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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/5259.txt b/5259.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3caa86f --- /dev/null +++ b/5259.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5470 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Hildegarde's Neighbors, by Laura E. Richards + +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: Hildegarde's Neighbors + +Author: Laura E. Richards + +Posting Date: June 4, 2012 [EBook #5259] +Release Date: March, 2004 +First Posted: June 17, 2002 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HILDEGARDE'S NEIGHBORS *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Franks and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + + + + + + +THE HILDEGARDE SERIES + +Hildegarde's Neighbors + +A STORY FOR GIRLS + +BY LAURA E. RICHARDS + +Author of + +"The Margaret Series," "The Hildegarde Series," "Captain January," +"Melody," "Five Minute Stories," etc. + + +ILLUSTRATED + + + + + + +TO + +M.C.G. + +IN TOKEN OF THE AFFECTION OF MANY YEARS. + + + + + + +CONTENTS. + +CHAPTER + + I. THE ARRIVAL + + II. OLD FRIENDS AND NEW + + III. PUMPKIN HOUSE + + IV. HESTER'S PLAYROOM + + V. TEA AT ROSEHOLME + + VI. ANOTHER TEA-PARTY + + VII. IN GOOD GREEN WOOD + +VIII. "HANDS ACROSS THE SEA" + + IX. MERRY WEATHER INDOORS + + X. A NEW LIFE + + XI. A NIGHT-PIECE + + XII. A-SAILING WE WILL GO + +XIII. IN PERIL BY WATER + + XIV. ROGER THE CODGER + + XV. A MORNING HOUR + + XVI. GOOD-BY + + + + +HILDEGARDE'S NEIGHBORS + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +THE ARRIVAL. + + +"Mamma," said Hildegarde Grahame, flying into her mother's room, +"I have news for you, thrilling news! Guess what it is!" + +Mrs. Grahame looked up from her sewing. + +"The house is on fire," she said, quietly, "or you have found a +Royal Walnut Moth; or, possibly, Hugh has developed wings and +flown away. None of these things would greatly surprise me; but in +the first case I must take action, while in either of the others I +can finish this seam." + +"Continue your prosaic labours!" said the girl. "The dress is +mine, and I want it." + +She sat down, and fanned herself with her broad straw hat. "It is +hot!" she announced with emphasis. + +"And that is the news?" said her mother. "Astonishing! I should +never have guessed it, assuredly." + +"Madam, you are a tease! The big yellow house is let, and the +family is moving in today, at this moment! NOW, how do you feel?" + +"Much the same, thank you!" was the reply. "Slight acceleration of +the pulse, with fever-flush; nothing more. But it is great news, +certainly, Hilda. Do you know anything of the people?" + +Hildegarde quoted: + + "'I saw them come; one horse was blind, + The tails of both hung down behind, + Their shoes were on their feet.' + +"Mr. and Mrs. Miles Merryweather, six children, cook, housemaid +and seamstress, two dogs, two cats (at least the basket mewed, so +I infer cats), one canary bird, and fourteen trunks." + +"Do I understand that Miss Grahame has been looking through the +gap in the hedge?" + +"You do, madam. And oh, mammina, it was such fun! I really could +not help it; and no one saw me; and they came tumbling in in such +a funny, jolly way! I rather think we shall like them, but it will +be strange to have such near neighbours." + +"I wonder what the Colonel will say!" Mrs. Grahame commented. + +"He is pleased," said Hildegarde; "actually pleased. He knows Mr. +Merryweather, and likes him; in fact, he has just been telling me +about them." + +"Hildegarde, you are becoming a sad gossip," said Mrs. Grahame, +severely. "I think you would better sit down and work these +buttonholes at once." + +"So that I can repeat the gossip to you," said this impertinent +young woman, kissing her mother lightly on the forehead. +"Precisely, dear madam. Where is my thimble? Oh, here! Where are +the buttonholes? Oh, there! Well, now you shall hear. And I fear I +have been a gossip, indeed. + +"It began with obedience to my elders and betters. You told me to +go down and see how Mrs. Lankton's 'neurology' was; and I went. I +found the poor old thing in bed, and moaning piteously. I am bound +to say, however, that the moans did not begin till after I clicked +the latch. It is frightful to see how suspicious a course of Mrs. +Lankton always makes me. I went in, and the room was hermetically +sealed, with a roaring fire in the air-tight stove." + +"To-day!" exclaimed Mrs. Grahame; "the woman will die!" + +"Not she!" said Hildegarde. "I was nearly suffocated, and +protested, with such breath as I could find; but she said, 'Oh, +Miss Grahame, my dear! you don't know anything about trouble or +sickness, and no need to before your time. A breath of air, my +dear, is like the bellers to my neurology--the bellers itself! Ah! +I ain't closed my eyes, not to speak of, since you was here last.' + +"I tried to convince her that good air was better than bad, since +she must breathe some kind of air; but she only shook her head and +groaned, and told me about a woman who got into her oven and shut +the door, and stayed there till she was baked 'a beautiful light +brown,' as Mrs. Lincoln says. ''T was a brick oven, dear, such as +you don't see 'em nowadays; and she was cured of her neurology, +slick and slap; but I don't never expect no such help of mine, now +Mr. Aytoun's dead and gone. Not but what your blessed ma is a +mother to me, and so I always tell the neighbours.' + +"Do you want any more, missis? I can go on indefinitely, if you +like. I stayed as long as I dared, and managed to hold the door +open quite a bit, so that a little air really did get in; and I +gave her the liniment, and rubbed her poor old back, and then gave +her a spoonful of jelly, and ran. That is the first part of my +tale. Then, I was coming home through the Ladies' Garden, and I +found my Hugh playing Narcissus over a pool, and wondering whether +freckles were dirt on his soul that came out in spots--the lamb! +And I had to stay and talk with him a bit, and he was so dear! And +then I walked along, and just as I came to the gap in the hedge, +Mrs. Grahame, my dear madam, I heard the sound of a lawn-mower on +the other side, and a man's voice whistling. This was amazing, and +I am human, though I don't know whether you ever noticed it. I +looked, I did; and so would others, if they had been there. A +wagon stood at the back door, all piled with trunks and bags and +baskets; I liked the look of the baskets, I can't tell exactly +why. And at that very moment a carriage drove up, with two +delightful brown horses, and a brown man who looked delightful, +too, driving. I know it must be Mr. Merryweather, mammy, and I am +sure we shall like him. Tall and straight and square, with clear +blue eyes and broad shoulders; and handled his horses well, and--what are you laughing at, Mrs. Grahame, if I may be permitted to +ask?" + +"I was only thinking that this charming individual was, in all +probability, the coachman," said Mrs. Grahame, with mild +malignity. + +"Mamma!" cried Hildegarde, indignantly. "As if I didn't know a +coachman when I saw him! Besides, the Colonel--but wait! Well, and +then there was Mrs. Merryweather--stout and cheerful-looking, and +I should think very absent-minded. Well, but, mother," seeing Mrs. +Grahame about to protest, "she was dressed for driving, not to say +travelling, and she--she had a pen behind her ear. She truly had! + +"There were two big girls, and two big boys, and a little girl, +and a little boy. I thought they all looked nice, and the girls +were pretty, and one of the big boys was so full of fun he +twinkled all over. A handsome boy, with red hair and dark blue +eyes; but, oh, such a pity! his name is Obadiah, for I heard the +other call him so. How can intelligent people call a boy Obadiah?" + +She sewed for some minutes in silence, her needle darting in and +out with thoughtful regularity, then went on. + +"All the family seem to have strange names. The other boy is +called Ferguson, and one girl is Toots, and another is Chucky. I +detest nicknames; but these people all seemed so jolly, and on +such good terms with each other, that I felt a sort of warming to +them. The girl named Toots tumbled out of the wagon, and the +others all laughed, and she laughed, too. She dropped everything +she was carrying, and she was carrying a great deal,--a butterfly-net, and a mouse-trap, and three books, and a bandbox,--and +everybody seemed to think that the best joke of all. One called +her medicine dropper, and another drop-cake, and another dropped +egg, and so on; and away they all went into the house, laughing +and shouting and tumbling over each other. Such a jolly family. +Mamma!" + +"Yes, my dear," said Mrs. Grahame, very quietly, but without +looking up. + +"Nothing!" said Hildegarde. "You are an angel, that is all." + +Mrs. Grahame sighed, and thought, as Hildegarde had been thinking, +how good it would be to have many children, like a crown of +sunbeams, about her; and thought of a little grave in Greenwood, +where her only boy lay. + +Presently she looked up with her usual bright smile. + +"This is all very interesting, Hilda, and I fully sympathize with +your feelings behind the hedge; but you have not told me how you +came to know about our new neighbours. Did Colonel Ferrers join +you at your peep-hole?" + +"He did, mamma! He did just precisely that. I saw him coming along +the road, swinging his stick, and frowning and humming to +himself,--dear thing! And when he came near the house, and heard +the voices, he stopped and looked, and began to go softly and +slowly; so then I knew that he, too, wanted to see what was going +on. So I slipped to the gate and beckoned to him, and he came in +on tiptoe and joined me. Such fun we had,--just like two +conspirators! He could see over my head, so we could both look at +once; and he kept muttering scraps of information in my ear, so +that it quite buzzed. Yes, I know you are shocked, dear madam, but +it really could not be helped; and you said once to Jack--poor old +Jack!--that his uncle was a criterion of gentle breeding and +manners! So now, Mrs. Grahame!" + +"Well," said Mrs. Grahame, "since matters are so, I may as well +hear what my criterion had to say about our new neighbours. A +pretty state of things, truly! the magnate and the maiden, spying +through bushes on these unsuspecting strangers. Say on, unhappy +girl!" + +"Of course he said, 'Hum, ha!' first, a good many times; and we +laughed at each other, under our breath, and were very happy. And +then he said, 'Miles Merryweather, my dear! Excellent person! +Heard he had taken the old house, but had no idea he was coming so +soon. Eminent scientific man, manager of the new chemical works at +Brompton, over yonder. Met him once, some years ago; glad to renew +the acquaintance. Large family, I see, yes, yes; hum, ha! Boy +about Hugh's age; inferior to him in intellect, my dear, I'll bet +a--I should be tolerably certain. Astonishing lad, my Hugh! Ha! +Mrs. Merryweather, presumably; literary, I hear, and that sort of +thing. Don't care for literary people myself; prefer their books; +but looks amiable. Pretty girl that, Hilda, my dear! the tall slip +with the fair hair! Yes, yes! "A pretty girl's the noblest work +of"--you remember? What's that? "An honest man," in the original? +Now, will you hear this girl setting her elders to rights? I +wonder what your mother was thinking of when she brought you up, +young woman!' and so on, and so on, in his own delightful way. +Really, mammina, from what he said, we are going to have a great +acquisition to the little neighbourhood. We must call as soon as +it would be in any way decent, mustn't we? Oh, but wait! I must +tell you the end. We had been so interested in watching the +children, and in seeing them go tumbling down and up into the +house, that we had lost sight of Mr. Merryweather himself. I +suppose he must have driven round to the stable and left the +horses there; for suddenly, almost in our ears, we heard a deep +voice saying, 'A fine hedge, but needs clipping badly; we must set +the boys to work in the morning.' We started back as if we had +been shot. Colonel Ferrers turned purple, and I felt every colour +in the rainbow flooding my cheeks. We made sure we had been seen +or heard, and I think Colonel Ferrers was on the point of stepping +forward like a soldier, and apologizing; but I held his arm for a +moment, in pure cowardice, and the next moment we saw Mr. and Mrs. +Merryweather, arm in arm, gazing calmly at the hedge, and +evidently unconscious of any guilty crouchers on the other side. +Oh, mammy! if you could have seen us stealing away, how you would +have laughed. The Colonel is not very light, you know, bless him! +and to see him mincing along on the tips of his dear toes, +scarcely daring to draw breath, still purple with embarrassment +and suppressed laughter, and looking over his shoulder at every +step, as if he expected to see Mr. Merryweather come bursting +through the hedge in pursuit,--oh, it was too funny! When we got +round the corner we both sat down on the steps and giggled, like +two infants; and then he said he was deeply ashamed of me, and +bade me go in and make confession to you for both of us. So now I +have done it, dear madam, and you are to forgive all our sins, +negligences and ignorances, please, and the Colonel is coming to +tea, with his compliments." + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +OLD FRIENDS AND NEW. + + +It did indeed seem that the advent of the new neighbours might +make a great difference in Hildegarde Grahame's life, if, as she +hoped, they were the right kind of neighbours. She was an only +child. She and her mother had lived now for two years at Braeside, +a lovely country place which they had come to look on as home. +Hildegarde was always happy, and was unconscious of any want in +her life; but her mother often longed for another daughter, or a +pleasant girl in the neighbourhood, to be a companion for her dear +one. True, Hildegarde had one young friend, Hugh Allen, the ward +of Colonel Ferrers, their kind and eccentric neighbour; but Hugh, +though a darling, was a little boy, and could not "dovetail" into +a girl's life as another girl might. Perhaps Mrs. Grahame hardly +realized how completely she herself filled Hildegarde's idea of a +friend and companion. The daughter was enough for her; her own +life seemed full and running over with joy and work; but for the +child she wanted always more and more. So her hopes, as well as +Hildegarde's, rose high when she heard of the pleasant-looking +girls who had come to the next-door house. The house was a large, +old-fashioned one; less stately than Roseholme, Colonel Ferrers' +house; less home-like and comfortable, perhaps, than Braeside,--but that might only be because it had been so long uninhabited, +Hildegarde thought,--yet still pleasant enough, with its tall +columns and broad piazza. The house was yellow, the columns white, +and the cheerful colours were set off by the dark trees, elms and +locusts, that bent over it and almost hid it from the road. A +smooth stretch of lawn lay between the house and the hedge, +through which Hildegarde and the Colonel had made their +observations: a good lawn for tennis, Hildegarde thought. How good +it would be to play tennis again! She had been longing for the +time when Hugh would be big enough to learn, or when Jack Ferrers, +her cousin, would come back from Germany. How surprised Jack would +be when she wrote him that the yellow house was inhabited. What +friends he might make of those two nice-looking boys, unless he +took one of his shy fits, and would have nothing to do with them. +Jack was a trying boy, though very dear. + +With these things in her mind, Hildegarde was sauntering toward +the Ladies' Garden, on the day after the new arrival. This was a +favourite haunt of hers, and she was very apt to go there for a +season of meditation, or when she wanted to find Hugh. It was a +curious place,--an old, neglected, forgotten garden, with high, +unclipped box hedges, overhung by whispering larches. Hildegarde +had dreamed many a dream under those larches, sitting beside the +little stream that plashed and fell in a tiny rocky hollow, or +pacing up and down the grassy paths. For the child Hugh, too, this +place had a singular fascination, and he would hang for hours over +a certain still, brown pool at the foot of the garden, thinking +unutterable things, occasionally making a remark to his dog, but +for the most part silent. Knowing his ways, Hildegarde was the +more surprised, on this occasion, to hear the sound of voices in +lively conversation. Whom could the boy have picked up and brought +here? He had no friend of his own age; like herself, he was a lone +child; and it was with a little pang, which she almost laughed to +feel, that she drew near, and softly parted the branches that hung +between her and the pool. The first step was fatal, she thought, +and she was apparently condemned to be a peeper and an +eavesdropper for the rest of her days. + +Hugh was sitting beside the pool, but not in his favourite +Narcissus-like attitude. His knees were well up in front of him, +his hands were clasped over them, and facing him, in precisely the +same position, was a boy in blue jean overalls, with a shock of +black hair, and bright, dark eyes. + +"What kind of fish?" asked the black-eyed boy, with kindling look. + +"Little fish with silver tails," said Hugh, "and shining eyes. +They look at me, and sometimes I think they listen to what I say; +but they cannot speak, you know." + +"Ho! I should think not!" said Black-eyes, scornfully. "I mean +what KIND of fish are they, when you catch 'em,--minnows, or dace, +or sticklebacks, or what? What are their names?" + +"I do not know that," said Hugh. "I never thought of their names; +and I don't catch them." + +"Why not? Wouldn't you be let? Don't the people in the house allow +fishing? I thought you said they were nice people!" and my lord +showed a face of keen disgust. + +"I don't want to catch them," said Hugh, quietly. "Why should I? +They swim about, and I see them shine like silver and purple under +the brown water. Sometimes they have crimson spots, like drops of +blood, or ruby stones. Look! there is one now, a ruby-spotted +one!" + +"Oh, my crickey!" cried the strange boy, jumping up, and dancing +from one foot to the other. "It's a trout, you idiot! Gimme a +line! gimme a net, or something! Gimme--" He snatched off his cap, +and made a frantic effort to catch the trout, which flipped its +tail quietly at him, and withdrew under a rock. + +The boy sat down, breathless, and stared at Hugh with all his +eyes. + +"What's the matter with you?" he asked, at length "What kind of a +fellow ARE you, anyhow? Are you loony?" + +Hugh pondered, the question being new to him. + +"I--don't--know!" he announced, after sufficient thought. + +There was a moment of silence, and black eyes and blue exchanged +an ardent gaze. Hugh's eyes were bright, with the brightness of a +blue lake, where the sunbeams strike deep into it, and transfuse +the clear water with light; but the eyes of the strange boy +twinkled and snapped, as when sunshine sparkles from ripple to +ripple. He was the first to break the silence. + +"Where do you go to school?" he asked. "How old are you? how far +have you got in arithmetic? fractions? So am I! Hate 'em? so do I! +Play base-ball?" + +"No!" said Hugh. + +"Isn't there a nine here?" + +"Nine?" Hugh turned this over in his mind. "I only know of three +at Roseholme. One is carved ivory, carved all over with dragons, +and of course one could not play with that; and there are two +cricket balls that the Colonel had when he was a boy, and he says +I may play with those some day, when I know enough not to break +windows. Perhaps you have learned that, if you are used to having +nine balls." + +The stranger stared again, with a look in which despair was +dawning. "You must be loony!" he muttered. And then, aloud, "Can't +you play anything? What can you do?" + +"I can run," said Hugh, after another pause of reflection, "and +swim, of course, and box a little, and fence." + +"Fence!" said Black-eyes; his voice took a more respectful tone. +"Where did you learn to fence? You're too young, aren't you?" + +"I am nine!" said Hugh. "I began to learn two years ago, and I +have outgrown my first foil, and the Colonel has given me a new +one, almost full size." + +"Who's the Colonel?" + +"Colonel Ferrers, the gentleman I live with. My great-aunt is his +housekeeper; and he is my dearest friend, except my Beloved and +her mother AND my great-aunt." + +"Who is your Beloved? What makes you talk so funny?" + +The black-eyed boy no longer spoke scornfully, the fencing having +made a deep impression on him, but he looked more puzzled than +ever. + +"How do I talk?" asked Hugh, in return. "This is the way I DO +talk, you see. And my Beloved is Miss Grahame, and that is what +you have to call her; but I call her my Beloved, because she is +that; and she is the most beautiful--" + +But here the young gentleman was interrupted; there was a hasty +putting aside of the branches, and Hildegarde, with pink cheeks +and a guilty conscience, stood before the two boys. They both +jumped up at once, having good manners; but Hugh's rising was calm +and leisurely, while the black-eyed lad scrambled to his feet, and +darted swift looks here and there, preparing for flight. + +"How do you do?" said Hildegarde, coming forward quickly and +holding out her hand. "You are not going, are you? I think you +must be one of our new neighbours, and we ought to make +acquaintance, oughtn't we?" + +The boy smiled, a little quick, frightened smile, "just the way a +bird would do if it could," Hildegarde thought, and laid a small +brown paw timidly in hers. + +"This is my Beloved!" said Hugh, by way of introduction. "So you +can see for yourself." + +"And am I not to hear my neighbour's name?" asked Hildegarde. + +"I am Will Merryweather," said the black-eyed boy. + +"I am very glad to see you, Will. I hope you and Hugh will be +friends, for it is so nice to have friends of one's own age, and +Hugh has no one. You, of course, have brothers and sisters, and +that is the best of all, isn't it?" + +There was no resisting Hildegarde's smile; the young Merryweather +wavered, smiled, smiled again, and in five minutes they were all +seated together, and chatting away like old friends. + +It appeared that Master Will was pleased with his new +surroundings, but that the absence of a base-ball nine was a +tragic thing, not lightly to be contemplated. The house was "no +end;" the dwelling they had just left was entirely too small for +them. + +"You see," he said, "when we went to that house we weren't born at +all, most of us; that is, there was only Bell and the boys. So it +was big enough then, and they had rooms to themselves, and all +kinds of things. But then we began to come along, and at last it +got so small that the boys had to sleep in the barn, and when +there was more than one visitor I had to go on the parlour sofa, +and it's a beast of a sofa to sleep on,--haircloth, you know, and +you slide off all night; so father thought we'd better move, and +we came here." + +"Is Bell your eldest sister?" asked Hildegarde, not sure how far +it would be right to question this frank youth. + +"Yes, that's Bell. She's no end nice and jolly; and she's in +college, you know, and we have such larks when she comes home." + +In college! Hildegarde's hopes fell. She knew she could not get on +with college girls, though she had great respect for them. Dear +me! Probably Bell would be very learned, and would despise her as +an "unidead girl." Cruel Dr. Johnson, to originate that injurious +epithet! + +At this moment she heard a fresh, joyous voice calling,-- + +"Will! Willy boy! W--I--Double--L, where are you?" + +"That's Bell," cried Will, starting up. "She's come after me." + +"Here I am, Bell!" he shouted. "Here's a jolly place; come along! +I say, may she come along?" he added, turning to Hildegarde with a +conscience-stricken look. Hildegarde nodded eagerly, hoping that +his request had not been heard. Just beyond the Ladies' Garden was +a high board-fence which separated Braeside from the neighbouring +place. At the top of this fence appeared two small but strong-looking hands, and following them, a girl's face, blue-eyed, rosy-cheeked and smiling. + +"You little rascal!" cried the girl; and then she caught sight of +Hildegarde. "Oh, I beg your pardon!" she cried, hastily. "I didn't +know,--I was looking for my brother--" + +"Oh, please come up!" cried Hildegarde, running to the fence. +"Please come over! Oh, you mustn't hang by your hands that way; +you'll get splinters in them. You are Miss Merryweather, and I am +Hildegarde Grahame; so now we are introduced, and let me help you +over, do!" + +Hildegarde delivered this breathlessly, and held out both hands to +help the stranger; but the latter, with a frank smile and a nod, +drew herself up without more ado, perched on the top of the fence, +then sprang lightly to the ground. + +"Thank you so much!" she said, warmly, taking Hildegarde's +outstretched hand. "Of course I didn't know I was trespassing, but +I'm glad I came. And oh, what a lovely place! I didn't know there +was such a place out of a book. Oh, the hedges! and the brook! and +the trees! How can it be real?" + +Hildegarde nodded in delight. "Yes!" she said. "That is just the +way I felt when I first saw the place. It was some time before I +could feel it right to come here without apologizing to the +ghosts." + +"Your ancestors' ghosts?" said Bell Merryweather, inquiringly. +"Aren't they your own ghosts? Haven't you lived here always?" + +Hildegarde explained that the place had belonged to a cousin of +her mother's, who left it to her at his death. + +"Oh!" said Miss Merryweather; then she considered a little, with +her head on one side. Hildegarde decided that, though not a +beauty, the new-comer had one of the pleasantest faces she had +ever seen. + +"On the whole," the girl went on, "I am rather glad that my theory +was wrong. The truth is less romantic, but it makes you much more +real and accessible, which is, after all, desirable in a country +neighbourhood." + +"Do tell me what you mean!" cried Hildegarde. + +Miss Merryweather laughed. + +"If you are quite sure you won't mind?" she said, tentatively. +"Well, your place is so beautiful,--even apart from this--this--bower of nymphs,--it is so shadowed with great trees, and so green +with old turf, that when I saw you this morning walking under the +tree, I made up a romance about you,--a pretty little romance. You +are quite sure you don't mind? You were the last of an ancient +family, and you were very delicate, and your mother kept you in +this lovely solitude, hoping to preserve your precious life. And +now," she burst into a clear peal of laughter, in which Hildegarde +joined heartily, "now I see you near, and you are no more delicate +than I am, and you are not the last of an ancient family. At +least, I hope you are not," she cried, growing suddenly grave. + +"Oh! do you like to make romances?" cried Hildegarde, with ready +tact waiving the last question. "It is my delight, too. No, I am +not in the least delicate, as you say, and we have only been here +two years, my mother and I; yet it seems like home, and I hope we +shall always live here now. And are you beginning to feel at all +settled in,--I don't know any name for your house; we have called +it just the 'Yellow House' as it had no special interest, being +uninhabited. But I suppose you will give it a name?" + +"If we can decide on one!" said Bell Merryweather, laughing. "The +trouble is, there are so many of us to decide. I want to call it +Gamboge: brief, you see, and simple. But one boy says it must be +Chrome Castle, and another votes for Topaz Tower; so I don't know +how it will end." + +"When I was a little girl," said Hildegarde, "I had a book, the +dearest little book, called 'Pumpkin House.' It was about--" + +"Oh, DID you have 'Pumpkin House?'" cried Bell Merryweather, +eagerly. "Oh! wasn't it a darling? And didn't you think you never +could be perfectly happy till you could live in a pumpkin? And to +think of my forgetting it now, just when the opportunity has come! +Of course we shall call the new home Pumpkin House!" + +"Will the others like it?" asked Hildegarde. + +"They'd better!" said Bell. "And they will, of course. It was only +because we had not found the right name that we did not agree. +Thank you so much, Miss Grahame! Oh, I must go now, for I have +fifty thousand things to do! But,--I am so glad to have met you." + +"And I to know you," cried Hildegarde, warmly. "I hope we shall +see a great deal of each other. We shall come to call in due form, +as soon as you are ready to receive visitors. But meanwhile, allow +me to present you with the freedom of the fence and of the Ladies' +Garden. See! our two boys are deep in confidences already." + +In truth, the black head and the red one were laid close together, +and the two round faces wore the same look of deep importance. + +"Mine are green and white," said Will. "That is Austrian, but I +have them Crusaders a good deal of the time." + +"Mine are blue," said Hugh, "and sometimes they are Americans, and +sometimes they are Greeks and Trojans. Will you be my friend, and +shall we fight great fights together?" + +"All right," said Will Merryweather, shyly. + +"We will plan a campaign," cried Hugh, his eyes shining with +ardour. + +"Yes; but now you must come in to your music lesson," said +Hildegarde, taking his hand, and frowning at herself for feeling +another little pang, as Hugh's face turned toward his new +acquaintance. + +"Read the Talisman?" cried Will. "I'll be Saladin, and you be +Richard." + +"Come along, Will," said his sister, taking him by the shoulders +and marching him toward the fence. + +"Lots of sand that will do for Palestine!" "Plains of Marathon +over beyond the stone wall!" "Turbans and lances!" "Horsetail +helmets and real armour!" + +Still shouting, Will was pitched bodily over the fence by his +stalwart sister, while Hugh went away holding Hildegarde's hand, +and looking backward as he passed. + +"We will fight!" he said, giving a little leap of joy. "Our necks +shall be clothed with thunder, and we shall say, 'Ha! ha!' among +the trumpets. And will you bind my wounds, Beloved?" he added, +looking up in Hildegarde's face. "And will you give me my shield, +and tell me to come back with it or upon it? Will you do that? The +cover of the washboiler will do beautifully for a shield." + +"So it will!" said Hildegarde; and they went into the house +together. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +PUMPKIN HOUSE. + + +When Mrs. Grahame and Hildegarde went to call on their new +neighbours, two days after the meeting in the garden, they found +them already entirely at home, the house looking as if they had +always lived in it. The furniture was plain, and showed marks of +hard usage; but there were plenty of pictures, and the right kind +of pictures, as Hildegarde said to herself, with satisfaction; and +there were books,--books everywhere. In the wide, sunny sitting-room, into which they were ushered by a pleasant-faced maid, low +bookcases ran all round the walls, and were not only filled, but +heaped with books, the volumes lying in piles along the top. The +centre-table was a magazine-stand, where Saint Nicholas and The +Century, The Forum and The Scientific American jostled each other +in friendly rivalry. Mrs. Merryweather sat in a low chair, with +her lap full of books, and had some difficulty in rising to +receive her visitors. Her hearty welcome assured them that they +had not come a day too soon, as Mrs. Grahame feared. + +"My dear lady, no! I am charmed to see you. Bell has had such +pleasure in making friends with your daughter. Miss Grahame, I am +delighted to see you!" and Mrs. Merryweather held out what she +thought was her hand, but Hildegarde shook instead a small morocco +volume, and was well content when she saw that it was the "Golden +Treasury." + +"Bell has had such pleasure that I have been most anxious to share +it, and to know you and your daughter. Shall we be neighbourly? I +am the most unceremonious person in the world. Dear me! isn't +there a chair without books on it? Here, my dear Mrs. Grahame, sit +down here, pray! It is Dr. Johnson himself who makes room for you, +and you must excuse the great man for being slow in his +movements." + +With a merry smile, she offered the chair from which she had just +removed a huge folio dictionary. Hildegarde found an ottoman which +she could easily share with a volume of Punch, and Mrs. +Merryweather beamed at them over her spectacles, and said again +that she was delighted to see them. + +"We are getting the books to rights gradually," she said, "but it +takes time, as you see. I have to do this myself, with Bell's +help. She will be down in a moment, my dear. We have established +an overflow bookcase in a cupboard upstairs, and she has just gone +up with a load. Ah! here she is. Bell, my dear, Mrs. and Miss +Grahame. So kind of them to come and see us!" + +Bell shook hands warmly, her frank, pleasant face shining with +good-will. "I am so glad to see you!" she cried, sitting down by +Hildegarde on a pile of Punches. "I hoped you would come to-day, +even if the books are not in order yet. They are so dear, the +books; they are part of the family, and we want to be sure that +they have places they like. I suppose Punch ought by rights to go +with people of his own sort--if there is anybody!--but one wants +him close at hand, don't you think so? where one can take him up +any time,--when it rains, or when things bother one. Do you +remember that Leech picture?" and they babbled of Punch, their +beloved, for ten minutes, and liked each other better at every one +of the ten. + +"Bell, I want Mrs. and Miss Grahame to see our other children," +said Mrs. Merryweather, presently. "Where is Toots, and where are +the boys?" + +"Toots is upstairs, poor lamb!" Bell replied. "When Mary came to +tell me of our visitors' arrival I was just putting away Sibbes's +'Soul's Conflict,' and various other dreadful persons whom you +would not let me burn; so I dumped them in Toots's arms, and ran +off and left her. Being a ''bedient old soul,' she is probably +standing just where I left her. I will go--" + +But at this moment Toots appeared,--a girl of fifteen, tall, shy +and blushing, and was introduced as "my daughter Gertrude." She +confessed, on interrogation, that she had dropped Sibbes's "Soul's +Conflict" out of the window, and was on her way to pick it up. + +"Why didn't you drop it down the well?" asked her sister. "It is +so dry, I am sure a wetting would do it good!" + +"Sit down, my dear!" said Mrs. Merryweather, comfortably. "One of +the boys is sure to be about, and will bring in the book. Sibbes +IS a little dry, Bell, but very sound writing, much sounder than a +good deal of the controversial writing of--bless me! what's that?" + +Something resembling a human wheel had revolved swiftly past the +window, emitting unearthly cries. + +Hildegarde blushed and hesitated. "I--I think it was your brother +Obadiah," she said to Bell. + +The latter stared, open-eyed. "My brother Obadiah?" she repeated. +"How did you know--I beg your pardon! but why do you say Obadiah?" + +Hildegarde glanced at her mother, who was laughing openly. "You +will have to make full confession, Hilda," she said. "I do not +think Mrs. Merryweather will be very severe with you." + +"It is a dreadful thing to confess," said Hildegarde, laughing and +blushing. "I--to tell the truth, I happened to be walking in our +garden, on the other side of the tall hedge, just when you drove +up, the other day; and--there is a most convenient little peep-hole, and I wanted to see our new neighbours, and--and--I peeped! +Are you much shocked, Mrs. Merryweather? I heard several names,--Bell, and Toots, and--I--I heard the handsome red-haired boy +called Obadiah." + +The Merryweathers laughed merrily, and Mrs. Merryweather was about +to speak, when a voice was heard in the hall, chanting in a +singular, nasal key,-- + + "Dropsy dropped a book, + And she's going to be shook! + Dropsy dropped a volume, + Which makes her very solume!" + +The door was pushed open, and the handsome red-haired boy entered, +walking on his hands, holding aloft between his feet the missing +"Soul's Conflict." + +"My son Gerald," said Mrs. Merryweather, with a wicked smile. +"Gerald, my love, Mrs. and Miss Grahame." + +If Hildegarde was crimson (and she undoubtedly was), Gerald +Merryweather was brilliant scarlet when he rose to his feet and +saluted the strangers; but he was also atwinkle with laughter, the +whole lithe, graceful body of him seeming to radiate fun. One +glance at Bell, another at Hildegarde, and the whole party broke +into peal on peal of merriment. + +"How do you do?" said Scarlet to Crimson, holding out a strong +brown hand, and gripping hers cordially. "Awfully glad! Please +excuse me, Mrs. Grahame, for coming in like that. I thought there +was no one here but the mother, and she is as used to one end of +me as the other." + +"So you are Gerald, and not Obadiah." said Mrs. Grahame. "I +congratulate you on the prettier name." + +"Oh, Ferguson calls me Obadiah!" said Gerald, laughing again. +"He's the other of me, you know. Beg pardon! you don't know, +perhaps. We are twins, Ferguson and I." + +"And Ferguson, my dear Mrs. Grahame," interposed Mrs. +Merryweather, "is my son Philip. Why these boys cannot call each +other by their rightful names is a family mystery; but so it is." + +"Is your brother Fer--Philip like you?" asked Hildegarde, feeling +sure that he was not, as the other boy she had seen certainly had +not red hair. + +"Not a bit!" replied Gerald, cheerfully. "No resemblance, I +believe. 'Beauty and the Beast' we call each other, too. Sometimes +I am Beauty, and more times I am the Beast; depends on which has +had his hair cut last." + +"Or brushed," said Bell, glancing at the curly hair, which was +certainly in rather a wild condition. + +"Oh, yes! beg pardon!" said Gerald, glancing ruefully at the +mirror, and running his hand through his curly mop. + +"Beast this time, and no mistake. Grass rather long, you see, and +tore my locks of gold. Happy thought! Desiring to tear your hair +in sorrow, walk on hands through long grass; effect admirable. +Wonder Hamlet never tried it!" + +"Hamlet's hair was black," said Toots, seriously. + +"And therefore he could not walk on his hands," said Gerald. "I +see! Dropsy, you are a genius; that's the trouble with you." + +A long gray leg appeared at the open window, and after waving +wildly for a moment, disappeared suddenly. + +"Ferguson!" said Gerald, turning to Hildegarde. "His mountain way! +Becoming aware of your presence, he has retired, to reverse legs, +and will shortly reappear, fondly hoping that you did not see him +before." + +Sure enough, in a few moments another tall boy entered, looking +preternaturally grave, with his hair scrupulously smooth. + +"Been upstairs, you see," said the irrepressible Gerald, "and +slicked himself all up. Quite the Beauty, Fergs." + +"Gerald, do be quiet!" said Mrs. Merryweather. "This is Philip, my +other twin boy, Mrs. Grahame." + +Philip greeted Hildegarde and her mother with grave courtesy, +taking no notice of his brother's gibes. + +"You find us in a good deal of confusion," he said to Hildegarde, +sitting down on a table, the only available seat. "It takes a long +time to get settled, don't you think so?" + +"Oh--yes!" said Hildegarde, struggling for composure, and +conscious of Gerald's eyes fixed intently on her. "But you all +look so home-like and comfortable here." + +"Especially Ferguson!" broke in Gerald, sotto voce. "How +comfortable he looks, doesn't he, Miss Grahame? No use, Fergs! We +marked your little footprints in the air, my son." + +"Oh!" said Philip, looking much discomposed. "Well, I'll punch +your head, Obe, anyhow." + +"Suppose we come out and look at the tennis-court," said Bell. "I +am sure you play tennis, Miss Grahame." + +"Indeed I do," said Hildegarde, heartily. "I have often looked +longingly at that nice smooth lawn, and I hoped you were going to +lay it out for a court." + +"Phil," said Gertrude aside to her brother, who was still blushing +and uncomfortable, "you needn't mind a bit. Jerry came in walking +on his hands, right into the room, before he saw them at all; and +they are so nice, they didn't care; they liked it." + +"Did they?" said Phil, also in a whisper. "Well, that's some +comfort; but I'll punch his head for him, all the same." + +And Gerald cried aloud,-- + +"Away, away to the mountain's brow, For Ferguson glares like an +angry cow. He'll punch my head, and kill me dead, Before I have +time to say 'Bow-wow.'" + +And the five young people went off laughing to the tennis-court. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +HESTER'S PLAYROOM. + + +"'THAR!' said the Deacon. 'Naow she'll dew!'" + +Hildegarde spoke in a tone of satisfaction, as she looked about +her room. She had been setting it to rights,--not that it was ever +"to wrongs" for any length of time,--for Bell and Gertrude +Merryweather were coming to spend the morning with her, and she +wanted her own special sanctum to look its best. She was very fond +of this large, bare, airy chamber, with its polished floor, its +white wainscoting, and its quaint blue-dragon paper. She had made +it into a picture gallery, and just now it was a flower-show, too; +for every available vase and bowl was filled with flowers from +wood and garden. On the round table stood a huge Indian jar of +pale green porcelain, filled with nodding purple iris; the green +glass bowls held double buttercups and hobble-bush sprays, while +two portraits, those of Dundee and William the Silent, were +wreathed in long garlands of white hawthorn. The effect was +charming, and Hildegarde might well look satisfied. But Bell +Merryweather, when she came into the room, thought that its owner +was the most beautiful part of it. Hildegarde was used to herself, +as she would have said frankly; she knew she was pretty, and it +was pleasant to be pretty, and there was an end of it. But to +Bell, in whose family either brown locks or red were the rule, +this white and gold maiden, with her cool, fresh tints of pearl +and rose, was something wonderful. Hildegarde's dress this morning +was certainly nothing astonishing, simply a white cambric powdered +with buttercups; but its perfect freshness, its trim simplicity, +made it so absolutely the fit and proper thing, that Bell's honest +heart did homage to the lovely vision; there was something almost +like reverence in her eyes as she returned Hildegarde's cordial +greeting. As for the young Gertrude, all the world was fairyland +to her, and Hildegarde was the queen, opening the door of a new +province. The most important thing in life was not to fall or drop +anything on this first visit to the strange and wonderful old +house, as all the Merryweathers persisted in calling Braeside. +Gertrude was always falling and dropping things. At home nobody +expected anything else; but here it was different, and the poor +child was conscious of every finger and toe as she stepped along +gingerly. Gerald's parting words were still ringing in her ears: + +"When you feel that you must fall down, Dropsy, be careful not to +fall into shelves of china,--that's all. Bookcases are the best +things to fall into, you'll find; and a book is the best thing to +drop, too, my poor child. When you feel the fit coming on, put +down the teacup and grab a dictionary; then choose the toe you +want it to fall on,--superfluous aunt of the family, or some one +of that sort,--and you are all right. Bless you, Dropsy! Farewell, +my dear!" + +Hildegarde took the girls directly up to her room, and they +admired all her arrangements as heartily as she could wish. Bell +exclaimed with amazement at the size of the room. + +"To have all this for your own, your castle and defence," she +cried. "What would the girls at college say if they could see such +a room as this, and one girl living in it! Twelve by fourteen is +our rule, and two girls to that." + +"Dear me!" said Hildegarde. "Why, I couldn't live without room." + +"Oh yes, you could!" said Bell, laughing. "One gets used to +everything. It's rather good fun seeing how closely one can pack. +We have sixty-five pictures in our room, my chum and I. Oh, you +have my William! I didn't know anyone else had just exactly that +portrait." + +"Your William, indeed!" cried Hildegarde, laughing. "Why, he is +mine, my very own, and no one ever began to love him as I do." + +The two girls fell into a friendly discussion, and ran lightly +over the history of the Netherlands, with occasional excursions to +Italy, the Highlands, or the south of France, as one picture or +another claimed their attention. Hildegarde was enjoying herself +immensely, and did the honours with ardour, delighted to find that +the "college girl" knew all about the things she loved, without +being in the least bookish or prosy. + +"I thought you would be 'primmed up with majestic pride,'" she +said, laughing. "I was frightened when your little brother said +you were at college, and I instantly saw you with spectacles, and +pale, lank hair done up in a bob on the top of your head. And +then--then you came over the top of the fence, looking like--like----" + +"Like what?" said Bell. "I insist upon knowing." + +"You are sure you don't mind?" asked Hildegarde, as Bell herself +had asked the day before. "You looked like an apple,--so exactly +like a nice red and white Benoni I was sure you must be good to +eat. Oh, I am so glad you came!" + +"So am I!" said Bell. + +"Do you think we might drop the 'Miss' part?" inquired Hildegarde, +"or are you too dignified?" + +"Apples must not stand on dignity," replied Bell, gravely. "But I +have wanted to say 'Hildegarde' ever since I came into this room, +because the name just fits the room--and you." + +At this point Gertrude, who had forgotten her destiny in the joy +of pictures, and was backing round the walls in silent ecstasy, +saw--or rather did not see--her opportunity, and fell quietly +downstairs. One special feature of Hildegarde's room was the +staircase, her own private staircase, of which she was immensely +proud. It was a narrow, winding stair, very steep and crooked, +leading to the ground floor. When Gertrude disappeared down this +gulf with a loud crash, Hildegarde was much alarmed, and flew to +the rescue, followed more leisurely by Bell. + +"Are you much hurt, my dear?" cried Hildegarde. "Wait till I come +and pick you up, poor child!" + +"Oh no!" replied Gertrude, softly, from the foot of the stairs, +where she lay doubled up against the door. "Thank you, but I never +hurt myself. I hope I haven't hurt the stairs." + +Bell came along, laughing. "Dear Dropsy!" she said. "Here, come +up! She really never does hurt herself," she added, in response to +Hildegarde's look of astonishment. "She falls about so much, and +has done so since she was a baby, that she keeps in training, I +suppose, and her joints and bones are all supple and elastic. This +was a good one, though! Sure you are not bruised, little girl?" + +Gertrude picked herself up, declining assistance, and maintained +stoutly that she was sound in wind and limb. "If only I did not +break anything," she said, anxiously. "I came a terrible crack +against the panel here, and it seemed as if something gave as I +fell past it." + +Bell bent down, in spite of Hildegarde's assurance that everything +was right, and passed her hand along the wall of the staircase. +"There is no crack," she said. "I think it is all right, Toots." +She tapped the panel critically. "The wall is hollow here," she +said. "Is this your secret chamber, Hildegarde?" + +"Hollow?" cried Hildegarde. "What do you mean, Bell? I know of no +hollow place there." + +"Have you ever looked for one?" Bell inquired. "Search would +reveal something in there, I am pretty sure." + +Thrilled with curiosity, Hildegarde came down, and the three girls +crouched together on the narrow stair, and tapped and rapped here +and there. Beyond a doubt, one panel was hollow. What could it +mean? + +Bell meditated. "What is on the other side of this place?" she +asked. + +"I--don't know," said Hildegarde. "Stop a moment, though! It must +be,--yes, it is! The old chimney, the great square stack, comes +near this place. Can there be any space--" + +"Then it IS a secret chamber, most likely," said Bell. "I have +heard of such things. Shall we try?" + +They tried eagerly, pressing here, pushing there, but for some +time in vain. At length, as Hildegarde's strong fingers pressed +hard on one spot of moulding, she felt it quiver. There was a +faint sound, like a murmur of protest; then slowly, unwillingly, +the panel moved, obedient to the insistent fingers, and slid +aside, revealing a square opening into--the blackness of darkness. + +"Oh, it's a dungeon!" cried Gertrude, starting back. "Perhaps the +floor will give way, and let us down into places with knives and +scythes. You remember 'The Dumberdene,' Bell?" + +"No fear, Gertrude," said Hildegarde. "Nothing more horrible than +the dining-room is under our feet. But this,--this is very +mysterious. Can you see anything, Bell?" + +"I begin to get a faint glimmer," said Bell. "Of course, if it is +a chimney-room there cannot be any particular light. Shall we +creep in? There is evidently a good deal of space." + +"By all means," cried Hildegarde. "But let me go first, to bear +the brunt of any horrors there may be. Spiders I would not face, +but they must all be dead years ago." + +She crept in on her hands and knees, closely followed by the two +Merryweathers. Growing accustomed to the dimness, they found +themselves in a small square chamber, high enough for them to +stand upright. The walls were smooth, and thick with dust; the +floor was carpeted with something that felt soft and close, like +an Eastern rug. + +"We simply MUST have light!" cried Hildegarde. "Wait, girls! I +will bring a candle and matches." + +"No! no!" cried Bell. "Wait a moment! I think I have found a +window, or something like one, if I can only get it open." + +Again there was a soft, complaining sound, and then a sliding +movement; a tiny panel was pushed aside, and a feeble ray of light +stole in. The girls' faces glimmered white against the blackness. + +"Something obstructs the light," said Hildegarde. "See! this is +it." She put her arm out through the little opening, and pushed +away a dense mass of vines that hung down like a thick curtain. +"That is better," she said. "Now let us see where we are." + +It was a curious place, surely, to lie hidden in the heart of a +comparatively modern house. A square room, perhaps eight feet +across, neatly papered with the blue-dragon paper of Hildegarde's +own room; on the floor an old rug, faded to a soft, nameless hue, +but soft and fine. On the walls hung a few pictures, quaint little +coloured wood-cuts in gilt frames, representing ladies and +gentlemen in scant gowns and high-shouldered frock-coats. There +were two little chairs, painted blue, with roses on the backs; a +low table, and a tiny chest of drawers. The girls looked at each +other, a new light dawning in their faces. + +"It is a doll's room," said Gertrude, softly, with an awe-stricken +look. + +"I know! I know whose room it was!" cried Hildegarde. "Wait, oh, +wait! I am sure we shall find something else. I will tell you all +about it in a moment, but now let us look and find all we can." + +With beating hearts they searched the corners of the little +chamber. Presently Hildegarde uttered a cry, and drew something +forward into the light of the little window; a good-sized object, +carefully covered with white cloth, neatly stitched together. +Hildegarde took out her pocket scissors, and snipped with ardour, +then drew off the cover. It was a doll's bedstead, of polished +mahogany, with four pineapple-topped posts, exactly like the great +one in which Hildegarde herself slept; and in it, under dainty +frilled sheets, blankets and coverlid, lay two of the prettiest +dolls that ever were seen. Their nightgowns were of fine linen; +the nightcaps, tied under their dimpled chins, were sheer lawn, +exquisitely embroidered. One tiny waxen hand lay outside the +coverlid, and in it was a folded piece of paper. + +"Oh, Hildegarde!" cried Bell, "what does it mean?" + +Gertrude was in tears by this time, the big crystal drops rolling +silently down her cheeks; her heart was wrung, she did not know +why. + +"Hester Aytoun," said Hildegarde, softly. "This must have been her +playroom, Bell. She used to live here; it is about her that I +wanted to tell you. But first let us see what she has written +here. I think she would be willing; we are girls, too, and I don't +think Hester would mind." + +There were tears in Hildegarde's voice, if not in her eyes, as she +read the writing, now yellow with age: + +"I, Hester Aytoun, being now sixteen years old, am putting away my +dear dolls, the dearest dolls in the world. Sister Barbara says I +am far too old for such childish things; but I shall never be too +old in my heart, though I may well busy myself with household +matters, especially if I must marry Tom in three years, as he +says. So I put away my dear dolls, and I shall shut up the +playroom, also, for I could not think to pass by it each day and +not go in to see them, and that Sister Barbara will not allow. It +may be that no one will find my playroom till I show it myself to +my little children, if God wills that I have them, which I shall +pray always, now that I may not have my dolls any more. But if +that should not be, or I should be taken away, then I think no +harm to pray that a girl like myself may one day find my playroom +that father made for me,--my own room, where I have been a very +happy child. A man would never know what it meant, but a girl +would know, and if it should so hap, I pray her to be gentle with +the bedstead, for one leg is weakly; and if she will leave my dear +dolls, when she has well played with them, I shall bless her +always for a gentle maiden, wherever I be. So farewell, says +"HESTER AYTOUN." + +All three girls were crying by this time, and little Gertrude laid +her head on her sister's shoulder and sobbed aloud. Bell smoothed +her hair with light, motherly touches, drying her own eyes the +while. Hildegarde sat silent for a while, the letter in her hand; +then she folded it again, and gently, reverently laid it again in +the doll's hand. + +"Dear Hester!" she said, "we do know, dear; we do understand, +indeed." + +And then, sitting on the floor by the pretty bedstead, and +speaking softly and tenderly, she told the two girls of that other +maiden who had lived and died in this old house,--the bright, +beautiful Hester Aytoun, who faded in her springtime loveliness, +and died at eighteen years; who had left everywhere the traces of +her presence, soft, fragrant, like the smell of the flowers in her +own garden. + +"I chose my bedroom, that you like," said Hildegarde, "because I +felt sure, somehow, that it had been hers. I never had a sister, +girls, but Hester seems to me like my sister; and sometimes"--she +hesitated, and her voice fell still lower--"sometimes I have felt +as if she wished it to be so,--as if she liked to come now and +then and see the old home, and give a loving look and word to the +things she used to care for so much. I am glad we found this +place, but I don't think I shall tell anyone else about it, except +mamma, of course, and Jack, when he comes home." + +Very gently the three girls laid the white covering back over the +little dolls, who lay quiet and rosy, and seemed as content as +ever was Sleeping Beauty in her tower. They peeped into the chest +of drawers, and found it full of dainty frocks and petticoats, all +exquisitely made; there was even a pile of tiny handkerchiefs, +marked "Annabel" and "Celia." This sight made Gertrude's tears +flow afresh; she was a tender-hearted child, and tears fell from +her eyes as softly and naturally as dew from a flower. + +When all was seen, they closed the little window, and with a mute +farewell to the sweet guardian spirit of the little place,--the +girl who had loved her dolls, and so made herself dear to all +other girls,--the three withdrew, and softly, reluctantly drew the +sliding panel after them. + +"I shall not forget," whispered Hildegarde, who was the last to +leave the secret chamber; "I shall come sometimes, Hester dear, +and sit there, just I myself, and we will talk together, the dolls +and I. I shall not forget." + +The panel slid into its place with a faint click; no sign was +left, only the white wainscoting, one panel like another, and the +crooked stair winding up to the open, airy room above. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +TEA AT ROSEHOLME. + + +On a certain lovely evening in June, Hildegarde left the house at +six o'clock, or, to be precise, at five minutes before six, and +took the path that led to Roseholme. It was her eighteenth +birthday, and the Colonel was giving her a tea-party. This was a +great event, for many years had passed since guests had been +invited to Roseholme. The good Colonel, always delighted to be +with Hildegarde and her mother, had still kept up his solitary +habits at home, and save for little Hugh, who flitted about the +dark old house like a sunbeam, it was a lonely place. Now, +however, the Colonel had roused himself and declared that he, and +no other, should give his young friend her birthday treat. The +Merryweathers were invited, all except the two youngest, Will and +Kitty. Mrs. Grahame was already there, having gone over early, at +the Colonel's request, to help in arranging certain little matters +which he considered beyond the province of his good housekeeper; +and now it was time for the "beneficiary," as Gerald Merryweather +called her, to follow. + +Hildegarde was dressed in white, of course; she always wore white +in the evening. Miss Loftus, her neighbour in the new stone house, +sometimes expressed wonder at that Grahame girl's wearing white so +much, when they hadn't means to keep so much as a pony to carry +their mail; her wonder might have been set at rest if she could +have peeped into the airy kitchen at Braeside, and seen Hildegarde +singing at her ironing-table in the early morning, before the sun +was hot. Auntie, the good black cook, washed the dresses +generally, though Hildegarde could do that, too, if she was "put +to it;" but Hildegarde liked the ironing, and took as much pride--or nearly as much--in her own hems and ruffles as she did in the +delicate laces which she "did up" for her mother. Her dress this +evening was sheer white lawn, and she had a white rose in her +hair, and another in her belt, and, altogether, she was pleasant +to look upon. Gerald Merryweather, who with his brother was making +his way along another path in the same direction, saw the girl, +and straightway glowed with all the ardour of seventeen. + +"I say!" he exclaimed, under his breath, "isn't she stunning? +Look, Ferg, you old ape! Ever see anything like that?" + +Ferguson, who was of a cooler temperament, replied without +enthusiasm, maintaining that there had been, in the history of +womankind, maidens as beautiful as Miss Grahame, or even more so. +Becoming warm in the discussion, the two grappled, and rolled over +and over at Hildegarde's feet. She gave a little scream, and then +laughed. "Any one hurt?" she asked. "If not, perhaps I had better +brush you off a bit before we go into the house." + +"A nice opinion you will have of us, Miss Grahame," said Gerald, +as he stood still to be brushed. "We can stand straight, and walk, +too, like other people, though you may not believe it. But, you +see, Ferguson is so exasperating that he disturbs my equilibrium, +and then I have to disturb his, that we may continue in brotherly +companionship. He was just saying that the sun was no brighter +than the stars." + +"No more it is, I suppose," said unconscious Hildegarde, "if you +are only near enough to one, or far enough from the other. Shall I +brush you, too, Mr. Ferg--I beg your pardon, Mr. Merryweather?" + +"Oh," cried Gerald, dancing on one foot, "observe his blushes! +Observe the cabbage rose in all its purple pride! Isn't he lovely? +But you are not going to call us 'Mister,' in earnest, Miss +Grahame? You cannot have the heart! We are not accustomed to it, +and there is no knowing what effect it may have on my ardent +nature, or on Ferguson's flabby disposition." Ferguson extended a +long arm and shook his brother with calm energy, till his teeth +rattled together. + +"Really, if you wouldn't, please," he said, in his quiet voice. +"Gerald is a lunatic, of course, and ought to be kept in a barrel +and fed through the bung-hole,--only my mother has scruples; but +we are 'just the boys,' and nobody ever does call us by handles, +you see. So if you wouldn't mind--" + +"I shall be delighted!" said Hildegarde. "Bell and I have already +come to first names, and I am sure you boys are both too jolly to +be ceremonious with; so--Gerald, here we are at the house, and now +you really will have to stay right side up, with care." + +They went together into the wide, bare hall, with its dark panels +hung with family portraits. Colonel Ferrers came to meet them, +erect and soldierly. He kissed Hildegarde's cheek, and greeted the +boys with a cordial shake of the hand. + +"Glad to see you, young people!" he said, in the gruff voice which +held the very spirit of kindliness. "Glad to see you! Hildegarde, +many happy returns of the day to you, my dear child! Take my arm, +I beg!" + +With Hildegarde on his arm, he led the way to the pretty drawing-room, all white and gold and yellow satin, which was seldom used +in these days. Hildegarde had secretly hoped that they would sit +in the library, a delightful brown-leather sort of room, to which +she had grown well used; but she appreciated the compliment of +opening the drawing-room, and put on her best smile and look of +pleasure. Hugh Allen left his station by Mrs. Grahame's chair, and +came running with open arms to meet his Beloved. "Oh, glory of the +sunrise!" he exclaimed, as he threw his arms round her neck. "I +hope you will live fifty thousand years, and have strawberry jam +every single day of them!" + +"Dear me!" cried Hildegarde. "I should beg for gooseberry once a +week, dear boy, if it were going on quite so long as that. Well, +my mother, you look like the Queen of Conspirators. What have you +and Hugh been talking about, that you both look so guilty?" + +"Guilty, my dear Hildegarde?" said Mrs. Grahame, drawing herself +up. "The word is a singular one for a daughter to use to her +mother." + +"Yes," said Hildegarde, "it is! and the thing is a singular one +for a mother to be toward her daughter. If ever I saw PLOT written +all over an expressive countenance,--but no more of this! Dear +Colonel Ferrers, how wonderful the roses are!" + +Surely there never were so many roses as at Roseholme. The house +had been ransacked for jars, vases and bowls to hold them, and +every available surface was a mass of glowing blossoms. The girls +hovered from vase to vase, exclaiming with delight at each new +combination of beauties. + +Now tea was announced, and this time Colonel Ferrers offered his +arm to Mrs. Merryweather, as the stranger and new-comer in the +neighbourhood; but the good lady protested against anyone but the +"birthday child" being taken in by the host, and the Colonel +yielded, it must be said with a very good grace. + +Here, in the long, oak-panelled dining-room were more roses,--ropes and garlands of them, hanging in festoons along the dark, +shining panels, drooping from the Venetian lustres of the quaint +chandelier. Even the moose's head on the wall behind the Colonel's +chair had a wreath, cocked slightly on one side, which gave a +waggish look to the stately creature. The huge antlers spread +abroad, three feet on either side; the boys eyed the trophy with +wondering delight." + +"Oh, I say, sir!" cried Gerald, "did you shoot that moose? I never +saw such a fellow. Why, Roger shot one last year that we thought +was the grandfather moose of the world, but he was a baby to this +one." + +The Colonel smiled, well-pleased, and told the story of his +shooting the great moose. + +"And who is Roger?" he asked, then. "Have you yet more treasures, +Mrs. Merryweather? Surely none old enough, to go moose-hunting?" + +"Roger is not my own child, Colonel Ferrers," said Mrs. +Merryweather, smiling. "I always have to remind myself of the +fact, for he seems like my own. He is my husband's half-brother, +many years younger than he,--the dearest fellow in the world, and +really a delightful combination of son and brother. I hope he will +be here before long. And that reminds me,--have I made my +husband's apologies? I am so sorry he could not come!" + +"I regret it heartily, my dear madam," said the Colonel, with a +courtly bow; and he recalled how Mr. Merryweather had confided to +him the other day that he drew the line at going out in the +evening, and would not exchange his own fireside for the King of +Dahomey's. He thought it probable that the excellent Miles was at +this moment sitting with pipe and newspaper on the back veranda of +his house; and if it had not been Hildegarde's birthday, the +Colonel might have wished himself beside him. As it was, however, +he devoted himself to his guests with such hearty good-will that +the tea-table soon rang with merry talk and laughter. + +The high-tea itself was beyond praise; Mrs. Beadle had seen to +that. Mrs. Grahame's Auntie herself might have been jealous of the +jellied chicken; and salad was green and gold, and rolls were +snowy white, and strawberries glowed like sunset; and over all +were roses, roses, making the whole table a floral offering, as +Gerald said. Then, just before everybody had reached the "no more" +point, the good Guiseppe, who had been standing, stately, behind +his master's chair, darted out, and in a moment returned, bearing +on a huge silver salver,--what was it? Behind Guiseppe was seen +the portly form of good Mrs. Beadle, beaming under her best cap; +Guiseppe's own face was one broad, dark smile. A general chorus +broke from all save the host and Mrs. Grahame; Hugh gave a squeak +of joy in which was no surprise. + +"I knew they would like it!" he cried, clapping his hands. "I knew +they would be surprised, and that the hair of their scalps would +be uplifted. It is yours, Beloved; it is for you!" + +A cake! Who had ever seen such a cake? It must have been baked in +the biggest cheese-frame that the dairy could supply; or the rim +of a cart-wheel might have been used to frame its monstrous +circle. Certainly, as Guiseppe set it down before Hildegarde, it +seemed to cover the whole width of the great table. On its top the +frosting was piled high, in fantastic shapes. There seemed to be +little hills and valleys; and from among these peeped--and did +they only seem to move?--a number of tiny figures in green and +gold. One sat astride of a snowy pinnacle, another lay stretched +at full length in a hollow, his pretty face only peering out; some +were chasing each other among the elfin hills, others were +standing at ease, their hands on their hearts, their forms bent +gracefully as if in salutation. In the middle rose a white throne, +and on this sat the prettiest fairy of all, with a crown on her +head and a wand in her hand; she was dressed in white and gold, +and round her danced a circle of elves; and every elf held a tiny +blazing candle. + +"Are you too old for dolls, Hildegarde?" asked the Colonel, +puffing with pleasure as he saw the delight in the girl's face. +"These are birthday fairies, you observe. There are eighteen of +them, and every one of them wishes you good luck, my dear, and +every happiness, every blessing that Heaven can bestow." + +The good Colonel had begun merrily enough, but before the end of +his little speech his deep voice trembled, and the tears stood in +Hildegarde's eyes. She tried to speak, but the words did not come; +so, leaving her seat, she went quietly up to the Colonel and +kissed his forehead. "Thank you, dear friend!" she said; and it +was all she could say. + +"There! there!" said the Colonel, recovering himself at once. +"Glad you like it, my child! Glad you like it! The fancy was my +mother's; she had a poetic taste, madam." He turned to Mrs. +Merryweather, who was beaming with admiration and delight. "She +had these little figures made long ago,--for another eighteenth +birthday,--a dear young friend of hers. Yes, yes! They have been +kept in cotton-wool forty years, madam. Little candle holders, you +perceive. A pretty fancy, eh? I happened to remember them the +other day,--hunted 'em up,--the result, thanks to Mrs. Grahame and +Elizabeth Beadle. Mrs. Beadle, ma'am, I desire that you will come +in, and not skulk in the doorway there, as if you had reason to be +ashamed of your handiwork. My housekeeper, Mrs. Beadle, ladies and +gentlemen: a good woman, if she will allow me to say so, and a +good cook. Now, Guiseppe, a knife for Miss Grahame, and we will +test the quality of this same cake. Plenty of citron, I trust, +Elizabeth Beadle? No little skimpy bits, but wedges, slabs of +citron? Ha! that is as it should be. She wanted to make a white +cake, my dear,--a light, effervescent kind of thing, that can +hardly be tasted in the mouth; but I refused to insult either you +or my traditions in such a manner. A birthday cake, Mrs. Grahame, +my dear madam, should be as rich as spices and plums, brandy and +citron,--especially citron, which I take to be an epitome of the +Orient, gastronomically speaking,--as rich as all manner of good +things can make it. You agree with me, my young friend?" He nodded +to Gerald, whose eyes met his, flaming with approval. + +"Oh, don't I, sir!" cried Gerald. "When they talk about +wholesomeness and that sort of r--of thing,--well, I beg your +pardon, mater dear, but you know you do, sometimes, in a manner to +turn gray the hair,--when they do, I always think it's a dreadful +shame to have wholesome things on your birthday. And--oh, I say!" +Here he relapsed into silence, as the first slice dropped from the +side of the great cake, revealing depth upon depth of richness. +The two mothers shuddered slightly, and exchanged deploring +smiles; but Hugh clasped his hands in rapture, and lifted up his +voice and spoke. + +"You are King Solomon to-day, Guardian, aren't you,--instead of +other kings, as sometimes you are? And my great-aunt is the Queen +of Sheba. And--'there came no more such abundance of spices as +these which the Queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon. And gold, and +precious stones, and knops and flowers'--oh, see them all! And, +Guardian,--I mean King Solomon, DO you think there might be an +almug tree in the garden?" + +When tea was over, the Colonel bowed the ladies out of the room +with punctilious courtesy, and motioned to Hugh to follow them; +then he turned to the two Merryweather boys. + +"May I offer you cigars, young gentlemen?" he asked; and he took a +couple of cheroots from the mantel-piece. + +The boys blushed bravely, but Phil said, quietly, "No, thank you, +sir. We are not going to smoke till we are twenty-one. Father +thinks that is soon enough." + +The Colonel nodded approvingly. "Your father is right!" he said. +"Very right, indeed, my young friend. I beg you to take notice +that, though obliged by the laws of hospitality to offer you +cigars, I should have thought it unsuitable if you had accepted +them. Thirty years ago I should have been obliged to offer you +wine, also, but happily that is no longer necessary. Forty years +ago,--hum, ha! If you will permit me, I will smoke a cheroot for +the party. Your father prefers a pipe, I believe, but give me a +Manilla cheroot, and I am satisfied." + +"Excuse me, sir," said Gerald, "but weren't you going to say +something else?" + +Colonel Ferrers smiled. "You are quick, my boy," he said. "I was +indeed thinking of something that happened forty years ago,--of my +first smoke. Possibly you might be amused to hear about it?" + +The boys seemed to think there was no doubt about their being +amused; they drew up two ottomans beside the Colonel's armchair, +and prepared to listen, open-mouthed. + +"Forty years ago, then," said the Colonel, "or, to be more exact, +forty-five years, I was a lad of fifteen." + +He paused, and smoked in silence for some minutes. Gerald could +not help thinking of Alice and the Mock Turtle, and wondered what +would happen if he should get up and say, "Thank you, sir, for +your interesting story." But he held his peace, and waited. + +"Fifteen years old, young gentlemen, and a sad scapegrace, I am +sorry to say. My poor mother had an anxious time of it with me. I +was in the water, or in the fire, or in the clouds from morning +till night, as it seems on looking back. But with all my vagaries, +I had one great desire which had never been gratified,--that was, +to smoke a cigar. My father was a clergyman, and though he had +never forbidden my smoking, I should never have dared to suggest +such a thing to him, for he was strict in his notions, in many +ways. Not too strict, sir, not too strict, by any means, though he +may have seemed so to me then. + +"To make a long story short, I fell in with some lads of my own +way of thinking, and we determined to have a smoke. We gathered +sweet fern and dried it, and rolled cigars for ourselves; odd-looking things they were, but we were vastly proud of them. When +all was ready, we chose a dry, warm spot behind a dyke (for it was +the fall of the year, and the days growing cold), and there we +lighted our cigars and fell to work, puffing away in mighty fine +style. Well, sir, they were horrible things, as you may well +imagine; not one of us, I'll go bail, liked them in his heart, but +we all pretended our best, and praised the cigars, and said what a +fine thing it was to smoke, and thought ourselves men, as sure as +if we had felt our beards pushing. + +"By-and-by--I have the feeling of it still, when I think of it--I +chanced to look up, and saw my father standing over the top of the +dyke, looking down on us. The other boys, catching sight of my +face, lifted their eyes and saw him, too; and there was a pretty +moment. He said never a word for some time; no more did we. At +last, 'What are you smoking, boys?' he asked, speaking in his +usual even voice; yet I did not like the sound of it, somehow. + +"So we told him, sweet fern; but he shook his head at that. 'That +is poor stuff, indeed,' he said. 'Now, if you must smoke, here is +something worth your while. Take these, Thomas, and share them +with your friends; they are genuine, and I hope you may enjoy +them.' + +"With that he took a parcel of cigars from his pocket, and handed +them to me; then bowed to us all very grand, and marched off, +never looking behind him. + +"I was not comfortable in my mind at this, for I knew my father +pretty well, and had looked for something different; but the other +lads were in high feather, and lighted their cigars on the +instant, bidding me do likewise, and crying out that my father was +a fine old buck, and that I was a lucky fellow to have such a +parent. I could not be behind the rest, so I lit up, too, and for +a few minutes all was as gay as a feast. But, Harry Monmouth, sir! +in half an hour we were the sickest boys in Westchester County. It +was all we could do to crawl home to our beds; and not one of us +but was sure he was dying, and cried to his mother to send for the +doctor before it was too late." + +The Colonel laughed heartily, the boys chiming in with a merry +peal. + +"What were the cigars?" asked Phil. + +"The strongest Havanas that were made,--that was all. Fine cigars, +I have no doubt; but I was forty years old before I touched +tobacco again, and I have never smoked anything less delicate than +a Manilla." + +He puffed in silence, chuckling to himself now and then; the boys +meditated on the tale they had heard. + +"Colonel Ferrers," said Gerald, at last. + +"Yes, my boy. You are thinking that it is time to join the ladies? +Quite right; we will go in at once." + +"I wanted to ask," said Gerald, "if you don't mind telling us, +that is--well--I was only thinking that perhaps those cigars you +offered us--were they very mild ones, Colonel Ferrers?" + +The Colonel looked grave for a moment, then he gave way and +laughed aloud. + +"Found me out, hey?" he said. "Well, since you ask me, Master +Merryweather, I believe they were--not--the mildest that are made. +But you--hark! what was that?" + +From the next room came the sound of a crash, and then a cry. + +"I am very sorry, sir," said the boys in a breath. "It is probably +our sister Gertrude, who has broken something." + +"She has no fingers to her thumbs," added Gerald, "and the result +is destruction." + +They passed into the next room, and found that there had indeed +been an accident. Gertrude had knocked down a great pink vase, and +broken it into fifty pieces; she had also fallen over it, and now +sat among the ruins on the floor, too frightened to cry, while the +others picked up the pieces as best they might. + +"Colonel Ferrers, what will you think of us?" cried Mrs. +Merryweather, looking up as her host entered the room. "This +unlucky child of mine has done something dreadful. Get up, Gerty, +and let me get the pieces from under you. I do so hope it may be +mended." + +"Heaven forefend," said Colonel Ferrers, hastily. "Is it--I can +hardly hope it--is it truly the pink vase, the pink vase with the +stag's head on it?" + +"Ye--yes!" sobbed poor Gertrude, getting up from the floor, and +seeking vainly for her handkerchief. "Oh, I am so sorry!" + +"My dear child," cried the Colonel, and he took Gertrude by both +hands, "my dear young benefactress, how can I ever thank you! You +have relieved me of a heavy burden." + +"Why? what?" cried all. + +The Colonel pointed to the broken china, and gave a great sigh of +relief. "You behold there," he said, "now happily in fragments, +the bane of my existence. That--that horror--was given me three +years ago by a valued servant and friend, my man Guiseppe. He +bought it for my birthday; spent ten of his hard-earned dollars on +it, foolish, faithful creature that he is. What could I do? It +was,--the enormity you perceive. I was obliged to give it a place +of honour,--fortunately, I seldom use this room when I am alone; I +was forced to praise its tint, which I abominate, and its shape, +which is wholly detestable. What would you? I could not wound my +good Guiseppe; the vase has remained, the chief ornament--in his +eyes--of my drawing-room. Now, thanks to you, my charming child, I +am delivered of this encumbrance, and my poor white and gold can +appear without this hideous blot on its purity." + +Gertrude wiped her eyes, much relieved at this novel view of her +infirmity, and all the others laughed heartily. + +"And now," said the good Colonel, "is it not time for some games, +Hilda, or something of the kind? Command me, young people. Shall I +be blind man, at your service?" + +It was a pleasant sight to see the Colonel, a silk handkerchief +tied over his eyes, chasing the young folks hither and thither; +pulled this way, twitched that, but always beaming under his +bandage, and shouting with merriment. It was a pleasanter sight, +later in the evening, to see him leading out Hildegarde for a +quadrille, and taking his place at the head of the figure with +stately, old-fashioned grace. Mrs. Grahame, turning round a moment +from her place at the piano, saw his fine face aglow with +pleasure, and felt a corresponding warmth at her own heart. She +thought of the gloomy, solitary man he had been a year ago, living +alone with his servants, scarcely seeing or speaking to a soul +outside his own grounds. And who shall blame the mother for saying +in her heart, with a little thrill of pride, "It was my child who +helped him, who brought the sunshine into this good man's life. It +was my Hildegarde!" + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +ANOTHER TEA-PARTY. + + +It was the very day after the great affair at Roseholme that +Hildegarde had her own tea-party; in fact, it had been planned for +the birthday itself, and had only been postponed when Colonel +Ferrers made known his kind wish. This was a piazza party. The +broad, out-door room was hung with roses,--some of the very +garlands which had graced the dark walls of Roseholme the night +before; but here they were twined in and out of the vines which +grew on all sides of the piazza, screening it from outside view, +and making it truly a bower and a retreat. The guests had been +asked to come at five o'clock, but it was not more than three when +Hildegarde, coming to the door by chance, saw two or three little +figures hanging about the gate, gazing wistfully in. At sight of +her, their heads went down and their fingers went into their +mouths; they studied the ground, and appeared to know neither +where they were, nor why they had come. + +"Euleta!" exclaimed Hildegarde; "is that you, child? and Minnie +and Katie, too. Why, you are here in good time, aren't you?" + +She ran down and took the children by the hand, and led them up to +the piazza. "I am very glad to see you, chicks," she said. "Shall +we take off the hats? Perhaps we will leave them on for a little," +she added, quickly, seeing a shade of distress on Euleta's face; +"they look so--gay and bright, and we might want to walk about the +garden, you see." + +Euleta beamed again, and the others with her. They were sisters, +and their careful mother had given them hats just alike, dreadful +mysteries of magenta roses and apple-green ribbon. Their pride was +pleasant to see, and Hildegarde smiled back at them, saying to +herself that the dear little faces would look charming in +anything, however, hideous. + +Soon more children came, and yet more: Vesta Philbrook and Martha +Skeat, Philena Tabb and Susan Aurora Bulger,--twelve children in +all, and every child there before the stroke of four. + +"Well," said Hildegarde to herself, "the tea-table will not be +quite so pretty as if I had had time to make the wreaths; but they +would rather play than have wreaths, and I should not have left it +till the last hour, sinner that I am." She proposed "Little Sally +Waters," and they all fell to it with ardour. + + + + "Oh, little Sally Waters, sitting in the sun, + Crying, weeping, for your young man; + Rise, Sally, rise, wipe your weeping eyes," etc. + +Martha Skeat was the first Sally; she chose Susan Aurora, and +Susan Aurora chose Hildegarde. Down went Hildegarde on the floor, +and wept and wrung her hands so dramatically that the children +paused in alarm, fearing that some real calamity had occurred. + +"Oh! oh!" moaned Hildegarde; "my young man! Go on, children. Why +are you stopping? Oh, where IS my young man?" she sobbed; and the +children, reassured by a twinkling smile, shrieked with delight. +"What shall I do?" sobbed the girl. "I--haven't--got--any young +man! Now, children, you MUST say 'Rise, Sally,' or my foot will be +sound asleep, and then I couldn't get up at all, and what would +become of your supper?" + +Aghast at this suggestion, the children began to chant, hastily,-- + + + "Rise, Sally, rise, + Wipe your weeping eyes; + Turn to the east, + Turn to the west, + Turn to the one that you love the best!" + +Hildegarde sprang to her feet, whirled to the east, with her hands +clasped in entreaty; turned to the west, holding out her arms with +a gesture of intense longing; turned to the south,--and saw a +stranger standing and gazing at her with a look of intense +amusement. + +For once Hildegarde thought that her wits were gone; she stood +still, her arms dropped to her side, and she returned the +stranger's gaze with a look of such simple, absolute dismay that +he could hardly keep his countenance. Hastily advancing, he lifted +his hat. "Miss Grahame," he said, "I beg your pardon for breaking +in in this way. My sister--I am Roger Merryweather, I ought to say +first--Bell wanted to know at what time she should come over, and +as none of the boys were at hand, I ventured to come over with the +message." + +His eyes,--they were kind eyes, as Hildegarde noticed in her +distress,--his eyes seemed to say, "I wish you would not mind me +in the least, my child! Have I not sisters of my own, and don't I +know all about Sally Waters?" It almost seemed as if the words +were spoken, and Hildegarde recovered her composure, and came +forward, with a burning blush, it is true, but holding out her +hand with her own sweet cordiality. + +"I am very glad to see you, Mr. Merryweather. You are very good +not to laugh at poor Sally's distresses. Tell Bell that the +children are all here, and the sooner she comes the better. But--will you not come in, Mr. Merryweather? My mother will be +delighted to see you. We have heard so much of you from all the +children." + +Roger Merryweather excused himself on the ground of letters that +must be written, but promised himself the pleasure of an early +call; and so, with another kind, sensible look, and a smile and a +friendly word to the children, he withdrew, and Hildegarde saw him +leap lightly over the fence,--a tall, well-knit figure, springy +and light as Gerald's own. + +The girl drew a long breath of dismay, but it quavered, and +finally ended in a hearty laugh. + +"And how PERFECTLY he behaved!" she said aloud. "If one had to +make a spectacle of one's self,--and apparently it is to be my +fate through life,--surely no one could choose a kinder looking +spectator." + +Here she became aware of the children, standing at gaze, and +evidently waiting for her next word. + +"Why, what am I thinking about?" she cried, merrily. "Do you think +we have had enough of 'Sally,' children? I--I think perhaps I +have. And what shall we play next? I fear it is too hot still for +'I Spy;' we must keep that till after tea. What are you saying, +Martha? Speak out, dear, and don't be afraid to say just what you +would like best. This is your own party, you see, and it is to be +the kind of party you all think pleasantest." + +Martha murmured inaudibly several times, but spurred by digs in +the ribs with several pairs of sharp elbows, finally spoke aloud +with a sudden yelp. "Oh, PLEASE!--Susan Aurora Bulger, I'll go +right and tell your mother this minute!--please, 'The Highland +Gates to Die.'" + +"What?" asked Hildegarde, in amazement. "Say it again, Martha, +please. The Highland--what?" + +"Gates to Die!" said Martha Skeat, and all the children took up +the chorus. "'The Highland Gates to Die,' please, Teacher!" + +Hildegarde repeated the words to herself, but no light came. "I +don't understand," she said. "You will have to show me how to +play, for I never heard of the game. Highland Gates--well, I shall +learn it quickly, I hope. Euleta, will you take the lead?" + +Euleta, a sheep-faced child, with six whitey-brown pigtails, +motioned to the others, who at once joined hands in a circle. Then +she began to pace slowly round the circle, and all the children +broke out into a wild chant: + + "Go round and round the level, + Go round and round the level, + Go round and round the level, + The Highland Gates to die." + +Now the arms were lifted, and the leader wove her mystic paces in +and out among the children, while the words changed. + + + + "Go in and out the window, + Go in and out the window, + Go in and out the window, + The Highland Gates to die." + +Euleta took Vesta Philbrook by the hand, led her into the circle, +and knelt solemnly before her; and the others sang, wildly,-- + + "Kneel down and face your lover, + Kneel down and face your lover, + Kneel down and face your lover, + The Highland Gates to die." + +"What ARE, you playing?" cried Bell Merryweather, who had come in +quietly, and was watching the proceedings in amazement. + +"Don't ask me!" Hildegarde replied, "watch and listen, and learn +if you can. Oh, this is tragedy, indeed!" For Euleta had thrown +herself backward, not without a certain dramatic force, and now +lay prone at Vesta's feet; and the children chanted, solemnly,-- + + + "She's dead because she loved him, + She's dead because she loved him, + She's dead because she loved him, + The Highland Gates to die." + +This ended the game, and the children smiled joyously, while +Euleta plumed herself like a little peacock, taking to herself the +credit of all the interest shown by the young ladies. + +"But what an extraordinary thing!" cried Bell; "Hildegarde, have +you an idea what it can mean?" + +Hildegarde shook her head. "It must be something old," she said. +"It must come from some old story or ballad. Oh, if we could only +find out!" They questioned the children eagerly, but could learn +nothing. It was merely, "The Highland Gates to Die," and they had +always played it, and everybody else always played it,--that was +all they knew. + +At this moment a well-known brown bonnet was seen bobbing +apologetically up the drive; the Widow Lankton had been making +frantic efforts to catch Hildegarde's eye, and now succeeding, +began a series of crab-like bows. + +"Oh!" cried Hildegarde, eagerly, "there is Mrs. Lankton, and she +will know all about it." + +"Yes," chimed in the children, in every variety of shrill treble. +"Widder Lankton, SHE'LL know all about it, sure!" + +Mrs. Lankton was surrounded in a moment, and brought up on the +piazza. Here she sat, turning her head from side to side, like a +lean and pensive parrot, and struggling to get her breath. + +"It's ketched me!" she said, faintly, in reply to the girls' +questions. "Miss Grahame, my dear, it's ketched me in my right +side, and I like t' ha' died on your thrishold. Yes, my dear," she +nodded her head many times, and repeated with unction, "I like t' +ha' died on your thrishold." + +"Oh, I am so sorry, Mrs. Lankton!" said Hildegarde, soothingly, +while she quieted with a look Bell's horrified anxiety. + +"I think you will be able to go in and get a cup of tea presently, +won't you? And that will take away the pain, I hope." + +Mrs. Lankton's countenance assumed a repressed cheerfulness. "You +may be right, dear!" she said. "I shouldn't go to contradict your +blessed mother's darter, not if she told me to get a hull supper, +let alone a cup o' tea, as is warming to the innards, let him deny +it who will. There! I feel it a leetle better now a'ready," she +announced. "Ah, it's a blessed privilege you have, Miss Grahame!" + +Without stopping to analyze these remarks too closely, Hildegarde +said a few more soothing words, and then went straight to the +matter in hand. + +"Mrs. Lankton, can you tell us anything about a game the children +have been playing, the game of 'The Highland Gates?' We are very +much interested in it, Miss Merryweather and I,--this is Miss +Merryweather,--and we want to know what it means." + +"To be sure, my dear!" cried the Widow Lankton. "'The Highland +Gates to Die.' Dear me, yes! if ever a person could tell you--and +Miss Bellflower, is it? Ah! she looks rugged, now; don't she? and +livin' in the old Shannon house, too. 'T is dretful onhealthy, +they say, the Shannon house; but havin' a rugged start, you see, +you may weather it a consid'able time, dearie, and be a comfort to +them as has you WHILE they has you. My Philena, her cheeks was +just like yours, like two pinies. And where is she now? Ah! I've +seen trouble, Miss Bellwether. Miss Grahame here can tell you of +some of the trouble I've seen, though she don't know not a quarter +part of it." + +"Oh yes, Mrs. Lankton," said Hildegarde, with what seemed to +wondering Bell rather a scant measure of sympathy; "Miss +Merryweather shall hear all about it, surely. But will you tell us +now about the game, please? We want to know so very much!" + +"To be sure, dearie! to be sure!" acquiesced Mrs. Lankton with +alacrity. "'T is a fine game, and anncient, as you may say. Why, +my grandmother taught me to play 'The Highland Gates' when I was +no bigger than you, Vesta Philbrook. Ah! many's the time I played +it with my sister Salome, and she died just about your age." + +"Well, Mrs. Lankton," said Hildegarde, encouragingly. + +"Well? oh, bless you! no, dearie! She was terrible sick! that was +why she died. Oh, my, yes! She had dyspepsy right along, suffered +everything with it, yet 'twas croup that got her at last. Ah! +there's never any child knows when croup 'll get her; girl NOR +boy!" + +Hildegarde began to feel as if she must scream, or stamp her foot, +or do some other impossible thing. + +"Mrs. Lankton," she said, gravely, "I am sure Auntie has the +kettle on, and you will be the better for your tea, so will you +not tell us as quickly as you can, please, about the game? The +children are waiting, you see, to go on with their play." + +"Jest what I was going to say, dear," cried Mrs. Lankton. "Let 'em +play, I says, while they can, I says; for its soon enough they get +the play squenched out of 'em, if you'll excuse the expression, +Miss Henfeather." + +At this apostrophe, delivered with mournful intensity, Bell +retreated hastily behind a post of the veranda, and even Susan +Aurora Bulger giggled faintly, with her apron in her mouth. + +Hildegarde was silent, and tried the effect of gazing severely at +the widow, apparently with some success, for after a pause of +head-shaking, Mrs. Lankton continued: + +"But as you was saying, dearie, about the game. Ye--es! Well, my +grandmother, she was an anncient woman; some said she was ninety-seven, and more called it ninety-eight, but she didn't rightly +know herself, bein' she had lost the family Bible. Burned up with +the house it was, before she came from the Provinces, and some +said it was because of starting a new fire in the cook-stove on +Sunday; but I don't want to set in judgment, not on my own flesh +and blood, I do not, Miss Grahame. And I remember as if it was +this day of time, she settin' in her chair in the porch to our +house, smokin' her pipe, if you'll excuse me ladies, bein' an +anncient woman, and I HAVE heard great ladies took their pipes in +them times, but so it is. And she says to me, 'Drusilly,' she +says, 'Why don't you play with Salome?' and I says, ''Cause I +ain't got nothin' to play.' And she says, 'Come here,' she says, +'and I'll learn ye a game,' she says. So I called Salome, and we +two stood there, and Gram'ther she taught us 'The Highland Gates +to Die.' Salome, she had been feedin' the hens, and when she come +back she left the gate open, and they all got out and went and +strayed into the woods, and my father got so mad we thought we +should lose him, for sure. Purple he used to get when he was mad, +same as a late cabbage, and an awful sight. Yes, children, be +thankful if you're learned to keep your tempers. So that's all I +know, Miss Grahame, my dear, and you're welcome as air to it; and +I do believe I see Mis' Auntie lookin' out the kitching winder +this minute, so if you'll excuse me, ladies, bein' I feel a +goneness inside, and if I should faint away, how your blessed +mother would feel!" + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +IN GOOD GREEN WOOD. + + +They were in the Roseholme woods, all four girls,--Hildegarde, +Bell, Gertrude and little Kitty. Kitty was only eight years old, +but she liked good times as well as if she were sixteen, and when +the sisters said "Come along, Kitty," she had dropped her doll and +flown like a bird to join them. Willy shouted after her, having +designs on her in regard to tin soldiers; but for once Kitty was +deaf to her Willy's voice. Now she was as happy as a child could +be, sitting in a nest of warm pine needles, playing at "partridge +mother." + +The other girls sat near her, making oak wreaths and talking +busily. Bell was telling of some college experiences. + +"So we found we had not nearly green enough to trim the hall, and +I volunteered to get some more, while the rest of the committee +made the garlands. I had not far to go, only to the grove, about a +mile beyond the campus; but it was growing dark, so I hurried as +much as I could. I ran across Professor Thunder's yard, as that +cut off nearly half the distance, and there my fate found me. Oh, +dear! Hildegarde, you will never guess what I did." + +"Nothing, I am sure," said Hildegarde, gravely, "that was not +consistent with dignity and decorum. The college maiden is an +awful person, I have always understood." + +"You shall judge!" said Bell. "Remember that I was alone, with +none to help me carry the boughs; that I was late, it being then +six o'clock, and the dance beginning at eight. I had to get the +greens, help put them up, get my supper, dress, and be there at +eight to receive the juniors. And there--there, in the clear +afternoon light on the lawn, stood the professor's wheelbarrow, +saying as plainly as a wheelbarrow can, 'You'd better take me +along to bring the things home in.' Could I resist that mute +appeal? I could not. I saw, I took, I trundled! The thing went of +its own accord, I believe; certainly I never before made such good +time to the grove. Once there, it was a matter of only a few +minutes to strip the boughs and fill the friendly barrow. But, oh! +I filled it not wisely, but too well. It was all so green and +pleasant, and the smell of the trees was so delightful, that I did +not know when to stop. Soon the barrow was heaped high with all +manner of pleasantness, and I started to return. Well, my dear, +then the trouble began. In the first place, full barrows are +different from empty ones. It was very heavy, and the boughs kept +slipping this way, and sliding that way, and tumbling down every +third second. I got cross--oh, so cross! and presently I passed +the janitor's son, lounging along homeward, and he grinned, being +an oaf, and said, 'Better let me help ye, hadn't ye?' Oh, no! he +didn't mean to be rude, he really meant to help; but my blood was +up, and my hair was down, and I was very short with him, I fear, +and trundled off alone with my dignity. Then a branch fell out and +got tangled in the wheel, and while I was getting it out a twig +snapped into my eyes; and there was a stone in my shoe, and +altogether,--well, it was only a mile to the grove, but it was +twenty miles back, I can tell you. Before I reached the campus my +arms were so sore, and my foot so lame, and my eye so painful, +that my pride ran out at the heels of my boots, like the +gunpowder. I was going pretty slowly, so as to keep the boughs +from tumbling out more than was absolutely necessary,--and I heard +the boy lumbering up behind me again. So, without turning round, I +said, 'You SHALL help me now, if you please!' and--and--oh, +Hildegarde! a deep voice answered, 'I shall be charmed to do so!' +and I looked up and saw Professor Thunder!" + +"Oh, Bell! oh, poor thing!" cried Hildegarde. "What did you do?" + +"Do?" replied Bell. "I didn't do anything. He took the handles +from me,--his own handles, mind you, of his own barrow,--and +trundled it solemnly along. I was struggling with hysterics. I am +not in the least hysterical by nature, but the combination--the +professor taken for a lout and commanded to trundle his own +barrow, stolen by a sophomore, the twig in my eye and the stone in +my foot--was too much for me. Besides, there seemed nothing in +particular to say. I could not begin 'Please, sir, I thought you +were the janitor's boy!' nor did 'Please Professor Thunder, this +is your wheelbarrow, which I have stolen,' seem exactly a happy +opening for a conversation. So we went on in silence, and when the +branches tumbled off, I picked them up without a word. How could I +be such a dumb idiot? Don't ask me! If it had been any other +professor I might have found courage to speak; but Jupiter Tonans +was my terror and my hero; I sat at his feet, and the roll of his +deep voice was music to my sophomoric ears. I had never spoken to +him out of class, but only that morning he had praised my +translation, he who seldom praised anything,--and now to come to +this! + +"At last, after about three hours of dreadful silence, he opened +his lips and spoke: 'The greens are for decorational purposes, I +presume, Miss Merryweather?' Oh, and I had hoped he would not +remember who I was. + +"'Yes, sir,' I said. 'For the sophomore reception this evening.' + +"'Ah!' he said, 'in that case, it will be well for us to hasten.' + +"Silence again, while we quickened our pace, making the branches +fall off more than ever. Then--'The wheelbarrow,' said the +professor, 'amazes us by its combined simplicity and perfection. +The conception of a man of universal genius and vast erudition,--I +allude to Leonardo da Vinci, the marvellous Florentine,--it has +for upwards of three hundred years served mankind as a humble but +valued ally. In every rank of life it finds its place. This +barrow, for example--' + +"My heart came into my mouth. 'Professor Thunder,' I said, 'this +is your wheelbarrow. I came across your lawn, and saw it standing +there, and--I took it.' + +"'Yes, my child,' he said, 'I saw you take it.'" + +"Oh, oh!" moaned the two girls. "Poor Bell! oh, poor Bell!" + +"Then I broke down and cried, and told him all about it, and how I +had taken him for the janitor's boy, and all. Girls, he was +perfectly angelic! He made me sit down on the bank to rest, and +talked to me, oh, so kindly! and was glad I had taken the barrow, +and all. And--it is too dreadful to tell, but--I had dropped my +handkerchief, and he gave me his, about three square yards of +finest cambric,--I shall never smell orris again without thinking +of that moment,--and said--you won't think me vain to repeat this, +Hildegarde?--said that he could not have his best pupil spoil her +eyes, as it would interfere with her Greek. And then we came to +the campus, and the girls standing in the door of the Gym saw +Professor Thunder wheeling the wheelbarrow fall of greens, and me +walking meekly by his side. I shall never forget their faces; one +moment, and then they turned and fled. It was base, but I could +not blame them; the sight was not one to induce composure, as the +Professor himself would say. So I thanked him as well as I could +for the dumbness and heat that were on me; and he took off his hat +and made a grand bow, and then he shook hands--oh, so cordially! +and begged to present me with the freedom of the wheelbarrow; and +then he went away. There, Hildegarde! You wanted a college story, +and you have had one." + +The girls laughed heartily at Bell's adventures, and Hildegarde +declared that she should never fear a college girl again, as it +was evident that they were girls of like passions, getting into +scrapes like their sisters. + +While talking, the girls had been busily plaiting garlands of oak +leaves, and now they proceeded to crown each other, and hang long +wreaths on neck and arm. + +"Hildegarde shall be the fairy queen," said Gertrude "and we her +attendant fays. Hail, Queen!" + +"Oh yes, that is all very well for you!" said Bell; "you don't +weigh one hundred and thirty pounds. A fine sylph I should make! +Hilda is perfect for the queen, however." + +Certainly Hilda did look very lovely, with the green chaplet +crowning her fair locks, and the afternoon sunlight sifting +through the leaves, checkering her white dress with light and +shade. Roger Merryweather, coming through the wood in his quiet +way, with his tin plant-box slung over his shoulder, thought he +had never seen a fairer sight, and paused to enjoy it before +announcing his presence to the girls. As he stood there, +motionless, and screened by the broad leaves of a great chestnut-tree, a frightful scream was heard, a ferocious yell, which made +the whole wood vibrate with horrid sound. The girls sprang to +their feet in terror; little Kitty ran to Bell and hid in her +gown, while the older girls with one accord turned at bay, ready +to face they knew not what peril. Even Roger was startled for the +moment, and was about to step hastily forward, when a second +shriek rang out. He recognized the voice, and stood still, +unwilling to spoil sport. And now from the thicket burst two wild +forms, blanketed and feathered, uttering hideous yells, and +brandishing glittering weapons over their heads. Kitty shrieked, +but after one moment Bell burst into laughter. + +"You imps!" she cried. "You wicked, wicked little wretches, to +frighten us so! Kitty darling, it is the boys. Look up, darling! +Don't you see? It is our naughty, naughty boys, playing Indian. +After them, Toots! after them, Hilda! We'll give them a lesson +they shall not forget." + +"Huh! huh!" shouted the Indians. "Big Chief Hop-toad! big +Medicine-man Put-Squills-In-His-Tea! gobble up the white squaws +for supper! Huh! huh!" + +And now the quiet spectator saw a merry sight. The girls flew in +pursuit, the boys fled before them. In and out of the trees, +laughing, shrieking, they doubled and twisted. Hildegarde ran +well, and Bell had not had two years of basket-ball for nothing. +As for Gertrude, she was lithe and long-limbed as a young +greyhound; but even so, they could not catch their tormentors. + +The long gray legs twinkled like lightning over the ground. Phil +paused from time to time to shout his warhoop, and Gerald, when he +could find breath, chanted wild scraps of song, accompanied by +frantic gestures: + + + + "My tom, my tom, my tommy-hawk, + With thee I'll make the pale-face squawk: + With thee I'll make them cry 'Oh, lawk!' + My tom, my tom, my tommy-hawk." + +Circling round a great tree, he came full upon Hilda, flying in +the other direction, and made a snatch at her green wreath. + + "Pale-face squaw shall lose her hat, + Medicine-man will see to that," + +he cried. + +"Will he, indeed?" cried Hildegarde. "Catch me if you can, you +odious redskin! I defy you in every withering term that a Cooper +maiden ever invented!" + +"Ho! if you are a Cooper maiden, you are nothing but a female!" +said Gerald. "Aha! she turns, she flies! she feels the scalp a-wr-r-r-r-r-iggling on her head! she fears she'll soon be a female +dead! Ho, ho! Medicine-man! Big Injin! Ho!" + +Flying breathless now, Hildegarde darted hither and thither, +hiding under the leaves, dodging behind the tree trunks. Finally, +seeing her foe pausing for an instant behind the bole of a huge +nut-tree, she rushed upon him, and seizing him, shook him +violently. Then she let go her hold and screamed, for it was not +Gerald that she was shaking. + +Roger Merryweather stepped forward, unable to keep from smiling at +her face of horror. He felt a little "out of it," perhaps, and +twenty-four seemed a long way from seventeen; but he should not +have watched the girls, he told himself with some severity, +without letting them know he was there. Now this pretty child +regarded him as a double eavesdropper and spy. But his apology was +drowned in the shouts of the boys. + +"Hi! here's Roger! hurrah! Roger, Roger! my scientific codger, +come and play Big Injin! The pale-faces are uncommonly game, but +we shall have them all the same. Hi! there goes Dropsy!" + +Indeed, at this moment Gertrude tripped over a tree root and fell +headlong; as she fell she caught at Phil's ankle, just as he was +in the act of grasping Bell by the flying tail of her gown; +another moment, and all three were on the ground together in a +confused heap. + +"Anybody hurt?" asked Roger, going to pick them up. + +"Oh no!" said Bell, sitting up and shaking the pine needles from +her hair. "Toots was underneath, and she makes a noble cushion. +All right, Toots? and how do you come here, Professor?" The three +fallen ones righted themselves, and sat up and panted; seeing +which, the others came and sat down, too, and for a space no one +spoke, for no one had any breath save Roger, and he was laughing. + +"I have been botanizing," he said at last. "I was coming quietly +along, when suddenly Bedlam broke loose, and I have been standing +by to go about ever since. No extra lunatics seemed to be needed, +or I should have been charmed to assist." + +By this time Hildegarde had recovered her composure. It was her +fate, she reflected, to run into people, and be found in trees, +and be caught playing "Sally Waters;" she could not help her fate. +But her hair was all down her back, and she could help that. She +began to knot it up quietly, but Gerald raised a cry of protest. + +"What, oh what is she doing that for? Don't, Miss Hildegarde, +please! I was just thinking how jolly it looked, let alone the +chances for scalping." + +"Thank you!" said Hildegarde, as she wound up the long locks and +fastened them securely. "I have no fancy for playing Absalom all +the way home. Have you hurt your foot, Phil?" for Phil was rubbing +his ankle vigorously, and looking rather uncomfortable. + +"I stumbled over Dropsy's nose," he said, ruefully. "When she fell +down, her nose reached all the way round the tree, and tripped me +up. I wish you would keep your nose in curl-papers, Dropsy." + +Dropsy beat him affectionately, and helped rub his ankle. They +were silent for a moment, being too comfortable to speak, each one +thought to himself. The sunbeams flickered through the leaves; the +pine needles, tossed into heaps by the hurrying feet, gave out +their delicious fragrance; overhead the wind murmured low in the +branches. It was a perfect time, and even Gerald felt the charm +and was silent, throwing acorns at his sisters. + +"Sing, Roger," said Bell, at length, softly. "Sing 'Robin Hood!'" + +So Roger sang, in a noble baritone voice, that joyous song of the +forest, and the woods rang to the chorus: + + "So, though bold Robin's gone, + Yet his heart lives on, + And we drink to him with three times three." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +"HANDS ACROSS THE SEA." + + +"Oh, how jolly you all look!" cried Hildegarde, peeping through +the hedge. "Where are you going?" + +The Merryweathers were going to ride; so much was evident. Five +bicycles stood at the door, glittering in the sunlight; five +riders were in the act of mounting, plainly bound on a pleasure-trip. + +"Only for the mail, and a little spin after it," cried Mr. +Merryweather. "Wish you could come too, Miss Grahame. You will +certainly have to get a wheel and join us. Nothing like it, I +assure you." + +Bell and Gertrude, in trim short skirts and gaiters, sat already +perched, ready for the start; and Phil and Gerald were putting a +last touch to their shining metal-work. + +Mrs. Merryweather came out on the steps, with Kitty by her side. + +"Here are my letters, dear people," she said. "And don't forget +the boots, please; they are very important." + +"May one inquire what boots?" asked Mr. Merryweather. + +"I really have no idea!" replied his wife. "Somebody said at +breakfast that you must be sure to remember the boots, and dwelt +on their importance; therefore I mention them." + +"Ou avez-vous procure ce chapeau?" inquired Gerald, politely. + +"My dear Gerald, you know that I will not endure slang that is +less than fifty years old." + +"It isn't slang, Mother! At least it may be; but I want to know, +because, really, you know, ma'am, when it comes to baskets--" + +Mrs. Merryweather put up her hand, and removed her head-gear. +"Dear me!" she said, "it is a basket, sure enough. That is very +curious! Why--why then, I must have picked the raspberries into my +hat." + +A shout of laughter, in which Mrs. Merryweather joined placidly, +greeted this announcement. "I put plenty of green leaves in it," +she said; "it will be all right. But I sent it to the minister's +wife, and I fear she will be surprised. My dear Gertrude, have you +learned your Latin lesson, that I see you starting off so freely?" + +"Yes, mother," said Gertrude, sadly. "I learned it, and it was a +detestable lesson. I am SO tired of hearing that Titus Labienus +was stationed on a hill!" + +"I know!" chimed in Phil. "I remember when I was in Caesar, about +forty years ago, and Titus Labby was on the hill then. It's my +belief he got stuck there, and was afraid to come down." + +"That is curious!" said Mrs. Merryweather, meditatively. "Always +on a hill; why, so he is! That is rather interesting, don't you +think so?" + +"With all respect, I do not!" said Mr. Merryweather. "I desire to +depart. If Caesar had had a wheel, he would not have been so +tedious." + +"Oh, jolly!" cried Gerald. "Caesar commanded to let scoot the +legions through the morasses and bogges the bogs. Then came +Vercingetorix on a '91 Columbia, weighing seventy-three pounds, +and said, 'How in time am I to get up this hill?' Then spake to +him Caesar, and said these words,--Get out, you Ferguson!" + +For Ferguson, swiftly departing, had launched a kick at his +brother in passing, nearly sending him from his seat. Gerald +whirled off in pursuit; the others followed more soberly, and the +whole party disappeared round the curve of the road. + +Hildegarde looked after them rather dolefully. A year ago a girl +on a bicycle was a shocking thing to our heroine; she shook her +little head severely, and said that nothing would induce her to +mount one. Somehow her views had changed since she had seen the +Merryweathers on theirs. She began to think that it would be +uncommonly pleasant to go skimming along like a swallow, swooping +down the hills and whirling along the levels. "The nearest +approach to flying that this generation will see," Mr. +Merryweather called it, and Hilda inclined to think he was right. +However-- + +"Remember that you are both coming over this morning," called Mrs. +Merryweather, cheerfully. "I mean this evening, of course, to tea. +We will have some music. Kitty, my dear, we must go to our +French." + +"Shall we bring our sewing out on the verandah, mammy?" asked +Hilda, rousing herself from a little reverie. "Ah, you have the +letters, sly one, and never told me!" + +"I doubted if there was anything that would interest you, my +love," said Mrs. Grahame. "Yes; let us have our work, by all +means. There are one or two business letters that I should like +you to look over." + +Hilda smiled and departed, revolving the thought that she was a +selfish and empty-headed wretch. She did not want to read business +letters; she wanted to be on a wheel, flying over the smooth road, +with the wind lifting her hair and breathing cool against her +cheek. And here was her mother sitting alone, and the new +tablecloths to hem, and--and altogether--"If you COULD tell me why +they thought it worth while to keep you," she said to herself, "I +should be glad to know it. Perhaps you can tell me what P-I-G +spells." + +Returning with the wide sewing basket, she found her mother +looking over a pile of letters. "It is high time," said Mrs. +Grahame, "that you began to take some interest in business +matters." Hildegarde wondered what was coming; her mother looked +very grave; she held in her hand a square grey envelope. "I shall +be greatly obliged, therefore, my dear," her mother continued, +with the same portentous gravity, "if--you would--read that"; and +she gave the letter to Hildegarde. + +"Oh, mamma! you wicked, wicked deceiver! You frightened me almost +to death; and it is from Jack, dear old Jack. Oh, how delightful! +You pleasant person, Mrs. Grahame; I forgive you, though my heart +still throbs with terror. Are you all comfortable, my own? Your +little feet all tucked up beneath your petticoat, so that they +cannot steal in and out? Don't you want a glass of milk, or a +cracker, or a saddle of mutton, or anything else? Then be silent! +and oh, how happy we shall be!" Hildegarde settled herself in her +chair, sighed with pleasure, and broke the seal of the fat letter. + +"DEAR HILDA: It seems an age since I last wrote, but there is so +much going on I have hardly time to breathe. There have been some +awfully jolly concerts this spring, and I have been going to them, +and practising four hours a day, and having lessons and all that. +Herr J. played at the last two concerts, and I know what heaven is +like--my heaven, at least--since I heard him. He played--" + +Here followed an accurate list of the great violinist's +performances, covering three sheets of note-paper. + +"It isn't the technique and all that, though of course he is the +first in the world for that and everything else; it's the sense, +the heart that he puts into it. In that adagio--well, I played it +to you once, like the cheeky little duffer I was, and felt pleased +as Punch with myself, and no end cocked up because you liked it. +Hilda, I ought to have been taken out and shot for daring to touch +it! When the maestro (they call him maestro here, so you mustn't +think me Frenchified), when he played it, the world seemed just to +melt away, and nothing left but a voice, that sang, and sang, and +told you more than you ever dreamed of in all your life before. I +wish I could describe things, but you know I can't, so you won't +expect it. But one thing I will tell you, if you'll promise not to +tell any living soul--" + +"Stop, my dear!" said Mrs. Grahame, quickly. "We must not touch +upon the boy's confidences. Head that part to yourself." + +"Thank you, ma'am!" said Hilda. "This mark of trust is most +gratifying, I assure you. 