till bed-time, and then, after saying aloud as usual
+her little evening prayer, added a special clause for Martin's
+edification. "And p'ease, dear God, be sure not to forget to send the
+nice warm summer for my little bird, and don't let cold winter come back
+again by mistake."
+
+"It'll do no harm to _'amind_ God, any way," she observed with
+satisfaction, as she lay down in bed and composed herself for her
+night's repose.
+
+Weeks passed on and the nice warm summer came. Hoodie's devotion to her
+bird seemed to increase as time went on, and so much of her time was
+spent beside its cage that the nursery peace and quiet were much greater
+than before its arrival.
+
+One day, just after the nursery breakfast, she hastened to her pet as
+usual. Rather to her vexation she saw that her two little brothers were
+standing by the cage, of which the door was open, Miss King beside them.
+Hoodie frowned, but did not venture to say anything.
+
+"See, Hoodie," said Magdalen, "see how very confiding birdie has learnt
+to be. He has actually hopped on to Duke's finger when he whistled to
+him the way you do. It will do him no harm now to be friendly to other
+people too--now that he knows you so well. Look at him."
+
+"See, Hoodie," cried Duke in delight, holding up his stumpy little
+forefinger, on which birdie was contentedly perched.
+
+An ugly black cloud came over Hoodie's face. She darted forward, furious
+with anger.
+
+"I _won't_ have him pouch on your finger, Duke," she cried. "I won't
+have _anybody_ call him but me. I won't. I won't--he's the only thing
+that loves me and nobody's to touch him. Go away, naughty Duke; ugly
+Duke."
+
+She pushed Duke aside with one hand and with the other attempted,
+gently, notwithstanding her passion, to take the bird. The window was
+wide open, and the children were standing beside it. Magdalen, who was
+at the other side of the table on which stood the cage, hurried forward,
+but too late. Startled by Hoodie's loud voice, not recognizing in the
+furious little girl its gentle mistress, and with some instinct of
+self-preservation, the greenfinch, with a frightened uncertain note,
+flew off Duke's finger, alighted for one instant on the window-sill,
+from which it seemed for a moment to look at the group in the room, as
+if in farewell, then, before Magdalen could do anything, before Hoodie
+had taken in the idea of the misfortune that threatened her, raised its
+pretty wings with another soft reproachful note, and flew away--away out
+in the bright sunny garden, over the bushes and flowers, away--away--to
+some leafy corner up among the high trees, where there would be no angry
+voices to startle it, no quarrelsome children to frighten its tender
+little heart--no sound but the soft brush of the squirrel's furry tail
+among the branches, and the gentle flutter of the summer breeze. Away,
+away! But what did that "away" mean to poor broken-hearted Hoodie?
+
+She stood motionless with surprise and horror--she did not dart to the
+window as one would have expected--ready almost to throw herself out of
+it in fruitless pursuit of her favourite--she stood perfectly still, as
+if turned into stone. But the expression on her face was so strange and
+unnatural that Miss King felt frightened.
+
+"Hoodie," she exclaimed. "Hoodie, child, don't stand like that. Come to
+the window and call to your bird. Perhaps he will hear you and fly
+back."
+
+She said it more to rouse Hoodie out of the depth of her misery than
+because she really thought the bird would return, for in the bottom of
+her heart she feared much that it had truly flown away, and that once it
+felt itself out in the open air its natural instinct of freedom would
+prevent its returning to its cage.
+
+Hoodie started.
+
+"Come back? Do you _think_ he'll come back, Cousin Magdalen?" she
+exclaimed, and rushing to the window, and leaning out so far that
+Magdalen was obliged to hold her for fear she should fall over, she gave
+the soft clear call which her cousin had taught her--over and over
+again, till, tired and out of breath, she drew in her head and looked up
+in Magdalen's face despairingly.
+
+"He won't come," she said, "he won't come. P'raps he's flied away too
+far to hear me. P'raps he can hear me but he doesn't want to come. Oh
+dear, _oh_ dear, what shall I do? My bird, my bird--you always said he
+would fly away if he heard me speak c'oss, and I did speak c'oss, dedful
+c'oss. _Oh!_ what shall I do?"
+
+Hoodie sank down on the floor--a little heap of tears and misery. Hec
+and Duke flung their arms around her, beseeching her not to cry so, but
+there was no comfort for Hoodie.
+
+"It was my own fault," she kept repeating, "my own fault for speaking so
+c'oss. The bird will never come back. Oh no, Hec and Duke, dear Hec and
+Duke, it isn't no good kissing me. I'll never, never be happy again, and
+it's my own fault."
+
+It was impossible not to be sorry for her. Magdalen felt almost ready to
+burst into tears herself. She took Hoodie up in her arms and tried to
+comfort her.
+
+"I don't think you should quite lose heart about birdie, Hoodie. He may
+come back again, once he has had a good fly. We must keep the window
+open, and you must keep calling to him every now and then, in the way he
+is used to. And perhaps it would be a good plan to go out in the garden
+and call--he may perhaps have flown up among the trees at the other
+side."
+
+Hoodie was only too ready. Patiently, while her cousin went down to her
+breakfast, the little girl stood at the window calling to the truant.
+Every now and then the sobs that would continue to rise, made a sad
+little quaver in the middle, and once or twice poor Hoodie was obliged
+to stop altogether. But she soon began again, and every now and then
+between her whistles, she said in a beseeching, half heart-broken tone--
+
+"Oh, birdie, _won't_ you come? Come, dear birdie, oh _do_ come and pouch
+on my finger. I'll never, never speak c'oss again--never, dear birdie,
+if only you'll come back and pouch on my finger."
+
+It was very melancholy. Very melancholy too was the walking about the
+garden in vain hopes that birdie might be somewhere near and would fly
+down again. The whole day passed most sadly. Hoodie's eyes were swollen
+with crying, and she could scarcely eat any dinner or tea, and her
+distress naturally was felt by all the nursery party. It was one of the
+saddest days the children had ever known, and they all went to bed with
+sorely troubled little hearts.
+
+Magdalen too was grieved and sorry.
+
+"I blame myself," she said to Hoodie's mother. "Pets are always a risk,
+and Hoodie is such a strange mixture that one shouldn't run risks with
+her. I wish I had never suggested her keeping the bird as a pet, but I
+thought it might be good for her to have something of her very own to
+care for and attend to."
+
+"And so it was," said Hoodie's mother. "It has done her a great deal of
+good; it has softened her wonderfully. We all noticed it. And even this
+trouble may do her good; it may teach her really to try to master that
+sad temper of hers."
+
+"I had no idea she would have been so put out at Duke's playing with her
+bird," Magdalen went on, "or I would not have risked it."
+
+"But she _should_ not have been put out at it," said Mrs. Caryll. "You
+have nothing whatever to reproach yourself with, dear Magdalen. Hoodie
+_must_ be taught that she cannot be allowed to yield to that selfish,
+jealous temper."
+
+"I know," said Magdalen. "But how are we to teach her? that is the
+difficulty--the least severity or sternness which does good to other
+children, seems to rouse her very worst feelings and only to harden her.
+She is not hardened now, poor little soul, she is perfectly humble. Oh,
+how I do wish I could find her bird for her!"
+
+"Don't trouble yourself so much about it, dear. You really must not,"
+said Mrs. Caryll, as she bade her cousin good night.
+
+But unfortunately those things which our friends beg us not to trouble
+ourselves about are generally the very things we find it the most
+impossible to put out of our minds. Magdalen could not leave off
+"troubling" about poor Hoodie. She slept little, and when she did sleep
+it was only to dream of the lost bird, sometimes that it was found again
+in all sorts of impossible places--sometimes that Hoodie was climbing a
+dreadfully high mountain, or attempting to swim across a deep river,
+where Magdalen felt that she would certainly be drowned,--in search of
+it. And once she dreamt that the bird flew into her room and perched at
+the foot of her bed, and when she exclaimed with delight at seeing it
+again it suddenly began to speak to her, and its voice sounded exactly
+like Hoodie's.
+
+"I have come to say good-bye to you, Maudie's godmother," it said.
+"Nobody loves me, and I am always naughty, so I'd better go away."
+
+And as Magdalen started up to catch the bird, or Hoodie, whichever it
+was--in her dream it seemed both--she awoke.