'Not tell any living soul except your +mother, dear.' Now how do you feel, madam?" + +"Dear Jack!" said Mrs. Grahame, softly. "Dear lad! of course I +shall like to hear it. Go on, Hilda, and I promise not to +interrupt again." + +"The day after the last concert--it was only day before yesterday, +but it seems an age--I went to take my lesson, and my master was +not there. He is often late, so I just took out some music and +began to play over the things I had studied. There was a sonata of +Rubinstein's, very splendid, that has quite possessed me lately. I +played that, and I suppose I forgot where I was and all about it, +for I went on and on, never hearing a sound except just the music. +You must hear it when I come back, Hilda. It begins in the minor, +and then there is the most superb sweep up into the major; your +heart seems to sweep up with it, and you find yourself in another +world, where everything is divine harmony. I'm talking nonsense, I +know, but that piece just sends me off my head altogether. Well, +at last I finished it and came down from the clouds, and when I +turned around, Hilda, there was the maestro himself, standing and +listening. Well! you can't go through the floor and all that sort +of thing, as they do in the fairy-books, but I did wish I was a +mouse, or a flea, or anything smaller that there is. He stood +still a minute. Perhaps he was afraid I would behave like some +asses the other day--they weren't Americans, I am happy to say--who met him, and went down on their knees in the hotel entry, and +took bits of mud from his shoes for a keepsake; they truly did, +the horrid pigs! And he just said 'Dummkopfer!' and went off and +left them kneeling there. Wasn't that jolly? Well, I say, he might +have thought I would act like that, and yet I don't believe he +did, for he had the kindest, friendliest look on his face. He came +forward and held out his hand, and said, 'So you play the great +sonata, my son; and love it, too, I perceive.' + +"I don't know exactly what I said,--some rubbish about how much I +cared for it; but I stammered mostly, and got all kinds of +colours. I guess you can tell pretty much how I behaved, though I +really am getting to be not quite so much of a muff. Anyhow, he +seemed to understand, and nodded, and said, 'Give me now the +violin, for there are things you understand not yet in the piece.' + +"Oh, Hilda! he took my violin in his own hands, and played for me. +Think of it! the greatest master in the world, all alone with me +there, and playing like--like--well, I don't know how to say what +I mean, so you'll have to imagine it for yourself. He went all +through it, stopping once in a while to explain to me, and to +describe this or that shade of expression or turn of the wrist. It +was the most splendid lesson any one ever had, I believe. But that +is not the best, and I hardly like to tell even you the rest. You +may think I am just bluffing, and anyhow,--but it is the truth, +so--well, after about half an hour my master came in, and of +course he was delighted, and highly honoured, and bowing and +scraping and all. But the maestro came and put his hand on my +shoulder, and said, 'Friend, will you give me up this pupil, +hein?' + +"I don't mind if you don't believe it; I didn't myself, but +thought I was asleep and dreaming it all. 'I will give you in +exchange two others,' he said. 'The fat English lady has shortness +of breath, and cannot keep my hours of work, and the young Russian +makes eyes at me, which is not to be endured. Will you take them, +both very rich, and give me in exchange this child?' + +"Of course there is only one answer, you know; it is like when a +king asks for anything. And besides, Herr Geiger is so good and +kind, he was really perfectly delighted at my having the great +chance,--the chance of a lifetime. So I am going this afternoon to +take my first regular lesson from the great master of the world, +and I don't deserve it, Hilda, and I wonder why everything is done +so for me, and such happiness given to a fellow like me, when +there are hundreds of other fellows who deserve it a great deal +more. I know what you and your mother would say, and I do feel it, +and I am thankful, I truly think, with all my heart, and I hope I +shall be a better fellow in every way, and try to make some +return. I couldn't go without telling you. Of course I wrote a +line to the governor first. He will be so happy! And of course if +it hadn't been for him, I never should have had any music, or any +violin, or anything; and without you and your mother, Hilda, I +never should have come here, that is certain. So I don't see very +clear, sometimes, when I think about you and him. + +"Time for the lesson now. Good-bye! I am the happiest fellow in +the world! Best love to your mother, and uncle--no! shall write to +him by this mail. + +"Always your affectionate + +"JACK. + +"P.S. Lesson glorious! he is really the greatest man in the world, +I don't care who the next is. I didn't thank you for your last +letter. Of course I felt for a minute as if my gas-balloon had +bust, when you told me that the lovely Rose was going to marry Dr. +Flower; but I guess it is all right. You see, she must be very +sweet and all that; but after all, I never saw her, and you say +she has no ear for music, and I am afraid that would have been a +pretty bad thing, don't you think so yourself? So I guess it is +all right, and I am as jolly as a coot. Awfully jolly about the +new neighbours turning out such bricks. Do any of them play or +sing? JACK. + +"P.P.S. I fought my first duel yesterday, with a chap who slanged +the U. S. I got a cut on my left arm, but then, I cut a little +slice off his ear, so I was all right. J." + +"Dear me!" exclaimed Mrs. Grahame; "a duel! The naughty, naughty +boy! Those student duels are not apt to be serious affairs +nowadays, I believe, but still it seems a dreadful thing. What +will the Colonel say when he hears it?" + +"He will very likely be pleased as Punch, as Jack says," rejoined +Hildegarde. "To have his milksop fight a duel would probably seem +to him a very encouraging thing. And of course, mammina, it isn't +like a real, dreadful duel, is it? I mean, it is more a kind of +horrid bear-play? But oh, to think of our Jack cutting off a piece +of a man's ear! It almost spoils the beautiful other part of it. +No, nothing can spoil that. Dear, delightful, stupid, glorious old +Jack! I always knew he had genius. When shall we see the Colonel?" + +"Possibly to-night, at the Merryweathers'," said her mother. +"These pleasant little tea-parties seem to take in all our little +circle. See! there come the riders back again, Gerald and Phil +racing, as usual. Hear them shout! Certainly, never a family was +better named." + +Hildegarde came up behind her mother, and put her arms lightly +round her neck. + +"I prefer my pea!" she said. And the two women laughed and kissed +each other and went on with their work. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +MERRY WEATHER INDOORS. + + +It rained that evening, so the plans for tennis were brought to +naught; but the evening was cheerful enough, in spite of the +pouring rain outside. The wide, book-strewn parlour of Pumpkin +House was bright with many lamps, and twinkling with laughing +faces of boys and girls. Mr. Merryweather, cheerfully resigned to +"company," possessed his soul and his pipe (being duly assured +that Mrs. Grahame liked the smell of tobacco), and the Colonel +puffed his cigar beside him. A little fire crackled on the hearth, +"just for society," Mrs. Merryweather said, and most of the +windows were wide open, making the air fresh and sweet with the +fragrance of wet vines and flowers. The two ladies were deep in +household matters, each finding it very pleasant to have a +companion of her own age, though each reflecting that the children +were much better company in the long run. The children themselves +were playing games, with gusts of laughter and little shrieks and +shouts of glee. They had had "Horned Lady," and Willy's head was a +forest of paper horns, skilfully twisted. Hugh had just gone +triumphantly through the whole list, "a sneezing elephant, a punch +in the head, a rag, a tatter, a good report, a bad report, a +cracked saucepan, a fuzzy tree-toad, a rat-catcher, a well-greaved +Greek, etc., etc., etc. + +"There are no thoughts in this game, beloved," said the child when +he had finished, turning to Hildegarde. "My head turns round, but +it is empty inside." + +"Good for Hugh!" cried Phil. "Just the same with me, Hugh. It +makes me feel all fuzzy inside my head, like the tree-toad." + +"You ARE like a tree-toad!" said Gerald. "That is the resemblance +that has haunted me, and I could not make it out, because as a +rule tree-toads are not fuzzy. I thank thee, Jew--I mean Hugh--for +teaching me that word. My brother, the tree-toad! Every one will +know whom I mean." + +"Just as they know you as the 'one as is a little wantin'," +retorted Phil. "Just think, Miss Hilda, Jerry and I spent a week +together at a house at Pemaquid, and Jerry left his sponge behind +him when he came away. Well, and when the captain of the tug +brought it over to the island where the rest of us were, he said +one of the boys had left it, the one as was a little wantin'. And +he said it was a pity about him, and asked if there warn't nothin' +they could do for his wits." + +"That was because he heard me reciting my Greek cram to the cow," +said Gerald. "Most responsive animal I ever saw, that cow, and +mooed in purest Attic every time I twisted her tail. And how about +the pitch-kettle, my gentle shepherd? Was I ever seen, I ask the +assembled family,--WAS I ever seen with a pitch-kettle on my head +instead of a hat?" + +"Oh, Hilda!" exclaimed Bell; "you ought to have seen Phil. He had +been pitching the canoe,--this was ever so long ago, of course,--and he thought it would be great fun to put the pitch-kettle on +his head. He thought it was quite dry, you see. So he did, and +went round with it for a little, so pleased and amused; and then +he saw some ladies coming, and tried to take it off, and it +wouldn't come. Oh dear! how we did laugh!" + +"Yes, Miss Hilda, I should think they did!" cried Phil, +indignantly. "Sat there and chuckled like great apes, instead of +helping a fellow. And I had to crawl under barrels for about half +a mile, so that those people wouldn't see me." + +"Poor Phil!" cried compassionate Hildegarde. "And did you get it +off at last?" + +"First we tried butter," he said, "but that wouldn't stir it. Then +they gave me a bath of sweet oil, and put flour in my hair, and +hot water, and turtle soup, and I don't know what not; and the +more things they did, the faster the old thing stuck. So at last +we had to call the Mater, and she took the scissors and cut it +off." + +"Oh, meus oculus!" cried Gerald. "Do you remember how that kettle +looked, with a fringe of hair all around it? Half his hyacinth bed +on one fell kettle! He ought to have sung a 'Lock-aber no more!'" + +"And we ought to have sung 'Philly, put the kettle on!'" cried +Gertrude. + +"Toots, don't exhaust your brain!" said Gerald, gravely. "You may +need it some time; there is no knowing. No knowing, but much +nosing!" he added. "Could you move the principal part of your +person, my child? It casts such a deep shadow that I cannot see +myself think." + +"Will some one please tell me what is the matter with Gertrude's +nose?" asked Hildegarde, innocently. "You are always talking about +it; it seems to me a very good nose indeed." + +"Dear Hilda!" exclaimed Gertrude; "what a nice girl you are!" + +"That is just the point, Miss Hilda," said Gerald. "It is an +excellent nose. Take it as a nose, it has no equal in the country, +we have been assured. If there is one thing this family is proud +of, it is Gertrude's nose. We may not be clever, or rich, or +beautiful, but we can always fall back on the nose; there's plenty +of room on it for the whole family." + +"Why," put in Phil, "the Pater has been offered a dollar a pound +for that nose, and he wouldn't look at it." + +"He couldn't see it," said Bell; "the nose was in the way." + +"Why, one day we had been in bathing," said Phil, "and when we +came back, Toots hung her nose out of the window to dry, and went +to sleep and forgot it; and will you believe it? a fellow came +along and climbed right up it, just like 'Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let +down your hair,' you know. Ah! Oh, I say!" + +At this outrage, Gertrude rose, and fell upon her brother tooth +and nail. She was a powerful child, and at the shock of her onset, +the seat of Phil's chair gave way, and he "sat through" like +little Silver-hair, and came suddenly to the floor, his head and +legs sticking up helplessly through the empty frame. The young +people were so overcome with laughter that no one could help him; +but Roger, who had been hidden in a convenient corner with an +absorbing monograph on trilobites that had just arrived by mail, +came forward and pulled his brother out. + +"Dear me!" exclaimed Mrs. Merryweather, looking up. "Philip, my +dear, it is strange that none of you can remember not to sit in +that chair." + +"What is the matter with the chair?" inquired Mr. Merryweather. + +"The seat has been loose for a long time," said his wife. "It +always comes down when any one sits in it." + +"And could it not be mended?" + +"Why, yes," said Mrs. Merryweather, evidently receiving a new +idea. "I suppose it might be mended, Miles. Do you know, I never +thought of that! Certainly; it shall be mended. Bell, remind me +to-morrow to get some glue. That is one of the set of chairs that +came from my father's house, you remember, Miles, and the seats +were always loose. One night my mother had a party, and your Uncle +Frederick went round before the people came, and set the seats +forward in the frames, so that whoever sat down would go through +at once. The governor of the State was the first to take his seat, +and he went directly through to the floor, just as Phil did now. +My father was excessively angry, and Frederick and I spent the +next day in bed, but we thought it was worth the punishment." + +"These are improving reminiscences, my dear Miranda!" said Mr. +Merryweather. + +"Oh! but what do you think mamma did this morning?" cried +Gertrude. "May I tell them, mamma? Do you mind?" + +"Tell them, by all means, my dear," said Mrs. Merryweather, +cheerfully. "Did I do anything more foolish than usual? Oh, yes, I +remember! I was measuring the whale-oil soap. Tell them, Gerty, if +you think it would amuse them. I am not very useful," she added, +turning to Mrs. Grahame, "but I do seem to give a good deal of +amusement, and that is a good thing." + +"Well," said Gertrude, "you see, we had to squirt the roses, and +mamma said she would make the whale-oil mixture for us, because it +is such horrid stuff, and we had some errands to do first. So I +came back after the errands, and she was measuring it out. Dear +mamma! am I a wretch?" + +"Not at all, my child," said her mother. "I richly deserve to be +exposed; besides, one can always serve to point a moral. You see, +Mrs. Grahame, the receipt said, 'half a pint of soap to a gallon +of water! Now I had ten gallons of water, so I--tell what I was +doing, cruel child." + +"She had the pint measure," said Gerty, "and she was filling it +half full and then pouring it into the water. She was going to do +that ten times, you see; and I said, 'Why don't you fill it full, +five times?' Darling mamma, I AM a wretch!" + +"Yes, you are," cried Bell. "Poor mamma! dear mamma!" + +The children all clustered round their mother, caressing her, and +murmuring affectionate words. Mrs. Merryweather smiled in a happy, +helpless way. + +"I am a sad goose, good neighbours," she said; "but they always +bring me out right, somehow. There now, darlings, sit down, and be +good. And, by the way, Gertrude, I am minded to heap a coal of +fire on your head. Didn't you tell me this morning that Titus +Labienus was always on a hill, or something like that?" + +"Yes," said Gertrude. "So he is, and ever will remain so. Have you +taken him down, dear mamma?" + +"Not exactly!" said her mother. "But I have made a ballad about +him, and I thought it might possibly amuse you all." + +An eager shout arose, and all the young people gathered in a +circle round the good lady's chair, while she read:-- + + "THE BALLAD OF TITUS LABIENUS." + + Now Titus Labienus + Was stationed on a hill; + He sacrificed to Janus, + Then stood up stark and still' + He stood and gazed before him, + The best part of a week; + Then, as if anguish tore him, + Did Labienus speak: + + "Oh, hearken, mighty Caesar I + Oh, Caius Julius C., + It really seems to me, sir, + Things aren't as they should be. + I've looked into the future, + I've gazed beyond the years, + And as I'm not a butcher, + My heart is wrung to tears. + + "All Gaul it is divided + In parts one, two and three, + And bravely you and I did, + In Britain o'er the sea. + In savage wilds the Teuton + Has felt your hand of steel, + Proud Rome you've set your boot on, + And ground it 'neath your heel. + + "But looking down the ages, + There springs into my ken + A land not in your pages, + A land of coming men. + I would that it were handier + 'Tis far across the sea: + 'Tis Yankeedoodledandia, + The land that is to be. + + "A land of stately cities, + A land of peace and truth: + But oh! the thousand pities! + A land of weeping youth. + A land of school and college, + Where youths and maidens go + A-seeking after knowledge, + But seeking it in woe. + + "I hear the young men groaning! + I see the maidens fair, + With sighs and bitter moaning, + Tearing their long, fair hair. + And through the smoke of Janus + Their cry comes sad and shrill, + "Oh, Titus Labienus, + Come down from off that hill + + "For centuries you've stood there, + And gazed upon the Swiss; + Yet never have withstood there + An enemy like this. + The misery of seeking, + The agony of doubt + Of who on earth is speaking, + And what 'tis all about." + + "Now he had planned an action, + And brought his forces round; + But--well, there rose a faction, + And ran the thing aground. + And--their offence was heinous, + Yet Caesar had his will; + And Titus Labienus + Was stationed on a hill. + + "'Then the Helvetii rallied, + To save themselves from wrack, + And from the towns they sallied, + And drove the Romans back. + The land was quite mounTAINous, + Yet they were put to flight; + And Titus Labienus + Was stationed on a height. + + "'Then himself advised them + Upon the rear to fall; + But Dumnorix surprised them, + And sounded a recall. + Quoth he, "The gods sustain us! + These ills we'll still surmount!" + And Titus Labienus + Was stationed on a mount." + + "Thus comes the cry to hand here + Across the western sea, + From Yankeedoodledandia, + The land that is to be. + My heart is wrung with sorrow; + Hot springs the pitying tear. + Pray, Julius C., to-morrow + Let me get down from here I + + "Oh, send me to the valley! + Oh, send me to the town! + Bid me rebuff the sally, + Or cut the stragglers down; + Send me once more to battle + With Vercingetorix; + I'll drive his Gallic cattle, + And stop his Gallic tricks. + + "Oh! sooner shall my legion + Around my standard fall; + In grim Helvetic region, + Or in galumphing Gaul; + Sooner the foe enchain us, + Sooner our life-blood spill, + Than Titus Labienus + Stand longer on the hill!" + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +A NEW LIFE. + + +"Bell," said Hildegarde, "I really think I must be a cat in +disguise." + +"What do you mean, dear?" inquired Bell, looking up from her +dishpan. + +"Why, I have had so many lives. This is the fifth, at the least +computation. It is very extraordinary." + +Quiet Bell waited, seeing that more was coming. The two girls were +sitting on the end of a wharf, in the sparkling clearness of a +September morning. Before them stretched a great lake, a sheet of +silver, dotted as far as the eye could see with green islands. +Behind lay a pebbly beach, and farther up, nestled among a fringe +of forest trees, stood a bark hut, with broad verandahs and +overhanging eaves. Hildegarde looked up and around, her face +shining with pleasure. + +"They have all been so happy--the lives," she said. "But this +surely is the most beautiful to look at. You see," here she turned +again to her companion, "first I was a little girl, and then a big +one, at home in New York; and a very singularly odious specimen of +both I was." + +"Am I expected to believe this?" asked Bell, quietly. + +"Oh yes! because I know, you see, and I remember just how +detestable I was. Children are so sometimes, you know, even with +the very best parents, and I certainly had those. Well, at last I +grew so unbearable that I had to be sent away. Oh, you need not +raise your eyebrows, my dear! It's very nice of you, but you never +saw me then. I don't mean that I was sent to the Reform School; +but my father and mother had to go to California, and I was not +strong, so the journey was not thought best for me; and besides, +dear mamma saw that if I was ever going to amount to anything I +must be taken away from the fashionable school and the set of +girls I was getting intimate with. I wasn't intimate with mamma +then; I didn't want to be. The other girls were not, and I thought +it would be silly; think of it, Bell! Well, I was sent, a forlorn +and furious child (fifteen years old though, the same age as dear, +sweet Gertrude), to my mother's old nurse in the country,--a +farmer's wife, living on a small farm, twenty miles from a city. +There, my dear, I first learned that there was a world outside the +city of New York. I must tell you all about it some day,--the +happy, blessed time I had with those dear people, and how I +learned to know my own dearest ones while I was away from them. I +buried that first Hildegarde, very dead, oh, very dead indeed! +Then the next summer I went to a new world, and my Rose went with +me. I have told you about her, and how sweet she is, and how ill +she was, and now how she is going to marry the good doctor who +cured her of her lameness. We spent the summer with Cousin Wealthy +Bond, a cousin of my mother's,--the loveliest old lady, living +down in Maine. That was a very new world, Bell; and oh! I have a +child there, a little boy, my Benny. At least, he is Cousin +Wealthy's Benny now, for she is bringing him up as her own, and +loves him really as if he were; but I always think of him as +partly mine, because Rose and I found him in the hospital where we +used to go to carry flowers. He had been very ill, and we got +Cousin Wealthy to let him come to her house to get well. And +through, that, somehow, there came to be a little convalescent +home for the children from the hospital,--oh, I must tell you that +story too, some day, and it is called Joyous Gard. Yes, of course +I named it, and I was there for a month this spring, before you +came, and had the most enchanting time. I took Hugh with me, and +the only trouble was that Benny was madly jealous of him, and gave +him no peace. Poor Benny! he is a dear, nice little boy, but not +like Hugh, of course, and that exasperated him past belief. It was +just like Lord Lardy and the waiter in the Bab Ballad, for Hugh +was entirely unconscious, and would smile peacefully at Benny's +demonstrations of wrath, thinking it all a joke. + +"Oh, I could talk all day about Benny and Cousin Wealthy, and +nice, funny Mrs. Brett, and all of them. Well, then, two years ago +came our trouble, you know. Dear papa died, and we came out here, +feeling very strange and lost. It was sad at first, of course; but +oh, we have had such peace and happiness together, my mother dear +and I! The last year, when we had grown used to doing without the +dear one, and knew--but mamma always knew it--that we must make +happiness for each other,--the last year has been a most lovely +time. But sweet and happy as it has all been, Bell, still I have +always had a small circle to love and to be with. Mamma, bless +her, and at one time one set of dear friends, and at another time +another; never many people at once, and life peaceful and lovely, +but one day pretty much like another, you see. But since you all +came, I have been in a new world altogether,--a great, merry, +laughing world, with such lots of children and fun--" + +"And noise!" put in Bell. "We are a dreadfully noisy set, I fear." + +"Oh, noise is good," cried Hildegarde, "such happy, healthy noise +as this. I love it, though it did startle me at first. It seemed +pleasant enough to have you all next door; but then came this last +development,--Cousin Wealthy's illness, and her sending for mamma, +and your mother's kindness in bringing me out to this delightful +place. It is all like a fairy tale. I used to hear of people's +camping out, but I always thought I should hate it. Hate this!" + +She looked up at the brilliant sky above her, and around at the +shining lake, the dark trees drooping to the water's edge, the +green islands sleeping in the sunshine. "Oh, pleasant place!" she +sighed. + +They were silent for a few moments; Bell was scouring dishpans +till they shone like silver, while Hildegarde thoughtfully wrung +out the dishcloths that she had been washing as she talked. + +"I suppose," said Bell, slowly, "life is always good, when we want +to make it so. There are so many different kinds of life,--I have +known so many in the short time I have been alive, and it didn't +seem to make much difference about the outside of them. Some of +the poorest and most suffering lives have been the happiest and +blessedest, and again some that have money and health and +everything that so many people sigh for, are miserable, for one +reason or another. I can't bear to hear girls say, 'Oh, if I only +had money! I would do so much, and be so good, and all that sort +of thing.' I always want to say, 'Why don't you begin with what +you have?' I did say it once to a girl, and she has hardly spoken +to me since. She had been wishing that she had a hundred dollars +to give to the Mission Society, and when I asked her for ten cents +(I was the collector) she said she had only one dime, and she must +get some soda water, or she should die." + +"The creature! what did you say to her?" + +"I said, 'Possibly the world would continue to revolve if you +did!' and stalked away. Oh, I cannot stand that sort of thing, you +know! And if you are a girl, you can't knock people down when they +are cads." + +Bell spoke regretfully, and Hildegarde could not help laughing at +her friend's angry eyes and kindling cheek. The strong white bare +arms, the deep chest and square shoulders, looked as if Bell would +be no mean antagonist. + +"I should not like to have you knock me down, my dear!" said +Hilda. + +"You never would need it," said Bell. "But I can tell you, Hilda, +there are times when I feel as if a blow from the shoulder would +be the best argument in the world. I love fighting! and I think I +am rather a bonny fighter, as Alan Breck says. Roger taught me to +box." + +Hildegarde opened her eyes a little at this, boxing never having +come within her horizon of feminine accomplishments. + +"Does Professor Merryweather know how to do everything?" she +asked. "He seems to be the Admirable Crichton come to life again." + +"Nearly everything," said Bell, with judicious candour. "He cannot +write verses, and he does not like dancing; those are the only +things I can think of just now." + +A birch canoe glided silently round the point; Roger was kneeling +in the stern, paddling, Indian fashion, while Will and Kitty were +curled up like two kittens in the bow. Hildegarde thought to +herself that he was the handsomest man she had ever seen, so +strong, so gentle, so perfectly graceful; but she did not say so. + +"What luck?" cried Bell, as the Cheemaun came alongside the wharf. +Roger held up a string of gleaming fish, two of them long, deep-bodied fellows, striped with pink and silver. Willy was happy with +three hideous horned pouts, which he declared were the best fish +that swam. + +"Oh, pickerel! how delightful!" cried Bell, as she took the +beauties from her brother's hands. "We will bake them for supper, +Hilda; it is our turn, isn't it?" + +"Oh!" said Willy, "I thought it was Toots' and Roger's turn. Toots +makes the best griddle-cakes, and she ought always to get supper." + +"Willy, you ungrateful little monster!" cried Bell. "And you said +only last night that my biscuits were a dream of joy. You won't +find me baking an extra pan for you, if you are going to turn upon +me in this way." + +"Oh yes! so you did, sister," said Willy, penitently. "But you +see, I am griddle-cake hungry to-day, and yesterday I wasn't." + +"Come, Hilda! we'll make our little gentleman pickerel-hungry +before he is an hour older!" and the two girls hurried into the +house. + +Inside the camp was a large, low room, with a huge open fireplace +filling nearly one side. A plain table stood in the middle; two +hammocks were slung against the walls, which were hung with guns +and fishing-rods. A bookcase in one corner, and Mrs. +Merryweather's workstand in another, completed the furniture of +the primitive parlour. On one side a door opened into the tiny +kitchen, and hither the girls now betook themselves, after +reminding Will and Kitty that it was their turn to set the supper +table. The fire was soon burning brightly in the stove, the kettle +put on to boil, and Hildegarde, rolling up her sleeves, set to +work mixing and moulding biscuits, while Bell devoted herself to +the stuffing and dressing of the big fish. + +"I wish I had Izaak Walton here!" she said, as she mixed the bread +stuffing. + +"Father Izaak pleasant company would be at any moment," Hilda +assented; "but what do you want him for just now? To cook the fish +for you?" + +"Not exactly; I doubt if he was as good in the kitchen as by the +brookside; but to give me his famous receipt for cooking pickerel. +I should like to astonish the family with it. I remember that it +has thyme in it, and sweet marjoram and summer savory, not to +mention oysters and anchovies, a pound of butter, a bottle of +claret and three or four oranges; he gives you your choice about +two cloves of garlic, and says you need not have them unless you +like. Perhaps on the whole it is just as well not to try the dish +at present; the anchovies were left behind, and the orange trees +are not bearing very well this year." + +"Dear me!" said Hildegarde. "That is as bad as my Southern receipt +for wedding cake. Two hundred and one pounds of flour and fruit, +and ten eggs to the pound; and if it isn't rich enough then, you +can add two pounds of currants and one of raisins for each pound +of flour. That would make,--let me see! I worked it all out once: +two hundred and seventy pounds of things, and two thousand seven +hundred eggs. What do you suppose they baked it in?" + +"In the well!" said Bell. "That would hold it. Or else they built +a pavilion round it, and had the bride and groom dance a minuet on +the top after the ceremony. What fun cook-books are! Any more +pleasantnesses in your Southern friend?" + +"Oh, all kinds of good things! I remember the receipt for Seminole +soup; we ought to try that out here, if we could find the +ingredients. 'Take a squirrel, cut it up and put it on to boil. +When the soup is nearly done add to it one pint of picked hickory-nuts and a spoonful of parched and powdered sassafras leaves, or +the tender top of a young pine tree, which gives a very aromatic +flavour to the soup.'" + +"Oh, do somebody get us a pine tree!" cried Bell. "That is truly +delightful! We must try it some day. Now it is my turn. I quote +from Mrs. Rundell the glorious. This is what she gives to the +poor; I don't want to be poor in Mrs. Rundell's parish. + +"'Cut a very thick upper crust of bread, and put it into the pot +where salt beef is boiling and near ready; it will attract some of +the fat, and, when swelled out, will be no unpalatable dish to +those who rarely taste meat.' That is called a brewis, my dear; +suppose we give it to our pampered family here some day, and see +what they say. How nearly are your biscuits done? I hear the +people growling inside, like hungry bears. Uncle Pickerel is +beginning to smell very good." + +"Another five minutes will give them the requisite 'beautiful +light brown'" said Hildegarde, peeping into the oven. "And the tea +is made, and the potatoes are tearing off their jackets in +impatience to be eaten." + +"Are we going to have any supper?" asked Phil, looking in from the +dining-room. "Roger has fainted with hunger, and lies a pallid +heap on the floor, and Obadiah is gnawing his boots in his agony." + +"As long as he does not swallow the nails," said Bell, calmly, "it +will do him no harm. Have the babes got the table ready?" + +"All ready, sister!" cried Kitty. "Cups and saucers and plates, +and--oh, Willy, we have forgotten the butter! Why do we always +forget the butter?" + +In five minutes the whole family were seated round the table, with +the lamp burning brightly above their heads. Bell came in +triumphantly, bearing the mighty pickerel in their glory, on a +huge platter decorated with green leaves and golden-rod. +Hildegarde followed, flushed and sparkling, with her biscuits and +coffee; and every one fell to with right good will. + +"Why is it that everything tastes so good here?" demanded Will. +"At home I can't always eat as much as I want to, and here I can +always eat more than there is; and yet there is lots!" he added, +surveying the broad table, heaped with substantial victuals of +every sort. + +"Ah! that's the beauty of it!" cried Gerald, spearing a potato. +"The human capacity enlarges, my son, with every mile one retires +from civilisation. When I was a Kickapoo Indian, Willy, I ate for +three weeks without stopping, and I had three buffaloes at a--" + +"Gerald, my dear!" said Mrs. Merryweather. + +"Yes, Mater, my dear!" said the unblushing Gerald. "I was only +trying to expand his mind, like the Ninkum. Excellent biscuits, +Miss Hilda! three more, if you please." + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +A NIGHT-PIECE. + + +It was clear moonlight when the girls went to bed; clear, that is, +to Hildegarde's unpractised eyes. She saw only the brilliant stars +overhead, and took no note of the low bank of cloud in the south. +Captain Roger (for Roger was in command at camp, Mr. Merryweather +only coming out at night on his bicycle, and going in again to his +business in the morning), after a critical survey of the sky, went +the rounds in his quiet way before bedtime, making all secure, but +said nothing to anybody. Going to bed was a matter of some labour +at the camp. During the day the beds were piled one on top of +another in the one bedroom, the blankets, after hanging in the air +for two or three hours, being folded and laid over them. Only in +the tent where Mr. and Mrs. Merryweather slept the beds remained +stationary all day, the sides of the tent being rolled high, to +let the air circulate in every direction. + +When nine o'clock came, or ten, as the case might be, the order +was given, "Bring out the beds!" Straightway the boys made broad +their backs, and walked about like long-legged tortoises, +distributing mattresses here and there. The three girls slept in +the bedroom which opened off the living-room; the boys and Roger +carried their beds into the second tent, or under the trees, or +into the boat-house, as fancy suggested, and the wind favoured. +Then blankets were unrolled, and the business of bed-making went +on merrily. + +As I said, it was clear moonlight when the girls went to bed; but +somewhere in the middle of the night Hildegarde was waked by a +rustle and a roar. Visions of lions ramped before her still-dreaming eyes; she shuddered awake, to find a gale raging round +the camp. Outside was one continuous roar of waves on the shore, +while overhead the wind clutched and tore at the branches, and +shook the frail hut to its foundations. Hildegarde lay still and +listened, with a luxurious sense of safety amid the wild tumult. + +"But I am safe, and live at home!" she said softly. Then suddenly +a thought came, like a cold hand laid on her heart, and she sat up +in bed, her breath coming quickly. + +"Bell!" she said, under breath, that she might not wake little +Kitty, "Bell, wake up!" + +"What is it?" asked Bell, turning drowsily on her side. "Not our +turn to get breakfast, you know." + +"There is a storm! Hear it raging outside. Oh, Bell! the birch +canoe! Can you remember whether we put her in the boat-house when +we came in from paddling?" + +Bell was wide awake now, and on her feet in an instant. + +"We did not!" she said, searching frantically for her clothes. "My +dear, we left her; don't you remember? The boys were just cutting +wood, and we thought we would wait till they finished, and then,--what a wretch I am! What IS happening to this skirt?" + +"I am putting it on too," said Hildegarde. "It is mine. Here is +yours. Now a jacket; there, we are all right. Is any one sleeping +on the piazza?" + +"No, they all went up to the pine grove to-night, or last night, +or whenever it was. Have you any idea what time it is? Carefully +now, Hilda. I will open the door, and you must be ready to help me +shut it." + +The two girls stepped out into the black night, and the wind +clutched them. They were thrown violently against the wall of the +hut, but contrived to shut the door and make it fast; then, +bending low and holding by each other, they crept along toward the +boat-house. The waves were dashing against the rocks, the spray +flew in their faces, half blinding them; but it was not very dark, +as there was a moon behind the clouds, and they could see their +way dimly. + +"Do you think we shall find her?" asked Hildegarde under her +breath. + +"I can't hear!" shouted Bell. + +"Do you think we shall find her?" + +Hildegarde thought she was shrieking, but her friend only shook +her head. + +"That comes of asking stupid questions," said Hildegarde to +herself; and she lowered her head and fought her way on in +silence. + +Now, groping with their hands, they found the wall of the +boathouse, and crept along in its lee, sheltered somewhat from the +blast; but when they stepped out on the wharf, the wind seized +them with such fury that Hildegarde tottered, staggered back a +step, and felt the ground slip from under her. Another moment, and +she would have been in the wild water; but Bell held her with a +grasp of steel, and with one strong heave lifted her bodily to the +wharf again. Then she shook her gently, "to bring back your +nerve!" she shouted in explanation; and the next moment recoiled +herself with a shriek that rang above the roar of wind and wave. +Up from the wharf rose two forms, blacker than the blackness of +night and storm, and confronted them. The two girls clung close +together. + +"What is it?" cried Bell, faintly. + +Now Hildegarde was in mortal terror of the storm, but she did not +fear anything that had human shape. "Who are you?" she asked, +sternly. "What are you doing on this wharf?" + +"We are playing on the jewsharp!" replied a familiar voice. "What +are YOU doing, if it comes to that?" + +"Oh, Jerry! oh, Phil! how could you frighten us so? We thought,--I +don't know what we didn't think. We came to see if the canoe was +safe. We forgot to see that you put her up after tea." + +"Just what we came for," said Phil. "She isn't here; I'm afraid +she's gone." + +The girls uttered a cry of dismay. + +"Oh, it can't be! Look in the boathouse, boys; it is possible--" + +"It is highly possible," said Jerry, "that she got up on end and +walked in, as soon as she saw that the weather looked squally. +She's a very sensible boat, but weak in the legs, if you follow +me. I think she's gone; and a very pretty kettle of fish she makes +to seethe two tender bodies in. I wouldn't be us, Fergs, my boy, +when the Cap'n finds it out to-morrow." + +"Wait," said Hildegarde, "oh, wait! Don't let us give up hope. It +will do no harm to look, Jerry." + +"No harm in life," said Jerry. "Just hold on to this wind, will +you, while I get in." + +With some difficulty he opened the boat-house door; then, +sheltered behind it, he struck a match, while all pressed eagerly +forward. There in her place, high and dry, lay the birch canoe. +Nobody said anything for a moment; the relief was too great. +Hildegarde felt the tears come to her eyes, she could not tell +why; but she found herself saying under her breath, "We might have +known he would do it; he always takes care of everything." + +"Roger is a tedious person," said Gerald, turning off his +satisfaction with a laugh. "The amount of virtue that he staggers +under is enough to swamp anybody. He will come to the gallows yet, +you'll see! Human nature must assert itself some time. Whew! there +goes my head! Catch it, Bell, will you?" + +"I am very, VERY hungry!" Phil announced with mournful emphasis. +"It makes me starved to play this kind of game in the middle of +the night. Can't we have some food, to celebrate the safety of the +Cheemaun?" + +"Me, too!" cried Gerald. "I am dying, Egypt, dying! a corpse among +the alders dank---" + +"Oh, do stop, boys!" cried Bell. "I'll push you off the wharf if +you go on so." + +"Oh, wouldn't us lorf, if she pushed us off the wharf!" cried +Gerald. + +"I am cross!" said Bell. "My hair is wound all round my neck, and +I am half strangled. You boys think of nothing but eating from +morning till night. But I am hungry myself, so come along!" + +The four buffeted their way back to the house, and Phil climbed in +at the pantry window and opened the kitchen door for the dripping +party. They lighted a lantern, and judicious rummaging produced +crackers and cheese, gingerbread, and some bottles of root beer. +Merrily the four adventurers gathered round the table, dripping, +rosy and breathless; the girls' long locks hung down over their +shoulders, the boys' short curls were plastered close to their +heads. + +"We must be a lovely sight!" said Bell. "What a pity there is no +one to see us! What do you want, Jerry?" + +"I want raspberry jam, chiefly," said Gerald, "but first I want to +make a speech. I propose a sentiment. Pledging the assembled +company in this beaker of rich wine--. Let go that bottle, +Ferguson, or I'll have your life! that's my beaker, I tell you! +There! now you've upset it. Attendez seulement bis ich dein tete +abhaue!" + +"Take the butter-dish," said Bell. "That will do just as well." + +"I pledge the assembled company in this rich butter," Gerald +continued with dignity, "though it is not so comfortable to drink, +and I propose, first, the confusion of Ferguson, who is a +pettifogger and an armadillo, and, secondly, the health of our +captain, Roger, the Codger, who saved the Cheemaun. Three cheers +for the well-bred captain of the--" + +"Thank you so much!" said Roger, looking in through the window. +"Empty compliments are all very well, but I think I might have +been asked to supper." + +He was hailed with a chorus of shouts, and stepping in through the +window, drew up a stool and sat down by Hildegarde. + +"What HAVE you been doing, children?" he asked, looking round at +the four, who had now arrived at the smoking stage of dampness, +each sending up his little pillar of cloud. + +Four eager voices told him of the search and the finding, and he +smiled quietly as he helped himself to jam. + +"I wonder what you took me for!" he said, "I truly wonder. The +boat went to bed at nine o'clock, with the rest of the children. I +beg your pardon, Miss Grahame," he added, turning to Hildegarde +with his kind, grave smile, "for naming you in company with this +lawless crew of mine." + +"Oh, please," cried Hildegarde, "I like to--I wish I were--" She +stammered, and felt herself blushing in the furious way that makes +a girl the most helpless creature in the world. She would have +given her hand, she thought, to keep back the tide that surged up +over throat and cheek and brow. "When there is nothing earthly to +blush about, ninny!" she almost cried aloud. + +But Bell came to the rescue. "She wishes she were much wiser than +the rest of us, Roger, but she doesn't think she is, and I am +really not so sure about it myself. That is the best part of her: +she's just a girl." + +"Just a girl!" said Roger, looking at Hildegarde; and he looked so +kindly that poor Hildegarde blushed again. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +A-SAILING WE WILL GO. + + +"Friends," said Mrs. Merryweather, "the day is before us. What is +the plan of action?" + +"I go a-fishing," said Roger; "and with me Willy, to take his +first lesson in bass-fishing." + +"I tinker the wharf," said Phil; "and with me Obadiah, to take his +first lesson in useful occupation." + +"Verily and in good sooth," put in Gerald, "the most useful +occupation I can think of, my peripatetic food-absorber, would be +to heave thee into the glassy deep." + +"Like to see you try it!" said Ferguson. + +"Anything to oblige!" replied Obadiah, rising with, alacrity. + +"Don't booby, boys!" said Roger, with quiet authority. "Let other +people have a chance to speak." + +"Hilda and I will make a pie!" said Bell; "'which is werse,' said +Mr. Peggotty, 'though sich were not my intentions.'" + +"And I have gingerbread to make, and raspberries to pick," said +Gertrude, "so Kitty must help me." + +"But what do I see?" cried Gerald, in tragic tones. "A vessel in +the offing, headed in this direction. Now who do you suppose has +the cheek to come here?" + +"Probably some lunatic is thirsty," said Phil, "and wants a glass +of water. You know, Miss Hilda, they come here by the boatload, +asking for water, and we show them the lake and tell 'em to help +themselves. It makes them hop with rage. They say, 'What! do you +drink THIS?' Then, when we tell them that all their water supply +comes from this lake, they grin like a dog and go about the city,--I mean depart on their imbecile way. But these people are all +dressed up. Oh, Momus and Comus! There are girls on board! Come +on, Obadiah!" + +The twins vanished, and the others looked curiously at the +approaching craft. It was a small steam launch, gayly adorned with +paint and streamers; in the bow stood a light, girlish figure, +waving a handkerchief and gesticulating with fervour. + +"Who can it be?" asked Mrs. Merryweather. "The boat is from +Pollock's Cove, isn't it, Roger?" + +"Yes; but I see no one on board that I know. That young lady +evidently thinks she is coming among friends, however. Look! they +are putting out a boat. I will go and see what is wanted." + +He went to the wharf, and the rest waited in some amusement, +thinking that a mistake had been made. To their amazement they saw +Roger, after a moment's parley, help the young lady out of the +boat, which straight-way returned to the launch; before they had +time to exchange wonderments, she was advancing toward them with +outstretched arms. + +"My dearest, dearest Hildegarde! Do I see you again, after so many +years? Quel plaisir! what joy!" + +The young lady was dressed in the extreme of fashion, with little +boots, and little gloves, and a dotted veil, and a chiffon +parasol, and Hildegarde was folded in a perfumed embrace before +she had fairly recognised her visitor. + +"Madge!" she cried, "is it really you?" + +"Myself, cherie! your own Madge. I heard that you were in the +wilderness and flew to you. What a change, my dearest, from---" + +"Mrs. Merryweather," said Hildegarde, her cheeks burning, but her +voice quiet and courteous, "this is Margaret Everton, an old +school-mate of mine. Mrs. Merryweather, Madge, with whom I am +staying. Miss Merryweather, Professor Merryweather, Miss Everton." + +"Oh, hum--mum-m-m-m-m-m!" said Madge, or something that sounded +like it. The Merryweathers welcomed her courteously, and Mrs. +Merryweather asked if she had come over from Pollock's Cove. + +"Oh, yes! I am staying there for a day or two. Some friends of +mine are there, charming people, and I heard that Hildegarde was +here, and of course I flew to see her. She is my oldest and +dearest friend, Mrs. Merryweather." + +"Indeed!" said Mrs. Merryweather, with friendly interest. + +"Yes, indeed. We were at school together, and like twins, except +for the difference in colouring. Ah, les beaux jours d'enfance, +Hilda, my love! And you are quite, quite unchanged since the happy +days at Madame Haut Ton's. 'Queen Hildegarde' we used to call her +then, Miss Merryweather. Yes, indeed! she was the proudest, the +most exclusive girl on Murray Hill. The little aristocratic turn +of her head when she saw anything vulgar or common was quite too +killing. Turn your head, Hilda, my love!" + +Hildegarde coloured hotly. "Please don't be absurd, Madge!" she +said. + +"Pray turn your head, Miss Grahame!" said Roger Merryweather, +gravely. "I am sure it would interest us." + +Hildegarde shot an imploring glance at him, and turned in +desperation to her visitor. + +"It is a long time since I have heard from you, Madge," she said. +"I am sure you must have a great deal to tell me. If Mrs. +Merryweather will excuse us, suppose we go for a little walk +together." + +"Surely, my dear!" exclaimed Mrs. Merryweather, with perhaps +unnecessary cordiality. + +But Madge had made herself very comfortable on the verandah, and +had no intention of stirring just yet. Go scrambling about over +rocks, and tearing herself to pieces among bushes? Hardly. +Besides, one glance had shown her that Professor Merryweather was +uncommonly good-looking. She settled herself gracefully in her +chair, and gave a pretty little sigh. + +"Dear child, I am a wretched walker, alas! You know I never was +strong, and this winter's gaiety quite finished me. I am ordered +to rest, positively, this summer, under the severest penalties. It +was really a terrible winter in New York. Every one said it was a +wonder the girls were not killed, they went such a pace. Do you +never come over to Pollock's Cove, Professor Merryweather? we had +such a charming hop there last night; danced till two o'clock, +with SUCH music! You must positively come over for the next one; +we are to have them every week." + +Roger thanked her, but was not a dancing man, and hops were hardly +in their line out here. + +"Not a dancing man! What a confession, Professor Merryweather! But +I am sure you really dance beautifully; doesn't he, Hilda?" + +"I don't know!" said Hilda, laughing. "He has never asked me to +dance, Madge." + +"Ah! you are quizzing me. I will never believe he could be so +ungallant. But Hilda, I hear that really you live in positive +seclusion, like a nun without a convent. My dear, how tragic, to +pass your best years in this way! I told mamma that I should +positively implore you to come to me this winter, and she said it +was my DUTY. To think of YOU, Hilda, forswearing the world! It is +too BIZARRE! But we have not forgotten our little queen on Murray +Hill; no, no, dear!" + +"You are mistaken, Madge," said Hilda. "I was in New York for +several weeks last winter, staying with Aunt Anna; but you were in +Washington at the time." + +"Oh, but I heard of you!" cried Madge, archly. "I heard how the +whole Hill was at Miss Grahame's feet, and how Bobby Van Sittart +nearly went into a decline because she would not smile on his +suit. I heard--" + +"I think you heard a great deal of nonsense, Madge!" said Hilda +with some asperity. "Come! you would like to see something of the +island before the steamer comes to take you back. I will get the +canoe and take you for a paddle." + +Madge recoiled with a pretty shriek. + +"Oh, horrors! Trust myself in a horrid tippy canoe, with a girl? +Never, my dear! I value my life too highly, I assure you. But +there is a sailboat! I dote on sailing, and I am sure Professor +Merryweather is a superb sailor." + +Professor Merryweather rose with a smile, and would be charmed to +take the young ladies out in the Keewaydin. + +"Oh, but, Captain Roger, you were going out fishing!" cried +Hildegarde, her cheeks crimson with mortification. + +Roger looked at her with a twinkle. "The fishes are not expected +to migrate just yet, and there is a good wind for sailing. Pray +come, Miss Grahame!" + +Madge was already on her feet, fluttering with coquetry; and +Hildegarde, after a despairing glance at Mrs. Merryweather, saw +that she could do nothing but lead the way to the wharf. + +"Won't you come, Bell?" she asked wistfully; but Bell was cruel, +and said she must attend to her cooking; adding for the special +edification of the stranger that she had the floor to scrub and +the fish to clean. In silence Hildegarde walked down the wharf; +she was thoroughly upset, and turning to look back to the house, +it did not restore her composure to see Obadiah and Ferguson +standing on their hands on the piazza, waving their feet in the +air with every demonstration of frantic joy. + +The little rowboat was unmoored, and a few quick strokes brought +them alongside the Keewaydin. Hildegarde had never thought it +could be anything but pleasure to her to board this beloved +vessel, but she found herself now wishing that sailing had never +been invented. She glanced timidly at Roger, but there was no +expression in his face as he handed Madge on board, and replied +gravely to her lively questions. Madge was treading on air. They +had told her at Pollock's Cove that she would not be able to get a +word out of the handsome young professor; and here he was at her +side, perhaps--who knew?--soon to be at her feet. A little absent-minded, to be sure, but they were often that way when a strong +impression had been made. As for poor Hilda, it was really +lamentable to see how utterly she had lost her savoir-faire, +living in the wilderness. Here was this charming man, really with +the bel air, and distinguished in some way or other, and she was +as mute as a fish. Really, it was a charity to come and see her. + +"Would you like to take the helm, Miss Hilda?" asked Roger. + +Hilda thanked him with a glance, and took her place at the tiller +in silence. + +"Oh, Professor Merryweather! are you really going to trust us to +Hilda's steering? I am sure, now, you think girls are too ignorant +to know anything about that sort of thing. I wonder at you! OUR +lives may not be of much consequence, because, of course, we are +only silly little girls, but to risk your own life so, really, I +am surprised." + +She paused for the compliment that should follow, but Roger only +said, "Bear away, please!" and loosened the sheet a little. + +"Did your ears burn yesterday, Professor Merryweather? I am sure +they must have. Everybody was talking about you at the hotel, and +they said you had done something so remarkable,--something about a +prism, wasn't it? You remember, Hilda, all the prisms on the +chandeliers at Madame Haut Ton's! Do yours go on a chandelier, +Professor Merryweather?" + +"Not exactly!" said Roger. "You have a large party at Pollock's, I +believe, Miss Everton? I think I heard the Sinclairs say they were +to be there this month." + +"Oh, aren't the Sinclairs enchanting?" cried Madge, with effusion. +"And isn't Jack simply delicious? I danced with him ten times last +night, and each dance was better than the last. Professor +Merryweather, I shall give you no peace till you promise to come +over for the next hop." + +"We are not to expect peace in this world, are we?" said Roger, +smiling. "Steady, Miss Grahame! as you are!" + +"I think nautical terms are too delicious!" cried Madge. "And that +reminds me, Hilda, Grace Atherleigh has just come back from +Europe. She has been away three years, you know; in Paris most of +the time,--dear Paris! Don't you adore it, Professor Merryweather? +And she has brought back forty-three dresses. Yes, my dear, it is +true, for I had it from her aunt, Mrs. Gusham. Forty-three +dresses, all made this spring. And she had the most horrible time +at the custom-house--" + +"Madge," said Hildegarde, as patiently as she could, "will you +please wait for the stories till we get back to the wharf? I must +attend to the steering, and I cannot listen at the same time." + +"My dear, I am dumb! I only just want to tell you before I forget +it--you know what a wretched memory I have--what happened--" + +"Luff!" said Roger, suddenly. "Luff, child, LUFF!" + +Startled and confused, Hildegarde tried to do as she was told, +but, in her distress, did exactly the opposite, and bore away; a +grating sound was heard: the boat slid forward a few feet and +stopped short. + +"Oh, what have I done?" cried poor Hilda. + +"Nothing of consequence! We have run on a shoal, that is all. Sit +steady, please, ladies!" + +Roger was overboard in an instant, up to his waist in water, +pushing at the boat. Hilda sat dumb and scarlet, and even Madge +was subdued for the time, and murmured exclamations under her +breath. It was only a moment; a few vigorous shoves set the +Keewaydin afloat again, and Roger leaped lightly in. + +"Perhaps I would better take the tiller this time!" he said. "The +bottom seems to be shoal all about here. And if you and Miss +Everton will sit a little forward, Hilda, you will be more +comfortable; I fear I cannot help dripping like hoary Nereus all +over the stern here." + +He had never called her by her name before. Hildegarde reflected +that for once she could not blush, being already a Tyrian purple. +Of course it slipped out without his knowing it; but she was +conscious of Madge's gaze, and for once was thankful for her +crimson cheeks. + +This incident, or something else, had a quieting effect upon Miss +Everton, and the sail home was a silent one. Roger was not +inclined to talk, and he had a power of silence which was apt to +extend to his companions; so they were all relieved when the +Keewaydin glided gracefully to her moorings, and Ferguson appeared +in the small boat to take them ashore. + +"This is my brother Philip, Miss Everton!" said Roger. "Now if you +will step into the boat, he will take you and Miss Grahame ashore, +while I make all fast here. If you will take his hand, and be +careful to step in the middle of the boat. In the MIDDLE of the +boat, Miss Everton! Ah!" For Madge, with an airy leap, had +alighted full on the gunwale. Down went the boat; the girl tried +to regain her balance, but in vain, and after a few moments' +frantic struggle, fell headlong into the water. + +Phil had thrown himself to starboard the moment he felt the shock +of her alighting, hoping to counterbalance her weight; but he was +too light. Now, however, he leaned swiftly forward, and caught the +little French boots as they disappeared under the clear water. +There was nothing else to be done. In this ignominious way, feet +foremost, poor Madge had to be dragged in over the gunwale, +dripping and shrieking. + +"You odious boy!" she cried, as soon as she could find breath. +"You did it on purpose! You tried to drown me, I know you did!" + +Hildegarde hastened to her assistance. Roger, his face set like a +rock, but his eyes dancing wickedly, proffered his aid, but was +peevishly repulsed. As for Phil, he could only try to control +himself, and murmured broken excuses between the gusts of laughter +which shook him like a reed. Madge was a sorry sight, all her gay +plumes broken and dripping, her spotted veil in a little wet mop +over one eye, her floating curls reduced to forlorn strings of wet +hair, her light dress clinging about her. How different from the +bright bird of paradise that had so lately fluttered down on the +camp, bent on conquest! Now her only thought was to escape. Mrs. +Merryweather met her on the wharf with open arms and a warm +blanket, and she was brought to the camp, and dried and warmed as +quickly as possible. But Madge's temper, none of the sweetest by +nature, was completely spoiled; she had only peevish or sullen +answers for all the expressions of sympathy and condolence that +were poured out by the kindly campers. It was all the boy's fault, +and there was no excuse for him. She ought to have known better +than to come among such. But here Hilda pressed her hand, and said +"Be still!" in a low tone, but with a flash of the eye that so +forcibly recalled the "Queen Hildegarde" of old days that Madge +subsided, and whimpered to herself till the steamer came to take +her back to Pollock's Cove. + +When she was gone Hildegarde slipped away, saying that she would +pick some apples for tea; and on reaching the apple tree, she sat +down under its hanging branches and indulged in a good cry, a rare +luxury for her. It was a comfort to let the tears come, and to +tell the friendly tree over and over again that he would never +forgive her; that she was the most imbecile creature that ever +lived, and that Madge was the only person she deserved to have for +a friend, and that, now the others had found her out, the sooner +she went home to her mother the better. Her mother would not +expect her to be sensible; her mother knew better than to expect +things of her. She was not fit to be with these people, who were +so terribly clever, and knew so many things: and so on and so on, +in the most astonishing way, our quiet, self-possessed girl +sobbing and crying as if her heart would break, utterly amazed at +herself, and wondering all the time what was the matter with her, +and whether she would ever be able to stop. + +She stopped suddenly enough; for Roger, coming through the fields +with the milk, heard this piteous sobbing, and setting down his +cans, parted the branches of the apple tree, saying in his kindest +voice: "Why, my Kitty, my Pretty, what is the matter with you? who +hurt my little--I--I beg your pardon, Miss Grahame!" + +Hildegarde felt the hand of fate very heavy on her, but was quite +helpless, and sobbed harder than ever. + +What was a poor professor to do? Fortunately, Roger had plenty of +sisters, and knew that a girl did not kill herself when she cried. +After a moment's thought, in which he reminded himself severely +that he was getting to be an old fellow, and might be this child's +uncle, he came under the tree and sat down on the grass. + +"Can you tell me what troubles you?" he asked, still in the gentle +voice that was rather specially Kitty's privilege. "You have had +no bad news?" + +Hilda shook her head. + +"Perhaps if you were to tell me what the trouble is, I could help +you; or would you rather I would go away and not bother you?" + +No! Hildegarde, to her own amazement, would rather he stayed. +Whereupon, Roger, drawing from his experience of girls, perceived +that there was nothing to do but sit and wait till the storm had +spent itself. So he picked the apples within his reach, and +reflected on the feminine character. + +Presently a small and shaken voice said from under the +handkerchief, "I--am so sorry--you got wet, Captain Roger!" + +"Got wet?" said Roger, vaguely. He was generally more or less wet, +being an amphibious creature, and did not for the moment grasp +Hildegarde's meaning. + +"I ran--the--boat aground, and you jumped overboard, and got--all +wet!" and Hildegarde sobbed afresh. + +"You don't mean--" said Roger. "You are not troubled about THAT?" + +But it appeared that Hildegarde was troubled about that. + +"My dear child, do you think I did not see that it was not your +fault? You were doing beautifully, if that--if Miss Everton had +let you alone for an instant. And do you think I mind a wetting, +or twenty wettings? Miss Hilda, I thought you knew better than +that." + +"I was so stupid!" said Hildegarde, wiping her eyes, and trying to +speak evenly. "I thought you were very angry, because you were so +silent. I thought you would never--" + +"Silent, was I? Well, you know I am in a brown study half the +time. Isn't that why they call me Roger the Codger? But this +time,--oh, I remember! I was trying to make out how that shoal +came to be there, when it is not buoyed out on the map. Come, Miss +Hilda, you must laugh now!" + +And Hilda laughed, and dried her eyes, and looked up, + + "All kinder smily round the lips, + And teary round the lashes." + +"That's right!" said Roger, heartily. "Now you shall be Kitty, and +we will---we will shake hands and be friends, and eat an apple +together. Kitty and I always do that when we have had a tiff." + +So they did; and the apples on that tree were the best apples in +the world. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +IN PERIL BY WATER. + + +"All aboard!" said Roger. + +"Ay! ay! Captain!" said Hildegarde, cheerily. She handed in the +groceries which they had bought at the little store, half a mile +away, stepped lightly into the exact middle of the canoe, and sank +with one motion to her seat. + +Roger nodded approvingly. "You are perfect in your entrances!" he +said. "Some day I shall have to drill you in your exits, as I did +the girls." + +"What do you mean?" asked Hilda. "Don't I get out properly?" + +"Quite well enough for ordinary occasions. But I made the girls +put on their bathing-dresses, and then took them out and tipped +them over, so that they would know just what to do." + +"Thank you kindly. As I have not my bathing-dress on to-day, +please don't give me a lesson just now." + +They paddled on in silence; the two had become fast friends since +the day of Madge's visit, and had had many pleasant paddles +together. Hildegarde looked about her, at peace with all the +world. Pollock's Cove was a thousand miles away, and there was +nothing to break the spirit of peace that brooded over the water. + +Are you so sure, Hilda? + +The girl's face was set toward the land; she saw the wooded island +with its fringe of silver birches standing like sentinels to guard +the water's edge; she saw the lovely tangle of asters and golden-rod that gave it its name of Royal Island, and the strip of sand +on which the waves were lapping gently; but she saw nothing of the +west behind her. + +"What are you watching so earnestly, Captain?" she said presently. +"No boats, I hope?" + +"No, no boats! we may have a shower by-and-bye; but I hope we +shall get home in time." + +It was a curious sky that Roger was watching. The day had been +smoky throughout, with ragged brown clouds hanging about the +horizon, and thunder muttering low in the distance. The smoky +fringe might well come from the forest fires which were raging in +a neighbouring district, Roger thought, and the thunder was an +every-day matter of hot weather; but now the clouds were beginning +to thicken at one point, and their ragged edges turned to firmer +roundings, and their hue was fast deepening to black. Roger +paddled with strong, even strokes, and the canoe flew over the +water. The distant thunder-growl took on a more insistent voice, +and every now and then came a long rolling note, which seemed to +pass on and over their heads. + +"'Hear now how dey roll de great balls about,'" quoted Hildegarde. +"If we were in the Catskills, we might look out for Hendrik Hudson +and his men, after such a peal as that." + +"I am afraid we may have to look out for ourselves!" said Roger, +laughing. "I begin to feel rather doubtful about getting home +before the storm, Miss Hilda." + +"It is growing dark, isn't it?" said Hilda, innocently. "Will it +be much of a shower, do you think, Captain?" + +"Well,--I think we may observe slight alterations in the +atmospheric conditions. You are not afraid of a squall?" + +"No, indeed! only tell me what I must do." + +"Nothing but sit still--the hardest thing for some people to do; +but I have noticed that you are not fidgety. Is your hat securely +fastened?" + +"As securely as my head!" + +"That is well. Stand by, then, and be ready, for it is coming +pretty near." + +Roger was used to every variety of weather, but he had been wholly +unprepared for the velocity of the storm which was moving down the +lake. The clouds, which, a moment before, it seemed, had been +merely a thickening of the general smoky condition, were now +gathered into a heavy mass, dense blackness fringed with a misty +gleam. It came sweeping over the water toward them, devouring the +sunlight. A rushing sound was heard, that rose into a roar. +"Steady, now!" said Roger. "Steady, child! and don't be +frightened. Here it comes!" + +Next moment they were struck, beaten, blinded. For a moment +Hildegarde struggled for breath, so furious was the onset of the +storm; she crouched low in the canoe, but remained perfectly +still. The wind tore at them as if with frantic hands that sought +their life; the water hissed under them, raced past them madly. No +waves could rise under the raging gale, but black flaw after flaw +flew along the surface of the lake. The rain fell in torrents; the +falling streams were caught by the wind, tossed hither and +thither, twisted into fantastic shapes of spray, sent flying +forward, forward with the storm. + +No glimpse of land could be seen now; the night was around them,--night gone mad, and they helpless toys in its grasp. Helpless? No! +for Roger's strong arm kept the tiny boat steady, as she drove +before the wind. His face was streaming with rain, his fair hair +tossed wildly over his brow, but his look was steadfast as ever, +and now and then he glanced at Hildegarde and smiled +encouragement. Bewildered at first, Hildegarde felt no fear, and +presently, seeing the quiet confidence of her companion, a wild +exhilaration possessed her. She had read of this kind of thing; it +had been a dream, a picture in her mind always; now she was +wrapped in the great storm, almost a part of it, borne along on +its wings like the birds that beat their wings past her upon the +gale. The lightning, which till now had shaken quivering lances of +flame across the black water, a flash, then darkness, then again a +flash, now became continuous, playing in lambent flames amid the +blackness, lighting up the wild turmoil of wind and wave and +cloud. The thunder rolled without pause,--overhead, around, +beneath them. Crash! boom! crash! And all the while the water +hissed past them; all the while the wind buffeted and shook them, +and the rain lashed their faces with stinging whips. The frail +canoe quivered like a living thing in mortal terror. What would be +the end? + +The end came soon enough. Hildegarde was suddenly brought down +from her airy castle of storm-wrapped bliss by hearing Roger's +voice, high-pitched to carry across the uproar, saying with calm +emphasis, "Take off your shoes! We shall very likely go over when +we round this point. If we do, strike out at once, and swim till I +get hold of you." + +Hildegarde nodded, and pulled off her low shoes; then she tried to +think how it would feel to be flung into this mad water. The next +moment the wind, which had lulled for an instant,--or had it only +recoiled to take a fresh spring?--the wind rushed out of the +darkness, and caught the canoe. It was a breathless struggle, man +against the powers of air and of water. Hilda saw the powerful +arms braced like steel to meet the onset, saw the quiet face set +like marble, clenched teeth and frowning brow,--and saw no more, +for here the canoe, having borne all that birch-bark could bear, +capsized, and the girl found herself in the black water. + +Down, down, down! Was she going to the bottom? She struck out +blindly, as she had been told, trying to keep her thoughts +together. They said that drowning was pleasant; but she did not +want to drown. Should she ever be able to breathe again? Her dress +clung about her ankles, the water hummed and buzzed in her ears, +in her nostrils; but still she swam bravely. Suddenly she felt a +strong arm thrown round her, and in another moment her head was +out of water. Oh, the blessed air of heaven! how she drank it in, +in deep, gasping breaths! Just to be alive, to breathe, was +happiness enough. Roger was swimming strongly and steadily with +one arm, holding her with the other. He caught the paddle in his +teeth as it floated by, and at first Hildegarde could think of +nothing but how funny he looked, like a great fair-haired dog +swimming about. He had righted the canoe, and now flung the paddle +into it, and turned to Hildegarde. "All right? Thank Heaven! Take +hold by the bow, and I will tow you ashore." + +"I can swim," said Hildegarde. "I am all right, truly. Can't I +swim on the other side and help her along, instead of hindering?" + +"To be sure. Hurrah for you!" + +Hilda grasped the canoe with her left hand and tried to swim with +her right. She could do little, however, against the furious +battling of wind and wave; and Captain Roger set his teeth, and +wondered whether he was going to be beaten this time. "I won't!" +he said aloud to the storm; and shook his head, lion-like, and +braced his strong shoulders, and swam on grimly. A few moments of +silent, breathless fighting, the wind screeching, like Bedlam +loose, the foam driving and hissing, the lightning blazing, +incessant, maddening. + +Could they reach the shore? Hildegarde asked herself. Was this +only prolonging the agony, dragging this brave man to death with +her, on her account? If he were not hampered with her, he would +have been safe on shore before this. If she were a girl in a +story-book, she would loose her hold now, and sink silently; but +she was not a girl in a story-book. She was a very real Hilda +Grahame, and she did not want to sink. And how could our poor +Hilda know that the Merryweather obstinacy was roused, and that +Roger meant to save her and himself, and the canoe, too, if he had +to swim across the lake to do it? But now she heard him cry out, +in a joyful tone: "Courage, little girl! here we are, all right!" + +Next moment,--oh, joy! oh, wonder past belief! she felt the ground +beneath her feet. She was walking, standing upright on the good, +solid, blessed earth. The canoe touched bottom, grazed, floated +again, then grounded gently and was still. + +"Shake yourself as well as you can," said Roger, "while I haul her +up. So, now then! under this, and here we are!" + +In the turn of a hand he hauled the canoe up on the sand, turned +it over, and drew Hildegarde beneath the shelter. A clump of +bushes broke the force of the wind, so they could breathe in +peace, without having to fight for every breath. + +For a few minutes they sat in silence, panting, dripping, gazing +at each other with dilated eyes. Their thoughts were utterly +irrelevant, as thoughts are apt to be after a great crisis. Roger +was thinking that a pretty face looked much prettier wet than dry, +and compared apples and flowers; Hildegarde wondered if Saint +Bernard dogs could swim. "Because Newfoundlands are black, you +know," she found herself saying aloud in an explanatory tone. + +"I beg your pardon!" said Roger, remorsefully. "I--I am afraid you +are very wet." + +Hildegarde felt that she must either cry or laugh, so she laughed. +"If it were not for you, Captain, I should not be alive now. I +should have gone down, down,--and the water was so black. Was it +ever anything but black in that place?" Her voice shook, but she +pulled herself together instantly. "Why do you look troubled, +Captain?" she asked. "The island is solid, isn't it?" + +"You are so wet!" said Roger again, more ruefully than before. + +"No wetter than you!" said Hilda, with a little laugh. Indeed, +they were both streaming with water, and looked like a merman and +mermaid very much out of their element. + +"I? Oh, I never know whether I am wet or dry. But it is different +for you; you will take cold, or--or something, won't you?" + +"You are afraid I shall melt?" asked Hildegarde. She stooped down +and gathered her skirt together, wringing little floods of water +from it. "No, I don't think I shall melt, really, Captain. Do I +look as if I were melting?" + +"You look--" began Roger, and stopped suddenly, and then wondered +why he stopped, and told himself he was an ass. + +"Speaking of melting, reminds me," he said, laughing. He felt in +his pockets, and produced a small parcel. "I hope this is not +melted. No, it is all right. Have some chocolate, and let us make +merry on our desert island! See! the worst of the squall is over. +It is lightening already; I can see the nearest island." + +"Yes, and the water begins to show grey, instead of all black and +white. But has this really been nothing more than a squall, +Captain Roger?" + +"Oh, if you like the dignities of meteorology, I think we might +very properly call this a tornado." + +"A tornado! I have been out in a tornado! And how splendid it all +is!" + +Roger laughed again. "Splendid, eh? So it is! Rather good fun, +too, now we are on dry land." + +"Glorious fun!" cried Hildegarde. + +The water still raced past at their feet; the rain still poured +down, the thunder cracked and roared and bellowed, and the +lightning blazed. But under the canoe it was really quite dry, +considering; and the chocolate was excellent, and, on the whole, +both Hildegarde and Roger thought well of tornadoes. + +Meanwhile, there were some anxious faces at the camp. The storm +had broken there as suddenly as out on the lake. Bell and Gertrude +were out fishing, but fortunately near the shore, and they reached +home just as the fury broke loose. Obadiah and Ferguson were blown +in on the gale, turning handsprings as they came, and singing + + "Oh, I'd give a sight + For to be a kite + When the wind is howly-wowling!" + +Willy and Kitty were discovered, after a few minutes' anxious +search, under the great apple-tree, in high glee because it was +raining apples, and the wind would mash them, and the lightning +would cook them, and there was no need of coming home to tea, with +apple-sauce growing on every tree. Being hoisted on the shoulders +of the twins, they changed their point of view, and turning into +Arabs mounted on camels, capered joyously into the house, to +escape the sand-storm of the desert. Mr. Merryweather, who was +spending a day or two in camp, came in from the boathouse, where +he was tinkering boats as usual. The whole party sat down, wet and +dishevelled, and drew breath as they looked at each other. + +"Well, this is a visitation!" said Mr. Merryweather. "Why didn't +some of you tell me what was going on?" + +"None of us knew till we found our faces slapped and our hair +pulled out," said Bell. "This is a surprise-party, I think, got up +for our special benefit." + +"Are we all here?" asked Mrs. Merryweather. "Let me count! One, +two, three, four, five, six, and you and I, Miles, make eight. But +where are Roger and Hilda?" + +"Out in the Cheemaun!" was the reply in chorus. There was a +general exclamation of dismay, then each one commented in his +fashion. + +"Cricky!" said Phil. "The Professor will have a great chance for +meteoro-lolli-lolli-logical observations, won't he?" + + "I fear, my gentle Roger, + You'll be as wet as Bodger!" + +said Gerald. + +"Who is Bodger?" asked little Kitty. + +"Bodger, my blessed child, was a stodger, and a codger, and a very +artful dodger; he carried his bones to David Jones, and asked to +be took as a lodger." + +"Do be quiet, Jerry!" said Bell. "Father, can the canoe stand such +a gale as this?" + +"And Hilda had on her BEST DRESS!" said Kitty, with tragic +emphasis. + +"Ho! Hilda doesn't care for dresses!" said Willy, scornfully. "I +got wheel-grease all over her skirt, the other day, and she didn't +say a word." + +"I do feel anxious, Miles," said Mrs. Merryweather. "This is an +awful gale." + +"Pooh! pooh!" said her husband. "Roger knows how to take care of +himself, and Hilda too. Boys, is the skiff well moored?" + +The boys knew it was, but thought it would be well to see, and +disappeared by handsprings into the darkness. A double splash, +followed by joyous shouts, announced their arrival on and +departure from the wharf; and they shortly reappeared, dripping +and gleeful. + +"Boys, how can you!" exclaimed their mother. "This is the fifth +time you have been in to-day; besides, I have just tidied up this +room. Go away with you, and drip in the tent." + +"He pushed me off, and I pulled him in!" said Phil, in +explanation. "Very sorry, shall not occur again." + +"I wanted to see how deep the water was," said Gerald. "Very +important, you know, to take soundings in a storm." + +"Still more important to quicken the circulation after a cold +bath," said Mr. Merryweather, taking up a leather strap from the +table. The boys shrieked, and vanished through the window in a +fine harlequin act. + +The lightning blazed incessantly, the wind howled and roared about +the camp, and the thunder pounded and smashed the clouds overhead. +Bell and her mother drew closer together, and Kitty nestled down +between them, and held a hand of each, "to keep herself safe." + +"If the lightning strikes the camp, what shall we do?" asked +Willy. + +"I think we shall be very likely to keep still!" said his father, +dryly. + +"Miles, how can you?" said Mrs. Merryweather. "I wonder you can +joke, with those two children out in the canoe in this horror!" + +"My dear, I would gladly weep, if I thought it would be of any +assistance to Roger; as it is, I rather fancy he is quite as well +off as we are, if not bet--" + +Crack! The world turned to blue light, showing a ring of ghastly +faces, looking terror at each other; then the sky fell, and all +was night. + +"All speak who are unhurt!" said Mr. Merryweather's calm voice; +and no one would have guessed the anguish of suspense in which he +waited for the reply. But it came in a chorus: "Miranda!" "Bell!" +"Gertrude!" "Will!" "Kitty!" + +"Thank God!" said Miles Merryweather. "That was a close call. +Boys, are you all right?" He stepped to the window as he spoke. + +"All right, father!" For once the boys' voices sounded grave; as +the pall of darkness lifted, they entered, very pale, and holding +each other tightly by the hand. "The big oak is struck!" they +said. "Shivered into kindling-wood. We were just going to climb +it, to look at the storm." + +"We don't like this!" said Gerald. "We feel very much +uncomfortable inside us, and we want our mother." + +And sure enough, the two tall fellows sat down on the floor by +their mother, and put their heads in her lap; and she patted the +curly heads, and talked to them soothingly, and forgot that they +were not still her little lads, whom she had rocked in her arms +together many and many a time. + +"Your nerves are upset," said their father. "Always the case when +a stroke comes so near as that. If you ever feel inclined to climb +a tree in a thunderstorm again, just mention it to me, and I will +see to you." He spoke lightly, but he took occasion to pass near +the boys, and laid his hand on them, as if to make sure that they +were really there and safe, and rubbed their shoulders and gave +them a little affectionate slap. + +For a while they sat quiet, for all were still quivering from the +blow that had passed so near them. Gradually the fury of the storm +abated; the lightning ceased to play continuously, and though each +separate flash was still terribly vivid, yet the pauses between +gave strength and refreshment to the wearied eyes and nerves. The +great shocks of thunder rolled heavily, but still farther and +farther away. The storm was moving off across the lake, and one +thought was in the hearts of all--the birch canoe. How was it with +those two, alone in that frail boat in the wild tempest? It seemed +hours that they sat there, waiting and listening. At length--"It +is lighter now," said Mr. Merryweather. "Come, boys, let us go +down to the wharf, and see what we can see. Hark! what was that?" + +For a moment every heart stood still. Then Mrs. Merryweather began +to cry, and Bell and Gertrude and Kitty all fell into her arms and +round her neck, and sobbed in chorus; but the boys started to +their feet with a wild "Hurrah!" and dashed out of the house, +followed by their father and Willy. For now, clearer every moment +and clearer, came ringing across the water the words of the Skye +Boat Song, sung by joyous voices of a youth and a maiden. + + "Speed, bonny boat, like a bird on the wing, + Onward, the sailors cry. + Carry the lad that's born to be king + Over the sea to Skye." + +"But Roger is not a king!" said Gerald, with a queer little break +in his voice. "He is only a codger!" + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +ROGER THE CODGER. + + +"Miranda!" said Roger. + +"Yes, my dear brother!" + +"Tum te-tiddle-de-tum, tum, tum, tum!" + +"Yes, my dear brother." + +"I--oh, I beg your pardon; that isn't what I meant to say, of +course. A--the moon is in perigee now, you know." + +"Roger," said his sister-in-law, looking up from her sewing, "you +know there is no earthly use in saying that kind of thing to me. +'Perigee' suggests nothing to me but periwig, and it is painful to +think of the moon in so unbecoming a head-gear. Are you quite sure +that THAT was what you were going to say?" + +Roger laughed, looked a little confused, and threw stones into the +water; Mrs. Merryweather sewed on buttons and waited. + +"I shall be twenty-five next week," was the professor's next +remark. "I--a--I am getting to be quite an old fogy." + +"Your teeth and digestion are still good," said his sister-in-law, +with provoking composure; "and you are able--generally speaking--to get about without a stick." + +"Pshaw!" said Roger. He laughed again, and threw out his powerful +arms. He was lying at full length on the verandah, his handsome +head propped against one of the pillars, framed in a mass of +woodbine and trumpet-vine. Mrs. Merryweather looked at him, and +thought that with the exception of her Miles and her boys, she had +never seen a finer-looking fellow. Every line of the lithe, +elastic figure was instinct with power; the face, from the broad +upright brow to the firm chin, was alight with thought and +intelligence. But the blue eyes, usually so clear in their grave +gaze, held a shadow to-day, a curious look of shyness, one might +almost say shamefacedness. Mrs. Merryweather gazed at him, and +thought her own thoughts, but she knew her husband's family, and +held her peace. + +"That is a very lovely girl, Miranda!" was the Professor's next +remark. + +"Meaning Gertrude--?" said this wicked woman, innocently. + +"Oh,--I mean Hilda, of course! She is remarkably intelligent, +don't you think so?" + +Mrs. Merryweather assented warmly, and added praises of her own. +Hildegarde's little ears would surely have burned if she could +have heard the good lady. As for Roger, he listened with great +complacency. + +"Yes!" he said. "She is sympathetic, and unselfish,--remarkably +so, it seems to me; and--and she takes an interest in things,--I +mean real things, such, as girls usually care nothing about." + +"Perigees, for example," said his sister-in-law. + +"Well," said Roger, laughing, "yes, I suppose I do mean perigees, +and that kind of thing. They are not in your line, Miranda, I +know." + +"Oh, but I respect them!" said Mrs. Merryweather. "There is +nothing I respect more highly than a perigee, unless it be an +apogee, which always sounds like the beginning of an incantation. +So Hilda likes them, does she?" + +"Of course," said Roger, slowly, skipping stones over the pond +with thoughtful accuracy; "she has never studied any of these +things, but she has really an astonishing aptitude for them. And +her hand is so steady, and she has such a true eye." + +"Was that why you kept her sitting on a rock, waving a towel, for +three mortal hours, yesterday morning?" asked his sister-in-law, +dryly. + +Roger turned scarlet. + +"Was it so long?" he said. "I didn't know--I never noticed. I--was +taking observations, you know, and she seemed so--did she say she +was tired? Was I a brute? Of course I was!" + +"Don't go off at a tangent, or whatever you call the thing!" said +Mrs. Merryweather. "She said she had had a most delightful +morning, and that waving a towel had been her favourite amusement +from baby-hood." + +Roger looked wistfully at his sister-in-law. They were genuinely +fond of each other, but they spoke different languages, and he +sometimes found it difficult to follow her turns of speech. He was +silent for a few minutes, absorbed in calculating the curves of +his stones, which really skimmed in an astonishing manner. + +"I suppose," he said, presently, watching a particularly +adventurous pebble, "I suppose, Miranda, that I must seem--well--quite an old fellow, to such a young creature as that?" + +Mrs. Merryweather had a quizzical reply on the tip of her tongue, +but glancing at Roger's face, thought better of it, and merely +said, "My dear boy, don't be absurd!" + +"I don't mean to be absurd," said Roger, sitting upright, and +forgetting his pebbles. "But--well, I am a kind of grandfather to +all the children, you know, and she would naturally--eh? regard me +in the same light. That--a--that seems perfectly reasonable, +doesn't it?" + +Mrs. Merryweather made no reply. Roger followed the direction of +her eyes, and saw Hildegarde and Gerald coming up from the wharf. +Hildegarde had been drying her hair after the daily swim, and it +hung in long locks over her shoulders; the tall boy was bending +over her, pleading earnestly for something. + +"Just a little bit!" he said, as they came within hearing. "Oh, I +say, Miss Hilda, just a scrap. You have such lots, you never would +miss it. Just a little lock of hair!" + +Roger Merryweather's face grew very grave. He did not move, but +his grasp tightened on the pebble in his hand. + +"What do you want of it?" said downright Hilda, laughing and +tossing her tawny mane. Mrs. Merryweather listened for the +faintest shade of coquetry in the girl's tone, found none, and +listened on, well content. + +"What do I want of it?" cried Gerald. "What a question!-- + + "O Hilda, fair beyond compare! + I'll make a garland of thy hair, + Shall twine my heart forevermair, + Until the day I dee!" + +"Very proper!" said Hilda. "I am glad to find that you know your +ballads. What else will you do with it, for example?" + + "Wi' ae lock o' thy yellow hair + I'll theek my nest when it grows bare!" + +Gerald went on. "The excelsior is coming out of my mattress, and I +thought--" + +"I can't spare enough for that," said Hildegarde. "Any other uses +for my poor hair?" + +"The Mater has a single hair of George Washington's, done up in a +gold snuffbox," cried the boy. "If you'll give me two, I will hunt +up a snuffbox. There's a fine old stingo in the Chemical Works who +takes snuff, and I will get his, and give him a tomato can +instead, and keep one hair in that." + +"And the other?" Hilda persisted, taking the long tresses in her +hand, and running them through her fingers in a tantalizing +manner,--"the other hair, Master Obadiah?" + +"Oh, dear! what a persistent thing a girl is! I--must you really +know? Because you mightn't like it, if I told you the truth." The +ingenuous youth here turned a somersault, and coming up on one +knee, remained in an attitude of supplication, clasping his hands +imploringly. Hilda laughed, but still caressed her locks, unmoved. + +"The other hair!" she said. + +"Well, if you MUST know, I want to make a new kind of fly for the +bass. They aren't biting at all, and your hair is just the colour, +to a shade. There! that is the terewth. Do you mind?" + +"Mind, you foolish boy? You might have had your fly made by this +time. Here, give me your knife!" + +She stood still, and severed a long, fair tress, which she laid in +Gerald's hand. + +"There! that will make a whole swarm of flies; and if there is any +left over, you can theek your nest with it." + +At this moment she looked up and saw the Professor sitting on the +verandah, watching her. Her face lighted up with the brightest +smile, Roger thought, that he had ever seen, and she hastened +forward. + +"Oh, Captain! I was afraid I was too late. Aren't you going to +take observations this morning? And mayn't I go too? Here is my +towel, all ready." + +Gerald clapped his hand to his face, with an exclamation of acute +pain. + +"My dear boy, what is the matter?" cried his mother and Hildegarde +in one breath. + +"It is--nothing!" gasped the boy, sitting down on the edge of the +verandah. "Where is the glue?" + +"The glue!" repeated Hilda. + +"Le Page's glue! My nose has become disjointed, and I would fain +repair it. I am suffering excruciating torments; but don't mind +me. Go on your towelled and triumphant way, and leave the noseless +wretch to pine alone!" + +"And make his flies!" said Hilda. "You miserable boy, you really +took me in. Good-by, dear madam; I will get Bell, and we will +surely be home in time for dinner this time. Won't we, Captain?" +But the Captain did not commit himself. + +"Mater," said Gerald, watching the two as they walked away +together, "do you think--" + +"Not often!" said his mother. "It is a dangerous occupation." + +"True!" said Gerald. "Well, if I mustn't think, where is Phil?" + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +A MORNING HOUR. + + +It is morning in the Lonely Cove. Before and around lies a broad +stretch of glimmering water, dotted here and there with great +stumps, and lined about the shore with dead trees. Dams built in +the river beyond have raised the level of the lake, and hundreds +of trees have died. + +On every side is a network of gnarled and knotted roots. The black +limbs grapple with each other; here one has dragged his neighbour +over, and he lies with arms outstretched, writhen into antic +twists and curves, as if he had died in torment; there, in +singular contrast, are two friends,--oaks, were they once?--who +have fallen into one another's arms, and, dead, seem still to +embrace and uphold each other tenderly. + +Here again are stumps that gleam like gray silver, bare and +polished, worn by storms and winds. The shining water is clear, +and one sees the bottom covered with particles of wood, chipped +from the rotting trees, preserved by the water from further decay. + +Through this silent water glides the Cheemaun, Hilda in the bow--where is Hilda so happy as in the birch canoe?--Roger paddling in +the stern. As the paddle dips, bubbles rise and burst, large and +round. Behind, the dark woods curve in a lovely line; between wood +and water, spread like a bed for the dead and dying trees, a +swamp, bright with rushes and water-weed. + +On the crest of a snow-white birch sits a great fish-hawk, with +bent head and closed wings. What is the hunter dreaming of? Hours +of sport, most likely; long pauses on balanced wings, the arrowy +downward sweep, the swift plunge, and the triumph of the upward +plunge, dripping and proud, bearing his prey aloft. + +Some real or fancied noise disturbs the vision; he rises, spreads +the wide, hollow wings, and flaps slowly away. Roused by his +flight, half a dozen crows burst suddenly into talk, and protest +violently against some deadly injury, then as suddenly fall silent +again. + +Whirr! a kingfisher darts down with a quick splash, and back to +his bough with a fish in his beak. The canoe moves on, slowly, +noiselessly; here the water is only three inches deep, but the +soft bottom yields as the strong young arms ply the paddle. + +Hilda lifts her hand with a warning gesture, and they are +motionless once more. Look! not fifty yards away, a group of +pretty birds play and paddle in the shallow water. Sandpipers, are +they? They might be enchanted princesses, Hilda thinks, as they go +mincing along, turning their heads now to this side, now to that, +admiring themselves in the clear water. One of them finds a bit of +succulent weed, and the others come running, for all the world +like curious girls, ruffling their pretty feathers, cocking their +pretty heads; and they peck, and chatter, and peck again, wholly +unconscious of the two monsters who are drifting nearer and +nearer. Suddenly one of them catches sight of a moving shadow, +hears some faint lapping of water against the side of the canoe, +inaudible to ears less fine; and the three princesses are up and +away, fluttering, hopping, fairly flying at last, to hide +themselves in the deeps of the bog-land. + +Neither of the two had spoken during all this time. Both felt the +magic of the place so strong upon them that speech seemed +profanation. The flight of the little birds, however, loosened the +spell. Hildegarde spoke, but softly, almost under her breath. +"Captain! Do you see the lizard? Look at him, on the log there! +The greenness of him! soul of an emerald!" + +"I was looking at the fish," said Roger. + +"What for a fish?" Hilda leaned over the side, and looked into the +clear shallow water. A bream was hovering over her wide, shallow +nest, fanning the water slowly with wide-spread wings. "Why does +she do that?" + +"To protect the eggs; they are there in the sand, and she is +keeping off all the water-people who like eggs for breakfast." + +They drifted on again in silence: what was there good enough to +say in such a place? + +Hildegarde pulled the transparent stems of jewel-weed, with their +glowing, pitcher-shaped blossoms, and twined them into a garland, +which she hung over the bow of the canoe. "Dear Cheemaun!" she +said. "She shall be decorated as Hiawatha's was. She deserves to +be hung with real jewels." + +"Are there any more real than these?" said Roger. "And--you really +like the Cheemaun, do you, Miss Hilda? and the place? I thought +you would like the place." + +"Oh!" said Hilda, and her voice said enough. "How did you find it? +How strange that I have never heard of it before! There is nothing +so beautiful in the world, I am sure! Have the others been here?" + +"N--no," answered Roger, slowly. "I don't think they have been +here. I--I found it one morning, when I was shooting, two or three +years ago; and I am afraid I have been greedy, and kept it to +myself." + +"How good of you to bring me!" cried Hilda. "I like it all the +better because no one--that is, because it is so lonely and still. +You--you don't shoot now much, do you, Captain Roger?" + +"No. I used to be very fond of it when I was a boy; but now, well, +I would rather see them alive, don't you know?" + +Hildegarde nodded her wise little head, and knew very well indeed, +and thought the Captain was very right. + +"I do not see how a sportsman can really love creatures," she +said. "If you love them, you want them to live, as you say. Oh! +oh, Captain Roger, please quickly stop! Look! What wonder is +this?" + +Hilda's voice sank to a whisper, thrilled with excitement. There, +a few yards away from them, ashen grey against the silver-grey of +a dead tree, was a great bird. To Hilda's excited fancy, it seemed +the spirit of the place, changed by some wizardry into bird form, +crouching there amid the ruins of the forest where once it had +flitted and frolicked, a gauze-winged sprite. + +Roger, less imaginative, and more skilled in wood-lore, saw a +great blue heron, sitting huddled together on a stump, its head +drawn in, its yellow eyes glaring wild with fright. + +"It must be wounded!" he said softly. "Keep very still, and I will +see if we can come nearer." + +Softly, slowly, the birch canoe stole through the water. It +scarcely seemed to move, yet every moment brought them nearer to +the wild creature of the woods. It made no attempt to fly, only +crouched lower, and tried to flatten itself against the stump. + +"Oh, poor, poor thing!" whispered Hilda. "Can you do anything for +it, Captain Roger?" + +"Only one thing, I fear," said Roger, gently. "Its leg is broken, +and we must not leave it in misery." + +"You must kill it? Oh, it seems too pitiful! No, I am not going to +be silly, only I will turn my head away, please, Captain Roger." + +Now she could have put her hand on the wounded bird, as it sat +motionless, only the wide eyes of terror telling that it was +alive. The bow of the boat passed close against the log, and on +beyond. Hilda thought she should never forget the dumb agony of +those eyes. They should not be here at all, she thought. It was +not decent for human beings to thrust themselves into the sorrows +and mysteries of the woods and water. She could not-- + +Roger leaned forward, paddle in hand; a moment, and all was over. +Something slid into the water, and there was a little plashing +murmur among the reeds; then stillness again. + +The canoe began to move backward, and Hilda opened her eyes, which +had been tightly closed. Neither of the two spoke until they were +in open water again, and the swamp left behind. + +"I am sorry!" said Roger then, almost apologetically. "I am sorry +that happened. The poor creature had been shot, and was badly +wounded; it would only have lingered in pain." + +"Oh yes, I know; I am so glad you were there, to help it out of +the suffering." + +"But now you will never want to come here again, I fear." + +"Oh, but I shall!" cried Hilda. "I am not so silly as that, truly +I am not. I shall always think of this as the loveliest place I +know; and--" + +"Well, and--what?" asked Roger. + +"Oh, nothing! Only--well, it is your own place," said Hilda +frankly, "and I shall always think of you here, in the dear +Cheemaun, with the enchanted princesses--I mean the sandpipers--and the fish-hawk, and all the rest of it." + +"If it is mine, I may do what I like with it, and I give it to +you. Will you have it?" + +"Oh, we will share it together!" cried Hilda eagerly; and then +bethought herself, and blushed in her usual ridiculous way, and +wondered if the back of her neck were blushing too. It was, and +Roger saw the crimson mounting to the pretty ears and losing +itself in the fair hair; and he wondered--and wondered again, and +then remembered that people sometimes blushed when they were +angry. He was a very, very stupid Roger, in some ways; but in a +moment Hilda began to talk as cheerfully as possible, and to ask +about all the birds they had seen, so Roger was relieved, and they +paddled home to breakfast in a very pleasant way. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +GOOD-BY. + + +The golden morning passed all too quickly; the mornings always +did, out at camp. There was the merry dish-washing, the sweeping +and setting to rights, and then all separated to their different +tasks,--fishing, boat-mending, cooking, photographing or +surveying, till the hour of noon brought them together again for +the swimming. Roger departed on his wheel, having business in the +village. + +The three girls sat down before a huge basket of mending, "Three +against Thebes," as Bell said, and plied their needles diligently. +Hildegarde felt as if she were sewing in a dream; her fingers +flew, for she could almost sew in her sleep, but her thoughts were +away in the Lonely Cove, with the wild creatures and the +stillness. She would like to go back there, she thought, with--well, she would like to go back there, and stay, long hours, till +the spirit of the place had sunk deep into her heart. She had felt +it, the touch of its hand in passing, the brushing of its robe, +but that only showed her how little she knew, how infinitely more +there was to learn, to see, to love. She shut her eyes and tried +to call back the scene, all grey and silver, glimmering in the +faint early light. + +Was not this really life, the life of nature, of the woods and +fields? Would not one grow better, purer, to stay always in this +lovely wilderness, where every leaf had a voice, every stone +showed forth its steadfast lesson, every morning and evening was +full of joy and peace? Why should one ever go back to places where +people talked and gossiped and made formal calls? + +Such new worlds, too, were opening before her! Not only this great +one of nature, but the sister world of science, which till now had +been only a name. She had always thought of "scientific people" +much as she would of the inhabitants of Mars, never having been +thrown with any in this short life, which seemed to her so long, +so full. As she said to her friend here, she had had many lives +already, all beautiful, joyful beyond measure; but this strange +world, where they spoke a language of their own, where all the men +wore spectacles and long beards, and all the women short hair and +spectacles,--this world she had never thought even to peep into. +And now--behold! the magic door had been opened by friendly hands; +opened only a little way, it was true, but wide enough for her to +see at least beyond the threshold,--and it was fairy-land! As for +the long beards and the spectacles,--Hildegarde laughed to +herself, a little soft, happy laugh. + +Gerald, who was lying at her feet, looked up, and laughed too, for +pure good-will. + +"Good joke!" he said; "excellent joke! See here, Miss Hilda--" + +"Do leave off that tiresome 'Miss,' Jerry! You know I told you to, +ages ago." + +"I know! but my manners are so superlative. Well, Hilda, then, +just listen to this! I have been improving a little on one of your +old ballads--" + +"Improving? sacrilegious wretch!" + +"Oh, but listen! Why should a ballad be too old to be improved? +This goes beautifully. + + "Our lads are to the fishing gane, + A-fishing with a line and float, + And they hae grippet Hilda the Grahame, + For stealing o' the Codger's boat." + +"I didn't steal it!" cried Hilda, aiming a neatly folded stocking-ball at the boy's head; but Gerald avoided it, and went on. + + "And they hae tied her hand and foot, + And brought her to the camp, wuss luck! + The lads and lasses met her there, + Cried 'Hilda Grahame, thou art a duck!'" + +"Obadiah, you are a very impudent boy. Wait till Monday week, +that's all! But go on; let me hear all this villainy." + + "Up then spake the brave Gerald, + As he sat by the Codger's knee, + 'Fifteen horned pouts I'll give to you, + If you'll let Hilda the Grahame go free.' + + "'Oh haud your tongue,' says Roger the Codger, + 'And wie your pleading let me be; + For though-'" + +"Hallo!" + +"What is the matter?" asked Bell, who had been listening with high +approval to the ballad. "Why, here is the Codger himself, back +again. I thought he was not coming till night. What's up, Codger?" + +Bell and Hildegarde rose, with a vague feeling of uneasiness, and +as they did so, Roger advanced to meet them. Hilda fancied he +looked grave, and her heart leaped into quick alarm. "You have no +bad news, Captain Roger?" she cried. "My mother--Cousin Wealthy--!" + +"Both well, quite well!" said Roger, hastily. "I called at the +house as I came by, and found Mrs. Grahame there, looking +extremely well, I thought." + +"Mamma there!" cried Hilda. "Why--when did she come? Why did she +not write that she was coming? I ought to have been there to meet +her. You are sure you have nothing bad to tell me, Captain Roger? +You looked so grave as you came up. I would rather know at once, +please, if anything is wrong." + +Roger smiled, and his honest eyes reassured the startled girl. + +"You may believe me," he said, simply. "If I looked grave, it was +not on your account, Miss Hilda, but on our own. A letter must +have gone astray, your mother thinks. You should have heard from +her several days ago; and--and she is expecting visitors to-morrow, and--well, if I must tell the truth, the carriage is here, +and I am to drive you home as soon as you are ready." + +A cry of dismay broke from the lips of the whole family; a cry so +hearty, so full of distress, of affectionate concern, that it +brought the quick tears to Hilda's eyes. She smiled through the +tears at Bell, who already had her in her arms, and declared she +could not let her go; while Will and Kitty pulled at her gown, and +cried frantically that Hilda was theirs, and should never go away, +never at all. Mrs. Merryweather smoothed her hair, and murmured +kind, understanding words in a low tone; and Gertrude sat down on +the ground and wept piteously. + +"Oh," said Hilda to all these good friends, "you know it is not +because I don't want to go to my blessed mother; of course you all +know that--" + +"Of course we do, dear!" cried Bell and her mother, soothingly. +"Of course you want to go, and we ought to want you to go; but we +don't; and it has come so quickly, and all." + +"And we were going to the Painted Rocks to-morrow!" cried Phil. + +Gerald began to mutter something under his breath about + + "Little Gerald was my brudder, + Merry Mater was my mudder, + Nebber heard ob any udder." + +But his adaptation was checked by a look from his mother, and he +relapsed into gloom. "It's a horrid, atrocious shame!" he said. "I +can't help it, and Hilda needn't speak to me again if she doesn't +want to; but I cannot tell a lie, and I am NOT glad that Mrs. +Grahame has come home, and I never shall be." + +"Dear Jerry!" said Hilda. "We have had such good times, haven't +we? And you will be coming back, you know, to town some day, and I +shall hear all about the merrymakings--" + +But here her voice broke, and deeply ashamed of herself, she +hurried into the house to put her things together. The kind +Merryweathers went with her, and vied with each other in helping +her make her preparations. Since it must be, it should be as +cheerfully done as possible; so Bell packed her trunk, and +Gertrude buttered bread with ardour, that Hilda might have +luncheon before she went; a good many tears fell into the butter, +but Hilda said she did not mind that. + +Soon, too soon, alas! all was ready; the little trunk packed and +strapped, and Hilda in jacket and hat--the first time in a month +that she had worn either--smiling as well as she could, and +kissing and shaking hands, almost in silence. + +Mr. Merryweather had just come up from the boathouse, and joined +his regrets to the general chorus. + +"And who is the captain of this black-sailed ship that carries our +little girl away from us?" he asked. "Are you going to drive her +in, Gerald?" + +"No, father," said Gerald, hastily. "I think Roger is going in." + +"Yes," said Roger; "I am going in, Miles." + +"Oh!" said Mr. Merryweather. "Is there anything special you want +to see to in town, Roger?" + +"Why--no; I am going for--" + +"Then, if it's all the same, suppose you let Phil drive Hilda in. +I want your help this afternoon, very much, on the Keewaydin. The +boys aren't quite strong enough to tackle her. What do you say, +Hilda? You would just as lief have Phil, I dare say, and it will +be a treat to him." + +What could our poor dear Hilda say? What could she do but smile +her assent, when she saw Phil's honest face radiant with pleasure? + +Gerald, after looking round in vain for his mother and Bell, who +had gone into the house to get something, did indeed mutter that +he wanted Phil dreadfully, to do something of great importance, it +did not appear precisely what; but he was promptly set down by his +father. + +Roger Merryweather stood silent. The habit of giving way to +others, of letting the youngsters have all the pleasure possible, +and taking the workaday parts of life for himself, was strong upon +him. And when had he refused his brother Miles anything? + +Miles Merryweather nodded in satisfaction, and went into the house +to get his letters. + +"I am going to send Phil in with Hilda, instead of Roger," he +announced, cheerfully. "Is there anything--" + +"Oh, father, how could you?" cried Bell, springing to her feet. + +"How could I what?" asked her father. "Miranda, have you any +errands for Phil to do?" + +He looked at his wife, and opened his eyes wide; for the placid +woman was ruffling all over, like an angry partridge. + +"Don't speak to me, Miles Merryweather!" she cried. "Don't dare to +say a word to me! You are a great stupid, stupid,--and Roger is +another! Why I ever married into such a family--" + +She ruffled away out of the house; Bell hurried after her without +a word, only casting a reproachful glance at her father as she +went. Mr. Merryweather stood still in utter bewilderment. + +"Are these people mad?" he said. "What on earth is the matter? +Gerald, will you give these letters to Phil, and tell him--now +what is the matter with you, I should like to know?" + +For Gerald's bright face was clouded over with unmistakable ill-humour,--a circumstance so amazing that one might well wonder. He +actually scowled at his father, whom he adored. + +"Donki foolumque cano!" he said. "No disrespect to anybody, sir, +but I am thinking of emigrating. This family is too much for me." + +He stalked out again, leaving Mr. Merryweather more puzzled than +ever. + +"Decidedly, they are mad!" he murmured. "Thank goodness, there is +one sensible head among all these feathertops! Oh, here you are, +Roger! Give these letters to Phil, will you, please, and tell him +not to forget the mail." + +Roger took the letters, and laughed. His cheek was slightly +flushed, and his eyes danced with something very unlike their +usual calm intelligence. "All right!" he said. "Give me the +letters, Miles. They shall be mailed." He took the packet, and +started to leave the room, but turned back for a moment, to lay +his hand affectionately on his brother's shoulder. "I am a codger, +Miles," he said, "but--do you know--I think you are a bit of a +codger, too. It runs in the blood, I suppose. Good-by, old fellow! +and let the Keewaydin wait until to-morrow, will you?" + +He ran out. His brother, now speechless, followed him: saw him put +Phil aside with a word and a smile; saw him lift Hildegarde +lightly into the wagon, and take his seat beside her; saw the +girl, her face bright as a flower, leaning forward to say +farewell, and the other faces crowding round her, eager, loving, +sorrowful; saw handkerchiefs and caps waving, and heard the cries +of "Good-by, dear Hilda! Come again! Oh, come back to us soon!" + +Then the woods closed in behind the carriage and it was gone. + +Gerald looked long after it; then he advanced to the middle of the +piazza, and deliberately turned three back somersaults. + +"Would anybody like to tread on the tail of my coat?" he said, +joyously. "Phil, you are a double-barrelled, self-revolving idiot, +but I love you. Join me, then, in three cheers for the Codger. +Long may he wave! Now, then, hip, hip, hurrah!" + +"Hurrah!" cried Phil, who had received enlightenment in some way, +and was beaming like his brother. + +"Hurrah!" cried Mrs. Merryweather and Bell in concert, fixing eyes +of triumph on their husband and father. + +"Hurrah it is, doubtless," said Mr. Merryweather, looking slightly +nettled,--a rare thing in the most cheerful of men. "But MAY I ask +why my arrangements are changed without a word to me? I intended +that Phil should--" + +"Dear Miles!" said his wife. "I am sorry I called you names." + +"DEAR papa!" said the Merryweathers in chorus; "we all love you SO +much!" + +"And were you ever young?" asked Mrs. Merryweather, no longer +swelling, partridge-like, but taking her husband's arm with her +sweetest smile. + +"And did you ever see a girl you liked, Miles Merryweather? and if +you ever had, would you have let another boy drive her in town +while the breath was in you? Would you?" + +"Oh!" said Miles Merryweather. + +THE END + + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Hildegarde's Neighbors, by Laura E. Richards + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HILDEGARDE'S NEIGHBORS *** + +***** This file should be named 5259.txt or 5259.