+
+It was bright daylight already, though only five o'clock. Outside in the
+garden the sun was shining beautifully, the air, as Magdalen opened her
+window, felt deliciously fresh and sweet, everything had the peaceful
+untroubled look of very early morning--of a very early spring morning
+especially--when the birds and the flowers and the sunshine and the
+breezes have had it all to themselves, as it were, undisturbed by the
+troubles and difficulties and disagreements that busy day is sure to
+bring with it, as long as there are men and women, and boys and girls,
+in this puzzling world of ours.
+
+Though, after all, it is better to be a child than a bird or a
+flower--whatever mistakes we may make, whatever wrong we may do, all,
+alas, adding to the great mass of mistakes and wrong--whatever sorrows
+we may have to bear, it is something to feel in us the power of bearing
+them, the power of _trying_ to put right even what we may have helped to
+put wrong--best of all the power of loving each other, and of helping
+each other in a way that the happy, innocent birds and flowers know
+nothing about. Is it not better to be _ourselves_, after all?
+
+Magdalen leant out of the window, enjoying the sweet air and sunshine,
+but thinking all the time how much more she would have enjoyed this
+bright morning but for her sympathy with poor Hoodie's trouble.
+
+Suddenly a thought struck her. _Possibly_ the bird, chilled and hungry
+after some hours' freedom, unaccustomed to be out in the dark, or to
+find food for itself--_possibly_ he might have returned to his cage in
+the night. Magdalen threw on her dressing-gown and hurried into the
+ante-room. The window was open, the cage-door stood open too, everything
+was ready to welcome the little wanderer--fresh seed in the box, fresh
+water in the glass--Hoodie had seen to it all herself before going to
+bed--but that was all!
+
+There was no little feathered occupant in the cage--it was empty, and
+with a fresh feeling of disappointment, Magdalen stood by the window
+again, looking out at the bright morning, and wondering what she could
+do to comfort poor Hoodie. Outside, the birds were singing merrily.
+
+"Should I get her another bird?" thought Magdalen, "a canary, perhaps,
+accustomed to cage life? No, I think not. It might only lead to fresh
+disappointment; besides, I don't think Hoodie is the sort of child to
+care for another, _instead_. No, that wouldn't do."
+
+Suddenly a sort of flutter in the leaves round the window-frame--Mr.
+Caryll's house was an old one; there were creepers all over the
+walls--made Magdalen look up.
+
+"Can there be a nest in the eaves?" she said to herself, for the flutter
+was evidently that of a bird; and as she was watching, she saw it fly
+out--fly down rather from the projecting window-roof, and--to her
+amazement, after seeming for an instant or two to hesitate, it summoned
+up courage and flew a little way into the room--too high up for her to
+reach however, and not far enough into the room for her to venture to
+shut the window. She stood breathless, for as it at last settled for a
+moment on the curtain-rod, she saw what at first she had scarcely
+ventured to believe, that it was Hoodie's bird.
+
+It stayed a moment on the rod, then it flew off again--made a turn round
+the room--"oh," thought Magdalen, "if it _would_ but settle somewhere
+further from the window, so that I could shut it in"--But no, off it
+flew again--out into the open air, and Magdalen's heart sank. Patience!
+Another moment and it was back again, with designs on its cage
+apparently, but it hesitated half way. Now was the critical moment.
+Magdalen hesitated. Should she risk it? She stretched out her hand
+towards the bird and softly and tremulously whistled to it in Hoodie's
+well-known call. The wavering balance of birdie's intentions was
+turned--it cocked its head on one side, and with a pretty chirp flew
+towards Magdalen and perched on her finger! Slowly and cautiously,
+whistling softly all the time, she slipped her hand into the cage, and
+quickly withdrawing it the instant birdie hopped off he found himself
+caught.
+
+[Illustration: "Slowly and cautiously, whistling softly all the time"]
+
+But he seemed quite content, and in two moments was pecking at his seed
+as if nothing had happened.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+HOODIE'S DISOBEDIENCE.
+
+    "Where are the pretty primroses gone,
+    That lately bloomed in the wood?"
+
+
+Notwithstanding her troubles, on account of them partly, perhaps, for
+nothing tires out little children more than long crying, Hoodie slept
+soundly that night. She was still sleeping when, at seven o'clock,
+Magdalen, already dressed and with the cage in her hand, came into her
+room to watch for her waking.
+
+Martin, who had heard the joyful news an hour ago, stood with Miss King
+beside the little girl's bed and looked at her. Poor Hoodie! Her rosy
+face still bore traces of yesterday's weeping, and now and then through
+her sleep one heard that little sobbing catch in her breathing which is,
+to my thinking, one of the most piteous sounds in the world.
+
+"She's tired herself out," said Martin. "She may sleep another hour or
+more. You'll be tired standing there, miss. Who would think Miss Hoodie
+had it in her to take things to heart so, for to see her sometimes she's
+like as if she had no heart or love in her at all."
+
+"I think I'll put the cage on a chair beside the bed," said Magdalen,
+"and then she'll be sure to see it the moment she wakes."
+
+She did so and went quietly away. Half an hour later, coming back again
+to see if Hoodie was still sleeping, she heard as she opened the door
+the sound of the little girl's voice. She had just awakened and had
+discovered the return of her bird. She was in an ecstasy of delight,
+very pretty to hear and see.
+
+"Oh my darling little bird," she was saying, "oh my sweet, innocent pet,
+have you come back? oh my dear, _dear_ bird! You didn't mean to go away
+from Hoodie, did you? You lost your way, didn't you? Hoodie will never
+speak c'oss again, birdie, _never_. I do think God is vezzy kind to send
+you back again, and I _will_ try to please Him by being good, 'cos He's
+so kind."
+
+Magdalen stood still and watched her, with pleasure, but with a strange
+sort of slight sadness and misgiving too. There was something almost
+startling in the little girl's extreme love for the bird, and it made
+her cousin wish it could be bestowed on a higher object.
+
+"Why can't she love her sister and brothers more?" she thought to
+herself. "I do not know what she would do now if anything again happened
+to the bird. I wonder if it would have been better if it had not come
+back. But no, I must not think that. _All_ love must do good to a nature
+like Hoodie's, and her love for the bird may teach her other things. And
+oh, I should have been sorry to leave her while she was as unhappy as
+she was yesterday."
+
+Then she came forward into the room, and when Hoodie saw her, there was
+a fresh cry of delight, and Magdalen had to tell her over and over again
+exactly how it had all happened; how it was that she was up so early,
+how birdie flew in and then out again, and how Magdalen feared that
+after all she might not be able to catch him, and how delighted she was
+when she felt sure she had got him safe.
+
+"I was so glad to think how pleased you would be, Hoodie, dear!" she
+said.
+
+"Thank you, Cousin Magdalen, you are vezzy kind," said Hoodie. "And I
+think God is vezzy kind too, for you know I said my prayers to Him last
+night to send birdie back again, so He must have told him to come.
+P'raps He sent a' angel to show birdie the way. I'm going to be vezzy
+good now, Cousin Magdalen, _awful_ good, alvays, 'cos God was kind and
+sent birdie back. _Won't_ God be glad?"
+
+"Yes, dear, God is always glad when His little children are good. He
+likes them to be happy, and being good is the only way," said Magdalen.
+
+"But won't He be _dedfully_ glad for me to be kite good?" said Hoodie,
+seemingly not quite satisfied with her cousin's tone. "I wouldn't have
+tried so much if He hadn't sent birdie back, but now I'm going to try
+awful hard."
+
+"But, Hoodie dear, even if God hadn't sent birdie back it would have
+been right to try as hard as ever you could," said Magdalen. "That's
+what I wish you could understand--even when God _doesn't_ do what we ask
+Him we should try to please Him. For He loves us just the same--better
+than if He did what we ask, for He knows that sometimes what we ask
+wouldn't be good for us. I don't think you understand that, Hoodie dear.
+You think when your mother, or Martin perhaps, doesn't do all at once
+what you ask, that it is because they don't love you. You mustn't feel
+that way, dear, either about your friends here, or about God, your best
+friend of all."
+
+Hoodie looked up, rather puzzled. Magdalen feared she had not understood
+what she said, and almost regretted having said it. And afterwards she
+wondered what had put it into her mind to try to explain to the little
+girl what puzzles and bewilders far wiser people, but by the time that
+"afterwards" came she no longer regretted having said what she had.
+
+"I do think God loves me now," said Hoodie, sturdily, "'cos He's sent
+birdie back, and so I'm going to try to be good. But if I was God I'd
+_alvays_ do what ev'ybody asked me, and I'd _make_ it be good for them,
+and then ev'ybody would be so pleased, they'd always try to be good."
+
+"I'm afraid not, Hoodie," said Magdalen with a slight smile. "I'm afraid
+if everybody always got what they want there would soon be very little
+goodness left anywhere."
+
+Hoodie at this looked more puzzled than before, but Magdalen, who had
+been speaking more to herself than to the child this time, did not try
+to explain any more. She bent over Hoodie and kissed her.
+
+"Any way don't forget about trying to be good, and ask God to help you,"
+she said.
+
+The next day "Maudie's godmother" went away. She had stayed longer than
+she had intended, and now her father and mother could spare her no
+longer. The children were greatly distressed at her going. Maudie cried
+gently, the boys more uproariously, and all three joined in reproaching
+Hoodie for not crying at all. Hoodie seemed quite indifferent to their
+remarks.
+
+"Why should I cry?" she said. "It would be very silly to cry when Cousin
+Magdalen is going back to her father and mother. Crying isn't any good."
+
+"You don't love Cousin Magdalen," said Maudie, "if you did you couldn't
+help crying."
+
+"I _do_ love her. I love her as many times as you do, ugl"----
+
+She stopped--Magdalen was looking at her with a look that Hoodie
+understood. Hoodie ran to her and threw her arms round her neck.
+
+"I _do_ love you, Cousin Magdalen," she whispered. "Don't you believe
+me? I do love you, and I'm trying dedfully to be good, to please you and
+God, 'cos of birdie coming back."
+
+"I do believe you, dear," said Magdalen, and Hoodie glanced round with
+triumph.
+
+I am coming now to a part of Hoodie's history which I cannot prevent
+being rather sad. I wish, for some reasons, I could prevent it. But true
+stories must be told true, and even fancy stories must be told in a
+fancy true way, or else they do not suit themselves. When I was a
+little girl I never cared for the new-fashioned "Red Riding Hood" story;
+the one in which she was _not_ eaten up at the end after all, but saved
+by a wood-cutter at the last minute. Of course it was very nice to think
+of poor Red Riding Hood not being eaten up, if one could have managed to
+believe it. But somehow I never could, and even now whenever I think of
+the story the old original ending, dreadful as it was, always comes back
+to me. So now that I am telling you about--not Red Riding Hood--but my
+queer, fanciful, but still I hope lovable, Hoodie, I feel that I must go
+straight on and tell you what really happened, even though it makes you
+rather sad.
+
+For some time after Miss King left, things went on pretty smoothly, very
+smoothly, perhaps I should say. Hoodie did not forget about trying to be
+good, especially in her bird's presence. It became a sort of conscience
+to her, and as, by a law which is a great help in learning to be
+good,--though also a danger the more in learning _wrong_,--by the law of
+_habit_, every time one tries to keep under one's ill temper, makes it
+easier for the next time, it grew really easier for Hoodie to check her
+naughty cross words and looks from the way she kept them down when
+beside her little pet. And Martin and every one began to think it had
+been a happy thing for Hoodie and those about her that her cousin had
+taught her how to tame and care for the pretty greenfinch.
+
+It was so pretty, poor little birdie! It grew so tame that, with the
+window shut of course, it spent a great part of its time flying freely
+about the ante-room where stood its cage. It would "pouch" not only on
+Hoodie's finger but on her shoulder, her head--anywhere she chose to
+place it. And in an instant, at the sound of her call, it would fly to
+her. Every morning it was her first thought, every night her last. And
+night and morning when she said her prayers, she never forgot to thank
+God for being "_so_ kind as to send birdie back again," and to beg Him
+to keep birdie safe and well.
+
+One evening--how it happened I cannot tell,--it was very hot and sultry
+weather, with thunder about, and at such times people are careless about
+closing doors and windows--one evening, by some mischance which no one
+ever could explain, the window of "birdie's room," as it had come to be
+called, was either left open, or flew open in some way. Hoodie was sure
+she had closed it when she went to bid her pet good night, but it was
+what is called a lattice window, and these are apt to fly open unless
+very firmly shut. Birdie was safe in his cage however, and the door of
+_that_ was fortunately--even when you hear what happened, children, you
+will agree with me that that part of it _was_ fortunate--quite fastened.
+Early next morning, one of the servants who slept in an attic above the
+ante-room, heard a noise below. She was a kind-hearted girl, and her
+first thought was of Miss Hoodie's bird. She got up at once, and
+hurrying down-stairs--it was not so very early after all, nearly six
+o'clock--ran to the ante-room. As she opened the door, to her horror a
+great big strange cat jumped out of the window.
+
+"Oh dear, oh dear," said Lucy, "can he have got at birdie?"
+
+The cage was not to be seen--but in another moment Lucy spied it on the
+floor, knocked down off the table by the cruel cat. He had not got at
+birdie--birdie lay in one corner, quite still as if dead, and yet when
+Lucy with trembling fingers unfastened the cage door and tenderly lifted
+out his little occupant, she could see no injury, not the slightest
+scratch.
+
+"His heart's beating still," she said, "perhaps it's only the fright of
+the fall," and she was turning to the window to examine birdie more
+closely, when a sound behind her made her start, and turning round she
+saw in the doorway the bird's little mistress, poor Hoodie herself. She
+was in her nightgown only--she had run from her room with her little
+bare feet, having heard Lucy passing down-stairs, with an instinct of
+fear that some evil had befallen her pet.
+
+"Lucy, Lucy," she cried, "what is the matter? It isn't anything the
+matter with birdie. Oh, dear Lucy, _don't_ say it is."
+
+Her voice somehow, as Lucy said afterwards, sounded like that of a
+grown-up person--all the babyishness seemed to have gone out of it--she
+did not cry, she stood there white as a sheet, clasping her hands in a
+way that went to Lucy's heart.
+
+"Oh, Miss Hoodie," she replied, the tears running down her face, for she
+was very tender-hearted, "oh dear, Miss Hoodie, don't take on so. I hope
+birdie's not badly hurt. The cat didn't touch him. It knocked over the
+cage, and it must have been the fall; but _perhaps_ he's more frightened
+than hurt."
+
+"Give him to me, Lucy," said Hoodie. "Let me hold him in my own hands.
+Oh, birdie dear, oh, birdie darling, don't you know me?" for birdie lay
+still and limp--almost as if dead already. Hoodie, forcing back the
+tears, whistled her usual call to him, and as its sound reached his
+ears, birdie seemed to quiver, raised his head, feebly flapped his
+wings, and tried, with a piteous attempt at shaking off the sleep from
+which he would never again awake, tried to rouse himself and to struggle
+to his feet.
+
+"Oh, Lucy," cried Hoodie, "he's getting better," but as she said the
+words, birdie fell over on his side, uttered the feeblest of chirps, and
+with a little quiver lay still--quite still--he was dead. The fright had
+killed him.
+
+Hoodie looked up in Lucy's face with tearless eyes.
+
+"Is he dead?" she said.
+
+"Yes, Miss Hoodie dear," said Lucy, softly stroking the ruffled
+feathers, "he is dead, but oh dear, Miss Hoodie, it isn't so bad as if
+the cat had torn and scratched him all over. You should think of that."
+
+But Hoodie could think of nothing in the shape of comfort. She held the
+little dead bird out to Lucy.
+
+"Take him and bury him," she said. "He can't love me any more, so take
+him away. All the loving's dead. He was the only thing that loved me. I
+won't try to be good any more. God is very unkind."
+
+"Miss Hoodie!" exclaimed Lucy, considerably shocked. But Hoodie just
+looked at her with a hard set expression in her white face.
+
+"You don't understand," she said. "Take him away and bury him."
+
+She turned to the door and left the room. She went slowly back to her
+own room, and got into her little bed again. Then, like the old Hebrew
+king, poor little English Hoodie "turned her face to the wall," and wept
+and wept as if never again there could be for her brightness in the
+sunshine, or love and happiness in life.
+
+"My bird, my bird," she moaned. That was all she could say.
+
+She refused at first to get up and be dressed. Then, with an idea
+perhaps that if she did so she would be more independent than if staying
+in bed, with papa and mamma and Martin and everybody coming to talk to
+her, and try to comfort her, she slowly got out of bed and let Martin
+dress her. But when it came to saying her prayers, she altogether
+refused to do so, and on this point there was no getting her to give in.
+She did not refuse to eat her breakfast, because she had sense enough to
+know that sooner or later she would be obliged to eat, but the moment it
+was swallowed, she took her little chair and seated herself in the
+corner of the nursery, her face to the wall, crying, crying steadily,
+and hopelessly, turning like a little fury upon any one who ventured to
+speak to her, only moaning out from time to time--
+
+"My bird, oh my bird!"