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/5/2/5/5259/ + +Produced by Charles Franks and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..801376e --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #5259 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/5259) diff --git a/old/4hldg10.txt b/old/4hldg10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a3e8e78 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/4hldg10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5526 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Hildegarde's Neighbors, by Laura E. Richards +(#4 in our series by Laura E. Richards) + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: Hildegarde's Neighbors + +Author: Laura E. Richards + +Release Date: March, 2004 [EBook #5259] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on June 17, 2002] +[Date last updated: July 31, 2005] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, HILDEGARDE'S NEIGHBORS *** + + + + +Charles Franks and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + +THE HILDEGARDE SERIES + +Hildegarde's Neighbors + +A STORY FOR GIRLS + +BY LAURA E. RICHARDS + +Author of + +"The Margaret Series," "The Hildegarde Series," "Captain January," +"Melody," "Five Minute Stories," etc. + + +ILLUSTRATED + + + + + + +TO + +M.C.G. + +IN TOKEN OF THE AFFECTION OF MANY YEARS. + + + + + + +CONTENTS. + +CHAPTER + + I. THE ARRIVAL + + II. OLD FRIENDS AND NEW + + III. PUMPKIN HOUSE + + IV. HESTER'S PLAYROOM + + V. TEA AT ROSEHOLME + + VI. ANOTHER TEA-PARTY + + VII. IN GOOD GREEN WOOD + +VIII. "HANDS ACROSS THE SEA" + + IX. MERRY WEATHER INDOORS + + X. A NEW LIFE + + XI. A NIGHT-PIECE + + XII. A-SAILING WE WILL GO + +XIII. IN PERIL BY WATER + + XIV. ROGER THE CODGER + + XV. A MORNING HOUR + + XVI. GOOD-BY + + + + +HILDEGARDE'S NEIGHBORS + + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +THE ARRIVAL. + + + + +"Mamma," said Hildegarde Grahame, flying into her mother's room, +"I have news for you, thrilling news! Guess what it is!" + +Mrs. Grahame looked up from her sewing. + +"The house is on fire," she said, quietly, "or you have found a +Royal Walnut Moth; or, possibly, Hugh has developed wings and +flown away. None of these things would greatly surprise me; but in +the first case I must take action, while in either of the others I +can finish this seam." + +"Continue your prosaic labours!" said the girl. "The dress is +mine, and I want it." + +She sat down, and fanned herself with her broad straw hat. "It is +hot!" she announced with emphasis. + +"And that is the news?" said her mother. "Astonishing! I should +never have guessed it, assuredly." + +"Madam, you are a tease! The big yellow house is let, and the +family is moving in today, at this moment! NOW, how do you feel?" + +"Much the same, thank you!" was the reply. "Slight acceleration of +the pulse, with fever-flush; nothing more. But it is great news, +certainly, Hilda. Do you know anything of the people?" + +Hildegarde quoted: + + "'I saw them come; one horse was blind, + The tails of both hung down behind, + Their shoes were on their feet.' + +"Mr. and Mrs. Miles Merryweather, six children, cook, housemaid +and seamstress, two dogs, two cats (at least the basket mewed, so +I infer cats), one canary bird, and fourteen trunks." + +"Do I understand that Miss Grahame has been looking through the +gap in the hedge?" + +"You do, madam. And oh, mammina, it was such fun! I really could +not help it; and no one saw me; and they came tumbling in in such +a funny, jolly way! I rather think we shall like them, but it will +be strange to have such near neighbours." + +"I wonder what the Colonel will say!" Mrs. Grahame commented. + +"He is pleased," said Hildegarde; "actually pleased. He knows Mr. +Merryweather, and likes him; in fact, he has just been telling me +about them." + +"Hildegarde, you are becoming a sad gossip," said Mrs. Grahame, +severely. "I think you would better sit down and work these +buttonholes at once." + +"So that I can repeat the gossip to you," said this impertinent +young woman, kissing her mother lightly on the forehead. +"Precisely, dear madam. Where is my thimble? Oh, here! Where are +the buttonholes? Oh, there! Well, now you shall hear. And I fear I +have been a gossip, indeed. + +"It began with obedience to my elders and betters. You told me to +go down and see how Mrs. Lankton's 'neurology' was; and I went. I +found the poor old thing in bed, and moaning piteously. I am bound +to say, however, that the moans did not begin till after I clicked +the latch. It is frightful to see how suspicious a course of Mrs. +Lankton always makes me. I went in, and the room was hermetically +sealed, with a roaring fire in the air-tight stove." + +"To-day!" exclaimed Mrs. Grahame; "the woman will die!" + +"Not she!" said Hildegarde. "I was nearly suffocated, and +protested, with such breath as I could find; but she said, 'Oh, +Miss Grahame, my dear! you don't know anything about trouble or +sickness, and no need to before your time. A breath of air, my +dear, is like the bellers to my neurology--the bellers itself! Ah! +I ain't closed my eyes, not to speak of, since you was here last.' + +"I tried to convince her that good air was better than bad, since +she must breathe some kind of air; but she only shook her head and +groaned, and told me about a woman who got into her oven and shut +the door, and stayed there till she was baked 'a beautiful light +brown,' as Mrs. Lincoln says. ''T was a brick oven, dear, such as +you don't see 'em nowadays; and she was cured of her neurology, +slick and slap; but I don't never expect no such help of mine, now +Mr. Aytoun's dead and gone. Not but what your blessed ma is a +mother to me, and so I always tell the neighbours.' + +"Do you want any more, missis? I can go on indefinitely, if you +like. I stayed as long as I dared, and managed to hold the door +open quite a bit, so that a little air really did get in; and I +gave her the liniment, and rubbed her poor old back, and then gave +her a spoonful of jelly, and ran. That is the first part of my +tale. Then, I was coming home through the Ladies' Garden, and I +found my Hugh playing Narcissus over a pool, and wondering whether +freckles were dirt on his soul that came out in spots--the lamb! +And I had to stay and talk with him a bit, and he was so dear! And +then I walked along, and just as I came to the gap in the hedge, +Mrs. Grahame, my dear madam, I heard the sound of a lawn-mower on +the other side, and a man's voice whistling. This was amazing, and +I am human, though I don't know whether you ever noticed it. I +looked, I did; and so would others, if they had been there. A +wagon stood at the back door, all piled with trunks and bags and +baskets; I liked the look of the baskets, I can't tell exactly +why. And at that very moment a carriage drove up, with two +delightful brown horses, and a brown man who looked delightful, +too, driving. I know it must be Mr. Merryweather, mammy, and I am +sure we shall like him. Tall and straight and square, with clear +blue eyes and broad shoulders; and handled his horses well, and-- +what are you laughing at, Mrs. Grahame, if I may be permitted to +ask?" + +"I was only thinking that this charming individual was, in all +probability, the coachman," said Mrs. Grahame, with mild +malignity. + +"Mamma!" cried Hildegarde, indignantly. "As if I didn't know a +coachman when I saw him! Besides, the Colonel--but wait! Well, and +then there was Mrs. Merryweather--stout and cheerful-looking, and +I should think very absent-minded. Well, but, mother," seeing Mrs. +Grahame about to protest, "she was dressed for driving, not to say +travelling, and she--she had a pen behind her ear. She truly had! + +"There were two big girls, and two big boys, and a little girl, +and a little boy. I thought they all looked nice, and the girls +were pretty, and one of the big boys was so full of fun he +twinkled all over. A handsome boy, with red hair and dark blue +eyes; but, oh, such a pity! his name is Obadiah, for I heard the +other call him so. How can intelligent people call a boy Obadiah?" + +She sewed for some minutes in silence, her needle darting in and +out with thoughtful regularity, then went on. + +"All the family seem to have strange names. The other boy is +called Ferguson, and one girl is Toots, and another is Chucky. I +detest nicknames; but these people all seemed so jolly, and on +such good terms with each other, that I felt a sort of warming to +them. The girl named Toots tumbled out of the wagon, and the +others all laughed, and she laughed, too. She dropped everything +she was carrying, and she was carrying a great deal,--a butterfly- +net, and a mouse-trap, and three books, and a bandbox,--and +everybody seemed to think that the best joke of all. One called +her medicine dropper, and another drop-cake, and another dropped +egg, and so on; and away they all went into the house, laughing +and shouting and tumbling over each other. Such a jolly family. +Mamma!" + +"Yes, my dear," said Mrs. Grahame, very quietly, but without +looking up. + +"Nothing!" said Hildegarde. "You are an angel, that is all." + +Mrs. Grahame sighed, and thought, as Hildegarde had been thinking, +how good it would be to have many children, like a crown of +sunbeams, about her; and thought of a little grave in Greenwood, +where her only boy lay. + +Presently she looked up with her usual bright smile. + +"This is all very interesting, Hilda, and I fully sympathize with +your feelings behind the hedge; but you have not told me how you +came to know about our new neighbours. Did Colonel Ferrers join +you at your peep-hole?" + +"He did, mamma! He did just precisely that. I saw him coming along +the road, swinging his stick, and frowning and humming to +himself,--dear thing! And when he came near the house, and heard +the voices, he stopped and looked, and began to go softly and +slowly; so then I knew that he, too, wanted to see what was going +on. So I slipped to the gate and beckoned to him, and he came in +on tiptoe and joined me. Such fun we had,--just like two +conspirators! He could see over my head, so we could both look at +once; and he kept muttering scraps of information in my ear, so +that it quite buzzed. Yes, I know you are shocked, dear madam, but +it really could not be helped; and you said once to Jack--poor old +Jack!--that his uncle was a criterion of gentle breeding and +manners! So now, Mrs. Grahame!" + +"Well," said Mrs. Grahame, "since matters are so, I may as well +hear what my criterion had to say about our new neighbours. A +pretty state of things, truly! the magnate and the maiden, spying +through bushes on these unsuspecting strangers. Say on, unhappy +girl!" + +"Of course he said, 'Hum, ha!' first, a good many times; and we +laughed at each other, under our breath, and were very happy. And +then he said, 'Miles Merryweather, my dear! Excellent person! +Heard he had taken the old house, but had no idea he was coming so +soon. Eminent scientific man, manager of the new chemical works at +Brompton, over yonder. Met him once, some years ago; glad to renew +the acquaintance. Large family, I see, yes, yes; hum, ha! Boy +about Hugh's age; inferior to him in intellect, my dear, I'll bet +a--I should be tolerably certain. Astonishing lad, my Hugh! Ha! +Mrs. Merryweather, presumably; literary, I hear, and that sort of +thing. Don't care for literary people myself; prefer their books; +but looks amiable. Pretty girl that, Hilda, my dear! the tall slip +with the fair hair! Yes, yes! "A pretty girl's the noblest work +of"--you remember? What's that? "An honest man," in the original? +Now, will you hear this girl setting her elders to rights? I +wonder what your mother was thinking of when she brought you up, +young woman!' and so on, and so on, in his own delightful way. +Really, mammina, from what he said, we are going to have a great +acquisition to the little neighbourhood. We must call as soon as +it would be in any way decent, mustn't we? Oh, but wait! I must +tell you the end. We had been so interested in watching the +children, and in seeing them go tumbling down and up into the +house, that we had lost sight of Mr. Merryweather himself. I +suppose he must have driven round to the stable and left the +horses there; for suddenly, almost in our ears, we heard a deep +voice saying, 'A fine hedge, but needs clipping badly; we must set +the boys to work in the morning.' We started back as if we had +been shot. Colonel Ferrers turned purple, and I felt every colour +in the rainbow flooding my cheeks. We made sure we had been seen +or heard, and I think Colonel Ferrers was on the point of stepping +forward like a soldier, and apologizing; but I held his arm for a +moment, in pure cowardice, and the next moment we saw Mr. and Mrs. +Merryweather, arm in arm, gazing calmly at the hedge, and +evidently unconscious of any guilty crouchers on the other side. +Oh, mammy! if you could have seen us stealing away, how you would +have laughed. The Colonel is not very light, you know, bless him! +and to see him mincing along on the tips of his dear toes, +scarcely daring to draw breath, still purple with embarrassment +and suppressed laughter, and looking over his shoulder at every +step, as if he expected to see Mr. Merryweather come bursting +through the hedge in pursuit,--oh, it was too funny! When we got +round the corner we both sat down on the steps and giggled, like +two infants; and then he said he was deeply ashamed of me, and +bade me go in and make confession to you for both of us. So now I +have done it, dear madam, and you are to forgive all our sins, +negligences and ignorances, please, and the Colonel is coming to +tea, with his compliments." + + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +OLD FRIENDS AND NEW. + + + + +It did indeed seem that the advent of the new neighbours might +make a great difference in Hildegarde Grahame's life, if, as she +hoped, they were the right kind of neighbours. She was an only +child. She and her mother had lived now for two years at Braeside, +a lovely country place which they had come to look on as home. +Hildegarde was always happy, and was unconscious of any want in +her life; but her mother often longed for another daughter, or a +pleasant girl in the neighbourhood, to be a companion for her dear +one. True, Hildegarde had one young friend, Hugh Allen, the ward +of Colonel Ferrers, their kind and eccentric neighbour; but Hugh, +though a darling, was a little boy, and could not "dovetail" into +a girl's life as another girl might. Perhaps Mrs. Grahame hardly +realized how completely she herself filled Hildegarde's idea of a +friend and companion. The daughter was enough for her; her own +life seemed full and running over with joy and work; but for the +child she wanted always more and more. So her hopes, as well as +Hildegarde's, rose high when she heard of the pleasant-looking +girls who had come to the next-door house. The house was a large, +old-fashioned one; less stately than Roseholme, Colonel Ferrers' +house; less home-like and comfortable, perhaps, than Braeside,-- +but that might only be because it had been so long uninhabited, +Hildegarde thought,--yet still pleasant enough, with its tall +columns and broad piazza. The house was yellow, the columns white, +and the cheerful colours were set off by the dark trees, elms and +locusts, that bent over it and almost hid it from the road. A +smooth stretch of lawn lay between the house and the hedge, +through which Hildegarde and the Colonel had made their +observations: a good lawn for tennis, Hildegarde thought. How good +it would be to play tennis again! She had been longing for the +time when Hugh would be big enough to learn, or when Jack Ferrers, +her cousin, would come back from Germany. How surprised Jack would +be when she wrote him that the yellow house was inhabited. What +friends he might make of those two nice-looking boys, unless he +took one of his shy fits, and would have nothing to do with them. +Jack was a trying boy, though very dear. + +With these things in her mind, Hildegarde was sauntering toward +the Ladies' Garden, on the day after the new arrival. This was a +favourite haunt of hers, and she was very apt to go there for a +season of meditation, or when she wanted to find Hugh. It was a +curious place,--an old, neglected, forgotten garden, with high, +unclipped box hedges, overhung by whispering larches. Hildegarde +had dreamed many a dream under those larches, sitting beside the +little stream that plashed and fell in a tiny rocky hollow, or +pacing up and down the grassy paths. For the child Hugh, too, this +place had a singular fascination, and he would hang for hours over +a certain still, brown pool at the foot of the garden, thinking +unutterable things, occasionally making a remark to his dog, but +for the most part silent. Knowing his ways, Hildegarde was the +more surprised, on this occasion, to hear the sound of voices in +lively conversation. Whom could the boy have picked up and brought +here? He had no friend of his own age; like herself, he was a lone +child; and it was with a little pang, which she almost laughed to +feel, that she drew near, and softly parted the branches that hung +between her and the pool. The first step was fatal, she thought, +and she was apparently condemned to be a peeper and an +eavesdropper for the rest of her days. + +Hugh was sitting beside the pool, but not in his favourite +Narcissus-like attitude. His knees were well up in front of him, +his hands were clasped over them, and facing him, in precisely the +same position, was a boy in blue jean overalls, with a shock of +black hair, and bright, dark eyes. + +"What kind of fish?" asked the black-eyed boy, with kindling look. + +"Little fish with silver tails," said Hugh, "and shining eyes. +They look at me, and sometimes I think they listen to what I say; +but they cannot speak, you know." + +"Ho! I should think not!" said Black-eyes, scornfully. "I mean +what KIND of fish are they, when you catch 'em,--minnows, or dace, +or sticklebacks, or what? What are their names?" + +"I do not know that," said Hugh. "I never thought of their names; +and I don't catch them." + +"Why not? Wouldn't you be let? Don't the people in the house allow +fishing? I thought you said they were nice people!" and my lord +showed a face of keen disgust. + +"I don't want to catch them," said Hugh, quietly. "Why should I? +They swim about, and I see them shine like silver and purple under +the brown water. Sometimes they have crimson spots, like drops of +blood, or ruby stones. Look! there is one now, a ruby-spotted +one!" + +"Oh, my crickey!" cried the strange boy, jumping up, and dancing +from one foot to the other. "It's a trout, you idiot! Gimme a +line! gimme a net, or something! Gimme--" He snatched off his cap, +and made a frantic effort to catch the trout, which flipped its +tail quietly at him, and withdrew under a rock. + +The boy sat down, breathless, and stared at Hugh with all his +eyes. + +"What's the matter with you?" he asked, at length "What kind of a +fellow ARE you, anyhow? Are you loony?" + +Hugh pondered, the question being new to him. + +"I--don't--know!" he announced, after sufficient thought. + +There was a moment of silence, and black eyes and blue exchanged +an ardent gaze. Hugh's eyes were bright, with the brightness of a +blue lake, where the sunbeams strike deep into it, and transfuse +the clear water with light; but the eyes of the strange boy +twinkled and snapped, as when sunshine sparkles from ripple to +ripple. He was the first to break the silence. + +"Where do you go to school?" he asked. "How old are you? how far +have you got in arithmetic? fractions? So am I! Hate 'em? so do I! +Play base-ball?" + +"No!" said Hugh. + +"Isn't there a nine here?" + +"Nine?" Hugh turned this over in his mind. "I only know of three +at Roseholme. One is carved ivory, carved all over with dragons, +and of course one could not play with that; and there are two +cricket balls that the Colonel had when he was a boy, and he says +I may play with those some day, when I know enough not to break +windows. Perhaps you have learned that, if you are used to having +nine balls." + +The stranger stared again, with a look in which despair was +dawning. "You must be loony!" he muttered. And then, aloud, "Can't +you play anything? What can you do?" + +"I can run," said Hugh, after another pause of reflection, "and +swim, of course, and box a little, and fence." + +"Fence!" said Black-eyes; his voice took a more respectful tone. +"Where did you learn to fence? You're too young, aren't you?" + +"I am nine!" said Hugh. "I began to learn two years ago, and I +have outgrown my first foil, and the Colonel has given me a new +one, almost full size." + +"Who's the Colonel?" + +"Colonel Ferrers, the gentleman I live with. My great-aunt is his +housekeeper; and he is my dearest friend, except my Beloved and +her mother AND my great-aunt." + +"Who is your Beloved? What makes you talk so funny?" + +The black-eyed boy no longer spoke scornfully, the fencing having +made a deep impression on him, but he looked more puzzled than +ever. + +"How do I talk?" asked Hugh, in return. "This is the way I DO +talk, you see. And my Beloved is Miss Grahame, and that is what +you have to call her; but I call her my Beloved, because she is +that; and she is the most beautiful--" + +But here the young gentleman was interrupted; there was a hasty +putting aside of the branches, and Hildegarde, with pink cheeks +and a guilty conscience, stood before the two boys. They both +jumped up at once, having good manners; but Hugh's rising was calm +and leisurely, while the black-eyed lad scrambled to his feet, and +darted swift looks here and there, preparing for flight. + +"How do you do?" said Hildegarde, coming forward quickly and +holding out her hand. "You are not going, are you? I think you +must be one of our new neighbours, and we ought to make +acquaintance, oughtn't we?" + +The boy smiled, a little quick, frightened smile, "just the way a +bird would do if it could," Hildegarde thought, and laid a small +brown paw timidly in hers. + +"This is my Beloved!" said Hugh, by way of introduction. "So you +can see for yourself." + +"And am I not to hear my neighbour's name?" asked Hildegarde. + +"I am Will Merryweather," said the black-eyed boy. + +"I am very glad to see you, Will. I hope you and Hugh will be +friends, for it is so nice to have friends of one's own age, and +Hugh has no one. You, of course, have brothers and sisters, and +that is the best of all, isn't it?" + +There was no resisting Hildegarde's smile; the young Merryweather +wavered, smiled, smiled again, and in five minutes they were all +seated together, and chatting away like old friends. + +It appeared that Master Will was pleased with his new +surroundings, but that the absence of a base-ball nine was a +tragic thing, not lightly to be contemplated. The house was "no +end;" the dwelling they had just left was entirely too small for +them. + +"You see," he said, "when we went to that house we weren't born at +all, most of us; that is, there was only Bell and the boys. So it +was big enough then, and they had rooms to themselves, and all +kinds of things. But then we began to come along, and at last it +got so small that the boys had to sleep in the barn, and when +there was more than one visitor I had to go on the parlour sofa, +and it's a beast of a sofa to sleep on,--haircloth, you know, and +you slide off all night; so father thought we'd better move, and +we came here." + +"Is Bell your eldest sister?" asked Hildegarde, not sure how far +it would be right to question this frank youth. + +"Yes, that's Bell. She's no end nice and jolly; and she's in +college, you know, and we have such larks when she comes home." + +In college! Hildegarde's hopes fell. She knew she could not get on +with college girls, though she had great respect for them. Dear +me! Probably Bell would be very learned, and would despise her as +an "unidead girl." Cruel Dr. Johnson, to originate that injurious +epithet! + +At this moment she heard a fresh, joyous voice calling,-- + +"Will! Willy boy! W--I--Double--L, where are you?" + +"That's Bell," cried Will, starting up. "She's come after me." + +"Here I am, Bell!" he shouted. "Here's a jolly place; come along! +I say, may she come along?" he added, turning to Hildegarde with a +conscience-stricken look. Hildegarde nodded eagerly, hoping that +his request had not been heard. Just beyond the Ladies' Garden was +a high board-fence which separated Braeside from the neighbouring +place. At the top of this fence appeared two small but strong- +looking hands, and following them, a girl's face, blue-eyed, rosy- +cheeked and smiling. + +"You little rascal!" cried the girl; and then she caught sight of +Hildegarde. "Oh, I beg your pardon!" she cried, hastily. "I didn't +know,--I was looking for my brother--" + +"Oh, please come up!" cried Hildegarde, running to the fence. +"Please come over! Oh, you mustn't hang by your hands that way; +you'll get splinters in them. You are Miss Merryweather, and I am +Hildegarde Grahame; so now we are introduced, and let me help you +over, do!" + +Hildegarde delivered this breathlessly, and held out both hands to +help the stranger; but the latter, with a frank smile and a nod, +drew herself up without more ado, perched on the top of the fence, +then sprang lightly to the ground. + +"Thank you so much!" she said, warmly, taking Hildegarde's +outstretched hand. "Of course I didn't know I was trespassing, but +I'm glad I came. And oh, what a lovely place! I didn't know there +was such a place out of a book. Oh, the hedges! and the brook! and +the trees! How can it be real?" + +Hildegarde nodded in delight. "Yes!" she said. "That is just the +way I felt when I first saw the place. It was some time before I +could feel it right to come here without apologizing to the +ghosts." + +"Your ancestors' ghosts?" said Bell Merryweather, inquiringly. +"Aren't they your own ghosts? Haven't you lived here always?" + +Hildegarde explained that the place had belonged to a cousin of +her mother's, who left it to her at his death. + +"Oh!" said Miss Merryweather; then she considered a little, with +her head on one side. Hildegarde decided that, though not a +beauty, the new-comer had one of the pleasantest faces she had +ever seen. + +"On the whole," the girl went on, "I am rather glad that my theory +was wrong. The truth is less romantic, but it makes you much more +real and accessible, which is, after all, desirable in a country +neighbourhood." + +"Do tell me what you mean!" cried Hildegarde. + +Miss Merryweather laughed. + +"If you are quite sure you won't mind?" she said, tentatively. +"Well, your place is so beautiful,--even apart from this--this-- +bower of nymphs,--it is so shadowed with great trees, and so green +with old turf, that when I saw you this morning walking under the +tree, I made up a romance about you,--a pretty little romance. You +are quite sure you don't mind? You were the last of an ancient +family, and you were very delicate, and your mother kept you in +this lovely solitude, hoping to preserve your precious life. And +now," she burst into a clear peal of laughter, in which Hildegarde +joined heartily, "now I see you near, and you are no more delicate +than I am, and you are not the last of an ancient family. At +least, I hope you are not," she cried, growing suddenly grave. + +"Oh! do you like to make romances?" cried Hildegarde, with ready +tact waiving the last question. "It is my delight, too. No, I am +not in the least delicate, as you say, and we have only been here +two years, my mother and I; yet it seems like home, and I hope we +shall always live here now. And are you beginning to feel at all +settled in,--I don't know any name for your house; we have called +it just the 'Yellow House' as it had no special interest, being +uninhabited. But I suppose you will give it a name?" + +"If we can decide on one!" said Bell Merryweather, laughing. "The +trouble is, there are so many of us to decide. I want to call it +Gamboge: brief, you see, and simple. But one boy says it must be +Chrome Castle, and another votes for Topaz Tower; so I don't know +how it will end." + +"When I was a little girl," said Hildegarde, "I had a book, the +dearest little book, called 'Pumpkin House.' It was about--" + +"Oh, DID you have 'Pumpkin House?'" cried Bell Merryweather, +eagerly. "Oh! wasn't it a darling? And didn't you think you never +could be perfectly happy till you could live in a pumpkin? And to +think of my forgetting it now, just when the opportunity has come! +Of course we shall call the new home Pumpkin House!" + +"Will the others like it?" asked Hildegarde. + +"They'd better!" said Bell. "And they will, of course. It was only +because we had not found the right name that we did not agree. +Thank you so much, Miss Grahame! Oh, I must go now, for I have +fifty thousand things to do! But,--I am so glad to have met you." + +"And I to know you," cried Hildegarde, warmly. "I hope we shall +see a great deal of each other. We shall come to call in due form, +as soon as you are ready to receive visitors. But meanwhile, allow +me to present you with the freedom of the fence and of the Ladies' +Garden. See! our two boys are deep in confidences already." + +In truth, the black head and the red one were laid close together, +and the two round faces wore the same look of deep importance. + +"Mine are green and white," said Will. "That is Austrian, but I +have them Crusaders a good deal of the time." + +"Mine are blue," said Hugh, "and sometimes they are Americans, and +sometimes they are Greeks and Trojans. Will you be my friend, and +shall we fight great fights together?" + +"All right," said Will Merryweather, shyly. + +"We will plan a campaign," cried Hugh, his eyes shining with +ardour. + +"Yes; but now you must come in to your music lesson," said +Hildegarde, taking his hand, and frowning at herself for feeling +another little pang, as Hugh's face turned toward his new +acquaintance. + +"Read the Talisman?" cried Will. "I'll be Saladin, and you be +Richard." + +"Come along, Will," said his sister, taking him by the shoulders +and marching him toward the fence. + +"Lots of sand that will do for Palestine!" "Plains of Marathon +over beyond the stone wall!" "Turbans and lances!" "Horsetail +helmets and real armour!" + +Still shouting, Will was pitched bodily over the fence by his +stalwart sister, while Hugh went away holding Hildegarde's hand, +and looking backward as he passed. + +"We will fight!" he said, giving a little leap of joy. "Our necks +shall be clothed with thunder, and we shall say, 'Ha! ha!' among +the trumpets. And will you bind my wounds, Beloved?" he added, +looking up in Hildegarde's face. "And will you give me my shield, +and tell me to come back with it or upon it? Will you do that? The +cover of the washboiler will do beautifully for a shield." + +"So it will!" said Hildegarde; and they went into the house +together. + + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +PUMPKIN HOUSE. + + + + +When Mrs. Grahame and Hildegarde went to call on their new +neighbours, two days after the meeting in the garden, they found +them already entirely at home, the house looking as if they had +always lived in it. The furniture was plain, and showed marks of +hard usage; but there were plenty of pictures, and the right kind +of pictures, as Hildegarde said to herself, with satisfaction; and +there were books,--books everywhere. In the wide, sunny sitting- +room, into which they were ushered by a pleasant-faced maid, low +bookcases ran all round the walls, and were not only filled, but +heaped with books, the volumes lying in piles along the top. The +centre-table was a magazine-stand, where Saint Nicholas and The +Century, The Forum and The Scientific American jostled each other +in friendly rivalry. Mrs. Merryweather sat in a low chair, with +her lap full of books, and had some difficulty in rising to +receive her visitors. Her hearty welcome assured them that they +had not come a day too soon, as Mrs. Grahame feared. + +"My dear lady, no! I am charmed to see you. Bell has had such +pleasure in making friends with your daughter. Miss Grahame, I am +delighted to see you!" and Mrs. Merryweather held out what she +thought was her hand, but Hildegarde shook instead a small morocco +volume, and was well content when she saw that it was the "Golden +Treasury." + +"Bell has had such pleasure that I have been most anxious to share +it, and to know you and your daughter. Shall we be neighbourly? I +am the most unceremonious person in the world. Dear me! isn't +there a chair without books on it? Here, my dear Mrs. Grahame, sit +down here, pray! It is Dr. Johnson himself who makes room for you, +and you must excuse the great man for being slow in his +movements." + +With a merry smile, she offered the chair from which she had just +removed a huge folio dictionary. Hildegarde found an ottoman which +she could easily share with a volume of Punch, and Mrs. +Merryweather beamed at them over her spectacles, and said again +that she was delighted to see them. + +"We are getting the books to rights gradually," she said, "but it +takes time, as you see. I have to do this myself, with Bell's +help. She will be down in a moment, my dear. We have established +an overflow bookcase in a cupboard upstairs, and she has just gone +up with a load. Ah! here she is. Bell, my dear, Mrs. and Miss +Grahame. So kind of them to come and see us!" + +Bell shook hands warmly, her frank, pleasant face shining with +good-will. "I am so glad to see you!" she cried, sitting down by +Hildegarde on a pile of Punches. "I hoped you would come to-day, +even if the books are not in order yet. They are so dear, the +books; they are part of the family, and we want to be sure that +they have places they like. I suppose Punch ought by rights to go +with people of his own sort--if there is anybody!--but one wants +him close at hand, don't you think so? where one can take him up +any time,--when it rains, or when things bother one. Do you +remember that Leech picture?" and they babbled of Punch, their +beloved, for ten minutes, and liked each other better at every one +of the ten. + +"Bell, I want Mrs. and Miss Grahame to see our other children," +said Mrs. Merryweather, presently. "Where is Toots, and where are +the boys?" + +"Toots is upstairs, poor lamb!" Bell replied. "When Mary came to +tell me of our visitors' arrival I was just putting away Sibbes's +'Soul's Conflict,' and various other dreadful persons whom you +would not let me burn; so I dumped them in Toots's arms, and ran +off and left her. Being a ''bedient old soul,' she is probably +standing just where I left her. I will go--" + +But at this moment Toots appeared,--a girl of fifteen, tall, shy +and blushing, and was introduced as "my daughter Gertrude." She +confessed, on interrogation, that she had dropped Sibbes's "Soul's +Conflict" out of the window, and was on her way to pick it up. + +"Why didn't you drop it down the well?" asked her sister. "It is +so dry, I am sure a wetting would do it good!" + +"Sit down, my dear!" said Mrs. Merryweather, comfortably. "One of +the boys is sure to be about, and will bring in the book. Sibbes +IS a little dry, Bell, but very sound writing, much sounder than a +good deal of the controversial writing of--bless me! what's that?" + +Something resembling a human wheel had revolved swiftly past the +window, emitting unearthly cries. + +Hildegarde blushed and hesitated. "I--I think it was your brother +Obadiah," she said to Bell. + +The latter stared, open-eyed. "My brother Obadiah?" she repeated. +"How did you know--I beg your pardon! but why do you say Obadiah?" + +Hildegarde glanced at her mother, who was laughing openly. "You +will have to make full confession, Hilda," she said. "I do not +think Mrs. Merryweather will be very severe with you." + +"It is a dreadful thing to confess," said Hildegarde, laughing and +blushing. "I--to tell the truth, I happened to be walking in our +garden, on the other side of the tall hedge, just when you drove +up, the other day; and--there is a most convenient little peep- +hole, and I wanted to see our new neighbours, and--and--I peeped! +Are you much shocked, Mrs. Merryweather? I heard several names,-- +Bell, and Toots, and--I--I heard the handsome red-haired boy +called Obadiah." + +The Merryweathers laughed merrily, and Mrs. Merryweather was about +to speak, when a voice was heard in the hall, chanting in a +singular, nasal key,-- + + "Dropsy dropped a book, + And she's going to be shook! + Dropsy dropped a volume, + Which makes her very solume!" + +The door was pushed open, and the handsome red-haired boy entered, +walking on his hands, holding aloft between his feet the missing +"Soul's Conflict." + +"My son Gerald," said Mrs. Merryweather, with a wicked smile. +"Gerald, my love, Mrs. and Miss Grahame." + +If Hildegarde was crimson (and she undoubtedly was), Gerald +Merryweather was brilliant scarlet when he rose to his feet and +saluted the strangers; but he was also atwinkle with laughter, the +whole lithe, graceful body of him seeming to radiate fun. One +glance at Bell, another at Hildegarde, and the whole party broke +into peal on peal of merriment. + +"How do you do?" said Scarlet to Crimson, holding out a strong +brown hand, and gripping hers cordially. "Awfully glad! Please +excuse me, Mrs. Grahame, for coming in like that. I thought there +was no one here but the mother, and she is as used to one end of +me as the other." + +"So you are Gerald, and not Obadiah." said Mrs. Grahame. "I +congratulate you on the prettier name." + +"Oh, Ferguson calls me Obadiah!" said Gerald, laughing again. +"He's the other of me, you know. Beg pardon! you don't know, +perhaps. We are twins, Ferguson and I." + +"And Ferguson, my dear Mrs. Grahame," interposed Mrs. +Merryweather, "is my son Philip. Why these boys cannot call each +other by their rightful names is a family mystery; but so it is." + +"Is your brother Fer--Philip like you?" asked Hildegarde, feeling +sure that he was not, as the other boy she had seen certainly had +not red hair. + +"Not a bit!" replied Gerald, cheerfully. "No resemblance, I +believe. 'Beauty and the Beast' we call each other, too. Sometimes +I am Beauty, and more times I am the Beast; depends on which has +had his hair cut last." + +"Or brushed," said Bell, glancing at the curly hair, which was +certainly in rather a wild condition. + +"Oh, yes! beg pardon!" said Gerald, glancing ruefully at the +mirror, and running his hand through his curly mop. + +"Beast this time, and no mistake. Grass rather long, you see, and +tore my locks of gold. Happy thought! Desiring to tear your hair +in sorrow, walk on hands through long grass; effect admirable. +Wonder Hamlet never tried it!" + +"Hamlet's hair was black," said Toots, seriously. + +"And therefore he could not walk on his hands," said Gerald. "I +see! Dropsy, you are a genius; that's the trouble with you." + +A long gray leg appeared at the open window, and after waving +wildly for a moment, disappeared suddenly. + +"Ferguson!" said Gerald, turning to Hildegarde. "His mountain way! +Becoming aware of your presence, he has retired, to reverse legs, +and will shortly reappear, fondly hoping that you did not see him +before." + +Sure enough, in a few moments another tall boy entered, looking +preternaturally grave, with his hair scrupulously smooth. + +"Been upstairs, you see," said the irrepressible Gerald, "and +slicked himself all up. Quite the Beauty, Fergs." + +"Gerald, do be quiet!" said Mrs. Merryweather. "This is Philip, my +other twin boy, Mrs. Grahame." + +Philip greeted Hildegarde and her mother with grave courtesy, +taking no notice of his brother's gibes. + +"You find us in a good deal of confusion," he said to Hildegarde, +sitting down on a table, the only available seat. "It takes a long +time to get settled, don't you think so?" + +"Oh--yes!" said Hildegarde, struggling for composure, and +conscious of Gerald's eyes fixed intently on her. "But you all +look so home-like and comfortable here." + +"Especially Ferguson!" broke in Gerald, sotto voce. "How +comfortable he looks, doesn't he, Miss Grahame? No use, Fergs! We +marked your little footprints in the air, my son." + +"Oh!" said Philip, looking much discomposed. "Well, I'll punch +your head, Obe, anyhow." + +"Suppose we come out and look at the tennis-court," said Bell. "I +am sure you play tennis, Miss Grahame." + +"Indeed I do," said Hildegarde, heartily. "I have often looked +longingly at that nice smooth lawn, and I hoped you were going to +lay it out for a court." + +"Phil," said Gertrude aside to her brother, who was still blushing +and uncomfortable, "you needn't mind a bit. Jerry came in walking +on his hands, right into the room, before he saw them at all; and +they are so nice, they didn't care; they liked it." + +"Did they?" said Phil, also in a whisper. "Well, that's some +comfort; but I'll punch his head for him, all the same." + +And Gerald cried aloud,-- + +"Away, away to the mountain's brow, For Ferguson glares like an +angry cow. He'll punch my head, and kill me dead, Before I have +time to say 'Bow-wow.'" + +And the five young people went off laughing to the tennis-court. + + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +HESTER'S PLAYROOM. + + + + +"'THAR!' said the Deacon. 'Naow she'll dew!'" + +Hildegarde spoke in a tone of satisfaction, as she looked about +her room. She had been setting it to rights,--not that it was ever +"to wrongs" for any length of time,--for Bell and Gertrude +Merryweather were coming to spend the morning with her, and she +wanted her own special sanctum to look its best. She was very fond +of this large, bare, airy chamber, with its polished floor, its +white wainscoting, and its quaint blue-dragon paper. She had made +it into a picture gallery, and just now it was a flower-show, too; +for every available vase and bowl was filled with flowers from +wood and garden. On the round table stood a huge Indian jar of +pale green porcelain, filled with nodding purple iris; the green +glass bowls held double buttercups and hobble-bush sprays, while +two portraits, those of Dundee and William the Silent, were +wreathed in long garlands of white hawthorn. The effect was +charming, and Hildegarde might well look satisfied. But Bell +Merryweather, when she came into the room, thought that its owner +was the most beautiful part of it. Hildegarde was used to herself, +as she would have said frankly; she knew she was pretty, and it +was pleasant to be pretty, and there was an end of it. But to +Bell, in whose family either brown locks or red were the rule, +this white and gold maiden, with her cool, fresh tints of pearl +and rose, was something wonderful. Hildegarde's dress this morning +was certainly nothing astonishing, simply a white cambric powdered +with buttercups; but its perfect freshness, its trim simplicity, +made it so absolutely the fit and proper thing, that Bell's honest +heart did homage to the lovely vision; there was something almost +like reverence in her eyes as she returned Hildegarde's cordial +greeting. As for the young Gertrude, all the world was fairyland +to her, and Hildegarde was the queen, opening the door of a new +province. The most important thing in life was not to fall or drop +anything on this first visit to the strange and wonderful old +house, as all the Merryweathers persisted in calling Braeside. +Gertrude was always falling and dropping things. At home nobody +expected anything else; but here it was different, and the poor +child was conscious of every finger and toe as she stepped along +gingerly. Gerald's parting words were still ringing in her ears: + +"When you feel that you must fall down, Dropsy, be careful not to +fall into shelves of china,--that's all. Bookcases are the best +things to fall into, you'll find; and a book is the best thing to +drop, too, my poor child. When you feel the fit coming on, put +down the teacup and grab a dictionary; then choose the toe you +want it to fall on,--superfluous aunt of the family, or some one +of that sort,--and you are all right. Bless you, Dropsy! Farewell, +my dear!" + +Hildegarde took the girls directly up to her room, and they +admired all her arrangements as heartily as she could wish. Bell +exclaimed with amazement at the size of the room. + +"To have all this for your own, your castle and defence," she +cried. "What would the girls at college say if they could see such +a room as this, and one girl living in it! Twelve by fourteen is +our rule, and two girls to that." + +"Dear me!" said Hildegarde. "Why, I couldn't live without room." + +"Oh yes, you could!" said Bell, laughing. "One gets used to +everything. It's rather good fun seeing how closely one can pack. +We have sixty-five pictures in our room, my chum and I. Oh, you +have my William! I didn't know anyone else had just exactly that +portrait." + +"Your William, indeed!" cried Hildegarde, laughing. "Why, he is +mine, my very own, and no one ever began to love him as I do." + +The two girls fell into a friendly discussion, and ran lightly +over the history of the Netherlands, with occasional excursions to +Italy, the Highlands, or the south of France, as one picture or +another claimed their attention. Hildegarde was enjoying herself +immensely, and did the honours with ardour, delighted to find that +the "college girl" knew all about the things she loved, without +being in the least bookish or prosy. + +"I thought you would be 'primmed up with majestic pride,'" she +said, laughing. "I was frightened when your little brother said +you were at college, and I instantly saw you with spectacles, and +pale, lank hair done up in a bob on the top of your head. And +then--then you came over the top of the fence, looking like--like----" + +"Like what?" said Bell. "I insist upon knowing." + +"You are sure you don't mind?" asked Hildegarde, as Bell herself +had asked the day before. "You looked like an apple,--so exactly +like a nice red and white Benoni I was sure you must be good to +eat. Oh, I am so glad you came!" + +"So am I!" said Bell. + +"Do you think we might drop the 'Miss' part?" inquired Hildegarde, +"or are you too dignified?" + +"Apples must not stand on dignity," replied Bell, gravely. "But I +have wanted to say 'Hildegarde' ever since I came into this room, +because the name just fits the room--and you." + +At this point Gertrude, who had forgotten her destiny in the joy +of pictures, and was backing round the walls in silent ecstasy, +saw--or rather did not see--her opportunity, and fell quietly +downstairs. One special feature of Hildegarde's room was the +staircase, her own private staircase, of which she was immensely +proud. It was a narrow, winding stair, very steep and crooked, +leading to the ground floor. When Gertrude disappeared down this +gulf with a loud crash, Hildegarde was much alarmed, and flew to +the rescue, followed more leisurely by Bell. + +"Are you much hurt, my dear?" cried Hildegarde. "Wait till I come +and pick you up, poor child!" + +"Oh no!" replied Gertrude, softly, from the foot of the stairs, +where she lay doubled up against the door. "Thank you, but I never +hurt myself. I hope I haven't hurt the stairs." + +Bell came along, laughing. "Dear Dropsy!" she said. "Here, come +up! She really never does hurt herself," she added, in response to +Hildegarde's look of astonishment. "She falls about so much, and +has done so since she was a baby, that she keeps in training, I +suppose, and her joints and bones are all supple and elastic. This +was a good one, though! Sure you are not bruised, little girl?" + +Gertrude picked herself up, declining assistance, and maintained +stoutly that she was sound in wind and limb. "If only I did not +break anything," she said, anxiously. "I came a terrible crack +against the panel here, and it seemed as if something gave as I +fell past it." + +Bell bent down, in spite of Hildegarde's assurance that everything +was right, and passed her hand along the wall of the staircase. +"There is no crack," she said. "I think it is all right, Toots." +She tapped the panel critically. "The wall is hollow here," she +said. "Is this your secret chamber, Hildegarde?" + +"Hollow?" cried Hildegarde. "What do you mean, Bell? I know of no +hollow place there." + +"Have you ever looked for one?" Bell inquired. "Search would +reveal something in there, I am pretty sure." + +Thrilled with curiosity, Hildegarde came down, and the three girls +crouched together on the narrow stair, and tapped and rapped here +and there. Beyond a doubt, one panel was hollow. What could it +mean? + +Bell meditated. "What is on the other side of this place?" she +asked. + +"I--don't know," said Hildegarde. "Stop a moment, though! It must +be,--yes, it is! The old chimney, the great square stack, comes +near this place. Can there be any space--" + +"Then it IS a secret chamber, most likely," said Bell. "I have +heard of such things. Shall we try?" + +They tried eagerly, pressing here, pushing there, but for some +time in vain. At length, as Hildegarde's strong fingers pressed +hard on one spot of moulding, she felt it quiver. There was a +faint sound, like a murmur of protest; then slowly, unwillingly, +the panel moved, obedient to the insistent fingers, and slid +aside, revealing a square opening into--the blackness of darkness. + +"Oh, it's a dungeon!" cried Gertrude, starting back. "Perhaps the +floor will give way, and let us down into places with knives and +scythes. You remember 'The Dumberdene,' Bell?" + +"No fear, Gertrude," said Hildegarde. "Nothing more horrible than +the dining-room is under our feet. But this,--this is very +mysterious. Can you see anything, Bell?" + +"I begin to get a faint glimmer," said Bell. "Of course, if it is +a chimney-room there cannot be any particular light. Shall we +creep in? There is evidently a good deal of space." + +"By all means," cried Hildegarde. "But let me go first, to bear +the brunt of any horrors there may be. Spiders I would not face, +but they must all be dead years ago." + +She crept in on her hands and knees, closely followed by the two +Merryweathers. Growing accustomed to the dimness, they found +themselves in a small square chamber, high enough for them to +stand upright. The walls were smooth, and thick with dust; the +floor was carpeted with something that felt soft and close, like +an Eastern rug. + +"We simply MUST have light!" cried Hildegarde. "Wait, girls! I +will bring a candle and matches." + +"No! no!" cried Bell. "Wait a moment! I think I have found a +window, or something like one, if I can only get it open." + +Again there was a soft, complaining sound, and then a sliding +movement; a tiny panel was pushed aside, and a feeble ray of light +stole in. The girls' faces glimmered white against the blackness. + +"Something obstructs the light," said Hildegarde. "See! this is +it." She put her arm out through the little opening, and pushed +away a dense mass of vines that hung down like a thick curtain. +"That is better," she said. "Now let us see where we are." + +It was a curious place, surely, to lie hidden in the heart of a +comparatively modern house. A square room, perhaps eight feet +across, neatly papered with the blue-dragon paper of Hildegarde's +own room; on the floor an old rug, faded to a soft, nameless hue, +but soft and fine. On the walls hung a few pictures, quaint little +coloured wood-cuts in gilt frames, representing ladies and +gentlemen in scant gowns and high-shouldered frock-coats. There +were two little chairs, painted blue, with roses on the backs; a +low table, and a tiny chest of drawers. The girls looked at each +other, a new light dawning in their faces. + +"It is a doll's room," said Gertrude, softly, with an awe-stricken +look. + +"I know! I know whose room it was!" cried Hildegarde. "Wait, oh, +wait! I am sure we shall find something else. I will tell you all +about it in a moment, but now let us look and find all we can." + +With beating hearts they searched the corners of the little +chamber. Presently Hildegarde uttered a cry, and drew something +forward into the light of the little window; a good-sized object, +carefully covered with white cloth, neatly stitched together. +Hildegarde took out her pocket scissors, and snipped with ardour, +then drew off the cover. It was a doll's bedstead, of polished +mahogany, with four pineapple-topped posts, exactly like the great +one in which Hildegarde herself slept; and in it, under dainty +frilled sheets, blankets and coverlid, lay two of the prettiest +dolls that ever were seen. Their nightgowns were of fine linen; +the nightcaps, tied under their dimpled chins, were sheer lawn, +exquisitely embroidered. One tiny waxen hand lay outside the +coverlid, and in it was a folded piece of paper. + +"Oh, Hildegarde!" cried Bell, "what does it mean?" + +Gertrude was in tears by this time, the big crystal drops rolling +silently down her cheeks; her heart was wrung, she did not know +why. + +"Hester Aytoun," said Hildegarde, softly. "This must have been her +playroom, Bell. She used to live here; it is about her that I +wanted to tell you. But first let us see what she has written +here. I think she would be willing; we are girls, too, and I don't +think Hester would mind." + +There were tears in Hildegarde's voice, if not in her eyes, as she +read the writing, now yellow with age: + +"I, Hester Aytoun, being now sixteen years old, am putting away my +dear dolls, the dearest dolls in the world. Sister Barbara says I +am far too old for such childish things; but I shall never be too +old in my heart, though I may well busy myself with household +matters, especially if I must marry Tom in three years, as he +says. So I put away my dear dolls, and I shall shut up the +playroom, also, for I could not think to pass by it each day and +not go in to see them, and that Sister Barbara will not allow. It +may be that no one will find my playroom till I show it myself to +my little children, if God wills that I have them, which I shall +pray always, now that I may not have my dolls any more. But if +that should not be, or I should be taken away, then I think no +harm to pray that a girl like myself may one day find my playroom +that father made for me,--my own room, where I have been a very +happy child. A man would never know what it meant, but a girl +would know, and if it should so hap, I pray her to be gentle with +the bedstead, for one leg is weakly; and if she will leave my dear +dolls, when she has well played with them, I shall bless her +always for a gentle maiden, wherever I be. So farewell, says +"HESTER AYTOUN." + +All three girls were crying by this time, and little Gertrude laid +her head on her sister's shoulder and sobbed aloud. Bell smoothed +her hair with light, motherly touches, drying her own eyes the +while. Hildegarde sat silent for a while, the letter in her hand; +then she folded it again, and gently, reverently laid it again in +the doll's hand. + +"Dear Hester!" she said, "we do know, dear; we do understand, +indeed." + +And then, sitting on the floor by the pretty bedstead, and +speaking softly and tenderly, she told the two girls of that other +maiden who had lived and died in this old house,--the bright, +beautiful Hester Aytoun, who faded in her springtime loveliness, +and died at eighteen years; who had left everywhere the traces of +her presence, soft, fragrant, like the smell of the flowers in her +own garden. + +"I chose my bedroom, that you like," said Hildegarde, "because I +felt sure, somehow, that it had been hers. I never had a sister, +girls, but Hester seems to me like my sister; and sometimes"--she +hesitated, and her voice fell still lower--"sometimes I have felt +as if she wished it to be so,--as if she liked to come now and +then and see the old home, and give a loving look and word to the +things she used to care for so much. I am glad we found this +place, but I don't think I shall tell anyone else about it, except +mamma, of course, and Jack, when he comes home." + +Very gently the three girls laid the white covering back over the +little dolls, who lay quiet and rosy, and seemed as content as +ever was Sleeping Beauty in her tower. They peeped into the chest +of drawers, and found it full of dainty frocks and petticoats, all +exquisitely made; there was even a pile of tiny handkerchiefs, +marked "Annabel" and "Celia." This sight made Gertrude's tears +flow afresh; she was a tender-hearted child, and tears fell from +her eyes as softly and naturally as dew from a flower. + +When all was seen, they closed the little window, and with a mute +farewell to the sweet guardian spirit of the little place,--the +girl who had loved her dolls, and so made herself dear to all +other girls,--the three withdrew, and softly, reluctantly drew the +sliding panel after them. + +"I shall not forget," whispered Hildegarde, who was the last to +leave the secret chamber; "I shall come sometimes, Hester dear, +and sit there, just I myself, and we will talk together, the dolls +and I. I shall not forget." + +The panel slid into its place with a faint click; no sign was +left, only the white wainscoting, one panel like another, and the +crooked stair winding up to the open, airy room above. + + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +TEA AT ROSEHOLME. + + + + +On a certain lovely evening in June, Hildegarde left the house at +six o'clock, or, to be precise, at five minutes before six, and +took the path that led to Roseholme. It was her eighteenth +birthday, and the Colonel was giving her a tea-party. This was a +great event, for many years had passed since guests had been +invited to Roseholme. The good Colonel, always delighted to be +with Hildegarde and her mother, had still kept up his solitary +habits at home, and save for little Hugh, who flitted about the +dark old house like a sunbeam, it was a lonely place. Now, +however, the Colonel had roused himself and declared that he, and +no other, should give his young friend her birthday treat. The +Merryweathers were invited, all except the two youngest, Will and +Kitty. Mrs. Grahame was already there, having gone over early, at +the Colonel's request, to help in arranging certain little matters +which he considered beyond the province of his good housekeeper; +and now it was time for the "beneficiary," as Gerald Merryweather +called her, to follow. + +Hildegarde was dressed in white, of course; she always