+
+They were all very sorry for her. Maudie's tears and those of the little
+boys had flowed freely when the sad story was first told to them; they
+had all rushed to Hoodie to try to kiss and comfort her. But her extreme
+crossness, or what any way looked like it to them, sent them away
+puzzled and hurt. Hoodie's mother had proposed that the little girl
+should spend the whole day down-stairs with her, have dinner at the
+dining-room luncheon, and go a drive in the afternoon, but to all this
+Hoodie only replied by a determined shake of the head, as well as to her
+father's offer of a new bird, or two if she liked, the prettiest that
+could be bought.
+
+So they were all really at their wits' end.
+
+It was very sad, but one must also allow that it was very tiresome.
+Martin began to fear that the child would really make herself ill, and
+as was Martin's "way," her anxiety began to make her rather cross.
+
+"I wish Miss King had never put it into the child's head to have a pet
+bird," she muttered to herself as she was washing up the tea-things that
+evening, glancing at Hoodie's disconsolate figure still in the corner of
+the nursery. "Miss King may be all very well and kind, but she's no
+knowledge of children, how should she have any? I think it's much best
+to leave children to them that understands them; though indeed as for
+any one's understanding Miss Hoodie----!"
+
+Fortunately it did not occur to Hoodie to make any objection to going to
+bed, and it was a relief to every one to know of her being there and
+safely asleep, "forgetting her troubles for a while," as Martin said.
+The next day was very little better. Hoodie did not cry quite so much,
+but she still sat in a corner doing nothing, and when any one attempted
+to speak to her, however kindly, she turned upon them with fierceness,
+like a little ill-tempered cat.
+
+Yet it was not ill-temper; it was really misery, or at least it was
+ill-temper caused by misery. But as no gentleness and patience, no
+sympathy or attempt at comforting her did any good, but harm--and as any
+approach to reasoning with her, or scolding her, seemed to harden her
+already embittered little heart more and more, what was to be done, what
+could be done, but leave her alone? She continued determinedly to
+refuse, night and morning, to say her prayers, and refused, too, to say
+grace at the nursery table when it was her turn. But of all this Mrs.
+Caryll wisely desired Martin to take no notice, and not to try to force
+the child to any formal utterance of words in which her heart had no
+part.
+
+"It _must_ be all right again soon if only we are patient with her,"
+said Hoodie's mother, more cheerfully than she was really feeling, for
+she saw that Martin was very much worried and distressed about Hoodie,
+and she was anxious to encourage her.
+
+"It is to be hoped so, ma'am, I'm sure," was Martin's rather hopeless
+reply.
+
+Somewhat to everybody's surprise, on the third day Hoodie condescended
+to ask a favour. Might she go out for a walk alone with Lucy? Everybody
+was so enchanted at her seeming to take interest in anything or wishing
+for anything, that with some conditions her request was at once granted.
+It was arranged that she should set off with Lucy and go wherever she
+wished, with the understanding that she would meet Martin and the other
+children at four o'clock at a certain point on the road, as it was not
+convenient that Lucy should stay out longer. To this Hoodie agreed.
+
+"I'm going through the wood," she said. "I want to get some flowers that
+grow there, and Lucy must take a basket and a knife to dig them up, and
+then I'll tell her what to do."
+
+"Very well, Miss Hoodie," said Martin, but privately she told Lucy not
+to let the little girl go to the cottages at the edge of the wood, for
+Martin had never forgotten the fright of Hoodie's escapade several
+months ago. "If she gets in the way of going to that young woman's
+cottage, she'll be for ever running off," she said. "So silly of the
+people to encourage her, when they might see we didn't like it. We met
+the young woman the other day, and she actually stopped short in the
+road and began asking when Miss Hoodie was coming to see her again."
+
+"But mamma says they're very respectable people, Martin," said Maudie,
+who was standing by. "I don't think she would mind if Hoodie did go to
+see them. Papa said one day he wished the young woman's husband was one
+of our men. He's so steady."
+
+"Hold your tongue, Miss Maudie," said Martin with unusual sharpness. She
+knew that what the child said was true, but she had taken a prejudice
+against the little family in Red Riding Hood's cottage, as the children
+always called it, and when a good conscientious woman of Martin's age
+and character once takes a prejudice, it is rather a hopeless matter!
+
+Poor Maudie slid away, feeling in her turn that things were rather hard
+upon her. She had been very patient and gentle with her strange-tempered
+little sister these three days, and had tried not to feel hurt at
+Hoodie's indifference to all her small overtures of sympathy. And now
+to be told by Martin to hold her tongue when all she meant was to try to
+make things better, was not easy to bear.
+
+"I'm sure Hoodie wants to get flowers to put on birdie's grave," she
+thought to herself, as she wiped away the tears called forth by Martin's
+sharp words. "I think she _might_ have told me about it and asked me to
+go too."
+
+But she said nothing about it, and set off uncomplainingly on her
+solitary walk with Martin, for the two little boys were spending the
+afternoon with the children at the Rectory.
+
+Hoodie marched Lucy straight off to the wood. Primroses were the flowers
+on which her heart was set, for birdie's grave, as Maudie had guessed.
+She had seen them growing in the wood in the spring in great numbers and
+beauty, and no flower, she had settled in her mind, could look so pretty
+on birdie's grave. She said very little to Lucy, having satisfied
+herself that the knife to dig the roots up with and the basket to carry
+them home in had not been forgotten, she walked along in silence. But
+when they reached the wood and had gone some little way into it and no
+primroses were to be seen Hoodie looked very much disappointed.
+
+"There were such lots," she said to herself.
+
+"Lots of what, Miss Hoodie?" asked Lucy, thinking her charge the oddest
+child she had ever had to do with.
+
+"Of p'imroses," said Hoodie. "That's what I came for, to plant them on
+birdie's grave, you know, Lucy."
+
+"Primroses," repeated Lucy. "Of course not now, Miss Hoodie. They're
+over long ago. See, these are their leaves--lots of them."
+
+She stooped as she spoke, and pointed out the primrose plants clustering
+thickly at their feet. Hoodie stooped too, to look at them.
+
+"Oh dear," she exclaimed. "Are the flowers all gone? What shall I do? If
+we unplanted one, Lucy, and took it home, and watered it _lots_, twenty
+times a day p'raps, wouldn't more flowers come?"
+
+[Illustration: "Oh dear," she exclaimed. "Are the flowers all gone?"]
+
+"Not this year, Miss Hoodie," said Lucy. "Not all the watering in the
+world would make any flowers come before the spring, and watering too
+much would kill the plant altogether."
+
+"Oh dear," repeated Hoodie, "what shall I do?"
+
+"Won't no other flowers do?" said Lucy. "There's violets still, and lots
+of others in the garden that Hopkins would give you--much prettier than
+primroses."
+
+"No," said Hoodie, shaking her head, "none but p'imroses would do.
+Birdie liked them best, I know, for when I put some once in the wires of
+his cage, he chirped. When will the spring come, Lucy?"
+
+"Not for a good bit, Miss Hoodie," said Lucy, "it's only July now.
+There's all the summer to go through, and then autumn when it begins to
+get cold, and then all the cold winter, before the spring comes. A good
+while--eight months, and there's more than four weeks in each month, you
+know."
+
+"I can't help it," said Hoodie, "only p'imroses will do. Please dig some
+roots up, Lucy, and we'll plant them on birdie's grave. The green leaves
+are a little pretty, and in the spring the flowers will come. And if I'm
+dead before the spring," she added solemnly, "you mustn't forget to
+water them all the same."
+
+"Miss Hoodie!" said Lucy, reproachfully, "you should not talk that way
+really. Your mamma wouldn't like it."
+
+"Why not?" said Hoodie, "there's lots about deadening in the Bible and
+in the church books, so it can't be naughty. I wouldn't mind, if only I
+thought birdie was in heaven."
+
+"We'd better be going on," said Lucy, rather anxious to give a turn to
+the conversation, "or we'll be late for Martin and Miss Maudie. I've got
+up two nice roots, and we may see some others that take your fancy as we
+go on."
+
+They made their way slowly through the wood--Hoodie peering about here
+and there in search of primroses still, some two or three might, she
+thought, possibly have been left behind, or some buds might by mistake
+have bloomed later than their neighbours. For Hoodie, as you have seen,
+was not easily convinced of anything that she did not wish to believe.
+
+But all her peering was in vain; they reached the end of the little wood
+without a single primrose showing its pretty face, and Hoodie was
+obliged to content herself with the brightest and freshest plants they
+could find, which Lucy good-naturedly dug up for her.
+
+At the edge of the wood, the path led them in front of the cottage to
+which three or four months ago Hoodie's memorable visit had been paid.
+Lucy walked on quickly, talking of other things in hope of distracting
+the little girl's attention till the forbidden ground was safely passed.
+Vain hope. Hoodie came to a dead stand in front of the little garden
+gate.
+
+"That is the cottage where baby and its mother and the ugly man live,"
+she announced to Lucy. "Once, a long time ago, I went there to tea.
+Baby's mother asked me to come again some day."
+
+"But not to-day, Miss Hoodie," said poor Lucy, nervously "we'd be too
+late if we stopped now."
+
+"No, not to-day," said Hoodie. "I don't want to go to-day. I'm too
+unhappy about birdie to care for cakes now. I don't think I'll ever care
+for cakes any more. Besides," with a slight hesitation, "she won't have
+any ready. She said I was to let her know. _P'raps_ I'll let her know
+some day."
+
+She was turning to walk on, immensely to Lucy's relief, when the gleam
+of some pale yellow flowers growing close under the cottage walls, up at
+the other end of the long narrow strip of garden, caught her glance.
+
+"Lucy," she cried. "I see some p'imroses in the garden. I must run in
+and ask baby's mother to give me some. I'm sure she will."
+
+She unfastened the wooden gate and was some steps up the path before
+Lucy had time to reply.
+
+"They're not primroses, Miss Hoodie," she said. "Indeed they're not. I
+can see from here. They're quite another kind. Oh, do come back, Miss
+Hoodie."
+
+"I won't be a minute," said Hoodie, "I'd like some of the flowers any
+way," and she began to run on again.
+
+"Miss Hoodie," cried Lucy, driven to despair, "Martin said you mustn't
+on no account go into the cottage."
+
+Hoodie's wrath and self-will were instantly aroused.
+
+"Well then, Martin had no business to say so," she replied. "_Mamma_
+never said I wasn't to go. She said I should go some day to see the
+baby again and to thank baby's mother."
+
+"But not by yourself--without Martin, Miss Hoodie. Your mamma always
+tells you to be obedient to Martin, I know."
+
+Hoodie vouchsafed no answer, but marched on, up the little garden path
+towards the house. Lucy looked after her in dismay. What should she do?
+Following her and repeating Martin's orders would probably only make
+Hoodie still more determined. Besides, Lucy was a very gentle, civil
+girl; it was very disagreeable to her to think of going into the
+cottage, and telling the owners of it that the child had been forbidden
+to speak to them, and she gazed round her in perplexity, heartily
+wishing that Miss Hoodie had not chosen her for her companion in her
+walk. Suddenly, some distance off, coming across the fields, she
+perceived two figures, a tall one and a little one. Lucy had good eyes.
+
+"Martin and Miss Maudie," she exclaimed, with relief, and just glancing
+back to see that Hoodie was by this time inside the cottage, she ran as
+fast as she could to meet the new comers and tell of Hoodie's
+disobedience.
+
+She was all out of breath by the time she got up to them, though they
+hastened their steps when they saw her coming--and at first Martin
+could not understand what Lucy was saying. When she did so, she was
+exceedingly put out.
+
+"Run into the cottage, has she, Lucy?" she exclaimed. "And after all I
+said! I really do think you might have managed her better, naughty
+though she is. Oh dear me, I do wish she hadn't been allowed to come out
+without me."
+
+Maudie stood by in great trouble at Hoodie's misdoing.
+
+"Martin will be so cross to her," she thought, "and Hoodie will speak
+naughtily, I'm sure. I'll run on to the cottage first and tell her how
+vexed Martin is, and beg her to come back quick and say she's sorry."
+
+And before Martin and Lucy noticed what she was doing, she was half way
+across the fields to the cottage.
+
+The door stood open when she got there. Maudie peeped into the kitchen
+but saw no one. "Hoodie," she called out softly, "are you there?"
+
+No answer.
+
+"Hoodie," called Maudie again, more loudly, "I've come to fetch you.
+Martin's just coming."
+
+Then Hoodie's voice sounded from above.
+
+"I'm up here, Maudie. I came up here 'cos there was no one in the
+kitchen. And baby's mother doesn't want me to stay 'cos poor baby's ill,
+so I'll come."
+
+Maudie could not, however, clearly distinguish what Hoodie said, so,
+guided by the sound of Hoodie's voice, she in turn mounted the
+ladder-like staircase which led to the sleeping-room above. Hoodie was
+just preparing to come down, but when Maudie made her appearance she
+drew back a little into the room.
+
+"Baby's mother won't let me nurse baby," she said, "'cos she's ill,
+though I'm sure I wouldn't hurt her. Do look at her, Maudie. You can't
+think how pretty she is when she's well--but her face is very red
+to-day--baby's mother thinks she's getting her teeth."
+
+Maudie approached rather timidly. Certainly the baby's face was very
+red.
+
+"Please, miss," said its mother, "I think you'd better not stay. It's
+very kind of you, and I'm that sorry I can't tell you, to ask you to
+go."
+
+"I've only _just_ come up-stairs," said Hoodie. "I waited ever so long
+in the kitchen, 'cos I thought baby's mother was out, and that she'd
+come in soon. And then I called out and I heard she was up-stairs, so I
+came up, but she won't let me touch baby and I can nurse her so nicely."
+
+"It isn't for that, miss," said Mrs. Lizzie in distress; "it's only
+_for fear_ there should be anything catchin' about her. Doctor saw her
+yesterday and thought it was only her teeth, still it's best to be
+careful."
+
+"Yes, thank you," said Maudie, "I think we'd better go. Perhaps we'll
+come again when baby's better. Come, Hoodie."
+
+With some difficulty she got Hoodie away, for though considerably
+offended with baby's mother, Hoodie was much more inclined to stay and
+argue it out with her, than to give in quietly. At the foot of the stair
+they met Martin; Maudie explained things to her, and Martin's face grew
+very grave. She was too really alarmed to be cross.
+
+"Run out at once," she said, "both of you, into the open air, and stay
+in the field till I come; I have sent Lucy home. Better know the worst
+at once," she added to herself, as she climbed the steep little stair,
+"oh dear, oh dear! who ever would have thought of such a thing?"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+HOODIE AWAKES.
+
+    "And till we're nice old ladies
+      We'll love each other so."
+
+
+When Martin joined the two little girls again, her face looked not only
+grave, but white. Maudie felt frightened, she hardly knew why. Hoodie,
+in a state of defiance to meet the expected scolding, was so amazed at
+its not coming that the surprise kept her quiet. So they all three
+walked home in silence, though as fast as possible. No lingering by the
+way to gather flowers, or to watch the ducks in Farmer Girton's pond!
+Martin held a hand of each little girl, and merely saying now and then,
+"We must go straight home, my dears," marched steadily on. It was a
+strange, unnatural kind of walk--the children felt something mysterious
+about it, without knowing what, and poor Martin's heart was terribly
+sore. She _could not_ scold Hoodie, naughty as she had undoubtedly
+been, for sad fears were picturing themselves before her--what might not
+be the result of Hoodie's disobedience?
+
+"Supposing," thought poor Martin, who was of a very anxious, as well as
+affectionate disposition, "supposing this is the last walk we ever have
+together? oh dear, oh dear--scarlet fever is an awful thing once it gets
+into a family, and the kind that is about is a bad kind, they say."
+
+She did not lose her presence of mind, however. As soon as ever they
+reached the house, she sent the two children straight up to Maudie's
+room, a plainly furnished little room opening out of the day-nursery,
+and told them to wait there till she came to them. Then she went at once
+to see their mother, and some time passed before she came up to them.
+
+"What's the matter, Martin?" said Maudie, timidly. "Why do you look so
+sad?"
+
+She did not notice that her mother had followed Martin into the room.
+
+"Martin is rather troubled about something," said her mother, "and you
+must both try to be very good. And I want to tell you that dear little
+Hec and Duke are not coming home this evening. They are going to stay a
+few days at the Rectory."
+
+Maudie gazed up into her mother's face. She saw there were tears in her
+eyes.
+
+"Mamma!" she exclaimed. Then in a low voice she whispered, "I
+understand, mamma. I'll try to be good, and I'll pray to God for us not
+to get the catching illness."