wore white +in the evening. Miss Loftus, her neighbour in the new stone house, +sometimes expressed wonder at that Grahame girl's wearing white so +much, when they hadn't means to keep so much as a pony to carry +their mail; her wonder might have been set at rest if she could +have peeped into the airy kitchen at Braeside, and seen Hildegarde +singing at her ironing-table in the early morning, before the sun +was hot. Auntie, the good black cook, washed the dresses +generally, though Hildegarde could do that, too, if she was "put +to it;" but Hildegarde liked the ironing, and took as much pride-- +or nearly as much--in her own hems and ruffles as she did in the +delicate laces which she "did up" for her mother. Her dress this +evening was sheer white lawn, and she had a white rose in her +hair, and another in her belt, and, altogether, she was pleasant +to look upon. Gerald Merryweather, who with his brother was making +his way along another path in the same direction, saw the girl, +and straightway glowed with all the ardour of seventeen. + +"I say!" he exclaimed, under his breath, "isn't she stunning? +Look, Ferg, you old ape! Ever see anything like that?" + +Ferguson, who was of a cooler temperament, replied without +enthusiasm, maintaining that there had been, in the history of +womankind, maidens as beautiful as Miss Grahame, or even more so. +Becoming warm in the discussion, the two grappled, and rolled over +and over at Hildegarde's feet. She gave a little scream, and then +laughed. "Any one hurt?" she asked. "If not, perhaps I had better +brush you off a bit before we go into the house." + +"A nice opinion you will have of us, Miss Grahame," said Gerald, +as he stood still to be brushed. "We can stand straight, and walk, +too, like other people, though you may not believe it. But, you +see, Ferguson is so exasperating that he disturbs my equilibrium, +and then I have to disturb his, that we may continue in brotherly +companionship. He was just saying that the sun was no brighter +than the stars." + +"No more it is, I suppose," said unconscious Hildegarde, "if you +are only near enough to one, or far enough from the other. Shall I +brush you, too, Mr. Ferg--I beg your pardon, Mr. Merryweather?" + +"Oh," cried Gerald, dancing on one foot, "observe his blushes! +Observe the cabbage rose in all its purple pride! Isn't he lovely? +But you are not going to call us 'Mister,' in earnest, Miss +Grahame? You cannot have the heart! We are not accustomed to it, +and there is no knowing what effect it may have on my ardent +nature, or on Ferguson's flabby disposition." Ferguson extended a +long arm and shook his brother with calm energy, till his teeth +rattled together. + +"Really, if you wouldn't, please," he said, in his quiet voice. +"Gerald is a lunatic, of course, and ought to be kept in a barrel +and fed through the bung-hole,--only my mother has scruples; but +we are 'just the boys,' and nobody ever does call us by handles, +you see. So if you wouldn't mind--" + +"I shall be delighted!" said Hildegarde. "Bell and I have already +come to first names, and I am sure you boys are both too jolly to +be ceremonious with; so--Gerald, here we are at the house, and now +you really will have to stay right side up, with care." + +They went together into the wide, bare hall, with its dark panels +hung with family portraits. Colonel Ferrers came to meet them, +erect and soldierly. He kissed Hildegarde's cheek, and greeted the +boys with a cordial shake of the hand. + +"Glad to see you, young people!" he said, in the gruff voice which +held the very spirit of kindliness. "Glad to see you! Hildegarde, +many happy returns of the day to you, my dear child! Take my arm, +I beg!" + +With Hildegarde on his arm, he led the way to the pretty drawing- +room, all white and gold and yellow satin, which was seldom used +in these days. Hildegarde had secretly hoped that they would sit +in the library, a delightful brown-leather sort of room, to which +she had grown well used; but she appreciated the compliment of +opening the drawing-room, and put on her best smile and look of +pleasure. Hugh Allen left his station by Mrs. Grahame's chair, and +came running with open arms to meet his Beloved. "Oh, glory of the +sunrise!" he exclaimed, as he threw his arms round her neck. "I +hope you will live fifty thousand years, and have strawberry jam +every single day of them!" + +"Dear me!" cried Hildegarde. "I should beg for gooseberry once a +week, dear boy, if it were going on quite so long as that. Well, +my mother, you look like the Queen of Conspirators. What have you +and Hugh been talking about, that you both look so guilty?" + +"Guilty, my dear Hildegarde?" said Mrs. Grahame, drawing herself +up. "The word is a singular one for a daughter to use to her +mother." + +"Yes," said Hildegarde, "it is! and the thing is a singular one +for a mother to be toward her daughter. If ever I saw PLOT written +all over an expressive countenance,--but no more of this! Dear +Colonel Ferrers, how wonderful the roses are!" + +Surely there never were so many roses as at Roseholme. The house +had been ransacked for jars, vases and bowls to hold them, and +every available surface was a mass of glowing blossoms. The girls +hovered from vase to vase, exclaiming with delight at each new +combination of beauties. + +Now tea was announced, and this time Colonel Ferrers offered his +arm to Mrs. Merryweather, as the stranger and new-comer in the +neighbourhood; but the good lady protested against anyone but the +"birthday child" being taken in by the host, and the Colonel +yielded, it must be said with a very good grace. + +Here, in the long, oak-panelled dining-room were more roses,-- +ropes and garlands of them, hanging in festoons along the dark, +shining panels, drooping from the Venetian lustres of the quaint +chandelier. Even the moose's head on the wall behind the Colonel's +chair had a wreath, cocked slightly on one side, which gave a +waggish look to the stately creature. The huge antlers spread +abroad, three feet on either side; the boys eyed the trophy with +wondering delight." + +"Oh, I say, sir!" cried Gerald, "did you shoot that moose? I never +saw such a fellow. Why, Roger shot one last year that we thought +was the grandfather moose of the world, but he was a baby to this +one." + +The Colonel smiled, well-pleased, and told the story of his +shooting the great moose. + +"And who is Roger?" he asked, then. "Have you yet more treasures, +Mrs. Merryweather? Surely none old enough, to go moose-hunting?" + +"Roger is not my own child, Colonel Ferrers," said Mrs. +Merryweather, smiling. "I always have to remind myself of the +fact, for he seems like my own. He is my husband's half-brother, +many years younger than he,--the dearest fellow in the world, and +really a delightful combination of son and brother. I hope he will +be here before long. And that reminds me,--have I made my +husband's apologies? I am so sorry he could not come!" + +"I regret it heartily, my dear madam," said the Colonel, with a +courtly bow; and he recalled how Mr. Merryweather had confided to +him the other day that he drew the line at going out in the +evening, and would not exchange his own fireside for the King of +Dahomey's. He thought it probable that the excellent Miles was at +this moment sitting with pipe and newspaper on the back veranda of +his house; and if it had not been Hildegarde's birthday, the +Colonel might have wished himself beside him. As it was, however, +he devoted himself to his guests with such hearty good-will that +the tea-table soon rang with merry talk and laughter. + +The high-tea itself was beyond praise; Mrs. Beadle had seen to +that. Mrs. Grahame's Auntie herself might have been jealous of the +jellied chicken; and salad was green and gold, and rolls were +snowy white, and strawberries glowed like sunset; and over all +were roses, roses, making the whole table a floral offering, as +Gerald said. Then, just before everybody had reached the "no more" +point, the good Guiseppe, who had been standing, stately, behind +his master's chair, darted out, and in a moment returned, bearing +on a huge silver salver,--what was it? Behind Guiseppe was seen +the portly form of good Mrs. Beadle, beaming under her best cap; +Guiseppe's own face was one broad, dark smile. A general chorus +broke from all save the host and Mrs. Grahame; Hugh gave a squeak +of joy in which was no surprise. + +"I knew they would like it!" he cried, clapping his hands. "I knew +they would be surprised, and that the hair of their scalps would +be uplifted. It is yours, Beloved; it is for you!" + +A cake! Who had ever seen such a cake? It must have been baked in +the biggest cheese-frame that the dairy could supply; or the rim +of a cart-wheel might have been used to frame its monstrous +circle. Certainly, as Guiseppe set it down before Hildegarde, it +seemed to cover the whole width of the great table. On its top the +frosting was piled high, in fantastic shapes. There seemed to be +little hills and valleys; and from among these peeped--and did +they only seem to move?--a number of tiny figures in green and +gold. One sat astride of a snowy pinnacle, another lay stretched +at full length in a hollow, his pretty face only peering out; some +were chasing each other among the elfin hills, others were +standing at ease, their hands on their hearts, their forms bent +gracefully as if in salutation. In the middle rose a white throne, +and on this sat the prettiest fairy of all, with a crown on her +head and a wand in her hand; she was dressed in white and gold, +and round her danced a circle of elves; and every elf held a tiny +blazing candle. + +"Are you too old for dolls, Hildegarde?" asked the Colonel, +puffing with pleasure as he saw the delight in the girl's face. +"These are birthday fairies, you observe. There are eighteen of +them, and every one of them wishes you good luck, my dear, and +every happiness, every blessing that Heaven can bestow." + +The good Colonel had begun merrily enough, but before the end of +his little speech his deep voice trembled, and the tears stood in +Hildegarde's eyes. She tried to speak, but the words did not come; +so, leaving her seat, she went quietly up to the Colonel and +kissed his forehead. "Thank you, dear friend!" she said; and it +was all she could say. + +"There! there!" said the Colonel, recovering himself at once. +"Glad you like it, my child! Glad you like it! The fancy was my +mother's; she had a poetic taste, madam." He turned to Mrs. +Merryweather, who was beaming with admiration and delight. "She +had these little figures made long ago,--for another eighteenth +birthday,--a dear young friend of hers. Yes, yes! They have been +kept in cotton-wool forty years, madam. Little candle holders, you +perceive. A pretty fancy, eh? I happened to remember them the +other day,--hunted 'em up,--the result, thanks to Mrs. Grahame and +Elizabeth Beadle. Mrs. Beadle, ma'am, I desire that you will come +in, and not skulk in the doorway there, as if you had reason to be +ashamed of your handiwork. My housekeeper, Mrs. Beadle, ladies and +gentlemen: a good woman, if she will allow me to say so, and a +good cook. Now, Guiseppe, a knife for Miss Grahame, and we will +test the quality of this same cake. Plenty of citron, I trust, +Elizabeth Beadle? No little skimpy bits, but wedges, slabs of +citron? Ha! that is as it should be. She wanted to make a white +cake, my dear,--a light, effervescent kind of thing, that can +hardly be tasted in the mouth; but I refused to insult either you +or my traditions in such a manner. A birthday cake, Mrs. Grahame, +my dear madam, should be as rich as spices and plums, brandy and +citron,--especially citron, which I take to be an epitome of the +Orient, gastronomically speaking,--as rich as all manner of good +things can make it. You agree with me, my young friend?" He nodded +to Gerald, whose eyes met his, flaming with approval. + +"Oh, don't I, sir!" cried Gerald. "When they talk about +wholesomeness and that sort of r--of thing,--well, I beg your +pardon, mater dear, but you know you do, sometimes, in a manner to +turn gray the hair,--when they do, I always think it's a dreadful +shame to have wholesome things on your birthday. And--oh, I say!" +Here he relapsed into silence, as the first slice dropped from the +side of the great cake, revealing depth upon depth of richness. +The two mothers shuddered slightly, and exchanged deploring +smiles; but Hugh clasped his hands in rapture, and lifted up his +voice and spoke. + +"You are King Solomon to-day, Guardian, aren't you,--instead of +other kings, as sometimes you are? And my great-aunt is the Queen +of Sheba. And--'there came no more such abundance of spices as +these which the Queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon. And gold, and +precious stones, and knops and flowers'--oh, see them all! And, +Guardian,--I mean King Solomon, DO you think there might be an +almug tree in the garden?" + +When tea was over, the Colonel bowed the ladies out of the room +with punctilious courtesy, and motioned to Hugh to follow them; +then he turned to the two Merryweather boys. + +"May I offer you cigars, young gentlemen?" he asked; and he took a +couple of cheroots from the mantel-piece. + +The boys blushed bravely, but Phil said, quietly, "No, thank you, +sir. We are not going to smoke till we are twenty-one. Father +thinks that is soon enough." + +The Colonel nodded approvingly. "Your father is right!" he said. +"Very right, indeed, my young friend. I beg you to take notice +that, though obliged by the laws of hospitality to offer you +cigars, I should have thought it unsuitable if you had accepted +them. Thirty years ago I should have been obliged to offer you +wine, also, but happily that is no longer necessary. Forty years +ago,--hum, ha! If you will permit me, I will smoke a cheroot for +the party. Your father prefers a pipe, I believe, but give me a +Manilla cheroot, and I am satisfied." + +"Excuse me, sir," said Gerald, "but weren't you going to say +something else?" + +Colonel Ferrers smiled. "You are quick, my boy," he said. "I was +indeed thinking of something that happened forty years ago,--of my +first smoke. Possibly you might be amused to hear about it?" + +The boys seemed to think there was no doubt about their being +amused; they drew up two ottomans beside the Colonel's armchair, +and prepared to listen, open-mouthed. + +"Forty years ago, then," said the Colonel, "or, to be more exact, +forty-five years, I was a lad of fifteen." + +He paused, and smoked in silence for some minutes. Gerald could +not help thinking of Alice and the Mock Turtle, and wondered what +would happen if he should get up and say, "Thank you, sir, for +your interesting story." But he held his peace, and waited. + +"Fifteen years old, young gentlemen, and a sad scapegrace, I am +sorry to say. My poor mother had an anxious time of it with me. I +was in the water, or in the fire, or in the clouds from morning +till night, as it seems on looking back. But with all my vagaries, +I had one great desire which had never been gratified,--that was, +to smoke a cigar. My father was a clergyman, and though he had +never forbidden my smoking, I should never have dared to suggest +such a thing to him, for he was strict in his notions, in many +ways. Not too strict, sir, not too strict, by any means, though he +may have seemed so to me then. + +"To make a long story short, I fell in with some lads of my own +way of thinking, and we determined to have a smoke. We gathered +sweet fern and dried it, and rolled cigars for ourselves; odd- +looking things they were, but we were vastly proud of them. When +all was ready, we chose a dry, warm spot behind a dyke (for it was +the fall of the year, and the days growing cold), and there we +lighted our cigars and fell to work, puffing away in mighty fine +style. Well, sir, they were horrible things, as you may well +imagine; not one of us, I'll go bail, liked them in his heart, but +we all pretended our best, and praised the cigars, and said what a +fine thing it was to smoke, and thought ourselves men, as sure as +if we had felt our beards pushing. + +"By-and-by--I have the feeling of it still, when I think of it--I +chanced to look up, and saw my father standing over the top of the +dyke, looking down on us. The other boys, catching sight of my +face, lifted their eyes and saw him, too; and there was a pretty +moment. He said never a word for some time; no more did we. At +last, 'What are you smoking, boys?' he asked, speaking in his +usual even voice; yet I did not like the sound of it, somehow. + +"So we told him, sweet fern; but he shook his head at that. 'That +is poor stuff, indeed,' he said. 'Now, if you must smoke, here is +something worth your while. Take these, Thomas, and share them +with your friends; they are genuine, and I hope you may enjoy +them.' + +"With that he took a parcel of cigars from his pocket, and handed +them to me; then bowed to us all very grand, and marched off, +never looking behind him. + +"I was not comfortable in my mind at this, for I knew my father +pretty well, and had looked for something different; but the other +lads were in high feather, and lighted their cigars on the +instant, bidding me do likewise, and crying out that my father was +a fine old buck, and that I was a lucky fellow to have such a +parent. I could not be behind the rest, so I lit up, too, and for +a few minutes all was as gay as a feast. But, Harry Monmouth, sir! +in half an hour we were the sickest boys in Westchester County. It +was all we could do to crawl home to our beds; and not one of us +but was sure he was dying, and cried to his mother to send for the +doctor before it was too late." + +The Colonel laughed heartily, the boys chiming in with a merry +peal. + +"What were the cigars?" asked Phil. + +"The strongest Havanas that were made,--that was all. Fine cigars, +I have no doubt; but I was forty years old before I touched +tobacco again, and I have never smoked anything less delicate than +a Manilla." + +He puffed in silence, chuckling to himself now and then; the boys +meditated on the tale they had heard. + +"Colonel Ferrers," said Gerald, at last. + +"Yes, my boy. You are thinking that it is time to join the ladies? +Quite right; we will go in at once." + +"I wanted to ask," said Gerald, "if you don't mind telling us, +that is--well--I was only thinking that perhaps those cigars you +offered us--were they very mild ones, Colonel Ferrers?" + +The Colonel looked grave for a moment, then he gave way and +laughed aloud. + +"Found me out, hey?" he said. "Well, since you ask me, Master +Merryweather, I believe they were--not--the mildest that are made. +But you--hark! what was that?" + +From the next room came the sound of a crash, and then a cry. + +"I am very sorry, sir," said the boys in a breath. "It is probably +our sister Gertrude, who has broken something." + +"She has no fingers to her thumbs," added Gerald, "and the result +is destruction." + +They passed into the next room, and found that there had indeed +been an accident. Gertrude had knocked down a great pink vase, and +broken it into fifty pieces; she had also fallen over it, and now +sat among the ruins on the floor, too frightened to cry, while the +others picked up the pieces as best they might. + +"Colonel Ferrers, what will you think of us?" cried Mrs. +Merryweather, looking up as her host entered the room. "This +unlucky child of mine has done something dreadful. Get up, Gerty, +and let me get the pieces from under you. I do so hope it may be +mended." + +"Heaven forefend," said Colonel Ferrers, hastily. "Is it--I can +hardly hope it--is it truly the pink vase, the pink vase with the +stag's head on it?" + +"Ye--yes!" sobbed poor Gertrude, getting up from the floor, and +seeking vainly for her handkerchief. "Oh, I am so sorry!" + +"My dear child," cried the Colonel, and he took Gertrude by both +hands, "my dear young benefactress, how can I ever thank you! You +have relieved me of a heavy burden." + +"Why? what?" cried all. + +The Colonel pointed to the broken china, and gave a great sigh of +relief. "You behold there," he said, "now happily in fragments, +the bane of my existence. That--that horror--was given me three +years ago by a valued servant and friend, my man Guiseppe. He +bought it for my birthday; spent ten of his hard-earned dollars on +it, foolish, faithful creature that he is. What could I do? It +was,--the enormity you perceive. I was obliged to give it a place +of honour,--fortunately, I seldom use this room when I am alone; I +was forced to praise its tint, which I abominate, and its shape, +which is wholly detestable. What would you? I could not wound my +good Guiseppe; the vase has remained, the chief ornament--in his +eyes--of my drawing-room. Now, thanks to you, my charming child, I +am delivered of this encumbrance, and my poor white and gold can +appear without this hideous blot on its purity." + +Gertrude wiped her eyes, much relieved at this novel view of her +infirmity, and all the others laughed heartily. + +"And now," said the good Colonel, "is it not time for some games, +Hilda, or something of the kind? Command me, young people. Shall I +be blind man, at your service?" + +It was a pleasant sight to see the Colonel, a silk handkerchief +tied over his eyes, chasing the young folks hither and thither; +pulled this way, twitched that, but always beaming under his +bandage, and shouting with merriment. It was a pleasanter sight, +later in the evening, to see him leading out Hildegarde for a +quadrille, and taking his place at the head of the figure with +stately, old-fashioned grace. Mrs. Grahame, turning round a moment +from her place at the piano, saw his fine face aglow with +pleasure, and felt a corresponding warmth at her own heart. She +thought of the gloomy, solitary man he had been a year ago, living +alone with his servants, scarcely seeing or speaking to a soul +outside his own grounds. And who shall blame the mother for saying +in her heart, with a little thrill of pride, "It was my child who +helped him, who brought the sunshine into this good man's life. It +was my Hildegarde!" + + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +ANOTHER TEA-PARTY. + + + + +It was the very day after the great affair at Roseholme that +Hildegarde had her own tea-party; in fact, it had been planned for +the birthday itself, and had only been postponed when Colonel +Ferrers made known his kind wish. This was a piazza party. The +broad, out-door room was hung with roses,--some of the very +garlands which had graced the dark walls of Roseholme the night +before; but here they were twined in and out of the vines which +grew on all sides of the piazza, screening it from outside view, +and making it truly a bower and a retreat. The guests had been +asked to come at five o'clock, but it was not more than three when +Hildegarde, coming to the door by chance, saw two or three little +figures hanging about the gate, gazing wistfully in. At sight of +her, their heads went down and their fingers went into their +mouths; they studied the ground, and appeared to know neither +where they were, nor why they had come. + +"Euleta!" exclaimed Hildegarde; "is that you, child? and Minnie +and Katie, too. Why, you are here in good time, aren't you?" + +She ran down and took the children by the hand, and led them up to +the piazza. "I am very glad to see you, chicks," she said. "Shall +we take off the hats? Perhaps we will leave them on for a little," +she added, quickly, seeing a shade of distress on Euleta's face; +"they look so--gay and bright, and we might want to walk about the +garden, you see." + +Euleta beamed again, and the others with her. They were sisters, +and their careful mother had given them hats just alike, dreadful +mysteries of magenta roses and apple-green ribbon. Their pride was +pleasant to see, and Hildegarde smiled back at them, saying to +herself that the dear little faces would look charming in +anything, however, hideous. + +Soon more children came, and yet more: Vesta Philbrook and Martha +Skeat, Philena Tabb and Susan Aurora Bulger,--twelve children in +all, and every child there before the stroke of four. + +"Well," said Hildegarde to herself, "the tea-table will not be +quite so pretty as if I had had time to make the wreaths; but they +would rather play than have wreaths, and I should not have left it +till the last hour, sinner that I am." She proposed "Little Sally +Waters," and they all fell to it with ardour. + + + + "Oh, little Sally Waters, sitting in the sun, + Crying, weeping, for your young man; + Rise, Sally, rise, wipe your weeping eyes," etc. + +Martha Skeat was the first Sally; she chose Susan Aurora, and +Susan Aurora chose Hildegarde. Down went Hildegarde on the floor, +and wept and wrung her hands so dramatically that the children +paused in alarm, fearing that some real calamity had occurred. + +"Oh! oh!" moaned Hildegarde; "my young man! Go on, children. Why +are you stopping? Oh, where IS my young man?" she sobbed; and the +children, reassured by a twinkling smile, shrieked with delight. +"What shall I do?" sobbed the girl. "I--haven't--got--any young +man! Now, children, you MUST say 'Rise, Sally,' or my foot will be +sound asleep, and then I couldn't get up at all, and what would +become of your supper?" + +Aghast at this suggestion, the children began to chant, hastily,-- + + + + "Rise, Sally, rise, + Wipe your weeping eyes; + Turn to the east, + Turn to the west, + Turn to the one that you love the best!" + +Hildegarde sprang to her feet, whirled to the east, with her hands +clasped in entreaty; turned to the west, holding out her arms with +a gesture of intense longing; turned to the south,--and saw a +stranger standing and gazing at her with a look of intense +amusement. + +For once Hildegarde thought that her wits were gone; she stood +still, her arms dropped to her side, and she returned the +stranger's gaze with a look of such simple, absolute dismay that +he could hardly keep his countenance. Hastily advancing, he lifted +his hat. "Miss Grahame," he said, "I beg your pardon for breaking +in in this way. My sister--I am Roger Merryweather, I ought to say +first--Bell wanted to know at what time she should come over, and +as none of the boys were at hand, I ventured to come over with the +message." + +His eyes,--they were kind eyes, as Hildegarde noticed in her +distress,--his eyes seemed to say, "I wish you would not mind me +in the least, my child! Have I not sisters of my own, and don't I +know all about Sally Waters?" It almost seemed as if the words +were spoken, and Hildegarde recovered her composure, and came +forward, with a burning blush, it is true, but holding out her +hand with her own sweet cordiality. + +"I am very glad to see you, Mr. Merryweather. You are very good +not to laugh at poor Sally's distresses. Tell Bell that the +children are all here, and the sooner she comes the better. But-- +will you not come in, Mr. Merryweather? My mother will be +delighted to see you. We have heard so much of you from all the +children." + +Roger Merryweather excused himself on the ground of letters that +must be written, but promised himself the pleasure of an early +call; and so, with another kind, sensible look, and a smile and a +friendly word to the children, he withdrew, and Hildegarde saw him +leap lightly over the fence,--a tall, well-knit figure, springy +and light as Gerald's own. + +The girl drew a long breath of dismay, but it quavered, and +finally ended in a hearty laugh. + +"And how PERFECTLY he behaved!" she said aloud. "If one had to +make a spectacle of one's self,--and apparently it is to be my +fate through life,--surely no one could choose a kinder looking +spectator." + +Here she became aware of the children, standing at gaze, and +evidently waiting for her next word. + +"Why, what am I thinking about?" she cried, merrily. "Do you think +we have had enough of 'Sally,' children? I--I think perhaps I +have. And what shall we play next? I fear it is too hot still for +'I Spy;' we must keep that till after tea. What are you saying, +Martha? Speak out, dear, and don't be afraid to say just what you +would like best. This is your own party, you see, and it is to be +the kind of party you all think pleasantest." + +Martha murmured inaudibly several times, but spurred by digs in +the ribs with several pairs of sharp elbows, finally spoke aloud +with a sudden yelp. "Oh, PLEASE!--Susan Aurora Bulger, I'll go +right and tell your mother this minute!--please, 'The Highland +Gates to Die.'" + +"What?" asked Hildegarde, in amazement. "Say it again, Martha, +please. The Highland--what?" + +"Gates to Die!" said Martha Skeat, and all the children took up +the chorus. "'The Highland Gates to Die,' please, Teacher!" + +Hildegarde repeated the words to herself, but no light came. "I +don't understand," she said. "You will have to show me how to +play, for I never heard of the game. Highland Gates--well, I shall +learn it quickly, I hope. Euleta, will you take the lead?" + +Euleta, a sheep-faced child, with six whitey-brown pigtails, +motioned to the others, who at once joined hands in a circle. Then +she began to pace slowly round the circle, and all the children +broke out into a wild chant: + + "Go round and round the level, + Go round and round the level, + Go round and round the level, + The Highland Gates to die." + +Now the arms were lifted, and the leader wove her mystic paces in +and out among the children, while the words changed. + + + + "Go in and out the window, + Go in and out the window, + Go in and out the window, + The Highland Gates to die." + +Euleta took Vesta Philbrook by the hand, led her into the circle, +and knelt solemnly before her; and the others sang, wildly,-- + + "Kneel down and face your lover, + Kneel down and face your lover, + Kneel down and face your lover, + The Highland Gates to die." + +"What ARE, you playing?" cried Bell Merryweather, who had come in +quietly, and was watching the proceedings in amazement. + +"Don't ask me!" Hildegarde replied, "watch and listen, and learn +if you can. Oh, this is tragedy, indeed!" For Euleta had thrown +herself backward, not without a certain dramatic force, and now +lay prone at Vesta's feet; and the children chanted, solemnly,-- + + + + "She's dead because she loved him, + She's dead because she loved him, + She's dead because she loved him, + The Highland Gates to die." + +This ended the game, and the children smiled joyously, while +Euleta plumed herself like a little peacock, taking to herself the +credit of all the interest shown by the young ladies. + +"But what an extraordinary thing!" cried Bell; "Hildegarde, have +you an idea what it can mean?" + +Hildegarde shook her head. "It must be something old," she said. +"It must come from some old story or ballad. Oh, if we could only +find out!" They questioned the children eagerly, but could learn +nothing. It was merely, "The Highland Gates to Die," and they had +always played it, and everybody else always played it,--that was +all they knew. + +At this moment a well-known brown bonnet was seen bobbing +apologetically up the drive; the Widow Lankton had been making +frantic efforts to catch Hildegarde's eye, and now succeeding, +began a series of crab-like bows. + +"Oh!" cried Hildegarde, eagerly, "there is Mrs. Lankton, and she +will know all about it." + +"Yes," chimed in the children, in every variety of shrill treble. +"Widder Lankton, SHE'LL know all about it, sure!" + +Mrs. Lankton was surrounded in a moment, and brought up on the +piazza. Here she sat, turning her head from side to side, like a +lean and pensive parrot, and struggling to get her breath. + +"It's ketched me!" she said, faintly, in reply to the girls' +questions. "Miss Grahame, my dear, it's ketched me in my right +side, and I like t' ha' died on your thrishold. Yes, my dear," she +nodded her head many times, and repeated with unction, "I like t' +ha' died on your thrishold." + +"Oh, I am so sorry, Mrs. Lankton!" said Hildegarde, soothingly, +while she quieted with a look Bell's horrified anxiety. + +"I think you will be able to go in and get a cup of tea presently, +won't you? And that will take away the pain, I hope." + +Mrs. Lankton's countenance assumed a repressed cheerfulness. "You +may be right, dear!" she said. "I shouldn't go to contradict your +blessed mother's darter, not if she told me to get a hull supper, +let alone a cup o' tea, as is warming to the innards, let him deny +it who will. There! I feel it a leetle better now a'ready," she +announced. "Ah, it's a blessed privilege you have, Miss Grahame!" + +Without stopping to analyze these remarks too closely, Hildegarde +said a few more soothing words, and then went straight to the +matter in hand. + +"Mrs. Lankton, can you tell us anything about a game the children +have been playing, the game of 'The Highland Gates?' We are very +much interested in it, Miss Merryweather and I,--this is Miss +Merryweather,--and we want to know what it means." + +"To be sure, my dear!" cried the Widow Lankton. "'The Highland +Gates to Die.' Dear me, yes! if ever a person could tell you--and +Miss Bellflower, is it? Ah! she looks rugged, now; don't she? and +livin' in the old Shannon house, too. 'T is dretful onhealthy, +they say, the Shannon house; but havin' a rugged start, you see, +you may weather it a consid'able time, dearie, and be a comfort to +them as has you WHILE they has you. My Philena, her cheeks was +just like yours, like two pinies. And where is she now? Ah! I've +seen trouble, Miss Bellwether. Miss Grahame here can tell you of +some of the trouble I've seen, though she don't know not a quarter +part of it." + +"Oh yes, Mrs. Lankton," said Hildegarde, with what seemed to +wondering Bell rather a scant measure of sympathy; "Miss +Merryweather shall hear all about it, surely. But will you tell us +now about the game, please? We want to know so very much!" + +"To be sure, dearie! to be sure!" acquiesced Mrs. Lankton with +alacrity. "'T is a fine game, and anncient, as you may say. Why, +my grandmother taught me to play 'The Highland Gates' when I was +no bigger than you, Vesta Philbrook. Ah! many's the time I played +it with my sister Salome, and she died just about your age." + +"Well, Mrs. Lankton," said Hildegarde, encouragingly. + +"Well? oh, bless you! no, dearie! She was terrible sick! that was +why she died. Oh, my, yes! She had dyspepsy right along, suffered +everything with it, yet 'twas croup that got her at last. Ah! +there's never any child knows when croup 'll get her; girl NOR +boy!" + +Hildegarde began to feel as if she must scream, or stamp her foot, +or do some other impossible thing. + +"Mrs. Lankton," she said, gravely, "I am sure Auntie has the +kettle on, and you will be the better for your tea, so will you +not tell us as quickly as you can, please, about the game? The +children are waiting, you see, to go on with their play." + +"Jest what I was going to say, dear," cried Mrs. Lankton. "Let 'em +play, I says, while they can, I says; for its soon enough they get +the play squenched out of 'em, if you'll excuse the expression, +Miss Henfeather." + +At this apostrophe, delivered with mournful intensity, Bell +retreated hastily behind a post of the veranda, and even Susan +Aurora Bulger giggled faintly, with her apron in her mouth. + +Hildegarde was silent, and tried the effect of gazing severely at +the widow, apparently with some success, for after a pause of +head-shaking, Mrs. Lankton continued: + +"But as you was saying, dearie, about the game. Ye--es! Well, my +grandmother, she was an anncient woman; some said she was ninety- +seven, and more called it ninety-eight, but she didn't rightly +know herself, bein' she had lost the family Bible. Burned up with +the house it was, before she came from the Provinces, and some +said it was because of starting a new fire in the cook-stove on +Sunday; but I don't want to set in judgment, not on my own flesh +and blood, I do not, Miss Grahame. And I remember as if it was +this day of time, she settin' in her chair in the porch to our +house, smokin' her pipe, if you'll excuse me ladies, bein' an +anncient woman, and I HAVE heard great ladies took their pipes in +them times, but so it is. And she says to me, 'Drusilly,' she +says, 'Why don't you play with Salome?' and I says, ''Cause I +ain't got nothin' to play.' And she says, 'Come here,' she says, +'and I'll learn ye a game,' she says. So I called Salome, and we +two stood there, and Gram'ther she taught us 'The Highland Gates +to Die.' Salome, she had been feedin' the hens, and when she come +back she left the gate open, and they all got out and went and +strayed into the woods, and my father got so mad we thought we +should lose him, for sure. Purple he used to get when he was mad, +same as a late cabbage, and an awful sight. Yes, children, be +thankful if you're learned to keep your tempers. So that's all I +know, Miss Grahame, my dear, and you're welcome as air to it; and +I do believe I see Mis' Auntie lookin' out the kitching winder +this minute, so if you'll excuse me, ladies, bein' I feel a +goneness inside, and if I should faint away, how your blessed +mother would feel!" + + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +IN GOOD GREEN WOOD. + + + + +They were in the Roseholme woods, all four girls,--Hildegarde, +Bell, Gertrude and little Kitty. Kitty was only eight years old, +but she liked good times as well as if she were sixteen, and when +the sisters said "Come along, Kitty," she had dropped her doll and +flown like a bird to join them. Willy shouted after her, having +designs on her in regard to tin soldiers; but for once Kitty was +deaf to her Willy's voice. Now she was as happy as a child could +be, sitting in a nest of warm pine needles, playing at "partridge +mother." + +The other girls sat near her, making oak wreaths and talking +busily. Bell was telling of some college experiences. + +"So we found we had not nearly green enough to trim the hall, and +I volunteered to get some more, while the rest of the committee +made the garlands. I had not far to go, only to the grove, about a +mile beyond the campus; but it was growing dark, so I hurried as +much as I could. I ran across Professor Thunder's yard, as that +cut off nearly half the distance, and there my fate found me. Oh, +dear! Hildegarde, you will never guess what I did." + +"Nothing, I am sure," said Hildegarde, gravely, "that was not +consistent with dignity and decorum. The college maiden is an +awful person, I have always understood." + +"You shall judge!" said Bell. "Remember that I was alone, with +none to help me carry the boughs; that I was late, it being then +six o'clock, and the dance beginning at eight. I had to get the +greens, help put them up, get my supper, dress, and be there at +eight to receive the juniors. And there--there, in the clear +afternoon light on the lawn, stood the professor's wheelbarrow, +saying as plainly as a wheelbarrow can, 'You'd better take me +along to bring the things home in.' Could I resist that mute +appeal? I could not. I saw, I took, I trundled! The thing went of +its own accord, I believe; certainly I never before made such good +time to the grove. Once there, it was a matter of only a few +minutes to strip the boughs and fill the friendly barrow. But, oh! +I filled it not wisely, but too well. It was all so green and +pleasant, and the smell of the trees was so delightful, that I did +not know when to stop. Soon the barrow was heaped high with all +manner of pleasantness, and I started to return. Well, my dear, +then the trouble began. In the first place, full barrows are +different from empty ones. It was very heavy, and the boughs kept +slipping this way, and sliding that way, and tumbling down every +third second. I got cross--oh, so cross! and presently I passed +the janitor's son, lounging along homeward, and he grinned, being +an oaf, and said, 'Better let me help ye, hadn't ye?' Oh, no! he +didn't mean to be rude, he really meant to help; but my blood was +up, and my hair was down, and I was very short with him, I fear, +and trundled off alone with my dignity. Then a branch fell out and +got tangled in the wheel, and while I was getting it out a twig +snapped into my eyes; and there was a stone in my shoe, and +altogether,--well, it was only a mile to the grove, but it was +twenty miles back, I can tell you. Before I reached the campus my +arms were so sore, and my foot so lame, and my eye so painful, +that my pride ran out at the heels of my boots, like the +gunpowder. I was going pretty slowly, so as to keep the boughs +from tumbling out more than was absolutely necessary,--and I heard +the boy lumbering up behind me again. So, without turning round, I +said, 'You SHALL help me now, if you please!' and--and--oh, +Hildegarde! a deep voice answered, 'I shall be charmed to do so!' +and I looked up and saw Professor Thunder!" + +"Oh, Bell! oh, poor thing!" cried Hildegarde. "What did you do?" + +"Do?" replied Bell. "I didn't do anything. He took the handles +from me,--his own handles, mind you, of his own barrow,--and +trundled it solemnly along. I was struggling with hysterics. I am +not in the least hysterical by nature, but the combination--the +professor taken for a lout and commanded to trundle his own +barrow, stolen by a sophomore, the twig in my eye and the stone in +my foot--was too much for me. Besides, there seemed nothing in +particular to say. I could not begin 'Please, sir, I thought you +were the janitor's boy!' nor did 'Please Professor Thunder, this +is your wheelbarrow, which I have stolen,' seem exactly a happy +opening for a conversation. So we went on in silence, and when the +branches tumbled off, I picked them up without a word. How could I +be such a dumb idiot? Don't ask me! If it had been any other +professor I might have found courage to speak; but Jupiter Tonans +was my terror and my hero; I sat at his feet, and the roll of his +deep voice was music to my sophomoric ears. I had never spoken to +him out of class, but only that morning he had praised my +translation, he who seldom praised anything,--and now to come to +this! + +"At last, after about three hours of dreadful silence, he opened +his lips and spoke: 'The greens are for decorational purposes, I +presume, Miss Merryweather?' Oh, and I had hoped he would not +remember who I was. + +"'Yes, sir,' I said. 'For the sophomore reception this evening.' + +"'Ah!' he said, 'in that case, it will be well for us to hasten.' + +"Silence again, while we quickened our pace, making the branches +fall off more than ever. Then--'The wheelbarrow,' said the +professor, 'amazes us by its combined simplicity and perfection. +The conception of a man of universal genius and vast erudition,--I +allude to Leonardo da Vinci, the marvellous Florentine,--it has +for upwards of three hundred years served mankind as a humble but +valued ally. In every rank of life it finds its place. This +barrow, for example--' + +"My heart came into my mouth. 'Professor Thunder,' I said, 'this +is your wheelbarrow. I came across your lawn, and saw it standing +there, and--I took it.' + +"'Yes, my child,' he said, 'I saw you take it.'" + +"Oh, oh!" moaned the two girls. "Poor Bell! oh, poor Bell!" + +"Then I broke down and cried, and told him all about it, and how I +had taken him for the janitor's boy, and all. Girls, he was +perfectly angelic! He made me sit down on the bank to rest, and +talked to me, oh, so kindly! and was glad I had taken the barrow, +and all. And--it is too dreadful to tell, but--I had dropped my +handkerchief, and he gave me his, about three square yards of +finest cambric,--I shall never smell orris again without thinking +of that moment,--and said--you won't think me vain to repeat this, +Hildegarde?--said that he could not have his best pupil spoil her +eyes, as it would interfere with her Greek. And then we came to +the campus, and the girls standing in the door of the Gym saw +Professor Thunder wheeling the wheelbarrow fall of greens, and me +walking meekly by his side. I shall never forget their faces; one +moment, and then they turned and fled. It was base, but I could +not blame them; the sight was not one to induce composure, as the +Professor himself would say. So I thanked him as well as I could +for the dumbness and heat that were on me; and he took off his hat +and made a grand bow, and then he shook hands--oh, so cordially! +and begged to present me with the freedom of the wheelbarrow; and +then he went away. There, Hildegarde! You wanted a college story, +and you have had one." + +The girls laughed heartily at Bell's adventures, and Hildegarde +declared that she should never fear a college girl again, as it +was evident that they were girls of like passions, getting into +scrapes like their sisters. + +While talking, the girls had been busily plaiting garlands of oak +leaves, and now they proceeded to crown each other, and hang long +wreaths on neck and arm. + +"Hildegarde shall be the fairy queen," said Gertrude "and we her +attendant fays. Hail, Queen!" + +"Oh yes, that is all very well for you!" said Bell; "you don't +weigh one hundred and thirty pounds. A fine sylph I should make! +Hilda is perfect for the queen, however." + +Certainly Hilda did look very lovely, with the green chaplet +crowning her fair locks, and the afternoon sunlight sifting +through the leaves, checkering her white dress with light and +shade. Roger Merryweather, coming through the wood in his quiet +way, with his tin plant-box slung over his shoulder, thought he +had never seen a fairer sight, and paused to enjoy it before +announcing his presence to the girls. As he stood there, +motionless, and screened by the broad leaves of a great chestnut- +tree, a frightful scream was heard, a ferocious yell, which made +the whole wood vibrate with horrid sound. The girls sprang to +their feet in terror; little Kitty ran to Bell and hid in her +gown, while the older girls with one accord turned at bay, ready +to face they knew not what peril. Even Roger was startled for the +moment, and was about to step hastily forward, when a second +shriek rang out. He recognized the voice, and stood still, +unwilling to spoil sport. And now from the thicket burst two wild +forms, blanketed and feathered, uttering hideous yells, and +brandishing glittering weapons over their heads. Kitty shrieked, +but after one moment Bell burst into laughter. + +"You imps!" she cried. "You wicked, wicked little wretches, to +frighten us so! Kitty darling, it is the boys. Look up, darling! +Don't you see? It is our naughty, naughty boys, playing Indian. +After them, Toots! after them, Hilda! We'll give them a lesson +they shall not forget." + +"Huh! huh!" shouted the Indians. "Big Chief Hop-toad! big +Medicine-man Put-Squills-In-His-Tea! gobble up the white squaws +for supper! Huh! huh!" + +And now the quiet spectator saw a merry sight. The girls flew in +pursuit, the boys fled before them. In and out of the trees, +laughing, shrieking, they doubled and twisted. Hildegarde ran +well, and Bell had not had two years of basket-ball for nothing. +As for Gertrude, she was lithe and long-limbed as a young +greyhound; but even so, they could not catch their tormentors. + +The long gray legs twinkled like lightning over the ground. Phil +paused from time to time to shout his warhoop, and Gerald, when he +could find breath, chanted wild scraps of song, accompanied by +frantic gestures: + + + + "My tom, my tom, my tommy-hawk, + With thee I'll make the pale-face squawk: + With thee I'll make them cry 'Oh, lawk!' + My tom, my tom, my tommy-hawk." + +Circling round a great tree, he came full upon Hilda, flying in +the other direction, and made a snatch at her green wreath. + + "Pale-face squaw shall lose her hat, + Medicine-man will see to that," + +he cried. + +"Will he, indeed?" cried Hildegarde. "Catch me if you can, you +odious redskin! I defy you in every withering term that a Cooper +maiden ever invented!" + +"Ho! if you are a Cooper maiden, you are nothing but a female!" +said Gerald. "Aha! she turns, she flies! she feels the scalp a-wr- +r-r-r-r-iggling on her head! she fears she'll soon be a female +dead! Ho, ho! Medicine-man! Big Injin! Ho!" + +Flying breathless now, Hildegarde darted hither and thither, +hiding under the leaves, dodging behind the tree trunks. Finally, +seeing her foe pausing for an instant behind the bole of a huge +nut-tree, she rushed upon him, and seizing him, shook him +violently. Then she let go her hold and screamed, for it was not +Gerald that she was shaking. + +Roger Merryweather stepped forward, unable to keep from smiling at +her face of horror. He felt a little "out of it," perhaps, and +twenty-four seemed a long way from seventeen; but he should not +have watched the girls, he told himself with some severity, +without letting them know he was there. Now this pretty child +regarded him as a double eavesdropper and spy. But his apology was +drowned in the shouts of the boys. + +"Hi! here's Roger! hurrah! Roger, Roger! my scientific codger, +come and play Big Injin! The pale-faces are uncommonly game, but +we shall have them all the same. Hi! there goes Dropsy!" + +Indeed, at this moment Gertrude tripped over a tree root and fell +headlong; as she fell she caught at Phil's ankle, just as he was +in the act of grasping Bell by the flying tail of her gown; +another moment, and all three were on the ground together in a +confused heap. + +"Anybody hurt?" asked Roger, going to pick them up. + +"Oh no!" said Bell, sitting up and shaking the pine needles from +her hair. "Toots was underneath, and she makes a noble cushion. +All right, Toots? and how do you come here, Professor?" The three +fallen ones righted themselves, and sat up and panted; seeing +which, the others came and sat down, too, and for a space no one +spoke, for no one had any breath save Roger, and he was laughing. + +"I have been botanizing," he said at last. "I was coming quietly +along, when suddenly Bedlam broke loose, and I have been standing +by to go about ever since. No extra lunatics seemed to be needed, +or I should have been charmed to assist." + +By this time Hildegarde had recovered her composure. It was her +fate, she reflected, to run into people, and be found in trees, +and be caught playing "Sally Waters;" she could not help her fate. +But her hair was all down her back, and she could help that. She +began to knot it up quietly, but Gerald raised a cry of protest. + +"What, oh what is she doing that for? Don't, Miss Hildegarde, +please! I was just thinking how jolly it looked, let alone the +chances for scalping." + +"Thank you!" said Hildegarde, as she wound up the long locks and +fastened them securely. "I have no fancy for playing Absalom all +the way home. Have you hurt your foot, Phil?" for Phil was rubbing +his ankle vigorously, and looking rather uncomfortable. + +"I stumbled over Dropsy's nose," he said, ruefully. "When she fell +down, her nose reached all the way round the tree, and tripped me +up. I wish you would keep your nose in curl-papers, Dropsy." + +Dropsy beat him affectionately, and helped rub his ankle. They +were silent for a moment, being too comfortable to speak, each one +thought to himself. The sunbeams flickered through the leaves; the +pine needles, tossed into heaps by the hurrying feet, gave out +their delicious fragrance; overhead the wind murmured low in the +branches. It was a perfect time, and even Gerald felt the charm +and was silent, throwing acorns at his sisters. + +"Sing, Roger," said Bell, at length, softly. "Sing 'Robin Hood!'" + +So Roger sang, in a noble baritone voice, that joyous song of the +forest, and the woods rang to the chorus: + + "So, though bold Robin's gone, + Yet his heart lives on, + And we drink to him with three times three." + + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +"HANDS ACROSS THE SEA." + + + + +"Oh, how jolly you all look!" cried Hildegarde, peeping through +the hedge. "Where are you going?" + +The Merryweathers were going to ride; so much was evident. Five +bicycles stood at the door, glittering in the sunlight; five +riders were in the act of mounting, plainly bound on a pleasure- +trip. + +"Only for the mail, and a little spin after it," cried Mr. +Merryweather. "Wish you could come too, Miss Grahame. You will +certainly have to get a wheel and join us. Nothing like it, I +assure you." + +Bell and Gertrude, in trim short skirts and gaiters, sat already +perched, ready for the start; and Phil and Gerald were putting a +last touch to their shining metal-work. + +Mrs. Merryweather came out on the steps, with Kitty by her side. + +"Here are my letters, dear people," she said. "And don't forget +the boots, please; they are very important." + +"May one inquire what boots?" asked Mr. Merryweather. + +"I really have no idea!" replied his wife. "Somebody said at +breakfast that you must be sure to remember the boots, and dwelt +on their importance; therefore I mention them." + +"Ou avez-vous procure ce chapeau?" inquired Gerald, politely. + +"My dear Gerald, you know that I will not endure slang that is +less than fifty years old." + +"It isn't slang, Mother! At least it may be; but I want to know, +because, really, you know, ma'am, when it comes to baskets--" + +Mrs. Merryweather put up her hand, and removed her head-gear. +"Dear me!" she said, "it is a basket, sure enough. That is very +curious! Why--why then, I must have picked the raspberries into my +hat." + +A shout of laughter, in which Mrs. Merryweather joined placidly, +greeted this announcement. "I put plenty of green leaves in it," +she said; "it will be all right. But I sent it to the minister's +wife, and I fear she will be surprised. My dear Gertrude, have you +learned your Latin lesson, that I see you starting off so freely?" + +"Yes, mother," said Gertrude, sadly. "I learned it, and it was a +detestable lesson. I am SO tired of hearing that Titus Labienus +was stationed on a hill!" + +"I know!" chimed in Phil. "I remember when I was in Caesar, about +forty years ago, and Titus Labby was on the hill then. It's my +belief he got stuck there, and was afraid to come down." + +"That is curious!" said Mrs. Merryweather, meditatively. "Always +on a hill; why, so he is! That is rather interesting, don't you +think so?" + +"With all respect, I do not!" said Mr. Merryweather. "I desire to +depart. If Caesar had had a wheel, he would not have been so +tedious." + +"Oh, jolly!" cried Gerald. "Caesar commanded to let scoot the +legions through the morasses and bogges the bogs. Then came +Vercingetorix on a '91 Columbia, weighing seventy-three pounds, +and said, 'How in time am I to get up this hill?' Then spake to +him Caesar, and said these words,--Get out, you Ferguson!" + +For Ferguson, swiftly departing, had launched a kick at his +brother in passing, nearly sending him from his seat. Gerald +whirled off in pursuit; the others followed more soberly, and the +whole party disappeared round the curve of the road. + +Hildegarde looked after them rather dolefully. A year ago a girl +on a bicycle was a shocking thing to our heroine; she shook her +little head severely, and said that nothing would induce her to +mount one. Somehow her views had changed since she had seen the +Merryweathers on theirs. She began to think that it would be +uncommonly pleasant to go skimming along like a swallow, swooping +down the hills and whirling along the levels. "The nearest +approach to flying that this generation will see," Mr. +Merryweather called it, and Hilda inclined to think he was right. +However-- + +"Remember that you are both coming over this morning," called Mrs. +Merryweather, cheerfully. "I mean this evening, of course, to tea. +We will have some music. Kitty, my dear, we must go to our +French." + +"Shall we bring our sewing out on the verandah, mammy?" asked +Hilda, rousing herself from a little reverie. "Ah, you have the +letters, sly one, and never told me!" + +"I doubted if there was anything that would interest you, my +love," said Mrs. Grahame. "Yes; let us have our work, by all +means. There are one or two business letters that I should like +you to look over." + +Hilda smiled and departed, revolving the thought that she was a +selfish and empty-headed wretch. She did not want to read business +letters; she wanted to be on a wheel, flying over the smooth road, +with the wind lifting her hair and breathing cool against her +cheek. And here was her mother sitting alone, and the new +tablecloths to hem, and--and altogether--"If you COULD tell me why +they thought it worth while to keep you," she said to herself, "I +should be glad to know it. Perhaps you can tell me what P-I-G +spells." + +Returning with the wide sewing basket, she found her mother +looking over a pile of letters. "It is high time," said Mrs. +Grahame, "that you began to take some interest in business +matters." Hildegarde wondered what was coming; her mother looked +very grave; she held in her hand a square grey envelope. "I shall +be greatly obliged, therefore, my dear," her mother continued, +with the same portentous gravity, "if--you would--read that"; and +she gave the letter to Hildegarde. + +"Oh, mamma! you wicked, wicked deceiver! You frightened me almost +to death; and it is from Jack, dear old Jack. Oh, how delightful! +You pleasant person, Mrs. Grahame; I forgive you, though my heart +still throbs with terror. Are you all comfortable, my own? Your +little feet all tucked up beneath your petticoat, so that they +cannot steal in and out? Don't you want a glass of milk, or a +cracker, or a saddle of mutton, or anything else? Then be silent! +and oh, how happy we shall be!" Hildegarde settled herself in her +chair, sighed with pleasure, and broke the seal of the fat letter. + +"DEAR HILDA: It seems an age since I last wrote, but there is so +much going on I have hardly time to breathe. There have been some +awfully jolly concerts this spring, and I have been going to them, +and practising four hours a day, and having lessons and all that. +Herr J. played at the last two concerts, and I know what heaven is +like--my heaven, at least--since I heard him. He played--" + +Here followed an accurate list of the great violinist's +performances, covering three sheets of note-paper. + +"It isn't the technique and all that, though of course he is the +first in the world for that and everything else; it's the sense, +the heart that he puts into it. In that adagio--well, I played it +to you once, like the cheeky little duffer I was, and felt pleased +as Punch with myself, and no end cocked up because you liked it. +Hilda, I ought to have been taken out and shot for daring to touch +it! When the maestro (they call him maestro here, so you mustn't +think me Frenchified), when he played it, the world seemed just to +melt away, and nothing left but a voice, that sang, and sang, and +told you more than you ever dreamed of in all your life before. I +wish I could describe things, but you know I can't, so you won't +expect it. But one thing I will tell you, if you'll promise not to +tell any living soul--" + +"Stop, my dear!" said Mrs. Grahame, quickly. "We must not touch +upon the boy's confidences. Head that part to yourself." + +"Thank you, ma'am!" said Hilda. "This mark of trust is most +gratifying, I assure you. 