+
+Mrs. Caryll stooped and kissed her.
+
+"I knew you would be good, dear, and try to make Hoodie so too. Poor
+Hoodie--she does not know what her disobedience may have caused."
+
+The next few days passed slowly and strangely. It was strange and dull
+to be without the boys, and to Hoodie it was particularly strange that
+no one scolded her for what she knew she had deserved scolding. They
+went out for a walk twice a day, by the doctor's orders, who came to see
+them the morning after the unfortunate visit to the cottage. Every one
+was very kind, but every one looked grave, and very soon Hoodie began to
+find it very dull to have no lessons to do, no Hec and Duke to play and
+quarrel with, and to have to spend all their time in the two rooms,
+except of course when they were out with Martin, who never left them for
+a minute. It was very dull, but worse was to follow. On the morning of
+the sixth day, Maudie woke with a headache, and a bad pain in her
+throat, and bravely as she tried to bear it, it was plain to be seen
+that the poor little girl was suffering very much. Martin would not let
+her get up, and an hour or two after breakfast, Hoodie, sitting alone
+and very disconsolate in the day-nursery, heard Dr. Reynolds and her
+mother coming up-stairs. She jumped up and ran to meet them.
+
+"Mamma," she said, "Martin won't let me play with Maudie, and I've
+nothing to do. Martin is very cross."
+
+Mrs. Caryll looked gravely at Hoodie.
+
+"Hoodie," she said, "you _must_ be obedient."
+
+"And Miss Maudie doesn't want her, ma'am," said Martin, appearing at the
+door of Maudie's room. "She can't bear the least noise; and any way it's
+better for Miss Hoodie not to be near her, isn't it, sir?" she asked,
+turning to the doctor.
+
+He shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"As to infection," he said, "separating them now is a chance the more,
+that's all one can say. But one must do one's best. And in any case the
+child is better out of a fevered atmosphere. I would prepare another
+room for her, I think," he added to Mrs. Caryll, and then they both went
+into Maudie's room, and Hoodie heard no more.
+
+Hoodie sat by herself, drumming her little fat legs on the side of the
+table.
+
+"I wonder what they mean," she said to herself. "I wonder what the
+doctor means about affection. That's loving--at least people always put
+it at the end of their letters whether they're loving or not. I think
+people tells lots of stories when they'se big--_lotser_ than when
+they'se little. And it's all that horrid Martin that's stoppened my
+going into Maudie's room--I don't believe Maudie said she didn't want
+me."
+
+Just then Martin put her head out at the doorway of the inner room.
+
+"Miss Hoodie," she said, "please ring the bell--there's no bell in
+here--and when Jane comes up, tell her to send Lucy to speak to me at
+the other door--the door that opens to the passage."
+
+Hoodie executed the commission with great alacrity--even having a
+message to give was better than having nothing at all to do, and ringing
+the bell had always been greatly after Hoodie's own heart.
+
+Somewhat to her surprise, a few minutes after Jane had gone down again
+in search of Lucy, Lucy herself came into the nursery.
+
+"You were to go to the _other_ door. What a time you've been of coming
+up," said Hoodie, politely.
+
+"I've _been_ to the other door, Miss Hoodie, and Martin has told me what
+she wants me to do," replied Lucy. "Poor Martin, I'm right down sorry
+for her, and poor little Miss Maudie," said Lucy. "Now, Miss Hoodie, I'm
+going to take you out into the garden a little, and when we come in I'm
+going to stay with you in the sewing-room."
+
+Lucy's manner had become more decided, and somehow Hoodie did not make
+any objection. She let Lucy put on her hat and take her into the garden,
+quietly enough.
+
+"Is Maudie _very_ ill, Lucy?" she asked.
+
+"I hope not," said Lucy, "but it's too soon to say much yet."
+
+"Why are you sorry for Martin?" was Hoodie's next inquiry.
+
+"Oh, because it's such a upset, and her that's that fond of you all,"
+said Lucy. "I'm sure if there's anything I can do, I'll be only too
+glad. I'm very glad I've had the fever."
+
+"Why are you glad? When did you have it, and was it the affection fever
+like what Maudie's got?" asked Hoodie.
+
+Lucy did not laugh. She was rather a matter-of-fact girl.
+
+"I had it when I was six, and people don't often, almost never, have it
+twice," she replied. "That's how I'm to take care of you, Miss Hoodie,
+otherwise they'd have been afraid of my catching it. Your mamma's a very
+kind lady that way, and it's dreadfully catching--just see how poor Miss
+Maudie's got it with that one minute in that cottage the other day."
+
+Hoodie stared at her.
+
+"Did Maudie catch it that day she ran to tell me to come away from the
+baby's mother's cottage?" she said.
+
+Lucy stared at her in turn.
+
+"Of course," she said. "Didn't you know that, Miss Hoodie? It can't be
+helped now, you see, and we must hope Miss Maudie will get better. But
+it'll be a lesson to you to be obedient another time. Let's go and
+gather some flowers, Miss Hoodie, and make a little nosegay for you to
+send in to Miss Maudie."
+
+But Hoodie shook her head, and she had a look in her face which made
+Lucy wish she had not told her what she had, though never doubting but
+that the child already knew it.
+
+"Maudie wouldn't care for any flowers from _me_. Nobody will ever love
+me at all now," she said. "It was me that made Maudie ill. Oh, I do wish
+God had made me ill instead of Maudie, for everybody loves her, and
+nobody loves me."
+
+"Miss Hoodie," said Lucy, really startled. "You _mustn't_ talk so.
+Everybody would love you just as they do Miss Maudie if you'd try to be
+a good and obedient little girl."
+
+Hoodie shook her head again.
+
+"You don't know, Lucy," she said. "I have tried and it isn't any good,
+so I've left off."
+
+Lucy trembled a little as to what this announcement might be followed up
+by, in the way of special naughtiness. But her fears were misplaced.
+Hoodie was perfectly good and gentle all day--almost too much so indeed;
+Lucy would have liked to see a touch of her old self-will and petulance,
+for she could not help fearing she was to blame for the strange
+depression of Hoodie's spirits. She was very kind and good to the little
+girl, and did her utmost to amuse her, but it was a strange, sad time.
+The house, lately so cheerful with children's voices and the patter of
+their restless little feet up and down the passages, was now silent and
+gloomy, and the servants spoke with hushed voices and went about with
+anxious looks. Hoodie was not allowed to go near Maudie's room--she only
+saw her mother and Martin now and then at the end of the passage, or out
+of the window, for they were both engrossed in nursing Maudie. Every
+morning Hoodie sent Lucy as soon as she awoke to ask for news of
+Maudie, and though she said very little, there was a look in her eyes
+when Lucy brought back the answer--"Not much better yet, Miss
+Hoodie,"--that went to Lucy's heart.
+
+"I'll never say Miss Hoodie has no feelings again," she said to herself,
+"never."
+
+After a few days there came a morning when Lucy, who was not very clever
+at hiding _her_ feelings, came back to Hoodie looking graver than usual,
+and with something very like tears in her eyes.
+
+"Isn't Maudie better _yet_, Lucy?" asked Hoodie with a sad sort of
+impatience.
+
+"She couldn't be better _yet_, Miss Hoodie," said Lucy, "an illness like
+that always takes its time."
+
+"But is she _worser_ then?" said Hoodie, staring up in Lucy's face.
+
+"I'm afraid she is, rather. Her throat's so sore," said Lucy, turning
+away.
+
+Hoodie said nothing, but sat down quietly on her little chair, leaning
+her head on her hands. A few minutes after, Lucy went down to the
+kitchen with Hoodie's breakfast things--she happened not to shut the
+door firmly, as the tray was in her hands, and when she came up-stairs
+again, she was surprised to hear some one talking in the room.
+
+"Who can it be?" she said to herself, for Mrs. Caryll had given strict
+orders that in case of any infection about Hoodie herself, none of the
+other servants were to be with her. Lucy stopped a minute to listen. The
+voice was Hoodie's own. She was kneeling in a corner of the room, and
+the words Lucy overheard were these--
+
+"Maudie is worser," Hoodie was saying, "Maudie is worser, and if she
+keeps getting worser she'll die. And it wasn't Maudie's fault that she
+got the affection fever. It was Hoodie's fault. Oh, please, dear God,
+make Maudie better, and Hoodie won't mind if _she_ gets the fever, 'cos
+it was her fault. Hoodie's been so naughty, and poor Maudie's good. And
+everybody loves Maudie, but nobody _can_ love Hoodie. So please, dear
+God, make Maudie better," and then she ended in her usual fashion--"For
+Jesus Christ's sake. Amen."
+
+Lucy stood holding her breath at the door. When she saw that Hoodie got
+up from kneeling and sat quietly down on her chair again, she ventured
+to enter the room. Hoodie looked at her rather suspiciously.
+
+"Lucy," she said, with a touch of her old imperiousness, "I think you
+should 'amember to knock at the door."
+
+"Very well, Miss Hoodie," said Lucy meekly, for somehow she could not
+have helped agreeing with whatever Hoodie chose to say, "I'll not forget
+again."
+
+Hoodie sat quite quiet, still leaning her head on her hands, doing
+nothing and seeming to wish for nothing.
+
+"Are you not well to-day, Miss Hoodie?" Lucy asked at last.
+
+"Yes," said Hoodie, "I'm kite well, and I think Maudie'll be better
+to-morrow."
+
+But all day long she continued very, very quiet, and once or twice Lucy
+wondered if she should let Hoodie's mother or Martin know how strange
+the child seemed.
+
+"I'll wait till to-morrow, any way," she decided. "It seems a shame to
+trouble them more to-day, for this has been much the worst day with Miss
+Maudie, I fancy. It's to be hoped it's the turn."
+
+And when to-morrow morning came she was glad she had not troubled them,
+for Hoodie seemed better and brighter than for some days past. She did
+not seem impatient for the news of Maudie, not as impatient as Lucy
+herself, who ran along to tap at Martin's door as soon as she awoke, and
+came back with a relieved face to tell Hoodie that the news was much
+better this morning, Maudie seemed really to have got the turn.
+
+"I knew she'd be better to-day," said Hoodie, composedly. "Didn't I tell
+you so, Lucy?"
+
+And when they went out into the garden she carefully gathered a nosegay
+for Maudie, choosing the prettiest flowers and tying them together with
+a piece of ribbon she took off one of her dolls.
+
+"Take those to Maudie's room, Lucy," she said, "and tap at the door, and
+tell Martin they're for Miss Maudie with Miss Hoodie's love, and she's
+very glad she's better."
+
+[Illustration: "Tell Martin they're for Miss Maudie with Miss Hoodie's
+love."]
+
+"Miss Maudie will be pleased, I'm sure," said Lucy, thinking to herself
+as she said so how very pretty Miss Hoodie was looking. Her eyes were so
+bright, and her cheeks so rosy, and on her face there was such a pretty
+smile while she was arranging the flowers, that Lucy could not resist
+stooping down to kiss her.
+
+"Never was a sweeter child than she can be when she likes," said Lucy to
+herself, as she made her way with the nosegay and the message to
+Maudie's room.
+
+Altogether things were beginning to look much brighter again, and,
+reassured as to Maudie's being really better, Mrs. Caryll went to bed
+that night for the first time for a fortnight, with a lighter heart.
+
+"Maudie is much better," she had written that evening to Cousin
+Magdalen, "and it is not now likely that Hoodie will get the fever, as
+so many days have passed. Somehow I have never felt very uneasy about
+Hoodie from the first, though 'by rights,' as the children say, she
+should have had it and not poor Maudie, as it all came through her
+disobedience. And even if she had got it, I should not have felt so
+anxious as about Maudie--Hoodie is so very strong. But I hope now that
+we need not be anxious about either, and that our troubles are passing
+over."
+
+Poor Mrs. Caryll would not have written so cheerfully had she known that
+that very afternoon Lucy's fears about Hoodie had again been aroused.
+The little girl would not eat anything at tea-time, though she drank
+eagerly two or three cups of milk. And after tea she said her head
+ached, and she was so sleepy and tired that Lucy thought it well to put
+her early to bed.
+
+"Such a pity," thought Lucy, "just when she was looking so bright this
+morning. I wish I could think she had just caught cold, but the
+weather's so fine, it's not likely."
+
+All night Hoodie tossed about uneasily. She started and talked in her
+sleep, and by morning she looked so flushed and strange that Lucy felt
+that she must at once tell Martin, and that there could be no question
+of Hoodie's getting up and being dressed. She wanted to get up, poor
+little girl, but her head felt so giddy when she raised it from the
+pillow that she was glad to lay it down again. And before the day was
+many hours older, there was no doubt that Hoodie had got the fever.
+
+She knew it herself, though nothing was said about it before her, and
+she had her own thoughts about it in her mind, which she expressed to
+Lucy when no one else was there.
+
+"I've got the affection fever, Lucy," she said. "I'm sure I have, 'cos I
+asked God to make Maudie better 'cos it wasn't her fault, and I said I
+wouldn't mind if I had it, 'cos it was my fault."
+
+And poor Lucy, not knowing what to say, turned away to hide the tears in
+her eyes.
+
+"I don't think we need be anxious about her," said Mrs. Caryll to the
+doctor, "she is so much stronger than Maudie."
+
+But Dr. Reynolds did not reply very heartily; the truth being that he
+saw from the first that Hoodie was likely to be much more ill than
+Maudie had been. And Hoodie herself from the first, too, seemed to have
+a strange, babyish instinct that it was so.
+
+"I'm glad Maudie is better," she said often during the first day or
+two, to Lucy, "'cos you know it wasn't her fault. I don't mind having
+the affection fever, but it is rather sore. Everybody loves Maudie so,
+it's a good thing she's better."
+
+"But everybody loves you too, Miss Hoodie," said Lucy, tenderly,
+"specially when you're such a good, patient little girl."
+
+Hoodie made a movement as if she would have shaken her head, only the
+poor little head was too heavy and aching to shake.
+
+"No, Lucy," she said, "not like Maudie, 'cos she's so good, and I'm not.
+I did try, but I had to leave off. And my bird's dead, you know, though
+I did ask God to take care of it every time I said my prayers. But I'm
+glad God's made Maudie better. I 'appose it's 'cos she's good. But I
+don't mind having the fever--not now my bird's dead, 'cos he did love
+me, didn't he, Lucy?"
+
+Her mind was beginning to wander, and for many days and nights Hoodie
+knew nothing of anything that passed about her. Sometimes she seemed in
+a sort of stupor, at others she would talk incessantly in her little
+weak childish voice, till it made one's heart ache to hear her. She did
+not suffer so much from her throat as Maudie had done, though otherwise
+so much more ill. The fever seemed to have seized her in its strong,
+cruel arms with so hard a grasp, that often and often it appeared to
+those about her as if it never again would let her go, but would carry
+her away out of their sight, without her even being able to bid them
+good-bye--murmuring ever those sad words which seemed to be burnt into
+her childish brain, about nobody loving her because she wasn't good like
+Maudie, about having tried in vain to be good, and that her birdie was
+dead and God didn't love her either, always ending up that it was a good
+thing Maudie was better, "wasn't it, Lucy?" Though when poor Lucy choked
+down her tears to answer cheerfully "Yes, indeed, Miss Hoodie," poor
+Hoodie could not hear her voice, and began again the same weary
+murmurings.
+
+It was very sad for them all--most sad of all for Hoodie's mother, whose
+heart grew sore as she listened to her poor little girl's faint words.
+It seemed to her that never before had she understood her child, and the
+great longing for love that had been hidden in her queer-tempered,
+fanciful nature.
+
+"Oh, Hoodie darling, we do love you--dearly, dearly," she would
+sometimes say as she bent over her; but the bright eyes, too bright by
+far, gazed up without seeing, and the weary little head, shorn of its
+pretty tangle of fuzzy hair, moved restlessly on the pillow, while
+Hoodie kept talking about her dead bird and nobody loving her, through
+the slow weary hours while life and death were fighting over her little
+bed.
+
+"If she dies without knowing us again, it will break my heart," said
+Hoodie's mother to the doctor; and what could he say, poor man, but
+shake his head sorrowfully in sympathy?
+
+They tried to prevent Maudie knowing how ill Hoodie was, but it was
+impossible. When people are ill, or recovering from illness, they seem
+to guess things in a way that is sometimes quite astonishing, and so it
+was with Maudie. She was now much better--she had been half-dressed and
+lifted on to a sofa in her own room some days ago, but when she found
+out about Hoodie, she fretted so dreadfully that it threatened to make
+her ill again.
+
+"Oh, do let me see her!" she cried. "I don't mind if she's too ill to
+know me. I don't mind if she can't speak to me, but I must see her. Poor
+Hoodie, dear little Hoodie," she went on, the tears streaming down her
+face. "Oh, mamma, I don't think I was always very kind to her. I used to
+tell her we'd be happier without her, but I _do_ love her. Oh, do let me
+see her!"