'Not tell any living soul except your +mother, dear.' Now how do you feel, madam?" + +"Dear Jack!" said Mrs. Grahame, softly. "Dear lad! of course I +shall like to hear it. Go on, Hilda, and I promise not to +interrupt again." + +"The day after the last concert--it was only day before yesterday, +but it seems an age--I went to take my lesson, and my master was +not there. He is often late, so I just took out some music and +began to play over the things I had studied. There was a sonata of +Rubinstein's, very splendid, that has quite possessed me lately. I +played that, and I suppose I forgot where I was and all about it, +for I went on and on, never hearing a sound except just the music. +You must hear it when I come back, Hilda. It begins in the minor, +and then there is the most superb sweep up into the major; your +heart seems to sweep up with it, and you find yourself in another +world, where everything is divine harmony. I'm talking nonsense, I +know, but that piece just sends me off my head altogether. Well, +at last I finished it and came down from the clouds, and when I +turned around, Hilda, there was the maestro himself, standing and +listening. Well! you can't go through the floor and all that sort +of thing, as they do in the fairy-books, but I did wish I was a +mouse, or a flea, or anything smaller that there is. He stood +still a minute. Perhaps he was afraid I would behave like some +asses the other day--they weren't Americans, I am happy to say-- +who met him, and went down on their knees in the hotel entry, and +took bits of mud from his shoes for a keepsake; they truly did, +the horrid pigs! And he just said 'Dummkopfer!' and went off and +left them kneeling there. Wasn't that jolly? Well, I say, he might +have thought I would act like that, and yet I don't believe he +did, for he had the kindest, friendliest look on his face. He came +forward and held out his hand, and said, 'So you play the great +sonata, my son; and love it, too, I perceive.' + +"I don't know exactly what I said,--some rubbish about how much I +cared for it; but I stammered mostly, and got all kinds of +colours. I guess you can tell pretty much how I behaved, though I +really am getting to be not quite so much of a muff. Anyhow, he +seemed to understand, and nodded, and said, 'Give me now the +violin, for there are things you understand not yet in the piece.' + +"Oh, Hilda! he took my violin in his own hands, and played for me. +Think of it! the greatest master in the world, all alone with me +there, and playing like--like--well, I don't know how to say what +I mean, so you'll have to imagine it for yourself. He went all +through it, stopping once in a while to explain to me, and to +describe this or that shade of expression or turn of the wrist. It +was the most splendid lesson any one ever had, I believe. But that +is not the best, and I hardly like to tell even you the rest. You +may think I am just bluffing, and anyhow,--but it is the truth, +so--well, after about half an hour my master came in, and of +course he was delighted, and highly honoured, and bowing and +scraping and all. But the maestro came and put his hand on my +shoulder, and said, 'Friend, will you give me up this pupil, +hein?' + +"I don't mind if you don't believe it; I didn't myself, but +thought I was asleep and dreaming it all. 'I will give you in +exchange two others,' he said. 'The fat English lady has shortness +of breath, and cannot keep my hours of work, and the young Russian +makes eyes at me, which is not to be endured. Will you take them, +both very rich, and give me in exchange this child?' + +"Of course there is only one answer, you know; it is like when a +king asks for anything. And besides, Herr Geiger is so good and +kind, he was really perfectly delighted at my having the great +chance,--the chance of a lifetime. So I am going this afternoon to +take my first regular lesson from the great master of the world, +and I don't deserve it, Hilda, and I wonder why everything is done +so for me, and such happiness given to a fellow like me, when +there are hundreds of other fellows who deserve it a great deal +more. I know what you and your mother would say, and I do feel it, +and I am thankful, I truly think, with all my heart, and I hope I +shall be a better fellow in every way, and try to make some +return. I couldn't go without telling you. Of course I wrote a +line to the governor first. He will be so happy! And of course if +it hadn't been for him, I never should have had any music, or any +violin, or anything; and without you and your mother, Hilda, I +never should have come here, that is certain. So I don't see very +clear, sometimes, when I think about you and him. + +"Time for the lesson now. Good-bye! I am the happiest fellow in +the world! Best love to your mother, and uncle--no! shall write to +him by this mail. + +"Always your affectionate + +"JACK. + +"P.S. Lesson glorious! he is really the greatest man in the world, +I don't care who the next is. I didn't thank you for your last +letter. Of course I felt for a minute as if my gas-balloon had +bust, when you told me that the lovely Rose was going to marry Dr. +Flower; but I guess it is all right. You see, she must be very +sweet and all that; but after all, I never saw her, and you say +she has no ear for music, and I am afraid that would have been a +pretty bad thing, don't you think so yourself? So I guess it is +all right, and I am as jolly as a coot. Awfully jolly about the +new neighbours turning out such bricks. Do any of them play or +sing? JACK. + +"P.P.S. I fought my first duel yesterday, with a chap who slanged +the U. S. I got a cut on my left arm, but then, I cut a little +slice off his ear, so I was all right. J." + +"Dear me!" exclaimed Mrs. Grahame; "a duel! The naughty, naughty +boy! Those student duels are not apt to be serious affairs +nowadays, I believe, but still it seems a dreadful thing. What +will the Colonel say when he hears it?" + +"He will very likely be pleased as Punch, as Jack says," rejoined +Hildegarde. "To have his milksop fight a duel would probably seem +to him a very encouraging thing. And of course, mammina, it isn't +like a real, dreadful duel, is it? I mean, it is more a kind of +horrid bear-play? But oh, to think of our Jack cutting off a piece +of a man's ear! It almost spoils the beautiful other part of it. +No, nothing can spoil that. Dear, delightful, stupid, glorious old +Jack! I always knew he had genius. When shall we see the Colonel?" + +"Possibly to-night, at the Merryweathers'," said her mother. +"These pleasant little tea-parties seem to take in all our little +circle. See! there come the riders back again, Gerald and Phil +racing, as usual. Hear them shout! Certainly, never a family was +better named." + +Hildegarde came up behind her mother, and put her arms lightly +round her neck. + +"I prefer my pea!" she said. And the two women laughed and kissed +each other and went on with their work. + + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +MERRY WEATHER INDOORS. + + + + +It rained that evening, so the plans for tennis were brought to +naught; but the evening was cheerful enough, in spite of the +pouring rain outside. The wide, book-strewn parlour of Pumpkin +House was bright with many lamps, and twinkling with laughing +faces of boys and girls. Mr. Merryweather, cheerfully resigned to +"company," possessed his soul and his pipe (being duly assured +that Mrs. Grahame liked the smell of tobacco), and the Colonel +puffed his cigar beside him. A little fire crackled on the hearth, +"just for society," Mrs. Merryweather said, and most of the +windows were wide open, making the air fresh and sweet with the +fragrance of wet vines and flowers. The two ladies were deep in +household matters, each finding it very pleasant to have a +companion of her own age, though each reflecting that the children +were much better company in the long run. The children themselves +were playing games, with gusts of laughter and little shrieks and +shouts of glee. They had had "Horned Lady," and Willy's head was a +forest of paper horns, skilfully twisted. Hugh had just gone +triumphantly through the whole list, "a sneezing elephant, a punch +in the head, a rag, a tatter, a good report, a bad report, a +cracked saucepan, a fuzzy tree-toad, a rat-catcher, a well-greaved +Greek, etc., etc., etc. + +"There are no thoughts in this game, beloved," said the child when +he had finished, turning to Hildegarde. "My head turns round, but +it is empty inside." + +"Good for Hugh!" cried Phil. "Just the same with me, Hugh. It +makes me feel all fuzzy inside my head, like the tree-toad." + +"You ARE like a tree-toad!" said Gerald. "That is the resemblance +that has haunted me, and I could not make it out, because as a +rule tree-toads are not fuzzy. I thank thee, Jew--I mean Hugh--for +teaching me that word. My brother, the tree-toad! Every one will +know whom I mean." + +"Just as they know you as the 'one as is a little wantin'," +retorted Phil. "Just think, Miss Hilda, Jerry and I spent a week +together at a house at Pemaquid, and Jerry left his sponge behind +him when he came away. Well, and when the captain of the tug +brought it over to the island where the rest of us were, he said +one of the boys had left it, the one as was a little wantin'. And +he said it was a pity about him, and asked if there warn't nothin' +they could do for his wits." + +"That was because he heard me reciting my Greek cram to the cow," +said Gerald. "Most responsive animal I ever saw, that cow, and +mooed in purest Attic every time I twisted her tail. And how about +the pitch-kettle, my gentle shepherd? Was I ever seen, I ask the +assembled family,--WAS I ever seen with a pitch-kettle on my head +instead of a hat?" + +"Oh, Hilda!" exclaimed Bell; "you ought to have seen Phil. He had +been pitching the canoe,--this was ever so long ago, of course,-- +and he thought it would be great fun to put the pitch-kettle on +his head. He thought it was quite dry, you see. So he did, and +went round with it for a little, so pleased and amused; and then +he saw some ladies coming, and tried to take it off, and it +wouldn't come. Oh dear! how we did laugh!" + +"Yes, Miss Hilda, I should think they did!" cried Phil, +indignantly. "Sat there and chuckled like great apes, instead of +helping a fellow. And I had to crawl under barrels for about half +a mile, so that those people wouldn't see me." + +"Poor Phil!" cried compassionate Hildegarde. "And did you get it +off at last?" + +"First we tried butter," he said, "but that wouldn't stir it. Then +they gave me a bath of sweet oil, and put flour in my hair, and +hot water, and turtle soup, and I don't know what not; and the +more things they did, the faster the old thing stuck. So at last +we had to call the Mater, and she took the scissors and cut it +off." + +"Oh, meus oculus!" cried Gerald. "Do you remember how that kettle +looked, with a fringe of hair all around it? Half his hyacinth bed +on one fell kettle! He ought to have sung a 'Lock-aber no more!'" + +"And we ought to have sung 'Philly, put the kettle on!'" cried +Gertrude. + +"Toots, don't exhaust your brain!" said Gerald, gravely. "You may +need it some time; there is no knowing. No knowing, but much +nosing!" he added. "Could you move the principal part of your +person, my child? It casts such a deep shadow that I cannot see +myself think." + +"Will some one please tell me what is the matter with Gertrude's +nose?" asked Hildegarde, innocently. "You are always talking about +it; it seems to me a very good nose indeed." + +"Dear Hilda!" exclaimed Gertrude; "what a nice girl you are!" + +"That is just the point, Miss Hilda," said Gerald. "It is an +excellent nose. Take it as a nose, it has no equal in the country, +we have been assured. If there is one thing this family is proud +of, it is Gertrude's nose. We may not be clever, or rich, or +beautiful, but we can always fall back on the nose; there's plenty +of room on it for the whole family." + +"Why," put in Phil, "the Pater has been offered a dollar a pound +for that nose, and he wouldn't look at it." + +"He couldn't see it," said Bell; "the nose was in the way." + +"Why, one day we had been in bathing," said Phil, "and when we +came back, Toots hung her nose out of the window to dry, and went +to sleep and forgot it; and will you believe it? a fellow came +along and climbed right up it, just like 'Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let +down your hair,' you know. Ah! Oh, I say!" + +At this outrage, Gertrude rose, and fell upon her brother tooth +and nail. She was a powerful child, and at the shock of her onset, +the seat of Phil's chair gave way, and he "sat through" like +little Silver-hair, and came suddenly to the floor, his head and +legs sticking up helplessly through the empty frame. The young +people were so overcome with laughter that no one could help him; +but Roger, who had been hidden in a convenient corner with an +absorbing monograph on trilobites that had just arrived by mail, +came forward and pulled his brother out. + +"Dear me!" exclaimed Mrs. Merryweather, looking up. "Philip, my +dear, it is strange that none of you can remember not to sit in +that chair." + +"What is the matter with the chair?" inquired Mr. Merryweather. + +"The seat has been loose for a long time," said his wife. "It +always comes down when any one sits in it." + +"And could it not be mended?" + +"Why, yes," said Mrs. Merryweather, evidently receiving a new +idea. "I suppose it might be mended, Miles. Do you know, I never +thought of that! Certainly; it shall be mended. Bell, remind me +to-morrow to get some glue. That is one of the set of chairs that +came from my father's house, you remember, Miles, and the seats +were always loose. One night my mother had a party, and your Uncle +Frederick went round before the people came, and set the seats +forward in the frames, so that whoever sat down would go through +at once. The governor of the State was the first to take his seat, +and he went directly through to the floor, just as Phil did now. +My father was excessively angry, and Frederick and I spent the +next day in bed, but we thought it was worth the punishment." + +"These are improving reminiscences, my dear Miranda!" said Mr. +Merryweather. + +"Oh! but what do you think mamma did this morning?" cried +Gertrude. "May I tell them, mamma? Do you mind?" + +"Tell them, by all means, my dear," said Mrs. Merryweather, +cheerfully. "Did I do anything more foolish than usual? Oh, yes, I +remember! I was measuring the whale-oil soap. Tell them, Gerty, if +you think it would amuse them. I am not very useful," she added, +turning to Mrs. Grahame, "but I do seem to give a good deal of +amusement, and that is a good thing." + +"Well," said Gertrude, "you see, we had to squirt the roses, and +mamma said she would make the whale-oil mixture for us, because it +is such horrid stuff, and we had some errands to do first. So I +came back after the errands, and she was measuring it out. Dear +mamma! am I a wretch?" + +"Not at all, my child," said her mother. "I richly deserve to be +exposed; besides, one can always serve to point a moral. You see, +Mrs. Grahame, the receipt said, 'half a pint of soap to a gallon +of water! Now I had ten gallons of water, so I--tell what I was +doing, cruel child." + +"She had the pint measure," said Gerty, "and she was filling it +half full and then pouring it into the water. She was going to do +that ten times, you see; and I said, 'Why don't you fill it full, +five times?' Darling mamma, I AM a wretch!" + +"Yes, you are," cried Bell. "Poor mamma! dear mamma!" + +The children all clustered round their mother, caressing her, and +murmuring affectionate words. Mrs. Merryweather smiled in a happy, +helpless way. + +"I am a sad goose, good neighbours," she said; "but they always +bring me out right, somehow. There now, darlings, sit down, and be +good. And, by the way, Gertrude, I am minded to heap a coal of +fire on your head. Didn't you tell me this morning that Titus +Labienus was always on a hill, or something like that?" + +"Yes," said Gertrude. "So he is, and ever will remain so. Have you +taken him down, dear mamma?" + +"Not exactly!" said her mother. "But I have made a ballad about +him, and I thought it might possibly amuse you all." + +An eager shout arose, and all the young people gathered in a +circle round the good lady's chair, while she read:-- + + "THE BALLAD OF TITUS LABIENUS." + + Now Titus Labienus + Was stationed on a hill; + He sacrificed to Janus, + Then stood up stark and still' + He stood and gazed before him, + The best part of a week; + Then, as if anguish tore him, + Did Labienus speak: + + "Oh, hearken, mighty Caesar I + Oh, Caius Julius C., + It really seems to me, sir, + Things aren't as they should be. + I've looked into the future, + I've gazed beyond the years, + And as I'm not a butcher, + My heart is wrung to tears. + + "All Gaul it is divided + In parts one, two and three, + And bravely you and I did, + In Britain o'er the sea. + In savage wilds the Teuton + Has felt your hand of steel, + Proud Rome you've set your boot on, + And ground it 'neath your heel. + + "But looking down the ages, + There springs into my ken + A land not in your pages, + A land of coming men. + I would that it were handier + 'Tis far across the sea: + 'Tis Yankeedoodledandia, + The land that is to be. + + "A land of stately cities, + A land of peace and truth: + But oh! the thousand pities! + A land of weeping youth. + A land of school and college, + Where youths and maidens go + A-seeking after knowledge, + But seeking it in woe. + + "I hear the young men groaning! + I see the maidens fair, + With sighs and bitter moaning, + Tearing their long, fair hair. + And through the smoke of Janus + Their cry comes sad and shrill, + "Oh, Titus Labienus, + Come down from off that hill + + "For centuries you've stood there, + And gazed upon the Swiss; + Yet never have withstood there + An enemy like this. + The misery of seeking, + The agony of doubt + Of who on earth is speaking, + And what 'tis all about." + + "Now he had planned an action, + And brought his forces round; + But--well, there rose a faction, + And ran the thing aground. + And--their offence was heinous, + Yet Caesar had his will; + And Titus Labienus + Was stationed on a hill. + + "'Then the Helvetii rallied, + To save themselves from wrack, + And from the towns they sallied, + And drove the Romans back. + The land was quite mounTAINous, + Yet they were put to flight; + And Titus Labienus + Was stationed on a height. + + "'Then himself advised them + Upon the rear to fall; + But Dumnorix surprised them, + And sounded a recall. + Quoth he, "The gods sustain us! + These ills we'll still surmount!" + And Titus Labienus + Was stationed on a mount." + + "Thus comes the cry to hand here + Across the western sea, + From Yankeedoodledandia, + The land that is to be. + My heart is wrung with sorrow; + Hot springs the pitying tear. + Pray, Julius C., to-morrow + Let me get down from here I + + "Oh, send me to the valley! + Oh, send me to the town! + Bid me rebuff the sally, + Or cut the stragglers down; + Send me once more to battle + With Vercingetorix; + I'll drive his Gallic cattle, + And stop his Gallic tricks. + + "Oh! sooner shall my legion + Around my standard fall; + In grim Helvetic region, + Or in galumphing Gaul; + Sooner the foe enchain us, + Sooner our life-blood spill, + Than Titus Labienus + Stand longer on the hill!" + + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +A NEW LIFE. + + + + +"Bell," said Hildegarde, "I really think I must be a cat in +disguise." + +"What do you mean, dear?" inquired Bell, looking up from her +dishpan. + +"Why, I have had so many lives. This is the fifth, at the least +computation. It is very extraordinary." + +Quiet Bell waited, seeing that more was coming. The two girls were +sitting on the end of a wharf, in the sparkling clearness of a +September morning. Before them stretched a great lake, a sheet of +silver, dotted as far as the eye could see with green islands. +Behind lay a pebbly beach, and farther up, nestled among a fringe +of forest trees, stood a bark hut, with broad verandahs and +overhanging eaves. Hildegarde looked up and around, her face +shining with pleasure. + +"They have all been so happy--the lives," she said. "But this +surely is the most beautiful to look at. You see," here she turned +again to her companion, "first I was a little girl, and then a big +one, at home in New York; and a very singularly odious specimen of +both I was." + +"Am I expected to believe this?" asked Bell, quietly. + +"Oh yes! because I know, you see, and I remember just how +detestable I was. Children are so sometimes, you know, even with +the very best parents, and I certainly had those. Well, at last I +grew so unbearable that I had to be sent away. Oh, you need not +raise your eyebrows, my dear! It's very nice of you, but you never +saw me then. I don't mean that I was sent to the Reform School; +but my father and mother had to go to California, and I was not +strong, so the journey was not thought best for me; and besides, +dear mamma saw that if I was ever going to amount to anything I +must be taken away from the fashionable school and the set of +girls I was getting intimate with. I wasn't intimate with mamma +then; I didn't want to be. The other girls were not, and I thought +it would be silly; think of it, Bell! Well, I was sent, a forlorn +and furious child (fifteen years old though, the same age as dear, +sweet Gertrude), to my mother's old nurse in the country,--a +farmer's wife, living on a small farm, twenty miles from a city. +There, my dear, I first learned that there was a world outside the +city of New York. I must tell you all about it some day,--the +happy, blessed time I had with those dear people, and how I +learned to know my own dearest ones while I was away from them. I +buried that first Hildegarde, very dead, oh, very dead indeed! +Then the next summer I went to a new world, and my Rose went with +me. I have told you about her, and how sweet she is, and how ill +she was, and now how she is going to marry the good doctor who +cured her of her lameness. We spent the summer with Cousin Wealthy +Bond, a cousin of my mother's,--the loveliest old lady, living +down in Maine. That was a very new world, Bell; and oh! I have a +child there, a little boy, my Benny. At least, he is Cousin +Wealthy's Benny now, for she is bringing him up as her own, and +loves him really as if he were; but I always think of him as +partly mine, because Rose and I found him in the hospital where we +used to go to carry flowers. He had been very ill, and we got +Cousin Wealthy to let him come to her house to get well. And +through, that, somehow, there came to be a little convalescent +home for the children from the hospital,--oh, I must tell you that +story too, some day, and it is called Joyous Gard. Yes, of course +I named it, and I was there for a month this spring, before you +came, and had the most enchanting time. I took Hugh with me, and +the only trouble was that Benny was madly jealous of him, and gave +him no peace. Poor Benny! he is a dear, nice little boy, but not +like Hugh, of course, and that exasperated him past belief. It was +just like Lord Lardy and the waiter in the Bab Ballad, for Hugh +was entirely unconscious, and would smile peacefully at Benny's +demonstrations of wrath, thinking it all a joke. + +"Oh, I could talk all day about Benny and Cousin Wealthy, and +nice, funny Mrs. Brett, and all of them. Well, then, two years ago +came our trouble, you know. Dear papa died, and we came out here, +feeling very strange and lost. It was sad at first, of course; but +oh, we have had such peace and happiness together, my mother dear +and I! The last year, when we had grown used to doing without the +dear one, and knew--but mamma always knew it--that we must make +happiness for each other,--the last year has been a most lovely +time. But sweet and happy as it has all been, Bell, still I have +always had a small circle to love and to be with. Mamma, bless +her, and at one time one set of dear friends, and at another time +another; never many people at once, and life peaceful and lovely, +but one day pretty much like another, you see. But since you all +came, I have been in a new world altogether,--a great, merry, +laughing world, with such lots of children and fun--" + +"And noise!" put in Bell. "We are a dreadfully noisy set, I fear." + +"Oh, noise is good," cried Hildegarde, "such happy, healthy noise +as this. I love it, though it did startle me at first. It seemed +pleasant enough to have you all next door; but then came this last +development,--Cousin Wealthy's illness, and her sending for mamma, +and your mother's kindness in bringing me out to this delightful +place. It is all like a fairy tale. I used to hear of people's +camping out, but I always thought I should hate it. Hate this!" + +She looked up at the brilliant sky above her, and around at the +shining lake, the dark trees drooping to the water's edge, the +green islands sleeping in the sunshine. "Oh, pleasant place!" she +sighed. + +They were silent for a few moments; Bell was scouring dishpans +till they shone like silver, while Hildegarde thoughtfully wrung +out the dishcloths that she had been washing as she talked. + +"I suppose," said Bell, slowly, "life is always good, when we want +to make it so. There are so many different kinds of life,--I have +known so many in the short time I have been alive, and it didn't +seem to make much difference about the outside of them. Some of +the poorest and most suffering lives have been the happiest and +blessedest, and again some that have money and health and +everything that so many people sigh for, are miserable, for one +reason or another. I can't bear to hear girls say, 'Oh, if I only +had money! I would do so much, and be so good, and all that sort +of thing.' I always want to say, 'Why don't you begin with what +you have?' I did say it once to a girl, and she has hardly spoken +to me since. She had been wishing that she had a hundred dollars +to give to the Mission Society, and when I asked her for ten cents +(I was the collector) she said she had only one dime, and she must +get some soda water, or she should die." + +"The creature! what did you say to her?" + +"I said, 'Possibly the world would continue to revolve if you +did!' and stalked away. Oh, I cannot stand that sort of thing, you +know! And if you are a girl, you can't knock people down when they +are cads." + +Bell spoke regretfully, and Hildegarde could not help laughing at +her friend's angry eyes and kindling cheek. The strong white bare +arms, the deep chest and square shoulders, looked as if Bell would +be no mean antagonist. + +"I should not like to have you knock me down, my dear!" said +Hilda. + +"You never would need it," said Bell. "But I can tell you, Hilda, +there are times when I feel as if a blow from the shoulder would +be the best argument in the world. I love fighting! and I think I +am rather a bonny fighter, as Alan Breck says. Roger taught me to +box." + +Hildegarde opened her eyes a little at this, boxing never having +come within her horizon of feminine accomplishments. + +"Does Professor Merryweather know how to do everything?" she +asked. "He seems to be the Admirable Crichton come to life again." + +"Nearly everything," said Bell, with judicious candour. "He cannot +write verses, and he does not like dancing; those are the only +things I can think of just now." + +A birch canoe glided silently round the point; Roger was kneeling +in the stern, paddling, Indian fashion, while Will and Kitty were +curled up like two kittens in the bow. Hildegarde thought to +herself that he was the handsomest man she had ever seen, so +strong, so gentle, so perfectly graceful; but she did not say so. + +"What luck?" cried Bell, as the Cheemaun came alongside the wharf. +Roger held up a string of gleaming fish, two of them long, deep- +bodied fellows, striped with pink and silver. Willy was happy with +three hideous horned pouts, which he declared were the best fish +that swam. + +"Oh, pickerel! how delightful!" cried Bell, as she took the +beauties from her brother's hands. "We will bake them for supper, +Hilda; it is our turn, isn't it?" + +"Oh!" said Willy, "I thought it was Toots' and Roger's turn. Toots +makes the best griddle-cakes, and she ought always to get supper." + +"Willy, you ungrateful little monster!" cried Bell. "And you said +only last night that my biscuits were a dream of joy. You won't +find me baking an extra pan for you, if you are going to turn upon +me in this way." + +"Oh yes! so you did, sister," said Willy, penitently. "But you +see, I am griddle-cake hungry to-day, and yesterday I wasn't." + +"Come, Hilda! we'll make our little gentleman pickerel-hungry +before he is an hour older!" and the two girls hurried into the +house. + +Inside the camp was a large, low room, with a huge open fireplace +filling nearly one side. A plain table stood in the middle; two +hammocks were slung against the walls, which were hung with guns +and fishing-rods. A bookcase in one corner, and Mrs. +Merryweather's workstand in another, completed the furniture of +the primitive parlour. On one side a door opened into the tiny +kitchen, and hither the girls now betook themselves, after +reminding Will and Kitty that it was their turn to set the supper +table. The fire was soon burning brightly in the stove, the kettle +put on to boil, and Hildegarde, rolling up her sleeves, set to +work mixing and moulding biscuits, while Bell devoted herself to +the stuffing and dressing of the big fish. + +"I wish I had Izaak Walton here!" she said, as she mixed the bread +stuffing. + +"Father Izaak pleasant company would be at any moment," Hilda +assented; "but what do you want him for just now? To cook the fish +for you?" + +"Not exactly; I doubt if he was as good in the kitchen as by the +brookside; but to give me his famous receipt for cooking pickerel. +I should like to astonish the family with it. I remember that it +has thyme in it, and sweet marjoram and summer savory, not to +mention oysters and anchovies, a pound of butter, a bottle of +claret and three or four oranges; he gives you your choice about +two cloves of garlic, and says you need not have them unless you +like. Perhaps on the whole it is just as well not to try the dish +at present; the anchovies were left behind, and the orange trees +are not bearing very well this year." + +"Dear me!" said Hildegarde. "That is as bad as my Southern receipt +for wedding cake. Two hundred and one pounds of flour and fruit, +and ten eggs to the pound; and if it isn't rich enough then, you +can add two pounds of currants and one of raisins for each pound +of flour. That would make,--let me see! I worked it all out once: +two hundred and seventy pounds of things, and two thousand seven +hundred eggs. What do you suppose they baked it in?" + +"In the well!" said Bell. "That would hold it. Or else they built +a pavilion round it, and had the bride and groom dance a minuet on +the top after the ceremony. What fun cook-books are! Any more +pleasantnesses in your Southern friend?" + +"Oh, all kinds of good things! I remember the receipt for Seminole +soup; we ought to try that out here, if we could find the +ingredients. 'Take a squirrel, cut it up and put it on to boil. +When the soup is nearly done add to it one pint of picked hickory- +nuts and a spoonful of parched and powdered sassafras leaves, or +the tender top of a young pine tree, which gives a very aromatic +flavour to the soup.'" + +"Oh, do somebody get us a pine tree!" cried Bell. "That is truly +delightful! We must try it some day. Now it is my turn. I quote +from Mrs. Rundell the glorious. This is what she gives to the +poor; I don't want to be poor in Mrs. Rundell's parish. + +"'Cut a very thick upper crust of bread, and put it into the pot +where salt beef is boiling and near ready; it will attract some of +the fat, and, when swelled out, will be no unpalatable dish to +those who rarely taste meat.' That is called a brewis, my dear; +suppose we give it to our pampered family here some day, and see +what they say. How nearly are your biscuits done? I hear the +people growling inside, like hungry bears. Uncle Pickerel is +beginning to smell very good." + +"Another five minutes will give them the requisite 'beautiful +light brown'" said Hildegarde, peeping into the oven. "And the tea +is made, and the potatoes are tearing off their jackets in +impatience to be eaten." + +"Are we going to have any supper?" asked Phil, looking in from the +dining-room. "Roger has fainted with hunger, and lies a pallid +heap on the floor, and Obadiah is gnawing his boots in his agony." + +"As long as he does not swallow the nails," said Bell, calmly, "it +will do him no harm. Have the babes got the table ready?" + +"All ready, sister!" cried Kitty. "Cups and saucers and plates, +and--oh, Willy, we have forgotten the butter! Why do we always +forget the butter?" + +In five minutes the whole family were seated round the table, with +the lamp burning brightly above their heads. Bell came in +triumphantly, bearing the mighty pickerel in their glory, on a +huge platter decorated with green leaves and golden-rod. +Hildegarde followed, flushed and sparkling, with her biscuits and +coffee; and every one fell to with right good will. + +"Why is it that everything tastes so good here?" demanded Will. +"At home I can't always eat as much as I want to, and here I can +always eat more than there is; and yet there is lots!" he added, +surveying the broad table, heaped with substantial victuals of +every sort. + +"Ah! that's the beauty of it!" cried Gerald, spearing a potato. +"The human capacity enlarges, my son, with every mile one retires +from civilisation. When I was a Kickapoo Indian, Willy, I ate for +three weeks without stopping, and I had three buffaloes at a--" + +"Gerald, my dear!" said Mrs. Merryweather. + +"Yes, Mater, my dear!" said the unblushing Gerald. "I was only +trying to expand his mind, like the Ninkum. Excellent biscuits, +Miss Hilda! three more, if you please." + + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +A NIGHT-PIECE. + + + + +It was clear moonlight when the girls went to bed; clear, that is, +to Hildegarde's unpractised eyes. She saw only the brilliant stars +overhead, and took no note of the low bank of cloud in the south. +Captain Roger (for Roger was in command at camp, Mr. Merryweather +only coming out at night on his bicycle, and going in again to his +business in the morning), after a critical survey of the sky, went +the rounds in his quiet way before bedtime, making all secure, but +said nothing to anybody. Going to bed was a matter of some labour +at the camp. During the day the beds were piled one on top of +another in the one bedroom, the blankets, after hanging in the air +for two or three hours, being folded and laid over them. Only in +the tent where Mr. and Mrs. Merryweather slept the beds remained +stationary all day, the sides of the tent being rolled high, to +let the air circulate in every direction. + +When nine o'clock came, or ten, as the case might be, the order +was given, "Bring out the beds!" Straightway the boys made broad +their backs, and walked about like long-legged tortoises, +distributing mattresses here and there. The three girls slept in +the bedroom which opened off the living-room; the boys and Roger +carried their beds into the second tent, or under the trees, or +into the boat-house, as fancy suggested, and the wind favoured. +Then blankets were unrolled, and the business of bed-making went +on merrily. + +As I said, it was clear moonlight when the girls went to bed; but +somewhere in the middle of the night Hildegarde was waked by a +rustle and a roar. Visions of lions ramped before her still- +dreaming eyes; she shuddered awake, to find a gale raging round +the camp. Outside was one continuous roar of waves on the shore, +while overhead the wind clutched and tore at the branches, and +shook the frail hut to its foundations. Hildegarde lay still and +listened, with a luxurious sense of safety amid the wild tumult. + +"But I am safe, and live at home!" she said softly. Then suddenly +a thought came, like a cold hand laid on her heart, and she sat up +in bed, her breath coming quickly. + +"Bell!" she said, under breath, that she might not wake little +Kitty, "Bell, wake up!" + +"What is it?" asked Bell, turning drowsily on her side. "Not our +turn to get breakfast, you know." + +"There is a storm! Hear it raging outside. Oh, Bell! the birch +canoe! Can you remember whether we put her in the boat-house when +we came in from paddling?" + +Bell was wide awake now, and on her feet in an instant. + +"We did not!" she said, searching frantically for her clothes. "My +dear, we left her; don't you remember? The boys were just cutting +wood, and we thought we would wait till they finished, and then,-- +what a wretch I am! What IS happening to this skirt?" + +"I am putting it on too," said Hildegarde. "It is mine. Here is +yours. Now a jacket; there, we are all right. Is any one sleeping +on the piazza?" + +"No, they all went up to the pine grove to-night, or last night, +or whenever it was. Have you any idea what time it is? Carefully +now, Hilda. I will open the door, and you must be ready to help me +shut it." + +The two girls stepped out into the black night, and the wind +clutched them. They were thrown violently against the wall of the +hut, but contrived to shut the door and make it fast; then, +bending low and holding by each other, they crept along toward the +boat-house. The waves were dashing against the rocks, the spray +flew in their faces, half blinding them; but it was not very dark, +as there was a moon behind the clouds, and they could see their +way dimly. + +"Do you think we shall find her?" asked Hildegarde under her +breath. + +"I can't hear!" shouted Bell. + +"Do you think we shall find her?" + +Hildegarde thought she was shrieking, but her friend only shook +her head. + +"That comes of asking stupid questions," said Hildegarde to +herself; and she lowered her head and fought her way on in +silence. + +Now, groping with their hands, they found the wall of the +boathouse, and crept along in its lee, sheltered somewhat from the +blast; but when they stepped out on the wharf, the wind seized +them with such fury that Hildegarde tottered, staggered back a +step, and felt the ground slip from under her. Another moment, and +she would have been in the wild water; but Bell held her with a +grasp of steel, and with one strong heave lifted her bodily to the +wharf again. Then she shook her gently, "to bring back your +nerve!" she shouted in explanation; and the next moment recoiled +herself with a shriek that rang above the roar of wind and wave. +Up from the wharf rose two forms, blacker than the blackness of +night and storm, and confronted them. The two girls clung close +together. + +"What is it?" cried Bell, faintly. + +Now Hildegarde was in mortal terror of the storm, but she did not +fear anything that had human shape. "Who are you?" she asked, +sternly. "What are you doing on this wharf?" + +"We are playing on the jewsharp!" replied a familiar voice. "What +are YOU doing, if it comes to that?" + +"Oh, Jerry! oh, Phil! how could you frighten us so? We thought,--I +don't know what we didn't think. We came to see if the canoe was +safe. We forgot to see that you put her up after tea." + +"Just what we came for," said Phil. "She isn't here; I'm afraid +she's gone." + +The girls uttered a cry of dismay. + +"Oh, it can't be! Look in the boathouse, boys; it is possible--" + +"It is highly possible," said Jerry, "that she got up on end and +walked in, as soon as she saw that the weather looked squally. +She's a very sensible boat, but weak in the legs, if you follow +me. I think she's gone; and a very pretty kettle of fish she makes +to seethe two tender bodies in. I wouldn't be us, Fergs, my boy, +when the Cap'n finds it out to-morrow." + +"Wait," said Hildegarde, "oh, wait! Don't let us give up hope. It +will do no harm to look, Jerry." + +"No harm in life," said Jerry. "Just hold on to this wind, will +you, while I get in." + +With some difficulty he opened the boat-house door; then, +sheltered behind it, he struck a match, while all pressed eagerly +forward. There in her place, high and dry, lay the birch canoe. +Nobody said anything for a moment; the relief was too great. +Hildegarde felt the tears come to her eyes, she could not tell +why; but she found herself saying under her breath, "We might have +known he would do it; he always takes care of everything." + +"Roger is a tedious person," said Gerald, turning off his +satisfaction with a laugh. "The amount of virtue that he staggers +under is enough to swamp anybody. He will come to the gallows yet, +you'll see! Human nature must assert itself some time. Whew! there +goes my head! Catch it, Bell, will you?" + +"I am very, VERY hungry!" Phil announced with mournful emphasis. +"It makes me starved to play this kind of game in the middle of +the night. Can't we have some food, to celebrate the safety of the +Cheemaun?" + +"Me, too!" cried Gerald. "I am dying, Egypt, dying! a corpse among +the alders dank---" + +"Oh, do stop, boys!" cried Bell. "I'll push you off the wharf if +you go on so." + +"Oh, wouldn't us lorf, if she pushed us off the wharf!" cried +Gerald. + +"I am cross!" said Bell. "My hair is wound all round my neck, and +I am half strangled. You boys think of nothing but eating from +morning till night. But I am hungry myself, so come along!" + +The four buffeted their way back to the house, and Phil climbed in +at the pantry window and opened the kitchen door for the dripping +party. They lighted a lantern, and judicious rummaging produced +crackers and cheese, gingerbread, and some bottles of root beer. +Merrily the four adventurers gathered round the table, dripping, +rosy and breathless; the girls' long locks hung down over their +shoulders, the boys' short curls were plastered close to their +heads. + +"We must be a lovely sight!" said Bell. "What a pity there is no +one to see us! What do you want, Jerry?" + +"I want raspberry jam, chiefly," said Gerald, "but first I want to +make a speech. I propose a sentiment. Pledging the assembled +company in this beaker of rich wine--. Let go that bottle, +Ferguson, or I'll have your life! that's my beaker, I tell you! +There! now you've upset it. Attendez seulement bis ich dein tete +abhaue!" + +"Take the butter-dish," said Bell. "That will do just as well." + +"I pledge the assembled company in this rich butter," Gerald +continued with dignity, "though it is not so comfortable to drink, +and I propose, first, the confusion of Ferguson, who is a +pettifogger and an armadillo, and, secondly, the health of our +captain, Roger, the Codger, who saved the Cheemaun. Three cheers +for the well-bred captain of the--" + +"Thank you so much!" said Roger, looking in through the window. +"Empty compliments are all very well, but I think I might have +been asked to supper." + +He was hailed with a chorus of shouts, and stepping in through the +window, drew up a stool and sat down by Hildegarde. + +"What HAVE you been doing, children?" he asked, looking round at +the four, who had now arrived at the smoking stage of dampness, +each sending up his little pillar of cloud. + +Four eager voices told him of the search and the finding, and he +smiled quietly as he helped himself to jam. + +"I wonder what you took me for!" he said, "I truly wonder. The +boat went to bed at nine o'clock, with the rest of the children. I +beg your pardon, Miss Grahame," he added, turning to Hildegarde +with his kind, grave smile, "for naming you in company with this +lawless crew of mine." + +"Oh, please," cried Hildegarde, "I like to--I wish I were--" She +stammered, and felt herself blushing in the furious way that makes +a girl the most helpless creature in the world. She would have +given her hand, she thought, to keep back the tide that surged up +over throat and cheek and brow. "When there is nothing earthly to +blush about, ninny!" she almost cried aloud. + +But Bell came to the rescue. "She wishes she were much wiser than +the rest of us, Roger, but she doesn't think she is, and I am +really not so sure about it myself. That is the best part of her: +she's just a girl." + +"Just a girl!" said Roger, looking at Hildegarde; and he looked so +kindly that poor Hildegarde blushed again. + + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +A-SAILING WE WILL GO. + + + + +"Friends," said Mrs. Merryweather, "the day is before us. What is +the plan of action?" + +"I go a-fishing," said Roger; "and with me Willy, to take his +first lesson in bass-fishing." + +"I tinker the wharf," said Phil; "and with me Obadiah, to take his +first lesson in useful occupation." + +"Verily and in good sooth," put in Gerald, "the most useful +occupation I can think of, my peripatetic food-absorber, would be +to heave thee into the glassy deep." + +"Like to see you try it!" said Ferguson. + +"Anything to oblige!" replied Obadiah, rising with, alacrity. + +"Don't booby, boys!" said Roger, with quiet authority. "Let other +people have a chance to speak." + +"Hilda and I will make a pie!" said Bell; "'which is werse,' said +Mr. Peggotty, 'though sich were not my intentions.'" + +"And I have gingerbread to make, and raspberries to pick," said +Gertrude, "so Kitty must help me." + +"But what do I see?" cried Gerald, in tragic tones. "A vessel in +the offing, headed in this direction. Now who do you suppose has +the cheek to come here?" + +"Probably some lunatic is thirsty," said Phil, "and wants a glass +of water. You know, Miss Hilda, they come here by the boatload, +asking for water, and we show them the lake and tell 'em to help +themselves. It makes them hop with rage. They say, 'What! do you +drink THIS?' Then, when we tell them that all their water supply +comes from this lake, they grin like a dog and go about the city, +--I mean depart on their imbecile way. But these people are all +dressed up. Oh, Momus and Comus! There are girls on board! Come +on, Obadiah!" + +The twins vanished, and the others looked curiously at the +approaching craft. It was a small steam launch, gayly adorned with +paint and streamers; in the bow stood a light, girlish figure, +waving a handkerchief and gesticulating with fervour. + +"Who can it be?" asked Mrs. Merryweather. "The boat is from +Pollock's Cove, isn't it, Roger?" + +"Yes; but I see no one on board that I know. That young lady +evidently thinks she is coming among friends, however. Look! they +are putting out a boat. I will go and see what is wanted." + +He went to the wharf, and the rest waited in some amusement, +thinking that a mistake had been made. To their amazement they saw +Roger, after a moment's parley, help the young lady out of the +boat, which straight-way returned to the launch; before they had +time to exchange wonderments, she was advancing toward them with +outstretched arms. + +"My dearest, dearest Hildegarde! Do I see you again, after so many +years? Quel plaisir! what joy!" + +The young lady was dressed in the extreme of fashion, with little +boots, and little gloves, and a dotted veil, and a chiffon +parasol, and Hildegarde was folded in a perfumed embrace before +she had fairly recognised her visitor. + +"Madge!" she cried, "is it really you?" + +"Myself, cherie! your own Madge. I heard that you were in the +wilderness and flew to you. What a change, my dearest, from---" + +"Mrs. Merryweather," said Hildegarde, her cheeks burning, but her +voice quiet and courteous, "this is Margaret Everton, an old +school-mate of mine. Mrs. Merryweather, Madge, with whom I am +staying. Miss Merryweather, Professor Merryweather, Miss Everton." + +"Oh, hum--mum-m-m-m-m-m!" said Madge, or something that sounded +like it. The Merryweathers welcomed her courteously, and Mrs. +Merryweather asked if she had come over from Pollock's Cove. + +"Oh, yes! I am staying there for a day or two. Some friends of +mine are there, charming people, and I heard that Hildegarde was +here, and of course I flew to see her. She is my oldest and +dearest friend, Mrs. Merryweather." + +"Indeed!" said Mrs. Merryweather, with friendly interest. + +"Yes, indeed. We were at school together, and like twins, except +for the difference in colouring. Ah, les beaux jours d'enfance, +Hilda, my love! And you are quite, quite unchanged since the happy +days at Madame Haut Ton's. 'Queen Hildegarde' we used to call her +then, Miss Merryweather. Yes, indeed! she was the proudest, the +most exclusive girl on Murray Hill. The little aristocratic turn +of her head when she saw anything vulgar or common was quite too +killing. Turn your head, Hilda, my love!" + +Hildegarde coloured hotly. "Please don't be absurd, Madge!" she +said. + +"Pray turn your head, Miss Grahame!" said Roger Merryweather, +gravely. "I am sure it would interest us." + +Hildegarde shot an imploring glance at him, and turned in +desperation to her visitor. + +"It is a long time since I have heard from you, Madge," she said. +"I am sure you must have a great deal to tell me. If Mrs. +Merryweather will excuse us, suppose we go for a little walk +together." + +"Surely, my dear!" exclaimed Mrs. Merryweather, with perhaps +unnecessary cordiality. + +But Madge had made herself very comfortable on the verandah, and +had no intention of stirring just yet. Go scrambling about over +rocks, and tearing herself to pieces among bushes? Hardly. +Besides, one glance had shown her that Professor Merryweather was +uncommonly good-looking. She settled herself gracefully in her +chair, and gave a pretty little sigh. + +"Dear child, I am a wretched walker, alas! You know I never was +strong, and this winter's gaiety quite finished me. I am ordered +to rest, positively, this summer, under the severest penalties. It +was really a terrible winter in New York. Every one said it was a +wonder the girls were not killed, they went such a pace. Do you +never come over to Pollock's Cove, Professor Merryweather? we had +such a charming hop there last night; danced till two o'clock, +with SUCH music! You must positively come over for the next one; +we are to have them every week." + +Roger thanked her, but was not a dancing man, and hops were hardly +in their line out here. + +"Not a dancing man! What a confession, Professor Merryweather! But +I am sure you really dance beautifully; doesn't he, Hilda?" + +"I don't know!" said Hilda, laughing. "He has never asked me to +dance, Madge." + +"Ah! you are quizzing me. I will never believe he could be so +ungallant. But Hilda, I hear that really you live in positive +seclusion, like a nun without a convent. My dear, how tragic, to +pass your best years in this way! I told mamma that I should +positively implore you to come to me this winter, and she said it +was my DUTY. To think of YOU, Hilda, forswearing the world! It is +too BIZARRE! But we have not forgotten our little queen on Murray +Hill; no, no, dear!" + +"You are mistaken, Madge," said Hilda. "I was in New York for +several weeks last winter, staying with Aunt Anna; but you were in +Washington at the time." + +"Oh, but I heard of you!" cried Madge, archly. "I heard how the +whole Hill was at Miss Grahame's feet, and how Bobby Van Sittart +nearly went into a decline because she would not smile on his +suit. I heard--" + +"I think you heard a great deal of nonsense, Madge!" said Hilda +with some asperity. "Come! you would like to see something of the +island before the steamer comes to take you back. I will get the +canoe and take you for a paddle." + +Madge recoiled with a pretty shriek. + +"Oh, horrors! Trust myself in a horrid tippy canoe, with a girl? +Never, my dear! I value my life too highly, I assure you. But +there is a sailboat! I dote on sailing, and I am sure Professor +Merryweather is a superb sailor." + +Professor Merryweather rose with a smile, and would be charmed to +take the young ladies out in the Keewaydin. + +"Oh, but, Captain Roger, you were going out fishing!" cried +Hildegarde, her cheeks crimson with mortification. + +Roger looked at her with a twinkle. "The fishes are not expected +to migrate just yet, and there is a good wind for sailing. Pray +come, Miss Grahame!" + +Madge was already on her feet, fluttering with coquetry; and +Hildegarde, after a despairing glance at Mrs. Merryweather, saw +that she could do nothing but lead the way to the wharf. + +"Won't you come, Bell?" she asked wistfully; but Bell was cruel, +and said she must attend to her cooking; adding for the special +edification of the stranger that she had the floor to scrub and +the fish to clean. In silence Hildegarde walked down the wharf; +she was thoroughly upset, and turning to look back to the house, +it did not restore her composure to see Obadiah and Ferguson +standing on their hands on the piazza, waving their feet in the +air with every demonstration of frantic joy. + +The little rowboat was unmoored, and a few quick strokes brought +them alongside the Keewaydin. Hildegarde had never thought it +could be anything but pleasure to her to board this beloved +vessel, but she found herself now wishing that sailing had never +been invented. She glanced timidly at Roger, but there was no +expression in his face as he handed Madge on board, and replied +gravely to her lively questions. Madge was treading on air. They +had told her at Pollock's Cove that she would not be able to get a +word out of the handsome young professor; and here he was at her +side, perhaps--who knew?