+
+For unfortunately, through hearing some of the servants talking, Maudie
+knew some part of what Hoodie had been saying in her unconsciousness,
+and it was this that was distressing her so greatly.
+
+Oh, children dear, remember this--there is no pain so terrible, no
+suffering so without comfort, as the feeling sorrow _too late_ for
+unkindness or want of tenderness to others--little sharp words which did
+not seem so bad at the time, careless or selfish neglect of the wishes
+we could have gratified with just a little trouble--how they all rise up
+_afterwards_ and refuse to be forgotten! Our grief may then exaggerate
+our past unkindness perhaps, and, as is the way with our weak human
+nature, things out of our reach seem of double value; the affection we
+knew to be always at hand we never prized enough till we lost it. But
+should we not take this as a warning? Avoid the _habit_ of small
+unkindnesses, of sharp, hurting words--even though in your heart you do
+not mean them. Try, my darlings, every hour and every day, to behave to
+each other as you would wish to have behaved, were this day to be your
+last together. Then indeed even the sore parting of death would lose
+half its bitterness--the kingdom of Heaven would already have begun in
+your own hearts--the happy kingdom where there is neither sorrow nor
+bitterness, nor tears--the kingdom over which reigns the beautiful
+Spirit of Love.
+
+At last there came a day on which the doctor said that without risk
+Maudie might be taken to see Hoodie--only to see her--there was no
+thought of her speaking to Hoodie, or Hoodie to her, for the little girl
+was lying in a stupor--quite quiet and unconscious, and out of this
+stupor, though he did not say so, Dr. Reynolds had but little hope of
+her waking to life again. The fever had let her go at last, had thrown
+her down, as it were, careless of how she fell, and the poor little
+shaken worn-out Hoodie that it had left there, white and thin and
+lifeless, hardly seemed as if it _could_ ever rouse up again to live and
+talk and play--and there was nothing to do but to wait.
+
+So Maudie was carried into the room where this unfamiliar Hoodie was
+lying, and allowed to look at her poor little face and to cry quietly to
+herself as she looked. In whose arms, children, do you think she was
+carried? It was in Magdalen's. When she heard of the trouble that had
+fallen over her little friends she could not rest till she came to them.
+She had had the fever long ago, she wrote; she was so strong that
+nursing never made her ill or tired--she could sit up a whole week of
+nights without being knocked up. But when she arrived she found that in
+the way of actual nursing there was little to do. Hoodie lay still and
+lifeless--all the restlessness gone; for her indeed, it seemed to
+Magdalen, there would never again be anything to do, no care and
+tenderness to bestow--and the thought brought burning tears to poor
+Magdalen's eyes, though she bravely drove them back, and did her best to
+comfort Maudie and her mother.
+
+"Cousin Magdalen," said Maudie, when they had sat for a few minutes by
+Hoodie's bed, "Cousin Magdalen, can't we do _anything_ to make her
+better? Oh, dear, dear little Hoodie, oh, how I wish I had never been
+the least bit not kind to her."
+
+Then raising herself in her cousin's arms, she knelt on her lap, and
+leaning her head on Magdalen's shoulder, she said, while her voice was
+broken with sobs--
+
+"Oh, dear God, _please_ make Hoodie better. We do so love her--and she
+doesn't know how we love her, because I've been unkind to her sometimes.
+Oh, dear God, _please_ make her better."
+
+And then, her voice changing a little, as if she were afraid that her
+simple entreaty was hardly solemn enough to be considered "prayer," she
+added, like Hoodie, "For Jesus Christ's sake. Amen."
+
+A slight movement just then made itself heard in Hoodie's cot; a
+flutter more than anything else. Magdalen, gently putting Maudie on her
+chair, started up in alarm. She knew that any change in Hoodie was now
+most critical. She bent over the child, the better to observe her. A
+faint smile came fluttering to Hoodie's face, and in another moment,
+with a little effort, she opened her eyes. But she did not seem to see,
+or if she saw, she did not recognize, Magdalen, for the word that she
+whispered was "Maudie."
+
+Low as it was Maudie heard it.
+
+"She's speaking to me," she exclaimed. "Yes, Hoodie dear, what is it?"
+
+Magdalen lifted her on to the bed. She could not refuse, though afraid
+that perhaps she was not doing right. The two little sisters lay close
+together.
+
+"Maudie," whispered Hoodie again, in a little, weak, faint voice.
+"Maudie, I was waking, and I heard you speaking so nice. I heard you say
+'Please God make Hoodie better, 'cos we _do_ so love her.' I didn't know
+that, Maudie, I've been so naughty. But if you want me to get better
+I'll try. God's been very kind except that He let birdie die. But I love
+you better than birdie, Maudie, and perhaps God'll make me better too."
+
+She could not say any more, but she smiled again as Maudie, put her
+arms round her and covered her face with loving kisses. Then Martin,
+whom Magdalen had summoned, gave her the wine the doctor had ordered in
+case of her awaking; Hoodie took it meekly, and then turning her head on
+the pillow murmured gently, "I'm very sleepy, but I'll soon get better.
+The affection fever was very sore, Maudie."
+
+Hoodie was right. From that moment she did begin to get better. They
+were still very anxious about her--there were many days still to pass
+before it was quite sure that she was out of danger, and for many more
+after that she was so weak that it hardly seemed as if a child's usual
+strength could ever come back to her. But in time all came right, and
+terribly ill as she had been, the fever left no lasting harm. And the
+life that began for the two little sisters from this time was a bright
+and peaceful one--they had learnt to value each other and each other's
+love as never before, and from the moment that it came home to Hoodie,
+that she really took into her fanciful little heart, how dearly she was
+loved, half her troubles seemed at an end. Day by day she learned new
+ways in which even she, a little simple child, might help and comfort
+and cheer those about her--she lost the old sore feeling of being
+nothing but a trouble and a worry, an "alvays naughty" Hoodie, and
+never again was any one tempted to say that among the fairies invited to
+baby Julian's christening, those of sweet temper and unselfishness had
+been forgotten.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+They are grown-up now--much more than grown-up. If you met them in the
+street, if they came to call on your mother some day, you would not
+guess they were quiet little Maudie and queer-tempered Hoodie. And as
+for Hec and Duke!--they could jump you up on their great strong
+shoulders as easily as the ogres they used to be so fond of making up
+stories about. There is only one thing which, if you heard it said, as
+it often is, might remind you of the children I have been telling you
+about. Men and women as they are, separated sometimes by half the world,
+it has always been remarked of them how much they love each
+other--brothers and sisters in deed, as well as in name, friends tried
+and true to each other through all the difficulties and sorrows and
+troubles which have come to them as to every one else in this world of
+many colours; of rainy as well as of sunny days--of discouragement and
+disappointment, but of happiness too--and love through all.
+
+Cousin Magdalen's dark hair is beginning to get white now, but still I
+feel sure you would think her very pretty. Did she ever write out the
+story that she promised to tell Hoodie and the others some day? By the
+bye I must not forget to ask her the next time we meet.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+Books by Mrs. Molesworth
+
+PUBLISHED BY
+
+W. & R. CHAMBERS, Limited.
+
+
+MEG LANGHOLME; or, The Day after To-morrow. Eight Illustrations by W.
+Rainey
+
+PHILIPPA. Eight Illustrations by J. Finnemore
+
+OLIVIA. Eight Illustrations by Robert Barnes
+
+BLANCHE. Eight Illustrations by Robert Barnes
+
+ROBIN REDBREAST. Six Illustrations by R. Barnes
+
+WHITE TURRETS. Four Illustrations by W. Rainey
+
+IMOGEN; or, Only Eighteen. Four Illustrations by H. A. Bone
+
+THE NEXT-DOOR HOUSE. Six Illustrations by W. Hatherell
+
+THE GREEN CASKET, AND OTHER STORIES. Illustrated
+
+THE BEWITCHED LAMP. Frontispiece by R. Barnes
+
+NESTA; or, Fragments of a Little Life
+
+
+W. & R. CHAMBERS, LTD., LONDON AND EDINBURGH.
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HOODIE***
+
+
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+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
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author	Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org>	2025-10-15 02:20:11 -0700
committer	Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org>	2025-10-15 02:20:11 -0700
commit	78ef4a8a51a8aeebb55d6eb51f228449a7a82a16 (patch)
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