--soon to be at her feet. A little absent- +minded, to be sure, but they were often that way when a strong +impression had been made. As for poor Hilda, it was really +lamentable to see how utterly she had lost her savoir-faire, +living in the wilderness. Here was this charming man, really with +the bel air, and distinguished in some way or other, and she was +as mute as a fish. Really, it was a charity to come and see her. + +"Would you like to take the helm, Miss Hilda?" asked Roger. + +Hilda thanked him with a glance, and took her place at the tiller +in silence. + +"Oh, Professor Merryweather! are you really going to trust us to +Hilda's steering? I am sure, now, you think girls are too ignorant +to know anything about that sort of thing. I wonder at you! OUR +lives may not be of much consequence, because, of course, we are +only silly little girls, but to risk your own life so, really, I +am surprised." + +She paused for the compliment that should follow, but Roger only +said, "Bear away, please!" and loosened the sheet a little. + +"Did your ears burn yesterday, Professor Merryweather? I am sure +they must have. Everybody was talking about you at the hotel, and +they said you had done something so remarkable,--something about a +prism, wasn't it? You remember, Hilda, all the prisms on the +chandeliers at Madame Haut Ton's! Do yours go on a chandelier, +Professor Merryweather?" + +"Not exactly!" said Roger. "You have a large party at Pollock's, I +believe, Miss Everton? I think I heard the Sinclairs say they were +to be there this month." + +"Oh, aren't the Sinclairs enchanting?" cried Madge, with effusion. +"And isn't Jack simply delicious? I danced with him ten times last +night, and each dance was better than the last. Professor +Merryweather, I shall give you no peace till you promise to come +over for the next hop." + +"We are not to expect peace in this world, are we?" said Roger, +smiling. "Steady, Miss Grahame! as you are!" + +"I think nautical terms are too delicious!" cried Madge. "And that +reminds me, Hilda, Grace Atherleigh has just come back from +Europe. She has been away three years, you know; in Paris most of +the time,--dear Paris! Don't you adore it, Professor Merryweather? +And she has brought back forty-three dresses. Yes, my dear, it is +true, for I had it from her aunt, Mrs. Gusham. Forty-three +dresses, all made this spring. And she had the most horrible time +at the custom-house--" + +"Madge," said Hildegarde, as patiently as she could, "will you +please wait for the stories till we get back to the wharf? I must +attend to the steering, and I cannot listen at the same time." + +"My dear, I am dumb! I only just want to tell you before I forget +it--you know what a wretched memory I have--what happened--" + +"Luff!" said Roger, suddenly. "Luff, child, LUFF!" + +Startled and confused, Hildegarde tried to do as she was told, +but, in her distress, did exactly the opposite, and bore away; a +grating sound was heard: the boat slid forward a few feet and +stopped short. + +"Oh, what have I done?" cried poor Hilda. + +"Nothing of consequence! We have run on a shoal, that is all. Sit +steady, please, ladies!" + +Roger was overboard in an instant, up to his waist in water, +pushing at the boat. Hilda sat dumb and scarlet, and even Madge +was subdued for the time, and murmured exclamations under her +breath. It was only a moment; a few vigorous shoves set the +Keewaydin afloat again, and Roger leaped lightly in. + +"Perhaps I would better take the tiller this time!" he said. "The +bottom seems to be shoal all about here. And if you and Miss +Everton will sit a little forward, Hilda, you will be more +comfortable; I fear I cannot help dripping like hoary Nereus all +over the stern here." + +He had never called her by her name before. Hildegarde reflected +that for once she could not blush, being already a Tyrian purple. +Of course it slipped out without his knowing it; but she was +conscious of Madge's gaze, and for once was thankful for her +crimson cheeks. + +This incident, or something else, had a quieting effect upon Miss +Everton, and the sail home was a silent one. Roger was not +inclined to talk, and he had a power of silence which was apt to +extend to his companions; so they were all relieved when the +Keewaydin glided gracefully to her moorings, and Ferguson appeared +in the small boat to take them ashore. + +"This is my brother Philip, Miss Everton!" said Roger. "Now if you +will step into the boat, he will take you and Miss Grahame ashore, +while I make all fast here. If you will take his hand, and be +careful to step in the middle of the boat. In the MIDDLE of the +boat, Miss Everton! Ah!" For Madge, with an airy leap, had +alighted full on the gunwale. Down went the boat; the girl tried +to regain her balance, but in vain, and after a few moments' +frantic struggle, fell headlong into the water. + +Phil had thrown himself to starboard the moment he felt the shock +of her alighting, hoping to counterbalance her weight; but he was +too light. Now, however, he leaned swiftly forward, and caught the +little French boots as they disappeared under the clear water. +There was nothing else to be done. In this ignominious way, feet +foremost, poor Madge had to be dragged in over the gunwale, +dripping and shrieking. + +"You odious boy!" she cried, as soon as she could find breath. +"You did it on purpose! You tried to drown me, I know you did!" + +Hildegarde hastened to her assistance. Roger, his face set like a +rock, but his eyes dancing wickedly, proffered his aid, but was +peevishly repulsed. As for Phil, he could only try to control +himself, and murmured broken excuses between the gusts of laughter +which shook him like a reed. Madge was a sorry sight, all her gay +plumes broken and dripping, her spotted veil in a little wet mop +over one eye, her floating curls reduced to forlorn strings of wet +hair, her light dress clinging about her. How different from the +bright bird of paradise that had so lately fluttered down on the +camp, bent on conquest! Now her only thought was to escape. Mrs. +Merryweather met her on the wharf with open arms and a warm +blanket, and she was brought to the camp, and dried and warmed as +quickly as possible. But Madge's temper, none of the sweetest by +nature, was completely spoiled; she had only peevish or sullen +answers for all the expressions of sympathy and condolence that +were poured out by the kindly campers. It was all the boy's fault, +and there was no excuse for him. She ought to have known better +than to come among such. But here Hilda pressed her hand, and said +"Be still!" in a low tone, but with a flash of the eye that so +forcibly recalled the "Queen Hildegarde" of old days that Madge +subsided, and whimpered to herself till the steamer came to take +her back to Pollock's Cove. + +When she was gone Hildegarde slipped away, saying that she would +pick some apples for tea; and on reaching the apple tree, she sat +down under its hanging branches and indulged in a good cry, a rare +luxury for her. It was a comfort to let the tears come, and to +tell the friendly tree over and over again that he would never +forgive her; that she was the most imbecile creature that ever +lived, and that Madge was the only person she deserved to have for +a friend, and that, now the others had found her out, the sooner +she went home to her mother the better. Her mother would not +expect her to be sensible; her mother knew better than to expect +things of her. She was not fit to be with these people, who were +so terribly clever, and knew so many things: and so on and so on, +in the most astonishing way, our quiet, self-possessed girl +sobbing and crying as if her heart would break, utterly amazed at +herself, and wondering all the time what was the matter with her, +and whether she would ever be able to stop. + +She stopped suddenly enough; for Roger, coming through the fields +with the milk, heard this piteous sobbing, and setting down his +cans, parted the branches of the apple tree, saying in his kindest +voice: "Why, my Kitty, my Pretty, what is the matter with you? who +hurt my little--I--I beg your pardon, Miss Grahame!" + +Hildegarde felt the hand of fate very heavy on her, but was quite +helpless, and sobbed harder than ever. + +What was a poor professor to do? Fortunately, Roger had plenty of +sisters, and knew that a girl did not kill herself when she cried. +After a moment's thought, in which he reminded himself severely +that he was getting to be an old fellow, and might be this child's +uncle, he came under the tree and sat down on the grass. + +"Can you tell me what troubles you?" he asked, still in the gentle +voice that was rather specially Kitty's privilege. "You have had +no bad news?" + +Hilda shook her head. + +"Perhaps if you were to tell me what the trouble is, I could help +you; or would you rather I would go away and not bother you?" + +No! Hildegarde, to her own amazement, would rather he stayed. +Whereupon, Roger, drawing from his experience of girls, perceived +that there was nothing to do but sit and wait till the storm had +spent itself. So he picked the apples within his reach, and +reflected on the feminine character. + +Presently a small and shaken voice said from under the +handkerchief, "I--am so sorry--you got wet, Captain Roger!" + +"Got wet?" said Roger, vaguely. He was generally more or less wet, +being an amphibious creature, and did not for the moment grasp +Hildegarde's meaning. + +"I ran--the--boat aground, and you jumped overboard, and got--all +wet!" and Hildegarde sobbed afresh. + +"You don't mean--" said Roger. "You are not troubled about THAT?" + +But it appeared that Hildegarde was troubled about that. + +"My dear child, do you think I did not see that it was not your +fault? You were doing beautifully, if that--if Miss Everton had +let you alone for an instant. And do you think I mind a wetting, +or twenty wettings? Miss Hilda, I thought you knew better than +that." + +"I was so stupid!" said Hildegarde, wiping her eyes, and trying to +speak evenly. "I thought you were very angry, because you were so +silent. I thought you would never--" + +"Silent, was I? Well, you know I am in a brown study half the +time. Isn't that why they call me Roger the Codger? But this +time,--oh, I remember! I was trying to make out how that shoal +came to be there, when it is not buoyed out on the map. Come, Miss +Hilda, you must laugh now!" + +And Hilda laughed, and dried her eyes, and looked up, + + "All kinder smily round the lips, + And teary round the lashes." + +"That's right!" said Roger, heartily. "Now you shall be Kitty, and +we will---we will shake hands and be friends, and eat an apple +together. Kitty and I always do that when we have had a tiff." + +So they did; and the apples on that tree were the best apples in +the world. + + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +IN PERIL BY WATER. + + + + +"All aboard!" said Roger. + +"Ay! ay! Captain!" said Hildegarde, cheerily. She handed in the +groceries which they had bought at the little store, half a mile +away, stepped lightly into the exact middle of the canoe, and sank +with one motion to her seat. + +Roger nodded approvingly. "You are perfect in your entrances!" he +said. "Some day I shall have to drill you in your exits, as I did +the girls." + +"What do you mean?" asked Hilda. "Don't I get out properly?" + +"Quite well enough for ordinary occasions. But I made the girls +put on their bathing-dresses, and then took them out and tipped +them over, so that they would know just what to do." + +"Thank you kindly. As I have not my bathing-dress on to-day, +please don't give me a lesson just now." + +They paddled on in silence; the two had become fast friends since +the day of Madge's visit, and had had many pleasant paddles +together. Hildegarde looked about her, at peace with all the +world. Pollock's Cove was a thousand miles away, and there was +nothing to break the spirit of peace that brooded over the water. + +Are you so sure, Hilda? + +The girl's face was set toward the land; she saw the wooded island +with its fringe of silver birches standing like sentinels to guard +the water's edge; she saw the lovely tangle of asters and golden- +rod that gave it its name of Royal Island, and the strip of sand +on which the waves were lapping gently; but she saw nothing of the +west behind her. + +"What are you watching so earnestly, Captain?" she said presently. +"No boats, I hope?" + +"No, no boats! we may have a shower by-and-bye; but I hope we +shall get home in time." + +It was a curious sky that Roger was watching. The day had been +smoky throughout, with ragged brown clouds hanging about the +horizon, and thunder muttering low in the distance. The smoky +fringe might well come from the forest fires which were raging in +a neighbouring district, Roger thought, and the thunder was an +every-day matter of hot weather; but now the clouds were beginning +to thicken at one point, and their ragged edges turned to firmer +roundings, and their hue was fast deepening to black. Roger +paddled with strong, even strokes, and the canoe flew over the +water. The distant thunder-growl took on a more insistent voice, +and every now and then came a long rolling note, which seemed to +pass on and over their heads. + +"'Hear now how dey roll de great balls about,'" quoted Hildegarde. +"If we were in the Catskills, we might look out for Hendrik Hudson +and his men, after such a peal as that." + +"I am afraid we may have to look out for ourselves!" said Roger, +laughing. "I begin to feel rather doubtful about getting home +before the storm, Miss Hilda." + +"It is growing dark, isn't it?" said Hilda, innocently. "Will it +be much of a shower, do you think, Captain?" + +"Well,--I think we may observe slight alterations in the +atmospheric conditions. You are not afraid of a squall?" + +"No, indeed! only tell me what I must do." + +"Nothing but sit still--the hardest thing for some people to do; +but I have noticed that you are not fidgety. Is your hat securely +fastened?" + +"As securely as my head!" + +"That is well. Stand by, then, and be ready, for it is coming +pretty near." + +Roger was used to every variety of weather, but he had been wholly +unprepared for the velocity of the storm which was moving down the +lake. The clouds, which, a moment before, it seemed, had been +merely a thickening of the general smoky condition, were now +gathered into a heavy mass, dense blackness fringed with a misty +gleam. It came sweeping over the water toward them, devouring the +sunlight. A rushing sound was heard, that rose into a roar. +"Steady, now!" said Roger. "Steady, child! and don't be +frightened. Here it comes!" + +Next moment they were struck, beaten, blinded. For a moment +Hildegarde struggled for breath, so furious was the onset of the +storm; she crouched low in the canoe, but remained perfectly +still. The wind tore at them as if with frantic hands that sought +their life; the water hissed under them, raced past them madly. No +waves could rise under the raging gale, but black flaw after flaw +flew along the surface of the lake. The rain fell in torrents; the +falling streams were caught by the wind, tossed hither and +thither, twisted into fantastic shapes of spray, sent flying +forward, forward with the storm. + +No glimpse of land could be seen now; the night was around them,-- +night gone mad, and they helpless toys in its grasp. Helpless? No! +for Roger's strong arm kept the tiny boat steady, as she drove +before the wind. His face was streaming with rain, his fair hair +tossed wildly over his brow, but his look was steadfast as ever, +and now and then he glanced at Hildegarde and smiled +encouragement. Bewildered at first, Hildegarde felt no fear, and +presently, seeing the quiet confidence of her companion, a wild +exhilaration possessed her. She had read of this kind of thing; it +had been a dream, a picture in her mind always; now she was +wrapped in the great storm, almost a part of it, borne along on +its wings like the birds that beat their wings past her upon the +gale. The lightning, which till now had shaken quivering lances of +flame across the black water, a flash, then darkness, then again a +flash, now became continuous, playing in lambent flames amid the +blackness, lighting up the wild turmoil of wind and wave and +cloud. The thunder rolled without pause,--overhead, around, +beneath them. Crash! boom! crash! And all the while the water +hissed past them; all the while the wind buffeted and shook them, +and the rain lashed their faces with stinging whips. The frail +canoe quivered like a living thing in mortal terror. What would be +the end? + +The end came soon enough. Hildegarde was suddenly brought down +from her airy castle of storm-wrapped bliss by hearing Roger's +voice, high-pitched to carry across the uproar, saying with calm +emphasis, "Take off your shoes! We shall very likely go over when +we round this point. If we do, strike out at once, and swim till I +get hold of you." + +Hildegarde nodded, and pulled off her low shoes; then she tried to +think how it would feel to be flung into this mad water. The next +moment the wind, which had lulled for an instant,--or had it only +recoiled to take a fresh spring?--the wind rushed out of the +darkness, and caught the canoe. It was a breathless struggle, man +against the powers of air and of water. Hilda saw the powerful +arms braced like steel to meet the onset, saw the quiet face set +like marble, clenched teeth and frowning brow,--and saw no more, +for here the canoe, having borne all that birch-bark could bear, +capsized, and the girl found herself in the black water. + +Down, down, down! Was she going to the bottom? She struck out +blindly, as she had been told, trying to keep her thoughts +together. They said that drowning was pleasant; but she did not +want to drown. Should she ever be able to breathe again? Her dress +clung about her ankles, the water hummed and buzzed in her ears, +in her nostrils; but still she swam bravely. Suddenly she felt a +strong arm thrown round her, and in another moment her head was +out of water. Oh, the blessed air of heaven! how she drank it in, +in deep, gasping breaths! Just to be alive, to breathe, was +happiness enough. Roger was swimming strongly and steadily with +one arm, holding her with the other. He caught the paddle in his +teeth as it floated by, and at first Hildegarde could think of +nothing but how funny he looked, like a great fair-haired dog +swimming about. He had righted the canoe, and now flung the paddle +into it, and turned to Hildegarde. "All right? Thank Heaven! Take +hold by the bow, and I will tow you ashore." + +"I can swim," said Hildegarde. "I am all right, truly. Can't I +swim on the other side and help her along, instead of hindering?" + +"To be sure. Hurrah for you!" + +Hilda grasped the canoe with her left hand and tried to swim with +her right. She could do little, however, against the furious +battling of wind and wave; and Captain Roger set his teeth, and +wondered whether he was going to be beaten this time. "I won't!" +he said aloud to the storm; and shook his head, lion-like, and +braced his strong shoulders, and swam on grimly. A few moments of +silent, breathless fighting, the wind screeching, like Bedlam +loose, the foam driving and hissing, the lightning blazing, +incessant, maddening. + +Could they reach the shore? Hildegarde asked herself. Was this +only prolonging the agony, dragging this brave man to death with +her, on her account? If he were not hampered with her, he would +have been safe on shore before this. If she were a girl in a +story-book, she would loose her hold now, and sink silently; but +she was not a girl in a story-book. She was a very real Hilda +Grahame, and she did not want to sink. And how could our poor +Hilda know that the Merryweather obstinacy was roused, and that +Roger meant to save her and himself, and the canoe, too, if he had +to swim across the lake to do it? But now she heard him cry out, +in a joyful tone: "Courage, little girl! here we are, all right!" + +Next moment,--oh, joy! oh, wonder past belief! she felt the ground +beneath her feet. She was walking, standing upright on the good, +solid, blessed earth. The canoe touched bottom, grazed, floated +again, then grounded gently and was still. + +"Shake yourself as well as you can," said Roger, "while I haul her +up. So, now then! under this, and here we are!" + +In the turn of a hand he hauled the canoe up on the sand, turned +it over, and drew Hildegarde beneath the shelter. A clump of +bushes broke the force of the wind, so they could breathe in +peace, without having to fight for every breath. + +For a few minutes they sat in silence, panting, dripping, gazing +at each other with dilated eyes. Their thoughts were utterly +irrelevant, as thoughts are apt to be after a great crisis. Roger +was thinking that a pretty face looked much prettier wet than dry, +and compared apples and flowers; Hildegarde wondered if Saint +Bernard dogs could swim. "Because Newfoundlands are black, you +know," she found herself saying aloud in an explanatory tone. + +"I beg your pardon!" said Roger, remorsefully. "I--I am afraid you +are very wet." + +Hildegarde felt that she must either cry or laugh, so she laughed. +"If it were not for you, Captain, I should not be alive now. I +should have gone down, down,--and the water was so black. Was it +ever anything but black in that place?" Her voice shook, but she +pulled herself together instantly. "Why do you look troubled, +Captain?" she asked. "The island is solid, isn't it?" + +"You are so wet!" said Roger again, more ruefully than before. + +"No wetter than you!" said Hilda, with a little laugh. Indeed, +they were both streaming with water, and looked like a merman and +mermaid very much out of their element. + +"I? Oh, I never know whether I am wet or dry. But it is different +for you; you will take cold, or--or something, won't you?" + +"You are afraid I shall melt?" asked Hildegarde. She stooped down +and gathered her skirt together, wringing little floods of water +from it. "No, I don't think I shall melt, really, Captain. Do I +look as if I were melting?" + +"You look--" began Roger, and stopped suddenly, and then wondered +why he stopped, and told himself he was an ass. + +"Speaking of melting, reminds me," he said, laughing. He felt in +his pockets, and produced a small parcel. "I hope this is not +melted. No, it is all right. Have some chocolate, and let us make +merry on our desert island! See! the worst of the squall is over. +It is lightening already; I can see the nearest island." + +"Yes, and the water begins to show grey, instead of all black and +white. But has this really been nothing more than a squall, +Captain Roger?" + +"Oh, if you like the dignities of meteorology, I think we might +very properly call this a tornado." + +"A tornado! I have been out in a tornado! And how splendid it all +is!" + +Roger laughed again. "Splendid, eh? So it is! Rather good fun, +too, now we are on dry land." + +"Glorious fun!" cried Hildegarde. + +The water still raced past at their feet; the rain still poured +down, the thunder cracked and roared and bellowed, and the +lightning blazed. But under the canoe it was really quite dry, +considering; and the chocolate was excellent, and, on the whole, +both Hildegarde and Roger thought well of tornadoes. + +Meanwhile, there were some anxious faces at the camp. The storm +had broken there as suddenly as out on the lake. Bell and Gertrude +were out fishing, but fortunately near the shore, and they reached +home just as the fury broke loose. Obadiah and Ferguson were blown +in on the gale, turning handsprings as they came, and singing + + "Oh, I'd give a sight + For to be a kite + When the wind is howly-wowling!" + +Willy and Kitty were discovered, after a few minutes' anxious +search, under the great apple-tree, in high glee because it was +raining apples, and the wind would mash them, and the lightning +would cook them, and there was no need of coming home to tea, with +apple-sauce growing on every tree. Being hoisted on the shoulders +of the twins, they changed their point of view, and turning into +Arabs mounted on camels, capered joyously into the house, to +escape the sand-storm of the desert. Mr. Merryweather, who was +spending a day or two in camp, came in from the boathouse, where +he was tinkering boats as usual. The whole party sat down, wet and +dishevelled, and drew breath as they looked at each other. + +"Well, this is a visitation!" said Mr. Merryweather. "Why didn't +some of you tell me what was going on?" + +"None of us knew till we found our faces slapped and our hair +pulled out," said Bell. "This is a surprise-party, I think, got up +for our special benefit." + +"Are we all here?" asked Mrs. Merryweather. "Let me count! One, +two, three, four, five, six, and you and I, Miles, make eight. But +where are Roger and Hilda?" + +"Out in the Cheemaun!" was the reply in chorus. There was a +general exclamation of dismay, then each one commented in his +fashion. + +"Cricky!" said Phil. "The Professor will have a great chance for +meteoro-lolli-lolli-logical observations, won't he?" + + "I fear, my gentle Roger, + You'll be as wet as Bodger!" + +said Gerald. + +"Who is Bodger?" asked little Kitty. + +"Bodger, my blessed child, was a stodger, and a codger, and a very +artful dodger; he carried his bones to David Jones, and asked to +be took as a lodger." + +"Do be quiet, Jerry!" said Bell. "Father, can the canoe stand such +a gale as this?" + +"And Hilda had on her BEST DRESS!" said Kitty, with tragic +emphasis. + +"Ho! Hilda doesn't care for dresses!" said Willy, scornfully. "I +got wheel-grease all over her skirt, the other day, and she didn't +say a word." + +"I do feel anxious, Miles," said Mrs. Merryweather. "This is an +awful gale." + +"Pooh! pooh!" said her husband. "Roger knows how to take care of +himself, and Hilda too. Boys, is the skiff well moored?" + +The boys knew it was, but thought it would be well to see, and +disappeared by handsprings into the darkness. A double splash, +followed by joyous shouts, announced their arrival on and +departure from the wharf; and they shortly reappeared, dripping +and gleeful. + +"Boys, how can you!" exclaimed their mother. "This is the fifth +time you have been in to-day; besides, I have just tidied up this +room. Go away with you, and drip in the tent." + +"He pushed me off, and I pulled him in!" said Phil, in +explanation. "Very sorry, shall not occur again." + +"I wanted to see how deep the water was," said Gerald. "Very +important, you know, to take soundings in a storm." + +"Still more important to quicken the circulation after a cold +bath," said Mr. Merryweather, taking up a leather strap from the +table. The boys shrieked, and vanished through the window in a +fine harlequin act. + +The lightning blazed incessantly, the wind howled and roared about +the camp, and the thunder pounded and smashed the clouds overhead. +Bell and her mother drew closer together, and Kitty nestled down +between them, and held a hand of each, "to keep herself safe." + +"If the lightning strikes the camp, what shall we do?" asked +Willy. + +"I think we shall be very likely to keep still!" said his father, +dryly. + +"Miles, how can you?" said Mrs. Merryweather. "I wonder you can +joke, with those two children out in the canoe in this horror!" + +"My dear, I would gladly weep, if I thought it would be of any +assistance to Roger; as it is, I rather fancy he is quite as well +off as we are, if not bet--" + +Crack! The world turned to blue light, showing a ring of ghastly +faces, looking terror at each other; then the sky fell, and all +was night. + +"All speak who are unhurt!" said Mr. Merryweather's calm voice; +and no one would have guessed the anguish of suspense in which he +waited for the reply. But it came in a chorus: "Miranda!" "Bell!" +"Gertrude!" "Will!" "Kitty!" + +"Thank God!" said Miles Merryweather. "That was a close call. +Boys, are you all right?" He stepped to the window as he spoke. + +"All right, father!" For once the boys' voices sounded grave; as +the pall of darkness lifted, they entered, very pale, and holding +each other tightly by the hand. "The big oak is struck!" they +said. "Shivered into kindling-wood. We were just going to climb +it, to look at the storm." + +"We don't like this!" said Gerald. "We feel very much +uncomfortable inside us, and we want our mother." + +And sure enough, the two tall fellows sat down on the floor by +their mother, and put their heads in her lap; and she patted the +curly heads, and talked to them soothingly, and forgot that they +were not still her little lads, whom she had rocked in her arms +together many and many a time. + +"Your nerves are upset," said their father. "Always the case when +a stroke comes so near as that. If you ever feel inclined to climb +a tree in a thunderstorm again, just mention it to me, and I will +see to you." He spoke lightly, but he took occasion to pass near +the boys, and laid his hand on them, as if to make sure that they +were really there and safe, and rubbed their shoulders and gave +them a little affectionate slap. + +For a while they sat quiet, for all were still quivering from the +blow that had passed so near them. Gradually the fury of the storm +abated; the lightning ceased to play continuously, and though each +separate flash was still terribly vivid, yet the pauses between +gave strength and refreshment to the wearied eyes and nerves. The +great shocks of thunder rolled heavily, but still farther and +farther away. The storm was moving off across the lake, and one +thought was in the hearts of all--the birch canoe. How was it with +those two, alone in that frail boat in the wild tempest? It seemed +hours that they sat there, waiting and listening. At length--"It +is lighter now," said Mr. Merryweather. "Come, boys, let us go +down to the wharf, and see what we can see. Hark! what was that?" + +For a moment every heart stood still. Then Mrs. Merryweather began +to cry, and Bell and Gertrude and Kitty all fell into her arms and +round her neck, and sobbed in chorus; but the boys started to +their feet with a wild "Hurrah!" and dashed out of the house, +followed by their father and Willy. For now, clearer every moment +and clearer, came ringing across the water the words of the Skye +Boat Song, sung by joyous voices of a youth and a maiden. + + "Speed, bonny boat, like a bird on the wing, + Onward, the sailors cry. + Carry the lad that's born to be king + Over the sea to Skye." + +"But Roger is not a king!" said Gerald, with a queer little break +in his voice. "He is only a codger!" + + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +ROGER THE CODGER. + + + + +"Miranda!" said Roger. + +"Yes, my dear brother!" + +"Tum te-tiddle-de-tum, tum, tum, tum!" + +"Yes, my dear brother." + +"I--oh, I beg your pardon; that isn't what I meant to say, of +course. A--the moon is in perigee now, you know." + +"Roger," said his sister-in-law, looking up from her sewing, "you +know there is no earthly use in saying that kind of thing to me. +'Perigee' suggests nothing to me but periwig, and it is painful to +think of the moon in so unbecoming a head-gear. Are you quite sure +that THAT was what you were going to say?" + +Roger laughed, looked a little confused, and threw stones into the +water; Mrs. Merryweather sewed on buttons and waited. + +"I shall be twenty-five next week," was the professor's next +remark. "I--a--I am getting to be quite an old fogy." + +"Your teeth and digestion are still good," said his sister-in-law, +with provoking composure; "and you are able--generally speaking-- +to get about without a stick." + +"Pshaw!" said Roger. He laughed again, and threw out his powerful +arms. He was lying at full length on the verandah, his handsome +head propped against one of the pillars, framed in a mass of +woodbine and trumpet-vine. Mrs. Merryweather looked at him, and +thought that with the exception of her Miles and her boys, she had +never seen a finer-looking fellow. Every line of the lithe, +elastic figure was instinct with power; the face, from the broad +upright brow to the firm chin, was alight with thought and +intelligence. But the blue eyes, usually so clear in their grave +gaze, held a shadow to-day, a curious look of shyness, one might +almost say shamefacedness. Mrs. Merryweather gazed at him, and +thought her own thoughts, but she knew her husband's family, and +held her peace. + +"That is a very lovely girl, Miranda!" was the Professor's next +remark. + +"Meaning Gertrude--?" said this wicked woman, innocently. + +"Oh,--I mean Hilda, of course! She is remarkably intelligent, +don't you think so?" + +Mrs. Merryweather assented warmly, and added praises of her own. +Hildegarde's little ears would surely have burned if she could +have heard the good lady. As for Roger, he listened with great +complacency. + +"Yes!" he said. "She is sympathetic, and unselfish,--remarkably +so, it seems to me; and--and she takes an interest in things,--I +mean real things, such, as girls usually care nothing about." + +"Perigees, for example," said his sister-in-law. + +"Well," said Roger, laughing, "yes, I suppose I do mean perigees, +and that kind of thing. They are not in your line, Miranda, I +know." + +"Oh, but I respect them!" said Mrs. Merryweather. "There is +nothing I respect more highly than a perigee, unless it be an +apogee, which always sounds like the beginning of an incantation. +So Hilda likes them, does she?" + +"Of course," said Roger, slowly, skipping stones over the pond +with thoughtful accuracy; "she has never studied any of these +things, but she has really an astonishing aptitude for them. And +her hand is so steady, and she has such a true eye." + +"Was that why you kept her sitting on a rock, waving a towel, for +three mortal hours, yesterday morning?" asked his sister-in-law, +dryly. + +Roger turned scarlet. + +"Was it so long?" he said. "I didn't know--I never noticed. I--was +taking observations, you know, and she seemed so--did she say she +was tired? Was I a brute? Of course I was!" + +"Don't go off at a tangent, or whatever you call the thing!" said +Mrs. Merryweather. "She said she had had a most delightful +morning, and that waving a towel had been her favourite amusement +from baby-hood." + +Roger looked wistfully at his sister-in-law. They were genuinely +fond of each other, but they spoke different languages, and he +sometimes found it difficult to follow her turns of speech. He was +silent for a few minutes, absorbed in calculating the curves of +his stones, which really skimmed in an astonishing manner. + +"I suppose," he said, presently, watching a particularly +adventurous pebble, "I suppose, Miranda, that I must seem--well-- +quite an old fellow, to such a young creature as that?" + +Mrs. Merryweather had a quizzical reply on the tip of her tongue, +but glancing at Roger's face, thought better of it, and merely +said, "My dear boy, don't be absurd!" + +"I don't mean to be absurd," said Roger, sitting upright, and +forgetting his pebbles. "But--well, I am a kind of grandfather to +all the children, you know, and she would naturally--eh? regard me +in the same light. That--a--that seems perfectly reasonable, +doesn't it?" + +Mrs. Merryweather made no reply. Roger followed the direction of +her eyes, and saw Hildegarde and Gerald coming up from the wharf. +Hildegarde had been drying her hair after the daily swim, and it +hung in long locks over her shoulders; the tall boy was bending +over her, pleading earnestly for something. + +"Just a little bit!" he said, as they came within hearing. "Oh, I +say, Miss Hilda, just a scrap. You have such lots, you never would +miss it. Just a little lock of hair!" + +Roger Merryweather's face grew very grave. He did not move, but +his grasp tightened on the pebble in his hand. + +"What do you want of it?" said downright Hilda, laughing and +tossing her tawny mane. Mrs. Merryweather listened for the +faintest shade of coquetry in the girl's tone, found none, and +listened on, well content. + +"What do I want of it?" cried Gerald. "What a question!-- + + "O Hilda, fair beyond compare! + I'll make a garland of thy hair, + Shall twine my heart forevermair, + Until the day I dee!" + +"Very proper!" said Hilda. "I am glad to find that you know your +ballads. What else will you do with it, for example?" + + "Wi' ae lock o' thy yellow hair + I'll theek my nest when it grows bare!" + +Gerald went on. "The excelsior is coming out of my mattress, and I +thought--" + +"I can't spare enough for that," said Hildegarde. "Any other uses +for my poor hair?" + +"The Mater has a single hair of George Washington's, done up in a +gold snuffbox," cried the boy. "If you'll give me two, I will hunt +up a snuffbox. There's a fine old stingo in the Chemical Works who +takes snuff, and I will get his, and give him a tomato can +instead, and keep one hair in that." + +"And the other?" Hilda persisted, taking the long tresses in her +hand, and running them through her fingers in a tantalizing +manner,--"the other hair, Master Obadiah?" + +"Oh, dear! what a persistent thing a girl is! I--must you really +know? Because you mightn't like it, if I told you the truth." The +ingenuous youth here turned a somersault, and coming up on one +knee, remained in an attitude of supplication, clasping his hands +imploringly. Hilda laughed, but still caressed her locks, unmoved. + +"The other hair!" she said. + +"Well, if you MUST know, I want to make a new kind of fly for the +bass. They aren't biting at all, and your hair is just the colour, +to a shade. There! that is the terewth. Do you mind?" + +"Mind, you foolish boy? You might have had your fly made by this +time. Here, give me your knife!" + +She stood still, and severed a long, fair tress, which she laid in +Gerald's hand. + +"There! that will make a whole swarm of flies; and if there is any +left over, you can theek your nest with it." + +At this moment she looked up and saw the Professor sitting on the +verandah, watching her. Her face lighted up with the brightest +smile, Roger thought, that he had ever seen, and she hastened +forward. + +"Oh, Captain! I was afraid I was too late. Aren't you going to +take observations this morning? And mayn't I go too? Here is my +towel, all ready." + +Gerald clapped his hand to his face, with an exclamation of acute +pain. + +"My dear boy, what is the matter?" cried his mother and Hildegarde +in one breath. + +"It is--nothing!" gasped the boy, sitting down on the edge of the +verandah. "Where is the glue?" + +"The glue!" repeated Hilda. + +"Le Page's glue! My nose has become disjointed, and I would fain +repair it. I am suffering excruciating torments; but don't mind +me. Go on your towelled and triumphant way, and leave the noseless +wretch to pine alone!" + +"And make his flies!" said Hilda. "You miserable boy, you really +took me in. Good-by, dear madam; I will get Bell, and we will +surely be home in time for dinner this time. Won't we, Captain?" +But the Captain did not commit himself. + +"Mater," said Gerald, watching the two as they walked away +together, "do you think--" + +"Not often!" said his mother. "It is a dangerous occupation." + +"True!" said Gerald. "Well, if I mustn't think, where is Phil?" + + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +A MORNING HOUR. + + + + +It is morning in the Lonely Cove. Before and around lies a broad +stretch of glimmering water, dotted here and there with great +stumps, and lined about the shore with dead trees. Dams built in +the river beyond have raised the level of the lake, and hundreds +of trees have died. + +On every side is a network of gnarled and knotted roots. The black +limbs grapple with each other; here one has dragged his neighbour +over, and he lies with arms outstretched, writhen into antic +twists and curves, as if he had died in torment; there, in +singular contrast, are two friends,--oaks, were they once?--who +have fallen into one another's arms, and, dead, seem still to +embrace and uphold each other tenderly. + +Here again are stumps that gleam like gray silver, bare and +polished, worn by storms and winds. The shining water is clear, +and one sees the bottom covered with particles of wood, chipped +from the rotting trees, preserved by the water from further decay. + +Through this silent water glides the Cheemaun, Hilda in the bow-- +where is Hilda so happy as in the birch canoe?--Roger paddling in +the stern. As the paddle dips, bubbles rise and burst, large and +round. Behind, the dark woods curve in a lovely line; between wood +and water, spread like a bed for the dead and dying trees, a +swamp, bright with rushes and water-weed. + +On the crest of a snow-white birch sits a great fish-hawk, with +bent head and closed wings. What is the hunter dreaming of? Hours +of sport, most likely; long pauses on balanced wings, the arrowy +downward sweep, the swift plunge, and the triumph of the upward +plunge, dripping and proud, bearing his prey aloft. + +Some real or fancied noise disturbs the vision; he rises, spreads +the wide, hollow wings, and flaps slowly away. Roused by his +flight, half a dozen crows burst suddenly into talk, and protest +violently against some deadly injury, then as suddenly fall silent +again. + +Whirr! a kingfisher darts down with a quick splash, and back to +his bough with a fish in his beak. The canoe moves on, slowly, +noiselessly; here the water is only three inches deep, but the +soft bottom yields as the strong young arms ply the paddle. + +Hilda lifts her hand with a warning gesture, and they are +motionless once more. Look! not fifty yards away, a group of +pretty birds play and paddle in the shallow water. Sandpipers, are +they? They might be enchanted princesses, Hilda thinks, as they go +mincing along, turning their heads now to this side, now to that, +admiring themselves in the clear water. One of them finds a bit of +succulent weed, and the others come running, for all the world +like curious girls, ruffling their pretty feathers, cocking their +pretty heads; and they peck, and chatter, and peck again, wholly +unconscious of the two monsters who are drifting nearer and +nearer. Suddenly one of them catches sight of a moving shadow, +hears some faint lapping of water against the side of the canoe, +inaudible to ears less fine; and the three princesses are up and +away, fluttering, hopping, fairly flying at last, to hide +themselves in the deeps of the bog-land. + +Neither of the two had spoken during all this time. Both felt the +magic of the place so strong upon them that speech seemed +profanation. The flight of the little birds, however, loosened the +spell. Hildegarde spoke, but softly, almost under her breath. +"Captain! Do you see the lizard? Look at him, on the log there! +The greenness of him! soul of an emerald!" + +"I was looking at the fish," said Roger. + +"What for a fish?" Hilda leaned over the side, and looked into the +clear shallow water. A bream was hovering over her wide, shallow +nest, fanning the water slowly with wide-spread wings. "Why does +she do that?" + +"To protect the eggs; they are there in the sand, and she is +keeping off all the water-people who like eggs for breakfast." + +They drifted on again in silence: what was there good enough to +say in such a place? + +Hildegarde pulled the transparent stems of jewel-weed, with their +glowing, pitcher-shaped blossoms, and twined them into a garland, +which she hung over the bow of the canoe. "Dear Cheemaun!" she +said. "She shall be decorated as Hiawatha's was. She deserves to +be hung with real jewels." + +"Are there any more real than these?" said Roger. "And--you really +like the Cheemaun, do you, Miss Hilda? and the place? I thought +you would like the place." + +"Oh!" said Hilda, and her voice said enough. "How did you find it? +How strange that I have never heard of it before! There is nothing +so beautiful in the world, I am sure! Have the others been here?" + +"N--no," answered Roger, slowly. "I don't think they have been +here. I--I found it one morning, when I was shooting, two or three +years ago; and I am afraid I have been greedy, and kept it to +myself." + +"How good of you to bring me!" cried Hilda. "I like it all the +better because no one--that is, because it is so lonely and still. +You--you don't shoot now much, do you, Captain Roger?" + +"No. I used to be very fond of it when I was a boy; but now, well, +I would rather see them alive, don't you know?" + +Hildegarde nodded her wise little head, and knew very well indeed, +and thought the Captain was very right. + +"I do not see how a sportsman can really love creatures," she +said. "If you love them, you want them to live, as you say. Oh! +oh, Captain Roger, please quickly stop! Look! What wonder is +this?" + +Hilda's voice sank to a whisper, thrilled with excitement. There, +a few yards away from them, ashen grey against the silver-grey of +a dead tree, was a great bird. To Hilda's excited fancy, it seemed +the spirit of the place, changed by some wizardry into bird form, +crouching there amid the ruins of the forest where once it had +flitted and frolicked, a gauze-winged sprite. + +Roger, less imaginative, and more skilled in wood-lore, saw a +great blue heron, sitting huddled together on a stump, its head +drawn in, its yellow eyes glaring wild with fright. + +"It must be wounded!" he said softly. "Keep very still, and I will +see if we can come nearer." + +Softly, slowly, the birch canoe stole through the water. It +scarcely seemed to move, yet every moment brought them nearer to +the wild creature of the woods. It made no attempt to fly, only +crouched lower, and tried to flatten itself against the stump. + +"Oh, poor, poor thing!" whispered Hilda. "Can you do anything for +it, Captain Roger?" + +"Only one thing, I fear," said Roger, gently. "Its leg is broken, +and we must not leave it in misery." + +"You must kill it? Oh, it seems too pitiful! No, I am not going to +be silly, only I will turn my head away, please, Captain Roger." + +Now she could have put her hand on the wounded bird, as it sat +motionless, only the wide eyes of terror telling that it was +alive. The bow of the boat passed close against the log, and on +beyond. Hilda thought she should never forget the dumb agony of +those eyes. They should not be here at all, she thought. It was +not decent for human beings to thrust themselves into the sorrows +and mysteries of the woods and water. She could not-- + +Roger leaned forward, paddle in hand; a moment, and all was over. +Something slid into the water, and there was a little plashing +murmur among the reeds; then stillness again. + +The canoe began to move backward, and Hilda opened her eyes, which +had been tightly closed. Neither of the two spoke until they were +in open water again, and the swamp left behind. + +"I am sorry!" said Roger then, almost apologetically. "I am sorry +that happened. The poor creature had been shot, and was badly +wounded; it would only have lingered in pain." + +"Oh yes, I know; I am so glad you were there, to help it out of +the suffering." + +"But now you will never want to come here again, I fear." + +"Oh, but I shall!" cried Hilda. "I am not so silly as that, truly +I am not. I shall always think of this as the loveliest place I +know; and--" + +"Well, and--what?" asked Roger. + +"Oh, nothing! Only--well, it is your own place," said Hilda +frankly, "and I shall always think of you here, in the dear +Cheemaun, with the enchanted princesses--I mean the sandpipers-- +and the fish-hawk, and all the rest of it." + +"If it is mine, I may do what I like with it, and I give it to +you. Will you have it?" + +"Oh, we will share it together!" cried Hilda eagerly; and then +bethought herself, and blushed in her usual ridiculous way, and +wondered if the back of her neck were blushing too. It was, and +Roger saw the crimson mounting to the pretty ears and losing +itself in the fair hair; and he wondered--and wondered again, and +then remembered that people sometimes blushed when they were +angry. He was a very, very stupid Roger, in some ways; but in a +moment Hilda began to talk as cheerfully as possible, and to ask +about all the birds they had seen, so Roger was relieved, and they +paddled home to breakfast in a very pleasant way. + + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +GOOD-BY. + + + + +The golden morning passed all too quickly; the mornings always +did, out at camp. There was the merry dish-washing, the sweeping +and setting to rights, and then all separated to their different +tasks,--fishing, boat-mending, cooking, photographing or +surveying, till the hour of noon brought them together again for +the swimming. Roger departed on his wheel, having business in the +village. + +The three girls sat down before a huge basket of mending, "Three +against Thebes," as Bell said, and plied their needles diligently. +Hildegarde felt as if she were sewing in a dream; her fingers +flew, for she could almost sew in her sleep, but her thoughts were +away in the Lonely Cove, with the wild creatures and the +stillness. She would like to go back there, she thought, with-- +well, she would like to go back there, and stay, long hours, till +the spirit of the place had sunk deep into her heart. She had felt +it, the touch of its hand in passing, the brushing of its robe, +but that only showed her how little she knew, how infinitely more +there was to learn, to see, to love. She shut her eyes and tried +to call back the scene, all grey and silver, glimmering in the +faint early light. + +Was not this really life, the life of nature, of the woods and +fields? Would not one grow better, purer, to stay always in this +lovely wilderness, where every leaf had a voice, every stone +showed forth its steadfast lesson, every morning and evening was +full of joy and peace? Why should one ever go back to places where +people talked and gossiped and made formal calls? + +Such new worlds, too, were opening before her! Not only this great +one of nature, but the sister world of science, which till now had +been only a name. She had always thought of "scientific people" +much as she would of the inhabitants of Mars, never having been +thrown with any in this short life, which seemed to her so long, +so full. As she said to her friend here, she had had many lives +already, all beautiful, joyful beyond measure; but this strange +world, where they spoke a language of their own, where all the men +wore spectacles and long beards, and all the women short hair and +spectacles,--this world she had never thought even to peep into. +And now--behold! the magic door had been opened by friendly hands; +opened only a little way, it was true, but wide enough for her to +see at least beyond the threshold,--and it was fairy-land! As for +the long beards and the spectacles,--Hildegarde laughed to +herself, a little soft, happy laugh. + +Gerald, who was lying at her feet, looked up, and laughed too, for +pure good-will. + +"Good joke!" he said; "excellent joke! See here, Miss Hilda--" + +"Do leave off that tiresome 'Miss,' Jerry! You know I told you to, +ages ago." + +"I know! but my manners are so superlative. Well, Hilda, then, +just listen to this! I have been improving a little on one of your +old ballads--" + +"Improving? sacrilegious wretch!" + +"Oh, but listen! Why should a ballad be too old to be improved? +This goes beautifully. + + "Our lads are to the fishing gane, + A-fishing with a line and float, + And they hae grippet Hilda the Grahame, + For stealing o' the Codger's boat." + +"I didn't steal it!" cried Hilda, aiming a neatly folded stocking- +ball at the boy's head; but Gerald avoided it, and went on. + + "And they hae tied her hand and foot, + And brought her to the camp, wuss luck! + The lads and lasses met her there, + Cried 'Hilda Grahame, thou art a duck!'" + +"Obadiah, you are a very impudent boy. Wait till Monday week, +that's all! But go on; let me hear all this villainy." + + "Up then spake the brave Gerald, + As he sat by the Codger's knee, + 'Fifteen horned pouts I'll give to you, + If you'll let Hilda the Grahame go free.' + + "'Oh haud your tongue,' says Roger the Codger, + 'And wie your pleading let me be; + For though-'" + +"Hallo!" + +"What is the matter?" asked Bell, who had been listening with high +approval to the ballad. "Why, here is the Codger himself, back +again. I thought he was not coming till night. What's up, Codger?" + +Bell and Hildegarde rose, with a vague feeling of uneasiness, and +as they did so, Roger advanced to meet them. Hilda fancied he +looked grave, and her heart leaped into quick alarm. "You have no +bad news, Captain Roger?" she cried. "My mother--Cousin Wealthy--!" + +"Both well, quite well!" said Roger, hastily. "I called at the +house as I came by, and found Mrs. Grahame there, looking +extremely well, I thought." + +"Mamma there!" cried Hilda. "Why--when did she come? Why did she +not write that she was coming? I ought to have been there to meet +her. You are sure you have nothing bad to tell me, Captain Roger? +You looked so grave as you came up. I would rather know at once, +please, if anything is wrong." + +Roger smiled, and his honest eyes reassured the startled girl. + +"You may believe me," he said, simply. "If I looked grave, it was +not on your account, Miss Hilda, but on our own. A letter must +have gone astray, your mother thinks. You should have heard from +her several days ago; and--and she is expecting visitors to- +morrow, and--well, if I must tell the truth, the carriage is here, +and I am to drive you home as soon as you are ready." + +A cry of dismay broke from the lips of the whole family; a cry so +hearty, so full of distress, of affectionate concern, that it +brought the quick tears to Hilda's eyes. She smiled through the +tears at Bell, who already had her in her arms, and declared she +could not let her go; while Will and Kitty pulled at her gown, and +cried frantically that Hilda was theirs, and should never go away, +never at all. Mrs. Merryweather smoothed her hair, and murmured +kind, understanding words in a low tone; and Gertrude sat down on +the ground and wept piteously. + +"Oh," said Hilda to all these good friends, "you know it is not +because I don't want to go to my blessed mother; of course you all +know that--" + +"Of course we do, dear!" cried Bell and her mother, soothingly. +"Of course you want to go, and we ought to want you to go; but we +don't; and it has come so quickly, and all." + +"And we were going to the Painted Rocks to-morrow!" cried Phil. + +Gerald began to mutter something under his breath about + + "Little Gerald was my brudder, + Merry Mater was my mudder, + Nebber heard ob any udder." + +But his adaptation was checked by a look from his mother, and he +relapsed into gloom. "It's a horrid, atrocious shame!" he said. "I +can't help it, and Hilda needn't speak to me again if she doesn't +want to; but I cannot tell a lie, and I am NOT glad that Mrs. +Grahame has come home, and I never shall be." + +"Dear Jerry!" said Hilda. "We have had such good times, haven't +we? And you will be coming back, you know, to town some day, and I +shall hear all about the merrymakings--" + +But here her voice broke, and deeply ashamed of herself, she +hurried into the house to put her things together. The kind +Merryweathers went with her, and vied with each other in helping +her make her preparations. Since it must be, it should be as +cheerfully done as possible; so Bell packed her trunk, and +Gertrude buttered bread with ardour, that Hilda might have +luncheon before she went; a good many tears fell into the butter, +but Hilda said she did not mind that. + +Soon, too soon, alas! all was ready; the little trunk packed and +strapped, and Hilda in jacket and hat--the first time in a month +that she had worn either--smiling as well as she could, and +kissing and shaking hands, almost in silence. + +Mr. Merryweather had just come up from the boathouse, and joined +his regrets to the general chorus. + +"And who is the captain of this black-sailed ship that carries our +little girl away from us?" he asked. "Are you going to drive her +in, Gerald?" + +"No, father," said Gerald, hastily. "I think Roger is going in." + +"Yes," said Roger; "I am going in, Miles." + +"Oh!" said Mr. Merryweather. "Is there anything special you want +to see to in town, Roger?" + +"Why--no; I am going for--" + +"Then, if it's all the same, suppose you let Phil drive Hilda in. +I want your help this afternoon, very much, on the Keewaydin. The +boys aren't quite strong enough to tackle her. What do you say, +Hilda? You would just as lief have Phil, I dare say, and it will +be a treat to him." + +What could our poor dear Hilda say? What could she do but smile +her assent, when she saw Phil's honest face radiant with pleasure? + +Gerald, after looking round in vain for his mother and Bell, who +had gone into the house to get something, did indeed mutter that +he wanted Phil dreadfully, to do something of great importance, it +did not appear precisely what; but he was promptly set down by his +father. + +Roger Merryweather stood silent. The habit of giving way to +others, of letting the youngsters have all the pleasure possible, +and taking the workaday parts of life for himself, was strong upon +him. And when had he refused his brother Miles anything? + +Miles Merryweather nodded in satisfaction, and went into the house +to get his letters. + +"I am going to send Phil in with Hilda, instead of Roger," he +announced, cheerfully. "Is there anything--" + +"Oh, father, how could you?" cried Bell, springing to her feet. + +"How could I what?" asked her father. "Miranda, have you any +errands for Phil to do?" + +He looked at his wife, and opened his eyes wide; for the placid +woman was ruffling all over, like an angry partridge. + +"Don't speak to me, Miles Merryweather!" she cried. "Don't dare to +say a word to me! You are a great stupid, stupid,--and Roger is +another! Why I ever married into such a family--" + +She ruffled away out of the house; Bell hurried after her without +a word, only casting a reproachful glance at her father as she +went. Mr. Merryweather stood still in utter bewilderment. + +"Are these people mad?" he said. "What on earth is the matter? +Gerald, will you give these letters to Phil, and tell him--now +what is the matter with you, I should like to know?" + +For Gerald's bright face was clouded over with unmistakable ill- +humour,--a circumstance so amazing that one might well wonder. He +actually scowled at his father, whom he adored. + +"Donki foolumque cano!" he said. "No disrespect to anybody, sir, +but I am thinking of emigrating. This family is too much for me." + +He stalked out again, leaving Mr. Merryweather more puzzled than +ever. + +"Decidedly, they are mad!" he murmured. "Thank goodness, there is +one sensible head among all these feathertops! Oh, here you are, +Roger! Give these letters to Phil, will you, please, and tell him +not to forget the mail." + +Roger took the letters, and laughed. His cheek was slightly +flushed, and his eyes danced with something very unlike their +usual calm intelligence. "All right!" he said. "Give me the +letters, Miles. They shall be mailed." He took the packet, and +started to leave the room, but turned back for a moment, to lay +his hand affectionately on his brother's shoulder. "I am a codger, +Miles," he said, "but--do you know--I think you are a bit of a +codger, too. It runs in the blood, I suppose. Good-by, old fellow! +and let the Keewaydin wait until to-morrow, will you?" + +He ran out. His brother, now speechless, followed him: saw him put +Phil aside with a word and a smile; saw him lift Hildegarde +lightly into the wagon, and take his seat beside her; saw the +girl, her face bright as a flower, leaning forward to say +farewell, and the other faces crowding round her, eager, loving, +sorrowful; saw handkerchiefs and caps waving, and heard the cries +of "Good-by, dear Hilda! Come again! Oh, come back to us soon!" + +Then the woods closed in behind the carriage and it was gone. + +Gerald looked long after it; then he advanced to the middle of the +piazza, and deliberately turned three back somersaults. + +"Would anybody like to tread on the tail of my coat?" he said, +joyously. "Phil, you are a double-barrelled, self-revolving idiot, +but I love you. Join me, then, in three cheers for the Codger. +Long may he wave! Now, then, hip, hip, hurrah!" + +"Hurrah!" cried Phil, who had received enlightenment in some way, +and was beaming like his brother. + +"Hurrah!" cried Mrs. Merryweather and Bell in concert, fixing eyes +of triumph on their husband and father. + +"Hurrah it is, doubtless," said Mr. Merryweather, looking slightly +nettled,--a rare thing in the most cheerful of men. "But MAY I ask +why my arrangements are changed without a word to me? I intended +that Phil should--" + +"Dear Miles!" said his wife. "I am sorry I called you names." + +"DEAR papa!" said the Merryweathers in chorus; "we all love you SO +much!" + +"And were you ever young?" asked Mrs. Merryweather, no longer +swelling, partridge-like, but taking her husband's arm with her +sweetest smile. + +"And did you ever see a girl you liked, Miles Merryweather? and if +you ever had, would you have let another boy drive her in town +while the breath was in you? Would you?" + +"Oh!" said Miles Merryweather. + +THE END + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, HILDEGARDE'S NEIGHBORS *** + +This file should be named 4hldg10.txt or 4hldg10.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, 4hldg11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, 4hldg10a.txt + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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